5 Citrus-Maple Baked Pears

Kinda early in the season for baked pears, right?  Well, those of you in colder climes might enjoy this little comfort until the green shoots of spring decide to poke their bonny tips through the frost.  

I got this idea from my Thai cooking class with Chef John Wilson a few weeks ago, and I've tweaked it a little here.  The recipe couldn't be simpler, there really is no measuring involved so you can't go wrong.

You'll need:

Firm baking pears (like Bosc)

chopped nuts like pecans or walnuts

chopped dried fruit like cranberries, figs or dates

orange juice

maple syrup or honey

salt

Preheat oven to 350F.

First, scoop out the cores with a melon baller or spoon.  Arrange the cored pears in a baking dish sprayed with a little cooking spray.  Then add the tiniest sprinkling of salt over the pears.  It helps bring out the flavor. 

Put an equal amount of nuts and fruit in the hollowed out cores, and then drizzle into the cavity equal parts maple syrup and orange juice.  What I have pictured here is way, way more than you will actually need.

Make sure it stays in the hollow, otherwise it will burn in the pan.  I know this, because I tried poaching them in orange juice.  Let's just say it doesn't work too well, and your elbows will be hurting from all the scrubbing you'll have to do afterwards.

Bake for about 45 minutes, or until the center can be easily pierced with a fork.

Serve with some delicious vanilla bean ice cream!

Citrus-Maple Baked Pears

You'll need:

Firm baking pears (like Bosc)

chopped nuts like pecans or walnuts

chopped dried fruit like cranberries, figs or dates

orange juice

maple syrup or honey

salt

-Preheat oven to 350F.

-First, scoop out the cores with a melon baller or spoon.  

-Arrange the cored pears in a baking dish sprayed with a little cooking spray.  

-Then add the tiniest sprinkling of salt over the pears.  It helps bring out the flavor.  

-Put an equal amount of nuts and fruit in the hollowed out cores, and then drizzle into the cavity equal parts maple syrup and orange juice.  Make sure it stays in the hollow, otherwise it will burn in the pan.  

-Bake for about 45 minutes, or until the center can be easily pierced with a fork.

3 Apple Crisp

As I mentioned in yesterday's post, we had a lot of sliced apples left over from the cupcake party, and we wanted to use them right away.  We were thinking maybe an apple pie, but no one wanted to spend the time or energy making a pie crust.  I started looking in my iPhone version of Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything app, and came across this recipe for apple crisp.  We made it, and everyone raved about how good it was.  We made it with the optional shredded coconut and chopped pecans and served it hot over vanilla ice cream.  As you can see, we made short work of it!

You'll need:

6 cups sliced apples
1 tsp ground cinnamon
2 tbls fresh lemon juice (1/2 lemon)
2/3 cup brown sugar or to taste
5 tbls cold butter, cut into pieces
1/2 cup rolled oats (not instant)
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1/4 shredded coconut (opt)
1/4 chopped nuts (opt)
dash salt

Heat oven to 400 degrees.  Butter an 8" square or 9" round baking dish.  In a mixing bowl toss apples with 1/2 tsp cinnamon, lemon juice, and 1 tbls of the brown sugar, and layer evenly in the bottom of the buttered baking dish.

For the topping, combine the remaining ingredients (including remaining cinnamon and sugar) in a food processor and pulse a few times until everything is well incorporated, but not uniform.  (To mix the ingredients by hand, soften the butter slightly, toss together the dry ingredients, then work in the butter with fingers, pastry blender or fork.)

Crumble the topping over the apples and bake 30-40 minutes or until apples are tender and bubbling.  Serve hot, warm or at room temperature.

By itself it's great, but with the vanilla ice cream it's absolute heaven.

18 Bento #151 - Moose Mac n' Cheese

I whipped up a batch of whole wheat mac n' cheese - so simple!  Takes 10 minutes, including the pasta cook time.  While the pasta is cooking, add 2 Tbs heavy cream, 4 oz cream cheese and a handful of shredded or cubed hard yellow cheese (I used cubed Colby Jack.)  Gently melt it together, and toss pasta in with it (about 1.5 cups.)  Salt and pepper to taste.

Today I picked up my first produce basket from Farmers Market Baskets.  I got so many great things for $20! I got a small organic basket which included 1 whole head each spinach & fancy lettuce, 3 stalks broccoli, 2 pears, 4 unripe bananas, 3 cameo apples, 3 oranges, 3 white potatoes, 2 tomatoes, 1 acorn squash and 1 onion, all organic or a 'clean 15'. It's really the perfect size for our family! Next time I will get extra apples, we eat tons of them in our house.

Last thing, I picked up a sweet masala dabba spice tin from World Market today, love it!  I can put any variety of spices and herbs in there I want, but I went the traditional Indian route and filled it with mustard seed, cumin seed, ground cardamom (don't have whole pods), curry, garam masala, coriander seeds and tumeric.  I get a hankering for one every time I watch Aarti Paarti on the Food Network.

Bento #151 - Whole wheat mac n' cheese, cherry tomatoes, organic steamed broccoli, clementine and a twin cherry gummy.

5 Carrot Cranberry Bread

I happened to have class snack today, this last half-day of school before a whole two weeks vacation; vacation for whom, I'm not quite certain!  I made the kids this low-sugar organic carrot bread, in muffin form.  I didn't tell Ella that the secret ingredient was pureed carrot, because I didn't want her to say anything in class and dissuade anyone from trying it.  Good news is that every child, except one, (who is fundamentally opposed to muffins on principle) gobbled these down.  At least according to E, who is generally a reliable raconteur.  Until she's about 8, anyway.

I used the Spice Carrot Muffins recipe from Mommy's Kitchen blog, and followed it to the letter except for three changes (as I really try to do when baking things...otherwise things tend to go awry....)  The first change was insignificant, I changed the raisins to dried cranberries.  The second change was to halve the sugar.  The last change I made was entirely unintentional and was borne of my inattention.  I accidentally lost count when I was scooping the flour, and I believe I used 1/2 cup more than was called for.  Whoops!  But, they came out really nicely anyway, the texture was great, not too dry, but if you want to make my mistake, I'd recommend adding a little more spice.  I doubled the recipe and it made 24 muffins plus an 8x8 square baking dish.  The recipe below are the measurements exactly how they should be (including the full amount of sugar) for 12 regular-sized muffins.

You'll need:

1/2 cup sugar
1/2  cup brown sugar

3/4  cup plain yogurt 

4  tablespoons unsalted butter, melted 

1/2  teaspoon vanilla extract 

1  large egg 

1/4  cup milk 

3/4 cup pureed carrots
1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
2  teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2  teaspoon salt
2  teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
1/2  cup raisins or dried cranberries, optional

Preheat oven to 375, and spray a muffin tin or line with paper cups.

In a large mixing bowl combine sugars, yogurt, butter, vanilla, egg, milk and carrot and mix well.  In another bowl mix together all remaining dry ingredients except raisins/craisins, if using.  Pour wet batter into the dry and mix until just combined, then add the fruit and gently fold in.

Scoop batter into cups and fill 3/4 of the way full.  Bake muffins for 20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.  The 8x8 dish took 35 minutes.

And, voila!  I added used Hello Kitty cups and little jungle animal cupcake toppers to make them extra-fun for their last day of school.

I topped the square loaf with a little powdered sugar.

If I can get 16 unsuspecting kids to eat some carrots this way, so can  you!

0 White Russian Apple Pudding

Why do I call this "White Russian"?  Because it's got Kahlua!  This is definitely a decadent dessert, or perfect with a hot cup of coffee to enjoy with friends.

For the apples
4-5 Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored and sliced into wedges
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup Kahlua
1/4 cup honey or brown sugar
2 Tbs apple cider vinegar
2 Tbs lemon juice
3 tsp vanilla extract
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt

For the custard
1 loaf (5-6 cups) of stale bread cut into cubes - French, sourdough, whatever you like
1 cup heavy cream or almond milk
1 cup milk
4 eggs
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup Kahlua
2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp salt


Topping
2 Tbs room-temp butter
chopped pecans (optional)
maple syrup (optional)

First you need to make the apples to later add into the custard.  In a medium heavy lidded saucepan combine all the apple ingredients over medium heat.

Cover and simmer on medium-low for about 20 minutes, stirring every few minutes...

...until it looks about like this, the apples are cooked down and the sauce has thickened.  If it's still a little watery, just uncover and simmer another 5ish minutes to reduce.  Take it off the heat and let it cool for about 10 minutes.

While the apples are cooking, get started on your custard.  Mix together everything in the custard category except for the bread cubes and Kahlua.

Next, add the apple mixture.  If it's still hot, make sure you temper the custard as you're adding to it.  Just add one spoonful of the hot apples first, and quickly whisk it together.  Keep adding the apples in this manner until you get about half way through, and then add the remainder and whisk together thoroughly.  If you add them all in at once, you will scramble the eggs!

Now, add the Kahlua to the warm custard.  Half the Kahlua was cooked down in the apples, and the other half is being added to the custard now.

Next, in a large bowl pour the custard mixture over the bread cubes.  I used my homemade bread I made last week for this recipe.  Gently combine and let the bread and custard sit for at least 30 minutes (or overnight.)  When you're ready to bake, lightly grease a baking dish with cooking spray or butter and pre-heat the oven to 375.  Pour the soaked bread cubes into the dish.

For the topping, sprinkle the chopped pecans all over the top, if using, and dot the top with bits of the butter.

Place into the 375 degree oven and bake for about an hour.  The top will get slightly crispy, and the middle will be creamy deliciousness.

At this point, I always drizzle a healthy amount of maple syrup all over the top, and it soaks in.  With every bite you get tender chunks of apple and the sweetness of the Kahlua.  So good!

0 White Chocolate Chip & Berries Oatmeal Cookies

Whew! Talk about a long recipe title!

1/2 cup (1 stick) plus 6 tablespoons butter, softened
3/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 cups Quaker® Oats (quick or old fashioned, uncooked)
1 cup raisins, craisins or a mixture of other dried berries like blueberries, cherries, etc.
1 cup white chocolate chips

Heat oven to 350°F. In large bowl, beat butter and sugars on medium speed of electric mixer until creamy. Add eggs and vanilla; beat well. Add combined flour, baking soda, and salt; mix well. Fold in oats and raisins/berries and chips; mix well (actually, at this point I take off my rings and mush it all together with my hands. Much easier this way.)

Drop dough by rounded tablespoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets,

then pat each one flat with your thumb. Bake 10-12 minutes or until light golden brown.

Now, watch them bake.

Cool 1 minute on cookie sheets; remove to wire rack. Cool completely. Store tightly covered.

Serve to little ones on fun gorilla plates!