One of my most cherished childhood memories is making candy apple  with my mom. Now I make them with my daughter. One day I imagine she will make them with her kids. Such a sweet tradition to pass along!

My mom used to make them without using corn syrup and thermometer.

Ingredients:

2 cups of sugar

1 cup of water

1 teaspoon of lemon juice

1/2 teaspoon of red food coloring

6 crisp, tart apples

6 dessert forks

Directions:

1.Wash and dry apples.  Remove stems.  Push the forks 1/4 of the way into the stem end of each apple.

2.Lightly grease cookie sheets.

3. In a medium saucepan over medium-high heat, combine sugar and water. Bring to a boil.  Add lemon juice and food coloring.  Heat to 280 degrees F, or until a small amount of syrup dropped into the cold water forms hard ball. Remove the candy from the heat.

4. Quickly deep each  apple in it and swirl it around until it is evenly coated.

5. Place candy apples  on prepared sheets to harden

 Bon Apple !  :)))

 Dangerously delicious, delicate  mini cookies.

you will love these  melt-in-your-mouth cookies .

Ingredients:

1/2 cup tahini

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1 cup powder sugar

2 cup flour

1 1/2  teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon cinnamon

Preheat to oven to 350 degrees F. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper.

Sift flour, baking powder, cinnamon and set aside. Combine vegetable oil, tahini and 1/2 cup powder sugar in a large mixing bowl and beat until creamy. Add dry ingredients slowly and mix well. Take out about 1 teaspoon of dough and roll it  between palms into  balls. Arrange balls on  baking sheet, spacing 1 inch apart. Bake cookies until slightly golden for about 10-15 minutes.    Cool cookies 20 minutes on baking sheet. Then serve with a generous dusting of remaining powdered sugar.

You can store your cookies in an air-tight jar for up to one month.

Imam Bayildi is one of the most well-known Turkish “Zeytinyagli” Olive Oil Dishes. In the orginal recipe, fried eggplant stuffed with tomato, onion, garlic and parsley, baked in the oven  and served cold.

My version of Imam Bayildi is lighter and easier than the original one.

Ingredients:

4 medium-sized  eggplants

3-4 cloves garlic, chopped

2 lbs  tomatoes, blanched, peeled and coarsely chopped

1/2 cup   chopped parsley

1 large onion, chopped

1/4 cup, plus 2 tablespoons olive oil

1 teaspoon caster sugar

Fresh ground pepper to taste

1/2 teaspoon salt

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 425° F

Peel eggplants leaving lenghtwise stripes,  cut  in to 1-inch  cubes, soak in salted water for 30 minutes, then drain and dry them.

Using a large pan over medium high heat, sauté onions and garlic  in 1/4 cup olive oil until they begin to soften, about 5 minutes. Add tomatoes and parsley, season with  salt, pepper  and sugar.  Reduce heat to low and simmer, covered, stirring ocasionally about 15 minutes.

While sauce is simmiring,  place eggplants in a bowl with the 2 tablespoons of olive oil, toss until the eggplant cubes are well coated. Transfer the eggplants to a large sized oven-proof pan and spread out in to one layer. Roast in the oven for about 15 minutes or until  browned slightly.

Remove the pan from the oven.  Place the roasted eggplants  in the  baking  dish, spread tomato sauce evenly to cover the eggplants.

Bake uncovered for 20-30 minutes, until golden brown and bubbly.  Remove from oven

Serve cold and sprinkle with  fresh parsley before serving

Why did the priest faint? You’ll see :))

Türkçe tarifi yazmayım, herkesin nasılsa alışık olduğu bir İmam bayıldı tarifi vardır. Aslında bu tarif  klasik tariften farklı; patlıcanları yağda kızartmak  yerine fırında kızartıyorum. Light İmam bayıldı :)))