Lavender Ice Cream

I have often heard people speak of using lavender in cooking.  Lavender cookies have been on my "try" list for a while, but when I saw the movie "It's Complicated" recently, I decided I needed to try lavender ice cream.  The main character owned a bakery and spent half the show making lovely, mouth-watering creations--one of which was lavender ice cream.  It sounded interesting.  Or maybe I just wished for it to be summer so badly that the thought of making any ice cream created visions of warm weather and blue skies.

And while it may be difficult to reconcile the idea of lavender being edible, as opposed to something you might find in soap, or lotion, it has a subtle smoothness that combines with the other flavors to create a soothing, tea-like quality that is oh-so-yummy.  

You will need:

2 cups heavy cream

4 cups whole milk

4 Tbs dried, edible lavender flowers (for locals, I found mine at Chuck's Produce and Street Market)

3/4 cup honey

4 egg yolks

1 tsp vanilla

juice of 1 lime (1-2 Tbs)

1 tsp lime zest

1/2 tsp salt

Heat the milk and cream in a pot over medium heat until very warm, but not boiling.  Turn off heat and add lavender.  Cover and let steep for 20-30 minutes.  Then strain out flowers and discard them.  

Return milk/cream to pot, add honey and heat on medium low until honey has dissolved.  Do not allow to boil.

Beat egg yolks, vanilla, lime juice, lime zest and salt until light creamy yellow.  While stirring, slowly add 1 cup of warm milk mixture to egg mixture.  When well mixed, add the milk/egg mixture back into pot, stirring.  

Heat on medium low until it thickens slightly (5 - 8 minutes).  It should lightly coat the back of your spoon.  Strain to remove any possible lumps that may have formed.

Cool in refrigerator for four hours, or until no longer warm.  

Freeze and churn according to your ice cream maker's instructions.

Yield: 2 quarts

Lime Bars

I am a girl who loves the changing of the seasons. . . but I am almost always ready for them to change before they are.  About this time of year I start craving spring in a major way.  It pops up in my clothing, my house keeping and decorating, my desire to hit the yard work, and in my kitchen.  I get the urge to grill things and make lots of citrus-y dishes.  So when my husband declared the need for dessert tonight, I vetoed the fudge brownies or cookies and suggested lime bars.  Yum.  So glad I did.  And since we had given in to the urge to buy raspberries yesterday, I threw some in for good measure.

I have posted many other citrus desserts, but this recipe is super quick, in case you get a hankering for spring and you need it now.

You will need:

1 1/2 cup of cracker crumbs (typically graham cracker, but I had none, so I crushed up lemon Girl Scout  cookies--yum)
6 Tbs butter, melted
1/4 cup sugar (which I didn't add--I figured with the lemon cream filling I was covered!)
Zest of one lime

Filling:

2 large egg yolks
1  14 oz can of sweetened condensed milk
1/2 cup lime juice (about 4-5 limes)

Heat your oven to 350 degrees.

For the crust, crush your crackers. . .

Then mix with your zest, butter and sugar.

Butter an 8x8 inch pan.  If you want to easily remove the bars from the pan after they have baked, line the bottom with parchment paper and up two (opposing) sides--so you can lift them out before cutting.

Pour the crust into the pan and press with a spoon or fork until evenly covering the bottom. Bake for 10 minutes. let cool slightly.

For the filling, combine the yolks, sweetened condensed milk and lime juice.

Pour over crust and bake for 15 minutes, or until set.  Cool completely.  If you used parchment, remove uncut bars from pan by lifting the parchment. Cut into squares, garnish as desired, and serve.

I garnished mine with whipped cream, a little more lime zest, and fresh raspberries.  It was springtime in my mouth.  Enjoy!

Confetti Cupcakes

Signe was sick on Friday, so for our Friday Family Fun Night activity we let her choose dinner, dessert, and evening activity at home. For dessert she picked confetti cupcakes.  These turned out both lovely and delicious.  They were their own little party on a plate. . . only I don't think any plates were actually used.  The girls certainly had fun lavishing on the sprinkles--at three points in the process.  So if you plan on making these more than once you might want to invest in the large bottle of dot sprinkles, like I did.

For this fun and flavorful treat you will need:

1 1/4 cups of flour
3/4 cup of sugar
1 1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 cup milk
1/3 cup softened butter
1 tsp vanilla
1 egg
2 Tbs multicolor sprinkles


Preheat the oven to 375 degrees (F) and line your cupcake pan with paper cups.

In mixer, blend flour, sugar, baking powder and salt.  Add milk, butter and vanilla.  Beat on low until combined and then on medium for two more minutes.

Turn off mixer.  Add egg, beat on low until incorporated then on medium for an additional two minutes.

Using a wooden spoon stir in sprinkles. (this picture is misleading--I DID use a spoon and not the mixer whisk.  You don't want to break up your dots!)

Pour batter into prepared paper cups.  In case you don't think there are enough dots (like my girls) sprinkle additional dots on top of each cupcake.

Bake in oven for 20-25 minutes or until a wooden toothpick comes out clean.

Let cool completely before frosting.

For the frosting I use a random assortment of cream cheese, butter, milk (or cream) powder sugar and vanilla.  This time I used approximately these proportions:

3 cups of pdr sugar
4 oz cream cheese
1/4 cup of butter
1-2 Tbs cream or milk
1 tsp vanilla

Add pdr sugar if you want it thicker or milk if you want it thinner.

Signe chose blue food coloring for our frosting.

And then Hannah topped them with yet MORE sprinkles.

It was a party. . .

on a cupcake.

Or rather, a dozen little parties.

We thought it looked so fun we invited it into our mouths. . .

we suggest you do too.

Creamy Lemon Tart

I've had a hankering for lemony goodness this week.  It all started when I went out to dinner at Sweet Tomatoes with my family and their were featuring lemon everything for the month.  I had some yummy lemony pasta and a salad with some sort of lemony dressing and finished it off with lemon cobbler topped with a dollop of lemon whipped cream. It. was. divine.  yum.  

So I rushed to the store and bought a bag full of lemons.

My first lemon recipe was a creamy lemon tart.  

There are few desserts as light and refreshing as those with lemon in them.  This is one of my favorite.

Crust:

1 cup flour

1/8 tsp salt

1/2 cup butter -- cold, cut into squares

Filling:

5 oz cream cheese

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup fresh lemon juice (about two large lemons)

2 eggs

1 tbs grated lemon zest

Topping:

1/2 cup whipping cream

1 tbs confectioners sugar

1 tsp vanilla

For the crust: Combine in a food processor--flour, sugar and salt. Add butter and pulse until pastry starts to form clumps.  

Press dough into tart pan.  Pierce bottom with fork to help prevent bubbles while baking.  Freeze for 15 minutes. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F while waiting for dough to chill.

Bake 13 - 15 minutes, until crust is golden.  

For the Filling: In mixer, process cream cheese until smooth.  Add sugar, mix.  Add one egg at a time until combined.  Add remaining ingredients, mix until smooth.  

Pour into tart shell.  Bake 25 - 30 minutes, until filling is set.  Cool on rack, then refrigerate until chilled.

Topping: In mixing bowl, beat whipping cream until peaks form.  Add powdered sugar and vanilla and mix until incorporated.  Either pipe over top of tart, or add a dollop to each individual piece as served.  

I added a little lemon zest to the top for fun. . . while it was still a little warm.   This tart didn't last 24 hours.  Yum.

Peanut Butter Rice Krispies

This is one of the easiest recipes I have made this year, but you get a lot of bang for your buck!  Not only are the ingredients few, and yummy, they are in a nice ratio to remember:

1 cup corn syrup

1 cup sugar

1 cup peanut butter

6 cups of Rice Krispies

In pan heat corn syrup and sugar to a boil.  Stir in peanut butter.  Add rice krispies and blend. Press into a 9X13 inch pan.

For the Frosting:

1 cup of chocolate chips

1 cup of butterscotch chips

Melt and pour over Rice Krispies like frosting.  If you prefer more chocolate, less butterscotch, adjust ratio to taste.

Now try not to eat the whole pan--I dare you.

Marshmallows

Every year around the holidays I make several batches of marshmallows.  Sure I could buy them at fancy shmancy food stores for a buck a piece, but why do that when they are fun, quick and inexpensive to make.  And they taste much better fresh.  To keep it a special treat I only make them in December. . . mostly.  

All you need is:

1/2 cup water

3 Tbs. Knox gelatin 

2 cups sugar

2/3 cup corn syrup

1/4 cup water

1/4 tsp salt

1 Tbs. vanilla

powdered sugar for dusting

Directions:

Prepare a 9X13 pan by rubbing down with butter and sprinkling it with powdered sugar.

In the mixer add the gelatin to 1/2 cup of water and allow to bloom for ten minutes.

In a saucepan combine 1/4 cup of water, the sugar and corn syrup and bring to a boil.

Continue to boil until the temperature reaches 250 degrees F (hard ball stage).

Running mixer on low, drizzle the boiling sugar mixture into the gelatin mixture.  Turn up speed and add salt.

Mix on high until volume stops increasing (about ten minutes).

Add a tablespoon of vanilla.

Pour into prepared pan and smooth the best you can--it will stick to your spatula, buttering it will help.  It won't be great but that's okay.  Sprinkle powdered sugar on top and keep smoothing with your hands.

Allow to set, on counter, for several hours, or overnight.

Cut into squares, powdering the sides with powdered sugar to prevent sticking.

Store in air tight container. Or eat immediately in a large mug of hot chocolate.  My favorite is Stephan's Hot Chocolate.  I also like to give these as a neighbor gift and sometimes make homemade hot chocolate mix to go with it.

Caramel Apples

With my over abundance of apples, we are getting creative around here.  Last weekend the girls had their cousins over and we decided to make caramel apple slices.  None of them were likely to eat an entire dipped apple, and while scooping out little balls of apple with a melon baller to make mini dipped apples is cute, I was going for easy and fun.  So, we sliced, sticked and dipped our apples. . .then rolled them in more colorful goodness before eating them down and licking our fingers--Yum.

Open a bag Brach's Caramels and heat them in a sauce pan (or microwave) until warm and melted. 

Slice a couple apples and insert sticks into them.

Choose some toppings. . .we have walnuts, chocolate, cherry chips, and orange sugar sprinkles.

Dip in caramel. . .

Add your toppings.

The girls got creative.  Luckily their creativity was delicious--not an apple slice was wasted.  Of course we did have left over nuts, caramel and chocolate.  But I had ideas for those. . .