Lemon-Cream Sandwich Cookies

Yesterday was my friend's baby shower so I made these cookies to celebrate! Both the filling and cookie are lemon flavored:

Recipe from Bon Appetit magazine (Jan 2009)

Cookie:
1/2 cup fresh lemon juice
1 Tbsp lemon zest
3 3/4 cup flour
1 tsp salt ( I used 1/4)
1/2 tsp baking soda
2 sticks unsalted butter
1 1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs
2 egg yolks

Filling:
1 1/2 Tbsp lemon zest
dash salt
1 stick unsalted butter
2 cups powdered sugar

Cookies:
Boil lemon juice and zest in saucepan till reduced to 2 Tbsp. Let cool. Beat butter till fluffly, add sugar and mix well. Beat in eggs and yolks, one at a time. Add lemon juice. In another bowl, sift together dry ingredients. Then add the dry to the wet mixture and blend. Cover and chill dough till firm, at least 4 hours and up to 1 day.

Preheat oven to 375. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Roll out 1/3 dough to 3/8 thickness. Using 2 inch round cutter, cut out cookies. Bake 10-12 min. (I used a 1 inch round and made them thinner and ended up with almost 100, so you may need to adjust depending how many you want, and the size of your cutter). Repeat with remaining dough.

Filling:
Mash zest and salt into a paste. Add butter. Beat with electric mixer till fluffly. Add sugar in 4 batches, beating after each till blended.
(Can be made 1 day ahead. Cover and refrigerate. Bring to room temp before using).

Edible Garden

This year, with the pigeon netting in place, we can actually sit outside and enjoy the balcony. I can also grow a lot more edible plants without being worried they'll be contaminated.

I bought 2 big tubs of basil, 2 tomato plants (one yellow cherry tomato and another medium sized red tomato) and a lettuce mix.

I learned from previous years that buying only one basil plant prevented me from plucking enough leaves, to make pesto. So I went a little overboard..... My calamondin/calamansi plant is still going strong making tiny sour oranges that I use to season seafood with.

And lastly, I learned that wrought iron furniture isn't comfortable for more than a half hour at a time, so I invested in some nice thick cushions. Time to spend some quality reading time with my plants.

Whole Wheat Biscuits

We went up to Vermont a few weeks ago and brought back a brick of Grafton Village Sage cheese. With no crackers, or baguettes on hand, I made the quickest bread-like food I could think of: BISCUITS!! My whole wheat flour doesn't get much use, so I found this recipe. Super tasty, super easy.

Blueberry Pie

Instead of a traditional lattice, I decided to have some fun with my tiny cookie cutters. The pie shell and top layer were 2 different pre-made doughs, so unfortunately I over-baked the shell a bit.

I also had a bizarre incident when making the filling, which I've made plenty of times in the past. Some recipes tell you to use a "non-reactive" bowl or pan. I must have used a "reactive" pan because when cooking the sugar and blueberries, the sugar started to crystalize into these really hard white chunks and they wouldn't dissolve. I ended up sieving them out and losing a few blueberries in the process.

This filling recipe is from my pastry course packet, by Nick Malgieri. What's great about this particular method is that you end up with 2 different textures in the fruit: A super soft, well-cooked portion, which is used to develop the syrup and a firmer batch, which is added right before baking.

Filling:
2 pints blueberries (measure out 1 cup for cooking)
3/4 cup sugar
3 Tbsp cornstarch
3 Tbsp water
1 tsp finely grated lemon zest
1/2 tsp cinnamon (I prefer 1/4 tsp)
1/4 tsp nutmeg
2 Tbsp unsalted butter
1 egg beaten (for the wash on top)

Preheat oven to 375

Combine 1 cup of blueberries with the sugar in a non-reactive saucepan. Bring to a simmer over low heat, stir till sugar is melted and the mixture is very liquid (5 min). In a separate bowl, mix the water and cornstarch and whisk into blueberry/sugar mixture. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly till it boils, thickens and "becomes clear" (loses the murkiness). Pour into a large bowl and stir in the seasonings and lastly the blueberries.

Pour into pie shell. Cover with lattice or top crust, brush with egg wash. Optional: Sprinkle with sugar. Bake for 40 min.

World's Largest Burger

The Australians have set a new record for the world's largest burger, weighing in at 95.5 kg (roughly 210 lbs).

The burger required 81kg of mince, 120 eggs, 16 tomatoes, 120 cheese slices, 2kg of lettuce, 21kg of bread and half a kilo of barbecue sauce.

(via The Daily Telegraph)

Coconut Macaroons

Sometimes the best recipes are found on the back of the ingredients:

1 pkg (7oz) sweetened coconut flakes
3 Tbsp flour
1/3 cup sugar
1/8 tsp salt
2 egg whites
1/2 tsp almond extract

Mix the dry ingredients together, then add the egg whites and almond extract until well blended. Drop by the tablespoon onto a greased cookie sheet. Bake at 325 for 20 minutes. Let cool completely.

Melt 4 squares of semi-sweet baking chocolate and dip cookies halfway. Let stand at room temperature or refrigerate on wax paper-lined tray for 30 min.

Curried Carrot Soup

I have a whole new appreciation for carrots now.

Recipe from Martha Stewart's Everyday Food. You will need a LARGE pot for this

2 Tbsp butter
1 cup chopped onion
1 tsp curry powder
2 tsp salt, 1/4 tsp pepper
3.5 cups low sodium broth
3 cups water
2 lbs carrots, peeled and cut into 1 inch chunks (if you use baby carrots, it'll save you a lot of trouble)
2 Tbsp lemon juice

Heat butter in a 4-5 quart pot. Add onion, curry, salt and pepper. Cook till onion is soft. Add broth, carrots and 3 cups of water. Bring to boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer till carrots are tender (20 min). In a blender, puree soup till smooth. Add lemon juice.