Fluffy Orange Fruit Dip

It seems that my husband and I are always on a quest to help our family eat healthier.  Over the years we've made a lot of improvements, including switching over to brown rice, substituting at least part whole wheat flour in almost every recipe, eating more fruits and veggies, and fewer processed and snack foods.   For the most part, these changes have been relatively painless and are now just how we eat.  I couldn't help but feel a twinge of pride recently, when one of my kids was served white rice at a restaurant and they actually asked us what was wrong with the rice that it didn't have any color.  :)   Despite our progress, though,  the one bad habit that we're having a hard time shaking is our sweet teeth.  We've cut down eating desserts to only once a week, which has made a big difference, but still we find that  sometimes  my kids (and even us adults) miss out on the fun desserts we used to have on a regular basis.  That's where recipes like this one I found in my  Our Best Bites cookbook   come into play.  It is sweet enough, without being overwhelmingly sweet,  to satisfy everyone's sweet tooth,  AND it gets us all to fill up on healthy fresh fruit, like  apples, pineapple, and strawberries.  We figure it's perfect for an occasional day when we're either looking for a healthier alternative to an after-dinner sugar fix or when we have a lot of fresh fruit we need to eat quickly.  

The mild orange flavor and the creamy texture complements the crisp fresh fruit just perfectly.  Don't you just want to reach in and grab some for yourself?  :)

Click here for printable recipe.

The ingredients:

1 package (8-ounces) cream cheese (low fat or fat-free is fine)
2 tsp. orange zest
3 Tbs. fresh orange juice (from the orange you just zested)
1/4 tsp. vanilla
pinch of salt
1 jar (7-ounces) marshmallow cream

Directions:  Beat cream cheese, orange zest, orange juice, vanilla, and salt until smooth and creamy. 

Add marshmallow cream and beat until combined.  Makes about 2 cups.  Serve with any chopped fresh fruit--we like it with apples, pineapple, and strawberries.

Enjoy! 


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Minted Honey-Lime Fruit Salad

My kids are not huge fans of cooked veggies, so I'm always looking for fun new ways to serve up fresh fruits and veggies to change things up.  My 9-year-old daughter found this recipe in a cookbook, gave me a grocery list, whipped it up for us, and even took the pictures.  The honey, mint, and lime gave the fresh fruit a perfect splash of flavor, so if you're looking for a unique way to serve up some fruit--this is the recipe for you! 

Click here for printable recipe.  

The ingredients:

1 tsp. grated lime peel
2 Tbs. lime juice
3-4 Tbs. honey (depending on the sweetness of the fruit)
3 Tbs. chopped fresh mint
1/2 small honeydew, cubed
1/2 cantaloupe, cubed
1 pint fresh strawberries, halved and hulled
2 cups fresh pineapple or mango cubes

Directions:  In a large bowl, stir together the lime peel, juice, honey, and mint until combined.  Add the honeydew, cantaloupe, strawberries, and pineapple or mango.  Toss to combine. Makes 8 servings.

  Enjoy!

Pear and Honey Cake

Happy New Year, everyone!

I hope you had wonderful holidays with your loved ones, with lots of good food. I thought the first post of the year should be something simple yet delicious, and golden, as I hope 2010 will be.

Pear and honey cake
DH mag #14

• 3 pears (600g), cut in half, then each half into four wedges, seeds removed
• ½ cup honey
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• ¾ cup + 1 tablespoon (184g) unsalted butter, softened
• 2/3 cup (116g) light brown sugar, packed
• 3 eggs
• 1 ½ cups + 1 ½ tablespoons (225g) all purpose flour
• ½ teaspoon baking powder
• ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
• ¼ teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg
• 1/3 cup (80ml) whole milk

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F; generously butter a deep 23cm (9in) fluted flan/tart pan with a removable bottom.
2. 
   
3. Combine the pears, honey and lemon juice in a small saucepan over low heat. Cook for 5 minutes or until the pears are just tender. Drain the pears, reserving the poaching liquid.
4. 
   
5. Place the butter and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer and beat until light and creamy. Gradually add the eggs and beat well. Sift the flour, baking powder, cinnamon and nutmeg over the butter mixture, beat in slow speed just to incorporate then fold through the milk.
6. 
   
7. Spoon the batter into the prepared pan and arrange the pears on top. Bake for 50 minutes or until cooked when tested with a skewer – you might want to check the cake after 40 minutes.
8. 
   
9. Carefully remove the cake from the pan while still warm, spoon over the reserved poaching liquid and serve immediately.

Serves 8

Peach sauce

I made this peach sauce this morning to go on top of french toast. It was pretty good.

• 1/2 cup water
• 3 tablespoons sugar
• 2 tablespoons cornstarch
• 1 dash ground nutmeg
• 1 16-ounce bag frozen peaches
• 1/8 teaspoon almond extract

Put the water, sugar, cornstarch and almond extract in a saucepan, and bring to boil. Add the peaches, and cook until peaches are warmed through (maybe 5 minutes?). Add nutmeg and serve on top of french toast (or waffles...or pancakes...or eat it straight out of the pan...)

better-than-from-a-bakery granola

From Everybody Likes Sandwiches, with some fairly major modifications in the ingredients but not the technique.

The author gets very excited about the fact that this granola clumps successfully, and she is right -- it is totally excitement-worthy. Also, I don't think I've ever made anything in my life (not cookies, not fresh bread, nothing) that's made our apartment smell this good. It got J. out of bed this morning, seeking the source of the amazingness.

• 2 c organic large-flake rolled oats
• 1 t cinnamon (I used more than this)
• pinch of nutmeg (I added a pinch of cloves too)
• 1/2 t salt
• 3 T plus 1 t canola oil
• 1/4 c honey (I did half maple syrup)
• 1/4 c firmly packed light brown sugar
• 1 t pure vanilla extract
• 2/3 c whole almonds (I skipped)
• 2/3 c raisins (I substituted a handful of chopped mixed fruit and some chopped crystallized ginger)

Preheat oven to 325 F. In a large bowl, toss oats with cinnamon, nutmeg and salt. In a separate bowl, whisk together the oil, honey, brown sugar and vanilla until blended. Pour the wet mixture in with the dry and use your hands to combine the two until everything is well coated and your hands are gooey. Lick them if you must, but wash your hands right after.

Cover a baking sheet with parchment paper and pour the mixture over top. Spread it out evenly, but also keep in mind clumping is a good, good thing. Bake for 10 minutes and then use a spatula to gently flip the granola over. Sprinkle with almonds and return to the oven for another 10 minutes. Add raisins and bake for another 5 minutes. Remove from oven and cool completely in the pan. Use your hands to break up the granola...but again, don't go overboard (remember the clumps!). Place in a tightly lidded container.

Apple caramel pie

Oh hi. Look, it's me with another dessert recipe.
Are you surprised? You really shouldn't be.

In any case, I promise to post something non-desserty soon. It's just that...it's winter...and it's cold...and there's nothing (in my opinion) nicer than curling up with a cup of hot tea and something sweet.

Like maybe this apple pie.

adapted from Pioneer Woman

• 1 whole Pie Crust
• 6 cups (to 7 Cups) Peeled And Sliced Granny Smith Apples
• ½ whole (juice Of) Lemon
• ½ cups Sugar
• 4 Tablespoons Flour
• ¼ teaspoons Salt
• 1 1/2 tsp. apple pie spice (Penzey's makes a really good one, FYI)
• ½ cups Flour
• 1-½ stick Butter
• 1 cup Brown Sugar
• ½ cups Quick Oats
• ¼ teaspoons Salt
• ½ cups Pecans, Chopped
• 1 jar Caramel Topping

In a bowl mix peeled apples, lemon juice, sugar, flour, apple pie spice and ¼ teaspoon salt. Set aside. For crumb topping, cut the butter into the flour with a pastry cutter, then add in brown sugar, oats, and ¼ teaspoon salt.

Add apples to prepared pie shell and top with crumb topping. Cover crust edges with aluminum foil and bake in a 375 degree oven for 25 minutes. Remove foil from crust and place back into the oven for another 30 minutes. Chop pecans, and when five minutes remain, sprinkle them over the pie.

Remove the pie from the oven and pour caramel topping (PW recommends 1/2 jar, I used more like 3/4) over the top. Allow to cool slightly before serving.

Pear fritters

Pears were delicious, and I’m guessing apples would be wonderful, too – you can find the original recipe here, but I’ve adapted it to avoid having too much batter left. If there’s some, fry in small portions, by spoonfuls, and dust in cinnamon sugar as well:

Pear fritters

• 1 cup (200g) caster sugar
• ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 cup + 1 tablespoon (150g) self-rising flour
• 1 egg
• 2/3 cup (160ml) milk
• ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 tablespoon caster sugar, extra
• vegetable oil, for deep frying
• 2 Williams' pears, thinly sliced, seeds removed
• all-purpose flour, for dusting

Combine the sugar and cinnamon in a bowl. Set aside.

Place the flour, egg, milk, vanilla and extra sugar in a bowl and whisk until smooth. Heat the oil in a large, deep saucepan over medium heat until hot. Dust the pear slices with plain flour and dip in the batter – you might want to use the back of a spoon to make sure the batter sticks to the pear slices. Deep-fry, in batches, for 2–3 minutes or until golden and crisp on both sides. Remove from the oil and place over some paper towels to remove excess oil.

Toss the hot pear fritters in the cinnamon sugar to coat and serve.

Makes about 20

Almond, vanilla and raspberry friands

The egg white saga goes on: what to do with all those poor egg whites left from the almost insane ice cream making going on in my kitchen? I did bake a batch of meringues last Saturday, but they ended up in the garbage can. I’m glad Julie Le Clerc’s adorable book was around – these friands are delicious.

Speaking of sagas, I don’t get all the hate towards “New Moon” – sure, it’s no “Raging Bull”, but that doesn’t mean it’s crap, either. I haven’t read the books but adored the movies, despite Bella’s annoying inferiority complex. Not to mention that Taylor Lautner is oh, so cute. :)

Almond, vanilla and raspberry friands

• 175g unsalted butter, melted and cooled
• 1 cup (100g) ground almonds
• 6 egg whites, lightly beaten
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 ½ cups (210g) icing sugar, sifted
• ½ cup (70g) all purpose flour, sifted
• 1 cup (105g) raspberries, fresh or frozen – I used frozen

Preheat the oven to 190°C/375°F. Butter well 10 mini cake or muffin pans.

Place the butter, ground almonds, egg whites, vanilla, icing sugar and flour in a large bowl and stir just until combined.

Spoon the mixture into prepared pans – they should be just over ½ full. Top each friand with 3-4 raspberries. Bake for 25 minutes or until golden and a skewer inserted in the center comes out clean.

Allow to stand in pans for 5 minutes then turn out onto a cooling rack.

Makes 10 – I halved the recipe, used 1/3 cup (80ml) capacity muffin pans and got 7 friends

3 years of blogging call for chocolate-mayonnaise cupcakes with raspberry cream

There was a birthday celebration at home yesterday, but not mine nor Joao’s – this very blog turned 3!

I cannot believe it’s been that long – so many posts, recipes and photos... Not to mention the wonderful people I’ve met, virtually or personally, because of the blog. The comments and emails I get from you make me really happy and willing to improve my skills and learn more. Thank you for keeping me company all this time! You're the best!

I’d been meaning to bake these cupcakes for months – was intrigued by the addition of mayo to the batter, instead of butter – but thought they deserved a special occasion; this is certainly one. :D

Chocolate-mayonnaise cupcakes with raspberry cream
cupcake recipe from here; raspberry cream from here

Cupcakes:

• 1 cup (140g) all purpose flour
• 1/3 cup + ½ tablespoon (33g) cocoa powder
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup (200g) caster sugar
• 1 large egg
• ½ cup mayonnaise (not low-fat)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2/3 cups (160ml) boiling water

Raspberry cream:

• 112g (4oz) unsweetened frozen raspberries, thawed, with the juices
• 1 cup (240ml) heavy cream
• ¼ cup (50g) caster sugar
• 1 teaspoon rosewater

Position a rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 180°C/350°F. Line one standard 12-cup muffin pan with paper cupcake liners*.

In a large bowl, sift together the flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt. Set aside.

In another bowl, combine the sugar and egg and beat with an electric mixer set at medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Beat in the mayonnaise and vanilla just until combined. Reduce the speed to medium and beat in half the flour mixture until just combined. Stop the mixer and scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add half the boiling water and beat at very low speed just until the batter is smooth, 5-10 seconds. Add the remaining flour mixture and beat just until combined, 5-10 seconds longer. Beat in the remaining water – the batter will be somewhat thin.

Divide batter among the prepared cupcake cups, filling them about 2/3 full. Bake until a wooden skewer inserted in the center of a cupcake comes out clean, 18 to 22 minutes. Transfer to wire racks to cool completely.

Make the raspberry cream: put the raspberries and their juices in a small non-reactive saucepan and cook over medium-low heat, mashing the berries with a large spoon, until they give up all their juices, 6-8 minutes. Let cool, then strain through a sieve to remove the seeds. Add the sugar and rosewater and stir until the sugar dissolves. Set aside.

In a chilled bowl, with chilled beaters, whip the cream until stiff. Fold in the raspberry purée.

When the cupcakes are completely cool, frost them generously with the raspberry cream and serve.

* I used 1/3-cup (80ml) capacity pans

Makes 12

Teacup banana puddings

With all this heat, fruit goes ripe in no time – as much as Joao and I love bananas (and eat them on a daily basis) it is impossible to go through a bunch in 2-3 days.

These teacup puddings looked adorable on the magazine – I cannot resist bananas and caramel together – and were also a perfect way to use the egg whites I had left from making ice cream.

Teacup banana pudding

• 1 ½ tablespoons (21g) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1 cup (175g) brown sugar, packed
• ¼ cup (60m) water*
• 2 bananas, thinly sliced (lengthwise)
• ½ cup + ½ tablespoon (75g) all purpose flour
• 1 cup + 1 tablespoon (150g) icing sugar
• ¼ teaspoon baking powder
• ¾ cup (75g) almond meal (ground almonds)
• 3 egg whites
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 5 ½ tablespoons (77g) unsalted butter, melted and cooled

Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F; butter well four 1-cup (240ml) capacity ovenproof teacups.

Place the butter (21g), brown sugar and water in a small saucepan over low heat and stir until sugar is dissolved. Bring to the boil and cook for 3-4 minutes or until the sauce is syrupy. Set aside.

Place slices of the banana in prepared teacups. Spoon half the sauce over the bananas, place the teacups on a baking tray. Set aside.

Sift the flour, icing sugar and baking powder into a medium bowl and mix in the almond meal. Add the egg whites, vanilla and melted butter and stir to combine. Spoon the mixture over the bananas and bake for 20 minutes or until golden and cooked when tested with a skewer. Invert the puddings onto plates and serve with the remaining sauce.

* next time I make these, I’ll be using cream instead of water to make the caramel – with water, it turned out too dark and too runny

Makes 4

Raspberry swirl ice cream

In one of my many visits to Gourmet Traveller’s website – don’t you love their wonderful recipes and gorgeous photos? - I saw this ice cream and thought it would be the perfect way to (re)start ice cream season at home.

I bought the raspberries but forgot the liquid glucose – luckily, David’s fabulous book came to the rescue; I tweaked the recipe just a bit and used a vanilla bean, to get a deeper vanilla flavor.

Raspberry swirl ice cream

Ice cream:

• 1 cup (240ml) whole milk
• 2/3 cup (133g) caster sugar
• pinch of salt
• 1 ½ cups (360ml) heavy cream
• 1 vanilla bean, halved lengthwise
• 5 large egg yolks
• ½ teaspoon vanilla extract

Raspberry swirl:

• 1 ½ cups (160g) raspberries, fresh or frozen (I used frozen)
• 4 tablespoons (48g) caster sugar
• 1 tablespoon vodka (I used white rum)

To make the ice cream, combine milk, sugar, salt and 1 cup (240ml) cream in a medium saucepan. With the back of a knife, scrape seeds from vanilla bean into mixture, then add pod. Bring mixture just to a boil, whisking until sugar has dissolved, then remove from heat. Cover and let stand 30 minutes.

Reheat cream mixture over medium heat, stirring, until hot. Whisk yolks in a medium bowl, then add half of hot cream mixture in a slow stream, whisking constantly, then pour yolk mixture into remaining cream mixture in saucepan, whisking. Cook custard over medium-low heat, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, until custard is thick enough to coat back of spoon and registers 76 to 79ºC/170 to 175ºF on an instant-read thermometer (do not let boil).

Strain custard through a fine-mesh sieve into a metal bowl. Stir in vanilla and remaining ½ cup (120ml) cream, then return vanilla pod to mixture. Chill, uncovered, until cool, then chill, covered, at least 6 hours.

Ah hour or so before churning the ice cream, make the raspberry swirl by mashing the raspberries together with the sugar and vodka with a fork (if using frozen raspberries, let them thaw a bit first) until they’re juicy but with nice-sized chunks remaining. Chill until ready to use.

Remove the vanilla bean and freeze the custard in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions. As you remove it from the machine, layer it in the container with spoonfuls of the chilled raspberry mixture.

Makes about 1 ½ liters (1 ½ quarts)