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Creme Brulee

I've been discussing dessert and food in general with a couple of my friends throughout the week, and the conversation seems to always come back to this one question; what makes dessert so special. Some people connected dessert with feelings of nastalgia, while others described the sensory experience alone as being enough to win them over.
Essentially, dessert can mean a number of things to people...
In keeping with this philosiphy, I thought I would share a few of my favorite recipees and tell you guys why they mean so much to yours truly.

CREME BRULEE
You will need...
8 egg yolks
1/3 cup granulated white sugar
2 cups heavy cream
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/4 cup granulated white sugar (for the caramelized tops)

Preheat oven to 300ºF. In a large bowl, whisk together egg yolks and sugar until all the sugar has dissolved into the mixture; It should be a thick yellow color at this point. Add cream and vanilla, and continue to whisk until well blended. Don't forget to use some elbow grease!!! Now pour the mixture into a large bowl, skimming off any foam or bubbles, as these will serve to make the creme less dense.

 

Divide mixture among 6 custard cups. Place ramekins in a water bath (large pan filled with 1 or 2 inches of hot water) and bake for 45-55 minutes. (The hot water will create steam in the oven and should prevent the batter from cracking.) The compound should be firm around the edges, yet still loose in the center. Remove from oven and leave in the water bath until cooled. Remove cups from water bath and chill for at least 2 hours, or up to 2 days. When ready to serve, sprinkle about 2 teaspoons of sugar over each custard. For best results, use a small, hand-held torch to melt sugar. If you don't have a torch, place under the broiler until sugar melts. Re-chill custards for a few minutes before serving.

When I was 15, I was ready for my first job. I received my working permit in the mail and immeaditely filled out an application to work at my favorite grocery store, Wegmans. My resume was limited to a few babysitting jobs and one disasterous season of high school rugby, but no matter. I had a sparkle in my eye and was still disilusioned enough to believe that was all I needed to succeed in the world. well, by some miracle I was called in for an interview. I labored over every detail spanning from what to wear to how firmly I should shake my interviewer's hand- I wanted to show the world that these were my formative years and with propper instruction and guidance I could be molded into the perfect grocery store employee!

Unfortunately this is where the miraculousness ends, because in the midst of preparing myself for whatever left fielded question my interviewer could throw my way, I had completely neglected to come up with an answer for the most important (and in hindsight most glaringly obvious) question of them all; what skills do I posess that would qualify me for this position.

I panicked. Who would have thought this all powerful interviewer would ask suck a relevant question?! Certainly not this wide eyed teenager. Before I could even search my brain for an intelligent answer, unintelligible words shot from my mouth and landed with a thud on my interviewer's ears. "I can make creme brulle!" I shouted.

"That's nice." was the response I received.

Never one to know when to quit, I went on to discuss my fond memories of baking this sinfully delicious (yes I said those exact words in the meeting) treat with my Grandmother.

Readers,-yes I'm writing to all five of you- allow me to let you in on a bit of information you've probably already figured out for yourself; I have never made creme brulee in my life. At that point, I haden't even tasted the damn thing. I thnk the interviewer sensed this odd boldface lie.

She proceeded to tell me about openings as a cashier or a shipping assistant. "Working in the checkout line seems like it would be really stressful, and I'm pretty little and would rather not lift heavy things." That was my second brilliant response of the day.

Needless to say I did not get the job and never quite realized my dream of becoming a Wegmans employee. I'm about to graduate from college, so maybe I'll resubmit my application. What else am I going to do with a BA in Liberal Arts?

Cupcakes For A Cause

See dessert CAN be both good and good for you

Backlava With Old World Charm

Hello devoted foodies I recently took a trip home to Western NY and had the most wonderful dessert experience imaginable, which is saying a lot considering the fact that I eat sweets all the time. Pano's restaurant is located on Elmwood, a charming street located in Buffalo's artsy West side neighborhood. While in recent years this area has been taken over by hipster college students, Pano's has held onto its old world roots that have made this tiny eatery a hit for decades.
First a little background information...
My father attended the University of Buffalo for both college and grad school. Suffice it to say, he spent countless hours in local eateries cramming for early morning exams. Although it is no longer a hole-in-the-wall joint which caters exclusively to broke college kids, Pano's, which is open until the wee hours of the morning is still a favorite hot spot among students to gather with friends and have a study session over french fries and beer.
What drew me to this student/family friendly cafe is its dessert menu. I've always been a bit leery of people who go to one place for drinks, another for entres, and yet another for dessert- the whole thing seems a bit pretentious to me. However, when I saw the old world Greek dishes offered at Pano's, I just had to break my own rule. I ordered baklava, which I had eaten quite a few times before at various cafes around the East coast. I can honestly say this was my favorite baklava experience to date. The filo dough was crisp, but not dry. The nuts were roasted to perfection. And the portion size was generous-Don't you just hate it when a great dessert is gone in 2 bites?! Overall, I would definitely recommend this dessert to any foodie!