I made some apple crisp the other day and I had just a little leftover. I was going to eat it, as is, but it would have been a pretty small serving. Looking in the fridge, I was inspired! I always have plain Greek yogurt because I like to make berry smoothies - I make a double batch, pour a glass for myself, then freeze the rest so I have some froyo later. I had that in mind when I decided to make these frozen yogurt pops!
Really, I think it'd be delicious with just about any kind of sweet pie (if you want to make yourself savoury, meat pie yogurt pops, you go right ahead!) and you can come up with a plethora of delicious liquors to put in them!
The punk rock stylings of Street Dogs with "I Got Drunk". -jen
LIQUORED UP LEFTOVER PIE POPS
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Difficulty: Easy
I used a stick blender with mine
Makes: about 2 cups - I got 4 pops out of them
1 cup plain Greek yogurt
1 cup of leftover pie (about 1 slice)
1 shot of alcohol (or a 50ml bottle) - I recommend Piehole's Pecan Pie Whiskey
1 teaspoon vanilla
sugar if desired
Using a blender, combine all of the ingredients. (I like to leave a little bit of chunky pie bits in there instead of blending it completely smooth.) Taste mixture. You may need to add some sugar, depending on how sweet your pie and/or liquor are.
Pour into pop molds and freeze for several hours. If you don't have pop molds, just use a cup and stick a straw in it for a handle. You can get all MacGyver if you need to!
Several years ago while spending Christmas in Phoenix, we'd tried a homemade alcoholic apple beverage that we all decided to call "hooch" for lack of knowing what it was or how it was made - it was just gifted to someone. Everyone at the house loved it and we went home, determined to figure out something comparable!
So we came up with this recipe... and it's awesome! I'm not really an alcohol drinker myself, but I can get behind this hooch! Last year, we made a big batch and gifted them out. This year, we've made a big batch already... and gone through 3 bottles ourselves, heheh. I think we're going to have to do another batch up if we want to give any away. Why we didn't get a recipe posted last year, I have no idea.
This would be a great treat to take to any houses you visit for the holidays! Or to have for your company if you're hosting holidays. Justin's family is expecting to visit us for Christmas this year and I have a feeling they will now be expecting apple hooch! We better save a few bottles!
I just said to Justin, "What tunes do you want to use?" He said the Buzzcocks, and then when I began looking something up, he goes, "Wait! Have we used Tiger Army's "In The Orchard" yet?" Haa! Apropos. -jen
APPLE HOOCH
Cinnamon, allspice, cloves, star anise
Prep Time: 20 minutes plus cool down time Curing Time: 3 weeks Makes: 5.5- 750ml bottles (about a gallon and a quart)
2 large whole cinnamon sticks
1 star anise pod
8-10 allspice berries
5-7 whole cloves
1 cup dark brown sugar, packed
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 gallon of fresh pressed apple cider
1 large bottle (750ml) Everclear, 151 proof
Place whole spices in a large stock pot and warm over low heat until they perfume, 3-4 minutes. Add apple cider and sugars; stir until dissolved. Turn heat to high and bring to a boil, then lower heat and simmer for 5 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool to room temp (a few hours). When cool, add the Everclear and stir to combine. Strain out the spices and pour into glass storage containers with tight-fitting lids. Store in a cool, dry place for 3 weeks or longer. (It gets smoother the longer you let it sit.)
Local Cider
Serve cold over ice (we keep the bottle in the fridge once we open one), or warm up and add a little Tuaca to it (vanilla brandy). You could totally make it mulled (we find pre-made mulling spice in our co-op's bulk spice aisle). Justin even speculated that it would be tasty in a sangria! If you warm it up, don't "cook" it too long or you'll cook out the alcohol!
Note: We did the conversion of alcohol content once the cider was added, and it comes to about 12%, which is comparable to most wines. If you wanted less alcohol, you could substitute 80 proof vodka for the Everclear and you'd get a hooch that's about 6% alcohol, which is more like an ale.
Clearly, I've been on a cheese spread kick. Not only did I do the Cheddar Cheese Spread recipe, and Justin did Ina Garten's smoked salmon spread, but I also made a cream cheese, green olive and pecan spread that I remembered my mom stuffing celery sticks with for holidays when I was a kid. After talking to my grandmother the other day, come to find out, my great-great grandmother used to make the pecan-olive spread stuffed in celery. 100 year old family recipe! Pretty cool to me! One of my older brothers and I both had the urge to make it this year (without having talked about it) - must be feeling reminiscent. I hope at least one of my nieces or nephews end up liking it too to carry on the tradition.
Anyway, this all actually started with me having the desire to do a Swiss-almond cheese spread. I just hadn't gotten to it yet. I was trying to think of something to do to it so it wasn't just Swiss-almond spread and I thought caramelized onions would be great with it... and they were. I think this might be our favourite dip/spread yet. The Swiss cheese is so mellow and mild... but the almonds give it a good crunch and the onions with it almost remind me of French-onion soup. Really delicious!
I blame the holidays for my cream cheese extravaganza. And I've definitely been in a holiday mood - I am guilty of being one of those dreaded people who loves Christmas music. Justin suggested a song from Bad Religion's Christmas Songs, but I couldn't decide on one. And Christmas only comes one a year, so I thought I'd share a link to the whole album. -jen
SWISS-ALMOND CHEESE SPREAD WITH CARAMELIZED ONIONS Time: 25-30 minutes
Difficulty: Easy
Makes: about 2 cups
2 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 large onion, 1/4" slices (on the thin side)
8oz cream cheese, softened
8oz finely shredded Swiss cheese
1/4 cup mayonnaise
1/2 teaspoon paprika
salt and fresh ground pepper
1/2-3/4 cup finely chopped almonds
In a large skillet over a low heat, melt butter and add olive oil. Add sliced onions and let cook for about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Onions will be soft, dark and sweet. Set aside to cool.
Meanwhile, in a food processor (or with a fork), combine cream cheese, shredded Swiss, mayonnaise, paprika, a pinch of salt and a few cranks of fresh ground pepper; blend until creamy and smooth. Add caramelized onions and pulse (or fork) until combined. Fold in chopped almonds by hand. Taste and add more salt and pepper if desired.
I haven't had as much time this year to make anything amazing or grand for the holidays like I'd hoped. But I made this for no reason at all this morning (okay, I made it because I've been in a cream cheese mood) and I thought, "This would be so fantastic for any holiday party and so easy!" So in a way, this recipe is perfect for the holidays which makes it both amazing and grand!
I'm a huge fan of crackers and cheese spread. Grew up with the store-bought kind, you know the ones... port wine, cheddar & bacon, Swiss almond. I actually don't see a lot of them in the stores anymore. Maybe it's a passé appetizer... or maybe we just live behind the Redwood Curtain and don't get a lot of selection at our stores. I try not to eat a lot of crackers anymore, but we have some crackers left over from a company Christmas party (where Justin made his own take on Ina Garten's Smoked Salmon dip, which was excellent, made with some fresh-caught, home-smoked salmon a friend gave us!) and we also have a ton of cheese in our house because my dad always sends a box of cheese and sausage from Wisconsin for Christmas - we look forward to it every year! So I was itching for a cheese spread and decided to make one. I don't think I will ever buy another store-bought cheese spread again! This was just so easy to make and the different ideas for what I could put in them seems endless! Beer, wine, garlic, onion, horseradish, bacon, herbs, roasted peppers.... you could put anything you liked into it! Whatever cheese you want to use (I'd really like to make a Swiss-almond one!) Like I said, I just used what I had at home and it came out fantastic!
I just heard this song for the first time the other day and I think it might be one of my new favourite Christmas songs. I've always loved Cyndi Lauper. Here she is with The Hives doing A Christmas Duel. -jen
CHEDDAR CHEESE SPREAD Time: 10 minutes Difficulty: So ridiculously easy Makes: about 2 cups
8oz cream cheese, softened
8oz medium or sharp cheddar cheese, finely shredded
1/4 cup mayonnaise (optional, but helps it spread better)
2 teaspoons dried chives (optional)
1/2 teaspoon white pepper (or to taste)
1 teaspoon Sriracha sauce (or to taste)
In a food processor (or with a fork), combine all ingredients and mix until well blended. Serve immediately or chill for later. Really, you can choose whatever cheese you want and put whatever seasonings you like in it, that's just what I chose. Be creative!
We both grew up with cranberry sauce out of a can... and when we discovered how easy it is to make your own and customize it, I don't think we could ever go back to the canned version. Earlier in the year I discovered Pomanders, which are oranges studded with whole cloves and used as a room freshener. We hung several of them up in our house, in closets, in the hallway, and they really made our house smell amazing... we both fell in love with the smell of oranges and cloves combined. So when I decided to make a cranberry sauce today, I decided to go heavy on the orange and also use cloves. Sweet, tart, slightly spicy... it pretty much smells like the holidays.
I've really been trying to cut back the sugar in recipes and I did so in this one as well. Most cranberry sauce recipes you find will use up to a cup of sugar or honey. With this one, I figured I've got the orange juice, the cranberry juice, the apple, the Triple Sec... plenty of sweet but a lot of tart. If you're not big into tart, you might want to use 1 cup of sugar in the recipe.
And in the holiday spirit, I chose Jim Carroll singing "People Who Died". (I apologize for the video showing Leo and Marky Mark.) -jen
juice and zest of one orange (about 1/3 cup juice)
juice and zest of one lemon (about 3 tablespoons juice)
1/2 cup cranberry juice
1/2 cup sugar
12 oz bag of fresh cranberries, rinsed and drained
1/4 cup Triple Sec liqueur
1 apple (your choice), diced
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon fresh ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
In a medium sauce pan over medium-high heat, bring orange juice, lemon juice, cranberry juice and sugar to a boil. Add rinsed cranberries and bring back to a boil (about 5 minutes). Lower heat to a simmer and add citrus zests, Triple Sec, diced apple, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves. Simmer for 10-15 minutes (but not more than 15 minutes or it won't set). Remove from heat and let set. Serve at room temp or chilled - it's up to you.
I don't really get into the baking mood much, but on Christmas morning this year, I was overcome with the notorious holiday baking bug. We had two sugar pumpkins getting pretty ripe, so we cut those suckers up and roasted them, then pureed the roasted insides. I had some delicious, dark cider left over in the fridge, and thought I'd use that and mulling spices in the pumpkin bread! It was great! Not especially sweet, but very moist and spiced! I think I might make this a Christmas tradition.
And nothing says Christmas like busting out some old school Agent Orange being "Too Young To Die". (And, you know... pumpkins... orange... etc.) -jen
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Generously coat 2 loaf pans with non-stick cooking spray and set aside.
Combine brown sugar, pumpkin, eggs, vegetable oil and cider. Add flour, cinnamon, ginger, allspice, cloves, cardamom, orange zest and baking powder and mix until thoroughly combined. Stir in pecans and divide batter equally into the two loaf pans. Bake for 60 minutes or until a knife inserted comes out clean. Cool on baking rack until room temp.
Note: If you'd like to make your own pumpkin puree, quarter a sugar pumpkin and roast at 350 degrees F for 1 hour. Let cool, remove skin, and puree in a food processor or with an stick blender. A medium sugar pumpkin will yield about 2 cups of puree.
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