Hi guys!!!
Welcome back!!! A sunny sky overrules the city of Tegucigalpa and here I am, slowly sipping my coffee. Despite my bout of electric energy early this morning after a quick workout, I was nodding asleep in the car. Nevertheless, here I am, back with you guys, who will now get to here about my recent culinary creations. I left you off last week with several recommendations, which included two recipes and a movie to watch. I hope you at least tried one of the three...they're all worth it.
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| Lemon "Squares" with lemon cream cheese frosting and candied lemon zest |
Last Monday, I finished the Lemon "Squares". Why the "? Well, in order to present them nicely in aluminum cupcake liners, I used a round cutter that fit perfectly into them. I whipped up a quick recipe of lemon cream cheese frosting (a little improv on my part) and even candied lemon zest in less than 10 minutes. While the zest turned out to be a little less than anticipated, the "squares" looked regally delicious. I popped them into the fridge for a bit and then headed out to deliver them. I was ecstatic to hear in the evening that they had been a major hit. Questions regarding the desserts arose, from who made them?, what are they?, and may I have another? It's pretty awesome to hear such reviews when you're trying to make a name for yourself. Keep reading...the recipe follows. A treat from me to you!!!
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| Picture from my client... She couldn't wait till the evening to try them!!! |
My first order was baked, delivered and enjoyed and I moved on to a daunting task. Daunting for two reasons; firstly, it was an order for 60 dessert boxes (each had 4 different ones) and secondly, these boxes would be traveling around the city, so there was no room for failure. While the kitchen is a place to allow your creativity to flow and experiment a bit, and mistakes are bound to happen, you don't really wish more than ten people to realize your mistakes. I am happy to announce there were no mistakes in the final products. ByTuesday I had my list of desserts. It was sent out to the client for approval and Wednesday evening my task had begun. I was to make 180 lemon/coconut cookies, 60 chocolate cake pops, 60 mocha fudge brownies and 60 English tea cakes. The cookies came first, as they required the most time and late in the evening they were baked. I got upset within the first two batches as I managed to burn 46 cookies. It slowed down my progress. I had a handy helper who assured me the cookies were fine. They weren't really burnt. But I tend to be a perfectionist when it comes to my creations. So they were slightly browner that the rest...no biggie. If you're like me, you understand my frustration. I went to bed relieved.
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| The army of unfinished dessert boxes... busy late night baking. |
Thursday morning I woke up and immediately baked my first batch of brownies. By lunch time, I had 2 brownie batches and my English Tea Cakes baked. After a quick bite, I continued and baked the black magic cake I needed for the cake pops. By 3 pm, the brownies were baked, the Tea Cakes frosted and I moved relaxed for 2 seconds. I made the frosting I needed and began the horrible task of making cake pops. I say horrible for 1 reason; it was my very first time making them and while the recipe was as simple as cake...hehehe, I hated frosting them. I made the little balls, froze them for a bit, inserted the lollipop sticks required and them came my horrible realization. Of course, the chocolate I use is perfectly fine for brownies, but never in a million years would it work for proper dipping. It was too thick. SO...there I went, dipped the first cake pop, only to have a lollipop stick in my hand and a cake pop swimming in a pool of pudding-like chocolate. So yes, I had to semi cover the cake pops with the chocolate using a small palette knife and then I rolled them in cocoa powder. The overall result was nice...but I'm not about to forget that horrible little incident anytime soon. Not that I see myself making cake pops in the future...I'd much rather have a mini cupcake.
It was 11 p.m. Thursday night. The house was silent. But I still blasted Closer by Tegan and Sara on my laptop, while I packed the little boxes with red tissue paper, 3 cookies and a brownie. I closed them and headed to bed. In the morning, after barely sleeping (I had kitchen nightmares...yes, they do happen), I measured and cut the perfect English Tea Cakes and finished packing the boxes, my last addition, the cake pops, which spent the night in the fridge. I headed out a little after 11 a.m. and with the help of my mom's office staff, we finished the box presentation with a red ribbon. They actually looked pretty cute. By 12:30 p.m., they had been delivered. I received excellent reviews on the boxes and it left me pretty content with my work. Sure, there are several things to change for future orders of the similar kind, but it was actually quite fun, looking back on the whole experience.
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| Almost finished: lemon/coconut cookies, chocolate cake pop, English Tea Cake and Mocha Fudge Brownie...to die for, right? |
The weekend approached and Sunday we had a full house. Friends came over for lunch and I baked a quick batch of Oatmeal Chocolate Chip cookies, that included chocolate flavored rolled oats. As of last night, there are no more cookies. It just puts a smile on my face. On the menu for my pending orders are: a batch of Lemon Delights (pecan rolled, lemon filled cookies), 32 Lemon "Squares", a German Chocolate cake and 40 vanilla cupcakes for a baby shower. I love being busy in the kitchen and this is bound to be a busy week, so keep in touch and be sure to come back for more recipes in the future.
Until next time.
xx
Now, as promised, here are the two lemon dessert recipes. And a special treat: the Oatmeal Chocolate Chip cookies recipe. Enjoy!!!
Lemon Delights
by Tracey Varela
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| Pecan Rolled, Lemon Filled bite-sized treats |
Ingredients:
Cookies:
1 c. butter, softened
1 egg, separated
1 c. sugar
3-oz. pkg. cream cheese, softened
1 Tbsp. lemon juice
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 tsp. lemon juice
1/4 tsp. salt
2 1/4 c. all-purpose flour
2 1/2 c. pecan halves, finely chopped
Lemon Cheese Filling:
3-oz. pkg. cream cheese, softened
1/4 c. sugar
1 egg yolk
1 1/2 Tbsp. lemon juice
Preparation:
Combine butter, egg yolk (reserve the egg white!) and next 6 ingredients. Beat at medium speed with an electric mixer; beat in flour. Wrap in plastic wrap; chill for at least one hour.
Shape dough into one-inch balls. In a small bowl, lightly beat egg white. Dip balls into egg white; roll in pecans. Place 2 inches apart on ungreased baking sheets. Press thumb deeply into center of each cookie.
Beat together all Lemon Cheese Filling ingredients until smooth. Spoon filling into indentations. Bake at 375 F degrees for 8 to 10 minutes or until filling is set. Cool slightly; remove to a wire rack. (Having trouble? Use a palette knife to losen them up). Keep refrigerated in an airtight container.
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Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
By Terri Moore
Ingredients:
3/4 c. shortening
1 c. brown sugar, packed
1/2 c. sugar
1 egg, beaten
1/4 c. water
1 c. all-purpose flour
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. baking soda
3 c. quick-cooking oats, uncooked
chocolate chips, as many as you like.
Preparation:
Blend together first 6 ingredients in a large bowl; add flour, salt and baking soda,
blending until combined. Stir in oats and chocolate chips. Drop by teaspoonfuls onto greased baking sheets. Bake at 350 degrees for 1o minutes. Cook on baking sheets for 2 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely.
**I substituted 1 cup of regular oats for chocolate flavored oats. I also left the cookies in the oven for 15 minutes.
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Lemon "Squares"
Adapted from Betty Crocker's Cookbook
Yields 16 round cakes
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| Seriously...try out the recipe with my additions |
Ingredients
Lemon "Squares"
1 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 c. butter, softened
1/4 c. plus 2 Tbsp. confectioner's sugar
3 eggs
1 1/2 c. sugar
3/4 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
3 Tbsp. lemon juice
lemon zest, as much as you like (optional)
Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting:
1 8-oz. pkg. cream cheese, softened
1/2 c. butter, softened
1 c. confectioner's sugar
1 tsp. lemon juice
lemon zest (optional)
Candied Lemon Zest:
75 ml water
75 g sugar
as much zest as you wish to use, using a lemon zester
*Water for blanching
Preparation:
Lemon "Squares":
Heat oven to 350 degrees. Mix thoroughly flour, butter and confectioner's sugar. Press evenly in bottom of an aluminum foil lined square pan, 10x10x2. Bake 20 minutes.
Beat remaining ingredients about 3 minutes or until light and fluffy. Pour over hot crust. Bake for 23 minutes, or until little or no imprint remains when lightly touched. Cool; cut using round cutter, cut 16 "squares".
Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting:
Using electric mixer, beat cream cheese and butter in bowl until light and fluffy. Add the confectioner's sugar and lemon juice and zest if used, and beat to blend.
Candied Lemon Zest:
Blanche the lemon zest: This is done by placing the lemon zest in boiling water, two to three times, changing the water each time, until the zest is soft, almost transparent and no longer has the tangy flavor.
Once the zest has been blanched, in a small sauce pan, bring 75 ml water and sugar to a boil. When it boils clear, add the blanched lemon zest and leave in for a little less than 2 minutes. Discard the syrup and separate the zest juliennes and allow to cool.
Assembly:
Place each lemon "square" in a cupcake liner. Using either a pastry bag or a spatula, pipe or spread as much frosting as desired. Top with the candied lemon zest. Refrigerate until ready to eat. ENJOY!!!
**The original recipe calls for 25 minutes or longer in the oven. However, I found the topping browns a bit too much. The cream cheese frosting and candied lemon zest were own my addition. I used a #8 plain nozzle/tip to pipe the frosting. Also, be sure not to discard the remaining cake if you use the round cutter as I did. They make excellent tea cake sized treats!!!
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