Pina Colada Sorbet

What do you make while you have unseasonably cold weather; force your husband to start a fire after all the firewood has been put away for the summer and the fireplace cleaned out, Sorbet!

 While clicking through the Cooking Light website I stumbled upon this recipe from the June 2011 issue.

Lately the pineapple has had exceptional flavor and there is no sense in letting that go to waste. This sorbet is wonderfully creamy and I think could be construed as a sherbet due to the coconut milk and cream of coconut. I suppose if you wanted it even richer, you could use full fat coconut milk, but I did stick with the light coconut milk as the recipe suggested. I generally like to make a recipe as stated before I try and mess with it. Sometimes you find a recipe just doesn't have what it takes to spend the time to improve on, well this one does. How fun is that!

Pina Colada Sorbet Recipe

Ingredients

3 cups cubed fresh pineapple
1 cup coconut water
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup light coconut milk
2/3 cup cream of coconut

Instructions

1. Place first 3 ingredients in a blender, and process until smooth and sugar dissolves. Combine pureed pineapple mixture, coconut milk, and cream of coconut in a bowl; stir with a whisk. Cover and refrigerate until thoroughly chilled.
2. Pour mixture into the freezer can of an ice-cream freezer, and freeze according to the manufacturer's instructions. Spoon sorbet into a freezer-safe container; cover and freeze for 2 hours or until firm.

David Bonom, Cooking Light
JUNE 2011
Pina Colada Sorbet

The Chocolate Chip Cookie

My sister started packing up yesterday. She is moving...not too far away thankfully; just a few hours drive. She ran across all kinds of photos from when we were younger. Marriages, kids, siblings....pictures of things long forgotten and all the memories started flooding back and you know what....they were all good! Not one bad memory, how many people can usually say that and mean it? Then the rain started, which turned into a hail storm. We actually got enough hail to cover the ground to make it look like snow....in May! Well, no one was gonna rain on my parade of old wonderful memories...what could save the mood better than warm chocolate chip cookies fresh from the oven.

No matter how the recipe originated, there is nothing that transcends generations like the chocolate chip cookie. All the many variations still come down to the wonderful starting block of sugars and fats combined with flours and leaveners and topped off with chocolate. This is yet another variation with the addition of almond extract alongside traditional vanilla for a little twist. The recipe came from the old Maxi's Cafe in the Napa Valley.

The Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe

 

Ingredients

   1      cup           sugar
   2 1/2  cups        brown sugar, packed
   1      lb              butter, softened
   1 1/2  tsp           salt
   1 1/2  tsp           baking soda
   6      cups          flour (part whole wheat)
   3      Tbs           vanilla extract
   1      Tbs           walnut or almond extract
   2      pkg           chocolate chips (12 oz.)
   3                       eggs
   2      cups          chopped walnut pieces (optional)

Instructions

1. Cream butter & sugars. Add eggs & extracts. Mix well.

2. Sift together salt, soda, & flour. Add chips & nuts.

3. Mix dry ingredients with butter & sugar mixture and combine all well.

4. Spoon by heaping tablespoonfuls on cookie sheets and bake 350 for 7-9

minutes.

(Kim's Note:  I make large 2" diameter balls and bake at 300 for 25-30 minutes on a baking stone.)

Recipe from the Welcome to Maxi's - Gourmet Recipes from the Napa Valley cookbook.