Category — Dessert

Ice cream is a must with pumpkin pie, if I do say so.  Try this cinnamon ice cream recipe from Pure & Yummy–it would be the perfect pie accompaniment!

Cinnamon Ice Cream

Here is Yummy & Pure‘s recipe for Cinnamon Ice Cream with product suggestions by me!

1 cup whole milk
3/4 cup sugar
pinch of salt
Ten 3″ cinnamon sticks, broken up
2 cups heavy cream
5 large egg yolks
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon (optional)

Warm the milk, sugar, salt, cinnamon sticks and 1 cup of the cream on a medium saucepan (try the Revere 2-qt Covered Saucepan). Once warm, cover and remove from heat, and let steep at room temperature for 1 hour.

Rewarm the cinnamon infused milk mixture. Remove the cinnamon sticks with a slotted spoon and discard them. Pour the remaining 1 cup cream into a large bowl, whisk in the ground cinnamon (optional) and set a mesh strainer on top.

In a separate medium bowl, whisk together the egg yolks. Slowly pour the warm mixture into the egg yolks, whisking constantly (try this Williams Sonoma 10″ Flat Whisk) , then scrape the warmed egg yolks back into the saucepan.

Stir the mixture constantly over medium heat with a heatproof spatula, scraping the bottom as your stir, until the mixture thickens and coats the spatula.  Pour the custard through the strainer and into the cream. Stir until cool over an ice bath.

Chill the mixture thoroughly in the refrigerator, then freeze it in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions.

Okay, so “Healthy Dessert” sounds like an oxymoron, right?

But try fruit fondue–using dark chocolate is a must!  Throw some cinnamon and nutmeg into the chocolate and you’re in for a complex treat that is sweet and satisfying.

Cuisinart Electric Fondue Pot

West Bend 3 Qt. Fondue Pot

So, I gave up sugar–I’m trying to get to being a bit more toned! But of course, as soon as the regiment starts, all I can think about are crispy, crunchy sugar cookies. Please make these for me!

Image and recipe via Marzipan and suggestions by me!

Brown Sugar and Spice Cookies

from Domino Sugar

1 cup firmly packed Light Brown Sugar
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves (or nutmeg if you prefer)
1/4 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 350°F. Line cookie sheets with Silpats or parchment.

Beat brown sugar and butter in large mixing bowl until light and fluffy. Add egg and vanilla; beat until creamy.

Stir together flour, baking powder, cinnamon, cloves and salt; gradually add to sugar mixture. Beat until combined. (Try this Chrome Dualit Professional Hand Mixer)

On well-floured surface, roll out half of dough at a time to 1/8-1/4 inch thickness. Cut into shapes with floured cookie cutters. (Star shaped cookie cutters will do the trick!) Bake on prepared cookie sheets 12-15 minutes. Cool on wire rack.

Makes about 3 dozen cookies.

Blogger, Everybody Likes Sandwiches put up a recipe for Apple & Sour Cherry Pie with crumb topping and I just about licked the computer screen. So beautiful, earthy, and screams autumn.

Here is Everybody Likes Sandwiches‘ recipe with kitchen recommendations by me!

apple & sour cherry pie with crumble topping

pie crust:
(crust adapted from Simply Recipes)
2 1/2 c all purpose flour
1 t salt
2 T sugar
3/4 c unsalted butter, cold, cut into cubes
1/2 c all-vegetable shortening
6-8 T ice water (Tovolo Perfect Cube Ice Cube Trays)

filling:
3 apples, peeled & sliced (Peel Away Apple Peeler)
2 c sour cherries
1 T rum
1/2 c sugar
2 T flour
2 t ground cinnamon
large pinch of ground nutmeg
pinch of ground cloves

crumble topping:
1/4 c flour
1/4 c oatmeal
1/4 c brown sugar
1 t cinnamon
3 T cold butter, cubed

1. Combine the flour, salt & sugar in a large bowl and give everything a good stir with a whisk. Add in the butter and use your fingers to break it down into a coarse oat-looking concoction – the largest butter lumps should be the size of small small peas. Add one tablespoon of water at a time, using a wooden spoon to start to gather the mixture into dough. Stop at 6 tablespoons (Williams-Sonoma Collapsible Measuring Cups and Spoons). Use your hands to create a ball. Too dry? Add one more tablespoon and try again. You don’t want the dough to be sticky or wet. It should be fairly dry but should hold together. Divide dough into 2 equal sized balls and wrap each ball of dough in parchment paper or plastic wrap. Flatten each dough ball with your palm into a 4 inch disc and refrigerate 2 hours. You’ll only need 1 pie dough circle for this recipe. You can use the other remaining pie dough to create another pie or freeze a well-wrapped dough for up to 3 months.

2. Preheat oven to 400F.

3. Place one chilled dough disc onto a very lightly floured silpat mat or piece of parchment paper. Place another silpat mat or parchment over top and roll out your dough. No need to flour your rolling pin (Sur La Table Rolling Pin) since your pin won’t touch the dough. When the dough is about 1.5-2 inches wider than your 9″ pie plate, stop rolling. Remove the top layer of parchment/silpat and gently grab the bottom layer and place into pie plate so that the dough is roughly centered. Remove the remaining paper/silpat and tap the dough into place

4. Using the end of a butter knife (Charlemagne Butter Knife) , create a decorative edge using 2 fingers pointing inwards to the pie and the knife end pointing out in between your 2 fingers. This creates a scalloped edge. You may have to trim your edges and patch up any tears with the remaining scraps. Or you can crimp with a fork. Place pie dough in the fridge. Phew! That wasn’t so hard, was it? Now let’s get started with the filling!

5. In a large bowl, combine all the filling ingredients, giving everything a good stir. Set aside.

6. In a medium sized bowl, mix together the flour to the cinnamon. Cut in the butter cubes and use your hands to blend the butter into the dry mixture. Create nice sized crumbs. If the mixture is too greasy, add in more flour. If it’s too dry, cut in some more butter. Set aside.

7. Remove chilled pie crust from the fridge and add in the apple/sour cherry filling. Lightly pack topping over the filling and place pie on a baking sheet covered with silpat or parchment. Bake pie on baking sheet until topping is golden, about 35 minutes – cover the crust edges with foil if necessary to prevent over-browning. Reduce oven temperature to 350F. Bake until apples in center are tender when pierced and filling is bubbling thickly on the edges, about 25-35 minutes longer. Cool until warm, about 1 hour. Serve with ice cream or whipping cream.

Oprah does it again!

image via Veggie 101

Ingredients:

In a medium bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. In the bowl of an electric mixer (Kitchen Aid 5-qt Artisan Design Series) , on medium speed, beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in zests and vanilla. Reduce speed to low, add half of dry ingredients, a little at a time, scraping down the sides of the bowl after each addition. Add crème fraîche and beat just until smooth. Add remaining dry ingredients and beat just until combined.

Transfer batter to pan and smooth top with a spatula (RSVP Spatula). Bake 40 to 45 minutes or until cake tests done in center.

In a medium bowl, stir confectioners’ sugar and lemon juice until well combined.

Transfer cake to a wire rack and allow to cool 10 minutes. Remove cake from pan, cool completely on rack, and drizzle with glaze.

Next time I play hostess, I think I’ll make some of these homemade hostess cupcakes that was posted by Sassy Smith on The Family Kitchen.

Homemade Hostess Cupcakes

For the cupcakes:
1 1/2 cups sugar
3/4 cup Dutch process cocoa
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 cup oil
3/4 cup buttermilk
1 teaspoon vanilla
3/4 hot coffee

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a large bowl sift together sugar, Dutch process cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt. In a separate bowl, beat together eggs, oil, buttermilk and vanilla and then add into the dry ingredients. Whisk in the hot coffee (Keurig Gourmet Mini Plus Personal Brewer).

Fill lined muffin cups 2/3 full and bake at 350 degrees F for 18-20 minutes (Rachel Ray 12 Cup Muffin Pan). Remove from oven and allow to cool.

For the filling:
4 tablespoons butter
1 cup powdered sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 cup marshmallow creme

In a medium bowl, beat together all filling ingredients. Fill a large piping bag (Ateco Plastic Coated Pastry Bag 18 Inch). When cupcakes are cool, press tip into the center and squeeze 1-2 tablespoons of the cream filling into the center. Repeat for all cupcakes.

For the ganache:
3/4 cup cream
7 ounces chocolate

Heat the cream in a saucepan over medium heat stirring frequently until the cream is hot and just starts to boil. Immediately pour the cream over the chocolate and whisk until smooth. Spread warm but slightly cooled ganache over the tops of the filled cupcakes.

For the icing:
1/2 stick butter
1 cup powdered sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/2-1 tablespoon milk

Once the ganache is set, whip together all icing ingredients until smooth, adding more milk if necessary. Fill a piping bag and pipe on the curls or write fun messages on your cupcakes.

The Fig Test Kitchen takes the simple Honey Roasted Fig recipe to a whole new level. The Fig Test Kitchen offers up different ways to taste these yummy treats and have beautiful images to boot. I re-posted their recipe, but you MUST visit their site here.

Basic Honey-Roasted Figs

14 figs (about a pound), 1/3 cup honey, 2 teaspoons of finely chopped fresh rosemary or thyme (optional), Salt and pepper to taste

1) Preheat oven to 375 degrees

2) Slice figs in half and place cut side up on cookie platter (Oneida Bakeware Professional Large Cookie Sheet)lined with foil and lightly greased with olive oil

3) Brush (Rachael Ray 2-pc. Nylon Tools Pastry Brush Set) figs with honey and sprinkle rosemary or thyme evenly over them (herbs optional)

4) Season with salt and freshly ground pepper

5) Place in the oven for 15-20 minutes, or until the honey begins to caramelize. Let figs cool to room temperature

Cookie jars! I tried to find the funniest ones, because really, who wouldn’t want to eat cookies out of a Storm Trooper, a cow or a handbag?

Star Wars Special Opps Clone Trooper Collector’s Cookie Jar

Clay Art Free Range Cow Cookie Jar

Leopard Handbag Cookie Jar

Smart Planet Donut Maker, $29.95 at Cooking.com

I love Donuts, but several years ago I was diagnosed with celiac disease, which means I can’t eat anything made with wheat flour (rice flour and corn flour are ok).  Since pretty much every commercially-made snack has wheat flour in it, this means I have to do a lot of my baking at home.  It hasn’t been too hard to find delicious gluten free substitutions for things like brownies (I prefer the Gluten Free Pantry Brownie Mix) and cookies (King Arthur Flour Gluten Free Mixes).

But Donuts are pretty hard to make any home, especially since you need to fry them.  Except that now there is a way to make baked donuts at home, and to bake them instead of frying them means they will be much healthier!  It’s because of the Smart Planet Donut Maker.  You can bake donuts in it in 4 minutes.  Four minutes!  Isn’t that incredible???  One of the reviews I read of this product recommended using muffin mix to make the donuts.  I’ll probably experiment a bit to get the mix just right, but for $29.95 this seems like a terrific way for me to get my donut fix.   

The donuts are smaller than average donut size, but since these are healthier then regular donuts because they are baked and not fried, you could always eat two!  Although this is a very exciting product to those of us who are gluten free, this is also a terrific product for moms and dads looking to give their kids healthier snack alternatives.

I found a recipe for yummy chocolate cake from Grace Langlois’  blog, La Mia Dolce Vita. One kitchen tool that is a must for this recipe is a silicone spatula–just look at all that frosting and all those layers!

Here are some that are well priced silicone spatulas ($27.50) that look great:

Williams-Sonoma Personalized Silicone Spatulas, Clear, Set of 3

And to maintain some semblance of dignity in an already messy kitchen, place any frosting covered spatula on the cutest Le Creuset Stoneware Spoon Rest.

Le Crueset Stoneware Spoon Rest in Kiwi

And without further ado:

Donna Hay’s Chocolate Buttermilk Layer Cake with Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting

From Donna Hay, serves 6-8

• 1 cup (250 ml) water
• 125 g unsalted butter, chopped
• 1/3 cup (35 g) cocoa, sifted
• 2 cups (300 g) plain (all-purpose) flour, sifted
• 1 teaspoon bicarbonate of (baking) soda, sifted
• 2 cups (440 g) caster (superfine) sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup (125 ml) buttermilk
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 160° C (325° F).  Lightly grease 2, 18 cm round cake tins and line with parchment paper.
2. Place the water, butter and cocoa in a small saucepan over medium heat and stir until the butter has melted; set aside.
3. Using a fine-mesh sieve, sift the flour and bicarbonate of soda into a large bowl.  Add sugar and whisk to combine well.
4. Add the cocoa mixture and whisk to combine.  Add the eggs, buttermilk and vanilla and whisk to combine.
5. Divide batter evenly between the 2 cake tins.  Bake for 40 to 45 minutes or until a cake tester inserted in centre of cake comes out clean.
6. Allow to cool in the tins on a wire rack for 10 minutes.  Turn out onto wire racks to cool completely.

Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting

• 100 g unsalted butter, softened
• 500 g cream cheese
• 2 cups (320 g) icing (confectioner’s) sugar, sifted
• 1/2 cup (50 g) cocoa, sifted

1. Place butter and cream cheese in the bowl of a stand mixer, fitted with the paddle attachment and beat on medium-high speed for 6 to 8 minutes or until pale and creamy.
2. Meanwhile, using a fine-mesh sieve, sift icing sugar and cocoa into a medium bowl. Repeat an additional 2 times.
3. Reduce stand mixer to low speed and gradually add the icing sugar, cocoa mixture.
4. Increase speed to medium-high and continue to beat for a further 6 to 8 minutes or until light and fluffy.

images and recipe via La Mia Dolce Vita