These decadent treats have a chewy gingery crust, a creamy layer of pumpkin cheesecake and crunchy spiced pecans on top. And they’re surprisingly easy to make!
Ingredients
1 1/2 cups crushed ginger snaps (about 30 cookies)
1/2 can sweetened condensed mil
1 brick of cream cheese
2/3 cup of pumpkin puree
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 sour cream
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 tbsp butter
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/8 tsp ground cayenne pepper
100 gr (small bag) chopped pecans
Preparation Instructions
Preheat over to 350.
Line a 9″ square baking pan with parchment paper.
Place crushed cookies into bottom of pan. Pour sweetened condensed milk over top. Place in over for 5 minutes. Remove from over and mix until combined.
Mix cream cheese with pumpkin and brown sugar. Beat until smooth. Gradually add eggs one at a time, and beat each time until smooth. Pour over cookie base.
Bake 35-40 minutes, until set. Cool completely.
Prepare spiced nuts: (you could just as easily add store bought pralines here!)
In a frying pan, add sugar, spices and butter. Heat until melted. Pour pecans in. Cook until sugar is dissolved, about 5-7 minutes, stirring constantly. Pour out onto parchment paper to cool.
Before serving, top squares with cream cheese and pralines. Cut and serve immediately.
November 22, 2013 | Posted in:
Roast Brussels sprouts and pancetta
My husband hates brussels sprouts. Here’s a true story that changed his mind: One day we were at a restaurant when the steak he wanted to order was accompanied by brussels sprouts. He asked to have potatoes instead. When his meal arrived, the chef came out of the kitchen with a small plate of brussels sprouts, and insisted that while he may hate most brussels sprouts, he was sure he would not hate these. And he was right. I’ve spent a long time trying to decipher the recipe, and I think I finally got it. Try them, they just may change your mind about this tiny cabbage!
Ingredients
1 lb brussels sprouts
1/2 cup pancetta, or sliced bacon
1 tblsp olive oil
1/3 cup sour cream
1/4 cup dijon mustard
salt and pepper to taste
Preparation Instructions
Preheat oven to 350.
Trim the ends and yellow leaves off of the brussels sprouts. Wash. Place in a large bowl. Add the pancetta or bacon, olive oil and salt and pepper. (not too much salt as the bacon has salt in it).
Toss to coat evenly.
Place brussels sprouts on a cookie sheet and roast for 20 minutes.
Stir. Roast for an addition 10 minutes.
Mix dijon mustard and sour cream together.
Remove sprouts from over, pour sour cream mixture over top and mix to coat evenly.
Return to over for an additional 10 minutes.
November 17, 2013 | Posted in:
Best Potato Latkes Recipe For Your Custom Cookbook
These amazing food processor latkaes literally take 5 minutes to whip up! And their chopped-up texture make them distinctly hash-brown like! Thanks to Norene Gilletz of Gourmania for sharing this traditional Hanukkah dish! It’s from her Book, the NEW Food Processor Bible. It’s simply delicious- we had them for lunch the other day with a green salad and loads of home made applesauce to dip!
Ingredients
4 medium potatoes peeled or scrubbed (or substitute Purple Sweeties)
1 medium onion
2 eggs (or 1 egg plus 2 egg whites)
1/3 cup flour or matzo meal
1 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp salt
Freshly ground black pepper to taste
2 Tbsp oil (plus more as needed for frying latkes)
Preparation Instructions
Cut potatoes in chunks and onion in half. Place in processor with eggs. Process on the Steel Blade until pureed, 20 to 30 seconds. Add remaining ingredients except oil; process a few seconds longer to blend into a smooth mixture.
Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Drop potato mixture into hot oil by large spoonfuls to form pancakes; brown well on both sides. Drain well on paper towels. Add additional oil to pan as needed. Stir batter before cooking each new batch. Latkes can be placed on a parchment-lined baking sheet and kept warm in a 250 degree F oven.
(To bake latkes instead of frying, place oven racks on lowest and middle positions in oven. Preheat oven to 450 degrees F. Drop potato mixture by spoonfuls onto well-oiled baking sheets; flatten slightly. Bake 10 minutes, until bottoms are browned and crispy. Turn latkes over. Transfer pan from upper rack to lower rack and vice versa. Bake 8 to 10 minutes longer.)
Yield: about 2 dozen or 5 dozen miniatures. Freezes well.
October 19, 2013 | Posted in:
Hearty Chickpea soup
Another great warm and cozy meal that’s put together in 10 minutes…
Ingredients
3 tblsp olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
2 cloves of garlic, roughly chopped
1 small can chickpeas
1 large can diced tomatoes
3 cups of chicken broth
1 tsp cumin
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp italian seasoning
1 bay leaf
salt and pepper to taste
Preparation Instructions
Heat the oil in a large saucepan
Add the onions and garlic. Cook for about ten minutes, until translucent.
Add cumin, cayenne, herbs. Cook 2 minutes stirring constantly.
Drain chickpeas. Add to onion mixture. Drain tomatoes (reserve juice for bloody marys!). Add chopped tomatoes to onion and chickpea mixture. Cook 10 minutes.
Add broth and bay leaf.
Cook 20 minutes.
October 15, 2013 | Posted in:
Fire roasted pepper and tomato salad
Here’s a lovely dish to make in the early fall or late summer, when those long thin red peppers are in season. They’re easier to barbecue than traditional rounded bell peppers!
Ingredients
6 marconi (the long thin mild bell peppers) peppers
8 roma tomatoes
1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 tsp salt
1 clove garlic
10 greek olives (optional)
For dressing:
1/2 cup olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
2 tblsp balsamic vinegar (optional)
Preparation Instructions
Roast pepper on the bbq, or in the oven, under the broiler, until skins are blackened. Remove from heat and immediately wrap in newspaper or place in a paper or plastic bag. Seal bag and put aside.
Cut tomatoes in half. Remove seeds (run your finger or a spoon inside the tomato to loosen the fleshy pulp and seeds- they will fall right out).
Put 1/4 cup of olive oil and salt in a plastic bag or bowl, add tomatoes, and toss/mix until coated.
Arrange the tomatoes on a parchment lined cookie sheet, and place in a low temperature oven (300 degree Farenheit) for about an hour and a half, turning half way through cooking time.
Peel peppers and remove seeds.
Pull peppers apart with your hands to make long sections of pepper (you can use a knife, but this is so much easier to do while you are seeing the peppers!) Place in bowl. Add the tomatoes, crushed garlic and olives if using. Sprinkle with salt. Add oil and vinegar (balsamic is great if you tend to like a slightly sweeter sauce.) Toss. Serve cold or room temperature.
This salad is best if you can leave it for an hour or two for the flavors to develop.
October 9, 2013 | Posted in:
Quick coconut curry noodles
Here’s another near-instant soup that’s perfect if you’re craving something spicy and warm.
Ingredients
1 pack ramen noodles
1/2 can coconut milk
1 tsp thai curry paste
1/2 tsp fish sauce
1/2 cup coleslaw mix
coriander
squeeze of lime
Preparation Instructions
Bring 2 cups of water to a boil. Add curry paste and seasoning packet from soup. Add coconut milk, fish sauce and noodles. Simmer until noodles are cooked. Pour into bowl over coleslaw mix. Top with coriander and a squeeze of lime.
October 2, 2013 | Posted in:
Daily Recipes For Your Personalized Cookbook
We’ve started working our way through our HUGE database of shared recipes. We really had no idea, when we asked people who were building their family cookbooks if they wanted to share some of their recipes, that so many would. When we launched the new site, we went back through our 9 years of archives and found over 30,000 recipes! It’s a big job, but we’re putting them up, one at a time (OK, 50 at a time!).
Today’s recipes include Cola Chicken (yes, it’s what you think it is!), Cajun Linguini, Low Country Boil and Congo Bars. And that’s just a few of them! Head on over to our recipe tab and take a look.
September 25, 2013 | Posted in:
5 minute Asian noodle soup
This is a quick lunch for a cold day. I tend to throw whatever greens I have in there!
Ingredients
1 1/2 cups chicken broth
1 tsp soy sauce
1/2 tsp fish sauce
1/4 tsp srichacha or other chilli sauce
1/4 tsp sugar
squeeze of 1/4 lime
!/4 cup chopped cilantro
1 chopped scallion (green onion)
1/2 cup coleslaw mix (shredded cabbage and carrots)
Leftover chicken or pork, sliced or shredded
Any Asian noodle- soba, ramen, udon, rice
Preparation
Heat broth. When boiling, add soy sauce, fish sauce, chilli sauce and sugar. Add noodles and cook according to directions.
Put slaw mix into bow. Pour hot soup on top. Top with cilantro, scallion and a squeeze of lime.
September 19, 2013 | Posted in:
Pumpkin Bread – Heritage cooks
from Tynetta G.’s book, Imperial, MO
Ingredients
1 cup pumpkin
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg
1 cup pecans
Preparation Instructions
Mix all ingredients together and bake in a bread pan at 350 degrees for 45 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.
Heritage note: I tried this recipe with roasted pumpkin seeds and chocolate chips as well- delicious! I lessened the baking soda to 3/4 tsp and salt to 1/2 tsp.
Thanks Tynetta for this great recipe!
September 17, 2013 | Posted in:
Tomato Tips For Your Custom Cookbook
I used to live in Little Italy. In early September, the back alleys would turn red with tomato seeds and skins running down the sewers. It didn’t take me long to befriend the nonnas in their garage kitchens and learn the ropes myself. This week-end, we canned two bushels of tomatoes, and ended up with about 60 jars of sauce. If you’re curious about home canning, tomatoes are an easy starting place, delicious, and oh so satisfying. Here’s how: