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Creamy Mascarpone Crepes

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We are very blessed to have our own peach trees which yield an abundance of beautiful fruit……However, we never have too many. Whether eaten fresh and raw, or grilled, or in pies, cobblers jams or chutneys we never seem to tire of them, nor do our guest and retreatants.  We love to surprise them with an unexpected breakfast of our mascarpone crepes embellished with a generous serving of fresh sliced peaches laced with fresh raspberry puree. The smiles on their faces as they savor each bite are as beautiful to behold as is the dish itself.

These creamy filled crepes are fun to make, beautiful ,to look at, and luscious to eat. One tip……..make a lot!

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Creamy Mascarpone Crepes
SERVINGS
2dozen
CHANGE SERVING SIZE
dozen
COOK TIME
45mins
PREP TIME
5mins
READY IN
50mins

Ingredients

Instructions

Crepes
  1. Blend all ingredients for 30 seconds, scrape sides of blender; blend 30 seconds more. Refrigerate batter for 2 hours or overnight.
  2. Brush a 6 ½ - 7 inch crepe pan or non-stick pan with oil. Heat on medium until just starting to smoke.
  3. Set pan off heat and quickly pour 2 Tablespoons batter into middle of pan. Quickly tilt pan in all directions, until the entire bottom is covered in a thin layer.
  4. Return pan to heat for about 1 minute. Jerk the pan back and forth to loosen and flip over when the underside is nicely golden brown. Cook 30 seconds more or when there are brown spots.
  5. Repeat with remaining batter.
Crepe Filling
  1. Whisk together all ingredients. Store in an airtight container up to 2 days.
Raspberry Sauce
  1. Crush berries, add sugar till dissolved. Add Amaretto and mix thoroughly.
  2. Place ½ cup filling one each crepe. Roll up and top with fresh peaches and raspberry sauce.

Strawberry Napoleons

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It’s strawberry time, and our strawberry patch has been producing tub after tub of beautiful berries every morning . . . a delight to look at, let alone to eat. Of course, no strawberry dessert will ever top old fashioned strawberry shortcake, in my opinion, but if you’d like to try a creation that runs it a close second, these strawberry napoleons are simple to make and delicious to eat.

Strawberry Napoleons

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Strawberry Napoleons: Recipes From A Monastery Kitchen
SERVINGS
3servings
CHANGE SERVING SIZE
servings
COOK TIME
15minutes
PREP TIME
READY IN
20minutes

Ingredients

Instructions

  1. Heat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
  2. Thaw folded pastry sheet for 20 minutes.
  3. Open sheet and cut along folds to make three equal strips; halve each strip to make six rectangles.
  4. Space apart on baking sheet.
  5. Bake in center of oven about 15 minutes until well browned and baked through.
  6. Remove to rack to cool.
  7. Meanwhile, in a mixing bowl, whip heavy cream and powdered sugar together until cream is stiff. Set aside.
  8. In another bowl, whisk pudding mix, milk, and extract together for 2 minutes; fold in whipped cream and blend thoroughly. Cover and refrigerate.
  9. Carefully split each piece of pastry in half horizontally.
  10. Cover bottom halves with almonds, then pudding mixture and sliced strawberries, dividing equally.
  11. Cover with pastry tops. Dust with powdered sugar.
  12. *You could double the pudding mixture and use both sheets of puff pastry for more Napoleons. I ended up using all of my puff pastry to be able to have additional layers for each Napoleon.

Hot Cross Buns

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Countless stories surround the origin and the history of hot cross buns. Suffice it to say they are eaten as a simple little sweet during Lent after weeks of abstinence and looking towards the crucifixion. It is our tradition to serve them here at the Community of Jesus every Good Friday.

There is one little saying about them that I particularly like. It is said that a bun baked on Good Friday and hung in one’s kitchen will guarantee the success of all baked goods prepared in that kitchen. Worth a try?

HOT CROSS BUNS

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Hot Cross Buns
SERVINGS
CHANGE SERVING SIZE
COOK TIME
20minutes
PREP TIME
READY IN
55-60minutes

Ingredients

Instructions

  1. Dissolve yeast and sugar in warm water and let stand 10 minutes in mixer until foamy.
  2. Add softened butter, instant powdered milk, egg, egg white. Mix well with dough hook.
  3. Add salt and flour only adding enough flour until dough is slightly sticky.
  4. Add citron and currants and cinnamon
  5. Continue to add rest of flour until the dough is soft and smooth and not too sticky to handle. You may not need all of your flour.
  6. Mix on slow for another 5 minutes – this will knead the dough.
  7. Let rise in mixer bowl until double in size.
  8. Punch down on floured surface, cover, and let rest 10 minutes.
  9. Shape into 12 balls and place in a greased 9 x 12 inch pan.
  10. Cover and let rise in a warm place till double, about 35-40 minutes.
  11. Mix egg yolk and 2 tablespoons water. Brush on balls.
  12. Bake at 375 degrees F (190 degrees C) for 20 minutes. Remove from pan immediately and cool on wire rack.
  13. To make crosses: mix together confectioners’ sugar, vanilla, and milk. Brush an X on each cooled bun.

Apple Cranberry Bread

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Today I am looking out on a winter wonderland! We are in the midst of a blizzard that has dumped an amazing amount of snow as far as the eye can see. One of those days to sit by the fire with a hot cup of tea and a slice of warm Apple cranberry bread.

We still have apples in the refrigerator from our fall harvest which are in surprisingly good shape – the one I munched on while making this bread wasn’t fresh from the tree, but still crisp and sweet. We also were given a large quantity of cranberries from a local bog, so it seemed like a good use of the two to put them together in a quick bread. We are always looking for different morning snack ideas to serve at our community work time break.  I tried a couple of different recipes and actually left the peels on the Apple’s to give the breads a little more texture. Here is one variety that I thought the most flavorful and moist.

 

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Apple Cranberry Bread
SERVINGS
1loaf
CHANGE SERVING SIZE
loaf
COOK TIME
45-55minutes
PREP TIME
READY IN
10minutes

Ingredients

Instructions

  1. Heat oven to 350 degree F. Grease bottom only of an 8 x 4 inch loaf pan
  2. In large bowl, mix 3/4 cup sugar, the oil and egg.
  3. Stir in apple, flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Stir in cranberries.
  4. Spoon batter into pan.
  5. In small bowl, mix 1 Tablespoon sugar and the cinnamon; sprinkle over batter.
  6. Bake 45 to 55 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.
  7. Cool 10 minutes. Remove from pan and cool completely on wire rack before slicing.
Optional Glaze
  1. For glaze, combine confectioners sugar and half and half or milk, drizzle over bread.

Strawberry Whipped Cream Rolls

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It is strawberry time!  And the sight of those tubs full of beautiful juicy red berries that the sisters are bringing in every morning is a joyful one to behold.  It makes me so happy just to look at them and I see a smile come over the face of each person who sees them.

This week we will celebrate the 80th birthday of one of the sisters with old fashioned fresh strawberry shortcake made with traditional biscuits and whipped cream. In the days ahead different sisters will volunteer to make their favorite strawberry desserts and I am making a request right now for my mother’s special strawberry whipped cream rolls. Helping her make them is one of my most pleasant childhood memories.

 Strawberry Whipped Cream Rolls

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Strawberry Whipped Cream Rolls
SERVINGS
9servings
CHANGE SERVING SIZE
servings
COOK TIME
25mins.
PREP TIME
READY IN

Ingredients

Instructions

Sponge cake:
  1. Combine flour and baking powder, set aside.
  2. In a bowl beat eggs with an electric mixer on high speed about 4 minutes or until thick.
  3. Gradually add sugar; beat at medium speed for 4 to 5 minutes or until light and fluffy.
  4. Add the flour mixture; beat at low to medium speed just until combined.
  5. In a saucepan heat and stir the milk and butter until butter melts; remove from heat and add vanilla extract.
  6. Add milk mixture to the batter, beating until combined.
  7. Pour into a greased, wax-papered jelly roll pan.
  8. Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes or until golden but not dry.
To assemble:
  1. Cool and cut into 4 ½ inch squares.
  2. Spread with sweetened whipped cream.
  3. Place sliced strawberries on whip cream, roll up and sprinkle with confectioners’ sugar.
  4. Wrap tightly in waxed paper and refrigerate until serving.
  5. Great to pack in lunches or picnic baskets–fancier dressed up with extra sliced berries and cream as a plated dessert.