Cooking... by the seat of my Pants! » Desserts

Lime Sherbet

Jerry — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 17:33:27 +0000

If you asked me what my favorite ice cream of all time was, my answer might surprise you. Sure, I’m a fan of chocolate and vanilla. I love pralines and creme, chocolate chip cookie dough and moose tracks but my one go-to frozen dessert has always been fruit sherbets and lime is at the top of my favorite list for a long time.

So for the second use of the fabulous ice cream maker attachment my wife bought me for my birthday this year I decided to whip up a batch of Lime Sherbet. The search for a recipe led me to Elle’s new England Kitchen and her recipe for Lemon Lime Crush Sherbet. Just a few modifications to the base sherbet recipe and we were off!

I chose Elle’s recipe because it didn’t sound too sweet and could be adapted to work with what i already had on hand. It was the perfect choice. This sherbet is tart, tangy and wonderfully refreshing. It is now my official go-to recipe for all things sherbet and since it uses equal amounts of milk and cream, can easily be made with half-and-half, which tends to be less expensive.

This recipe was an insane hit with the kids. It makes about 1 quart of sherbet, which is the perfect amount for Dad and three kids at two scoops each. The kids loved it and have already requested more.

They can have it when They can squeeze ten limes, which can be a bit of a tedious process, even with a juicer. I think I burned all of the calories needed to work off the sherbet while I was making it… But it was worth it!

If you’ve been looking for the perfect fruit sherbet base, this is it. My thanks to Elle and her delicious recipe. I’ll be making more sherbets with this base soon.

Very, very soon.

… [visit site to read more]

© Jerry D. Russell and Cooking... by the seat of my Pants!.com, 2010. | Permalink | 4 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Desserts, heavy cream, ice cream, lime, milk, Recipes, sherbert, sherbet

Peanut Butter Ice Cream Recipe

Jerry — Sat, 17 Jul 2010 22:37:58 +0000

It’s summer and it’s hot. In my part of the country this means weeks of 100-plus degree weather. It’s the perfect time for ice cream… And to play with the brand-spanking-new ice cream maker attachment that my wife bought me for my birthday. The timing couldn’t be better.

I searched the bloggosphere for a few days trying to decide what I wanted to make first. I really couldn’t decide if I wanted to make ice cream, sorbet or sherbet and it wasn’t easy narrowing down the choices. There are a ton of great ice cream recipes out there.

Did I want to make this coffee ice cream from Elise at Simply Recipes or should I make David Lebovitz’s Salted Butter Caramel Ice Cream? Was I more in the mood for something lighter like the Very Berry Sherbet from comfy belly or this amazing sounding lime sorbet from Eating Cleveland? This was going to be no easy decision, but a decision had to be made.

One thing that has kept me from diving headlong into making even basic vanilla ice cream is the custard base. It’s time consuming and can be difficult. Custard bases also require a lot of attention, which can be difficult in a house full of rowdy kids and a dog who is usually underfoot.

This fear has been lessened by the discovery of a no cook custard base from Kitchen Mage, but I still wanted to start off with something a little less involved and that’s when I came across the recipe for peanut butter ice cream you see here. Cream, yes! Custard, No. Perfection.

The recipe was a breeze to make, works well and ends up tasting somewhat like peanut butter sugar cookie dough. The peanut flavor is pretty intense, even using bargain brand peanut butter. If you are making ice cream for the first time, this recipe might just be what you’re looking for.

… [visit site to read more]

© Jerry D. Russell and Cooking... by the seat of my Pants!.com, 2010. | Permalink | 8 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Desserts, ice cream, peanut butter, Recipes, summer, sweets

Strawberry Smoothies

Jerry — Wed, 12 May 2010 19:43:57 +0000

The weather here in far Northern California is finally edging to warm and sunny, soon to be followed by blazing hot. Along with the rise in temperature comes a steady decrease in the desire for long cooked, slow braised or even warm foods.

To put it simply, we’re entering the salad, ice cream and smoothie months of the year around here. Milkshakes have replaced cakes, cookies and brownies as the dessert of choice and the kids clamber after the ice cream truck in the afternoons. Summer is coming to the North State and there is just no better afternoon pick-me-up than a frosty glass of silken fruity goodness.

Smoothies are a good way to get more fruit into my kids’ diets as well, since only my youngest will readily choose a banana, apple or any other fruit in favor of something else they probably shouldn’t have been going after. (Dad needs to stop buying that stuff… I need to talk to him about that.)

Most smoothie recipes call for banana, but my kids despise them in their smoothies. This recipe is all about the berries, but without the sweetness of the banana a little sugar may be needed to get the smoothy sweet enough to be drinkable. Fortunately that usually translates to less than they would get in a soda, though this particular batch of berries was pretty tart and required more than usual.

Do you have a favorite smoothie recipe? A favorite flavor combination? Is there something that you add that you don’t let your kids know about? We’d love to know, so drop a comment and let us in on your little tips for healthier snacks.

… [visit site to read more]

© Jerry D. Russell and Cooking... by the seat of my Pants!.com, 2010. | Permalink | 5 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Berries, Desserts, Fruit, Recipes, strawberries, summer, sweets

Strawberry Chocolate and Cheese Parfait

Jerry — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 18:00:00 +0000

Ingredients:

1 cup Strawberries, sliced
1 tbsp Strawberry liqueur
1/2 cup Part-skim ricotta cheese
1-1/2 tsp Each granulated sugar and whipping cream
1/2 ounce Semisweet chocolate chips

Method:

In small mixing bowl combine strawberries and liqueur; set aside. Using a fork, in separate small mixing bowl combine cheese, sugar, and cream; fold in chips. Into each of 2 long-stemmed glasses or individual … [visit site to read more]

© Jerry D. Russell and Cooking... by the seat of my Pants!.com, 2010. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: chocolate, Chocolate Recipes, dessert, Desserts, Fruit, liqueur, parfait, Recipes, strawberries

Lidia Cooks From The Heart Of Italy

Jerry — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 11:25:09 +0000

By Lidia Matticchio Bastianich and Tanya Bastianich Manuali, Author of Lidia Cooks from the Heart of Italy: A Feast of 175 Regional Recipes>

I would like to extend my thanks to Caitlin Price of FSB Associates for making this … [visit site to read more]

© Jerry D. Russell and Cooking... by the seat of my Pants!.com, 2010. | Permalink | 2 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: cavatelli, Desserts, Italian, News and Reviews, Pasta, Recipes, sweets

Chocolate Vanilla Chip Biscotti

Jerry — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 18:00:00 +0000

Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups All-purpose flour

1/3 cup Unsweetened cocoa powder

3 tsp Baking powder

1/2 cup Sugar

1/2 cup Brown sugar; packed

1/4 cup Margarine or butter; softened

3 Eggs

1 cup White vanilla chips

Method:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Spray 1 large or 2 small cookie sheets with nonstick cooking spray. Lightly spoon flour into measuring cup; level off. In med … [visit site to read more]

© Jerry D. Russell and Cooking... by the seat of my Pants!.com, 2010. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: biscotti, chocola, Chocolate Recipes, cocoa, Cookies, Desserts, sweets

Foodbuzz 24, 24, 24: A Dickens of a Christmas Dinner

Jerry — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 02:52:53 +0000

If there is one Christmas dinner that springs to mind before any other in the collective consciousness of the people of several continents, it has to be the dinner shared on Christmas Day by the Cratchit Family in the classic novel “A Christmas Carol” by none other than the great Charles Dickens. This meal embodies the spirit of Christmas more than any other in literary history, as does the tale itself. This year thanks to the kind folks at foodbuzz, I had the honor and privilege of recreating this meal and sharing it with all of you.

This post really should be entitled “The Cratchits’ Christmas Dinner”, as it is as faithful a reproduction of the meal shared by the Cratchit family as is possible given my local resources and interpretation of the original manuscript. Unfortunately, Mr. Dickens himself used that title when portions of “A Christmas Carol” was republished as short stories and so I chose not to steal his words for my own use. It could also have been titled “A comedy of errors and disappointments that really didn’t turn out disappointingly at all”, but that would have been rather long and drawn out, don’t you think?

Having said all that and given proper thanks to the folks that gifted me with the opportunity to try my hand at the single most iconic meal in the annals of Christmas itself, I’ll get into the meat of the thing, so to speak. Please follow along with me as I follow in the tradition of Mr. Dickens and the Cratchits themselves. The story is full of twists and turns, a bit of drama and sorrow, but in the end, It turns out that I really do find the Christmas spirit in my heart (and a bottle or two), so the story does in fact have a happy ending.

… [visit site to read more]

© Jerry D. Russell and Cooking... by the seat of my Pants!.com, 2009. | Permalink | 21 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Charles Dickens, christmas, Desserts, Dickens, Geese, Goose, Holiday, Holiday-Recipes, pudding, Recipes, Tiny tim

Cranberry Orange Chocolate Chip Cookies

Jerry — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 23:37:37 +0000

‘Tis the season once again. with that comes the call for cookies, candies and other sweets to thrill and delight both young and old. (And not-so-old, as well.) This year I’m trying to focus on the flavors of the season with a highlight on seasonal fruits, berries nuts and whatever else I can find that fits well with winter fare. These cookies fit the bill for all of these things.

Cranberries are everywhere at this time of year, both in their plump and tart ripe state and in their dried form. It was the latter that inspired me to make this recipe, which is adapted from one I found at Baking Bites and yet another I found somewhere else, but can’t remember at the moment.

These may not be traditional Christmas cookies for most people, but I think for my family they have just found a permanent place on my “must bake for the Holidays” list, along with my Aunt Thelma’s Tea cookies and my mothers peanut butter cookies. they are crisp, light, pack a ton of flavor into every bite and were adored by my kids (and the neighbor’s kids). Anything that gets the whole family rummaging at the cookie jar is a surefire winner for me, especially when the batch makes 48, so there is no need to double the recipe.

C’mon, put a little seasonal love in your holiday baking. make these cookies. Do it now! I’ll continue when you get back…

… [visit site to read more]

© Jerry D. Russell and Cooking... by the seat of my Pants!.com, 2009. | Permalink | 7 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: christmas, Cookies, Desserts, Holiday-Recipes, Recipes, sweets

Curried Salt-Roasted Peanuts

Jerry — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 00:36:38 +0000

The holidays always bring about the need for great main courses, lavish tables and … Snacks. Lots of snacks. While there are hundreds that can be made to please the kiddies and the less adventurous in the house, there will always be a few people hoping to find something just a bit different to nosh on while the family meal is being prepared, or afterward while friends and family reminisce about the year past and tales of childhood.

This year I also had to consider snacks that would ship well so that I could send them off to my lovely wife in Turkey. One obvious option was Tea Cookies, and we did make a batch or two of those to send her way, but one of my fondest food memories with her was her reaction to the Spicy Salt-Roasted Peanuts we made around Valentine’s day last year. she could not stop eating these delectable little morsels, though she complained mightily about it. They were the perfect choice.

The thing is, I hate predictability. I wanted to add a twist to the nuts she already knew and loved to go along with the ones she remembered. Since Curry is a very large part of the rub I use on our Thanksgiving and Christmas birds, I thought that it would be an appropriate choice… I was right. These are amazing.

Thanks again to David Lebovitz, from which the inspiration for this recipe belongs.

… [visit site to read more]

© Jerry D. Russell and Cooking... by the seat of my Pants!.com, 2009. | Permalink | 3 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: curry, Desserts, peanuts, Recipes, snacks, spice

Honey Walnut Baked Apples

Jerry — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 20:15:54 +0000

Recipe ideas can come from anywhere. This post is proof of that. The idea for baked apples was driven into both my head and that of my oldest son one afternoon during an episode of “Little Bear” that the youngest was watching on NickJr. It only took one mention of honey baked apples to have us both drooling over the concept.

Luckily for us, Fall is upon us and with it are apples. The stores are overflowing with fresh, delicious apples of every variety, shape and color, all perfectly ripe and in-season, so getting the right ingredients was no chore at all. The only difficulty was in coring the apples… Or it would have been, if I hadn’t had two very eager kids helping me with it.

So here I present to you the new favorite dessert in the Russell household. A dish that has been given nods of approval from all but my youngest, the nuggetarian. (I couldn’t get him to try it. Had he done so, I’m sure he would like it as well.) It’s cold outside folks. Isn’t this the perfect way to end a long day? Just this and a Muscatto and all is well.

… [visit site to read more]

© Jerry D. Russell and Cooking... by the seat of my Pants!.com, 2009. | Permalink | 8 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: apples, baking, Desserts, Nuts, Recipes, sweets, Vegetarian