Pears and Dried Cherries With Chocolate Sauce
From Everyday Food
Note: With its sharp-edged bowls, a melon baller is a good tool to have when you're preparing pears. If you don't have one, use a teaspoon.
Prep: 10 minutes
Total: 40 minutes
Serves 4
Ingredients:
4 (about 1 1/2 pounds total) firm, ripe Bartlett pears
1/2 cup dried cherries
2 tablespoons light corn syrup
3 ounces semisweet chocolate, cut into small pieces
1/3 cup heavy cream
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Peel pears with a vegetable peeler. Halve lengthwise, leaving the stems intact. Using a melon baller, scoop out seeds. With a paring knife, remove thin fibrous core that runs from stem to bottom.
- In a 9-by-13-inch baking dish, place pears (cut side down), cherries, and 1/4 cup water; cover tightly with aluminum foil. Bake until pears are tender when pierced with the tip of a paring knife, about 30 minutes.
- Meanwhile, make chocolate sauce: In a small saucepan, combine corn syrup and chocolate. Stir over low heat until melted, 2 to 3 minutes. Remove from heat. Whisk in cream until smooth.
- To serve, divide pears and cherries among serving plates; drizzle with warm chocolate sauce.
Chocolate-Covered Cherry Cookies
From the San Francisco Chronicle
Makes about 5 dozen cookies
INGREDIENTS:
12 ounces bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
1/4 cup butter
3 eggs
2/3 cup sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
1/3 cup flour
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
2 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped into chunks
3/4 cup coarsely chopped dried cherries
INSTRUCTIONS:
- Preheat oven to 350°.
- In the top of a double boiler, melt chocolate and butter, stirring occasionally, until smooth. Remove from heat and let cool.
- In a large bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, beat eggs and sugar on medium-high speed for about 5 minutes, until mixture is thick and fluffy (ribbon consistency). Remove bowl from mixer, add cooled chocolate and vanilla, and stir the mixture by hand to incorporate.
- Sift the flour, baking powder, and salt into the mixture, and stir until just combined. Fold in the semisweet chocolate chunks and cherries.
- Drop by rounded teaspoons onto cookie sheets lined with parchment, and bake for 8-10 minutes, until tops are shiny and cracked.
Per serving: 70 calories, 1 g protein, 11 g carbohydrate, 3 g fat (2 g saturated), 16 mg cholesterol, 18 mg sodium, 0 fiber.
Caramel "Apple" Cookies
From Recipe Link
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) margarine or butter, softened
1/2 cup shortening
1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
red food coloring (optional)
2 eggs
3 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
About 24 wooden popsicle sticks
Caramel Glaze (see below)
- Heat oven to 400F.
- Mix sugar, margarine and shortening in large bowl.
- Stir in vanilla and eggs.
- Stir in flour, baking soda and salt.
- Add in food coloring if desired. Add enough to obtain desired color, I used five drops and ended up with a pale pink.
- If possible, wrap dough in plastic wrap and place in freezer for an hour, or in refrigerator overnight.
- Roll dough 1/4 –inch thick on lightly floured cloth-covered surface.
- Cut with 3-inch round or apple-shaped cookie cutter.
- Place on ungreased cookie sheet. Insert wooden stick horizontally into each cookie.
- Bake 8 or 9 minutes or until edges are light brown. Cool about 2 minutes; remove from cookie sheet. Cool completely.
- While cookies are cooling, make caramel glaze (see below).
- Spread top third of each cookie (opposite wooden stick) with Caramel Glaze. Hold cookie upright; allow glaze to drizzle down cookie.
Makes about 2 dozen cookies.
Caramel Glaze
1 package (14 ounces) vanilla caramels, unwrapped
1/4 cup water [I used apple juice]
- Heat caramels and water over low heat, stirring frequently, until melted and smooth.
- If glaze becomes too stiff, heat over low heat, stirring constantly, until softened.
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Banana Rum Coconut Cookies
From Cooking Light, April 2006
2/3 cup packed dark brown sugar
1/2 cup ripe mashed banana (about 1 medium)
1/2 cup reduced-fat mayonnaise
1 teaspoon rum
3/4 cup all-purpose flour (about 3 1/3 ounces)
1 cup quick-cooking oats
1/2 cup flaked sweetened coconut
1/2 cup golden raisins
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
Dash of ground ginger
- Preheat oven to 350°.
- Place first 4 ingredients in a large bowl; beat with a mixer at medium speed until blended. Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife.
- Combine flour and remaining ingredients, stirring with a whisk. Stir flour mixture into banana mixture.
- Drop dough by 2 tablespoonfuls onto parchment paper-lined baking sheets.
- Bake at 350° for 19 minutes or until lightly browned. Remove from pan; cool completely on a wire rack.
20 cookies (serving size: 1 cookie)
Nutritional Information
CALORIES 118(28% from fat); FAT 3.7g (sat 1.1g,mono 0.3g,poly 1.5g); PROTEIN 1.7g; CHOLESTEROL 0.0mg; CALCIUM 26mg; SODIUM 86mg; FIBER 1.1g; IRON 0.6mg; CARBOHYDRATE 19.9g
Lemon Goat Cheese Cheesecake
Cookie-Crumb Crust
Crust from Cook's Illustrated Fall Entertaining
5 oz Animal Crackers
3 tbsp sugar
4 tbsp unsalted, butter, melted and warm
- Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position and heat oven to 325 degrees.
- In food processor, process cookies to fine, even crumbs, about 30 seconds (you'll have about 1 cup). Add sugar and pulse two or three times to incorporate.
- Add warm melted butter in slow, steady stream while pulsing; pulse until mixture is evenly moistened and resembles wet sand, about ten 1-second pulses.
- Transfer mixture to 9-inch springform pan; using bottom of ramekin or dry measuring cup, press firmly and evenly into pan bottom, keeping sides as clean as possible.
- Bake until fragrant and golden brown, 15 to 18 minutes. Cool on wire rack to room temperature, about 30 minutes. When cool, wrap outside of pan with two 18-inch-square pieces heavy-duty foil.
Goat Cheese Cheesecake
From Whole Foods Market
2 (8-ounce) packages cream cheese, cut into pieces
3 (4-ounce) packages fresh goat cheese, crumbled
2 teaspoons finely grated lemon zest
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups sugar
4 eggs
- Preheat to 325F.
- Place cream cheese, goat cheese, lemon zest, lemon juice and vanilla in a large mixing bowl. With an electric hand mixer, beat until just smooth, scraping down sides of the bowl as needed.
- In two or three additions, beat in sugar until mixture is creamy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating and scraping down sides of the bowl after each addition. Continue to beat until mixture is very smooth.
- Pour batter into prepared crust.
- Bake until edges of cheesecake look set and the center is still soft and slightly jiggly, 50 to 60 minutes.
- Place pan on a rack to cool completely in the pan. Then cover and refrigerate for at least 6 hours or overnight.
Note: My cheesecake cracked on the one side. Instead of panicking, I sliced some figs, and covered the crack. Voila! Crisis averted!
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Note: I added a bit of pudding to mine, it was too runny and I had to add more flour to balance it out. This recipe is the standard recipe, and should come out fantastic, I don't think there is any need for the extra pudding. However, if you want to make it exactly like I did, the modified parts are in brackets.
Easy Lemon Cookies
From BakeSpace member Ali
1 (18.25 ounce) package lemon cake mix
2 eggs
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon lemon extract
1/3 cup confectioners' sugar for decoration
[1/4 cup lemon pudding — I used Jell-o instant pudding]
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
- Pour cake mix into a large bowl. Stir in eggs, oil, and lemon extract until well blended. [Add pudding, if it's too runny add flour until consistency is firm enough to make balls — even if they do get flattened out immediately.]
- Drop teaspoonfuls of dough into a bowl of confectioners' sugar. Roll them around until they're lightly covered.
- Once sugared, put them on an ungreased cookie sheet.
- Bake for 6 to 9 minutes in the preheated oven. [I baked for 11-13 minutes]. The bottoms will be light brown, and the insides chewy.
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Red Bean Mooncake
From GourMAsia via About.com
Filling:
1 pound red azuki beans
water
3/4 cup lard or oil
1-3/4 cups sugar
Water-Shortening Dough:
2 cups flour
5 tablespoons lard
10 tablespoons water
1/4 teaspoon salt
Flaky Dough:
1 cup flour
5 tablespoons lard
red food coloring for design
Filling Instructions:
- Soak red beans in water to cover 2 hours. Drain and discard the water. Cover with 8 cups fresh water and bring to a boil, then simmer over low heat 1-1/2 hours or until skins open.
- Strain the beans and discard the skins. Place the strained beans in several layers of cheesecloth and squeeze out any excess water.
- Place in a saucepan with the lard or oil and the sugar. Cook, stirring continuously, until almost all the moisture has evaporated. Let cool.
Dough Instructions:
- You will need 2 cups of filling for the mooncakes. Divide this into 20 portions and shape into balls.Mix ingredients for the water-shortening dough and the flaky dough separately until smooth. Divide each dough into 20 equal portions.
Wrap one portion of flaky dough inside each portion of water-shortening dough. Roll out each piece of dough, then fold in thirds to form three layers. Roll out again, and once more fold in thirds to form three layers.
- Flatten each piece of dough with the palm of your hand to form a 3" circle. Place one portion of filling in the center. Gather the edges to enclose the filling and pinch to seal. Place the filled packet in the mold, gently pressing to fit. Invert and remove the mold.
- Dilute red food coloring with water and pour onto a damp paper towel on a plate. Take some food coloring onto the cookie-design stamp, then press on top of the mooncake.
- Repeat process for remaining mooncakes. Arrange mooncakes on a baking sheet. Bake 20 minutes at 350 degrees. Let cool before serving.
Fresh Lime Chiffon Cake
From Cooking Light June 2006 by Jan Moon
Note: I omitted the lime juice from the frosting, and replaced the premade whipped topping with homemade whipped cream. I also added sliced strawberries between the layers.
Filling:
1 teaspoon finely grated lime rind
1/4 cup fresh lime juice (about 2 limes)
1 (14-ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
Cake:
Cooking spray
1 tablespoon cake flour
2 cups sifted cake flour (7 1/2 ounces)
1 1/4 cups sugar, divided
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
7 tablespoons canola oil
1/3 cup fresh lime juice (about 3 limes)
3 tablespoons water
1 teaspoon finely grated lime rind
1 teaspoon pure lemon extract
3 egg yolks
8 egg whites
1 teaspoon cream of tartar
Frosting:
3 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons lime juice (about 1 lime)
2 1/2 cups fat-free whipped topping, thawed
Fresh mint sprigs (optional)
Fresh blueberries (optional)
Lime wedges (optional)
- To prepare the lime filling, combine 1 teaspoon lime rind, 1/4 cup lime juice, and sweetened condensed milk in a small bowl, stirring until blended. Cover and chill 3 hours.
- Preheat oven to 325°.
- To prepare cake, coat bottoms of 3 (8-inch) round cake pans with cooking spray (do not coat sides of pans); line bottoms with wax paper. Coat wax paper with cooking spray; dust with 1 tablespoon flour.
- Lightly spoon 2 cups cake flour into dry measuring cups, and level with a knife. Combine 2 cups cake flour, 1 cup sugar, baking powder, and 1/2 teaspoon salt in a large bowl, stirring with a whisk until well combined.
- Combine oil, 1/3 cup juice, 3 tablespoons water, 1 teaspoon rind, lemon extract, and egg yolks in a medium bowl, stirring with a whisk. Add oil mixture to flour mixture; beat with a mixer at medium speed until smooth.
- Place egg whites in a large bowl; beat with a mixer at high speed until foamy. Add cream of tartar; beat until soft peaks form. Gradually add remaining 1/4 cup sugar, 1 tablespoon at a time, beating until stiff peaks form. Gently stir one-fourth of egg white mixture into flour mixture; gently fold in remaining egg white mixture.
- Divide cake batter equally among prepared pans, spreading evenly. Break air pockets by cutting through batter with a knife. Bake at 325° for 20 minutes or until cake springs back when lightly touched. Cool in pans for 10 minutes on a wire rack; remove from pans. Remove wax paper from cake layers. Cool completely on wire rack.
- To prepare frosting, combine 3 tablespoons sugar and 2 tablespoons lime juice in a small glass bowl. Microwave at high for 30 seconds or until sugar dissolves. Cool completely. Fold into whipped topping.
- To assemble cake, place 1 cake layer on a plate; spread half of filling over cake layer [add sliced strawberries if desired]. Top with second layer, remaining half of filling, and third layer. Spread frosting over top and sides of cake. Garnish with mint, blueberries, and lime wedges, if desired. Store cake loosely covered in refrigerator for up to 3 days. Slice cake into wedges.
16 servings (serving size: 1 slice)
Nutritional Information
CALORIES 290(29% from fat); FAT 9.3g (sat 2.1g,mono 4.6g,poly 2.1g); PROTEIN 5.3g; CHOLESTEROL 47mg; CALCIUM 122mg; SODIUM 218mg; FIBER 0.3g; IRON 1.1mg; CARBOHYDRATE 44.9g
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