Get ready for Halloween:

For a bewitching breakfast, lunch or dinner on Halloween, go batty with pancake molds.

A Williams-Sonoma exclusive, they’re easy to use.

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

Go batty with special Halloween pancakes.
Photo courtesy Williams-Sonoma.

It’s easy to make sugar-free sorbet.
Photo by Dusan Zidar | BSP.

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.

And Piave Vecchio. This hard Italian mountain cheese has a fine, rich taste and golden color—a buttery cheese that combines the flavor of Parmigiano Reggiano and farmhouse Cheddar.

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.

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.