The set of three molds—these adorable bats plus a pumpkin and a haunted house—is $19.95.
Pancakes—also known as flapjacks, griddlecakes and hotcakes—are an ancient food. While some type of griddle cake has likely been made since the domestication of wheat, the oldest pancake recipe in the English language dates to the 15th century.
MORE PANCAKE FUN
Find our favorite whole grain and multigrain pancake mixes.
It’s easy to make sugar-free sorbet.
Photo by Dusan Zidar | BSP.
There’s a lot of good “No Sugar Added” ice cream out there, but it’s tough to find a sugar-free sorbet.
If you’re on a sugar-free diet and miss sorbet, you can make it with unsweetened fruit juice or puréed fruit.
Sugar or no sugar, sorbet is a better choice in general than ice cream: it’s fat free, cholesterol free and full of nutritious fruit. Whether you want a sugar-free or a sugared dessert, make some from delicious fall fruits. We adore apple and pear sorbets. Clementine/orange/tangerine, cranberry, grapefruit, kiwi and persimmon are other fall favorites.
For a juice-based sorbet:
Freeze 2 liters of unsweetened juice in your ice cream maker, along with artificial sweetener equivalent to one cup of sugar (you can adjust the sweetener to taste—the less you use, the better).
Sweeten with maltitol, a low-glycemic sweetener that can be purchased online in crystal or syrup form. Splenda is a good second choice.
Experiment with spices—cinnamon, nutmeg or vanilla, for example; fresh basil or mint, which compliment most fruits; or a tablespoon of lemon or lime juice.
Think about the presentation—which dish or glass plus garnish—that will make your sorbet look irresistible.
To make sorbet with fresh or frozen fruit:
Dissolve 2/3 cup sugar or non-caloric equivalent in 2/3 cup boiling water. Chill syrup.
Purée 4 cups fruit to yield 2 cups fruit purée. Sieve fruit as necessary (to remove berry or kiwi seeds, for example).
Mix sugar syrup into fruit.
Freeze in an ice cream maker according to manufacturer’s directions.
Find more sorbet recipes in our Gourmet Ice Cream Section.
It’s Columbus Day, so let’s celebrate a great Italian cheese. Here’s a favorite cheese of professional cheese buyer and guest blogger Jeff Shearer, of Mandi Foods:
As the long summer days turn over to the cooler nights of autumn, our food choices move away from the fresh cheeses and lighter dishes to more of the hearty cheeses, roasts and casseroles. Fall is a great time to enjoy Havarti, Gouda, Cheddar, Brie and Camembert.
Piave Vecchio pairs well with polenta and risotto, and as a table cheese with Zinfandel, richer white wines (such as Chardonnay) and medium-weight reds such as Merlot and Pinot Noir. Beer drinkers can enjoy it with amber, nut brown or IPA ales.
Piave Vecchio, a terrific Italian mountain cheese. Photo courtesy PiaveVecchio.it.
The cheese gets its name from the Piave River, which flows through the mountain valley in the Italian Alps where it is produced. The name means old (aged) Piave cheese. If you find one called Piave Stravecchio, it is “extra-old,” the extra aging creating a cheese that tastes like a young Parmigiano Reggiano.
Grate it over fried polenta and soups, add it to grits or a risotto, shave it over a green salad or include it on the cheese plate.
Piave Vecchio is a gem often hidden in the long shadow of its very famous cousin, Parmigiano Reggiano. Piave Vecchio deserves its own time in the spotlight.
October 11, 2010 at 5:54 pm
· Filed under Beverages
The Tea Top Brew Mug makes brewing the
perfect cup of tea a snap! Photo courtesy Mighty Leaf.
Ever wish you could find a travel mug that made it easy to remove the tea bag when you’re finished steeping?
Whether you’re on the go or relaxing at home, the problem has been solved by this week’s Gourmet Giveaway sponsor, Mighty Leaf Tea. They’ve created the Tea Top Brew Mug, which features a patented Tea Top lid.
To use the mug, simply fold the tea tag in half and thread the tag and string through the underside of the slit on the lid. Add hot water. Once the brew time indicated on the tea tag is reached,* just pull up on the string. This squeezes the flavorful oils from the tea into the infused beverage below and pulls the spent tea bag into a domed area, where it won’t continue brew and release bitter tannins into your cup.
*All Mighty Leaf tea bags provide this helpful advice.
The bag stays mess-free in the dome until you’re finished with the tea and are ready to clean the cup and toss the bag.
This terrific travel mug comes with a generous selection of delicious, top-quality fall teas in silky bags. The winner will enjoy a box each of Bombay Chai, Rainforest Maté and Chocolate Mint Truffle.
You may love the Tea Top Brew Mug so much, you’ll order them as holiday gifts.
Retail Value Of Prize: Approximately $47.00.
To Enter This Gourmet Giveaway: Go to the box at the bottom of our Gourmet Tea Section and click to enter your email address for the prize drawing.
For more information about Mighty Leaf Tea, visit MightyLeaf.com.
You can juice up for one-fourth the calories and carbs by turning your juice drink into a sparkling juice “spritzer”:
Just fill the glass 1/4 full with fruit juice and top off with club soda or seltzer. You also can:
Mix the recipe by using 1/2 juice and 1/2 club soda if you want more juice flavor.
Use flavored club soda to add more flavor to the drink.
Add a garnish of fresh fruit—lemon or lime is fine for a squeeze of citrus flavor; apple, peach or other favorite fruit provides a mini snack. A sprig of mint is another option.
“Spritzer,” by the way, comes from the German “spritzen,” to squirt or spray. Americans adapted the word around 1915-1920 to refer to adding sparkling water to give carbonation to a beverage. A wine spritzer adds club soda to wine.
Add some spritz and a wedge to your fruit
juice. Photo by Torsten Schon | IST.
Fizzy Lizzy began with founder Liz Morrill’s love for spritzers. At the time, there were no fizzy juices on the market, so she started a line. If you don’t want to make your own juice spritzer, try Fizzy Lizzy, a NIBBLE Top Pick Of The Week.
