How is everyone holding up in our new reality? I won’t lie, I have cabin fever and it’s only been a week. But to keep my spirits up, I will hang out in the kitchen more and experiment with new recipes.
Our lemon tree is finally having its moment.
I see lemon martinis, in the near future.
Since all of the time is on my side, I decided to turn a a few of them into a non-alcoholic curd.
I used this recipe from Epicurious and you guys, it’s so good. Perfect balance of sweet and sour with the butter coating the palate at the end. So good.
This was a pretty easy recipe and now that I have a slight grip on how to braid pastry, (it’s a lot harder than hair) I think Kaili will be able to take the lead next time.
The curd was starting to spill out and I wasn’t happy with my pastry talents but…..it all turned out just fine in the end.
Not sure how many servings this is supposed to be; but turns out it’s two….two totally worth the macros servings.
A little tidbit about me and this blog, the titles are the hardest part. So I apologize if you are underwhelmed with them, some days are better than others.
I have so many fond memories of my grandma. She loved me, she loved my grandpa, she loved to please and I am not sure if she loved to cook but that is one thing she was always doing, at least that’s one thing I remember. I remember fresh orange juice, scrambles eggs, homemade buttermilk ranch dressing, red hot cinnamon applesauce and strawberry shortcake.
Here is where it gets fuzzy. You see my grandma died before I was mature enough to really appreciate all that she was and did. But one of the many things I remember vibrantly is a dessert she made. Meringues with fresh strawberries and whipped cream. I remember the dessert as “strawberry shortcake” but I may have made that up. However I have talked to my parents and they were no help, sigh. (LOVE YOU PARENTS)
This is where I am going with the story if you are nodding off; dad cough cough. As I grew older my friends, not naming names (Jess) told me about how they loved strawberry shortcake, I thought; OMG, (well I didn’t say that because I was only 10) I also love strawberry shortcake. Turned out, their version of (can we condense it to SSC?) SSC was not the same as my memory of the dessert. Years and years went on and another SSC I did not order.
As time went on, cooking classes were taken and the words “Eton Mess and Pavlova” crept in. I wish so hard that my grandma was alive to answer all of my questions I need to ask her about one damn dessert. But since she isn’t with us anymore I must give you my own findings. The dessert was her own creation, half Pavlova (meringue dessert with a crisp crust and soft, light inside, usually topped with fruit and whipped cream) AND half Eton Mess. (dessert consisting of a mixture of strawberries, meringue, and whipped cream). I think the thing I am asking myself is this….how has it taken me so long to make this dessert? Such a strong fond memory but yet, so distant.
I put a tropical twist on it using passion fruit, mango and some dragon fruit. It was incredible.
Meringues
6 egg whites, room temperature
1.5 cups white sugar
2 tsp corn starch
1/2 Tbsp lemon juice or distilled vinegar
1/2 Tbsp vanilla extract
Preheat the Oven to 225 °F with the rack in the center of the oven. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper
Using a stand mixer beat 6 egg whites on high speed 1 minute until soft peaks form. With mixer on, gradually add 1 1/2 cups sugar and beat for 10 minutes on high speed, or until stiff peaks form. The mixture will be smooth and glossy. Use a spatula to quickly fold in 1/2 Tbsp lemon juice and 1/2 Tbsp vanilla extract, then fold in 2 tsp corn starch and mix until well blended.
Spoon meringue onto the parchment paper and smoosh the center down a bit with a spoon to allow room for the cream. Bake at 225˚ for 1 hour and 15 minutes then turn oven off and without opening the door, let meringue in the hot oven another 30 minutes. The outside will be dry and crisp to the tap and very pale cream colored (almost white) and the inside will still be marshmallow soft.
Transfer the meringues onto the counter or a cookie rack and allow to cool to room temp.
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Passion Fruit Whip
1cupof heavy or whipping cream, chilled
1tablespoonpowdered sugar
1/2teaspoonpure vanilla extract
3 tablespoon Passion Fruit nectar*
Combine cream, sugar and vanilla and nectar in a chilled mixing bowl and beat until soft peaks form.
Smother your Meringues with passion fruit whipped cream and top with anything you want. I used mangos and dragon fruit but it will be good with anything or nothing at all. I promise.
The infamous molten chocolate lava cake, foodie trend and a recipe that is now on every restaurants menu. Supposedly these miniature cakes were invented when Michelin star and James Beard award winner chef Jean Georges accidentally undercooked a batch of mini chocolate cakes back in the 80’s. We thank you chef Georges.
Making these was a no brainer. Shane loves them + Valentine’s day = dessert. Although we stuffed ourselves with king crab legs, there is always room for chocolate right? Actually that is not true. As good as these were I couldn’t eat much of mine, between the baby and crustacean legs I didn’t have room left. Don’t worry, we got a gym sesh in that morning.
Luckily the recipe makes four of these babies. I kept the batter in the fridge for the next day. Winning!
I never realized how easy the recipe for these were and I had all the ingredients at home, you probably do too. The only mistake I made, was using flour to dust the ramekins with instead of cocoa powder. Sorry Martha Stewart.
I used this recipe from Food and Wine and didn’t change a thing.
When I first saw this recipe I knew there was NO WAY this would be bad. Really easy to make, really easy to eat. Paleo and vegan friendly, gluten and dairy free..low fat? No, but all you need is a little slice, oh and it goes good with wine.
I woke up this morning and it dawned on me that we should have gotten our Farm Fresh To You delivery, it was like Christmas morning, well if I were a vegan.
I signed us up for the farm delivery last week and have been anticipating our box of goodies.
I was impressed with what we got. The same items I would choose to buy at Sprouts, all organic and delivered to my doorstep while I sleep. I see nothing wrong here. The other nice thing is that our delivery day is Wednesday so it’s perfect for my weekend meals.
Now that we got all the healthy stuff out of the way, let’s talk about candy. Brigadeiro ” { Portuguese for Brigadier; also known in some southern Brazilian states as negrinho, literally “blackie”} is a popular candy served at birthday parties in Brazil. Since my mom spent some of her youth in Brazil she made these for me throughout my childhood. Actually now that I think about it she probably made them for herself but knew I would like them.
Who better to turn to when you need a recipe then your mom right? Well unless your mom can’t cook.
These are like balls of delicious chocolate caramels and SO easy to make! This is my mom’s recipe from Brazil, the only substitution is Cocoa powder for Nestle chocolate powder.
3 Tbsp butter
3 Tbsp Cocoa powder
2 Tbsp Karo syrup
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1/3 tsp salt
Cook in small pan until mixture rolls off bottom { about 10 minutes}
Pour onto buttered plate until cool enough to handle.
Roll into small balls and dip in sugar. Store in airtight container in cool place.
As I was looking through the freezer this morning, I came across a box of puff pastry buried in the back. I am embarrassed to even think how long it’s been in there, but I am pretty sure I didn’t have a kid or a bun in the oven the last time I used it. {hangs head in shame} So I decided then and there that I would use it today, but for what? Hmm that was the question. After some scouring of recipes I found this one from Simply Recipes. I have used a lot of her recipes and they all have turned out great, so I went with it.
Now since this was spur of the moment decision I had to use what I had on hand, that meant 2 small Fuji apples. Even though I had walnuts I decided to throw in some slivered almonds because I thought that sounded better. I omitted the currants, all I had were raisins and Kaili has now decided she likes them, so I shall save them for the K bear.
I managed to get the apples peeled, cored, diced, got all the ingredients mixed, rolled of the pastry dough, assemble the turnovers and throw them in the oven all while Kaili was down for a nap. Success.
Even though I felt like a rockstar once they were in the oven, I soon found out that I must have missed a step. I went back and re read the recipe only to find out that I was supposed to brush some egg wash along the corners of the pastry dough before folding it. I assume it’s so this doesn’t happen…
Delicious goodness leaking everywhere 😦
The inside oozed out all over the baking sheet. Oh well, lesson learned… They will still be yummy right?
Yummy they are! Even though they aren’t the prettiest things they are very flavorful and the the crust is perfectly flaky. Oh and all that goodness that oozed out, well it tasted like apple spice caramel, de-lish-ish!
The Art of Thyming 