The tristar strawberry, pear sorbet, and goat froyo desserts are variations on a theme. Every pastry chef and department has a successful formula to piece flavors and textures together into desserts. This is ours: ganache + sorbet + textural element = plated dessert. These types of desserts highlight the way that Milk Bar components, which might seem kind of jokey (like Ritz crunch) or weird (like pumpkin ganache), can be brought together in unexpected ways as thoughtful, delicious, grown-up desserts. The composition of these dishes can be looked at as guides for ways to put together fancy-looking plates at home. If you are baking out of this book a bunch—making liquid cheesecake or crunches or cakes and ending up with leftovers—you will see that plates like these are actually quite easy to assemble just from your scraps. Think of these recipes as your Milk Bar final exam for all things sweet yet savory. Bonus points if you use chilled plates to serve the desserts.
Recipe information
Yield
Serves 4
Ingredients
Preparation
Step 1
Schmear (see page 29) the ganache across 4 small dessert plates or up the sides of bowls. Scatter the crunch about the ganache. Arrange 8 to 10 strawberries around and on the schmear, leaving room in the middle for a generous scoop or quenelle (see page 28) of strawberry sorbet on each plate. Serve at once.
notes
Step 2
Tristar strawberries are little gems from heaven. They are our favorite breed of strawberry, the hot commodity, if you will, for any pastry chef strolling through the Union Square farmers’ market in search of seasonal revelation. Known for their unbelievably deep flavor and color, the tristars we hoard all summer long are from Rick Bishop at Mountain Sweet Berry Farm in Roscoe, New York.
