Amaretto Crème Brûlée

For a good chunk of my childhood years, I swore up and down that crème brûlée was the same thing as a soufflé. From having watched tv and movies that were all food related, I pretty much figured out that the crème brûlée/soufflé creation was a daunting feat to make. I would see people make soufflés and watch as they worried about it deflating, and I thought that I would never be able to make those. Then, I would see people make other kinds of soufflés (which were the crème brûlées), and I'd see them worry about the texture and the color of it. In high school, I had a reality check. One day during French class, the students that were a part of the cooking/home ec class stopped by and gave us crème brûlée. I then realized that what I thought was a soufflé all along was actually a kind of flan creation called crème brûlée. I finally challenged myself to make it after finding the recipe in the Better Homes & Gardens New Cook Book, and I loved it. I love how the texture is somewhere between pudding and flan; I love the light taste of amaretto; I love how easy it was to make.

Amaretto Crème Brûlée
*makes 6 desserts*

Ingredients:
1 3/4 cups half-and-half
5 egg yolks, slightly beaten
1/3 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla
2 tbsp amaretto
1/8 tsp salt
1/4 cup sugar

Directions:
1) Preheat oven to 325F. In a small heavy saucepan heat half-and-half over medium-low heat just until bubbly. Remove from heat; set aside.
2) Meanwhile, in a medium bowl combine egg yolks, the 1/3 cup sugar, the vanilla, the amaretto, and salt. Beat with a wire whisk just until combined. Slowly whisk the hot half-and-half into the egg mixture.
3) Place six 6-ounce custard dishes in a 3-quart rectangular baking dish. Divide custard evenly among the dishes. Place baking dish on oven rack. Pour boiling water into the baking dish to reach halfway up the custard dish sides.
4) Bake for 30 to 40 minutes or until a knife inserted near the center of each custard comes out clean. Remove dishes from the water; cool on a wire rack. Cover and chill for at least 1 hour and up to 8 hours.
5) Before serving, let custards stand at room temperature for 20 minutes. Meanwhile, in a heavy 8-inch skillet heat the 1/4 cup sugar over medium-high heat until the sugar begins to melt, shaking skillet occasionally to heat sugar evenly. Do not stir. Once the sugar starts to melt, reduce heat to low and cook about 5 minutes more or until all of the sugar is melted and golden brown, stirring as needed with a wooden spoon.
6) Quickly drizzle the caramelized sugar over custards. If sugar hardens in the skillet, return to heat; stir until melted. Serve immediately.

Autumn Succotash

Autumn, winter, spring, summer. Who in the food world decides what foods go with which seasons? Every time a new season rolls around, I take a look through all the blogs on my blog roll and a lot of other ones that aren't on there, and I notice that there are always new recipes to go with the new season. It's as if there's a book or a law out there that tells us which fruits and veggies should be eaten at certain times of the year. Take this recipe from the Better Homes & Gardens New Cook Book. The recipe has the word "autumn" in it. Does this mean that this should only be made in the Fall? I'm guessing it's a kind of yes, since it has corn in it, and corn is usually found in foods that are made around Thanksgiving, but, shouldn't it be a kind of no as well? I mean, look at the colors! The colors scream "Spring" and "Summer." There's green, yellow, and red, which are found everywhere through the April to August months. So, I deem this "Year-Round" Succotash, since it's so fast to make (as well as low fat) that it can be made at any time throughout the year.

Autumn Succotash
*makes 6 to 8 side-dish servings*

Ingredients:
10 oz frozen lima beans
10 oz frozen whole kernel corn
2 small tomatoes, seeded and chopped
1/4 cup sliced green onion
1 tbsp snipped fresh parsley
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
2 tbsp bottled Italian salad dressing
1/4 tsp dry mustard

Directions:
1) Cook lima beans and corn according to package directions; drain. In a bowl combine lima beans, corn, tomato, green onion, and parsley.
2) In a small mixing bowl whisk together red wine vinegar, dressing, and dry mustard. Pour over lima bean mixture; toss to coat. Serve at room temperature or chilled.

If you want to print this recipe out, go here to its link on the Better Homes & Gardens site.

Gingerbread Cutouts

This easy to make recipe from the Better Homes & Gardens New Cook Book comes together easily, and is not at all a pain when rolling out. These cookies should be paired with a Powdered Sugar Icing, but back when I made these, I didn't have much time to decorate, so I just left them without the icing. They don't have a strong gingerbread taste, but if you wanted to make them have a strong taste, you could easily increase the amount of ground ginger in the recipe.

Gingerbread Cutouts
*makes about 36 cookies*

Ingredients:
1/2 cup shortening
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1/2 cup molasses
1 egg
1 tbsp vinegar
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 recipe Powdered Sugar Icing
Decorative candies
Colored sugars

Directions:
1) In a mixing bowl beat shortening with an electric mixer on medium to high speed for 30 seconds. Add sugar, baking powder, ginger, baking soda, cinnamon, and cloves. Beat until combined, scraping sides of bowl occasionally. Beat in molasses, egg, and vinegar until combined. Beat in as much of the flour as you can with the mixer. Stir in remaining flour. Divide dough in half. Cover and chill about 3 hours or until easy to handle.
2) Preheat oven to 375F. Grease a cookie sheet; set aside. On a lightly floured surface, roll half of the dough at a time until 1/8 inch thick. Using 2 1/2-inch cookie cutters, cut into desired shapes. Place 1 inch apart on prepared cookie sheet.
3) Bake for 5 to 6 minutes or until edges are light brown. Cool on cookie sheet 1 minute. Transfer to a wire rack and let cool. If desired, decorate cookies with Powdered Sugar Icing. If desired, before icing dries, sprinkle with decorative candies and colored sugars.

Powdered Sugar Icing: In a small bowl combine 1 cup powdered sugar, 1/4 tsp vanilla, and 1 tbsp whole milk. Stir in additional milk, 1 tsp at a time, until icing reaches drizzling consistency.

If you want to print this recipe or the variation out, go here to their link on the Better Homes & Gardens site.

Lemony Madeleines

I'm one that's always up for trying new recipes, but that doesn't always mean that I'm up for repeating the same recipe more than 3 times in the same day in order for them to be just right. This recipe from The Ultimate Cookie Book made me bend my own rules. I honestly tried making these 4 times, back to back. It wasn't because of the taste or texture. Those were great throughout all 4 batches. What was driving me insane was the color. They kept on coming out too brown! Yes, I know it could've been that the baking heat was too high or the baking time was too long, and I did manipulate them all 4 times, which, by the way, the 4th batch was perfect color-wise but was under baked. This picture is from the 3rd batch, and was honestly the lightest I was able to go without under baking. "The flavors of lemon and raspberry - always fast friends - play happily together in these tiny French sponge cakes. Savor their flavor with a steaming cup of raspberry tea."

Lemony Madeleines with Raspberry Ganache
*makes 24 cookies*

Ingredients:
2 eggs
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter, melted and cooled
1/2 tsp finely shredded lemon peel
1 tbsp lemon juice
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp baking soda
1/8 tsp salt
1/4 cup finely chopped pecans, toasted
1 recipe Raspberry Ganache

Directions:
1) Preheat oven to 375F. Grease and flour twenty-four 3-inch madeleine molds. Set aside. Separate eggs; place yolks and whites in separate bowls. Cover and chill egg whites until needed.
2) In a medium mixing bowl combine egg yolks and sugar. Beat with an electric mixer on medium to high speed for 30 seconds. Add butter, lemon peel, lemon juice, and vanilla. Beat on low speed until combined.
3) In a small bowl stir together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Sprinkle flour mixture over the egg yolk mixture; gently stir in. Stir in pecans. Lightly beat egg whites; gently fold into batter. Spoon batter into the prepared molds, filling each about half full.
4) Bake for 10 to 12 minutes or until edges are golden and tops spring back when lightly touched. Let stand for 1 minute in molds. Using the tip of a knife, loosen cookies from molds; invert onto a wire rack. Remove molds; cool cookies on wire rack.
5) When cookies are completely cool, use a soft brush to remove excess crumbs from cookies. Holding each cookie at an angle, dip halfway into Raspberry Ganache; place on waxed paper. Let stand until set.

Raspberry Ganache: In a small saucepan heat 1/3 cup whipping cream over low heat just until boiling. Remove from heat. Add four raspberry-flavor tea bags. Let stand for 15 minutes. Remove tea bags from cream. Return cream to boiling. Remove from heat. Immediately add 4 ounces white chocolate baking squares, finely chopped. Stir until melted. Tint with red paste food coloring (or in my case since I didn't have red, I used yellow) to desired color. Cool slightly before dipping cookies.

Triple Chocolate Biscotti

I still haven't been able to satisfy my newly found biscotti obsession, but I'm sure that these biscotti from The Ultimate Cookie Book will satisfy any chocolate lover's sweet tooth. "These crisp Italian cookie sticks dotted with nuggets of chocolate will delight any chocolate lover."

Triple Chocolate Biscotti
*makes about 36 cookies*

Ingredients:
1/2 cup butter, softened
2/3 cup sugar
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 tsp baking powder
2 eggs
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup white chocolate chips
1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Directions:
1) Preheat oven to 375F. Grease a large cookie sheet; set aside. In a large mixing bowl beat butter on medium to high speed for 30 seconds. Add sugar, cocoa powder, and baking powder. Beat until combined, scraping sides of bowl occasionally. Beat in eggs until combined. Beat in as much of the flour as you can with the mixer. Stir in any remaining flour, the white chocolate chips, and semisweet chocolate chips.
2) Divide dough in half. Shape each half of dough into a 9-inch-long loaf. Place loaves on the prepared cookie sheet; flatten each loaf until about 2 inches wide.
3) Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near centers comes out clean. Cool completely on cookie sheet on a wire rack. Reduce oven temperature to 325F.
4) Transfer loaves to a cutting board. Using a serrated knife, cut loaves diagonally into 1/2-inch slices. Place slices, cut sides down, on an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake for 8 minutes. Turn slices over. Bake for 7 to 9 minutes more or until dry and crisp. Transfer cookies to a wire rack and let cool.

If you want to print this recipe out, go here to its link on the Better Homes & Gardens site.