Calvados Vanilla Cream Recipes

Steps:

• Place prunes in a small bowl and add boiling water to cover. Let stand 5 minutes; drain. Return prunes to bowl and stir in 2 tablespoons Calvados. Cover with plastic wrap and reserve until ready to use.
• In a large skillet, melt 4 tablespoons butter over medium-high heat. Stir in sugar, 1/4 teaspoon salt, 1/4 teaspoon pepper and 1/8 teaspoon nutmeg. Add chestnuts and cook, stirring occasionally to coat chestnuts with butter mixture, until chestnuts are golden and caramelized, 3 to 4 minutes. Stir in remaining 2 tablespoons Calvados and cook, scraping up any browned bits from bottom of skillet, until liquid is mostly evaporated. Remove chestnuts from heat.
• In a large pot, melt remaining 2 tablespoons butter over medium-high heat. Stir in the celery, carrots, shallots and leek; cook, stirring, until softened, about 5 minutes.
• Stir in chestnuts, apples, stock and remaining 1 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper. Tie thyme and parsley together with kitchen twine and add to pot. Bring mixture to boil; reduce heat to medium-low and simmer, uncovered, until vegetables are very tender, 25 to 30 minutes. Remove herbs and discard.
• Purée soup in batches in a food processor or blender (or use an immersion blender). Return soup to pot. Stir in 1/2 cup heavy cream. Keep soup warm over low heat.
• With an electric mixer, beat remaining 1/2 cup cream with remaining 1/8 teaspoon nutmeg until cream forms soft peaks.
• To serve, place a prune in each bowl. Fill each bowl with a ladleful of soup. Top with a dollop of whipped cream and drizzle with Calvados.

Steps:

• Whip cream and confectioners' sugar until soft peaks form. Stir in Calvados. Use immediately.

Steps:

• In a medium saucepan, heat the half-and-half and the vanilla bean to just a simmer, and then immediately remove the pan from the heat.
• In a separate bowl, whisk the eggs and the sugar until they are smooth and add a small bit of the hot vanilla cream, stirring constantly.
• Immediately transfer the warmed egg mixture back into the hot cream and continue whisking until they are completely incorporated.
• Heat the mixture over low-medium heat, stirring constantly, until it reads 170 degrees on a digital candy thermometer or is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon.
• Remove from heat, stir in the Calvados, and chill the custard completely before serving it.

Steps:

• Preheat broiler.
• Toss apples with lemon juice and 2 tablespoons sugar. Melt butter in a shallow baking pan 6 inches from heat. Remove from oven and tilt pan back and forth to coat bottom completely with butter. Arrange apples in 1 layer in pan. Broil apples 6 inches from heat until edges are pale golden and apples are just tender, 8 to 10 minutes. Sprinkle remaining 2 tablespoons sugar over apples and broil until sugar is melted, 1 to 2 minutes.
• While apples are broiling, boil maple syrup and Calvados 2 minutes.
• Serve apples and ice cream topped with sauce.

Steps:

• Make topping:
• Peel, core, and quarter apples.
• In a well-seasoned 10 1/4 by 2-inch cast-iron skillet or a 10- by 2-inch non-stick skillet melt butter over moderately low heat just until melted (butter should not separate). Stir in sugar until combined well. Arrange apple quarters decoratively, cut sides up, in skillet and sprinkle walnuts evenly in between apples. Cook mixture, undisturbed, 25 to 35 minutes, or until apples are tender in centers and sugar is a golden caramel.
• Preheat oven to 375°F.
• Make cake batter while topping is cooking:
• Peel apple and chop fine.
• In a bowl whisk together flour, baking powder, salt and cinnamon.
• In another bowl with an electric mixer beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in vanilla and ginger and add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in sour cream and with mixer on low speed beat in flour mixture gradually until just combined. Fold chopped apple into batter.
• Remove skillet from heat and spoon batter evenly over topping. With a metal spatula spread batter (being careful not to disturb topping), leaving a 1/4-inch border of cooked apples uncovered. If using a non-stick skillet with a plastic handle, wrap handle in a double thickness of foil. Put skillet in a shallow baking pan and bake cake in middle of oven 25 to 35 minutes, or until a tester comes out with crumbs adhering and cake is golden brown. Cool cake in skillet on a rack 10 minutes. Run a thin knife around edge of skillet and carefully invert cake onto a plate.
• Serve cake warm or at room temperature with caramel sauce and whipped cream.
• To make Calvados caramel sauce:
• In a dry heavy saucepan (about 2 quarts) cook sugar over moderate heat, stirring with a fork, until melted and cook without stirring, swirling pan, until a golden caramel. Remove pan from heat and carefully add water and brandy down side of pan (caramel will bubble and steam). Return pan to heat and simmer, stirring, until caramel is dissolved. Stir in butter. Sauce may be made 3 days ahead and chilled, covered. Reheat sauce to warm before serving.
• Makes about 1 1/4 cups.

Steps:

• 1. To make the crumble, preheat the over to 350°F; position a rack in the middle. Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper.
• 2. In a bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and nutmeg until combined. Add the butter and, using a fork, cut it into the mixture until it resembles wet sand. Refrigerate for about 20 minutes, or until chilled. Sprinkle the chilled crumble mixture over the prepared baking sheet. Bake for 15 minutes, or until golden brown. Transfer the baking sheet to a wire rack and let the crumble cool completely before breaking it into small pieces. Set aside.
• 3. To make the apples, in a saucepan, combine the apples, sugar, vanilla, cinnamon, salt, and pepper and let the fruit macerate for 30 minutes. Place the saucepan over low heat and cook until the apples are tender, about 10 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside for 5 minutes. Stir in the calvados; let cool to room temperature.
• 4. To make the ice cream base, pour the milk into a double boiler or a heatproof bowl set over a saucepan of simmering water (the bottom of the bowl should not touch the water). Whisk in 1/2 cup (100 grams) of the sugar and the salt and stir until they have dissolved. Warm the mixture until you see stream rising from the top.
• 5. Meanwhile, prepare an ice bath in a large bowl and set another bowl over it. Set aside.
• 6. In a medium bowl, with a kitchen towel underneath it to prevent slipping, whisk together the egg yolks with the remaining 2 tablespoons (25 grams) sugar until uniform. While whisking, add a splash of the hot dairy mixture, whisking it in bit by bit, until you've added about half. Add the yolk mixture to the remaining dairy mixture in the double boiler. Set the heat under the double boiler to medium and cook the custard, stirring continuously with a wooden spoon and reducing the heat to medium-low as necessary, until steam begins to rise from the surface and the custard thickens enough to coat the back of the spoon. Hold the spoon horizontally and run your finger through the custard. If the trail left by your finger stays separated, the custard is ready to be cooled.
• 7. Strain the custard into a bowl and stir in the crème fraîche. If the mixture seems a bit runny and has lost its thick consistency, return the custard to the double boiler, and cook, stirring, until the custard has thickened enough to coat the back of the spoon. Repeat the finger gap test until the trail left by your finger stays separated. Strain the custard into the bowl sitting over the prepared ice bath, add the vanilla, and stir for 3 to 5 minutes, or until the custard has cooled. Transfer the custard to a quart-size container, cover, and refrigerate for at least 4 hours or, preferably, overnight.
• 8. Pour the chilled custard into an ice cream maker and freeze according to the manufacturer's instructions. Place the container in which you refrigerated the custard in the freezer so you can use it to store the finished ice cream. Churn the ice cream until the texture resembles "soft serve." In the last 30 seconds of churning, add the crumble and the cooked apples. You can also manually fold the crumble and apples into the ice cream. Transfer the ice cream to the chilled storage container and freeze until hardened to your desired consistency. Alternatively, you can serve it immediately-it will be the consistency of gelato. The ice cream will keep, frozen, for up to 7 days.

Steps:

• Pour half and half into heavy medium saucepan. Scrape in seeds from vanilla bean; add bean. Bring to simmer. Whisk sugar, yolks and corn syrup in medium heatproof bowl to blend. Gradually whisk in hot half and half mixture. Return to saucepan. Stir over medium-low heat until custard thickens and leaves path on back of spoon when finger is drawn across, about 5 minutes (do not boil). Strain into bowl. Mix in crème fraîche and Calvados. Chill until cold. Transfer to ice cream maker; process according to manufacturer's instructions. Transfer to covered container; freeze. (Can be made 3 days ahead.)