Guacamole

It is amazing how something so simple like guacamole can have so many variations. My son came home from school and told me how they served guacamole at lunch. My son loved it then my youngest daughter told me how much she loved it. I told them I would make it soon. Then I went to work and my friend was telling me how she had made guacamole. I asked for the recipe that she used. I knew the school recipe was different from the one my friend used so I adapted her recipe to be similar to the school one from my children's description. My children told me it tasted just like the one they had a school. I will admit they do love it. I had them help me make it so they can make it anytime.

Guacamole
1 ripe avocado
1 Tbsp lemon juice
1 tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper

1. In a bowl, mash the avocado until smooth.
2. Add the lemon juice with the salt and pepper to the dish. Mix well.
3. Serve immediately.

Recipe adapted from Allrecipes.

One year ago.....................I made Coconut Cream Cheese Pinwheels.

Did you already know.......
-Avocados are a fruit.
-Another name for avocados are alligator pears.
-The average avocado tree can produce about 150 avocados a year.

Lemon Cookies

We were eating dinner telling my oldest daughter about my niece. My niece was about to take a bite of her pizza when my husband told her that his name was on the pizza. She had told him it wasn't. Then he replied that it was on the bottom of the pizza. We actually thought she wouldn't fall for it when we saw her slyly lift the piece up and look. My oldest daughter thought it was funny and so did my son. My oldest daughter told him that he shouldn't be laughing. He said why. So, she said because gullible is written on the ceiling. He didn't fall for it this time but he has before. He probably went back later and looked. 

I will admit these cookies are tart but good. If you like lemons, you will really like these cookies.

Lemon Cookies
2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup sugar
2 lemons, zest and juiced (about 2 Tbsp zest and 1/2 cup juice)
3/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 tsp vanilla extract
Powdered sugar

Directions:

1. In a medium bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
2. In a large bowl, combine the sugar, lemon zest, and butter.
3. Cream the sugar until fluffy. 
4. Add the vanilla and lemon juice. Mix well.
5. Slowly, add the flour mixture to the butter mixture. 
6. On a piece of plastic wrap, form a disk and wrap well.
7. Allow the dough to chill in the refrigerator for one hour. 
8. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
9. Roll the chilled dough on parchment paper to 1/8 inch thick. 
10. Cut the dough into desired shape.
11. Place the dough onto a parchment lined baking sheet.
12. Space the dough about 1 inch apart.
13. Bake the cookies for 6 minutes and then rotate the baking sheet.
14. Bake the cookies for another 6 minutes or until cooked through.
15. Allow the cookies to sit on the baking sheet for at least 1 minute before transferring to a wire rack.
16. Once the cookies have completely cooled. dust the cookies with powdered sugar.

Recipe adapted from Martha Stewart's Cookies.

One year ago.......................I made Asparagus.

Did you already know.........
-Lemons are native to Asia.
-A lemon tree can produce over 500 pounds of lemons in a year. 
-The majority of the commercial lemons produced in the U.S. are from California.

I would rather look at the cookies than the ceiling.

Lemon Tassies

I hope everyone had a nice weekend. We saw my husband's Mom and my Mom this past weekend. We are fortunate because we do see both Moms frequently. I wanted to make my Mom and my husband's Mom a special treat. I knew they liked lemon desserts so I decided to make Lemon Tassies cookies.

Sometimes when I make a lemon dessert, they are too sweet or too sour. I think these were the right combination. The other nice thing about these cookies are they transport easily. I even stacked them and it didn't affect the filling. Next time, I may use the left over egg whites to make meringue to top the cookies. This recipe will make about 12 medium size cookies or 24 mini cookies. I actually made 18 cookies.

Lemon Tassies
Crust:
2 cups all purpose flour
10 Tbsp cold unsalted butter, cut into cubes
1/4 cup and 2 Tbsp sugar
2 egg yolks
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2 tsp lemon zest, finely grated
1/2 tsp salt
cooking spray
Filling (recipe below)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Coat 1 muffin tins with cooking spray.
3. In a food processor, process the flour and butter until fine crumbs.
4. Add the sugar, egg yolks, vanilla, lemon zest, and salt.
5. Process until just combined and sandy in texture. Do not over process.
6. With the dough, form 12 balls.
7. Place each ball into the muffin tin and press the dough into the tin to make a cup.
8. Bake the crusts for about 8 minutes and then rotate the pan.
9. Bake the crust for another 8 minutes or until lightly browned all over.
10. Remove the crusts from the muffin tins and allow to cool onto a wire rack.

Filling:
8 oz. cream cheese, room temperature
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg
3 Tbsp lemon zest, finely grated
1 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Directions:

1. Beat the cream cheese, sugar, egg, lemon zest, lemon juice, and vanilla extract together until smooth.
2. Fill each cooled crust with the cream cheese filling.
3. Place the cookies onto a cookie sheet.
4. Bake the cookies for 6 minutes and rotate the pan.
5. Bake the cookies for another 6 minutes or until the edges of the filling begin to color.
6. Transfer the cookies onto a wire rack to cool completely.

Recipe adapted from Martha Stewart's Cookies.

Did you already know....
-Tassies are little cups with a filling.
-Tassies should be bite size.
-Other fillings for a tassie are pecan, peanut butter, caramel, etc.

PQ: Pound Cake Rum or No Rum?

Rum or no rum? Rum or no rum? Dilemma's of life! This weeks Project Pastry Queen was the Totally Rummy Pound Cake picked by Shawnda. I just couldn't decide if I wanted to go with Rum. Why? It isn't because we don't like rum in this household. (If you shy around alcohol, you need to be absent from my husband's birthday bashes.) Since it was my son's birthday weekend, (yes weekend since it was a sleepover), I figured I would make a twist.

I decided to substitute the rum with lemons and blueberries. A lot of snow has melted and I am crossing my fingers for Spring. I really do try to ignore that groundhog especially when he predicts 6/8/12 more weeks of winter-remember I live in Maine.

I thought maybe one loaf pan would be enough. I was wrong. Since I had a lot of batter left over, I did a lot of mini loafs. Another great thing about mini loafs size is they are easier to ship to family members.

Blueberry Lemon Pound Cake
1 1/4 cup sliced almonds, toasted lightly (optional)
1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
2 1/2 cups sugar
5 large eggs
3 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2/3 cup sour cream
1 Tbsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp almond extract
1/4 cup lemon juice
1 cup fresh blueberries

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Grease bread pans with cooking spray.
3. Arrange the toasted almonds on the bottom of the bread pans.
4. In a mixer with the paddle attachment, beat the butter on medium-high speed until fluffy about 1 minute.
5. After scrapping down the sides, add the sugar. Beat for 2 minutes on medium-high speed until incorporated.
6. Scrap down the sides of the bowl again and then add 1 egg at a time until mixture is fluffy about 1 to 2 minutes.
7. In another bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, and salt.
8. Add 1/3 of the flour mixture and alternate with the sour cream until all the flour and sour cream is incorporated on medium-low speed.
9. Stir in the vanilla extract, almond extract, and the lemon juice. Mix well. 
10. Gently fold in 2/3 cups of the blueberries. 
11. Spoon the batter evenly into the pans about 2/3 full. Top the batter with the remaining blueberries.
12. Bake the pound cakes for about 1 hour and 20 minutes for the large loaf pan and about 30 minutes for the mini loaf pans. If the top is browning too quickly before the loafs are completely cooked through, cover the cakes with parchment paper. The pound cakes are done when the cake springs back when touched lightly.
13. Allow to cool for at least 15 minutes before removing from the pan.

Recipe adapted from The Pastry Queen Cookbook.

Please check out the other Project Pastry Queen members posting of the Totally Rummy Pound Cake or if desired a glaze for the pound cake. Then you will have to decide rum or no rum in the glaze. Enjoy!

Almond crust

Did you already know.............
-In 1934, Myers's Rum was introduced in the US. 
-(Prohibition ended in 1933 for any curious minds.)
-Myers's Rum is made with pure Jamaican molasses.
-Myers's Rum is matured for about four years in oak barrels.

Cream Cheese Lemon Hearts

Valentine's Day is less than a week away. My youngest daughter has already completed all of her Valentine cards to her classmates and have brought them into school. I was the same way when I was her age.I always liked to give Valentine cards to everyone. I would even make one for my Mom.

I still really like to give Valentine's Day gifts. My husband leaves for work really early so I leave his box of chocolates in his cars so he will be "surprised"! Since I do this every year, I'm not sure he is really surprised anymore but he humors me. (It is also a good reminder for him about the day.) Guess what? He has never forgotten to give me something for Valentine's Day. 

I also give the children a small box of chocolate before school. On a normal day, the rule is no treats before 10:00 am. Valentine's Day is different so I allow one piece before school but only after they have eaten their breakfast.

My husband picked this recipe. The recipe is suppose to be bows but I just omitted the bottom part of the bow. I will give you a warning that the dough is thick so they are hard to pipe. I did make some as circles and some I just rolled into balls and flatten a little. These cookies are really good with a hint of lemon.

Cream Cheese Lemon Cookies
3 cups all purpose flour, sifted
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
3 oz. cream cheese, room temperature
1 cup sugar
1 large egg
1 Tbsp lemon zest, finely grated
2 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
powder sugar for sprinkling

Directions:

1. Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt into a medium bowl.
2. Cream the butter and cream cheese together in a medium bowl. 
3. Add the sugar and continue to cream.
4. Add the egg, lemon juice, and lemon zest. Mix well.
5. Slowly, add the dry ingredients.
6. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
7. Add a small amount of dough to a piping bag. 
8. Pipe the dough using a large finely ribbed French tip (like Ateco #865).
9. Bake the cookies for about 12 minutes or until golden brown.
10. Let cool and dust with the powder sugar.
11. Cookies will store for up to 3 days in an air tight container at room temperature.

Recipe adapted from Martha Stewart's Cookies. 

Did you already know...........
-One legend about St. Valentine is there was a Bishop Valentine in Roman times who would perform secret marriages. He was later executed on Feb. 14th by the Emperor.
-On Feb. 15th, the Romans celebrated the Feast of Lupercalia (a fertility festival) to honor the Roman God Faunas.

Spiced Cranberry Punch

Are you having any holiday parties? If you are having a party and need to volunteer to bring something, how about a punch? All you have to do is purchase the items and assemble it at the party. It can not be any easier plus it will give you more time to shop, cook, or sleep. 

I like assembling punch for a party. Children are so cute because they want to pour their own with the ladle. Usually, the children do a very good job. I leave extra napkins by the punch bowl just in case they are needed. The recipe calls for cloves. I liked it and cloves are not my favorite spice. If the party are adults only, you could spike the punch.

Spiced Cranberry Punch
 1 lemon
2 cups 100% cranberry juice, chilled
1 cup cold water
1 cup sugar
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1 (12 oz) can of ginger ale, chilled

Directions:
Slice the lemon in half. Squeeze half of the lemons in a pitcher and slice the other half to garnish the punch.
Combine all the remaining ingredients into the pitcher and mix. 
Garnish with the lemon slices. (orange slices work well too.)

Recipe adapted from Domino Sugar website. .

I used lemon and orange slices

Did you already know..........
-Since 400 B.C., the Chinese have been using cloves.
-There is a written reference about a Chinese emperor. The Chinese emperor wanted his subjects to sweeten their breath with cloves before approaching him.
-Cloves are the unopened and immature flower bud of a clove tree belonging to the plant family Myrtaceae.
-Cloves are native to Indonesia.

Cranberry-Cream Cheese Bundt Cake

At work, my coworker suggested we should have little get-together and celebrate with the honored food for the month. Of course, it is a nice break and fun to see what others have made for this celebration. 

I have previously made a Bundt cake and will be bring it into work since it was requested by my friend. However, my husband doesn't think it is very nice of me to tease him with the promise of a cake and not make him something. So, I have to make something for home.

When I saw this cake, I knew it would be prefect to make for home. My husband agrees! I also had helpers making this cake.

Cranberry-Cream Cheese Bundt Cake 2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
8 oz. cream cheese
2 1/2 cups sugar
3 eggs
1 lemon
1/4 tsp almond extract
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups cake flour
1 tsp salt
2 1/2 cups fresh cranberries
1 Tbsp flour
whipped cream (optional for topping)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease the Bundt pan with cooking spray.
2. In a small bowl, carefully cover the cranberries with the 1 Tbsp flour. Set aside.
3. Cream the butter with the cream cheese in a bowl.
4. Add the sugar to the butter and cream.
5. One at the time, add the eggs.
6. Add the zest of the lemon and then the juice.
7. Mix in the almond and vanilla extract.
8. Add the cake flour and salt. Mix well.
9. Carefully, fold in the flour covered cranberries.
10. Add the batter to the Bundt pan.
11. Cook for 60 minutes or until done. *
12. Let cool for about 10 minutes before removing from pan.

Recipe adapted from Confections of a Foodie Bride.

*I had to cover my cake around 45 minutes because the bottom was becoming dark. However, I'm thinking it is my pan.
I will post a how to make whip cream tomorrow if you would like to know how. 

Did you already know....................
-The Bundt pan evolved because of the European kugelhopf molds.
-In 1950, Nordic ware invent the aluminum Bundt pan because owner H. David Dalquist was approached by a group of Minneapolis women asking him to make the pan for them.
-In 1966, Bundt cakes become very popular after one is featured in the Pillsbury cookoff and wins 2nd place.

Asparagus with lemon and thyme

Do you like asparagus? My son does. One morning, he asked me to make asparagus for supper. My husband would never ask for anything green for any meal. My husband thinks my son is crazy.

 Since I just made the roast chicken with lemon and thyme, I thought it would be a nice addition to the asparagus. Also, I wanted to try it out before Thanksgiving. 

I asked my son if he wanted to help and he said sure. At home, I think my son's two favorite words are sure and Mamma. "Son, do you want me to add lemon to the asparagus?" He shrugs, "Sure." "Should I try adding a little thyme?" "Sure." My oldest replies, "Why not?"

Asparagus with lemon and thyme 1 lb asparagus
1 1/2 tsp olive oil
1/4 lemon zest, cut into stripes
1 tsp dry thyme
salt and pepper

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
2. Take one stalk of asparagus and bend it in half until it snaps.
3. Cut the other pieces of asparagus the same length as the snapped asparagus.
4. Drizzle the olive oil over the asparagus.
5. Add the lemon zest, thyme, salt, and pepper. Toss to coat the asparagus.
6. Cook the asparagus for about 15 to 18 minutes.

Recipe by Jen of Sweet Morris.

 Did you already know..............
-Asparagus is a member of the lily family.
-When harvesting is completed, the asparagus spear will grow into ferns.
-A well cared asparagus plant can produce asparagus for about fifteen years from the same plant.