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CNN Live Today

Interview With Sandra Lee

Aired November 26, 2003 - 10:49   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Have you heard about the Jones Soda Company making turkey and gravy soda? Well, it's sold out so you can't get any anymore, and it's probably not on Sandra Lee's menu for Thanksgiving Day, but many other things are.
Sandra is a talented gourmand (ph) and is demonstrating this afternoon some semi-homemade desserts for us. She's also the author of the book "Semi-Homemade Desserts," of all things. Sandra joins us live from New York and I like the semi part in semi-homemade, Sandra.

SANDRA LEE, "SEMI-HOMEMADE DESSERTS": That's right. It means it's kind of homemade and kind of not. Semi-homemade is 70 percent store bought ready made and 30 percent fresh ingredients and you get to take 100 percent of the credit, but for something that looks homemade and tastes homemade, but doesn't require the work, energy and effort that it normally does.

COSTELLO: Show us how to make hot chocolate. But that's pretty easy. Don't you get that instant kind from grocery store add hot water?

LEE: Well you could if you wanted to, but this is the thickest, richest hot chocolate you will ever make. And this is actually a secret I brought back with me on a recent trip to Paris.

In fact, all of the things I'm going to show you today in my new holiday magazine that's available on newsstands now or in the grocery store.

Let's go back to your hot chocolate. This is something that's absolutely delicious to make. It's made with milk, heavy cream, you use chocolate chips. You also use -- you know the chocolate that you put in your chocolate milk, the Hersheys?

COSTELLO: Yes.

LEE: That and cocoa powder with some whipped cream on the top. Delicious, delicious. Some nutmeg. This is great for Thanksgiving and it will take you right into the holiday. Nice and thick and rich.

COSTELLO: That sounds fantastic. Chocolate almond biscotti, that sounds difficult.

LEE: Very is easy to make. In fact, this is something you can make in a matter of minutes. You use a cake mix, some extra flour, some almonds, some almond extract and then you roll it into a loaf, you bake it once. Then you bring it out, you cut it up and you bake it again. Twice bake sided is what biscotti means in Italian. This is wonderful for dipping.

COSTELLO: So it gets hard like that, Sandra? You don't leave it out for days to get the hardness than biscotti has.

LEE: No this, is nice ask light and -- do you hear that? Probably shouldn't have done that but it's good.

COSTELLO: It sounds delicious. I'll give you a minute. You're going tell us about Berry Merry and I'm not sure what that is.

LEE: In my new magazine, "Sandra Lee's Semi-Homemade Holiday," there's a whole section on Berry Merry desserts and these are all desserts made with just berries, frozen berries.

This is a wonderful cobbler. In fact this is made with frozen berries. And then you put in the (UNINTELLIGIBLE) apple pie filling, some sugar, nutmeg, cinnamon or you can put pumpkin spice in there. Put that in a baking dish, cover it with just store-bought cookie dough. That's all it is. And then you bake it

up. It's delicious. You can serve them in individual containers or of course, even coffee mugs would be fun.

But I have the piece de resistance this holiday season.

COSTELLO: I'm ready.

LEE: These things are the things that kids love the most. Now, this is going to sound a little off, but when I finish, you're going to think, oh, My gosh, why didn't I think of that. These are little can cakes and they're made with tomato soup and spice cake. They are absolutely delicious. And you can bake them in the can. Then put the label right back on to the can.

COSTELLO: The tomato soup doesn't go in the cake mix, does it?

LEE: Absolutely. This is a wonderful, wonderful recipe. All of these things are available at SemiHomemade.com on my Web site. And also every Saturday at 11:00 a.m. Eastern standard time on the Food Network is my new semi-homemade cooking show, so watch that.

COSTELLO: Sandra, I definitely will because I think I need more tips. Sandra Lee live from New York. Happy Thanksgiving, thank you.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com







Aired November 26, 2003 - 10:49   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Have you heard about the Jones Soda Company making turkey and gravy soda? Well, it's sold out so you can't get any anymore, and it's probably not on Sandra Lee's menu for Thanksgiving Day, but many other things are.
Sandra is a talented gourmand (ph) and is demonstrating this afternoon some semi-homemade desserts for us. She's also the author of the book "Semi-Homemade Desserts," of all things. Sandra joins us live from New York and I like the semi part in semi-homemade, Sandra.

SANDRA LEE, "SEMI-HOMEMADE DESSERTS": That's right. It means it's kind of homemade and kind of not. Semi-homemade is 70 percent store bought ready made and 30 percent fresh ingredients and you get to take 100 percent of the credit, but for something that looks homemade and tastes homemade, but doesn't require the work, energy and effort that it normally does.

COSTELLO: Show us how to make hot chocolate. But that's pretty easy. Don't you get that instant kind from grocery store add hot water?

LEE: Well you could if you wanted to, but this is the thickest, richest hot chocolate you will ever make. And this is actually a secret I brought back with me on a recent trip to Paris.

In fact, all of the things I'm going to show you today in my new holiday magazine that's available on newsstands now or in the grocery store.

Let's go back to your hot chocolate. This is something that's absolutely delicious to make. It's made with milk, heavy cream, you use chocolate chips. You also use -- you know the chocolate that you put in your chocolate milk, the Hersheys?

COSTELLO: Yes.

LEE: That and cocoa powder with some whipped cream on the top. Delicious, delicious. Some nutmeg. This is great for Thanksgiving and it will take you right into the holiday. Nice and thick and rich.

COSTELLO: That sounds fantastic. Chocolate almond biscotti, that sounds difficult.

LEE: Very is easy to make. In fact, this is something you can make in a matter of minutes. You use a cake mix, some extra flour, some almonds, some almond extract and then you roll it into a loaf, you bake it once. Then you bring it out, you cut it up and you bake it again. Twice bake sided is what biscotti means in Italian. This is wonderful for dipping.

COSTELLO: So it gets hard like that, Sandra? You don't leave it out for days to get the hardness than biscotti has.

LEE: No this, is nice ask light and -- do you hear that? Probably shouldn't have done that but it's good.

COSTELLO: It sounds delicious. I'll give you a minute. You're going tell us about Berry Merry and I'm not sure what that is.

LEE: In my new magazine, "Sandra Lee's Semi-Homemade Holiday," there's a whole section on Berry Merry desserts and these are all desserts made with just berries, frozen berries.

This is a wonderful cobbler. In fact this is made with frozen berries. And then you put in the (UNINTELLIGIBLE) apple pie filling, some sugar, nutmeg, cinnamon or you can put pumpkin spice in there. Put that in a baking dish, cover it with just store-bought cookie dough. That's all it is. And then you bake it

up. It's delicious. You can serve them in individual containers or of course, even coffee mugs would be fun.

But I have the piece de resistance this holiday season.

COSTELLO: I'm ready.

LEE: These things are the things that kids love the most. Now, this is going to sound a little off, but when I finish, you're going to think, oh, My gosh, why didn't I think of that. These are little can cakes and they're made with tomato soup and spice cake. They are absolutely delicious. And you can bake them in the can. Then put the label right back on to the can.

COSTELLO: The tomato soup doesn't go in the cake mix, does it?

LEE: Absolutely. This is a wonderful, wonderful recipe. All of these things are available at SemiHomemade.com on my Web site. And also every Saturday at 11:00 a.m. Eastern standard time on the Food Network is my new semi-homemade cooking show, so watch that.

COSTELLO: Sandra, I definitely will because I think I need more tips. Sandra Lee live from New York. Happy Thanksgiving, thank you.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com