I had some leftover whipping cream and buttermilk and made some crème fraîche! I combined the recipe for sweetened crème fraîche and the one for crème fraîche sorbet to make this. Truthfully, I should have left out the sugar before I made the crème fraîche because the sorbet recipe calls for sugar as well, so it was a little too sweet (but still yummy!). This smells a little like frozen frosting or cookie dough, and has a rich, clean taste that really brings out the natural flavors of the berries.

I really like this recipe because you can basically make ice cream, without an ice cream machine!

• 1 cup crème fraîche
• 1/8 cup light corn syrup
• 1/4 cup sugar

Whisk everything together, then decant into a metal loaf pan (I used a glass dish that I lined with aluminum foil).  Freeze until firm (several hours), and serve with plenty of berries.

And for those of you that don’t know how to make crème fraîche yet:

• 1 c. whipping cream, room temp
• 1 tbsp buttermilk or 1/2 cup sour cream, room temperature

In a jar with a lid, place whipping cream and buttermilk (or sour cream); cover securely and shake 15 seconds. Set aside at room temperature for 24 hours or until very thick. Stir once or twice during that time. NOTE: Cream will thicken faster if the room is warm. Stir thickened crème fraîche well. Refrigerate at least 6 hours before serving. Cover tightly and store in refrigerator for up to 2 weeks. Since I knew I would be using this recipe for sorbet, I added 1 to 1-1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract into the creme right before refrigerating to give it a vanilla flavor.

I had some extra buttermilk and tons of blueberries so I decided to make some blueberry muffins. I think these turned out great, though Dan said that they would have tasted better without the almonds on top. Also, this recipe made a little more than 12 muffins, so I put the extra batter into my Hello Kitty silicone muffin mold.

• 2 c. fresh blueberries, picked over
• 1-1/8 c. plus 1 teaspoon sugar
• 2½ c. unbleached all-purpose flour
• 2½ tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 large eggs
• 4 tbsp (½ stick) unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly
• ¼ c. vegetable oil
• 1 c. buttermilk
• 1½ teaspoons vanilla extract

Adjust oven rack to upper-middle position and heat oven to 425 degrees. Spray standard muffin tin with nonstick cooking spray or line with paper liners. Bring 1 cup blueberries and 1 teaspoon sugar to simmer in small saucepan over medium heat. Cook, mashing berries with spoon several times and stirring frequently, until berries have broken down and mixture is thickened and reduced to ¼ cup, about 6 minutes. Transfer to small bowl and cool to room temperature, 10 to 15 minutes.

Whisk flour, baking powder, and salt together in large bowl. Whisk remaining 1-1/8 cups sugar and eggs together in medium bowl until thick and homogeneous, about 45 seconds. Slowly whisk in butter and oil until combined. Whisk in buttermilk and vanilla until combined. Using rubber spatula, fold egg mixture and remaining cup blueberries into flour mixture until just moistened. (Batter will be very lumpy with few spots of dry flour; do not overmix.)

Divide batter equally among prepared muffin cups (batter should completely fill cups and mound slightly). Spoon teaspoon of cooked berry mixture into center of each mound of batter. Using chopstick or skewer, gently swirl berry filling into batter using figure-eight motion. Sprinkle topping evenly over muffins (see struesel topping recipe below). Bake until muffin tops are golden and just firm, 17 to 19 minutes, rotating muffin tin from front to back halfway through baking time. Cool muffins in muffin tin for 5 minutes, then transfer to wire rack and cool 5 minutes before serving.

Steusel Topping

Prepare streusel by combining 3 tablespoons granulated sugar, 3 tablespoons dark brown sugar, pinch table salt, and ½ cup plus 3 tablespoons (3½ ounces) unbleached all-purpose flour in small bowl. Drizzle with 5 tablespoons warm, melted unsalted butter and toss with fork until evenly moistened and mixture forms large chunks with some pea-sized pieces throughout. Proceed with recipe as directed, sprinkling streusel topping over muffins before baking.
(N.B. I only used half of the topping, and sprinkled with almond slices)

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Danny watches this podcast where this recipe was featured. Of course, he took this “cookie” recipe and turned it into something his own!

• 3/4 cup raisins
• 3/4 cup almond slices
• 3/4 cup shredded coconut
• 2 cups crushed chex cereal
• 3/4 cup sweetened condensed milk
• 4 ounces of semi-sweet or milk chocolate

Start by preheating your oven to 325 degrees. Measure ¾ cup of the sweetened condensed milk into a measuring cup with a pour spout. Sweetened condensed milk is really thick and sticky. If you spray the measuring cup with cooking spray first, the condensed milk will slip right out of the measuring cup. In a large bowl combine raisins, almonds, cereal, coconut, and the condensed milk. Mix well.

Line a baking sheet with sides with non-stick tin foil. If you only have regular tin foil then you have to “grease” the foil, preferably with shortening. You could spray it with cooking spray or smear butter all over the tin foil. Place 1/8 of a cup the mixture onto the foil lined oven trays. They don’t really spread or change shape when they are cooking so they don’t have to be really far apart. Bake 14-15 minutes or until light golden. Cool slightly before removing from tray, cool on wire rack.

While the cookies are cooling, put about two cups of water in the kettle and bring it to a boil. Put the chocolate chips into a small baggie. Pour the water into a medium bowl. Set the baggie of chocolate chips into the bowl. In about 5 minutes the chocolate will be melted. Snip the corner of the baggie. Squeeze the chocolate into a funnel shape and squirt the base of each cookie with melted chocolate. If desired, spread the chocolate into a thin layer on the “bottom” of the cookie. We just left it as is.

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I had some leftover buttermilk from a recent recipe and by request made some buttermilk pancakes from scratch.

• 1 c. all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1.5 tbsp sugar
• 1 large egg, lightly beaten
• 1.5 c. buttermilk
• 2 tbsp unsalted butter (or use salted, but omit 1/4 tsp salt)
• 1 banana (or other fruit of choice), almond slivers

Use a griddle or fry pan. Heat it while you whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and sugar in a medium bowl. Add eggs, buttermilk, and 2 tablespoons butter; whisk to combine. Batter should have small to medium lumps. Slice half of the banana and mix it into the batter. Test pan by sprinkling a few drops of water on it. If water bounces and spatters off griddle, it is hot enough. Spray pan with butter-spray or brush pan with pastry brush with butter. Make pancakes whatever size or shape you want. When pancakes have bubbles on top and are slightly dry around edges, flip over. Cook until golden on bottom. Repeat with remaining batter, serve warm. Top with other half of banana (sliced), and top with almond slivers if desired.

This makes more than enough pancakes for two people, I would say three or four people. I look forward to trying this with blueberries, and maybe some other fruit!

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