Lemon Curd

Posted on June 17, 2011 by sparecake

Until roughly a year ago, I didn’t even know lemon curd existed. What a sad, bleak existence that was. This stuff is great! Last week a recipe for lemon curd ice cream popped up in my google reader feed, and I knew I had to make some! To make the ice cream, though, first you have to make the curd. I quadrupled the recipe I usually use, as I wanted to make a bunch of ice cream, but I’ll just put the original recipe here, which makes roughly 2/3 of a cup of lemon curd. I’ve doubled it before, and now quadrupled it, and it comes out great no matter how much you make! Just be careful, if you’re making a ton, not to get bored and wander off when you should be stirring.

Whisk together lemon juice, lemon zest, sugar and an egg in a saucepan. Stir in chunks of butter.

Looks about like you'd expect...

Put it over medium low heat, stirring constantly, until it thickens enough to start holding marks from your whisk/spatula, and bubbles just start to appear. For a single batch, this should only take 4 or 5 minutes. For larger batches, it’ll take a bit longer. Once it’s thickened, transfer it to a bowl, cover, and chill in the fridge until cold.

Bowl, measuring cup, whatever... oh look 2 2/3 cup is enough for two batches of ice cream! How convenient!

Once it’s cooled, you can spread it on toast for a good breakfast…

If you look closely you can still see little bits of zest in there.

Use it as a layer in a trifle…

That was a fun day=)

Or turn it into ice cream! All valid options. Ice cream recipe coming up next!

Lemon Curd

From smitten kitchen (scroll down, it’s underneath the main recipe)

  • 3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
  • 3/4 teaspoon fresh lemon zest, finely grated
  • 3 tablespoons sugar
  • 1 large egg
  • 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

Whisk together juice, zest, sugar, and egg in a 1-quart heavy saucepan. Stir in butter and cook over moderately low heat, whisking frequently, until curd is thick enough to hold marks of whisk and first bubble appears on surface, about 4 to 5 minutes. Transfer lemon curd to a bowl and chill, its surface covered with plastic wrap, until cold, at least 1 hour.

Posted in Breakfast, Dessert | Tagged | 5 Comments

Preparing for the Rewarmening

Posted on June 16, 2011 by sparecake

Picture from explodingdog.com

This weekend I’m having a house re-warming – I’ve lived here for several years, but my two roommates are new. I’ve so far made lemon curd ice cream and bought the ingredients for a lemonade cake. We just drew up the rest of the shopping list, and I thought it was ridiculous enough to share.

  • kit kats
  • bisquick
  • milk
  • oil
  • capri sun
  • booze
  • marshmallows
  • gummies/twizzlers
  • rice krispies
  • fruit roll-ups
  • chocolate chips
  • hot dogs
  • pickles
  • bbq sauce
  • shredded cheddar
  • pizza crusts
  • bacon

Also…antacids? Alli?

Posted in Party! | Tagged | 2 Comments

Pineapple Brown Sugar Chicken

Posted on June 15, 2011 by sparecake

This dish used to be my go-to, only-thing-I-was-confident-enough-to-serve-to-others dish. Not sure what happened, but I don’t think I’d made it in a few years. It’s still just as good, sweet, and fruity as before. It’s also easy – not much hands-on time.

Start off by combining a can of pineapple chunks with a bunch of brown sugar, and stirring until the sugar is dissolved in the pineapple juice.

Mmm, sugar! Hah, did you know both my parents are dentists?

Place your chicken breasts in an 8X8″ baking dish. Cut off any particularly massive/offensive chunks of fat, but otherwise leave the breasts whole. Pour the pineapple/brown sugar mixture over the chicken.

This will be delicious so soon!

Throw it in the oven for 55 minutes, get some rice cooking as well, and take a quick nap. Or make a side? I marinated some asparagus in soy sauce with garlic for a few hours earlier that day, and just cooked that on a flat pan towards the end of the 55 minute, but feel free to do something fancier.

Obligatory green thing.

Once the chicken is done cooking, carefully (not because this is important or easy to mess up, just because you don’t want to burn yourself) pour off the pineapple juice into a pot. It’s ok if a few chunks of pineapple go into the pot, but try to keep them mostly in the dish with the chicken. Throw some foil over the chicken and pineapple to keep it warm, and put it aside for a minute. Put the pineapple juice pot on the stove, and heat over medium high heat, stirring frequently and using cornstarch to thicken to a consistency you like. I aim for duck sauce-esque.

If you’re not too familiar with cornstarch,  don’t pour the powder straight from the box into anything you’re trying to thicken – it’ll just clump up. Instead, put a tablespoon or so (really, don’t bother measuring, it’s not that important) in a cup and mix in a small amount of cold water – just enough to be able to wet all the cornstarch. Stir that up, and then spoon into the liquid you’re thickening and it’ll do the job.

Serve the chicken and pineapple over rice, and top with the pineapple sauce you just made. Yum!

So many food groups, it must be good for you!

Pineapple Brown Sugar Chicken

  • 1 cup packed brown sugar
  • 1 20 ounce can pineapple chunks, including juice
  • 3 – 4 chicken breasts
  • corn starch
  • cold water
  • cooked rice

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine brown sugar and pineapple in medium bowl and stir to dissolve sugar.

Cut any excessive fat chunks off chicken and then place the breasts in an 8X8″ baking dish. Pour the pineapple mixture over the chicken and bake 50-55 minutes or until lightly golden.

Remove chicken from oven and pour pineapple juice into pot. Tent chicken with foil and set aside. Heat juice over medium high heat on the stove and thicken with cornstarch.

Serve chicken over rice, and top with pineapple sauce.

Posted in Dinner | Tagged , , | 8 Comments

Kalamata Olive Bread

Posted on June 13, 2011 by sparecake

Thursday night my friend Anna and I went to this ‘Urban Picnic’ thing at the Textile Museum. It was a fairly DC event – 20-somethings finding any excuse to drink outside while still feeling cultured because they’re at a museum! After getting our pictures taken throwing some fabric leaves, making fun of the hugely pretentious descriptions of all the exhibits, and hanging out on picnic blankets for a while, we talked to a guy selling goat cheese made in Maryland.

We'd just biked across town and up a hill in 101 degree heat. The fact we were standing, rather than puddling, is a feat in and of itself.

I’d been thinking about making olive bread for a while, and getting some goat cheese was the final motivator.  If you weren’t aware…this is good combo. Even if you’re too lazy to make the bread, next weekend you could probably get both items at a farmers market, and it’d be worth your while.

This bread starts with, appropriately enough, a starter. Combine water and yeast in a medium mixing bowl and stir to dissolve the yeast. Add the flour and stir until fully incorporated. Cover with a cloth and leave to ferment at room temperature for half an hour. I nearly put this in just a regular cereal bowl sized bowl…don’t do it, the starter gets too big for that.

After half an hour, it's pretty big.

At the end of the half an hour, in a large bowl combine water, honey, and yeast. Again, stir to dissolve the yeast. Add all the remaining ingredients, including the risen starter. Stir as well as you can in the bowl, and then turn out on a clean surface and knead until the dough is well mixed and holds together well. Don’t think that you should keep the olives out until towards the end – they hold together better than you might think, plus the bit of moisture that is squeezed out of them adds flavor to the dough and helps moisten it.

Divide the dough in half, and roll each half into a smooth ball. Cover with a warm, damp cloth (or paper towel if all your kitchen towels happen to be in the dryer at that moment…) and let rise for half an hour.

This dough comes together pretty quickly.

Oops, comes together quite litterally if you let the balls rise too close together!

Transfer your risen dough to sheet pans (or you could have put them there for the rise, it isn’t a big deal), and score the tops 3 times with a sharp knife.

You can see the knife marks in there...

Spray the tops with a bit of water, and bake 30-40 minutes, until deep golden brown or until the middle of the loaves is 190-200 degrees, rotating halfway through. Remove to a cooling rack for half an hour, and enjoy!

Lots of olives!

With the sun-dried tomato chevre I got at the Urban Picnic. I've been eating a ton of this in the last 24 hours!

I’ll be submitting this to yeastspotting and Aspiring Bakers, where the theme this month is (still) Bread Seduction, hosted by The Sweetylicious.

Kalamata Olive Bread

Adapted from Panera, actually!

Starter:

  • 1 cup warm water (95-105 degrees)
  • 2 teaspoons fresh yeast
  • 1 cup all-purpose flour

Dough:

  • 2/3 cup warm water
  • 3 tablespoons honey
  • 4 teaspoons fresh yeast
  • 1/4 cup + 1 teaspoon vegetable shortening (I know, I know, that is a terrifying amount of Crisco, but it really does make a good textured bread!)
  • 4 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 tablespoon salt
  • the starter
  • 1 3/4 cup (8.5 ounces) pitted kalamata olives

To make the starter, combine the water and yeast in a medium mixing bowl. Stir to dissolve the yeast fully. Add the flour to the bowl and stir until the ingredients are fully incorporated. Cover with a cloth and ferment the starter at room temperature for 30 minutes.

For the dough, combine the water, honey and yeast in the bowl of a stand mixer. Stir to dissolve the yeast fully. Add the remaining ingredients and stir to combine. Turn out onto a clean surface and knead until the dough is evenly incorporated, other than the olives, which should remain mostly whole. Divide the dough into two even pieces and roll each piece of dough into a smooth ball. Place the dough on the counter or in a proofing basket and cover with a warm, damp cloth to rest at room temperature for 30 minutes.Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Transfer the dough to two pans and score each 3 times with a sharp knife. Spray the tops with water and bake 30-40 minutes, until the crusts are a deep golden brown and the middle of the loaves is 190-200 degrees. Halfway through, rotate the breads, both spinning them around and swapping shelves that they are on.Remove the bread from the oven and place it on the cooling rack for 30 minutes. Enjoy!
Posted in Bread | Tagged , | 3 Comments

Cream-Filled Chocolate Supreme Cake

Posted on June 11, 2011 by sparecake

In a shocking (ok, well…) reversal of my usual trend of turning pound cakes into muffins, last night I made a recipe for 12 jumbo muffins into one big ol’ cake. Really, jumbo muffins? Do I really need a third size of muffin tin? I vote no, I have no room for that. On the other hand, the aggravation of taking pictures in an ugly beat up metal 9X13″ pan finally got to me (as did a $10 Amazon gift certificate), and I’ve just ordered a Pyrex dish, so this will be one of the last times, hopefully, you see this particular pan…

Looking at this recipe, I was curious what the filling would taste like in the final product. The short answer is: cookie dough. It tastes like there is a ribbon of cookie dough running through this chocolate cake, and this I support!

To make the filling, you just beat sugar and salt with softened cream cheese until smooth. Beat in an egg and the vanilla until well mixed, and then fold in some chocolate chips and set aside.

Easy enough!

The cake part is just as easy. Combine all the dried goods in one bowl. Realize that bowl is not going to be big enough to stir in.

From this angle it looks potentially possible, but adding anything to this and trying to stir would have made for a really sticky floor.

Move your dried goods to a bigger bowl to give yourself room, and then combine all the wet ingredients in a bowl. Give the wet ingredients a good stir, and then pour them in with the dry, stirring until the dry goods are just evenly moistened.

Pour half the batter in a greased (I might do greased and floured next time) 9X13″ pan and then spread the filling over the top of the batter.

Pour on the other half of the batter, and then bake for 35-40 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. (When I checked at 35, there was still a very liquid shake to the center, but 5 minutes later it was cooked perfectly.) Sprinkle the top with some powdered sugar, and allow to cool a bit before enjoying. This cake retains a good texture for days!

The filling here has sunk all the way to the bottom, other places it's still near the top. Science? Oh, and those olive loaves in the background will be reappearing soon!

The cake’s got a good, solidly chocolate flavor, and as I said before the filling tastes to me of cookie dough. Two great tastes that taste great together!

Cream-Filled Chocolate Supreme Cake

Adapted from Taste of Home.

Cake:

  • 3 cups all-purpose flour
  • 2 cups sugar (don’t worry, you can never have too much)
  • 1/2 cup baking cocoa
  • 2 teaspoons baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 2 cups cold water
  • 3/4 cup canola oil
  • 1 egg
  • 2 tablespoons white vinegar
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Filling:

  • 4 ounces cream cheese, softened
  • 1/4 cup sugar
  • 1/8 teaspoon salt
  • 2 tablespoons beaten egg
  • 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 3/4 cup milk chocolate chips
  • powdered sugar

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Beat the cream cheese, sugar and salt until smooth. Beat in egg and vanilla. Fold in chips and set aside.

In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda and salt. In another bowl, combine the water, oil, egg, vinegar and vanilla. Stir into dry ingredients just until moistened.

Grease and flour a 9X13″ pan. Pour half the batter in the pan, and then spread the filling over the batter in small spoonfuls. Cover with the remaining batter, and bake 35-40 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. If you do have a jumbo muffin tin, this makes 12 of those, which should bake for 25-30 minutes and be cooled for 5 minutes in the tin before being removed to a cooling rack.

Sprinkle with powdered sugar.

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Sorta Lasagna

Posted on June 9, 2011 by sparecake

Looks standard from here!

This is lasagna for people who only eat ricotta in cannoli. It’s also a decent way to eat a lot of vegetables without feeling like you’re eating a lot of vegetables. Which is really the best way to eat a lot of vegetables, wouldn’t you agree?

Anyway, go ahead and put a big pot of water on the stove for the noodles. While the water is coming to a boil, brown your ground beef. When the beef is done, drain any excess fat and put the beef in a large bowl.  If your water’s come to a boil, cook noodles according to package directions – for my 9X13″ dish, I only need 9 noodles to make 3 layers of noodles. I had a different dish that I thought was a 9X13, though, and it was a bit longer but thinner, so…might want to check for yourself.

While the noodles cook, put the mixed vegetables in with the beef. Grate a wedge of asiago cheese and toss 2 cups of cheese in the bowl as well. (Parmesan is ok, and I’ve also used gruyere in this and enjoyed it.)

The veggies make it healthy! The cheese makes it delicious.

Pour about 3/4 of the pasta sauce in with the rest of the filling, and add the ketchup. Stir the filling all together. It should look kinda tasty by now.

Spread enough of the remaining pasta sauce, just a few spoonfuls, in a 9X13″ dish, to put a very thin coating of sauce in the bottom of the dish.  Lay down the first layer of noodles, followed by half of the filling. A second layer of noodles, the other half of the filling, and top with a last layer of noodles. Spread the last few spoonfuls of sauce on the top, and top with the half a cup or so more cheese.

Bake at 350 for 35 minutes, and enjoy!

This stuff was just dying to dive off the spatula and make a mess. A delicious mess.

Sorta Lasagna

  • Lasagna noodles (enough to make 3 layers in a 9X13″ pan, probably 9)
  • 1 1/3 pounds ground beef
  • 16 oz bag of frozen mixed vegetables, thawed
  • a wedge (they’re roughly 2/3 lb?) of asiago cheese
  • 3 tablespoons ketchup
  • 1 large jar of pasta sauce

Start heating a large pot of water to boil your pasta. Brown the ground beef, drain, and place in a large bowl.

Begin boiling the pasta according to package instructions, and preheat your oven to 350 F. Grate 2 1/2 cups of the cheese, and put 2 cups in with the beef. Add the frozen vegetables, ketchup, and 3/4 of the pasta sauce in the bowl and mix until well combined.

Spoon a small amount of the remaining pasta sauce into the bottom of a 9X13″ pan, spreading to create a thin coat. Drain the cooked pasta and put down a layer of noodles to cover the bottom of the pan. Cover with half of the filling. Put down another layer of noodles, and add the other half of the filling. Put on the top layer of noodles and then cover with the remaining pasta sauce. Top with 1/2 cup more of grated cheese and bake for 35 minutes.

Posted in Dinner | Tagged , | 2 Comments

Swirl Bread

Posted on June 7, 2011 by sparecake

This recipe started off as cinnamon raisin bread, but has since gotten a lot more open for creativity and…chocolate, basically. Yeees please.  The bread goes well with cinnamon sugar and raisins, cinnamon sugar and chocolate, asiago cheese (with or without sun dried tomatoes), peanut butter and jelly… it really seems to take well to every filling I’ve tried putting in it.

When you’ve mixed up this dough it rises for two hours. After that you can either bake it that day or put it in the fridge for up to a week. This means you can either have two loaves today, or some cinnamon raisin bread tomorrow and pb&j bread next weekend. Even longer from now, actually, as this is another bread that works well to freeze and toast slices back up when you’re hungry. And, in fact, if you decide to fill it with asiago, I do recommend toasting the slices to get the cheese nice and melty while you’re eating.

To begin, mix the yeast, salt, sugar, water, and buttermilk in a large bowl. Stir in the flour with a spoon, but do not knead. Continue to stir until the dough is evenly mixed, and then cover (not airtight).

Allow the dough to rest for two hours, until it has risen and then collapsed or flattened on top. You can use it now, or refrigerate for up to a week in the same non-air tight bowl. The dough is a bit easier to use after chilling, but it’s not a huge difference.

Whatever day you’re going to use it, grease your loaf pan(s) and set aside. Dust the top of the dough with flour and divide it in half. Take one half of the dough in your hand and shape it into a rough ball by stretching the surface of the dough around to the bottom four times, rotating a quarter-turn each time.

Place on a lightly floured surface and roll out to an 11X18″ rectangle, dusting with flour as necessary. Using a pastry brush, spread the egg wash over the dough, and then sprinkle/coat with whatever topping you are using.

asiago on the left, cinnamon, sugar and chocolate on the right

Starting from the short side, roll it up like a jelly roll. When you’re almost to the end, I’ve found it’s helpful to flour the last 2 or so inches of the outside as you roll them up off the counter, so that once your roll is complete it’s not completely stuck in place.

Pinch the seam and ends shut, and place seam-side down in your bread pan. Let it rise 40 minutes if you made the dough that day, 1 hour and 40 minutes if it had been refrigerated. At the end of the rise, if your filling is something that would be good on top, feel free the brush some more egg wash on the top and sprinkle on some more of the filling.

My risen loaves - I'm pretty sure those bread pans claim to be the same size??

Bake for 35 to 40 minutes until golden brown. For a thicker filling such as cheese, you’re definitely going to want the 40. Remove from the pan and cool on a rack. Breads like this end up with better and texture and taste if you let them cool completely before cutting, much as that’s frustrating.

Final products - the cheese slice toasted for gooeyness!

I’ll be submitting this one to yeastspotting and Aspiring Bakers, where the theme this month is Bread Seduction, hosted by The Sweetylicious.

Cinnamon-Raisin Buttermilk Bread

Adapted from Alexandra Cooks.

Dough:

  • 2 cups lukewarm water
  • 1 cup buttermilk
  • 1½ T. yeast
  • 1½ T. kosher salt
  • 1½ T. sugar
  • 6½ cups unbleached, all-purpose flour
  • butter for greasing the pan

Filling:

  • 1½ tsp. ground cinnamon
  • 1/3 cup sugar
  • ¾ cup raisins/chocolate chips
  • egg wash (1 egg beaten with 1 tablespoon water)
  • (or 2 cups of cheese, or whatever else you’re interested in!)

Preparing the dough: Mix the yeast, salt and sugar with the water and buttermilk in a 5-quart mixing bowl or a lidded (not airtight) food container. Mix in the flour without kneading using a spoon until well incorporated. Cover (not airtight) and allow to rest at room temperature until the dough rises and collapses or flattens on top, approximately 2 hours.

The dough can be used immediately after the initial rise, though it is easier to handle when cold. Refrigerate in a lidded (not airtight) container and use over the next 7 days.

On baking day, lightly grease a 9x4x3-inch nonstick loaf pan. Set aside. Dust the surface of the refrigerated dough with flour and divide in half. Quickly shape one half into a ball by stretching the surface of the dough around to the bottom on all four sides, rotating the ball a quarter-turn as you go.

With a rolling pin, roll out the dough to an 11×18-inch rectangle about ¼-inch thick, dusting the board and rolling pin with flour as needed.

Using a pastry brush, cover the surface of the dough lightly with egg wash. Mix together the sugar and cinnamon and sprinkle the mixture evenly over the dough. Distribute the raisins, if using.

Starting from the short side, roll it up jelly-roll style. Pinch the edges and ends together, tucking the ends under. Place the loaf seam-side down in the prepared pan. Allow to rest 1 hour and 40 minutes (or just 40 minutes if you’re using fresh, unrefrigerated dough.)

Twenty minutes before baking, preheat the oven to 375ºF. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes, or until golden brown. Remove from pan and allow to cool before slicing.

Posted in Bread | Tagged | 1 Comment

Reese’s Ice Cream

Posted on June 5, 2011 by sparecake

My former roommate Alex and I used to joke that food eaten either standing inside an open fridge door or over the sink while sobbing has no calories. This ice cream is perfect for those situations, which is good as it’s probably not the healthiest thing ever… It’s got mini Reese’s cups, which, it turns out, are smaller than miniature Reese’s cups. Who knew?

To begin, combine milk, cream, peanut butter, and sugar in a medium sauce pan. Bring it to a simmer over medium heat, stirring, until smooth, about a minute after it reaches a simmer.

My friend Guy came over and did most of the stirring.

Remove the pot from the heat and stir in the vanilla. Let the mixture cool to room temperature, then put in the fridge for at least 2 hours.

We moved it to a bowl, since the pot was hot. I'm sure that made it cool at least 24 seconds faster...

Once it’s chilled, freeze the mixture in an ice cream maker according to manufacturer’s instructions.

Guy had a kind of old fashioned, but still electric, ice cream maker.

The recipe I followed said to spread half the ice cream in a 2 quart container, top with half of the peanut butter cups, then layer on the second halves and swirl the candy in with a spatula. If your ice cream maker can handle chunky mix-ins, I think you could probably just pour them in and let the machine do the mixing.

Freeze the ice cream in an airtight container for at least 3 hours to make it really firm.

Aaaand yum.

Peanut Butter-Peanut Butter Cup Ice Cream

From Culinary Concoctions by Peabody.

  • 1 cup heavy whipping cream
  • 2/3 cups whole milk
  • 1 cup creamy peanut butter
  • 1/2 cup granulated sugar
  • ½ tsp. vanilla extract
  • 1 ½ cups mini peanut butter cups

In a medium saucepan simmer milk, cream, peanut butter, and sugar over medium heat, stirring, until smooth, about 1 minute.

Remove from heat, stir in vanilla, and cool mixture to room temperature. Then place in fridge to chill for at least 2 hours.

Freeze mixture in an ice-cream maker according to manufacturer’s instructions.

Spread one half of the ice cream in a 2-quart container and top with ½ the peanut butter cups. Layer remaining ice cream and peanut butter cups and using a spatula swirl the candy and ice cream together. …Or just mix in with the ice cream maker?

Freeze ice cream in an airtight container for at least 3 hours in order for it to firm up.

Posted in Dessert | Tagged , | 2 Comments

Lemon Sticky Rolls

Posted on June 3, 2011 by sparecake

I’ve had this recipe bookmarked for about as long as I can remember (not saying much), but always figured I’d make regular cinnamon rolls first. That still hasn’t happened, although I did at one point make Peabody’s Cinnamon Roll Cheesecake, but it was definitely time to get on this recipe. They were gooey, sticky, basically everything you could want in a breakfast, and the recipe can be mostly done the night before.

Start off by zesting your 3 lemons and juicing them. You’re going to want 3 portions of zest later, so you might as well keep them separate as you zest them, but the juice can all go in one cup.

zest piles

In a large bowl, sprinkle yeast over your warmed milk and let it sit while you grab the next several ingredients. Stir in the butter, sugar, vanilla, and one cup of the flour. Then add the salt, nutmeg, and one of the zest piles.

Someday I'll have a Kitchenaid. Not today, though...

Stir in the eggs and enough of the remaining flour to make a soft yet sticky dough. For me that was about 4 cups total.

Turn the dough out to a lightly floured surface and knead 5-7 minutes, until smooth and pliable. Place the dough in a greased bowl, rotating so that it gets greased on all sides. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise until nearly doubled, about an hour.

My risen dough.

In the last 5 minutes of that hour, make the filling. Begin by mixing together sugar, nutmeg, and ginger. Using your fingers, combine the second portion of zest by rubbing it into the sugar mixture until it resembles soft sand. Slowly pour in lemon juice, stirring, until the sugar is a wet, clumpy mixture. This took muchless than half of the lemon juice for me.

Wet, clumpy sand anyone?

It’s then time to assemble the rolls! Start out by greasing a 9X13″ dish. Turn your risen dough out again onto a lightly floured surface and pat/roll it out to a 10X15″ rectangle. The dough will still be thick.

Spread the dough with melted butter, and cover that with the sugar mixture.

Roll the dough up tightly from one of the long sides, keeping the dough taught to prevent leakage.  Cut the roll into 12 slices. Pinch one side of each roll closed, to hold in the filling, and lay them in the pan, pinched side down. Cover the rolls and allow them to rise for an hour, or until nearly doubled. You can refrigerate the rolls at this point for up to a day, just give them an hour to rise the next day between the fridge and the oven.

No more gaps by the next day...

Bake the rolls for 35 minutes, during which time you can clean up and make the glaze.

Looking a bit gooey straight out of the oven, pre-glaze.

For the glaze, whip your cream cheese in a food processor, mixer, or blender until light and fluffy. Add lemon juice and blend until well combined. The original recipe says ‘the remaining lemon juice,’ but I found that to be too much – 1/4 cup is probably plenty. Then add the powdered sugar and blend until smooth and creamy.

When the rolls come out of the oven, smear them with the glaze and sprinkle the remaining lemon zest on top. Let cool 10 minutes, and then dig in!

Too much lemon juice made this a bit of a flood, but it solidified over time.

Yay!

I’m submitting this post to YeastSpotting, a grand place to find baking ideas.

Sticky Lemon Rolls with Lemon Cream Cheese Glaze

Adapted from The Kitchn

Lemon Roll Dough

  • 3 lemons
  • 1 envelope (0.25 ounces, or 2 1/2 teaspoons) active yeast
  • 3/4 cup milk, warmed to about 100°F (warm but not hot on your wrist)
  • 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, very soft
  • 1/4 cup white sugar
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 4 1/2 cups flour
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
  • 2 eggs

Sticky Lemon Filling

  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1/4 teaspoon freshly-ground nutmeg
  • 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, very soft

Lemon Cream Cheese Glaze

  • 4 ounces cream cheese, softened
  • 1 cup powdered sugar

Making the dough:
Zest and juice the lemons, keeping the zest in 3 parts and setting aside the juice for now.

In a large bowl sprinkle the yeast over the warmed milk and let it sit for a few minutes. Stir in the softened butter, sugar, vanilla, and one cup of the flour. Stir in the salt, nutmeg, and one part (1/3) of the lemon zest. Stir in the eggs and enough of the remaining flour to make a soft yet sticky dough. Turn the  dough out onto a lightly floured countertop. Knead for 5 to 7 minutes, or until the dough is smooth, pliable, and stretchy.

Place the dough in a greased bowl, rotating to oil the dough on all sides. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and a towel and let the dough rise until nearly doubled — about an hour.

Making the filling:
In a small bowl, mix the sugar with the nutmeg and cinnamon, then work in the second part of the lemon zest (1/3) with the tips of your fingers until the sugar resembles soft sand. Slowly pour in one part of the lemon juice, stirring. Stop when the sugar and lemon juice form a wet, clumpy mixture. (You may use one half of the lemon juice; you may stop before completely adding that half of the lemon juice.)

Assembling the rolls:
Lightly grease a 13×9 inch baking dish with baking spray or butter. On a floured surface pat the dough out into a large yet still thick rectangle — about 10×15 inches.

Spread the dough evenly with the 3 tablespoons of softened butter, then pour and spread the lemon-sugar mixture over top. Roll the dough up tightly, starting from the top long end. Stretch and pull the dough taut as you roll, to keep the lemon sugar firml inside. Cut the long dough roll into 12 even rolls. Pinch the bottom of each roll closed and place each one, open and cut side up, in the prepared baking dish.

Cover the rolls with a towel and let them rise for an hour or until puffy and nearly doubled. (You can also refrigerate the rolls at this point. Cover the pan tightly with plastic wrap, and place it in the refrigerator for up to 24 hours. When you are ready to bake the rolls, remove the pan from the fridge, and let them rise for an hour.)

Heat the oven to 350°F. Place the risen rolls in the oven and bake for 35 minutes or until a thermometer inserted into a center roll reads 190°F.

Making the glaze:
While the rolls are baking, prepare the glaze. In a small food processor (or with a mixer, or a sturdy whisk), whip the cream cheese until light and fluffy. Add roughly 1/4 cup of the remaining lemon juice and blend until well combined. Add the powdered sugar and blend until smooth and creamy.

Finish the rolls:
When the rolls are done, smear them with the cream cheese glaze, and sprinkle the final remaining lemon zest over top to garnish. Let cool for at least 10 minutes before serving, but do serve while still warm.

Posted in Breakfast, Brunch | Tagged , | 2 Comments

Crunchy Lemonade Drumsticks

Posted on June 2, 2011 by sparecake

Let me first warn you: This recipe requires marinating overnight. I hadn’t read very carefully when I started making this, which led to a disappointed, hungry night. The next day, though, we had a really tasty dinner! These drumsticks stay really moist, and the lemon is nice without being grossly tart.

You start off by mixing lemon zest, lemon juice, water, and sugar in a large bowl, and then whisking in buttermilk.

Not the nicest color, but it's gonna be delicious!

Pierce the drumsticks several times with a fork and season with salt and pepper.

Sort of enjoyable stabbing.

Throw ’em in the bowl and refrigerate overnight.

But I'm hungry nooooow!

The next day, take the chicken out of the fridge to warm up to room temperature. Put the panko, thyme, more lemon zest, cayenne, salt and pepper in a big Ziplock and shake to combine. Put a cooling rack on a baking sheet and spray with cooking spray. Put your mayo in a bowl and steel yourself mentally to get kinda gross.

Pull the drumsticks out of the marinade and, with your hands, slather the mayo on the chicken and put them in the bag. Shake them to coat well in panko mixture and then transfer to your greased cooling rack. I found 4 to be about the max number of drumsticks I wanted in the bag at a time.

Bake them until golden, and then flip them and bake until the other side is browned and crisp as well. Remove from the oven and enjoy!

Crispy, lemony, delicious!

Crunchy Lemonade Drumsticks

From Noble Pig

  • 2 Tablespoons grated lemon zest, divided
  • 1/2 cup fresh lemon juice
  • 3 Tablespoons packed light brown sugar
  • 1/3 cup buttermilk
  • 3-1/2-4-1/2 pounds skin-on chicken drumsticks
  • Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
  • 2 cups Panko (Japanese breadcrumbs)
  • 1 teaspoon dried thyme
  • Pinch of cayenne pepper
  • 1/4 cup mayonnaise
  • Olive-oil cooking spray

Mix 1 Tablespoon lemon zest and all of the lemon juice in a large bowl.  Add 1 cup water and the sugar and whisk to dissolve, then whisk in the buttermilk.  Pierce the drumsticks several times with a fork and season with salt and pepper.  Toss in the marinade, cover and refrigerate overnight.

Preheat oven to 400o F.  Bring the chicken to room temperature.  Put the Panko, thyme, the remaining lemon zest, cayenne, 1 teaspoon salt and black pepper in a large resealable plastic bag and shake to mix.  Put the mayonnaise in a bowl.  Set a rack on a baking sheet and spray with cooking spray.

Remove the drumsticks from the marinade and with your hands, slather the mayo on the chicken and drop in the plastic bag, shaking to coat; transfer to the rack.

Mist the chicken with cooking spray.  Bake until golden, about 35 minutes; flip and bake until browned and crisp 35 to 40 minutes more.

Posted in Dinner | Tagged | 2 Comments