Recipes Archives - festively made

Best Ever Apple Pie Muffins Make Great School Snacks

October 1, 2014 By Elizabeth Leave a Comment

Aye yi yi!!! Where have I been? It’s complicated, but the simple answer is that life has gotten in the way of blogging. First, I was struck down by a sinus infection that was hard to shake. Couple that with work, volunteering at the kids’ school, the Jewish high holidays, well…you get the picture. I owe my poor neglected blog (and my readers!) an apology. Let me make it up to you with a delicious new recipe!

My son loves apple pie…or more specifically my apple pie (courtesy of Paula Deen!). Apple pie is not something I’m going to make every day, but I got to thinking about how great it would be to have all the flavors of apple pie in a muffin. That would be awesome! Surely, I’m not the only person who thinks this way. As it turns out, apple pie muffins are not an original thought at all. A little online search and voila, I had a recipe in hand to try.

You see I’m always looking for ways to pump some calories into that boy. He’s been improving a little lately on his picky eating (which I’m afraid to even mention for fear I will jinx that progress). He’s always been a carbs guy so muffins are really a no-brainer. I made this recipe several weeks back, and my son has been taking these apple pie muffins to school on a regular basis as a snack. I just made a batch and froze them all. Every morning before school, I pop an apple pie muffin into his snack bag, and it’s defrosted by snack time. So easy!

If the pickiest eater in the world love these apple pie muffins, so will you!

Best Ever Apple Pie Muffins

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Serves	18
Prep time	20 minutes
Cook time	25 minutes
Total time	45 minutes
Allergy	Egg, Milk, Wheat
Meal type	Breakfast
Misc	Child Friendly, Freezable, Serve Cold, Serve Hot
Website	Adapted from Food.com

Ingredients

Topping

1/2 cup brown sugar (firmly packed)
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup unsalted butter
1 teaspoon cinnamon

Muffins

1/3 cup vegetable oil
1/3 cup applesauce (I used cinnamon applesauce to amp up the spice!)
1 egg
1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon allspice
1 cup buttermilk
2 cups Honeycrisp apples (finely chopped)

Directions

Topping
Step 1
In a small bowl, toss together sugar, flour, butter and cinnamon until crumbly; set aside
Muffins
Step 2
In large bowl, whisk together brown sugar, oil, applesauce, egg and vanilla until smooth. In a separate bowl, sift together flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and allspice.
Step 3
Stir oil/applesauce mixture into flour mixture alternately with buttermilk.
Step 4
Fold in apples, mixing just until combined. Spoon in greased muffin cups filling 3/4 full.
Step 5
Sprinkle topping over muffins evenly. Bake at 350 degrees F for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown and tops spring back.

So So Good Salted Carmelitas

September 1, 2014 By Elizabeth Leave a Comment

Happy Labor Day to you! I hope everyone is enjoying a nice day off. We celebrated the day yesterday with a little get-together by the pool. It just might be the last hurrah of the summer poolside, and I really wanted to make a new dessert. I’ve seen this recipe for Carmelitas floating around Pinterest for some time now…first from Lulu the Baker and then from Averie Cooks, among others. The pictures were enough to make your mouth water.

Both recipes call for making your own caramel sauce using 30+ caramel candies, but alternatively said you could use store-bought caramel sauce. Averie Cooks mentioned the salted caramel sauce from Trader Joe’s, which I have seen before, but never purchased. I don’t know about you, but sauce already made vs unwrapping 30+ caramel candies and making my own sauce. Yeah, it wasn’t a tough decision. Besides, I thought the salted caramel sauce would be SO good.

These Salted Carmelitas are really easy to make, too. I love a recipe that doesn’t dirty my mixer! You mix this all by hand, and with the store-bought caramel sauce, it just comes together that much quicker. The hardest part was waiting for the Salted Carmelitas to cool off so we could taste them. They were so worth the wait. The gooey deliciousness did not disappoint. The Salted Carmelitas are just oozing with caramel and chocolate. What could be bad about that?!! My husband thought they were a tad too sweet, but that didn’t stop him from polishing off a bar or two. Just saying! Our guests seemed to enjoy them, too.

These Salted Carmelitas need a chunk of time to cool off before serving so keep that in mind in you are making the recipe! Enjoy!

Salted Carmelitas

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Serves	9-12
Prep time	15 minutes
Cook time	30 minutes
Total time	45 minutes
Allergy	Milk, Wheat
Meal type	Dessert
Misc	Freezable
Website	Adapted from Lulu the Baker AND Averie Cooks

Ingredients

3/4 cups unsalted butter (1 1/2 stick)
3/4 cups light brown sugar (packed)
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup whole-rolled old fashioned oats (not instant or quick cook)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips or chunks
1 1/2 cup salted caramel sauce (I purchased mine at Trader Joe's; I used the entire jar)

Directions

Step 1
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray an 8 x 8-inch pan with cooking spray (I used Pam Baking Spray). Set pan aside.
Step 2
In a separate bowl, combine melted butter, brown sugar, vanilla, flour, oats, and baking soda. Mixture will be thick.
Step 3
Pat half of the oatmeal mixture evenly into the bottom of the 8 x 8-inch pan. This does not have to be exact. Use your best judgment! Bake at 350 degrees F for 10 minutes.
Step 4
Remove pan from oven and sprinkle chocolate chips or chunks over the crust. Pour caramel sauce evenly over the chocolate. Evenly crumble the remaining oat mixture over the caramel.
Step 5
Return to oven and bake for an additional 15-20 minutes, until the edges are lightly browned.
Step 6
Remove from oven and allow bars to cool completely before slicing and serving, giving the melted caramel time to firm up. This can take up to 4 hours, or overnight, at room temperature. If you are pinched for time, you can speed up the process by placing it into the refrigerator. Bars will keep in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 1 week, or in the freezer for up to 4 months.

Holy Avocado! I Love this Mango Pomegranate Guacamole!

August 17, 2014 By Elizabeth Leave a Comment

I’m dusting off the blog after an unplanned hiatus. I have a new freelance gig that has been keeping me busy, AND both kids, despite my best efforts to keep them apart, developed strep throat. It took them a really long time to shake it, too. Both kids were sick for a longer than a week each. I actually cooked a few things prior to their illnesses, but hadn’t managed to write posts. So, I’m back, but with a new recipe that I made just today. Because that’s how I roll!

My affinity for dips is well-documented. See here and here. On a recent trip to visit my sister in Ohio and attend a family reunion in NYC, we had a dinner at a Mexican restaurant. I know…you don’t leave Texas to eat Mexican food in NYC. We have the best Mexican food in Texas. That’s not my point. Stick with me here. At the aforementioned Mexican restaurant, my brother-in-law and I were having a discussion about his disdain for avocados, with the exception of guacamole. As a lover of all things avocado, I have a hard time comprehending not loving avocado in all its many forms, but I can definitely understand loving guacamole. He then proceeds to tell me that he has a recipe for the best guacamole. I told him to quit holding out and fork it over. And, so he did.

This recipe originally appeared in Gourmet magazine in November 2008. You can find the recipe here. All I have to say, is oh my, he wasn’t lying. This guacamole is fabulous! It’s not your run-of-the-mill guacamole. It’s a little fancier, but dang, it’s good. I found the ready-to-use pomegranate seeds at Trader Joe’s, which made preparation obviously easier. I also got to use my favorite avocado tool. It makes cutting up avocados a snap. Really, it’s three tools in one…a knife, a pit remover, AND a slicer. Check it out here: OXO Good Grips 3-in-1 Avocado Slicer, Green

This recipes makes a lot of guac…perfect for serving a crowd! I love all the beautiful colors in it as well. I adjusted the original recipe a little to suit my taste heat-wise from the peppers and also switched out a white onion for a red one since that’s all I had on hand. Hope you enjoy the recipe as much as I did!

Mango Pomegranate Guacamole

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Serves	8
Prep time	20 minutes
Dietary	Vegan, Vegetarian
Meal type	Appetizer, Snack
Website	Adapted from Gourmet magazine

Ingredients

4 avocados (ripe)
1 cup red onion (finely chopped)
1 fresh serrano chile (finely chopped (about 1TBS), excluding seeds)
1/4 cup fresh lime juice (or to taste)
3/4 cups pomegranate seeds (from 1 pomegranate)
3/4 cups mango (peeled and diced)
1/2 cup cilantro (chopped)
1 1/4 teaspoon salt (or to taste)

Directions

Step 1
Halve, pit and peel avocados. Coarsely mash in a bowl. Stir in onion, chile, 1/4 cup lime juice, and 1 1/4 tsp of salt, then fold in pomegranate seeds, mango, and cilantro. Season with salt and additional lime juice if desired.

Updating a Family Classic: Crockpot Sesame Chicken with a Honey Barbecue Glaze

July 24, 2014 By Elizabeth 2 Comments

Back in the day, my mom used to cook a recipe for Sesame Chicken Wings with a Honey Barbecue Glaze. We loved it, but whomever drew the short straw that day had to wash the pan. You did not want to be the person on the losing end of that battle. It involved lots of scrubbing because the delicious sticky glaze, well, it had a bad habit of sticking to the pan, too. The recipe comes from a cookbook by Renny Darling circa 1981 called Great Beginnings and Happy Endings: Hors D’Oeuvres and Desserts for Standing Ovations. I highly recommend any of her cookbooks. My mom had several of them, and all the recipes were wonderful.

Being a tad dissuaded by the mess involved, I wondered if I could recreate the recipe using a crockpot. Let me introduce you to the resulting experiment: Crockpot Sesame Chicken with a Honey Barbecue Glaze! I substituted chicken thighs for the wings, and instead of marinating AND basting the chicken periodically as the original recipe directs, I combined the marinade and glaze together. I have to say, it smells and tastes just like the original, although the sauce is not quite as sticky. You could probably broil the thighs post-crockpot to get the sauce a little stickier if you so desire. It’s definitely a lot less work than the original. I mean it doesn’t get much easier than throwing sauce over some chicken in the crockpot and cooking it.

I thought it was the best flavored chicken that I’ve ever made in the crockpot. And even better, it was a snap to clean up. What more could you want?!!

Crockpot Sesame Chicken with Honey Barbecue Glaze

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Crockpot Sesame Chicken with Honey Barbecue Glaze

Serves	4-6
Prep time	8 minutes
Cook time	4 hours
Total time	4 hours, 8 minutes
Meal type	Main Dish
Misc	Serve Hot
From book	Adapted from Great Beginnings & Happy Endings by Renny Darling

Ingredients

3lb skinless chicken thighs
salt and pepper (to taste)
1 cup prepared barbecue sauce (bottled or your own recipe)
1 cup honey
1 cup soy sauce
1 cup brown sugar (packed)
1/4 cup butter or margarine (1/2 stick)
sesame seeds

Directions

Step 1
Place chicken in crockpot. Season with salt and pepper.
Step 2
On stovetop, cook together barbecue sauce, honey, soy sauce, brown sugar and butter/margarine until the sugar is dissolved and butter is melted.
Step 3
Pour liquid mixture over chicken in the crockpot and cook for 4-6 hours. Spoon extra sauce in crockpot over chicken and sprinkle with sesame seeds before serving.

Grilled Corn on the Cob with Spicy Mayo, Lime and Cheese

July 22, 2014 By Elizabeth Leave a Comment

If you ask me what my favorite food is, hands down I would say popcorn. But truly, I like corn in ALL of its many forms. My husband does a lot of grilling around here, and invariably, we grill a lot of corn on the cob, especially in the summer. When I received the June/July 2014 issue of Fine Cooking magazine, I was excited to read an awesome article about cooking corn and some creative ways to flavor it. I immediately thought that I needed to try a few of the recipes. Check it out here: 3 Ways to Cook Corn on the Cob and 8 Creative Ways to Flavor It. Before I could discuss my plans with anyone, my husband brought the magazine to me and says let’s make this recipe for Grilled Corn on the Cob with Spicy Mayo, Lime and Cheese. Shocker! Who knew he liked to read Fine Cooking? All I can say is…great minds think alike.

Speaking of cooking magazines, I receive more than my fair share each month. Of all the magazines I subscribe to, Fine Cooking is my favorite one. Why you might ask? Well, I’ll tell you. I have never made a bad recipe from this magazine. Never! I discussed this very same thing with my brother-in-law, who is quite the foodie and chef himself, and he felt the same way. So, if you are considering getting a subscription to a cooking magazine, this is the one.

And, like all recipes from Fine Cooking, this one for Grilled Corn on the Cob with Spicy Mayo, Lime and Cheese did not disappoint. In fact, it was crazy good. And, it was easy and fast. What’s not to love?! I can’t wait to try out some of the other corn recipes in that issue.

Grilled Corn on the Cob with Spicy Mayo, Lime and Cheese

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Grilled Corn on the Cob with Spicy Mayo, Lime and Cheese

Serves	4
Prep time	5 minutes
Cook time	8 minutes
Total time	13 minutes
Allergy	Milk
Dietary	Vegetarian
Meal type	Side Dish
From magazine	Fine Cooking

Ingredients

1/4 cup mayonnaise
1 teaspoon lime zest (finely grated)
1/4 teaspoon Mexican chili powder
Kosher salt (to taste)
2-1/2oz queso anejo, Cotija or feta cheese (crumbled, approximately 1/2 cup)
4 ears of corn (shucked)

Directions

Step 1
Prepare a medium-high charcoal or gas grill fire for direct grilling.
Step 2
Combine the mayonnaise, lime zest, chili powder, and 1/4 tsp. salt in a small bowl until well blended. Spread the cheese on a large plate.
Step 3
Grill the corn, turning occasionally, until charred in places and crisp-tender, about 8 minutes.
Step 4
Slather the corn with the mayonnaise mixture, then roll and press into the cheese. Sprinkle any remaining cheese on top.

What’s Cooking This Week: Peach Plum Nectarine Cobbler

July 16, 2014 By Elizabeth 1 Comment

So, does this ever happen to you? There are certain items we buy every week at the grocery store because our kids, who are not the best eaters, like them. You can bet that there will always be a plethora of yogurt in my refrigerator and fruit. At least some of the food they like is healthy, right? I do most of the shopping, but occasionally my husband goes to the store to pick up a few things. And that’s when it inevitably happens. Somehow we have both purchased the usual items, and we are overloaded with them.

This past week, the hubs and I both went crazy at the store buying peaches, plums and nectarines. Like really crazy. There was no way we could eat all of this fruit. I decided something needed to be done to use it up as the fruit was definitely on its way out. Enter the cobbler. I’ve mentioned my love of all things pie before, and the same applies to cobbler, crisps and whatever else you can make out of fruit. I like fruity desserts. There, I said it. I’d much rather have cobbler than say, a slice of cake or brownies. I just really really like fruity desserts.

I found a recipe on Baking Bites and decided to give it a whirl. Granted, I adapted it a bit to fit the fruit I had on hand. Presenting Peach Plum Nectarine Cobbler! This is a good basic cobbler recipe. It’s not fancy. It’s not pretentious. It’s not complicated. It’s just good. I can see substituting whatever abundance of fruit you have and still realizing a fabulous result. Definitely taste your fruit before adding the sugar to the bowl. If your fruit is not that sweet, consider adding a little extra sugar than the recipe calls for to compensate. Enjoy!

Peach Plum Nectarine Cobbler

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Serves	6 - 8
Prep time	15 minutes
Cook time	45 minutes
Total time	1 hour
Allergy	Milk, Wheat
Meal type	Dessert
Misc	Serve Cold, Serve Hot
Website	Adapted from Baking Bites

Ingredients

3 peaches (peeled, pit removed and cut into 6-8 pieces)
4 plums (unpeeled, pit removed and cut into 4 pieces)
3 nectarines (peeled, pit removed and cut into 6-8 pieces)
1 1/2 teaspoon cornstarch
2 tablespoons sugar (or adjust to the sweetness of your fruit)
1 1/2 cup flour
1/3 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons butter (melted and cooled)
1/4 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

Step 1
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Taste your fruit before adding sugar. Place prepared fruit into a large bowl and toss gently with 2 TBS of sugar and the cornstarch. Depending upon the sweetness of your fruit, you may need to use additional sugar for taste preference.
Step 2
In medium bowl, whisk together flour, 1/3 cup sugar, baking powder and salt.
Step 3
Pour in melted butter, milk and vanilla and stir with a fork until the dough comes together into a soft, slightly sticky dough.
Step 4
Arrange fruit in an even layer in 8 x 8 (2 quart) baking dish. Break up cobbler topping with your fingertips and spread it evenly over the fruit. It is fine if some of the fruit is still visible.
Step 5
Bake for 45-50 minutes, until topping is golden brown and fruit is tender when pierced with a sharp knife. Tent the cobbler with aluminum foil for the last 5 minutes if you feel your cobbler is starting to get too brown. Allow to cool for at least 15 minutes before serving.

Recreate it: Black Bean Orzo Salad with Cilantro Lime Jalapeño Vinaigrette

July 10, 2014 By Elizabeth 1 Comment

Up until recently, my friend Kristin has been living the expat life in Australia. She was gone for 2 years, and now she has returned. So happy to have her back in town! We decided to meet for lunch at a local restaurant that is known for its black bean orzo salad. Apparently, she had been pining away for this salad from the other side of the world. Who knew?! At lunch, she was studying the salad in a desperate attempt to figure out its ingredients so she could make it at home.

And then, she challenged me to recreate it. More like double dog dared me to make it. I kid. I kid. I took the challenge seriously, though. I tinkered away at it in my kitchen, and here is the result. Now, the original salad did not have corn in it, but after putting it altogether, I decided it need a little something extra. Corn…and wait, perhaps some feta cheese. So, Kristin, omit the corn and feta cheese if you must, but I think I just took that black bean orzo salad up a notch or two. The vinaigrette makes more than enough dressing for tossing the salad. You be the judge as to how much or how little you add to it.

Black Bean Orzo Salad with Cilantro Lime Jalapeño Vinaigrette

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Black Bean Orzo Salad with Cilantro Lime Jalapeño Vinaigrette

Prep time	15 minutes
Cook time	10 minutes
Total time	25 minutes
Allergy	Wheat
Dietary	Vegetarian
Meal type	Salad, Side Dish
Misc	Pre-preparable, Serve Cold

Ingredients

1 cup orzo pasta (uncooked)
1 can black beans (15 oz, rinsed)
1/2 cup green bell pepper (finely chopped)
1/2 cup red bell pepper (finely chopped)
1/2 cup red onion (finely chopped)
1/2 cup corn (fresh, frozen or canned (drained))
1/2 cup feta cheese (diced or in small pieces)
1/3 cup lime juice
2 tablespoons honey
1 clove garlic
1/2 cup cilantro (packed)
1/2 - 1 jalapeno (seeded and deveined OR not according to your heat preference)
2/3 cups light olive oil (or substitute oil of your choice)
1/2 teaspoon salt (or to taste)

Directions

Step 1
Cook orzo pasta according to directions of package. Drain and cool in large bowl.
Step 2
Add black beans, green and red bell peppers, onion, corn and feta cheese to the bowl.
Step 3
In a food processor or blender, place lime juice, honey, garlic, cilantro, jalapeño, oil and salt and blend until smooth and ingredients are combined.
Step 4
Toss salad ingredients with vinaigrette and chill before serving.

What’s More American than Crunch Top Apple Pie?

July 5, 2014 By Elizabeth Leave a Comment

We hung by the pool on the 4th of July. Delicious food and great friends are the perfect recipe for a good time, don’t you think? In addition to some hot-off-the-grill bbq and five dips, including this curry one, I also made Paula Deen’s Crunch Top Apple Pie. What’s more American than apple pie? I just love the smell of fresh-baked apple pie wafting in the air!

I wish people made pie more often. The whole process of making a pie intimidates a lot of people. Could it be the rolling out of the crust? Or the time-consuming nature of most pie recipes? Whatever the case, this recipe for Crunch Top Apple Pie couldn’t be any easier to make. The most difficult task is peeling and cutting the apples. With a tool like this one, prepping the apples is a breeze.

The best part of this recipe is that you can simplify the pie-making process even further by using a refrigerated pie crust from the grocery store. I used this one by Pillsbury. If you’re a purist or feel inclined to make your own, you can go that route, too. That said, refrigerated pie crust is SO easy to use. And shoot, you don’t even have to tell anyone you used it. When someone compliments you on your pie crust, just say thank you.

Paula’s original recipe calls for plain applesauce, but I’ve found this recipe is even better when made with cinnamon applesauce because who doesn’t love a little more cinnamon in their apple pie?! I really like to use this applesauce in the recipe because I prefer its flavor the best, but you can’t go wrong with any brand. The original recipe calls for 1 teaspoon of cinnamon, which you can omit or lessen if you do choose to use a cinnamon applesauce. Just something to keep in mind.

This recipe never fails to get high praise. I know you won’t be disappointed if you make it. Enjoy!

Crunch Top Apple Pie

Print recipe

Serves	8
Prep time	15 minutes
Cook time	55 minutes
Total time	1 hours, 10 minutes
Allergy	Milk, Wheat
Meal type	Dessert
Misc	Child Friendly, Serve Cold, Serve Hot
Website	Adapted from Food Network

Ingredients

dough for a double crust 9-inch pie (homemade, frozen, or refrigerated)
3/4 cups sugar
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
dash salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon (optional)
3 1/2 cups apples (peeled and chopped)
16oz cinnamon applesauce
1 tablespoon lemon juice
2 tablespoons butter (chopped into small pieces)
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon sugar
dash salt
1 tablespoon butter (at room temperature)

Directions

Step 1
Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
Step 2
Line a 9-inch pie pan with half of dough. Combine sugar, flour, cinnamon (optional), and salt in a bowl. Stir in apples, cinnamon applesauce, and lemon juice. Spoon apple mixture into pie pan and dot with butter.
Step 3
Cut remaining crust into strips; arrange in a lattice design over top of pie.
Step 4
For crunch topping, combine flour, sugar, and salt in a bowl. Using a fork, cut in butter until mixture is crumbly. Sprinkle over top of crust.
Step 5
Bake for 10 minutes, then reduce heat to 350 degrees F and continue to bake for about 45 minutes, or until crust and topping are golden brown.

Cool Off with Some Chewy Lemon Snowdrop Cookies

July 2, 2014 By Elizabeth Leave a Comment

Did you ever eat Lemon Coolers? These cookies may have been my favorite store bought cookie ever. I love lemon, and these cookies were covered in powdered sugar. What more could you ask for? Whenever you would put a cookie to your mouth, one breath could send a puff of sugary smoke into the air. Super messy, but delicious.

It’s getting hotter here (like only Texas summers can), and I started thinking about lemonade, which got me thinking about the aforementioned cookies. I decided to see if I could make them myself. I searched the internet high and low for the right recipe and settled on this one from Sophistimom. The recipe is called Chewy Lemon Snowdrop Cookies. The cookies definitely have the look of my old-time favorite, but I didn’t think they had enough lemon to satisfy me. I adapted the recipe by doubling the lemon juice that the original recipe called for, plus adding few extra tablespoons of flour to offset the additional liquid. I have to say the cookies were really tasty. The dough is really yummy, too (not that I licked the bowl clean or anything like that).

My über picky eater son eagerly devoured a few, too. Hope you take the time to cool off this summer with some chewy lemon snowdrop cookies!

Chewy Lemon Snowdrop Cookies

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Serves	15 - 20 cookies
Prep time	10 minutes
Cook time	10 minutes
Total time	20 minutes
Allergy	Milk, Wheat
Dietary	Vegetarian
Meal type	Dessert
Misc	Child Friendly, Freezable
Website	Adapted from Sophistimom

Ingredients

1 3/4 cup unbleached all-purpose flour (+ an additional 2 TBS of flour)
pinch salt
1 stick butter (or 8 TBS)
Zest of 2 lemons
1/2 cup sugar (granulated)
1/4 cup agave nectar or honey
1 teaspoon baking soda
4 tablespoons lemon juice
1 cup powdered sugar (for coating)

Directions

Step 1
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a medium sized bowl, whisk together flour and salt. Set aside.
Step 2
In an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together butter, lemon zest, sugar, and agave nectar (or honey). Mix until smooth, about 3 minutes. Scrape down the sides of bowl.
Step 3
With the mixer off, add in baking soda. Pour lemon juice on top, and turn the mixer to medium, and mix for a couple of turns of the beaters. Be advised that the baking soda and lemon when combined fizzes a little. Add in flour and salt mixture, and mix on low until just combined. Scrape down sides of bowl with a rubber spatula and mix the dough by hand a few times to ensure an even distribution of the ingredients.
Step 4
Roll the dough into balls, one inch in diameter. Place on an ungreased cookie sheet and bake for 10-12 minutes, or until just barely starting to brown. Let cool for a few minutes on the cookie sheet, and then toss in powdered sugar to coat.

Four Seasons Hummus is Paradise

June 27, 2014 By Elizabeth Leave a Comment

My husband and I honeymooned at the Four Seasons resort in Punta Mita, Mexico. We baby-mooned there before our first child was born. I even took my sister there for a milestone birthday. I love this place. The resort is about 45 minutes from the airport in Puerto Vallarta. You take a winding road to get there. When you arrive at the gate, a guard asks for your name. After checking to make sure the resort is expecting you, the large gate swings open to literally paradise. No lie. The gate closes behind you, essentially shutting out the rest of the world. I’m sure people leave the resort to sightsee and such. But, I’m telling you, there is no reason to because it’s just that relaxing and gorgeous. Why leave paradise?

During our honeymoon at the Four Seasons Punta Mita, we ate several times at its Aramara restaurant. Every time we were seated for a meal, a delicious hummus dip served with root vegetable chips appeared. We couldn’t get enough of that hummus. On our last night at the hotel, we were raving to our waiter about how much we enjoyed the hummus, and a few moments later he returned with the recipe, courtesy of the chef!

I’ve made this recipe so many times that I know it by heart. Nothing beats hummus made from scratch. Seriously. Store-bought hummus tastes great until you taste homemade hummus. Once that happens, it’s hard to go back. I’ve made other hummus recipes, even nontraditional ones using edamame or peas, but I always return to this tried and true recipe. It’s simple. And, it’s so good. I’ve tweaked it a little bit over time, but here is my rendition. It tastes great with all kinds of chips and veggies.

Four Seasons Hummus

Print recipe

Serves	8
Prep time	10 minutes
Cook time	5 minutes
Total time	15 minutes
Dietary	Vegan, Vegetarian
Meal type	Appetizer, Condiment, Snack

Ingredients

1 clove garlic (minced)
2/3 cups olive oil
1/2 cup tahini
1 can garbanzo beans (rinsed and drained, 15 oz size)
1/4 cup lemon juice
salt and pepper (to taste)

Directions

Step 1
Mash garbanzo beans in food processor.
Step 2
Add tahini and garlic and blend until desired consistency.
Step 3
Slowly add olive oil and lemon juice until incorporated. More olive oil or water may be added if mixture is too thick.
Step 4
Season with salt and pepper to taste

Note

Serve with pita or root vegetable chips.

Recipe from Festively Made. All images and content are copyright protected. Please do not use my images without prior permission. If you want to republish this recipe, please rewrite the recipe in your own words, or simply link back to this post for the recipe.