Mixing together two favorites

 

Every once in awhile a light bulb goes off on the baking side of my brain.  And sometimes that light bulb ends up with awesome results like this one…..

I was having a pretty crappy day yesterday, but this is not the time or place for those issues….so when I have a crappy day I try to think of things that make me happy.  I will also say it was a little gloomy yesterday too, and I was missing all the sunshine we had last week.  So I decided to create some of my own sunshine, in the form of LEMON CURD.    And even though I would be happy just eating said lemon curd out of the jar with a spoon….I figured the family would rather something else yummy for snack/dessert.  And since this pound cake recipe turned out SO well, I decided to combine the two. 

I bring you….Vanilla Bean Pound Cake, with Lemon Curd swirled inside.  It is TO DIE FOR.   Basically I just layered the pound cake batter with the Lemon Curd in between….and the curd stayed nice and soft.  Just perfect.

If you are every having a bad day I strongly suggest you make some of this….you can’t help but smile at a bowl of bright yellow lemony goodness.  Trust me.  It worked for me. 

Look at this cake:

Salted Vanilla Bean Caramel Sauce

 

Yes, it is as wonderful as it sounds….check out my guest post over at She’s Becoming Doughmesstic and show Susan and I some LOVE!

Wordless Wednesday

THIS is how you eat a cupcake….

Blueberry Pie Love

It is a week until Love Day.  I adore Love Day (otherwise known as Valentine’s Day)!  Even though I try to Love BIG every day, there is still that spark of Valentine’s Day that fills me with even more love.

To celebrate this upcoming day of love, I thought that it would be fun to shower my loved ones with some of my favorite goodies…..one for each day of the week before the big day.  Fun and full of love right? 

So today I decided to make a couple of mini Blueberry Pies.  I don’t think the boys have ever tried blueberry pie…..a shame, I know. 

Mini Blueberry Pie (makes 2 – enough to share with little ones)

Blueberry Pie:

Ingredients:

2 cups Fresh Blueberries

1/4 cup sugar

3 tbsp Flour

Juice from 1/2 lemon

Preheat the oven to 425 deg.

I will admit – I cheated and used a store bought crust – and this brings me a little shame (I suffer from sever pie crust failure).

Roll out the crust a little bigger than pre-made – you need it a bit bigger to cut out the right size for the bottom crust.  Use the edges of the pie dough to cut strips to make the lattice top.  I chose to cut out a few little hearts to celebrate the occasion.

Butter the cute mini pie plates, place the dough in the plate and make sure there aren’t any air bubbles under the crust.

Place berries in a medium sized bowl and gently stir in the sugar, flour, and lemon juice.  Let sit for a few minutes to merry before spooning into your pie shell.   Gently give the berries one last turn and then spoon the mixture into your pie shells. 

Take the strips of pie dough and create the lattice top.  Use a wet fingertip to secure the lattice to the bottom shell.  Cut off excess.

Using 1 egg and a tsp of water create an egg wash.  Brush the egg wash onto the crust and then sprinkle with some sugar.

Bake at 425 deg for 15 minutes.  Then reduce oven temp to 375 deg.  At this time check to see if the lattice top is getting too dark (mine was a little) – if it is tent the pies with foil.  Bake for another 30 – 40 minutes til filling is bubbly and crust looks baked.

Let cool before digging in.  I recommend eating Blueberry Pie with Vanilla Ice Cream, if you have it.

Enjoy….and don’t forget to Love BIG.

Sunday Supper and a National FOOD holiday!

 

Happy National Pie Day!!  I know, holidays for food.  But did you know that each day of the year is a holiday for a different kind of food?  Check out my friend Susan’s blog for a daily round up for each special food’s holiday.  Incredible, right?

Pie Day!  I have many favourite kinds of pie.  I love a great lemon meringue, chocolate cream, strawberry, cherry….etc.  But nothing beats a really great APPLE pie.  It has to be really great.  This past Thanksgiving the Stenzel’s were invited over to the household of Team Wallace for dinner.  It was an honour to be included in their family celebrations.  And of course I wanted to contribute, I begged to be able to contribute.  To show up empty handed would have been awful for me.  Nikki was kind enough to oblige my desire to cook or bake and asked me to bring an apple pie. Just one??  Yup, just one.  So I was on the quest to make the BEST apple pie I could find.  And it would have to be tested before Turkey Day.  Poor Jason.  He a lot of pie that month (though didn’t complain once).  After several different crust and pie fillings, it was decided that The Pioneer Woman’s Dreamy Apple Pie would be what was served at Casa Wallace.  It is perfect.  It isn’t easy to describe this pie.  Just perfect.  I love a single crust apple pie. Don’t get me wrong, I love a flaky pie crust…but this pie doesn’t need that double crust. It has a crunchy nutty topping that is heaven….probably why she called it a Dreamy Apple Pie.

For National Pie Day, I decided to make mini versions of this pie.  I cut the recipe into thirds and baked them in these really cute mini pie plates I picked up at World Market (did you know I collect pie plates??).  A third fit perfectly….baked them for 45 minutes and they were done.  As all apple pie should be served, I scooped a perfect scoop of vanilla bean ice cream on top. And then Jason suggested some caramel sauce….a decadent finish, but not necessary.  For Thanksgiving I made The Pioneer Woman’s Maple Whiskey Sauce, which later was named Pie Crack by a certain Wallace.

I recommend pie.  For any occasion. A simple Sunday Supper, a birthday, a more traditional holiday, but definitely for today….National Pie Day!

Did you make a pie today??  What kind?  Have a recipe to share?  Share a link!!

TWD - Vanilla Ice Cream

In the past couple of months I have made a few different ice creams, different bases, etc....and I have to say...I love a custard base ice cream. It is so rich and sticks to your tongue. It may be a bit more work, but it is so worth it. I didn't realize how easy it is to make ice cream without a maker - believe me, I wish I had one, and hope to get one soon - but you can make these delicious treats without one. Just check out how to here.

Dorie's Vanilla Ice Cream is yummy. She gives options of either using vanilla extract or a vanilla bean. GO WITH THE BEAN. Scrape out the seeds and boil the bean - get that flavour out. It makes a difference. Seeing all those little specks makes me smile too!

Be sure to check out the TWD blog roll and see what other's made with this week's recipe. And check out Lynne's blog, Cafe Lynnylu, for this week's recipe.

Take Care,
Tania
Love Big, Bake Often

Sundae Sunday.....Cherry Lime

I love Cherry and Lime together. Sonic does it right - they made a mean Cherry Limeade....but I don't get there often enough (which is probably a good thing!). I think it is a great combination.






So today when I was thinking about what to make to go with my TWD Vanilla Ice Cream, I looked in the fridge and found a lot of limes and some dark cherries. So when the fridge gives you limes, what do you do? You make Lime Curd! And I thought about mixing it directly into the vanilla ice cream but I wanted to keep it pure. And then with the cherries I decided to just chop them up and cook them into a sauce with some sugar and water....it is so dark and rich. I hope I please my Twitter friends who said they would like to see something with fruit!





When I served it up I decided to just pour the warmed cherries over the ice cream and dolloped the lime curd on the side. Delish. I have already posted Dorie's recipe for Lemon Curd, and just changed the juice to lime....you can find it here.

And you will not be getting the recipe for the Vanilla Ice Cream - though I know you want it! I mean, LOOK AT THOSE VANILLA SPECKS! It's for Tuesdays with Dorie this week and I will be sure to link you to the host with the recipe.

Take care,
Tania
Love Big, Bake Often

Sundae Sunday

It's summer. It's hot in Georgia. Ice Cream always makes the heat so much more bearable. And what better way to eat ice cream than in a sundae?? We haven't been eating too much ice cream around here. We have always made it a special treat for all of us. When the boys get ice cream they always make such a big deal about it and ooohhh and awwww and there is always a "Thank You Mama" after eating it.
Alot of my blogging friends have been making their own ice cream and I have been drooling over their blogs lately! We don't own and ice cream maker. (boo hoo) And I recently made it without one, but I really really want one.

So for the rest of the summer I am planning on featuring a homemade ice cream and some kind of sundae topping. This week is store bought ice cream....I could have waited til next week to launch this idea, but I really really wanted to make some Hot Fudge Sauce! So we had Edy's French Vanilla in the freezer and went with that! Next week....who knows....leave me a comment and suggest an ice cream for me to make (I might have a new maker by then!!)


But in the meantime look at this Hot Fudge Sauce!


It is lush, rich, thick, shiny, and absolutely delicious! Thank you Dorie Greenspan!
I made her recipe from her book "Baking, From my home to yours".

Here is the recipe,
Courtesy of Dorie Greenspan

1/2 stick (4 tablespoons) unsalted butter cut into pieces
6 oz bittersweet or semi-sweet chocolate, finely chopped (I used choc chips!)
3/4 cup heavy cream
3 tablespoons light corn syrup
2 tablespoons sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt

Set a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of simmering water, put the butter in the bowl, top with the chocolate and heat, stirring once or twice, until the ingredients are melted. Keep the heat very low - you don't want the mixture to get so hot that the butter and chocolate separate. Transfer the bowl to the counter when the mixture is smooth.

In a small heavy-bottomed saucepan, stir together the cream, corn syrup, sugar and salt, then bring to a boil. Boil for 1 minute and remove the pan from the heat.

Pour about one quarter of the hot cream over the chocolate and, with a rubber spatula and starting in the center of the bowl, stir the two mixtures together in ever-widening concentric circles. When it is smooth, pour over the remainder of the cream in 2 additions, stirring gently until the sauce is shiny and smooth again.

Allow the sauce to cool for about 10 minutes.

Store the sauce in a tightly covered jar in the refrigerator for up to 3 weeks. Warm it gently in the microwave to bring to pourable consistency.

Ok...I have to say that I will never by jarred hot fudge sauce again. Why? When in ten minutes you can have this?!?!? I'm hooked.

I have lots of sundae toppings in my head. Need to write them out so that I can get them out of my head and onto recipe cards. For next week I am thinking caramel...but caramel ice cream or sauce? hmmmmm.....

Hope everyone had a good weekend...and that you were able to end yours with a sundae too!

Take care,
Tania
Love Big, Bake Often

Put the Lime Curd in the Cupcake!

Instead of "put the lime in the coconut"....get it? I try to be funny... is it working?

I don't know where this lime obsession is coming from the past couple of days, but I am lovin' it! The lime curd I made yesterday turned out luscious....that's right....LUSCIOUS. I wanted a cupcake to go along with it that would hold up to this fantastic lime curd. So I asked my friend CB, from I Heart Cuppycakes to send me a link to her best go to vanilla cupcake recipe....and this is what she sent...you can find her version here. (Thank you for responding to me so quickly - gotta love twitter!)

Lime Vanilla Cupcakes

Makes about 12

1-1/4 cups AP flour

1-1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

3/4 cup sugar

Zest from one lime

6 tbsp butter, room temperature

1 large egg + 1 egg white, room temperature

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 cup milk

Preheat oven to 350F.

Line cupcake pan with paper liners.

In a large bowl, sift flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside. Zest lime and with fingers rub the sugar with the lime zest. In a stand mixer, fitted with flat beater, beat the lime sugar and butter until well combined, about 2-3 minutes. Add egg and egg white, one at a time, beating on low.

Then add vanilla. Gradually add flour mixture in 3 additions, alternating with milk in 2 additions, ending with the flour mixture.

Fill cupcake liners about 1/2-2/3 full. Bake for about 17-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.

Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting

6 oz Cream Cheese

1 1/2 Sticks Softened Butter

2 tsp Lemon Extract

1 Tbsp Half and Half

Approx 6 - 7 cups of Icing Sugar

Cream together butter and cream cheese. Add in Half and Half and Lemon Extract. Add Icing Sugar until you reach the consitency you are looking for....I like to have it spreadable but stiff enough to hold the swirls and peaks!

I used the simple "cone" method to fill these cupcakes. I took a sharp knife, coned out a piece of the cupcake, cut off the bottom of the cone, put in the lime curd, and put the top of the cupcake back on. Just like this......

Then I frosted them with the Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting. Lemon Lime Vanilla Cupcakes. They were a hit at the meeting and I actually was able to sneak a couple to bring back home for Jason and I to enjoy. They are delicious. Oh, and luscious. What a great word!

This is my last posting for NaBloPoMo......whew....it was tough to make sure to post everyday. But a very fun experiment. I may chose to do it for another month....guess I have to decide tomorrow..... thoughts?

That's it for tonight all....hope you had a good April!

Take Care,
Tania

Love Big, Bake Often

TWD - Aborio Rice Pudding - Vanilla!

I know that it isn't a favourite of everyone, but I love rice pudding. It is comforting, warm, yummy and reminds me of being little in the winter. So now that it is getting cold here in CT and I am feeling so crummy, rice pudding is a great recipe for me this week. I took the time to check out the q&a on the TWD site and decided to use a little less milk and cook the rice in the milk a little longer. The other thing I did differently was I used my homemade vanilla sugar in it. I really liked seeing all the little black specks of vanilla in the milk as I brought it to a boil. And the smell was fantastic, being able to smell it even though I was stuffed up was quite wonderful.

I decided to not go the chocolate rice pudding route - I love just plain old vanilla rice pudding, don't mess with what you like.

Here are some pictures:

The Vanilla Sugar...

The specks in the milk - cool, eh?

The finished product, not a good shot, late in the day

I haven't tried it yet, not going to be finished its six hours before I go to bed (early). But I am really, really looking forward to it for breakfast.

The only thing I have to say about this recipe is that I wish it made more. I was surprised that I was able to put it in a cereal bowl. Not what I would call four servings.

Will let you know how it tastes tomorrow.

Love Big, Bake Often

T