With summer coming up and strawberries in season, what could be more refreshing than these strawberry daiquiri ice pops?

Winter is finally beginning to retreat, so I decided to bring the spirit of summer into our kitchen by making some homemade apple pie for a friend!

Ingredients for the Crust:

• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 4 teaspoons sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon fine salt
• 14 tablespoons cold butter, diced
• 1 large egg, lightly beaten with 2 tablespoons cold water

Ingredients for the Filling:

• 3 pounds baking apples (Golden Delicious, Cortland, etc.)
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 2 teaspoons butter
• 2 tablespoons all purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• Generous pinch of ground nutmeg

Directions:

Feel free to buy some pre-made pie shells from the grocery store if you’re short on time. I doubt anyone will notice!

To make the dough, whisk together the sugar, flour and salt. Mix in the butter by hand, just enough so that the butter chunks are almost completely gone. Add the egg and stir. If it looks a little dry, add a little water (don’t overdo it though!). Form the dough into two disks about the size of CDs, cover with seran wrap and refrigerate for one hour.

For the filling, mix all the dry ingredients in a bowl (flour, sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg). Set aside. Peel, core and halve the apples. Cut each half into four wedges (or more if you’re using large apples). Place the apples in a strainer lined with a paper towel and let them dry for thirty minutes to an hour, switching out the paper towel if it gets too saturated. Some people like to coat the apples with lemon juice to prevent discoloration, but when you’re baking with them I’ve never seen it make a difference. Pour the apples into the bowl with your dry ingredients and toss to coat. Incorporate the butter.

Spread the dough out over two nine inch pie pans, placing the apple mixture in one and use the other to create the top. Pinch the corners together and poke a few slits in the top of the crust. Optional: brush a little egg mixture over the top and sprinkle with sugar.

Pre-heat the oven to 400 degrees farenheit and set the rack on the lower middle rung.  Store the pie in the fridge for ten to fifteen minutes, then bake for 40 minutes until golden brown. Cool for one hour, then serve with vanilla ice cream!

Warm, fluffy goodness courtesy of FoodNetwork!

Ingredients:
1 medium baking potato
1/2 cup hot water
2 large eggs, room temp.
2/3 cup sugar
2 1/4 tsp. rapid rise yeast
1 tsp. salt
4 1/4 to 1/3 cups all purpose flour
1 stick unsalted butter, room temp.

Directions:

Cook the potato in a microwave until it squeezes easily. Peel and puree. Stir the hot water, eggs, half the sugar and yeast into the potato. Add 2 cups of the flour and the salt and mix with a wooden spoon to make a sticky, shaggy dough. Cover the bowl tightly with plastic wrap and set aside in a warm place until the dough doubles in volume, about 1 1/2 hours.

Beat the butter with the remaining 1/3 cup sugar in a standing mixer fitted with the paddle attachment until light and fluffy. Switch to the dough hook and add the risen dough to the creamed butter. Continue to mix on low until the butter and dough come together, about 1 minute. (Stop the mixer and scrape down the bowl if needed; the dough will be very sticky.) Gradually add the remaining 2 1/4 cups of flour, about 1/4 cup at a time, to make a shaggy dough that pulls away from the side of the bowl. Continue kneading on medium speed until dough is smooth but still tacky, about 3 to 4 minutes.

Turn dough onto a lightly floured work surface and knead by hand until dough is smooth and no longer tacky, 1 to 2 minutes more. (If the dough is still sticky, gradually add 1/4 cup flour.) Shape dough into a ball.

Brush a large bowl with butter and turn dough around in bowl to coat lightly. Cover bowl tightly with plastic wrap, trace a circle the size of the dough on the plastic, and note the time. Let rise at room temperature until doubled in size, about 1 1/2 hours.

Generously butter two 9-inch round or square cake pans. Turn the dough out of the bowl and pat into a rectangle about 16- by 8-inches, gently pressing out excess air. Divide the dough into 32 equal portions, about an ounce each, with a pizza wheel or bench scraper.

Tuck the edges of the dough under to make round rolls and place them seam-side down in the prepared pan, leaving a little space in between each roll. Cover the pan with buttered plastic wrap and set aside in a warm place until the rolls rise almost to the rim of the pan and have more than doubled in size, about 45 minutes.

Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 375 degrees F. Bake rolls until golden brown and puffy, about 40 minutes. Remove rolls from the oven and quickly brush the tops with soft butter.

Cool the rolls in the pan for about 10 minutes before turning them out onto a rack in one piece. Cool slightly. Serve warm or at room temperature in one piece or pulled apart as individual rolls.

Photo by Christey Krause, FotoCuisine.com

Life can’t get much better than this if you love spicy food. Check out Fotocuisine for more photos and commentary on the preparation of this dish!

Ingredients
butter
texas pete
1/3 c. V8 Juice
two cornish hens, defrosted and towel dried
salt and pepper

Combine the butter, texas pete and tomato juice in a sauce pan. Bring to a gentle simmer and add a pinch of pepper. You can also add cayenne, if you like.

Clip the wings of the birds and tie them securely. Season with salt and pepper, brush the tops lightly with the sauce and roast in a baking dish at 450 degrees for 15 minutes.

Take the chicken out and baste liberally with the sauce, then put them back into a 375 degree over for fifteen minutes. Keep checking back every fifteen to twenty minutes, adding more sauce as needed. They should be done in about 50 minutes. Serve it over your favorite rice and voila!

I can’t think of anything more light, sweet and airy to pull me out of the doldrums of winter than cupcakes.  And this recipe turned out every bit as yummy as it looks!  These are called Neapolitan Cupcakes because it combines the classic flavors of vanilla, chocolate and strawberry.  The trio got its name because most confectioners’ stores in 18th century America were owned by Italian immigrants, many of whom came from Naples (a person from Naples is called Neapolitan — I guess it sounded better than Naplesian or Naplesish).  This recipe and photo are courtesy of Bonnie Leigh, many thanks to her!

___________________________________________________________________________________

Ingredients:

(for the cupcakes)

*makes 12

1 stick unsalted butter, room temperature
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup sugar
2 large eggs, room temperature
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup whole milk

For Chocolate Cupcakes: Reduce flour to 1 1/4 cups, and add 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder.

(for the frosting – Strawberry Swiss Meringue Buttercream)

4 large egg whites
1 1/4 cups sugar
1 cup unsalted butter(2 sticks)
1/3 cup strawberry jam

Directions:

(for the cupcakes)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a standard 12-cup muffin pan, or use paper liners.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt; set aside.
3. With an electric mixer, beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition; add vanilla, and mix until combined.
4. On low speed, beat in half the flour mixture, followed by milk; end with remaining flour mixture. Mix just until incorporated (do not overmix).
5. Fill muffin cups with 3 tablespoons of each batter, side by side.. Bake until a toothpick inserted in center of a cupcake comes out clean, 18 to 20 minutes. Cool cupcakes in pan, 5 minutes; transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

(for the frosting – Strawberry Swiss Meringue Buttercream)

1. Put egg whites and sugar into the top of a double boiler over a pan of simmering water. Whisking constantly, cook until sugar has dissolved and mixture is warm (about 160 degrees).
2. Pour heated egg whites into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Beat egg white mixture on high speed until it forms stiff (but not dry) peaks. Continue beating until fluffy and cooled, about 7 minutes.
3. Switch to the paddle attachment. With mixer on medium-low, add butter two tablespoons at a time, beating well after each addition. Increase speed to medium-high; continue beating until frosting appears thick, about 3 minutes.
4. Reduce speed to low; add strawberry jam and continue beating 2 minutes to eliminate air bubbles.

___________________________________________________________________________________

I recently found out that you can buy stand alone foil cups that don’t need a muffin tin, how cool is that?  They’re the same price as regular paper cups and I found it really helpful being able to hold them individually in my hand as I tried to get the two batters evenly in the cup.  I deviated from the frosting recipe she suggested, which just goes to show that how hard it is to mess these cupcakes up!  I switched to strawberry cream cheese icing because I didn’t feel up to tampering with sugar over a stove (it burns easily, in my experience as an absent minded cook).  For my version, I just mixed 1/2 a stick of butter, 8 ounces of cream cheese, 3/4 cup of sifted powdered sugar and a few dollops of the strawberry glaze they sell over in the fruit section of the grocery store.  I don’t like my icing too sweet, so you can taste it as you go and decide whether it needs more sugar. Chill the icing for up to an hour so that it becomes firm and easy to decorate with.

I love the fun pink color of the icing and the strawberry aromatics.  Try it yourself and see how delicious they are!