Are waffle cakes the next cake trend, following cake pops, ombre cakes, mug cakes and unicorn cakes?

We don’t know, because we’ve only come across them in an article published 18 months ago. No recipes have come over the transom; no waffle cake book has been published.

Instead of baking cake layers, you make waffles. It’s faster, and an easy option to make when you’re jonesing for a piece of cake.

So: Trend, who knows? Dessert, yes! Brunch, why not? Fun, definitely!

And you can add a candle to them for a birthday waffle cake.

This article from Pure Wow has photo links to these waffle cake recipes:

 
You don’t need a special occasion to make a waffle cake. You can even devise a “healthy” version with:

[2] Pumpkin pecan waffles: pumpkin waffles, maple buttercream and pecan-bourbon sauce. Here’s the recipe from Cookie Dough And Oven Mitt

 
What are you waiting for? Get out the waffle iron!
 
 
CHECK OUT THE DIFFERENT TYPES OF WAFFLES.

[2] You can stuff the squash with grains (photo of grain bowl with sliced squash courtesy Good Eggs | SF).

[3] Another options: slices of roast delicata squash in a green salad (photo courtesy Good Eggs).

[4] Delicata squash (photo courtesy Good Eggs).

We get some of our favorite inspirational ideas from fine chefs. Today’s inspiration is from Michael White of Vaucluse in New York City.

Delicata squash is typically baked, but can also be sautéed or steamed. The flesh is known for its creamy flavor and texture, and you can eat the cooked rind.

The squash can be stuffed with meat, grains, vegetables or mixtures. The seeds of can be toasted and eaten, like pumpkin seeds, or used to garnish the dish.

In photo #1, Chef White baked the squash, filled it with a poached egg and surrounded it with sautéed chanterelles, baby beets and lardons in a red wine jus. Easy, peasy, just right for fall and winter.

We created a copycat version.
 
 
RECIPE: STUFFED DELICATA SQUASH CYLINDERS

You can stuff the squash with whatever you like. Most popular are grains and poached eggs, but you can also fill the cylinder with green salad.

We made the recipe in photo, #1 with mushrooms and baby beets, but you can use whatever vegetables you like, including brussels sprouts and pearl onions. We added canned chestnuts.

Among mushrooms, the yellow hue of chanterelles adds more to the plate than white mushrooms.

You can substitute another type of bacon for the lardons, or omit the meat entirely.

Make a larger quantity of vegetables if you want to serve more with the dish—a luncheon dish or main dinner course, for example (or if you want leftovers).

Ingredients For 6 Servings

 
For The Sautéed Vegetables

 
Preparation

1. PREHEAT the oven to 425°F. Place the lardons in a single layer on a baking pan and roast for 30 minutes until the bacon is crisp, tossing halfway through. Remove and drain.

2. LOWER the oven temperature to 400°F. Coat the bottom of a baking pan with a brush of olive oil (or, use the same pan as the lardons, for more bacon flavor.

3. CUT the squash as desired: in halves, cylinders (photo #1) or slices (photos # 2 and #3). Remove the seeds and pith, season with salt and pepper, and arrange on the pan (place halves flesh side down). Bake until a fork easily pierces the skin and flesh, about 25 minutes. Slices will cook more quickly.

3. FLIP the squash halfway through. If roasting halved squash, cook for 25 minutes, flip and and roast 5 minutes more. If you want grill marks, as in photo #1, you can take the extra step. It’s easy for a restaurant, which has the grill going as well as the stove and the oven. While the squash is cooking…

5. MAKE the jus. We made a faux jus: Instead of reducing stock, we added a tablespoon of red wine to the butter in the pan. Keep warm.

6. POACH the eggs.

7. ASSEMBLE. Assemble, garnish and serve. We warmed everything but the just-cooked-eggs in the microwave, 30 seconds, while the eggs were poaching.
 
 
HERE’S ANOTHER RECIPE FOR STUFFED DELICATA SQUASH, turning the cylinder into a “vase” of ingredients.
 
 
WHAT IS DELICATA SQUASH?
 
Delicata squash is a variety of winter squash that is cylindrical, with a creamy colored base and green or orange stripes. Unlike other winter squash varieties, its rind is thin (delicate), hence its name.

The entire squash family is indigenous to Central and North America. It was introduced to early European settlers by Native Americans.

In the context of thousands of years of squash cultivation, the delicata variety is quite new. It was first introduced by a seed developer in 1894. However, attractive and easy to cook as it is, it wasn’t widely grown due to susceptibility to mildew.

And it almost disappeared some 40 years after its introduction, following the Great Depression!

The reason there’s delicata today is thanks to Cornell University’s Department of Plant Breeding. In the early 2000s, a team bred a delicata that grew on bushes rather than vines, and was resistant to most known squash diseases. It is now the primary commercial cultivar.

Seed developers also have bred varieties with more sweetness, such as Sugar Loaf and Honey Boat.

Although consumed mature, like other winter squash, delicata actually belongs to the same species (Cucurbita pepo) as most types of summer squash. The species includes pattypan squash, yellow crookneck squash, yellow squash and zucchini. (The species also includes Jack-o’-lantern pumpkins.)
  

This weekend we “discovered” a package of arborio rice, way back on a shelf in our very deep pantry. We decided to use it.

We don’t know how long it had been there, but white rice kept in good condition (no moisture, no excess heat) can last at least 4-5 years. If vacuum sealed, it could last 25 to 30 years!

Brown rice doesn’t have the same staying power; the oil in the wheat germ will go rancid.

Here’s a chart on the shelf life of both uncooked and cooked rice (scroll to the middle of the page).

Back to our package of arborio: Cristina Ferrare sent us a recipe a year or two ago that we never got around to. Finding that package of arborio was the nudge we needed.

Before you dig in:

> CHECK OUT THE DIFFERENT TYPES OF RICE
 
 
RECIPE: PUMPKIN, SAUSAGE & SAGE RISOTTO

It’s the perfect fall risotto recipe. You can serve it as a first course, a side, or lunch with a side salad.

“Pumpkins not only bring the flavor of fall into each bite,” says Cristina Ferrare, “but they make great serving bowls as well.

“You’ll set the perfect cozy scene for your family dinner table [or impress your guests] with this creamy Pumpkin and Sausage Risotto.”

You can find more of her recipes here.

You don’t need to serve the risotto in a pumpkin; but if you do want to present it in a fresh pumpkin shell, you can buy either a standard pumpkin or mini pumpkins for individual servings.

If you want to scoop out the insides a day in advance, stick the pumpkin(s) in the freezer.

Or, you may wish to invest in a ceramic pumpkin tureen. When not used for tableware, it can serve as a household decoration from late September through Thanksgiving.

Ingredients

 
Preparation

1. BRING the chicken stock to a boil. In a separate heavy bottomed pot, sauté onions in the butter until translucent.

[2] How about a mini pumpkin?

[3] Mini pumpkins are more labor, but memorable. Here’s the recipe for this potato-rice stuffed pumpkin (photo © Dear Kitchen).

3. BEGIN adding the stock 2 cups at a time, stirring after each addition. As the rice absorbs the stock, continue to add another 2 cups until nearly all of the stock has been used and the risotto is very creamy.

4. STIR in the pumpkin and the remaining sage. Taste quickly, and season as needed. Remove from heat and stir in the cheese. Garnish with cheese curls if desired, and serve immediately.
  

[2] Chocolate squares are perfect with a cup of coffee.

[3] While maple is the most popular, there are 11 additional sugar-free syrup flavors.

Monk fruit (lo han guo) on the tree (photo courtesy Clean Plates).

With Halloween and the holidays approaching, many people will be dipping into the chocolate.

But what if you can’t join them because you’re avoiding sugar? How can you get a great chocolate fix?

Get ChocZero—lots of it! Sweetened with a relatively new noncaloric sweetener, monk fruit (see below), it tastes like a premium-quality chocolate bar.

According to the company, it’s the #1 selling chocolate on Amazon and there’s a reason why. This chocolate may be sugar-free, but it tastes like the real deal.

ChocZero was created for people who follow a ketogenic “keto” diet: a high-fat, adequate-protein, low-carbohydrate diet. But you don’t have to be on that food plan to enjoy this chocolate. Everyone who wants to eliminate sugar can jump in.

Monk fruit is a zero-calorie natural sweetener made from melon that’s relatively new on the American sugar-substitute scene.

There’s no aftertaste, no digestive upset as with maltitol, a sugar alcohol that creates delicious sugar-free chocolate, but can cause digestive upset.

The line uses ethically-sourced cacao beans from South America, and Madagascar vanilla beans. The line is gluten free, GMO-free, soy free, and sugar alcohol-free company.
 
 
CHOCZERO KETO BARK (CHOCOLATE BAR) & CHOCOLATE SQUARE FLAVORS

The chocolate bars (photo #1) are stone-ground, meaning that the cacao beans are unrefined. This minimal processing lets the bold flavors of the chocolate shine through.

The bars are called bark—keto bark, to be precise—because they have inclusions.

The 1-ounce bars, 120 calories (a standard bar is 155 calories), are sold in boxes of six.

 
Don’t want inclusions? There are individual squares of chocolate, just right for a guilt-free snack or with a cup of coffee, in:

 
Currently sold out are Chocolate Dipping Cups. Think of them as single-serve portions that you microwave, and can then use as hot chocolate sauce, a fruit dip, or, mixed with milk, hot chocolate.
 
SUGAR-FREE SYRUPS

Who knew there was so much demand for sugar-free syrup (photo #3)? ChocZero makes 12 flavors.

The flavors:

 
It’s all waiting for you at ChocZero.com and on Amazon.
 
 
WHAT IS MONK FRUIT?

Monk fruit is a natural sweetener made from the extract of a small Asian melon, lo han kuo (also spelled lo han guo and luo han kuo, botanical name Siraitia grosvenorii).

The sweetener has been used in China and Southeast Asia for generations.

A low glycemic index makes it appropriate for diabetics. Monk fruit is 200 to 250 times as sweet as table sugar, so a tiny amount is used. It is very stable under high temperature and thus suitable for cooking and baking. It is currently labeled a dietary supplement by the FDA.
 
 
WANT TO KNOW MORE ABOUT THE DIFFERENT TYPES OF SWEETENERS?

Check out our Sugar Substitutes Glossary, a guide to low-cal and no-cal sweeteners.
  

October 8th is National Fluffernutter Day, honoring an American sandwich that has been beloved by generations: a combination of Fluff marshmallow cream and peanut butter.

The invention of smooth, creamy Marshmallow Fluff in Massachusetts led to many recipes, including the Fluffernutter Sandwich, a combination of Marshmallow Fluff and peanut butter.

Today we have a Fluffernutter Pie to celebrate; it substitutes regular marshmallows for Marshmallow Fluff.

Before you dig in, check out:

 
 
RECIPE: IMPOSSIBLE PEANUT BUTTER PIE

The pie (photo #1) isn’t impossible, of course. “The title refers to the way it “impossibly” forms its own crust as it bakes, no pastry needed,” says recipe developer Hannah Kaminsky.

“Riffing off my favorite childhood sandwich (photo #2), stacked thick with gooey marshmallow cream slathered over crunchy peanut butter, this reinterpretation skips the bland bread and gets right to the good stuff: the filling.

“Deceptively simple, it takes little more effort to assemble than the classic school lunch that inspired it.

“Prepare for a luscious peanut butter and marshmallow onslaught.”
 
Ingredients For 1 Pie: 8 To 10 Servings

 
*If you’re using salted peanut butter to begin with, dial back the additional salt or omit entirely, to taste.
 
Preparation

1. PREHEAT the oven to 350°F and lightly grease a 9-inch pie pan.

[2] The inspiration for the pie: a Fluffernutter Sandwich. Avoid the white bread and serve it on better bread; here, oat bread (photo courtesy King Arthur Flour).

[3] Dating to 1910, Marshmallow Fluff was first sold to ice cream parlors (photo courtesy Hawkin).

3. COMBINE the sugar, flour, arrowroot, baking powder and salt. Mix thoroughly so that no lumps remain and all of the dry ingredients are completely incorporated. Add in the liquid mixture and stir until smooth.

4. POUR the batter into the pie pan and bake for 40 to 45 minutes and remove from the oven. The pie should be set around the edges but quite wobbly in the center, much like a cheesecake.

5. PILE the marshmallows on top in an even layer and return the pie to the oven. Set the broiler to high and cook for 5 to 10 minutes, until the marshmallows are lightly toasted and golden brown.

6. REMOVE and cool to room temperature before garnishing with peanuts, slicing, and serving.