Sure, a basket of plush red raspberries, unadorned, is a pretty perfect snack. But those little guys will also transform a summer dessert -- or drink, or even a savory salad or entree. How do you take your raspberries?
These are not your usual contests. We have a slightly nutty system but it works. Together, the Food52 community has created two cookbooks this way -- there’s no stopping us now. Read about it
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To make these custard cups, you'll need: brown sugar, milk, cream cheese, flour, sugar, egg, cornstarch, raspberries and vanilla.
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The custard starts with sugar, eggs, flour and cornstarch.
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Then, of course, some milk.
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After a few minutes on the stove, the custard thickened up beautifully -- silky smooth!
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The "secret" ingredient: cream cheese!
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Look at that texture.
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Aren't these raspberries gorgeous?
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We used six little ramekins, but you could probably squeeze everything into four larger cups if you're feeling hedonistic.
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You want to make sure to nestle in as many raspberries as possible!
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Picture perfect.
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After a quick brulée, we sprinkled on the brown sugar and then popped them under the broiler again for about 30 seconds.
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Little cups of joy.
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The ingredients for the muffins: raspberries, buttermilk, egg, sea salt, sugar, creme fraiche, baking soda, vanilla butter and flour (plus baking powder, which didn't make it into the shot).
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Concentrating very hard on cutting up the butter.
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A river of melting butter.
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After a few minutes, specks will start to form, and you have brown butter!
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Sifting the dry ingredients is one of the techniques that keeps these muffins light and downy.
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Don't you just want to dive into this pile of creme fraiche?
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Folding the brown butter into the batter.
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And then the dry ingredients.
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Time to add lots of plump raspberries.
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Amanda gets ready to fill the muffin cups (we lined them with paper for easy removal).
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They're beautiful even before they're baked.
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These smelled amazing when they came out of the oven.
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A little butter never hurts...
