I think everyone has had some version of the acclaimed Better-than-$&# cake.  In my family, we innocently call it Heath Bar Cake but the result is the same – decadent, moist, fudgy deliciousness with a pillow of whipped topping and covered in crunchy bits.  This is the Ultimate dessert, and for good reason, just check out the ingredients! Absolutely no health benefits here, this is pure indulgence.

I changed up the recipe slightly for some holiday festivity, using the Betty Crocker Chocolate Fudge boxed cake (the original uses Devil’s Food) and some peppermint bark from Trader Joe’s (the original is crushed up Heath bars).  I might prefer the original just for nostalgia’s sake, but this is definitely a fun and festive variation!

Ingredients:

• 1 box of Betty Crocker Chocolate Fudge Cake mix
• 1 can sweetened, condensed milk
• 1 jar Mrs. Richardson’s hot fudge
• 1 tub Cool Whip
• 6-8 ounces Peppermint Bark, like Trader Joe’s, coarsely chopped

Directions:

Bake chocolate cake according to box instructions. Allow to cool, slightly.

Using back end of a wooden spoon, poke holes through the cake.

Pour consdensed milk over top of cake, making sure milk gets down into poked holes.  Wait a few minutes until condensed milk is absorbed.

Warm up your hot fudge to a spreadable consistency, then pour over top of cake.  I like to then tap the pan against a kitchen towel on the counter to encourage the fudge to run down into the holes.

Refrigerate fudge-topped cake overnight for best results.

The next day, top cake with Cool Whip (that you shave stored in the fridge, not the freezer, otherwise you have to thaw and final consistency can be too wet, just ask me how I know) and sprinkle chopped peppermint bark pieces on top.

Don’t be a grinch now, share!

My favorite pancakes to order out are not from Clinton Street Baking Co, Sarabeth’s, or any other famous NYC breakfast spot. They’re from — wait for it —  IHOP.  Their Harvest Grain & Nut pancakes have a wonderfully hearty texture and nutty flavor that I simply crave.

Enter epicurious.com. I found a recipe for a toasted walnut and buttermilk pancake that got rave reviews and sounded like a good base to start with.  Because I like my pancakes a little heartier and nutritious, as well as delicious, I subbed half the flour with almond meal, used honey instead of granulated sugar, and added some wheat bran to the batter for fiber.  To take these golden beauties to another level, I added the zest of an orange for a lovely, bright contrast. Needless to say, these savory delights may be my leisurely, Sunday breakfast-at-home staple from now on!

yield: Makes about five 5-inch pancakes, serving 2

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup almond meal
• 1 tablespoon wheat bran
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 cup walnuts, lightly toasted and finely chopped
• 1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons buttermilk
• 1 large egg
• 1 tablespoon honey (or you can use agave syrup)
• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter, melted
• zest of one medium orange
• cooking spray

I love to entertain.  Over time, I’ve found the more gatherings you host, the better you get in terms of time management.  Like the best known entertainers will tell you, you host events to spend time with your guests…and how much time are you spending with them if you are constantly in the kitchen?

St. Patrick’s Day gatherings at our house have become a yearly thing.  Luckily, the food is so easy to prepare, and so naturally flavorful and good that getting an algorithm down for preparation isn’t half bad.  It is a meal that is a good place to start if you are just getting into entertaining.

My usual menu goes a little something like this:

Appetizers

• Cheese plate with crackers/fruit
• Pretzels with a fun mustard
• Crudites with some type of dip

*I always try to stick with a theme when entertaining.  For St. Patrick’s Day, I’ll typically pick up an Irish Cheddar, a stout infused cheese and something like an English Cotswold or an Apricot Stilton or some other fun variety.  For veggies and fruit, I choose what I serve using yellow, green and white as my color palette.

Main meal

• Corned beef and cabbage (and carrots and red potatoes)
• Irish Soda Bread
• Salad of mache, crisp green beans and tomatoes with a white wine-whole grain mustard dressing

*I find that the traditional corned beef in a bag that you get from your grocer is sufficiently delicious for this meal. It is so easy to not have to worry about brining and seasoning…it always comes out great!  So, to amp up the foodie factor, I spend time making my own bread and a nice salad.

Dessert

• Rich chocolate stout cake with a ganache drizzle and french vanilla ice cream
• Coffee and Bailey’s

* This meal is so rustic and simple, it almost demands a decadent dessert for a strong finish! A great way to round out a fabulous meal.

The key to a smooth evening is prep earlier in the week.  Cut your veggies (cabbage into quarters, red potatoes halved or quartered , depending on size and carrots peeled and chunked for your CB&C and slice your crudites for appetizers) 1-2 days ahead of time and put them in easy to grab ziploc bags or reusable containers.

I love to add blanched green beans to a simple mache and heirloom tomato salad with mustard dressing – blanch your green beans ahead of time, slice your tomatoes and make your salad dressing early.

One thing I love to do, since a cheese plate is always a staple, is cut the label from a cheese wrapper and affix it with scotch tape to a simple toothpick.  Trader Joe’s has a great cheese selection and particularly cute labels, so it is identification and cute decoration, all-in-one!  Place unwrapped cheeses in a reusable container, ready to plate!

If making Irish soda bread the day of (which should definitely be eaten right out of the oven!), get your wet/dry ingredients portioned out in mixing bowls and cover in plastic wrap so they are ready to go. I typically pop my unbaked loaf into the oven just after guests arrive as it takes a little over an hour to bake.  Nothing better than the smell of fresh baking bread! And don’t forget to take some butter out of the fridge the morning of to allow to soften for serving.

Clear out one shelf in your fridge and stick everything for that day there, so you don’t have to search for things.

Plan out what servingware you’ll use, pre-wash them, and set them out how you want them arranged the night before.

Iron your fabric napkins and polish your silverware and glassware with a clean cloth.

And most importantly, have a great time and enjoy your guests the day of!  Happy Entertaining!

I.LOVE.PERSIMMONS. What’s not to love about the crisp, vibrantly orange, lightly spicy-sweet fruit? It wasn’t so long ago that I didn’t understand why you would choose a strange piece of fruit after Thanksgiving dinner over traditional desserts like pumpkin pie and ambrosia (alright, alright, I probably don’t ‘choose’ so much as make room for both or all).  My uncle always has a plate of fresh Fuys out and, one year, they just looked so perfectly plump and pretty that I had to try one…and I’m so glad I did!

Now, I always look for them in the fall and buy them in numbers. Usually, I’m the only one in my household eating them and this year I actually let a few get <gasp!> overripe.  What’s a girl to do with overripe fuyus?  Same thing you do with bananas – bake ’em up! Perusing the web, I came across this lovely photographic blog and a persimmon cookie recipe that sounded pretty tasty and decided to give it a whirl (literally!). The original recipe  (and most persimmon baking recipes) calls for Hachiyas but the Fuyus worked out great; whichever variety you choose, just make sure the persimmon is so ripe that the skin is almost translucent and bursting at the seams. The flavor and texture of the finished cookie reminds me of fall with flavors very similar to pumpkin spice.  Tasty little guys either on their own or with ice cream…butter pecan, anyone? 

Persimmon Cookies

• 1 cup persimmon puree (about 3 persimmons)
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon grated orange rind
• 1 large egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon cloves
• 1 cup walnuts, finely chopped
• 1/2 cup dried cranberries

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper.

For the persimmon puree, remove the stems from the persimmons and cut the fruit into chunks. Puree the chunks in a food processor until the mixture is smooth. Use a sieve to strain pulp  and remove skins.

Cream the butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Mix in the the orange rind, egg, vanilla, and persimmon pulp.

In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves.  Add flour mixture to wet ingredients in 2-3 batches, mixing until just incorporated. Stir in the walnuts and cranberries.

Drop the dough, using a small ice cream scoop onto the prepared cookie sheets.

Bake cookies for 20 minutes, depending on the size, rotating pan halfway though.  Allow to cool and enjoy!

Ingredients

• 1/4 c almond meal, for dredging
• 1 pound boneless lean beef stew meat, trimmed of visible fat and cut into 1 1/2-inch cubes
• 2 tablespoons olive oil or canola oil
• 1 fennel bulb, trimmed and thinly sliced vertically
• 2 large shallots, chopped
• 1/2 large onion, cut into thin wedges
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 3/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 2 fresh thyme sprigs
• 1 bay leaf
• 3 cups low-sodium vegetable broth
• 1/2 cup red wine
• 4 large carrots, cut into 1-inch chunks
• 1 bunch swiss chard, stalk removed, leaves torn
• 1 container crimini mushrooms, quartered
• 1/3 cup finely chopped fresh flat-leaf (Italian) parsley

Directions

1. Place the almond meal on a plate. Dredge the beef cubes in the almond meal. In a large Dutch oven, heat the oil over medium heat. Add the beef and cook, turning as needed, until browned on all sides, about 5 minutes. Remove the beef from the pan with a slotted spoon and set aside. If using almond meal instead of flour, you’ll want to scrape the almond meal from the bottom of the pan before proceeding or it will burn (absolute blasphemy to throw away the browned bits, I know! To avoid this, just use flour).

   

2. Add the fennel, onion and shallots to the pan over medium heat and saute until softened and lightly golden, 7 to 8 minutes. Add 1/2 teaspoon of the salt, 1/4 teaspoon of the pepper, the thyme sprigs and the bay leaf.

   

   Saute for 1 minute. Return the beef to the pan and add the vegetable stock and the wine, if using. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to low, cover and simmer gently until the meat is tender, ~45 minutes.

3. Add the carrots and mushrooms. The liquid will not cover the vegetables completely, but more liquid will accumulate as the mushrooms soften. Simmer gently until the vegetables are tender, about 25 minutes longer. Add the swiss chard and simmer for 5-10 minutes, until wilted.  Discard the thyme sprigs and bay leaf. Stir in the parsley and the remaining 1 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper. Ladle into warmed individual bowls and serve immediately.

   

Last Halloween, my husband and I hosted a themed dinner party, with a menu full of rich foods like aged french mimolette cheese, lemon-mascarpone stuffed dates wrapped in prociutto, and lacquered short ribs.  For dessert, I wanted to finish with something a bit lighter and more refreshing, and opted for gingerbread cookie ice cream sandwiches, filled with smooth and delectable Dreyer’s Pumpkin Ice Cream. This year, since the pumpkin-gingerbread combo was so delightful, I’ve scoured my cookbooks and favorite websites to put together this gingerbread cupcake with pumpkin cream cheese frosting.

This recipe is not for the faint of heart – the flavors in this cupcake are strong and decadent.  If you prefer something a bit more mild in terms of molasses, or maybe you’re a busy mom and want something a little easier, try Trader Joe’s boxed Gingerbread Mix and top with the same pumpkin cream cheese frosting.  Most of these ingredients were purchased at Trader Joe’s, which makes for nice, one-stop shopping! Enjoy!

Chocolate Gingerbread Cupcakes (a combination recipe adapted from Moosewood Restaurant Book of Desserts and Martha Stewart’s Cookies):

makes 12 cupcakes

Ingredients:

• 1/4 c pumpkin puree
• 1/2 c sugar
• 1/2 c unsulphured molasses
• 1 large egg
• 1 TB freshly grated ginger
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 1/4 tsp ground ginger
• 1/2 tsp ground allspice
• 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1 1/4 c unbleached flour
• 1 TB unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 c boiling water
• about 6 oz dark chocolate, cut into 1/4 inch chunks

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350.  Line muffin pan with paper liners.
2. In a bowl, combine flour, ground ginger, cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg and cocoa powder.

   

3. In an electric mixer, beat pumpkin puree, sugar and fresh ginger until well incorporated.  Add molasses and egg and beat until smooth.
4. In a separate cup, dissolve the baking soda in the boiling water.
5. Add half of flour mixture to mixer, mixing just until combined. Beat in baking soda mixture, then finish with the other half of the flour mixture. Stir in chocolate pieces.

   

6. Use scoop to portion batter into cupcake liners.  Bake for about 20 minutes, rotating once, until the cupcakes are slightly springy to the touch.  Cool for 3 minutes in the muffin pan, then transfer cupcakes to a cooling rack.

Note: the original Moosewood recipe calls for 1/4 c of butter, which I completely omitted and substituted canned pumpkin for in an attempt at a slightly healthier version.  You don’t miss the butter at all, and the canned pumpkin really keeps things moist.

Pumpkin Cream Cheese Frosting:

Ingredients:

• 8 ounces cream cheese, cold
• 5 TB Trader Joe’s Pumpkin Butter
• 1 TB softened butter
• 2 1/2 cups powdered sugar, sifted (measure, then sift into bowl)

Directions:

1. Have the cream cheese cold. In a medium bowl, beat cream cheese, pumpkin butter, and regular butter until blended. Add sugar 1/2 cup at a time and beat just until smooth and the desired consistency. If frosting is too stiff, beat for few seconds longer. Do not overbeat.

   

2. To finish, use a piping bag to frost cupcakes.

My recent book club read, Daughter of Fortune by Isabel Allende, inspired me to host a themed book club last month.  Set in the mid 19th century, it is the story of a young Chilean girl, Eliza Sommers, who is raised by a well-to-do British family in Valparaiso, Chile.  At 16, Eliza finds her first love in Joaquin Andieta, a young man who, like many Chileans at the time, takes off to California to seek his fortune in the gold rush.  Months later, Eliza follows him, and in an elusive search for her lover, embarks upon a journey of self-discovery.

This novel is full of inspiration when it comes to hosting a themed book club evening.  There are many images and elements from the story to draw upon: Chile itself, the Victorian clothing of the period which incorporated lace, gold to symbolize the Gold Rush, luxuries to Chileans at the time, including chocolate, and the fact that our heroine is an incredible chef and baker and resourcefully makes empanadas while in California as a means to a living.

For our meeting, I served Chilean wine, empanadas, and an olive and spanish cheese plate with marcona almonds and black grapes.  We finished the evening with Martha’s devil’s food chocolate cupcakes with a velvety smooth dark chocolate ganache frosting. While the idea of topping my cupcakes with a sprinkle of edible gold leaf was divine, the $28 price tag from Sur la Table didn’t make it thriftycrafter friendly, so I had to omit it!

Gold chargers, crisp white plates and black lace adornments decorated the table and super easy to make hand-fashioned wine charms (this is, after all, a wine, er, book club!), marked our glasses. Finally, I made a simple garland out of leftover gold Christmas ribbon and white paper doilies from the Dollar Tree.  Thanks to apartmenttherapy.com for the inspiration!

First, the crafts!

Wine Charms

Here’s what you need:

• cardstock
• eyelet stickers (alternatively, you could use a stamp or these great rub-ons from Paper Source)
• compass with pencil
• scissors
• hammer, nail and wooden block
• jewelry ear wires
• gel pen or other marker for writing

Here’s what you do:

1. Use your compass to create circles on cardstock.  I made mine with a radius of 5/8 of an inch.

   

2. Cut out circles and adhere lace stickers to cover just more than half of the circle.

   

3. Cut excess edge of sticker and write your characters’ names below the arc.

   

4. Use hammer, nail and wooden block to pierce tag where you want your ring to go.

   

5. Use wire bending tool to bend end portion of your hoop up to create lock and feed through hole in tag.

   

Cost: less than $5!

Doily Garland

Here’s what you need:

• paper doily pack
• stitch witchery
• iron and ironing board
• 1/2 inch width ribbon or thicker
• scissors or Fiskars paper trimmer

Here’s what you do:

1. Use scissors or paper trimmer to cut doilies in half.

   

2. Rip stitch witchery in pieces that measure the diameter of your doily, place between the ribbon and doily, and use iron on low setting to adhere.

   

3. Repeat until desired length of garland is achieved!

Cost: less than $3!

Adorned Cake Plate

Here’s what you need:

• cake plate
• strip of lace, in the measured circumference of your cake platter
• Zots

Here’s what you do:

1. Adhere Zots to cake plate rim every 1.5-2 inches.

   

2. Starting with one end of your strip of lace, press lace against zots, keeping correct amount of slack, until lace band encircles your platter.

Cost: less than $5!

Now, onto the food!

I used an empanada dough recipe found on Epicurious.com for my mini empanaditas, a beef filling recipe from Susan Feniger (of Border Grill and Ciudad fame) and a pork filling recipe from Food & Wine Magazine.

Empanada Dough:

Doubling the recipe made just under 4 dozen 3.5 inch empanaditas

Beef Filling:

Makes enough for 4 dozen mini empanadas (I halved the recipe to make two dozen)

• 1 pound lean ground beef
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1/3 cup toasted almonds coarsely chopped
• 1/3 cup dark raisins
• 8 Italian Roma tomatoes
• 3 serrano chilies
• Juice of 2 limes
• 1 1/2 teaspoons sea salt
• 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/8 teaspoon cinnamon
• Sea salt, to taste
• Freshly ground black pepper, to taste

1. In a large heavy skillet, over a medium high heat, saute the ground beef until the meat is browned, about 6 to 8 minutes. Drain off the excess fat.
2. Add the onion and saute 2 minutes. Then add the garlic, almonds, and raisins, and saute 1 minute.
3. Place the tomatoes, chilies, lime juice, salt, and pepper in a blender and puree until smooth.
4. Add the puree, cumin, cloves, cinnamon and salt and pepper to the skillet and cook for about 5 minutes to get rid of any excess liquid. Cool.
5. Place a spoonful of filling in the center of each circle of pastry. Fold over the pastry and seal the edges. Let the empanadas rest in the refrigerator 1/2 hour or freeze immediately. (Bake the frozen empanadas without defrosting.)
6. Empanadas may be glazed (1 egg and 2 tablespoons milk, well beaten) and baked until golden in a 400 degree oven, for about 15 minutes.

Pork Filling:

Makes enough for 4 dozen mini empanadas (I halved the recipe to make two dozen)

• 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 large white onion, very finely chopped
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1 1/4 pounds pork tenderloin, finely chopped
• Salt and freshly ground pepper
• 1/2 cup amber beer
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 1 1/2 teaspoons paprika
• 1 teaspoon Chinese chile-garlic paste or sambal oelek
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/2 jalapeño, seeded and very finely chopped
• 3 hard-cooked eggs, coarsely chopped
• 6 pitted kalamata olives, thinly sliced
• 1 tablespoon golden raisins

1. In a medium skillet, melt 1 tablespoon of the butter in 1 tablespoon of the olive oil. Add the onion and cook over moderate heat, stirring occasionally, until softened and starting to brown, about 10 minutes. Stir in the sugar and cook, stirring occasionally, until the onion is browned, about 8 minutes longer.
2. Meanwhile in a large skillet, melt the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter in the remaining 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Add the chopped pork, season with salt and pepper and cook over high heat until the pork is golden brown on the bottom, about 4 minutes. Stir and cook until no pink remains, about 3 minutes longer. Stir in the browned onions, beer, soy sauce, paprika, chile paste, cumin and jalapeño and cook for 1 minute. Transfer the filling to a large bowl. Stir in the hard-cooked eggs, olives and raisins and season with salt and pepper.
3. Preheat the oven to 350°.
4. Brush the empanadas with the egg wash. Bake them for about 20 minutes, rotating the baking sheets halfway through, until the empanadas are golden brown, then serve.

While I try not to bake too much for the two of us anymore, I do enjoy the process of it and recently made a coffee cake for my inlaws as a thank you (or a bribe!) for dogsitting for us while we were out of town.  Since I had the almond meal, I thought it would be a perfect way to 1.) try out a new use for it and 2.) get at least some nutrition into my thank you gift.

Adapted from the Moosewood Restaurant Book of Desserts, this sour cream coffeecake uses almond meal to replace a third of the flour in the original recipe, giving it a moist, nutty texture.  You generally should only replace up to half of the flour in a baking recipe with almond meal if you want your product to hold together.  The inside did slightly crumble when cut into, so you could tweak the recipe and only replace a fourth of the flour with almond meal and see if it holds together better.  It was still pretty delicious, though.  Next time, I may also try whole wheat flour, just for the extra fiber and nutritional benefit.

Ingredients:

• 1 c butter, room temperature
• 1.5 c  sugar, plus one TB
• 2 large eggs
• 3/4 c light sour cream
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp baking power
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 1/3 c all purpose flour
• 2/3 c almond meal
• 1 c pecans, toasted
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350.  Butter and flour the bundt pan.
2. Cream the butter with 1 1/2 c of sugar.  Beat in the eggs, one at a time, until thoroughly blended.  Stir in the vanilla and beat in the sour cream.
3. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, almond meal, baking power, baking soda and salt. Add flour mixture to wet ingredients in 3 equal portions, making sure each addition is fully incorporated before adding the next.

   

4. Toast your pecans until fragrant, let cool.  Coarsely chop and toss with 1 TB sugar and the cinnamon.
5. Spoon half of the batter into your prepared bundt pan.  Sprinkle all of the nut mixture evenly over the batter in the pan.

   

6. Spoon the rest of the batter into the pan and bake the coffeecake until a skewer inserted in the center comes out clean, about 50 minutes.  Cool the pan on a wire rack and turn it out onto a plate after 10 minutes.  Serve warm or at room temperature.

A few years back, I purchased a copy of The New Mayo Clinic Cookbook and have had great success with many of the recipes.  One of my absolute favorites and go-to meals for midweek is the Seared Salmon with Cilantro-Cucumber Salsa.  The addition of red pepper flakes and a hint of sweetener to the bright and crunchy vegetable salsa gives this dish a  sultry heat that marries well with the rich, velvety salmon. As we all know, salmon is full of those fabulous omega-3 essential fatty acids, which are so important in helping to reduce inflammation throughout the body and lowering our risk for heart disease.  So eat up!

While this recipe is perfection in its unaltered form, my husband and I recently embarked on a new way of eating, which incorporates leans meats, lots of veggies and other foods and ingredients that have a low glycemic index.  In order to adapt this recipe to our new diet, I replaced the honey with raw agave syrup (easily found at Trader Joe’s), used red bell peppers instead of tomatoes, as tomatoes are technically a fruit, which we limit our intake of, and increased the proportion of “salsa” as it counts as our veggies.

For more information on our diet, please visit Dr. Gundry’s Diet Evolution and also my girlfriend’s excellent blog with loads of information and recipe ideas.  And, no, this doesn’t mean I’m never making or eating cupcakes and treats again….just not as frequently!

Ingredients (original recipe found here):