Jul 23, 2015 | Baking, Desserts, Recipes, Sweets
Click here for a FREE copy of the "Top 10 MUST-HAVE Kitchen Gadgets" A couple weeks ago my 6-year old daughter came to me and said she wanted to invent a recipe. This was music to my ears, of course, and I asked her what she wanted to make. Without missing a beat she said, “Cinnamon Chocolate S’mores Cookies!” She has a sweet tooth just like her mommy. 🙂 She asked if anyone had invented this yet, and I didn’t have the heart to tell her that if she went on Pinterest she could probably find page after page after page of S’mores cookie recipes, so I did what good mothers do and I lied straight to her sweet little face. That weekend we went to the store and bought the ingredients for your basic chocolate chip cookies plus cinnamon graham crackers and marshmallows. It took a couple of attempts to nail down the right amount of graham crackers for the recipe. Add too much and the texture is dry and has a sandpaper’ish quality. Add too little and you can’t taste them. Finally, on the third try we nailed it! Fear not – no cookies went to waste in this experiment. Even when cookies are bad, they’re still pretty amazing! Click here for a FREE copy of the "Top 10 MUST-HAVE Kitchen Gadgets" So now you can have the flavors of s’mores without bathing in the stink of a campfire. Enjoy! S'Mores Cookies Save Print Prep time 15 mins Cook time 12 mins Total time 27 mins Author: The Krave Ingredients 1¾ cup all-purpose flour ¾ cup...
Jul 2, 2015 | Appetizers and Snacks, Desserts, Healthy, Holidays, Quick and Easy, Recipes, Sweets
Without question the 4th of July is my favorite holiday of the year. It’s not as hectic or expensive as Christmas; it’s not as much travel or work as Thanksgiving; and the weather is way better than Halloween. It represents everything that’s great about the laid back vibe of summer. A long weekend of picnics, pool time, carnivals, parades, time with friends and family and, of course, fireworks! Here is a festive, 4th of July-inspired fruit salad with a fun twist. Make a simple syrup (it really couldn’t be simpler, I promise!) with water, sugar and fresh ginger to add a little something special to your typical fruit salad. This recipe gets into the theme by using red strawberries, watermelon, and blueberries but you can use most any fruit you have on hand. Nectarines, pineapple, and mango would work well, too. Be sure to let the syrup cool completely before adding it to the fruit and the longer the fruit marinates in the syrup, the tastier it gets so this is a great make-ahead dish to take to your 4th of July parties. Mixed Berries with Ginger Syrup Save Print Prep time 15 mins Cook time 5 mins Total time 20 mins Author: The Krave Ingredients ½ cup granulated sugar 1 cup water 1 2" piece fresh ginger, peeled ¼ watermelon, cut into ½" cubes 3 cups strawberries, hulled and halved 1 pint blueberries Fresh mint Instructions Place sugar, water, and ginger in a small saucepan and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer for 5 minutes. Turn off the heat, discard the ginger...
May 20, 2015 | Baking, Recipes, Sweets
If you’ve visited your local farmer’s market in the last week or so, you’ve probably noticed strawberries, blueberries and rhubarb are making a much welcomed appearance. Take advantage of the season and make the lazy cook’s favorite dessert – a fruit crisp! A crisp is rustic, unfussy and highly adaptable to whatever fresh or frozen fruit you like. Don’t have blueberries? Use raspberries instead. Don’t care for rhubarb? Substitute peaches or plums. Simply combine the fruit with some sugar (this is especially important when using tart fruit like rhubarb), mix in a little cornstarch to thicken the juice, top with an oatmeal-sugar topping and bake until bubbly. Wah-lah! Easy as…well, easy as a crisp! If you don’t have a cast-iron skillet you can make this in a 9×13-inch baking dish. You can choose how much of the crisp topping to use – I use all of it because I like a high crisp to fruit ratio – but you can use less if you prefer. Any unused crisp topping will keep refrigerated for up to 10 days. And don’t forget, the only thing better than a warm Strawberry Blueberry Rhubarb Skillet Crisp, is a warm homemade fruit crisp with vanilla ice cream. 🙂 Strawberry-Blueberry-Rhubarb-Skillet Crisp Save Print Prep time 15 mins Cook time 45 mins Total time 1 hour Author: The Krave Serves: 6-8 Ingredients ½ cup unbleached flour ½ cup packed light brown sugar ½ stick (4 tablespoons) cold unsalted butter, cut into ¼-inch cubes ¼ cup rolled oats ¼ cup walnuts or pecans, roughly chopped 1½ pints blueberries 3 cups strawberries, hulled and halved...
Apr 14, 2015 | Baking, Sweets
Remember my last post when I said it was time to step away from the cheesecake and brownies and get back to quinoa and couscous? Um, well….the idea for this apple crostata with salted caramel and fresh whipped cream popped into my brain and I was powerless to resist. Hey, it has fruit so it’s kinda healthy, right? Let’s go with that. This apple crostata is deceptively simple to make and it tastes even better than it looks. Everything about it screams homey…comfort food…Americana. I just love this dessert so, so much. The imperfect crust and it’s rustic appeal is right up my alley and I think you’ll love it too. Your house will smell like warm apples and cinnamon for hours after you pull this out of the oven. I like to buy good-quality salted caramel, but you can certainly make it from scratch if you’re so inclined. If you’ve never made fresh whipped cream, please try it. It is leaps and bounds better than anything you’ll find in a can or a tub and it’s so easy to make from scratch. Remember to sign up to receive new posts straight to your inbox and if you make one of my dishes I’d love to see a picture on Facebook or Instagram! Apple and Salted Caramel Crostata Save Print Prep time 30 mins Cook time 40 mins Total time 1 hour 10 mins Special equipment: Food processor Parchment paper Handheld or stand mixer Author: Jennie Serves: 8 Ingredients Dough 1½ cups all-purpose flour 2 tablespoons sugar ½ teaspoon salt 10 tablespoons (1¼ sticks) very cold, unsalted butter, cut into...
Feb 12, 2015 | Baking, Breakfast, Recipes, Sweets
Think about that for a minute……Waffle. Brownie. Oh. My. Gawd. Yes! Yes! Yes! Where have you been all my life? The idea came to me last week at work and I thought it was so creative and brilliant. Until I went to Pinterest and quickly discovered I was not in fact the first person to think of this. Apparently there are no original ideas left but whatever….it’s a great idea and it tasted ah-mazing! If you have kids, this would be a really fun thing to do with them. I plan on making these with my daughter for dessert on Valentine’s Day. I kept it super simple and used Ghiradelli brownie mix instead of making the brownies from scratch. I did however make the whipped cream from scratch. It’s so easy and soooooo much better than the stuff in the can or the tub. The three most important things to remember when making these are: *Generously coat the waffle iron with butter or cooking spray – whatever your waffle iron manufacturer recommends – to make sure the brownies don’t stick. *Don’t overfill the waffle iron – if the batter overflows from the waffle iron it will make a huge mess and it’s really hard to get the waffle out of the iron in one piece. *Let the brownie cool almost completely before removing it from the waffle iron – the first time I tried this I opened the iron too soon and the brownie crumbled and completely fell apart. Be patient, let it cool and then remove it from the iron. Waffle Brownies Save Print Prep time 10...
