Honeyed Carrots

Ingredients:

2 cups water
10 to 12 small carrots (about 12 ounces)
2 tbsp. light stick margarine
1 tbsp. light brown sugar
1 tbsp. honey
2 tbsp. finely snipped fresh parsley or fresh mint

Directions:

In a large saucepan, bring the water to a boil over medium-high heat. Cook the carrots for 15 minutes, or until tender. Drain.

Dry the pan. Melt the margarine over medium heat. Swirl to coat the bottom. Stir in the brown sugar, honey, and carrots. Reduce the heat to low and cook for 2 to 3 minutes, or until the carrots are well glazed, stirring frequently.
Sprinkle with the parsley.

Yield: 4 servings
2 Weight Watchers points per serving

This recipe is from The New American Heart Association Cookbook.

Pots de Creme

Ingredients:

x

3 ounces bittersweet chocolate, cut into small pieces

2 cups heavy cream

1/2 cup milk

5 egg yolks

1/4 cup granulated sugar

Pinch salt

White Chocolate Whipped Cream, recipe follows

Grated chocolate, for garnish

Directions:

Place rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

Melt the chocolate in a medium heatproof bowl set over gently simmering water. When the chocolate is almost melted, turn off the heat and let stand until completely melted.

Meanwhile, in a medium saute pan, scald the cream and milk. Watch carefully as cream will boil over.

In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together the egg yolks, sugar, and salt until the sugar is completely dissolved. Slowly whisk the hot cream mixture into the yolks. If you add the hot cream mixture too quickly, the egg yolks could cook and leave undesirable cooked egg particles.

Remove the melted chocolate from the stove and pour the hot cream mixture through a fine mesh strainer into the melted chocolate. Whisk until well combined and smooth.

Ladle the mixture into 6 (3/4-cup) ramekins. Lime the bottom of a baking pan with a clean kitchen towel or paper towels. Place the filled ramekins in the baking dish on the towel. Pour in enough hot water to reach halfway up the sides of the ramekins. Cover the entire pan with aluminum foil and place in the oven. Bake until mixture around the edges of the ramekin is firm when lightly shaken, about 35 minutes. (Baking time will vary depending on depth and width of ramekins.) The center of the Pot de Cremes may still jiggle slightly when shaken, but that is okay, it will firm up as it chills.

Carefully remove the ramekins from the baking pan, wipe dry and allow to cool. Once cooled, refrigerate until firm, about 2 to 3 hours.

To serve, spoon some White Chocolate Whipped Cream into the ramekin and garnish with some grated chocolate.

White Chocolate Whipped Cream:

2 ounces white chocolate, finely chopped

1 1/2 cups heavy cream, chilled

Melt the white chocolate in a double boiler over barely simmering water, stirring occasionally. Once melted, remove from the heat and cool to room temperature.

Whip the cream in a chilled bowl to soft peaks. Fold in the cooled chocolate and beat to stiff peaks.

Yield: 6 servings

Gourmet Caramel Apples

These apples make great gifts and are easy to make in assembly line using a crock pot. I like to package them in plain brown lunch bags with a bit of ribbon and a tag for Christmas. Coffee Filters work great for holding apples inside bags. Each apple feeds about 6 people when you slice it into wedges. Ingredients: 3 packages (14 oz.) caramel candies 2 T water 6-8 large Granny Smith apples 6-8 wooden skewers or sticks Chocolate – Total 24 oz. in the flavors you desire: Dark Chocolate (best to use good quality like Ghirardelli) White Chocolate Milk Chocolate Suggested coatings: Crushed Oreos Nuts Candy Sprinkles Holiday colored plain M&Ms Crushed candybars (Butterfinger, Snickers, Heath Toffee) Peanut butter pretzels Peanut Butter Chips Waxed paper Preparation: Line a cookie sheet with waxed paper, set aside. Wash and completely dry apples. Insert a stick through stems. Put coating ingredients in separate bowls. Heat caramels and water in medium saucepan. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly until caramels melt. Cool slightly. If making a lot of apples, you can melt the caramel in a crock pot. Dip each apple in caramel mixture coating evenly. Use a spoon to help cover the apple. Allow caramel to set slightly and then dip again, if desired. While caramel is still liquid, roll the apple into the desired coating. This does not have to be neat, and looks great when really textured as with cookie pieces. Melt the chocolate in a double boiler or microwave. The amount of chocolate you melt depends on how much of each kind you use. Figure approx. 3 oz. per apple total. Use a spoon to drizzle melted chocolate onto apple completely encasing the apple in chocolate. I use two kinds of chocolate per apple to give it texture and great flavor. When chocolate is set, package for gift giving! Yields: 6-8 apples

Pecan Pie

Ingredients:

1 stick butter
1 cup sugar
1 cup Karo syrup
3 eggs, beaten
1 cup chopped pecans
1 unbaked 9-inch pie shell

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

In a saucepan, melt the butter but don't let it brown. Mix in the sugar and corn syrup and cook, stirring, over medium heat until the sugar dissolves. Stir in the eggs. Mix well. Stir in the pecans. Pour into the pie shell and bake for 1 hour or until firm when shaken.

Yields: 8-10 servings

Toffee Crunch Caramel Cheesecake

Credit: Bon Appétit, January 2005 and Zoom, Park City, UT

"Each year we receive hundreds of reader requests for recipes from restaurants around the world. And this past year there was a clear favorite — cheesecake. One of the best we tested is from Zoom in Park City, Utah. Here's their delicious version. — The Editors of Epicurious

At the restaurant, this is served with roasted pears. The cake needs time to set up in the refrigerator overnight, so begin making it at least one day ahead.

Gingersnap crust:
Nonstick vegetable oil spray
1 1/2 cups ground gingersnap cookies (about 7 1/4 ounces)
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
2 tablespoons (packed) golden brown sugar

Cheesecake:
4 8-ounce packages cream cheese, room temperature
1 cup (packed) golden brown sugar
2 tablespoons (1/4 stick) butter, melted
5 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Caramel topping:
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/4 cup water
1/2 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
1 cup heavy whipping cream

4 1.4-ounce English toffee candy bars (such as Heath or Skor), chopped

For gingersnap crust:
Preheat oven to 350°F. Spray bottom of 9-inch springform pan with 2 1/2-inch-high sides with nonstick spray. Stir ground cookies, butter, and sugar in medium bowl until moist clumps form. Press cookie mixture firmly onto bottom of prepared pan. Wrap outside of pan with 3 layers of heavy-duty foil. Bake crust until firm and beginning to darken, about 14 minutes. Cool crust. Maintain oven temperature.

For cheesecake:
Beat cream cheese and sugar in large bowl until smooth. Beat in butter, then eggs, 1 at a time, until just blended. Beat in vanilla. Pour batter over crust in pan. Place springform pan in large roasting pan. Add enough hot water to come halfway up sides of springform pan. Bake cake uncovered until filling is puffed around edges and moves slightly in center when pan is gently shaken, about 1 hour 10 minutes. Remove pan from water; remove foil. Place hot cheesecake uncovered in refrigerator overnight.

For caramel topping:
Stir sugar, water, and lemon juice in large saucepan over medium heat until sugar dissolves. Increase heat; boil without stirring until mixture turns deep amber, occasionally swirling pan and brushing down sides with wet pastry brush, about 9 minutes. Add cream (mixture will bubble). Reduce heat to medium-low. Simmer until reduced to 1 1/4 cups, stirring occasionally, about 8 minutes. Chill until thickened but still pourable, about 15 minutes.

Spoon caramel over top of cake just to edges (do not allow caramel to drip down sides). Garnish top edges with chopped English toffee. Chill at least 2 hours and up to 6 hours.

Run knife around pan sides to loosen cake; release pan sides.

Yields: 10-12 servings

Pear Pie with Gruyere Crust

Ingredients:

1 recipe pastry for a 9 inch double crust pie

1/2 cup white sugar

3 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon lemon zest

5 cups peeled and sliced pears

1 tablespoon butter

1 tablespoon lemon juice

7 oz. Gruyere cheese, grated

Combine sugar, flour, salt, cinnamon, and lemon rind in mixing bowl.

Arrange pears in layers in a 9 inch pastry lined pan, sprinkling sugar mixture over each layer. Dot with butter. Sprinkle with lemon juice. Roll out remaining dough; fold Gruyere cheese into crust; cut slits for escape of steam. Moisten rim of bottom crust. Place top crust over filling. Fold edge under bottom crust, pressing to seal. Flute edge.

Bake at 450 degrees F (230 degrees C) for 10 minutes. Reduce temperature to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C), and bake for an additional 35 to 40 minutes.

Yields: 8 servings