Polenta

I was in the mood for spaghetti, but hubby wanted something a little different than the same old sauce and noodles. He rummaged through our kitchen cabinets and brought a bag of cornmeal to my attention and asked, "why don't we make some real polenta instead?"
I'd never made polenta before and other than sitting by the stove to stir the pot for a half hour, it's not that hard to make. Just water and cornmeal. It was a nice creamy base to the marinara sauce and it just loved the parmesan cheese.
It's also fantastic with butter and parmesan cheese, as it tastes similar to roasted cuban corn on the cob. Mmm-mmm!

Esterhazyschnitten

Nut meringue slices with buttercream filling and a fondant glaze.
I got the recipe from the book Kaffeehaus. It's also the cover art for the book. Mine doesn't look nearly as nice as the photos they show on the book, but it was very very tasty nonetheless. I made a few changes from the original recipe. Instead of using an apricot glaze, I used a cherry glaze and instead of an Almond and Hazelnut meringue, I used strictly almonds. I wanted to use what I had available without having to go to the store.
The hardest part of making this dessert was the fondant top layer. Try as we may, we couldn't get a smooth glaze, so my chocolate striping looks a bit rough. Regardless, it was still an impressive dessert once you sliced into it. It pairs very well with a medium bodied coffee.

Lattice Crust Apple Pie

A lattice crust turned out to be a bit more difficult than I had originally expected. It wasn't hard to make the crust, it was just tricky to weave it properly. I found that the way to keep the dough pliable enough to work with, is to omit the chilling step.
The pie itself turned out a little drier than usual, but I think that had something to do with the filling. If the lattice does indeed create a drier filling, then it would be the preferred top crust for notoriously runny pies like blueberry and cherry. I'll be experimenting with this in the future.