Dayrecipe Food Community

For this clever riff on the “frozen” Margarita, try to use natural lime pops (sold at natural and specialty foods stores) rather than artificially colored and flavored varieties.

Makes 6 servings.

INGREDIENTS

• 1/2cup tequila
• 6tablespoons fresh lime juice
• 1/4cup coarse kosher salt
• 6frozen lime-flavored ice pops or fruit bars, unwrapped

DIRECTIONS Mix tequila and lime juice in 1-cup measuring cup. Place coarse salt in small bowl. Place all ice pops, sticks up, in deep bowl, or place 1 pop in each of 6 glasses. Pour tequila mixture over ice pops. Lightly dip 1 edge of each ice pop into coarse salt and serve.

INGREDIENTS

DIRECTIONS Wipe off rims of filled jars with a clean, damp kitchen towel, then firmly screw on lids with screw bands.

Put sealed jars on a rack in a boiling-water canner or an 8- to 10-quart deep pot and add enough water to cover by 2 inches. Bring to a boil, covered. Boil jams, preserves, chutneys, and fruit butters 10 minutes (for 1/2 -pint jars), pickles 20 minutes (for pint jars), then transfer with tongs to a towel-lined surface to cool. Jars will seal (if you hear a ping, that signals that the vacuum formed at the top of the jar has made the lid concave) and preserves will thicken as they cool.

After jars have cooled 12 to 24 hours, press center of each lid to check that it’s concave, then remove screw band and try to lift off lid with your fingertips. If you can’t, the lid has a good seal.

Store in a cool, dry, dark place.

Use two 6-mold nonstick mini-Bundt-cake pans or giant-muffin tins for these.

Makes 9.

INGREDIENTS

• sauce
• 2/3cup dried apricots, thinly sliced
• 3tablespoons chopped crystallized ginger1cup sugar
• 3tablespoons water
• 1tablespoon light corn syrup
• 1tablespoon salted butter
• 2/3cup whipping cream
• 1teaspoon vanilla extractcakes
• nonstick vegetable oil spray
• 2 1/2cups all purpose flour
• 4teaspoons ground ginger
• 2teaspoons baking soda
• 1 1/2teaspoons ground allspice
• 1cup hot water
• 1tablespoon instant espresso powder
• 1cup (packed) golden brown sugar
• 3/4cup (1 1/2 sticks) salted butter, room temperature
• 1cup mild-flavored (light) molasses
• 2large eggs
• 2tablespoons finely grated peeled fresh ginger
• 2teaspoons sugar

DIRECTIONS For sauce:Combine apricots and ginger in small bowl. Pour enough boiling water over just to cover; let soften 10 minutes. Drain; pat dry with paper towels.

Combine sugar, 3 tablespoons water, and corn syrup in heavy medium skillet. Stir over low heat until sugar dissolves. Increase heat; boil until syrup is deep amber color, brushing down sides with wet pastry brush and swirling pan occasionally, about 10 minutes. Remove from heat. Mix in butter, apricots, and ginger. Add cream and vanilla. Stir over low heat until caramel bits dissolve and sauce is smooth. (Can be made 1 day ahead. Cover; chill. Rewarm over low heat before serving.)

For cakes:Preheat oven to 350°F. Spray 9 mini-Bundt molds with nonstick spray; generously butter same molds. Sift flour, ground ginger, baking soda, and allspice into medium bowl. Combine 1 cup hot water and espresso powder in small bowl and stir to dissolve. Using electric mixer, beat brown sugar and butter in large bowl until blended. Beat in molasses, then eggs and fresh ginger. Beat in flour mixture in 3 additions alternately with espresso mixture in 2 additions. Divide among 9 prepared molds. Sprinkle with 2 teaspoons sugar.
Bake cakes until tester inserted near center comes out clean, about 20 minutes. Cool cakes in pans 10 minutes; turn out onto baking sheet. (Can be made 6 hours ahead; let stand at room temperature. Rewarm in 350°F oven 8 minutes.) Serve ginger cakes warm with warm apricot sauce.

“I had three kids in three years when I was a ‘young married’ in my twenties,” writes Sheryl Hurd-House of Jupiter, Florida. “That’s when I started cooking and realized I liked it. But I’m having even more fun cooking now that our children are grown and it’s just me and my husband, Garry.”

Fresh greens and a variety of colorful veggies add up to a great salad you can throw together in minutes.

Makes 4 to 6 servings.

INGREDIENTS

• 4cups (packed) mixed baby lettuces
• 1/214- to 15-ounce can hearts of palm, drained, each cut into 1/2-inch-thick rounds
• 1/2large red bell pepper, halved lengthwise, thinly sliced crosswise
• 1cup cherry tomatoes, halved
• 8canned pickled beets, halved
• 3/4cup crumbled blue cheese (about 3 ounces)
• 2green onions, chopped
• 1/2cup (about) bottled balsamic dressing

DIRECTIONS Combine all ingredients except dressing in large bowl; toss to blend. Add 1/2 cup dressing (or more); toss again to coat.

Remember the commercial that re-created the invention of Reese’s Peanut
Butter cups? A woman is walking down the street eating a chocolate bar, and a
man is walking the other way eating a tub of peanut butter. They bump into
each other, causing the chocolate and peanut butter to mix. Overcome by the
new taste sensation, they immediately check into a motel (I may be
misremembering that last part). I’ve never cared for the chocolate-peanut
butter combo, so if that idiot had ruined my chocolate bar, I would have
pushed him into oncoming traffic. But my mom, who says she’s going to have
chocolate with peanut butter for her last meal, swears by these cookies. She
thinks they’re even better than Traditional Chocolate Chip Cookies.

Makes 40-50 cookies

INGREDIENTS

• preparation time: 20 minutes
• baking time: 30 minutes (10 minutes per batch)
• rating: easy1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature, plus more for
  greasing
• 3/4 cup creamy peanut butter
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups (12-ounce package) semisweet chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup peanut butter chips
• 1/2 cup dry-roasted peanuts

DIRECTIONS Place an oven rack in the middle position and preheat the oven to 350°F. Lightly rub two cookies sheets with butter, or use nonstick baking
sheets. Set aside.

Put the butter, peanut butter and the sugars in a large bowl. Beat with an
electric mixer or a wooden spoon until smooth and creamy. Add the eggs and
vanilla and beat again. Add the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt,
and beat on low speed until well blended. Add the chocolate chips (see Mom
Tip), peanut butter chips and peanuts and mix thoroughly.

Using a teaspoon as a guide, scoop a portion of the dough and, with your
hands, roll each portion into a ball. Place the balls on each cookie sheet, 3
cookies per row in 5 rows. Flatten the balls with the heel of your hand or
the tines of a fork so that they spread to about 1 1/2 inches in diameter.
Bake each batch, one cookie sheet at a time, for about 10 minutes. The
cookies will be firm to the touch and just beginning to brown.

Remove from the oven and cool on the sheet for about 3 minutes. Then transfer them with a
spatula to a cooling rack. Let the cookie sheet cool for 1 or 2 minutes more
before reusing so the dough doesn’t melt. Store in an airtight container.

Mom Tip: If you want chocolate coating on the top of each cookie, reserve 1/2
cup chocolate chips when mixing the batter. After the cookies are formed and
placed on the cookie sheets, lightly press 5 chocolate chips into the top of
each cookie. When the cookies come out of the oven, gently spread those
partly melted chocolate chips over the top of each cookie with a knife to
make a thin chocoalte layer. Cool as directed.