Tag: sugar

ICC – Peach Cobbler Trifle

Well Dined | Peach Cobbler Trifle

I’ve joined a group called Improv Cooking Challenge, where each month 2 ingredients are chosen for us to make dishes with.  This month was peaches and cream – yum!  I scrolled through my saved recipes on Pinterest and found this Peach Cobbler Trifle that looked perfect for the challenge!

Well Dined | Peach Cobbler Trifle

Pound cake is layered with a pudding mixture, peaches, and a crumble topping.  My trifle dish is actually a punch bowl, so I only made 2 layers.  But with a taller, narrower dish – you could make 3 layers.

Well Dined | Peach Cobbler Trifle

I really liked that the pudding mixture used orange zest and sour cream to take it out of too sweet territory.  I added a pinch of salt to the crumble mixture and the peaches to help in this regard, too. (more…)

SRC – Bulgogi from Searching for Spice

Well Dined | Bulgogi Rice Bowl

Today is Secret Recipe Club reveal day!  I was assigned Searching for Spice, written by Corina – a mother of  two (I love the nicknames she gives her kids: Little Miss Spice and Master Spice).  She loves international cuisine, making food from India, Mexico, North Africa, Thailand, and China.  She prefers to stick to recipes that aren’t terribly time consuming – like this Italian Chicken and Lemon dish, this Lamb Meatball dish, and this Chicken Pie.  But sometimes, she will go for a more complicated recipe, too – like this Chicken Biryani and this Cassoulet with Confit Duck.

I ended up choosing this Korean Bulgogi recipe, because I just recently discovered Korean BBQ, and it is awesome!  Bulgogi is definitely my favorite thing to order, so I loved that Corina had a recipe I could try.  She served it with rice and lettuce to make wraps, I decided (inspired by my Spam dish) to make it a rice bowl, topped with a fried egg.  It turned out great! (more…)

Snickerdoodle Martini

Well Dined | Snickerdoodle Martini

I have a group of girlfriends that get together on a regular basis and take turns providing snacks and drinks.  A few of them have a mighty sweet-tooth (we call them hummingbirds); so I knew that when it was my turn to bring a cocktail, I wanted to make something sweet.  I found a quick and easy cocktail recipe that is sure to please lovers of sweets (especially cookies) – the Snickerdoodle Martini.  It also features one of my all-time favorite liquors, RumChata.

Snickerdoodle Martini
adapted from Dawn Nicole
serves 4

cinnamon sugar (I use 8 parts sugar to 1 part cinnamon, some people use 4:1)
honey
12 oz half and half
4 oz RumChata
4 oz vanilla vodka
2 tsp powdered sugar
dash cinnamon

Pour cinnamon sugar onto a small plate, and honey onto another.  Dip the rims of 4 glasses into the honey, then the cinnamon sugar.
In a cocktail shaker, pour remaining ingredients over ice.  Shake until chilled and mixed well.
Divide evenly among cinnamon sugar rimmed glasses and enjoy!

One Year Ago – Apple Galette with Salted Bourbon Caramel
Two Years Ago – Massaged Kale Salad; Broccoli Pesto
Three Years Ago – Mini Pie Party
Four Years Ago – Roasted Salmon with Grapefruit
Five Years Ago – Moussaka

Corn Pudding

Well Dined | Corn Pudding

Corn pudding (or spoonbread) is one of my favorite Thanksgiving sides, and I love this recipe in particular because of how easy it is.  There is a little bit of sauteing involved, but then everything goes into a blender, and then directly into the baking dish – easy.

Well Dined | Corn Pudding

Cream, butter, eggs, corn, sauteed onions, and a bit of flour and sugar – what’s not to love?

Well Dined | Corn Pudding

It is kind of like a corn souffle that’s a little bit sweet, and really buttery.  It’s hot and soft and creamy and kind of melt in your mouth.  I made it for a friend that had never had it before and totally made a believer out of her.  So let’s make this beauty! (more…)

Cherry Amaretto Jam

Well Dined | Cherry Amaretto Jam

Earlier this week, I posted about homemade Seeded Peasant Bread.  Well, what goes better with homemade bread than homemade jam?  This jam, made with Rainier cherries and Amaretto, is the perfect compliment.

Well Dined | Cherry Amaretto Jam

Rainier cherries are so beautifully colored, I just love them.  Start by pitting and chopping (I was lazy and just quartered mine, and the chunks were a bit too large).

Well Dined | Cherry Amaretto Jam

Combine with sugar, bring to a boil, and cook down for a bit. (more…)

Food ‘n Flix: Butter

Well Dined | Food 'n Flix: Butter

I finally got my act together in time to post for Food ‘n Flix, ha!  I really need to work on that!  Anyway, this month’s movie is Butter – hosted by Cheap Ethnic Eats.  This hilarious movie is about wealth, race, privilege, power, family, small town America, and (of course) butter.  I’d seen it before, and enjoyed it so much that I didn’t mind renting it again just to look for food references.  Which, by the way, are few and far between other than the ubiquitous butter.

Well Dined | Country Apple Dumplings

So what was I going to make that would feature butter?  I came up with a few ideas, but I kept circling back to these apple dumplings (even though I’d posted about them before).  They really are perfect for this movie, though – a little bit redneck, totally unhealthy, and drenched in butter.

Well Dined | Country Apple Dumplings

The dumplings are actually really easy to make.  I like them best when they are fresh and the sugar on top is still crunchy, so I tend to make half a recipe one day and the other half the next day – which is why you will only see 4 dumplings in the photos.  Start by peeling and coring an apple, then cutting into 8 slices. (more…)

Food ‘n Flix – Bridesmaids

Bridesmaids-Movie-Poster

This month for Food ‘n Flix our movie is Bridesmaids, hosted by Cheap Ethnic Eatz.  This movie is hysterical, with a lot of heart.  I’ve seen it multiple times and I still lose it during the scene where the main character drives back and forth in her car doing various illegal things to get her cop friend’s attention.

cupcake

Kristen Wiig plays a woman whose bakery fails because of the economy crash.  There is a very memorable scene of her making a gorgeous single cupcake and then chowing down on it.  So I knew that I definitely wanted to do a cupcake for this post.  There is also a lot of drinking in the movie, so I thought – what about a boozy cupcake?  Perfect.

Well Dined | Moscato Cupcakes

I ended up making Moscato Cupcakes with sweet wine in both the cake and the frosting – so good.  Though I made a lot of changes to my inspiration recipe – subbing half melted butter and half coconut oil for vegetable oil, subbing vanilla sugar for regular sugar, and subbing whey (from all that cheesemaking) for buttermilk.  I also made a simple syrup from equal parts moscato and vanilla sugar to brush over the warm cakes to boost the flavor.  And I used half cream cheese and half butter in the frosting (I’m not a big fan of too sweet frosting). (more…)

Brioche French Toast with Bruleed Bananas, Vanilla Cream, and Salted Caramel

Well Dined | Brioche French Toast with Brûléed Bananas, Vanilla Cream, and Salted Caramel

Oh. My. Goodness.  This is the most deliciously decadent thing ever.  I don’t even know whether to call it brunch or dessert, or both.  Buttery brioche french toast, sweet pastry cream made with vanilla bean, and crunchy brûléed bananas topped with a drizzle of salted caramel.  Total epic ridiculousness.

Well Dined | Brioche French Toast with Brûléed Bananas, Vanilla Cream, and Salted Caramel

Step one is to make the vanilla pastry cream.  Bring cream to a simmer with a vanilla bean and then let steep before adding to a mixture of egg yolks, sugar, and flour and cooking until thick and creamy.  It needs to cool completely and then chill, which is why we make it first.

The next step is to make the salted caramel sauce, which is a bit tricky if you have never made one before (I hadn’t).  You have to leave the sugar alone while it melts and colors, and watch carefully for the right moment.  Then you add butter and cream.  The caramel with pop and splutter like crazy, and ball up on the end of your whisk.  You just have to keep whisking over low heat until it all comes together.  Then add in your sea salt and let it cool.

While that is cooling, make your French toast using big, thick slices of brioche (a little stale is better).

Well Dined | Brioche French Toast with Brûléed Bananas, Vanilla Cream, and Salted Caramel

BLOW TORCH TIME.  This is seriously so much fun.  Sprinkle banana slices with sugar and brown with a blow torch.  Easy.  If you don’t have a blow torch, I’m pretty sure that you can use a broiler.

(more…)

Curry Banana Ice Cream

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Curry.  Banana.  Ice Cream.  When I found this recipe, I flipped.  It sounded AMAZING.  One of the best truffles I’ve ever had was a curry banana flavor.

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And there aren’t just plain old bananas in here, either.  No – they are roasted bananas.  And not only that, but roasted with brown sugar and butter.  Is anyone else drooling right now?

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These smell incredible when they come out of the oven, covered in sticky brown sugar goodness.  You scrape all that sweet stuff into a blender with whole milk and your favorite sweet curry powder, then into the ice cream maker – simple as that.  I am seriously in love with this ice cream.

photo

I am also in love with this milkshake that I made with it, chocolate syrup, and Bailey’s.  Boozy milkshake for the win!

Curry Banana Ice Cream
adapted from Scoop Adventures

3 medium-sized ripe bananas, sliced into 1/2 inch pieces
1/3 cup packed light brown sugar
1 tbsp butter, cut into small pieces
1 1/2 cups whole milk
2 tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 tsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
1/4 tsp coarse salt
1 tsp sweet curry powder (I used this one)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Prepare bananas and toss them with the brown sugar and butter in a small (2-quart) baking dish.  Bake for 40 minutes, stirring once during baking, until the bananas are browned and cooked through.

Scrape contents of the dish (bananas and the thick sugar syrup) into a blender or food processor.  Add the milk, sugar, vanilla, lemon juice, salt, and curry powder, and puree until smooth.

Chill mixture thoroughly in the refrigerator (4 hours).  Pour into your ice cream maker and churn according to manufacturer’s instructions.  Transfer to a plastic container, press wax paper onto surface, and freeze until firm (about 4 hours).