serves 4
The Ingredients
2 large apples, cored and cut in half (I used Fuji)
2 tablespoons butter
½ cup orange juice
2 tablespoons maple syrup
4 tablespoons sweetened whipped cream (from a can!)
The Directions
Use a 6-quart slow cooker. Put the apple halves into the bottom of your slow cooker, flesh-side up. In a small bowl, melt the butter in the microwave. Stir in the orange juice and maple syrup. Spoon the butter and syrup mixture evenly into the apple halves. Cover and cook on low for 2 to 3 hours, or on high for 1 to 2 hours. I cooked our apples on high for 1 hour and 20 minutes. Serve with a dollop of sweetened whipped cream.
The Verdict
This is a great easy dessert to make during the week. It’s really hard (for me) to make desserts during the week—it’s all I can do to get dinner on the table! But we’ve usually got the ingredients for these apples in the house, and I like that they aren’t laden with sugar. It’s a nice surprise for the kids after bath time.
serves 12
The Ingredients
1 (14-ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
1 cup light corn syrup
2 cups packed brown sugar
2 tablespoons water
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
6 Granny Smith apples, sliced
The Directions
Use a 2-quart slow cooker. Pour the sweetened condensed milk (don’t forget to lick the can!) and corn syrup into your slow cooker. Add the brown sugar, water, and vanilla. Cover and cook on low for 4 hours, or on high for 1 to 2 hours. Stir well and serve with tart apple slices.
The Verdict
This is addictingly good. It’s super sweet, but not sweet enough that you can’t justify eating the entire crockful. I made this dip for a group of third graders, who were absolutely thrilled with their afternoon snack. Brush your teeth really well after eating!
serves 4
The Ingredients
3 cups milk
⅓ cup Arborio rice
¼ cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
½ cup raisins
The Directions
Use a 2-quart slow cooker. Put the milk into the slow cooker and add the rice. Stir in the sugar, vanilla, and raisins. Cover and cook on low for 5 to 6 hours, on high for 2 to 3, or until the rice is tender and thickened like pudding.
The Verdict
The finished pudding is marvelous—rich and creamy, and the raisins get all plump and juicy. Delicious! Arborio rice is very short-grained and is usually used for making risotto (see page 238). You can find it in a box in the rice aisle of your grocery store.
serves 6
The Ingredients
cooking spray
1 cup sugar
¼ cup all-purpose flour (I used Pamela’s Baking Mix)
¼ teaspoon kosher salt
1 cup 2 percent buttermilk
¼ cup fresh lemon juice
3 eggs, whisked
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
The Directions
Use a 4-quart slow cooker coated with cooking spray. In a mixing bowl, whisk together the sugar, flour, and salt. Set aside. In a separate bowl, whisk together the wet ingredients. Pour the buttermilk mixture slowly into the dry ingredients and continue mixing to form a batter. Scrape the cake batter into your slow cooker. Cover and cook on high for 2 to 4 hours, or until the cake has set in the center, browned, and pulled away from the sides. Test with a toothpick to ensure doneness, and let the cake sit, unplugged and uncovered, for 20 minutes before serving.
The Verdict
Oh-my-lemon-goodness! The cake separates from the lemon pudding and floats to the top and puffs up. The pudding underneath is quite lemony and thickens nicely.
serves 8
The Ingredients
12 ounces semisweet chocolate chips
½ cup heavy cream
½ teaspoon mint extract or 2 tablespoons peppermint schnapps
marshmallows or cookies for serving
The Directions
Use a 2-quart slow cooker. Put the chocolate chips into your slow cooker. Add the heavy cream and mint extract (or the schnapps). Cover and cook on low for 2 hours, stirring every 30 minutes. Serve with marshmallows or cookies for dipping.
The Verdict
This tastes exactly like liquid Girl Scout cookies. It’s perfectly minty—not too much, not too little. We used marshmallows for our fondue dippers.
serves 8
The Ingredients
cooking spray
1 cup all-purpose flour (I used Pamela’s Baking Mix)
1 cup sugar (divided)
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon kosher salt
½ cup creamy peanut butter
½ cup milk
1 tablespoon canola oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1 cup boiling water
The Directions
Use a 4-quart slow cooker coated with cooking spray. In a mixing bowl, combine the flour, ½ cup sugar, the baking powder, and salt. Melt the peanut butter for 30 seconds in the microwave, and add to the mix with the milk, oil, and vanilla. Stir well to combine. Spread the peanut butter cake batter into your slow cooker.
In a separate bowl, combine the cocoa powder, the remaining ½ cup of sugar, and the boiling water. Mix well and pour evenly over the batter in your cooker.
Cover and cook on high for 2 to 4 hours, or until the top has set and an inserted toothpick comes out clean. Let the cake sit uncovered in the unplugged cooker for about 20 minutes, then serve warm in dessert bowls.
The Verdict
If you like peanut butter with your chocolate, or chocolate with your peanut butter (one of the best ad campaigns ever . . . ) you will absolutely love this cake. The peanut butter–flavored cake floats to the top, leaving a layer of molten chocolate gooeyness underneath.
serves 8
The Ingredients
4 Granny Smith apples
4 Golden Delicious apples
1 cup sugar
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon ground cloves
¼ cup butter, sliced
vanilla ice cream (for serving)
The Directions
Use a 4-quart slow cooker. Peel, core, and slice the apples. Place into a slow cooker, and toss with the sugar, cinnamon, cloves, and butter slices. Cover and cook on low for 4 to 5 hours. Serve hot with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.
The Verdict
This is pretty much apple pie filling without the crust. Lovely. The tartness from the Granny Smith apples balances out the sweetness of the Golden Delicious, which creates a winning combination. If you’d like, you can cook for a few more hours to make applesauce.
serves 10
The Ingredients
cooking spray
8 cups Rice Chex cereal
1 cup salted peanuts
1 (14-ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
The Directions
Use a 6-quart slow cooker. Spray your stoneware insert with cooking spray. Pour all the ingredients into your slow cooker and stir well to combine. Cover and cook on high for 2 hours, stirring every 20 minutes. When the cooking time has elapsed, spread the contents onto a length of wax paper. Let cool completely, then break into chunks. The finished product will be gooey and sticky. Store in the refrigerator.
The Verdict
This was an experiment that didn’t go exactly as I planned. I was hoping the condensed milk would harden more when cooked and create a super simple brittle. Instead, I got a Chex cereal bar without the bar. The kids adored this and begged me to make it again a week later. My grandma is also a big fan, which means that my mistake ended up actually working. Go figure.
serves 6 to 8
The Ingredients
4 eggs
½ cup sugar (I like baker’s sugar because the granules are fine)
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
⅛ teaspoon kosher salt
3 cups nonfat milk
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
The Directions
Use a 6-quart slow cooker with an inserted 1½ -quart casserole dish (Pyrex®, Corningware®). Add water around the dish until halfway up the side. You are using the slow cooker as a bain-marie, or water bath.
In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the eggs, sugar, vanilla, and salt. In a glass measuring cup, heat the milk for 2 minutes on high in the microwave. Slowly whisk the heated milk into the egg and sugar mixture. Go slowly, or you’ll scramble the eggs! Pour everything into the inserted casserole dish. Sprinkle nutmeg over the top.
Cover and cook on high for 2 to 4 hours. The custard should be set but still a bit jiggly. Touch lightly with your finger to test. When set, unplug the slow cooker and let it sit with the lid off until the casserole dish has cooled enough to remove safely. Chill in the refrigerator for 2 to 3 hours before serving.
The Verdict
This is a recipe from Joyce in Portland, Oregon. Her daughter Norah writes that she remembers her mom making it all the time while she was growing up, and she loves how easy it is to prepare in the slow cooker. We all adored this and ate it in one sitting. I love that such a scrumptious dessert was made using fat-free milk. Thank you, Joyce and Norah!