As part of the Foodbuzz Tastemaker Program, I received Kellogg’s Special K Low Fat Granola.  I have to say that I love granola, but because it is so high in calories, sugar, and fat, I don’t usually eat it.  So, naturally I was excited to receive the box of granola in the mail.

I will say first the this box of granola tasted great, better than many others that I have tried, however I was still disappointed to see that while it was advertised as low fat (3g per ¾ cup) it still had 9g of sugar.  9g of sugar is better than most granolas out there, but in my opinion, it is still too high to be advertised as a “diet food”.

Since I wasn’t going to be eating all of this pox for breakfast, I decided to save it for an occasion where I would not be watching calories or sugar.  I added it to a banana pudding recipe that I have had for years and it made a great lightly sweet topping for it.

I hope you enjoy it!

INGREDIENTS

1 tablespoon tapioca pearls (non quick-cook)

1 14 ounce can light unsweetened coconut milk

1 tablespoons finely chopped crystallized ginger

1/3 cup sugar

3 ripe bananas

¼ cup sliced almonds

1 cup Kellogg’s Special K Low Fat Granola

Whipped Cream (optional)

PREPARATION

Place Tapioca pearls in a small bowl and cover with warm water.  Soak the pearls one hour to soften. Set aside.

In a small saucepan heat coconut milk, ginger, and sugar over medium heat, stirring constantly, until sugar is dissolved. Remove from heat and set aside for 10 minutes.

Drain tapioca. Peel bananas and chop into ½ inch chunks.  Stir tapioca and bananas into coconut milk mixture.  Cook pudding over low heat stirring gently for about 5 minutes.

Divide into 6 parfait cups, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until very cold.

Before serving, combine the granola and the sliced almonds.  Top each pudding with a generous spoonful of the granola mixture, and a dollop of whipped cream if desired.

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.

Elegant desserts don’t have to be difficult, as this one proves.  It takes very few ingredients and only a little over 30 minutes to prepare this easy dessert recipe. We have been served this dessert in 5 star restaurants and at a cost of close to $20, yet it costs very, very little to make.  We can almost guarantee that these poached pears will be a big hit the next time you need new and easy desserts.

Vanilla Poached Pears

Ingredients

2 cups good quality sherry

1 vanilla bean pod

6 ripe pears

2 teaspoons arrowroot

2 teaspoons vanilla

1/4 cup chopped almonds

Preparation

In a large sauce pan over low heat, bring the sherry and the vanilla bean pod to a simmer.  Carefully peel the pears leaving the stems.

Carefully stand the pears in the pan and spoon the cherry over them. Cover tightly to keep the moisture in and simmer to poach the pears, turning occasionally and spooning sherry over them until tender, about 20-25 minutes

Remove the vanilla beans.  Cut open the beans and scrape out the seeds.  Set the seeds aside.  Gently remove the pears from the sherry and place on serving dishes.

Add the vanilla seed to the sherry and bring to a slow boil.  Cook down the liquid until only about 1 cup remains.  Mix the arrowroot with a little cold water then whisk into the reduced sherry.  Continue whisking until it starts to thicken. Remove from heat and stir in the vanilla.  Allow to cool, then spoon over pears and top with the chopped almonds.

Happy New Year from Peppercorn Press!