I love apple cider and spiced hot apple cider. I’ve tried many different brands and the best apple cider I’ve ever had was homemade. Ed loved it too, and he’s usually indifferent when it comes to apple cider. This is an easy recipe for apple cider or spiced apple cider that can be served hot or cold. If desired, you could make this an alcoholic drink.
I made this side dish for my brother and sister over Thanksgiving weekend, 2011 and we all loved it. This is simple yet elegant, and it’s subtly flavoured, making it a great side for any entree.
Ed and I were craving apple pie really badly late one night, and I happened to have fresh apples and frozen puff pastry on hand, so I made apple turnovers. (See my apple pie recipe here.) These were quick and easy to make and tasted much better than store bought turnovers. We Loved them; anything else would have been a disappointment in comparison. They were so good that Ed ate four large turnovers that night. I wasn’t much better… stopping after three of them. These are by far our new favourite apple turnovers. They freeze beautifully, if you can resist from eating them all right away, that is.
Butter tarts are a wonderful Canadian dessert. (Speaking of wonderful Canadian things, have you tried ice cider?) Butter tarts are individually portion sized tarts that have a flaky pastry shell and a sweet and gooey filling. If desired, the filling can include raisins or pecans. I made both variations in the photo above. If you like pecan pie (see my recipe here), you’ll probably like butter pecan tarts. Personally, I prefer the tarts. I made these butter tarts for the first time over Thanksgiving, 2011. We were amazed by how good the pastry was. This was the best, buttery and flaky pastry I have ever made and these were the best butter tarts we had ever had. Although they can be a bit messy to eat, this pastry is the perfect compliment for this type and size of tart. The filling is soft and gooey, you won’t get crystallized sugar, and it doesn’t drip.
I was so happy with this recipe that I made several batches for my sister’s company’s annual charity baking contest on November 14, 2011. I was too busy to make these the weekend before the competition, so I made them weeks in advance and froze them. Although they’re better when fresh, these were still good enough to win 3rd place in the baking contest. There were a total of 14 entries. (See my dessert that won 1st place in last year’s baking contest here.)
I made this for my family recently and they thought that it tasted even better than the restaurant’s dish. My mom kept raving about how good it was and how even she can’t replicate that Chinese restaurant “flavour” (known as “wok hay”). My brother even suspected that I had used MSG! 🙂 Just to be clear, I never use monosodium glutamate (MSG), because it is a neurotoxin and, clearly, you don’t need it to make great tasting food.
I love love love eating duck tongues, and I have no problem consuming an entire box in one sitting, despite the fact that they are pricey and high in calories. I also happen to be in love with this sauce. Duck tongues can be deep fried, braised, or stir fried. My favourite way to cook duck tongues is to stir fry them.
For those of you who have never tried a duck tongue, most of the tongue is edible. A thin piece of soft bone (I love eating the soft bone) runs up the middle of the tongue and connects to an inedible bone in the middle of the back end of the tongue. The flesh surrounding the bone is neither meaty nor tough like cow’s tongue. Rather, it is soft and slightly chewy, and rich and fatty without being greasy or oily. It’s the texture that makes these so popular. They are relatively neutral in taste, so flavourful sauces are often used.
Despite my age, I still get a little excited whenever I treat myself to a popsicle. Fudgesicles used to be my favourite frozen snack, but years ago, I turned my back on them when I started giving up unnaturally flavoured, processed foods. So imagine how happy I was when I found recipes for homemade fudgesicles. I love that I can now make adult fudgesicles that have a dark chocolate flavour without fructose or corn syrup. I tested two highly rated recipes and have posted my favourite below. I’ll never crave a processed fudgesicle again. 🙂
I am pleased to announce that the new domain for Cooking with Alison is:
This food blog was started on January 15, 2010. (It was called Cooking with Ali, then. A few months later, the name was changed to Cooking with Alison, but the domain remained https://cookingwithali.wordpress.com.) I had been an admirer of other peoples’ food blogs for years and decided to start my own so that I would have my recipes documented and stored in a safe and easily searchable place. I didn’t think that anyone would ever follow it. In the beginning, I called or emailed Ed every time my food blog had a hit, to share my excitement and disbelief and to make sure that it wasn’t him. 🙂 I have now had this food blog for 1 year and 9 months, and I have surprised even myself with how dedicated I’ve been to maintaining it. I have already shared 313 posts and I plan to continue with this momentum. So I thought that it was time that Cooking with Alison had its own domain. Thank you to everyone for visiting Cooking with Alison. Hopefully the shorter domain will make my food blog easier to remember and share with others.
Steamed tofu stuffed/topped with shrimp is a healthy dish that is very easy to make. Alternatively, you could top your tofu with marinated minced pork (with mushrooms and/or red chili peppers, etc.). If you are using pork for this dish, you can follow the method in the recipe below or you can steam the tofu and cook the pork separately in a pan. Then simply top your hot tofu with the cooked pork mixture and serve.
Tiramisu is a very popular Italian, coffee flavoured, layered dessert made with lady fingers and a creamy filling. I’ve always made it a point to try tiramisu from various restaurants, banquet halls, and bakeries – I even tested a few simple tiramisu recipes – but I never found one that blew me away, so I couldn’t understand why this dessert was so popular… until now. I now know that the simpler tiramisu recipes just don’t cut it, and you really need to use the best quality mascarpone that you can get your hands on. I realize that mascarpone cheese is a pricey ingredient, but if you spend just a few more dollars, it will make a world of difference to this dessert.
For my mother’s past birthday, I made a tiramisu cake. Everyone loved it, even Ed and his family who don’t normally care for tiramisu. My dad, who isn’t a fan of dessert in general, enthusiastically asked for a large second helping. He kept saying, “I don’t like dessert, but I Need to eat more of this.” Yes, the word he used was, “need”. 🙂 I loved it so much that I briefly contemplated not sharing the rest of it with Ed and his family (and that is Not like me)!
First off, I should inform you that this pork souvlaki recipe is not authentically Greek. It has soy sauce in it, but once the meat is cooked, you can’t tell that it was flavoured with soy sauce. I’ve tried more authentic pork souvlaki recipes in the past, but this is our favourite. It’s easy to make and the meat can be marinated ahead of time for entertaining. It is best cooked on a charcoal BBQ, but any grill or cast iron pan will work.
When it comes to tzatziki, I am extremely picky. Tzatziki (yogurt cucumber dip/sauce) varies in consistency depending on the brand or restaurant, but in my opinion, the thicker the better. My favourite store bought brand of tzatziki is Skotidakis and this can be found at some Costco locations.
Saganaki is a popular Greek cheese appetizer that is set on fire table side. A lot of people complain that this dish is too salty, but this website provides excellent information on the different types of cheese (with varying levels of saltiness) that you could use for this dish. I tried the kefalograviera and the graviera cheese and I much preferred the graviera. This site also provides great step by step photo instructions. If you don’t have a saganaki (the name of the pan that is used), you could use a small cast iron pan like I did. Please don’t judge the recipe by how my saganaki turned out. 🙂 My pan wasn’t hot enough or seasoned enough when I put the cheese down, so it stuck to the bottom of the pan. It didn’t look great but the outside was deliciously crispy.
Cooking with Alison 