Fruit

Morning Glory Muffins
May 27th, 2012
Rise and shine!

Why not wake up to a muffin full of flavor and just the right amount of sweetness to get you going? Plus, it’s so exciting to bite into something with so many ingredients. It’s like a party for your taste buds… so many textures, so many tastes, and yes, you can bet that they all play nicely together. (Who knew that fruits and veggies could join in unison and create a hit?)

Like with any muffin, these are pretty easy to make- the only annoyance comes from having to measure out so many ingredients. Oh, and from grating the carrots- but since I started using the grater thingy on my food processor (you know- this disc that you attach to the blade in the middle), life has gotten so very very much easier. Less time grating carrots means more time baking.
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The Zesty Ginger Scone with Raisins & Orange Glaze
April 21st, 2012
I went a bit scone-crazy a couple of weeks ago, which wasn’t hard to do (because I have always loved a good biscuit- especially ones with glaze that drips off the edges and sometimes pools underneath). I did this because I wanted to participate in Pastry Chicago’s Scone Competition (a cool organization that puts on […]
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Berry Orange Fool
April 1st, 2012
There’s no better way to celebrate April Fool’s day than with a classic British dessert that calls itself a “fool”, is there? (Other than playing horribly evil jokes on coworkers and loved ones.)

With spring in full effect, it’s time to kick the fruit consumption into high gear… as an appetite-whetter of what’s ahead (strawberry season! strawberry season!). This fool recipe swirls berries and orange zest with a simple mixture of whipped cream and yogurt… served with crumbled Classic Shortbread Cookies.

(Be careful not to get too ambitiously healthy with this recipe. I altered the whipped-cream-to-yogurt ratio in my last Fool escapade, thinking I was all ‘responsible’ [we did just watch ‘Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead’ and feel the need to either sustain ourselves on 100% fresh fruit & veggie juice or stop eating altogether] and The Husband politely [but pointedly] protested. I ended up adding the full amount of the whipped cream after all, because it IS my aim to please, of course. If you’re looking to add less fat and sugar into your life, then keep this recipe as is and serve Baby Fools, as pictured. In short: don’t f with the Fool.)
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Hazelnut Meringue Puffs with Fresh Fruit & Cream
March 24th, 2012
Who doesn’t love light, fresh, hazelnut-spiked meringue cookies layered with fruit and fresh whipped cream? (If you don’t, then click here to read about a decadent chocolate dessert instead, without fruit of any kind. Goodbye.)

Back to the meringue. Made without an ounce of fat (really… except for the little whipped cream layer), and relatively easy to make (easy but time consuming: full disclaimer), they reek of spring or summer- even when it’s a bleak wintery day. (Whipped cream and fruit makes everything seem like spring. It’s a fact.)

Back to the meringue, again. I have made this as a full-fledged cake (usually remembering to remove the parchment circles under the meringue layers before assembling, except for that one time in 2007), and as individual servings as pictured. So in addition to being not-altogether-unhealthy, and easy-ish to make, it’s a versatile dessert. Why don’t I make these more often?
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Rum Balls 3 Ways: Rum & Raisin, Mango & Coconut, Double Chocolate
March 17th, 2012
I have said this before, but I think that the marriage of sweets and alcohol is a wonderful thing.
Any opportunity to combine two vices seems like a recipe for fun… and in the grand scheme of things, adding rum to a little dessert ball isn’t all that evil. (Eating 35 out of the 40 balls might be bad, but even still- you won’t get drunk off these with only 2 ounces of rum in the whole batch. Sorry to disappoint you, if a rum ball buzz was what you were after.)

Take your pick of the three variations below… or do what I do- make all three and then figure out what to do with them. (Won’t be a tough problem to solve.)
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Icewine Sabayon
March 10th, 2012
I love wine, and since I also have a sweet tooth, icewine is my friend.
What’s a girl to do with an intense dessert wine that tastes like honey, apricot, tangerine and pineapple? Drink it, naturally. (And why not bake with it, too?)

This Icewine Sabayon recipe has been burning a hole in the black binder where I keep the hundreds of pages of recipes I fantasize about baking one day. So after having ice wine on a recent trip to Toronto (Inniskillin, no less- do it right!), I was officially inspired to blow the dust off this easy-to-make, mousse-like recipe.

(Sabayon, by the way, is like zabaglione- if that means anything to you. Basically this is a custardy/moussey dessert, and is perfect with fresh fruit at the end of a meal. Serve it with the Icewine, of course… and enjoy liberally.)
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Baked Kahlua Pineapple “Flutter”
February 27th, 2012
I have always been a huge Kahlua fan. It’s sweet (enough said), and has really never done me wrong like most other alcohols have been know to do over the years (other than that time in Vegas. Oh, sweet liqueur, you really messed me up that weekend. And yet I came crawling back for more of your coffee-rummy goodness).
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Blueberries & Cream Pound Cake
February 18th, 2012
Let’s face it- “everything in moderation” is a great philosophy when it comes to things like fiber and Facebook. And being moderate.

I am of the belief that More is Better (strange… that sounds an awful lot like the More Sweets, Please tagline), and when it comes to blueberries in a cream-cheese-rich pound cake, well, a little bit of a good thing means that More is clearly the only way to go. This recipe is stuffed silly with blueberries. Stuffed to the point where the cake takes a supporting role- and yet the cake itself is poised to be the star of the show.

So go to town with the blueberries in this moist, hint-of-lemon-flavor pound cake- because there’s nothing to feel bad about living in the land of excess when it comes to overdoing it with an antioxidant-rich fruit.

Recipe for Disaster Alert: yes, I had a mishap while baking this cake. In the spirit of shamelessness, check it out- The Great Crust… Bust.
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Guilt-Free Mandarin Orange Cake
February 10th, 2012
“”Guilt-Free”. Let’s talk about that for a moment, shall we?

If you like the sounds of “almost entirely fat free”, you’ll probably agree that there is very little guilt to go around when it comes to this cake.
(Really. There is one lone little egg in this recipe, and if you use the glaze- which I am going to demand that you do- one teeny pat of butter. So if you divide that minute amount of fat around a cake with 8 servings, it’s not even worth me doing the math to tell you what the fat content is or isn’t. Sounds guilt-free to me, unless you eat 3/4 of the cake on your own as your dinner as soon as it’s cool enough to eat. But I can’t help you with that problem.)
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Banana Nut Bread
January 27th, 2012
This one’s a winner.

If you like your banana bread dense and bananaey and amazing, then get yourself ripening a bunch of bananas pronto. The riper the banana, the better the bread. Truer words have never been spoken.
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Sweet Cherry Pie
January 25th, 2012
Sometimes fruit calls out to you in the grocery store, when it’s impossibly fresh, just asking to be baked into a double buttery crust. When cherries are in season, heed that voice. Even though they are as expensive as hell.
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Fudgy Orange Brownie Cake with Orange Cream Cheese Icing
January 20th, 2012
Planning a dinner party? Maybe a party of one (that being you)? Then you’ve found the dessert to serve.

Chocolate and orange have been romantically involved for years, so it’s time to forge your own relationship with the two flavors. Take this oranged-up adaptation of the World’s Best Fudge Brownie and toss it into a cake pan… slather some orange cream cheese icing on top and watch the sparks fly.

Oh- please note my newest serendipitous technique, as made evident in the photo. See where the icing snuck into the cake in an odd but strangely appealing way? Yeah well, keep reading and learn the trick of the More Sweets, Please trade :).
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