Apple Cinnamon Streusel Dessert Pizza

 To download a copy of the recipe for Apple Cinnamon Streusel Dessert Pizza, click HERE.

I’m ba-a-a-a-a-a-ck

Although I “retired” from posting weekly recipes back in August, it remained my hope to continue to post recipes on an occasional basis. It took seven months, but this weekend I once again got to cook with a camera in one hand and a pen in the other.

 

A long time staple of pizza chain restaurants, dessert pizza is not a new concept. Made at home, by you, with the kind of attention to detail and ingredients a mass-production chain restaurant could never provide, however, it can be brought to a higher, and frankly pretty delicious, level. (Even the recipes you’ll find on-line often use canned apple pie filling for the topping. I don’t get that. Isn’t having a dessert that’s fresher and better than the one you buy from a chain restaurant the reason you’re making it yourself in the first place? But I digress…)

Of course, if your household is anything like mine, a dessert pizza will probably be used as a breakfast pizza. Dessert pizza just sounds more grown-up; in private, we know better.

Some Cook’s Notes before we begin:

• This recipe makes a 16 inch pizza. For smaller or larger pizzas, adjust the amounts of each ingredient proportionately. 
• For a less sweet dessert, reduce the amount of sugar in the apple-cinnamon topping.

This recipe makes one 16” pizza (approximately 12 portions).

Here’s what you’ll need:

For the pizza dough base: 1 pizza dough (purchased or home made); 1 Tbsp melted butter substitute

For the Apple-Cinnamon Topping: 4 Granny Smith apples; ¼ cup sugar; ½ cup light brown sugar, firmly packed; 2 Tbsp AP flour; ¼ tsp salt; 1/4 tsp nutmeg; ½ tsp ground cinnamon; 1/8 tsp lemon zest; 2 tsp lemon juice

For the Streusel: 1-1/4 cup all purpose flour; 1/2 cup white sugar; 6 Tbsp brown sugar; 2-1/2 Tbsp firm textured butter substitute, very cold; 3 Tbsp flavor-neutral oil

For the Icing: 1-1/2 cup confectioner’s sugar; 3-1/2 Tbsp skim milk; 3/4 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

Lightly coat a pizza pan with butter substitute.

Pat the dough into a pizza pan.

Coat the pizza dough with 1 Tbsp melted butter substitute.

Peel and cube the apples.

Combine the apple-cinnamon topping ingredients.

Spread the apple-cinnamon topping mixture all around buttered crust.

Combine streusel ingredients with a fork. (Avoid using your hands, since your body heat will soften the butter substitute.)

Top the pizza with the streusel mix. (You’ll probably have some streusel mix left over.)

Bake for about 13 minutes until crust is lightly browned. When done, let it cool to warm or room temperature.

While the pizza is cooling, combine icing ingredients. (The amount of milk shown is approximate. Start with a little less, and add a little more at a time until the mixture has a drizzle consistency.)

Drizzle the icing on the pizza.

Cut into slices to serve.

To download a copy of the recipe for Apple Cinnamon Streusel Dessert Pizza, click HERE.

Whether you enjoy this easy-to-make sweet treat for dessert, Sunday morning breakfast, or as a naughty midnight snack doesn’t matter. Just enjoy it!

You never know when the next great-tasting, home-cook friendly recipe will be posted, so please look in once in a while! Till then, stay well, keep it about the food, and always remember to kiss the cook. ;-)

Earl Grey and Almond Biscotti with White Chocolate Amaretto Topping

To download a copy of the recipe for Earl Grey and Almond Biscotti with White Chocolate-Amaretto Topping , click HERE. 

Long before being popularized by Captain Picard, Earl Grey – black tea scented with Mediterranean bergamot oil - was recognized as a refreshing and flavorful tea with a distinct, wonderful fragrance.

It’s highly versatile too; aside from its primary use for brewing hot or even iced tea drinks, Earl Grey’s lovely flavor and aroma have led to another application among its devotees: as an ingredient in cookies, cakes and other baked goods. In this week’s recipe, Earl Grey lends its special qualities to delicious almond biscotti. (For good measure, we also add a white chocolate-amaretto topping!)

Although, as with most biscotti, Italy’s twice-baked gift to the pastry world, these are very firm textured cookies intended to be dunked in coffee, tea or wine, I’ve been able to enjoy them “undunked” as well.

Some Cook’s Notes before we begin:

• To toast the slivered almonds, spread them evenly in a shallow baking pan. Bake at 350°F, stirring after two or three minutes, until they're lightly browned. Let them cool completely before adding them to the biscotti batter.

• If you prefer, you can substitute almond extract for Amaretto.

• Earl Grey works well because it has both a pleasant taste and a lovely aroma, but feel free to experiment with other types of flavored teas to vary the result.

• The finished biscotti should be sealed in an air tight container. As with anything topped with chocolate, they should be ok if kept out at room temperature. If the room is warm, however, it’s usually best to refrigerate them to keep the topping from melting.

This recipe makes about 46 3-1/4” biscotti.

Here’s what you’ll need:

For the biscotti dough: 2 cups all-purpose flour; 2 Tbsp Earl Grey tea from tea bags (or 3 Tbsp loose Earl Grey tea leaves); 1 teaspoon baking powder; 1/4 teaspoon salt; 1 cup sugar; 3/8 firm-cup butter substitute; 1 teaspoon Amaretto; 2 egg-substitute eggs; and 3/4 cup chopped slivered almonds, toasted.

For the topping: 5 ounces white chocolate chips or chopped white chocolate bar; 2-1/2 Tbsp Amaretto; 1/2 tsp vanilla extract.

To make the biscotti dough:

Prepare 2 Tbsp of ground Earl Grey tea, either by cutting open about six teabags or by grinding 3 Tbsp of loose tea leaves in a mini-processor or using a mortar and pestle. (When ground, the volume of the loose tea leaves will be reduced to about 2 Tbsp.)

Chop the toasted slivered almonds into small bits.

Stir together flour, tea, baking powder and salt, and set aside. When properly mixed, the dark flecks of the tea should look evenly distributed throughout the flour mixture.

Combine sugar, butter substitute and Amaretto in large mixer bowl. Beat at medium speed, scraping bowl often, until well mixed (about 2 minutes).

Continue beating, adding the egg-substitute eggs 1 at a time, until the mixture is creamy (about 1 minute).

Stir in the almonds by hand.

Gently add the flour mixture just until a dough forms. Be careful not to overwork the dough.

Wrap the dough and refrigerate for about 1-1/2 hours.

To form and bake the biscotti:

After the dough has finished chilling, begin preheating the oven to 350 degrees.

Divide the dough in half. Shape each half of dough on lightly floured surface into a log about 12” long and about 1- 1/2-inches in diameter.

Place logs about 4 inches apart on a baking sheet lined with parchment or a silicon baking pad. Flatten each log to 2-inch width.

Bake until the edges begin to brown, about 25-30 minutes, turning the baking pan half-way for even baking. Remove from the oven and let stand 10 minutes on the baking sheet.

While the logs are resting, reduce oven to 300°F.

Carefully cut the logs diagonally into 1/2-inch slices with sharp knife lightly coated with butter substitute.

Place the slices on the same cookie sheet, cut-side down. Don’t pack the biscotti too tight; there should be enough room for air to circulate. Use two trays if necessary.

Bake for about 9 minutes with the trays staggered to allow for good air and heat circulation.

Turn each biscotto over, turn the trays around and swap the position of the trays for even baking. Bake for another 9 minutes.

When done, the biscotti should be crisp and very light brown on both sides. Place on cooling racks. Cool completely.

To make the topping:

Combine the topping ingredients in the bowl of a double-boiler. (If necessary, you can improvise a double boiler by fitting a boil over the top of a saucepan with some water in it.) Heat over medium heat till melted.

Let stand for about two minutes and stir till smooth.

To add the topping to the biscotti:

After the biscotti have cooled, dip the top (rounded) part of each into the topping to coat.

Let the excess drip from off.

Place the biscotti on a baking sheet lined with parchment or a silicon pad to cool for about 1 hour to allow the topping to set.

To download a copy of the recipe for Earl Grey and Almond Biscotti with White Chocolate-Amaretto Topping , click HERE.

All that‘s left now is to brew the coffee or tea, or pour the wine, and enjoy a delicious treat! After your first biscotto, you’ll be glad you have so many more!

Please visit again next week for another great-tasting, home-cook friendly recipe! Till then, stay well, keep it about the food, and always remember to kiss the cook. ;-)

Baked Chicken Croquettes with Buttermilk White Sauce

To download a copy of the recipe for Baked Chicken Croquettes with Buttermilk White Sauce, click HERE.

A healthier version of a diner classic, this chicken croquette – a delicious blend of chicken, onion, celery, garlic and seasonings – is baked instead of fried, and crowned with an easy-to-make buttermilk sauce. (If you’ve never had a chicken croquette, think of a crab cake but made with chicken instead of crab, and you’ll have the basic idea.)

Chicken croquettes are meant to be simple to make. Although cooking the chicken is included in this recipe, if you have left-over chicken or even a store-bought rotisserie chicken, that can be used instead. Once you get the general method for making croquettes, there no reason even to limit yourself to chicken.

Some Cook’s Notes before we begin:

• Croquettes can be formed into many shapes: balls, elongated sausage-shape, even cones (formed by using a funnel as a mold). In this recipe I’ve made my croquettes into flat, thick ovals. There’s a reason for this. Growing up in the 60’s and 70’s, I ate many a dinner of the frozen chicken croquettes Weaver made at that time. Since those were made in a flat, thick oval shape, that’s how I’ve been conditioned to visualize a chicken croquette. By all means, make yours whatever shape pleases you.

• Although chicken croquettes are normally fried, the ones we’re making are “oven-fried,” or breaded and baked in a way that’s meant to remind the eater of fried. The breading mixture I like best for this uses crushed corn flakes for the breading. Panko works almost as well. I recommend avoiding regular bread crumbs, which are fine for normally breaded items but don’t give oven-fried food the texture you’re looking for.

• Many chicken croquette recipes call for putting the chicken through a food processor. I prefer the mouth-feel of biting into a piece of chicken, so in this recipe we'll cut it into small chunks.

• As part of the buttermilk white sauce, we’ll be making a roux. You might notice, however, that the 1-to-1 flour-to-fat ratio normally used for a roux is changed here to a ½ -to-1 ratio. This is because the buttermilk we’ll be using has its own thickness and texture to begin with, so we need to adjust the thickening properties of the roux we use.

A special note, too, about the number of servings we’ll be making. This recipe makes about 14 good-sized croquettes. How many portions is that? Let’s put it this way: when I served this at home, my wife’s portion was one croquette, and mine was two. With that in mind, you make the call for your family or guests. If it turns out 14 is too many, just reduce all the ingredients in proportion to each other. Note, however, that the cooked croquettes freeze very well, so making some extras may turn out to be a good idea after all.

Here’s what you’ll need:

For the chicken seasoning mix: 2 tsp dried parsley; 1 tsp dried oregano; 1 tsp dried tarragon; 1 tsp dried thyme; 1 tsp dried rosemary; 1 tsp celery salt; 1 tsp ground ginger; ¼  tsp white pepper; ½  tsp dried sage.

For the baked chicken: 6 Tbsp butter substitute; 2 lbs. boneless chicken breast (or two lbs. of pre-cooked chicken)

For the croquette mixture: 1-1/2 cups fat free, low sodium chicken broth; 1-1/2 cups skim milk; 8 Tbsp butter substitute, divided;  2 medium stalks of celery, fine diced; 1 medium onion, fine diced;  4 garlic cloves, minced; 1 cup AP flour; 1 egg substitute egg

For the breading station: 1-1/2 cups reduced-fat buttermilk; 3 cups crushed corn flakes; 1-1/2 Tbsp garlic powder; 1-1/2 teaspoon kosher salt; ½ teaspoon fresh ground black pepper; 3/4 tsp paprika; cooking spray

For the buttermilk white sauce: 2-1/2 Tbsp butter substitute; 4-1/2 Tbsp all-purpose flour; 1-1/2 cup reduced-fat buttermilk; 1-1/2 tsp dried parsley; ½ tsp dried dill; ¾  tsp kosher salt; ¼ tsp garlic powder; ¼ tsp fresh ground black pepper

To make the seasoning you’ll use for the chicken and the croquette mixture:

Combine the Chicken Seasoning Mix ingredients and set aside till needed.

Next, prepare the chicken. (If you’re using left-overs or other pre-cooked chicken, you can skip this step.)

Begin preheating the oven to 350 degrees.

Put butter substitute in a baking dish and place it in the oven to melt while the oven is pre-heating.

After the butter substitute has melted, remove the baking dish from the oven and stir 1 Tbsp of the seasoning mix into the liquid.

Rinse the chicken breasts and dry with paper towels. Place the breasts in the baking dish, coating each side with some of the butter mixture.

Bake for 30 – 40 minutes, turning the chicken breasts over half-way.

When the chicken has finished baking, remove from the oven and let rest in the baking dish for about 10 minutes. After the chicken has rested, cut into small pieces and set aside till needed.

Prepare the croquette mixture as follows:

Combine the broth, milk and 1 Tbsp of the seasoning mix in a small saucepan over medium heat; turn off the heat when the mixture just begins to boil.

While the broth mixture is heating, melt 6 Tbsp of the butter substitute in a skillet. Add the celery and onions and cook over medium heat until just tender, then add the garlic and cook until the garlic is fragrant, about 1 minute.

Reduce the heat under the skillet to low. Gradually stir in the flour, mixing very well, and cook until a lightly browned roux forms (about three minutes). Add additional butter substitute (up to 2 Tbsp) if the mixture appears too dry.

Add the broth mixture and stir until thickened and smooth.

Taste to make sure the floury taste has been cooked out; if necessary, cook for another minute or two.

Transfer the mixture to a large bowl. Gently stir in the cooked chicken, and allow to cool fully. Once the mixture has cooled, stir in the egg substitute egg till combined. (Don’t try to short-cut letting the mixture cool; if it’s warm, it won’t hold its shape when you form the croquettes in the next step.)

To form and bread the croquettes:

Set up the breading station by setting the buttermilk in a bowl, and combining the crushed corn flakes, garlic powder, salt, pepper and paprika in a shallow dish. In the steps to follow, spoon out, shape, and bread one croquette at a time.

Spoon out enough of the croquette mixture to form a flat oval about 2-1/2” long x 2” wide x 1-1/4” thick. (Before forming the croquette, it’s helpful to compress it in your hands, similar to packing a snowball.)

Dip each croquette into the buttermilk, letting the excess drain, then into the breading mixture. Coat all sides. As each croquette is breaded, place it on a baking sheet lined with parchment or a silicon baking pad. Once all the croquettes are breaded, refrigerate for 1 – 2 hours.

When you're ready to bake the croquettes:

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.

Apply cooking spray to the top and sides of each croquette. After baking for ten minutes, turn each croquette over, spray the other side, and bake until golden (about another 8 – 10 minutes).

While the croquettes are baking, make the buttermilk white sauce as follows:

In a pan, melt the butter substitute.

Add the flour and stir to combine. Cook over a low heat for about 1 minute till a slightly browned roux forms.

Gradually add the buttermilk, stirring constantly, until a thickened sauce forms.

Add the dried parsley, dill, salt, garlic powder and black pepper, and stir till combined. Remove from the heat.

To serve:

Put one or two croquettes on each plate and top with some of the sauce, being careful not to over-sauce the croquettes. Serve with preferred side dishes.

To download a copy of the recipe for Baked Chicken Croquettes with Buttermilk White Sauce, click HERE.

And there you have it: classic diner food in the comfort of your own home.

Please come back next week for another great-tasting recipe! Till then, stay well, keep it about the food, and always remember to kiss the cook. ;-)