Blueberry Lemon Curd

It's July...very close to August.  Are you all aware of that?  I swear I blink and another month passes.  I'm not sure if that's a good thing or bad thing.  But I am excited about this month's Secret Recipe Club post.  I was assigned the lovely blog, Teaspoon of Spice written by Deanna and Serena, both registered dietitians.  Their blog focuses on healthy yet delicious foods.  In fact they teamed up to start a monthly healthy recipe blog challenge called the Recipe Redux.  It's all about taking recipes and making them better for you, but still keeping them tasty.  I know I could use more of those kinds of recipes in my life!  I have a number of tasty things bookmarked already!

As with every Secret Recipe Club assignment, I always have difficulty choosing just one recipe.  Though it wasn't easy, I finally selected blueberry lemon curd.  I have a love for preserves and curds and just happened to be flush with an abundance of blueberries.  Plus I was totally intrigued by the idea of a blueberry based curd.  I've only made lemon curd in the past and I've really only seen citrus curds.

Blueberry lemon curd rocks!  In case you were wondering.

It's has a rich consistency from the egg yolks and butter, standard ingredients that turn a preserve into a curd (along with a little cornstarch).  I've been eating my new favorite curd for breakfast nearly every day this week on half of my English muffin, smearing peanut butter on the other half (these two pair together nicely).  But for you all, I wanted to share a presentation beyond the English muffin. 

This weekend I set out to pair this beautiful blueberry curd with something equally special.  I thought it would be the perfect time to finally try my hand at French macarons.  The curd would be the filling between those delicate sandwich cookies.  Sadly, the macarons were a huge flop.  I'm not sure where it all went wrong, but I couldn't even pry the little shells off the parchment paper after baking.  3 sheet pans full...into the garbage. 

My second attempt to use the curd was in a recipe I recently saw on Pinterest for lemon bar muddy buddies.  Why not make them BLUEBERRY lemon bar muddy buddies?  Perhaps there is a good reason because, again, I'm not sure where it all went wrong.  The muddy buddies were overly sweet and turned to sog city after a few hours and shortly thereafter, joined the fallen macarons in the trash. :(  Strike two!

I half thought about making homemade linzers, but at that point it just wasn't in me to start another recipe.  Instead I found adorable shortbread tart shells in the baking aisle of my local grocery store. A homerun! The tart shells make a perfect vessel for blueberry lemon curd.  Besides, aren't they the cutest little things?  I happened to have some left over cream cheese frosting to pipe a little flower on top of each one.  Let me tell you, simple is often best.  A perfect blueberry pie bite.

Blueberry lemon curd will be joining my list of keeper recipes!

Enjoy! 

Blueberry Lemon Curd
from Teaspoon of Spice

Yields about 2 1/2 cups

3 cups fresh blueberries
1/2 cup plus 3 tablespoons sugar
1/4 cup lemon juice
2 tablespoons cornstarch
2 large egg yolks
1 tablespoon butter
1/8 teaspoon salt

In a medium heavy bottomed sauce pan, heat blueberries, sugar and lemon juice, stirring occasionally over medium/high heat.  Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 6 minutes.  Remove pan from heat and allow to stand and cool about 5-10 minutes.  Using an immersion blender, puree the mixture.  Alternatively you can transfer the blueberry mixture to a blender.  Please be careful though!  It's incredibly hot liquid. 

Return pan to medium/low heat.  Meanwhile, stir together cornstarch and egg yolks until smooth.  Add to the blueberry mixture, whisking constantly.  Allow mixture to come to a boil.  Boil for one minute whisking constantly.  Remove from heat and stir in butter and salt.  Allow to cool for 5 minutes or so, whisking occasionally to continue to release the heat.  Spoon into jars or containers with an airtight seal and continue to cool for another 15 minutes of so.  Seal and refrigerate.

Notes: I used 1 cup of sugar because my blueberries were quite tart.

Glazed Meyer Lemon Buttermilk Cake and 3 Years of Blogging

Today marks 3 years of blogging.  Wow!  How did that happen?  I'm really not so sure.  The Ginger Snap Girl started with a post called Mysterious Meringues on March 26, 2010.  That title makes me laugh a little, by the way.  I uploaded my first post with a less than flattering picture of vanilla and chocolate meringues and no recipe.  It didn't even have a link to a recipe.  Which I'm fairly certain is because at that point I couldn't figure out how to link to another website.  In fact it's a wonder I got the picture in there. 

I started this blog based on a spark that was ignited when I discovered a whole world of delicious, enticing, inspiring food blogs that I didn't even know existed.  I've said this before, but I honestly felt like I was a kid in a candy store.  Obviously this girl loves candy since I'm still going 3 years later.  Trying to contribute a little something to the food blogging world and continually being motivated and inspired by a number of talented bloggers sharing stories, recipes, drool-worthy photos and a little piece of their lives.

I will say that I'm a really good project starter, however, often not a project finisher.  So the fact this endeavor is still very much in flight, is pretty cool.  As I reflected back over the past year I remembered that I actually set a few blogging goals last year at this time.  In cyber print.  For you all to see and for me to be accountable for.  Let's see how I fared.

1. The Ginger Snap Girl has moved to her own domain name (already purchased...just need to make the leap) - Still own the name, didn't make the move.
 
2. GSG  has gotten a little makeover (nothing drastic like a face lift...but maybe a little boxtox here and there) - No signs of any face lifting just yet.
 
3. I've challenged myself to be a better photographer and storyteller - Definitely made some progress in the photography department.  I have a better handle on how to actually use my camera's manual settings as well as learned some new editing techniques in Light Room.  Still work to do though.  No progress on the storytelling aspect. 
 
4. I've lost 5 pounds and my skinny jeans fit again - Okay this really wasn't a "blog" goal. Or perhaps it was a subconscious one trying to tell me to post more healthy recipes and fewer dessert recipes.  This goal has not be achieved in the conscious or subconscious world. 

5. I'm developing more and more of my own recipes - Very minimal progress here.  I had 6 original recipes of the 56 I posted in the last year.  Lots more work to do here!

 I'm kinda of bummed that I didn't reach all my goals.  I mean I just got through telling you how I start projects and don't always finish them and here I am not finishing stuff.   But guess what?  This blog is a work in progress and apparently so are certain goals.

So here's to the next year and achieving the previous goals as well as developing some new ones. 

Thanks for sticking with me on this blog journey! 

I'm sure you want to get to the really important stuff now--the cake! 

I'm a firm believer that birthdays (and anniversaries) should be commemorated with cake.  I saw this recipe posted recently on one of my most favorite blogs, Tracey's Culinary Adventures.  I knew it had to be made.  I've actually never made a bundt cake (I don't count the baby bundts I posted recently...those are more like little donuts).  I have 2 bundt pans...a full size and smaller one about half the size of a normal pan.  It was finally time to break one of them in.  I went with the half size bundt since Hubs and I couldn't possibly eat a full one on our own. 

I love how pretty a bundt cake looks.

The cake is nice.  It's mildly perfumed with sunny Meyer lemons, moist from the buttermilk and finished with a sweet and zingy Meyer lemon glaze.  Tracey describes the cake as being lighter than others she made, making it breakfast-worthy.  I totally agree.  The recipe originates from Cooking Light so it is indeed light.  And I can confirm it makes a great breakfast.  Especially when you throw in a few berries.  ;)

The cake was best on the first day.  On the second and third days it was a tad on the dry side, however a 15 second turn in the microwave brought it right back to life.  Plus, who doesn't love warm cake?

Enjoy!


Glazed Meyer Lemon Buttermilk Cake
from Tracey's Culinary Adventures, originally adapted from Cooking Light

Cake

3 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
3 tablespoons Meyer lemon zest
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 cup unsalted butter at room temperature (1 stick)
3 tablespoons Meyer lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon lemon extract
3 large eggs at room temperature
1 cup low-fat buttermilk

Preheat oven to 350 F.  Spray a 12 cup bundt pan with cooking spray with flour. 

In a medium bowl whisk together flour, baking powder, salt and baking soda.  In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment add sugar and lemon zest.  Using your hands, mix the sugar and zest until the zest becomes fragrant and even distributed through the sugar.  Add the butter and mix on medium until light and fluffy, about 3-4 minutes.  Add in lemon juice and lemon extract and mix.  With mixer on low add eggs one at a time, beating well after each egg.  Alternate adding flour mixture in three parts and buttermilk in two parts, starting and ending with the flour mixture until batter is just combined. 

Pour batter into prepared pan and smooth the top.  Bake on the middle rack for about 45 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.  Cool pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes and turn out the cake.  Allow to cool completely before glazing.

Glaze

1 cup confectioners' sugar
2 teaspoons low-fat buttermilk
3-4 teaspoons Meyer lemon juice

Mix all ingredients in a medium bowl.  Adjust lemon juice to achieve a thinner or thicker consistency depending on your preference.  Pour glaze over the cooled cake.

Notes: I cut the recipe in half baked it in a 6 cup bundt pan. You can substitute regular lemon for Meyer lemons. 

Meyer Lemon Curd

Lemon sunshine in a jar. 

That's what this is.  And let me tell you, sunshine tastes good!!

I have been hearing the praises of these sunny lemons from the food blogging community for a while now.  This is the first year I've sought them out and worked with this gorgeous cousin of the standard lemon.  If you haven't encountered a meyer lemon yet, it is slightly smaller than a regular lemon, has a brighter deeper yellow tone (almost an orange yellow glow), a thinner skin and a sweeter tang.  Meyer lemons have been described as sunshine, and now that I've had a taste, I completely agree!  This is what sunshine would taste like if sunshine was a food.

I bought a bounty of meyer lemons at Costco and went to town.  Meyer lemon curd was my first project.  I have made lemon curd before but this time I wanted to can my curd.  Wow, that sounds wrong.  Anyway, I found a recipe over at Food In Jars and it's a keeper.  Curd is made with eggs and butter lending to a creamy texture which pairs nicely with the bright lemony tang from the meyers.  Think lemon meringue pie filling.  Though the lemon curd can be preserved, Marisa recommends consuming it within two months of canning because the consistency degrades after that time (the curd is still safe to eat beyond that).  Guess what that means?  I have a second jar in the cupboard that I need to get busy with.  Again, wrong.  Sorry!

This recipe yields a small amount--two half pint jars.  I doubled it and shared a jar with my best friend and a jar with my parents, hoarding the other two jars of sunshine for myself and Hubs.  We devoured the first jar in no time.  And when I say "we" I mean 90% me, 10% Hubby. 

Wondering what you can do with lemon curd?  Spread it on toast, top ice cream with it, slather it on a cookie, fill a mini tart shell, garnish cheesecake, or just eat it straight out of the jar (I may or may not have done that).  So delicious!

I have to take this opportunity to say THANK YOU to my best friend Crystal for providing the inspiration for the styling of these photos.  She treated to me to an awesome tea party inspired birthday gift recently, including those pretty little tea cookies that she made from scratch (cinnamon raisin tea cookies, rose petal shortbread and rosemary cookies) and the beautiful floral table linen pictured above.  And that was just the beginning.  She also bestowed me with two antique bone china tea cups and saucers that I just love, two types of tea, including a French tea called Mariage that is really amazing and is officially my new favorite tea, a really cool vintage tin with a Currier & Ives floral print on the lid and filled with all those yummy cookies and a cookbook called Tea and Crumpets.  I'm all set for a tea party for two!  Who wants to join me?  I might even break out my last jar of meyer lemon curd!

Enjoy!

Meyer Lemon Curd
from Food in Jars originally adapted from The Martha Stewart Cookbook

Yields 2 half pint jars

6 egg yolks
1 cup sugar
3 Meyer lemons, zested and juiced (you should get a generous 1/2 cup of juice)
1 stick of butter (1/2 cup) cut in 1 inch pieces

Whisk egg yolks and sugar in a small heavy bottomed saucepan.  Heat on medium and stir in lemon juice using a wooden spoon (you don't want to aerate the curd).  Stir continuously for 10-15 adjusting heat as necessary so the curd does not boil.  The curd should thicken and coat the back of a wooden spoon (it should still be pourable).  Stir in butter until melted.

Strain the curd using a fine mesh strainer into a glass bowl (to remove any cooked bits of egg).  Stir in lemon zest.  Ladle curd into prepared sterilized jars leaving 1/2 inch head space.  If canning, process the jars for 20 minutes in a boiling water canner.  Start the time when the water comes to a full rolling boil.

Notes: Marisa points out that So Easy to Preserve recommends processing only in half pint jars or smaller to allow for proper heat infiltration.  Recipe can easily be doubled.  If not canning, refrigerate curd.  Consume within 2 months of making (whether canning or refrigerating).

Lemon Soufflé

Hubby and I rung in the New Year in low key fashion.  We were both a bit under the weather.  Me with a cold.  Hubs with an ear infection.  We kept it simple and made dinner at home and rented The Dark Knight Rises on pay per view.  Dinner was nice.  He made homemade pasta (which I love because it doesn't weigh you down the way store bought dried pasta does).  I made an easy oven roasted tomato sauce to top it off.  I also pan seared some fish my dad caught on a recent deep sea fishing excursion.  I wish I knew the name of the fish...it actually had a greenish hue in it's raw form--apparently the best of the catch on Dad's trip.  It was a beautifully buttery flaky white fish when cooked.  Really delicious.  To cap it off, we decided the eve of 2013 deserved a special dessert.  Lemon soufflé.  Our very first homemade soufflé.  

I have heard of the troubles soufflé can cause.  Apparently soufflés can be rather finicky with potential for a number of things to go wrong.  I'm happy to say we didn't encounter any issues.  We did take two out of the oven slightly early, but other than that, they turned out great! 

The recipe comes from Baking & Pastry from the Culinary Institute of America.  Neither of us has attended the CIA, but Hubby picked up the book at our local restaurant supply store last year to learn more about bread making.  He's made several of the bread recipes.  The soufflé is the first non bread recipe we've tried from the book.   The book is written in textbook format and there are few pictures.  You will also have to break out your kitchen scale, because everything is by weight.  Many of the recipes are fairly large scale, but this one was manageable, filling 8 ramekins. 

This is about 10 minutes after they came of the oven and you can see they are already deflating

The soufflé starts with making a lemon infused pastry cream.  The cream is made in advance so it has time to cool.  We made our pastry cream before we started on the main course.  Once dinner was done, we moved on to part two of the soufflés.  The ramekins got a slather of butter all over the inside, all the way up to the rim and a dusting of sugar.  Egg whites were whipped to medium peaks and the pastry cream and egg whites get oh so gently folded together.  The delicate mixture carefully goes into the ramekins, onto a baking sheet and into the oven.  We crossed our fingers.  We weren't sure how long to cook them since our ramekins were smaller than the ones called for in the recipe.  So we sat on the kitchen floor with the oven light turned on and watched them like a hawk.  We really did sit on the floor.  One of cats joined us, wondering what the heck we were doing.  Turns out they cooked the same length of time as the original recipe called for.  And much to our surprise...the little buggers rose up a good inch past the top of the ramekin.  Success!

I topped mine with sugared raspberries.  It was delicious.  A soufflé is light, and airy.  The lemon flavor, subtle....nice.  If you could eat clouds, I would imagine it would be a lot like eating a soufflé.  These are so light, that you might feel like it's a good idea to eat 2.  I mean, if you have a bunch of left over soufflés, best to eat them to before they deflate, right?  Once they deflate they lose all the wonderful textural puffy lemony cloud custard qualities. 

We both ate 2.  It was the right thing to do. 

Though the recipe may look a little intimidating, the steps are straightforward and very manageable.  It's not as bad as it looks.  Promise.

On a photography note...these photos were taken around 8pm without any special lighting.  I set my camera up on the new tripod Santa brought me and allowed a long shutter release (I'm sure I'm not saying that right).  Then I used the white balance editing tool in Lightroom to take all the yellow lighting tints out of the picture.  Though these aren't as good as a natural lighting option, I was pretty amazed with the results.  Go Santa with the tri-pod. 

I hope 2013 is treating you well thus far.  Happy New Year.

Enjoy! 

Lemon Soufflé
adapted from Baking & Pastry: Mastering the Art and Craft

Makes 8 four ounce (1/2 cup) ramekins

1.5 ounces butter, melted and cooled
17 ounces lemon pastry cream (recipe below)
1 ounce egg yolks
6 ounces egg whites
2.5 ounces sugar
Extra butter and sugar for ramekins

Lemon Pastry Cream:
16 ounces milk
5 ounces sugar
3 ounces all purpose flour
2 ounces eggs
1.5 ounces egg yolks
0.25 ounces lemon zest (about 3 large lemons)

Start by making lemon pastry cream.  This needs to cool completely before making the soufflé. 

To make pastry cream:

Combine 8 ounces of milk with lemon zest and 2.5 ounces of sugar in a saucepan and bring to a boil, stirring and pressing on lemon zest to release flavor.  Remove from heat, cover and allow lemon zest to steep in hot milk for 10 minutes. 

While the lemon zest is steeping, Combine flour and remaining 2.5 ounces sugar in a medium bowl.  Whisk in remaining 8 ounces of milk, eggs and egg yolks until mixture is smooth.  Set aside.

Prepare an ice water bath in a bowl large enough to accommodate the bowl you will put finished pastry cream in.  Don't fill too full as you don't want any water to get into the pastry cream.
 
Remove lid from the milk/lemon mixture and return to heat and bring just to a boil.  Strain mixture into a bowl, pressing on lemon zest to release all the liquid.

Whisk in 1/3 of hot milk mixture into the egg mixture, whisking continuously.  Whisk in remaining hot milk, again, constantly whisking.  Return combined mixture back into the saucepan and bring to a boil over medium heat, whisking constantly.  The mixture will take several minutes to thicken.  But when it goes, it goes quickly.  You want to achieve a loose pudding consistency.  The mixture should coat the back of a wooden spoon and leave a trail when you run your finger through it. 

Transfer the mixture to a clean bowl and place the bowl in the prepared ice water bath.  Cover pastry cream with plastic wrap pressed directly to surface of the cream.  Allow to cool for 30 minutes or so, then transfer to the refrigerator until ready to make soufflés.

To make soufflés:

Preheat oven to 350 F.  Coat the inside of the ramekins with soft butter.  Coat completely all the way up to the rim.  Dust ramekins with sugar and place on a baking sheet.

If pastry cream is chilled, use a hand mixer to bring to a smooth consistency.   Using a spatula stir in melted cooled butter and egg yolks until completely combined.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, fitted with the whisk attachment, whip egg whites on medium speed until soft peaks form.  Gradually sprinkle in sugar while continuing to whip.  Whip until medium peaks form. 

Gently blend 1/3 of the egg whites into the pastry cream base.  Gently fold in remaining egg whites until thoroughly combined. 

Portion soufflé mixture into ramekins gently spooning it in until it's a generous 3/4 full.  Space ramekins evenly on baking sheet and bake until soufflé is lightly golden and has risen 1 inch above the rim of the ramekin, about 20 minutes.

Sprinkle with powdered sugar (optional) and serve with fresh berries.

Serve immediately.

The Ginger Snap Girl Celebrates 2 Years with Cheesecake!

Two years ago today I stumbled into the blogging world.  Back then I didn't know where blogging would take me or how it would become such a huge part of my life.  I still don't know exactly where blogging will take me, but I do know that I love every minute of what goes into The Ginger Snap Girl. 

The Ginger Snap Girl is....

an incredible creative outlet.
my biggest fan.
my toughest critic.
a connection to great online friends.
a photography teacher.
always finding a new adventure in the kitchen.
a keeper of my thoughts.
a recipe box.
part of a wonderful community.
my alter ego.
making my pants hard to button.
a journal of sorts.
an excuse to make ridiculously decadent desserts (a difficult sacrifice me and my skinny jeans make for my readers!).
my happy place.

The last two years have sped by faster than I care to admit.  Though this blog has been a wonderful documentation of stories and recipes, my real mission is to inspire you to get in the kitchen and cook or bake.  The most gratifying part of the blog is hearing that someone has made something I posted about.  It doesn't always turn out perfect.  But it strikes a conversation.  How can it be tweaked next time?  How can you customize it suit your tastes.  That's what I love.

I hope when you are reading about my three year blog anniversary next March that....

The Ginger Snap Girl has moved to her own domain name (already purchased...just need to make the leap).
GSG  has gotten a little makeover (nothing drastic like a face lift...but maybe a little boxtox here and there).
I've challenged myself to be a better photographer and storyteller. 
I've lost 5 pounds and my skinny jeans fit again.
I'm developing more and more of my own recipes.

To celebrate two years I wanted to make something I've never made before.  Cheesecake. 

In the realm of desserts cheesecake is not one that I typically gravitate to (plus it seemed intimidating to make).  I often find cheesecake to be too rich and dense for my taste.  But I had a cheesecake over the Christmas holiday that turned me into a believer!  My brother's girlfriend, Lindsay, brought homemade cheesecake to Christmas Eve.  When I took a bite it was light and soft and melted in my mouth.  I devoured my slice in short order.  Welcome to the family Lindsay!  Lucky for me she was kind enough to share her family recipe with me. 

This recipe is easy to make so don't let cheesecake intimidate you like it did me!  What is nice about it is that it doesn't require you to bake the cheesecake in a water bath.  Allow yourself plenty of time to make this because the baked cake needs time to chill completely in the refrigerator which takes at least 4 hours. 

The base of the cheesecake is a graham cracker crust studded with finely chopped pecans (or toasted almonds in my case).  The cheesecake layer is simply cream cheese, eggs, sugar and vanilla.  In the final minutes of baking a topping consisting of sour cream, sugar and vanilla, goes on over the nearly baked cheesecake and then back in the oven for an additional 5 minutes of baking (or about 8 minutes in my case).  I love tartness of the sour cream layer which pairs perfectly with the light, fluffy, sweet cheesecake.  I topped my cheesecake with homemade lemon curd (link to recipe below) and fresh sliced strawberries.  Pure indulgence and totally worth undoing the top button of your jeans to make room.

I'm excited to say I conquered my cheesecake fears and will most definitely be making this again.  This is a great base recipe that can be tweaked with various flavor profiles.  Like a chocolate cookie crust and caramel sauce or chocolate ganache or both on top.  Or a gingersnap crust with lemon curd.  A graham cracker crust with apple compote or fresh berries.  So many options...

Here's to cheesecake and another great year! 

Enjoy!

Ingrid's New York Cheesecake


For the crust:
1 1/2 cups graham crackers
1/3 cup finely chopped pecans (I used toasted almonds)
5 tablespoons melted butter
1 tablespoon sugar

For the filling:
3 eight ounce packages cream cheese, room temperature
5 eggs, lightly beaten
1 cup sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla (I used 2 teaspoons)

For the sour cream layer:
16 ounces sour cream (don't use light or low fat)
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Line a baking sheet with parchment or foil and assemble a 9 or 10 inch spring form pan (I used a 9 inch pan).  Place the spring form pan on the lined baking sheet.

Start by making crust.  Mix graham cracker crumbs, pecans and sugar into a medium bowl.  Add melted butter and stir until well combined.  Press the mixture evenly in the bottom of your spring form pan to form the crust.  No need to bring the crust up the sides of the pan.

Next, make the cheesecake filling.  In the bowl of an electric mixer beat the cream cheese on medium for 2-3 minutes.  Slowly stream in the lightly beaten eggs.  Next slowly stream in the sugar and beat until fully combined, about 1 minute.  Add vanilla and mix until combined.  Pour cream cheese mixture on top of crust.  Bake for 50-55 minutes until cheesecake is just set, but slightly wobbly in the center.

About 5 minutes before the cheesecake is done baking, make the sour cream layer.  Mix sour cream, sugar and vanilla in a medium bowl until fully combined.  Let the mixture sit at least 3 minutes and then pour on top of the baked cheesecake and bake for an additional 5-8 minutes.  The topping will appear glossy and will be just set.  Once set, turn oven off and prop open the oven door using a wooden spoon.  Allow cheese cake to cool in the oven for at least 20 minutes.  This should prevent the top of the cheesecake from cracking.  Unfortunately mine still cracked anyway!

Transfer cheesecake still in the spring form pan to the refrigerator and chill for at least four hours or overnight. Do not take cheesecake out of the spring form pan until you are ready to serve it.  Top the cheesecake with your favorite topping.  Some ideas are fresh fruit, fruit compote, curd, chocolate ganache or caramel sauce.

Click here for the lemon curd recipe I used to top the cheesecake.

Lemon Cream Scones with Strawberry Glaze

The bad news is my blog posting schedule has gone to hell.  Sorry for those of you expecting to see new content every Tuesday and Thursday.  I've completely fallen off the wagon.  Mabye a schedule is overrated?  Or, maybe I'll just climb back up on the wagon.  I can't give up that easily, right? 

There is good news though......the strawberry streak continues!

I can't seem to get enough of these sweet treasures.  I stocked up again this past weekend at the farmer's market and immediately started thinking of ways to use my berries.  So many options....

I recently made scones for the first time and wanted to try another variation at home that would somehow incorporate strawberries.  Have you ever tried the orange cranberry scones from Trader Joe's?  It was TJ's scones that converted me to the pro-scone camp.  In my anti-scone days, my experience with this tea time treat was a dense, dry, doughy, under-sweetened biscuit.  Something that certainly wasn't worth the calories, I'll take a donut please!  For some reason I picked up a package of TJ's scones a few years back and they won me over.  Their scones are tender on the inside, laced with sweet orange flavor and tart cranberries.  But the best part about them is the glaze or icing drizzled on top.  That extra sweetness is where it's at!  I love how the glaze crackles a bit when you bite into it...totally worth the calories.  That got me thinking about a strawberry glazed scone...

I went in search of basic scone recipe to start with.  My Cook's Illustrated Cookbook provided several options and I decided on the "Simple Cream Scone".  I especially liked the "simple" part and it had potential for a variety of flavor options.  I dressed up the scone dough with lemon zest and lemon juice.  A nice match for a sweet strawberry glaze.  Now, I had to figure how to make strawberry glaze.  A faint memory brought me to my Sweet Melissa Baking Book and a fresh strawberry sauce recipe.  Add a little powdered sugar and you have glaze. 

The scone recipe turned out just how I had hoped, golden and slightly crunchy on the outside and soft and tender on the inside with the faint aroma of lemon.  The strawberry glaze wasn't "crunchy" like the TJ's scones.  I could have remedied that with adding more powdered sugar.  But ultimately I went with a thinner glaze to maintain the bright, fresh strawberry flavor. 

Some scone tips...don't overwork the dough. Work it just until it comes together and start forming the disc you will cut into wedges.  The more you work the dough, the tougher it become.  Bake until just golden without overbaking to ensure your scones stay moist.  Scones are best eaten the day they are made or the next day at the latest.  If you know you won't eat all the scones before they pass their peak, wrap the baked scones individually in foil and store in a ziptop bag with the air removed in the freezer.  When you are ready to enjoy a scone, preheat the oven to 375, remove foil and place the scone(s) on a baking sheet and bake for 15 minutes or until warmed through (bake for 10 minutes if scones are thawed in the fridge first).

A fun twist I plan to try next time is to make mini scones and serve the strawberry glaze as a dip for the mini's.

Enjoy!  

Lemon Cream Scones with Strawberry Glaze
Adapted from Cook's Illustrated Cookbook and Sweet Melissa Baking Book

Cook's Illustrated recipe is titled Simple Cream Scones.  Their recipe includes 1/2 cup of dried currants which are listed as optional.  I omitted the currants and added lemon zest and lemon juice to my version to compliment the strawberry glaze.

2 cups all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, chilled and cut into 1/4 inch pieces
2 teaspoons fresh grated lemon zest
2 teaspoons fresh squeezed lemon juice
1 cup of heavy cream

Preheat oven to 450 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.  In a food processor add flour, sugar, baking powder and salt and pulse a few times until combined.  Add the chilled butter and lemon zest and pulse until the mixture looks like a coarse meal, about 12 pulses.  Dump mixture into a large bowl.  Stir lemon juice into the cream and pour into dry mixture.  Stir to combine and dough begins to form. 

Turn dough out onto a lightly floured workspace and knead until a sticky ball forms, only 5 to 10 seconds.  Pat dough into a inch round circle and cut into 8 even wedges.  Place wedges onto the prepared baking sheet evenly spaced apart.  Bake about 12 - 15 minutes until scones are lightly golden on top, rotating the baking sheet halfway through.  Cool on the baking sheet on a wire rack for each 10 minutes.  Serve warm or at room temperature.

For the Strawberry Glaze

The base of this recipe comes from the Strawberry Sauce recipe in the Sweet Melissa Baking Book.  I added some powdered sugar to turn it from a sauce into a glaze. Note, the strawberry sauce recipe makes more than you will need for the scones.  You can use the leftover sauce as a topping for ice cream or to make homemade strawberry lemonade (another recipe you can find in the Sweet Melissa Baking Book).

Strawberry sauce:
1 pint of dry strawberries
2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon fresh squeezed lemon juice
2 tablespoons cold water

Place all the ingredients in a small food processor or blender and puree until smooth.  Strain sauce through a fine mesh strainer and discard the seeds.

To make glaze:
Combine 3/4 cup powdered sugar with 1/4 cup of strawberry sauce in a small bowl and whisk until smooth.  Note, this makes for a very loose glaze, but it retains a nice bright red color and strong strawberry flavor.  For a thicker glaze add an additional 1/4 cup or more, of powdered sugar.

Holiday Traditions New and Old

Merry Christmas Eve everyone!  Happy 5th night of Hanukkah!

The holidays are one my favorite times of year.  Mostly because it's okay to make and eat ridiculous amounts of cookies, treats and favorite holiday foods.  Hubby and I aren't particularly religious, but we do enjoy some of the traditions of both Christmas and Hanukkah and we've made some of our own traditions.

Note I cheated in this photo placing all the candles in the Menorah even though it's only night 5

Every year on one of the eight nights of Hanukkah we celebrate the miracle of lights by eating an entire meal comprised of homemade potato latkes.  This year Hanukkah and Christmas overlap so we have to be strategic about when we will indulge in this delicious meal.  I think it will be on Monday, the 7th night of Hanukkah this year.  Here's a peek at our latke feast from last year.  The photos are not the greatest, but this recipe is amazingly delicious.  It has a squeeze of lemon juice in it (to prevent the potatoes from turning brown I believe), but the tang from the lemon is what makes these little fried bits of goodness so delicious!

Last year I also made some Hanukkah sweets....cake truffles to be exact.  They are by no means a traditional holiday treat, but they are decadent little goodies that are fun to make and decorate and definitely bring home the spirit of Hanukkah.  You can use any type of cake and coating that suit your taste.  If you have not made cake truffles (or cake pops) yet I highly recommend them!

Also last year, I made Christmas red velvet and devil's food cake truffles.  They were a big hit and made it into this year's baking rotation.  Given the reviews, I think these will now officially be a staple in my cookie gift boxes.  Though technically not a cookie!  Don't hold it against me.  I have to give the people what they want.

The majority of holiday time in the kitchen is spent baking oodles and oodles of cookies.  I love cookies for a few reasons.

A. Cookies are delicious.
B. Cookies are fun.
C. Cookies have endless varieties, shapes, sizes and flavors to experiment with.
D. Cookies are portable.
C. Everyone loves cookies! 

If you don't love cookies, you might be an alien from another planet.  You might want to get that checked out.

I thought I would share a roundup of this year's cookie palooza as well as share some old favorites. 
The most requested and commented on cookies are my two holiday staple cookies, Ginger Snaps and Raspberry and Lemon Linzers.  In fact I can't recall a year where I didn't make these two types of cookies.  I don't want a revolt on my hands. 

And each year I like to try a few new varieties.  When I was at my Grandma's house earlier this year I spent some time going through her recipe cards.  I found a few old recipes that I remember having as kid. 

One was a recipe my Mom would make called Jam Tarts.  They are tender crescents of cream cheese based dough filled with boysenberry jam and dusted in powdered sugar.  Recipe coming soon!

I also decided to try a new version of the tarts and filled some crescents with Nutella, coated with pearl sugar and drizzled with chocolate. 

The other family recipe I tried this year is called Mint Sticks, or Mint Brownie Bars.  This festive treat has a brownie based a layer topped with mint frosting and a drizzle of chocolate on top.  Recipe coming soon!

Chocolate Truffle Cookies (pictured below left) have become a new holiday favorite as of last year.  These really are like a truffle in cookie version.  A great choice for chocolate lovers. 

All the goodies get plated to go off to my Aunt's house to celebrate Christmas Eve.  Below is a peek of the cookie plates ready to go for tonight!  And another plate will be put together tomorrow for Christmas Day at my Dad's house.  One can never have too many cookies!

Hope you all have a fabulous holiday filled with good company, good food and tasty cookies of course!

Merry Christmas!

Happy Hanukkah!

Happy Kwanza!

Lemon Yogurt Cake

Secret Recipe Club time!  That means another month has zoomed by...It's all going too quickly.

Today is reveal day for The Secret Recipe Club, when everyone posts a recipe from their secret blog assignment for the month.  The group was founded by Amanda of Amanda's Cookin' and is a great way to discover new blogs.  The group is up near 300 participants now and is broken into 4 separate groups of about 75 each all with different reveal dates each month.  To learn more about The Secret Recipe Club click here.

For September I was assigned Kate's blog,  A Spoonful of Thyme.  I spent quite a bit of time browsing her lovely blog.  She has a vast array of fantastic looking recipes as well lots of fun travel adventures.  Maybe Kate will let me tag along on her next vacation!  Kate has a number of tasty looking shrimp recipes that especially caught my eye and I have bookmarked for future use.  In the end, my sweet tooth took over.  How shocking!  And with an abundance of lemons in my fridge, I selected Lemon Yogurt Cake by Ina Garten.  Kate has shared the cake on her blog 3 times.  Sounds like the mark of a good recipe! 

The cake has a serious lemon flavor going on.  There is lemon zest in the cake.  A lemon syrup is poured over the cake while it's still warm and seeps in to further moisten the cake.  When the cake is completely cooled a lemon glaze goes over the top.  That's a triple lemon punch!  The cake is easy to make and super moist.  It would be great for breakfast, an afternoon snack or dessert.

I tend to like my lemon flavor a bit more subtle, so I might skip the lemon syrup next time.   All in all a good cake.  To make it even more special, top each slice with a dollop of fresh whipped cream.

Go check out Kate and A Spoonful of Thyme for more great recipes.

Lemon Yogurt Cake
from Barefoot Contessa at Home via A Spoonful of Thyme

For the cake:
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 cup plain whole milk yogurt
1 1/3 cups sugar, divided
3 extra large eggs
2 teaspoons grated lemon zest (about 2 lemons)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/3 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice

For the glaze:
1 cup confectioner's sugar
2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice

Preheat oven to 350.  Butter a 8 1/2 x 4 1/2 x 2 1/2 loaf pan and line the bottom with parchment paper.  Dust flour inside the pan coating all sides.

Sift the flour, baking powder and salt in small bowl and set aside.  In another bowl whisk yogurt, eggs, 1 cup of the sugar, vanilla and lemon zest.  Slowly whisk the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients.  Fold vegetable oil into the batter until fully incorporated.  Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 50 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean.

While the cake is baking, stir 1/3 cup of sugar and 1/3 cup of lemon juice in a small saucepan and cook until sugar is dissolved and the liquid is clear, about 5 minutes.

When the cake is done cooking let it cool in the pan on a rack for about 10 minutes.  Use a knife to loosen the sides of the cake from the pan and carefully remove the cake and set it on a wire rack set over a baking sheet.  Pour the lemon syrup over the cake allowing it to soak in.  Let the cake cook completely.

Make the glaze by whisking together the confectioners sugar and lemon juice.  Pour glaze over the fully cooled cake.  Allow the glaze to set for at least 30 minutes before slicing.

Chicken Piccata

It's been a busy week at work.  I rarely mention work on the blog, mostly because I when I blog I get to immerse myself in a different world that has nothing to do with work.   Like I can pretend that I don't really have a full time job in corporate America.  Don't get me wrong, I really like my job and adore the people I work with (and yes, my boss reads this blog...hi Amy).  But it's nice to get away to blog land several nights a week and think about all mouth watering sweet treats and savory eats that can be made.  Unfortunately this week has cut into my precious blog time and I'm a little behind with a backlog of 6 posts sitting in my drafts folder.  I also didn't get to spend as much time in the kitchen as I would have liked.  Something I plan to rectify on Saturday. 

Now, let's get on with the important business.  Chicken piccata.

Hubby LOVES chicken piccata.  He has a handful of dishes that he gravitates to and this is one of them.  I'm not sure why I've never tried to make it at home before.  But I'm glad I finally did.   A little wine, a little lemon juice and zest and a few capers and you have a delicious chicken dish. 

You start by pounding out chicken breasts out thin or about 1/4 inch thick all around (see instructions below on how to pound out the chicken).  Pounding out the chicken breasts allows them to cook evenly and quickly.  Lightly season the chicken and coat it in flour.  Be sure to season the chicken before you flour it.  I like to cook mine in a non stick stainless steel skillet (like All-Clad) because all the good bits of chicken that brown and stick to the pan get released when you pour in the wine and other sauce components.  More browned bits equals more yummy flavor. 

I served the chicken over mashed potatoes but next time I would use angel hair pasta.  I thought the wonderful lemony wine sauce got a little lost in the mashed potatoes.  The chicken would also be good with rice.  And I might also double the sauce component next time because the sauce was really delicious and I wanted more, more, more.  I'm kind of a sauce girl.

This recipe is a keeper!

Chicken Piccata
adapted from Eat Yourself Skinny

Serves 2-4
Ingredients:

1 pound chicken breasts, pounded out thin (see below for instructions)
1/3 cup plus 1 tablespoon all purpose flour
Salt and Pepper to taste
2 tablespoons of canola oil
2 tablespoons capers, rinsed
2 medium cloves of garlic, minced
1 cup low sodium chicken broth
1/2 cup dry white wine (I used 3/4 cup)
4 two inch wide strips of lemon zest (see below for instructions)
4 teaspoons lemon juice (I used 2 teaspoons)
1 tablespoon chilled butter

Getting Ready:

Pound out chicken:
Place a long piece of plastic wrap on a cutting board and place your chicken breast face down.  Plastic wrap should be long enough to fold in half and cover the chicken breast.  Using the smooth side of a meat mallet or a small heavy bottomed pan, slowly pound chicken starting in the center and working your way out.  You want to get an even thickness across the entire piece of chicken, just under 1/2 thick.  I like to cut my pounded out chicken into 2-3 pieces.  Repeat process with remaining chicken.

Zest lemon:
Use a sharp vegetable peeler to remove a wide strip of the outer skin of the lemon, being careful only remove the yellow part of the skin and not white part, which is bitter.

Prepare remaining ingredients for the sauce:
Squeeze lemon juice, rinse the capers, mince the garlic, measure the chicken broth and wine and measure out 1 tablespoon of flour and 1 tablespoon of chilled butter.

Start Cooking:

Make the Chicken:
Season chicken cutlets with salt and pepper.  Place 1/4 cup of flour in a shallow dish (large enough to hold a chicken cutlet).  Dredge chicken cutlets in the flour and shake off any excess.  Meanwhile, heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat.  Place floured chicken in the heated oil and cook for about 3-4 minutes on one side and turn chicken and continue cooking for an additional 1-2 minutes, until just cooked through.  Remove chicken to a plate and cover the plate loosely with foil to keep warm. 

Make the Sauce:
Once chicken is removed from the pan, add the capers and minced garlic to the oil left in the skillet and heat to medium.  Cook for about 30 seconds being careful not to burn the garlic.  Stir in the remaining tablespoon of flour.   Whisk in broth, wine and lemon zest strips.  Be sure to scrape all the browned bits off the bottom of the pan for additional flavor.  Bring sauce to a simmer and cook for 10-15 until slighly thickened and reduced to approximately 1/2 cup.

Bring it all together:
Turn off the heat and remove strips of lemon zest.  Stir in lemon juice and 1 tablespoon of butter until fully incorporated.  Return the chicken cutlets to the pan with the sauce, including an juices from the chicken. Heat through for 30 seconds to a minute.

Serve:
Serve your chicken cutlets and sauce over mashed potatoes or angel hair pasta.

Sweet Melissa Sundays Top 10 Favorite Recipes!

In April 2010 I started participating in the weekly online baking group, Sweet Melissa Sundays.  The group had already been baking their way through the Sweet Melissa Baking Book by Melissa Murphy for about a year when I joined.  And the group posted the final recipe (of just over 100 recipes) on August 21, 2011.  In the past year and a half I've met some amazingly talented bakers and learned tons.  Before joining this group my baking repertoire consisted of mostly cookies, a few cakes or cupcakes and a pie here and there.   What I liked most about the group was being pushed outside my comfort zone.  Without the group I doubt I would have tried more than half the recipes that turned out to be some of my favorites. 

When I tasted each of the recipes below for the first time, I said, "wow".  For each and every one.  Literally, I said, "wow".  Out loud.  I love when you bite into something and you're not sure what to expect or think you know exactly what to expect, and you are pleasantly surprised and all you can say is "wow!" 

To wrap a year and a half of baking I wanted to put together a list of my favorites.  They are listed in order the group made them.  So without further adieu...

Chocolate Cake

This chocolate cake is the base for several recipes in the Sweet Melissa book.  It's incredibly moist and deep dark chocolaty.  I have an affinity for cakes made with sour cream and this one really knocks it out of the park if you are a chocolate lover.  I have made it several times and will continue to go to this as one of my top chocolate cake recipes. 

Gingersnaps

When I got my first turn to host a recipe for the group I had to go with Gingersnaps.  It only seemed right!  I was surprised at how much I liked these cookies, since I already have my own go to ginger snap recipe.  Melissa Murphy's version contains typical spices you might expect, like cinnamon, ginger and allspice, but what was really unique was the inclusion of white pepper.  Everything in my gut was telling me to omit the pepper, but I felt like I really had to do the recipe proper justice and follow it word for word.  And you know what?  The white pepper works!  It blends with other spices to make a perfectly sweet and mildly spicy cookie.  And it pairs beautifully with a lemon cream filling.

Blueberry and Almond Biscotti

What is a biscotti anyway?  It's essentially a twice baked cookie.  Round 1 is baked in a loaf form and then the loaf is sliced into the biscotti spears you are probably familiar with and those are baked again to get a nice crunchy texture.  I have never been a biscotti person.  Probably because I'm not a coffee drinker or a fan of crunchy cookies in general.  I had never made biscotti before and  I really didn't expect to like this.  I hate being wrong. But love it all at the same time because these biscotti are delicious and you don't need a hot beverage to enjoy them.  They also make great gifts since they keep well for several days. 

Melissa's recipe called for dried sour cherries, but I switched it up with dried blueberries instead.  What made this recipe for me was the lemon zest.  The lemon flavor is incredibly bright in this crunchy cookie, but not overly lemony.  This recipe opened my eyes to the possibility of making various flavors of biscotti (which I have on my to do list).

Sweet Almond Cake with Lemon Curd

Before joining SMS, I will be honest, most cakes I made were out of a box.  With the exception of carrot cake.  My family has a great carrot cake recipe that doesn't involve a box.  One day I'll get around to posting it on the blog.  What I didn't know was the various techniques used in making cakes from scratch.  This one calls for ground almonds and whipped egg whites in the batter.  You whip up the egg whites until they form stiff peaks (similar to making a meringue) and then gently fold the airy mixture into your cake.  I really don't know much about the science of baking, but I do know this cake is delicious with a lightly sweet almond flavor.  It has a lovely toothsome crumb from the ground almonds and a light moistness.  This cake would be a wonderful base for many fillings and frostings.  Speaking of fillings and frostings, the lemon curd and lemon mascarpone frosting that accompany this cake were not the stars for me.  I had to switch to lemon cream cheese frosting because I had trouble with the mascarpone.  This cake recipe, however, is on my list of keepers!

Mom's French Pancakes (aka Crepes)

Can you say yummy?  Can you say easy to make?  Can  you say "Oooh la la"! This recipe was another surprise winner!  I mean I knew I already loved crepes, I just doubted my ability to make these thin delicate little pancakes.  The ingredients are simple and the batter can (and is recommended) to be made the night before you make these little jewels.  I used a large non stick skillet and after making one or two crepes, really got the hang of it.  If you have not made crepes before, you must try them!  The options for filling them are endless....but my favorite combination is seen above.  Nutella and sliced bananas.  Simple.  Delicious!

Lemon Blueberry Buttermilk Pie

Though I am posting these in the order I made them and not in any preferential taste order, I will say this is a fantastic recipe and is among my top 3 favorites from the book (along with the chocolate cake and honey cream caramels).  I was completely blown away by the perfect marriage of lemon and blueberries amidst a creamy custardy filling.  And this pie is one of the easiest in the book to make.  Especially if you use a pre-made graham cracker crust from the grocery store (a slight diversion from the original recipe).  Melissa's recipe calls for traditional pie dough, but as I was making this pie for the second time for Mother's Day earlier this year, I had a crust mishap.  I used Melissa's all butter pie crust recipe and had major shrinkage occur.  Irreparable shrinkage.  At 11 pm on the eve of Mother's Day I went to the grocery store to buy a roll of Pillsbury pie dough, but at the last minute decided to go with a graham cracker crust.  You know the kind that you find in the baking aisle and comes in a foil pie tin with that cool plastic covering that doubles as a lid when you flip it over?  I have to say, I loved it!  I think this pie is even better than fantastic when made with a graham cracker crust.  Definitely a winner!

Pecan Frosting

I almost didn't make this recipe.  Melissa's original recipe is called Coconut Pecan Frosting, otherwise known as German chocolate cake frosting.  I really don't care for the texture of coconut and I'm generally not a fan of nuts in my dessert.  But the point of this group is going outside your comfort zone.  So I failed in that I didn't go completely outside my comfort zone.  I just took a small step.  I decided to simply omit the coconut from the recipe since that was the greater of two evils.  Imagine my surprise when I tasted the final product and loved it!  It really is less like a frosting and more like a candy topping.  My family loved it spread on graham crackers best.  But it would also make a delicious ice cream topping and it's not too bad with pumpkin cake either! 

Honey Cream Caramels

This was yet another goodie I had never made before.  I don't have anything against caramel candies.  I like them just fine, but there are a lot of other treats I would reach for first.  Luckily I didn't write this recipe off!  These caramels are soft and sweet and delicious.  I really didn't think I would like these as much as I did.  I kept going back to the kitchen and sneaking one more (I'm not sure who I was sneaking them from, but I felt a little guilty eating so many of these honey infused treasures).  This recipe is easy to make and caramels are another great giveaway treat because they store for up to two weeks in an airtight container.  They would also be delicious with a little sprinkling of sea salt before they completely set.  Honey Cream Caramels will be making it into my holiday baking rotation this Christmas!

Strawberry Rhubarb Preserves

Melissa shares a master preserves recipe that shares general ratios of fruit to sugar, acid, etc. and then has recipes for 5 different flavor variations.  This is one of those recipes that was widely praised by many members of the group.  I was able to make three variations, plum preserves, white nectarine cinnamon preserves and of course strawberry rhubarb. 

I feel like a broken record here, but preserves or jam was something I had not made before joining this group.  And I was surprised at how easy they are to make and delicious.  There's something special and very satisfying about making toast in the morning and slathering it with your own fresh made preserves.  I also took the leap into the canning world with these preserves.  Yet another great goodie to give away as a gift.  Of three preserve variations I made, the strawberry rhubarb was my hands down favorite!  The tartness from the rhubarb is a perfect match to the sweet strawberry.  And it makes a great filling for a crumble bar! 

Brown Sugar Vanilla Ice Cream

I didn't actually make this recipe along with the group.  They made it long before I even knew Sweet Melissa Sundays existed.  And to be honest, vanilla ice cream is not something that really excites me.  There are so many delectable ice cream flavors in the world to choose from.  But I found I was in need of an ice cream to pair with this Plum and Raspberry Pie with a Sweet Almond Lattice.  This pie was incredibly tart and needed a nice sweet ice cream to balance it out.  I decided to give Melissa's recipe for Brown Sugar Vanilla Ice Cream a shot since I would be serving to others who don't share my lack of excitement over vanilla.  Also, I had recalled reading in various posts from my fellow SMS bloggers, how delicious this ice cream was.  And they were right!  It's got a depth of caramel like flavor from the brown sugar and is the perfect accompaniment to a fruit pie or tart.  Yet another pleasant surprise!

I made 40 recipes with the group and a few more on my own outside the group. There are many more the group made before I joined that I would still like to try...like Butter Toffee Crunch, Lemon Icebox Cake with Strawberry Sauce, Sweet Almond Bread Pudding with Raspberry Sauce, Caramel Apple Turnovers with Sweet Ricotta Filling, and Fallen Chocolate Souffle Cake to name a few. 

It's been a great ride and I've learned a very important lesson...don't judge a dessert by it's ingredient list!  Even if you are unsure if it would be your thing or if you think it sounds too hard or complicated, give it a go.  You might just be surprised yourself!

I want to extend my thanks to all the fabulous SMS bakers.  You girls rock, sharing great ideas, encouragement and support!  I loved checking out everyone's creations on Sunday mornings.  Special thanks to Karen of Karen's Cookies Cakes & More for maintaining the site and keeping everyone on schedule.  She has spearheaded a new baking group called Club: Baked to keep us busy and learning new things.  This group started on July 1, 2011 and we are baking our way through Baked Explorations by Matt Lewis and Renato Poliafito.  This group bakes twice a month and so far there have been some pretty stinkin delicious recipes.  We really just got started so please feel free to join our baking adventure!