Tasty Recipes from Recipe Wizards

Dip unites people around the Super Bowl party table, but don’t be surprised if women line up behind one dip and men a different one.

Yes, that’s right. There’s his dip and her dip.

His dip tends to include descriptions ending in the same letter as the male sex chromosome. Cheesy, meaty, gooey.

Her dip skews toward lighter in texture and calories, brimming with vegetables or sweet.

“If someone has a big cheesy dip with chorizo in it, most women would take a taste and go ‘Yum,’ and analyze the fat calories, where men would think it’s amazing and dig in,” said Diane Morgan, author of the bestselling “Delicious Dips” (Chronicle Books, $16.95, 124 pages).

Morgan, whose follow-up cookbook “Skinny Dips” debuts this fall, said she really noticed the dip divide while testing and serving a recipe for a lightened-up Green Goddess dip.

“There was universal acclaim among the women, but it probably seemed a little grassy to the guys,” she said.

One dip ingredient tends to bridge the gender gap, however: artichokes.

“That’s definitely a crossover,” Morgan said.

Aaron Holliday agrees.

Holliday, owner of Dude Food, a guy-food focused catering business in Sacramento, has created a warm artichoke and roasted red pepper dip that marries the masses.

“It’s just jack cheese, roasted red peppers and artichokes, but it’s really successful,” he said.

The nation has been enamored with dips ever since the early 1950s, when sour cream was mixed with dry Lipton onion soup to make California dip.

Gender aside, we love dips because of what they allow us to do – indulge.

“We are a society that enjoys indulgences and dips are yummy,” Bruhn said. “If you let yourself go entirely, you dip chips into those wonderful creamy sauces. … If you are health-conscious, you feel like you have an excuse to eat it because you’re using vegetables as your conveyor.

“We like them because they taste good.”

Artichoke and roasted red pepper dip

Prep time: 10 minutes

Cook time: 15 minutes

Serves 10

This recipe is courtesy of Aaron Holliday, owner of Dude Food, a Sacramento-based catering business, dudefood.biz

INGREDIENTS

One 16-ounce brick of Monterey jack cheese, cubed

One 12-ounce jar roasted red peppers, drained and roughly sliced

One 13.75-ounce can of quartered artichoke hearts packed in water, drained

5 cloves garlic, peeled

Salt and pepper, to taste

Grated Parmesan cheese, for garnish

Fresh bread or pita chips

INSTRUCTIONS

Combine ingredients in the bowl of a food processor and blend until smooth. Pour into a oven-proof dish and bake for 10 to 15 minutes, until bubbly. Sprinkle a little Parmesan cheese on top and return to oven for another 2 minutes.

Serve with chunks of fresh bread or pita chips.

Per serving: 209 cal.; 14 g pro.; 7 g carb.; 14 g fat (9 sat., 4 monounsat., 1 polyunsat.); 41 mg chol.; 685 mg sod.; 2 g fiber; 1 g sugar; 61 percent calories from fat

Faux five-layer dip

Prep time: 20 minutes

Serves 8 to 10

Recipe by Niesha Lofing.

Note: Use a glass serving bowl or dish to show off the layers in this sweet dip, which resembles five-layer bean dip when finished. Yields enough for two bowls of dip or one square baking dish.

INGREDIENTS

One 18-ounce jar pre-stirred creamy peanut butter (such as Jif Natural)

3/4 cup powdered sugar

1 cup mini chocolate chips

1 cup fresh raspberries

2 tablespoons raspberry jam

One 7.5-ounce container crème fraîche

2 tablespoons granulated sugar

1/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1 container Smucker’s Caramel Sundae Syrup, for drizzling

Fresh mint, for garnish

Almond biscotti or cookies and apples slices, for serving

INSTRUCTIONS

Empty the peanut butter into the bowl of a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and beat on medium for 2 minutes. Add in the powdered sugar, 1/4 cup at a time, beating well after each addition. Spoon the peanut butter into the bottom of an 8-by-8-inch square dish or two glass bowls, being sure to spread it evenly and flatten any peaks.

Sprinkle the chocolate chips over the peanut butter, covering completely in an even layer.

Place the raspberries in a food processor and blitz until just chopped. Stop the processor and add the jam. Pulse until it just comes together, about 10 seconds. Spoon the raspberry purée evenly over the chocolate chips.

In a clean bowl of a mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the crème fraîche, sugar and vanilla until just thickened, about 2 minutes. The consistency should resemble whipped topping. Spoon the whipped crème fraîche over the raspberry purée, being careful not to let the two mix as you smooth it out. Be sure to cover the other layers all the way to the edge of the dish.

Drizzle the caramel syrup over the crème fraîche and garnish with a sprig of fresh mint. Serve with apple slices, biscotti or cookies.

Refrigerate if not serving immediately.

Per serving based on 10 servings: 525 cal.; 15 g pro.; 46 g carb.; 35 g fat (11 sat., 16 monounsat., 8 polyunsat.); 10 mg chol.; 310 mg sod.; 5 g fiber; 36 g sugar; 57 percent calories from fat.

Easy chocolate dip

Prep time: 5 minutes

Serves 4

Recipe by Niesha Lofing

INGREDIENTS

1 cup Cool-Whip whipped topping, thawed

3 tablespoons Nutella

Fresh fruit and biscotti, for dipping

INSTRUCTIONS

In the chilled bowl of a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat Cool-Whip and Nutella on high for 3 minutes, until smooth and slightly fluffy. Pour into a bowl and chill for 10 minutes before serving alongside strawberries, sliced bananas or biscotti.

Pumpkin dip

Prep time: 5 minutes

Makes 4 cups

Carol Dyer of Elk Grove took home third place for this sweet dip recipe in the 2009 Elk Grove Giant Pumpkin and Harvest Festival.

INGREDIENTS

2 cups canned pumpkin

Two 8-ounce packages cream cheese, room temperature

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon ground ginger

4 cups powdered sugar

Gingersnaps or sugar cookies

INSTRUCTIONS

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine pumpkin, cream cheese, cinnamon and ground ginger. Beat until well blended. Add sugar and beat until smooth.

Serve dip with gingersnaps or sugar cookies.

Per 1/4 cup: 208 cal.; 3 g pro.; 28 g carb.; 10 g fat (6 sat., 3 monounsat., 1 polyunsat.); 31 mg chol.; 85 mg sod.; 1 g fiber; 25 g sugar; 42 percent calories from fat.

Artichoke-garlic spinach dip

Prep time: 15 minutes

Cook time: 10 minutes

Serves 16 (2-tablespoon servings)

Recipe courtesy of Smart Balance.

INGREDIENTS

Smart Balance Cooking Spray

1/2 cup finely chopped onions

2 medium garlic cloves, minced

One 10-ounce package frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry

One 13.75-ounce can quartered artichokes, packed in water, drained and coarsely chopped

1/2 teaspoon dried oregano leaves

1/2 cup Smart Balance Sour Cream

1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1/4 cup Smart Balance Omega Plus Light Mayonnaise

INSTRUCTIONS

Coat a large nonstick skillet with Smart Balance cooking spray, place over medium heat until hot. Cook the onions 3 minutes or until translucent, stirring frequently. Add the garlic and cook 15 seconds, stirring constantly. Add the spinach, artichokes, oregano and Smart Balance sour cream. Stir until well blended. Remove from heat.

Add the cheese and Smart Balance Omega Plus Mayonnaise and stir until well blended. Serve warm or chilled.

Per serving: 52 cal.; 3 g pro.; 5 g carb.; 2 g fat (1 sat., 1 monounsat., 0 polyunsat.); 4 mg chol.; 232 mg sod.; 1 g fiber; 1 g sugar; 43 percent calories from fat.

Blue cheese dip with chives

Prep time: 5 minutes Makes 1½ cups dip

This recipe is from “Delicious Dips” by Diane Morgan (Chronicle Books, $16.95, 124 pages).

Note: Morgan’s favorite blue cheeses to use for this recipe are Point Reyes Blue and Maytag Blue.

This dip can be prepared up to three days in advance. Cover and refrigerate. Remove from the refrigerator 45 minutes before serving. Serve the dip at room temperature.

INGREDIENTS

1 cup (4 ounces) crumbled blue cheese

1/4 cup mayonnaise

1/4 cup sour cream

1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh chives

Freshly ground black pepper

Crudités; bruschetta; crostini; pita chips; bagel chips; vegetable chips, for dipping

INSTRUCTIONS

In a medium bowl, thoroughly mix together the blue cheese, mayonnaise and sour cream. Stir in the chives and add a few grinds of pepper. Taste and adjust the seasoning.

Transfer to a serving bowl. Serve immediately.

Per 1/4 cup: 167 cal.; 5 g pro.; 1 g carb.; 15 g fat (7 sat., 3 monounsat., 1 polyunsat., 4 other); 28 mg chol.; 369 mg sod.; 0 g fiber; 0 g sugar; 85 percent calories from fat.

Cherry Garcia Takes a Dip

Prep time: 10 minutes

Makes 4 cups

This recipe is from “Delicious Dips” by Diane Morgan and courtesy of Chronicle Books.

Note: The prep time does not include the 20 minutes to soften ice cream at room temperature. This dip can be prepared two days in advance. Cover and refreeze. Soften 20 minutes before serving.

INGREDIENTS

2 pints Ben & Jerry’s Cherry Garcia ice cream

4 ounces bittersweet chocolate, such as Valrhona or Scharffen Berger, cut into small chunks

3 tablespoons Kirsch

Double-chocolate chunk brownie chips; heart-shaped apple- cinnamon tortilla chips; sweet wonton crisps; toasted pound cake crisps; strawberries; chocolate wafer cookies; graham crackers, for dipping

INSTRUCTIONS

Remove the ice cream from the freezer and allow to soften for 20 minutes. Scoop the ice cream into a medium bowl and add the chocolate chunks and Kirsch. Stir to make it creamy and diplike. Transfer to a serving bowl and serve immediately.

Per 1/4 cup: 160 cal.; 2 g pro.; 18 g carb.; 10 g fat (6 sat., 0 monounsat., 0 polyunsat., 0 other); 40 mg chol.; 32 mg sod.; 0 g fiber; 13 g sugar; 51 percent calories from fat.

Chorizo chile con queso dip

Prep time: 20 minutes

Cook time: 10 minutes

Makes 4 cups

This recipe is from “Delicious Dips” by Diane Morgan (Chronicle Books, $16.95, 124 pages).

Note: This dip can be prepared one day in advance. Allow the mixture to cool, transfer it to a covered container, and refrigerate. Reheat in a saucepan over low heat and then transfer to a fondue pot for serving.

INGREDIENTS

1 tablespoon pure olive oil

1/4 pound bulk pork chorizo

1/2 medium white onion, cut into 1/4-inch dice

2 poblano chilies, roasted and cut into 1/4-inch dice

2 canned chipotle chilies in adobo sauce, drained and diced

2 tomatoes, cored, halved, seeded, and cut into 1/4-inch dice

2 cups (8 ounces) shredded pepper Jack cheese

2 cups (8 ounces) shredded sharp Cheddar cheese

1/2 cup heavy (whipping) cream

Tortilla chips, crusty bread cut into 1-inch cubes, potato chips, pita chips, for dipping

INSTRUCTIONS

In a 4-quart saucepan over medium heat, warm the olive oil and swirl to coat the pan. Add the chorizo and sauté, stirring constantly and using the side of a spatula to break up the chunks, until cooked through, about 3 minutes. Add the onion, chiles, and tomatoes, and sauté, stirring frequently, until the onions soften, about 3 minutes. Turn the heat to medium-low and add both cheeses, stirring constantly, until the cheeses melt, about 2 minutes. Add the cream and stir until heated through.

Transfer to a fondue pot set over an alcohol or sterno flame to keep warm. Serve immediately.

Per 1/4 cup: 184 cal.; 9 g pro.; 2 g carb.; 15 g fat (8 sat., 6 monounsat., 1 polyunsat.); 46 mg chol.; 271 mg sod.; 0 g fiber; 1 g sugar; 76 percent calories from fat.

If you look at it, smell it and taste it, whiskey would probably be one of your last guesses.

But white whiskey – which can also be called young or unaged whiskey – is most definitely whiskey. More or less.

The whiskey we are accustomed to, that delicious woody brown stuff, is distilled from grain, but takes on much of its look, aroma and taste from the barrel where it was aged. Death’s Door White Whisky, produced in Madison, Wis., is distilled like a classic whiskey (from wheat and barley in this case), but aged 72 hours at most.

The aging is a procedural step necessary to call the product whiskey. What results is a spirit clear as water with a nose somewhere between vodka and tequila that is showing up more frequently in bars and on liquor store shelves.

“It’s not whiskey, but it’s not not whiskey,” said Death’s Door owner Brian Ellison, 37.

His white whiskey is a strange and fascinating spirit that makes a complex cocktail base. I’ve asked a dozen bartenders and liquor store employees how it should be used, and the answers have crossed the board. Some said to think of it as a whiskey, and try it in a manhattan with dry vermouth. Others preferred it as a gin stand-in, maybe in a Martinez (mixed with sweet vermouth, maraschino liqueur and bitters). One said it reminded him of tequila.

Though Ellison has been particularly impressed with a white whiskey manhattan and a white whiskey margarita, he recused himself from the debate.

“We make these products for people to explore further,” Ellison said. “We do the canvas, the mixologist is the painter.”

Chicago-based Koval distillery does something similar, distilling individual spirits from wheat, rye, millet, spelt and oat, but without the brief barrel aging. Each is clear, with a unique and luscious flavor profile. They stand alone brilliantly on ice or make wonderful cocktails.

Both Death’s Door and Koval are working on traditional barrel-aged whiskies, but they are happy to shift attention toward clear grain spirits.

“We love being able to taste the grains,” said Sonat Birnecker, who co-owns Koval with her husband, Robert. “It’s a gap in the marketplace. There just aren’t enough craft distilleries doing this kind of thing in America.”

Randall Grahm is the legendary founder of California’s Bonny Doon Vineyard, noted for creating delicious Rhone-style wines. He is an innovator not only in the vineyard, where he fearlessly experiments with different grape varieties, but also in the marketplace, where his eye-catching labels and fondness for outrageous punning have long entertained consumers.

Grahm has his opinions, especially about what makes good wine. He has not been shy about skewering the pretensions of California’s wine industry in his writings, a collection of which has just been published under the title “Been Doon So Long: A Randall Grahm Vinthology” (University of California Press, $34.95). Here, via e-mail, he answers questions about wine and his career.

Q: Why do you make wine?

A: Good question, and my motivations (as the good Dr. Freud will tell us) have certainly been mixed, if not mixed-up, but, in any event, have continued to evolve. I think that when I first started I was relatively naive about what a winemaker actually did (never imagined there would be so much travel and wine-schlepping). I imagined (pretty correctly, as things turned out), that the “lifestyle” of a winemaker would be attractive, not so much due to the gauzy soft-focus vineyard tableaux (which are in fact quite lovely), but rather because one is asked to draw upon one’s diverse talents, and is always working in a different, challenging capacity.

I make wine these days for two reasons: 1. It is something that I’m capable of doing well (and probably the most efficient way to remain gainfully employed); and 2. winegrowing, sort of by default, has become my artistic/spiritual path; in other words, this is how I will (if I can) bring some beauty into the world and learn how to become more present with myself.

Q: You’ve been in the business a long, long time. How do you think your wines have changed? How have you changed as a winemaker? What has been the catalyst for change in your life/career?

A: Certainly the biggest change in my own wines has been the migration from producing wines that were cosmetically attractive (better living through chemistry) to wines produced in a more hands-off, natural fashion, imbued with greater life force, and ultimately, one hopes, capable of evincing some sense of the place from which they derive. Another way of saying this is that I’ve become aware of the ultimate banality of vins d’effort and of the sublime preciousness of vins de terroir. … For the longest time, I made wines to try to please other people (typically influential wine critics), but I am now making wines to please myself. The catalyst for change in my career has been the gradual apprehension of my own mortality and the desire to: 1. make some sort of real contribution; and 2. leave this earth with minimal regrets for paths untaken.

Q: The wine industry, particularly in California, has often been an object of your scorn. What is the industry doing wrong? What is the industry doing right?

A: The industry on every level has become largely allergic to taking real chances, and from the low-end to the top-end (with a few notable exceptions) has become incredibly cynical and rather formulaic. Rather like big-budget motion pictures, execs are playing it safe, giving the customer what they imagine the customer wants, rather than what the consumer needs (something distinctive and original). What is the industry doing right? Lots of well-designed, clever wine labels, though some of them are just too over-the-top, even for me.

Q: What is your forecast for wine over the next decade?

A: I imagine a number of vineyards and wineries disappearing. The level of competition in the business right now is just absolutely insane and unsustainable. It does appear at least in the near term that wineries that are small and exceptionally well-differentiated as well as those that are monstrously large and fiendishly efficient have the greatest likelihood of viability and success, and virtually everything in the middle will not work so well.

THE WINES OF RANDALL GRAHM

Le Cigare Volant: Flagship Rhone red blend of grenache, mourvedre, syrah and cinsault

Le Cigare Blanc: White blend of grenache blanc and roussanne

Vin Gris de Cigare: Rose blend of grenache, cinsault, mourvedre, syrah, grenache blanc and roussanne

Le Vol des Anges: A dessert wine made from roussanne grapes

Vinferno: Dessert wine made from a blend of roussanne and grenache blanc

Syrah Le Pousseur: A blend of 96 percent syrah and 4 percent grenache.

Ca’ del Solo: A series that includes albarino, muscat, dolcetto, nebbiolo, sangiovese

Hand it to Julia Child: She was an innovator when it came to getting the “why” of food out to the public.

She did it by writing cookbooks and articles, shooting popular television series and hamming it up onstage and in demonstration kitchens across the country.

No medium or method was too far-fetched or high-tech.

That’s why it seems so fitting to find Child’s 1985 six-part video series “The Way to Cook” now re-released as a two-DVD set ($24.95, at amazon.com and other retail outlets).

Now, some five years after her death at age 91 and after 2009′s movie, “Julie & Julia” highlighted her life, one now can watch “The French Chef” do her thing on a laptop just about anywhere in the world. She would have liked that.

It’s amazing, too, how fresh Child and the series’ format seem to be. Back in 1985, releasing a “book” of six video cassettes with a 64-page recipe booklet seemed rather daring and expensive. Who would want six hours of videotape when a good cookbook could suffice? (Child’s masterful “The Way to Cook” cookbook did indeed cover much the same territory in 1989.)

Well, we know what the answer today would be.

This wasn’t fancy television. There was Julia in a studio kitchen with a camera operator and the ingredients for whatever dish she was making. Numbers displayed in the upper corner of the screen allowed viewers to fast-forward directly to the recipe they wanted to watch. That’s all that was needed, and it worked.

There is something of an of-the-moment feel to the segments, a quality one can find often today, with all those homegrown video clips on the Web where a man or a woman faces a camera and does his or her thing.

What also shines forth on these DVDs is Child’s practical approach to cooking, her belief that mastering one technique or one basic recipe would lead to other skills and other delectable dishes.

Those who’ve grown up on skim milk varieties may cringe at the richness of whole milk. But other skim milk drinkers secretly long for a creamier drink. At least that’s the theory behind a growing niche of the market aimed at providing a thicker skim milk experience.

Last year Dean’s launched a creamy skim product called Over the Moon. And last month Smart Balance introduced its own version of rich skim milk. Chicago-area dairy Oberweis has been offering a rich skim product for years. All are available in local supermarkets at prices between $2.50 and $3.50 per half-gallon.

But how exactly does one beef up the creaminess of skim milk while keeping a milk “non-fat”?

“Smart Balance adds extra milk solids,” explained Kaitlin Kenny, spokeswoman for the company. “The addition of milk solids results in a full-bodied taste and contributes to the rich and creamy mouth-feel. The extra milk solids also result in 25 percent more calcium.”

Adding extra milk solids has been a common practice in California since the early ’60s when the state mandated higher levels of milk solids for fortification. This is why some visitors marvel at the rich taste of the state’s low-fat milks.

The practice, however, has expanded to specialty national brands only recently and is being marketed based on its richer taste and higher protein and calcium content. Smart Balance fortifies its milk further with added Omega 3 oil blends, plant sterols and vitamin E.

While most of these fortifying procedures don’t increase the fat content of the milk – the oil adds a gram of fat – they do result in higher calorie counts. A cup of Dean’s milk-solid fortified Over the Moon milk checks in at 100 calories per cup versus 80 calories a cup in regular skim milk.

For the extra calcium and protein, some may find the calorie addition a bargain. But how does it taste?

A group of Tribune tasters recently engaged in a blind test of three fortified skim milks to see which tasted the best.

Tasters were almost unanimous when it came to which of the three milks tasted the richest.

1. Dean’s Over the Moon: “Richest flavor,” “tastes like milk,” “velvety rich milk,” “tastes a little custardy and cooked”

2. Smart Balance: “Round and full,” “vegetal flavors,” “reconstituted taste,” “too heavy for skim”

3. Oberweis: “Not too thick,” “like skim should taste,” “neutral, so I like it,” “chalky”

ONE SAUCY MAMA

Your mom may not have whipped up these dessert toppings, but as the name suggests, they’re Somebody’s Mother’s creations. Spoonfuls of the creamy indulgences – available in caramel, chocolate and white chocolate flavors – can be served over ice cream after a quick trip to the microwave, or use them as dips for apple slices. A 9.5 ounce jar is $10 at store.somebodysmothers.com and at select stores (locations online).

CRISP COOKWARE

An apple a day of this variety – cast iron cookware from Lodge, that is – may not keep the doctor away, but it sure will liven up your kitchen. The 3-quart enamel Apple Pot is suitable for cooking and storage, plus it makes a fun serving bowl. It comes in red or green and is available at lodgemfg.com for about $100.

SNACKING SERENITY

Have Yogi Granola Crisps in a bowl with milk for breakfast, or just grab handfuls of the sweet cereal to nibble. With a satisfying crunch and flavors like Baked Cinnamon Raisin and Mountain Blueberry Flax, they’re sure to keep your taste buds entertained. The resealable 10.4 ounce bags are available in supermarkets and natural food stores nationwide and online at yogiproducts.com for about $5.