4th of July Fruit Pops

Remember these vodka spike stuffed strawberries from last year? Fun, right?  I wanted to keep the fruit theme going this year. This time I skipped the alcohol but you can certainly keep it by soaking the apple portion. I don’t recommend soaking the watermelon as it would become too mushy for this fruit-on-a-stick idea.

No recipe. Just a fun idea I wanted to share for a red, white and blue 4^th of July dessert. Enjoy!

A few notes:

• To make these, I used watermelon, apples and blueberries.
• To keep the apples from browning, lightly brush them with lime or lemon juice. I prefer limes for the flavor and that they seem less tart.
• Cut watermelon and apple pieces to thickness of the cookie cutter, then place cookie cutter on top of slices and push straight down. Place one fruit inside of another and finish with a blueberry in the middle.
• Push the straw through all three pieces of fruit to keep it everything in place. If you have trouble pushing a paper straw through the apple portion, use a plastic straw first to create a pathway and then replace with the paper straw. Popsicle sticks will work as well.

Mixed Berry Summer Smoothie

I’m not intentionally doing a 180 here, but boysenberry season has just begun here in California. Every year I go crazy stocking up on them. The season is so brief, lasting for less than ninety days I have to get them while I can. Similar in appearance to a blackberry, the boysenberry is distinctly different in taste but packs a similar antioxidant punch.

When you can find them, buy a lot. If someone had sold these to me as Mother Nature’s candy instead of raisins (eww) when I was kid, I would probably have gone the way of Violet Beauregarde—color stained, bloated and floating away from a lack of self control.  But instead, the boxes of raisins that mom brown-bagged for school, ended up sprinkled over the playground grass.

As a result, I don’t try to push raisins on my son. Luckily he and I are huge fresh fruit consumers and this is one of our favorite ways to enjoy our daily recommended serving .

Really, can you think of better way to get your healthy fruits than sipping it all in one delicious glass of frosty goodness?

A few notes:

• This recipe is highly adaptable. If any of the berries are not in season in your area, substitute with another berry or just double up any of the other portions.
• Your palate, your preference. Adjust the texture of this summer smoothie to your preference by adding more yogurt for a creamier and thicker smoothie; or for a thinner smoothie add more juice. Any type of yogurt will work so you can easily substitute the vanilla yogurt with  non-fat, plain, or sugar-free.
• I make these smoothie year around.  During the winter months I use frozen berries since it’s really not worth buying fresh under-ripe berries.
• And hey, check it out—no sugar! Seldom will you find that here on Bakers Royale. Well, I should clarify, that’s no added sugar. The sweetness comes solely from the goodness of the raw ingredients.

Mixed Berry Summer Smoothie

Makes 3 Cups

Ingredients:

• 1 cup vanilla yogurt
• 1/3 cup orange juice
• 1/2 cup boysenberry
• 1/3 cup strawberries
• 1/3 cup raspberries
• 1/3 cup blueberries
• 1 large ripe banana

Instructions:

1. Place all ingredients in a food processor or blender and process until smooth.

Strawberry Shortcake Popsicles

It’s high strawberry season right now in California and with that comes buying strawberry in large flats. Most of the time between my son and I, we can pretty much polish them off before they expire, but there are times  when I over purchase and they come close to the turning point and I have to use them up quickly.

This strawberry dessert recipe is great for those times. Just throw all the ripe strawberries in a blender, push the button to puree and your half way there. The other half comes from mixing the vanilla yogurt with some crushed vanilla flavored Oreos (you know the yellow ones instead of the chocolate colored Oreos) for a Strawberry Shortcake Popsicle recipe.  To shave off a few more calories use Nilla wafers. But since my home is an Oreo loving home, we tend have those instead of Nilla wafers on hand. Either way you go, this low fat dessert recipe is prepped in less time than it takes to boil five quarts of water.

A few notes:

• I did not add any sugar to the strawberry portion, as ripe strawberries are sweet enough on their own. If you find your strawberries not sweet enough, add ¼ cup of simple syrup to every 1 ½ cup of pureed strawberries.
• For these popsicles I used Dixie Cups as my form, but use any Popsicle form you have to mold yours.

Strawberry Shortcake Popsicle

Ingredients:

• 1 ½ cup pureed strawberries
• ½ cup crushed vanilla Oreos
• 2 cups vanilla yogurt

Instructions:

1. Puree strawberries. Place Oreos in a food processor and pulse until cookies become fine crumbs. Alternatively, place Oreos in a Ziploc and using a rolling pin to crush cookies. Add crushed Oreos to the yogurt and mix until combined.

Assembly:

1. To assemble as the seen in the picture, layer the yogurt portion first and let freeze for 30 minutes before adding the strawberry layer, let this second layer freeze for 30 minutes and then add the last yogurt layer. For a quick assembly, pour each layer on top of one another without any freeze time in between and then use a skewer or fork and gently swirl for a swirled Popsicle look.

Lemon and Raspberry Tart

I’m excited to be featuring this recipe as a guest post over at Simple Bites for Aimée Wimbush-Bourque. If you haven’t been there you are in for a treat.  Part of a larger network, Simple Bites, is built on the idea of helping to bring family together through simple meals with wholesome recipes and tips for meal planning.   

Head on over and see for yourself why Simple Bites was declared by Canadian Weblog Awards as Best New Weblog.

Cheesecake Stuffed Chocolate Covered Strawberries

Chocolate covered strawberries are definitely on my top ten Valentine’s dessert  list. They are easy to make, always elegant and always delicious. This time around I wanted to add a simple twist to this classic.

And I had some, okay, a lot of cheesecake left over from a gathering, so I decided to try this with it. What a hit! My friends loved them and it’s now our favorite way to enjoy chocolate covered strawberries.

The cheesecake was a little thick for piping so I added some cream cheese to it and gave it a few whippings in the KitchenAid and it came out perfect for piping consistency.

A few notes:

• There’s no recipe. This is just a simple modern update to a classic dessert. And hey, a damn good and fun way to use up any left over cheesecake!
• Strawberries can be cored and dipped in melted semi-sweet chocolate the night before and stuffed the day of.
• If you love strawberries as much as I do, you might also like these stuffed strawberry ideas: Strawberry Margarita Jello Shooters , Strawberry Fruit Cups, 4^th of July Crème-Filled Strawberries.

Caramel Pear Torte

The caramel goodness is set against a fruity pear bite, now take that and cushion it on a cinnamon and ginger cake crumb and it’s going to be hard not to grab seconds. 

Seems like I’m all about comfort desserts lately, but don’t fret my cute-food-loving readers. I have some cutie desserts coming up this week. In the meantime hit the jump over to Endless Simmer for my Tuesday recipe write up on this Caramel Pear Torte.

Well if you follow me you knew this couldn’t be too far behind after I minified the classic French potato side dish, Pommes Anna.  Trade out the savory portion for some apples caramelized in sugar and butter and you have what you see here.

I love this dessert; it’s simple in flavor and technique. I haven’t made this in awhile and when I initially planned on making this I remembered why I hadn’t made it in a while. The last time a Tarte Tatin came out of the oven Matt wasn’t into it, in fact he wouldn’t even try it. Aside from being super picky he doesn’t like baked fruit in chunks and the presentation was less than appetizing to him.

Um, I won’t tell you what his description was, but here’s what a classic Tarte Tatin looks like – are you seeing it? Once he said it, I kind of agreed with him, so this time around I was determined to make a better looking Tarte Tatin.

I’m not sure this is all that much better, but it was much more appetizing in looks to the both of us. And of course all the same simple flavors of this rustic dessert was uncompromised.

A few notes:

• Use a mandoline or a vegetable peeler to make paper thin slices. If you use a mandoline I recommend wearing an oyster glove on the moving hand, so that if for some awful reason your fruit or vegetable should disconnect from the gripper while in motion, you won’t get sliced up.
• Make sure to use crisp apples and not mealy ones. I used Honey Crisp apples for this recipe, but as always your palate your choice.
• For another seasonal variation try making a Persimmon Tarte Tatin.
• This is drippy when baked, so make sure to place a bake sheet underneath to catch any dripping, otherwise you will have a smoky kitchen and fire alarms going off.
• To shortcut the recipe by one step use store bought puff pastry. I had frozen pate brisee, so I  used that.
• Tarte Tatins are best served the day they are made. They are also great served along side a scoop of vanilla bean ice cream.

Apple Tarte Tatin

Makes 8 individual Tarte Tatins

Preparation: Heat oven to 500 degrees F. Butter bottoms of muffin tin holes. Line bakesheet with parchment and set aside.

Ingredients:

• 4 medium sized apples
• 2 tablespoons of lemon
• 3 oz. butter
• 3 oz. granulated sugar, plus 1 oz for divided use
• Pate Brisee or store bought puff pastry

Instructions:

1.  Core and peel apples. Cut apples in half vertically. Slice cut apples into paper thin pieces with vegetable peeler or a mandoline.  Toss sliced apples with a lemon juice to prevent browning.

2. Place 3 oz of sugar in a saucepan over low heat. Using the handle of the pot swirl the sugar every once in awhile. The sugar will start to turn amber around the edge of the pot as it does continue to swirl the pot until the white sugar disappears into the melted amber colored sugar.  Turn off the heat and remove the pot. Pour 1 tablespoon of caramelized sugar into bottoms of muffin tins.  Place apples slices in a circular pattern with each slice overlapping one another.  Arrange second layer working in the opposite direction of the first; continue until muffin hole is almost filled. Leave ¼ inch space from top for pastry dough.  Cover pan with foil and place in the oven for about 10 minutes until apples soften.

3. Remove pan and sprinkle remaining sugar on top of apples and then place a 2-3 small dots of butter on top. Lastly, cover tops with pastry dough.  Turn oven down to 450 degrees F and bake for about 15-20 minutes or until pastry is golden brown.

4. Allow tarte tatin to cool for 2-3 minutes. Run a knife along the edge of pan to release the sides and then place parchment lined bakesheet directly on top of muffin pan and holding both pans together quickly flip it over so that the bakesheet is the bottom. Sharply tap pan muffin pan for the Tarte Tatins to be released.

Strawberry Margarita Jello Shooters

As many of you know, my Lemon Drop Jell-O Shooters are my issued dish from my girlfriend who holds the annual tailgate kickoff amongst our friends. This year with Matt being in the hospital, I sent them forward to the gathering in our absence.

Now that we can finally make the next one in two weeks, she has again requested Jell-O shooters. But who wants to repeat a dish back-to-back, that’s like wearing the same dress to two functions that have the essentially the same invitees.

That being the case, I opted to try what you see here. Somewhere there is someone screaming at my blasphemous mash-up of a cocktail with Jell-o. And my response . . . stop being so uptight.  Food is fun and I love messing around with it.

Besides how cute and fun are these?

A few notes:

• I will be posting the how-to picture over the weekend. Sorry, I have to process them still.
• Use the real Jell-o mix and not a store brand, as the store brands tend not to set up as firmly.
• Choose the freshest strawberries you can find.
• You can use a strawberry huller or an apple corer along with a melon baller to empty out the strawberry. I used the latter method because it allowed me to dig a deeper well.
• These are best made the night before and served the next day.
• Fill your strawberries as high as possible, as the Jell-O will sink a bit in the middle.

Strawberry Margarita Jell-O Shooters

Yields 24-30 Strawberry Margarite Jello Shooters

Strawberry Prep:

1. Cut the bottoms of the strawberry flat to get them to stand upright. When you do so, make sure that you do not cut off so much that there is a hole at the bottom.
2. Use a huller or apple corer to empty out the strawberry.
3. Once the strawberries have been emptied, use a towel to pat the outside of the strawberries dry.
4. Check each strawberry and make sure there is not a hole in the bottom before you start filling.

Ingredients:

Margarita Mix:

• 1 box Strawberry Jell-O
• 8 ounces tequila, preferably reposado or blanco
• 6 ounce Cointreau
• Salt for garnish

Instructions:

1. Boil one cup of hot water in a saucepan,  then add in Jell-o powder and whisk until powder is completely dissolved, about 2  minutes. Set aside.  Measure out 1/4 cup of cold water and set aside.
2. Combine tequila and Cointreau, in cocktail shaker filled with ice. Add liquour mixture to cold water and stir to combine. Then add cold liquour mixture to hot Jell-o mixture and stir to combine.
3. Pour final Jell-o mix into strawberries and chill overnight. Dip  your finger in water or use a moistened brush to wet the edge of the strawberries, dip and rotate the strawberries in salt to rim. Garnish with cut lime triangles to finish.

Pluot Breakfast Squares with Crushed Honey-Butter Almonds

Pluots are a hybrid cross breed of plums and apricots. They are sweet with a bit of tart. Pretty and tasty they are the perfect fruit for this easy breakfast.

Aside from pouring cereal into a bowl, breakfast doesn’t get much faster especially if you use store bought puff pastry.

I added the crushed almonds for some extra flavor, although I made a few without them and they tasted great as well.

A few notes:

• If you don’t have pluots, use any fresh fruit you have on hand.
• If you don’t have vanilla powder, use vanilla extract.
• These are best eaten the day they are made.

Pluot Breakfast Squares with Crushed Honey Butter Almonds

Yields 8 four inch pastry squares

Ingredients:

Squares:

• 3 pluots, sliced
• 2 tablespoon honey
• ¼ nutmeg
• ½ cinnamon
• ¼  vanilla powder
• ½ sheet of puff pastry
• 1 egg, lightly whisked (for egg wash)

* Crushed Honey Butter Almonds:

• 1 cup raw almonds
• 2 tablespoon butter
• 2 tablespoon honey

Instructions:

Squares:

1. Defrost puff pastry according to package. Toss plouts in honey, nutmeg, cinnamon and vanilla powder. Set aside.  Brush puff pastry with egg wash. Arrange pluots on puff pastry. *Sprinkle crushed honey butter almond mixture around edge. Bake at 400 degrees F for 12 minutes or until puff pastry is golden.

Almonds:

1. Finely chop almonds or place almonds in a food processor and pulse three times in 2 second intervals. Spread almonds on a bake sheet and bake for five minutes at 350 degrees F.  Cool almonds completely. Melt honey and butter and toss cooled almonds in mixture.

Lemon Drop Jello-O Shots

Lemon Drop Jell-O Shots

Pre-season has started and with that comes the ever popular football potluck and sometimes tailgate parties amongst my group of friends. I’m not a football die-hard; in fact I don’t even watch football. I hardly know the teams and I certainly don’t know the stats. What I do know is, aside from the company the food is always good at our Sunday gatherings.

I must admit, I don’t get to them like I once did since having Cole. But Matt and I will definitely be at the annual kick off.

That being said, I will be bringing these fun Lemon Drop Jell-O Shots. I debuted these a few years back and it’s been tradition that I bring them every year for kick off. Which is fine by me since they are incredibly easy to make and are always a huge hit.

I also made limes and oranges, but they didn’t make it in the final picture. The limes were too mangled from my dull knife and oranges for some reason  took on a glowing effect when photographed.

No recipe, just a few notes and the step-by step pictures (using a lime) to making these Jell-O shots. 

• Empty out the citrus of your choice to create a vessel.
• Juice the citrus first as it makes for easier pulp removal. Save extracted juice for later recipes.
• Use either a grapefruit knife to hollow out the citrus, or the easier way,  is to turn them inside out like the picture and dig deeply in to the pith until you catch the thin membrane holding the pulp and then peel back.
• Make sure to completely clean out your citrus or the pulp will show in the wedges.
• Make the Jell-O according to the instructions on the box and then reduce the cold water portion by ¼ cup and replace with your chilled drink mix. Place emptied citrus into muffin pan holes. Pour mixture into emptied citrus and chill overnight.
• Use a straight edge knife to cut into wedges. Do not use a serrated knife or it will leave track marks.
• Make sure to use a sharp knife or you will end up with mangled wedges.