The Full Kitchen

Culinary Adventures in a Tiny California Kitchen

Spumoni Frozen Gelato Cake Adventure

September 09, 2022 by Alyssa D in dessert

In what now feels like a remarkably cool childhood experience, my folks and I discovered that the Italian proprietor of a local motel made delicious small-batch gelato during the summers.

For a limited time, she’d take orders at a lower-level window and hand us full containers that we brought over to Yiayia’s to share. This was the first time we heard about spumoni: a delectable combination of dark chocolate, pistachio, and cherry gelato.

With summer supposedly winding down here, I decided to try creating the perfect spumoni cake at home. Big changes are ahead for us, which is why there’s been a brief hiatus from culinary adventures. But the idea of crafting an epic frozen boozy dessert — no cooking required — filled me with excitement.

Flaming Prune Dessert Adventure

June 30, 2022 by Alyssa D in dessert, breakfast

The list of things that Americans fear gets longer by the moment. If you scroll pretty far down, you’ll probably find prunes.

And it’s no wonder, given our unpleasant associations with brown juice usually consumed as a desperate measure. The attempt to rebrand them as dried plums didn’t do much, either.

Living in France changed my perspective, though. Prunes showed up there in luxurious full-fat yogurt, a true gourmandise. Those tiny packs became a favorite, second only to a local bakery’s buttery raisin and chocolate chip pastries.

Recently I searched for prune dessert recipes, hoping we’d made progress stateside. Disappointingly, most were for fibrous bars more healthful than indulgent. Then I spotted one that called for dousing prunes in brandy, setting them on fire, and baking them in custard. Hell yes.

S’mores Chocolate Bark Adventure

March 31, 2022 by Alyssa D in dessert

For weeks the craving kept popping up. We were staying in Longmont, Colorado, temporarily displaced from home by smoke damage from the Marshall Fire, huddling together at night with our cat, trying to get through each day.

Some food cravings can be an indication that you’re deficient in something, like a vitamin. But I wanted s’mores oh so badly.

Clearly this was a joy deficiency.

Maple Buttercream Adventure

February 04, 2022 by Alyssa D in dessert

Editor’s note: This is the post I planned to publish before the Marshall Fire swept through our neighborhood in Louisville, Colorado, on December 30, 2021.

I needed a little victory, a small win, a bright spot in what now feels like a never-ending pandemic grind.

Most folks we know burned out many months ago and have been mentally trudging along the highway to get to the nearest town ever since. We keep looking for that light in the window.

For a brief moment, maple provided respite.

Apple Cider Doughnut Cake Adventure

October 28, 2021 by Alyssa D in dessert

Even after more than a decade in Colorado, fall still makes me yearn for Vermont: crisp, tart McIntosh apples, beautifully balanced local apple cider, and warm apple cider doughnuts.

I probably didn’t spell “doughnut” correctly on a consistent basis until high school. A pervasive New England coffee chain might have been partially to blame. Come autumn, I was too busy savoring freshly fried apple cider doughnuts to care much about spelling anyway.

With the pandemic continuing to hamper everything, including Vermont apple shipments to homesick East Coasters, we made do with what we had.

Chocolate Buttercream Frosting Adventure

September 18, 2020 by Alyssa D in dessert

I was too young to fully understand the dessert in my hand. This was decades ago, in early Before Times, when an aptly-named bakery called Patisserie used to occupy a prime spot on Main Street in my hometown. Sometimes, after elementary school let out, Mom and I would walk over.

My favorite dessert from the case was kind of insane: two meringue discs bonded together with rich chocolate buttercream, and then a coating of the same buttercream along the edge rolled in chocolate sprinkles. Oh, yes.

Patisserie is long gone, but that particular sweet stuck in my memory. Despite visiting bakeries all over, I’d never found anything exactly like that meringue concoction. Now, this girl is no stranger to chocolate buttercream. Yet none of it recalled that delightful dessert of yore until a serendipitous recipe tweak.

Black Sesame Dessert Adventure

March 26, 2020 by Alyssa D in dessert

“So, for lunch tomorrow, I was thinking we could go to Din Tai Fung,” our friend Dan said casually as he drove us away from downtown Portland.

This was in February, before things got crazy. Before fear and anxiety threatened to vanquish calm and reason. Before everything was turned upside-down by the novel coronavirus pandemic. I like to remember that period of time. Concentrating on it makes me calmer.

High Altitude Caramel Adventure

January 21, 2020 by Alyssa D in dessert

The Martha Stewart recipe promised soft, chewy caramels. I’d never made caramel in any form before ever, and followed the steps precisely using a handy candy thermometer.

But the solid brick that resulted was no match for the sharpest knife in my Colorado kitchen. Utterly crushed by the wasted ingredients and effort, I blamed myself. Must have done something wrong.

Green Monet Cake Adventure Part One

September 28, 2019 by Alyssa D in dessert

“Prue would like you to make an impression of a cake. Quite literally. It’s her version of the impressionist painter Claude Monet’s favorite birthday treat, le gâteau vert.”

The technical challenge on the Great British Bake-Off, known stateside as the Great British Baking Show, was bonkers: three layers of pistachio sponge cake coated in pistachio buttercream covered with homemade pistachio marzipan drizzled with icing colored green using spinach.

I’d never attempted a Bake-Off recipe before, but this green pistachio ridiculousness spoke to me.

Vegetarian Agar Yogurt Pie Adventure

September 16, 2019 by Alyssa D in dessert

The pie recipe had been in our family for decades. We found it on a Dannon yogurt container, back when the company actually sold large tubs of plain yogurt in the local grocery store.

Whenever we had nice fresh fruit, Mom made the pie. She’d add berries or stone fruit to a graham cracker crust, blend the rest of the ingredients together, pour the filling over the fruit, and let it set. Often she’d send me to collect fresh mint from the garden that she’d brush with melted apricot jam for extra garnish.

It’s light, tart, and admittedly perfect for breakfast, but has one big problem for vegetarian friends: Gelatin.