>I just picked up the annual Choir Fruit Sale cases of oranges and grapefruit. I have at least one lime in the refrigerator, and a lemon shouldn’t be too hard to come by. After I make the traditional roll-out shape cookies (it wouldn’t be Christmas without them), I plan to try these.

Ingredients
• 1 cup unsalted butter
• 4 ounces cream cheese
• 1 cup sugar
• 3 tablespoons milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• Dash salt
• 1 lime, zested
• 1 orange, zested
• 1 lemon, zested

Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
Add the butter, cream cheese and sugar to the bowl of a stand mixer. Beat on medium-high speed until creamy, about 1 minute. Add the milk and vanilla and mix until blended.
In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt. On the lowest speed, gradually add the flour mixture into the butter mixture, just until blended. Divide the dough into 3 bowls, and gently stir in the different zests among the bowls, making 3 different citrus doughs.
Roll the dough into a long 1/2-inch in diameter rope by hand. Cut the dough into 2-inch lengths and arrange them on a cold ungreased cookie sheet. Bake for 12 to 14 minutes, or until golden brown.
Remove from the oven and let cool on the cookie sheet for a few minutes before removing with a spatula to cool completely on baking rack.

I found instructions for zesting a citrus fruit on the Food Network site. Next curious challenge: with so many oranges in the house, can I zest several at a time and freeze the results?

>POM Wonderful offered me a small case of pomegranate juice, so I looked up their recipes. I knew Chuck would enjoy drinking it, and Amigo wanted to try it, too, but I made them wait until I looked beyond the cute shaped bottles and found something fun to make with pomegranate juice.

This compote is intended to go with cinnamon French toast. I opted to pair it with a meaty meal instead. Cranberry sauce works with turkey, said my logic, so why not a pom/apple compote?

Here’s the recipe:
Juice from 2 to 3 pomegranates or 1 cup pomegranate juice
1 vanilla bean, cut lengthwise (I used vanilla extract; less intense, but still good)
1/2 cup dried pitted cherries or dried cranberries
1 Tablespoon unsalted butter
2 lbs apples, peeled and sliced, 1/2 inch thick
1/2 cup real maple syrup

Prepare fresh pomegranate juice (if using fresh pomegranates). Heat juice in a small saucepan over medium heat until it simmers. Turn off heat. Add sliced vanilla bean and dried cherries or cranberries. Let rest 15 minutes or until berries are plum. Scrape vanilla beans out of the pod and add them back into the compote; discard the remaining pod. Heat a 12″ skillet over medium high heat. melt 1 Tablespoon butter in the pan and add the sliced apples. Cook the apples until they being to soften but retain their shape, about 5 to 6 minutes. Add maple syrup to apples along with the pomegranate juice and berries. Simmer until the juice reduces to syrup, about 5 to 8 minutes.

I served it warm with vanilla ice cream. It reminded me of my grandmother’s Norwegian fruit soup.
Chuck: There’s no such thing as fruit soup.
Me: There is if you’re Scandinavian. Feel grateful I don’t cook lutefisk.
Amigo: We had fruit soup at (the co-op he worked for last summer). I had it a couple of times. It tasted like a smoothie.
Chuck: (silent, spoon poised over bowl)

The end of the script: He liked it. We all liked it. I’ll make it again.

POM Wonderful has recipes, health information, and more on their site. I enjoyed browsing while I looked for recipes. They provided me with a small case of their pomegranate juice in order to test and review it. This is not a paid post.