Tag Archives: apple

Pear and Sparkling Cider Cocktails

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving! Yesterday I made special Turkey Day cocktails which celebrated some of autumn’s delicious flavors. These Pear and Sparkling Cider Cocktails contain pear nectar, sparkling apple cider, seltzer water, and a little bit of bourbon. I poured myself one of these early Thanksgiving morning and enjoyed it’s refreshingly light taste. I gave this cocktail to my family who all agreed that this would be ideal for a brunch (we drank the whole pitcher before noon!). I love the flavor of the pear in this drink but if you can’t find pear nectar (I searched three grocery stores before I finally found it tucked away in the international foods section of my local store), this cocktail would also be good with mango or peach nectar. No matter how you make it, this fizzy little beverage is one to try, holiday or not.

If you like this, check out Ginger Apple Bourbon.

The ingredients:

Additions: None

Omissions: None

Substitutions: None

Overall Rating: Love It

Source: MarthaStewart.com

Apple, Ricotta Cheese, and Pecan Pizza

I admit I’m a basic, plain cheese pizza kind of girl and probably never would have tried this Apple, Ricotta Cheese, and Pecan Pizza if it weren’t for a restaurant in Philadelphia called Pizzeria Stella. Stella makes a pistachio pizza – yes pistachio! – and I kid you not, it is one of the best pizzas I’ve ever had and (gulp!) there isn’t a tomato anywhere in sight. Before trying the pistachio pizza, I might have ordinarily passed by a pizza with apple, pecans, and arugula but not this time. I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised by this. The original recipe called for goat cheese (which I think tastes the way a dirty sock might taste, bleh!) so I swapped that out for ricotta cheese. I like the contrasts in this pizza – smooth ricotta and crunchy pecans, sweet apples and bitter arugula – which help to keep the dish interesting. The honey-mustard dressing on the arugula provided an added tasty flavor to each bite. If you aren’t an arugula fan, I think you’d enjoy this even if you left it off but I’d recommend keeping the dressing. If you’re still not sure about this kind of pizza, I’ll tell you I wasn’t at all sure about a pistachio pizza either. Now…I dream about it.

The ingredients:

Arrange apple slices over the pizza crust.

Top apples with ricotta cheese and fresh thyme.

Bake for 8 minutes in a 450°F oven. After the pizza has cooked, top with pecans.

While the pizza bakes, prepare the dressing by mixing olive oil, dijon mustard, honey, and lemon juice. Pour the dressing over arugula and toss.

When pizza has finished baking, top it with the arugula salad. Slice and enjoy!

Additions: None

Omissions: None

Substitutions:

Part-skim ricotta cheese for goat cheese
Boboli for six-grain pizza crust
McIntosh apples for Fuji

Overall Rating: Like It

Source: Cooking Light Magazine

Ciabatta French Toast with Warm Apple Maple Syrup

This recipe for Ciabatta French Toast with Warm Apple Maple Syrup has been silently taunting me for a few months. First of all, anything with McIntosh apples has me at hello. Second, these are stuffed with Gruyère cheese, a pale yellow cheese similar in flavor to Swiss, so the combination of the savory and sweet flavors in the dish peaks my interest. Slices of ciabatta bread are stuffed with the cheese, soaked in an egg and buttermilk custard seasoned with nutmeg and black pepper and cooked in a skillet until golden brown. The French toast is served with a thickened syrup cooked of apples and shallots. There is something very homey, almost holiday-ish about this recipe. The combination of the cooked shallots, apple and ciabatta reminds me slightly of Thanksgiving stuffing (not that it tastes that way, it just reminds me of it!) This is not your mom’s French toast which probably has puddles of melted butter and maple syrup (albeit delicious!) but insteads appeals to a more savory palette. Looking for something different for brunch? Look no more!

The ingredients:

Wisk together apple cider and cornstarch in a bowl and set aside.

Melt butter in a skillet and add shallots, cooking until soft.

Add in the apple cider/cornstarch mixture, apples and maple syrup to the shallots. Bring to a boil and reduce heat, cooking until apples are soft. Set aside to cool.

Cut a deep slit into the ciabatta bread and stuff with Gruyère cheese. (I used individual ciabatta rolls because that was what my grocery store bakery carried.)

In a shallow dish, combine milk, buttermilk, nutmeg, egg, egg white, salt, and pepper. Place cheese-stuffed ciabatta slice (one at a time) into the mix until coated on both sides. (If using ciabatta rolls like I did, slice a thin layer off the top and bottom of each roll first to expose the inside of the bread for better coating.)