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[1 & 2] (photos © Vicia Restaurant | St. Louis).
[3] Serve ice cream in a quenelle shape for more sophistication. Here’s how to make it (photo © Lauren V. Haas | Breadhitz).
[4] A few fresh mint leaves add a colorful note to monotone dishes (photo © Good Eggs).
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Some people fall in love with photos on dating sites.
We fall in love with cuisine on the websites of restaurants nationwide.
We long to visit St. Louis, for example, to dine at Vicia Restaurant.
Just about every photo on their website, Facebook page` and Instagram makes us want to drool.
Some of them are enough within our skill set to create copycats. We share this one with you.
Vicia describes this dessert as chocolate shortbread, burnt honey caramel, lemon verbena cream and cocoa nib ice cream.
RECIPE: RECIPE: CHOCOLATE COOKIES & CAKE WITH ALL THE TRIMMINGS
Ingredients
Vicia makes everything from scratch. Our homage is half made, half bought.
When we couldn’t make it or buy it, we substituted it.
We don’t know what Vicia called this recipe, so the name is our own creation. Many thanks to the inspired chefs at Vicia.
Chocolate shortbread (from the bakery)
Dark chocolate bundt cake (homemade)
Lemon pudding (cooked, not instant, scooped with a teaspoon measure)
Butterscotch pudding (cooked, not instant, scooped with a teaspoon measure)
Ice cream of choice (see Tips)
Lightly-beaten whipped cream (see Tips)
Garnish: tiny basil leaves (from our window plant—see tips)
Ingredient Cream Tips
Puddings: Scoop when cold.
Ice cream flavor: We couldn’t find anything approximating cocoa nib ice cream. We could have used plain vanilla, but opted for Talenti Chocolate Chip Gelato, which has tiny specks of chocolate that don’t clash with the lemon pudding.
To make the ice cream ovals, called quenelles (ken-ELL), see this video. A regular round scoop will do, but the quenelles have more eye appeal.
Whipped cream: We wanted the whipped cream to be flat, like the foam in the photo. We beat it until it was the consistency of a sauce, and spooned it over the dessert.
Color garnish: This brown-and-white dish needs a bit of color. For an herb garnish, you can use basil, chamomile flowers, lavender, mint, nasturtium, rosemary or thyme sprigs; or you can default to raspberries.
Preparation
1. CRUMBLE the cookies and tear the cake into large, bite-size pieces. Place them in a shallow bowl or on a plate.
2. ADD the small scoops of pudding at intervals, as shown in the photo.
3. ADD the ice cream, followed by the whipped cream. Add herbs and serve immediately.
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