• 1 oz. peach schnapps
• 1 and 1/2 oz. vodka
• 1/2 oz. grenadine
• 1/4 oz. Lime Juice
• 1/2 oz. sour mix
• 3-4 whole strawberries
• 2 Cups Ice

Take all of the ingredients and blend it in a blender till smooth. If you wish to have it on the rocks then take a mixing glass and muddle the strawberries add the rest of the ingredients and shake well. Strain into a martini glass or pour into a tall glass.

there are many different ways to make this drink. If i don't have a wafer I use a blend of brown sugar and cinnamon instead.

• 2 ounces vanilla flavored vodka
• 2 ounces milk
• 2 ounces Irish Cream
• 1 ounce simple syrup
• 1 ounce hazelnut liqueur (recommended: Frangelico)
• ⅛ teaspoon pumpkin spice
• dash cinnamon
• 1 vanilla waffer, (crushed, optional)
• 2 cinnamon sticks, (optional)
• whipped cream, (optional)

place the wafers on a plate big enough to cover the rim of the martini glasses. wet the rim of your glasses with water and press the rim onto the plate to make a cookie rim on your glasses. Set aside.

Fill a tumbler (mixing glass) with ice and add the remaining ingredients, shake and train into your martini glasses. dab a little whipped cream in the middle, sprinkle with some cinnamon.and add the cinnamon stick for garnish

• Nonstick spray
• 2 egg whites
• ½ cup all-purpose flour, sifted
• ½ cup superfine sugar
• 1 teaspoon almond extract
• 2 tablespoons water
• Pinch salt
• Fortunes written on strips of colored paper

Position an oven rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 400 degrees F.

On a half sheet tray, spray a silpat with nonstick spray. In a medium bowl whisk egg whites until foamy. Add the flour, sugar, almond extract, water, and salt to the egg whites and beat until smooth, about 30 seconds. Pour or spoon 1 tablespoon of batter onto prepared silpat and spread with the back of a spoon into a very thin 4-inch circle. Repeat on the other half of the sheet, making only 2 cookies per sheet tray. Bake the cookies on middle rack of oven until golden brown around edges, about 8 minutes. Remove from oven and working very quickly, with an offset spatula, remove cookie from baking sheet and place a fortune in the center of the round. Fold to create a half circle. Bend pointed edges of cookie toward each. This should be done quickly since the cookie will become hard and brittle within 10 seconds. Let cool.

These are great if you dip them in chocolate (and sprinkles if you want) after they have cooled.

• 6 average pears
• 1 unbaked pie crust - 9 inch
• First Mixture
• ¼ cup sugar
• ⅛ tsp salt
• 1 tbsp cornstarch
• 1 ½ tbsp lemon juice
• Second Mixture
• ¼ cup granulated sugar
• ¼ cup brown sugar
• ½ tsp cinnamon
• ½ tsp ginger
• ¼ tsp mace, nutmeg could be substituted
• ½ cup flour, or ¼ c flour and ¼ c graham cracker crumbs
• ¼ cup butter

Peel and thinly slice the pears and place in an uncooked pie shell. In a bowl, mix the sugar, salt, cornstarch, and lemon juice from the first mixture and pour over the pears in the pie shell. For the topping, if using graham crackers crumbs, place 3 crackers in ziploc bag; pulverize to meal with rolling pin. In a bowl mix the ingredients from the second mixture with your hands. Combine well and pat on top of the pie to form a crust. Optinal: brush egg white on the shell before filling. Bake at 375℉ for 15 minutes. Reduce heat to 350℉ and bake for 45 more minutes or until golden brown and juice bubbles through the top. Serve alone or with ice cream or top with whipped cream.

• Nonstick baking spray, for pan
• 2 ½ cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 2 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature
• 2 ½ cups sugar
• 6 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon coconut extract
• 1 cup canned unsweetened coconut milk
• Pineapple Glaze, recipe follows
• ½ cup flaked coconut

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. 

Spray a Bundt pan with nonstick baking spray and dust with flour. 

In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, and baking powder. 
In a large bowl, using a hand mixer, cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Beat in the eggs, 1 at a time. Once incorporated, add the extracts. Stir in the coconut milk and beat until combined. Slowly beat in the dry ingredients until the mixture is smooth. 


Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake until a cake tester comes out clean, about 1 hour 10 minutes. Cool cake 5 minutes before turning it out onto a rack. Let cool completely on the rack. 

Once the cake has cooled, ladle the glaze over the cake, and top with flaked coconut. Let glaze set before serving. Transfer the cake to a platter or serving dish and slice.

• 8 large baking apples (recommended: Granny Smith, Golden Delicious, or Northern Spy)
• 2 tablespoons cornstarch
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• ¾ cup apple juice concentrate, thawed
• ¼ cup lightly packed dark brown sugar
• ¼ cup dark or golden raisins
• 8 ice cream "sugar" cones
• Whipped cream, for garnish

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Peel, core, and cut the apples into 3/4-inch chunks. In a medium bowl, whisk the cornstarch, vanilla extract, apple juice concentrate and brown sugar together. Add the apples and raisins and toss. Transfer to a 2-quart baking dish. Cover the dish with foil and bake for 20 minutes. Uncover and bake for 20 minutes more, stirring occasionally for even cooking. The mixture is done when the apples are just tender and the filling is clear and thickened. Set aside to cool a bit. Scoop warm filling into the ice cream cones and serve, topped with whipped cream.

• 4 large egg yolks
• 6 tablespoons granulated sugar
• 2 and ¼ cup heavy cream
• 4 ounces bittersweet chocolate
• 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
• 7 ounces nutella
• 2 teaspoons hazelnut syrup

Whisk the yolks and sugar in a bowl until thick and creamy. They should form pale ribbons when you lift the whisk. Bring the cream to the boil and add it to the beaten yolks, pouring slowly and beating all the while.

Melt the chocolate and let it cool slightly, then whisk this, followed by the cocoa powder, into the eggs and cream. Pour the chocolate-custard mixture into a pan and cook on low to moderate heat, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, until everything's smooth and. beginning to thicken. Turn into a bowl or wide pitcher and cool, whisk or stirring every now and then to stop a skin from forming.

When the mixture cools, whisk the Nutella and the hazelnut syrup and then freeze in and ice cream maker.

• 3 and ½ cups blanch cashews
• 8 ounces sugar, (super fine)
• ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 3 and ¾ cups water, (can substitute with soy, almond or a low fat milk)

Grind the cashews nuts in a food processor. Add the sugar and cinnamon and grind the mixture again to make it into a smooth paste.

While the processor is still on and running, pour in the water until the drink becomes smooth and frothy. Scrape down the mixture occasionally, if necessary.

Pour the cashew nut milk into a pitcher. Cover and chill. Stir well before serving.

If the mixture is a little thick, use a little water and mix to thin it out.

• 2 tablespoons butter
• 4 ounces pineapple, (rously chopped)
• 3 tablespoons dark rum
• 1 and ½ cups heavy cream

Heat the butter in a frying pan and add the pineapple. Cook over a moderate to high heat until the pineapple is starting to turn golden.

Add the rum and allow to bubble for 1-2 minute, then remove and set aside. Pour the cream into a bowl and beat until soft. Fold the pineapple and rum mixture evenly through the cream, then spoon into 4 glasses and serve.

If you don't want to mix the cream with the fruit, layer it into the glass.

This also works well with vanilla or a rum raisin ice cream to add to the layers for your glasses. you can also substitute the fruit for another like bananas, apples or even peach slices

• *** CRUST ***
• 2 cups flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup shortening, chilled
• ¼ cup ice water
• *** FILLING ***
• 1 cup sugar, plus 2 tablespoons divided
• 4 tablespoons flour, divided
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1 dash nutmeg
• 7 large Gravenstein apples, peeled and cored, cut into medium-thin slices
• 2 Tablespoons butter
• milk
• extra sugar for top of pie

For crust: Sift flour with salt. Using a pastry blender, add half the shortening to the flour mixture and cut in until crumbly. Add remaining shortening, cutting in until mixture looks like small peas. Add 1 tablespoon ice water to flour mixture and mix. Repeat with additional water until all flour is thoroughly moistened. Form into a ball. Divide ball in half. Wrap each half in wax paper and chill in refrigerator.

When chilled, roll out bottom crust and line pie plate with it.

For filling: Preheat oven to 400℉. In a small bowl, combine 2 tablespoons sugar and 2 tablespoons flour. Spread this mixture on bottom crust to absorb liquid. Combine remaining sugar, flour, cinnamon and nutmeg in a bowl and mix well. Pour sugar mixture over sliced apples and mix well. Pour apples into pie crust. Dot with small chunks of butter.

Roll out top crust and place on top of apples. Crimp edges and make 5 (1 ½-inch long) slits on top of pie crust. Brush top crust lightly with milk. Sprinkle with sugar. Bake for 5 minutes. Then reduce heat to 350℉ and bake for 1 hour.

Notes:
If you microwave the pecans for a few seconds, to just warm them up a little, it is easier to chop them.

If you want to make an easy pie crust take some chocolate sandwich cookies and crush enough to make 1 and 1/2 cups. Mix it with 3 table spoons of melted butter and press it into the pie plate (9-inches round for this amount of cookie crumbs). Bake it at 350 degrees for about 7 minutes.

• 8 ounces caramels
• ¼ cup evaporated milk
• ¾ cup peacans, (chopped)
• 6 ounces cream cheese, (softened)
• 1 and ¼ cups milk
• 1 package chocolate instant pudding mix
• ½ cup fudge , (warm to drizzle over the top)
• 1 9 inch chocolate pie crust

Place the caramels and evaporated milk in a saucepan. Heat over medium-low heat, stirring continually, until smooth. (about 5 minutes) Stir in half a cup of the chopped pecans and the pour it into the pie crust. Leave some caramels for later to make some more to drizzle on top of your pie.

Combine the cream cheese, sour cream and milk in a blender. Process until smooth. Add pudding mix and pulse for about another 30 seconds. 

Pour this mixture now over the caramel layer evenly. Chill loosely covered, until it sets. (should take about 15 minutes)

Drizzle the caramel and fudge topping over the pudding in a zig zag from top to bottom, and sprinkle on the rest of the pecans. Chill loosely covered until you serve.

• 2 cans evaporated milk
• 1 can condensed milk
• 6 mangoes, (ripe)

Combine the evaporated milk and the condensed milk very well and freeze in ice trays for about 2 hours. During this time peel and remove the pit from the mangoes. Cut and put through a blender, and strain. When the milk has frozen, break the cubes into pieces with a fork and beat with an electric beater. Start very slowly at first and increase the speed as the milk becomes creamy. Fold in the mango mixture with a spoon. Return to the trays or a bowl and freeze until it is thick but soft. 

Scoop it up and garnish with a nice mint sprig.

         1 cup crushed ice
         1 fluid ounce amaretto liqueur
         1 fluid ounce vodka
         8 fluid ounces pineapple juice
         1 teaspoon grenadine syrup
         1 slice fresh pineapple
         1 maraschino cherry

In a blender combine ice, amaretto, vodka, pineapple juice and grenadine. Blend well and pour into a tall chilled glass. garnish with an umbrella, pineapple slice and cherry.

         1 sugar cube
         1 dash bitters (such as Angostura®)
         5 fluid ounces Champagne

Place the sugar cube into a Champagne flute, and drop the bitters onto the sugar. Fill the flute with Champagne, and serve. Do not stir.

• ¾ cups Flour
• ¼ cup Unsweetened cocoa powder
• ⅜ teaspoon Salt
• ⅜ teaspoon Baking powder
• ⅜ teaspoon Baking soda
• ¼ cup Butter or margarine, Softened
• ½ cup Sugar
• ½ Egg
• ¾ teaspoon Vanilla
• 24 Maraschino cherries
• Frosting
• 3 ounces Semisweet chocolate chips
• ¼ cup Sweetened condensed milk
• Cherry juice (4 to 5 tsp)

1. In bowl, stir together flour, cocoa, salt, baking powder and baking soda. In another bowl, beat butter and sugar until fluffy. Add egg and vanilla to butter-sugar mixture and beat well. Gradually add dry ingredients to butter-sugar mixture and beat until well blended.

2. Shape dough into 1-inch balls. Place on ungreased cookie sheet and push down center of each ball with thumb. Drain cherries and reserve juice. Place 1 cherry in center of each indentation. Heat oven to 350℉.

3. For frosting, put chocolate chips and sweetened condensed milk in small saucepan. Heat until chocolate melts. Stir in 4 teaspoons cherry juice. If too thick, add more juice.

4. Spoon 1 teaspoon frosting over each cherry. Spread to cover cherry. Bake 10 minutes or until done. Do not overcook. Remove to wire rack and cool. The cookies freeze nicely.

• 2 large eggs
• 1 cup light brown sugar, (packed)
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1 cup chunky peanut butter
• 1 cup vegetable shortening
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• ½ teaspoon kosher salt

In a large bowl combine he eggs, sugar shortening, peanut butter, and vanilla. Beat until smooth. 

Sift together the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt then incorporate it into the batter. Cover and refrigerate the dough for an hour. 

Preheat the oven at 350 degrees. Roll the dough into 24 little balls, place on the baking sheet about 1 inch apart, press down slightly and with a fork cross hatch the dough. Bake for about 10 minutes and let cool on a wire rack.

• Graham Cracker Crust:
• 2 cups graham cracker crumbs
• ¼ cup sugar
• 7 tablespoons butter, melted
• Lemonade filling:
• 1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk, chilled
• 1 (12 ounce) container whip topping, thawed
• 1 (6 fluid ounce) can frozen lemonade concentrate, keep frozen
• 1 teaspoon candied lemon peel

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

In medium bowl, combine cracker crumbs, 1/4 cup of sugar, and the melted butter. Press firmly on bottom and up sides of pie plate. Bake for 7 minutes and let cool completely. 

In a medium bowl, add chilled sweetened condensed milk and cool whip and fold gently. Add frozen lemonade and continue to gently fold. Do not let the mixture become soupy. Pour mixture into the pie crust and freeze overnight. Garnish with candied lemon peel. 

This can easily be substituted with oranges

• ½ cup Unsalted butter, softened
• ½ cup Packed brown sugar
• ½ Egg
• ½ teaspoon Vanilla
• 1 tablespoon Ground cinnamon
• ¼ teaspoon Salt
• 1 cup All-purpose flour
• ½ Egg white, beaten
• Colored sugar, for garnish
• *** STREUSEL ***
• 3 tablespoons Butter, cold
• ⅜ cups All-purpose flour
• ⅜ cups Sugar

1. Heat oven to 375℉. Grease 15x10 inch jelly-roll pan. Cream butter, sugar, egg and vanilla in mixing bowl. Stir in cinnamon and salt. Add flour, a little at a time. Blend well. Press into pan to ¼ inch thickness with wax paper.

2. Brush beaten egg white over dough. Combine streusel ingredients in food processor. Process until butter is evenly blended. Sprinkle streusel over dough. Bake 20 minutes. Cool on wire rack 15 minutes. Cut into 2x1 ½ inch bars while still warm.

You can top it with fudge or nuts.

• 24 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped
• ⅔ cup heavy cream
• 3 teaspoon vanilla extract

In a medium saucepan over medium-low heat warm up the cream and add the chocolate pieces. Cook and stirring, until chocolate is melted and mixture is smooth. Remove from heat and whisk in the vanilla extract. Pour into a small plastic container and refrigerate until set, about 4 hours. Loosen up the edge and take out of the plastic container like a mold. Chop up the chocolate and just refrigerate until ready to serve.
Note: Feel free to add a different flavor or maybe nuts (almonds or macadamias are great) to the mixture before refrigerating. 


photo by David Hernandez

• 4 ounces butter, (softened)
• 3 cups sugar
• 4 eggs
• 2 cups flour
• ½ teaspoon baking powder
• ½ cup sour cream
• 1-2 tablespoon vanilla extract

Place the butter and sugar in a mixer and mix until smooth. Add the mixture 1 egg at a time. 
In a separate bowl sift the flour and baking powder together, then blend well into mixer by spooning in. Add the sour cream and the vanilla extract and mix until well blended. 
Pre-heat the oven to 325 degrees. 
Grease and flour a bread pan and pour in the batter. Pour in the batter to the pan and bake for 50 minutes to an hour. Let cool before slicing. 

I love to slice the cake about an inch thick and grill the slices. Place them on a plate with sliced fruit and whipped cream in between two slices of the pound cake.

3 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon molasses
4 large fairly firm pears (preferably Bosc or Anjou)
1 lemon, juiced
2 cups apple cider, divided
Dulce de Leche, (Milk and Sugar)
Salt
Grated dark chocolate, for garnish

Try to get the pears the same size and ripeness, so they can all cook evenly when being cooked together. Peel the pears but leave the stems on and drizzle with lemon juice. If they are not standing on their own you can slice the bottom, but as little as necessary so it stands upright.

Use a cast iron skillet large enough to hold the pears, add the butter and molasses and begin to "melt" it over low heat, then ass the pears. Rotate it every 2 minutes to make sure you get every side of the pear.

Add a cup of cider, and allow the pears to simmer until tender, about 10 to 15 minutes. Add more cider as needed to prevent them from burning. The riper the pear the faster it will cook. 

Add the sugar and milk to a separate small saucepan over medium-low heat. Whisk to dissolve the sugar and then simmer, stirring often, until the mixture has reduced by at least half, about 1 hour. The mixture should be thick and slightly caramel in color.

Spoon some of the Dulce de Leche on each plate and top with the pears. Sprinkle with salt and garnish with grated chocolate if desired.


Quick Make Dulce de Leche:
Submerge an unopened can of condensed milk into a small pot filled with boiling water. Make sure the can is always covered with water. Cook this for about 90 minutes. taste great when served warm, but be careful to not burn yourself.

• 4 cups Butter, softened
• 4 cups Sugar
• 4 Eggs
• 2 Lemon, grated rind and juice
• 8 cups All-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons Baking powder
• 2 pinch salt
• 1 lb. Unblanched almonds, finely ground or grated

Cream butter and sugar in large mixer bowl of electric mixer. Beat in eggs, one at a time. Beat in lemon rind and juice. Mix flour, baking powder and salt. Stir flour mixture and ground almonds into butter mixture to make a soft dough. Divide dough into quarters. Refrigerate dough, wrapped in wax paper, until firm, at least 8 hours or overnight.

Heat oven to 350℉. Have ungreased baking sheets ready.

Roll out one dough portion on lightly floured pastry cloth with a rolling pin covered with stocking or roll between sheets of lightly floured wax paper to ⅛-inch thickness. Cut out with cookie cutters. Return dough to refrigerator if it gets too soft. Transfer to baking sheets, leaving 2 inches between each cookie. Sprinkle with colored sugar if desired.

Bake until very light brown at edges, 8 to 10 minutes. Transfer to wire racks to cool. Store in a covered tin.

The dough keeps well in the refrigerator if well-wrapped. 

This is a very popular Cuban drink. Although my girlfriend and I think the classic flavor is the best. It can vary in flavors by just substituting the lime wedges with other fruits. My favorite variations of this drink is to use a small handful of blueberries, or about 2 large cut strawberries.

My recipe is definitely not your typical Mojito recipe but it's always a favorite to Sandy and many others. This is a great drink to serve in pitchers also. You can prepare it early and refrigerate. Just don't add the soda or lemon/lime soda till you are ready to serve.

• 5-6 leaves of mint
• ½ oz. Simple Syrup
• 3 wedges of lime
• splash of sour mix
• 2 oz. Rum
• splash of club soda
• splash of a lemon/lime soda

In a highball glass, muddle your mint, splash of sour mix and simple syrup. Fill the glass with ice and add the rum. Shake your drink and then add your splash of lemon/lime flavored soda and club soda. Garnish with a sprig of mint and a lemon wedge.

If you'd like to decorate your martini glass take the syrup and make zig zags inside the glass before pouring in the drink.

• ¼ oz. Creme de Menthe
• 1 oz. Vodka
• 2 teaspoons Chocolate Syrup, (can use Godiva Chocolate Liquor)
• ¼ oz. Kahlua
• ¼ oz. Irish Cream, (Can substitute with milk or heavy cream)
• Chocolate Shavings

Take all the ingredients and put it in a shaker with some ice. Pour out the mixture into your decorated martini glass.
Sprinkle some chocolate shaving on top

This can be served as a shot or in a highball glass filled with ice.

Amaretto
Godiva's White Chocolate Liquor

Use a shaker and some ice. Do equal parts of both liquors and shake well.

1 stick of butter (8T)
1 and 1/2 cup flour
3 eggs (separated)
1 cup sugar
1 pineapple (peeled, sliced and cored. can also be substituted with a can of sliced pineapples)
pineapple juice 
1 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon of baking powder

Preheat oven at 350 degrees
If using fresh pineapple slices, use a double boiler to arrange the slices and add sugar between all the slices.  Cover the double boiler and cook until the pineapple is tender.
Sift the flour with the baking powder about 3 times. Beat the egg yolks with about 7-9 teaspoons of pineapple juice and beat until it is creamy. Slowly add the sugar and the flour to the eggs mixture. Beat the egg whites until stiff and add 1/2 a teaspoon of salt, and then fold this into the egg mix. 

Using a heavy frying pan, melt the butter and the egg mix in the brown sugar and let it heat until it is creamy. Arrange the pineapple slices ont he bottom of the pan and pour the batter over it.  

Bake for 45 minutes and let cool a little before flipping out of the pan.