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Recipe Category: Sweets & Treats

Sweets & Treats

Bananas Foster

4 servings
Four bananas sliced lengthwise, cooking in alcohol lit on fire. Flambe. Flames are tinged blue and orange. On stovetop burner.

Flambe (“flamed” in French) is any dish doused in alcohol and lit on fire. There’s nothing subtle about it, and you’re sure to get ooh’s and aah’s not just for the sheer pyrotechnics but also for the flavor it imparts. Here are a few pointers to make your Bananas Foster experience memorable for all the right reasons. 

  • Look for spirits at least 40% alcohol – enough oomph to give you a flame. 
  • Pick complementary flavors – Rum (spiced or regular), banana liqueur. 
  • Quantity – Not too much liquor per serving, so the booze won’t overpower. 
  • Finish the main cooking – Flambe is just used to burn off alcohol, so get that pan away from the burner before you light up. 
  • Long-Handle Lighter – Give yourself some control, and distance from the fire. 

Ingredients

  • 1 stick unsalted butter 
  • ½ cup dark brown sugar 
  • 4 medium bananas, peeled and sliced lengthwise 
  • 1 tsp cinnamon 
  • ½ tsp freshly-ground nutmeg 
  • ½ tsp salt 
  • ½ cup spiced rum 
  • ¼ cup banana liqueur 
  • For serving: 1 pint vanilla ice cream 
  • Optional: 4 slices pound cake 

Directions

Heat a large skillet over medium heat. Melt butter and add dark brown sugar, stirring until sugar is dissolved. 

Add bananas, cooking for 1 minute on each side. Add cinnamon, nutmeg and salt, stirring gently around the bananas. 

Pour in banana liqueur and spiced rum, shaking/swirling pan to distribute evenly. Remove pan from burner’s flame, and gently tilt it so sauce pools a little on one side. With a long-handle lighter, light the pool of sauce. Baste bananas with flaming sauce until flame goes out, gently swirling pan if flames get too high. 

Divide pound cake (if using) and ice cream between four plates/bowls and pour hot bananas and sauce over ice cream. Serve immediately. 

Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner, Sweets & Treats

Panipopo

24 servings
Shiny rows of rolls in a glass baking pan. Sitting on top of sweet coconut milk. Gray napkin underneath.

Panipopo hails from American Samoa. It’s a treat that’s so much more than the sum of its parts. Fluffy rolls are baked atop and soaked in sweet, velvety coconut cream.

This recipe is adapted from a wonderful family recipe posted on manaui.com: “Why Samoan panipopo is food for the soul.”

Ingredients

  • 4 – 7 ¼ cups flour, divided 
  • 1 tsp salt 
  • 1 ¾ oz butter 
  • 1 cup plus 3 Tbsp sugar, divided 
  • 3 tsp active dry yeast 
  • 5 – 6 cups warm water, divided 
  • 1 can coconut cream (1 ¾ cups) 

Directions

In a large bowl, combine salt and 4 cups flour. Rub in the butter until the flour feels “silky” and clumps a little. Make a well in the middle, add sugar. 

To a small non-plastic bowl, add yeast and, very slowly, 1 cup of very warm water. Stir until yeast is dissolved, using fingers if you’d like to help the process along. Pour yeast-water into the well in the flour mixture – you should see yeast begin to bubble up as it contacts sugar. 

Using a wooden spoon, fold flour into the liquid and mix everything together thoroughly. Add more warm water, 2-3 cups, until it becomes a thick batter that still jiggles a bit when you shake the bowl. 

Cover bowl lightly with a clean towel or parchment paper. Leave in a warm, dry spot to rise for 2 hours. By then, the dough should have doubled in size with lots of holes in it. Spread 2 cups flour on a clean work surface and put the dough on top of it. Fold flour into dough and knead until it’s much less sticky and absorbed almost all the flour, about 5 minutes. 

When dough is easier to hold but still a little sticky, and a lot more solid than batter, put back in bowl and cover again for a second rise—about an hour. By that time, dough should have doubled in size and have more holes, but less than last time. 

Add ½ cup flour to your clean work surface and knead dough until it’s less sticky. Cut dough into palm-sized pieces and roll into spheres on the work surface. 

Preheat oven to 400°. Place buns in neat rows in a 9” x 13” baking pan, they’ll keep rising while you prepare the coconut cream sauce. 

Pour coconut cream into a bowl. To the empty can, add 2 Tbsp flour and some warm water to stir into the flour until you have a thick liquid. Add more warm water until the can is full, pour the water-flour mixture into the coconut cream. Stirring continuously, add in 1 more cup of warm water and then 1 cup sugar. 

Set aside 1 cup of coconut cream sauce and pour the rest into the pan with the buns. Put pan into oven, with a sheet pan one rack down to catch any drips, and bake 20 minutes. Check buns at this point, the sauce should have cooked down a bit. Add the reserved cup of coconut cream sauce and bake 20-25 minutes more. 

Buns should now be golden on top with coconut cream sauce bubbling around the bottom. Remove pan from oven, covering with foil so buns don’t dry out as they cool. Serve warm. 

Lunch & Dinner, Sweets & Treats, Vegan

Oven-Roasted Potato Peels

3-4 servings
Crispy Oven-Roasted Potato Peels served in a white ceramic bowl, on wooden chopping block with peeler and potato.

Oven-Roasted Potato Peels are so easy, you’re going to wonder where they’ve been all your life. Just peel potatoes – preferably organic – toss them with a little olive oil, salt and pepper, and roast them in the oven until they get crispy and start to curl up around the edges.

You can add a dusting of spices or fresh herbs once they’re out of the oven, but the earthy flavor of the peels with these simple adornments is the perfect foil for your favorite dip. Or, perch them atop a steaming bowl of the Basic New England Clam Chowder you can make with all of those potatoes you’ll have! You’ll find that recipe here.

Ingredients

  • 2 cups potato peels 
  • 1 Tbsp olive oil – spray or pour 
  • 1 tsp salt 
  • Pinch of black pepper 

Directions

Preheat oven to 400°. Line an edged sheet pan with parchment paper. 

Wash/scrub potatoes well to remove any dirt. Cut out any blemishes or sprouts with a small paring knife. Peel potatoes with a peeler so you get peels that don’t have too much potato flesh. 

Soak peels for ½ hour in cold or room temperature water, to get rid of excess starch. Rinse the soaked peels and dry them with a kitchen towel and/or a salad spinner. Get peels as dry as possible, so the chips get really crisp. 

Spread potato peels in a single layer on the sheet pan and drizzle/spray with oil, coating peels well but not weighing them down. Sprinkle with salt/pepper. 

Bake potato peels for 15-18 minutes, turning half-way through so they cook evenly. Broil for a few minutes at the end to get them even more crispy, watching carefully so they don’t burn. 

Notes: You can save up potato peels until you have the amount you want to use. Store in water in the refrigerator for up to 3 days, changing the water daily. 

You can also make these in an air fryer, same temperature but they will be done much faster so keep an eye on them. 

Sweets & Treats, Vegan

Blood Orange Paloma

1 servings
Blood Orange Paloma - Pretty pink cocktail with lime and blood red orange with a rosemary sprig in tall clear glasses set on a marble table, with barman's tools and metal shaker.

Perfectly citrus-y with a subtle sweetness, the Blood Orange Paloma is a great addition to your bartending repertoire. This version was created in honor of “Dry January,” a 30-day challenge for folks to “drink to their health” and enjoy mocktails instead of the real deal.

BriarPatch carries non-alcoholic Ritual Zero Proof Tequila Alternative, which Food & Wine magazine recently named as “the best” (The 12 Best Nonalcoholic Spirits, According to Bartenders – 12/19/2023). Its smoky flavor profile is more akin to mezcal and lends itself well to libations such as this delightful drink. Cheers! 

Ingredients

  • 2 oz Ritual Zero Proof Tequila Alternative  
  • 3 ½ oz blood orange-flavored kombucha or sparkling soda  
  • 1 ½ oz fresh grapefruit juice  
  • ½ oz freshly squeezed lime juice  
  • ½ – 1 oz agave nectar (start with less and adjust to taste)  
  • Salt for rimming glass, optional  
  • Grapefruit, blood orange and/or lime slices, for garnish  
  • Rosemary sprigs, for garnish 

Directions

  1. Moisten the edge of the glass with lime and rim with salt. Fill glass with crushed ice.   
  2. Add a few ice cubes to a cocktail shaker and add tequila alternative, grapefruit juice, lime juice and agave nectar. Shake for 15-20 seconds and pour in the glass.  
  3. Top with blood orange-flavored kombucha/sparkling soda and stir to combine. Garnish with citrus slices and rosemary sprig.  
Lunch & Dinner, Sweets & Treats, Vegan

Cold & Spicy Cukes

3 servings
Spicy Smashed Cucumber Salad - Cucumber chunks mixed with vinagrette dressing and cilantro leaves. Served in a blue ceramic bowl with chopsticks, on blue and yellow table.

Smashing cucumbers is an ancient Chinese technique, bringing together the veggie’s coolness with the intense spice of Sichuan cuisine.

Crushing a cucumber produces flavors un-smashed cucumbers can’t. When you crush cells in a vegetable rather than slicing cleanly through it, certain compounds get released and you can get a significantly different flavor.

Use firm-fleshed, fresh cucumbers for this dish. Crushing them can soften them into mush if you start with old, soft ones.

Ingredients

  • 7-10 Persian cucumbers 
  • 1 tsp kosher salt 
  • ½ bunch cilantro, roughly chopped  
  • 3 garlic cloves, minced  
  • 2 Tbsp soy sauce  
  • 2 Tbsp sugar  
  • 2 Tbsp chili oil  
  • 2 Tbsp sesame oil  
  • 2 Tbsp apple cider vinegar or rice vinegar 

Directions

  1. Cut ends off cucumbers, halve lengthwise, and then into 2-inch pieces. Carefully using the flat side of your knife, smash them gently – just enough to break the fruit inside. Toss pieces in salt and drain in colander for 30 minutes.  
  2. Mix together the rest of your ingredients, reserving 1/3 of the cilantro, and let sit while cucumbers drain. 
  3. Toss cucumbers and sauce together, then right before serving, sprinkle remaining cilantro on top.  
Lunch & Dinner, Sweets & Treats

Holiday Pull-Apart Bread

8-10 servings
Christmas-tree-shaped bread with twists of dough and green sauce. Garnished with cherry tomatoes and parsley sprigs, on a wooden cutting board and light blue table.

There’s something fun and festive about pull-apart bread, and this recipe is sure to bring the “wow” to your holiday spread. Golden crust on the outside, soft and fluffy insides, it’s versatile and easy to put together on the fly. Here we’ve shaped it into a Christmas tree, but the shape is limited only by your imagination.

You can switch things up depending on the dough you have on hand (adjusting baking instructions accordingly) and the filling you’d like. Pesto, zhug and other herb or tomato-based sauces can work as well.

Ingredients

  • 2 8-oz packages crescent roll dough (we used Immaculate brand)
  • Small bit of flour
  • ¾ cup chimichurri sauce
  • 1 cup shredded mozzarella
  • ¼ cup grated Parmesan
  • 1 egg
  • 1 Tbsp water
  • Fresh cherry tomatoes and parsley sprigs for garnish
  • Optional: Marinara sauce for dipping

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 375°. Get an edged sheet pan with parchment paper.
  2. Open crescent roll dough and lay on a large, lightly-floured cutting board. Take two of the pre-perforated triangle shapes from the rectangle of dough and reposition them so the shape is now a triangle. Gently push together perforations and roll dough so the triangle is about 15” long. Carefully move to a parchment-lined sheet pan.
  3. Spread sauce evenly over triangle surface, then sprinkle shredded cheese and then Parmesan across the same area. Create the same triangular shape with the other package of dough. Gently place it on top of the first, matching and gently pinching together the edges.
  4. Lay a ruler down the middle of the tree for a visual of the “trunk.” Using a serrated knife, cut inward to the “trunk” so that each “branch” is about 1 inch thick. Repeat top to bottom and on both sides, so there are plenty of tasty branches for folks to enjoy without cutting through the trunk that’ll hold everything together, and a nice, pointed treetop.
  5. Take the two bottom branches and fold them a few times toward the center. This will be the tree trunk. Then, carefully pick each branch up and give it 2-3 evenly-spaced, gentle twists – depending on how long the branch is. Beat egg with water and brush onto tree.
  6. Bake until golden brown, about 15-18 minutes. Allow to cool slightly.
  7. Garnish with several cherry tomatoes and parsley sprigs arranged like holly sprigs. Serve with marinara sauce for dipping.