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Desserts & candy

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Old Fashioned Strawberry Pie Recipe. Banana-Cardamom Upside-Down Cake with Salty Caramel. Banana bread was always a staple in my mom’s kitchen when I was growing up.

Banana-Cardamom Upside-Down Cake with Salty Caramel

Over the years, I have riffed on her recipe in dozens of ways: adding chocolate chips, nuts, or spices; swinging from quick bread to cake; icing or dusting it with confectioners’ sugar. Then, about a year ago, I decided to play with the idea of a banana upside-down cake, topped with banana slices and salted caramel, which both soaks into the cake and drips all around it when the pan is inverted. That little idea turned out to be a total keeper. Here it is. Ingredients. Salted Cashew Caramels. Neutral oil, such as safflower, for the pan3/4 cup heavy cream 1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, cut into pieces 1 cup sugar 1/2 cup Lyle’s Golden Syrup 1/4 cup water 5 ounces (1 cup) roasted, salted cashews, coarsely chopped 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt Flaky sea salt, for sprinkling Cashew nuts grow in the most unexpected way.

Salted Cashew Caramels

The fruit of the cashew tree resembles a pear-shaped apple. At the bottom of the red and yellow fruit, a hard, gray cashew-shaped pod grows. This pod contains the cashew kernel, the part we eat. There is a Filipino fable explaining the provenance of the strange appearance of the cashew fruit. Five-Nut Caramel Tart. For the pastry shy, this tart is salvation.

Five-Nut Caramel Tart

It looks like jewels set in amber, with its candy bar mosaic of five kinds of nuts embedded in buttery caramel slicked over a tender crust, which is where salvation comes in. There is no rolling pin in sight. Almond flour shortcake cookies. When it comes to shortbread cookies, it’s all about the texture and crunch, right?

Almond flour shortcake cookies

Well, today we’re sharing a gluten-free spin on this classic cookie using almond flour instead of all-purpose flour. We’ve talked about almond flour before and the many ways you can use it in your baking (gluten-free or not), and these shortbread cookies are a perfect example. Try To Get Through This Recipe For Passion Fruit Flan Without Drooling. Dark Chocolate Buttercrunch Recipe. I made just the toffee part (no chocolate or nuts) to use in a cookie recipe.

Dark Chocolate Buttercrunch Recipe

First, the taste is great. However, the directions leave something to be desired. It says use a large pot. No, don't. If you do, you won't have enough depth of the toffee to get an accurate temperature. Chocolate Salted Caramel Tart Recipe. Pineapple Upside-Down Cake. You can make upside-down cakes with all kinds of fruit, but you just can’t beat our take on the classic.

Pineapple Upside-Down Cake

We make it in a cast-iron skillet and add bourbon to the salted-caramel pineapple topping. Sprinkle in almonds for added flavor and texture. For the Caramel Pineapple Topping 1 pineapple6 tablespoons unsalted butter1 cup packed light brown sugar1 tablespoon bourbon (rum or vanilla works too)1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt3/4 cup sliced almonds, toasted For the Cake 1 1/3 cups cake flour (not self-rising)2 teaspoons baking powder, preferably aluminum-free3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon1 teaspoon ground ginger1 teaspoon fine sea salt2 large eggs, at room temperature2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract1 cup granulated sugar8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature1 cup sour cream Special Equipment One 1-inch round cookie cutterPreheat the oven to 350°F. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. Almond cake. The main course is dessert, and the classic debate is heavy vs. light.

Almond cake

Apple-Stuffed Biscuit Buns. I love a good cinnamon bun — even more with some diced apples wrapped up in the swirls — but I'm rarely organized enough to prep a yeast dough hours in advance of baking.

Apple-Stuffed Biscuit Buns

These buns, inspired by the ones I once tasted at the River Run Café in Plainfield, Vermont, are made with a quick biscuit dough. Problem solved! Custardy Apple Squares. I think of this as a "back-pocket recipe," one I can pull out when I need something quick and wonderful, something I can make on the spur of the moment without trekking to the market.

Custardy Apple Squares

The cake is primarily apples (or pears or mangoes, see Bonne Idées) and the batter, which resembles one you'd use for crêpes, has more flavor than you'd imagine the short list of ingredients could deliver and turns thick and custard-like in the oven. Through some magic of chemistry, the apples, which go into the pan in a mishmash, seem to line themselves up and they come out baked through but retaining just enough structure to give you something to bite into.

That it can be served minutes out of the oven makes this the perfect last-minute sweet. Laurent’s Slow-Roasted Spiced Pineapple. Laurent Tavernier isn’t even my hair stylist, but he knows that I love food, and so whenever I’m in the salon for a cut, he takes time to chat with me about what he’s made over the weekend.

Laurent’s Slow-Roasted Spiced Pineapple

When he gave me this recipe, I didn’t wait for the weekend to try it. The dessert is simple enough: a slow-roasted ripe pineapple with a thick aromatic sauce. As it roasts, it’s basted with orange juice, booze, jelly and a mix of spices until it is fork-tender and almost confited, or candied. How much juice? “Oh, about this much,” Laurent said, making finger measurements that wavered. I’ve given you a real recipe (kind of ), but my inclination is to tell you to take a leaf from Laurent’s book and let inspiration and whatever you’ve got in the cupboard guide you. A word on size and servings: In Paris, I make these with the small pineapples known as Victorias.

Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 300 degrees F. Cut the top and bottom off the pineapple. Old-Fashioned Pecan Pie Recipe. Photo by William Abranowicz yield Makes 8 servings active time 35 min total time 5 hr (includes making pastry and cooling pie) Pastry Dough Recipe. Yield Makes 1 (9-to 9 1/2 inch) pie or tart shell active time 15 min total time 1 1/4 hr Four ingredients and a quarter of an hour are all that's required to turn out the ultimate pastry dough.

Peaches Roasted in Amaretto. Ingredients: 4 peaches1/4 cup amaretto1/2 cup sugarCrème fraîche or Fior di Latte Gelato, for serving Directions: 1. Preheat the broiler to high. 2. Salted Caramel Shortbread Bites. If you're a fan of the salt and caramel combination but haven't tried it at home yet, this is a delicious way to experiment. The recipe is a twist on millionaire's shortbread, a classic British childhood favorite of mine.

It's now all grown up, and perfect as a bite after dinner. Ingredients For the base 1 stick (1/2 cup) soft butter, plus extra for greasing1/4 cup sugara pinch of flaky sea salt1/2 tsp vanilla extract1 cup plus 2 tbsp all-purpose flour.