Grilled Apples with Orange Mint Marinade

Before you close up your grill and start to bring out the fresh berries, ice cream and pies this July 4th, why not try grilling up some fruit? I’ve always had fun grilling up fresh fruits, such as bananas, pineapples and peaches. This year, I came across an amazing recipe that not only uses one of my favorite fruits, apples, it also gave me a chance to put some of my fresh grown mint to use. This recipe was very easy and only to about 6 minutes total on the grill. Be sure to leave a good 1-1.5 hours prior to grilling for the marinade to soak in. And don’t forgett the vanilla ice cream and caramel sauce for toppings!

GRILLED APPLES WITH MINT
(Courtesy of  COOKING LIGHT, October 2002) 

Ingredients:
2/3 cup fresh orange juice
1 tablespoon chopped fresh mint
2 tablespoons honey
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
3 Granny Smith apples, cored and each cut crosswise into 4 (1/2-inch) slices
Cooking spray

Directions:
Combine first 6 ingredients in a large zip-top plastic bag. Add apple slices; seal and marinate in refrigerator 1 to 2 hours, turning bag occasionally.

Prepare grill to medium-high heat.

Remove apple from bag, reserving marinade. Place apple slices on grill rack coated with cooking spray; grill 3 minutes on each side, turning and basting frequently with reserved marinade. Arrange apple slices on a platter; drizzle with any remaining marinade.

Grilled S’mores Sandwiches

Now that we are officially into the summer season, and the warm temperatures are quickly kicking in, it’s hard to not think about food that is prepared outdoors on a grill. For this post, my daughter Julianna and I will show you how to grill up one of our favorite summer desserts….grilled s’mores sandwiches! This is a very quick and easy alternative to the popular autumn fire roasted treat, using the same three classic ingredients (chocolate, marshmallows and graham crackers).

Instead of the traditional cooking method of roasting the marshmallows on a stick over an open fire, we are first going to stack all of the ingredients as a sandwich: one piece of chocolate and one marshmallow, sandwiched between two graham crackers. Next, you’ll want to wrap the sandwiches in aluminum foil, so they look like little tin bricks.

All that’s left is to carefully place the wrapped sandwiches on a heated grill for about 3 minutes. Carefully remove the wrapped sandwiches, and let them sit for a minute. Then remove the foil, being careful not to burn yourself with the melted marshmallow or chocolate. You’ll then have the gooiest, tastiest grilled dessert sandwich imaginable.

This works well on either a gas or charcoal grill. You can also do this in the oven any time of the year!

Mothers Day Desserts!

Mothers Day is here again! It’s that beautiful time of year when we honor the ladies in our lives who proudly carry the title of MOM to their names. It’s also probably one of the busiest days of the year to got out to eat. Understandably, there are many fellas out there who prefer a nice meal at a restaurant for the ladies, as opposed to giving a home cooked meal a shot. And that’s perfectly fine. The key is to make sure that the Moms get the day off, one way or another, right? But even if you aren’t the most skilled person in the kitchen, there are still a few ways that you can impress the ladies at the table, specifically for dessert. I’ll sum it up for you in two simple words: Pound Cake.

Now I am not saying that you have to attempt making a home-made pound cake (although that would be one helluva nice surprise). Instead, by using a store bought pound cake as the back bone for a simple dessert, you will be sure to please. Below are a few suggestions on quick desserts using pound cake.

POUND CAKE WITH FRESH BERRIES AND CREAM
 one is very simple and quick. Simply place a slice of of pound cake on a dish, spray some whipped cream, top with fresh cut berries. If you want to get fancy, you can add more whipped cream and some chocolate drizzle to the plate for decoration. You can also get the kids involved with plating this dessert. My kids love any opportunity to spray whipped cream. Having the chance to actually assemble a dessert for Mommy is both fun and memorable for them!

POUND CAKE WITH ICE CREAM AND CARAMEL DRIZZLE
Same basic idea as the fresh berries and whipped cream, except you place a nice scoop of ice cream on the cake, then top with some whipped cream and a drizzle of caramel sauce (or hot fudge sauce if you prefer). Don’t go too cheap on the ice cream, either. Get yourself a good brand, or even try an exotic fruit gelato. It is Mothers Day, after all!

For the caramel sauce, you don’t have to go too far to add a little extra love. Simply place some caramel sauce from a bottle or jar into a microwave-safe bowl, heat for 15 seconds and drizzle with a spoon. For a little extra loving kick, try adding a capful of spiced rum before heating. Stir it in and you’re good to go! Just make sure to leave the rum caramel sauce out of reach from the kids!!!

RICOTTA FILLED POUND CAKE WITH NUTELLA ICING
This trick came to me from my friend, Jessica, who is not only a great Mom herself, but also a lover of all things ricotta. She sent this idea to me a few months back, when I wrote about making your own ricotta. Of course, you don’t have to make your own for this. But if you are ambitious, give the home made recipe a shot.

You take a whole poundcake and slice it length-wise (as if your were slicing open a sandwich roll). You can slice it once or twice, depending on how many layers you want to make. Spread thee ricotta filling* in between each layer, then reassemble the pound cake. Ice the cake with Nutella..and enjoy every bite!

*Ricotta Filling
This is a basic ricotta filling that is used for cannoli. You can either use store bought, or you can make your own ricotta.

1lb ricotta
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1/4 tspn vanilla extract

Drain excess water from ricotta, then place into a bowl. Mix with sugar and vanilla. YOu can also add chocolate chips or dried fruit to the mixture if you wish.

For more Mothers Day meals, please check out my recipes for:

Apple Cinnamon French Toast 

Asian Pot Stickers

Taralli Dolci di Pasqua (Easter Ring Cookies)

Earlier this week, a good friend of mine had asked me for a recipe for Easter cookies that her Mom would make. I knew exactly what kind of cookies they were based on her description, but had no recipe for them. I reached out to Emma, my guest blogger and keeper of many traditional Italian baking secrets. Sure enough, Emma also knew exactly what I was looking for, and she had the recipe on hand! Thanks, Emma for again taking the time to put together this tremendous cookie recipe. I hope you all enjoy!

TARALLI DOLCI di PASQUA (EASTER RING COOKIES)
By Emma Caperelli Loerky 

In keeping with Dominic’s traditional Italian Easter food theme, I have decided to share a recipe that is similar to the one my mom always makes during the Easter season. The recipe comes from one of my favorite cookie cookbooks, Cookies Unlimited, by Nick Malgieri. It is a  very easy to make cookie called Easter Ring Cookies or Taralli Dolci di Pasqua. Fancy tools are not required to make them because the dough is mixed by hand, cut into 16 pieces (or, if you prefer smaller cookies, you can divide the dough into up to as many as 40 pieces), rolled between your hands to form a rope, at which point the ends are pinched together to form a circle. After baking and cooling, the cookies are then dipped into a glaze and sprinkled with multicolored nonpareils.

This is a mildly sweet cookie and is meant to be eaten with a cup of coffee or tea (or, as my son prefers to eat them, with a nice, cold glass of milk). These cookies stand up to dunking well, and, in my opinion, that is how they are best eaten.

A few things to make note of when making this cookie:

If you divide the dough into smaller pieces, cooking time will most likely be cut in half. In my oven, I found that the cookies were finished after about 25 minutes, so be sure to check the cookies often during the last 5 – 10 minutes of baking time. And, as with all cookies, halfway through baking I switched the baking sheets from top to bottom and also rotated the pans to ensure even baking. The cookies are done once they turn a light golden brown color.

Also, the icing sets VERY quickly, so make sure you have your nonpareils ready because you will need to sprinkle each individual cookie immediately after dipping it in the icing or the nonpareils will not stick. Don’t say I didn’t warn you. And don’t skimp on the icing, it brings a lot of the sweetness to the cookie. I like to dunk the cookie in the glaze a few times just to make sure the cookie is sufficiently iced.

Which brings me to my next tip – I usually have just enough icing for my cookies without any leftovers to spare. It could be because of my thoroughly dunking each cookie in the glaze several times, but you may want to double it just to be safe. And because the glaze sets so quickly, you will most definitely need to reheat it in between icing the cookies. I found it easier to keep it warm on low heat over the stove, but, should you choose to do this, be careful not to let it burn, or to get it on your skin. I learned the hard way that the icing can get very hot.

Lastly, these cookies spread quite a bit during baking so you don’t want to overcrowd them on the cookie sheet. Depending on the size of your pan, I recommend no more than 6 cookies per cookie sheet for the large cookies. If you choose to make your cookies smaller, leave at least 2 inches between each cookie to allow room for them to spread.

Enjoy and Happy Easter!

Easter Ring Cookies
From Cookies Unlimited by Nick Malgieri

Cookie Dough Ingredients:
5 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tablespoons baking powder
pinch of salt
6 room temperature eggs
1 cup granulated sugar
12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted
1 1/2 tablespoons vanilla extract

Icing Ingredients:
3 cups confectioners’ sugar
4 tablespoons water
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Multicolored nonpareils

Instructions 

For the dough:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, salt and baking powder. Break eggs into a large bowl and whisk until broken. Whisk in the sugar in a stream followed by the melted butter then the vanilla, whisking smooth after the addition of each ingredient. Using a rubber spatula, fold the flour mixture into the wet ingredients. Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead lightly.  Divide the dough into 16 equal pieces (or up to 40 if you prefer smaller cookies). Using your palms, roll each piece of dough into an 8 inch rope. Pinch the ends of the rope together to form a circle. Place the dough on parchment lined cookie sheets at least 2 inches apart. Bake for about 30 minutes, or until puffed and golden, rotating the pans about halfway through baking. Transfer cookies to a wire rack and cool completely before glazing.

For the glaze:
Combine all icing ingredients in a saucepan and heat on low until the mixture is lukewarm, stirring often. Hold one of the cooled cookies by the bottom and dip the top of the cookie into the glaze, letting the excess icing drip back into the pan. Immediately sprinkle with the nonpareils, and place on a wire rack to let the icing set.