Creme Brulee

This recipe originally came from Alton Brown on the food network. However I changed up things a bit. As it is was great. I shorted some steps and just added pure vanilla instead of the vanilla bean. I also just used Raw sugar instead of vanilla sugar on the top. 

Ingredients

• 1 quart heavy cream
• 1 vanilla bean, split and scraped
• 1 cup vanilla sugar, divided
• 6 large egg yolks
• 2 quarts hot water

Directions

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.
Place the cream, vanilla bean and its pulp into a medium saucepan set over medium-high heat and bring to a boil. Remove from the heat, cover and allow to sit for 15 minutes. Remove the vanilla bean and reserve for another use.
In a medium bowl, whisk together 1/2 cup sugar and the egg yolks until well blended and it just starts to lighten in color. Add the cream a little at a time, stirring continually. Pour the liquid into 6 (7 to 8-ounce) ramekins. Place the ramekins into a cake or roasting pan. Pour enough hot water into the pan to come halfway up the sides of the ramekins. Bake just until the creme brulee is set, but still trembling in the center, approximately 40 to 45 minutes. Remove the ramekins from the roasting pan and refrigerate for at least 2 hours and up to 3 days.
Remove the creme brulee from the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes prior to browning the sugar on top. Divide the remaining 1/2 cup vanilla sugar equally among the 6 dishes and spread evenly on top. Using a torch, melt the sugar and form a crispy top. Allow the creme brulee to sit for at least 5 minutes before serving.

After I torched the raw sugar on the top
This recipe also allowed me to buy the coolest kitchen gadget ever for 19.99 at Target I bought this...

It is by far the coolest and most fun thing to use in my kitchen. Just wait till you see what I did to cupcakes with this little baby!

Fruit Pizza

 

Fruit pizza is by far one of my very favorite things to make. I had never had fruit pizza till I married David, its one of his Dads favorite desserts. Since getting the original recipe from my mother in law I have added my own twists and turns on things. As complicated as this looks it's really rather simple.

The crust is a basic sugar cookie recipe. I use my friend Kyms...

However, I cut it in half and still have plenty to make cookies with as well as the crust for the pizza.

Sugar Cookies  (by Lisa Yockelson, printed in the Washington Post in 1999)
(About 6 dozen cookies, using a 3-inch cookie cutter)
This big-batch recipe will provide you with plenty of tender, buttery rolled cookies for cutting into fanciful shapes to bake and decorate.
6 cups bleached all-purpose flour, plus additional for rolling the dough
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 1/4 teaspoons salt
1 1/2 teaspoons freshly grated nutmeg
1 pound (4 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
3 cups sugar, plus additional for the surface
2 large eggs
4 large egg yolks
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup light (table) cream
Nonstick spray oil
4 large egg whites, lightly beaten, for brushing on the unbaked cookies, or substitute about 1/3 cup light (table) cream,
In a large bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, salt and nutmeg. Set aside.
In a large bowl with an electric mixer on medium speed, cream the butter for 3 minutes. Add the sugar in 3 additions, beating for 1 minute after each addition. Add the 2 eggs and beat until combined, about 1 minute. Beat in the egg yolks and vanilla. Blend in the cream. Reduce the speed to low and add the flour mixture in 4 additions, mixing until the flour is completely incorporated after each addition. The dough will be soft.
Divide the dough evenly into 5 portions. Place each portion between 2 sheets of wax paper and roll to a thickness of 1/4 inch. Stack the sheets of dough on a large baking sheet, making sure that the sheets don't wrinkle. Refrigerate the dough on the sheet overnight.
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Line several baking sheets with parchment paper.
Carefully remove the top sheet of wax paper from 1 sheet of rolled- out dough on a lightly floured surface. Carefully flip it over so that the exposed dough is on the floured surface. Remove the top sheet of wax paper. Using cookie cutters lightly coated with nonstick cooking spray, cut out as many cookies as possible. Lightly press together the scraps, reroll and chill again. Repeat with the remaining portions of dough. (If the dough softens at any time, freeze the dough on a baking sheet for 20 to 30 minutes, or until the dough firms up.) Place the cookies 3 inches apart on the prepared baking sheets. Lightly brush the tops of the cookies with the egg white or cream. If you are not planning on decorating the cookies, sprinkle with sugar.
Bake the cookies in the preheated oven for 11 to 12 minutes, or until set and golden. Cool the cookies on the sheets for 1 minute. Transfer to wire rack to cool completely. Store the cookies in airtight tins.
Per cookie: 122 calories, 2 gm protein, 16 gm carbohydrates, 6 gm fat, 32 mg cholesterol, 3 gm saturated fat, 52 mg sodium, trace dietary fiber

Roll out a good size ball to cover what ever size pizza pan you are using. I always use my Pampered Chef Large Pizza Stone. 

Next I mix a pkg of cream cheese, 1/4 cup of butter, 1-2 tsp vanilla and about 2 cups of powdered sugar to make a fairly thin frosting. Frost the cooled crust. 

Next is the fun part...

arrange which ever fruit is in season. My favorites are in the picture above. However I have done peaches,nectarines,strawberries and blueberries and that was good too. I tend to stay away from anything like bananas that will brown because well, they just don't look as good.