Spice-Roasted Nuts

1 egg white

2c. unsalted nuts

¼ c. sugar

mix of spices (nutmeg, cinnamon, allspice and some salt)

Whisk egg white until foamy.  Stir in nuts, sugar, and spices.  Place Silpat on perforated baking sheet.  Roast nuts on Silpat at 325 degrees for 18-20 minutes.

Where did they go? Oatmeal Cookies

These oatmeal cookies don't stick around long enough for me to click a photo!

1 cup butter (softened)

1 cup white sugar

1 cup packed brown sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp. vanilla

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp. salt

1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon

2 cups flour (or gluten-free substitute)

3 cups oats

raisins, seeds, nuts, coconut, chocolate chips are all optional, but encouraged!

I just throw the ingredients in to my electric stand-mixer in the order above.  Press into Flexipan tray of choice or make rounds on the Silpat and bake at 375 for 8-10 minutes (a little longer if using a thicker muffin tray).

Christmas Jello by Judy Wright

Use 4 small  pkgs of  Jello 2 Green & 2 Red
Mix each package of small Jello mix with:
1 pkg. Knox gelatin
1 c. boiling water


MILK MIXTURE:
3 pkg. Knox gelatin
1 1/2 c. boiling water
3/4 c. evaporated milk
3/4 c. Eagle Brand milk

I used the Mini Muffin Tray in the photos above, but you can use any Flexipan Mold or Tray, including the Christmas Tree Mold.


For the first layer put 1-tsp of jello in each cup of the tray, cool 15 min in fridge, the second layer is 1-tsp of the milk mixture, cool 15 min in fridge. Alternate the colors and milk until the cup is as full as you want it.


You can use any color combination you like, I  use the red & green for Christmas. You can put a dollop of whipped topping on the top of each one before serving.


NOTE: I make all the jello and milk mixture up before I start, so it isn't real hot for each additional layer. Sometimes the jello will get a little thick while it sits on the counter so I just heat it up a tiny bit until it is liquid again and continue layering.


Children (even adults) love this colorful, refreshing dessert!

Apple Blue Cheese Bacon Cheesecake

Contributed by Peggy Trowbridge Filippone
Via Bonnie Lowry

Yield: 10-12 Servings
Cook Time: 8-9 Hours

INGREDIENTS:
1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 pound bacon, cooked, drained and crumbled (reserve 2 tablespoons of fat)
1/2 onion, diced
1 apple, peeled, cored, and diced
1 clove garlic, minced
Demarle at Home in the Kitchen Sea Salt –Sel Gris (GTS00001), to taste
Freshly ground pepper, to taste
16 ounces (2 large blocks) cream cheese, at room temperature
3 eggs
1/2 tablespoon Demarle at Home in the Kitchen Apple Pear Balsamic Vinegar (LOC00005)
1/8 cup whiskey
6 ounces blue cheese, crumbled
1 tablespoon minced chives or Demarle at Home in the Kitchen Roasted Garlic and Chive Herb Blend (DHM00004)
Sliced fresh apples, toast wedges and/or assorted cocktail crackers

TOOLS:
Flexipan® Fluted Bundt Mold (FM000486)
Medium Perforated Baking Sheet (MA435310)
Demarle Difference Gourmet Fry Pan- 10” (DD902832)
Mixing Bowl (TA000120)
Demarle Difference Santoku Chef’s Knife (DD800001)
Heat Resistant Spatula (TA000108)
Magnetic Dazzling Trio (GRP00001)

Preheat oven to 200 degrees F and place oven rack in center position. Place the Bundt Mold on the Perforated Baking Sheet. Dust mold with 2 tablespoons Parmesan cheese.**

In Fry Pan sauté onion in bacon fat until softened and translucent. Add apple and garlic and continue to sauté over medium heat an additional 2 to 3 minutes until apple begin to soften. Remove from heat and season with salt and pepper. Let cool.

In Mixing Bowl, beat cream cheese until smooth. Add eggs, Balsamic Vinegar and whiskey, beating until smooth. Stir in apple mixture, bacon, blue cheese, remaining Parmesan cheese and chives or Chive Herb Blend by hand.

Pour batter into mold and bake overnight for 8-9 hours. It should be fairly firm and slightly browned. Remove from oven and cool on a rack at least one hour. Cover the top of the cooled cheesecake with plastic wrap.

Invert onto serving dish. Refrigerate at least 1 hour. Reinvert and remove the plastic wrap. Refrigerate 1 hour.
To serve as an appetizer, cut slices with a knife dipped in warm water and garnish with fresh apple slices, toast wedges, baguette and/or cocktail crackers of choice.

** Per Bonnie Lowry, to help Parmesan cheese stick to the sides of the Mold, coat with vegetable oil before dusting with Parmesan cheese.

Peppermint Chocolate Popcorn!

Now doesn't this sound delicious!??  Host a Holiday Party and we'll make it together!

Granola "Bars"

 

These home-made granola bars go quickly so you might want to double the batch!

Thank you to Kristi Weber for sharing this recipe!  She notes that this recipe can be gluten or allergy-free by substitution.

Ingredients:

1  cup ground oats (use food processor, Vita Mix, or Magic Bullet)

2 cups whole oats (old-fashioned works best)

3 Tbsp. melted butter

1/4 cup oil OR applesauce

1/4 cup honey OR brown rice syrup, maple syrup, etc.

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

1 tsp. vanilla

1 tsp. salt

1 egg or egg substitute (1T freshly ground flaxseed/3 T water)

Directions:

Blend together all ingredients except oats.  Add oats and mix until completely blended.

At this point, you can divide the "dough" into two batches: one for pumpkin spice, and the other for the triple blend.

For Pumpkin Spice, Add:

1/4 cup pumpkin puree

1 tsp. cinnamon

1/2 tsp. nutmeg

1/2 tsp. ginger

For Triple Blend, Add:

1/3 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

1/3 cup dried cranberries

1/3 cup chopped or slivered almonds

(other variations can include: coconut, raisins, sunflower seeds, sesame seeds, etc.)

Press portions into Flexipan Tray of choice (on the Perforated Baking Sheet) - I prefer the Medium Tartlet Tray.  Bake at 340 F for approx. 30 minutes.  

Cool completely in Flexipan Tray before removing to serve or store.

Chocolate Popcorn

This makes a great gift and treat to bring to your next party!

Pop 1/3 cup dry kernels in Large Round Mold and Octagonal Silpat in microwave.

Chocolate Sauce:

1/2 cup butter

3/4 cup sugar

1/4 cup syrup (corn or maple)

1/4 cup cocoa

dash of demarle difference sea salt

1 tsp. vanilla

Preheat oven to 250 F.  Bring chocolate sauce ingredients (except vanilla) to a boil in the Large Flared Sauté Pan.  Boil for two minutes.  Remove from heat and add vanilla.  Mix in popcorn (and nuts if you wish and while I'm thinking about it, cranberries and coconut sound perfect too!).  Stir until well-coated.

Lay out popcorn mixture on Flexipat on Perforated Baking Sheet and bake for about 25 minutes.  Place on Floral Cooling Rack and let cool to room temp.  Break into small clumps and store in an airtight container.

*Note:  You could also use the Silpat  ~OR~  if you don't have the most wonderful products in the world yet, then go ahead and grease a pan of your choice, but just think of all the time and calories you're wasting!

Apple Chips

Right now, our little home is filled with the aroma of roasting apples and cinnamon!  Who needs candles and special scents?  Just turn on your oven and make something simple like these Apple Chips!  They're easy to throw together and healthy too!

Addison and I adventured together in making these little snacks and quite by accident we made a perfect batch on our first attempt!  The second batch almost set off the smoke alarms, so we highly recommend that you follow the instructions below:

4 or 5 small apples

2 Tbsp. cinnamon

1 Tbsp. sugar (or less)

1/4 tsp. nutmeg

Large Silpat

Large Perforated Baking Sheet

Preheat oven to 350 F.  Core and slice the apples as thin as you can into rings.  You will need your Santoku Knife to cut thinly.  Mix the dry ingredients in a small bowl.  Coat each ring of apple with spice/sugar blend (the easiest way is to dredge the apple in the small bowl).  Place on Silpat/Perforated Baking Sheet Combo.  Place in oven. Turn oven to 200 F and bake for 30 minutes.  Then turn oven off and let sit in oven until cool.

Now, we're curious if this works the same in everybody's ovens, so please post your results on this blog . . .

Gluten-Free Coconut Cupcakes

So, I only had a few moments to whip these out.  Thankfully, my mom had given me a gluten-free mix that she had had on hand in Oregon for MeiLan (my gluten-intolerant third child).  The brand is: Pamela's Products and it is the Classic Vanilla Cake Mix.  Also at the last minute, I remembered that my mom said she didn't care for the mix by itself - it was a little dry.  Soooo, in un-packing, I remembered that I had collected a ton of shredded coconut and cans of coconut milk!  There was a suggestion for a coconut version of this mix, so I just started dumping and was happy to get rid of some of the excess in the pantry!  The result was a very delicious, moist, and creamy cupcake!  MeiLan's eyes went very large as she tasted the sweet goodness!

So this is what I mixed:

Pamela's Classic Vanilla Cake Mix

Large can of Coconut Milk (about 10 oz.)

4 large eggs

1/3 cup of butter

1/2 tsp. orange flavoring

FOLD IN: 2 cups (or more) shredded coconut

You can bake this in any Flexipan, but for MeiLan I prefer to bake in the mini-muffin tray and only fill the cups about 2/3 full.  Bake at 325 F for about 15 min. (or less).  Don't forget to use the Perforated Baking Sheet before baking!

This was such a hit in our entire family that I have to re-stock the pantry with coconut!

MONEY SAVING IDEAS FOR THE HOLIDAYS

*Make something like fudge, rice crispy treat or peanut brittle in the large Tree Mold.

Let it set up and then peel out. Wrap in saran and tie a bow around it as a delicious gift.

*Or you can use your creation as an “edible plate”. Wrap it up in saran then put your other baking goodies on top. Wrap the whole thing in cellophane and top it with a bow.
Perfect gift for teachers, neighbors, school bus driver, co-workers or even family.

*Make your favorite dessert or even a quiche in the tray or mold for Christmas morning.

KELLOGG’S RICE KRISPIES TREATS (MICROWAVE)

Ingredients:
3 Tablespoons butter

1 package (10 oz) regular marshmallows or 4 cups mini-marshmallows

4 dashes of green food coloring (not needed if using the special red and white Holiday Colored Rice Krispies)

6 cups Rice Krispies

· Using a glass bowl, heat butter and marshmallows on HIGH for 3 minutes, stirring after 2 minutes. (Watch closely to make sure it doesn’t burn.) Stir until smooth. Add food coloring and stir again.

· Add Kellogg’s Rice Krispies cereal. Stir until well coated.

· Transfer to the Tree Mold and use the Silpat^® (or waxed paper) to press mixture evenly. Allow to cool completely. Unmold onto serving tray. Decorate with red hot cinnamon candies to resemble ornaments. Best if served the same day.

*Kids project-
Make the tree’s and then let your kids decorate them using rope licorice and candy to make garland and ornaments.

MICROWAVE PEANUT BRITTLE

Ingredients

1 cup sugar

½ cup light corn syrup

1 ½ cup Spanish peanuts

1 Tbsp butter

½ tsp baking soda

1 tsp vanilla

Preparation

Combine sugar and corn syrup in the Mold. Stir in peanuts. Microwave on high until light brown (8-10 minutes) stirring after each 3-minute interval. Stir in remaining ingredients until light and foamy. Cool. Wrap in plastic wrap and decorate with ribbon. A perfect gift for anyone!

Pumpkin Jigglers

This creation was made by my brilliant friend, Dee Putnam. She took two jigglers made in the Petit Four Tray and set them together to make the pumpkin shape and then used a twig of a grape stem for the pumpkin stem. So cute!

FRUIT & FIBER TO GO

My mom and I are going through old family favorites to figure out which recipes I will submit for the 2009-2010 Demarle At Home Cookbook. We almost forgot about this one until my ultra-athletic brother called mom to ask for this old recipe. We recently named it "FRUIT & FIBER TO GO". I'll let you know if it makes it into the cookbook; stay tuned . . .

Microwave Kettle Corn

Ingredients:
3 Tbsp Water
1/3 Cup Sugar
1/3 Cup Popcorn Kernels
¼ tsp. Salt

Demarle Tools:
Large Round Mold
Octagonal Silpat
Heat Resistant Spatula

Directions:
Pour water and sugar in Large Round Mold and swirl around until mixed together well. Cook in microwave for 2 minutes on High. Add popcorn kernels to hot sugar syrup and swirl around again to coat all the popcorn. Place the Octagonal Silpat on top of the Large Round Mold and cook for approx. 4 minutes on High. Every microwave cooks different, so be sure to listen to the popcorn and as soon as it slows down remove from the microwave. (It will burn if left in too long.) Quickly sprinkle salt while mixing with your Heat Resistant Spatula to evenly coat. Enjoy!

"Dan Ta" - A Chinese Treat!

Dan Ta Recipe:

1 package Pillsbury Pie Crust or Puff Pastry

1/2 cup Hot Water

1/4 cup sugar

2 Eggs

1/2 tsp. (clear) vanilla

1/2 tsp. white vinegar

Dissolve sugar in hot water and let cool. Add remaining ingredients; whisk and then strain. Set aside. Roll out dough on Roul'Pat and cut Medium sized tartlets; use the shaper to put them into the Medium Tartlet Tray (make sure tray is on the Perforated Baking Sheet). Fill the tartlet half-full with egg mixture.

Bake at 375 F for about 15 minutes.