Category — Baking

Beer and pretzels go together like peas and carrots. Both beer and pretzels play starring roles in this dessert.

The dish starts with a chocolate stout cake. It’s the same cake recipe I used in my Pumpkin Ice Cream Sandwich. The cake is extremely moist. The chocolate is a background flavor to the maltiness and bitterness of the stout beer. The cake is soaked in cherry Lambic Ale to add even more moisture and beer flavor. After soaking it’s covered in stout ganache then filled with a pretzel infused caramel.

Opposite the cake is a sweet and salty pretzel ice cream. It’s sitting on top of some crushed pretzels and topped with black Hawaiian lava salt.

Finally, I used the leftover cherry Lambic that I didn’t use to soak the cake (or drink) to create a thin gel of beer which I then cut into pretzel shapes. Some stewed cherries add an extra cherry element, because the fruit pairs fantastically with beer, pretzels, and chocolate.

Want the recipe for this beer and pretzel dessert? I’m more than happy to share. Simply click the link below and sign up for the Garrett’s Table monthly newsletter. I’ll include the recipe in my next mailing (5/1/2010). Each newsletter contains updates from Garrett’s Table as well as subscriber only content. Signing up is easy and you can unsubscribe at any time.

These stunning photographs were taken by Mike Boehmer.

Mike is a Chicago-based photographer and a regular contributor to The Windy Pixel. Please visit www.mikeboehmer.com for more fantastic photography!

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We eat vegetables almost exclusively in savory dishes. Many vegetables, however, are naturally sweet and have intense aromas which work exceedingly well in desserts. I wanted to create a dessert featuring vegetables and I started by brainstorming which vegetables could work well in a dessert.

The first vegetable was an easy choice: Carrots. Carrots are one of the sweetest vegetables on Earth and they pair well with baking spices like clove, cinnamon, nutmeg, and allspice and with sweeteners like honey and molasses. We add carrots to stocks for an added sweetness and carrot cake is a staple of bakeries around the country.

Beets might seem like an odd dessert flavor but they are quite sweet. Afterall, a great portion of granulated sugar is processed and refined from sugar beets. One of my favorite side dishes is roasted beets with honey and dill. Used with restraint, the unique flavor of beets can work well in a dessert.

The final vegetable in this dessert is celery. Celery is almost more of an aromatic than it is a vegetable. It has a delightfully musty and sweet aroma. Celery is also nothing new to dessert at Garrett’s Table. With a bit of added sugar, celery can add a refreshing, aromatic flare to any dessert, along with a crunchy texture.

Ok so what the heck is the dessert??? A very soft thyme spongecake is filled with a beet and honey caramel. The caramel is quite thick at room temperature but, when baked in the center of the cake, it becomes very liquid and flows out of the cake when cut.

Next to the thyme and beet caramel cake is a spiced carrot and cream cheese sorbet. The sorbet is frozen into the shape of a carrot (a technique I’ve used previously in a Tiramisu Créme Brulée) and it is resting on some ground, candied walnuts.

A sweetened celery puree adds brightness and acidity which help to cut through the richness of the spongecake. Dollops of honey-fluff, fresh thyme leaves, and diced celery are the finishing elements of this unique dessert.

So go ahead…enjoy your vegetables!

I’m more than happy to share my secrets and my recipes. If you would like the recipe for this vegetable dessert, simply sign up for the Garrett’s Table e-mail newsletter. Signing up couldn’t be easier. Click the button below and enter your e-mail address and you’ll start receiving Garrett’s Table updates along with subscriber-only recipes and content. I’ll include the recipe for this vegetable dessert, with instructions on how to make your own sorbet mold, in my next mailing (April 1, 2010). All e-mail addresses are confidential and you can unsubscribe at any time.

These stunning photographs were taken by Mike Boehmer.

Mike is a Chicago-based photographer and a regular contributor to The Windy Pixel. Please visit www.mikeboehmer.com for more fantastic photography!

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Your coffee service this evening may look terribly conventional. Indeed it is a cup of coffee with whipped cream and an Italian cookie. But in what forms are all these elements?

The coffee is actually an espresso créme brulée. Espresso combined with a velvety baked custard create a delightful hot and cold, creamy and crunchy version of the classic latté. The “foam” or “whipped cream” on top is a lightly sweetened mascarpone mousse with a touch of shaved dark chocolate.

The cookie is a cookie…but it’s also not a cookie: it’s lady finger ice cream. The ice cream is made and flavored with the classic Italian pastry. After freezing the lady finger ice cream, I used a homemade mold to reform it into the shape of the cookie to which it owes its flavor and inspiration. I made the molds using Silicone Plastique from Make Your Own Molds, a great online source for culinary mold-making.

Silicone molds of lady finger cookies freeze the ice cream into perfect cookie shapes

Beneath the ice cream cookie is a sprinkling of chocolate lady finger crumbs. These crumbs bear a striking resemblance to coffee grounds (a very happy coincidence considering I did not plan this at all), bringing the flavor and concept of this dish full circle.

Do all these flavor elements sound familiar? Yes, ladies and gentlemen, your cup of coffee is tiramisu.

How do you make this classic yet modern dessert? Well, I’m happy to share my secrets! Simply sign up for the Garrett’s Table E-mail newsletter by clicking the link below and entering your e-mail address. I’ll include the recipe, including instructions on how to make your own ice cream molds, in my next mailing (March 1, 2010). All emails are confidential and you can un-subscribe at any time.

These stunning photographs were taken by Mike Boehmer.

Mike is a Chicago-based photographer and a regular contributor to The Windy Pixel. Please visit www.mikeboehmer.com for more fantastic photography!

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Valentine’s Day weekend is upon us. Why not treat your significant other to some hand made candies? Here are some Garrett’s Table confections, complete with links and recipes. Happy Valentine’s Day!

Spicy Salted Caramel Chocolates

Key Lime Ice Cream Bon Bons

Multi-Flavored Filled Macarons

Handmade Orange Gummy Candies

Chocolate Covered Potato Chips

Orange and Fennel Páte de Fruit

Blood Orange and Grand Marnier Popsicles

Peanut Butter and Jelly Marshmallows

Almond Macarons Filled With Espresso Ganache

All of these photographs were taken by Justin Kern.

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The sweet flavors of fall shine in this rich dessert. On the right is a spiced pumpkin ice cream sandwiched between two slices of chocolate stout cake. The cake has only a mild chocolate flavor and the stout adds a bitter quality that compliments the pumpkin ice cream. On the left is a liquid center cranberry truffle. A luscious cranberry puree is coated in a layer of white chocolate. My recommendation is to eat this in one bite, however the center is thick enough to make it a two-biter. Finally, the plate is blanketed in a toasted smear of molasses fluff.

For a complete recipe for both the ice cream sandwich and cranberry truffle, please subscribe to the monthly Garrett’s Table newsletter. Subscribing is easy! Simply click the link below and enter your email address. I’ll include the recipe in the next newsletter (1/1/10). All email addresses are confidential and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Photos by Justin Kern.

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