Very Easy Desserts

Maple Syrup and Sea Salt Roasted Pears

~ Teresa Blackburn ~ 8 Comments

Our pear tree produced its fruit earlier than usual this summer. The pears smallish and hard. Not good for eating out-of-hand, but good for cooking. Over the years I have made many yummy desserts using the bounty of this tree. It is rather a small tree. Some years very laden with fruit, others not. Truly I wasn’t really ready to deal with them this summer. I was so busy working on photo shoots that I did not even notice for a while. The birds and squirrels ate their fair share. That’s okay with me. We got our share as well.

This, of all my pear recipes, is the most simple and perhaps one of my favorites. Cut in half and cored, drizzled with maple syrup and sea salt and slow-roasted until fork-tender.

Served warm with a scoop of vanilla bean ice cream. Pear perfect.

Slow Roasted Pears with Maple Syrup and Sea Salt

  • Difficulty: easy
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Ingredients:

  • Small somewhat hard pears, cut in half & cored, peeled or not
  • real maple syrup
  • flaky sea salt such as Maldon
  • Ice cream to serve

Directions:

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  2. Place prepped pears on a parchment lined sheet pan cut side up.
  3. Drizzle generously with maple syrup. Sprinkle with sea salt.
  4. Roast for about 30-40 minutes until pears are fork tender. Remove from oven.
  5. Serve warm with a scoop of ice cream.

Note: If you have any leftovers you can freeze to use later in a simple cake.

Teresa Blackburn     http://www.teresablackburnfoodstyling.com

 

An Apple Cake to Celebrate….Something! Anything!

~ Teresa Blackburn ~ 11 Comments

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Here is what I think…or one of the millions of things I think….find something to celebrate. It can be a little thing or a big thing or nothing real at all, but some creative thing going on inside your head. Take some time to celebrate something. It can only be a good thing, right?

This apple cake is of my own invention to celebrate no one thing, but just the season, the beautiful apples I had, a few lovely soft orange rose hips,  some antique pieces recently acquired for props, the light coming in through the window on this particular day while I played with this still life. More than plenty to celebrate I think don’t you?

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I made a wee cake and a larger cake..one to give away and one to enjoy.

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A dusting of powdered sugar always seems celebratory to me.

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An Apple Cake to Celebrate

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Ingredients:

  • 6 crisp, tart apples or whatever is your favorite, peeled, cored & thinly sliced
  • 1/2 cup raw sugar
  • 1/2 cup granulated sugar
  • 1 1/2 cups Spelt flour, sifted
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon apple pie spice
  • 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
  • 2 large eggs, lightly beaten
  • 1 stick unsalted butter, melted
  • 1/2 cup chopped blanched almonds
  • powdered sugar for dusting over top of finished cake

Directions:

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. line the bottom of a 9 or 10 inch springform pan with parchment paper and then spray sides and bottom with cooking spray. Set aside.
  2. Toss together in a bowl the apple slices & 2 tablespoons of the granulated sugar. Set aside.
  3. Using a stand, or hand mixer, blend together the remaining granulated sugar, raw sugar, spelt flour, baking powder, apple pie spice, vanilla extract, eggs and butter.
  4. Fold in half the sugar-coated apples and spoon into the prepared springform pan. Top with remaining apple slices & chopped almonds.
  5. Bake for about 1 hour or until cooked throughout when tested with a skewer. Let cool in the tin for about 10 minutes then remove the sides and cool cake on a wire rack.
  6. Right before serving add a generous, celebratory, dusting of powdered sugar.

Note: Is delicious with a bit of whipped cream as well. If you decide to make a wee and larger cake like I did use a smaller 8 inch pan and an even smaller 6 inch pan. Worked great.

Teresa Blackburn   http://www.teresablackburnfoodstyling.com     http://www.foodofifth.com