Hot Apple Cranberry Butter Nutmeg Crisp

 Winter days are getting  colder and getting to the market becomes more trying yet we all want to celebrate with festive foods, so its time to make due with what you have.  I have found  over the years that even when resources are scarce you can always come up with something that tickles the palate and warms the belly.  Some of the  most  elaborate meals I have made are with limited resources.  It makes  it  more  of  a challenge.  Today Isabella  and  I  were looking  for  indoor  snowstorm activities. After we finished  playing in the clothes hamper we went to the kitchen.   I opened the fridge,  gave it a quick scan, and saw oats, apples,  a lemon and cranberry butter.  Cranberry butter, is more like cranberry jam than butter.   Although dairy butter is added  in the crumble, the cranberry butter doesn't have the fats, like dairy or nut butters, and is used for the bottom portion of the dish.   I chose to leave the skin on the apples because lots of the vitamins are stored in it, plus it adds texture to the already crunchy gooey treat. Oats thave tons of vitamins and minerals and are a great souce of fiber.  A treat like this is best served hot with eggnog ice cream that doubles the nutmeg pleasure.

Bottom

4 Apples ( whatever is in the fridge) cored and chopped

4 tbls sugar

Juice of 1 lemon

2 tsp nutmeg

4 tbls cranberry butter or jam

2 tbls maple syrup

Mix all the  ingredients and put in 9 inch pie tin

Top

1 Cup Oats ( whatever is in the pantry)

2/3 cup flour

1/4 cup sugar

1 pinch salt

half stick melted butter

Mix all together and  cover pie filling

Bake at 375 for 30 minutes, cool for a few minutes and serve with eggnog ice cream.

Sweet and Savory Potato Latkes with Honey Poached Apple and Sour Cream

Hanuka,  the  Jewish  celebration  on  light, uses candles to  commemorate "running  on empty",  where the 2nd temple of Israel only had enough oil to burn lamps for 1 day and it lasted 8  is  celebrated, like all good holidays, with the food.  The  latke  is  a  simple,  easily  made  tasty  food that we  all  grew  up  enjoying  making.  Its  key ingredient  is  the  potato.  Native  to  the Americas,  the  potato  was  introduced to the  Irish in the 1500 by  Sir  Walter  Raleigh ,  where  it spread  through  out  Europe and  is  now  consumed  all  over the world in all cultures  from Korea to Cuba.    For  this  recipe  I chose  to  mix  Sweet and Regular potatoes,  and  a  poached  apple instead of  sauce and goat cheese  instead of sour cream.  Something  about  the  crispy warm potatoes gets enhanced  with  the cool  sweetness  of  honey and  the tangy  bite of  goat cheese.  Although  they  stay,  I  recommend eating  them  as  soon  as  you  can,  and  since  they  take  such  little  time  to  make,  you  should  continue  making  them  till  your  filled  to  your  hearts  content.  

For  Latkes

1  cup sweet potatoes  grated

1 cup  russet  potatoes grated

1/2 onion chopped

2 scallions chopped

Salt 

Pepper

2  tbls flour

2 eggs

Mix  together potatoes  and  make  sure  all  water  has   been  squeezed out.   Add  flour, eggs, onions and scallions and  form into  pancakes. 

Deep  fry  and place on  paper towels  to absorb excess oil

Poached  Apples

2 apples  peeled  halved and  cored

1 cup water

1/2 cups sugar

1 cinnamon stick

honey

walnuts

4 tbls goat cheese

Dissolve sugar in water over slow heat. Add  apples and  cinnamon stick and poach over low heat till soft, about 20 Minutes.  Remove  from poaching syrup, put one tablespoon  of  goat cheese  in each half, drizzle with honey and  chopped  walnuts.

Ginger Bread Man Candy Cane Ice cream Sandwiches

This is fun and easy to make for everyone,  Its great to do with kids because of the simplicity of it and around the holiday season all of the necessary components are readily available.  The sandwich was invented by the Earl of Sandwich because he didn't want to get up from his game of cards to break for a meal.  Either he was on a winning streak or wanted to make his money back, he put meat between bread and ate right there.  Ice cream, originated in China, where it was known as "milk ice".  The recipe was brought back by Marco Polo who also introduced noodles and sausages from Asia.  Gingerbread is so aromatic and is a canvas for decorating  with candy and frosting. Ice cream, although easy to make, requires special equipment to make from scratch, store bought ice cream will suffice.

For Ginger Bread Men

1 stick butter (1/2 Cup)

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup molasses

3 cups flour

1/4 cup chopped pistachios

1 egg

3/4 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1 tsp freh ground ginger

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp clove

1/2 tsp nutmeg

1 tsp orange zest 

1 tsp honey

Icing and Decorating

1 cup confectioners sugar

1/4 cup butter

1 tbsp milk

1 tsp vanilla extract 

Small candies

Candy cane ice cream

Candy canes

1 pint vanilla ice cream

In a mixing bowl combine dry ingredients then add butter and  molasses and mix well. Roll into a ball and let  sit  refrigerated for  an hour.  Roll out  dough to about 1/4 of an inch thick on a floured surface.  Using cookie cutter make and even number of gingerbread men. Preheat oven to 350 F.   If you have other animal shapes, try those,  I have yet to see  a  hippo shaped cookie. Bake for 10-12 minutes then let cool.  As they are cooling  smash up candy canes and mix with the vanilla  ice cream.  When cookies  are  fully  cooled decorate them and let frosting harden. Spread ice cream in between cookies, about 1/2 inch and set on wax paper and place in  freezer.  Freeze for 1/2 hour.

Serve with 

Mexican Spiced Hot Chocolate 

White Vanilla Hot Chocolate

Hot Spiced Apple  Cider

Nutmeg Kid Nog