Caramel Apple Kugel

10 Comments October 2, 2025 terrie gura

When I set out last week to make a somewhat traditional Rosh Hashanah meal to enjoy with my semi-observant husband, I felt a bit of a knot in my belly. What if I get it wrong and ruin Rosh Hashanah? Dramatic, I know, but this is me. I have no Jewish heritage myself— at least not that I’m aware of— and I always worry that my effort might be disrespectful to someone else’s tradition. Les says this is silly, and has at times even suggested that in all my diligence, I might even be more Jewish than he is.

Still, I gave much thought to our meal for Rosh Hashanah (the Jewish New Year) and I settled on roasted chicken with a bevy of root vegetables, including carrots, red potatoes and parsnips with a simple pan dripping gravy. Delicious! And for dessert, kugel, made with noodles, sugar, eggs and various forms of dairy. I want to emphasize that in a kosher household, this dessert would not be served with chicken because Jewish dietary law prohibits meat and dairy together on the table. This rule is born from the commandments in Exodus and Deuteronomy that you should not cook a young goat in its mother’s milk— which over time expanded to “no kind of meat with any kind of dairy, even if said meat doesn’t make milk.” Don’t blame me, I don’t make these rules.

Our meal was delicious and fully representative of autumn, especially with this kugel, with all the flavors of a sweet caramel apple from the county fair.

Apples are traditional at Rosh Hashanah, usually paired with honey and symbolic for sweet wishes in the new year. I had been thinking about apples and caramel together in a dessert after spotting a caramel apple display at the supermarket. Kugel is a dish perfected by the Ashkenazi (ASH-kuh-NAH-zee) Jews of Eastern Europe, and it is a blank canvas of sorts for any combination of sweet ingredients. It may seem strange the first time you make one; I mean, noodles in a dessert? But trust me, it’s delicious!

Here’s how my dish came together. Enjoy!

The caramel

Now, I may not be Jewish, but I come from a long line of improvisers, and my instinct told me that dulce de leche, a thick, rich caramel sauce, would be a reasonable stand-in for most of the sugar in the basic kugel recipe I had found, and for some portion of the milk as well. I blended the thick dulce de leche with cream cheese, cottage cheese, milk, eggs, sour cream and vanilla, and folded in the buttered egg noodles, hoping that some measure of Ashkenazi wisdom would emanate from the wooden spoon that we had rescued from Les’s mother’s condo after she passed. Surely the spoon had done this before.

Think of it as bread pudding, but with noodles instead of bread!

The apples

My doubts set in again about the apples because kugel is usually dotted with dried fruits such as raisins, prunes or apricots. Should I cook the apples first? Or dice them up and stir them into the custardy noodles, or would the moisture cause the whole thing to become a big mess? In the end, I decided to par-bake the noodle custard, top it with thin slices of apple and a sprinkling of brown sugar and cinnamon and then bake it again. It turned out to be just the right amount of apple, and the brown sugar-cinnamon topping emphasized the caramel flavors inside.

This kugel was very well-received by my hubby, who had made his own version of kugel a few years back when we were clearing out the pantry for our kitchen remodel. We enjoyed this caramel apple version at Rosh Hashanah and again straight from the fridge later in the week, and I think we may even have a couple of slices left for our “break the fast” meal when Yom Kippur ends tonight.

Shana Tova!

Caramel Apple Kugel

Servings: 12
Prep Time: 15 minutes, plus chilling
Cook Time: 50 minutes
Difficulty: Average
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Jewish New Year calls for a celebratory dessert, and I chose apples and caramel to bring in some comforting fall flavors.

Ingredients

8 oz. cream cheese, softened to room temperature
1 cup small curd cottage cheese
1/2 cup (or more) dulce de leche
2 Tbsp. brown sugar
1/4 cup sour cream (or plain Greek yogurt)
1 1/2 cups whole milk
3 large eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
12 oz. package extra wide egg noodles
6 Tbsp. butter, room temperature (I used salted)
1 large Honeycrisp apple, cored and cut into thin slices
1 Tbsp. brown sugar, mixed with 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon

Notes: Dulce de leche is usually found in a can, in the same supermarket section as sweetened condensed milk, or possibly in the Hispanic section. If you cannot find this product, a thick, milk-based caramel ice cream topping would work fine.

Directions

Add cream cheese, cottage cheese and dulce de leche to the bowl of a stand mixer, fitted with the whisk attachment. Blend together on speed 2 or 3 for about two minutes, or until the mixture is evenly combined.
Add brown sugar and sour cream, whisking on low speed until blended. Gradually pour the milk into the bowl while the mixer is running, to avoid splashing. Add the eggs, one at a time and then stir in vanilla.
Meanwhile, cook the egg noodles until just tender, according to package instructions. Drain the noodles and toss with butter until fully melted.
Pour the caramel mixture into the warm noodles and toss to combine. It will seem very liquid-y. Transfer this mixture to a buttered 9 x 13 glass baking dish and spread it out until even. Cover the dish and refrigerate for a couple of hours or overnight.
Preheat oven to 350° F, with rack in center position.
Uncover kugel and use the back of a spoon to press down any noodles that have emerged from the caramel custard mixture. Bake uncovered for 35 minutes. Remove from oven, arrange sliced apples evenly over the top and sprinkle the surface with the brown sugar-cinnamon mixture. Return to oven for 15 more minutes.
Cool to room temperature before enjoying, and refrigerate leftovers. When chilled, the kugel can be cut easily into squares and served almost like brownies.

Just for grins

As desserts go, this one packs a substantial amount of protein with cream cheese, cottage cheese, eggs, sour cream and milk. It also doesn’t have as much sugar as you might expect, with only three tablespoons, plus the sugar in the dulce de leche. Les and I got into a lukewarm debate about the protein content of this dish, with him asserting that the ingredients are spread out across 12 portions, making each portion skimpy on protein. I disagreed, so I did the math to bolster my case and here’s the result:

INGREDIENT	PROTEIN GRAMS
cream cheese, full-fat	16
cottage cheese, 2%	28
whole milk	12
dulce de leche	6
eggs	18
sour cream, full-fat	4
noodles	(this number surprised me!) 40
butter	2
Total grams protein	126
divided by 12 servings	10.5

Each square contains 10 1/2 grams of protein, significantly more than you can say for most desserts. A serving of vanilla ice cream, for example, typically contains 2 to 3 grams and a slice of chocolate cake is around 4 grams. I’m not claiming this to be a health food by any stretch of imagination. The fat and sugar content are high, and there are irrefutable downsides to that. I’m only suggesting that this could be considered something of a power dessert, if there is such a thing. 😉

Cherry & Blueberry Cheesecake Ice Cream

6 Comments July 1, 2025 terrie gura

Three cheers for the purple, white and purple?! Yes, I know that isn’t exactly how the patriotic verse goes, and I had every intention and imagination for this ice cream to represent the colors of the American flag, just in time for the 4th of July. But something interesting happened when I cooked the cherry and blueberry compotes that were destined to be the “red and blue swirls” in my easy, no-egg cheesecake ice cream. They both turned to lovely shades of purple!

Can you tell which is which? Put your guess in the comments section!

Well, dang! My vision was burst for this year’s first National Ice Cream Month offering, and I was bummed. I expected the blueberries would shift to a purplish color, just as they do in pancakes, muffins and even in the mouthwatering Vermont maple blueberry bread pudding that I made a couple of summers ago. But the cherries turning purple surprised me. I had fair warning when I opened the jar of tart cherries, which at first glance were as dull as Kalamata olives! The color perked up slightly when I added frozen dark sweet cherries, but not enough to bring them fully back to red.

Both compotes included frozen fruit, sugar and a touch of corn syrup to prevent crystallization in the freezer.
In the end, both purple. 🤷🏻‍♀️

Power to the purple!

I won’t pretend that I wasn’t disappointed and a little frustrated at the outcome of my “red and blue” ribbons, but there was a valuable meaning in this for me, and it has nothing to do with ice cream. As a nation, we have been self-segregating into red and blue buckets for generations, and how is that working out for us? Anyone who doubts the extent of social division in our land should check the comments section of literally any social media post, political or not. We are losing common ground, losing heart, and losing hope, and that is by design. For as long as rulers have coveted power, they have found ways to pit the people against each other to distract from the real damage they are inflicting on the masses. If they can get us to blame and hate each other, they win and we all lose. We need less revisionist history and fake patriotism that celebrates only “our own kind,” whatever that means, and more of the sentiment that focuses on the bigger picture of a nation that started out as, and still has the potential to be, a melting pot with room and respect for everyone. Power to the purple!

Press play: Little Steven doesn’t mince words in his message about patriotism.
It is as relevant today as when he performed this in 1984.

Give that some thought, and then let’s talk about the delicious cheesecake ice cream base that held my purple and purpler fruit ribbons together.

Cheesecake ice cream

Only a few slight adjustments to my usual base recipe.

It’s been years since I made a cheesecake version of ice cream, and this time, I focused on bringing a tart, slightly lemon flavor to the base to counter all the sweetness of the fruit ribbons. My ice cream began with most of a block of cream cheese, sweetened condensed milk, whole milk and heavy cream, plus a shot of vanilla and a few drops of lemon oil. The latter is a specialty product I ordered from King Arthur Baking Company, but you could easily substitute the zest of a fresh lemon in its place. I don’t recommend lemon juice, which could potentially curdle the dairy ingredients.

Mixing the thicker ingredients first ensures more even blending.
The lemon oil emphasized the tang of the cream cheese.

I chilled the base for six hours, then churned it in my Cuisinart ice cream machine until it was silky smooth. This took about 25 minutes, and during the last minute of churning, I did my usual trick of blending in a tablespoon of vodka, which improves the texture of my ice cream so that I can scoop it straight from the freezer later. It’s a minimal amount of alcohol and you never taste it in the ice cream, but feel free to skip this step if you’re avoiding alcohol or serving to children.

The best and most fun part of making an ice cream with any kind of swirl add-in is layering it in the freezer container. Don’t worry about creating the swirls at this stage; doing so tends to create a “muddy” appearance. Just layer away, and trust that the swirls will happen on their own when you scoop the finished product.

There’s magic in the layers!

I had transferred part of my cherry and berry compotes to small zip-top bags, and had crushed several graham crackers into pieces to scatter between layers. Having these components lined up when the ice cream is finished churning makes things come together smoothly.

Layer ice cream, compotes, graham cracker crumbs. Repeat two more times and then freeze.

As always, homemade ice cream is best served fully “ripened,” which just means you put it in the freezer overnight. We shared this purple, white and purple ice cream with friends over Memorial Day weekend and it was fabulous! The cheesecake flavor was prominent, and the cherry and blueberry ribbons tasted exactly like summer.

To my delight, by the way, the purple ribbons did reveal a bit more of their intended blue and red tones when scooped out with the white ice cream. I hope we can look forward together and commit to a positive outcome for our great nation as well. Oh, how I hope.

Cherry & Blueberry Cheesecake Ice Cream

Servings: 8
Prep Time: 1 hour total, plus chilling and freezing
Cook Time: 15 minutes
Difficulty: Average
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Use your imagination a bit to see this as 'red, white and blue' ice cream, as the blueberries and cherries both turn purplish when you cook them into compotes. The slight lemon flavor in the cheesecake ice cream base is a nice tart balance to all the fruit sweetness, making this ice cream ideal for a July 4th party or any other special occasion this summer!

The cherry compote and blueberry compote are virtually identical in preparation. See the directions below the blueberry compote ingredients list. Of course, make the compotes in separate saucepans so that you may layer them side-by-side in the ice cream.

Ingredients

1 jar tart cherries, drained
1/2 cup frozen dark sweet cherries
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 tsp. cornstarch
1 Tbsp. light corn syrup (to prevent crystallization)

Ingredients

3/4 cup frozen blueberries
1/2 dry pint fresh blueberries
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 tsp. cornstarch
1 tsp. lemon juice (or powder)
1 Tbsp. light corn syrup

Directions

Combine fruit, sugar, lemon juice and cornstarch in a small saucepan over medium heat.
Cook and stir until sugar is dissolved, and then reduced heat to low and cook until liquid is reduced and mixture is syrupy.
Stir in light corn syrup, remove from heat and cool to room temperature. Transfer to a bowl and refrigerate. Before layering in ice cream, transfer part of the compote to a small zip-top bag. You will have extra of both compotes left over; enjoy them on top of the ice cream!

Make the ice cream base far enough ahead to chill for a few hours before churning in your ice cream maker.

Ingredients

6 oz. full-fat cream cheese, at room temperature (this is 3/4 of a standard package)
14 oz. can sweetened condensed milk
3/4 cup whole milk
1 cup heavy cream
1 tsp. vanilla
1/4 tsp. lemon oil (optional)
1 Tbsp. vodka (optional for texture, added during final minute of churning)
Cherry and blueberry compotes (recipes above)
1/2 cup crushed graham crackers, for layering (this was one “stacker” package)

Directions

Add cream cheese and sweetened condensed milk to the bowl of a stand mixer, fitted with the whisk blade. Mix on one of the low speeds until evenly combined.
Add cream and milk to the mixture and whisk on low speed until the mixture is smooth and even. Gently whisk in vanilla and lemon oil.
Transfer ice cream base to a covered bowl or pitcher and refrigerate at least six hours, or up to 24 hours.
Freeze in ice cream machine, following manufacturer’s instructions. Drizzle in vodka (if using) during the final minute of mixing.
Layer churned ice cream into an insulated freezer container, about one third at a time. Follow the layer with one stripe each of the fruit compotes, then scatter crushed graham cracker crumbs over the fruit stripes. Repeat twice with more ice cream, more fruit compote and more graham cracker crumbs. Save the finest crumbs for the final layer. Cover and freeze at least overnight.

Baked Salmon with Creamy Dijon Sauce

8 Comments April 14, 2022 terrie gura

What a week! Things have been a bit upside-down at our house, as my husband and I are now in week five of our master bath remodel. It isn’t clear to me how a room half the size of the kitchen can take longer to overhaul, but we are assured that the end of the month will bring light at the end of the tunnel. I’m sure ready to get back to normal, though “normal” itself is different with the change of season. Can I get an “achoo?”

Somehow, my tulips evaded the voracious appetites of our resident deer this spring!

The weather is warming, my car is predictably covered in yellow pollen, all the flowers are blooming and the bees are buzzing (literally). Yesterday, as I chatted with a neighbor in the warmth of the afternoon, we heard a humming sound that became increasingly loud as we talked. It was not the sound of the nearby wet saw grinding away at the large porcelain tiles that will grace the walls of our new, walk-in shower—no, this sound was much closer and sounded like a chaotic symphony of the natural sort. To be honest, it felt and sounded a bit ominous, as if the wind carried a warning. I finally looked up to realize that an enormous swarm of bees was on the move! In all my years, I had never before witnessed such a sight, and it was something to behold. Thankfully, they kept moving!

In this image, you can kind of make out a million little black dots (they are bees).

Easter arrives this weekend, and for the occasion, I’ll be making a couple batches of homemade Moravian Sugar Cake this evening and tomorrow morning. And then, with the Friday evening arrival of Passover, all leavened baked goods will be “off the table” for a week (plus a day). That is a big test of my willpower, and I will probably try to satisfy my cravings virtually by sharing a previously made bread recipe (or two).

In the meantime, here’s a delicious and healthful seafood recipe that fits the bill for the final Friday of Lent or for a simple Passover meal for the coming week. When I made this dish a few months ago, it was a good reminder for me that a meal does not have to be complicated to seem elegant. The creamy Dijon-spiked sauce has a dual role; first, to coat the salmon during baking (which keeps it delightfully moist) and, second, a reserved amount can be dolloped onto the plate for dipping as you enjoy each bite. I like wild or sustainably farm-raised salmon for this recipe, but arctic char or steelhead trout would be equally delicious, and it only takes 30 minutes, start to finish—perfect at the end of a hectic “here comes spring” week!

Ingredients (serves 2)

2 fillets salmon (about 6 oz. each, skin-on is fine)

Creamy Dijon Sauce

1/3 cup sour cream (or Greek yogurt, if you prefer)

1 tsp. Dijon mustard* (see note below)

1 small shallot, finely chopped

2 tsp. fresh dill, finely chopped (or about 1/2 tsp. dried dill)

A small handful of fresh, flat-leaf parsley, chopped

Juice of 1/2 small lemon

Kosher salt and black pepper to taste

*Notes

If you will be making this dish for Passover, omit the Dijon, as mustard is not considered kosher for Passover, especially in Ashkenazi Jewish culture. I’m still learning the rules, and though we don’t follow all of them at our house, I would hate to lead someone else astray of acceptable standards. This will be delicious, even without the mustard.

Instructions

The sauce is very simple to make, and you can adjust the amount of herbs, salt and pepper to your liking.
Fresh lemon in the sauce brightens the flavor of the whole dish!
Pat the salmon fillets dry and season with salt and pepper.
Put dollops of the creamy Dijon sauce on top of the fillets and use a knife or spatula to spread it over the whole surface.
Bake the coated fillets for 25 minutes at 350° F.
Hot from the oven, the fillets remain protected by the creamy Dijon sauce. It should flake easily with the tip of a fork when done.

Preheat oven to 350° F. Prepare a baking sheet, lined with parchment or silicone liner.
Pat salmon fillets dry with paper towels. Season each with salt and pepper.
Stir together the sour cream, Dijon, shallots, dill and parsley. Squeeze in lemon juice and stir to combine. Adjust salt and pepper to taste.
Spread the creamy Dijon sauce generously over each fillet, reserving a few tablespoons for serving later. Bake for 25 minutes, or until salmon flakes easily.

Baked Salmon with Creamy Dijon SaucePrint it!

Baked Salmon with Creamy Dijon Sauce
Served with easy sauteed spinach and roasted rings of delicata squash.

Easy, Creamy Potato Soup

11 Comments February 23, 2022 terrie gura

As far as I am concerned, the best thing about winter is the soup. When the weather is cold, damp or just generally crummy, a piping hot mug of soup is like a reset button for my winter-weary soul. And you know what makes soup even better? An easy recipe that doesn’t take all day, uses the simplest of ingredients (so I don’t have to run to the store to make it), and can be customized with almost any extra flavors one could imagine. This creamy potato soup is ticking all those boxes for me.

Soup is one of my favorite comfort foods ever, and that probably dates back to days that I stayed home sick from school. On those rare occasions, I would get dropped off at my grandmother’s house, where I’d spend the day napping to the soothing sound of her cuckoo clock, sipping some variety of last-minute, homemade soup and watching TV under a soft afghan from the big, upholstered wing-back chair in her den. My Gram could whip up a soup from thin air, it seemed, and to this day, a “what’s-in-the-fridge” soup is my favorite kind. Is it possible that I may have feigned illness on occasion, just to enjoy that kind of day? Why, yes, that is certainly possible. Sometimes a kid just needs a little extra comfort—the kind only a grandma and a warm cup of soup can deliver.

I have outgrown the days of pretending to be sick, but I still yearn for the cozy comfort of a warm mug of soup, especially when gloomy weather has me down. I’ll take any kind of soup; chowders, stews, bisques, broth with noodles, minestrone—they are all on equal footing for me. My husband loves soup, too, but his preference is specifically for cream-style soups, so this one was a double win at our house.

Sour cream, shredded cheddar, bacon and chives makes this easy soup a satisfying meal!

We had fun dressing up our creamy potato soup like a loaded baked potato—with sour cream, chives, cheddar cheese and crispy bacon pieces on top. But it would be very easy to keep the base of the soup and swap in different enhancers, such as roasted broccoli florets, sautéed mushrooms, frozen corn, cubes of ham or whatever else takes you to your happy place.

This potato soup is very easy to make, and despite the ultra-creamy, silky appearance, it has no heavy cream whatsoever. Buttery Yukon gold potatoes were the key element for my recipe, but you could use any combination of gold, red or russet potatoes, as long as some of them will hold their shape after simmering. Peel or don’t—whatever works for you. I thickened the soup with a slight amount of roux, made from the drippings I had from crisping up the bacon (but you could swap in butter or olive oil), and a combination of low-sodium vegetable broth and milk, then I used my trusty immersion blender to puree it halfway. It was every bit as luxurious and comforting as a cream-based soup, but with far less guilt!

We still have almost four weeks ’til the official arrival of Spring. As luck would have it, there is at least a pound of potatoes remaining in the kitchen, so I’m pretty sure this one will be on the menu again by the weekend, just in time for another round of colder temperatures.

This recipe makes 4 entrée servings or 6 appetizer servings

Ingredients

3 Tbsp. bacon drippings, butter or olive oil

1/2 large onion (about 1 cup), chopped

3 ribs celery hearts, trimmed and chopped

Salt and pepper

2 Tbsp. all-purpose flour (gluten-free 1:1 flour works for this also)

2 cups low-sodium vegetable broth* (see notes)

2 cups milk*

About 1/2 tsp. ground cumin

About 1 lb. Yukon gold potatoes, scrubbed and cubed (peel if you wish)

Toppings and stir-ins of your choice

*Notes

Vegetable broths vary widely in ingredients; for best results, choose a broth that does not contain tomatoes. The brand I like for this is Imagine vegetarian “no-chicken” broth. It has a rich golden color and seasonings that are very reminiscent of chicken broth.

I’m not a paid endorser, but I recommend this brand for any soup recipe. It is tricky to find, so when I spot it, I usually buy two or three cartons for the pantry.

I used a combination of whole milk and canned evaporated milk in my recipe, primarily because I only had 1 1/2 cups of fresh milk. Feel free to substitute 2% or skim milk if you’d like; the flavor will be less rich overall, but the roux will still give the soup a thick and creamy consistency, and you can also achieve creaminess with the immersion blender technique.

Instructions

Step up to the stove with me and I’ll walk you through this easy recipe. Keep scrolling for a downloadable recipe that you can save or print for a rainy, gloomy day. 🙂

My intention was to top the potato soup with bacon, so I crisped that up first in my pot so I could use the drippings in the roux.
I had more drippings than I needed. I drained off all but two tablespoons.
And I added a tablespoon of butter to offset some of the smoky flavor of the drippings.
Yukon golds are great for soup because of their creamy flesh and easily edible skin. I used all but the two smallest potatoes you see here, about 1.5 pounds worth.
Saute the onions and celery until they are softened and translucent.
One of my important kitchen rules is “season every layer!” In this case, salting the vegetables draws out moisture, so they cook up soft rather than crisp.
Sprinkle in the flour when the vegetables are fully softened. All-purpose flour is my go-to, but I have also had success using a gluten-free flour blend as a thickener.
Add the low-sodium veggie stock, or use real chicken stock if you prefer.
The stock addition will make it easy to scrape up any browned bits on the bottom of the pot.
I used whole milk, but I only had 1 1/2 cups, and expected that it might not be enough, but I had a backup plan.
Blend the milk into the mixture until the color is even, but don’t let it boil. When it gets hot enough to steam, drop the heat to low.
I love the flavor of cumin with any potato recipe. It adds depth and warmth.
Add the potatoes to the pot and give it a good stir. I realized at this point that my slight amount of milk was not enough.
Fortunately, I keep small cans of evaporated milk in the pantry cabinet, for just such an emergency. 😉
Here again, season every layer. When you use low-sodium broth, you are in control of the salt in your overall dish. Adjust to taste.
After a nice long simmer (at least 30 minutes, but mine went an hour), use an immersion blender if you’d like to increase the smooth, creamy texture of the soup.
I blended my soup about halfway, striking a perfect balance of creamy and chunky. This soup is ready to serve!
We topped our soup with everything you’d need for a loaded baked potato, including a dollop of real sour cream.
With shredded cheddar, bits of bacon and snipped chives, this easy soup was a very satisfying meal!

Easy, Creamy Potato SoupPrint it!

Old Man Winter, you are no match for this soup.

Spinach Maria

10 Comments December 29, 2021 terrie gura

“Trust me, you have to order the spinach Maria as your side,” was the instruction given to me, in no uncertain terms, by at least six of my now-husband’s family members, who had gathered from every corner of the world for his mom’s 90^th birthday celebration in Boca Raton, Fla. On our second or third day of this visit, which I should mention was my first introduction to Les’s family, about 16 of us were seated at a very long table at the Ke’e Grill, an upscale Boca restaurant that specializes in exquisite seafood dishes. I watched and listened as the server moved along the table, taking order after order for spinach Maria. It didn’t seem to matter whether the desired entrée was lobster tail, shrimp or salmon—even steaks, chops or chicken—literally everyone at our table ordered the spinach Maria, and it appeared true for the tables around us as well.

What was this mystical side dish, I wondered, that was so delectable that it united all the personalities present at this table and beyond? Creamy, crumb-topped heaven in a ramekin, that’s what.

“Maria! I’ve just met a spinach named Maria!”

This was no ordinary creamed spinach, and on subsequent visits to Boca, I requested return trips to Ke’e Grill so that I could experience the flavors enough to deconstruct it in my mind and then recreate it at home. I have made it three times in recent history, and after a few tweaks here and there, I’m finally confident to share my version of this memorable side dish. The base of the sauce is a bechamel, but only barely thickened because the cream and cheese are weighty themselves, and the spinach adds quite a bit of body. The buttered panko crumb topping is a delightful textural contrast to the richness that bubbles underneath.

It is relatively easy to make, but it takes a bit of time, and the Ke’e Grill menu even reminds guests to be patient for spinach Maria, as it is made to order and baked to bubbly, crispy perfection just before serving. If you wish to make it ahead, perhaps for an elegant New Year’s Eve dinner, prepare the filling and portion it into ramekins, then refrigerate up to 24 hours. Bring the ramekins to near-room temperature before topping and baking.

Hot and bubbly from the oven, and a great crispy texture in the crumbs on top.

Ingredients (for 6 servings)

1 lb. frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed very dry

6 Tbsp. unsalted butter

3 Tbsp. all-purpose flour (a 1:1 gluten-free alternative would be fine)

2 medium shallots, finely minced

Kosher salt and freshly cracked black pepper

3/4 cup whole milk

1 cup heavy cream

1/2 cup shredded fontina cheese

1/3 cup shredded gruyere cheese

1 whole bulb roasted garlic* (see notes)

Pinch of ground cayenne pepper

1/2 tsp. dry mustard

Topping:

3 Tbsp. salted butter

1/2 cup unseasoned panko breadcrumbs (or substitute gluten-free crumbs, if necessary)

3 Tbsp. grated parm-romano blend*

*Notes

It is important that you use roasted garlic, and not fresh, which would be much too sharp for spinach Maria. If you have never made your own roasted garlic, you can follow the recipe link for easy instructions, and you’ll want to make that ahead so it is ready for your spinach Maria.

We keep a large container of freshly grated parmesan and romano cheese blend on hand all the time, and you can follow that recipe link as well if you’d like to give it a try. Or simply use a good quality parmesan from the supermarket deli (please, for the love of good food, not the stuff in the shiny green can).

Instructions

Spinach Maria begins with a simple roux, but half the usual flour.
Simmer the roux a few minutes with minced shallots, then whisk in the milk and cream.
Blend in both kinds of cheese, and stir in cayenne and dry mustard.
A whole bulb of roasted garlic lends a lot of depth to the sauce.
If you have an immersion blender, take it for a 60-second spin through the finished sauce to make it ethereally creamy.
The spinach should be squeezed as dry as possible. Compacted like this, it measures about a heaping cup.
At first, it will seem there isn’t enough spinach, but trust the process and keep stirring.
Eventually, the compacted spinach will break apart into individual shreds and it will be perfect.
I love how the spinach gives off its green color to the cream sauce. Divide the mixture into 6 ramekins.
Melt butter to moisten the panko crumbs for the topping. Regular bread crumbs would be fine, too.
Sprinkle a little parm-romano or parmesan into the crumbs.
Divide the crumb topping among the ramekins just before baking. If you do this too early, the crumbs will not crisp as well in the oven.
Hot and bubbly from the oven, and a great crispy texture in the crumbs on top.

Prepare the spinach by thawing, rinsing and draining. It must be squeezed very dry for this recipe, and I recommend spreading it out onto a clean, unscented kitchen towel and rolling and twisting to extract all the excess moisture.

In a medium, heavy-bottomed sauce pot, melt the unsalted butter. Stir in the flour and minced shallots. Season with salt and pepper and cook over medium-low heat a few minutes, until the mixture is bubbly and has a slight nutty fragrance.

Add the milk all at once and whisk until smooth and thickened. Stir in the heavy cream until blended. Add the fontina and gruyere cheeses and stir until melted through. Stir in cayenne and dry mustard. Squeeze the roasted garlic directly into the sauce and whisk to break up the pieces.

Optional: At this point, the cream-cheese sauce will appear chunky, with visible bits of softened onion and roasted garlic. If you have an immersion blender, I highly recommend using it to cream up the sauce further; 60 seconds should do it. This step is optional, but it amplifies the creamy texture of any bechamel-based sauce, so I do it even for simple mac and cheese recipes.

Break up the packed dry spinach into the sauce and stir to blend it. It may seem that there is not enough spinach to match the sauce, but as you stir and blend, the bits will separate and disperse more evenly. Give the mixture a taste and adjust seasonings (salt, pepper, cayenne) to your liking.

Divide the spinach Maria mixture evenly into six 1/2-cup ramekins and place them on a small baking sheet. If you are preparing it ahead, cover them with plastic wrap and refrigerate up to one day. Bring them to near-room temperature before baking.

In a small saucepan or skillet, melt salted butter and toss the panko crumbs in it until moistened. Stir in parm-romano blend just until evenly mixed. Divide the topping among the ramekins. Bake on the cookie sheet at 350° F for about 25 minutes, until the crumb topping is crispy and golden, and the spinach Maria is bubbly at the edges. Serve immediately.

Spinach MariaPrint it!

Smoked Maple Bourbon Crème Brûlée

8 Comments December 3, 2021 terrie gura

WARNING:
Consumption of this rich and decadent dessert after a big meal may result in excessive lazing on the sofa, and may also force extended procrastination of post-entertaining kitchen cleanup.

At least, that’s what happened at our house—twice.

We had a very small gathering at our home for Thanksgiving—just me, my husband and our friend, Maria. I knew when I was planning dinner that it would not make sense to have large pies, cakes or other desserts that yielded 12 portions. As it is, we are scarce on refrigerator space for the leftover turkey and sides, and we certainly did not need extra portions of dessert hanging around. I wanted to make something special for our intimate holiday, and this crème brûlée definitely fit the bill, both for Thanksgiving Day and again for “leftovers” night on Saturday. And let me tell you, even after said lazing kept us up until after 11 pm washing dishes, I had no regrets about this dessert.

If you follow my blog regularly, you already know about our recent discovery of the Knob Creek smoked maple bourbon—the amazing dark spirit that became the star of our 2021 signature cocktail. I have made crème brûlée before, using the incomparable Ina Garten’s recipe as a guide, but I have never added bourbon to it before now. The warmth of the smoked maple bourbon married so perfectly to the creamy silkiness of our individual little custards, and the maple sugar that I torched on top was exactly what it should have been; crunchy, sweet and toffee-like. The custard inside was silky, sweet and creamy, with hints of the smoked maple bourbon. Yes, it was divine, as you’d expect from a dessert that is made from egg yolks, cream and sugar.

I can only hope that when we smashed the tips of our spoons into the crème brûlée, some of the calories fell out. On second thought, who cares?

Adapted from Barefoot Contessa | Crème Brûlée | Recipes
Recipe yields ~32 ounces, good for 6 to 8 ramekins, depending on their size

Ingredients

3 cups heavy cream

1 small pinch kosher salt*

5 large egg yolks + 1 large egg (at room temperature)

1/2 cup maple sugar* + extra for torching (see notes)

1/2 tsp. real vanilla extract

2 Tbsp. Knob Creek smoked maple bourbon

*Notes

I purchase maple sugar online from Big Tree Maple, a company that is based near my hometown in upstate New York. You might also find it in the baking aisle of a specialty market, or substitute caster sugar, which does not have the maple flavor but is also finely textured for easy dissolving.

Ina’s recipe does not call for salt, but I like to put a pinch in most dessert recipes because it highlights the flavors and balances the sweet.

If you use a stand mixer to make the crème brûlée, keep it fitted with the mixing paddle rather than the whisk, and work on the slowest speed so you don’t create a lot of bubbles. If you mix by hand, use a whisk but keep a gentle touch when adding the hot cream to the eggs.

As if our holiday was not already joyful, I also had the pleasure of finishing our dessert tableside with my kitchen torch, a dramatic endeavor that just pleased the dickens out of my Leo personality.

Instructions

My free range egg yolks are going to give the crème brûlée a rich color.
Gradually add the maple sugar to the eggs, taking care not to whip bubbles into the mixture.
While the cream is heating, prepare a pan for a water bath and arrange the ramekins in it.
Heat the heavy cream with a pinch of salt until it is very hot but not boiling, then drizzle it into the egg mixture, stirring constantly.
Pour the custard through a mesh strainer to catch any curdled bits of egg.
Stir in the vanilla and bourbon. Smells so good!
Divide the custard among the ramekins.
Pour boiling water into the pan, and pop it into the 300° F oven for 35 to 40 minutes, until custards are set. Cool, then chill overnight.
Sprinkle maple sugar over the top of the custards. Tip them to get the sugar even, and all the way to the edges.
The camera always makes the butane flame look like a light saber! Take your time torching the custards, and try to caramelize all the way to the edge.
Just for kicks (and crunch), I sprinkled on another thin layer of maple sugar, and torched them again.
Allow the crème brûlée to cool at least a minute, to harden the sugar top.
Try to restrain yourself. Just try.

Preheat the oven to 300° F. Heat about 2 cups of water in a tea kettle for a water bath. Prepare your ramekins by arranging them in a handled pan with sides at least as high as the ramekins.
In a medium saucepan, heat heavy cream over medium-low heat until hot but not boiling. Stir in a pinch of salt. Transfer the hot cream to a measuring cup with a spout for easier blending in the next steps.
Combine the egg and egg yolks in a mixing bowl, and gradually stir in the maple sugar until the mixture is smooth and even, and the sugar appears somewhat dissolved.
Very gradually pour the hot cream into the egg mixture, stirring constantly to prevent curdling. This is easiest with a stand mixer, but you can do it by hand as well. I recommend placing your mixing bowl on something that will prevent it from slipping while you stir or whisk.
Strain the custard mixture through a mesh strainer over a pitcher bowl or large measuring cup. This is not absolutely necessary, but it will help strain out any curdled bits of egg.
Stir vanilla and bourbon into the custard. Slowly pour the custard into the ramekins. I did this by filling each of them halfway, then “topping them off” around the pan until all were filled equally.
Carefully pour hot water into the pan, taking care to not splash it into the ramekins. The water bath should be about halfway up the sides of the ramekins. Transfer the water bath pan to the preheated oven and bake for 35 to 40 minutes, or until custards are just barely jiggly. They will continue to cook when you remove the pan from the oven. Allow the pan to cool until you’re comfortable handling them. Remove the ramekins and cool on a rack, then cover and transfer them to the refrigerator for several hours to overnight.
To finish the crème brûlée, remove ramekins from the fridge about 20 minutes before you’re ready to serve. Sprinkle about two teaspoons of maple sugar over the entire surface of each custard. Use a kitchen torch to caramelize the sugar evenly. Sprinkle an additional teaspoon onto each, and torch again. Allow the crème brûlées to cool for at least a minute so the melted sugar will harden and create the beautiful, shiny crust.

I’m thinking that maybe I need to make this again. You know, just to be sure.

Smoked Maple Bourbon Crème BrûléeLet the Lazing Begin!

S’mores Ice Cream

11 Comments August 10, 2021 terrie gura

There is something very special and nostalgic about s’mores, the delightfully sugary campfire treat that I first learned of when I was a young girl. I cannot say for sure that my first experience of s’mores was during my time as a Girl Scout, though legend has it a troop leader named Loretta Scott Crew first dreamed them up to feed 16 hungry girl campers in 1927. But I do know that my first taste of this wonderful confection—toasted marshmallow and Hershey’s chocolate square, melted between two graham crackers—was like a seductive symphony of ooey-gooey summer heaven. The only cooking involved in making s’mores is toasting a marshmallow to golden perfection, and then allowing the contained heat within the marshmallow to melt the piece of chocolate bar when you squish the graham cracker cookies together.

Truth be told, I was prone to wreck my marshmallows by over-toasting them. I’d position my marshmallow stick (and yes, where I come from, we used actual sticks) directly into the hottest part of the campfire until my puffy marshmallows blazed with a blue light around them. I’d blow out the fire, only to skim off and eat the scorched sugary jacket and plunge them back into the fire for another round of overcooking. I’m quite sure that was not the intention behind the “toasted” marshmallow portion of s’mores, but nobody ever accused me of following the rules—I like what I like.

Now that I’m all grown up, I still love the idea of s’mores, but I cannot fathom the notion of sitting around a campfire in the dead heat of summer, and we don’t usually fire up our patio chiminea until at least October. Not even for a sticky-sweet s’more—sorry.

Luckily, I have other plans for those delicious flavors, and just in the nick of time, it seems, given that today is National S’mores Day. Why, I wondered, couldn’t I represent the same s’mores flavors in a cold treat form that was more suitable for the middle of August?

And that was my approach to this yummy spectacle of summer sweetness. For a change of pace, I skipped the eggs in my ice cream base and used sweetened condensed milk instead. I wanted the vanilla ice cream to be a pure palate of white, but I was also trying to avoid cooking as much as possible. It’s been pretty dang hot here in the South, and if I have the option to keep the stove turned off, I’m taking it. The marshmallow swirl was also a no-cook step, and for this, I relied on a tried-and-true fruit dip recipe that fuses marshmallow fluff with cream cheese. The dairy ingredient gave the fluff just enough body to take away the ultra-sticky consistency but retain the marshmallow flavor.

See how the cream cheese mellowed out the sticky marshmallow fluff? And it still tastes exactly like marshmallow (but creamier).

I did turn on the stove briefly to make the fudgy swirl that represents the melted chocolate square of a traditional s’more, but that was a small price to pay for this delicious final result.

Looks like delicious black gold, doesn’t it?

Happy S’mores Day, everyone!

Ingredients

No eggs = no cooking! The sweetened condensed milk also provides all the sugar I need for this ice cream.

Ice Cream Base

14.5 oz. can sweetened condensed milk

1 cup whole milk

1 cup heavy cream

1 tsp. real vanilla extract

1 Tbsp. vanilla flavored vodka (optional, for improved texture)

Gooey Marshmallow Swirl

2 oz. full-fat cream cheese (this is 1/4 of a regular brick)

1 cup marshmallow fluff (give or take, as this stuff is difficult to scoop and measure)

Chocolate Fudge Ripple

1/2 cup cane sugar

1/3 cup light corn syrup

1/2 cup water

3 Tbsp. Hershey’s Special Dark cocoa

3 Tbsp. King Arthur Double Dutch Dark cocoa

1/2 tsp. real vanilla extract

Pinch sea salt

and…

Of course, you will also need graham crackers, about 6 cookie sheets, broken into pieces

Instructions

For the base of the ice cream, whisk together the condensed milk, whole milk and heavy cream. When the mixture is smooth and even, stir in vanilla extract. Cover and refrigerate until all other ingredients are cold and ready for layering.

Take plenty of time to thoroughly whisk these together. The condensed milk is very thick.

For the marshmallow swirl, use an electric mixer to whip the cream cheese and marshmallow fluff together. Allow enough time for the mixture to settle into a smooth consistency. Cover and refrigerate.

I whipped the 2 oz. chunk of cream cheese briefly before adding the VERY STICKY fluff to the bowl.

For the fudge ripple, combine sugar, corn syrup, water and cocoa powders in a small saucepan over medium-low heat. Whisk constantly until mixture reaches a just-barely-boiling point. Remove from heat and stir in sea salt and vanilla extract. Transfer to a bowl, cool several minutes, then cover and refrigerate until fully chilled.

The intense color and flavor of the Double Dutch dark cocoa (on the left) can’t be beat.

To make the layered ice cream: Freeze the base ice cream according to manufacturer’s instructions; my Cuisinart machine takes about 20 minutes. During the final minute, add the vanilla flavored vodka. This ingredient is not essential, but it helps make the ice cream scoopable immediately upon removal from the freezer. If you avoid alcohol—no problem; simply remove the ice cream about 15 minutes before serving to slightly soften.

Pour the chilled ice cream base into the freezer bowl, and wait 20 minutes for summer dessert magic.

When ice cream is finished churning, add a slight ribbon of fudgy ripple to the bottom of an insulated ice cream container. Spoon in a few dollops of the ice cream base, followed by the graham cracker pieces and a generous drizzling of the marshmallow fluff mixture. Swirl on more fudge ripple, then repeat with ice cream, graham pieces and marshmallow fluff mixture. Be generous with the s’mores ingredients for best results. Any remaining fluff or fudge swirl mixture can be used to “dress up” your ice cream at serving time.

I had all my s’mores add-in ingredients on standby, and I couldn’t resist sampling the goods. 😉
The anticipation usually gets to me right at this point. I scream, you scream…
For no particular reason, I drizzled some of the chocolate syrup into the bottom of the insulated ice cream container.
Spoon in a layer of the churned ice cream, but resist the urge to “swirl” it in the syrup.
Sprinkle on a generous layer of crushed graham crackers and several spoonfuls of the marshmallow mixture.
Another layer of chocolate syrup, and repeat the layers, finishing with ice cream on top.
Scatter all the graham crumbs on top of the ice cream and send it to the freezer to firm up.

S’mores Ice CreamWe all scream for it!

Transfer ice cream container to the freezer for several hours (preferably overnight) to firm up. Serve with additional topping ingredients.

New York Cheesecake with Spiced Cran-Cherry Topping

5 Comments December 17, 2020 terrie gura

One day, I’ll learn that if I’m going to ask my husband, Les, to pick a dessert for me to make, I should make it a multiple choice. When I gave him free rein to decide on dessert for our tiny Thanksgiving for two, I imagined he’d choose from the obvious traditional sweets. You know, maybe pumpkin pie or bourbon pecan pie, or maybe this would be the year he’d ask for the apple cranberry pie I’ve mentioned for the past three Thanksgivings. Nope.

“Make a real New York cheesecake,” he said.

Cheesecake? C’mon, that’s not a Thanksgiving dessert. But maybe I could do a maple cheesecake with a caramelized apple topping, and that would be delicious and appropriate for Thanksgiving. But my hubby was clear about it: he was craving the authentic New York-style cheesecake—tall, dense and creamy. Oh, and topped with bright red cherries. His memory was based on the desserts made by one Miss Grimble, who was apparently an institution in the city of his youth. Not to set the bar too high, right? I’m good at researching, so I was on it.

Most recipes for this style cheesecake require baking in a water bath, which promotes even baking and a smooth top without unsightly cracks. That made me nervous right out of the gate. I know for certain that my springform pan is not watertight, a truth I learned when a birthday quiche I made for a gal pal a few years ago leaked out all over the oven. I wasn’t up for a repeat of that performance, for sure. And I was also insecure because there were differing opinions about the right temperature to bake a New York-style cheesecake. Some “authentic” recipes insisted the cake should bake in a water bath at 500° F for the first few minutes, then about half that temperature for almost an eternity. Other “real cheesecake” recipes said skip the water bath and just cool the cake in the oven to avoid the cracking on top. With so many opinions, I made the only decision that felt safe: I searched the King Arthur Baking Company website, read all the way through their recipe instructions as well as the accompanying blog post written by baking expert P.J. Hamel, and then I donned my apron and got to it.

The King Arthur recipe included instructions for a shortbread cookie-style crust, which I promptly replaced with a homemade graham cracker base (Les swears this was how Miss Grimble did it) and the blog post suggested two major rules for perfect cheesecake: start with room temperature ingredients, and don’t whip air into the filling mixture. One thing that attracted me to this recipe was that it did not emphasize a need for a water bath. Whew.

This turned out to be one of the tastiest and prettiest desserts I have made at home, and I did find a way to adapt it to the flavors of the season. Les got his cherry topping, but I spiked it with fresh cranberries and real cinnamon. We both loved it, and the cranberries are making it a festive dessert option all the way through the rest of the holiday season.

I’m glad my hubby requested this. It was delicious! 🙂

Adapted from NY Cheesecake | King Arthur Baking

Ingredients (crust)

1 sleeve honey graham crackers

1 handful ginger snap cookies (I used Trader Joe’s Triple Ginger cookies)

1/2 stick unsalted butter, melted

Pinch of kosher salt

Ingredients (filling)

4 packages (8 oz. each) full-fat cream cheese*

1 3/4 cup organic cane sugar

5 large organic eggs*

1 tsp. real vanilla extract

1/2 tsp. Fiori di Sicilia flavoring*

1/4 tsp. kosher salt

1/2 cup full-fat sour cream*

Ingredients (topping)

2 cups frozen dark sweet cherries

1 cup fresh cranberries, rinsed and sorted

1/4 cup pure cherry juice (or water)

1/4 cup organic cane sugar

1 cinnamon stick, about 4” long (or a few pinches ground cinnamon)

*Notes

The most helpful thing I learned from the King Arthur experts is the importance of bringing all ingredients to room temperature before blending. This helps prevent clumping of the cream cheese and ensures the cheesecake mixture is the best temperature headed into the oven. Plan wisely, and take all the refrigerated ingredients—cream cheese, eggs and sour cream—out of the fridge at least a couple of hours before you begin.

Fiori di Sicilia is a specialty ingredient I purchase from King Arthur Baking Company. You may not have heard of it, but you would find the citrus-vanilla flavor reminiscent of Italian panettone or a frozen creamsicle treat. The ingredient is not essential for this cheesecake, but I love the “special something” it brings to desserts. This was my substitute for lemon zest in the original King Arthur recipe.

The recipe that inspired me did not require a water bath, but P.J. Hamel suggested in her “cheesecake tips” using cake strips, which are soaked and wrapped around a cake pan to promote even baking. Find these online or at a gourmet kitchen store, or give the recipe a go without them. I already had them, so I used one and it worked great.

The melted butter helps to organize the graham crumbs so they will form a solid crust base.
The crumbs were poured into the prepared springform pan.
I used the bottom of a small glass Pyrex bowl to press the crumbs firmly to the edges and 1/2″ up the sides.
The crust should seem smooth and firm, then it’s ready for a quick trip through the oven.
The crust was set after 10 minutes, then cooled while I prepped the filling.
I used the rubber bowl scraper blade to do the mixing, hoping to minimize the stopping and scraping.
Lightly beat each egg before blending into the filling. This ensures more even blending in quicker time and with fewer bubbles.
To minimize air bubbles, I used a rubber spatula to fold in the sour cream.
Ladling in the first few scoops of filling helped prevent disturbing the crust. Once the crumb base was covered, I poured the rest and smoothed the top with my spatula.
A toothpick took care of the most visible bubbles. For extra protection, I wrapped my pan with a saturated “cake strip,” which you can find at most specialty kitchen stores. The recipe did not require it, but some comments hailed it as a good substitute for water bath.
A few dimples on top, but no cracks! The cheesecake smelled AMAZING.
The chilled cheesecake measured in at about 3″ tall!

Instructions

Preheat oven to 400° F. Butter the bottom of a 9-inch springform pan, then cut a piece of parchment paper to size for the bottom, and butter the parchment.
Use your hands to break the graham crackers and ginger snaps into smaller pieces. Pulse into fine crumbs in a food processor or use a rolling pin to smash them into fine crumbs in a large zip-top bag. Pour melted butter into crumbs and stir to mix well. It should resemble the texture of wet sand.
Press crumbs firmly into a springform pan, evenly covering the bottom and about a half inch up the sides. I used the bottom of a small glass bowl to compress the crumbs.
Bake at 400° for 10 minutes, then remove pan and allow crust to cool at room temperature.
In a stand mixer on the lowest speed, beat cream cheese and sugar until well blended. Use a spatula to scrape down the sides of the bowl and beat again briefly.
Beat in vanilla, Fiori di Sicilia (or lemon zest) and salt.
Add eggs, one at a time, beating until blended and scraping bowl after each egg.
Stir in sour cream and give the mixture another thorough scraping.
Carefully spoon in part of the filling mixture, taking care to not disturb the crumb crust. Gently pour in remaining filling and use rubber spatula to smooth the top of the cheesecake.
Reduce oven temperature to 325° F and slide the cheesecake into the oven on a center rack. Bake 50 minutes, or until filling is set around the edges and slightly jiggly in the center. Turn off oven and prop door open, allowing cheesecake to cool slowly. This will help prevent the top of the cheesecake from cracking.
When cheesecake is completely cool, cover cheesecake with aluminum foil and refrigerate at least overnight.

Cinnamon Cran-Cherry Sauce

Combine frozen cherries, cranberries, sugar and cinnamon stick in a medium saucepan. Stir and cook over medium heat until it reaches a low boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer for 30 minutes. Berries and cherries should be softened and thickened. Transfer mixture to refrigerator overnight. Try not to eat it all with a spoon!

2 cups of frozen cherries, mixed with 1 cup fresh cranberries.
Add a splash of pure cherry juice for extra pizazz, or it’s fine to use water.
If you don’t have cinnamon sticks, a few pinches of ground cinnamon will be fine.
The cherries will thaw and soften in no time, and the mixture just needs some time to simmer.
After a 25 minute simmer, the sauce was a beautiful color and the cinnamon added a lovely holiday accent.
If we were having a party, I might have poured the topping over the entire cheesecake, just for show!

To serve

When cheesecake is completely cooled and chilled, run a clean knife carefully around the inside of the springform pan, then release to plate the cheesecake. Cut into wedges and top with cinnamon cran-cherry topping.

Store leftovers covered in the refrigerator for up to a week. We found that we liked the flavor and texture even better after a few days in the fridge. Enjoy!

Want to make it?

NY Style Cheesecake with Spiced Cran-Cherry Topping Download & Print

You may be wondering if I’m a paid endorser for the products or companies I spotlight on Comfort du Jour, and the answer is “no.” I do not receive money or products for my recommendations, and what that means for you is that you can count on me to give an honest opinion about recipes, products and gadgets. If something changes, I will update my disclosures. Either way, you can still count on me to be honest in my recommendations, as I will only stand behind services and products I believe in. Fair enough? 🙂

My Dad’s Homemade Irish Creme

3 Comments December 15, 2020 terrie gura

The Christmas season doesn’t feel real in our house until the refrigerator holds a bottle of this luxurious libation. My father has made this homemade version of Irish creme (his spelling) for years, and whenever I visited his house during the holidays, I knew I could count on him to have a beige Tupperware pitcher of it in the fridge. It is rich and decadent, far creamier than the shelf-stable stuff you can buy at the liquor store. When I first asked for his recipe, I was surprised to realize that it has both coffee and chocolate in it—I never tasted either of them in the Irish cream, but when I’ve reduced or omitted either, I found that it just wasn’t the same.

For sure, double the recipe, even if there aren’t a lot of folks.

My father’s original recipe suggests using heavy cream and whole milk, but I have fiddled with the recipe and found that light cream and half & half makes it every bit as creamy, without the clumping that sometimes occurs with chilled heavy cream. Increase the Irish whiskey if you like (my dad does), but I think the ratios are perfect just as they are.

This homemade Irish cream is perfect for gift-giving, and it’s so darn easy to make that you’ll find yourself asking “Bailey who?”

Enjoy this straight, on ice or as a decadent flavor addition to your Christmas morning coffee or hot cocoa.

Homemade Irish Cream is a wonderful gift, too!

Ingredients

4 oz. (1/2 cup) light cream* (see notes)

2 tsp. espresso powder (or instant coffee)*

1 Tbsp. chocolate syrup (I use an all-natural brand with no high fructose corn syrup)

1 14 oz. can sweetened condensed milk

8 oz. (1 cup) half & half*

6 oz. (3/4 cup) Irish whiskey

The original recipe calls for heavy cream and whole milk, but I’ve substituted similarly rich products with no clumping.

*Notes

Light cream is 20% milkfat, compared to nearly 40% milkfat in heavy cream. For readers abroad, the term “half & half” may not make sense, given that the European market does not have a product labeled this way. According to this article I found, half & half checks in at 12% milkfat. If you combine equal parts light cream with whole milk, you’ll strike a similar balance to the fat in half & half.

If my suggested ingredients are not available where you are, go with my dad’s original suggestion for 4 oz. heavy cream and 8 oz. whole milk, and perhaps use a blender to mix the Irish cream to help avoid the clumps that occur with cold heavy cream.

Espresso powder is available in the baking aisle of many well-stocked supermarkets or online from King Arthur Baking Company. You may substitute a high-quality instant coffee, such as Starbucks Via brand. I’ve used Starbucks “dark French roast” instant coffee with very good results.

Instructions

The espresso powder should be dissolved completely in the light cream, then cooled before adding other ingredients.
Whisk to combine the half & half with the thick sweetened condensed milk.
Whisk in the light cream-espresso-chocolate mixture.
Finally, stir in your favorite Irish whiskey. Start with recipe amount, and adjust as desired.
I have already made a second batch because homemade Irish cream is a great gift for the holidays.

Place a small, heavy-bottomed saucepan over medium-low heat. Warm the light cream, espresso powder and chocolate syrup until the mixture steams and the espresso powder is completely dissolved. Remove from heat and cool completely.
Use a whisk to blend the coffee-infused cream, condensed milk and half & half.
Stir in Irish whiskey. Give it a taste and adjust any ingredient as desired.
Divide Irish cream into sealable bottles and refrigerate.

Recipe makes about 4 cups.

Enjoy within three weeks. At our house, it is usually gone within three hours. 😉

Want to make this recipe?

My Dad’s Irish Creme Download & Print

Chunky Bleu Cheese Dressing

3 Comments December 4, 2020 terrie gura

It’s natural, I suppose, for kids to assume the taste and preference of their parents—either based on what they are told or perhaps based on the fact that they don’t really get to experience the flavors of foods the parents dislike.

For many years, I had the impression that “bleu cheese is terrible” was truth. My mother does not have the sense of adventure for food that I have, and come to think of it, my father doesn’t either. Over and over growing up, I heard negative opinion about certain foods from them, and bleu cheese fell into that category, at least with my mom. It had not occurred to me that my own opinion of those foods might be different.

That is, until the day that my grandmother served a casual salad at dinner with a thick, creamy dressing we spooned from one of the Depression glass bowls that was not set aside for special occasions.

I love the creaminess of this dressing, and the fresh taste from the buttermilk and sour cream. And those funky chunks, oh yes!

“What kind of dressing is this, Gram?” I asked. She informed me it was her “homemade” dressing. And I really liked it! Later, when she dropped the truth that it was her homemade bleu cheese dressing, I felt betrayed and compelled to act offended, as I’d been taught. That wild, funky flavor though! Yeah, I couldn’t fake not liking it, and I guess that was one of the first “aha” moments when I realized I was a separate person from my parents.

I loved bleu cheese and I was not ashamed.

If you aren’t making your own salad dressings, you’re missing out on a simple joy and a world of flavor. For the sake of a true story, I can’t claim for certain that my grandma taught me how to make this bleu cheese dressing, but I know she made her own salad dressings quite regularly, and it was one of the first things I began to make on my own when I got serious about cooking. Whether a vinaigrette, Italian dressing or creamy dressing such as ranch or bleu cheese, homemade dressing is remarkably simple to make. I rarely ever buy it anymore.

This is my version of bleu cheese, and unlike most of the dressings you’ll find in a supermarket, it is not loaded up with soybean oil and preservatives. Unlike many restaurant versions, it is not just a mayonnaise-y mess with bleu cheese crumbles (I hate when it gets that awful greasy sheen to it when you serve it with something warm). No, mine is generous with the bleu cheese, both in the base and in chunky texture, and it has buttermilk and sour cream for a lovely, creamy tang. Gram would certainly have approved.

I hope you enjoy this dressing—for its simplicity and its flavor. Use it this weekend to dress up some mixed greens or a wedge salad or a tray of real Buffalo-style chicken wings. Oh yeah, now we’re talking!

Let me know in the comments section what dressings you like, and I’ll share more of my easy recipes. 🙂

Ingredients

3/4 cup mayonnaise* (see notes)

1/2 cup buttermilk

1/2 cup sour cream

4 oz. wedge of deli-quality bleu cheese*

1 tsp. red wine vinegar (or fresh lemon juice)

1/4 tsp. onion powder

1/4 tsp. white pepper

*Notes

My preference for mayonnaise is canola rather than soybean. If you have a Trader Joe’s, they make a terrific version of mayo that is made with expeller pressed canola oil. It keeps its creamy texture and doesn’t have a greasy flavor.

Bleu cheese is made in various places, and they all seem to call it something different. Roquefort, stilton and gorgonzola would all be acceptable substitutes, so choose your favorite. I usually go with Amish or Danish, and for sure, I recommend a wedge of bleu cheese rather than pre-packaged crumbles.

Instructions

Blend the non-veiny part of the cheese right into the base, so the bleu cheese flavor runs through the entire dressing, not just the chunks.

Trim the white, non-veiny part of the bleu cheese to blend into the dressing.
Combine buttermilk, sour cream and white part of bleu cheese in a smoothie blender or regular blender and mix until smooth. No blender? Mash this portion of bleu cheese with a fork and whisk vigorously with the buttermilk and sour cream.
Transfer dressing to a bowl. Stir in mayo, vinegar and spices.
Crumble remaining bleu cheese and gently fold into the dressing.

This recipe makes about two cups of dressing. It can be served right away, but the texture is greatly improved after a night in the refrigerator. Keeps in a sealed jar or bowl for about a week.

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