Oatmeal Snickerdoodles

Here we combine three excellent cookies into one: oatmeal, snickerdoodle, chocolate chip. How can you go wrong with that? These are crunchy, not chewy cookies, with a bit of chocolate and cinnamon. I think they are what happens when you cross Mexico chocolate* with New England home-style.

If you have an electric mixer, these are very easy cookies to make.

Oatmeal Snickerdoodles
(makes about 50 cookies)

1 cup sifted all-purpose flour
¼ teaspoon baking soda (½ teaspoon at sea level)
¼ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon cinnamon
1 stick butter, at room temperature
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
⅓ cup sugar (⅜ cup at sea level)
⅓ cup light brown sugar, firmly packed (⅜ cup at sea level)
1 egg, at room temperature
¾ cup old-fashioned rolled oats
⅓ cup chocolate chips

Adjust the racks in your oven to ⅓ and ⅔. Preheat the oven to 400°F. Line 2 cookie sheets with aluminum foil.

Combine the flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon in a medium bowl. Set aside. Using an electric mixer, mix together butter and the sugars in a large bowl and beat until light and fluffy. Add the egg and beat until well combined. On low speed, gradually mix in the dry ingredients, scraping down the sides of the bowl, then mixing slowly again just to combine. Stir in the oatmeal and chocolate chips. Drop by teaspoonfuls onto the foil, leaving 2" between cookies - they will spread. You will only be able to fit ½ the dough on 2 sheets, so you'll be baking these in 2 rounds. Place the cookie sheets in the oven and bake for 11-12 minutes until just lightly browned. Do not overbake. When done, slide off the foil and cookies onto 2 racks and let them cool for 5 minutes before trying to remove them. Let the cookie sheets cool to room temperature. Line with foil again and repeat portioning and baking with remaining dough. Store cookies in an airtight container to keep them crispy.

Adapted from Maida Heatter's Book of Great Cookies by Maida Heatter, Alfred A. Knopf, 1977.

*Mexican chocolate is often flavored with cinnamon.

Honey Lemon Peach Compote

Yummy topping for pancakes with some chopped almonds for crunch

Here's a tasty way to add some fruits to your diet. I was inspired by the very popular peach teas out there. Why not use those flavors in a saucy compote that you can mix with your yogurt, pour over your pancakes, or spoon over ice cream?

I don't suggest you go out and buy fresh peaches this time of year. They are probably from Chile, where they grow delicious peaches (I was there a year ago this month) but peaches don't travel well. Far too often, they are picked underripe so they can be shipped without turning to mush. Underripe peaches, even once they soften, taste bland and have a mealy texture. Trust, me, the peaches in Chile were nothing like this.

Frozen peaches, though they get a bad rap, are pretty good in a sauce like this. There is enough sugar and acidity to improve even frozen peaches. They are cheaper and far superior to bad fresh peaches, which is all you are going to find this time of year anyway.

If you are not a lemonhead, use the zest of ½ a lemon. The zest isn't tart but it packs a lot of lemon flavor.

Honey Lemon Peach Compote
(makes 4 servings)

1 pound of sliced frozen peaches
¼ cup honey
½ cup water
1 3" cinnamon stick or a big pinch of ground cinnamon
zest of ½ - 1 lemon

Combine everything in a medium saucepan and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to maintain a slow boil. It shouldn't look like a volcano but bubbles breaking on the surface without spraying peach everywhere. Cook until the liquid is reduced and syrupy and the peaches are hot. Can be refrigerated for up to a week, served hot or cold.

Maple Apple Crisp

Here's a dessert recipe that uses our low sugar granola. Any of the variations will do, but don't use granola that contains dried fruit. The fruit will dry out too much during baking. I don't mix in the dried fruit until I eat my granola for breakfast, a suggestion from my dear friend Deb of Kiger Family Vineyard. If you mix as you go, you always have fruit-free granola on hand. I used my latest seasonal granola recipe, pumpkin pie spice granola, and it was delicious!

I like to mix up the apples in my crisp. Some varieties stay crunchy, some soften when baked. Some are tart, some sweet. If you mix them up, I think the texture and flavor is better, but use what you have. Here's a handy guide to apples to help you select apples you'll like.

Maple Apple Crisp
(serves 8)

non-stick cooking spray
1 cup granola without dried fruit
½ cup old-fashioned rolled oats
⅓ cup brown sugar
⅓ cup chopped pecans or walnuts
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
4 Tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into about 16 chunks
2 Tablespoons fresh lemon juice
6 medium apples
⅓ cup real maple syrup

Preheat the oven to 400°F. Grease a 9"x9"x2"  baking dish with non-stick cooking spray.

In a medium bowl, combine the granola, oats, brown sugar, nuts, and ground cinnamon. With your fingers, crumble the butter into the dry ingredients until there are no big chunks.

Put the lemon juice in a large bowl. Peel, core, and slice each apple and place in the bowl. Toss with lemon juice to prevent browning. When all the apples are sliced, pour over maple syrup and stir to coat apple slices with syrup. Pour it into the prepared dish. Spread the granola mix on top, covering the apples completely. Bake for 45 minutes until apples are tender when pierced with a knife.

Adapted from a recipe in Apple Cookbook by Olwen Woodier, Storey Publishing, 2001.

Irish Apple Crumble

Why is this Irish? Because it's on the menu for my St. Patrick's Day class! No, that doesn't really make it Irish, but corned beef and cabbage is considered Irish and I couldn't find that in a single Irish cookbook. I did find lots of recipes for apple desserts and recipes using oats. Whether you consider it Irish or not, it's still quite delicious.

Irish Apple Crumble
(serves 9)

Filling
8 large tart apples, like Granny Smith, peeled, cored, and sliced about ½" thick
1 Tablespoon fresh lemon or lime juice
⅔ cup sugar
2 Tablespoons flour
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

Topping
½ cup + 2 Tablespoons flour
a large pinch of salt
⅓ cup sugar
¼ cup brown sugar (light or dark), packed
½ cup rolled oats (not quick)
⅓ cup toasted wheat germ
2 Tablespoons sliced almonds
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon almond extract
2 Tablespoons vegetable oil
2 Tablespoons milk or apple juice

cooking spray

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Spray a 9"x9"x2" baking pan with cooking spray.

Combine all the filling ingredients in a large bowl and combine.

Combine all the dry ingredients (flour through cinnamon) for the topping in a medium bowl. Add remaining ingredients and mix until it holds together to form crumbles. Add a little more milk or juice if it won't clump together. Pour the filling into the prepared pan. Sprinkle the topping over the apples, covering the whole top evenly. Bake for 40 minutes until hot and bubbly. Let sit for 5 minutes to let it cool slightly. Serve plain, with vanilla ice cream, or a little heavy cream.

Molten Chocolate Cake

There are many versions of this incredibly rich, yet easy dessert. This version is from Jean-Georges Vongerichten, one of the most accomplished chefs on the planet. You may not be able to afford to eat at many of his restaurants, but you can make this. It has only four ingredients, so if you want it do be as wonderful as it can be, spring for high-quality bittersweet chocolate, which is not the same as semisweet chocolate (semisweet is too sweet). Look for chocolate with 62%-72% cacao. It won't be cheap, but it's worth it. This is one sumptuous Valentine's Day dessert!

You will need 4 ramekins or small glass dishes or cups. They should be big enough to hold 4 oz. of liquid. You can even use 7-8 oz. cans  (such as for tunafish or bamboo shoots), but they must be washed very well to remove any odor.

Molten Chocolate Cake
(serves 4, costs - really, isn't your honey worth it?)

1 stick unsalted butter plus a little more for greasing the ramekins
4 oz. bittersweet chocolate ( ⅔ cup chocolate chips)
2 whole large eggs
2 large egg yolks
¼ cup sugar
2 teaspoons flour plus a little more for flouring the ramekins

Butter the dishes making sure to cover the inside completely. Add a spoonful of flour and shake it around to cover all the butter. Tap out any excess. Set aside.

Place a medium saucepan on medium heat and bring about 1" of water to just a simmer. Once the water gets hot, reduce the heat to low. Place the stick of butter and the chocolate in a medium bowl and place over the simmering water to melt them. While they are melting, beat together the eggs, egg yolks, and sugar in a bowl. You can do this by hand but it goes much faster if you have an electric mixer. Beat until the mixture becomes light yellow and thick. Remove the melted chocolate/butter from the heat. Beat just to combine. Pour in the egg mixture and beat until the color is uniform. Add in the 2 teaspoons of flour and mix just to combine. Divide the batter among the 4 dishes and smooth the top. At this point, you can refrigerate them for a few hours. Remove them from the fridge an hour before baking so they can warm up.

When ready to eat them, preheat oven to 450°F. Place the dishes on a small rimmed cookie sheet (makes getting them in and out of the oven a lot easier). Bake for 8 minutes. The edges will be set but the center will still be soft. Remove from the oven. With hot mitts, carefully lift up a dish and invert onto a plate*. Repeat with remaining cakes. Remove the dish from the first cake you inverted (careful! it's hot). If your dishes were well-greased, it will fall right out. Repeat with the rest. Serve immediately, maybe with a dollop of whipped cream or with some rich vanilla ice cream.

* It's easy if you know how - with a hot mitt, pick up the dish by holding onto the top edges. With another hot mitt in your other hand, place the dish on that hand. Take a plate and place it, upside-down, on top of the dish. Flip the whole thing over.

Recipe adapted from Jean-Georges Cooking at Home with a Four-Star Chef by Jean-Georges Vongerichten and Mark Bittman, Broadway Books, 1998.

Apple-Cranberry Crisp

Cranberries are back! As we head quickly towards Thanksgiving, the cranberries arrive in supermarkets across the US. They pack quite a punch - both flavor and color-wise. I love them in traditional cranberry sauce but I think they really shine in desserts because their tartness punches up sweet desserts. And what a color - cranberries turn everything an electric red, naturally.

Cranberries are cheap and plentiful this time of year so I like to stock up. Stick a bag or two in your freezer because they can be hard to find (and expensive) after the holidays are over. They freeze wonderfully.

Here's a dessert in tune with the fall season: apple-cranberry crisp. It's apple season too (to learn more about apples check out this post) so this is a perfect intersection of two great fall season fruits.

Unlike most fruits, cranberries are not sweet at all which is why you need to add a lot of sugar to make them palatable. Still, this isn't a very sweet dessert. There's just enough sugar to take the aggressive tart edge off but not so much that it tastes like cranberry candy. Sugar should complement the fruit, not overwhelm it.

This is great for a party or a holiday dinner. It also keeps nicely in the refrigerator. It's best warm - zap it in the microwave for a minute if it's been in the fridge.

Apple-Cranberry Crisp
(serves 8)

non-stick cooking spray

Fruit Filling
1 12 oz. bag fresh or frozen cranberries
4 large apples, cored and sliced (no need to peel them)
½ cup sugar
1 Tablespoon flour

Crisp
2 Tablespoons brown sugar, packed
3 Tablespoons flour
¾ cup rolled quick or regular oats
½ cup chopped walnuts
3 Tablespoons butter, melted or walnut oil
zest of ½ an orange
1 pinch of salt

Preheat the oven to 375°F. Spray a 9"x9" baking pan with non-stick cooking spray. Set aside.

Rinse the cranberries. (Use warm water if they are frozen or they will freeze together.) Mix the cranberries and apples in a large bowl. Sprinkle on the sugar and flour and mix again to combine. Pour into the prepared pan. In the same bowl, combine all the crisp ingredients. Mix enough to distribute the orange zest; it tends to clump together. Sprinkle the topping evenly over the fruit. Bake for 40 (45 minutes if you started with frozen berries) until crisp is bubbly and topping is golden brown. Let sit for 10 minutes before serving.

Recipe adapted from Jane Brody's Good Food Book, 1985.

Mug Fudge Cake

It rises up a lot more than that while cooking.You'll see. :-)

The final recipe from this week's class: Mug Fudge Cake. You mix everything in a big coffee mug, pop it in the microwave for 3 minutes, and poof! You have a delicious chocolate cake. You also get a thrill watching it cook because it rises straight up out of the mug while its cooking, and you'll be convinced it's going to overflow. But, if you use a large mug, it will not become a microwave disaster.

That's half, so 1 mug is plenty to share.

This serves 1 person very generously. We suggest sharing with a friend. The chips settle to the bottom, making a fudge-y layer so if you split it, cut in in half lengthwise, rather than taking the top off and giving it to a friend (but, it's chocolate so we understand if you hog the most fudge-y part).

Mug Fudge Cake
(serves 1-2)

4 Tablespoons all purpose flour
4 Tablespoons sugar
1 pinch of salt
2 Tablespoons natural cocoa powder (like Hershey's brand)
3 Tablespoons milk
1 large egg
3 Tablespoons vegetable oil
3 Tablespoons chocolate chips (for a change, try white chocolate)
½ teaspoon vanilla

In a large mug (12 oz.), combine the flour, sugar, salt, and cocoa powder with a fork. Add the milk and egg, Mix well. Add the vegetable oil and mix with the fork until smooth and the oil is well-combined with the batter. Mix in the chocolate chips and vanilla. Cook in the microwave for 3 minutes. It will rise up very high(!), but it will not overflow the mug. Let sit a moment before digging in - it's really hot. Fantastic with vanilla ice cream or whipped cream!

Chocolate Dipped Strawberries

This was dessert for my most recent cooking class. It doesn't get much easier than this when it comes to dessert. Since this is all about the strawberries and the chocolate, get ripe, fragrant strawberries and a good quality chocolate (milk, semisweet, or bittersweet depending on your preference). Most recipes recommend using long-stemmed strawberries because you can hold the berries by the stem to dip them. This isn't necessary. Stick a fork into the stem end and dip them to cover them until just below the stem end. Then gently push the berries off the fork from the stem end. Or do like my students: use your fingers and enjoy licking the chocolate off afterward!

Chocolate Dipped Strawberries
(covers about 1 dozen medium strawberries)

½ pound medium strawberries
½ cup chocolate chips or chocolate bar, chopped finely

Wash strawberries and dry thoroughly. This is important for getting the chocolate to hold on to the berries.

Line a small cookie sheet with aluminum foil or waxed paper.

Place the chocolate chips in a medium microwaveable bowl. Microwave at 50% power for 1 minute. Stir. Microwave for another 1 minute, again at 50% power. Stir again. Microwave at 50% power for another 30-60 seconds until chocolate is liquid. You don't want to cook it too long because chocolate will burn.

Immediately dip the berries into the liquid chocolate and lay out on the foil lined sheet. When you've finished all the berries, place them in the refrigerator to chill for about 30 minutes or until chocolate is set. If you can wait that long...

Cookies for the weekend: Chinese Almond Cookies

I made these cookies to serve at our last class on Chinese take-out you can make at home (see here and here). They were a big hit! They aren't hard to make, but the recipe makes quite a few, so it does take some time (and multiple cookie sheets). There are a couple of versions of the Chinese Almond Cookie: one that is more like shortbread and very crispy, and another that is chewy. This is the chewy version and it gets its chewy texture from the addition of egg whites. We use a mixture of butter and shortening (look for shortening with no hydrogenated fats, such as Spectrum's palm oil-based shortening). Lard is traditional but high-quality lard that hasn't been hydrogenated is nearly impossible to find nowadays.

Chinese Almond Cookies
(makes about 4 dozen)

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder (see Note)
¼ teaspoon salt
6 Tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
6 Tablespoons non-hyrogenated vegetable shortening
½ cup white sugar
1 teaspoon almond extract
2 large egg whites mixed with 1 Tablespoon water
⅓ cup white sugar for rolling cookies in
about 4 dozen whole almonds, with skin or blanched, for garnish

Cover 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper or foil.

Set two racks in the oven so they divide the oven into ⅓'s. Preheat oven to 325 F°.

In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside. In a large bowl, combine butter, shortening, ½ cup sugar, and almond extract. Beat with an electric mixer until soft, light, and fluffy. Set mixer to its lowest setting and stir in ½ of the flour mixture. Add the egg whites and beat. Stir in the rest of the flour, scrape down the sides of the bowl and mix thoroughly by hand.

Place the ⅓ cup sugar in a small bowl. Take 1" pieces of dough (a spoon is good for the scooping) and roll in your hands. Roll in the sugar. Place on the prepared cookie sheets about 2" apart. Place a whole almond on each ball and press into cookie dough. When you have filled the 2 cookie sheets, place in the oven and bake for 14 minutes. They should be slightly golden brown on the bottom and not browned at all on top. Remove from the oven. Transfer the cookies on the paper/foil to racks to cool. Let sheets cool for 5 minutes, recover with paper/foil, form cookies with the rest of the dough and finish baking.

Note: I've adjusted this recipe to work at Boulder, Colorado elevation, 5400 ft. If you are at sea-level, increase baking powder to 1 ½ teaspoons.

Adapted from Cookies Unlimited by Nick Malgieri. He uses lard and says don't substitute shortening for the lard because it isn't like the cookies he remembered growing up in New Jersey. Point taken, but since I don't have that memory, they taste just fine to me made with shortening.

Sort of Tiramisu

Getting ready to teach another class for the college students at CU. Since we are two days from Valentine's Day, it's a date night theme. To get you excited, we are posting dessert first. :-)

Though we have titled this Tiramisu, we know our Italian friends would not approve. Which is why it's called "Sort-Of" Tiramisu. Some of the elements are there but to simplify it, we have cut out the foamy egg custard (called zabaglione in Italian) because that's not exactly a basic technique. There are lots of other differences. But, it still tastes pretty good if you don't expect it to taste like classic Tiramisu. Because it's only "sort-of" a Tiramisu.

Sort of Tiramisu
(serves 6-8, cost $6.75*)

½ cup Cold Espresso, or very strong coffee
6 Tablespoons Sugar, divided
1 package Soft Ladyfingers, 3 ounces
4 ounces Mascarpone Cheese
½ cup Heavy Cream
2 cups Sliced Strawberries, about ½ pound
¼ cup Semisweet Or Bittersweet Chocolate Chips, mini or regular size

Combine espresso with 3 Tbl sugar. Place ½ the ladyfingers into an 8x8" baking pan in one layer. There will gaps. Pour 4 Tbl of the coffee/sugar mixture over the ladyfingers.

Beat mascarpone cheese with remaining 3 Tbl sugar. Add heavy cream and beat until thick and holding a soft peak. Spread ½ of this on top of ladyfingers. Spread 1 cup of strawberries in one layer on top of cream. Place remaining ladyfingers on top of strawberries in one layer. With a teaspoon spoon remaining coffee-sugar mixture over ladyfingers. Spread on the rest of the cheese mixture. Cover with remaining strawberries. Sprinkle chocolate chips into gaps around strawberries.

Serve immediately or chill until ready to serve.

*Usually, mascarpone cheese comes in 8 ounce packages and it's not exactly cheap, so this recipe will cost you $8.75. You aren't likely to use this ingredient in anything else. We suggest you just make this recipe twice and share it with your friends. Or anyone you want to be your friend. :-)

Raspberry Yogurt Mousse

For reasons that I don't understand, this is the most popular recipe on my personal food blog, World on a Platter.

Unlike a traditional mousse, there are no uncooked egg whites or whipped cream. The richness comes from the yogurt. It's a bit denser than a mousse - more like a pudding. Call it what you like; it's still quite good.

The recipe calls for raspberries, but other berries work will too - blueberries, strawberries, blackberries. In fact, I was a little short on raspberries and used some strawberries instead. The most tedious part of this recipe is straining the berry puree to remove the seeds. It does take some work but you don't want the seeds in there - mousse is supposed to be smooth, not studded with hard berry seeds.


The recipe calls for yogurt without stabilizers or gelatin. You want the whey to separate out to make the yogurt thicker. Yogurt stabilized with gelatin or starches won't separate. Don't use Greek yogurt because it's too thick and the mousse ends up too firm.


Raspberry Yogurt Mousse
(makes enough filling for a 10" tart or 10 individual servings, costs $6.75)

3 cups fresh raspberries, or 12 oz. frozen raspberries, partially thawed
½ cup cold water
3 tsp unflavored gelatin (1 packet)
¼ cup orange juice, or apple juice
1 Tablespoon fresh lemon juice
¼ cup sugar
¼ teaspoon salt
2 Tablespoons Chambord, a French berry liqueur (optional)
1 ½ cups nonfat or lowfat vanilla yogurt, made without gelatin or stabilizers
fresh berries, for garnish if desired

1. Puree berries in a  food processor or blender. Pour puree through a strainer to remove the seeds. Set aside.

2. Pour water into a medium saucepan, sprinkle on the gelatin, and allow to sit for about 3 minutes to soften. Stir in juices, set pan over low heat, and stir just until the gelatin dissolves. Do not boil.

3. Stir in the berry puree, sugar, and salt, increase the heat to medium and cook, stirring, for 3 to 4 minutes, or until the sugar is dissolved. Remove from heat and stir in Chambord, if using.

4. Transfer raspberry mixture to a heatproof bowl and sit it in a large bowl of ice water. Cool, stirring occasionally, for about 15 minutes or until mixture thickens to the consistency of raw egg whites.

5. While the mixture cools, set the yogurt in a strainer over a bowl and allow to drain for about 10 minutes.

6. Whisk the yogurt into the raspberry mixture. The mousse can be used as a filling for a 10" pie (use a pre-baked crust that has cooled) or pour into 4-6 oz ramekins or wine glasses to serve alone.

Microwave Chocolate Pudding

Microwave Chocolate Pudding, garnished with a few extra chocolate chips. No such thing as too much chocolate.

With this recipe for a quick microwave chocolate pudding you can banish that box of instant pudding forever. This pudding is great hot, warm, or cold. It is deeply chocolate-y if you use high quality chocolate chips. Not chocolate flavored chips. Not chocolate with vegetable oil. Real chocolate.

Though we haven't tried it yet, we believe that this recipe would work just as well with other chips such as white chocolate, butterscotch, or milk chocolate.

Microwave Chocolate Pudding
(serves 1, costs 60¢)

1 ½ teaspoon cornstarch
½ cup milk
Scant ¼ cup chocolate chips
Pinch of salt

Place cornstarch in a 12 ounce mug or 2 cup glass measure.  Gradually, but briskly stir in milk with a whisk so there are no lumps.  Add chocolate chips and salt.  Microwave on high 1 minute or until hot but not boiling; stir briskly with rubber spatula, scraping down sides.  Mixture will look grainy.  Cook 30-45 seconds more until mixture just begins to boil.  Watch closely to avoid boil-over.

Need enough pudding to share with your friends? Here's the recipe for 4 servings:

2 Tablespoons cornstarch
1 ⅔ cup milk
1 cup chocolate chips
⅛ teaspoon salt

Put  cornstarch in a 4-cup glass measure or deep 1-quart bowl.  Whisk in milk until smooth.  Add chocolate chips and salt.  Microwave on high 2 minutes and stir.  Then cook 2 minutes more until thickened around edges, but still liquid in center.  Stir with spatula, scraping down sides of bowl.  Cook 30 seconds-2 minutes until thickens to creamy, spoonable consistency.  Immediately place waxed paper or plastic wrap on surface of pudding to prevent skin.

When we made this recipe during the class in a small microwave, it took 2 minutes to thicken the pudding, for 6 minutes of total cooking. At home, in a high-powered microwave, it took a total of 5 minutes.

Apple Crumble or Crisp or Whatever...

We're now into apple season and that means it's time for apple desserts. This one is simply sliced apples with a pastry topping. The distinction between a crisp and crumble isn't clear. Crumbles usually have a pastry topping and crisps have a topping that contains oats. Though, they are really used interchangeably. But, who really cares? They all taste good. This one in particular.

For help on selecting a good apple for your crumble, see our article on apple varieties. We used Honeycrisp in the picture above and they had the perfect combination of tart-sweet as well as an excellent cooked texture.

Here's a tip for slicing apples: cut the sides off the core, as in the photo below. Then slice the chunks. It's a lot easier to slice things if you have a flat side to place on the cutting board. Round things, like apples, roll around, making it much tougher to slice them.

Apple Crumble
 (serves 6-8, cost $3.50)

butter or cooking spray for greasing the pan
6 large apples, peeled, cored and cut into thick slices
½ cup all-purpose flour
¼ cup packed dark brown sugar
1 Tablespoon white sugar
¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
pinch of ground nutmeg
4 Tablespoons cold butter, cut into small cubes

Preheat the oven to 400 F°. Grease an 8"x8" baking dish with butter or non-stick cooking spray.

Layer the apple slices in the baking dish. Combine flour, dark brown sugar, white sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg in a medium bowl. Add the butter cubes and cut into the flour mixture with a pastry blender. If you don't have a pastry blender, rub the butter into the flour with your fingers

This topping hasn't been mixed quite enough. Still have big chunks of butter.

Not mixed quite enough

 This is just about right - no big chunks of butter and a fairly uniform consistency.

Just right!

Sprinkle the pastry evenly over the apples. Bake for 30-35 minutes until apples are tender and topping is browned. Good just as is but even better if served with a scoop of vanilla ice cream! Make sure to spoon it out so the apples and the topping mix together. That way you get a bit of apples and a bit of topping in each and every bite.

Clafouti

We made plum clafouti for the class. Smelled amazing, tasted great

Clafouti (pronounced cla-foo-TEE) is a traditional Provencal dessert. It's usually made in the summer when there are wonderful ripe fruits everywhere in Provence. Sour cherries (pie cherries) are traditional but most other soft fruits work just as well. Clafouti is a cross between a cake and a crepe. There isn't a lot of flour in the batter and a lot of eggs. But, it's a whole lot easier to make than most cake and crepes. You mix up the batter, put a layer of fruit in the bottom of a pie plate, pour the batter on top,  and bake.

The amount of sugar here is pretty minimal. French desserts are not nearly as sweet at American desserts. In the class, we tasted the plums and decided they were a bit tart, so we added another tablespoon of sugar. We recommend that you taste your fruit and add a touch more sugar if you think the fruit is tart.

(serves 6-8)

Butter or nonstick cooking spray, for greasing pie plate
2 ½ cups Pitted Cherries, or sliced fruit such as peaches, nectarines, or plums
1 ¼ cups Milk
¼ cup Sugar
3 large Eggs
2 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
1 pinch Salt
½ cup All-Purpose Flour
2 teaspoon Sugar
½ teaspoon Cinnamon, optional

Preheat oven to 350°F with the rack in the center of the oven. Butter the bottom and sides of a 10" pie plate. Whisk together the milk, sugar, eggs, vanilla, and salt until well combined. Stir in flour until  smooth. Arrange the fruit in a single layer in the pie plate. Pour the batter over fruit. Combine sugar with cinnamon (if using) and sprinkle on clafouti. Bake until the edges are golden brown and the clafouti is set(see Note), about 30-40 minutes. Best served warm. If you have leftovers or bake in advance, keep in the refrigerator and rewarm in a 200°F oven before serving.

Note: Set means that when you gently shake the pie plate, the center doesn't jiggle and feels firm to the touch.

Cheesecake Cupcakes

These cheesecake cupcakes were decorated by my daughter - flags of N. and S. America

Cheesecake is not something you throw together in an hour. It's special occasion fare. A cheesecake feeds a lot of people. It's not easy (though it's not that hard either) to get right. It suffers from image problems because it is really rich. OK, this recipe isn't any less rich but it does make a small amount, good for a small party or a few days of snacking, and the cheesecake comes in little pieces which means you can eat just a little bit at a time. Assuming you can resist them.

There a few tricks to making these, or any other cheesecake.

• Make sure that all the ingredients are at room temperature and the cream cheese is really soft.
• Mix the batter until there are no lumps of cream cheese. If your cream cheese and eggs are warm, they will come together better, without getting lumpy
• Since there is a bit of beating going on, don't try this unless you have an electric mixer. Your arms are going to be exhausted getting this together otherwise.

Cheesecake Cupcakes
(makes 9)

Filling:
12 oz. cream cheese, at room temperature
2 ½ large eggs, at room temperature (½ an egg  is 1 ½ Tablespoons. Beat an egg then measure what you need.)
½ cup sugar
½ teaspoon vanilla extract

Topping:
3 Tablespoons sour cream
1 teaspoon sugar
⅛ teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 300° F.

Line 9 regular sized muffin cups with cupcake liners.

For the filling, beat cream cheese until smooth. Beat in eggs, one at a time. Make sure egg is fully incorporated before adding another. Beat in sugar and vanilla. Divide among muffin cups (about ¼ cup per cupcake).

Bake for 45 minutes or until just set. Do not overbake! They should not brown at all. Cool for 5 minutes in the pan. Combine topping ingredients in a small bowl. Fill the depression in each cupcake (it will form while cooling) with about 1 teaspoon sour cream mixture. Bake for an additional 10 minutes.

Cool completely. Store in refrigerator. Serve chilled.

That's peachy!

It's still peach season here in Colorado. Beautiful peaches are available everywhere. A really ripe peach is a summer joy. You know the kind - you need to eat it over the sink. But, peaches are a great year-round treat because they freeze so well. You can pick up a bag of frozen peaches at the supermarket and keep them stashed for smoothies, peach sauce - great on pancakes, and peach desserts like crisps or cobblers.

Here's a peach topping that is so easy. You use the microwave to cook the peaches in a simple maple syrup flavored sauce. Real maple syrup is expensive, but this extends that luxury by mixing it with peaches. Imitation maple syrup works too if real maple syrup isn't in your budget.  The peaches are good on pancakes, pound cake, ice cream, or frozen vanilla yogurt. It's a fruity way to sweeten plain yogurt too.

Peach Slices with Maple Syrup
(adapted from Complete Book of Small-Batch Preserving)

1/4 cup maple syrup
2 tablespoons sugar
4 large peaches, peeled and sliced OR 3 cups thawed frozen peach slices

Combine maple syrup and sugar in a 4 cup microwavable container. Microwave on high for 1 minute or until sugar is dissolved.

Add peach slices, cover and microwave for 3 additional minutes. Let stand, covered, for 2 additional minutes.

Use hot, cool in the refrigerator or freeze in plastic containers if not using in the next week.

Note: 2 Tablespoons of Amaretto or Sherry can be added when peach slices are added, if desired. Amaretto, an almond liqueur from Italy, and peaches are a particularly tasty combination.