Cold Oven Cream Cheese Pound Cake

Found this recipe on Reddit and the batter was enough to make 12 cupcake-sized pound cakes and one loaf for a work potluck. The cupcake-sized pound cakes got overbaked, and were of a hockey puck consistency, so didn't get anyone to eat them. Was able to slice up the loaf, and had a few takers for that. Not sure why it wasn't as popular of a homemade dessert; but the three-layer cake someone else made was more appealing.

Flour measuring method: scoop with a spoon into measuring cup and level

Substitution for cake flour

1 cup cake flour = 1 cup all purpose flour minus 2 tbsp flour plus 2 tbsp cornstarch

Ingredients

1 c. (2 sticks) unsalted butter (8 T. each)
8 oz. cream cheese
3 cups sugar
6 eggs
3 cups cake flour
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract

Instructions

Start with ingredients at room temperature. Butter and flour a loaf 9x5x3 loaf pan and set aside. I have a silicone loaf pan and just lightly grease the inside with unsalted butter.

Using a stand mixer, combine cream cheese, butter, sugar, and vanilla extract until light in color and fluffy. Then, add a whole egg, one at a time and mix to incorporate each egg before adding the next.

Pour batter evenly into a loaf pan or into silicone muffin cups.

Do not preheat oven. Start the bake in a cold oven.

Bake pound cake for 1.5 hours at 325 F, if using an angel food cake tube pan. Let the cake cool in the pan for 20 minutes before removing from the pan.

Bake for 70 minutes at 325 F, if using a loaf pan. Let cool for 10 minutes in the pan on a rack before unmoulding.

Bake for 25 minutes at 350 F, if using making cupcake/muffin tin.

Matcha Madeleines

It's a wonder why there isn't a higher rate of heart disease in France than there is in the US. Perhaps it's our lacking embrace of saturated fat from animal products such as dairy, cheese, butter fat, etc. There is really no reason why these little cakes are so pricey at coffee shops like Starbucks. You're literally eating just a tablespoon of cake batter. So anyways.. onto the recipe. Oh, and one other thing, when using AP flour, if you use unbleached/unbromated flour the cakes will be darker than when using "white" flour.

Ingredients

1/2 c unsalted butter (1 stick or 4 oz or 113 g)
2 large eggs, at room temperature
1 tbsp whole milk
1 c all purpose flour (120 g)
2/3 c organic granulated sugar (133 g)
1 tbsp powdered sugar, plus more for dusting
1 tbsp matcha green tea powder
1 tsp baking powder
pinch of sea salt

Directions

0. Prepare the Madeleine pan(s) with butter and a dusting of flour. Set aside.

1. Melt the butter. Set aside and let cool to room temperature.

2. In a bowl, sift together flour, sugar, matcha powder, powdered sugar, baking powder and sea salt.

3. In a separate bowl, whisk together milk and eggs.

4. Gradually add the flour mixture to the milk/egg mixture and fold in with a spatula. Let the batter rest for at least an hour.

Preheat oven to 375 F (190 C).

5. Bake for 10-12 minutes.Remove from oven and let cool. Gently remove madeleines to a rack.

At this point after the cakes have cooled to room temperature, you could dust them with powdered sugar and eat.

Two ingredient Five-Spice Peach Ice Cream

I had an almost serious thought about how ice cream is made. Much like that fruit-at-the-bottom yogurt concept where it is just plain yogurt + jam, I thought I might try to add a finished jam (five spice peach) to the two-ingredient no-churn ice cream base. These no churn recipes are for the extra lazy. Taste-wise, you're much better off making an actual custard base for ice cream for a more balanced taste that doesn't taste overly dairy-like. The prep time is so short that from start to finish, you could be eating this ice cream in about six hours (what it takes for the mixture to set in the freezer).

Photo-wise, it doesn't look that interesting. And since the jam is essentially pureed peaches with sugar, pectin, and spices, there aren't visual orange peach bits in the ice cream. I think the "five spice peach jam" comes from the Food in Jars cookbooks.

This has the texture of an ice cream; but it lack the body and flavor depth that an egg-based custard brings to the dessert. Maybe it could be plated up with some grilled peaches. That'd be a dashing display.

Makes: 1.5 quarts

Ingredients

1 pint organic heavy cream
One 14-oz can of sweetened condensed milk
1 pint peach jam

Directions

In a large bowl, whip the heavy cream to soft peaks (about 10 minutes) with an electric whisk. If you do this step by hand it takes much longer and requires serious upper body strength.

Once soft peaks have formed, whisk in the sweetened condensed milk. Then stir in the peach jam. Make sure you break up the jam so that it is evenly distributed.

Put the ice cream mixture into quart containers and freeze for at least six hours.

Two Ingredient Strawberry Ice Cream

You know when you've spent too much time on Instagram or Pinterest when your tired brain thinks that Buzzfeed's Tasty videos are onto something with their "2 ingredient' ice cream recipes. Then you actually try them out and find that the ratio of dairy to everything else is too high. This strawberry ice cream tasted a lot like strawberry-infused cream than an actual strawberry ice cream, despite having mixed in 2 lbs of strawberries into the batch.

The Foodening Blog - Two Ingredient Strawberry Ice Cream

While this is a no-churn recipe, you do need a food processor or blender.

Tasty's recipe ratio:

1 pint heavy cream, beaten to soft peaks
One 14-oz can of sweetened condensed milk

And, strangely, that is it for their "two ingredients". I put in more than their suggested amount of mix-ins into this batch. Tasty only uses 1 cup of chopped strawberries. I can't imagine how bad their ice cream tastes.

To this, I added 1 lb frozen strawberries (coarsely chopped in the food processor) plus 1 lb fresh strawberries, an additional half cup of organic granulated sugar to balance out the tartness of some of the strawberries.

And even with that, it didn't really have that strong strawberry flavor.

The flipside to this is to make an actual churn-based recipe and make a vanilla custard base, like what Alton Brown would suggest.

This batch made 2 quarts. While just tasting like frozen strawberry-infused ice cream, it lasted less than a week. What can I say. I really like ice cream.

Strawberry Shortcake

One of my favorite places to get dessert recipes is Southern Living magazine. Those southerners really know desserts. If only I could read and bake at the same time. The shortcakes would have tasted like little airy cakes if I had remembered to mix in the baking powder. Alas, these little pucks are a bit dense but still edible and presentable.

TheFoodening Blog - Strawberry Shortcake

Strawberry Layer Ingredients

a pint of strawberries, de-stemmed and quartered

1 tsp almond extract

up to 1/2 c organic granulated sugar

Shortcake Ingredients

2 3/4 c all purpose flour

4 tsp baking powder

1/4 c organic granulated sugar

3/4 c cold butter, diced

2 eggs

8 oz sour cream

1 tsp vanilla extract 

a batch of whipped cream

Directions

Preheat oven to 425 F

1. Combine strawberries, almond extract, and sugar (depending on sweetness of the berries) in a container. Shake covered until mixed and set aside for at least an hour.

2. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together eggs, sour cream, and vanilla extract. 

3. In a food processor, pulse flour, baking powder, sugar, and butter together until the mixture resembles crumbs with bits of butter.

4. Gradually stir dry ingredients into wet ingredients. Dough will be sticky.

5. Use a 1/3 cup measure to form little cakes. Place cakes 2" apart on a baking sheet.

6. Bake for 15-18 minutes, or until tops are light golden brown.

7. Remove from oven and let cool on a rack.

8. To make the shortcakes:

Cut the shortcake in half. On the bottom half, spoon 2 tablespoons of the strawberry mixture, followed by a dollop of whipped cream, and cover with the top half of the shortcake.

You can also make these shortcakes more adult by adding a tablespoon of a sweet wine or hard alcohol to the bottom half before you add the strawberries. I used the peach wine that I made earlier in the summer; though other alcohols that would be nice are muscat wine, bourbon, sake, gin, or rum.

Fresh Peach Scones

I am using the last of the tree-ripened peaches that I got from a couple weeks ago. You might wonder, how did I get these to stay fresh? For starters, put the ripe ready-to-eat peaches into the crisper drawer in the refrigerator. My crisper drawers have two types of vents on them, a larger vent for apples and a smaller vent for vegetables. I put these into the drawer I have apples in. I should also say that whatever nitrogen the apples give off don't affect each other since I have the apples in plastic bags. On a side note, apples kept this way in the refrigerator will keep for a few months before they start to desiccate and shrivel. Also, you should eat damaged or bruised apples as quickly as you can since they will be the first to go bad.

TheFoodening Blog - peach scones fresh from the oven

This recipe ratio comes from King Arthur's recipe website.

These don't look anything like a classic buttermilk or heavy cream scone. They are certainly not really a scone with a fluffy crumb texture that's for sure. I forgot to add the granulated sugar and I used 6-ish tablespoons of Trader Joe's Apricot-Mango Greek yogurt. Whoops!

Ingredients

2 c unbleached all purpose flour
1/4 c organic granulated sugar
1 tbsp baking powder
sprinkling of ground nutmeg

6 tbsp cold unsalted butter, diced

2 large eggs
6 tbsp Greek yogurt, vanilla yogurt, or sour cream
1/2 tsp almond extract

1 c diced fresh peaches, skins removed

Directions

Preheat oven to 375 F.

1. Sift dry ingredients together, then cut in the butter using a pastry knife, couple of forks, or a food processor.

2. Whisk the wet ingredients together. Stir in dry ingredients. Fold in peaches.

3. Use a 1/4 cup measure to drop the batter onto a prepared baking sheet.

4. Bake for 15-20 minutes, or until golden brown.

Double Chocolate Chip Cookies

As I ponder the grammar of the recipe's title, I had other notions about this recipe; which, if you look around on the Net seems to be someone's copycat rendition of a Subway's chocolate chip cookie of the same name. These are much smaller than what you can get at a Subway's and probably not much cheaper by ingredients either. These are soft and sweet and would pair well with ice cream or a glass of cold milk.

TheFoodening Blog: Double Chocolate Chip Cookies

Makes: 3 dozen

Ingredients

2 c all purpose flour
2/3 c unsweetened cocoa powder
1/3 c unbleached granulated sugar
1 c brown sugar, packed
1 c unsalted butter, softened
2 eggs, room temperature
2 tsp vanilla extract
6 oz (by weight) white chocolate chips
6 oz (by weight) semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp sea salt

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 F

1. In a small bowl, beat together butter and vanilla extract. Mix in eggs, one at a time.

2. In a separate, larger bowl: sift together flour, granulated sugar, brown sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt.

3. Stir in butter mixture into dry mixture. 

4. Fold in white and semi-sweet chocolate chips.

5. Drop by rounded tablespoons onto a Silpat-lined or parchment-covered baking tray.

6. Bake for 10 minutes. Cool on rack. Unleash your inner cookie monster.

Dairy Free Tapioca Pudding

I might be imagining things but I think full fat coconut milk has an after taste. It's not the watered down taste that you might get from buying a can of Trader Joe's version of coconut milk. But there's definitely an after taste, like how game meat has a twinge of extra flavor with every bite. On buying coconut milk or coconut cream, there really should only be one ingredient on the label besides water. In today's modern age of food preservation via canning, preservatives and color additives aren't necessary. Also look for BPA-free cans or cartons. Savoy and Aroy-D are both Thailand products; and Trader Joe's comes from Sri Lanka. For this recipe, I used Savoy coconut cream. These all cost about the same, roughly $2/can, in the Pacific Northwest.

The Foodening Blog: Dairy Free Tapioca Pudding

In my pantry, I have three varieties of coconut milk/cream:

• Trader Joe's organic coconut milk, 110 calories per 1/4 c serving (660 total calories for 13.5 fl oz with 48% coconut extract)
• Savoy coconut cream, 200 calories per 1/2 c serving (900 total calories for 14 fl oz with 70% coconut extract)
• Aroy-D coconut milk, 170 calories per 1/2 c serving (765 total calories for 14 fl oz with 60% extract)

Onto the recipe...

Makes: 3-4 servings

Ingredients

1 c non-dairy milk (e.g., unsweetened vanilla almond milk)
1/3 c dry tapioca pearls
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 tbsp liquid sweetener (honey, golden syrup), or sweeter to taste
14 oz full fat coconut milk

Directions

1. In a 2-cup measuring cup or bowl, soak tapioca pearls in non-dairy milk for an hour.

2. In a medium saucepan, combine all ingredients and bring to a boil. Let simmer over medium-low heat for 15 minutes. Stir constantly to prevent the starch from burning. It will thicken considerably as the tapioca cooks.

3. Remove from heat and pour into small bowls. Let cool before eating.

Lightly Sweetened Whipped Heavy Cream

One of my favorite ways to eat strawberries is to heap whipped cream on top of them. A mere 8 oz of heavy cream makes about 2 cups of whipped cream. It's easy to make even if you don't have an electric mixer with a balloon whisk. It's the perfect accompaniment in colder weather when you don't want to scarf down strawberries with ice cream.

Ingredients

8 oz heavy cream
2 tbsp powdered sugar

Directions

In a sealable, sturdy container large enough to hold two cups of volume, add heavy cream and powdered sugar. I use a pint mason jar.

Whisk with a balloon whisk until stiff peaks form. By hand, this takes about 5-10 minutes. With a stick blender or electric mixer and balloon whisk attachment, this takes about 2-3 minutes.

Don't overbeat the cream unless you are trying to make butter.

Btw, you can also add this to fresh brewed coffee or hot cocoa to create sweetened foam on top of your drink.

AB Tapioca Pudding

This is a melding of flavors that has gone terribly wrong. This tasted ghastly. I thought I should write it up in case I felt like making this again. Ugh. Lemon zest. This does not belong in tapioca pudding. Blech!! WTF Alton?? Why are you steering me wrong on something as f'in simple as a stovetop pudding.

AB cooks this recipe in a slow cooker; but the volume is so small that it shouldn't warrant cooking in a 6-quart crockpot. I did this stovetop instead.

Terrible AB Tapioca Pudding

Ingredients

3 1/2 oz (by weight) tapioca pearls
2 1/2 c whole milk
1/2 c heavy cream
1 egg yolk + 1/3 c organic granuated sugar
pinch of salt
1 tsp vanilla extract or 1 vanilla bean halved with seeds scraped

Kitchen Notes: Matcha Swiss Roll

This was my second time making a dessert in the "Swiss Roll" style; meaning it's a soft, sponge-like bread with a sweet cream-based filling. The pumpkin roll with candied ginger came out pretty good and well-liked by TDay2015 eaters.

There were several things that went terribly wrong but I didn't scrap the recipe and start over:

• The sponge batter came out extremely dense; thick like a gorilla glue heavy; it also didn't cook all the way through in the oven and perhaps I didn't spread it out thick enough on the baking sheet because...
• Before folding in the egg whites, the sponge batter wasn't liquid at all.
• When it came to the rolling the sponge up to cool down in a linen kitchen towel, it stuck to the towel - ugh. In fact, when I tried to unroll the sponge to put in the filling... the sponge broke in several pieces because it was sticking to the towel.
• And, not wanting to cut my losses, I produced an extremely unappetizing but edible dessert
• Definitely a #failed #kitchenexperiment

I subbed two ingredients: almond milk for regular cow's whole milk; and 3/4 c AP flour plus 1 tbsp cornstarch sifted together for cake flour.

Apple Bread Pudding with Apple Cider Sauce

This year I planned to do a pumpkin bread pudding, but alas, had no pumpkin puree to work with. I also didn't get around to the store to pick up bread, so I made it that morning using the no knead dutch oven bread recipe (a basic bread). The custard part of the bread pudding came out fine; but the exposed part of the bread above the custard seemed dried out.. like I should not have tried to dry out the bread before adding the custard by baking it for 10 minutes at 350 degrees F. Twice baked bread doesn't quite make the texture of dry, stale bread. Anyhow, onto the recipe...

Bread Pudding Ingredients

1 load white bread, cubed
1 large Granny Smith apple, peeled and diced + 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
3 eggs
1 1/2 c whole milk
1 c raw apple cider
1/4 c brown sugar, packed
1 tsp vanilla extract

Bread Pudding Directions

1. In a nonstick skillet, heat apple with ground cinnamon. Cook over medium heat until the apples are tender.

2. Butter a 9" x 13" glass baking dish. Add apple and cubed bread, distributing both evenly in a single layer.

3. In a large bowl, whisk together milk, apple cider, brown sugar, vanilla extract and eggs. This is the custard base. Pour it over the cubed bread. Be sure to dunk all the bread into the custard mixture. Refrigerate dish for 1 hour before baking. This will help to flavor the milk and eggs with the apple cinnamon.

4. Preheat oven to 350 F. Bake for 45-50 minutes.

5. Remove from heat and drizzle on apple cider sauce.

Caramel Apple Cider Sauce - this was the sauce I made for the bread pudding; and the ratios seemed off. One, the caramel part of the sauce was too watery and I never got to the dark amber part. The heavy cream and the caramel separate if you let the sauce sit to cool down from the stove to room temperature. Two, the sauce was ridiculously sweet; and three, it made too much. To keep myself from re-making this awful sauce, I am posting an alternate Apple Cider Sauce recipe to pair with the bread pudding.

Apple Cider Sauce:

1 c apple cider
1 tsp cornstarch + 2 tsp cold water
1 tbsp unsalted butter
1 tbsp bourbon (or apple schnapps), optional

In a small prep bowl, dissolve cornstarch in water before adding to the apple cider. Bring cider and butter to a boil, then reduce the heat to a simmer. Add the cornstarch and let the mixture thicken. Stir in bourbon (if using) and cook for an additional 30 seconds; remove from heat and pour on top of bread pudding.

The recipe ratio of the cider sauce can be doubled, if necessary.

Gluten-Free Zucchini Muffins

I feel like I am contributing to California's water shortage by encouraging the use of almonds in recipes, or the desolation of coconut groves in the Philippines by using coconut flour. Nonetheless, here is another egg-heavy coconut flour recipe. The coconut oil and vanilla are not in this recipe. I simply forgot to add it. Let this be a lesson to you.. don't bake when tired, really! Things get missed.

Makes: 12

Ingredients

1/2 c organic coconut flour
1/4 c almond flour
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp sea salt
4 large eggs
1/3 c raw honey
1 tsp vanilla
2 tbsp coconut oil
1/2 tsp apple cider vinegar
1 ripe banana
1 c shredded zucchini
1 shredded organic carrot (optional)

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

1. In the bowl of a food processor, combine almond flour, coconut flour, nutmeg, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt. Add eggs, honey, vanilla, and coconut oil. Pulse until combined.

2. If you happen to be using a frozen banana, thaw it then lop off the stem and squeeze the banana out into the bowl. Add apple cider vinegar, banana, and zucchini. Pulse to mix thoroughly.

3. Line a muffin tin with silicone or paper muffin liners. Fill each liner with 1-2 tbsp of mixture.

Bake for 20-25 minutes. Cool and enjoy.

These came out looking really dark and not smooth on top.

Watermelon Coconut Ice Cream

I'm not sure this even qualifies to be an ice cream since it lacks dairy as a main ingredient. This is something else to do with the watermelon that is ultra-low in calories and high in awesome. I could easily polish off a watermelon by myself. Watermelon granita is how I enjoyed it last year. This summer, I think I can start to experiment a little more.

Makes: 1 quart

4 c seedless watermelon, cubed
1 can full-fat coconut milk (at least 70%), shaken, not stirred
1/4 c raw honey
juice of 1 lemon

Blend everything together in a food processor. Pour into a 9" x 13" baking dish. Place in freezer until set. Scrape everything out and place frozen bits into the food processor. Purée until smooth. Scoop into a freezer-safe container and chill until set, about 3-4 hours.

Pumpkin Pound Cake

This was my favorite dessert for this year's T-Day holiday. Not only was it delicious the day I made it, it was just as tasty the next day and the next. What can I say. I love pound cake. I had a hard time spreading the sugar glaze and it seemed as though the glaze could handle a lot more liquid than what the recipe originally called for.

Pumpkin Pound Cake with a Sugar Glaze

Cake Ingredients:

3 3/4 c unbleached all-purpose flour
3/4 c organic pumpkin pureé
3/4 c whole milk
6 large eggs
1 1/2 c organic granulated sugar
1 1/2 c unsalted butter, softened
2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda

Cake Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Butter and dust with flour a 12-cup Bundt pan.

1. In a large bowl, sift together flour, spice, baking powder and baking soda.

2. In a separate bowl, beat butter and sugar together until creamy. Add an egg, one at a time and beat until combined.

3. Alternate flour and milk while mixing into the egg/butter/sugar mixture until everything is combined.

4. Spoon into a prepared Bundt pan and bake for an hour. If a toothpick comes out clean, the cake is done.

Sugar Glaze Ingredients:

1 1/2 c powdered sugar
3 tbsp unsalted butter, softened
3+ tbsp whole milk

Put glaze ingredients into a bowl and whisk together with enough milk until it is thin enough to pour on top of cake. 

Pumpkin Roll with Candied Ginger

This is another dessert I made for Thanksgiving. It's also really easy to do if you're pressed on time. Party guests will enjoy the presentation of this one. Use a wet knife to cut this into 3/4" slices. Pumpkin and cream cheese go well together, candied ginger brings the element of heat and warm spice to the filling. While I only put a handful of chopped candied ginger in, I think the filling can accommodate much more...maybe up to a half cup of candied ginger? Guests who tried this only remembered the ginger after having been told there was candied ginger in the filling.

Pumpkin Roll with Candied Ginger

Cake Ingredients

3/4 c unbleached all-purpose flour
2/3 c canned organic pumpkin pureé
3 large eggs
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 ts baking soda
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1/4 tsp kosher salt or sea salt
1/2 c organic granulated sugar (can add up to 1 cup if you like sweeter cake)

Chocolate-covered Toffee

This recipe came together much easier than I thought it would. It's best if this is shared with a group of people rather than noshing on it yourself. It is a sugar, fat, and calorie-dense food item that I plated as one of the appetizers for this year's Stragglers Thanksgiving. The calorie penalty shouldn't be too bad split among 20+ guests. 

There are two stages to this. First, make the toffee. The second stage involves melting dark, semisweet or milk chocolate chips on the toffee while it is still hot. Better start with your chocolate chips at room temperature. 

Chocolate Covered Toffee

Ingredients

1 c unsalted butter, cut into chunks (melts faster)
1 c organic granulated sugar
1/4 c filtered water
1/2 tsp sea salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 c semi-sweet chocolate chips

Directions

1. Butter a 13" x 9" glass baking dish and set aside. This is so that the toffee comes out smoothly.

2. In a heavy-bottomed pot, attach a candy thermometer to the side of the pot and bring the butter, sugar, water, and salt to a rolling boil. This should take just under 10 minutes to bring the mixture to a boil. Stir occasionally. When the thermometer reads 300 degrees F, remove it from the heat and stir in the vanilla extract.

Total cooking time is roughly 18-20 minutes.

3. Pour the hot toffee into the prepared pan. Tilt the sides of the pan to evenly distribute the toffee. Sprinkle the chocolate chips over the top and let this sit for about 5 minutes so that the chips melt from the residual heat. Using an off-set spatula, spread the chocolate over the toffee.

When the toffee cools, it'll set. You can hasten its cooling but setting the entire pan in the fridge to cool. To remove, invert the pan onto a cutting board or parchment paper-lined cutting board. Use a sharp knife to cut into bite-sized pieces.

Coconut Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

This is a freeform cookie experiment. I didn't really start with a cookie base; if I did, it started this way.. Two sticks of butter plus one cup of brown sugar with two room temperature eggs. I wasn't aiming to make a sweet cookie. Hot out of the oven, these cookies disintegrate upon eating. While they look nice out in the tray, they are hard to remove without a spoon or flat spatula. I baked a dozen on a rimmed cookie sheet and another dozen in a muffin tin. It looks like, the muffin tin is the way to go for these cookies. They spread a little, but the muffin tin helps to keep the rounded shape. I think the amount of brown sugar is plenty for the sweetness. The more I play with the cookie crumbs on a plate, the more I think this would make an excellent streusel topping for some other dessert.

Makes 3 dozen.

Coconut raisin cookies. Looks normal?

Ingredients

2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
2 large eggs, room temperature
2 tbsp raw chia seeds (optional)
2 c old fashioned oatmeal, coarsely ground
1 c golden raisins
1/2 c sweetened (or unsweetened) grated coconut (optional)
1/2 c cake flour
1/4 c coconut flour
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground cardamom
pinch of sea salt

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 F.

1. Cream butter, sugar, and vanilla extract together, add eggs, then mix everything together in a large bowl.

2. Roll a tablespoon of cookie dough into a ball and place each ball into the cavity of a muffin tin.

3. Bake for 12-15 minutes, or until the bottoms are golden brown.

Let cook on a rack.

Coconut Sorbet

This is a Cuisinart recipe and frankly, it doesn't have that much coconut flavor to it. Maybe I should have used coconut cream instead of coconut milk. It tastes like sweetened vanilla water that has been colored white. Even though the coconut milk was unsweetened, there is still too much sugar in the recipe. Next batch should cut the sugar down to 3/4 c.

Ingredients

1.5 c water

1 1/3 c granulated sugar

1 whole vanilla bean, halved then seeds scraped

pinch of salt

2 cans (13.5 oz each) unsweetened coconut milk

Directions

1. Combine water, sugar, vanilla bean pod and seeds and salt in a medium saucepan. Bring to just a boil then remove from heat. Let the ingredients steep for an hour and strain into a separate bowl. Add coconut milk. Stir. Cover and refrigerate overnight.

2. Process in Cuisinart (or similar) ice cream maker. Transfer sorbet to a container and freeze for at least two hours until firm.

Tangy Lemon Curd

I have eaten lemon curd in tea shops as an accompaniment to scones and shortbread cookies, and in donuts filled with lemon curd. Commercially available lemon curd has always tasted much sweeter than this batch. This batch came out a touch more sour but is just as good. It is ridiculously simple to make.

Yield: about a cup

Ingredients

2 eggs
1/3 c organic granulated sugar
1/4 c unsalted butter, diced
3 tbsp fresh lemon juice 
1 1/2 tsp finely grated lemon peel (one lemon)

Directions

Whisk eggs, sugar, and lemon juice together in a heavy saucepan. Add butter and lemon peel and stir over medium heat until butter has melted and a pudding-like consistency appears.

Remove from heat and transfer to a small bowl. Let cool before using.