Guest Post: 3 Spring Desserts to Make in Your Sous Vide

Happy Wednesday Friends! I am so excited for today's guest post. When I was in Omaha a few months ago, my girlfriends were talking all about sous vide. Cooking chicken sous vide, dessert sous vide. I literally had no idea what they were talking about, but they were both raving about how amazing their recipes turned out. Plus, they mentioned it was a time saver. I was intrigued. 

Then, literally two days later, I was approached by Joe asking to share his favorite sous vide recipes! Talk about perfect timing. PS, Joe, if you're reading this, please come visit Denver, Adam and I would love to show ya around town. Without further ado, I'll let Joe do the talking. 

Spring is here - I am so happy. The warm weather leads the way for an abundance of sunshine, beautiful flowers, crazy drivers (if you're a resident of a tourist hotspot) and tons of food. I'm a huge foodie who loves all types of food – even chicken soup – but there's something I love even more: dessert.

Cool, refreshing and often fattening, desserts are music to my soul.

I get happy eating dessert, serving dessert and watching people's faces light up when they eat dessert. But the one thing I am not a fan of is the complicated desserts that take hours to make. I don't have time to hover over a stove all day. I want to be out in the sun, too (I might even visit Denver this year).

So, instead of buying the pre-packaged goodies that are filled with bad-for-you ingredients, I am trying something new this year. Sous vide.

It's an awesome way of cooking, and it involves using water to make the perfect dessert. It sounds quirky, but trust me when I tell you it's a hit at parties, family events or when feeding the kids. My go-to desserts for the spring are:

1. Chocolate Covered Strawberries

Possibly the easiest dessert on the planet to make, chocolate covered strawberries are delicious, nutritious and take 20 minutes at most to make. You'll want to set your sous vide to 115F for this recipe. 

You'll need the following ingredients:

·         12-ounce chocolate chips

·         1/2 tsp cinnamon

·         Strawberries

Some cooks will add cayenne into the mix, too, but this is completely up to you. Now, you'll want to place all of your spices and chocolate into your sealed bag, and place it in your sous vide for 10 minutes. Remove the bag at this point and massage the chocolate to ensure it's fully melted.

Let cool slightly and then dip your strawberries into the mixture and set on parchment paper, place in the refrigerator and allow to cool.

2. Rice Pudding

Were the strawberries too simple? If so, coconut rice pudding might do the trick. This is one of the recipes that's difficult to make on the stove and easier in a sous vide. You'll need quite a few ingredients to get started, but first set your unit to 180F.

You'll need the following ingredients:

·         2 cups whole milk

·         1/2 cup arborio rice

·         1/2 cup unsweetened coconut (shredded)

·         1/2 cup sugar

·         14-ounce coconut milk

·         1 tsp ground cinnamon

·         1/2 tsp ground ginger

·         1/2 tsp kosher salt

You know how you normally have to hover over this dish for hours hoping it won't come out too dry? Not with sous vide. Place all of the ingredients into a bag, seal and set in the unit for four hours. Remove when finished, and serve hot or place in the refrigerator to cool – it's your choice.

When life gets busy, sit down and enjoy some rice pudding – it's fantastic.

3. Chocolate Chip Cookies

I love chocolate chip cookies, but I can never seem to get them just right. I love the gooey chocolate flavor and texture, and when they're warm, they're to die for. I've found that making my cookies in a sous vide has transformed the way I cook and made my cookies ten times better.

Before we get started, set your machine to 195F and gather the following ingredients:

·         1 cup all-purpose flour

·         2/3 cup brown sugar

·         1 cup chocolate chips

·         1 large egg

·         6 tbsp unsalted butter

·         2 tsp vanilla extract

·         1 tsp baking powder

·         Pinch of salt

Mix your baking powder, flour and salt in a bowl. Add sugar and butter into the bowl and beat for 3 – 5 minutes until a light and fluffy texture is achieved. Add in your egg and vanilla extract, and beat for another 3 minutes.

Once done, mix until well combined, folding in the flour. Next, fold in the chocolate chips and add the mixture into a greased cooking jar. Place the lightly sealed jar into the machine for 3 hours before removing and allowing to cool.

Remove the cookie "jar" contents gently with a knife and transfer the cake-like cookie into a dish that will cook for an hour in the refrigerator.

Once cool, cut the large cookie into cookie slices and serve. The idea and concept sounds odd when reading it, but trust me when I say these cookies are mouth-watering.

Note: You may need to place the mixture into numerous jars.

Name: Joe Hughes

Website: http://sousvidewizard.com

Bio: Joe Hughes, known by most as the Sous Vide Wizard, is an expert in the cooking technique known as sous vide. He runs the very popular website, http://sousvidewizard.com, which provides the latest sous vide industry news, techniques, tricks, and recipes. 

He can be reached at Joe@SousVideWizard.com

Social Media Accounts: Twitter  Facebook  Pinterest

So, what desserts do you cook in your sous vide? Let us know in the comments below.