Here’s what you need:

Ingredients:

1 large red apple, cored and very thinly sliced

¼ cup white sugar

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 sheet frozen puff pastry, thawed

¼ cup melted butter

1 egg

2 teaspoons water

1 teaspoon confectioners’ sugar 

Preparation:

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Butter a muffin pan and dust with white sugar.

Place apple slices on a plate, overlapping slightly if necessary. Microwave on High for about 45 seconds just until slices have softened a bit. Cover plate with plastic wrap and a kitchen towel.

Mix together sugar and cinnamon in a bowl.

Roll puff pastry sheet to less than 1/8-inch thickness. Using a pizza cutter, cut two 3-inch by 12-inch rectangles. Reserve remaining pieces for another use.

Spread melted butter over dough; top with a generous amount of cinnamon-sugar. Place apple slices along 1 long edge of dough, about 1/4 inch beyond the edge of dough, overlapping slices slightly. Fold bottom half of dough over the apple slices to form a long “folder” of dough with rounded edges of apple slices exposed.

Beat egg and water together in a bowl. Paint the surface of dough with egg wash. Sprinkle with more cinnamon-sugar, to taste.

Starting from one end, roll dough not too tightly to form a rose-shaped pastry. Seal roll with the end of the dough strip.

Transfer roses to a prepared muffin pan. Sprinkle it with a little more cinnamon-sugar. Place the muffin pan directly on the middle rack of your preheated oven.

Bake until well browned, about 45 minutes. Remove your muffin pan out of the oven and let the roses cool for 5 to 10 minutes. Dust with confectioners’ sugar before serving. Don’t forget to snap a picture of these beautiful “flowers”!

What did Shakespeare say? “A rose by any other name would smell as sweet”, in this case, these baked apples roses smell as divine as they taste! Show us your roses! If you make this recipe and want to share with us, tag us on Instagram @stokesstores and use the hashtag #StokesMoments.

We chose to make mocktails but you can easily adapt these recipes and any alcohol of your choice to make them as big batch cocktails!

Lavender Lemonade

Ingredients:

• 1 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
• ¾ cup honey
• 6 cups water
• 2-3 drops lavender essential oil or 2-3 tablespoons of fresh lavender flowers
• Ice cubes
• Edible lavender flowers for garnish

Instructions:

1. In a large pitcher, whisk together the freshly squeezed lemon juice, honey, and water until the honey is fully dissolved.
2. Add in the lavender essential oil or fresh lavender flowers and stir to combine.
3. Refrigerate the lemonade for at least 30 minutes or until chilled.
4. To serve, pour the lavender lemonade over ice cubes and garnish with edible lavender flowers

Pink Pansy Lemonade

Ingredients:

• 1 ½ cups of pink lemonade
• ½ cup of cranberry juice
• 1 ½ cups of lemon-lime soda
• Ice cubes
• Pink pansies for garnish

Instructions:

1. In a pitcher, mix together the pink lemonade and cranberry juice.
2. Slowly add in the lemon-lime soda and stir gently.
3. Refrigerate the drink for at least 30 minutes or until chilled.
4. To serve, pour the pink pansy drink over ice cubes and garnish with pink pansies.

Note: Be sure to use edible flowers that are specifically grown for consumption in your cocktails and mocktails. Avoid using flowers that may have been exposed to pesticides or other chemicals.

Full of Omega 3s, salmon is both nutritious and decadent—a rare combo! Pair this recipe with your favourite roasted vegetables, or with rice, quinoa, or a salad, for the perfect weeknight or date night meal.

Ready to try this tasty recipe? Here’s everything you’ll need:

Ingredients:

Grilled Salmon

3 large salmon fillets (or 4 small)

1/8 cup fresh lime juice

Zest of a lime

1 medium garlic clove, minced

3 tablespoons olive oil

Mango Salsa

1 large mango, finely diced (or 1 cup)

1/4 cup red onion, minced

1 tablespoon fresh lime juice

1 tablespoon olive oil

Salt and pepper to taste

Preparation:

Grilled Salmon:

In a small bowl, whisk together olive oil, lime zest, lime juice, and garlic and season with salt and pepper to taste (a fair amount of each). 

Place salmon in a baking dish, pour the liquid mixture over, and cover with tin foil or plastic wrap. Allow to marinate in the refrigerator for 15 – 30 minutes, then flip salmon to the opposite side and allow to marinate in the fridge for 15 – 30 minutes longer. 

Preheat a grill over medium-high heat during the last 10 minutes of marinating.

Brush grill grates with oil. Place salmon on grill and grill about 3 minutes per side or until just cooked through. The salmon is ready when the flesh flakes when lightly pressing down with a fork.

Mango Salsa:

In a medium bowl, toss together your mango, cilantro, red onion, olive oil, and lime juice. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Pair with some delicious, nutty brown rice, with a unique salad, or with your veggies of choice, and serve with some lemon wedges on the side.

Fresh, flavourful, and delicious! If you make this recipe and want to share it with us, tag us on Instagram @stokesstores and use the hashtag #StokesMoments.

Pizza can often be a last minute, grab and go decision. Pizza is always a crowd pleaser and there’s no question that it can be an ordinary meal, but make no mistake; a pizza can be the start to a decadent meal, able to impress the most sophisticated palette.

You can elevate your mealtime by pairing and selecting your ingredients with purpose and by upgrading how, and what you use, to make and bake your pizza.

Our choices of ingredients are a refreshing take on some of the classic elements of an ordinary pizza. The prosciutto and provolone are sophisticated twists on the classic choices of pepperoni and mozzarella. By adding arugula and figs to our combination, our recipe provides a unique experience for your taste buds that ensures a savory and sweet note in every bite.

You can upgrade how you make your pizza by baking it on a pizza stone. A pizza stone turns out a better tasting, more delectable pizza. The difference is particularly with the pizza crust. Pizza stones produce a perfectly evenly baked pizza crust from the edges to the center of the pizza and guarantee golden brown crispy dough. The evenly baked and crispiness of the crust is key; delicious pizzas are never soggy in the middle and a pizza stone makes sure of that.  For this recipe, our Mamma Mia Pizza Maker is essential to cooking and serving our absolutely mouthwatering fig and prosciutto pizza.

Ingredients

1 pound room temperature, fresh pizza dough

2 cups of cherry tomatoes, cut in halves

4 fresh ripe figs, cut into quarters

3-4 garlic cloves, minced

6 ounces of provolone cheese, thinly sliced

8 thinly sliced pieces of prosciutto

2 cups of fresh arugula, washed and rinsed

2 tablespoons of virgin olive oil

1 teaspoon of crushed dried thyme

3 ounces of grated Parmesan cheese

¼ teaspoon crushed black pepper

½ teaspoon kosher salt

¼ cup flour

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 500⁰F and place our pizza stone in the oven. The stone should be in the oven as it preheats.
2. Roll dough into a 12-inch circle on a lightly floured surface and pierce entire surface liberally with a fork.
3. Combine olive oil and garlic in a small bowl. Brush on olive oil and garlic mixture with our thinkkitchen brush.
4. Cover surface of pizza dough with slices of provolone cheese, leaving ½ inch of the crust edge free of cheese and place halved cherry tomatoes on top.
5. Carefully remove pizza stone from oven. Sprinkle flour over pizza stone and place dough on top of stone. Bake pizza crust until it is golden brown on top and on the bottom, roughly 15 to 20 minutes.
6. Remove crust from oven using our thinkkitchen silicone mitts and place on the metal rack and immediately drape prosciutto slices over the pizza. Arrange fig slices atop of prosciutto.
7. Bake until figs are just heated through, about 1 minute. Transfer pizza to cutting board.
8. On top, add arugula and Parmesan cheese sparingly. If you like, you can drizzle on a touch of extra virgin olive oil or a balsamic reduction before serving. Evenly sprinkle with crushed thyme, salt and pepper to taste.
9. Cut into slices using our pizza scissors, serve and enjoy with a light and delicate tasting Italian wine like a Barolo or Barbera D’Alba, which will pair well with the prosciutto and won’t overwhelm the light, sweet taste of the figs. These wines are best enjoyed in our Riedel Assiago drinkware collection.

Here to help you take your pizza night to the next level! If you want to share your pizza with us on social media, please tag us on Instagram @stokesstores and use the hashtag #StokesMoments.

Here’s what you need to make it:

Ingredients:

Cake:
1 ¼ lbs strawberries remove stems and quarter them

⅔ cup whole milk

½ cup vegetable or canola oil 

4 Tablespoons unsalted butter softened 

1 ¾ cup granulated sugar

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

3 cups cake flour

1 Tablespoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

6 large egg whites² room temperature preferred

Food coloring optional

Filling:

⅓ cup granulated sugar 

1 Tablespoon cornstarch

⅛ teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons lemon juice

Frosting:

2 cups cold heavy cream 

1 ½ cups powdered sugar, divided 

1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract

⅛ teaspoon salt

8 oz cream cheese softened 

Preparation:

Cake:

Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C) and prepare two 8” round cake pans by spraying with baking spray and lining the bottoms with parchment paper. Set aside.

Place quartered strawberries in a blender and puree until smooth. Run through a fine mesh sieve over a measuring cup until you have 1 – 1 ¼ cups of juice. Keep the berry pulp and set this along with any remaining pureed berries for the jam filling.

Pour strawberry juice into a small saucepan and cook over medium heat until reduced to ⅓ cup. This usually takes about 10 minutes.

Once reduced, add ⅔ cup milk to the strawberry reduction and whisk together. If using food coloring, whisk that in here as well. Set aside.

In a large bowl using a stand mixer, beat together oil, butter, sugar, and vanilla extract until completely combined.

In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt.

With the mixer on low speed, gradually alternate adding the flour mixture and strawberry/milk mixture to the butter mixture, stirring until just combined after each addition. (I start and end with the flour and add the flour mixture in 4 parts and the milk mixture in 3 parts.)

Place egg whites in a separate clean, dry bowl, and beat on high speed with an electric mixer until stiff peaks form.

Using a spatula, gently fold egg whites into cake batter until completely combined (don’t use your electric mixer at this point or you will over-beat the batter). Divide cake batter evenly into prepared pans and bake on 350°F for 28 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean or with a few moist crumbs.

Allow cakes to cool in pans for 10 minutes then run a knife around the edges to loosen cakes from pan and invert onto cooling rack to cool completely. While cooling, prepare the jam filling.

Jam Filling

Combine remaining strawberry pulp, ⅓ cup sugar, cornstarch, lemon juice, and salt in a small saucepan and whisk to combine.

Cook over medium heat and bring to a boil. Boil, whisking constantly, until mixture is thickened and the whisk leaves a trail through the jam (this takes about 5-10 minutes).

Remove from heat, transfer to a heat-proof bowl, and place in the refrigerator to cool completely. Meanwhile, prepare your frosting.

Frosting:
Combine cream cheese, ½ cup (65g) powdered sugar, vanilla extract, and salt in a large bowl and use an electric mixer to beat together until creamy and smooth.

In a separate bowl (preferably a chilled metal bowl), combine remaining (1 cup, 125g) powdered sugar and cold heavy cream. Beat with an electric mixer until stiff peaks form.

With the mixer on low speed, stir together the cream cheese and whipped cream until completely combined.

Assembly:
Once cake and jam are completely cooled, place one layer of cake on a serving tray. Use a piping bag fitted with a round tip (I use an Ateco 808) to pipe a dam around the layer. Fill with your jam filling.

Top with a second layer of cake. Cover the entire cake with frosting.

Refrigerate until ready to serve. 

This cake is fluffy, airy and tastes as beautiful as it looks. It’s perfect for Valentine’s Day!