Ree’s Fruit Salad with Orange-Vanilla Syrup
I made this the first time when we had friends over for brunch a couple of years ago and it’s been a go-to fruit salad for me ever since! The Pioneer Woman is one of those Food Network chefs that I love to watch. I could have her playing in the background all day on my TV. Her kitchen is a dream and her voice is so inviting. She does make many ‘meat and potato’ dishes, which aren’t always for me, but after all, she’s cooking for cowboys! Even still, I trust her cooking. I think there was one in all the many that I have tried that didn’t cook according to her recipe.
I have made this salad both with and without the mint. It’s good either way. Mint can be a tricky herb. Too much could ruin this salad. I think my preference is to omit the mint, but should you want to add some, use it more as a garnish than an ingredient in this salad.
The simple syrup for this recipe really transforms the fruit. I also like that it is largely a berry fruit salad, in addition to the grapes. I’ve not experimented with other fruit, but I imagine any fruit would work well with this syrup. My daughter is not a fan of orange, but she still enjoys this salad. The syrup also adds a nice sheen to the fruit. It’s really yummy and such a nice addition to your brunch menu.
Enjoy!
Ree's Fruit Salad with Orange-Vanilla Simple Syrup
Ingredients
Orange-Vanilla Syrup
- 1 cup sugar
- Zest and juice of 1 orange
- 1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste*
Fruit
- 2 pints strawberries hulled and halved**
- 2 pints blueberries
- 2 cups green grapes halved
- 2 cups red grapes halved
Instructions
- Place the sugar, 1 cup water, orange zest, juice and vanilla bean paste in a small pan and stir to dissolve the sugar. Then bring to a boil. Turn the heat to low and simmer for about 15 minutes to thicken. Set aside to cool completely. Pour over fruit and stir often to toss the fruit in the simple syrup.
Notes
**Original recipe calls for 4 pints of strawberries. I find 2 is plenty. If you have a really large party to serve, go for 4. Adapted from Pioneer Woman
Merry Mints
I was given little cookie cutters several years ago, that I have never used for cookies. Last year, I had the thought of using them as chocolate molds. I did a little research, because I was worried that, given there was nothing to secure the melted chocolate, it would all seep out from underneath. As long as I hold the cookie cutters in place as I put the first layer of chocolate in, it works!!!
It’s important that you use a good chocolate for this. After all, it is the only ingredient, minus the peppermint. I used Lindt chocolate.
Speaking of peppermint, it is (also) important. You can certainly use peppermint extract, but if you can get to your local cake decorating store, they will carry what you need. Peppermint oil.
You do not need to add much of this stuff to get the right amount of mint in your chocolate. For 4 bars of white chocolate, I used 6 drops. Also, I only added mint to the white chocolate, and left the milk chocolate alone. I add crushed candy cane on top of the chocolate, so between that and the mint in one of the chocolates, it’s enough!
Here’s a breakdown of what I did:
To get started, get your candy canes ready. I wish I had taken an after pic of these suckers. No pun intended! Just bash them babies up small enough that the chunks aren’t too big.
Picture a bottle of melted milk chocolate in a similar bottle. Oops!
FYI….I melted the chocolate, slowly, in the microwave (30 seconds at a time, until melted) and then transferred the chocolate into these bottles. So easy!
I dipped the cookie cutters in oil before I put the chocolate into them, so that they would release more easily once frozen.
After dipping cookie cutters into oil, fill them up halfway with chocolate, and put them into the freezer to set. About 5-10 minutes. You’ll notice the ripples in the chocolate in this picture. You can bang those out if you want to, but its only the first layer, so it’s no big deal.
Second layer! Bang the ripples out now!
Finish second layer with candy cane and put back into freezer to set.
Ta-da! So good! Try them!
(Source: Boss of the Apple Sauce)
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