Recipes

Heavenly Banana Pudding

30 min

Our banana pudding is light as angels wings with home made vanilla meringue, amped up with easily spoonable Heilala Vanilla Paste. This is a great summer dessert, as it requires no baking and you can make it a day ahead for your next backyard BBQ, but we crave it all year long. It looks impressive but the layers are pretty foolproof, and you can make it in a casserole dish for a crowd or in individual cups for custom portions. Torch the top and it comes out with a caramelized s'mores-like flavor!

Heilala Vanilla Vegan Ice Cream

20 min

Here's a simple vegan ice cream that is velvety smooth and creamy, even without the dairy. It is a spectacular flavor canvas and you can take it in any direction, but we went classic with straight-up vanilla. Helped generously by our friends at Heilala, we were able to get the sublime flavor of fresh whole vanilla beans just by adding a spoonful of vanilla paste from the jar.This ice cream gets it's creamy texture from a stellar lineup of coconut, cashew and oats, and it's made light and airy with a spin in the ice cream maker. Opt for refined coconut oil to keep the vanilla flavor shining through. Aside from melting the coconut oil, this staple summer recipe doesn't even require a stovetop. Just measure everything into the blender and give it a whirl! Just imagine all the flavors you can make...chocolate, cinnamon, lavender, turmeric, and more. 

Rhubarb Rugelach

1 hr

This recipe is a true keeper, with a surprisingly easy-to-make dough that relies on the magic of whipped butter and cream cheese. While the soft dough chills, prepare a luscious jam with a classic pairing of strawberries and rhubarb. Cook it down to the perfect consistency, ready to be spread and rolled between the dough. For a tantalizing twist, we chose the concentrated flavor of ginger and added a secret ingredient — mace. This lighter and peppery spice complements the tangy fruit, enhances the lemon zest, and fills the jam with a sweet and aromatic spice allure. Get ready to savor each bite of these heavenly treats.

Roast Chai Gluten-Free Waffles

10 min

Our staff's long-standing love for this nutty, warm, and toasty masala blend made it a no-brainer choice for the perfect breakfast indulgence. Infused with coriander, cinnamon, fennel, cumin, black pepper, and cloves, this malty chai takes waffles to the next level. Topped with apples and a dab of butter, it's a harmonious balance of flavors. Gluten-free and irresistible, these waffles offer a delightful alternative morning feast. And if you have leftovers, transform them into Gingerbread Pumpkin Butter for an exquisitely spiced spread!

Rosemary Cottage Cheese Cookies

Vintage cookbooks offer up some curiously great recipes and this one from the 1930's is no exception. Cottage cheese cookies are an intriguing prospect and in this case, grandma DID know best - the resulting dough is light, tender and full of flavor. The addition of rosemary and apricot jam adds a festive flair.Rosemary is wonderful in sweet applications and pairs well with most fruity jams or jellies. Cherry or blackberry would be wonderful in these, as well. This cookie is a perfect for a cookie exchange, or just as a slightly sweet accompaniment with a cup of tea or coffee.

Baharat Chewy Molasses Cookies

Molasses cookies are such a treat. Delightfully moist and chewy, there's no other cookie quite like them. You'll find a wide range of recipes for these sweet and spicy snacks, containing ingredients ranging from cocoa powder to orange zest, and all sorts of spices in between!Our humble contribution to the molasses cookie canon features the addition of Baharat. This Middle Eastern blend is traditionally used in savory dishes, but with its warm and sweet spices such as allspice, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and cardamom, we wondered how it would be in a cookie. It's wonderful, as it turns out!Alongside its signature seasoning, this recipe adds a bit of Valrhona cocoa powder to deepen the flavor of the cookie. It's definitely a keeper, and too good not to share. Just be sure to make enough, because they'll disappear pretty fast. You can share the recipe, too, since you can really never have too many recipes for a good cookie.

Saffron Raspberry Rolls

Using a bit of creativity, spices can be the perfect spark to elevate familiar comfort foods to new heights. This is especially true when they are utilized in nontraditional ways. These rolls are elegant and exotic, using saffron to get their beautiful sunshine yellow color. Although saffron is subtle and floral, it has a buttery aspect that is perfect for baked goods.Saffron threads are the stamen of the crocus flower, and it is the most expensive spice in the world. As a pairing to this precious flavor, we used raspberries as the filling for a tart fruity contrast. These decadent rolls are intriguing, yet still comforting, and will impress any crowd.

Vanilla Bean Cashew Cream

With all sorts of fruits and berries in season, it's a time of year when we've often found ourselves looking for new recipes to take advantage of a bountiful summer harvest. Looking for a break from pies and other baked goodies, we decided to try out a rich vanilla cream to complement a variety of fresh fruit.After making it once, we wondered where it had been all our lives.The fresh Madagascar 3 Count Vanilla Bean is the star of the show in this elegant vegan topping. There's no added sugar, because we found it wasn't needed! The dates in the cream provide plenty of sweetness, and a rich, caramel-like aftertaste. Consider carefully before making this recipe, because this stuff is addictive! One taste, and you'll want it on every fruit in sight.

Gingerbread Caramels

Some spices are just born leaders, with big loud voices and an overwhelming presence. Mace can be one of those show-offs, unless properly tamed. Mace is actually the lacy outer covering of the nutmeg, but its flavor is a bit earthier than nutmeg - think bass vs. soprano. Here we're getting the most out of it's character by combining it with other spices to recreate the scintillating flavor of freshly baked gingerbread, but in a soft, chewy caramel candy, perfect for gift-giving this holiday season.Now there's nothing to fear in caramel making, as long as you follow a few simple rules. Rule #1 is know your altitude. Sugar cooks quicker (which means that water evaporates faster, and that's what control's your ultimate texture) at higher altitudes, so the general rule is to subtract 2 degrees for every 1000 feet above sea level from your final temperature. For example, our basic, sea level recipe calls for a final cooking temperature of 240 F. for a soft caramel. My kitchen is around 3000 ft., so, after a bit of experimenting, I finally altered the target temperature to 238 F. It may take a few tries to find the softness that you prefer - I like my caramels a bit on the softer side. The second rule to follow is to STIR CONTINUOUSLY while cooking the caramel. Dairy products burn really easily at high temperatures, and you don't want that. Thirdly, know your thermometer. Test it by filling a large glass with ice and enough water to separate the cubes. Let it sit for a minute, then insert your thermometer - it should read 32 degrees. If not, make a note of how far off it is, and adjust your cooking accordingly. And remember, the caramel mixture will be extremely hot, so resist the temptation to taste it until it's cooled off. I like to keep a dab on my spatula for tasting purposes, since it will cool off quickly. Follow these few rules, and you'll find yourself on the road to candy making success.Note: To make clean up a breeze, after you pour out the caramel refill the pot with water. Cover and bring to a boil, then set aside for a few minutes. The hot water and steam will help dissolve the cooked sugars.