Sometimes necessity is truly the mother of invention. When award-winning pastry chef Rebecca Freeman of Coyote Café and Santacafé found out her husband had celiac disease, she was devastated. “As a pastry chef, I love sharing my creations with the people around me. He now couldn’t eat half of my desserts, so I began searching out desserts that were naturally gluten free.” She came up with this recipe so that he – and everyone else – could have a pie-free holiday. Serve with a scoop of sorbet and a tuile, if you’re so inclined. “This maple budino with cranberries and pecan crumble tastes like all the thanksgiving desserts rolled into one.” After a bite – okay, we polished it all off – we agree one hundred percent.
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Maple Budino
- Yield: Serves 4
Description
This gluten-free Maple Budino by pastry chef Rebecca Freeman of Coyote Café layers creamy maple custard with tart cranberries and buttery pecan crumble for a dessert that tastes like Thanksgiving in every bite.
Ingredients
- ½ cup maple syrup
- ¾ cup milk
- 1 ½ cups heavy cream
- 1 large egg
- 2 large egg yolks
- 2 tbsp cornstarch
- ½ tsp salt
- 2 tbsp unsalted butter
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
For the Maple Poached Cranberries:
- 1 lb fresh cranberries
- 1 cup maple syrup
For The Ginger Mascarpone:
- ½ cup mascarpone
- ¼ cup heavy cream
- ¼ cup sugar
- ¼ tsp ground ginger
- ¼ tsp vanilla extract
For The Pecan Crumble:
- 2 cups almond flour
- ½ cup unsalted butter softened to room temperature
- ½ cup finely chopped pecans
- ½ cup powdered sugar
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
Instructions
- Place the maple syrup in saucepan over medium-high heat. Bring the maple syrup to a light caramel.
- Carefully whisk in milk and heavy cream. Bring this mixture to a simmer.
- Whisk whole egg, egg yolks, and cornstarch together in a mixing bowl.
- Slowly whisk in hot cream mixture to temper the egg mixture. Pour the entire mixture back into the saucepan and bring to a simmer while whisking, until mixture thickens.
- Remove from heat and add butter, vanilla, and salt.
- Pour into 4 serving bowls. Let cool to room temperature, refrigerating until thoroughly chilled, 3 to 4 hours.
For the Maple Poached Cranberries:
- Combine cranberries and maple syrup in a small saucepan. On the lowest heat possible cook the mixture for 20 minutes, making sure to not to overheat, so the cranberries do not burst.
- These can be stored in the refrigerator for a week.
For the Ginger Mascarpone:
- Whisk all ingredients in a large bowl and reserve until needed.
For The Pecan Crumble:
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
- Combine all ingredients together until a soft dough forms.
- Divide the dough into 20 pieces.
- Bake on a lined cookie sheet for 10 minutes or until golden brown. These cookies keep for a week in a sealed container at room temperature.
- Blitz the cookies to form a rough crumble topping for the maple budino.
Recipe by Rebecca Freeman, Coyote Café
Story and styling by Julia Platt Leonard
Photography by Tira Howard
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