Plum Sorbet

 Using the plums from the Boston Organics box, and following this recipe, I made plum sorbet.

Ingredients:

• 4 plums, chopped into quarters
• 2 1/2 TBSP sugar
• 1 TBSP honey
• 2 tsp lemon juice

Directions:

1) Place the plums into a bowl with sugar and honey and let sit for 30 minutes.








2) Put that into a blender and pulse until there are no chunks.
3) Taste and add lemon juice if desired (I did).







4) Put into a bowl again and refrigerate for at least one hour.
5) Put into the ice cream machine and follow the makers directions.

Orange Cheesecake with Candied Orange

Oranges came in the box from Boston Organics and cheesecake was requested for me to make. Recipe for the cake was taken from here, with the rum suggestion used, and the recipe for the candied oranges was taken from here.

Ingredients:

• Crust:
• 2 cups graham crackers (1/2 box)
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 2 TBSP butter, melted
• Cake:
• 24 oz cream cheese (don't use reduced fat or low fat...it's cake), room temperature
• 1 cup sugar
• 4 eggs
• juice from 1/2 an orange
• 3 TBSP orange zest (I got enough from the same 1/2 I was going to juice)
• 1 TBSP vanilla
• 3 TBSP white rum (I used Bacardi)
• Topping
• 1 1/2 cups water
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 1/2 oranges cut into thin slices

 Directions:

1) Preheat the oven to 325F/160C
2) Pulse the graham crackers in a food processor until finely crushed.
3) Add sugar and melted butter and mix until combined.






4) Pat into the bottom of pan and bake for 10-12 minutes.
5) Let cool.
6) Lower the oven to 300F/150C







7) Beat cream cheese, flour and sugar until smooth.
8) Add eggs, vanilla, orange juice, orange zest and rum and mix until combined.







9) Pour into the crust and bake for 80 minutes or until the middle is set. Keep an eye on it due to the rum.







10) Let sit for 30 minutes.
11) Loosen the cheesecake from the side of the pan (either take off the spring form part or slide a knife around the sides).
12) Let sit for another 30 minutes.





13) Combine the water and sugar in a pot or pan with large sides and bring to a boil.








14) Add the oranges and let boil for 5 minutes on each side.




 



15) Reduce heat and let simmer for 30 minutes, turning over again if necessary.







16) Remove from heat and let cool on wax/parchment paper
17) Add the candied orange slices to the cheesecake and place in the refrigerator for 4-8 hours.

 

 my crust did not hold up too well, so I put some on top of the cheesecake which was great!

 This is the texture you want in a cheesecake

Plum Tart

 Continuing the use of the Boston Organics box, this uses the plums. The recipe was taken from here.

Ingredients:

• 7 TBSP chilled unsalted butter, plus more for the pan
• 1 cup flour, plus more for the pan
• 1/2 cup plus 2 TBSP sugar
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/4  tsp kosher salt
• 6 tbsp milk
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 egg
• 3 plums, pitted and cut into 16th (could use more and cut them into larger chunks, but we only had 3)
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

Directions:

1) Heat oven to 400F/205C.
2) Grease a baking dish with butter and dust with flour.








3) Whisk together flour, 2 TBSP sugar, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl.








4) Add 4 TBSP chilled butter and rub into flour mixture with your hands.








5) In another bowl, mix together withe milk, vanilla and egg.








6) Add the milk mixture to the flour mixture and mix until just combined.








7) Transfer dough to the baking dish and spread.








8) Arrange plum slices in rows on top of the dough.










9) Sprinkle the 1/2 cup sugar on top of the plums
10) Sprinkle the cinnamon on top of the plums.








11) Melt remaining butter (3 TBSP) and drizzle over the plums.







12) Bake for 30 minutes.
13) Allow to cool slightly before slicing into it.

Apple Cobbler

I'm staying with friends in Boston right now, and they signed up for Boston Organics meaning that every Tuesday they get a box of veggies and fruit delivered that is all organic and from the Boston area, but some are from NY or as far as CA so you can get different types of stuff that normally doesn't grow in your area.

Anyway, one of the things we got this week was apples. The package also comes with some recipes that you can make with the items in the basket. I was just going to make apple pie, but my friend has the mini baking tins so we decided this was better (since the tins had never been used before).

This dish can be served warm or cold and with or without ice cream. If you want to reheat it (as I will be doing), preheat the oven to 350F/175C again and then heat the bowls for 5-10 minutes.

Ingredients:

• 4 apples, peeled, cored and cut into large pieces
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 pinch salt
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp apple pie seasoning (you can leave this out if you don't have it, the original recipe didn't call for this or cinnamon, but I figure it always makes it better)
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, cold and cut into small pieces
• 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup brown sugar

Directions:

1) Preheat the oven to 350F/175C.
2) Toss apples, sugar, salt, cinnamon and apple pie seasoning together.







3) Divide equally among 4 individual oven proof bowls.









4) Combine butter and flour with fingertips until mixture has the texture of oatmeal (I used the same bowl without washing it out).
5) Add brown sugar and mix in a bit, allowing for the mixture to be lumpy.





6) Distribute evenly over apples.









7) Bake for 30 minutes. I placed them on one tray so putting them in and taking them out would be easy.