So, I'm doing what every food blogger does... cooking through a cookbook in its entirety. I don't want to miss out on any of the fun! Read along here as I cook through Johnny Iuzzini's "Sugar Rush." Although it does have a few gluten-free recipes in it, it is NOT a gluten-free cookbook. Read along as I attempt to bake my way through his book, adapting the recipes so gluten-free sweet tooths everywhere can enjoy them.
Once you've made the Chocolate Browned Butter Crepes, this cake really isn't too difficult to make. The combination of flavors is amazing-- chocolate, cashews, lemon, vanilla, mascarpone, and ricotta. Are you drooling yet?
This is a SUPER easy recipe to make and it is both creamy (thanks to the sour cream) and refreshing (thanks to the lemon). Serve it at your next Spring event or even into the Summer.
This recipe is really interesting. I'm a huge fan of weird ice cream flavors. Give me lavender ice cream or even Jeni's "Green" any day over chocolate. That said, this is a crazy ice cream flavor. It's not immediately delicious. True to its name, it is bitter. But, just at first. The bitterness of the orange rind is quickly followed by sweetness and creaminess. It's... interesting. And, worth making and definitely worth pairing with a rich chocolate cake...
Finally I have a recipe in my Cookbook Challenge that includes gluten! Finally I get to flex my gluten-free baking muscles! Finally I get to prove that you don't need gluten to make something delicious!
Weeeelllll.... not quite. Yes, recipe no. 4 in Johnny Iuzzini's "Sugar Rush" does call for gluten, specifically barley malt syrup. And, yes, the recipe did allow me to flex my gluten-free baking muscles. Buuut, I didn't totally succeed in recreating Iuzzini's recipe. I still made something delicious, but it was most definitely not malted milk chocolate ice cream.
I have to admit that I'm getting ready to move beyond this section of the Cookbook Challenge. Don't get me wrong, I love ice cream. But, making it with eggs? Not so much... You'll note that there's a crazy amount of spices in this recipe. I had to search out star anise and couldn't find it ground, so had to whip out our spice grinder. I also had to buy some whole nutmeg. The result of this spice-rack of flavors is a warm, gingerbread, very Fall-holiday appropriate delicious ice cream. Make this for Thanksgiving and you will win Thanksgiving dinner.
Alright so I "mastered" the creme anglaise sauce last week. This week all I had to do to move forward in my Cookbook Challenge was mix up another batch of Creme Anglaise with a little extra sugar and then spin it around in my ice cream maker. Easy peasy, right? Right????
At the start of "Sugar Rush," Izzuini spends a few pages talking about how he got into baking, how you should measure ingredients, how you should set up your workspace before you start baking, and how you should read through a recipe carefully before you begin. So, I really really tried to do this for my first ever Cookbook Challenge recipe. I swear, I did... but, as you'll see, I may not have been careful enough. But, let's not jump ahead of ourselves.
So, this recipe for chocolate browned butter crepes doesn't actually fall after the Sour Cream Sherbet in the cookbook.... yes, you caught me, I'm working my way through Johnny Iuzzini's "Sugar Rush" OUT OF ORDER! (gasp!) Like pancakes, your first few crepes won't be great. Maybe they won't be the right shape or maybe they'll be unevenly cooked. Sometimes they fold over on themselves when you're flipping them. You know what that's called? A tasty mistake. Gobble that deformed crepe right up!