LoveMercedes

Chef Kristine Bender

Olives
1600 K Street, NW
Washington, DC 20005
202.452.1866

Kristine Bender found her way into the pastry kitchen while studying English literature in Edinburgh, Scotland. Working in a small café there, the New Jersey native discovered her gift for giving modern twists to homemade desserts. Back on her home soil, she now works two blocks from the White House at the DC branch of Todd English's Olives, where she has a free hand in developing innovative desserts and intensely flavored ice creams. A strong, independent thinker, she gleans ideas from books and classic recipes and then makes them her own.

Strawberry shortcake baked Alaska is her signature confection. Other irresistible finales include lemon-coconut cream tart with ginger-tea ice cream, and apricot-almond crème brulée cake.

Bender loves to work with seasonal fruit, especially apricots and berries. As is her style, she'll take something familiar and comforting like panna cotta and liven it up with ripe apricots, a homemade almond cookie and a dazzlingly dark drizzle of blackberry sauce. Suddenly it's an altogether different and exciting dessert.

Meet Chef Kristine Bender
Friday, September 17th at 2pm
FedEx Field
Landover, MD

Click here for more recipes

Apricot Panna Cotta & Almond Cookie with Blackberry Drizzle

Serves 6-8

For Apricot Panna Cotta
2 2/3 cups heavy cream
2/3 cup milk
3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
1 1/3 cups apricot puree, fresh or frozen
1/2 vanilla bean
6 sheets gelatin¹
2/3 cup lightly whipped heavy cream
6 4-ounce ramekins or plastic cups

1. Place cream, milk, sugar, apricot puree and 1/2 of a scraped vanilla bean in a medium pot and bring to a boil. Remove from heat and let mixture steep for about 1 hour.
2. Ten minutes before bringing the steeped apricot mixture back to a boil, place gelatin sheets in a bowl of ice water. Now bring steeped apricot mixture back to a boil, squeeze gelatin out of the ice and whisk it into the hot apricot mixture. Remove from heat and strain the mixture through a fine sieve. Cool in an ice bath for about 20 minutes.
3. When the mixture appears to be cool and setting up very slightly around the sides and bottom of the container, quickly whisk out any lumps. By hand or with an electric mixer, lightly whip 2/3 of a cup of cream. Cream should not hold peaks. Fold into apricot mixture. Funnel or pour mixture into plastic cups or ramekins and chill in refrigerator to set, about 4 hours.

For Almond Cookies
1 stick (1/2 cup) butter at room temperature
1 cup sugar
1 egg
3/4 cup and 1 tablespoon toasted whole almonds, ground
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 pinch salt

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add egg, followed by ground almonds. Add flour and small pinch of salt. Chill dough at least 1 hour.
3. Roll out dough on a floured surface and cut into rounds with a diameter slightly (1/2 inch) larger than the diameter of the bottom of the panna cotta in the ramekin or cup. The cookie should be 4 inches in diameter if you are using a 4-ounce ramekin. Also, cookies may be rolled into logs using parchment paper and sliced into 1/4 inch-thick rounds. Bake for about 10 minutes until golden brown. If made in advance, keep in an airtight container until ready for use.

For Blackberry Sauce
3 cups blackberries
2 tablespoons water
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon crème de cassis (optional)

1. Combine blackberries, water and lemon juice in a small pot over low-medium heat. Cook until blackberries are soft, about 10 minutes. Remove pot from heat. Cool for a few minutes.
2. Puree berries in a food processor and strain mixture through a sieve. Add crème de cassis and sugar to the berry juice. If the mixture seems too thin, thicken it by returning to low heat until sauce reduces to desired consistency. Set aside.

For Assembly
Turn cookies upside down on a tray to create a base. Gently run a knife around the edge of the panna cotta cups to let air between the custard and the container. Then dip the cup, right side up, into hot water for a few seconds. Invert the cup onto the cookie base and unmold. You may have to gently squeeze the cup to release the panna cotta. Drizzle blackberry sauce on top of panna cotta and garnish with fresh blackberries.

¹Not as readily available as granulated gelatin is leaf (or sheet) gelatin, which comes in packages of paper-thin sheets. Four sheets of leaf gelatin equal one package of powdered gelatin. Leaf gelatin must be soaked longer than granulated gelatin and is therefore not as popular. This product is often called for in jelled European dessert recipes. It can be found in some gourmet and bakery supply shops. – Source Epicurious.com