Butterscotch Pot de Creme, Gianduja Macarons and a Farewell

Today I said goodbye to my parents who have been with us for almost two months. Time flies, doesn't it? People ask me how I manage to find time to blog after just giving birth. Well, the answer is my parents. They have been incredible help during this transition time, trying to get adjusted to having M., still tending to J., managing small projects and continue blogging. I could have not done it without them.

As I was watching them walk away, I realized how having children has made me appreciate them much more. It might be just age and the process of growing up. I don't know why, but I do.



We had freezing temperatures in Florida all last week. It was actually wonderful as I love cold and sunny days. We stayed home, cooked and baked more than ever. We made arroz con leche two days in a row as it disappears faster than what we can make it.



I woke up at 2am one night, a bit restless and unable to fall back to sleep. I got out of bed, turned my laptop on and started browsing through Shauna's recipe index looking for some gluten-free dessert recipes to make. As soon as my eyes read butterscotch, I thought "that's it". The following morning, I pulled out the eggs, cream, muscovado and demerara sugar and made these butterscotch pot de creme inspired by this recipe.

Instead of caramelizing the top, we sprinkled some hazelnut praline crunch and accompanied it with gianduja macarons we had made a few days earlier.



Butterscotch Pot de Creme

makes about 8 6 oz ramekins

500 ml heavy cream
225 ml whole milk
1 vanilla bean, split and seeded
1/2 tsp fleur de sel
160 grams muscovado sugar
80 grams demerara sugar
8 egg yolks

Place the heavy cream, whole milk, muscovado, fleur de sel and vanilla bean in a medium saucepan and bring to a boil. Keep it hot.

In a separate medium saucepan, make a dry caramel with the demerara sugar. Sprinkle half of it on the bottom of the pan spacing it evenly. When it starts to melt, sprinkle in the rest of the sugar and let it melt and turn to a light caramel.

Deglaze the caramel with the hot cream mixture. Be careful because it will bubble up. Whisk to make sure there are no large chunks of undissolved caramel. If there are, keep the pot on the heat for a bit to melt them.

In a separate bowl, whisk the egg yolks together and temper the hot caramel and cream mixture into them. Strain the custard through a fine sieve.

Pour the custard into the ramekins. Place the ramekins on a sheet pan and bring it to the oven that's been preheated to 300F. Pour hot water on the sheet pan to make a water bath. Bake until the center of the ramekins is set. Cool and refrigerate.

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Butterscotch Pot de Creme, Gianduja Macarons and a Farewell

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Roasted Apples with Almond and Muscovado Crumble and Marzipan Ice Cream

In a little bit over a month, mine will officially be considered a full term pregnancy. I still cannot wrap my head around it and although I have been through it once before, I feel like I am starting from zero once again. It is hard to imagine that we will have another little person added to our family unit, which will forever change our lives. So I suppose this means I have entered what it is called the nesting period. I had not given it much thought until this past week when I found myself cleaning, collecting, reading and making lists.

On top of it all, as the days are shorter and we become accustomed to our fall routine, I have been cooking and baking a lot more comfort foods. Soups, stews and easy tarts are part of our daily repertoire. I realized going through my pantry that I have not used a single sheet of gelatin in weeks, but on the other hand, I cannot keep my nut bins filled to save my life. That to me says a lot.



I was on the phone with my mom this past week when she told me about the compota de reinetas she always makes during the cold months with reineta apples, dried fruit, cinnamon and a touch of sugar. It reminded me of the smell of her kitchen and as soon as I hang up the phone, I started roasting some apples myself.

Reinetas are nearly impossible to find here, so I used Pink Ladies and Galas. They are firm, very acidic yet sweet, which make a great baking apple. I sliced them horizontally and layered them with a gluten free almond and muscovado sugar crumble and to accompany them a fall/winter favorite, marzipan ice cream.



My little boy and his best friend D. played a lot outside this week and even modeled for me. They collected pine cones, dead leaves and talked about their Halloween plans while D. tried on her new rain boots. They crack me up and I love their dynamics. We also planted new herbs like stevia, mini purple basil and feverfew, which I have never had before. I hope they last.



Gluten Free Almond and Muscovado Crumble

Note: Makes more than what you will need. Freeze the rest.

100 grams butter, softened
50 grams sugar
50 grams muscovado sugar
1 vanilla bean, split and seeded
100 grams rice flour
120 grams almond meal
pinch of salt
80 grams raw almonds, chopped

Cream the butter, sugar, muscovado and vanilla bean seeds with the paddle attachment. Add the rice flour, almond meal and salt and mix. Add the chopped almonds and mix until crumbly.

Roasted Apples with Almond and Muscovado Crumble

Slice 4 apples horizontally. Keep the top, but core the rest of the layers. Place them on a baking sheet. Sprinkle the crumble in between the layers and in the cavities.

Bake at 350F for about 30 minutes or until tender. You can baste them with a bit of melted butter in the process if the apples seem a bit too dry.

Marzipan Ice Cream

650 ml heavy cream
350 ml whole milk
1/2 tsp salt
170 grams marzipan, cut into 1 inch pieces
4 egg yolks
80 grams sugar
1/2 tsp almond extract

Place the heavy cream, whole milk and salt in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil.

In the meantime, place the cubed marzipan in the food processor. When the heavy cream and milk mixture comes to a boil, remove about 1/2 cup of liquid approximately and add it to the marzipan while the food processor is running. This will break up the marzipan and turn it into a creamy paste.

Add the marzipan mixture to the saucepan with the heavy cream and return to a simmer.

In the meantime, whisk the egg yolks with the sugar in a bowl. Temper in the marzipan mixture while whisking constantly. Return the mixture to the pan and cook until the custard coats the back of a wooden spoon (84C or 183F). Immediately strain the custard through a fine sieve into a clean bowl. Add the almond extract.

Cool the ice cream base over an ice bath and then refrigerate for about 4 hours. Churn in ice cream machine and freeze.

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Roasted Apples with Almond and Muscovado Crumble and Marzipan Ice Cream

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