Category — sweets

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Believe it or not, this is cheesecake. The flavors are all represented here in differing textures and (arguably) bizarre forms. The meat of the dish is a very light inflated cream cheese mousse. Set with agar and inflated using a cream whipper, the mousse, shown in the close up below, is very fluffy and porous, a very different texture than the traditional dense cream cheese custard.

One frustration I have with cheesecake is the graham cracker crust: It becomes dense and soggy after baking. Here the crust is appears in a powder and in large chunks to preserve its original flakey and crunchy texture. We also have some hand-made berries made from cherry and raspberry puree. You can eat the liquid-center orbs all at once and pop them in your mouth or puncture them to sauce the plate in a sweet and tangy fruit puree. Finally, for extra texture, flavor, and dramatic flare, crispy cherry leather is stuck into the cream cheese mousse.

For a complete recipe please subscribe to my newsletter. Simply click the link below and enter your email address. I’ll include the recipe, including the cherry-raspberry spheres, in my next mailing (12/1/09). You’ll receive a monthly update of the latest from Garrett’s Table as well as plenty of subscriber-only content. E-mail addresses are confidential and you can easily unsubscribe at any time.

Photos by Justin Kern.

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A very popular technique in modern fine dining is spherification. This technique allows us to encapsulate a liquid, such as cherry and raspberry puree, inside of itself. The key players are calcium and sodium alginate, which is a seaweed-derived gelling agent. When sodium alginate comes into contact with calcium it quickly forms a delicate but resilient skin that cannot be de-natured by freezing or excessive heating. However, when you apply light pressure to the orb with a fork or your teeth, the membrane breaks, releasing the liquid interior. This is illustrated in the photo below.

I made these orbs by first making a cherry and raspberry puree. I then thickened and seasoned the puree. I added calcium lactate to the puree and froze the mixture into spheres. Meanwhile I combined water, sugar, and sodium alginate to make a slightly sweet mixture. I boiled the mixture to expel the air bubbles and kept it warm. I dropped the frozen spheres into the warm alginate bath. The heat melted a thin layer of water on the outside which was immediately gelled. After a 2 minute soak, I carefully removed the orbs and rinsed them in a water bath. I then transfered them to a holding bath of cherry juice. Although the skin is resilient to heat and cold, it breathes and is permeable by the process of osmosis. Keeping the orbs in a flavored liquid adds to the overall flavor and prevents liquid migration from the orbs.

Top left to lower right: Frozen puree, spheres in hot alginate bath, spheres in water rinsing bath, spheres in cherry holding bath.

For a complete recipe with helpful information on where to buy and how to use sodium alginate and calcium lactate, please subscribe to my bi-weekly mailing list. Simply click the link below, enter your email address, and I will include the recipe in my next mailing (12/1/09). You can unsubscribe at any time and I will not flood your inbox. With each mailing you’ll receive a friendly update of what’s going on at Garrett’s Table with exclusive, subscriber-only recipes and content.

Stay tuned in the coming days to see how I use these cherry-raspberry orbs with the flavors of a classic New York pastry

Photos by Justin Kern.

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Fall in the midwest brings loads of apples. Hundreds of varieties, from Granny Smith to Red Delicious, stream from the orchards to groceries and farmers markets. With the excess of doughnuts comes plenty of golden apple cider which pairs beautifully with freshly fried doughnuts.

Here’s a dessert based on the flavors of dougnuts, apples, and caramel. Two miniature, still-warm doughnuts, one coated in cinnamon sugar and one in powdered apples, are accompanied by candied Golden Delicious apple spheres and a rich caramel ice cream sprinkled with black Hawaiian sea salt. The candied apples require some well-rewarded labor: The sweet, spiced poaching liquid fully penetrates the apples that, although fully cooked, are crisp, crunchy, and reminiscent of hard cider. Caramel ice cream creates a classic flavor combination with the apples and a nice contrast to the still-hot doughnuts. Here’s the recipe:

Poached apple spheres:

• 12 Golden Delicious Apples
• Clear Poaching Liquid:
  • 300 g dry white wine
  • 300 g water
  • 300 g sugar
  • 5 g salt
  • 1 stick cinnamon
  • 3 whole cloves
  • 3 slices ginger root
  • 3 black peppercorns
• Red Poaching Liquid:
  • 300 g dry white wine
  • 300 g water
  • 300 g sugar
  • 5 g salt
  • 1 stick cinnamon
  • 3 whole cloves
  • 3 slices ginger root
  • 3 black peppercorns
  • 1 medium red beet, peeled and diced

Begin by making the two poaching liquids. Combine the wine, water, and sugar in a medium sauce pan and heat on low. When the sugar is completely dissolved add the spices. Bring to a boil then remove from heat. For the white poaching liquid, steep with the spices for 30 minutes, then drain and cool. For the red poaching liquid, pour the hot poaching liquid over diced beet and steep for 30 minutes, then strain and cool. The beet will add plenty of color to, without heavily flavoring, the poaching liquid.

Carefully peel the Golden Delicious apples. Using a melon baller, scoop spheres from the flesh of the apple. You should get about 10 spheres from each apple with very little waste. Either eat the scraps or use for another recipe. Place the spheres into cooled poaching liquids as you scoop them to prevent oxidation.

Place apple spheres and poaching liquid into a vacuum bag (if you do not have a vacuum bag, use a zip-top bag). Expel the air and seal. Poach at 165%deg; F for 3 hours. Place the bags of apples and poaching liquid into an ice bath to stop any cooking. Chill thoroughly.

Caramel-Vanilla Ice Cream:

• 1 vanilla bean
• 210 g sugar
• 55 g water
• 570 g half and half
• 6 large egg yolks (120 g)
• 2 g salt

Split and scrape the seeds from vanilla bean into a large sauce pan. Add sugar and water. Heat on medium heat until sugar is dissolved. Heat, unstirred, until sugar becomes a deep caramel color. Add half and half all at once. The mixture will bubble quite intensely but settle down as the sugar is cooled. Stir frequently until caramelized sugar dissolves. Bring the mixture to a boil. Temper the egg yolks by adding a few ounces of the half and half mixture to the eggs while whisking. Add the egg mixture back into the remaining half and half. Add salt and stir constantly over low heat with a wooden spoon until the mixture thickens and coats the back of a spoon. Strain into a clean container and chill thoroughly in an ice bath or in the refrigerator.

Once chilled, freeze in a counter-top ice cream freezer for 20 minutes. Transfer the ice cream to a pre-frozen container and press a layer of plastic wrap directly on top of the ice cream to prevent oxidation.

Doughnuts:

• 300 g whole milk
• 50 g apple cider
• 70 g shortening
• 14 g (1/2 oz.) instant yeast
• 80 g warm water
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 55 g sugar
• 5 g salt
• 700 g all purpose flour, in two 350 g batches
• 1/2 gallon vegetable oil
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 Tb. cinnamon
• 2 oz. freeze dried apples

Heat the milk and apple cider in a small saucepan until hot enough to melt shortening. Remove from heat and add shortening. Stir to melt completely. Activate yeast in warm water and allow to sit for 5 minutes. Add to the bowl of a stand mixer with eggs, sugar, salt, and milk-shortening mixture. Add 350 g flour and mix with a paddle attachment until very smooth. Add second installment of flour and mix until slightly incorporated. Switch to a dough hook and knead on medium speed for about 10 minutes, or until the dough begins to pull away from the sides of the bowl. The dough should be slightly tacky. Scrape dough into a greased bowl and cover the bowl loosely with plastic wrap. Allow to rise for 1 hour, or until doubled in size.

After one hour, gently turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface and fold the dough over itself twice. Roll to 1/8′’ thick and cut doughnut shapes with a doughnut cutter or two round cutters. Place the cut doughnuts onto a sheet pan lined with a silpat. Allow the doughnuts to proof for another 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, heat a pot of oil to 365° F. Mix together sugar and cinnamon. Grind freeze dried apples in a spice grinder and pour powder onto a small plate.

After 30 minutes of proofing, carefully place 3-4 doughnuts at a time into the hot oil. Fry for 1-2 minutes or until golden brown on one side. Flip the doughnut and cook for one more minute. Drain doughnuts on paper towels and quickly dredge in cinnamon sugar or dip one side into powdered freeze-dried apples to simulate a powdered sugar doughnut.

To Assemble and Serve:

• Black Hawaiian lava salt, as needed
• Caramel ice cream
• Apple doughnuts
• Candied apple spheres

Remove candied apple spheres and allow to drain on a paper towel. Place 4 apple spheres, 2 of each color, on a plate along with two doughnuts. Place a scoop or quenelle of ice cream on the plate and top with a sprinkling of lava salt.

Photos by Justin Kern.

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Warm fruit cobbler is one of the best treats of summer. The sweet, warm, cooked fruit underneath a crunchy oatmeal crust is incredible topped with vanilla ice cream. In the summertime here in Chicago fruit markets and farmer’s markets are filled with peaches and plums at their peak of ripeness. I took full advantage of the summer fruit harvest to make my own unique version of fruit cobbler.

I began with a peach puree. I cooked the peaches with a splash of bourbon and a sachet of black tea leaves. The tea infused with the juices that leached from the peaches to form a sweet-tea of sorts. I then pureed the peaches and adjusted the seasoning with a squeeze of lemon juice.

The centerpiece of the dish is a poached red plum. To make them I neatly peeled and split the peaches in half. I then made a simple syrup in which I blended the plum skins, a vanilla bean, and a splash of port wine. I sealed them in a plastic bag and cooked them souse vide at 130° for about 20 minutes. The plum halves were evenly poached and slightly softened but held their shape. I served the plum warm.

Finally the other elements of the plate include a cardamom ice cream, which adds some spice and a nice temperature contrast, oatmeal praline for added crunch, and a light and fluffy cinnamon foam to add the final element of this deconstructed fruit cobbler.

Photos by Justin Kern.

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The semi-sweet and refreshing flavors of yogurt, cantaloupe, and mint combine to form this chilled summertime dessert. In the bowl is a cube of yogurt and poppyseed sorbet with just a hint of lemon zest. Below the sorbet is a mint and almond pesto. From a very ripe cantaloupe I made a chilled melon soup that is poured over the sorbet and mint pesto table side. The pesto made vibrant streaks across the melon soup which I think looks pretty cool. Take one spoonful and the creamy melon soup gives way to bright mint and the tart chill of yogurt sorbet.

The good news is that this healthy and refreshing dessert is very easy to make. The even better news is that the recipe is for Garrett’s Table newsletter subscribers only! Subscribing is simple: Click the link below and enter your email address to sign up for my bi-weekly mailing. I’ll include the recipe for this cantaloupe soup in my next mailing (7/29). With each mailing you’ll receive plenty of subscriber-only content and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Photos by Justin Kern.

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