Caramel Apple Dip and Cinnamon Dippers

This is a versatile dip that can be served warm or cold.  I do recommend making the dippers fresh to go with them.   I originally intended on making these for Halloween and using cutters of cats and ghosts for the dipper but I’m running a little behind so I went with fall leaves.  You can make these for any season or event since apples are always in the market. 

 

Caramel Apple Dip

3 lbs apples, peeled, cored and diced

2 tbsp lemon juice
¼ cup honey
11 oz caramels

Put chopped apples into a crockpot with the lemon juice.  Cook until apples are tender. Puree apples in a food mill or just simply mash with a spoon.  Add in caramels and stir well.


Cinnamon Tortilla Dippers

8 small Flour tortillas
3 tbsp butter melted
3 tbsp sugar
1 tsp cinnamon

Cut flour tortillas into desired shapes.  Brush with melted butter.  Sprinkle with the cinnamon sugar mixture.  Bake for 5 minutes at 325°.

Pear Crisp

Another sign of Fall going to make an appearance is that of beautiful pears showing up in the grocery stores.  I did try planting a pear tree a few years ago but one wicked cold winter did it's damage to the poor tree and it did not survive so it's back to store bought pears.  As with any crisp, the wonderful smell of cinnamon and fruit coming from your oven is one of the best smells that no candle can come close to copying.

Pear Crisp

6 pears, pared and sliced
1 tbsp. lemon juice
1/3 cup sugar
1 tbsp. cornstarch
2 tsp. cinnamon, divided
1/2 cup flour
1/2 tsp. salt
2/3 cups brown sugar
4 tbsp. cold butter, cut into small slices
1/2 cup quick oats

Grease a 9 x 9 glass baking pan.  Place the sliced pears and lemon juice at the bottom.  In a small bowl, combine the white sugar, cornstarch and 1 tsp. cinnamon.  Sprinkle evenly over the pears and turn them over to coat on both sides.  In a medium bowl, whisk the flour, salt, 1 tsp. cinnamon and brown sugar together.  Blend in the cold butter slices with a pastry blender until a crumbly mixture forms.  Stir in the quick oats and cover the pears.  Bake for 50 minutes at 350°.  Let cool 15 minutes if you are going to serve warm.  You can serve it like it is or top with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.

Lemon Yogurt Fruit Dip

Another great summertime dessert that is refreshing and and guilt-free.  I used Mascarpone instead of sour cream so the dip would be a little firmer but you can certainly use either one.  The light lemon flavor blends nicely with most fruits.  I served it with red grapes, apple slices, blackberries, raspberries and strawberries.

Lemon Yogurt Fruit Dip

1 - 6 oz container lemon yogurt

8 oz Mascarpone cheese, room temperature

1 tsp honey

1 tsp lemon juice

1/2 tsp lemon peel, grated

In a small bowl, cream together the yogurt and Mascarpone.  Stir in the rest of the ingredients and refrigerate for 2 hours before serving.

Blueberry Lemon Sauce

I was making Lemon Poppyseed waffles and wanted a blueberry topping for them.  This sauce worked well and the hint of cinnamon added a nice touch.  The leftovers are going to top some vanilla bean ice cream for dessert. 

Blueberry Lemon Sauce

1/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup water
2 tsp cornstarch
10 oz blueberries, fresh or frozen
1/2 tsp lemon zest
1 tbsp. lemon juice
1 dash cinnamon

Whisk together the sugar, water and cornstarch in a small saucepan.  Add in the blueberries, lemon juice and zest and bring to a boil.  Stir until the sauce thickens, remove from heat and stir in the cinnamon.  Serve warm or cold.

Pear Upside Down Cake

Pears, cinnamon and caramel.  Yes, I am a fan.  And eating this warm and fresh from the oven (well, after the 15 minute waiting time) is truly a treat.  Doesn't need whipped or ice cream.  Tasting the hint of molasses from the dark brown sugar is enough.  The juice from the pears release and meld into the topping.  Hungry yet?  Here's the recipe ~

Pear Upside Down Cake

Bottom layer ~

1/4 cup butter, melted
1/2 cup dark brown sugar

Pour the melted butter in a lightly greased 9" springform pan or a 9" square pan.  Sprinkle dark brown sugar evenly over the butter.  Add slices of 2 pears evenly over the brown sugar.

Cake layer ~

1/2 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 large egg
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/4 cups flour
1 1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup milk

In a medium bowl, cream together softened butter and sugar.  Add in cinnamon, egg, vanilla and milk.  Fold in flour, baking powder and salt.  Evenly spread cake mixture gently over the pears.  Bake in a 350° for 45 minutes.  Place a piece of aluminum foil under pan because it might leak pear juice during baking.  Allow the cake to cool for 15 minutes before carefully turning over onto a serving plate.

Cinnamon Pear Chips

Healthy snacks that taste good are always a welcome idea in my home.  The last one I had was dark chocolate raisins...well it's fruit and dark chocolate is good for you, rigth?  Today I made some pear chips with my dehydrator so that gets used more than once or twice a year.  It seems no matter what time of year, pears are always hard as a rock in the grocery store. For these treats, that is a good thing.  I just sprinkled them with a little cinnamon sugar mix that I keep on hand in a salt shaker that I've somehow amassed a collection of salt & pepper shakers through holiday gift giving.  

Cinnamon Pear Chips

2 Bosc pears, I used the mandoline and cut slices at 3/16"

My cinnamon sugar mixture ~

3 tbsp sugar
1 tsp cinnamon

Sprinkle each slice lightly.  Place on the racks of your dehydrator, do not crowd.  Run the dehydrator for 8 hours until the edges start to turn up on the pears. 

Cranberry Pomegranate Sauce

It's still bitterly cold and my neighborhood seems to be in hibernation.  With the football wild card games on the tv and a hot cup of green tea in my hand, I ventured into the kitchen to make something cheerful.  I had made a grocery impulse buy - a pomegranate (better than a bag of Doritos, right?)  I wanted to do something special with at least part of it so I went with a cranberry sauce since I had a bag of those on hand.

Cranberry Pomegranate Sauce

12 oz fresh cranberries

3/4 cup cranberry juice

1 cup white sugar

1/4 cup light brown sugar

1/4 tsp sea salt

1/2 cup pomegranate seeds

1/4 tsp cinnamon

Put cranberries, juice, sugars and salt in a medium saucepan.  Set at a medium heat and bring to a boil.  Stir occasionally and wait until the berries pop, approximately 10-15 minutes.  Remove from heat and stir in the pomegranate seeds and cinnamon.  Gently pour into a serving dish and allow to cool.  Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until ready to use.

Cranberry Pear Sauce

I started playing with recipes for Thanksgiving a little early for some of the sides this year and as you might have noticed, cranberries has been the star of quite a few now.   I've mixed cranberries with applies before and orange juice so I wanted to try something a little bit different and decided on pears.  The mellow flavor of the pears works well with the slight tartness of the cranberries.

Cranberry Pear Sauce

12 oz fresh cranberries

3/4 cup cranberry juice

3/4 cup white sugar

1/4 cup dark brown sugar

1/2 tsp sea salt

1 cup pears, diced

Put cranberries, juice, sugars and salt in a medium saucepan.  Set at a medium heat and bring to a boil.  Stir occasionally and wait until the berries pop, approximately 10-15 minutes.  Remove from heat and stir in the pears.  Gently pour into your serving dish and allow to cool.  Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until ready to use.

Caramel Apple Pie

The last burst of summer hit yesterday along with temperatures that were edging up towards 90°.  It was cooler this morning so a much better time to bake and I had gotten some beautiful apples.  Is anything better than caramel apples?  Mine are in the form of a pie this time.

Caramel Apple Pie

1 deep dish pie crust, baked per package directions
4 apples (mine were large so if smaller 5 or 6)
2 tbsp lemon juice
1/3 cup dark brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp cornstarch
1/4 cup cold water

Streusel

1/2 cup oats
1/2 cup flour
1/3 cup dark brown sugar
1/4 tsp salt
3 tbsp cold butter

Peel, core and slice the apples into even slices into a large saucepan.  Add in lemon juice, brown sugar and cinnamon and cook un til soft.  Stir in cornstarch that was mixed in the cold water to thicken the juices.  Pour into the baked pie crust.  In a small bowl, combine the streusel ingredients and place on top of apples.  Bake for 30 minutes at 350°.  Cool on a rack.  When cool top with 1/2 cup of caramel ice cream topping.

Peach Crostata

Not the easiest (nor the hardest) of desserts but it certainly does showcase the star of the dessert ~ the filling.  My filling was the remainder of the delicious white peaches I had gotten.  Just think sweet juices peaches with a hint of cinnamon wrapped in a buttery dough.

Peach Crostata

Dough ~

1 cup flour
2 tbsp sugar
1/4 tsp sea salt

Pulse to mix in a food processor.  Add in 1/2 cup of cold, slice unsalted butter.  Pulse until butter and flour make pea size pieces.  Add in 3 tbsp of ice water and pulse until it comes together as a dough.  Roll out onto a lightly floured surface and then form a disc and wrap in plastic.  Put in the refrigerator for 2 hours.  Roll out into a 9" circle and place on a parchment lined baking sheet.

Filling ~

3 peaches, peeled and sliced
1 tbsp flour
2 tbsp sugar
1/4 tsp cinnamon

Place the peach slices in a bowl.  Add in flour, sugar and cinnamon and toss until evenly coated.  Put the mixture in the center of the dough.  Fold up the sides, lightly pinching them together to hold.  Sprinkle cinnamon sugar on top before putting in the oven.  Bake for 20 minutes at 425°.

4th of July Strawberry Pie

With a hint of orange and cinnamon, this pie is just too good to limit to one holiday.  

Strawberry Pie

2 pie crusts (you can make from scratch or buy already made)
2# strawberries, cleaned and halved
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup cornstarch
3/4 tsp cinnamon
1 tbsp orange zest
2 tbsp orange juice
2 tbsp butter

Line the bottom of your pie pan with one layer of crust.  Place the strawberries in a large bowl.  Mix together the sugar, cornstarch, cinnamon, orange zest and sprinkle on top.  Drizzle orange juice over the strawberries and mix in cut pieces of butter.  Place in the pie pan.  Cut out star or whichever design you prefer in crust or just cover the strawberries with it and cut slits in for venting.  Pinch together the top and bottom crusts at the edges.  Brush on a tablespoon of milk on top and sprinkle cinnamon sugar to finish the crust.  Bake for 40 minutes at 425°.

Strawberry Bruschetta

Sometimes you just need a fun breakfast, especially on a chilly and rainy Spring day.  It's nice to have ripe strawberries on little pieces of toasted bread as a treat when most people would serve this later on in the day for company.

Strawberry Bruschetta

French bread or a bagette, cut into 1/2" slices at a diagonal
4 oz Mascarpone 
2 tsp strawberry preserves (use a good brand)
strawberries, sliced with the hull intact
honey 

Slice bread and place it in the oven at 350° until lightly toasted.  In a small bowl, cream together Mascarpone and strawberry preserves.  Spread a little on the cooled toasted bread slices.  Cut the strawberries in thin slices almost to the top of the berry.  Gently fan the slices and place on top of the Mascarpone.  Drizzle a little honey on top of each piece.

Raspberry Peach Crisp

It might not look like summer outside but you can bake some summer goodness like this delightful combination of raspberries and peaches.

Raspberry Peach Crisp

1st layer ~

3 cups peaches, sliced (if frozen, thaw before using)
1 cup raspberries (if frozen, thaw and strain off juice)
1/4 cup sugar
1 tbsp lemon juice

Mix together and place in a greased 9 x 9 baking dish.

2nd layer ~

2/3 cup flour
1/2 cup old fashioned oats
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
1 stick of butter, cold and sliced thin

In a medium bowl, mix together the flour, oats, brown sugar, cinnamon and salt.  Gradually add in butter slices and mix together using your fingers.  When all combined, spread out evenly over the fruit mixture.  Bake for 30 minutes at 350°.

Fruit Medley Crisp

I started off going to make just an apple & pear crisp and when I got the fruit all cut up it just looked so colorless so I perked it up by adding blackberries.

Fruit Medley Crisp

2 apples, pared and diced
2 pears, pared and diced
1 cup blackberries
1 tbsp lemon juice
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup flour
1 cup old fashioned oats
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp sea salt
1/2 cup butter, cold and sliced thin

Mix together the apples, pears and blackberries in a medium sized bowl.  Drizzle the lemon juice over and add in sugar.  I added a half cup of sugar because my apples were really tart.  If you use sweet apples, add in only 1/4 cup of sugar.  In another medium sized bowl, mix together flour, oats, brown sugar, cinnamon and sea salt.  Gradually add in cold butter slices and mix by hand until crumbly.  In a greased 9 x 9 pan, add in 1/3 of fruit mixture and then top it with 1/3 of the oat mixture.  Cover with the remainder of the fruit and then cover that with the remaining oat mixture.  Bake for 50 minutes at 350°.

Blueberry Sauce

I've used quite a few different fruits to make toppings & syrups for pancakes or waffles and this is my latest.  Normally I make lemon ricotta pancakes with blueberries inside the cakes but I'll be using this as a topping this weekend.  These are not overly sweet so you could use them as a topping for ice cream too.

Blueberry Sauce

10 oz blueberries, I used frozen
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup sugar
1 tsp lemon juice

Put all the ingredients into a saucepan.  Allow to simmer for a half hour so the berries release their juices and it starts to thicken.  Store covered in the refrigerator.

Orange Cranberries

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving to all my U.S. followers.  Here's the cranberries I made this evening and my house smells heavenly with a hint of orange.

Orange Cranberries

1 - 12 oz bag of fresh cranberries, rinsed and picked through
1 - orange
orange juice to get to 1/2 cup
1/2 cup water
1 cup sugar or 1/2 cup Splenda

Zest orange for 1 tablespoon.  Place cleaned cranberries in a saucepan with orange juice, zest, water and sweetener.  Bring to a boil.  Reduce heat and cook for 10 minutes.  Remove from heat and pour into a serving dish.  Chill until ready to serve.

Peach & Strawberry Jam

I've started filling my pantry with all the tastes of summer.  And what better way to start a cloudy morning with a little bit of sunshine on my plate with the sweet tastes of peaches and strawberries.

Peach & Strawberry Jam

6 peaches, peeled and chopped
3 cups strawberries, quartered and mashed
1 box fruit pectin
6 cups sugar

In a large saucepan, cook strawberries and peaches.  In a small pan, cook pectin in 3/4 cup water.  Bring to a rolling boil for 1 minute stirring constantly.  Add to fruit mixture and bring to a rolling boil, also for 1 minute.  Add in sugar and allow the heat to come back up to a rolling boil and you got it, for another minute.  Place in sterilized jelly jars.  Wipe rims to make sure no jam is on the glass.  Place lid and ring on tight.  Turn upside down for 5 minutes and then turn right side up.  As it cools, they should seal on their own.

Peach Monkey Bread

I love peach season and trying new ways to use my favorite fruit.  Today I made monkey bread for the first time and added peaches in the middle.  Of course there has to be a creamy icing to go with it...right?

Peach Monkey Bread

1 can Grands Buttermilk Biscuits
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 cup peach preserves
1 cup peaches, diced

Icing

1/4 cup butter, softened
3 oz cream cheese, softened
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 cup powdered sugar

In a zippered plastic bag, add in cinnamon and sugar and shake until well mixed.  Cut each biscuit into 4 pieces.  Add to plastic bag 4 at a time and shake so each piece is completely covered.  Place 4 cut up biscuits into a greased bread pan evenly.  Mix together peach preserves and peaches in a bowl and spread over the bottom half of the monkey bread.

Top with the remaining 4 biscuits with cinnamon sugar coating.  Bake for 30 minutes at 350°.  While still slightly warm, turn out onto a plate and top with icing.  

Blackberry Ginger Ale

I've found my new favorite summertime drink and since it's Monday, there may be an adult beverage additive such as vodka, gin or champagne added into it after work.  This came about since I had a few leftover blackberries from the jam I made on Saturday.  

Blackberry Ginger Ale

5 blackberries, muddled
3 drops Agave syrup, light
ginger ale to fill 
ice

Place blackberries at the bottom of your favorite glass.  Crush and sprinkle on Agave syrup.  Add in ginger ale and ice.  Stir.  Sit back and enjoy.

Peach Tart

I love peaches and am always looking for new ways to make them.  This is my first ever tart and I was surprised how easy it was to make.  

Peach Tart

Crust ~

1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
1/3 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups flour
1/4 tsp sea salt
1 tsp baking powder

Cream together butter and sugar.  Add in eggs and vanilla.  Gradually add in dry ingredients.  Mix all together and form into a ball.  Wrap in plastic wrap and put in your refrigerator for at least one hour.  When it's completely cooled,  roll out on a floured surface until 1/4" thick.  Place in a greased tart pan, spread out and trim away the excess.  

Mix together ~

1/2 cup peach preserves
1/4 tsp cinnamon

Spread over bottom of tart dough.

Top with ~

2 layers of thick sliced peaches

Bake for 30 minutes at 350°.

Sift 1 tbsp of powdered sugar on top before serving.