Wannabe Culinarian

Nauvoo Gingerbread Cookies

2012-01-25T17:15:00.000-08:00

Here is another recipe I made over the Christmas holidays. It comes from the Scovil Bakery in Nauvoo, IL, which was originally built in the 1840's by Mormon pioneers. If you tour the rebuilt bakery, you will be rewarded at the end with samples of their world famous gingerbread cookies.

Truth be told, I have never been a fan of gingerbread. The gingerbread cookies I've tried have always been hard and over-spiced for my taste. However, this recipe is the exact opposite. The cookies are nice and soft, and the flavor is perfect. In fact, I have fallen in love with this recipe and think it makes the best gingerbread cookies on the planet. Not only do they freeze well, but they seem to even get better after they've been in the freezer for a while.

This past Christmas, I made batch after batch for parties and to give to neighbors. As proof of the wonderfulness of these cookies, I've been asked for the recipe multiple times. Here are some Y cookies I made for a student party at work.

Go Cougars!

I also used this recipe for our annual Gingerbread House Extravaganza we celebrate with some friends. This may be one case where a hard-as-rock gingerbread recipe might work better. Or, I would at least advise baking the house pieces a little longer. We had a few problems this year, but we didn't mind eating the broken pieces. And, I was pretty impressed with our creation.

Our gingerbread house masterpiece

And now, for the big finale! After the holidays were over, we wondered what to do with our house. No one was really interested in eating it. As good as this recipe is, it does not stay nice and soft after sitting out as a Christmas decoration for almost a month. Here is what we came up with. It's now our new family holiday tradition.

Take a look.

Nauvoo Gingerbread Cookies
Ingredients:

1 cup white sugar
1 cup molasses
3/4 cup shortening
1/2 cup hot water
2 eggs
6 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger

Directions:

In a large bowl, mix together the sugar, molasses, shortening, and hot water until smooth. Stir in eggs. Combine the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and ginger; stir into the batter to make a soft dough. Add more flour if needed. Cover the bowl and refrigerate dough for at least 1 hour, or until firm.

Preheat the oven to 350°. Roll out the dough to ¼ inch thickness on a floured surface. Cut into desired shapes using cookie cutters. Place cookies onto ungreased baking sheets. I found that the cookies came off even better when using silicone baking sheets.

Bake for 10 minutes in the preheated oven, or until cookies appear dry in the center.

Candied Orange Peel

2012-01-21T16:16:00.000-08:00

Yes, I'm still playing catch up. I think I have a backlog of about five recipes waiting to be written up and posted. Since the pace of life recently has returned somewhat to normal, I have high hopes. But please, don't hold your breath.

As a gift, Katie received Good Housekeepking's A Very Merry Christmas Cookbook. So far, we've tried several of the recipes and have been very impressed. And, there is still a lot more recipes we want to give a try.

While thumbing through the cookbook I was immediately drawn to a photo of candied orange peel. The beautiful orange color was bright and cheerful. However, I had no intention of making the recipe because I didn't think I liked candied fruit. My only experience with candied fruit has been in fruitcake, and I'm NOT a fan. In fact, I rarely like any kind of little fruit pieces baked in something, especially raisins.*

A Threadless T-shirt—might have to go on next year's Christmas wish list.

Well somehow just before the holidays, we had amassed a huge pile of oranges, and no one was eating them. I stared at them on the counter wondering what to do with all of them. It was then I remembered the recipe for the candied orange peel. Along with the oranges, we had all the ingredients in the house (sugar and water). It was Saturday afternoon, and I had a few free hours, so I thought I'd give it a try. I was mainly making it for Katie because I figured neither I nor the kids would like it.

Just as I was finishing up, Katie and the kids came home. I got some pretty strange looks, especially from Katie who was wondering what I was up to. Although you're supposed to let the peel sit for 12 hours before eating, I gave everyone a taste. We were all amazed at how incredibly good the candied orange peel was. In fact, it wasn't long before that batch was gone, and I was making another. They can be addictive.

I decided to make candied orange peel as part of the Christmas culinary gifts I hand out to coworkers, and it was a hit.

This recipe is extremely easy and is one I'm sure our family will continue to make. However, I still doubt if I'll be chopping it up to bake in anything. That's still gross. But alone? Fantastic!

*I did use the word "rarely" because dried cranberries in scones is one exception.

Candied Orange Peel

Ingredients:

5 navel oranges
3 ½ cups sugar
1 ½ cups water

Directions:

Score peel of each orange into quarters, cutting just through the rind and whit pith. Pull peel from fruit. Refrigerate and Save fruit for another use. Cut orange peel lengthwise into strips about ¼ in. wide.

In 4-qt. saucepan, combine peel and enough water to cover. Heat to boiling over high heat, and boil 5 minutes. Drain. Repeat this step two more times, draining peel well and using fresh water each time.

In a 12-in. skillet, combine 2 ½ cups sugar with 1 ½ cups water. Cook over high heat, stirring constantly until sugar dissolves and mixture boils. Boil, stirring occasionally until a candy thermometer reads 235° (10 to 15 minutes).

Add drained peel to syrup in skillet and stir to coat evenly. Reduce heat and simmer, partially covered, for 1 hour, or until peel has absorbed most of the syrup, stirring occasionally. Remove cover and continue to simmer, stirring gently, until all syrup has been absorbed.

On a sheet of waxed paper, place remaining cup of sugar. With tongs, lightly roll peel, a few pieces at a time, in sugar. Place in single layer on wire racks. Let peel dry at least 12 hours. Store at room temperature in airtight container up to 1 month.

Caramel Cake with Browned Butter Frosting

2012-01-16T15:20:00.000-08:00

One of the students I work with, Jeff, had a birthday a couple of months ago. Of course, I made a cake, and I even started a blog post back then with the recipe. However, I got a distracted and never got back to it. I guess you could really call that getting totally sidetracked. Oh, this poor neglected blog.

Well, today was a holiday, and I spent pretty much the entire day doing absolutely nothing. I was feeling slightly guilty and thought before I go to bed I wanted to do at least one productive thing. It was then I looked over at the computer and remembered this unfinished post.

Back on the day before Jeff's birthday, I remember thinking I wanted to try something other than chocolate. Now, that seems so strange to think I wasn't in the mood for chocolate, but oh well. I wondered if there was such a thing as a caramel cake. I looked through all my cookbooks to no avail. Next, I went online, and I found a caramel cake recipe from Maya Angelou's cookbook. As I read through the recipe, I noticed that it had the same browned butter frosting that goes on my favorite cookie in the world, sour cream cookies with browned butter frosting. I seriously cannot control myself when these cookies are in vicinity. If Maya Angelou's cake might be in any way like these cookies, I thought should give it a try.

Sour cream cookies with browned butter frosting—If it weren't so late and I wouldn't have to go to the store to pick up some sour cream, I'd make me a batch right now. And, eat most of them.

The recipe calls for caramel syrup in the batter. You could make your own, but that was more trouble than I wanted, so I just went with a store bought jar of Mrs. Richardson's. The cake doesn't have a real strong caramel flavor, but it is really good.

The cake was a big hit at the office, and it did taste a lot like the cookies. However, I must warn you. This cake is rather sweet and is best enjoyed in small slices—and not the big ol' honkin' pieces we Americans tend to usually serve.

Happy birthday, Jeff! Hope it was a good one.

The birthday boy with his cake

And, here we have Jeff. Why the goofy look? He "thinks" he's impersonating me. Personally, I don't get it and think he looks rather silly. I'm sure I have never been photographed making such a silly face with a dessert. (Is there such a thing as a sarcasm emoticon?)

Caramel Cake with Browned Butter Frosting
from Maya Angelou

Caramel Cake
Ingredients:

½ cup unsalted butter
1 ¼ cups sugar
¼ cup caramel syrup (I used Mrs. Richardson's)
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsps. baking powder
½ tsp. salt
1 cup milk
2 large eggs

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375°. Grease two 8-in. round cake pans, line the bottom of each pan with parchment paper, grease again, and then flour. Set pans aside.

Beat butter in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Gradually add 1 cup sugar and continue to beat until mixture is light and fluffy. Beat in caramel syrup. In a medium bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, and salt. Mix flour mixture into butter mixture, alternating with milk, beginning and ending with flour mixture. Beat eggs until foamy in another bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Add remaining 1/4 cup sugar and continue beating until thickened, about 5 minutes. Fold into cake batter until well combined.

Divide cake batter evenly between prepared pans. Bake for 25 minutes or until cakes spring back when gently touched in the center. Cool cake in pans for 10 minutes. Loosen the cake edges with a sharp knife and invert cakes onto a wire rack. Remove parchment paper. Let cakes cool to completely before frosting.

Place four strips of parchment paper around perimeter of a serving plate. Place the first layer on the cake plate. Spread the top of the first layer with frosting. Top with the remaining layer, bottom-side up. Spread entire cake with frosting and drizzle with caramel syrup. Remove parchment paper strips.

Browned Butter Frosting
Ingredients:

12 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
16 ounces powdered sugar
½ cup heavy cream, plus more if needed
1 Tbsp. vanilla extract
Pinch of salt

Directions:

In a small saucepan, melt butter over medium-high heat until nut-brown in color. Remove pan from heat immediately and pour butter into a bowl. Be very careful not to burn. Let cool.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, add powdered sugar, vanilla, salt, and butter. With the mixer on low, slowly add cream; beat until smooth. If frosting seems too thick, stir another tablespoon cream into the mixture.

You'd-Never-Guess-They're-Vegan Chocolate Cake Balls

2011-11-05T10:07:00.001-07:00

Another birthday at work. This time the birthday boy is lactose intolerant. He seems to be totally OK with that, but let me tell you, I would die. I LOVE my dairy products.

Once I tried making a gluten free cake for a student, and it was a disaster. It tasted like cardboard and had the consistency of sand. Not appealing at all. I decided this time making a special dietary needs dessert it was going to be good. And, I didn't want anyone to say, "Well, it's good if you're lactose intolerant and didn't know any different."

So, I went looking for lactose free cake recipes. After searching the internet, I decided upon this recipe for a chocolate cake. The author guarantees it's the best chocolate cake ever, and plus, it's vegan. I made a few modifications and decided to use a vegan version of my favorite chocolate frosting instead of the recommended chocolate glaze.

The recipe said to prepare the cake batter in the pan. I was a little wary of this and decided to grease and flour the pans, and prepare the batter in a mixing bowl. When I took both cake rounds out of the oven, they looked perfect, and I was most pleased. However, after letting them cool for ten minutes, I loosened the sides of the cakes and tried to flip them out onto a cooling racks. I say "tried" because I was not successful. Those cakes were both completely stuck. When I finally got them out, I was left with chunky piles of chocolate cake.

Arrgh! What was I going to do? It was already 10 p.m.

That's when Katie reminded me when a cake fails, make cake balls. And, that's what I did.

How did they turn out? Well, everyone loved them. If I wouldn't have said anything, no one would have even known they were vegan. They tasted exactly like my cocoa fudge cake truffles.

I think if I were vegan or lactose intolerant, I would be making these quite often. But after second thought, maybe not. These little babies are dangerous around me. I just can't stop at one, two, five, ten...

As it turned out, Katie has a student in her writing class who is also lactose intolerant. Katie always makes treats when they do their peer reviews. The cake balls were also a huge hit in her class. Word about them seemed to spread across campus. A student came up to me and told me how incredible my wife's cake balls were, and then later, I overheard a student talking about how her teacher brought these amazing cake balls to class.

So, that should inspire you to make these even if you're not vegan.

I'm sure this recipe could make a great cake, but Katie and I still haven't figured out the secret of getting it nicely out of a pan. I'm going to try parchment paper next.

Below is a photo of Kyle, the birthday boy, and me. It may look like we are fighting over the cake balls, but that is actually my oh-how-I-absolutely-love-desserts look, and that is Kyle's this-guy-is-nuts look. Happy birthday, Kyle!

Give me cake balls! Nom, nom, nom!

Vegan Chocolate Cake
(adapted from here)

Ingredients:

2 ½ cups flour
2 cup sugar
⅔ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
2 cup warm water
2 tsp. vanilla extract
⅔ cup vegetable oil
2 tsp. white or apple cider vinegar

Preheat oven to 350°. Grease and flour one 9"x13" or two 8" round pans. (Like I mentioned earlier, the cake still stuck to the pans, so next time I plan to line the bottom with parchment paper and greasing and flouring over it.)
Mix together flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, and salt. Mix in water, vanilla, oil and vinegar until blended well. Pour into prepared pan(s) and bake for 30 min. When done, a toothpick inserted into the center should come out clean.
Cool on wire rack for 10 minutes and then use a knife to loosen sides. Cool completely.

Vegan Chocolate Frosting

Ingredients:

4 cups powdered sugar
½ cup dairy-free margarine (soy)
½ cup almond, soy, or rice milk
1 ½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tsp. vanilla

In a mixing bowl, cream powdered sugar with margarine until well combined. Add milk, cocoa powder, and vanilla. Continue mixing till smooth.

Cake Ball Assembly

After cake has cooked thoroughly, cut into quarters. Break cake apart until it resembles the consistency of lumpy oatmeal. Add in frosting and combine. Hands work very well here. Cake and frosting should be mixed until everything holds together well, but be careful not to over mix. Using a 1-in. cookie dough scoop, form round balls and place on parchment or wax paper. Place balls in the freezer for at least 30 min. Melt a package of vegan semisweet chocolate chips in the microwave with 2 Tbsps. of shortening. Stir until smooth. Using a fork, dip balls and coat. Place on parchment or wax paper and put in the refrigerator until chocolate is set.

Chocolate Orange Cheesecake

2011-11-04T21:39:00.001-07:00

I'm back!

Did you miss me?

Did you even know I was gone?

Well, the family and I had the amazing opportunity to spend the summer in Vienna directing the BYU study abroad. While I had a wonderful time full of exciting experiences and fantastic food, it's taken me until now before I felt I was caught up enough with my real life that I could post anything on this blog.

This was taken at Demel's Cafe, the imperial bakery. Liam and Tomas are enjoying a typical Viennese dessert called "Mohr im Hemd" which a steamed chocolate cake with chocolate sauce and whipped cream. When life slows down a bit, I plan to learn how to make some of the out-of-this-world desserts we had in Austria. And of course, I'll share them here.

Since returning, I have done some baking though. I've kept up the tradition of bringing something into the office when one of the students has a birthday. I don't know what it is, but there's always a cluster of birthdays around October and November, my busiest time of year at work.

First off, we had Erika. Good thing for Facebook. I would have probably missed her birthday all together. It was late at night, and I needed something quick and easy, yet still have that "wow" factor. I thought back to the days when Katie and I were newlyweds, and we went through a cheesecake phase. We were so into it, I think we made one a week. I hadn't made a cheesecake for a long time, and I immediately thought of this chocolate orange cheesecake, one of our favorites. After a quick run to the store for some cream cheese (Which, by the way, you can't do in Austria because the grocery stores close early.), I was ready to start. By the time David Letterman came on, it was in the oven.

The cheesecake, as always, was a hit. Everyone thought it was a lot more work than it really was. If you've never tried making a cheesecake before, this is a good one to start with.

Happy birthday, Erika!

*My mom just informed me I posted this recipe before. Rats! Oh well. I'll just have make another one of our favorite cheesecakes and post it to make up for the goof.

Chocolate Orange Cheesecake

Ingredients:

1 cup chocolate wafer crumbs
¼ tsp. cinnamon
3 Tbsps. butter, melted
4 8-oz. packages cream cheese, softened
¾ cup sugar
4 eggs
½ cup sour cream
1 tsp. vanilla
½ cup semi-sweet chocolate chips, melted
2 tsp. orange extract
½ tsp. grated orange peel

Combine crumbs, cinnamon, and melted butter. Press onto bottom of a 9-in. springform pan. Bake at 325° for 10 min.

Combine cream cheese and sugar, mixing at medium speed until well blended. Add eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Blend in sour cream and vanilla. Blend chocolate into 3 cups batter. Blend orange extract and peel into remaining batter. Pour chocolate batter over crust. Bake at 350° for 30 min. Reduce oven temperature to 325°. Spoon remaining batter over chocolate layer and continue baking 30 min. Loosen cake from rim of pan and cool before removing rim of pan. Chill for several hours.

Blackberry Scones for our Royal Breakfast

2011-04-29T19:39:00.000-07:00

Yes, along with millions of other crazed Americans fascinated with British royalty, we watched the wedding of Prince William to Kate Middleton. The rest of the family was promptly in front of the TV (or should I say telly) at 2 a.m., and I stumbled downstairs shortly thereafter.

Nigella Lawson, a British food writer and one of my favorite contributors to National Public Radio, gave suggestions for making a royal breakfast fitting the occasion. And even though in England they are more of a tea time confection, Nigella recommended making scones.

English scones are more what Amerians thinks of as biscuits, and biscuits are what the British call cookies. During our bed and breakfast days, Katie and I made our version of English scones with white chocolate and cranberries. They were very popular, but I have no idea of their authenticity. My only experience in Great Britain is a layover at Heathrow. Someday I hope to do some research in person.

For our little viewing party, I decided to try a new recipe for scones using blackberries. Blackberries are not in season and terribly expensive, so I used frozen. Frozen works fine but is a bit messy. But, the result was mighty fine.

I've always heard the English eat their scones with clotted cream, an extremely thick cream with an extremely high fat content (I'm sure the "clotted" refers to your arteries). Since clotted cream isn't sold here, Katie and I chose to top the scones with vanilla yogurt. Not only a healthier choice, but just what the scones needed. Absolutely brilliant!

I plan to try these scones with other seasonal berries. But for now...

I'm feeling sleep deprived...

and need a nap.

My best to Prince William and Princess Catherine. Good night.

Simply smashing!

Blackberry Scones
adapted from Ivy Bake Shoppe Cookbook

Ingredients:

4 cups flour
4 tsps. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. cream of tartar
1/2 tsp. salt
12 Tbsps. butter, cold and cut into pieces
3/4 cup butter milk
3/4 cup cream
1 egg
2 1/2 cups blackberries (divided)
sugar

Assembly:

Preheat oven to 425°.

Mix all the dry ingredients. Cut in butter with pastry blender or two knives until mixture is small pea-sized with chunks of butter still evident. This can also be achieved in a stand mixer on low.

Mix buttermilk, cream and egg together. Stir into butter mixture or slowly add to mixer on low. Mix until just combined. Remove to floured surface and fold dough over onto itself ten times. Divide dough in half. Roll one half out to 1/2". Top with half the berries and fold dough over. Roll dough to 3/4". This is where using frozen berries that are thawed out can get messy, but it's OK. Use a biscuit cutter to cut out scones. Place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or a silicone liner. Brush tops of scones with buttermilk and sprinkle with a little sugar. Bake for 13 minutes. Repeat with remaining dough and berries.

Chocolate Caramel Brownies

2011-04-18T20:50:00.000-07:00

At work, the employees upstairs celebrate Treat Fridays, where someone is assigned to bring treats to enjoy during break time. Since I bake a lot and bring my experimentations into the office, the group upstairs usually asks me to participate and sign up for a Friday.

I put my name down months ago but completely forgot it was my turn this past week until I got a nice little reminder note. One thing I didn't think about when I signed up was that I gave up sugar for Lent, and Easter is later this year. I had a choice to make. I could either bring something healthy or make a dessert and not get to have any myself.

It didn't take too long to decide. I do have a reputation to uphold. So, it had to be sugary goodness all the way.

To find the perfect recipe to try, I referred to the Ivy Bake Shoppe Cookbook, a source of many family favorite recipes. I've almost worked my way through all the desserts, but I hadn't tried this recipe for Chocolate Caramel Brownies.

I admit I was initially shocked to read the recipe called for a box of cake mix. For me, there is pretty much only one exception to prefer a cake mix over scratch, and that is with this recipe for Chocolate Angel Food Cake. However, this cookbook has produced enough winners that I trust the Ivy Cafe.

I was not disappointed. Or, I should say that everyone who tried the brownies wasn't disappointed. In fact, everyone loved them, and several asked for the recipe. This is one way to kick the standard brownie up several notches, and they are incredibly easy. The hardest thing is unwrapping the caramels. I may even try next time replacing the caramel mixture with dulce de leche. Mmmmm...

Good thing Easter is less than a week away. I'm almost sure I will be making another batch. I just hope the past month and a half has taught me some restraint.

Probably not.

I can only imagine what this chocolatey, caramely, gooey temptation tastes like. Only. Six. More. Days...

Chocolate Caramel Brownies

Ingredients:

1 box German chocolate cake mix

1 ½ cups butter, softened

1/3 cup evaporated milk

1 cup chopped pecans

1 (14-oz.) bag caramels, unwrapped

¼ cup evaporated milk

1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Assembly:

Preheat oven to 350°. Grease a 9"x13" pan.

Mix first four ingredients together. Spread two-thirds of the batter on bottom of pan. The batter is very thick, and I found using an offset spatula helpful. Bake for 7 minutes.

Melt caramels with ¼ cup evaporated milk in the microwave for 3 minutes. Stir and then microwave 1 minute more. Stir until smooth. Pour mixture over baked batter and then sprinkle with chocolate chips. Dot with remaining dough. Bake for 10-12 minutes. Set on rack to cool. Cover and cool 6 hours before serving.

I've Been Got!

2011-04-04T21:22:00.000-07:00

Like I said in my last post, there was a birthday at work. Richard turned 24 on Friday, and I was in the mood to bake something new.

I recently read somewhere about a cake with orange curd and strawberries. I can't remember where I saw it, and I didn't read through the recipe. But, I thought the flavor combination sounded great. I decided to create my own version.

First of all, I chose to use pound cake. For Christmas, I received Rose Levy Beranbaum's The Cake Bible, and in my opinion, her pound cake recipe is first rate. I then made a batch of orange curd. Though I've made lemon curd, this was my first attempt at orange curd. Because I'm still off sugar for Lent, I had to rely on my wife, Katie, that it tasted good.

To assemble the cake, I cut it horizontally into four layers and spread a layer of orange curd between each layer. This is where I started to have a bit of trouble as the cake started to do an impersonation of the Leaning Tower of Pisa. No matter how I tried to level the cake, the layers kept sliding. I had to think of something, and I had to do it quick.

First, I stabilized the layers of cake with various kitchen implements. This bought me some time to think what I could do to save the cake. I looked in the refrigerator and found some cream cheese. I decided to make a cream cheese frosting. Maybe that would hold the layers together.

Well, it did...sort of. And let me tell you, it was no easy feat to frost.

It still wasn't the prettiest thing, but I still had some really nice looking strawberries. I halved them, and stuck them into the frosting. This seemed to be the structural support the cake needed. It looked quite amazing considering that just minutes earlier I was considering tossing the thing out the window and stopping by Krispy Kreme Donuts on the way to work to pick a dozen glazed for Richard.

Not too shabby—don't you agree?

When we gathered up the coworkers and students to sing "Happy Birthday," the cake was met with unanimous ooohs and aaaahs. Richard was touched. As we were taking a group photograph to remember the occasion, Richard gave the following speech.

I would like to thank everyone for the birthday wishes, and I would especially like to thank Curtis for making this amazing looking cake for my birthday on April 1st even though it isn't really my birthday.

What?!

You mean to tell me that Richard has had me thinking his birthday was April 1 for over a month now, and it's not his birthday? His birthday is actually in December?

In today's vernacular, I was punk'd for April Fools Day.

Good one, Richard!

Happy April Fools Day, Richard! But, watch your back next year...

We all had a great laugh, and then I cut into the cake. This is when the Leaning Tower of Pisa finally fell over. The more pieces I cut, the bigger mess it became. However, everyone loved it. Some even said it was the best thing I've made yet.

I won't post the recipe for this tasty mess because I plan to do some more experimenting after Easter when I can actually enjoy a piece. I'm not sure if I will try something other than pound cake, or if I'll try to assemble it differently. So, check back in about a month to see what I've come up with.

Red Velvet Chocolate Squares (A Sugar Free Surprise)

2011-03-29T21:29:00.000-07:00

It's been over a month since I last posted anything.

I'm sorry.

However, I do have an excuse—sort of.

I decided to give up sugar for Lent. I'm not Catholic, but I really like the idea of Lent and have observed it for the past several years.

Giving up sugar hasn't been too terribly difficult. I do have the occasional cravings, but the dreams about candy have finally subsided. One recurring dream involved going out to dinner with my family and my parents. I had a giant stash of Reese's Peanut Butter Cups under the table. Every time no one was looking, I would shove one in my mouth. I felt so guilty but couldn't stop.

Needless to say, baking treats that I can't try doesn't seem to be much fun. I could have made healthy recipes to post, but I found it best to just stay out of the kitchen.

The reward? I've dropped 8 lbs.!

Last week, I received the Costco "magazine" in the mail. It's basically all advertisements for stuff they sell. I usually give it a quick glance before tossing it into the recycling. As I thumbed through the pages, I stopped on a picture of an amazing looking chocolate dessert. I thought maybe I would hang onto the magazine and try out the recipe after Easter. However, as I read through the ingredients, not only did I notice some very interesting and odd ingredients, I noticed the recipe didn't use any sugar. I could try it now!

The recipe comes from Rocco DiSpirito's new book, Now Eat This! Diet. The odd ingredients in these red velvet chocolate squares are beets and red beans. This reminded me of some rather tasty desserts I tried in China that had red beans in them.

I followed Rocco's recipe exactly, and decided to test it out on my kids. Of course, I didn't tell them what was in squares. If they had known, they would never have tried them. All three kids ended up loving them and would have finished off the pan if I had let them.

I then put the chocolate squares to the ultimate test—the in-laws. While not picky eaters, they're probably not the most adventuresome eaters either. I still don't think they ever gave my peanut butter pizza a fair try. Without knowing they were sugar free and made with beets and beans, the in-laws offered glowing compliments.

I highly recommend these red velvet chocolate squares. I liked them so much that I think I will check out Rocco's book.

For those of you wondering if it will be after Easter before I post again, do not fear. One of my students has a birthday Friday. I'm not quite sure what I'm going to make, but I have a feeling it's going to be grand. Stay tuned!

Never have vegetables tasted so good!

Red Velvet Chocolate Squares
from Now Eat This! Diet by Rocco DiSpirito

Ingredients:

½ cup chopped canned beets, drained and rinsed

7 oz. (about 1 cup) canned red beans, drained and rinsed

½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder

¾ cup liquid egg substitute

3 Tbsps. whole-wheat pastry flour

¾ agave nectar

1 Tbsp. unsalted butter, melted

1 tsp. vanilla extract

½ tsp. almond extract

2 tsps. natural red food coloring

Assembly:

Preheat oven to 350°. Grease or spray with nonstick cooking spray an 8"x8" pan.

Combine beets, beans, cocoa, egg substitute and flour in a food processor. Process until smooth (about 2 minutes).

Add agave, butter, vanilla, almond extract and food coloring. Process until all ingredients are well combined.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan, and smooth top with a spatula. Bake for 20 minutes, turning the pan halfway through the baking time. Turn down the oven temperature to 300° and bake for another 5 to 8 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with a little bit of soft batter clinging to it. It should not come out clean. If it does, it's overcooked.

Let cake cool completely in the pan on a wire rack. Then put it in the fridge for at least 3 hours. When it's cold, cut it into small squares and serve. Dust with cocoa powder if desired. These are best if served cold, so refrigerate any leftovers.

When I made this recipe, I used all the ingredients just as Rocco listed. However, I'm sure you could use white flour, real eggs, and regular food coloring if you wanted.

Macadamia Fudge Torte

2011-02-07T21:09:00.000-08:00

I was going through pictures on the camera and found some photos of a cake I just realized I never posted. Rachel, one of my student employees, had a birthday in December, and I made this Macadamia Fudge Torte. We celebrated Rachel's birthday appropriately by singing "Happy Birthday" in our best opera voices, as is our custom, and all enjoyed the cake, Then, Christmas happened...

Now, I'm getting caught up. This is a recipe I wanted to make sure I posted because it's been a family favorite for about fifteen years. In 1996, it was the Pillsbury Bake-Off million dollar grand prize winner. You do have to use a box cake mix, which I am generally opposed to; however, this cake is worth every penny of that million dollars. I've also modified the recipe just slightly. For desserts, I never use "low fat" or "light" ingredients, and I topped the cake off with dulce de leche.

Interestingly, this cake uses pureed pears in the batter. I have no clue why. For all I know, you could easily use applesauce. However, this last time I made the cake, a student came to me and said, "What's that flavor? I think I taste pears." Wow, those are some highly developed taste buds.

This cake is always a showstopper, and it's very easy to make. If I received a dollar for every compliment for this cake, I could actually someday become a millionaire.

Give it a try, and enjoy!

Rachel, the birthday girl, who is also worth a million

I'm salivating. I think I need to make this again.

Macadamia Fudge Torte

Ingredients:

⅓ cup sweetened condensed milk
½ cup semi-sweet chocolate chips, high quality
1 pkg. Pillsbury devil's food cake mix (18.5 oz.)
1 ½ tsps. cinnamon
⅓ cup vegetable oil
1 16-oz. can pears, drained
2 eggs
⅓ cup chopped macadamia nuts
2 tsps. water
Dulce de leche

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 350°. Grease a 9-in. springform pan.

To create filling, combine sweetened condensed milk and chocolate chips in a small pan. Cook over medium-low heat and stir until chocolate is combined. Remove from heat.

In a large bowl, combine cake mix, cinnamon and oil. Stir until crumbly, yet still somewhat dry.

Place pears in a blender or food processor and blend until smooth.

In a large mixing bowl, combine 2 ½ cups of the cake mix mixture, pureed pears and eggs. Mix on low speed until moistened. Beat for 2 minutes at medium speed. Spread batter evenly in pan. Drop filling by spoonfuls over batter.

Stir nuts and water into remaining cake mix mixture. Sprinkle over filling.

Bake for 45 to 50 minutes or until top springs back when touched light in center. Cool 10 minutes. Remove sides of pan Cool completely.

Serve wedges with warmed dulce de leche drizzled over cake. Also, this cake goes great with vanilla ice cream.

Dulce de Leche

Ingredients:

1 can sweetened condensed milk

Place unopened can of sweetened condensed milk in a large pan and cover with water. Boil for 3-4 hours making sure that can stays covered with water. Cool.

Last Second Entry—S’More Lamingtons

2011-01-31T16:00:00.000-08:00

Mr. P extended the deadline to enter the Re-Inventing the Lamginton Contest, so I thought I'd give it one more shot. Of course, I've left it to the last minute to post the recipe and only have a few minutes left, so this will be a brief post. And, please pardon any grammatical or spelling errors.

For my first two entries, I did Argentine and Austrian inspired Lamingtons. I thought I'd do another international version. However, I couldn't come up with any good ideas. Actually, I came up with some pretty horrid ideas. How does a Japanese Lamginton with seaweed and little dried fish sound? See what I mean? Not so great.

After much contemplation, I decided to make a totally American Lamington. But, what's totally American? It seems like all of our cuisine has been borrowed from somewhere. After looking through some vacation pictures of the family in Carpinteria at our favorite beach, I knew what I had to make—Lamingtons based on that famous campfire dessert, S'Mores.

I made the Lamgintons out of graham cracker pound cake filled with marshmallow cream. I then covered them in chocolate and sprinkled each with graham cracker crumbs. They were somewhat messy, but that just added to the authenticity.

My family has certainly enjoyed my Lamington experimentations, and they certainly loved these s'more versions. My son even said, "Dad, You're the best Lamington maker in the world." I'm not sure about that, but that's compliment enough to know these are pretty darn good and that you should give them a try.

The picture's not the best, but that's what you get when you're in a hurry.

If it's too cold for camping or you want something a little more gourmet, these will do the trick.

Graham Cracker Pound Cake

Ingredients:

12 Tbsps. Unsalted butter, softened
½ cup sugar
¼ cup brown sugar
1 ½ cups cake flour
½ cups finely ground graham cracker crumbs
¼ tsp. salt
3 Tbsps. milk
2 Tbsps. heavy cream
3 large eggs
1 Tbsp. vanilla extract

Preparation:

Preheat the oven to 325°. Grease an 8-by-4-inch glass loaf pan, line bottom with parchment paper, and grease again.

In a large bowl, cream the butter with the sugar and brown sugar. In a medium bowl, whisk the cake flour, graham cracker crumbs, baking powder and salt. In a small bowl, whisk together the whole milk, cream, eggs and vanilla. Beating at medium speed, add the dry and liquid ingredients to the butter mixture in 3 alternating batches.

Scrape the batter into the prepared loaf pan and bake in the lower third of the oven for about 55 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with a few moist crumbs attached. Let cool in the pan for 15 minutes, then turn the pound cake out onto a rack to cool completely.

Chocolate Glaze

Ingredients:

2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
2 Tbsps. Shortening

Preparation:

Melt together in a pan over a low heat.

S'More Lamington Assembly:

1 loaf graham cracker pound cake
Marshmallow cream
Chocolate glaze
Graham cracker crumbs

It works best if you freeze the cake. After the cake is frozen, cut into 1" squares that are a ½" thick. Sandwich two pieces of cake with the marshmallow cream. Dip and cover with chocolate glaze. Sprinkle graham cracker crumbs on sides and top.

Re-Invent the Lamington Contest Entries—Alfajore Lamingtons and Sacher Lamingtons

2011-01-26T15:45:00.000-08:00

I just looked at my calendar.

January 26...

Hmm... Do I have something going on today that I can't remember? It sure seems like I do. But what?

Aaaaah! It's the deadline for the Re-Inventing the Lamingtons Contest! I wanted to enter the contest last year, but never got around to it. When I saw that Mr. P was holding the contest again, I decided I was not going to procrastinate and submit an entry. Now, it's the last day, and with the time difference, I probably only have a little bit of time to get this entry posted.

I'll let you read through Mr. P's entertaining blog for the history and background of the contest. But basically, a lamington is an Australian dessert consisting of squares of cake with a jam filling covered in chocolate and shredded coconut. For this contest, you just have to get creative.

So, I would like to submit two entries.

First, I give you the Argentine inspired Alfore Lamingtons. I actually created it last year after the first Re-Inventing the Lamington Contest had already ended, so click on the link to read all about them. These are sooo incredibly good. I have made them several times, and they always receive rave reviews. In my opinion, you can't go wrong with Dulce de Leche.

Seriously YUM, YUM YUM!

And now for my second entry—the Austrian inspired Sacher Lamington.

Vienna is possibly my favorite city in the world, and it's famous for the Sachertorte. In 2009, I was fortunate enough to celebrate my birthday at the Sacher Hotel and enjoy a slice of heaven. The Sachertorte is a chocolate cake with a thin layer of apricot jam in the middle and covered in a dark chocolate ganache.

I decided to create a Lamington based on this cake. For the cake, I wanted something dense that could easily be dipped in chocolate. I chose to make two loaves of Rose Levy Beranbaum's Chocolate Bread. For the filling, I used my wife's marvelous homemade apricot jam. After cutting the cake into squares and spreading on the jam, I covered the Lamingtons in semi-sweet chocolate. Since the original Lamington is covered in shredded coconut, I wanted to add one more ingredient. However, coconut did not seem to fit well with the Sachertorte theme. I looked around the grocery store for inspiration and basically came up with nothing until I hit the candy aisle. I decided to sprinkle shavings of the best and darkest European chocolate I could find, which happened to be Lindt's Excellence 99% Cocoa Bar.

Here is the result.

Wunderbar!

To be really authentic, serve your Sacher Lamington with a big dollop of whipped cream.

I brought these to a dinner party recently, where they were a huge hit. I definitely plan to make them again.

Well, there you have them, my two entries in this year's Re-Invent the Lamington Contest. I've already begun thinking of other countries to inspire more Lamington recipes. Hopefully, Mr. P will sponsor the contest again next year, and hopefully, I will be a little more on the ball.

Wish me luck!

Sacher Lamingtons

Chocolate Pound Cake
(based on Rose Levy Beranbaum's Chocolate Bread in The Cake Bible)

Ingredients:

7 Tbsps. Dutch-processed cocoa
6 Tbsps. boiling water
1 Tbsp. vanilla
6 large eggs
2 ½ sifted cake flour
1 ½ cups + 4 Tbsps. Sugar
1 ½ tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. salt
1 ½ cups + 2 Tbsps. butter, softened

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 350°. Grease two 8-in. by 4-in. loaf pans. Line the bottom of each loaf pan with parchment paper, and then grease again and flour.

In a medium bowl, whisk together cocoa and water until smooth. Allow to cool to room temperature and lightly whisk in the vanilla and eggs.

In a large mixing bowl combine the remaining dry ingredients and mix on low speed for 30 seconds. Add ½ the chocolate mixture and the butter. Mix on low speed until the dry ingredients are moistened. Increase to medium speed and beet for 1 minute. Gradually add the remaining chocolate mixture in 2 batches, beating until ingredients are incorporated.

Pour batter into the prepared pan and smooth the surface with a spatula. Bake for 50 to 60 minutes or until a cake tester inserted into the middle comes out clean. After 25 minutes of baking, tent the cakes loosely with buttered tin foil to prevent overbrowning.

Let the cakes cool in the pan on a rack for 10 minutes. Loosen the sides and remove from pans to cool completely.

Apricot Glaze

Ingredients:

1 ¼ cups apricot preserves
2 Tbsps. Water

Preparation:

Bring the preserves and water to a boil in a small saucepan over medium heat, stirring often. Cook stirring often, until the last drops that cling to the spoon are very sticky and reluctant to leave the spoon, 2 to 3 minutes. Use warm.

Chocolate Glaze

2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
2 Tbsps. Shortening

Preparation:

Melt together in a pan over a low heat.

Sacher Lamington Assembly

It works best if you freeze the cake. After the cake is frozen, cut into 1" squares that are a ½" thick. Sandwich two pieces of cake with the apricot jam. Dip and cover with chocolate glaze. Sprinkle dark chocolate shavings on top. I used Lindt's Excellence 99% Cocoa Bar.

EPIC FAIL Macarons

2010-12-21T08:20:00.000-08:00

Dang it!

It was beginners luck.

In my previous post, you may have read about my first attempt at making macarons. They came out absolutely perfect, and I was mighty proud. "What's the big deal," I thought. They're a snap!

Well, as the proverb says, "Pride goeth before the fall."

And boy, did my macarons fall.

After my first batch of lovely macarons, I decided to make more to impress friends and family, and in keeping with the Christmas theme, I decided this time to make green shells. I had visions of delivering boxes of macarons to colleagues, friends, and neighbors. I would watch the look of total amazement come over their faces as they bit into their first macaron. And then, I would humbly accept all their praise and compliments.

Ooops. I think there is a life lesson to be learned here.

I thought I followed the exact same method of making the macarons as before. But, something went horribly wrong. Even Ms. Humble's blog post dedicated to troubleshooting macarons could not explain...

...this.

As we say in Utah, "What the heck?!"

I give you my entry for the Ugliest Macaron Contest.

I won't tell you what my kids think is on top of that macaron on the right, but I bet you can guess. I have no idea what happened, but interestingly enough, the cookies tasted great. It didn't take any time at all for the family to finish them off, and we all had a good laugh.

Will that be my last attempt at macarons? Noooo. I'm planning to get back on that horse and try again. I will not be defeated! Macarons, here I come!

Stay tuned...

Christmas Macarons—Peppermint with Chocolate Ganache Filling

2010-12-20T18:14:00.000-08:00

I finally gave them a try—macarons.

I would venture to guess that 99.9% of Utahns have never heard of these cookies, and I only learned of them about a year ago when I discovered a fun food blog, Not So Humble Pie. After long experimenting and perfecting, Ms. Humble has written multiple blog entries about macarons with amazing sounding recipes and photographs. I think it was her exhaustive troubleshooting post that made me most apprehensive about attempting to make the cookies. If so many things could possibly go wrong, they must be difficult, right?

I then discovered that macarons have been the trendy thing among food bloggers for a while now. When I googled "macaron recipe," it came up with 75 pages. So many different colors and flavor combinations, so many wonderful photographs, so many detailed descriptions of these little confectionery delights—I knew I must try one for myself.

I began my hunt. And, it wasn't easy. Utah tends to usually be a few years behind when it comes to trends. I first looked in all the grocery stores. Nothing. I moved on to the bakeries. Nada. I even went to a French bakery. Absolument rien. Finally after six months, I found a box of macarons at Trader Joes while on vacation in California. And even though some of the shells were cracked, the family and I thought they were pretty darn fantastic.

The ideal macaron is perfectly round. The shells are characterized by smooth, domed tops with ruffled bottoms. This bottoms are called the feet, but I find that kind of gross because it reminds me of dissecting a clam in junior high biology. The shells should have an egg shell-like crust with a moist and airy interior. They should practically melt in your mouth. Macarons are commonly filled with a frosting, ganache, or jam filling which is sandwiched between two shells. The Mecca of Macarons seems to be the Pierre Herme bakery in Paris. Someday, I hope to check it out.

So, for this first attempt at making macarons, I decided to go with the easiest looking recipe I could find. I decided to set my expectations very low. I would consider the venture a success if my cookies turned out somewhat round, and it would be OK if they didn't have the all-important ~~feet~~ ruffles. As I searched through recipes, I immediately threw out anything metric. Not only am I a mathematically challenged American, I do not own a kitchen scale. I decided I'd invest in a scale, if this first attempt was marginally successful.

Since it's the Christmas season, I decided to go with a recipe from Gourmet or Gourmand for peppermint macarons with chocolate ganache filling. I modified it slightly after reading tips from Ms. Humble and others.

And the result? Total perfection! I don't have a clue how I did it, but I've got pictures to prove it. The kids absolutely love them. We could have easily devoured all of them. However, I managed to box up some for coworkers, who also gave them rave reviews. These may even surpass sour cream cookies as my all-time favorite cookie. I'm now excited to try more.

I think I'll even add a kitchen scale to my Christmas wish list. Actually, it's probably too late for that; I'll just go buy one at an after-Christmas sale.

But...

I'm nervous about one thing. Was this beginners luck?

Not bad for my first try. I'd be willing to put them up against Pierre's.

Perfectly smooth, domed shells. And feet!

Christmas Macarons—Peppermint with Chocolate Ganache Filling
adapted from Gourmet or Gourmand

Shells:

Ingredients:

¼ water
¾ cup sugar
Food coloring
½ cup egg whites at room temperature, divided
3 Tbsps. sugar
1 ¼ cups powdered sugar
1 cup almond flour (Locally, I found this at Good Earth and Harmons.)
2 tsps. peppermint flavoring

Preheat oven to 320°, and use an oven thermometer to make sure the temperature is exact.

Bring ¼ cup water, ¾ cup sugar, and food coloring to a boil in a small pan. Once the sugar syrup reaches 170° on a candy thermometer, begin to whip ¼ cup of the egg whites in a stand mixer. Once the eggs begin to froth, slowly add 3 Tbsps. sugar. Continue to beat until soft peaks form. This should be enough time for the sugar syrup to reach 230°. At this point, very slowly add the syrup to the eggs while continuing to beat on low. After syrup is added, whip the mixture on high for 10-15 minutes. They should be fluffy and cool.

While the eggs are whipping, place almond flour in a food processor and blend to create a finer texture. Add in 1 ¼ cups powdered sugar, ¼ cup egg whites, and 2 tsps. peppermint flavoring. Blend until well combined. Fold this mixture gently into the meringue mixture.

Fill a pastry bag fitted with a ¼-in. up with the mixture. Pipe 1 ½ to 2-in. circles onto cookie sheets lined with parchment paper or Silpat. Bang on counter to get out bubbles. Let rest for about 15 minutes. Bake for 12 minutes.

Filling:

Ingredients:

4-oz. chocolate
½ cup cream
2 Tbsps. corn syrup
1 Tbsp. unsalted butter

Chop chocolate into small pieces. Heat cream and corn syrup to a simmer. (I do this in a microwave.) Add butter and chocolate. Stir until chocolate is melted and incorporated. Let cool. To speed this process up, I put it in the refrigerator (or freezer) and stir every so often until it gets to a frosting texture. I then like to whip it up with beaters and fill a piping bag. Take two cookies that are equal in size and fill.

Place cookies in an airtight container and store in the refrigerator. If you can wait, save the cookies at least 24 hours before serving; they get even better.

Rivarly Week Recipe #2—True Blue Velvet Cake

2010-11-21T06:14:00.000-08:00

Even though I hate the expression, I needed to kill two birds with one stone. (If anyone knows a less violent phrase, do share.) First of all, we had a 1/2 birthday to celebrate at the office, and I wanted to make something to post on the blog in connection with the BYU vs. University of Utah Food Drive. The student alumni association from each school tries to collect the most food and money the two weeks leading up to the big rivalry football game.

I'm the advisor for the BYU Student Alumni, and these students have been doing an amazing job raising funds and collecting food for a wonderful cause. Everything collected by BYU goes to Community Action Services and Food Bank of Utah County. Here's an interesting fact. Did you know Community Action Services can leverage every dollar donated to equal about 15 to 20 lbs. of food? That's amazing! And, even in Utah there is a great need. Please take a moment to donate by clicking here.

Before I get to the recipe, here is a video the students made to promote the food drive. Enjoy!

If you haven't seen the commercial this parodies, click here.

Now, the recipe...

I decided to make a red velvet cake with cream cheese frosting but with a twist. Instead of using the color of the opposition, I substituted blue food coloring. I didn't have enough food coloring on hand to make it real BYU blue, but it turned out pretty well. And, it was a lot of fun.

I just hope it brings good luck to the Cougars as they face the Utes, and inspires everyone to give this holiday season.

Happy 1/2 Birthday, Lisa, and GO Cougars!

True Blue Velvet Cake
Ingredients:

2¼ cups cake flour
2 Tbsps. unsweetened cocoa
2 tsps. ground cinnamon
1¼ tsps. baking powder
¼ tsp. baking soda
¾ tsp. salt
¾ cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1½ cups sugar
2 eggs, at room temperature, lightly beaten
2 tsps. vanilla extract
2 bottles (1 ounce each) liquid food coloring
1 cup buttermilk or sour cream (not fat free), at room temperature

Preheat oven to 350°. Grease and line two 9-in. round cake pans. Set aside.

Place the flour, cocoa, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together in a strainer and sift together.

In a mixing bowl, beat butter until soft and creamy, about 45 seconds. While mixing, slowly add the sugar. Continue beating at medium speed until the mixture is very light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Slowly drizzle in the eggs and beat well. Add vanilla and liquid food coloring and blend well.

Using the mixer on low speed, fold in about one-third of the flour mixture, then half of the buttermilk or sour cream. In the same manner, fold in half of the remaining flour mixture followed by the remaining buttermilk or sour cream. Finally, add the remaining flour mixture.

Divide the batter between the prepared pans. Bake on the center rack for about 25 minutes. Each cake layer should spring back when lightly touched in the center and a toothpick inserted into the center should come out clean.

Place pans on a wire rack to cool for 5 to 10 minutes, then turn the cake layers out onto the rack to cool completely.

Frost with Cream Cheese Frosting.

Cream Cheese Frosting
Ingredients:

¾ cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 lb. cream cheese (not fat free) chilled
2 tsps. vanilla extract
¼ tsp. salt
3 cups powdered sugar
Milk (not fat free), if needed

In a bowl, beat the butter with an electric mixer at medium speed until soft and fluffy. Add the cream cheese, vanilla, salt and beat at low speed just until the mixture is smooth and creamy, but do not overbeat. Add 1 cup of powdered sugar and beat at low speed just until incorporated. Add the remaining 2 cups powdered sugar and beat just until smooth. Add a little milk if the mixture is too thick.

Rivalry Week Recipe #1—Chocolate and Cinnamon Spiced Pancakes

2010-11-17T21:07:00.000-08:00

The big game is almost here—BYU vs. University of Utah.

For those of you not familiar with this rivalry, it's one of the biggest. Usually, I don't care that much for college football, but I do pay attention to this game. I am the advisor to the BYU Student Alumni, an amazing group of students. Each year the Student Alumni at BYU and the University of Utah have a competition the two weeks before the football game to see who can collect the most food and money for the local food banks. It's a great way to use the rivalry to generate donations, and in the end, it's the community that wins.

Before I get to the recipe, I thought I would share a video for the food drive made by the students. I am very impressed because it was made on a budget of basically zilch, or even less. I don't know if it's because I'm old, but I had never heard the phrase "cool beans." However, since watching this, I've begun to hear it quite a bit. For others not in the know, it basically means great, cool or awesome. So, enjoy! And, watch in the coming days when I will share a couple more videos that are cool beans. (That doesn't sound right. Ugh, I've turned into an old fogie.)

Now on to the recipe... I've decided this year to offer you, my adoring fans (all 23 of you), special rivalry week recipes leading up the game. I thought I would begin with a recipe I found on BYU Dining Services website for chocolate and cinnamon spiced pancakes. Not only did they sound yum, but November 18 is Pancake Day at BYU. Dining Services is serving all-you-can-eat pancakes all day all over campus for only $3. And best yet, proceeds go to the food drive. I love their slogan, "Flip a pancake; fill a pantry." If you are in the Provo area, I highly recommend you stop by campus for pancakes.

If you're not in the area, give these pancakes a try. And then, I ask you to please make a donation to the food drive by clicking here, or at least give to your local food bank. The food drive runs until November 27.

GO BYU!

I tested these out on the two pickiest eaters I know, my six year-old Tomas
and his friend Jeffrey. They gave the pancakes the thumbs up. But, I must
confess, I'm the world's worst pancake flipper. Don't let the ugliness fool
you, these pancakes are mighty tasty.

Chocolate and Cinnamon Spiced Pancakes

from BYU Dining Services

Ingredients:

4 cups flour

3 Tbsps. sugar

2 Tbsps. baking powder

2 tsps. baking soda

1 tsp. salt

2 tsps. pumpkin pie spice

4 cups buttermilk*

½ cup butter, melted

2 tsps. vanilla extract

4 eggs

½ cup chocolate chips

½ cup cinnamon chips**

In a large bowl, whisk the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt and pumpkin pie spice together. In a separate bowl, mix buttermilk, butter, vanilla and eggs. Add wet ingredients to the dry and mix. Do not over mix. Fold in chocolate and cinnamon chips. Cook on a warm griddle. Serve with your favorite syrup (cinnamon cream syrup is really good).

*Use real buttermilk and vanilla. Yes, it makes a difference.

**I had never noticed cinnamon chips before, but there they were at the local grocery store next to the chocolate chips. They're made by Hersheys. If you can't find them, no worries. Just use more chocolate chips.

Chocolate Orange Cheesecake

2010-11-07T14:37:00.000-08:00

Cheesecake. I love it.

We had another birthday at work—a perfect excuse to make a cheesecake.

What took me the longest was to decide which from among our many, possibly hundreds, of cheesecake recipes to make.

I finally decided to go with one Katie and I have made countless times, Chocolate Orange Cheesecake. In my opinion, chocolate and orange go perfectly together. Those chocolate oranges (by Cadbury?) are a must have each year in our Christmas stockings. And, I recently found a recipe for candied orange wedges dipped in chocolate that I think might have to try very soon.

This cheesecake is fairly easy, and always a crowd pleaser. However, I did make one slight modification this time. After I took the cheesecake out of the oven, I forgot to loosen it from the sides of the pan as stated in the recipe. This caused the cheesecake to develop a giant crack. Usually, this doesn't bother me, but since it's for a birthday, I decided to cover it up with a ganache. Not only was this a simple way to cover up the flaw but it added pizazz. And, ganache always makes everything better, right?

I skipped breakfast (a no-no, I know), so it's truly a miracle I

made to work with the cheesecake intact.

Birthday boy, Steven, with the remnants of

the snarf-fest. And since it was his birthday,

I let him have that last piece. I was sure

tempted to call that lunch.

Chocolate Orange Cheesecake

Ingredients:

1 cup chocolate wafer crumbs

¼ tsp. cinnamon

3 Tbsps. butter, melted

4 8-oz. packages cream cheese

¾ cup sugar

4 eggs

½ cup sour cream

1 tsp. vanilla

½ cup semi-sweet chocolate chips, melted

2 Tbsps. orange flavored liqueur (or 2 Tbsps. orange juice with ½ tsp. orange flavored extract)

½ tsp. grated orange peel

¾ cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

¼ cup whipping cream

Combine crumbs, cinnamon and butter. Press onto bottom of 9-in. springform pan. Bake at 325° for 10 minutes.

Combine cream cheese and sugar, mixing at medium speed on electric mixer until well blended. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Blend in sour cream and vanilla. Blend ½ cup chocolate into 3 cups batter. Blend liqueur and peel into remaining batter. Pour chocolate batter over crust. Bake at 350° for 30 minutes. Using a thin knife or small offset spatula, loosen cake from rim of pan. Cool before removing rim of pan.

Melt ¾ cup chocolate chips with whipping cream over low heat. Stir continuously until smooth. Spread over cheesecake.

Chill cheesecake for several hours, best overnight.

Unguilty Pleasure Chocolate Cake

2010-11-03T20:00:00.000-07:00

My mom is diabetic. About a year ago, she went to the doctor, and one of her tests came back very bad. Normal for the test is below six, and she was over eleven. The doctor was none too pleased and read my mom the riot act. Good thing he did because she decided she to get serious. She went totally sugar-free and has been going regularly to the gym.

Recently, my mom went back to the doctor. The doctor came into the examination room to give my mom the latest test results. He said, "You know that it's illegal to switch blood samples with someone else's, right?" My mom didn't really know what he was talking about. That thought had never crossed her mind. But then, she realized he was joking. It turns out her level was just above six. The doctor said she is now only pre-diabetic, and he was very proud of her. And, I am, too.

Hence, when my parents came to visit this week, I wasn't going to make anything to take her off track. I decided to look online for a sugar-free dessert. After searching a while, I came across a chocolate cake which uses agave nectar, a syrup made from a cactus. It's available at many grocery stores and at most health food stores.

The result was, in my humble opinion, pretty darn amazing. You would never believe it's sugar-free. The cake is dense and moist and guaranteed to satisfy any chocolate craving. Everyone in the family loved it with the exception of my six year-old, who didn't care for the frosting. Since it's made with cream cheese, it has a bit of a tang. Give him time, and his pallet will mature, right? Anyway, I found that the cake was even better the next day. If the cake is chilled the frosting becomes fudgier.

The cake does take a bit of work, but it's completely worth it, even if you're not into the whole sugar-free thing. So, make a healthy choice, and give this recipe a try. Although, I must warn you. You may be tempted to devour the entire cake yourself, which probably isn't so healthy.

Y. U. M.

Even though the light wasn't so great, this photo is making

me salivate in a major way.

Unguilty Pleasure Chocolate Cake

based on recipe at Essential U and renamed by Katie

Ingredients:

2 Tbsps. dark chocolate

1 ⅔ cups flour

7 Tbsps. cocoa powder

1 ¼ tsps. baking powder

¾ tsp. baking soda

⅛ tsp. salt

4 Tbsps. butter, room temperature

1 ¼ cup agave

5 egg whites

½ cup plain yogurt

1 cup milk

2 ½ tsps. vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350°. Coat two 8" or 9" round cake pans with nonstick spray. Line the pans with wax paper cut to fit the bottoms. Coat the paper with nonstick spray and dust with cocoa powder.

Melt dark chocolate in microwave and set aside. Sift flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda and salt into a separate bowl. Mix thoroughly and set aside. Beat 3 of the egg whites until stiff peaks form and set aside. In a separate bowl, combine butter, agave, and 2 of the egg whites. Beat with an electric mixer over medium speed until well blended. Beat in melted chocolate. Beat in yogurt and ½ cup of the milk. Carefully mix in dry ingredients. Beat in other ½ cup of milk and vanilla. Do not over beat. Carefully fold whipped egg whites into batter.

Divide batter evenly between the two prepared pans. Bake in over for 20 - 25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean when inserted into the center. (Be careful not to over bake. If a few crumbs come out with toothpick. It's OK.) Loosen edges of cake from pan with a knife, and cool completely on wire racks. Carefully remove from pans and frost.

Cocoa Cream Cheese Frosting

Ingredients:

2 packages Neufchatel cream cheese, room temperature

¾ cup agave

½ cup cocoa powder

Whip Neufchatel cream cheese, agave and cocoa powder until smooth.

Vanilla-Roasted Peach Soup with Cardamom Cream

2010-10-15T21:18:00.000-07:00

It must be a busy time of year for food bloggers. Most of the food blogs I follow don't seem to be posting much these days—myself included. My life at the moment is crazy-go-nuts, and things probably won't ease up until the end of the school semester. I have actually done some baking though. For two recent birthdays at the office, I made a tres leches cake and a cream cheese and raspberry coffee cake. However, the problem was that I didn't have time to take a decent photo of the desserts let alone sit down at a computer to write a blog entry about them. I'll get around to adding those two recipes to the blog eventually.

But now, I'm back.

Thumbing through my Cooking Light cookbook, I found this recipe for peach soup. I wanted to make it for several reasons. First, I love fruit soups. They remind me of Europe. I don't know why fruit soups aren't more popular here in the US. Second, the recipe called for a vanilla bean. I'm sorry to admit it, but I have never used a real vanilla bean although I've seen it done many times on TV. And finally, I had a bag of amazingly wonderful Utah peaches that needed to be used.

This soup was very easy to prepare, even the vanilla bean part. The aroma of the house while I was roasting the peaches was true aroma therapy. After I took the peaches out of the oven, I took a bite. Yum!! One of these peach halves served with a scoop of ice cream would make a fantastic dessert. Katie and I loved the soup, and I now want to invite some people over for dinner and serve it as the first course. Katie and I did find out, however, that we like a larger dollop of the cardamom cream than what the recipe calls for. Next time, I may double that part.

Before all the peaches are gone, give this soup a try. Share with friends; they'll think your so continental.

Vanilla-Roasted Peach Soup with Cardamom Cream
From Cooking Light Cookbook

Ingredients:

3 good sized peaches, halved and pitted
2 Tbsps. sugar
1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise
1 ½ Tbsps. honey
1 ½ cups orange juice
⅛ tsp. salt
¼ tsp. vanilla extract
¼ cup sour cream, fat-free works well
⅛ tsp. ground cardamom

Preheat oven to 350°. In a large bowl, add sugar. Scrape seeds from vanilla bean, and mix with sugar. Discard bean. Add peach halves to sugar and toss well. Place peach halves, cut sides down, on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake for 25 minutes or until tender; cool. Peel and discard skins. Place peach halves and honey in a blender or food d processor, and process until smooth. Add orange juice, salt and vanilla extract; process until well blended. Pour into a bowl and cover and chill 2 hours.

Combine sour cream and cardamom. Ladles soup into bowls, and top with cardamom cream. Yield: 4 servings.

Peaches and Cream Cheese French Toast

2010-09-19T19:09:00.000-07:00

It's peach season!

I stopped by a local fruit stand and bought a bag. Oh man, are they ever good. Utah peaches may just be the best in the world. Before ~~eating~~ devouring the entire bag, I decided to use some baking. I put together two recipes, a peaches and cream cheese French toast and a peach pandowdy. Unfortunately, I made the pandowdy at night when the light isn't good for photographing. It didn't make it until morning and the aftermath wasn't so pretty. So for right now, I'm only posting the French toast. I'll try and do another pandowdy later.

This French toast recipe was a favorite from our bed & breakfast days. We loved the recipe because the ratio of "Ooohs!" and "Aaaahs!" to the amount of actual work that went into it was very good. It's really easy. And then one day, Katie discovered that our cinnamon cream syrup makes the French toast really divine. We've tried the recipe with other kinds of fruit, too. Blueberries are especially nice.

Give this a try. It's great for breakfast, lunch or dinner—not necessarily in the same day. (But hey, I could be tempted.)

Or, a late night snack!

Peaches and Cream Cheese French Toast

Ingredients:

1 large loaf of French toast (day old is best)
1 8-oz. pkg. cream cheese
2 cups peaches, fresh or canned*
12 eggs
2 cups milk
⅓ cup maples syrup

Cut bread into 1" cubes. Place half in greased 9"x13" baking dish. Cut cream cheese into ¼" pieces and place over bread. I usually just use my fingers and tear off pieces of cream cheese. Place peaches over bread and cream cheese. Top with remaining bread. At this point, I usually press down on the bread to compact it all. In a large bowl, beat eggs. Mix in milk and syrup. Pour over bread mixture. Cover with foil and chill at least 8 hours. Remove from refrigerator 30 minutes before baking. In a preheated oven, bake at 350° for 30 minutes. Uncover and bake 30 minutes longer or until golden brown and the center is set.

Serve with maple syrup or cinnamon cream syrup.

*Blueberries combined with the peaches or by themselves work very well in this recipe.

Torte di Pere E Cioccollato (Cake with Pear and Chocolate)

2010-09-08T09:22:00.000-07:00

To celebrate Labor Day, we did jobs around the house. While I thought it was most appropriate to labor in honor of Labor Day, the kids did not think I was at all funny. However, they performed their tasks admirably with only minor complaining. Chloe helped Katie paint the house, and the boys helped me with yard work. To reward them for a job well-done, I decided to bake something.

Our last order from the food co-op contained an abundance of fruit. I was able to use some of the plums in a tart, and Katie finished off the nectarines. However, we still had a bunch of pears on the verge of going bad. So, I googled "pear" and "dessert" and searched through a bunch of recipes. The recipe that sounded most intriguing was Torte di Pere E Cioccollato (pear cake with chocolate chunks) from the restaurant Al Di La in Brooklyn. If I ever make it again to New York, this restaurant is on the to-do list. There are a lot of people who rave about it online. Several websites that have posted the recipe, but I think it was the Smitten Kitchen that somehow got hold of it in the first place.

There were three things that convinced me I needed to make this cake. First, the name alone sounds exotic. I want to start learning Italian. Second, it contains chocolate. Need I say more? And finally, browned butter is added to the batter. My favorite cookies in the world have a browned butter frosting. I love the flavor the browned butter adds.

So, I began my Labor Day labor of love.

The cake was fairly easy to make, and I only modified the recipe slightly. Instead of using bittersweet chocolate, I substituted semisweet. It's what I had on hand, and I'm not the biggest fan of bittersweet.

The cake turned out pretty darn amazing, and it was completely gone in no time. It reminds me of the types of cakes I've had in Europe. This recipe is a definite keeper I will want to make again for friends and family or a birthday at the office.

Therefore, if you're like me and can't just pop over to Al Di La whenever the mood strikes, give this recipe a try. I'm sure it's the next best thing.

To me, simple yet beautiful.

Ready for snarfing! Nom, nom, nom.

Torte di Pere E Cioccollato (Cake with Pear and Chocolate)
from Al Di La and adapted from the recipe post by Smitten Kitchen

Ingredients:

1 cup flour
1 Tbsp. baking powder
¼ tsp. salt
3 eggs
½ cup butter
¾ cup sugar
3 pears, peeled and diced
¾ cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350˚. Butter and flour a 9-in. springform pan.

In a bowl, sift together flour, baking powder and salt.

In a medium-sized saucepan, melt butter over medium heat. Once it comes to a boil continue to cook and stir constantly until the butter browns. As soon as the butter begins to change color, remove from heat. Be careful! I've burned the butter many times because I get impatient. If you remove the butter too early from the stove, that's OK. You can always heat it up again. But, once it burns, you have to throw it out.

Using a stand mixer with whisk attachment, whip eggs on high speed until pale and very thick. This can take 5 minutes or more. Add sugar and beat a few minutes more. If you are using a hand mixer, it may take double the time.

Alternate adding flour and butter (⅓ flour, ½ butter, ⅓ flour, ½ butter, ⅓ flour). After each ingredient is added, mix on lowest speed until just combined. You can also use a spatula to fold in ingredients. Be careful to not overmix and cause batter to lose its volume.

Pour batter into prepared pan. Sprinkle diced pears and chocolate chips gently over top. Bake for 40-50 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

If desired, dust with powdered sugar. Serve with a dollop whipped cream or a scoop of ice cream.

Rustic Plum Tart

2010-09-03T08:35:00.000-07:00

It must be plum season because we got a whole bunch of them this month in our food co-op order*.

Only one problem... No one in the family is a big plum fan. The kids won't touch them. Katie doesn't care for them, and I'll eat them if there's nothing else around. However, I didn't want them to go to waste, so I decided to try baking with them.

During my time living in Germany, I often had Pflaumkuchen and quite liked it. I even tried making it once when Katie and I were newlyweds. I didn't think it was that bad. However, Katie didn't care for it, and I haven't made it again in the twenty years since.

I needed to try something new. I decided to wing it and combine a few things I'd seen on TV and make a rustic tart. I love the idea of "rustic" because no matter how your crust turns out, you can always say it's supposed to be that way.

The tart was incredibly easy to throw together, and I was very pleased with the result. I loved the plums, but I must say that the crust with the almond paste was my favorite part. Katie even liked the tart and said it was one of the best fruit tarts she's had. The kids, however, showed no interest or expressed their disgust. But, that was OK, it just meant more for Mom and Dad. For a couple evenings in a row after the kids had gone to bed, Katie and I each enjoyed a warm slice of tart served with scoop of vanilla ice cream while watching British comedies on PBS.

This tart has made us fans of the plum. If you're not already a fan, give this tart a try, and see if it doesn't win you over.

I also love the deep purple and shades of orange the plums
turned as they were baked.

*We also received a bunch of nectarines I thought would be good in a recipe. But, alas... Katie likes nectarines, and I didn't get to them quick enough.

Rustic Plum Tart

Ingredients:

1 9-in. pie crust (click here for a good recipe from Alton Brown, or just use one of those pre-made rolled up refrigerated pie crusts)

1 8-oz. can almond paste

3 medium black plums, each one cut into 8 wedges

2 Tbsp. sugar

1 tsp. nutmeg

2 Tbsp. butter

2 Tbsp. apricot jam

Preheat oven to 450°. Place pie crust on ungreased baking sheet. Form almond paste into a ball and flatten. Place between to sheets of plastic wrap. Using a rolling pin, roll paste into an 8-in. circle. Peel plastic wrap from almond paste, and place in center of pie crust. Arrange plums cut side up on almond paste. Combine sugar and nutmeg, and sprinkle over plums. Cut butter into small pieces and scatter over plums. Fold edges of pastry over plums, crimping dough. Bake for 15 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 375° and bake 25 minutes more, or until crust is lightly browned and plums are tender. Remove to a wire rack to cool. Melt apricot jam in a microwave, and brush over plums. Tart is best served warm (and with a scoop of vanilla ice cream).

Apricot Pineapple Jam with Lion House Rolls

2010-08-28T21:25:00.000-07:00

Apricot season has ended.

I'm glad we had several friends willing to share their harvest. And now, I would like to share with you our family's absolute favorite jam recipe, apricot pineapple. It used to be printed with the MCP pectin instructions, but for some reason, it's not there anymore. It would be a true shame if this recipe were lost, so feel free to make this jam and share the recipe with your friends and family.

We made quite a few batches this year. I pitted and pureed, and Katie did the rest. We ended up with about 30 jars of jam. One would think that many jars would last us until next summer. However, an opened jar doesn't last very long in our house, especially with our growing kids. I think I need to initiate a rationing program.

Or, better yet—a reward program.
"Yes, you may have some toast with apricot pineapple jam...as soon as you clean your room."

After we finished making the jam, I was in the mood to bake something to go with it. I immediately thought of my favorite rolls from the historical Lion House Pantry in downtown Salt Lake City. These rolls are incredible. They are light, airy, and buttery. And, what I love most is the shape. They sort of remind me of those of those round bales of hay. I'd post a photo of them, but I couldn't find a good one online, not even on the Lion House Pantry website. But, just try to imagine a roll looking like this.

This past year, the Lion House started selling a box mix of their rolls. Even though homemade is always better than a mix, I considered buying a box. But then it occurred to me, the recipe might be online. It was! I also found this video where a Lion House pastry chef, demonstrates the rolling technique to achieve the signature shape.

The rolls I made tasted just like what you would buy at the restaurant. However, I need a little more practice to achieve the signature shape. As rolls go, mine look perfectly fine, but they did have these little ends sticking out. I also ended up covered in the flour and butter. Once we spread on the apricot pineapple jam, we couldn't control ourselves, and the rolls were scarfed up in no time. I think I might volunteer to make the rolls at the annual family gathering at Thanksgiving.

Yep, I don't think it will be too long before we run out of jam.

Seriously, these rolls are heaven. Just looking at the picture
makes me want to make more.

Apricot Pineapple Jam
Recipe from an old MCP Pectin package

Ingredients:

3 cups pureed apricots (including peels)

½ cup lemon juice

1 pkg. MCP pectin

2 ½ cups pureed crushed pineapple (with juice)

8 cups sugar

Mix fruit pulp and lemon juice in large pot. Sprinkle in pectin and stir thoroughly to dissolve, scraping sides (3-5 minutes). Place over high heat and bring to a boil, stirring constantly to prevent scorching. Add sugar and mix well. Continue stirring and bring to a full rolling boil. Boil exactly 4 minutes. Continue to stir constantly. Remove from heat. Pour into sterilized jars. Put on boiled lids and rings*. Turn upside down for 15-30 minutes (listen for seal).

*Place flat lids in saucepan with water. Bring to boil, and remove from heat. Let stand in hot water until ready to use. Drain well.

Lion House Rolls
Recipe from ksl.com

Ingredients:

2 cups warm water

⅔ cup nonfat instant dry milk

2 Tbsps. dry yeast

¼ cup sugar

2 tsps. salt

⅓ cup butter, softened

1 egg

5 cups flour

In the large bowl of an electric mixer, combine water and milk powder. Add the yeast to this mixture. Add sugar, salt, butter, egg and 2 cups of the flour. Mix on low speed until ingredients are wet. Increase speed to medium and mix for 2 minutes. Stop the mixer and add 2 more cups of flour mixing on low until ingredients are wet and then on medium for 2 minutes. Add ½ cup flour and mix again. The dough should be soft, not overly sticky, and not stiff. Scrape the dough off the sides of the bowl and pour approximately 1 Tbsp. vegetable oil all around the sides of the bowl. Turn the dough over in the bowl so it is covered with the oil. Cover with plastic and allow to rise in a warm place until double in size. Sprinkle a cutting board or counter with flour and put the dough on the flour. It is now ready to roll out and cut into desired shape and size of rolls. Place on greased baking pans (parchment lined pans or Silpat also work well). Let rise in a warm place until the rolls are double in size (approx. 1-1 ½ hours). Bake in a preheated oven at 375° for 15-20 minutes or until they are browned to your satisfaction. Brush with melted butter while hot.

Cherry and White Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies

2010-08-12T19:28:00.000-07:00

Through our local food co-op, we purchased a preselected variety of products from the Nutty Guys. I'm a big fan of the Nutty Guys, but one of the items included was a very large bag of dried cherries. It's not that I dislike cherries, but they've never been my favorite dried fruit. So, the bag sat for a couple months on the shelf until our health conscious friends from Canada came to stay. It was a good opportunity to unload on them all the healthy stuff that just sits around our place. With our Canadian house guests, we mainly ate the cherries straight out of the bag and on salads.

However, when the Canucks returned to the North Pole, we still had a half a bag of cherries left. Now that the bag was opened, we needed to use them up. I first tried them in a scone recipe we like. I substituted the cherries for the dried cranberries. These turned out exceptionally well, and I even like them better with the cherries. I started to brainstorm other ways to use the cherries in baking.

I decided to take a really good oatmeal cookie recipe and throw in some cherries and white chocolate chips. The result? Simply amazing. Katie expressed a little displeasure, however, because she knew she wouldn't be able to resist them. To help her out, I brought a bunch of them into work where they were a big hit (and not because I work with a bunch of starving college students).

These oatmeal cookies are so good and so easy to make. The dried cherries and white chocolate really add pizazz. Give 'em a try. And also, don't forget to check out the Nutty Guys. They've got lots of other great products, and they ship all over the US.

After photographing, I practically ate this

stack myself—the breakfast of champions.

Oatmeal and dried cherries? Yes, I'm sure they're healthy!

Oatmeal Cookies with White Chocolate and Dried Cherries
Ingredients:

1 cup butter
1 cup white sugar
1 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 cups flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1 ½ tsps. ground cinnamon
3 cups quick cooking oats
1 cup white chocolate chips
1 cup dried cherries (other dried fruit such as cranberries would also work well)

In a medium bowl, cream together butter, white sugar, and brown sugar. Beat in eggs one at a time, and then mix in vanilla. Combine flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon. Stir into creamed mixture. (Up to this point, I used my stand mixer, but after, I used a heavy wooden spoon because the dough does become very thick.) Stir in oats, white chocolate chips, and dried cherries. Form large walnut-sized balls and place onto a greased baking sheet. Flatten balls out slightly. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes at 350˚ in a preheated oven. Cool cookies on baking sheet for 5 minutes and then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Apricot Raspberry Tart

2010-08-03T20:09:00.000-07:00

It's apricot season in Utah!

Apricots are part of the culture in these parts. We even have a children's song about apricot trees. It seems like every yard except ours has an apricot tree. This, of course, is perfectly fine by me because neighbors are usually happy to share, and I don't have to clean up any rotted fruit off the ground.

A friend posted on Facebook they had a tree full of ripe apricots free for picking. So, I went over and picked enough to make apricot pineapple jam* and this recipe for apricot raspberry tart. I wanted to make this tart for three reasons:

I'm not sure I have ever used the tart pan that's been in our cupboard for I don't know how long. It's finally time.
I also picked up some great looking raspberries at the farmer's market.
This tart reminds me of the apricot desserts I sampled last year in Austria. An area just outside Vienna is famous for its apricots. One word—amazing.

As long as you have a food processor, this recipe is easy. If you don't have one, use canned almond filling instead.

And as an added bonus, here is some music to motivate you to try this tart. The first song is the song mentioned above, "Popcorn Popping on the Apricot Tree," followed by two variations. Enjoy and happy baking! (If the widget doesn't appear, I apologize. Grooveshark has been having problems lately.)

*This is one of our family's favorites, and I'll post the recipe soon.

This dessert makes summer sweet!

Cool Van Gogh plate, don't you agree?

Apricot Raspberry Tart

Ingredients:

1 9-in. unbaked refrigerated pie crust

1 cup slivered almonds

¾ cup sugar

¼ cup butter

1 Tbsp. flour

1 egg

2 Tbsps. cream or half and half

1 15-oz. can apricot halves, well drained or approximately 8 fresh apricots

1 cup fresh raspberries

1 Tbsp. sugar

2 Tbsps. apricot preserves

Preheat oven to 400˚. Press crust onto bottom and up sides of an ungreased 9-in. round tart pan with removable bottom. Bake for 8 minutes.

In a food processor, finely chop almonds. Add sugar, butter, flour, and egg. Process until well mixed. Spread mixture evenly into partially baked crust. Arrange apricots and raspberries. Sprinkle 1 Tbsp. sugar over tart.

Bake for 30 to 40 minutes until crust is lightly browned. Cool completely.

Microwave preserves for 15 to 30 seconds or until melted. Brush tart with melted preserves.

Serve with whipped cream, if desired.