Marbled Choco-Banana Muffins & Crumb Blog’s Granola—Secret Recipe Club

Come on in, sit down—have some breakfast—or a snack!

Amanda contacted me this morning about doing a fill-in post for a blogger who was left out of The Secret Recipe Club posts this month.  I agreed immediately to whip something up from Isabelle's blog, Crumb.  Check out the cute picture of her holding a parsnip in wonder over what in the world to do with it on the link with her name to her bio!  She has a wonderful blog that showcases her love of food!  Browsing through her blog, I came upon a couple recipes and had a really hard time deciding between the two.  Then it hit me—they are both breakfast foods, I’ll do them both!

So it is with great pleasure I present to you Isabelle’s Crumb Granola and her fantastic Chocolate Banana Marble Muffins (I’ve adapted the titles and the recipes every so slightly).

First up—I had just run out of granola, which to me is like having nothing to eat for breakfast.  I eat it everyday with some Greek yogurt and fruit (usually banana unless berries are in season)!  I liked everything about Isabelle’s granola recipe, which she titles Chewy Blueberry-Apricot Granola.  I just needed to make a few changes to the things I put in my granola as to what I had on hand, but this turned out GREAT.  I didn’t get this done in time for breakfast today, so I can’t wait for tomorrow morning to come!

 

Crumb Blog’s Granola, by Isabelle, adapted by Katrina, Baking and Boys!

2 cups old fashioned oats

1/2 cup quick oats (or just another 1/2 cup old fashioned if you don’t have both)

1/4 cups sesame seeds

1/4 cup shelled pistachios

1/2 cup almonds, chopped

1/4 cup pepitas (pumpkin seeds)

1/3 cup dried tart cherries, chopped

1/3 cup dried apricots, chopped

1/2 cup unsweetened shredded coconut

1/2 cup white whole wheat flour

1/2 cup dry skim milk powder

2 tablespoons flax seed meal

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom

1/2 cup canola oil

2/3 cup honey

pinch of sea salt

Preheat oven to 275 degrees.  Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a Silpat (foil works, too).  Set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, combine the oats, nuts, seeds, coconut, flour, milk, spices and salt.  In a medium sized bowl, combine the oil and honey and whisk together to combine.  Pour the oil/honey mixture into the dry ingredients and stir with a wooden spoon until well combined.  Turn the mixture out onto the prepared baking sheet and use your hands to gently press the granola mixture into a large mound in the center of the pan.

Transfer the baking sheet to second from the top rack of the preheated oven and bake for 20 minutes.  Using a wooden spoon, gently break up the granola into large clumps (it will still be quite wet at this point).  Spread it evenly over the surface of the pan.

Return to the oven for another 20-30 minutes or until lightly toasted and brown, stirring the granola halfway through to ensure it browns evenly.  Allow the granola to cool completely before storing it in an airtight container (or bag or jar some up to give away!)

Variation—you really can add any nuts and fruit you’d like, just follow the amounts in total in the recipe. 

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I’ve never “met” a granola I didn’t really like, but this one is up there with one of the best I’ve made and tasted!

I’m also a sucker for all things banana (you might have known that already), so while I was looking through Isabelle’s blog at what to make, I also ran across these Marbled Choco-Banana Muffins and couldn’t resist making them as well.  I am so glad I did!  These are fantastic and perfectly moist and chocolaty!  They might as well be a cupcake with frosting, they are that good—but I even made a few healthy substitutions and am perfectly happy with how they turned out and they just don’t need that frosting!

   

Marbled Choco-Banana Muffins, adapted by Katrina, Baking and Boys! from Isabelle at Crumb

3/4 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup Bestlife butter substitute, softened (you can use regular butter also)

2 large eggs, room temperature

1 cup mashed banana (2 medium-large bananas)

1/2 cup nonfat Greek yogurt

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1  1/2 cups whole wheat pastry flour (or all purpose) (180 grams)

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 cup mini chocolate chips

3 tablespoons cocoa powder (I used Hershey’s dark cocoa)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Lightly spray a 12-cup muffin tin with cooking spray or line it with paper liners.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat together the butter and sugar until creamy.  Beat in the eggs one at a time.  Add the mashed bananas, yogurt and vanilla.  The mixture will look curdled, but it’s okay.  In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt.  Add the dry ingredients to the banana mixture and stir just until combined.  Fold in the chocolate chips.

Measure out 1  1/2 cups of the batter into a small bowl and add the cocoa powder.  Fold together gently until combined.

Spoon the batter into the pan, alternating between the two batters.  Swirl each with a sharp knife or a toothpick to create a marbled effect.  You don’t want to swirl too much or it will just mix together.

Bake for 20 minutes or until the muffins are golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean.  Allow the muffins to cool in the tin for 5 minutes or so before gently removing them to cool completely on a wire rack.

My four year old just ate one of these moist, delicious muffins for lunch and said, “When I grow up and get big, I’m going to make these all the time!”  Shh, don’t tell him there’s Greek yogurt and whole wheat flour in there! ;)  So glad I was able to bake from Isabelle’s blog, Crumb today as a fill-in for The Secret Recipe Club!

Peaches and Cream Dessert

I made this dessert a couple weeks ago when we had some family over.  I had seen this Peaches & Cream Dessert in a Taste of Home Simple & Delicious Magazine from June/July 2010 that I’d found in a stack of magazines I hadn’t looked at last year (when we moved).  I thought the dessert looked great and like something different from what we’d normally have—cookies, brownies—the usual.  I was also intrigued that the gelatin topping had lemon-lime soda in it.

I would have followed the recipe as written, but for one, that wouldn’t be like me now would it?  As well, I didn’t have some of the exact ingredients, but I knew I could modify those things and it would still work.  The recipe called for a pecan shortbread cookie crust and while that would be great, I’m sure, I used some graham crackers I had and made a graham cracker crust.  The recipe also called for peach gelatin and I didn’t have any, but I had some apricot gelatin and decided to use that.  In the gelatin, it was suggested that one cup of sugar be added to the gelatin as well as the can of soda.  I thought this was WAY too much sugar.  I didn’t want to veer too far from the recipe and have it not turn out well, so I did add about 1/2 cup sugar, but next time I make this, I will try it with no added sugar since gelatin and soda have PLENTY already.  Two other small changes were that I used canned peaches instead of fresh or frozen (this will be a great recipe to make again when peaches are in season) and I omitted some pineapple juice that the peaches were supposed to be tossed with.  The recipe I’ve linked above has a five star rating with all good reviews.  You can follow that recipe or here’s my adaptation.

Peaches and Cream Dessert, by Katrina, Baking and Boys!

16 ounces graham crackers (about 2 1/2 to 3 sleeves)**

6 ounces butter,  (12 tablespoons or 3/4 cup)

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1 package (3 oz.) apricot gelatin (or peach flavored)

2 tablespoons cornstarch

1 can (12 oz.) lemon-lime soda

1 package (8 oz.) 1/3 less fat cream cheese, softened

1 cup powdered sugar

1 carton (8 oz.) frozen whipped topping, thawed (or 8 ounces whipped heavy cream)

1 can (1 lb. 13 oz.) peaches, drained (or use fresh peaches!, pitted, peeled and sliced)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Put the graham crackers in the bowl of a food processor and process them until they are finely ground crumbs.  Add the melted butter and pulse until all the crumbs are wet.  Dump the mixture into a 9x13 inch baking pan and spread evenly, pushing down evenly.  Bake the crust for 10 minutes.  Remove from oven and cool completely.

In a small saucepan, combine the sugar, gelatin and cornstarch.  Stir in the lemon-lime soda and whisk until smooth.  Bring to a boil over medium heat.  Cook and stir for 5-7 minutes, until slightly thickened.  Cool to room temperature, stirring occasionally.

In the meantime, in the bowl of the food processor (just wipe it clean with paper towel), add the cream cheese and pulse until smooth.  Add the powdered sugar and pulse again until smooth.  Scrape sides of bowl.  (You can also do this in a bowl.)  Scrape the cream cheese mixture into a large bowl.  Add the whipped topping and fold it in with a spatula until well combined.  Spread the cream cheese mixture over the cooled crust.  Line the cream cheese mixture with the drained peaches.  You will use almost the whole can, but not quite all of the peaches.  Pour the cooled gelatin mixture over the peaches to cover evenly. 

Cover the dessert and refrigerate at least 4 hours or up to 12 hours.  Cut desired size slices and serve.

**A couple of things to note, a couple of family members who tried this mentioned that the crust was a little too thick.  I like crust, so it didn’t bother me, but next time I make this, I will try it with just two sleeves of graham crackers, which is about 10 ounces, and I’ll use less butter as well.

Also, I really liked the flavor of the apricot gelatin, but do feel free to use the suggested peach flavor.  Lemon would probably also be good as well.  I was pleasantly surprised, but you can taste a bit of that lemon-lime fizzy soda flavor, which was kind of fun.  I think I’ll actually try this again with possibly some fresh raspberries and raspberry flavored gelatin—strawberries would be good, too.  The possibilities are endless here.  Have fun with summer desserts, besides my decision to set the crust a little by baking it (the original recipe does not have a baked crust), this is a no-bake dessert!

Arabian Fruity Cake

When I went to Kansas in March to visit my dearly missed friends, one of the nights we got together, my friend Julie shared this cake with us.  This cake seems, should I say-homely, but let me tell you that it tastes fantastic.  It is easy to make with minimal ingredients and it is quite unique.   We could not come up with any idea why it is called Arabian Fruity Cake.  Julie has had this recipe since the early 70’s in a cookbook someone gave her while she was in college.  It is called The Campus Survival Guide by Jacqueline Wood (Feb. 1973).  If you want the cookbook, which also has a volume 2 as well, you can get it new from Amazon for only $129.00!  Oh, you can also get a number of used ones from Amazon for around $1.80!

This cake is made with whole wheat flour, wheat germ, honey and most interestingly, pureed canned fruit cocktail.  I made some ever-so-slight changes to the recipe, but mostly to make it easier and a little more 21st century friendly. ;)  The original recipes says to strain the fruit through a sieve by pressing it with a spoon.   Food processor all the way for me!

What really makes this cake taste so great is the brown sugar, butter-rich topping that the recipe even gives a warning in all caps for—DO NOT SERVE CAKE WITHOUT ITS TOPPING.  It says “their natural affnity for each other makes this the greatest!”  You’ve got to give this cake a try sometime!  It’s easy and really just has such a unique flavor (it doesn’t taste fruity at all)!  The header to the cake recipe also says “the flavor is subtly reminiscent of Arabian delights.”  I was not able to find anything on the internet that led to any Arabian desserts or cakes similar to this.

Arabian Fruity Cake, adapted from The Campus Survival Guide by Katrina, Baking and Boys!

1 cup whole wheat flour

1/2 cup wheat germ

1/2 cup honey

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 (14 1/2 oz.) can fruit cocktail, drained

1 large egg

1 teaspoon baking soda

pinch of salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Spray an 8x8 inch baking pan with cooking spray.

In the bowl of an electric mixer (though I’ve made the cake twice and once by hand) , mix together the whole wheat flour, wheat germ, honey and brown sugar.  Pulse the drained fruit cocktail in a food processor until smooth.  Add the pureed fruit to the other ingredients and mix well.  Add the egg, baking soda and salt and combine well.  Pour into the baking pan.   Bake for 30 minutes until golden brown and springy to the touch.  Cool on wire rack.   Serves 9.

TOPPING:

1/2 cup butter (I used Bestlife butter baking sticks)

1 cup brown sugar

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1/2 cup evaporated milk (I used fat free)

Put all the ingredients in a small saucepan and melt together.  Stir over medium heat about 5 minutes, until thickened.

Serve each piece of cake smothered with topping (one or two tablespoonfuls), but add it to each individual piece.   Store leftover topping in the fridge.  It will thicken up when cold, but you can put some on top of a piece of cake and microwave it for 15-20 seconds and it will melt down over the cake perfectly.

   

Here is the chilling topping.  And the rather plain looking cake.  It tastes better than you imagine.

Thanks for the fun recipe/cake, Julie!

Melon and Berries Salad with Fresh Mint

I have a silly little confession to make.  I workout on the treadmill every day (early morning) for an hour.  While briskly walking and jogging, I read food magazines and look at recipes and pictures of decadent, tempting food.  Why would I subject myself to that?  Really, because I don’t have any other time of the day where I could just sit and read magazines.  And because sometimes I find recipes I must try.  This salad (which is actually healthy!) is one of them.

I love fresh fruit.  Sometimes I think I could just live eating fruits and vegetables alone.  But then I am quickly brought back to reality—chocolate! ;)  I saw this salad in a supplement to Better Homes and Gardens magazine (April 2011 edition).  We were having dinner with some friends a couple days ago an I had volunteered to bring salad.  I brought this salad and a vegetable salad that I will share soon that I also found in the same BH&G supplement.   You can find the exact Better Homes & Gardens Melon and Berries Salad recipe online.  But here’s how simple I made it.

Melon and Berries Salad with Fresh Mint, adapted by Katrina, Baking and Boys! from Better Homes & Gardens

1 cantaloupe, seeded and cut into cubes or made into balls

1 honeydew melon, seede and cut into cutes or made into balls

1 pint blueberries

1/2-1 cup strawberries, cut into small chunks (raspberries would be fantastic, too, but were not on sale at the time I made this)

1 tablespoon honey

juice of 1 lime (about 1 tablespoon)

1-2 tablespoons fresh mint, chopped

Combine the cantaloupe, honeydew, strawberries and blueberries in a large bowl.  In a small bowl, combine the honey and lime juice.  Whisk together to combine well.  Drizzle over the fruit and carefully stir it with a big spoon.  Sprinkle with chopped mint and stir again to distribute evenly. 

Besides the strawberries being a little “sad”, this salad is really much better the next day as the lime and mint flavors develop even more.  You can chill the salad the day before serving and just add the berries before serving.  But I’ve eaten some leftovers the last few days and it is still good, though I’ve picked out the strawberries.  I love the honeydew melon and cantaloupe after it has been in the lime juice for a few days.  The blueberries are great, too.  This would also be great with watermelon added. 

I may not ever have “plain” fruit salad again!  I will be planting some mint soon, too.  I found a nice bundle of it at the grocery store, but I know once planted it can take over and grow like weeds.  Nice thing is out where we are with an acre of land, we have the room for that to be okay.

Speaking of our land, we woke up to this this morning—after it was in the mid-70’s yesterday, then by evening was VERY windy and rainy.

Happy Spring, Ya’ll!  Apparently some other areas of Salt Lake and Utah County got well over 6 inches.  Last night the wind knocked over our free standing basketball standard and it hit the deck stairs railing and knocked out a big part of it.  That will be fun to get fixed.

TWD—Tarte Fine

Our recipe for TWD this week for Tarte Fine (page 315) was chosen by the lovely Leslie of Lethally Delicious.  Thank you, Leslie.  What a great, easy, fine-tasting recipe this was. 

Puff Pastry, I love you. (I used Pepperidge Farms, that’s all I can find around these parts.)  Dangerous love—lethal, let’s say. ;)  Really, the problem I have with it is that it isn’t filling at all, so it’s easy to eat too much.  Especially when it just has some thinly sliced apples on it.  Then I find myself reasoning that it’s not bad since all it has is apples.    Enough about that. You almost don’t need a recipe.

Thaw some puff pastry.  Lay it out and place thinly sliced apples over the top.  Sprinkle it with a little bit of sugar.  Bake.  Before baking, brush the puff pastry with a little milk and the apples with an egg wash.

When it it finished, gawk at those flaky layers.

Brush the apples with some apricot jam for a little shine.  Cut the tart in to slices and serve it with a little vanilla ice cream on top.

Thank you, Leslie.  You can get the recipe for this fine tart on her blog.  I ate more than my fair share.

Coming up this Friday our first recipe for French Friday's With Dorie as we begin cooking and baking from Dorie Greenspan’s new book, Around My French Table.  Here we go!

Chocolate Sorbet, Mango Sorbet, Peach Mango Sorbet and A GIVEAWAY!!

It’s still summer and still hot (even though the boys went back to school yesterday.  Yippee.  Shh, don’t tell them I said that.)  Therefore, I’ve still been putting my ice cream makers to good use.  But I don’t always just make fattening, rich ice creams.   I’ve also been kicking it up with some great sorbets.

The Apricot Sorbet I posted recently was one of my favorites. 

I made a heavenly Mango Sorbet a few weeks ago.  (Photo taken right after churning.)

This one was adapted from a recipe I found at Food Reference.com.  It was so creamy and I loved the taste of it more than I thought I would (mango is not my favorite fruit, but I do like it okay). 

Mango Sorbet, by Katrina, Baking and Boys!, adapted from www.foodreference.com

2 large mangoes, peeled, pitted and diced

6 teaspoons fresh lime juice

2 tablespoons agave nectar (you could use sugar or honey)

1 cup nonfat Greek yogurt

Combine all the ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth and creamy, 1-2 minutes.

Chill the mixture until very cold.  (I like using an ice bath, put ice and water in a big bowl.  With your mixture in a smaller bowl, set the bowl with the mixture into the bigger bowl.  Let sit 15-30 minutes, stirring every few minutes.  It gets cold really fast!)

Churn in an ice cream maker according to manufacturer’s instructions.  It’s perfect served right away or just as great frozen for a few hours.  Once frozen, let sit in airtight container on counter for a few minutes to soften for easier scooping.   (Photo below taken after freezing—still so creamy!)

 

Well, I’ve come into a bunch of mangoes lately.  So I decided to whip up more sorbet after the first batch was all gone.  But sitting on the counter was also a couple of almost overripe peaches that weren’t going to get eaten fresh.  So I pitted them and cut them into chunks to go along with a couple more mangoes I had.  I actually blended the mangoes first in my blender with some agave nectar, water and lime juice.  It was after that I thought of adding the peaches, so I blended the peaches separately, but you could probably do everything together.  To the peaches I added a little more agave and some more lime juice.  I strained the peach nectar through a fine mesh strainer to remove the skin.  I whisked the two blended fruits together, chilled them for a while, then churned them in an ice cream maker.

Peach Mango Sorbet

Peach Mango Sorbet, by Katrina at Baking and Boys!, adapted from David Lebovitz’s Mango Sorbet

2 large mangoes, peeled, pitted and diced

2 large peaches, pitted and diced

1/3 cup agave nectar plus 1/4 cup agave (you really can add however much you’d like, I would even use less next time) Sugar or honey would work, too.

1/3 cup water

4 teaspoons lime juice

Add all the ingredients to a blender and blend until smooth, 1-2 minutes.  Strain the mixture through a fine mesh strainer to remove the peach skins.  Chill the mixture until very cold.  Churn according to manufacturer’s instruction in ice cream maker.  Serve immediately or freeze for a few hours in an airtight container.  Let sit on counter for a few minutes before serving to make scooping easier.

HANG IN THERE—GIVEAWAY INFO TO COME!!!

One more sorbet I’ve made recently, before I tell you about this awesome giveaway is a Chocolate Sorbet.  We can’t leave chocolate out of a post, now can we? ;)  See here it is---

Ooh, yum, chocolaty!  I’m stalling here.

You see, I’m not always perfectly diligent about marking a recipe I’ve made with the date.  I’m also not very diligent about marking the container with WHAT is in it.  So I have chocolate sorbet and I THINK it’s David Lebovitz’s Chocolate Sorbet from his book The Perfect Scoop, but I don’t know for sure.  It’s not marked in the book that I made it that day.  I HAVE made it before, a couple times.  And I love it.  But rack my brains, I really don’t remember if that is this chocolate sorbet.  See, I’ve tried others.  They’re all good.  They’re chocolate.

See, as I write this, I’m thinking, it has to be David’s recipe.  Then I look at the recipe and I really don’t remember doing that.  His recipe calls for Dutch-process cocoa, which I don’t have right now.  But I could have made my own Dutch-process cocoa, I just cannot remember.  (Homemade Dutch process cocoa is 3 tablespoons cocoa plus 1/8 teaspoon baking soda.)  Sigh.  Anyone know how to fix this problem with my brain?

I’ll wait.

Nope.  No one.  Sigh.  I think I need some chocolate sorbet to help me out here. 

Ok, quick look here and I’m not finding DL’s Chocolate Sorbet recipe available online (I didn’t look extensively), so I’m not going to repost it.

BUT I think if you like making your own ice creams, sorbets and the like, that you should just buy the book.  I’ve left you an Amazon link to do so.  The chocolate sorbet is great.  I actually haven’t made a single recipe from The Perfect Scoop that I didn’t like.  It’s ice cream, People, what’s not to like.  Ok, I’ll shut up now.

What?  You say I said something about a giveaway.  Well, the people at EatSmart asked me if I wanted to do a review for one of their kitchen scales.  It’s the EatSmart Precision Pro Digital Kitchen Scale to be precise.

I have been loving it, using it from everything to making these sorbets recipes, to cookies, to pretty much everything I can weigh.  I already had and use most often a digital kitchen scale for precise measuring.  What I love about this EatSmart scale is that you can measure in four ways—grams, ounces, kilograms or pounds.  I also love that you can set a bowl on the scale and measure one ingredient, then leave the bowl there, zero out the scale, measure something else, and so on.  I love the zeroing out feature, called tare.  You’d love it, too.

Want one?  EatSmart would love to give one to one of my lucky readers as well.  All you have to do is leave me a comment telling me what one thing you would love to be able to measure most.  Besides flour, I love being able to measure peanut butter (No more messy measuring cups, just plop it in a bowl on the scale!).  Since I just made and posted those fantastic Butterfinger Cookies, I was SO excited to measure the peanut butter with this scale.  These are the things that truly make me happy.  (I know, get a life, Katrina, right?)

So leave me a comment on this post, (don’t forget to tell me what one thing you would love to be able to measure), I will randomly pick one winner to get one of these EatSmart food scales.  (Sorry, winners are limited to the United States.)  Make sure your comment has a way for me to get a hold of you if you are the chosen winner.  Comments will be accepted until Tuesday, August 31, 2010 at midnight, MST.  A winner will be chosen and posted Wednesday (Sept. 1) morning.  Thanks, EatSmart.  Good luck!

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This post has been added to the BSI Mango Round Up at Nutmeg Nanny 4-10-11!

Cuisinart Pure Indulgence 2 Quart Ice Cream Maker Review from CSN Stores and Lots of Ice Cream! (Apricot Sorbet)

This review is a little overdue.  You’ll remember (I’m sure you all remember.  Hello?) it’s been almost a month since I posted about an upcoming review from CSN Stores.  They were so kind to ask me if I wanted to review one of their products.  I jumped at the chance to try out a Cuisinart Pure Indulgence 2 Quart Ice Cream Maker.

  

CSN Stores shipped this right out after I ordered it and it arrived in just a few days, sooner than I thought it would!  Boy, have I had fun with this thing!

I sort of feel bad that I already have an ice cream maker (sort of bad, but well, not really).  It’s smaller, like only half the size of this 2 quart one.  Do you realize how much fun it’s been to churn two different kinds of ice cream at one time?  I made all kinds of ice cream and we had some friends that were visiting Utah (or moved back like us) from Kansas over for an ice cream feast.  So fun to see our Kansas friends (Yes, I know, we haven’t even been gone for two months!) 

The first ice cream I made in the new ice cream maker was the Raspberry Chocolate Chip Ice Cream I made to go with my recent favorite Raspberry Chocolate Chip Cookies.

The ice cream maker churned away making a couple batches of my TWD pick for Chocolate Ganache Ice Cream.  Darn that stuff was good!

 

I love that the ice cream maker is so lightweight (minus the frozen bowl).  It also churns ice cream faster than my smaller one (which I do also like). 

Remember all the apricots I had recently?  With some of them, I made Apricot Sorbet.  I went with the recipe in David Lebovitz’s The Perfect Scoop ice cream recipe book, but adapted it by using less sugar and some agave nectar.  This sorbet is SO good and perfectly refreshing for those hot August days and nights.

Two pounds of apricots, pitted and chopped.

 

They are cooked in a saucepan with one cup of water and sugar (I used 1/3 cup sugar and 1/3 cup agave nectar).  After they cook for ten minutes or so, with intermittent stirring, cool to room temperature.

 

Puree the mixture in a blender (or food processor) until smooth.  Press the puree through a fine mesh strainer to remove any small fibers.  Oh, this is so worth every little step.  Stir in 3 drops of almond extract (or vanilla).  Chill the mixture thoroughly in the refrigerator, then freeze it in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions.

Realize at this point that you stupidly forgot to take any nice pictures of a beautiful scoop of this delicious Apricot Sorbet.  Sigh.  I’ll have to make it again!

I’ve also churned a few batches of my favorite Philadelphia Style Vanilla Ice Cream by David Lebovitz.  Although I have made it with vanilla bean, I usually just use vanilla extract.

When I made the Apricot and Cherry Crisp AND Apple Crisp a few weeks ago, I invited some family over to help eat it and got out all the ice creams I’d recently made.  There’s others I’ll post soon.

It’s all about the fantastic Cuisinart Pure Indulgence 2 Quart Ice Cream Maker I received from CSN Stores.  I’m happy they allowed me to review it and am excited to do more shopping with them.  With over 200 online stores and millions of products, you can certainly do “one stop” shopping with them.  They have hassle free returns and free shipping on almost all items.  I really was surprised at how fast they got my order shipped out.

Thank you so much, CSN Stores!

(Bluberry Ice Cream, Chocolate Sorbet, Nutella Ice Cream, Mango Sorbet—all to be featured soon!)

HEY ALL—Fallon over at Fallon's Cucina is having a CSN Stores $60 giveaway right now.  Head over there and leave her a comment to be entered!

TWD—Tender Shortcakes

Cathy from The Tortefeasor chose this week’s Tuesday’s With Dorie recipe.  She is one flippin’ funny gal whose blog I love checking out each week.  Cathy chose Dorie’s Tender Shortcakes on pages 423-424 in Baking From My Home to Yours.  Truthfully, I was thinking about skipping this one.  We’ve made biscuits and scones and I just thought the shortcakes would be about the same.  And well, they were.  But I decided to make 1/4 of the recipe because we had lots of berries and fruit and I thought it would be fun to let the boys have at it for a yummy treat.

With the quartered recipe, I made 8 small round shortcakes.  I think they’re about 1 1/2 inches round.  I decided to cut the shortcakes instead of go rustic.

The eighth one was ugly and didn’t fit in the picture. ;)

I bought some great little sour cherries from the farmers’ market on Saturday (the boys love cherries).  I thought they would be yummy to try with the shortcakes.

Kind of a pain to pit these little guys, but it was worth it.  All I did was add a little sugar to them and let them sit for a while.   And we had some macerated strawberries, some blackberries and blueberries as well.

The boys decided what they wanted.

 

Scott wanted a little of everything.

Parker went sans whipped cream.  (Okay, I’ll admit, we used up some Cool Whip tonight.)

Taylor carefully chose how he did his and did it all himself.

And I forgot to photograph Sam’s, all he had was a plateful of Cool Whip!

I made this one---

The chocolate shavings are just for you, Kayte! ;) 

Kevin ate the one in the top picture.  He doesn’t care for biscuits or scones or shortcake, but he ate it just to “play along”.   He said he liked it, but that he’d rather have all the berries and cream with angel food cake or something like that.  To each his own.  The shortcakes themselves were actually really good, nice taste of butter and slightly sweet and super simple to make.  I whipped these up then had to leave for a bit, so I stuck them in the freezer and baked them when I got home.  Twelve minutes for these little cakes in the oven and they were perfect.

Then when everyone was finished and I was cleaning up, I had another idea to try with one of the remaining shortcakes.  Try to guess.  If you know me, you’ll have an idea.

Hello, sweet little banana Nutella shortcake!  Took a little bite and saved the rest.  GOOD!!!  And that’s the end of all the shortcaked-ness here this week.  Go ahead, check out all the other TWD bloggers and get the recipe on Cathy’s blog, too!

One Ingredient Raspberry Ice Cream and The Best Granola Recipe

It’s getting kind of boring that I keep saying “we’re still trying to use up things in the freezer”, but we are since we’re moving soon and can’t take any of the frozen food with us.  That being said, I found a whole bag of frozen raspberries the other day.    If you saw my post about One Ingredient Banana and Strawberry Ice Cream, you’ll remember that you just take frozen fruit and put it in the food processor for about 4 minutes, it’s starts out grinding a bit and having a hard time crushing up the frozen fruit, but all the sudden it begins “churning” it and turns in to this amazing “ice cream”.  You need to try it to understand, but it’s delicious and good for you (as opposed to full fat---cream and egg ice cream).

Get a look at that fabulous color and that creaminess!  

This time, we had about two small frozen bananas (cut up in chunks before freezing), so I started those a-whirling, then once they started going, I added the 12 ounce bag of frozen raspberries.  Again, don’t freak out if it’s having a hard time at first, just scrape it down a few times and keep it going and I’m telling you, all the sudden—you have an amazing concoction that you’d never know doesn’t even have any dairy in it.  This time, I could not even taste the banana, but it sure added a great creaminess to the raspberry.  I think I kept this one going so long that it had almost a whipped mousse texture to it.  The flavor was delicious.  Right near the end of the whipping, I threw in a big scoop of chocolate protein powder.  I wish it’d had more chocolate flavor with the raspberry!

I think we’ll make more banana tonight, I froze 3-4 more yesterday.  I think I’ll really bump up the chocolate flavor and add some peanut butter!   The bananas are best when they aren’t too ripe, but have just a few freckles.  Any frozen fruit would work and it’s fun to try different flavors, then you can add banana for that creaminess, or just use any fruit without the banana for more of a sorbet type “ice cream”.  Either way, it’s so good and a great treat!

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I have always loved granola.  Would almost say I never met a granola I didn’t like.  But when it comes to homemade, I’ve always been searching for a certain texture and a granola that actually holds itself together in chunks—like the kind you can buy.  I always figured it was because of lots of fat and sugar.  Well, the secret has been figured out.  Not by me.  Camilla Saulsbury (link to her blog and granola post) from Enlightened Cooking did all the work and gets all the credit in my book on this.  If you don’t know who Camilla is, you don’t watch enough Food Network.  She has appeared in many Challenges and won lots of contests for her cooking and baking.  The “secret” to this granola is egg whites.  You know at Christmastime when people give you (or you make) sugared nuts, they usually have egg whites, which helps make the sugar stick and caramelize on the nuts?  That is the concept with this granola.  Not to mention, that egg whites add extra protein.  You really can add whatever you like in your granola.  So I’ve left a link to Camilla’s post about her discovery and great granola.  Here’s what I did, adapting her recipe with what I like and had on hand to make mine.

Ultimate Healthy Granola, by Camilla Saulsbury (link to her website), adapted by Katrina, Baking and Boys!

6 cups old-fashioned rolled oats (I used 4 cups and ran out, so I used 2 cups quick oats)

1 cup raw nuts, such as almonds, pistachios, walnuts, pecans, coarsely chopped

1/2 cup raw sunflower or pepita seeds (I used a handful each of roasted, salted sunflower seeds and pepitas and added them at the end)

1/3 cup flaxseed meal (ground flaxseed)

Optional: 1 teaspoon favorite ground sweet spice or a combo, such as cinnamon, cardamom, nutmeg, pumpkin pie spice, etc. (I didn’t put any in mine this time)

3 large egg whites

3/4 teaspoon fine sea salt (I just used 1/2 teaspoon table salt)

3/4 cup honey, maple syrup, agave nectar, or molasses (I used maple syrup this time)

1/3 cup canola oil (or other neutral oil)

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 cup dried fruit of choice (I used 6 dried apricot halves, chopped and about 1/4 cup dried cranberries, cherries and blueberries)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Combine the oats, nuts, (seeds), flax, and (spices) in a bowl.  In a separate bowl, whisk the egg whites and salt until frothy.  Whisk in the sweetener you choose, oil and vanilla until well blended.  Add egg white mixture to the oat mixture and stir together to coat all the dry ingredients with the wet.  Spread the mixture evenly onto two rimmed baking sheets. 

Bake for 20 minutes (Next time I will use 325 degrees and stir every 10 minutes as I like that control of its browning better—not that I burned mine though!).  Stir the granola to ensure even browning. Bake another 8-10 minutes until golden.  Let cool completely on baking sheets.  Stir in the dried fruit.  Transfer the granola to an airtight container.  It will keep for 3-4 weeks (or can be frozen for up to 3 months.  Makes about 8 1/2 cups granola. 

 

Try not to keep snacking on this stuff!  I love it on yogurt and even sprinkled on oatmeal for some crunch!  Thanks, Camilla.  This will forever be my go-to method and I’ll surely be mixing up the ingredients!  It also worked perfectly that I had just used egg yolks for something and had the three egg whites just waiting to be used!

TWD—Apple-Apple Bread Pudding—or not, or Maybe, Hmmm? Chocolate Cobbler, too.

Early last week, I made half the recipe for this week’s pick by Liz (Luh-OVE her!) at Cake...or DEATH?.  Everything went quick smoothly.  I chose a multigrain boule from the bakery for the bread because that’s the kind of bread I like.  I caramelized the apples. (Yum.)  I spread each slice of bread with apple butter.  Followed along with the recipe nicely.  Then, I played Miss Healthy-Pants and made the pudding with skim milk (I still used the heavy cream though).  But for the eggs, which should have been 1 1/2 eggs and 2 1/2 yolks, I decided to just use 3 whole eggs.  That was close enough.  Right?  I dunno.  Other than that I followed the recipe exactly, but what I ended up with was a not-so-pleasant really eggy goop on the bottom with bread and apples floating on the top.  I already don’t care for most custard/eggy type desserts, bread pudding being one of them, but I was optimistic about this one and thought it sounded really good.  ‘Sides, I didn’t want to skip out on Liz’ pick.

For fun and because I thought it sounded good, I made a walnut crumb topping and sprinkled it on the bread pudding about halfway through its bake time. 

It looks good, huh?

Well, I’ve spared you any other pictures of it because it just wasn’t pretty or edible.  I just cannot eat scrambled egg whites with sweet, carmel apples and cinnamon sugar topping.  ;)  I told myself all weekend that I would make 1/4 the recipe sometime with the remaining bread.  But we were having company for desserts Friday night (the day my bread pudding failed) and I decided to turn to chocolate!

I had seen this really yummy looking Chocolate Cobbler at Pioneer Woman’s blog and besides it looking so good, thought it sounded really fast and easy.  I had made homemade vanilla bean ice cream to go with the bread pudding, so it worked perfectly with the chocolate cobbler as well.  What is chocolate cobbler?  It seems to have many names.  Hot Pudding Cake and Chocolate Pudding Cake to name a few.  The chocolate cobbler version is from a recipe submitter to Pioneer Woman’s Tasty Kitchen website.  The dessert was delicious!  The recipe is there on either one of the links here.  Whip it up next time you need a quick, super rich chocolaty dessert in a hurry.  It only has a few basic ingredients that you probably have on hand (It doesn’t even have any eggs!).

This was my first time using real (or fake—hehe) vanilla beans for something.  I used David Lebovitz Philadelphia Style Vanilla Ice Cream recipe from his book, The Perfect Scoop.  It was really good.

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Then, I got this crazy delightful idea today (Monday) to make my own version of apple bread “pudding”.  I toasted a slice of the remaining multigrain bread I had.

Then I spread apple butter on it.

I caramelized some sliced apple and put that on top of the apple butter toast.

Pudding, pudding, hmmm, let’s see.  Aha.  Fat free vanilla yogurt.

After removing the apples from the pan, there was a tablespoon or so of the syrupy caramel.  So I let it caramelize a bit more, then added a touch of cream to it and boom—had a little caramel!

A few walnuts sprinkled on top and this was a GREAT not-so-unhealthy lunch for me!  (Had a little salad a bit later with some salad mix from the farmers’ market.)

Seriously good.  I will be having this again sometime.  Thank you, Liz, I would have never thought about something like this had you not picked the bread pudding for TWD this week.  You can get the bread pudding recipe on Liz’ blog.

And in closing, a completely random picture of Taylor.  He was playing outside, even clear down the street with part of the mop bucket on his head (said it was his cowboy hat).

Ride ‘em, Cowboy. ;)