Lemon Curd

So this is the juice of 3 Meyer's Lemon's in my cute little food processor.

It was a lovely juice. LOL

And finished lemon curd.

Daring Bakers - January 2009- Tuiles with something Fruity

Oh goodness... I guess time flies when you're not really paying attention.

But here it is, already time for the next challenge...

This month's challenge is brought to us by Karen of Bake My Day and Zorra of 1x umruehren bitte aka Kochtopf. They have chosen Tuiles from The Chocolate Book by Angélique Schmeink and Nougatine and Chocolate Tuiles from Michel Roux.

So my first batch of tuiles... attempted by using template and so forth did not turn out. These lovely 'snakes' if you will, were piped out using a pastry tip and spread out quite nicely to a good thin-ness and then I just put them over my rolling pin.

For my Something Fruity element... I made lemon curd. My first attempt... **sigh** Called for a Cup... A CUP !! of butter. Talk about lemon butter. **shakes head** I suppose it may have been good and buttery on pancakes but it definitely didn't have a good mouth feel when chilled.

So I made this recipe... I adore these books... they're by Laura Childs and they are the teashop mysteries. The third book - Shades of Earl Grey, had a Lemon Curd recipe and I got myself some Meyer lemons and had at it...

Haley’s Lemon Curd- From Laura Child’s Shades of Earl Grey 2003
3 large lemons
5 Eggs
1 C granulated sugar
8 TBSP (½ C) Butter
Grate the lemon rind and set aside. Squeeze the juice and put into a blender or food processor. Add remaining ingredients and process until smooth. Pour into the top half of a double boiler. Stir in the lemon rind and cook over simmering water for about 10 minutes until thickened. Stir the mixture with whisk if it appears lumpy. Chill the lemon curd before serving.

I then topped it with a fruit salsa... the strawberries were a bit mushy for this purpose so it's more of a fruity sauce that I think would be excellent on ice cream.

1/2 C Strawberries

3 slices apple - the kind after you use an apple corer on it...

1 yellow Kiwi

Pulse in your food processor until *hopefully* chunky and add 1/2 tsp apple jelly. Mine was apple cinnamon jelly from Knotts Berry Farm.

(This is also excellent with cinnamon sugar pita chips)

**more pictures later**

So I've done something new... something that matters.

Of course... everything that matters is in here. As the end of the year rolls around, I look back and realize that it sure does seem like food matters a lot... But I've joined a group called Daring Bakers and each month, there is a recipe intended to challenge you and make you bake outside your normal box of comfort.

So without further interuption.... I bring you my first ever completed Daring Baker's Challenge...

This month's challenge is brought to us by the adventurous Hilda from Saffron and Blueberry and Marion from Il en Faut Peu Pour Etre Heureux.They have chosen a French Yule Log by Flore from Florilege Gourmand.

That is my completed log... well... mostly. I had icing issues... And it all slid off of the "log" which looks suspiciously like a cake. LOL

My favorite layer by far was my crisp layer... I made it with melted sugar free dark chocolate, frosted flakes and crushed candy canes.

Oh my goodness this part was wonderful and even though I am trying... !! very hard... to follow an Atkins lifestyle, I would certainly blow a few carbs on frosted flakes so that I could make and eat this again.

So the "log" consisted of a thin spongy cake layer, a mousse layer, the crisp, a creme brulee layer and the icing.

I had issues with my creme brulee layer when I didn't put enough of it into the "mold" ie: pie plate... so when I unmolded it to put into the final product, it split up and was a very thin layer. Fortunately, I had more of the brulee that I had put into another bowl so I was able to fit that in for an even cover.

I made the cake as a chocolate cake, white chocolate peppermint mousse, a dark chocolate peppermint ganache, the peppermint crisp, chocolate creme brulee and chocolate icing.

It was quite yummy and a very worth while experience to attempt making this dessert.

My icing issues were solved with a very nice spray of whipped cream and crushed candy canes.

More cupcake bites!

Okay... so cupcake bites... Pumpkin Spice Version....

Take that left over half pumpkin spice cake... or in this case a little more than half... and crumb it up...

And then... add 1/2 a can of Cream Cheese Frosting... maybe a little less because that pumpkin cake was quite moist already.

Mix up and chill... roll into balls and treat them the same way - White coating into Peanut Butter cup mold, chill and dip again.

I wanted these to be a little different as well as the fact that pink jelly bean halves wouldn't have worked on pink coating... so pumpkin spice are topped with 1/2 of a cream soda jelly belly and I think they're just adorable and you know what? they were yummy too!

Baby Shower cupcake bites

Start with one chocolate cake...
Cake mix is fine....

Crumb it up once it's completely cooled.....

Add one container of frosting - this was yummy... the little chocolate chips in it were soooo good for the texture. Chill...

Roll into balls.......

Use White chocolate candy melts and your handy dandy peanut butter cup mold... put the chocolate in the bottom and put a cake ball in it and stick in freezer.

Once chilled... dip into various pastel tops... I used a cut in half jelly bean for the top... and just little round sprinkles for them.

The pink jelly beans were for the chocolate ones...

As you can see from the platter there were some with a cream jelly bean on top... I'll blog about those with the next post.

Oh... and the cupcake in the middle was purchased at the bakery... after making so many cupcakes... LOL I couldn't begin to make one that was a regular cupcake. And I certainly don't have the frosting skills to turn out one of those roses! But doesn't it match wonderfully?

Pumpkin Trifle

So my super secret pumpkin trifle... is yummy.



First up... cake.

Make 1 pkg spice cake according to directions, only cut back a little on the oil and water. Because you're going to add 1/2 a 15 oz can of pumpkin puree to it.

Bake according to directions and cut part of it into cubes once cooled.



Second.... it's a little washed out in this picture but the mixture in the measuring cup is our pumpkin mousse....

1/2 of a 15 oz can of pumpkin puree... (admit it... you were wondering what we were going to do with the other 1/2 of the can. ... )

1 1 oz pkg sugar free butterscotch pudding mix

1 C milk or half ~n~ half

3 tsp pumpkin pie spice.

1/2 of an 8oz container of cool whip.

Mix your choice of milk with the pudding mix and chill for 5 minutes. When thickened, stir with wire whisk to work out any lumps. Stir in pumpkin and spice. Once mixed, fold in the cool whip. Chill until ready to assemble.

To assemble....

start with a layer of cake cubes... top with pumpkin mousse and a layer of cool whip. Top with some sliced almonds or chopped pecans.

Repeat.

Repeat as often as your bowl... trifle dish.... crystal ice bucket from your grandma... will allow.

And.... Enjoy!

So I made some yummy cookies.... low carb cookies.... Pumpkin cookies.

And here's the recipe...

Pumpkin Cookies

1 ½ C low carb baking mix

½ tsp salt

½ tsp baking soda

½ tsp baking powder

2 TBSP cinnamon

1 tsp ground ginger

½ tsp ground fresh nutmeg

1 tsp pumpkin pie spice

½ C splenda

½ C splenda brown sugar mix

½ C canola oil

1 ½ cup pumpkin

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350F. Prepare to baking sheets lined with parchment paper.
In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, baking soda, baking powder, and spices. Set aside.In a separate bowl, whisk to sugars and oil together. Add the pumpkin puree and whisk to combine thoroughly. Add the eggs and vanilla and whisk until combined.Sprinkle the flour mixture over the pumpkin mixture and whisk until completely combined.Use a small ice cream scoop with a release mechanism to drop healing TBSP of the dough onto the prepared baking sheets, about 1 inch apart.Bake for 10-12 minutes, until the cookies are just starting to crack on top and a toothpick inserted into the center of a cookie comes out clean. Remove from the oven and let the cookies cool completely on the pan. They will look more like mini cakes then cookies, so don’t panic about that.


So they're just yummy! Even with being low carb.

The original recipe is for them as whoopie pies... with a cream filling. But... I have discovered a much more lovely use for them.

Start by cutting them in half.... because mine are a little thick. LOL

And then.....

Because a very lovely person sent you some Sugar Free Caramel sauce from Harry and David... and it's a lovely thick Caramel.... oooh so yummy!

Place a teaspoon of caramel sauce on the cookie and put the top back on it......

OOOOOH yum....

Pssst! They're even better chilled.....