Easiest and Most Surprising Dessert Ever @LucyBurdette

 

LUCY BURDETTE: One day on our recent trip to Spain, our small group of travelers was taken to visit an olive farm near Cordoba. We learned lots of interesting facts about growing olives, and then we were treated to a tasting. 

After the tasting, we each received a small bowl of chocolate ice cream. (This was in the morning in case you were curious.) Then the farmer came around with a small bottle of orange flavored olive oil, and drizzled it on our ice cream. Yes, it sounded just as strange to us as it might sound to you. But it was delicious! My neighbor, who does not do a lot of entertaining, decided this would be a good dessert to serve to dinner guests at a small party she was hosting. It was universally acclaimed!

Ingredients

Good quality chocolate ice cream

Orange infused olive oil

That’s it!

Do you ever run out of steam after making a big dinner and skip dessert? Or do you have a go-to easy dessert recipe to share? (My mother used to serve grapes in sour cream...)

Easiest Date Cake Plus Key West Garden Photos @LucyBurdette

LUCY BURDETTE: You might remember that the Key West Woman’s Club Cookbook from the 1940s was an important part of the story line in A DISH TO DIE FOR. I was determined to try a few more of their recipes, and this one jumped right out at me because it’s so simple. It's all made in one bowl so the clean up is easy too. We served it with ice cream on the side but next time I would whip up some cream and offer that as a topping.

Ingredients

1/3 cup unsalted butter, room temperature

1 1/3 cups brown sugar

Two eggs

1/2 cup milk

1 3/4 cup flour

3 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg, optional

1/2 pound dates

Preheat the oven to 350.

Pit the dates and cut them into pieces. Add them to a bowl with all the other ingredients and beat together for about three minutes. You should be able to see the date flecks floating in the batter.

Butter and flour a cake pan and scrape the batter into the pan. Bake at 350 for about 35 minutes, testing to be sure it’s not getting dry. Serve with ice cream or whipped cream.

What's your standby recipe for a super easy Sunday supper dessert?

Plus, for those of you whose weather is snowy or icy or otherwise gloomy, I thought I'd share some pix from the fabulous garden tour put on by the Key West Garden Club yesterday so you can enjoy vicariously!

Purloined Peach Cobbler

LUCY BURDETTE: So it's peach season here in Connecticut and the peaches are amazing--so tasty! Bite into one and the juice runs right down your chin, as one of our local food stand owners will tell you if you try to walk away without buying something. My hub needed dessert for his bridge cronies and I thought I remembered saving a recipe from allrecipes.com for peach cobbler last spring. This was the first time I tried it and the results were spectacular! And not at all hard to make--though if you don't have decent and ripe peaches, just go for chocolate.

I prefer light on cinnamon and no nutmeg or lemon, so I took those out. You could also try adding half a teaspoon of almond flavoring or vanilla to the topping, but I don't think it's necessary.

Ingredients
• 8 fresh peaches - peeled, pitted and sliced into thin wedges
• 1/4 cup white sugar
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice (I didn't have this and it turned out fine)
• 2 teaspoons cornstarch
•
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup white sugar
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, chilled and cut into small pieces
• 1/4 cup boiling water


Directions
1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F
2. In a large bowl, combine peaches, 1/4 cup white sugar, 1/4 cup brown sugar, 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon, lemon juice, and cornstarch. Toss to coat evenly, and pour into a 2 quart baking dish. Bake in preheated oven for 10 minutes.
3. Meanwhile, in a large bowl, combine flour, 1/4 cup white sugar, 1/4 cup brown sugar, baking powder, and salt. Blend in butter with your fingertips, or a pastry blender, until mixture resembles coarse meal. Stir in water until just combined.
4. Remove peaches from oven, and drop spoonfuls of topping over them. Sprinkle entire cobbler with sugar. (Here you could add more cinnamon if you're of the more than less school of seasoning.) Bake until topping is golden, about 30 minutes.

We ate some hot right out of the oven...mmm, mmm, mmm. It would also take kindly to whipped cream or vanilla ice cream, in my opinion. John's bridge cronies ate it with chocolate almond chip with no ill effects...