Favorite Fall Treats

We are in San Francisco for the Blogher Food conference, but I wanted to share a few of my favorite fall treats. I never forget about my faithful blog readers:) I hope you find a treat or two below to make this fall. Enjoy!

Pumpkin Roll- I love making pumpkin rolls in the fall. Don't let the roll intimidate you, I promise they are easy to make. I always make a couple and keep them in the freezer. They freeze really well and when you have surprise company you can pull one out to enjoy.

Pumpkin Pancakes with Cinnamon Syrup-Pumpkin pancakes make the perfect fall breakfast treat. Serve them with homemade cinnamon syrup and you will be in heaven.

Apple Crisp with Cinnamon Ice Cream-Apples are my favorite. I have to eat one every day. Enjoying them in apple crisp makes them even better. Top the crisp off with cinnamon ice cream for an extra special fall dessert.

Caramel Corn-Make a big batch of caramel corn to watch your favorite football team this season! Be careful though, it is very addicting:)

Cinnamon Toffee Oatmeal Cookies-The cinnamon and toffee are the perfect match in this cookie. Grab a cold glass of milk for your dunking pleasure!

Pumpkin Apple Muffins with Cinnamon Streusel Topping-These muffins are healthy and delicious! I like to make mini muffins for portion control and for the cuteness factor:)

I hope these treats make your fall season extra special! We will be back on Tuesday. Have a great weekend everyone.

Recipe for Apricot Sorbet

We had a great weekend. Josh's mom came to visit and so did our friends from Colorado. They have five kids so it was quite the party! We went hiking, stopped by the farmer's market, went swimming at the Dewey's, and did a lot of cooking, baking, and grilling. We love having guests, it was nice having extra mouths to feed. It gave me an "excuse" to cook and bake more:)

On Friday night Josh made grilled pizza for dinner. I was in charge of dessert:) I used the other half of the apricots from our neighbors tree to make sorbet. It was so easy and the texture was amazing! The sorbet is very creamy, but no cream or milk was needed. Just apricots, sugar, water, and a splash of vanilla.

I am so glad our neighbors let us pick their apricots. This sorbet is heavenly! The perfect ending to a meal on a hot summer night.

Apricot Sorbet

The Perfect Scoop by David Lebovitz

(Printable Recipe)

2 lbs. squishy-ripe fresh apricots (about 10-15, I used more because mine were small)
1 cup water
1 cups sugar
3 drops almond or vanilla extract (I used vanilla)

Directions:
Split the apricots in half, remove the pits, and cut each half into thirds. Combine the apricot wedges and water in a medium nonreactive saucepan and cook, covered, over medium heat, stirring occasionally. Heat until cooked through, about 10 minutes. Remove from the heat and stir in the sugar. Let the mixture cool to room temperature.

Once cool, puree the mixture in a food processor or blender until smooth. Taste a spoonful and if there are any small fibers, press the puree through a mesh strainer. Stir in the almond or vanilla extract. Cover and chill thoroughly in the refrigerator.

Freeze the mixture in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions.

Recipe for Rhubarb Sorbet

I am sorry if you are sick of my rhubarb posts. I promise I will get off my kick soon! I just made rhubarb sorbet though and it is out of this world good! I had no idea it would be so tasty. I am still kind of surprised!

I used a recipe I saw on Simply Recipes. It was really easy. The only not so fun part was straining the rhubarb. It just took some time, but really nothing to complain about. I chilled the base overnight and churned it up the next day in our Cuisinart dream machine.

The results were incredible! The sorbet was SO creamy. It tasted more like gelato than sorbet, but without any cream! I was hoping for a deeper red color, but oh well, I am partial to pink anyways. The rhubarb flavor was perfect too, not too sweet, just right! I loved the kick from the orange zest too!

This is one of my new favorite treats. It's very light, refreshing, and perfect for a hot day! I am sure it would be a hit at a Memorial Day BBQ, so try it and impress your friends and family. Happy Holiday weekend everyone! I LOVE long weekends!

Rhubarb Sorbet
Recipe from Garrett McCord of Vanilla Garlic
Saw on Simply Recipes

(Printable Recipe)

3 1/2 cups of chopped fresh rhubarb (4-5 stalks)
2 1/2 cups of water
1 2/3 cups of sugar
1/4 teaspoon of salt
2 teaspoons of orange zest
2 tablespoons of corn syrup

Place chopped rhubarb, sugar, water, salt, and orange zest in a large saucepan. Stir it all up. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low, cover it and let it simmer for about 5 minutes. The rhubarb will get tender and start to dissolve if you stir it. It will smell good too:)

Cool the rhubarb mixture for about 10 minutes. Purée in a blender or food processor until smooth. You will need to do this in a couple of batches. It will get a little messy, but that is fun, right? Press through a fine mesh strainer to get rid of the pulp. Stir in the corn syrup. Cover and refrigerate until chilled. I let mine chill overnight.

Process in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's instructions. The sorbet will be soft and creamy! Put in a container and freeze.

Makes about one quart.

Peppermint Crunch Ice Cream with Chocolate Cocoa Nibs

My co-worker, Celsa, is a creative genius. She always comes up with the best gifts to give during the holidays. I get excited every year to see what she is giving out. Well, this year I got in on the action early. She asked for my help, yahoo!

Celsa designed the most amazing ice cream containers, the only problem? She doesn't make ice cream! She knew we had the Cuisinart dream machine so she asked for our assistance. She came over last week and we churned up three batches of peppermint ice cream. We added in peppermint candy and cocoa nibs.

The ice cream was really good, but the container makes it even better. I still can't believe she designed and created all of these little containers. They are too cute!

On a side note, we are headed to Illinois tonight. That is where I grew up, so we are going home for the holidays! We are so excited!! We will be there for 10 days! We will do our best to blog while we are away. My family loves to be in the kitchen so I am sure we will have new recipes to share! And don't worry I have a few posts already scheduled, so come back and visit us soon:)







Peppermint Crunch Ice Cream with Cocoa Nibs

Adapted from Simply Recipes

2 1/2 cups heavy cream
1 1/2 cups whole milk
8 large egg yolks
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons peppermint extract
1/2 cup crushed candy canes or hard peppermint candy
1/2 cup chocolate covered cocoa nibs

Warm the milk, sugar, and salt in a medium saucepan. Make sure the sugar and salt completely dissolve. Pour the cream into a metal bowl set in a larger bowl of ice and set a medium-mesh sieve on top.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the egg yolks. Slowly pour the warm milk into the egg yolks, whisking constantly, then scrape the warmed egg yolks back into the saucepan. Stir the mixture constantly over medium heat with a wooden or heatproof rubber spatula, scraping the bottom as you stir, until the mixture thickens and coats the spatula, about 5-7 minutes.

Pour the custard through the strainer and stir it into the cream. Then stir until cool over the ice bath. Chill mixture thoroughly in the refrigerator. One the mixture is thoroughly chilled, add peppermint extract, a 1/4 teaspoon at a time, tasting the mixture after each addition, until you reach the desired level of peppermintiness. Once chilled, freeze in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's instructions.

Once the ice cream has been formed in the ice cream maker, it will be fairly soft. Fold in the crushed peppermint candy and cocoa nibs. Put in an airtight plastic container and place in the freezer for several hours.

Makes 1 1/2 quarts.

Vanilla Bean Ice Cream with Caramel Sauce

I can't believe it is Thanksgiving week! Time is truly flying! I hope everyone is ready for the big day!! The countdown is on!!

If you are still looking for the perfect ice cream to go with all of your homemade pies, look no further! This vanilla bean ice cream is divine. The recipe comes from David's book, The Perfect Scoop...so you know it is going to be good. David is the king of ice cream, in my opinion.

Using a real vanilla bean is the key here. You steep the bean/seeds for thirty minutes with the custard, which really brings out a nice vanilla flavor. You also add in some vanilla extract too! The vanilla flavor is strong, and you know you are eating the good stuff when you can see the black specks in your ice cream.

For fun, we made Dorie's caramel sauce to drizzle on top! Talk about a great dessert! The caramel sauce was easy to make...just keep a close eye on it so you don't burn it:) It will keep in the fridge for awhile too...so use it up on other desserts or drink it if you are really craving sugar:) It is that good!!!

So hurry up and make some ice cream this week...your pies will taste even better:)

Vanilla Bean Ice Cream
from the Perfect Scoop by David Lebovitz

1 cup whole milk
3/4 cup sugar
2 cups heavy cream
pinch of salt
1 vanilla bean, split in half lengthwise
6 large egg yolks
3/4 tsp vanilla extract

Warm the milk, sugar, 1 cup of cream, and salt in medium saucepan. Scrape seeds from the vanilla bean into the warm milk and add the bean as well. Cover and remove from the heat. Let steep at room temperature for 30 minutes. Pour the remaining cup of cream into a large bowl and set a mesh strainer on top. In a separate bowl, whisk the eggs yolks. Slowly pour the warm cream mixture into the egg yolks while whisking constantly. Scrape the mixture back into the saucepan and stir it constantly over medium heat with a heatproof spatula until mixture thickens and coats the spatula. Pour custard through strainer and stir it into the cream. Put the vanilla bean into the custard, add the vanilla extract, and stir until cool over an ice bath. Chill the mixture completely in the refrigerator. When ready to churn, remove the vanilla bean (rinse it and reserve it for another use) then freeze the mixture according to the ice cream maker’s instructions.

Dorie’s Caramel Sauce

1 cup sugar
3 T water
1 T light corn syrup
¾ cup heavy cream
1 T unsalted butter

Put the sugar, water, and corn syrup in a medium saucepan and stir to combine. Heat over medium heat without stirring, until the caramel turns a deep amber color, 5-10 minutes…it took ours ten! It will turn fast, so keep watching it!

Lower the heat, stand back from the saucepan and add the cream and butter. Stir to smooth and calm down the caramel. Remove the pan from the heat.

Pour the caramel into a heatproof jar and cool until it is slightly warm-for about an hour.

The sauce will keep in the fridge for about a week. Just reheat in the microwave. This is great over ice cream, cakes, tarts, etc!!

Apple Crisp with Cinnamon Ice Cream

Exciting news, as most of you probably know, the United States of America has elected Barack Obama to be the next president!! We stayed up late last night watching the results. What an exciting election!! We are looking forward to having Obama as our leader.

Yesterday I shared my pumpkin cake recipe, if you aren't satisfied with having that for Thanksgiving dessert, give this one a try: apple crisp with cinnamon ice cream!

I love apple desserts and the topping on this crisp is most excellent. I used Granny Smith and Fuji apples because they are my favorite, but use whatever variety you like. I am sure Honeycrisp would be fabulous!! The topping has the perfect texture, nice and crispy, with loads of cinnamon, nutmeg, brown sugar, and of course the butter helps with the flavor too!

The crisp is great standing alone but why not give it a friend??? I made David Lebovitz's Cinnamon Ice Cream and it was the perfect companion for the apple crisp. The cinnamon flavor wasn't overpowering. It tasted phenomenal melting over the warm apple crisp! I recommend you making the ice cream to go with!

Apple Crisp

(Print Recipe)

Topping:
12 Tablespoons all purpose flour
½ cup packed light brown sugar
½ cup sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
½ teaspoon salt
10 tablespoons chilled unsalted butter, cut into pieces
1 cup old fashion oats

Filling:
5 Granny Smith apples
5 Fuji apples
Juice from one lemon
¼ cup sugar
Extra cinnamon for sprinkling

For the topping:

Place flour, sugars, spices, salt in a food processor and pulse to combine. Add the butter and pulse ten times, about four seconds for each pulse. The mixture will look like dry sand at first, then it will have large lumps of butter, then like course corn meal.

Remove from the food processor and pour into a bowl. Stir in the oats until well mixed. Refrigerate the topping for at least 15 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

For the Filling:

Peel, quarter, and cute the apples into one inch chunks. You should have about six cups.

Toss the apples with the lemon juice, sugar, and sprinkle them with extra cinnamon if you wish. Scrape the fruit mixture into a 9 by 13 baking dish.

Distribute the topping evenly over the apples. Bake for 45 minutes or until the fruit is bubbling and the topping turns deep golden brown. Make sure the apples are tender. Serve warm and with ice cream!

Cinnamon Ice Cream

(Print Recipe)

Adapted from The Perfect Scoop

1 cup whole milk
¾ cup sugar
Pinch of salt
10 cinnamon sticks, broken up
2 cups heavy cream
5 large egg yolks

Warm the milk, sugar, salt, cinnamon sticks and 1 cup of cream in a medium saucepan. Once warm, cover, remove from heat, and let steep at room temperature for one hour.

Rewarm the cinnamon milk mixture. Remove the sticks with a slotted spoon and discard them. Pour the remaining cup of cream into a large bowl and set a mesh strainer on top.

In a separate medium bowl, whisk together the egg yolks. Slowly pour the warm mixture into the egg yolks, whisking constantly, then put the egg yolk mixture back into the pan.

Stir the mixture constantly over medium heat with a heatproof spatula or wooden spoon. Scraping the bottom as you stir. Stir until the mixture is thick and coats the back of the spoon. About ten minutes. Pour the custard through the strainer and into the cream.

Chill mixture overnight and then freeze in an ice cream maker, using the manufacturer’s instructions.

Josh had a sampler of all of the desserts!!
He couldn't decide on just one!

Lime Sherbet

Josh isn't a big fan of sweets...so he says. This week we made a lime loaf cake (based on the lemon loaf cake we made awhile ago) and we churned up some lime sherbet. Josh can't stay out of the freezer! He loves it! Now he says, "well I guess I like sweets, I was always eating the wrong kind!"

Tart desserts are his favorite and this sherbet is super tart. The texture is very creamy and it is such a refreshing dessert. If you don't like things very tart, don't put in as much lime juice. Serve lime cake on the side and you will be in lime heaven!

*To make the cake, use limes instead of lemons! I also added in lime zest into
the glaze this time.**




Lime Sherbet

Adapted from A Passion for Ice Cream, Emily Luchetti

1 ½ cups sugar
¾ cup water
2 T light corn syrup
1 ½ cups freshly squeezed lime juice
Large pinch of kosher salt
½ cup milk
½ cup whipping cream

Stir together the sugar, ¼ cup water, and the corn syrup in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat and cook, stirring occasionally, until the sugar is dissolved. Remove from the heat and let cool to room temperature. Whisk in the remaining ½ cup of water, lime juice, salt, milk, and cream. Refrigerate until cold, at least 2 hours or overnight. Churn in an ice cream machine according to manufacturer’s instructions. Freeze until scoopable, about four hours.

Fresh Peach Ice Cream and Blueberry Swirl Vanilla Ice Cream

We had a great Labor Day weekend. Josh's mom came to visit from California. We had so much fun! We spent a lot of time in the kitchen! I will be sharing our weekend cooking adventures this week!

We made two kinds of ice cream, David Lebovitz's Fresh Peach and Tartelette's Blueberry Vanilla Swirl. They were both very tasty...and screamed summer! I recommend making these two together...they complimented each other very nicely.

Fresh Utah peaches. They are the best!


We let them simmer with a little sugar.


We added the cream, sour cream, vanilla, and lemon juice to the food processor. This was a super easy recipe!


Time to use the dream machine!
It churned up perfect peach ice cream in no time!


Making the blueberry vanilla custard! Nothing beats the flavor
of a real vanilla bean!


Cooking the blueberries with sugar, just until they POP!


Swirling in the blueberries!


They were both delicious!

Fresh Peach Ice Cream
Adapted from "The Perfect Scoop" by David Lebovitz
Makes about 1 quart

INGREDIENTS:

1 1/3 pounds ripe peaches (about 4 large peaches)

1/2 cup water

3/4 cup sugar

1/2 cup sour cream

1 cup heavy cream

1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

A few drops freshly squeezed lemon juice

INSTRUCTIONS:

Instructions: Peel the peaches, slice them in half and remove the pits. Cut the peaches into chunks and cook them with the water in a medium, nonreactive saucepan over medium heat, covered, stirring once or twice, until soft and cooked through, about 10 minutes. Remove from the heat, stir in the sugar, then cool to room temperature.

Blend the cooked peaches and any liquid in a blender or food processor with the sour cream, heavy cream, vanilla and lemon juice until almost smooth but slightly chunky.

Cover the mixture and chill thoroughly in the refrigerator, then freeze in an ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's directions. Transfer to a covered container and freeze until firm enough to scoop.

Blueberry Swirl Vanilla Ice Cream
Adapted from Tartelette

Makes about 1 quart

4 egg yolks
1 cup heavy cream
1 cup whole milk
1/2 cup sugar
1 vanilla bean or 1 Tb vanilla paste
1 cup blueberries (fresh or frozen)
1/4 cup sugar

In a large bowl, whisk the egg yolks and sugar until pale and thick. Run a knife through the center of the vanilla bean, not cutting all the way through, split it open and with the tip of a pairing knife, scrape the seeds. Place them in a saucepan over medium heat, add the milk and cream to boiling point but do not let it boil. Slowly pour the hot cream onto the egg yolks mixture and stir to combine (tempering). Pour the whole mixture back into the saucepan and cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until the cream coats the back of spoon. At this point you have a thick custard sauce. Remove from the heat and let cool completely, refrigerate until cold, or overnight.

The Dream Machine

Forest and Ivy brought out their Cuisinart Ice Cream Maker...they can't leave home without it! We made lots of gelato...Lemon, Cookies and Cream, and Hazelnut with a Nutella Swirl. They were all fabulous, but the Hazelnut was my favorite by far, too bad Josh couldn't try that one. I think he was content with the tart lemon though:) This machine is a dream! It churns up creamy gelato in no time and you don't have to put the container in the freezer. Hopefully we will get one someday!