three bowls

Normally, this is an economy-sized blog. Such value! So many words before I get to the point!

Well, although the global economy is currently wagging its finger as such Rabelaisian excesses, I will persist.  Just not today.

I am making I think over 30 things – literally, not hyperbolically – for this holiday season and I simply don’t have the time to write 5000 words on that time I was broke in college and ate leftover delivery Chinese white rice with bottled teriyaki sauce that was given to me in pity by my older roommates and it was the best thing I ever ate at that moment and how it relates to the cupcake I just made and What It All Means.

So I will finish up my reports and recommendations from the recent Thanksgiving Dessertaganza in brief. Brief, I tell you!

Venetian Apple Cake: From Dolce Italiano, full recipe available via link to the left.

Nice! Nice and simple apple cake! Flavorful, moist and with a little crunchy from the polenta. Keeper!

Black Pepper Ice Cream: From David Lebovitz's The Perfect Scoop.

Nice, kinda weird! The process to make it is very simple..., just infuse the ice cream base with black peppercorns cracked in a mortar and pestle.

You might not guess it’s black pepper if someone didn’t tell you, just sweet and spicy and floral in an unusual way.  But it's not something I would want to eat on its own. I made the apple cake to eat with it, but I think the ideal thing for it would be a pear tart. Something with a lot of cooked and tasty fruit. David’s recipe isn’t online, but Epicurious has a recipe that is similar and with another possibility for a complete dessert with Walnut Cake and Sauteed Pears. (David has recently posted a modified black pepper ice cream – milk chocolate and black pepper).

Cranberry Granita: For Carolyn and me, this was WAAAAY too much cranberry flavor. The beginning flavor was nice, but the astringent aftertaste was off-putting to me. But! a couple people at dinner like cranberry and they enjoyed it, with one person even taking seconds (when you have 7 desserts, that is saying something).

The process is simple: cook the cranberries with sugar, water, and OJ...

...then blend, strain...

and freeze per the usual granita process.

Next time I would make it with half the amount of cranberry and twice the amount of OJ and see if that works better. On the bright side: a granita is a simple frozen dessert anyone with a freezer can make: no ice cream maker required.

This Epicurious Cranberry Granita recipe will probably be as puckery as David’s, for true cran lovers only.

This other Epicurious one uses Cranberry Juice cocktail and cooked sauce, so might be slightly more palatable to a broader range of tastes. It’s also topped with an Orange Whipped Cream which I think is a great idea for this dish no matter which route you go.