Bon Appetit's Lime and Blackberry Meringue Pie

I have to be honest about this one. While it is beautiful it was a major fail for me. All the flavors are amazing, but the blackberry compote turned the pie into a soupy mess when I cut into it. This recipe might be worth revisiting if you leave the compote out of the pie and just serve it as a drizzle over the top. For the original article visit Bon Appetit here.

Christmas Cookies Galore

Cookies!

Christmas time is the perfect excuse to bake up tons of cookies and not feel guilty about it. This year I made classic sugar cookies (not pictured because we haven't decorated them yet), peanut butter blossoms, gingersnaps, double-chip pecan (use this recipe and add in peanut butter chips and pecans), lemony slice & bakes, bourbon balls, butterscotch blondie bars and double chocolate peppermint surprises. I made a bunch of the dough ahead of time and put it in the freezer. Yesterday all we had to do was defrost the dough and put the cookies in the oven. I think I will use that strategy again, since it was virtually no mess and no stress. The surprise hit... lemony slice and bakes. Everyone was raving! What are your favorite Christmas cookies?

Marble Cheesecake

My assignment for this Thanksgiving is to bring the desserts. I will be making the traditional pumpkin pie, but wanted to try out something a little different as well. My recipe of choice is this marble cheesecake from foodnetwork. The only issue is that I have only attempted a cheesecake once before and it was a soupy disaster! I decided to do a test run just in case I made cheesy soup again I could come up with another plan. To my surprise, this one came out great! I did use a water bath (not called for) and tweaked the baking time a bit based on other recipes and cheesecake tips I read online (and out of fear I would under bake it again). I did get a few cracks on top but I consider this one a success none the less.

Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Icing

I LOVE carrot cake. Well, let's be honest, I  love any cake, or anything sweet for that matter. But this carrot cake is probably one of the best I have ever had. And the frosting, WOW! Originally I made it exactly as described in the recipe, but I think this version is better. Hope you enjoy. And remember, it has both fruit and vegetables in it so you don't have to feel guilty eating it. Right?

Frozen Key Lime Pie on a Stick (without the stick)

Key West is one of my favorite places on earth.  Whenever I am there I always get a frozen key lime pie on a stick.  If you have never frozen key lime pie on a stick, its exactly what it sounds like, except the whole thing is dipped in chocolate before its frozen. There are a few minor problems with these delicious pieces of chocolate covered goodness. First of all, I can only find them in Key West.  While I love to go there, I can’t just get up and drive 4 hours when a craving hits. Second, they are huge. It’s an entire slice of pie. I have a sweet tooth as big as anyone, but these are sugar overload. And splitting one turns into a melt-mess. So, I decided to do some experimenting and came up with my own version of this favorite treat. I miniaturized the pies and fancied up the crust by adding pecans to the mix. I also reduced the amount of chocolate by just using it as a topping rather than a coating. I think the pie/chocolate/crust ratio is much better now.  I hope you love them and that they take you in spirit to Key West.

A German Feast. Rouladen, Knodel and Red Cabbage with Black Forrest Cherry Cake for Dessert.

Oh yeah, we wore these while we cooked.

I have Oktoberfest on the brain! Last weekend Ron and I slaved away in the kitchen making a German feast. I am excited to compare it to what we have in Germany. We usually only make this meal for a special occasion like Christmas dinner but I just couldn't wait! If you have some time on your hands you should give this one a try. And a special thank you goes to Ron's parents who introduced me to this dish and taught me how to make it.

Irish (Tennessee) Coffee Caramel Sauce

 I was watching food network the other day and the Barefoot Contessa was making caramel sauce for ice cream sundaes. It automatically triggered this odd habit I have. If I see a food that looks good and I have never made it myself I have to try to whip it up on my own. But plain ol' caramel sauce was not going to do it for me. I had to make this one my own. So the thoughts started going through my head of how to flavor this caramel sauce. Looking through recipes I saw whiskey flavored caramels and coffee flavored caramels so I figured why not combine the 2 and make an Irish Coffee caramel sauce?! And so, this wonderful creation was born. It is actually a Tennessee Coffee Caramel sauce (I was out of Irish Whiskey) but I think any whiskey will work.

Ingredients


1 cup granulated sugar


1/4 cup water


6 Tablespoons whiskey (I used Jack Daniels)


1/4 cup heavy cream


1/4 teaspoon salt


1 packet Starbucks Via Irish Roast Instant Coffee
(any instant coffee should work)
 

Directions
Bring sugar and water to a boil in a large saucepan over medium–high heat. Some recipes say to stir. Some say you will screw everything up if you stir. I went with a 'swirl the pan' method and it seemed to work fine. There are also recipes out there that say to brush the sides of the pan down with a wet pastry brush in order to prevent the sugar from crystallizing on the sides. I tried this once and it seemed impossible to do. I gave up on that theory, and again, everything turned out fine.

 

 

 

 

Sugar water beginning to boil

While the sugar water is coming to a boil combine the rest of the ingredients. Stir to dissolve the coffee.

Continue 'swirling' the sugar over medium-high hear until it starts to caramelize. Be VERY careful! This stuff is HOT!

Sugar water caramelizing

Once you get a nice caramel cover turn off the burner and remove the pan from the heat. CAREFULLY pour in the coffee mixture. I would suggest using an oven mitt to hold the measuring cup (or whatever your coffee mixture is in). When you pour the coffee mixture into the sugar water mixture it steams and boils up rapidly and you could get burned. Stir the mixture together as best as you can. You may get a few lumps in there at this point but don't worry. Just mix it the best you can.

It turns really dark at this point because of the coffee

Put the saucepan back on the warm burner (don't turn it on) and stir until any lumps dissolve. You should end up with something like this.

Pour the sauce into a mason jar and let cool (until just warm).

Serve over anything you want! Or just eat it off the spoon. I won't judge. 
It is super sweet so a little goes a long way!

Irish Coffee Caramel Brownie Sundae

Recipe adapted from http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Irish-Coffee-Sundaes-with-Caramel-Whiskey-Sauce-365219#ixzz1URTX3HhW

Cast Iron Skillet Recipe: Pineapple Upside Down Cake

There may just be a million recipes for a cast iron skillet and I am going to try to find them all. I LOVE cooking in my skillet. It just makes me feel more southern and like a legitimate cook somehow. So here you go, the first recipe post in my cast iron skillet series.

This is probably one of the best pineapple upside down cakes I have ever tried. The ones I grew up with always had canned pineapple and bright red maraschino cherries. Why the idea of using fresh fruit never crossed my mind I dont know. The dark rum was a great added touch. Thanks Emril!

Ingredients

• 1/2 ripe medium pineapple, peeled, cored, eyes removed and sliced into 1/2-inch rounds (about 4 or 5 slices)
• 3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter
• 3/4 cup light brown sugar
• 14 pecan halves
• 1 cup cake flour (not self-rising)
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 tablespoon dark rum
• 4 fresh cherries, halved and pits removed

Directions

Melt 4 tablespoons of the butter in a 10-inch cast iron skillet, over medium heat. Add the brown sugar and stir to combine. Increase the heat to medium high and cook until the sugar mixture is bubbly, about 2 minutes. Arrange pineapple slices in the skillet in a pleasing pattern and continue to cook for 2 minutes, or until the sugar mixture turns an amber color. Turn the pineapple slices over and remove the pan from the heat. (The mixture will continue to cook even though the heat is off.) Arrange the pecan halves in the spaces between the rings. Set aside to cool slightly.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

Stir together the flours, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a medium mixing bowl.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream together the remaining 1/2 cup butter and the granulated sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, 1 at a time, mixing just until incorporated. Add the flour mixture and buttermilk alternately in 3 batches, mixing at low speed after each addition until just combined. Stir in the vanilla and rum.

Spoon the batter evenly over the pineapple slices in the skillet. Bake in the middle of the oven until golden brown and a tester comes out clean, 35 to 40 minutes.

Cool the cake in the skillet on a wire rack for 4 minutes only. Run a thin knife around the edge of the cake and, wearing oven mitts and working quickly, invert the cake onto a cake plate, keeping plate and skillet firmly pressed together. Carefully lift the skillet off cake and replace any fruit stuck to the bottom of the skillet, if necessary. Arrange the fresh cherry halves, cut side down, into the top of the cake, in the center of the pineapple rings.

My Notes
I used regular ol' all-purpose flour in this recipe. If you happen to have cake flour, I say go for it, but if you dont want yet another bag in your pantry, use what you have. It will turn out fine!

For the full recipe, go here:
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/emeril-lagasse/pineapple-upside-down-cake-recipe/index.html