Crostini

Crostini is an Italian word meaning "little toasts".  I've seen them displayed in pricey delicatessens and cheese counters, but I've never tried them until now.  Delicious!  They are usually served with a topping of some kind, or as the base for a canapé.  

You simply slice baguette bread VERY thin, place the slices on a baking sheet, brush with olive oil, and season with salt & pepper.  (Garlic salt or other herbs would be wonderful as well)

I sprinkled these little toasts with Himalayan pink sea salt, and then a little freshly ground pepper.  After baking at 350° for about 15-20 minutes - they turn a lovely shade of golden brown.  

Make sure you turn the crostini over once during baking, and it even helps to rotate your baking sheet halfway through.

We served these with cheese ball at Valentine's Day.  (Yes, I'm a little late posting!)  For a little "blush" on your heart shaped cheese ball - try coating it with smoked paprika.  Yum.

Cherry Chocolate Kisses

I shouldn’t be surprised at the difference a little chocolate can make (in just about anything).  Then you add it to something made with cherries, and it can’t help but be a winner.  Since I love both cherries and chocolate, this cookie can now be on my short list of favorites.  Simple, easy, delicious (and pretty!)

Peanut butter blossoms seem to be everyone’s cookie of choice, and when I saw this idea (since it was similar) I had to try it.  Anything with a chocolate kiss is worthy of testing in my book.

This is a simple shortbread cookie (no leavening), and the hardest part of the recipe is chopping up the cherries - think very RED fingernails...  I would have used a food processor, but I like my cherries recognizable - not pulverized.  So I decided to hand chop them.

Almond flavoring enhances the cherry flavor, and the pink color comes from utilizing some of the maraschino cherry juice.  If you really want to go over the top, you could add mini chocolate chips and/or chopped pecans.  

I decided to roll the dough in sugar, instead of sprinkling it on top - since you do that with Peanut Butter Blossoms.  It adds a lightly sweet crunch.  I’m always amazed at how beaten up a Hershey Kiss looks when you first take it out of it's wrapper, only to become perfectly dark & shiny when you place it on a warm cookie.  

Next time I make these, I will not be so heavy handed when I add my thumbprint in the center of the cookie.  Just a light touch will do, as you can press it the rest of the way when you add the Hershey Kiss.

The cookies remain tender inside, probably due to the cherries.  And they are pretty awesome when you bite into them while still warm, with the chocolate still soft.  They keep well for a few days.  I plan to make these next Valentine’s Day - but any day is a holiday when you mix cherries and chocolate. 

For the recipe, go to:

www.changeabletable.com

Cherry Almond Cake

Whenever I see anything with a “cherry on top” - I’m an instant fan.  This cake is just delicious, we loved it.  It’s pound cake-like texture, which is a bit on the dense side - makes it moist and rich.  Next time I’m going to try this in a bundt cake pan - no layers to fuss with.  The almond frosting compliments it well.

I didn’t plan this to coordinate with Presidents’ Day - but it was a nice touch for a holiday weekend.  I often think that Washington is (on this very weekend) rolling his eyes every time the cherry tree story is told.  Washington’s biographer (Mason Weems) wrote a book called “The Life of Washington” shortly after his death where he created the cherry tree myth as a way to show Washington’s honesty.  That seems a little ironic to me to create a MYTH about honesty, doesn’t it?

All myths aside, nothing tastes better than a good cherry CAKE.  Cherry pie always steals the spotlight.  When I ran across this recipe on birdonacake.com - I made a date to try it.  It’s originally a Valentine cake, but any special occasion would be honored to have it on the menu.

I appreciated the trick that keeps the heavy cherries suspended in the batter instead of sinking to the bottom.  It really worked.  Utilizing the cherry juice to add the beautiful pink color was a great idea too.  

Since the cake is so dense, it’s a bit of a challenge to keep the crumbs from adhering to your knife as you frost it.  But that’s where sprinkles can hide a multitude of sins.  I should have taken pictures of the “crumb coat” (it wasn’t a pretty sight!)  Add sprinkles and all is forgiven..

For the recipe, go to:

www.changeabletable.com

Blushing Cherry Salad

Holidays like Valentine’s Day often become the catalyst behind turning a dessert into a SALAD.  Salads of my childhood were either green, or consisted of some type of Jello.  For this holiday of sweetness & love - a ‘dessert salad’ is entirely appropriate - and this one is good enough to skip dessert entirely.

There are so many versions of this type of salad out there - too many to count.  I wanted one that didn’t require a mini-can or a partial container of the main ingredients.  That recipe doesn’t exist.  So I adapted, and this is what resulted.

Remember (back in the day) when sweetened condensed milk was used in no-bake cheesecake recipes?  I always wondered how this barely thick, sweet milk could cause a cheesecake (and other recipes) to actually GEL?  After doing a search, I learned that the milk proteins & lactose in sweetened condensed milk have a tendency to hang onto water - which will sometimes thicken and gel other ingredients it is used with.  So... there you go.

This recipe demonstrates the same characteristics - soaking up any excess juices from the pineapple, which results in a deliciously silky salad/dessert.  The longer it is refrigerated, the more it sets up.

I thought it was the perfect recipe to use the “HeartMallows” made by Kraft this time of year.  Even though they are strawberry flavored, it mixed well with the cherry & pineapple to taste ‘berry cherry’.  The salad stores well for a long period of time, with the only change being softer marshmallows.  

This might be a great “Pink” touch to your Valentine’s Day meal.

For the recipe, go to:

www.changeabletable.com

"Chocolate Rush" - let it begin...

About a week before Valentine's Day - I'm through resisting.  Finished.  Done.  All it takes is one glance (and whiff) of Belgian chocolate flowing over the ridges of a chocolate fountain.   Last night our ward Relief Society held a meeting where a relationship coach  (have you ever heard this term?) Val Baldwin - came to speak.  She was marvelous, by the way.  But that meeting is indelibly stamped on my mind because of the chocolate fountain set up after the speaker.  That's it - chocolate has become my new memory booster.

My first attempt at a chocolate fountain three years ago.

It's not hard to host a chocolate fountain event - just ask everyone to bring something to "DIP"...


Here are a few chocolate posts from the past three years that are too good to keep in the archives.  Forgive the repeats - I'll bring in some new recipes before Valentine's Day.  

(The recipe links are the titles below the photos)

Tuxedo Chocolate Bowls

Pink & Chocolate Cream Puffs

Chocolate Mousse Crunch Cake

Chocolate Thumbprints w/Ganache

Chocolate Almond Mousse Cake

Fudge Centered Hearts

Ultimate Chocolate Fudge Mint Cookies

Perfect Chocolate Curls

Hot Chocolate Souffles

Primo Chocolate Cake

You have no excuse - now go enjoy the food of love this week...

Cherry Cheesecake Cookies - perfect for Cherry Month

Looking for something appropriate for Cherry Month (for Valentine’s Day & Washington’s Birthday/Presidents Day)?  These stand out among other cookies - even next to chocolate...  So much easier to put together than you would think, you’ll have these finished and ready to line up on a tray very quickly.

Perfect for showers, luncheons, and dessert buffets - you can’t go wrong with a cookie as pretty as this one.  Just make sure you enjoy them right away, as the cream cheese changes the texture if you keep them more than a few days.

If these have any faults, it’s only having to stop long enough to crush graham crackers and chill the dough (but only for 30 minutes).  Canned cherry pie filling makes this even more convenient.  Be sure to find the “extra cherry” variety, as most of the juicy filling is not used.

Don’t plan on stacking these on a tray, or you’ll risk having them stick to each other - which would defeat the purpose of adding the glossy cherry filling.  

I’ve halved the recipe, as the original proportions make 4-1/2 dozen cookies (a few more than most families can use - even if they ARE amazing)

For the recipe and step-by-step photos, go to:

www.changeabletable.com

Neapolitan Valentine Cake

I have always excused myself from making Ice Cream Cake.  Baskin Robbins seems to have a corner on that market, and I never had the urge to try it.  

When I decided to come up with my own interpretation - it was a rush of fun.  Frosting an ice cream cake is so easy, because the frozen cake hangs onto the frosting & nothing “sags”.  

My son wanted to surprise his wife with an Ice Cream Cake for her birthday this year.  Nothing I found online looked appetizing, (or easy enough) - so we came up with our own combination.  

Since Rachel likes peppermint, we decided to mix up the layers so they contrasted with the ice cream.  It reminded me of Neapolitan ice cream - a variety that pleased ALL my kids as they were growing up.  Three flavors would please at least THREE of my six kids - and (at 50%), that’s pretty good odds.  

Although this is not the traditional Neapolitan flavor(s) - it at least resembled it.  You can substitute strawberry ice cream if you want to be totally accurate.  

My daughter was home the night I tried this, and we had a great time improvising as we worked through it.  This was much simpler than I thought it would be...

Next time I make this, I’ll buy an extra half gallon of ice cream and split both cake layers in half - making a FOUR layer cake.  Might as well make it a BIG cake to feed twice as many...

If you want to add a Valentine touch - use up your holiday candy canes as I did in this post...

For the full story - with hints, tricks, and detailed directions - go to:

www.changeabletable.com

Heart Warmers

This is certainly not a new idea.  Maybe you are experiencing the “Massive Winter Storm” that is affecting most of the country today.  Although it takes a lot more than hot cocoa to keep you warm on a day like today - just the thought of it warms me from the top of my head clear down to my toes.

Don’t you love to receive a gift that is complete?  Where you don’t have to measure, portion, or THINK?  This one is just that - open, pour, and stir.  

And the fact that it looks like something cold, yet warms your heart makes it even more appealing.  

If you need a gift idea that is quick to assemble, fairly inexpensive, and fits with the season of love - you can’t go wrong with these little tubes of warmth.

Although any miniature marshmallows will do - you will need to be on the ball to purchase these heart shaped ones before they’re gone.  I’ve only found them in a few stores.  The fact that they are supposed to be “strawberry” shouldn’t make you worry that they don’t taste good in a flavored cocoa.  I even enjoyed mine in mint truffle flavored cocoa.  

Any red candy will do - but I would avoid cinnamon hearts (unless you enjoy cinnamon in your cocoa).  It’s hard to find regular gumdrops right now that aren’t “spiced” - but if you look, you’ll find assorted packages.

I made mine in two sizes, as shown.  You can get crazy with ribbon, but it might detract from the “ice cream cone” design.

For instructions (with my own discoveries to make it easier) - along with step-by-step photos - go to:

www.changeabletable.com