I am so excited for this long weekend. I get one extra day to cook and bake and, more important, play around with my new Pottery Barn goodies. Can you believe I’m collaborating with them again? Crazy. It also means we’re one week closer to our Napa road trip. After much delay, Jason and I finally planned our mini getaway. Hooray!
We’ll be staying in the Chocolat Room at the Old World Inn’s Cabernet House, located within walking distance of Downtown Napa. (Rookie will be staying with her grandparents and getting spoiled, I’m sure.) On ourmy to-do list: a stop at Oxbow Public Market and plenty of wine tasting. Since it’ll be Jason’s first time visiting, I’ll do my best to play tour guide.
Until then, it’s business as usual: work and testing a few new recipes. I may even recreate this red, white and blue parfait for Fourth of July. I made it for a dinner party last Saturday and everyone’s glasses were licked clean.
It’s an easy-to-assemble yet elegant dessert – the most labor-intensive step is making the speculoos from scratch. If you don’t have the time or patience to bake, simply sub in your favorite cookie. Because what makes this parfait truly unique is the light, tangy filling – a blend of freshly whipped cream and Greek yogurt. It balances the sweetness of the speculoos and summer berries perfectly.
Speculoos recipe adapted from Dorie Greenspan.
- 1⅔ cups all-purpose flour
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- 2½ teaspoons cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon ground ginger
- ⅛ teaspoon ground allspice
- 7 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- ½ cup light brown sugar
- 1 large egg, room temperature
- ¾ cup Greek yogurt
- ¼ cup powdered sugar
- ¾ cup heavy cream
- fresh blueberries
- fresh strawberries, sliced
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger and allspice.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, or in a bowl with a hand-held mixer, beat the butter at medium speed until creamy. Add the sugars and beat until well blended, about 2 minutes. Add the egg and continue to beat until well blended.
- Gradually add the dry ingredients and beat on low speed until just combined. The dough will be quite soft.
- Divide the dough in half. Working with 1 piece at a time, roll dough between 2 sheets of plastic wrap until it's about ¼" thick. As you're rolling out the dough, flip it a few times and pull away the plastic wrap to avoid rolling creases into the dough. Put the rolled-out dough on a tray and refrigerate for at least 3 hours (or freeze for up to 2 months).
- When you're ready to bake the cookies, preheat oven to 350 degrees with rack in center position.
- Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat. Remove the dough from the refrigerator, peel off the top piece of plastic wrap and cut out cookies with a 1¼" round cutter. Carefully lift the cutouts onto the lined baking sheet. Collect the scraps and set them aside to combine with the scraps from the second piece of dough.
- Bake cookies until they are golden and lightly brown around the edges, 10-15 minutes. Allow cookies to rest on the baking sheet for a few minutes before transferring to a wire rack. They will harden as they cool.
- Repeat with the second piece of dough. Press together scraps, roll out, chill and repeat.
- In a large bowl, stir together the yogurt and powdered sugar.
- In a medium bowl, beat heavy cream on high speed until stiff peaks form; fold into the yogurt mixture and refrigerate until ready to assemble parfaits.
- Place 8-10 cookies in a plastic bag and crush with a rolling pin to create crumbs.
- Put a small handful of blueberries in the bottom of four small glasses. Spoon about 2 tablespoons of cream filling over blueberries and sprinkle with cookie crumbs. Layer strawberry slices over cookie crumbs, spoon about 2 more tablespoons of cream filling over strawberries and sprinkle with cookie crumbs. Repeat once more, ending with strawberry slices and cookie crumbs. Chill until ready to serve.
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