Fruit Based

A Great, Unusual, Not-too-Sweet Cranberry Cake

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This is a great recipe Not terribly simple, but well worth the effort!

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Martha Stewart's Cranberry Upside-Down Cake

This is so pretty and so good--it's not terribly sweet, and the cornmeal and almond paste/extracts make it different and special.

Course Dessert
Cuisine American
Keyword cranberries, almond, cornmeal
Servings 12 23 grams of sugar per serving
Author Debi Simons

Ingredients

  • 12 tablespoons butter, softened or 14 tablespoons if not using the almond paste--see below
  • 2 3/4 cups cranberries or one 12-oz. bag, rinsed and shriveled ones removed
  • 9 tablespoons maple syrup or 1/2 cup + 1 tablespoon
  • 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
  • 3/4 cup flour
  • 1 tsp. baking powder
  • 1/4 tsp. salt
  • 6 tablespoons cornmeal or 1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons--The recipe recommends coarsely-ground; I usually buy Bob’s Red Mill or Arrowhead Mills brands, not the Quaker de-germed stuff.
  • 3/4 cup + 2 tablespoons sugar
  • 1/4 cup almond paste An expensive ingredient, I know, but this cake is really special. If you feel that you just can’t splurge on this, I’d suggest that you add 2 tablespoons extra butter. Or make your own almond paste—see Note below.
  • 3 large eggs, separated
  • 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
  • 1/2 tsp. almond extract
  • 1/2 cup milk

Instructions

  1. 1. Spray Pam on or butter a round cake pan, then flour it. (I used a 9-inch springform pan, which made unmolding the cake much easier than if I'd used a regular cake pan. The original recipe says to use an 8” pan, but at least one comment on this recipe said that that size pan was too small. So if you don’t use a springform pan you probably should use a 9” cake pan.) In a large skillet, heat 6 tablespoons butter until melted, add cranberries and cook 2-3 minutes, until beginning to soften.

    2. Add the maple syrup and cinnamon. Cook, stirring frequently, for about 5 minutes more, until cranberries are completely softened but still hold their shape. (Don't worry if they cook a little long--they just won't look as pretty.) Remove the cranberries with a slotted spoon and spread them in the cake pan. Boil the syrup remaining in the skillet until it boils and thickens, 3-4 minutes. Don't let it cook too long. Pour the syrup over the cranberries and let cool while you make the cake batter.

    3. Place rack in center of oven and preheat to 350. Mix together the flour, baking powder, salt, and cornmeal. Beat together the remaining butter (6 tablespoons if using the almond paste, 8 tablespoons or one stick if not) and the almond paste, crumbled, if using, and the 3/4 cup sugar until creamy looking. (You're supposed to use an electric mixer, but mine was packed, so I just had to use a spoon and beat it by hand.) Add the egg yolks, one at a time, and beat until well combined. Beat in the vanilla and almond extracts. Add the flour mixture alternately with the milk in two batches.

    4. In another bowl beat the egg whites until foamy; slowly add the remaining 2 tablespoons sugar; beat until soft peaks form. Whisk a third of the whites into the batter, then fold in remaining whites.

    5. Spread the batter over the cranberries in the cake pan and bake for 45 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let the cake cool in the pan (original recipe says 2 hours) before inverting it onto a serving plate. Cake is best eaten within 2 days.

Recipe Notes

Note: You can make your own almond paste, especially if you have some almond flour hanging around and need to use it up. Use 1 ½ cups almond flour, 1 ½ cups powdered sugar, one egg white, and 1 1/ tsp. almond extract. Process in a food processor until it’s smooth. If you just have almonds, process 1 ½ cups of those with the powdered sugar until finely ground—don’t process the almonds by themselves or you’ll end up with almond butter—and then add the other ingredients. You can divide up the paste into 1/2-cup or 1/4-cup portions and put them in ziploc bags, then freeze.

A Set of Sweet Mini Tart Variations

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Over the years I’ve developed several recipes for mini tarts that use the same easy dough for the crust. They’re kind of labor-intensive, but in the end you have adorable, single-serving treats that are prettier and more interesting than most cookies but can still be picked up and eaten without a plate or fork.

First take a look at the crust recipe, which is the same as for the savory mini-quiches. This dough recipe pops up all over the place, and it’s just great. You may think that it has too much cream cheese/butter in relation to the amount of flour, but it doesn’t. I have made a minor tweak to the amounts as originally written, since that recipe called for 3 ounces of cream cheese, a size that used to be sold individually, and therefore upped the flour a bit. These new amounts give you a slightly larger amount of dough to work with.

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Pear Crumb Pie

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pear crumb pieI’m not indulging in many desserts these days, but this one isn’t all that sugar-heavy, clocking in at 1 cup of sugar for the entire recipe. That’s 2 tablespoons of sugar per serving if you cut the pie into 8 slices, or 24 grams total. The goal is to keep daily added sugar consumption below 25 grams, or 100 calories. So you could have a regular-size slice and not go over your allowance for the day, as long as that’s all the added sugar you eat! Ice cream or sweetened whipped cream would be out as toppings, but unsweetened cream, whipped or unwhipped, would be fine.

To access the recipe, follow this link:

“Pear Crumb Pie“

An Easy Refreshing Slaw

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I first came up with this recipe for the Cherry Creek Chorale picnic that we had at our house back in August, before I started this blog.   I wanted something crisp and refreshing and thought of this combination.  Napa cabbage tends to come in huge heads, so two of them were enough for an expected number of 50.  People don’t tend to eat a lot of salad at a buffet, I’ve found.  I ended up getting someone to help me dice the apples and walnuts at the last minute, so I didn’t have to worry about the apples turning brown.

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Napa Cabbage-Apple-Walnut Slaw

Don't use regular cabbage for this recipe--it's too bitter. Napa cabbage is much milder and sweeter, but it still has the cabbage characteristic of not wilting in dressing. Napa cabbage tends to come in huge heads, so two of them were enough for an expected number of 50. People don't tend to eat a lot of salad at a buffet, I've found. I pre-shredded the cabbage the night before and stored it in plastic bags in the fridge. I think I ended up wasting too much of it, as I usually don't include much of the ribs, but sliced thinly they're fine. I usually just use the leaves, but next time I'm going to be more frugal. Sometimes when you slice into the cabbage it's all brown in the middle, and there are often brown spots here and there, so you will have to do at least some discarding. Granny Smith apples work well, diced into 1/4" pieces, as many as you like, and some chopped walnuts. The dressing couldn't be easier, with just four ingredients: I like to try to match the vinegar in the dressing to the salad, so for this one I used cider vinegar. If I'm making the dressing for, say, a strawberry-spinach salad, I like to use raspberry vinegar if I have it on hand. Otherwise red wine vinegar at least makes the dressing pink.

Course Salad
Cuisine American
Servings 12
Author Debi Simons

Ingredients

Slaw:

  • 1 medium head Napa cabbage Much sweeter and milder than regular cabbage.
  • 2-3 Granny Smith apples diced
  • 1 cup chopped toasted walnuts

Dressing:

  • 1 cup mayonnaise
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 1/2 cup milk
  • 1/4 cup vinegar Cider vinegar is nice here since it matches the apples.

Instructions

  1. Slice cabbage thinly, using the ribs as long as they don't have brown spots. Wash and spin dry in a salad spinner. Toss with apples and walnuts, then with dressing. Amount of dressing needed will depend very much on the size of the cabbage head. You can also vary proportions of cabbage to apples to walnuts to your taste.

A Most Unusual Apple Dessert

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I first got this recipe from some magazine or other in an article about a dinner planned by Julia Child.  When I went online to check the source I found the exact same thing on the Food Network website by some other chef, so I guess it doesn’t belong to any one person.  I have changed the assembly to make it easier, as I have very little patience with doing complicated things just for looks.  It’s called “Gateau Mont St. Michel” because it’s supposed to be a “mountain” of crepes, apples and almond cream that’s then cut into wedges to serve.  But that’s just too much work.  So here’s my version, which I have titled:

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Apple/Almond Lasagna

There is no question that this recipe is a lot of work. It's definitely a special-occasion dessert and it's also very unusual. I really, really like it, and it's not terribly sweet. My best estimate of the sugar content for a serving of 1/12 of the recipe is 5 teaspoons or 25 grams, which would equal the daily limit of 100 grams of added sugar. The dish can be prepared ahead, and each step can be prepared separately.
Course Dessert
Cuisine French
Keyword apples, almond, crepes
Servings 12 at least, so approx. 20 grams of sugar per serving
Author Debi Simons

Ingredients

Crepes:

  • 1 cup flour
  • 3/4 cup each milk and water
  • 1 large egg
  • 2 egg yolks
  • 1 tablespoon sugar
  • 1/8 tsp . salt
  • 5 tablespoons melted butter
  • 3 tablespoons orange liquer, rum, cognac, or orange juice (I just use the orange juice)

Burnt-Almond Cream (that's what the recipe calls this, but really, you don't want to burn the almonds! Just toast them.):

  • 2/3 cup sugar
  • 1 1/3 cups toasted almonds ground with the sugar in a food processor.
  • 1 stick butter at room temperature
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1/2 tsp . almond extract
  • 1/2 tsp . vanilla
  • 3 tablespoons dark rum optional
  • Pinch salt

The apples:

  • 12 large apples such as Golden Delicious or Granny Smith I use Granny Smith
  • 2 tablespoons lemon juice
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 1/2 cup butter or 1 stick

Instructions

Cooking the crepes:

  1. Cook crepes using 2-3 batter for each. Since you don' have to worry too much about getting them all the same size or shape you can just make them on your big griddle that you use for regular pancakes. They can be made ahead, stacked together, and put in a plastic bag.

Preparing the Burnt-Almond Cream:

  1. The original recipe says to use blanched almonds, and it would be easier to see how toasted they are without the skins, but I always end up using the whole natural almonds that I have on hand from Costco. More fiber that way! Toast the almonds spread out on a baking sheet in a 350-degree oven for 5-10 minutes. Watch them carefully and take them out as soon as you start smelling them. Let them cool before you grind them up. Grinding them with the sugar keeps them from turning into almond butter.
  2. Once you've ground together the almonds and sugar, add the rest of the ingredients and process until well combined. It'll be kind of thick and gloppy.

Preparing the apples:

  1. Slice the apples and spread them in a buttered jelly-roll or roasting pan. Bake for 20 minutes or so in a 400-degree oven, tossing up several times, until tender. The original recipe says to peel the apples but I don't think that's necessary.

Assembling and baking the gateau:

  1. Spray a 9x12 glass baking pan with cooking spray and then make layers of crepes, apples and almond cream, starting with crepes and then going from there. You're supposed to end with apples, but it doesn't really matter. This can be completely assembled ahead of time and refrigerated. Try to plan things so that you can take it out of the fridge an hour ahead of time and it won't be icy cold when you put it in the oven. If you do that, then it only needs about half an hour at 350 degrees. Not a bad idea to use your trusty instant-read thermometer to test the middle and make sure it reads 160.

Recipe Notes

It works well to shove this into the oven when you start dinner and let it bake while you're eating, and then you can serve it hot, but warm or room temp is fine, too. I wouldn't serve it cold. Heavy cream poured over it is nice but not necessary.