• 6 egg yolks
• 3 cups heavy cream
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 vanilla bean (or in a pinch some good quality vanilla extract)

The baked custards are a nice finishing touch to a meal.

Ingredients

• Melted Butter for greasing ramekins
• 3 eggs
• 4 tablespoons superfine sugar
• 2 cups milk
• 1/2 cup cream
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• nutmeg

Method

Preheat oven to 315 degrees and grease 4 ramekins.
Whisk eggs and sugar in a large bowl.

Heat milk and cream in a small saucepan over medium heat for 4-5 minutes.

Add to the egg mixture with vanilla and strain into ramekins. Sprinkle with nutmeg.

Place the dishes into a large roasting pan with hot water halfway up the side of ramekins.

Bake 25 minutes or until set.
Remove from the pan and let sit for 10 minutes before serving.

• 1 pint of heavy cream
• 3 tbsp sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 2 cups of cooked, cold rice porridge
• 2 oranges
• sliced almonds

Rhubarb features such an interesting flavor: it's acidic, a bit tart and definitely needs a bit of sugar, but once you add that, then you're in for a lovely and unique flavor experience. Here we have cooked rhubarb into a compote, which is wonderful to serve on it's own, with a bit of whipped cream, over yogurt, over ice cream, in milkshakes - you name it!

Ingredients:

• About 4 cups of cut up rhubarb
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/2 vanilla bean, split open
• pinch of salt
• 2 tbsp cornstarch
• 1/2 cup water

Method:

Place the diced rhubarb (if the skin is tough, you might need to peel it a bit), sugar, vanilla bean and salt in a pot. Bring to a simmer and let cook for about 10 minutes until the rhubarb is starting to break apart. In a cup, make a slurry with the cornstarch and the water. Add this to the cooked rhubarb and contine to simmer for another 10 minutes or so. Taste and see if the sugar content is right (if you have exceptionally tart rhubarb, you might need more.)

Let cool and store in the fridge.

We first learned about the recipe watching America's Test Kitchen and wanted to give it a try. It came out really well, although I don't think you have to be so careful as they are about every detail. The cake will come out great if you follow the basic instructions. It did go very well with coffee.

The two things we did learn though are to not over-mix the crumbs and not to cook it as long as the instructions stated. I think 25-30 minutes in a decent oven it plenty.

Ingredients

Crumbs

• 1/3 cup white sugar
• 1/3 cup packed dark brown sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 teaspoon cinnamon
• 8 tablespoons butter, melted and cooled slightly (one stick)
• 1 3/4 cups cake flour

Cake

• 1 1/4 cups cake flour
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon table salt
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 6 tablespoons butter, softened but still cool
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/3 cup buttermilk
• 1 large egg
• 1 large egg yolk

• Preheat oven to 325°F
• In a bowl combine white sugar, brown sugar, salt and cinnamon, mix well. Add the melted butter and stir until smooth. Add cake flour and stir until combined. Covered with plastic wrap and set aside on the counter for 10-15 minutes. This allos the gluten to relax.
• In a standing mixer, combine flour, sugar, salt and baking soda using the paddle. With the mixer running on medium-low, add the butter 1 tablespoon at a time, waiting until each piece breaks down before adding the next. Continue mixing until it has a uniform sandy texture.
• Add the vanilla, buttermilk, egg and egg yolk. Run mixer on medium-high until batter is smooth and thick, at least 1 minute, or use a handheld electric mixer. The batter will be very thick, almost like frosting.
• Butter and flour an 8 x 8 inch pan, or use a non-stick spray. Cut a piece of parchment paper, and lay it into the pan, allowing 2 inches to overhang each side. Spread the batter into the pan.
• Break the crumb mixture into pieces and spread the crumbs around the outer edge of the pan first, then evenly fill in the center.
• Place the pan in the oven for 25-30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the pan comes out clean. Cool cake in pan for about 30 minutes.

What a gooey and wonderful dessert we had the other night. It all began when I was looking for an easy dessert perferably with chocolate to accompy our chicken marsala dinner. Well, it couldn't have been better or more pleasing. A cross between a brownie and pudding said the recipe and boy was that accurate. Messy and delicious, rich and calorie ridden this dessert was fun and filling. The Barefoot Contessa sure knows how to please a crowd. I would surely make this recipe again and next time invite over a few more people so I won't eat all the leftover brownie/pudding myself! I added a scoop of ice cream for a few more calories but a dollop of cream would also work.

I followed the recipe and it worked out fine - easy, gooey and syrupy works great every time.

Ingredients

* 1/2 pound (2 sticks) unsalted butter, plus extra for buttering the dish
* 4 extra-large eggs, at room temperature
* 2 cups sugar
* 3/4 cup good cocoa powder
* 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
* Seeds scraped from 1 vanilla bean
* 1 tablespoon framboise liqueur, optional
* Vanilla ice cream, for serving

Method

I coated a 9 X 12 X 2 inch oval dish with butter in a 325 degree oven. Melted the butter and then let cool.

In an electric mixer I beat the sugar and eggs until light and thick. Sift the cocoa powder and flour in a small bowl.

I added vanilla extract as I didn't have a bean and no liquer then added the cocoa mixture until combined and added the cooled butter.

Poured the mixture into my baking dish and then into a large pan with hot tap water coming half way up the sides. Bake 1 hour and then cool & serve

The picture of the Barefoot Contessa's was a bit more of a brownie whereas mine was a little more gooey. Maybe the oven's were off but still a nice dessert to serve with ice cream and a cappuchino.
 

Farmer's Market had a beautiful selection of berries this season, so of course I couldn't pass up some red raspberries for a lovely dessert to complement our meal. Tasty and delicious the raspberries are also colorful and fun. I had recently seen the Food Network and Ina Garten (Barefoot Contessa) who is also, one of my favorite chefs, created a beautiful dessert with raspberries, cream and meringue. Well, I too recreated this wonderful and easy dessert - and what a hit. It not only looks great but it is great. I strongly recommend this simple and elegant after dinner treat.

Ingredients

1. 6 6 ounce packages fresh raspberries
2. 1 1/2 cup plus 1/4 cup sugar
3. 2 tablespoons lemon juice
4. 1 1/2 tablespoons framboise liqueur
5. meringue

Method

I heated about 2 pints of rasberries, 1 cup sugar, lemon zest and juice in a saute pan for about 10 minutes over medium heat til syrupy. I didn't have the liqueur so I just skipped it. Cool the mixture. I whipped about 2 cups of heavy cream with the sugar and vanilla( it was too much --do about 1 1/2 cups).

Then I crushed some meringue pieces to add some texture.

Layer into glass dishes or bowls ( my dishes were a bit smaller than her recipe called for). Nevertheless - it really doesn't matter. The delicious dessert was perfect with a chilled white or sparkling wine. 

• about 1 pint of blackberries
• butter
• 2 eggs
• 4 tbsp sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• zest of 1 lemon
• 3 tbsp flour
• 3/4 cup of heavy cream + 1/4 cup of milk (altogether 1 cup of liquid, could be any combination of milk and cream)

Having come across a nice amount of yellow plums, I was thinking of what to do with them. Immediately the concept of a clafoutis entered my mind. A clafoutis is something of an in-between cake and custard dish, which is commonly made with cherries in France. It's easy to make and is really great with all kinds of fruit, so why not try it with beautiful, ripe plums?

It turned out really nice; the flavors of the plums really accentuated the dish. This is great to do a little while in advance of a dinner party, it's really nice to serve slightly warm or at room temperature. 

This is a very simple recipe, all the ingredients are mixed in one bowl, no whipping the egg whites separately as some other recipes require. Be careful not to bake it too long however; if you overdo it the eggs can curdle, so it's important to almost underdo it and let it settle, as opposed to overdo it.

serves about 6

Ingredients:

• about 10 ripe plums
• butter
• 3 eggs
• 6 tbsp sugar
• zest of 1 lemon
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 5 tbsp flour
• 1 1/2 cup half and half (or heavy cream, milk or a combination thereof)

Method:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

In a mixer, whisk the eggs together well. Add sugar and beat for a few minutes until nice and frothy. At this point lower the speed and add the zest, vanilla extract, flour and half and half. As soon as the batter has come together, stop beating it. You don't want to overdo it. Leave the batter to settle.

Now tend to the fruit. Wash, halve and remove the bits and cut in pieces. Butter a pan (I used a 9 1/2 inch oval Le Creuset pan, however an 8x8 pyrex would also work nicely) and sprinkle it with sugar. Divide the fruit in the pan.

At this point pour the batter into the pan.

Bake in the oven 35 - 40 minutes,  watching closely at the end so as to not overcook it. Let cool for at least 30 minutes or so before enjoying.