Peppercorn Press

Product Reveiw: Steviva and Fructevia

So when we first received our samples of Steviva and Fructevia we were less than impressed with the flavor when we tasted some on our fingertips.  It was overly sweet at first but left a bitter aftertaste that we didn’t think we could tolerate.

However, since that was not the way the product was meant to be consumed we remained open minded about it.  We have tried it several times since and have been pleased with the results.  It is a good substitute for refined sugar when you are NOT tasting it directly from the container! 

Can we say that we can’t tell a difference between Steviva or Fructevia and real sugar?  No.  If you compare a dish made with sugar then compare the same dish made with the substitute, you can tell a difference.  BUT, if you didn’t have the original sugar-filled food to compare with, you would probably never know what you were missing. 

When compared to other sugar substitutes, these products surpass them all.  It is a natural product with no artificial or chemical ingredients.  For some it may take a little getting used to, but its very much like switching from regular mayo to light mayo.  After a few times, you don’t feel you are missing anything.  You just enjoy it.

We tried Fructevia in one of our favorite cookies recipes — Apricot, Walnut and White Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies and enjoyed them very much.  We would definitely try it in more of our favorite recipes and help eliminate extra sugar from our diets.  Here is our cookie recipe for you to try for yourself! 

Apricot, Walnut and White Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies –
Made with All-Natural Sugar Substitute, Fructevia

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups old-fashioned oatmeal

1 1/2 cups flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature

1 cup brown sugar, packed

1/8 cup Fructevia Sugar Substitute (or use 1/4 cup granulated sugar)

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 eggs, large

2 cups dried apricots, chopped into 1/4-inch pieces

1 cup walnuts, chopped

1 cup white chocolate chips

Preparation

Place oatmeal, flour and baking soda in a medium bowl and mix until well blended. Set aside. In a large mixing bowl or stand mixer, cream the butter, brown sugar and Fructevia (or granulated sugar) on medium speed until well blended and fluffy.  Reduce speed to low and add salt, vanilla and eggs, beating until combined.  Gradually add flour mixture, mixing until just combined.  Stir in the apricots, walnuts and chocolate chips. Refrigerate, covered, for 30 to 45 minutes, until cold.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Using a tablespoon, drop heaping spoons of the cookie dough, spaced apart 2-inches, onto baking sheets that are lined with parchment paper.  Bake for approximately 14 minutes, until cookies are golden brown around the edges, but still soft in the center.  Remove cookies from oven, but leave on the baking sheets for 3 minutes.  To cool, transfer cookies to a wire rack.  Enjoy!

At Christmas, an employee and good friend of ours made us a gift basket filled with many great small gifts, including fantastic candied pecans.  Today she brought us another bag full and gave us the recipe as a gift as well.  Though we were introduced to them over the holidays, these would be great any time.  She made hers with only pecans and they were fabulous, but as you will see, the original recipe calls for a mix of nuts.  They are one of those munchies that once you start its difficult to stop until they are all gone.   Try them and you will see for yourself.

Sweet and Spicy Mixed Nuts

Ingredients

¾ cup unsalted butter

¾ cup packed dark brown sugar

6 tablespoons water

1 ½ teaspoons salt

1 tablespoon Chinese five-spice*

1 teaspoon cumin

½ teaspoon ground black pepper

½ teaspoon cayenne pepper

2 cups pecan halves

2 cups whole natural cashews

2 cups walnut halves

*Chinese five-spice is a blend of ground anise, cinnamon, star anise, cloves and ginger.  
It is available in the spice section of better supermarkets.

Preparation

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Butter two rimmed baking sheets such as large jelly roll pans.  Melt ¾ cup butter in a large skillet over medium heat.  As Sugar, water, salt, and spices.  Stir until the sugar dissolves.  Add all the nuts.  Stirring constantly, cook until the liquid thickens and coats the nuts. 

Divide the nuts and the syrup equally between the two baking sheets, spreading them into a single layer.  Bake 15 to 20 minutes stirring the nuts every 5 minutes until the glaze is golden and crisp.  Cool nuts on baking sheets.  Store in an airtight container when cool.

Growing up in rural America, County Fairs and Carnivals were always something that we looked forward to.  Believe it or not, they are still as popular as ever.  In suburbs of major cities across the U.S., festivals that feature everything from food hawkers to Ferris wheels, are gearing up for the 2009 season.  In Washington State, we have many festivals, both large and small, including the Washington State Fair, Issaquah Salmon Days, Wenatchee Apple Blossom Festival, and Manson 4^th of July Celebration, plus many, many more.

One thing that they all have in common is great Fair food, including Caramel Corn.

As children growing up, we always looked forward to the carnivals and fairs, where we would be allowed to gorge ourselves on these delicacies.  Now even though we are grown with a child of our own, we still love to make homemade caramel popcorn occasionally.  If you are like us, you should try this fantastically easy caramel corn recipe.

Ingredients

2 cups brown sugar

1/2 cup light corn syrup

2 sticks butter

1/2 tsp baking soda

pinch cream of tartar

dash of salt

8 quarts of popcorn, popped according to directions

Preparation

Place the pre-popped popcorn in a large mixing bowl and set aside.

Place the brown sugar, light corn syrup and butter in a sauce pan. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until mixture comes to boil. Continue to cook for five minutes stirring constantly. Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the baking soda, cream of tartar and salt. 

Pour the sauce over the popcorn. Mix until completely covered. Pour the popcorn mixture onto a large baking sheet and spread out evenly. Bake at 200 degrees for 1 hour.

Pour carmel corn onto wax paper and break up to separate. (This cools quickly.) Makes 20 servings.

County Fair Recipe Collection

Everybody love’s the fair, and everyone love’s fair food! Now you can make the same exact foods that you can only get at the fair…  With the County Fair Recipe Collection, from Peppercorn Press, you get 112 delicious and traditional fair recipes.

County Fair Recipe Collection from Peppercorn Press

Winter snow storms meant one thing to me growing up — Snow Ice Cream!

It was always something that we looked forward to with every new fresh snowfall.  I have no idea where this ice cream recipe originates, but I do know that my mother’s great grandmother made it for her family.  It is a rich, creamy and fun novelty dessert.  Over the years we have mentioned it to friends and co-workers, and no one has ever heard of it.  But once they try it they all love it! It is super easy; takes less than 5 minutes to prepare, and costs only pennies per person. Plus is will be something that your guests have never had before.  If you are having a winter party (or just your immediately family), this is the perfect conversation dessert.

Vanilla Snow Ice Cream

Ingredients

1 12 ounce can evaporated milk (refrigerated so it is ice cold)

1 cup of granulated sugar

1 large egg, very well beaten*

1 teaspoon vanilla

Dash of salt

One large Dutch oven of fresh fluffy snow

Preparation

In a large chilled mixing bowl, whisk the evaporated milk, sugar, egg, vanilla, and salt, until well mixed and frothy.  Set aside.

From a pristine part of your yard, patio, etc. use a large Dutch oven to scoop up a lot of fresh dry snow.  It is essential that the snow is free of ice crystals and lumps (as well as other debris) so freshly fallen snow is usually best.

Using a large mixing spoon, spoon the snow into the milk mixture a couple of spoonfuls at a time.  Do not stir!  Instead, with the spoon, gently press the snow into the milk mixture so that it is incorporated. Keep spooning more and more snow into the milk until it begins to become solid and very firm.  You may need to go back for more snow.  You will know you have added enough snow when it starts to become difficult for new snow to absorb milk. 

Serve immediately in chilled bowls.  This ice cream cannot be frozen and served again later, so you will just have to force yourself to eat it all!  This recipe will serve between 4-6 people.

*The American Egg Board states: “There have been warnings against consuming raw or lightly cooked eggs on the grounds that the egg may be contaminated with Salmonella, a bacteria responsible for a type of foodborne illness. Healthy people need to remember that there is a very small risk and treat eggs and other raw animal foods accordingly. Use only properly refrigerated, clean, sound-shelled, fresh, grade AA or A eggs.

Apple Crumb Pie

Apple pie was always a favorite in our house growing up.  My parents had an agreement — Dad would peel the apples and my mother would then make the double crust pies.  I don’t think they have ever broken this arrangement. 

Apple pies are still one of the family favorites, and while our filling has evolved over the years, and as adults we have added a crumb topping as well, one thing has stayed the same…  We still use the Classic Crisco Pie Crust.

What ever crust recipe you like to use, we think you will love this Apple Pie recipe with crumb topping.

Classic Crisco Pie Crust (from the Crisco website)

1 1/3  cups Pillsbury BEST® All Purpose Flour

½ teaspoon salt

½ stick well-chilled Crisco® All-Vegetable Shortening Sticks OR 1/2 cup well-chilled Crisco® All-Vegetable Shortening

3 to 6 tablespoons ice cold water

Blend flour and salt in medium mixing bowl.  Cut chilled shortening into 1/2-inch cubes. Cut in chilled shortening cubes into flour mixture, using a pastry blender, in an up and down chopping motion, until mixture resembles coarse crumbs with some small pea-sized pieces remaining. Sprinkle half the maximum recommended amount of ice-cold water over the flour mixture. Using a fork, stir and draw flour from bottom of bowl to the top, distributing moisture evenly into flour. Press chunks down to bottom of bowl with fork. Add more water by the tablespoon, until dough is moist enough to hold together when pressed together.

TIP:  Test dough for proper moistness by squeezing a marble-sized ball of dough in your hand. If it holds together firmly, do not add any additional water. If the dough crumbles, add more water by the tablespoonful, until dough is moist enough to form a smooth ball when pressed together.

Shape dough into a ball for single piecrust. Flatten ball into 1/2-inch thick round disk.

TIP: For ease in rolling, wrap dough in plastic wrap. Chill for 30 minutes or up to 2 days.

Roll dough from center outward with steady pressure on a lightly floured work surface (or between two sheets of wax or parchment paper) into a circle 2-inches wider than pie plate for the bottom crust. Transfer dough to pie plate by loosely rolling around rolling pin. Center the rolling pin over the pie plate, and then unroll, easing dough into pie plate.

Trim edges of dough leaving a 3/4-inch overhang. Fold edge under. Flute dough as desired.  

Crumb Topping

Ingredients

½ cup very cold butter cut into small chunks

½ cup granulated sugar

¾ cup all purpose flour

Preparation

In the bowl of a food processor fitted with the chopping blade, pulse all three ingredients until crumbly.  Set aside.

Apple Filling

Ingredients

6-7 pie apples such as Winesap or Empire apples peeled and sliced

Juice and zest from one orange

¾ cup sugar

2 tablespoons cornstarch

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1/8  teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Preparation

Place the peeled and sliced apples in a large bowl.  Add the orange juice and the orange zest.  Toss to coat the apples with the juice.  Set aside.

In a small bowl, combine the sugar, cornstarch, cinnamon, salt and nutmeg. 

Drain the excess juice from the apples.  Pour the sugar mixture over the apples and toss to coat the apples.

Arrange the coated apples in unbaked piecrust.  Sprinkle the crumb topping evenly over the apples.  Bake at 375 degrees for 45-50 minutes until golden brown and apples are tender.  Check pie half way trough the baking time and cover the edges of the crust with foil if necessary to prevent burning.

Allow pie to cool to room temperature to allow any juices to settle into the apples.