Our instructor went over the basics of making pastry and using fresh summer fruits and then we divided and conquered to make four desserts:
Peach and Blackberry Cobbler with Crystallized Ginger
Nectarine and Plum Tartlets
Apricot-Cherry Shortcakes
Spiced Plum Pavlovas
I was on the Spiced Plum Pavlova team with a fabulous partner in crime, Sandy. The recipe can be found at this link and a photo is below. The pavlova is a meringue topped with cooked plums and crème fraîche (in the words of the Barefoot Contessa, "How bad can that be?"). The ingredient that puts this dessert over the top though is cardamom. Cardamom has a warm and savory flavor that complements the plums really well. I became a huge fan of cardamom while I was working in Jordan, where it is traditionally added to their Turkish coffee.
If you are interested in specifics on the other recipes, let me know - they were all delicious, but this was my favorite.
By the way, we made the meringues in a electric stand mixer and that greatly simplified the process. If you're like me and don't have a stand mixer, I would suggest making these at a friend's house who does. The instructor said is is possible to do this with a hand mixer; she recommended using a deep stainless steel bowl in that case - and you will need an assistant!
