Vanilla Poached Plums and Blueberry Granola Goat Cheese Cream Verrines

Plum Blueberry Granola Crunch Verrine (0036) by MeetaKWolff  

Usually when we have invited friends or family for a dinner, I look forward to the entire planning process of the evening meal. Maybe it’s the hotel background that triggers these buttons, but browsing through cookbooks or my recipe notebook and musing over the choices and selections, really makes me happy and content.

If we have invited good friends or family, I am pretty much aware of the restrictions and choices and the planning is easy. However if we have invited guests who we are not completely well acquainted with, many questions arise. Things like food allergies or personal likes and dislikes are considered and I am often told by these guests that they were surprised by the thoughtful questions I asked prior to the planning of the meal. Isn’t that normal and the duty of the hostess?

Plum Blueberry Granola Crunch Verrine (Diptych001) by MeetaKWolffPlum Blueberry Granola Crunch Verrine (Diptych002) by MeetaKWolff

I think my absolute favorite part of meal planning is definitely deciding on dessert. Dessert makes me happy! I also know dessert makes a lot of people happy. I admit to often paying just a little more attention to detail with the selection and preparation of dessert.

Having said that, it certainly does not need to be an extremely elaborate dessert that I might serve. I often like using ingredients in my pantry and pairing it with fresh fruit, a smooth and delicious cream. Playing with different flavors and textures is something I often enjoy doing while putting the dessert together. Sugar and spice, chocolate and cream, crunchy and smooth - so many ideas get me into the swing of things in the kitchen. 

Does dessert really have to be restricted to the end of a meal? Can we not have dessert when we like and even instead of a meal? How about dessert for breakfast?

Plum Blueberry Granola Crunch Verrine (0041) by MeetaKWolff

Well this dessert idea is one of my favorites, simply because you can find any excuse to indulge into it anytime of the day. There’s granola, fruit and quark making it the perfect breakfast or in-between snack. The cheese and fruit allows it to be fairly adequate for lunch or dinner and the added chocolate makes it the perfect selection for - dessert!

Nope - you do not need any excuse NOT to treat yourself to this dessert!

Vanilla Poached Plums and Blueberry Granola Goat Cheese Cream Verrines

Printable version of recipe here

Ingredients

200g quark 
100g soft goat cream cheese
60g maple syrup
200g berry nut chocolate intense granola (or use granola of choice)
120g fresh blueberries
250g plums, stoned and cut in half or quarters depending on their size
100g Muscovado sugar
1 vanilla bean, split and seeds scraped 
 

Method

  1. Prepare the cream by whisking together quark, goat cream cheese and maple syrup in a bowl until smooth. Taste and adjust sweetness by adding more maple syrup if desired. Place in the refrigerator to cool and thicken.

  2. To poach the plums add the sugar into a saucepan with approx. 110ml water and vanilla. Gently heat until the sugar dissolves. Slide the fruit into the syrup. Bring the pan to the boil, then let it simmer for 5 to 10 minutes, depending on the ripeness and size, until the plums are soft. Leave to cool.

  3. In clean bowls or glasses begin layering your verrines: first add a handful of the granola, then top with some blueberries, spoon a tablespoon or two of the goat cheese-quark cream. On top of this spoon a good tablespoon of the poached plums and more granola. Finally spoon some more cream over the top and sprinkle with some granola and blueberries.

  4. Serve the dessert immediately and while the granola is still crunchy. Enjoy!
     


Verdict

 Plum Blueberry Granola Crunch Verrine (0038) by MeetaKWolff

Both Soeren and I are very fond of such desserts as it brings together a lot of our favorite ingredients in one bowl. The beauty of verrines is that you simply get a plethora of flavors, a variety of different elements and the imagination can run wild all with one dessert. So we push our spoons right to the bottom and as it is pulled back out again, we know that each spoonful will be taking us to a different flavor high each time. Using the berry nut chocolate intense granola I made a while back was perfect for the verrine. The cashews, poppy seeds and dark chocolate added a delightful crunchy texture pairing incredibly well with the creaminess of the the quark-goat cheese cream.

So go on and treat yourself to dessert any time of the day!

I’ll be back next week with another sweet dessert – because dessert makes us happy! Enjoy the rest of the week.

You might like these dessert ideas from WFLH:

Banana Brioche Pudding with Baileys Caramel Cream Panna Cotta - Strawberry with Balsamic Red Wine Syrup Persimmon Honey Nut Yogurt Verrines

 


All photographs and written content on What's For Lunch, Honey? © 2006-2010 Meeta Khurana Wolff unless otherwise indicated. | All rights reserved | Please Ask First

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31 comments:

  1. Dessert for breakfast seems right up my alley - especially if it's so prettily presented and healthy to boot. Gorgeous photos and a great recipe Meeta!

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  2. Gorgeous little verrines and splendid shots!

    Cheers,

    Rosa

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  3. I agree, dessert makes me happy, too. And luckily most of the time everybody else around the table. Unfortunately Quark is very expensive here (I really miss it) and not very fresh.
    It looks like a wonderful dessert idea my family would love. We could just serve it with Greek yogurt.

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  4. Perfectly balanced between tart, sweet salty...even the textures are perfectly balanced. Great job all round!!

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  5. Oh yes, it's ALWAYS time for dessert!! Can't get enough of it!
    This one is so healthy & looks so colourful, definitely gonna try it out!!
    Thanks Meeta!
    Bisous from Versailles, Chantal

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  6. MEETA! WOW! You are so talented. Talented in photography and food. I love this recipe. :)Besos!

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  7. I concur! I always plan dessert first when setting a menu. Awww, those verrines look so elegant and simple at the same time. Your photos are so stunning, I like the one with the little boy's striped T shirt, makes an awesome backdrop.

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  8. They look delicious, I'm going to have a go at making them at the weekend, my children will love them :)

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  9. I love planning meals for friends and family too! These verrines look lovely! I can't wait to try them.

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  10. mmm.. what a great idea and you can actually have dessert for breakfast too this time :DD

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  11. Wonderful pictures, such a simple dessert/breakfast but you've made it look really exciting!

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  12. Wonderful Dessert!!! Love the fruity healthy yummy goodness! Gorgeous photography as usual! :)

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  13. Why not for breakfast? You could mix the goat cheese half and half with Greek yogurt.

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  14. YUMMY! I love the idea of having this dessert for breakfast, as a midday snack or a late night indulgent pleasure! Obviously I would love it as dessert as well! Wonderful shots as ever!

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  15. Such pretty pictures....Did you MAKE him wear that shirt to match? ;P

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  16. Thanks everyone for all your comments! I knew many of you would share my sentiments for dessert at anytime of the day!

    Kristen: the link for quark takes you to a homemade quark recipe i posted a while back! easy!

    Sasa - No I styled the shot to match his shirt ;o)

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  17. This is not dessert in my book! It is lunch! I love the quark, goat cheese, maple syrup combo and the fruit and granola makes it complete. And one thing about dessert - it is the last thing that a guest will remember about a meal and the the memory and lingering flavors that they will carry home with them.

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  18. This is literally layers of deliciousness. I love the sound of this recipe!

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  19. This looks like my kind of dessert, and I am like you, I always ask those questions of my dinner guests, because as a cook there is nothing worse than when one of your guests can't eat and enjoy something you have prepared!

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  20. Dessert is necessity in our house! Thanks for making it almost guilt free!

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  21. This is such a lovely dish Meeta! If only I could get quark like the one in Finland here in Sydney! It used to be my favourite treat!

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  22. Ohhh, so beautiful and healthy and delicious and sigh, I just love your photos. :-) Meeta, you never fail to delight and inspire me. :-)

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  23. This is right up my street Meeta. I am currently blue with envy just thinking of how delish this must have been. Love the photographs and the flavours! FABULOUS!!

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  24. YES dessert definitely makes us happy. who better to agree to that than... me ! :) dessert for breakfast, love it too. and YOU, my dear, who just had dessert for lunch the other day too - sticky toffee pudding ! mmm, if that's at home, i'd say it's impossible to resist, breakfast lunch or dinner !

    only, i tend to agree with jamie here, this isn't quite dessert. lunch for jamie. but for me, it resembles what is often my afternoon snack. i usually have quark with jam and dates, or other dried fruit and homemade granola, the latter often sneaking in some chocolate from time to time too, as you make as well.

    i guess it's not such a bad thing when the lines begin to blur between meals, healthy snacks and desserts...! whatever and whenever, it's always delicious ! :o)

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  25. They are beautiful verrines. When I have guests over I always hope that they love desserts because it's what I love most to prepare for them.

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  26. So just saying the title of this dish is making me hungry for breakfast.... Yumm! I love the mix.

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  27. delicious. . .love the mixing!can't help=(

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  28. O I love these all-times-of the-day desserts! It looks delicious!

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Thank you for visiting What's For Lunch, Honey? and taking time to browse through my recipes, listen to my ramblings and enjoy my photographs. I appreciate all your comments, feedback and input. I will answer your questions to my best knowledge and respond to your comments as soon as possible.

In the meantime I hope you enjoy your stay here and that I was able to make this an experience for your senses.

Hugs
Meeta