We’ve collected a plethora of wonderful recipes from chefs over the past 8.5 years and we want to share what we have. Check back here twice a week for new content from your favorite Philly and out of town chefs to add some spice to your home cooking repertoire.
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This one is all about dessert… delicious dairy desserts, that is. Rather than ubiquitous background ingredients, butter, milk and cheese are the stars of the show in three recipes provided by local pastry chef Sara May. Moooove over Jello pudding, these desserts are cream of the crop!
Apricot Almond Icebox Cake with Sheep’s Milk Cheese
Yield: 8-10 servings (one 5”x 9” cake)
For the apricot puree:
1 ½ pounds apricots
2/3 cup organic cane sugar
Pinch kosher salt
1 teaspoon almond extract
For the cake
8 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
1/3 cup organic cane sugar
3 cups heavy cream, chilled
48 almond cookies, such as Anna’s Swedish Thins
½ pound manchego cheese
To garnish:
4 apricots
2 tablespoons organic cane sugar
¼ pound manchego cheese
½ cup roasted & salted almonds, roughly chopped
Prepare the apricot puree: Pit and roughly chop apricots (no need to peel). In a medium saucepan, stir together the apricots, sugar and salt. Cook over medium, stirring occasionally, until the apricots start to break down, 5-7 minutes. Use a large fork to smash the apricots until they are soft and lumpy.
Strain the puree over a large bowl, discarding the solids. (You should have about 1 ½ cups puree.) Stir in the almond extract and let cool to room temperature.
Make the cake: In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, whip the cream cheese and sugar on medium speed until light and fluffy, 3 to 4 minutes. Scrape the bowl well. With the mixer still on medium speed, add the cream gradually in a slow, steady stream, pausing for a moment if the cream begins to splash up.
Continue to whip the mixture on medium speed until it forms soft peaks. Scoop about half of the whipped cream (about 3 ¼ cups) in the bowl with the apricot puree, reserving the remaining half in the mixer bowl. Use a whisk to mix the apricot mixture and cream just until combined. (It should still look tick, but also smooth and creamy. Do not overwhip.)
Line a 5-by-9 inch loaf pan with plastic wrap, pressing it firmly into the base, corners and sides and leaving enough excess to wrap the surface of the cake later. Dollop about 1/3 of the whipped cream mixture onto the bottom of the pan and use a small offset spatula to spread evenly over the surface, taking care to get into all of the corners. Using a microplane, grate a thick layer of manchego cheese over the cream. Arrange 8 almond cookies over the cream. Repeat this step with 1/3 of the apricot cream: spread a smooth layer over the cookies, grate manchego cheese over, and top with 8 more cookies. Repeat steps until you’ve used up all of both cream mixtures. The final layer may rise about the rim of the baking pan—that’s okay!
Use the excess plastic wrap to cover the top of the cake. Refrigerate cake for 12 hours or up to overnight.
To serve: Unwrap the top of the cake, then invert the pan onto a platter or serving dish. The cake should easily popl out of the loaf pan, but if it doesn’t, you can use the plastic wrap to help pull it away from the pan. Remove and discard the plastic wrap.
Refrigerate until ready to serve. To help with clean slices, freeze the cake before slicing and serving.
To garnish: Pit and finely chop apricots and place in a medium bowl. Mix in sugar and allow apricots to macerate for 10 minutes at room temperature.
Slice the manchego cheese into thin, long slices. Garnish each slice of cake with a slice of cheese, a dollop of macerated apricots and a sprinkle of chopped almonds.
***
Buttered Toast Popsicles with a Brown Butter Crumble
Yield: 8 popsicles
For the popsicles:
1 ½ cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter
7 thick slices of white country-style bread, divided
2 ½ cups whole milk
5 tablespoons unsweetened plain Greek-style yogurt
1 ¼ cups heavy cream
2/3 cup organic cane sugar
2 tablespoons light brown sugar
For the crumble:
112 grams reserved liquid brown butter (see below)
50 grams tapioca maltodextrin
10 grams powdered sugar
1 gram kosher salt
2 cups heavy cream
Melt the butter in a large saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a low boil. Allow butter to boil (it will get foamy) about 6 minutes, swirling the pan often, until the butter begins to turn a toasty brown color and smell like hazelnuts. Remove from heat and pour into a heat-safe bowl. Allow to cool slightly.
Slowly pour the liquid browned butter into another heat proof bowl, leaving behind the small dark brown bits at the bottom. Reserve liquid for crumble topping.
Toast all the bread slices until they are very dark on both sides and place 5 slices in a large heat-proof bowl. (You may need to break them up to fit in the bowl). Reserve 2 remaining slices for crumble topping.
Add the milk, yogurt, heavy cream and sugars to the pan with the brown butter solids. Place over low heat and stir until sugar dissolves. Do not bring mix up to a boil.
Immediately pour milk mixture over the toasted bread. Allow to sit at room temperature for 1 hour or up to 8 hours in the refrigerator.
When mixture is cooled and infused, pour through a strainer and press down on the now-soggy bread to extract all of the liquid out of it. Discard the soggy bread and carefully pour mixture into popsicles molds. Freeze overnight.
To make the crumble/coat the popsicles: melt 112 grams of the browned butter liquid from step 2. Allow to cool slightly.
Place tapioca maltodextrin in a food processor and turn on. Slowly stream in butter. Turn off food processor and add powdered sugar and salt. Pulse to mix.
Break up clumps as much as possible and place on a small plate. Refrigerate until firm and then use your fingers to break into smaller clumps.
Wipe our food processor and pulse 2 slices of toasted bread until they are very fine crumbs. Mix toast crumbs with butter crumble and heap a mound on a shallow plate.
Place heavy cream in a tall glass. Line a small sheet tray with parchment paper. Unmold popsicles and, working quickly, first dip popsicle in cream and then in crumble mixture, pressing slightly to adhere crumbs. Place dipped popsicles on sheet tray and return to freezer until ready to serve.
***
Chevre Cheesecake with Blueberry Lavender Compote
One 10” cheesecake
For the crust:
1 ½ cups chocolate wafer cookies
½ cup freeze-dried blueberries
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
For the cheesecake:
3 pounds chevre at room temperature
2 cups light brown sugar
¼ cup unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly
1 cup heavy cream, at room temperature
6 eggs, at room temperature
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
For the blueberry compote:
1 pound frozen blueberries
½ cup dark honey (we like mountain or buckwheat honey)
¼ cup dried lavender flowers
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Make the crust: Place chocolate cookies and freeze dried blueberries in a food processor and process until they are fine crumbs. Place in a bowl and stir in melted butter.
Press crust mixture on the bottom of a 10” springform pan. Bake for 10 minutes, or until crust is slightly firm and smells delicious. Allow to cool as you assemble the cheesecake filling.
Make the cheesecake filling: Place the softened chevre and brown sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Cream together until light and fluffy. With the mixer running on low, slowly stream in the butter and cream, pausing to scrape down the sides of the bowl periodically.
With the mixer running on low, add the eggs one at a time, stopping again to scrape down the sides of the bowl periodically.
Line the bottom of the springform pan with foil, wrapping it tightly around the base. Spread filling over the baked crust and smooth out the top. Place the springform pan in a large roasting pan and fill with just enough hot water to come halfway up the side of the pan. Bake cheesecake for 55 minutes. Do not open the oven door. After 55 minutes, turn off oven and allow cheesecake to sit in cooling oven for 1 hour more, resisting the temptation to open the door!
Allow cheesecake to cool completely and then refrigerate overnight.
Make the compote: Place the honey and lavender in a small saucepan. Over low heat, gently bring the honey up to a quiet simmer. Immediately turn off the heat and allow mixture to infuse for up to 30 minutes.
Strain honey and discard lavender solids. Place frozen blueberries in the saucepan and pour honey over. Warm mixture over low heat, stirring gently, until blueberries are just defrosted.
And for those days when you simply don’t feel like cooking, The Philadelphia Inquirer has a comprehensive list of area restaurants who are offering takeout and delivery!
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