Julia Child's Cherry Clafoutis

As the wet damp Nova Scotia spring fades into the long, and hopefully, hot days of summer, things start to happen. One of my favourite things is when cherries go on sale.

I keep my eye on these plump shiny little red fruits from the time they make their first appearance, at $10.99/lb, until around now, when they're $3.99/lb and sometimes less.

Ok, great. I've got two pounds of fresh cherries. Now what?

Pie would be the obvious answer, especially in my house, where my husband Sean will eat practically anything with the word 'pie' in it.

I feel kind of bad.

Cherry pie is Sean's favourite.

But I didn't feel like making pie.

I felt like making Clafoutis. (Is it Cla-foo-TEE or Cla-FOO-tee?) I don't really know, but either way, it's friggin' good.

I read somewhere that if you leave the pits in the cherries, they'll have more flavour when baked so I did just that. Plus, I don't own a cherry pitter and I didn't feel like pitting 60 cherries by hand.

You know.

'Cause that blows.

Warm Cherry Clafoutis dusted with powdered sugar. A small delight in my hectic life.

I used Julia Child's recipe for Clafoutis posted on Epicurious. 

Keurig MINI Plus Brewer and Van Houtte Vanilla Hazenut Coffee Ice Cream

This is my brand new Cobalt Blue Keurig MINI Plus Brewer. Isn't it awesome?

I've been toying with making the switch to Keurig for a while now. Every time I would go to the store to buy coffee, I would stand in front of the Keurig section, staring forlornly at the amazing selection (over 100 different flavours of K-Cups to choose from!!) that is available to Keurig owners. 'I want to drink Van Houtte Vanilla Hazelnut!', I would think to myself, but NOOO, instead I would head home, no K-Cups in my bags, because I didn't own a Keurig.

I live in a one-coffee-drinker household. And THAT is why I'm so thrilled about this adorable efficient little machine. It takes up hardly any space on my counter, I have TONS of selection for coffee (or tea, or hot chocolate, or apple cider and more!), it's so easy to use my Grandma could figure it out and it's PRETTY which means it's MINE.

As most of you know, I can't just make a cup of coffee and call it a day - I like to play! - and so I thought, what would be fun to do with GMCR's Van Houtte coffee? Then it hit me - ICE CREAM.

I give you Van Houtte Vanilla Hazelnut Coffee Ice Cream with Toasted Hazelnuts and Chopped Milk Chocolate (recipe adapted from Not Eating Out In New York)

1.5 C 35% whipping cream

1.5 C whole milk

0.5 + 0.25 C sugar

3 egg yolks

2 whole eggs

3/4 C water

2 Van Houtte Vanilla Hazelnut K-Cups

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 C hazelnuts, skinned, roasted, chopped

1/2 C milk chocolate pieces

- heat whipping cream, milk and 0.5 C sugar in a saucepan over med-low heat until sugar dissolves and steam starts to rise

- in a med-large bowl, whisk 0.25 C sugar, egg yolks and whole eggs

- pour 3/4 C water into Keurig MINI Plus Brewer - brew one Van Houtte Vanilla Hazelnut Coffee K-Cup - discard brewed coffee to keep 0.5 C - peel lid from second K-Cup and add fresh grounds to brewed 0.5 C - steep

- whisk 1 C hot milk mixture, very little at a time, into egg mixture - once 1 C hot milk is whisked into egg, add everything back into the pot of hot milk - cook over med-low heat until custard coats the back of a wooden spoon and you can draw a clear line through it with your finger - remove from heat

- strain steeped Van Houtte Vanilla Hazelnut Coffee through a fine mesh strainer TWICE - add to custard with 1 tsp vanilla - stir well - cool then chill in fridge 3-4 hours

- churn in ice cream maker according to your manufacturer's directions - layer ice cream in container with chopped hazelnuts and chopped chocolate - freeze 3-4 hours

ohmygoodnessyum.

*Please note that although I did receive a free Keurig Cobalt Blue MINI Plus Brewer, a Keurig K-Cup Carousel, Van Houtte House Blend, Van Houtte Vanilla Hazelnut, Bigelow Green Tea and Café Escapes Hot Cocoa K-Cups from Keurig, they did not specifically ask me to write a blog post promoting their product. I just really love this little machine and would have bought one anyway at some point! Thank you Keurig!!

Rhubarb Curd Pudding Cups

I owe my love of lemon curd to Aimée White - Food Je t'Aimée. It was during a tea party at her house that I had my first encounter with this gorgeous tart and creamy spread.

It's been an ongoing love affair and since that afternoon, I've played with recipes for lemon, lime and Clementine curds. Walking through the farmer's market the other day, I noticed that Noggins had lush bunches of fresh pink and green spring rhubarb. After the obligatory rhubarb crisp for Sean, my thoughts turned toward curd and I thought, why not?

Totally winging it, as I normally do, I used my favourite lemon curd recipe and just substituted a pound of washed, chopped rhubarb for the lemon juice and zest. I thought about straining out the chunks of rhubarb but in the end said screw it and decided to leave them in for flavour and texture.

Oh my.

You want to make this. Trust me.

I made this Vanilla Pudding Recipe from CHOW.com and layered it in cups with the rhubarb curd and a sweet little Amaretti cookie on top.

Rhubarb Curd

1 pound (454g) fresh rhubarb, washed, chopped (use as many bright pink pieces as possible including the parts around the bottom of the stalks)

1 Tbsp water

1 C sugar

4 egg yolks

1/8 tsp kosher salt

1/2 C butter

- combine rhubarb, water and 1/2 C sugar in a pot - cook on medium-low heat until rhubarb is very soft, about 14 minutes - smoosh all pieces with the back of a rubber spatula or mash with a potato masher

- whisk egg yolks, kosher salt and remaining 1/2 C sugar - scoop out about 1/2 to 1 Cup hot rhubarb and whisk it into the egg yolk mixture a little bit at a time to temper the yolks and then add everything back to the pot with the remaining hot rhubarb - whisk together

- add butter and cook over med-low heat for about 10 minutes, stirring constantly, until thick and creamy

- dish into clean Mason jars or other airtight storage containers

*I usually halve this recipe and it makes two 250mL Mason jars full of curd