Shortcut Lemon Cookies

I've been incredibly busy these past few weekends and sadly my baking, and this blog, have been among the collateral damage. My sister made these cookies yesterday and though I generally scoff at packaged baking mixes, they were pretty good! This is the recipe, as she made them with the addition of blueberry preserves and extra extract. Once again I used the amazingly good Ikea blueberry preserves. I'd prefer them to be made with butter over oil but the result wasn't too bad. The preparation couldn't be simpler.



Ingredients

• 1 (18.25 ounce) package lemon cake mix
• 2 eggs
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil
• 2 teaspoon lemon extract
• turbinado sugar for decoration
  
• confectioners' sugar for decoration
• Ikea blueberry preserves (if desired)
  

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
2. Pour cake mix into a large bowl. Stir in eggs, oil, and lemon extract until well blended. Drop teaspoonfuls of dough into a bowl of turbinado or confectioners' sugar. Roll them around until they're lightly covered. Once sugared, put them on an ungreased cookie sheet.If desired, drop a small spoonful of blueberry preserves, jam or anything else you like.
3. Bake for 6 to 9 minutes in the preheated oven. The bottoms will be light brown, and the insides chewy.

Lingonberry or Blueberry Muffins

This weekend has been incredibly hectic so I wanted to make something simple, and for once it's (sort of) my own creation. I made a simple muffin batter, added a little bit of cinnamon and then a dollop of either ikea blueberry preserves or ikea ligonberry preserves into the muffin cup before baking. My camera is missing in action on a secret project so there aren't any photos this week, you'll just have to use your imagination (they look similar to the cherry blueberry muffins, posted in January). The recipe I used for the batter was poorly drafted so I accidentally didn't add the butter until after combining dry and wet ingredients. This meant I had to overbeat the batter to incorporate the butter and as a result the muffins were tough. I have corrected the recipe and included a word of warning.

Ingredients
1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted and cooled
2 large eggs
1 cup milk or cream
1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
2/3 cups granulated white sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt


Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Position rack in center of oven. Butter, or line with paper liners, 12 muffin cups.
2. In a large measuring cup or bowl whisk together the eggs, milk, and vanilla extract. Add cooled melted butter.
3. In another large bowl whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt.With a rubber spatula fold the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir only until the ingredients are combined. Do not over mix the batter or tough muffins will result.
4. Fill muffin cups 2/3 full with batter. Add a dollop of preserves to the center. Fill muffin
   
5. Place in the oven and bake until a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean, about 16 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack and let cool for about 5 minutes before removing from pan.
6. Makes 12 regular sized muffins.

Monday Musing

It's been a while since I've had a free moment on a Monday to post. Last night's effort was surprisingly well received. Everyone seemed to agree that the taste was amazing and that it would be great warmed up with vanilla ice cream. It was also agreed that it looked terrible. I think if I were to make it again, and I think I will closer to Christmas, I would make it as a cookie bar.

In other news, the vanilla extract is coming along nicely but it is going to be at least a few more weeks before it is extract. I am also considering adding a few more vanilla beans as it appears the extract has plateaued and hasn't grown much darker or more aromatic lately. Also, I think using the cheapest booze I could find was a mistake, it smells like vanilla scented rubbing alcohol.

Caramel Cinnamon Apple FAIL cookies

This week's recipe is the worst kind of fail: a great tasting, horrible looking fail. The taste is amazing but the rest just disapoints. I wanted to make a caramel apple cinnamon cookie but everything out there was an apple cookie dipped in caramel. Now I know why.

I found a vegan recipe that looked promising and made it back into something, I hoped would be, fit for human consumption. Unfortunately the recipe doesn't call for nearly enough leavening and the results are....well, they're visible below. Adding insult to injury I ran out of parchment paper and was left with bare cookie sheets, which further aggravated a bad situation. Adding to that are the thermal properties of caramel and I begin to understand why caramel is dipped or added after baking.

In short, everything turns into a gooey catch-22: if you take the cookies from the pan straight away without letter them set the caramel is too melty but if you let it set for a few minutes (or longer, or in the refrigerator) then the caramel bonds like epoxy to the pan. I even tried to salvage the remaining batter (after I had cemented apple chunks with caramel mortar to every cookie sheet I had) by making mini muffins. Again, I hit the caramel catch-22.

I'm posting the recipe as a challenge to someone with more talent than I to fix it. I'm pretty sure it's a baking soda/powder thing because all the other ingredients are right. Also, maybe freeze the caramel chunks so they don't melt as fast. Input is appreciated.



Ingredients

Cinnamon Apples

• 2 Fuji apples, diced (depends on size of your apples.)
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 2 generous tablespoons brown sugar

Cookie Batter

• 3/4 cup sugar
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 1 cup unsalted butter (2 sticks)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 egg
• 2 cups + 5 tablespoons flour
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 7 or 8 caramel candies, cut into small chunks

Directions

1. Prepare the cinnamon apples: Melt the butter in a pan over medium heat. Add the apples, sugar, and cinnamon. Cook until apples are tender. Let cool before adding to dough, this step is critical.
2. Prepare cookies: Preheat oven to 350
   
3. Beat sugars, butter, vanilla, and egg with flat beater at medium power.
4. Sift in the dry ingredients and beat.
5. Mix in the cinnamon apples and caramel (you want enough so that there are apple pieces in each cookie. you might need more apples or fewer) , and drop dough by VERY SMALL tablespoons onto parchment paper. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until done. Let cool.

Summer Berry Lemon Tart

This week's recipe is a variation on a Gordon Ramsay recipe. I baked a simple tart crust which, although ugly, is delicious. Then I added a recipe I found for lemon curd, which is an eggy custard without the milk and topped it off with fresh summer berries. In this case, strawberries and blueberries. The lemon curd is reminiscent of a lemon sauce my mother makes but has a thicker consistency.

Ingredients

Tart Crust

1. 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
2. 1/8 teaspoon salt
3. 1/2 cup unsalted butter
4. 1/4 cup granulated white sugar
5. 1 large egg, lightly beaten

Lemon Curd Filling

1. 3 large eggs
2. 1/3 cup fresh lemon juice (2-3 lemons) (do not use the bottled lemon juice)
3. 1 tablespoon finely shredded lemon zest
4. 3/4 cup granulated white sugar
5. 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature and cut into small pieces

Directions

Tart Crust

1. In a medium bowl, sift or whisk together the flour and salt. Set aside.
2. Place the butter in your mixer and beat until softened. Add sugar and beat until light and fluffy.
3. Gradually add the beaten egg, beating just until incorporated. Don't over mix or the butter will separate and lighten in color.
4. Add flour mixture all at once and mix just until it forms a ball. Don't overwork or pastry will be hard when baked.
5. Flatten dough into disk, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for 20 minutes or until firm.
6. Roll out dough on parchment paper with rolling pin until 1/8" thick and roughly 1" larger than the sides of your pan.
7. Place your tart pan upside down on the dough and flip parchment paper. Press into the sides of the pan.
8. Chill in refrigerator for an additional 20 minutes.
9. Place a sheet of parchment paper ontop of chilled dough then add pie wieghts or uncooked rice to weigh dough down while baking. Bake in 400 degree oven for 20-25 minutes until crust edges turn golden brown.
10. Remove weights and cool crust on wire rack before filling.

Lemon Curd Filling

1. In a stainless steel bowl placed over a saucepan of simmering water, whisk together the eggs, sugar, and lemon juice until blended.
2. Cook, stirring constantly (to prevent it from curdling), until the mixture becomes thick (like sour cream or a hollandaise sauce) This will take approximately 10 minutes.
3. Remove from heat and immediately pour through a fine strainer to remove any lumps. Cut the butter into small pieces and whisk into the mixture until the butter has melted.
4. Add the lemon zest and let cool. The lemon curd will continue to thicken as it cools.
5. Cover immediately (so a skin doesn't form) and refrigerate for up to a week.

Pour cooled lemon curd filling into cooled pie crust and cover with your choice of berries. Refrigerate.

Apple Cake

This week's recipe is reflective of my desire for summer humidity and heat to move along and yield to cooler fall temperatures. Apple cake is, apparently, a northern staple of fall and early winter but being in the deep south, I've never heard of it. It seemed interesting so I decided to make it. Much to my chagrin my buttermilk was found to be expired...after I returned from the grocery. I substituted with 1 cup of whole milk and 1 tablespoon of white vinegar. Hopefully I will post reactions tomorrow but have been terribly busy and neglecting my postings.

Aside: Though they don't look it, the pictures were taken before and after baking.

Ingredients

• 2 cups sweet, crisp red apples, cut into 1/4" cubes (peel on)
• 2 1/2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1/2 cup light brown sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup buttermilk (or 1 cup milk and 1 tablespoon white vinegar, let sit for a minute or two)
• 1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter, melted and cooled a bit
• small handful tubrinado

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 400F degrees, racks in the middle. Butter and flour one tart pan, you can also bake it in a 9x13 pan but really keep a close eye on it after 20 minutes - it will be quite thin.
2. Place the chopped apples in a bowl of water along with the juice of one lemon. Set aside.
3. Combine the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, sugar and salt in a large bowl.
4. In a separate smaller bowl whisk together the eggs and the buttermilk. Whisk in the melted butter. Pour the buttermilk mixture over the flour mixture and stir until barely combined - try not to over mix. Now drain the apple, shake off any excess water, and fold the apples into the cake batter.
5. Spoon the batter into the prepared pan, pushing it out toward the edges. Sprinkle with the turbinado. Bake for about 15-20 minutes or until cake is just set and a touch golden on top.