Buttery Cinnamon Sauce

I wanted to give you the recipe for this sauce now. We're gonna use it for Autumn Apples Week! Once the sauce cools off, it's very thick. I recommend heating it up a bit before using it.

Buttery Cinnamon Sauce
adapted from my recipes: Cinnamon-Butter Sauce

1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar, not packed
6 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons flour
1 cup hot water
1 to 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

Combine all ingredients except cinnamon in saucepan. Heat over medium-high, stirring until it thickens, about 6 minutes {do not boil}. Remove from heat and carefully whisk in cinnamon - start with 1 teaspoon and add more as desired. Let cool slightly. Store in refrigerator and reheat as needed.

You could use this sauce over ice cream or on pancakes and waffles - yum! Or try it over a slice of pound cake! But you can also use it with some apple recipes I'll be sharing with you for Autumn Apples Week {stay tuned}.

I love cinnamon! Do you?

Have a blessed day friends!

Sugar-Free Lemon Blueberry Sauce

When we're being "good" here, we try to eat less carbs. And that often means going sugar-free. I wanted a blueberry sauce to use as a topping for those times and I'm happy with this one! If you don't care for Stevia extract, you can certainly use any sweetener you like.

Sugar-Free Lemon Blueberry Sauce
adapted from Blueberry Lemon Sauce at Good Life eats

1 1/2 tablespoons cornstarch
2 cups blueberries, fresh or frozen, divided {I used frozen wild blueberries}
2 tablespoons lemon juice
Zest of 1 lemon
3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
Pinch of salt
1 tablespoon water
10 drops Stevia extract {or other desired sweetener to taste}

In small pan, stir together cornstarch, 1 cup blueberries, lemon juice, zest, vanilla, and salt. On medium heat, cook until thickened, 3-4 minutes {it didn't even take that long for me}. Stir in remaining blueberries and keep stirring while cooking 1-2 minutes longer. Remove from heat and stir in water if needed, to thin sauce slightly. Stir in Stevia extract or other sweetener to taste. Cool and serve. Can be stored in refrigerator up to 1 week.

How about a couple of breakfast ideas for your sauce?

You could use the sauce on top of pancakes, French toast, or waffles. We love it on top of these Low-Carb Waffles {a family fave}.

Or try this yummy sugar-free breakfast creation. Sweeten plain Greek yogurt with Stevia or other sweetener and stir in a few drops of almond extract. Top with the blueberry sauce and sliced almonds. Delish & kinda fancy! :)

What would you use Sugar-Free Lemon Blueberry Sauce on? 

This post linked to:
 ~ Chic & Crafty Party at The Frugal Girls
 ~ I'm Lovin' It at TidyMom

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Have a blessed day friends!

Raspberry Sauce

Took me a while - but here's the recipe for the raspberry sauce I used in my Dark Chocolate Chunk Brownies with Raspberry Whipped Cream. I found it in my cookbook Best Recipes from American Country Inns and Bed & Breakfasts by Kitty and Lucian Maynard (great collection of recipes though I have found many mistakes in the amounts of ingredients listed). This sauce is SO yummy!! The perfect combination of sweet and tart. And you can use it so many different ways!

Just look at that beautiful sauce cooking up!

There it is - in drizzle form. Such a pretty red!

By the way, this is what I use whenever I have anything to drizzle. I think it was in an inexpensive 2-pack from Walmart.

Raspberry Sauce

3/4 cup water
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup lemon juice
6 oz frozen raspberries
1 1/2 tablespoons cornstarch
2 tablespoons hot water
{I used organic ingredients where possible.}

In saucepan, combine water, sugar, and lemon juice. Bring mixture to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for about 2 minutes. Add raspberries and return to boiling. No need to thaw the raspberries first - just put them in right out of the freezer! Remove from heat and cover. Let stand for 10 minutes.

Strain liquid through fine mesh strainer and don't press or squeeze the raspberries as you do this. Discard berry pulp and seeds (or could you bake it in some muffins I wonder?). Put strained liquid back into saucepan. In small dish, combine cornstarch and 2 tablespoons hot water. Stir until dissolved and smooth. Stir cornstarch mixture into raspberry sauce. Stir sauce constantly over medium heat until it thickens. Cool and chill sauce. Store in refrigerator.

Sauce pooled on a plate.

Hmmm...can't let that go to waste - better mop it up with a leftover lemon bar.  :)

There are so many great uses for this sauce:

• Drizzle onto dessert plates.
• Pour over servings of chocolate cake or cheesecake.
• Use as an ice cream topping.
• Pour over pancakes or waffles.
• Mix with melted chocolate chips and cream for a chocolate raspberry ganache.
• Whip with heavy whipping cream to make raspberry whipped cream (pictured below).

That raspberry whipped cream is so so good! I think it would make a great frosting for some devil's food cupcakes or a filling and frosting for a lemon cake. Yum!

Have you made raspberry sauce before? Do you have some more ideas on how you could use this sauce?


Have a blessed day friends!

Pear Week ~ Slow Cooker Pear Sauce

I hope you're enjoying Pear Week so far - did you check out the Maple Pecan Pear Muffins I posted yesterday?  Today I'll share the main recipes that worked for me to use up a large number of pears at once.

My hubs and I have been trying not to eat sugar recently (OK, well except for every single recipe here this week that I *had* to sample) so I knew I wanted to make pear sauce without added sugar.  These pears were so sweet and juicy that I figured it wouldn't be a problem to leave the sugar out - I was right!

So many pears! I sprinkled cinnamon over a couple layers before cooking.

I have made apple sauce in the slow cooker in the past, so I knew I could do pear sauce the same way.  I filled that slow cooker up FULL 3 times!  I found that about 4 hours on low was enough time to get the pears to the point where I could either mash them with a potato masher and fork (to leave a little chunky) or puree with my stick blender right in the slow cooker.

Chunky Pear Sauce with cinnamon and nutmeg - yum!

Pureed Pear Sauce with cinnamon - very rich!

Slow Cooker Cinnamon Pear Sauce {no sugar added}

Enough ripe Bartlett pears, cut in half, cored and peeled, to fill slow cooker
Cinnamon to taste
Nutmeg to taste (optional)
1/4 - 1/2 cup All natural apple cider (no sugar added) or other liquid

Fill slow cooker with pears.  Sprinkle cinnamon over layers as you put them in.  Add desired liquid.  Cover and cook on low for about 4 hours.  Mash or puree pears.  Stir in more cinnamon if needed and nutmeg if desired.  Cool and refrigerate.

Chunky Pear Sauce with a hint of maple and almond.

Slow Cooker Maple Almond Pear Sauce

Enough ripe Bartlett pears, cut in half, cored and peeled, to fill slow cooker
3 tablespoons+ pure maple syrup
1 tablespoon + almond extract

Fill slow cooker with pears.  Cover and cook on low for about 4 hours.  Mash or puree pears.  Stir in maple syrup and almond extract.  I was trying to keep it low-sugar and not overpower the flavor of the pears, so I only used enough to give a hint of flavor.  Feel free to use much larger quantities of maple syrup and almond extract if desired!  Cool and refrigerate.

I put the extra sauce into containers and froze it.  Though the sauce is delicious on its own, it would be a delicious topping for pancakes and waffles too.  Or maybe even over ice cream or mixed with yogurt or in a smoothie - so many yummy options!

Have you ever made pear or apple sauce in your slow cooker?  Do you consider it a side dish, a snack or a dessert?

Thanks for stopping by Pear Week!  Come on back tomorrow for some cake!

This post linked to:
~ Works-For-Me-Wednesday (WFMW) at We Are THAT Family
~ I'm Lovin' It at TidyMom

Have a fabulous day friends!