Nectarine, Pistachio, and Gingersnap Tart

Now that the summer is essentially almost over (SAD REALIZATION), I feel like cranking out every last summery recipe I can think of, knowing fully well that even if I do manage to make those five other ice creams that I wanted to try, and that awesome tropical panna cotta that looked sooo good, and just one more thing with fresh berries, I wouldn't even have time to share everything with you before summer actually comes to an end. It's sad, but it's the truth.  The silver lining, though, is that fall, aka the best season ever, is right around the corner.  It's no crazy revelation, that's for sure, but it excites me nonetheless.  Spiced things, hot cidery things, brown buttery things, and nutty things...I'm getting so pumped just thinking about all the possibilities that await me.  Apples and cinnamon and ginger and even pumpkin things are going to be heavily featured on the blog soon, but until that happens, let's just take a moment to savor the last few days of summer and make the most of them.  Let's make delicious treats with the last few good things summer has to offer. 

Fruit tarts with yummy stone fruit are just perfect for this sort of time of year. 

There's something about fruit tarts that I just love.  I love that they're so simple to prepare.  I love that they're just beautiful to look at.  I think the combination of a slightly sweet and crunchy crust, sweet cream, and fresh fruit is just stellar.  I love how deceptively difficult they seem; they appear to be labor intensive, and thus, the perfect dessert to top off any fancy occasion, when in fact, they're just the opposite.  They're quick to assemble, meaning that they should instead be considered to be a dessert that is fitting for any occasion.  I love all these things.

This is a fruit tart that combines all these things I love.  It's got a crunchy gingersnap and pistachio crust, a heavenly mascarpone frosting, and beautifully arranged slices of fresh nectarines.  It's perfection, in fruit tart form. 

Plum Crumble

We've finally reached the tail end of summer, and are in that sort of weird, slightly awkward time of year.  You know what I mean.  This type of thing happens all the time, not just know...when it's chilly in the morning and then blazing hot in the afternoon, and you just can't decide what to wear that would be considered weather or seasonably appropriate.  The answer to this predicament is to simply bring along a nice, light cardigan for the morning, which you can simply remove once the afternoon heat begins to creep in. This however, is too simple of a solution for me.  See, I like to complicate my life a bit more than I need to, and sometimes, I just don't feel like having to carry around that cardigan that weighs absolutely nothing at all, because I just dont feel like it. This of course leads me to be uncomfortably cold in the mornings, but I've decided that changing my ways at this point is not happening.  I'll just deal with being cold. 

This, obviously, is exactly what happened to me yesterday.  The first day of classes of my senior year was yesterday, and even though I knew that my first class was in a building that is notorious for blasting their air conditioner at ridiculous levels, regardless of the season, I decided not to bring a sweater.  It was a dumb decision, to say the least.  I spent more time trying to figure out how to keep warm instead of paying attention in my tiny seminar, but it's ok, because I'm not going to make the same mistake again tomorrow (it's just a tad awkward when you don't pay attention in seminar courses...it's only slightly obvious).  In any case though, this delicate time of year in which debating whether or not to bring along a cardigan will soon come to pass. Similarly, the weird struggle to decide whether to bake up just a few more summery treats or get a head start on spiced fall goodies will soon be over.  I decided to be rational in that matter though, and went with a more summer-inspired dish to prepare, since I figured I would end up regretting it if I didn't...so I baked a plum crumble.

Cherry Clafoutis

Fall is just around the corner, and I am SO ready.  Really, really, really ready, actually.  I just got a sudden urge to make apple crisp and pumpkin muffins with cream cheese centers, lots of bowls of oatmeal, and all things spiced.  I'm ready for crisp and chilly fall breezes, colorful leaves on the trees (and the ground), and I'm ready to pull out my sweaters and boots.  It's time for fall!  I don't know what made me start craving fall so badly all of the sudden; last week I was getting sad that summer was almost over!  I think it was that Macy's catalog that was delivered to my house today...just seeing all those fall inspired clothes and layers made me totally change my mind and start waiting for fall to arrive.  It can't come soon enough!

As much as I want fall to come, I'm definitely still a little sad that summer is essentially over.  I move back to school in a week (!!!), and many of my friends have already moved back to school, and are actually starting classes on Monday!  I definitely need to make the most of the week of summer vacation that I have left, and do as many summer things as I can manage while still devoting a little time to packing...sigh.  I hate packing! Actually that's not true.  I actually really like packing once I get started, I just hate the process of bringing myself from a non-packing state into a packing one...it's kind of like working out.  I hate the process of bringing myself to exercise, but once I get started, I absolutely love it.  But ANYWAY.  Back to what I was saying before. Summer is almost over, and it's a little sad!  I had to make a dessert that highlighted one of my favorite summer fruits, and I figured that a cherry clafoutis was the way to go!

Totally DIY S'mores

I love living away from home while I'm at college.  I'm not trying to be rude to my mom and dad or anything (really, I promise!) but living away from home is really one of the most defining moments of my college career, a fact I'm sure many people would agree with.  It's such a great way to meet new people and build really lasting friendships, and learn to be more independent.  One of the nicest things about living in a dorm setting is that there's always someone to hang out with, whether it's for doing homework, or just relaxing in front of the tv after a long day of classes.  Study breaks are also one of my favorite things about living at school.  We always have one study break a week, and two people are in charge of providing snacks or some kind of activity to help us all get a moment to catch our breaths and take a pause from whatever work and stress we have going on in our lives.  One of the first study breaks we had during my junior year was a s'more night!  I loveee s'mores, so I made sure that I went to this particular study break.  We essentially just had graham crackers, chocolate bars, and marshmallows (duh), and we microwaved the marshmallows to get them all nice and gooey, and then sandwiched them between the graham crackers and our chocolate bars of choice.  It was such a fun and simple (and yummy!) way to get to know everyone on my floor.  

As much as I may love s'mores, they're not a treat that I grew up eating, or eat very often.  I've only ever gone camping once (I'm not too much of a nature person, you see...bugs kind of freak me out), and I think that was the first time I ever had a s'more.  That was many years ago, and I think there's only been a handful of times since then that I've made s'mores for myself.  Regardless of that fact though, I know that I am totally a s'mores kinda gal, and surprise, surprise...a craving for s'mores struck a couple of weeks ago.  I knew that I had to remedy it, and that whenever I got around to it, I wanted super homemade s'mores. I wanted them to be perfect, and if making them entirely from scratch was the way to get perfect s'mores, then that was what I was going to do.  And you know what?  They were perfect, in every possible way.  My s'mores craving was wonderfully satisfied. 

Cherry and Peach Galette

Soooo...it's August 1st today.  Um, what?  Really? No way dude, it can't be August already.  Summer can't be almost over and school can't be just around the corner.  That just seems ridiculous. Sure, fall and school and the promise of warm drinks and cozy sweaters and the changing colors of the leaves seem like nice things, and they of course are, but it's still troubling that the summer is almost over.  What's going to happen to me when I can no longer get massive quantities of fresh summer berries and mangoes and papayas and cherries and peaches!?  I suppose I'll just have to make way for spiced apple cider and cranberry pie and warm pumpkin muffins...not exactly a bad tradeoff!  But, until that happens, let's celebrate what's left of the summer with a dessert that truly highlights the best of summer's fruits.  Cherry and peach galette, anyone? 

I've had it stuck in my mind for a looongg time that I had to make a galette.  I didn't know which type of galette I wanted to make, or where my infatuation with them had come from (I hadn't even eaten a galette prior to making this one), but all I knew is that I HAD to make one, and it had to be soon.  I think it must have had to do something with the simplistic, rustic quality that they have.  They're sort of like, half-pie, and half-tart, but stopping somewhere in the middle because you get too lazy to break out a fancy pie dish or get intimidated by the thought of having to neatly crimp the edges of your crust, weave a lattice, or blind-bake a tart shell.  Laziness can actually be good sometimes, though, and in the case of a galette, I wouldn't even call it laziness.  Intentionally making a half-pie/half-tart is just as satisfying, and just as delicious.  The beauty of a galette comes from the fact that it is so darn easy to prepare, and just seeing a heaping pile of lovely roasted fruits surrounded by a ring of crisp, golden brown cust is enough to make anyone's mouth water.

Key Lime Pie

I was never really much of a beach person (shocking I know, anti-beach people like former-me actually exist) up until this summer.  I don't really know why I never liked the beach, I just knew that it was soooo not my thing.  My parents aren't really beach people either, so I didn't really spend a lot of time at the beach when I was little.  I mean sure, I went to the beach a handful of times growing up with my cousins, and I did spend a week in Santa Marta (a city off the coast of Colombia) going to the beach every day I was there, but other than that, I can't say I have too many memories of myself at the beach.  I hated getting sand all over me, I though seaweed was gross (I still kind of think this), I was convinced that beaches were dirty, and the idea of being totally exposed to the hot rays of the sun with no possible chance of shade relief seemed like a terrible idea to me.  Hot weather and I just don't mix very well at times...I'm probably the only person that has somehow managed to end up angry at Disney World.  Yes, despite Disney World being the happiest place on Earth, visiting Orlando in the middle of August when there wasn't a cloud in the sky and it felt like 125 degrees in the shade just made me livid.  The part that makes this even sadder is that I wasn't even that little when this last happened...I was like 16 years old or something.  My parents still rub this story in my face every chance they get, but I digress.

Back to the beach.  

Something happened this summer where I decided that I needed to give myself a mild attitude adjustment.  If the marjority of the population actually likes going to the beach and everyone seems to be having a good time there, and if it's become a normal and socially accepted summertime activity...then maybe it couldn't be THAT bad.  I set a goal for myself this summer; I was going to learn to love (or at least appreciate) the beach, and you know what...it's kind of working.  I wouldn't say I LOVE the beach just yet, but I definitely won't turn down any beach day invites in the future.  I'll admit that I found the beach to be relaxing, and even enjoyable.  I still hate getting sand everywhere, but I suppose that just comes with the territory.  All I needed was the right mindset, and I ended up learning to enjoy something new.  Crazy how that works, right?

Blueberry Pie

It happened again this weekend...the amazing blueberry sale at the supermarket came back.  Last year, the sale was offering blueberries at 99 cents a pint.  This year, you could buy a case of 6 pints for $7.00.  Maybe not as good as last year, but whatever...this sale was still pretty legit, and I made sure to take full advantage of it.  My love for fresh blueberries is just too much to let something like this pass by.  I think I bought two cases on Sunday. I think my mom went back and bought a couple more cases this week.  That's a lot of blueberries. Here's the sad part though...we don't really have that many left...

 

You'd think that buying tons and tons of blueberries like we did would ensure that they would last quite some time, but you'd actually be wrong.  My sister and I kind of just...ate them.  We ate SO many.  I didn't even get to freeze any of them!  What is wrong with me!  What am I going to do later in the year when there are no fresh blueberries to be found!?  Thank goodness for rainchecks...phew!  I still have a chance to get some more berries, and I promise to stick those straight in the freezer and store them for later in the year.  But until I get myself to the supermarket to do that, let me tell you what I did with the berries that I was able to restrain myself from eating straight out of the container.  I made a fresh blueberry pie! 

Peanut Butter Banana Chocolate Chunk Ice Cream Sandwiches

Peanut Butter Banana Chocolate Chunk Ice Cream Sandwiches- jeez, that was a mouthful.  It's definitely the longest title I've had to use for a post, but in this case, it was totally necessary, as the title perfectly describes exactly what you see in front of you: an ice cream sandwich that has the classic chocolate chip cookie exterior updated (although in this case, let's say "upgraded") to a chocolate chunk cookie made with peanut butter and banana.  Two of these soft cookies get a a generous scoop of vanilla ice cream, a quick roll around some sprinkles, and then a trip to the freezer to firm up.  After a couple of hours of chilling, you'll have so much yummy goodness waiting for you...

I wish I could say that these ice cream sandwiches were the result of a quest to cool off on a hot summer's day, but I would be lying to you.  The weather we've been having in New York as of late has been pretty miserable.  I mean, it's been nothing terrible; it's been gray, overcast, rainy, windy, and chilly for the past week, so the weather has been very out of season.  The weather just hasn't been its usual pre-summer self.  Despite whatever has been going on with Mother Nature, these ice cream sandwiches were created nevertheless, because I wanted them to exist.

That's right.  I had a craving for homemade ice cream sandwiches and I was gonna have one, even if the weather refused to cooperate with me...so that's exactly what I did.

Summer Strawberry Buttermilk Cake

I've recently gotten addicted to the show Lost...you remember that show, right?  Yes, I know that I'm only several years late, but that's alright.  I don't usually watch very much television, and my excuse for this is that I'm always at school, and I don't have time, or access, or I'm busy working in studio at night, so keeping up with the latest shows has never really been a priority for me.  I did start watching tv shows on Netflix, like Breaking Bad (I cannot wait for the next season this summer) and Mad Men (I still need to finish catching up on this!), but my most recent obsession is Lost.  I haven't been able to stop watching it; I haven't actually done anything today except watch it on Netflix (I really just need to find out what the deal is with the Others, I HAVE to know).  I don't know how people managed to watch this show while it was actually airing; I can't imagine having had to wait a whole week in between episodes! 

Needless to say, I had to pry myself away from Lost for a brief moment to finish writing up this post.  I had actually started it a couple of days ago, editing all the photos and stuff, but then I got on the whole Lost thing, and things just went downhill from there, because I just needed to keep watching episode after episode.  In any case though, I managed to get away from Netflix for a few moments- a good thing, because I have something delicious that deserves just as much attention as Lost.

Mini Strawberry-Rhubarb Pies

Every now and then we think up an idea that at the time seems brilliant and amazing, and no matter what, we HAVE to go through with it.  This happens to me all the time.  Last summer, I got the idea of making a sour-cherry lattice top pie stuck in my head.  I just HAD to make one.  Mind you, I had only made like...one pie before that in my life, and it had a crumble for the topping; it wasn't even a double crust pie!  I'm not really sure how I figured that I would be able to put together a lattice crust given that I had practically no experience with pie dough.  Other fun factors that added to this situation was that I decided to try a completely brand new pie crust recipe, despite having made a pie crust successfully before.  I'm not sure why I didn't choose to simply reuse that recipe that I knew worked, but I just HAD to try out a new recipe for some reason.  To make matters even more fun, I also didn't have a cherry pitter...and I still don't (this fact will change soon, I'm sure). I decided to give myself the added pleasure of pitting about 2 pounds of cherries by hand.  These were clearly all great decisions on my part.