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Mini Lemon Bundt Cakes
Ingredients for 12 mini bundt cakes or one loaf
For lemon cakes
- 180 g all-purpose flour
- 1 ½ tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp salt
- 1 Tbsp lemon zest
- 200 g sugar
- 115 g unsalted butter, room temperature
- 2 large eggs, room temperature
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 Tbsp lemon juice (about 1/2 lemon)
- 120 ml buttermilk
For lemon syrup
- 1/4 cup lemon juice (about 1 lemon)
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
For lemon icing
- 120 g powdered sugar
- 1 1/2 tbsp lemon juice
- 1 Tbsp milk or cream
Preheat oven to 350F.
Spray or butter a mini bundt cake baking pan or loaf pan to make a pound cake.
Sift flour, baking powder, lemon zest, and salt into a medium bowl. Set aside.
Using an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream butter, and sugar until pale and fluffy (about 4 – 6 minutes). Scape the sides of the bowl as needed.
With the mixer still running, add eggs one at a time and beat until well blended. Then beat in vanilla and lemon juice.
Add dry ingredients in three additions to the butter mixture alternately with buttermilk, beginning and ending with the flour mixture. Beat at low speed just until blended after each addition. Beat until just incorporated.
Scrape batter into prepared pans. Bake cakes until golden brown and the tester inserted into the center comes out clean, about 20 – 25 minutes for mini bundt cakes and 45 – 55 minutes for a loaf.
Combine 1/4 cup granulated sugar with 1/4 cup lemon juice in a small saucepan and cook over low heat until the sugar dissolves. When the cakes are done, allow cooling for 10 minutes. Remove the cakes from the pans and set them on a rack over a tray or sheet pan; spoon the lemon syrup over them. Allow the cakes to cool completely.
For the glaze, combine the confectioners’ sugar, milk, and lemon juice in a bowl, mixing with a wire whisk until smooth. Pour over the tops of the cakes and allow the glaze to drizzle down the sides.
Enjoy!
Joe’s Noble Lady
Joe’s very own creation for Christmas 2015.
Ingredients
1 part dark rum
1 part cognac
3/4 amaretto
1/4 Carpano Antica vermouth
Lemon juice from 1/2 lemon
Dashes of Angostura and Peychaud’s bitters
Orange peel
Maraschino cherries
Combine rum, cognac, amaretto, Carpano Antica, lemon juice and bitters in a cocktail shaker. Fill with ice, cover, and shake until outside of shaker is frosty, about 30 seconds. Serve up. Cut thin strip of orange peel into cocktail making sure to direct the orange oil onto the surface of the drink. Garnish with as many Maraschino cherries as you like!
New York Sour
One of my all-time favorite drinks. Thanks to The Dutch in Soho for sharing the recipe with us!
Ingredients
2 parts whiskey or rye
1 part lemon juice
1 part simple syrup
3 dashes peach bitters
Red wine
Combine 2 ounces rye or bourbon whiskey, 1 ounce fresh lemon juice or any citrus juice, and 1 ounce simple syrup in a cocktail shaker. Fill with ice, cover, and shake until outside of shaker is frosty, about 30 seconds. Strain into a rocks glass filled with fresh ice. Gently pour 1/2 ounce fruity red wine (such as Shiraz or Malbec) over the back of a spoon held just above the drink’s surface so wine floats on top.
Pancakes
Ingredients for 2 – 3 servings
- 1 cup all-purpose flour (128 gr)
- 2 teaspoons sugar
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- ¾ cup buttermilk (180 ml)
- ¼ cup milk (plus a teaspoon or so if the batter is too thick) (60 ml)
- 1 large egg, separateda
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
Whisk dry ingredients in medium bowl.
Pour buttermilk and milk into 2-cup Pyrex measuring cup.
Whisk egg white into milk mixture.
Mix yolk with melted butter, then stir into milk mixture.
Dump wet ingredients into dry ingredients all at once; whisk until just mixed.
Käsefüße
My mom made these last time I visited Germany. These seem to be the latest trend in German appetizers. I thought it’s a hilarious example of how literal Germans can be. Plus they taste delicious! While my mom had an extra foot mold on hand for me to take back home to the States, I did see some for sale from Amazon retailers.
Ingredients
For dough:
- 150 g butter (about 5 ounces)
- 180 g (about 6 ounces) grated cheese such as Emmentaler or Gruyere or a mixture thereof
- 250 g (2 cups) flour
- 100 ml (1/2 cup) cream
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 pinch paprika
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
To garnish:
- 1 egg yolk
- Poppy seeds, caraway seeds, sesame seeds, almonds, corse salt, paprika, pepper or whatever else you’s like on a cheese cracker
Mix all ingredients for dough. Remove from the bowl, wrap in plastic, and chill until firm, about 1 – 2 hours.
Heat the oven to 350°F.
Cover your cookie sheets with parchment. Flour a work surface. Roll the dough 1/4 inch thick. Cut out as many feet as possible, rerolling the scraps to make more. Arrange on the cookie sheets about 3/4 inch apart.
Bake until the edges are lightly browned, about 15 minutes. Let slightly cool on the sheets.
Quick Pickled Fennel with Orange
Ingredients for 1 quart
- 3 small fennel bulbs
- 2 tablespoons kosher salt
- 1 small orange, sliced
- 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 1 cup apple cider vinegar
Wash fennel bulbs and remove stems. Slice in half and cut out the hard core.Slice paper-thin on a mandoline. Sprinkle kosher salt over shaved fennel and toss to combine. Let fennel sit for at least an hour.
When time is up, pour fennel into a colander and squeeze to remove the liquid that was produced while it sat with the salt. Return fennel to the bowl and toss with orange slices and black pepper.
Pack fennel and orange into a quart jar and top with the apple cider vinegar. Use a chopstick or the end of a wooden spoon to work the vinegar down into the fennel.
Stash jar in the fridge and let sit for at least 24 hours before eating. This quick pickle will keep at least 2-3 weeks in the refrigerator.
Orange Marmalade
Ingredients
- 4 lb Seville oranges, scrubbed
- 4 lemons. scrubbed
- 5 cups sugar
Fill a large pot with water and add the oranges and lemons. Bring to a boil, cover and simmer over moderate heat for 1 hour, turning the fruit a few times. Set a colander over a bowl and gently drain the fruit.
When the fruit is cool enough to handle, halve the oranges and lemons and scrape the insides onto a large piece of dampened cheesecloth. Tie the cloth into a bundle. Cut the peels into very thin strips.
In a wide, heavy pot, combine the citrus peels with the sugar and 7 cups of water and bring to a boil, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Add the cheesecloth bundle and boil over moderately high heat for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Using tongs or a slotted spoon, transfer the cheesecloth bundle to a bowl; when cool enough to handle, squeeze out as much liquid as possible. Add the liquid to the pot and discard the bundle. Continue cooking the marmalade until the syrup is very thick and glossy and the temperature registers 220° on a candy thermometer, about 20 minutes longer. Pour the marmalade into sterile jars, let cool and refrigerate.
Chai Latte
Ingredients
- 3 cloves
- 4 cardamom
- 3 black peppers
- 2 sticks of cinnamon
- fresh ginger
- 1/2 bay leave
- 5 fennel seeds
- 1 cup milk
- 1/2 cup water
- High quality black tea
Simmer milk, water and all spices for 20 minutes. Add tea leaves and let sit for 3 minutes.
Quince Jelly
Ingredients for 4 – 5 jars of jelly
- 3 1/2 lbs of quince, washed, stems removed, cored, quartered (leave skin on)
- 7 cups water
- Enough sugar to add almost a cup of sugar (about 7/8 cup) for every cup of juice (about 4 cups)
Put quince pieces in a large stockpot with a thick bottom and add water (if you are eyeballing it, put in enough water to cover the pieces of quince by about an inch.). Bring to a boil, reduce heat to simmer, cover and cook for 45 minutes to an hour, until the quince pieces are soft. Mashing the pulp. With a potato masher, mash the quince to the consistency of slightly runny applesauce. Add more water if necessary. If the mash is too thick, you won’t get enough juice out of it.
To strain the juice from the pulp, place a metal strainer over a pot. Drape 2 layers of cheesecloth over the strainer. Ladle the pulp into the cheesecloth. Let the pulp strain for 3 to 4 hours. If you aren’t getting enough juice out of the pulp, you may need to mix more water into the mash. Do not squeeze the cheese cloth or the jelly will be cloudy.
Measure the amount of juice you have. Should be about 4 to 5 cups. Pour into a thick-bottomed pot on the stove and bring to a boil. Measure out the sugar – a little less than a cup for every cup of juice. Add sugar to the juice.
Bring to a boil, initially stirring constantly, until the sugar is dissolved, so that the sugar does not stick to the bottom of the pan and burn. As the jelly cooks, skim off the foam that comes to the surface with a spoon. IInsert a candy thermometer to monitor the jelly temperature. As the temperature rises above the boiling point of water (212°F), you will notice the consistency of the jelly/juice begins to change. When the temperature is approximately 8 degrees higher than boiling point at your altitude (anywhere from 220°F to 222°F at sea level) the jelly is ready to pour into jars.
As the jelly is boiling, sterilize the jars. There are several ways to sterilize your jars for canning. You can run them through a short cycle on your dishwasher. You can place them in a large pot (12 quart) of water on top of a steaming rack (so they don’t touch the bottom of the pan), and bring the water to a boil for 10 minutes. Or you can rinse out the jars, dry them, and place them, without lids, in a 200°F oven for 10 minutes. Sterilize the lids by letting them sit in just boiled hot water for a few minutes.
Use a large ladle to pour the jelly into the sterilized jars to 5/8 inch from the top rim of the jar. If you have one, use a jam filter to pour the jelly into the jar wiout missing the opening. Quickly close the lid, hold closed jar upside and sit down to let cool. You will hear a popping noise as a vacuum seal is created as the jars of jelly cool. The most rewarding sound after all that work!