White Chocolate Risotto with Pumpkin Crème Brûlée and Gingerbread

To make the gingerbread cake: Preheat the oven to 350 F. Grease a 12-cup mini-muffin pan. Combine the Armagnac, prunes, and gingerroot in a heavy saucepan and cook over medium heat until the liquid has evaporated. Remove from heat and set aside to cool. Sift the flour, salt, baking soda, cinnamon, ground ginger, cloves, and cayenne together into a bowl. In the bowl of a mixer, cream the shortening and sugar together until light and fluffy. Beat in the molasses and coffee, then add the dry ingredients in three additions, beating just until fully incorporated between each addition. Beat in the eggs and vanilla extract. Stir in the Armagnac mixture and crystallized ginger. Fill the muffin cups three-fourths full of the mixture and bake 15 to 20 minutes, until the muffins have risen and set, and are firm to the touch. Remove and let cool. Note: This batter may be made and kept up to a week in the refrigerator, or the muffins may be prebaked and frozen.

To prepare the macerated fruit: Place all ingredients in a non-aluminum bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Set aside to soak overnight. Drain before using.

To make the tuiles: Cut a triangle stencil pattern, 8 inches long and 3 inches at the end, from cardboard about 1/16-inch thick; keep the margins around the triangle stencil cutout small. Clean large-diameter glasses, soda bottles, or similar round objects and lay them on their sides on a work surface. Preheat the oven to 325 F. Butter and lightly flour 2 baking sheets. In a medium bowl, cream the butter, sugar, and honey together. Gradually stir in the cake flour until smooth. Stir in the egg, egg whites, and vanilla. Lay the pattern on a baking sheet and spread batter over the stencil. Lift, leaving a triangle of batter behind. Repeat to make 12 triangles (more to allow for breakage if possible). Bake 10 to 12 minutes, until the edges are browned and the centers are cooked through. Lift a tuile with a spatula and lay over the waiting glass, point end first, to curve the tuile. Repeat with remaining tuiles. If they become too stiff to bend, put them back in the oven for a few moments to warm them again. When all have been shaped and cooled, remove and store in an airtight container.

To make the rice pudding: Scrape the seeds from the vanilla bean into the milk, then drop in the vanilla bean pod. Warm the milk and cream over medium-low heat. Melt the butter in a heavy saucepan over medium heat and add the rice. Stir with a wooden spoon to coat. When the rice begins to brown slightly, add 1 cup of the milk mixture plus the vanilla bean pod and stir together with a wooden spatula or spoon. Stir in the cinnamon sticks, zests, and ground nutmeg. Reduce the heat to medium-low and continue stirring the rice as it cooks and absorbs the liquid. When the liquid is nearly all absorbed, add about 1 cup more and continue cooking and stirring until the liquid is again absorbed. Continue in this fashion until all liquid has been added and absorbed and the rice is very soft and slightly thickened, about 15 to 20 minutes. Stir in the sugar. Remove the vanilla bean pod and cinnamon sticks. Add the chocolate and let stand for 30 seconds; using a spatula, gently stir to blend. Spoon the risotto into the bottom of 8 heatproof serving bowls and set aside at room temperature.

To make the crème brûlée: Preheat the oven to 300 F. Put the milk in a heavy saucepan and scrape the seeds from the vanilla beans into the milk. Drop in the vanilla bean pods. Bring the mixture just to a boil over medium-high heat. In a separate bowl, whisk the egg yolks and brown sugar together until well blended. Add a large spoonful of the hot milk and whisk quickly to combine, tempering the eggs. Pour the egg mixture into the remaining hot milk in the pan, whisking briskly to prevent the eggs from scrambling. Put the developing custard back over medium heat and add the cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves. Cook, stirring gently, until the mixture thickens and coats the back of a spoon. Remove from the heat and pour through a strainer into a heatproof bowl, then place the bowl in a larger bowl of ice and whisk gently until cooled. Add the pumpkin puree and blend. Add salt to taste, then mix thoroughly with a stick blender until very smooth. Stir in the orange zest. Pour pumpkin cream over the risotto in the serving bowls and put them in a deep baking pan. Put the pan on an oven rack and pour hot water into the pan to fill half way up the sides of the bowls. Bake 30 to 40 minutes, until set. Remove from the oven and take out of the water bath; let cool enough to handle. Sprinkle the remaining sugar over the tops of the bowls, spreading it out evenly. Melt and caramelize the sugar with a kitchen torch, or under a very hot broiler.

To serve: Place the pumpkin crème brûlée bowls on serving plates. Sprinkle the muffins with confectioner’s sugar and place one to one side on each crème brûlée. Spoon a little macerated fruit beside the muffins. Place a curved tuile, point up, beside each muffin and press into the brûlée slightly to hold it upright. Anchor each with a quenelle of ice cream. If you are using the optional sugar spirals, anchor one in each ice cream quenelle.