ZoëBakes

Plum Cupcakes with Sweet-Corn Ice Cream!

June 9, 2009May 26, 2023 Zoë François 31 Comments

My husband brought home corn last weekend from the market that was so sweet it just begged to be made into a dessert. But, that was not quite what he had in mind for this batch so we grilled it, peeled it, and added a small squeeze of lime juice and a sprinkle of salt. The lime brings out the sweetness even more. The following day I was back at the market and got more of the sweet corn and some early season plums that I suspected would be a bit tart. I figured the tart plums and the milky, honey like corn would be great companions for a plum cupcake recipe.

Right away I knew that the corn would be turned to ice cream, with just a touch of vanilla and nothing more to distract from the delicate flavor. I baked the plums in a pound cake recipe that includes a touch of cornmeal. Not too much or it would be dense, but enough to give a hint of corn flavor and a nice texture. I left the skins on the plums because they were too gorgeous to remove and once they baked the skins were perfectly soft. We are weeks, if not months away from having these grow locally, but our neighbors to the south are kind enough to ship us their crops until then!

The Parisian Peanut Butter Cup!

June 3, 2009March 10, 2022 Zoë François 39 Comments

Parisian peanut butter cup recipe | ZoëBakes | Photo by Zoë François

Every Halloween when my boys come home with their pillowcases full of candy, I always bargain to get the peanut butter cups. It is my candy weakness, well, one of the many. Chocolate and peanut butter is a great combination, but for some reason not the picture of sophistication. Peanut butter is thought to be something that you spread on bread and serve to kids when you are in a hurry. But, why not use it for something beyond PB&J? Thus: chocolate macarons with peanut butter filling!

Apple Cherry Strudel

May 27, 2009July 1, 2022 Zoë François 46 Comments

Before I made this apple cherry strudel, I hadn’t made a strudel in years, not since I worked in a restaurant and had lots of space and hands to help. In fact, this is the first time I’ve ever stretched strudel dough solo. When I was in culinary school we made one as a class that stretched out about 5 feet long and was nearly transparent. Never half measures at the CIA. There were at least 6 of us gingerly pulling and stretching and our instructor, Stacy Radin, was coaching us through the whole process. I think we all napped after that class!

Coffee Ice Cream with Rosemary Shortbread

May 25, 2009July 2, 2022 Zoë François 35 Comments

For those of you who follow me on Twitter, you know that I’m a dedicated coffee drinker. I was very loyal to illy for a time, while Costco carried it, but now my heart belongs to LavAzza. Many of you recommended it to me, but honestly I never tried it until I went to my friend’s bakery. At the Salty Tart Michelle creates pastries that inspired Andrew Zimmern to say it is the “best bakery in the World!” The coffee she serves is LavAzza. The coffee is excellent, worthy of her treats and good enough to make me switch from illy!

So when I wanted to make coffee ice cream I used Lavazza beans and a recipe from David Lebovitz, which I found in a recent copy of Fine Cooking magazine. The coffee flavor is so deep and intense that it almost has a bittersweet chocolate taste to it. If you’ve ever had Vietnamese ice coffee, this ice cream is reminiscent. That rich flavor just begged for something bright, so I paired the coffee ice cream with rosemary shortbread. A new addiction is born!

How I Became an Organic Backyard “Urban Farmer!”

May 18, 2009July 18, 2019 Zoë François 33 Comments

I should have been born with a green thumb! My grandmother is a natural in her flower garden and she passed the skill to my father. He has had gardens, really spectacular ones, for as long as I can remember. My earliest memories of my father are of him in the gardens he set up for the commune we lived on in the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont. We lived off of that garden. Dozens of people lived off of that garden. He went on to start the first co-op in that part of Vermont and eventually worked at both Organic Gardening and EatingWell magazines. It was his calling. Apparently the gardening gene skipped a generation. I inherited a deep appreciation for the food he was growing, but absolutely no abilities to create my own backyard garden.

This summer all of that is changing! My friend Barb told me about a program that would pair me and my tiny urban yard with a farmer, who would help me set up an organic backyard garden. I called the folks at the Backyard Harvest Program and asked them to come see if my rather pathetic yard was worthy of their project. Krista and Stefan came to the house and assured me that they could transform my space into an organic garden, full of over 30 varieties of vegetables, herbs and edible flowers. The one thing my yard does have is sun, which is the one essential element. They also promised to teach me and my boys every step of the process. Read More

Chocolate Cake with Chocolate Malt Buttercream

May 12, 2009July 2, 2022 Zoë François 62 Comments

Henri Turned 10 this month and the celebrating has been at a feverish pitch for weeks. It is a big year when your little baby hits double digits and becomes a tweenager. On his actual birthday we celebrated with our family. He wanted to rent the movie Grease (one of his babysitters was recently in the play at the high school), have sushi and eat chocolate cake! It sounded like a fantastic idea to me. After 20+ years I’d forgotten about some of the racy content in the movie, which they edited out of the high school play, Oooops! Luckily we were watching at home and could fast forward through the more “educational” scenes!