Apple Cider Sorbet
I’ve had my share of warm apple cider, but I never froze it before. This sorbet is such a nice dessert option. Light and naturally sweet, it is the perfect finish for any meal.
The cider is boiled down, to concentrate the sweetness. Then fresh apples are added and pureed. The mixture gets frozen, then pureed one more time- to really smooth out the texture. Cinnamon sticks impart their flavor when boiled in the cider. You could certainly used ground cinnamon, if you don’t have cinnamon sticks. Feel free to add other spices, too, like allspice, cloves or ginger.
Over the years, I have made all sorts of sorbets. I love the light, creamy texture. I am not sure why I never tried to make an apple sorbet before. I am so glad I finally did. This is a nice, lighter option for dessert. It is also a dairy-free option, for those who can’t have ice cream.
Apple Cider Sorbet
6 c. apple cider
2 (4-inch) cinnamon sticks
3 apples, peeled, cored and diced
In saucepan place cider and cinnamon sticks. Cook over medium high heat, uncovered, until cider has cooked down to 2 cups. Remove cinnamon sticks and discard them. Cool cider and combine in food processor with the apples. Puree until smooth. Transfer mixture to a container with a lid. Freeze until solid. Remove from freezer and allow to soften for a few minutes. Break into chunks and puree in processor, until smooth and creamy in texture. You can serve it right away, or return to freezer to enjoy later. Makes 1 quart of sorbet.
Spiced Pumpkin Scones
These scones are easy to make and are not only great for breakfast and snacks- they make a fun base for shortcakes. The spice mixture gives them a rich, warm flavor.
The dough is slightly sticky and you form the scones by dropping balls of dough onto the baking sheet using an ice cream scoop. You could just use a couple of large spoons, too. Because the dough is not rolled out and cut, it makes for a more tender scone. They are a little rustic looking, with some lumps and bumps, but they taste wonderful and their texture is soft and tender on the inside with a nice crispness on the outside.
Once baked, they are drizzled with a vanilla glaze and then a cinnamon glaze.
Spiced Pumpkin Scones
4 c. all purpose flour
1/2 c. sugar
1 T. baking powder
1 t. each salt, cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg and ginger
1/2 t. cloves
1 1/2 sticks cold butter
1 c. cooked pumpkin or winter squash
3 oz. milk
2 eggs
Vanilla glaze
2 c. powdered sugar
1 t. vanilla
4-6 T. milk
Cinnamon Glaze
2 c. powdered sugar
2 t. cinnamon
4 T. milk
Preheat oven to 400. Lightly grease 2 baking sheets or line them with parchment paper. Set aside. Combine flour with sugar, baking powder and spices and stir to blend. Cut in butter until the mixture looks like coarse crumbs. Combine pumpkin or squash with the milk and eggs and stir into the flour mixture. Stir until well mixed. Dough should be just a little sticky. Use an ice cream scoop to scoop dough onto the prepared baking sheets- leaving a couple of inches between them. Hint: If you spray a little non-stick spray on the cookie scoop first the dough will pop out easier. Bake for 15 minutes or until scones are browned on the bottom and just getting golden on the top. If you want to put both baking sheets in the oven at the same time- switch them half way through the baking time and allow a few extra minutes. Remove scones to cooling rack. Meanwhile make both glazes by combining ingredients and stirring until smooth. Drizzle with the vanilla glaze while still warm and allow scones to cool and glaze to harden before drizzling with the cinnamon glaze. Makes about 20-30 depending on the size of the scoop you use.
Moroccan Date Cake
I have liked dates for as long as I can remember. They are truly nature’s candy. In this simple cake recipe I used both dates and nuts to add richness. The hardest part of this dish was cutting up the fresh dates. They are pretty sticky. I used kitchen scissors, dipped in oil, to snip up the dates and that worked pretty well. I suppose you could add frosting or a glaze but I prefer this cake unadorned.
Moroccan Date Cake
1/2 c. butter
1/2 c. sugar
4 eggs
1 t. baking powder
1 c. flour
1 t. cinnamon
1 t. nutmeg
1/2 t. ground cloves
1/2 c. milk
1 t. vanilla
1 c. pitted, chopped dates
1/2 c. chopped walnuts
Cream together butter and sugar and beat in the eggs. Combine dry ingredients and beat into the egg mixture. Beat in milk and vanilla. Stir in nuts and dates and pour batter into a greased 9-inch cake pan. Bake in a preheated 325-degree oven for about 30 minutes or until knife inserted in center comes out clean. Serves 8-10.
Sweet Potato Muffins-Gluten Free
When a family member was diagnosed with Celiac disease years ago, the selection of gluten free foods was pretty limited. Happily, today going gluten free is much easier. I buy a gluten free flour at Costco that can be used in any recipe that calls for all purpose flour. Gluten free flour is available in many grocery stores, too.
Gluten free flour seems to bake, or at least brown, a little faster, so you have to keep an eye on what you use it in. It doesn’t get much easier than that. In this recipe you could also use all purpose flour, if that is what you prefer. Just increase baking time 3-5 minutes.
The muffins are moist and not too sweet. They are great for breakfast, snacks or even as a dessert. They could also be served with lunch or dinner in places of rolls.
They freeze well so you can make a batch and freeze the extras for later. Wonderful for busy days when you don’t have time to make them.
Sweet Potato Muffins- Gluten Free
4 eggs, slightly beaten
3/4 c. oil
1 c. sugar
2 c. cooked sweet potatoes, mashed
1 3/4 c. gluten-free flour
1 T. cinnamon
1 t. nutmeg
2 t. baking powder
1 t. baking soda
3/4 t. salt
Blend together in large bowl eggs, sugar, sweet potatoes and oil and set aside. In another bowl combine dry ingredients. Add dry ingredients to egg mixture and stir until well blended. Pour into paper-lined muffin tins, filling about 2/3 full. Bake in a preheated 350-degree oven for 20-25 minutes or until muffins spring bake when touched lightly. Makes 30-36.
These freeze well.
Sweet Potatoes or Yams?
I just wanted to clear something up. With all the sweet potato and “yam” recipes circulating, it seemed like a good time for this post. Are you eating sweet potatoes or yams?
Well, if you live in North America, you are having sweet potatoes. No matter what the produce department labels them, everything in the store is, botanically speaking, a sweet potato. Red, orange and yellow, big and small – all are sweet potatoes.
So where did the yam thing start? Well, many years ago the state of Louisiana had an abundant crop of sweet potatoes. They wanted to sell them in a competitive marketplace, so they decided to call them yams. Just a name change in an effort to give their product an edge over the competition. You’ll often still see them sold as Louisiana Yams. They aren’t yams, though. Louisiana Yams are, in fact, just sweet potatoes with a name change.
There are real yams- they are larger than sweet potatoes and quite starchy. They might be found at South American restaurants, or in specialty markets in the States, but they are NOT in your local grocery store. One big difference is that sweet potatoes are a root crop and yams grow above ground.
A sweet potato by other name will taste as sweet.
Halloween Candy Mini Cheesecakes
I am posting this as a public service to those of you with leftover Halloween candy.
Sometimes you end up with leftover Halloween candy. You could just eat the candy- or you can transform it into a dessert.
The idea I came up with was mini cheesecakes. I’ve made them before, so I used my recipe, and just folded in crushed candy bars. Once the cheesecakes cool they deflate a little, so I also added some crushed candy bars to the top to make them look nice.
Only change from the original recipe was a slight decrease in sugar, to compensate for the extra sweetness of the candy. I went down to 1/3 cup of sugar. I think 1/4 cup would also have been enough.
I am sure a lot of different candy bars would work. I used a small food processor to really crush up the candy bars. I made 2 batches, one with cookies and cream candy bars and the other with Kit Kat bars.
Since the candy will keep, you could use the candy in a Thanksgiving dessert. Of course, the candy might not last until Thanksgiving.
Halloween Candy Mini Cheesecakes
12 vanilla wafers
2 (8 oz.) cream cheese, softened
1/3 c. sugar
2 t. vanilla
2 eggs
2/3 c. crushed candy bars plus 1/4 c. crushed candy bar, for topping
Line 12 muffin tins with paper liners. Place 1 wafer in each. Beat together remaining ingredients (except candy) for 1 minute with an electric mixer. Fold in candy. Divide this mixture in the muffin tins, filling each 3/4 full. Bake 25 minutes at 325 degrees. Cool and decorate with extra crushed candy. Makes 12. These can be frozen.
New Day Cleveland – Lemon Curd
Here is my appearance on New day Cleveland. As always, it was a lot of fun. David is great to work with. The whole crew was kind and welcoming.
Just click on the link below.
https://fox8.com/on-air/new-day-cleveland/lemon-curd-for-all-tastes
Easy Apple Fritters
I love apple season. Besides eating them fresh, I enjoy cooking with apples. One of my favorite apple dishes is apple fritters.
Fritters are similar to doughnuts. Rather than being made from a dough that is rolled and cut, like doughnuts, fritters are made from a batter. The fritter batter is spooned into oil for frying. They are actually very easy to make.
Good fritters are light and airy inside, with a crisp outside. These are very good fritters. These fritters have diced apples and cinnamon in the batter and cook up tender and light. Fritters are good plain, but can be rolled in powdered sugar, cinnamon sugar or drizzled with a powdered sugar glaze. Unlike a lot of the giant-sized fritters I see at local orchards and farm markets this time of year, these fritters are smaller. Only a few bites each. I actually prefer that.
For my gluten-free friends, I have made these fritters with gluten free flour. They tasted great. The gluten free version seemed to brown faster, so I turned down the temperature of the oil to 350 degrees.
So enjoy one of my favorite recipes of the season, and make yourself some fritters.
Apple Fritters
2 c. flour
2 T. sugar
2 T. baking powder
1 T. cinnamon
1/2 t. salt
1 c. milk
2 eggs, beaten
2 T. melted butter
1 c. diced apples
oil for frying
Combine dry ingredients and set aside. Mix together milk with the eggs and butter. Stir in dry ingredients until just moistened and add the apples. Heat oil to 375. If using gluten-free flour heat oil to 350. Drop dough by tablespoonfuls into the hot oil and fry until golden brown. Don’t do more than 4-5 at a time. It will take about 4 minutes in total but you need to turn them to brown evenly so 2 minutes per side. Drain on paper towels. While warm roll in powdered sugar, cinnamon sugar, or drizzle with a powdered sugar glaze. Makes about 32.
Apple Bacon Fritters with Maple Glaze
The fritter batter contains diced, fresh apples and crispy bacon. The combination is really special.
Fritters aren’t difficult to make. They really don’t take that long to make, either. I prefer to make fritters close to when I am serving them- so my guests can enjoy them warm.
They make a wonderful dessert, or a fun addition to a breakfast or brunch menu. I dipped them in the maple glaze, which also went well with the apples and bacon.
I must warn you, they are addictive.
Apple and Bacon Fritters
2 c. flour
2 T. sugar
2 T. baking powder
1/2 t. salt
1 c. milk
2 eggs, beaten
2 T. melted butter
1 c. diced apples
1 c. cooked, crumbled bacon
oil for frying- I used coconut oil
Combine dry ingredients and set aside. Mix together milk with the eggs and butter. Stir in dry ingredients until just moistened and add the apples and bacon. Heat oil to 375. If using gluten free flour, heat oil to 350. Drop dough by tablespoonfuls into the hot oil and fry until golden brown. Don’t do more than 4-5 at a time. It will take about 4 minutes in total but you need to turn them to brown evenly so 2 minutes per side. Drain on paper towels. Dip in maple glaze (recipe follows) while warm. Makes about 32.
Maple Glaze
1 c. Powdered sugar
1/2 c. maple syrup
a little water if mixture gets too thick
Combine all ingredients and set aside until ready to use.
A Trio of Pasta Sauces
These sauce were created for a Halloween themed dinner with friends. The idea was to come up with some sauces that would taste good, but also be fun colors for Halloween. Unconventional for sure. In the interest of full disclosure, I have made the carrot sauce many times before. I’ve made a pea pasta sauce before, but it had been years. The cauliflower sauce was created as a pureed soup initially, but I decided I liked it more as a sauce. I’ve recreated the recipes as closely as I can remember what I did on the pea and cauliflower sauces.
Ideal thickness of a sauce is always a bit subjective. I try to allow for how much stock evaporates and I try to make it clear that you can add more stock or even cream, if that works better for you. But it also about how thick a sauce you prefer. So while I wrote down what I did, feel free to edit to suit your taste. As an added note, all of these sauces freeze well.
My guests enjoyed the sauces and combining them with the different color pasta options that night (multicolored spaetzle and squid ink pasta). It made for a fun and playful dinner.
So here are the recipes. Boo!
Carrot Pasta Sauce
1 T. oil
1 onion, chopped
1 garlic clove, minced
1 lb. carrots, peeled and sliced
2 c. chicken or vegetable stock
Salt and pepper to taste
½ c. cream, half and half or evaporated milk
1T. fresh parsley or 1 t. dried
Sauté onion in oil until tender. Add garlic, carrots and stock and cook until carrots are very tender. Much of the liquid should have evaporated by then. Place mixture in blender and add cream or milk, mixing until smooth. Add dill and adjust seasonings, tossing over hot pasta to serve.
Purple Cauliflower Pasta Sauce
2 T. oil
1 medium onion, chopped
1 rib celery, sliced
4-6 cups of cauliflower flowerets
2 c. chicken or vegetable stock
½ c. red wine vinegar
Salt and pepper to taste
Hot sauce to taste
In pot, sauté onion and celery in oil until tender and onion is getting a little color on it. Add cauliflower, stock and vinegar and simmer, uncovered, until cauliflower is very tender, about 10-15 minutes. Puree mixture and adjust seasonings. You might need to add a little more stock if the sauce gets too thick. Serve over hot pasta.
Green Pea Pasta Sauce
1 T. oil
1 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped
2 c. green peas, thawed
1 c. chicken or vegetable stock
Salt and pepper to taste
½ c. cream, half and half or evaporated milk
1T. fresh mint or 1 t. dried
Sauté onion in oil until tender. Add garlic, peas and stock and bring to a boil. Cook, uncovered, 5 minutes. Much of the liquid should have evaporated by then. Place mixture in blender and add cream or milk, mixing until smooth. Add mint and adjust seasonings, tossing over hot pasta to serve.
