Orange Butter and Swedish Pancakes

Article found in the Great Falls Tribune, August 29, 2012. I have to try me some of this orange butter!!! Recipes by Marcus Samuelsson ORANGE BUTTER Makes about ½ cup. Can be made ahead. Keep refrigerated until ready to serve. ½ cup real butter, softened 1½ tsp. fresh orange peel ¼ cup powdered sugar 2 tbsp. freshly squeezed orange juice Using electric mixer, cream butter until light and fluffy. Add remaining ingredients and mix until incorporated. Transfer to small bowl. Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve. SWEDISH PANCAKES Makes about 18 small pancakes. 3 eggs 1¾ cup milk 1 tsp. vanilla 1/8 tsp. salt 4 tbsp. melted butter, cooled 1 cup flour Additional butter for cooking the pancakes Preheat oven to 200 degrees. In blender pitcher, combine all Swedish pancake ingredients, in order. Blend until well-mixed. Heat a small sauté pan over medium heat. Brush melted butter to coat bottom and sides of pan. Pour about 2 tablespoons batter in hot buttered pan and swirl to make a pancake. Cook until edges begin to curl up. Grasp edges of pancake with both hands and flip to cook other side briefly. Remove from pan and transfer to platter. Place platter of pancakes in preheated oven to stay warm. Repeat, making Swedish pancakes out of the remaining batter. Roll pancakes and serve dusted with powdered sugar and topped with a dollop of Orange Butter. Enjoy! Sydne George can be reached at sydnegeorge@hotmail.com. Recipes from “Special of the Day” are archived at http://sydnegeorge.com/blog/.

Fudge For My Taste Buds Please

The last posting was about recipe award winners from the recent State Fair in Great Falls using Spam -- something I have always thought of as mystery meat. The same article went on to include a couple of recipes I am going to have to try. Just might have to wait for huckleberry season to come around again though. What do you think of these recipes? Logan took home his third culinary blue ribbon in the C&H Sugar Fabulous Fudge Contest. HUCKLEBERRY FUDGE 8 ounces cream cheese 4 cups sugar 1½ tsp. vanilla 12 ounces white chocolate, chopped ½ cup macadamia nuts, chopped 1 cup huckleberries Grease 8-inch by 8-inch baking dish. Beat cream cheese, sugar and vanilla until smooth. Heat white chocolate in a double boiler until smooth. Fold melted chocolate, huckleberries and nuts into cream cheese mixture. Spread into baking dish and chill for one hour. ——— Josh Pecukonis shook up the state fair standings by taking the top prize in the adult category for his fudge that replicates a steaming cup of cappuccino. CHOCOLATE CHERRY CAPPUCCINO FUDGE ¾ cup evaporated milk 1½ cups mini marshmallows 2 cups sugar 1 stick butter 5 tbsp. instant coffee granules 17 ounces white chocolate chips 2 ounces cream cheese 1 tsp vanilla 1 cup dried tart cherries ½ cup slivered almonds For white swirl portion: ¼ cup evaporated milk ½ cup mini marshmallows ½ cup sugar ¼ stick of butter 6 ounces white chocolate chips Mix sugar, butter and evaporated milk in a pan and bring to a boil for 5 minutes. Remove from heat and add coffee granules, white chocolate chips, marshmallows, cream cheese, vanilla, cherries and almonds. Make white swirl fudge separately. Divide tan fudge into coffee cups. Add white fudge and swirl to recreate coffee house-style cups of fudge. Recipes for all the winning culinary contests are available at the Cascade County Extension office, 3300 3rd St. NE.

Are These Spam Recipes For You?

Okay -- all you Spam lovers -- here are some recipes for you!!! I talked about these at the dinner table the other night and the kids cried YUK when it came to Spam with chocolate. What do you think? This article was found recently in the Great Falls Tribune under a piece called Give and Take, August 29, 2012. Spam rarely gets people running to the dining room table. Frankly, the mystery meat has a bit of an ick factor. Yet every second, 3.8 cans are sold in the U.S. The Spam contest at the Montana State Fair challenges cooks to create unique Spam-tastic dishes. Sean Varner won the youth division with his Summer Camping Spamcakes that was adapted from a breakfast meal he enjoyed at camp this year. He describes it as fun and yummy — just like camp. SUMMER CAMPING SPAMCAKES 12 ounces of classic Spam, diced into ½-inch squares 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese 14 ounces of Jiffy raspberry muffin mix 2 eggs 1¼ cup milk Stir muffin mix, eggs and milk and cook 1/8 cup of batter on a hot griddle. Add cheese and Spam while batter is cooking. Flip when pancake is light brown and bubbles pop. The pancakes don’t need syrup, unless you want an extra sweet treat. ——— Adult winner Megan Varner wanted to show Spam in a more sophisticated and modern way. Here’s her recipe for Spam ice cream with a chocolate Spam bark. SPAM HEAVEN 2 cups heavy cream 14 ounces sweetened condensed milk 3 tbsp. melted butter 1 cup chocolate ice cream topping (not magic shell) 2 (12-ounce) cans classic Spam ½ cup chocolate chips ½ cup chopped pecans 2 cups white chocolate chips Whip cream into stiff peaks. Whisk condensed milk, butter and melted chocolate ice cream topping. Chop 1½ cans of Spam and fry it. Add to chocolate mixture. Fold in the whipped cream. Place in freezer for six hours in a covered container. Thinly slice remaining Spam. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Melt white chocolate chips in a double boiler. Spread thinly on baking sheet. Layer with Spam and pecans, then cool in refrigerator for 30 minutes. Melt chocolate chips and drizzle on top. Refrigerate for at least one more hour until bark is hard and chilled. Cut into pieces and use to garnish ice cream.