I still have brick sheets that I brought back from France last May and need to use them, the expiration date is coming close, so here is a delightful fruity dessert that lightened up my Sunday. I treat myself as often as I can and today was one of those days.

Peaches in my opinion are a perfect match with apricots and mangoes. I remember my favorite chewing gum flavor when I was a child was “pêche-abricot“, since then they remained my favorite fruits.

I served this warm fruity brick with coconut ice cream, it’s a non dairy ice cream made with just coconut milk and no added sugar that is absolutely delicious, it’s low in calories and is a lovely addition to any fruit based dessert. Usually, I do not advertise for any brand, but this time, I decided to mention it, since I haven’t found anything similar in terms of flavor/calories ratio. I poured some coconut milk with rum, on top with toasted coconut chips and that made twice my day. I am not a calorie counting freak, but I like to keep dishes light without “killing” the flavor, which is a tough task, because everyone knows that fat is a flavor enhancer.

When I find my ice cream maker, I will make coconut ice cream until then, I will gladly eat this one. A warm crunchy brick filled with fruits and combined with a little cup of coconut ice cream is a real treat.

Ingredients for 4

For the bricks

• 8 brick sheets
• 1 mango, peeled, and sliced
• 2 peaches, peeled and sliced
• zest of one Meyer lemon
• 2 tsp coconut sugar
• a few pinches of lavender
• olive oil or melted butter for brushing

For the ice cream cup

• 4 scoops of coconut ice cream
• 1/2 pint light coconut milk
• stevia (to taste)
• 1-2 tsp rum (to taste)
• toasted coconut chips
• raw pistachios

Preparation

For the bricks

Mix cut mango and peaches together in a bowl. Add coconut milk, lemon zest and lavender. Let infuse for 15 min in the refrigerator.

In a large wooden board, lay flat one brick and place about 2-3 tbs of fruit mixture in the middle. Then fold over the sides as if you are wrapping a present. Proceed the same way using a second brick sheet but this time, doing it on the other side (turning the brick on the other side with the folded sides being underneath). Brush bricks with butter or oil (to your preference)

Proceed the same way with the other sheets until all mixture is used.

Preheat oven at 390F and place in a non stick tray brick. When top is golden brown, turn bricks the other side until golden and crunchy.

Serve warm.

For the ice cream cup

Mix coconut milk with rum and stevia.

Place one scoop of ice cream in a small cup. Pour some coconut milk on top. Sprinkle with pistachios and toasted coconut chips.

When summer comes again, I just need to find new light and fresh desserts to use peaches, my favorite fruit. If you are like me, cannot get enough of them, here is another a cool recipe to try.

This recipe is quite versatile, you can also saute the peaches in a pan with a little butter and sugar. Personally I love to grill them, I think the flavor stands out more. Also, you can see the rice cream at the bottom of the dish to be a little dark, it’s just because I used coconut sugar which is naturally amber color. You can use regular sugar to get a snow white cream which I think is prettier in the plate. This dessert is also vegan which can be interesting for those who are lactose intolerant but can also be made using regular milk as well. For coconut milk, I used the light one which has 45 calories per servings and that comes in a large paper box, not the one in a can.

For the ice cream, I used a vanilla ice cream made with coconut milk that is delicious (usually I don’t like to advertise brands on this blog, but this one is really , on top of it, it has no added sugar, so if you are like me and that you don’t have a sweet tooth and no taste for sugar, this ice cream is perfect.

Ingredients for 2 people

For the rice cream

• 70 g white round rice
• coconut milk, one pint or more (depending on the rice absorption)
• 2 tbs coconut sugar (or more to taste)
• 1 vanilla bean, cut in half and scarped

For the peaches

• 2 large peaches, cut in 6 quarters
• 2 tbs raw unsalted pistachios
• vanilla ice cream made with coconut milk
• agave nectar or honey for drizzling

Preparation

Start by cooking the rice. In a pot, add vanilla bean to milk and bring the mixture to a to a boil at medium temperature. Add rice and sugar and let cook the rice until tender at low temperature. Add milk if necessary and adjust sugar. stir once in a while ensuring the rice does not stick to the pot. When the rice is cooked, let it cool and mix in a blender to obtain a smooth cream. Place in the refrigerator.

In the meantime, grill peaches in a skillet or grill pan. Grill on both sides.

In a plate, place 3 tbs rice cream, top it with grilled peaches. Spoon ice cream in the middle, sprinkle with pistachios and agave nectar.

I love summer, partly because I can eat peaches and apricots sans limites! My two favorites fruits are in season, and I only wait for summer to come, just to indulge in juicy peaches, nectarines, and apricots.

My friend Simon in France asked me why I was working so much, aren’t people gone on vacation in July-August in the US?…well it’s true that summer in France and Europe in general, is the dead season, especially July-August, where everything closes and businesses work “au ralenti“. Everyone goes on vacation and big cities are deserted. Well, not here, I cannot tell that this is summer, other than by the fog rolling in the city and the peaches and apricots are on the shelves (which is good enough for me).

I had some whole wheat pâte brisée left that I wanted to use, and decided to make one peach tart and one apricot tart slightly different. The peach tart was sprinkled with vanilla and I added cookies on the crust, so that they absorb the juice of the fruits while cooking. The apricot tart was sprinkled with rosemary and I spread raspberry jam on the crust…so two different flavors. You need to use well ripe fruits, especially apricots if they’re not ripe enough, they tend to be a little acidic and tart, then you need to add more sugar.

Ingredients for 4-6 tartlets

For the crust

• 200 g whole wheat flour
• 100 g butter
• 30 g sugar, soft at room temperature
• water

For apricot tartlets filling

• 1 lb apricots, well ripe and cut in half
• 2 tbs raspberry jam
• 1 tbs brown sugar
• 30 g butter, cut in small cubes
• 1 rosemary sprig

For the peach tartlets filling

• 4 peaches, peeled and cut in 1/2 inch slices
• 5 tbs crumbles shortbread cookies
• 2 tbs brown sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla powder
• 30 g butter, cut in small cubes

 Preparation

Start making the crust. In a mixing container, add flour and sugar, then incorporate butter using the tip of your fingers, not kneading dough too long, or it will break. Wrap in a plastic film and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.

Roll dough and place in a tart pan. For the apricot tart, spread jam all over the crust and fill it with apricot halves. Sprinkle with sugar and place little bits of butter on top of the fruits. For the peach tart, cover crust with crushed cookies. Cover with peaches segments, sprinkle with vanilla powder and add bits of butter on top.

Cook for about 35 minutes in a pre-heated oven at 370F. Check to see the bottom of the crust is not over cooked.

Another year is going by, who likes getting older? I don’t and people who say they do, I am not sure they really mean it…yesterday was my birthday and I got up with a massive headache! So I still decided to treat myself thinking that one of those mini desserts, will make me feel better. When and if you make pain d’épices, you open the door to many preparations. I could not resist to make those mini desserts after I made pain d’épices. They’re not sweet, but very light and terribly delicious. Of course, they’re tiny so you can easily eat a few. That glass is actually about 2 inches tall, or a bit smaller, so with a few spoonful, you can finish it up.

Mini desserts are great for parties, you eat one and it’s not stuffy, no one likes the feeling of being stuffed (I don’t), the feeling of being satisfied is much more pleasant in my opinion. The mousse is so light and the fruity compote combined with spicy cake makes it the perfect trio.

Ingredients for 6 small verrines

For the Fromage blanc mousse

• 1 egg
• 1 tbs sugar
• 4 tbs fromage blanc or Fage Greek yogurt

For the peach compote

• 2 yellow peaches, peeled and cut in small cubes
• 1 tsp brown sugar (or to taste)
• a few drops of vanilla extract

For the pain d’épices – see recipe here

Preparation

For the mousse

Separate yolk from white and place in different containers. Add sugar to the yolks and beat until the mixture turns white and creamy and doubles volume. Beat the whites in a stiff consistency. Carefully add the whites to the yolk/fromage blanc mixture.

For the peach compote

Cook peaches with sugar and vanilla for about 15 min or until they turn soft and mushy. Let it cool down.

In a small glass, place one tbs or tsp (depending on the size of the glass) of crumbled pain d’épices, add 1 tps or tsp of peach compote, then add fromage blanc mousse. Repeat process twice until you reach top of the glass. Eat at room temperature or cold.

Financiers are a traditional individual little French cakes made with almond powder and brown butter. Usually they’re rectangular but I gave them their original round shape. They’re sometimes called Visitandines, due to their original fabrication by Visitandines nuns. They used to be round like these ones but became rectangular over the years and especially after arriving in Switzerland where the Swiss decided to make them rectangular.

Financier in French also refers to people working in the finance field. It’s been said that these tiny cakes were created by a pastry chef or what we call pâtissier so that finance people would not make their fingers dirty while eating them. I don’t know if it’s true, but I think that there is always something true in popular ear-say.

After surfing the wonderful site called l’Atelier des Chefs, I saw this little dessert that tempted me and I decided to try it out. Do not hesitate to make these financiers, they’re delightful. I only substituted agave nectar to powdered sugar in the coulis which adds a more natural and flavorful touch, other than that the recipe remained the same.

Since peaches are in season, it’s the perfect time to grill them and eat them warm with these green tea cakes…and what’s better than a strawberry coulis to add the final touch? nothing. These mini cakes are very moist and absolutely perfect for any occasion.

Ingredients for about 10 financiers

For the Financiers

• 2.82 oz (or 80 g) almond flour or powder
• 1.76 oz (or 50 g) white flour
• 0.35 oz (or 10 g) matcha green tea powder
• 6.17 oz (or 175 g) powder sugar
• 5.29 oz (or 150 g) egg whites (about 3)
• 5.29 oz (or 150 g) butter

For the coulis and peaches

• 6 peaches
• 1/2 lb (or 250 g) strawberries
• agave nectar

Preparation

For the financiers

In a mixing container combine all ingredients except butter. Melt butter in a pan and let it brown. Do not let if cook too long until it becomes too dark. It needs to have a nice nutty color. Let it cool and add to the other ingredients. Divide the batter in muffin molds (fill in the molds to half). Cook in a pre heated oven at 180C.

For the coulis, blend strawberries with agave nectar.

Cut peaches in slices and grill on a skillet on both sides.

Serve financiers with grilled peaches and strawberry coulis.

My favorite fruit is finally back in season! Cannot get tired of eating peaches…Of course, we don’t need to do anything to the fruit to enjoy a juicy and sweet peach, but sometimes we can turn them into an elegant and delightful little dessert by roasting them. I love to grill roast, saute, poach, or anything you can think of, just like a vegetable.

I haven’t been able to blog nor read anyone’s blog as much as I would like simply because I am too busy at the moment, cooking and preparing menus, and I thought summer would slow down, which seems to be just the opposite. I still think with my French mind, where in France everything slows down during summer, because everyone goes on vacation, so July and August are dead.

When I have a little time, I always enjoy posting some new recipe, even if it’s something as simple as that. Sometimes, a warm roasted peach enhanced with honey and Grand Marnier is all you need to make your day perfect. It did it for me today, despite the same old San Francisco gloomy summer weather. I haven’t used Grand Marnier in desserts for years, and I remember when I was growing up in France, they sold Grand Marnier flavored yogurts from Yoplait, and my aunt was going crazy about them. Doesn’t this sound funny to have a yogurt with a liquor flavor? I guess in the US, you’ll need to show an ID to get those yogurts!

If you buy the kind of peaches that are hard to peel, cut the in half and place them in boiling water for 30 seconds. They’ll peel very easily.

You can serve this with vanilla ice cream and butter cookies and it will make truly a wonderful dessert.

Ingredients for 4

• 4 white peaches
• 1 tbs salted butter
• 2 tbs lavender honey
• 1/3 tsp vanilla powder
• 2 tbs Grand Marnier
• 1 sprig rosemary, chopped

Preparation

Peel peaches, and cut in half. Melt butter in a pan and brown peaches on both sides at high temperature. Don’t let the peaches overcook or they’ll get mushy. Add honey and decrease temperature. Sprinkle with vanilla powder. Add rosemary, and stir for one 30 seconds or so. Pour Grand Marnier, and flame. Divide in bowls and eat warm. How simple is that? Almost as simple as eating it!

This is only for those days you have a lot of peaches in your kitchen, lots of mint in your garden and a huge desire to eat peaches…berries and peaches are some of the fruits I don’t get tired of eating. When my Greek grocer next door saw me with all those peaches in my basket, he asked me if I was going to kill myself with them. I told him that’s what was probably going to happen…that would be a great way to die, if you ask for my opinion. Death by peaches. As much as I am not a sweet tooth, I adore fruits and fruit-based desserts, they’re refreshing, light, put me in a great mood and energizing me for the day.  Alors voilà, encore des pêches!

The peach syrup has been infused with mint and vanilla, then enhanced by a a dollop of yogurt and light touch of cayenne pepper. The bouchées which are really tiny (1.5 inch diameter) look like muffins but they’re really not, have a subtle rosemary flavor, since the peaches have been caramelized in a butter, honey and fresh rosemary blend. This makes a light and refreshing dessert. I served this as a dessert to a dinner and it’s always so pleasant to have a fruity bite when people are no longer hungry. It cleans your palate and the herbal touch tells you: This is the end.

Ingredients for 5-6

For the peach soup

• 2 white peaches, peeled and cut
• 2 yellow peaches, peeled and cut
• 1 vanilla bean, cut lengthwise
• 10 mint leaves
• 2 tbs agave syrup
• 1.2 cups water
• 6 tbs plain yogurt
• 6 pinches cayenne pepper

For 12 rosemary bouchées

• 2 eggs
• 60 g butter, melted (+ a tsp extra)
• 20 g kamut flour
• 30 g chestnut flour
• 20 g white flour
• 3 tbs almond flour
• 40 g agave syrup
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1 rosemary sprig, chopped
• 1 tbs honey
• 2 peaches, peeled and diced

Preparation

For the peach soup

Mix water, agave syrup, mint, vanilla beans and bring to a boil for about 5 minutes, then let it cool and infuse the syrup. Drain and set aside. When syrup is cool, place some of it in a blender with peaches and mix into a smooth consistency. Refrigerate for at least one hour. When ready to serve add one 1 tsp of yogurt in the middle and a pinch of cayenne.

For the peach rosemary bouchées

Melt butter in a pan, add honey, then when the mixture turns thick, add peaches. Coat peaches with mixture for about 3 minutes, then add rosemary, cook for an additional 2 minutes, then remove from heat. In a mixing container, beat eggs with butter, agave syrup and the different flours. Add baking powder and mix well. Fill up individual mini molds such as silicon molds with the batter. Add 1/2 tsp of the peach mixture in the middle with some rosemary. Bake in pre-heated oven at 360F for about 20 minutes. Let them cool and serve with peach soup.

Lavender simply evokes Provence. Wherever I go, if I see lavender, that makes me think about the South of France but particularly about Provence, its wonderful lavender fields and cicadas singing. I adore Provence, its picturesque medieval villages, its natural light, wonderful cuisine and friendliness of its inhabitants…but most of all, the delicious sensation of the Provencal sun caressing your skin with a light breeze, making it pure heaven. I think that’s one thing I really miss about Mediterranean climate, being able to dress lightly until midnight without wearing any sweater sipping a Pastis…that is true happiness.

Does anyone know where the last picture has been shot? It’s a famous city in the South of France…

So to celebrate Provence, I wanted to make something combining summer and Southern fruits like peaches, apricots and lavender flavor; and this delightful yogurt has all of it in one bite.

Homemade yogurt can be made in many different ways, in a pressure cooker, in the oven, and of course in a yogurt maker, like I do. Well, it’s the easiest way to make them and the only way I know not to fail them, so why take the complicated route when you can take the easy one? There is definitely nothing better than homemade yogurts, nothing to compare with store bought yogurts, they can be creamy, thicker, depending on the time you leave them to incubate, and the amount of powdered milk you use. I have been substituting powder milk with evaporated milk and it works quite well.

Ingredients for 8 yogurts

- 4 cups milk
- 1 plain yogurt or 1 bag of lactic ferments
- 6 tbs evaporated milk
- 2 tbs unsweetened condensed milk
- 3 yellow well ripe peaches, peeled and cut in pieces
- 2 apricots, cut in pieces
- 2 tbs sugar + 2 for the milk
- 2 tbs lavender

Preparation

In a pan combine peaches, apricots and sugar and cook to obtain a thick mixture. Remove from heat and let it cool.

Boil milk with lavender, then remove from heat and let it cool to less than 45C. Drain to remove lavender flowers.

In a mixing container, mix yogurt with condensed milk, evaporated milk and sugar. Add gradually milk.

Divide the fruit compote in each jar, then pour carefully milk mixture. Place yogurt in yogurt maker and let it incubate for about 8 hours. Remove from yogurt maker, place lids on and place in the refrigerator for about 3 hours.

So did you find out where this is?

Rhubarb has been on the shelves lately and it has been a while I since used it, so this rhubarb post was overdue.

Rhubarb is often associated with strawberries, but it does make delicious desserts combined with peaches as well. Obviously the final color of the mousse is not as pink as with strawberries, it’s more of an orange pastel tone that looks quite summery.

I don’t know how rhubarb is used in the US, but in France we use it in tarts, and tarte à la rhubarbe is a famous dessert specialty. You have those who love it and those who hate it, so for a long time, I hated it, my childhood friend’s mom always gave us some rhubarb tart, and I could not stand the taste of that long stem which to me tasted like celery. Over the years, I developed a taste for it, and now I love it in compotes mixed with other summery fruits.

Technically rhubarb is a vegetable and is a cousin of sorrel so it can be prepared in savory dishes such as salmon and meat stews.

Rhubarb you can find in the US is different from the one grown in Europe but has a similar taste, it’s a lot redder, so basically the color changes but not the flavor.

I like to use fromage blanc (white cheese and I am not sure what it would be called in English) but it’s a fresh cheese often eaten with sugar or fruits, but also popular savory mixed with chives and other herbs. I love to use fromage blanc in those types of desserts, but it’s not easy to find in the US, so I substituted with Greek yogurt which has a similar texture and it worked fine.

*If you are using agar agar (the vegan jellying substance) it needs to be dissolved in liquid before using, then it needs to cook in the mixture for a few minutes. If using gelatin sheets, soften it in cold water then add the the hot mixture but does not need to boil like agar agar.

Ingredients for 6

For the rhubarb mousse

• 1 lb rhubarb, peeled, cut in 1 inch pieces
• 3 yellow ripe peaches, peeled and cut
• 4 tbs sugar or more to taste
• 1 tbs orange blossom water
• 4 g agar agar dissolved in liquid or 3 gelatin sheets

For the yogurt mousse

• 200 g greek yogurt or fromage blanc
• 2 eggs
• 4 tbs sugar
• crème fraîche whipped or whipped cream (optional)

Preparation

In a large pot, mix rhubarb, peaches and sugar and cook at low heat until the mixture turns soft and is cooked. Remove from heat and mash with a potato masher. Add orange blossom water. While the fruit mixture is still hot, add gelatin* see above for agar agar or gelatin use.

Let the mixture cool and place in the refrigerator until it hardens a little.

For the yogurt mousse, mix yolks and sugar and beat until the mixture whitens and doubles volume. Add yogurt of fromage blanc carefully. Beat whites and add to the yolks. Whip the cream and add to mixture carefully.

Place in individual cups and alternate one layer of rhubarb/peach mousse and yogurt mousse. Place in the refrigerator for one hour before serving.

That was the dessert part of the dinner when my friend came over.  Originally I wanted to make the traditional tarte aux fraises, strawberry tart with vanilla custard (crème patissière). Then I had those beautiful yellow peaches, and it had been such a long time, I did not make a peach tart. So peach tart it was going to be. Eventhough I prefer to make savory dishes than bake, fruit desserts are one of my favorites.

Soon, peach season will be over, and we’ll start to find those mushy, frozen peaches with an insipid flavor and with a brownish color, don’t you hate it? It’s beautiful from the outside, and when you bite in it, you just want to spit it out. I still haven’t figured out how to detect from the outside that a peach will be mushy when you open it up.

It’s a very almond tart, the crust has almond meal and the crème patissière is flavored with almond, so if you like almond flavor, you’ll love this tart.

So far, in San Francisco, I haven’t see the color of summer, so hopefully fall will be my summer, and more tarts are coming this way…I don’t think there is a season for tarts, they’re perfect to consume all year round.

I don’t know if this is available in the US, but I brought from France some vanilla bean powder. It’s basically vanilla bean ground, so instead of opening and scraping a regular vanilla bean, this is already ground, and ready to use. If this is not available in the US, you can just open and scrape a regular vanilla bean.

If you don’t have individual tart molds, you can just use a regular mold.

For the almond crust

• 1 cup white flour
• 1/3 cup almond meal
• 2.82 oz (or 80 g) butter
• 2 tbs sugar
• 2 tbs water

For the almond custard cream

• 1 cup (or 250 ml) milk
• 2 eggs
• 1.8 oz (or 50 g) sugar
• vanilla powder
• 1/8 cup (or 25 g) flour
• 1 tsp almond extract

For the topping

• 2 large peaches not too ripe
• vanilla bean powder
• 1 tbs honey
• 1 tbs chopped pistachios

Preparation

For the crust

In a mixing container, add flour and almond meal, mix well, add sugar. Cut butter in small cubes and add to the flour, add water. Knead with the tip of your fingers to obtain an grainy dough but do not over knead it. If you knead it too long you won’t be able to roll it later and it will break apart. That’s the process to make a pate brisée (brisee = broken). Roll in a plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator for about 30 min.

For the amond custard cream

Mix eggs, sugar, flour in a mixing container, beat well to obtain a smooth consistency. Heat milk in a pan with vanilla bean powder, and when it’s hot (do not boil) add the egg/sugar/flour mixture. Continue to stir until the cream has thickened, it should take about 7-8 minutes. This cream can boil, since it has flour in it. Remove from heat and add almond extract. Let it cool down.  To prevent the cream from forming a crust, sprinkle with granulated sugar and let it cool.

For the peaches

Cut peaches in 4 quarters, peel them. cut them in slices about 5 mm thick. Heat a grill pan or regular grill, and grill the peaches slices on both sides. They grill very quickly so don’t over cook them or they will be mushy.

Place peaches in a container and coat them with honey and sprinkle with vanilla bean powder.

The finishing

Roll the dough in about a 4 mm thickness. Place in your non stick molds. Place some wax paper on top of your crust, and cook in a pre-heated oven at 375F for about 10 minutes, then remove the wax paper and cook for another 10 minutes. You will have to check the crust occasionally since every oven is different and it might cook too fast and eventually the crust might burn from the outside. When cooked remove form the oven and let it cool.

Fill the crusts with almond custard cream, then place grilled peaches on top and sprinkle with chopped pistachios. You can serve it at room temperature, these tarts don’t need to be placed in the refrigerator.