Lemon-Blueberry-Flan Bundt Cake

Ever had one of those "I've lost it and my mind has left my body" moments?  Okay, well maybe I'm the only one, but Saturday I lost it.  After dealing with what can only be described as way too much stupid the last few months I walked downstairs half-asleep, hadn't even turned on the lights yet and stepped in dog pee(I should also mention this has been a recurring theme as of late).  I'm not quite sure whom I yelled at more Hot Dog Dude or the one who I knew was really responsible - Rusty.  Yes I'm naming names; despite having two children Ted has always been my favorite (there I said it).  For years I always had my suspicions about Rusty, he just has the yeah I did it and what the hell are you going to do about it look about him.  I can't even tell you how many times I've come home from being out to find bathroom trash strewn from the upstairs to the downstairs.

I went to yoga this morning and said, "Namaste" and everything which I think means bye-bye to all the drama you dealt with before you got here, but I'm still feeling a little on edge, so let's go to a happy place and talk about this light, luscious, lemon-blueberry-flan cake.  I have it on good authority that you can serve this cake to someone and it pretty much negates anything that happened previously.  Yep, slate wiped clean.

Lemon-Blueberry Masterpiece (as aptly named by my lovely niece)

Lemon Flan:
3 cups - 2% milk (whole would work fine too)
1 cup - granulated sugar
1 tablespoon - lemon zest
4 tablespoons - lemon juice
8 egg yolks, beaten (reserve 4 of the whites for the cake batter)

Lemon-Blueberry Cake:
1/2 cup - vegetable oil
1/2 cup - unsalted butter, melted
2 1/2 cups - all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon - baking powder
1/2 teaspoon - baking soda
1 teaspoon - salt
1 tablespoon - lemon zest
1/4 cup - lemon juice
1 1/2 cups - granulated sugar
1 cup - low-fat buttermilk
4 egg whites, whipped to soft peaks
6 ounces - fresh blueberries

1.  Rub a 12-cup capacity bundt pan with softened butter and spray with non-stick spray for good measure.
2.  Move the oven rack to the lower 2/3-rds and preheat to 350 degrees F.
3.  Put on a couple cups of water on in a tea kettle to boil.
4.  Whip the 4 egg whites in the bowl of a mixer or by hand until soft peaks form.  Set aside.
5.  In another large bowl add vegetable oil, butter, flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, lemon zest, lemon juice, granulated sugar, buttermilk and mix until combined.  Fold in egg whites and then fold in blueberries until well combined.  Pour cake into the bottom of the bundt pan.
6.  In a small saucepan combine milk, sugar, lemon zest, and lemon juice and heat on medium until hot.
7.  Ladle a little bit of the milk into the egg yolks, whisking and then adding a little more milk, then add the eggs back into the saucepan and heat for one more minute.
8.  Strain the custard with a fine sieve to remove the curdled bits that will have formed from the lemon, and slowly pour the custard over the cake batter already in the pan.
9.  Place the bundt pan in a large roasting pan and pour a couple inches of boiling water in, place carefully in the oven.
10.  Bake 60-70 minutes uncovered, until a toothpick inserted comes out from the cake clean.
11.  Remove cake from roasting pan and let cool on the counter for 45 minutes and then place in the fridge to cool for another 15-20 minutes.
12.  Invert the cake onto a serving platter and keep in the fridge until really cold and ready to serve.

If this cake doesn't get you out of the doghouse, what exactly did you do, and can you share with the whole class please.  I can use a little levity around here.

Enjoy,

Gina

Strawberry, Marshmallow, Dark Chocolate Sugar Cookies

Should we just get down to brass tacks and I try with all my might to persuade you that you need these Strawberry, Marshmallow, Dark Chocolate Sugar Cookies in your life to make it complete?  Perhaps it's necessary to fill a void, a reason to cheat on that diet (that you knew deep down you weren't sticking to anyways), a salve to soothe away winter blues.  I could even argue the case that these lovely treats contain mood lifting dark chocolate and real strawberries, but really now; stare deeply into their little pink hearts, you know resistance is futile.  

Face it we all have our growing lists of crap-to-do and limited amounts of time to do it in.  I think I'm becoming a master of distraction and can easily convince my vast expanse of a wandering mind that there are a million other things I need to be doing than sitting down working these days.  For one, my chaturanga got up and left, actually I'm not sure if it ever really liked me that much anyhow but I do miss it so.  Baking and my lack of it the last few months was something else I sorely missed so I rounded up all the energy and focus I could and whipped up some treats to share with my Valentines.  It was a good salve and I enjoyed the time immersed in it, one day at a time, I'm going to get there.  I have no idea where "there" is but I know I'll recognize it when I see it.

Until you get to your "there" perhaps you should immerse yourself in a kitchen filled with the aroma of strawberries, the sweetness of soft fluffy marshmallow needing to be licked off your sticky fingers, or perhaps disposing of all the wayward melty chocolate and errant sprinkles is more your speed.  Either way we all can get something we want out of the deal.

    

Strawberry Sugar Cookies
1.2 ounces freeze dried strawberries

1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature

1 cup granulated sugar

1 large egg

3 cups all-purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

1.  Heat oven to 350 degrees F. 

2.  Place the strawberries in the bowl of a food processor or blender and pulse until they are a powder. Sift the powder through a fine sieve and discard any larger pieces that are left. Set aside.

3.  Add the butter and sugar to a mixing bowl and mix until the butter is lighter in color and fluffy.

4.  Add the egg, strawberry powder, flour, and salt and mix until well combined.

5.  Roll 1/2 of the dough on a floured surface into a 1/4” thick disk. Cut the cookies in heart shapes or whichever shape you’d like. Place the cookies onto a baking sheet prepared with parchment or silicone mats. Space the cookies about an inch apart. Repeat until all the dough has been used up.

6.  Bake for 8-10 minutes until the cookies feel firm to the touch.
7.  Let cool.

Marshmallow Fluff

3 large egg whites 

2/3 cup granulated sugar + 2 tablespoons 

3/4 cup light corn syrup 

1 teaspoon vanilla extract 

Pinch salt

1.  Beat eggs in a mixer until frothy and then add 2 tablespoons sugar and beat until soft peaks form. 

2.  In a small pan heat corn syrup and 1/3 cup water and rest of granulated sugar until boiling. Let boil until it reaches a temperature of 242 degrees F. 

3.  Pour sugar into mixer with egg whites and beat on low speed, gradually increasing to high speed until the sugar is cool and mixture resembles marshmallow fluff.

4.  Place fluff in a piping bag fitted with a 1/4-inch round tip.  Pipe the marshmallow fluff onto half of the sugar cookies and top with another cookie and set aside.

This version is so good and fluffy and pipes so well, but if you want to just buy a jar that's cool too.  This recipe will make more than you need and you can store the rest in a covered jar in the fridge for a few days. 

Also needed

6 ounces dark chocolate 

1 tablespoon heavy cream

Assorted sprinkles

1.  Melt the chocolate and cream in a bowl of a double boiler, stirring until melted and then take off heat.  

2.  Dip sides of filled cookies in chocolate and then sprinkle with the sprinkles over a separate bowl.  

3.  Place finished cookies on a baking sheet lined with waxed paper and place in the fridge until firmed up.  Store in a cool place.  

Spreading around a little love and cookies was a huge mood lifter.  I'm putting it back on the do-again-soon list.  

Enjoy,

Gina

Monkey Bread - Just be sure and put out Monkey-ranha repellent

I have been making this particular monkey bread for the last few years and have to say it is my absolute favorite. I've tried many different variations over the years, including the short-cut ones that use canned biscuit dough.  All the different varieties I tried had their own merits, but sometimes you want something that tips you over the edge into gone-bananas territory.  Once you've had a huge chunk of this monkey bread warm out of the oven, glaze barely set-up; all other versions will become a distant memory.

Monkey Bread - adapted from Cook's Country

2 1/4 teaspoons dry active yeast

1 cup milk, lukewarm 110 degrees F

1/3 cup water, 110 degrees F

2 tablespoons butter, melted

3 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons salt

1/4 cup granulated sugar

In the bowl of a mixer combine yeast, milk, water, and melted butter and let sit for 5 minutes until mixture starts to foam a little. Add flour, salt, and sugar and mix with dough hook on low-speed until combined. Knead for an additional 3-4 minutes on low-speed until the dough is looking smooth. Remove dough hook and cover bowl with plastic wrap and let it rise on the counter until doubled (about 1 hour).

Turn dough out onto a floured cutting board and cut the dough in half and then cut each half into about 10 equal-sized pieces.

In a small bowl combine:

1 cup packed light brown sugar 

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

In another small bowl:

6 tablespoons melted butter 

Dip each piece into the butter and then in the sugar mixture. Place the pieces in a greased bundt pan, cover the pan with plastic wrap and let rise for 1 hour.

Bake in 350 degree F oven for 30-35 minutes. Cool 5 minutes, then invert the warm bread onto a plate. (If you wait too long to remove the bread it will stick to the pan.)  

In another small bowl combine:

1 cup powdered sugar 

2 tablespoons milk

Mix the powdered sugar and milk together and spoon the glaze over the warm bread.

 

I brought a monkey bread with me to my brother's to help watch the kids after he had surgery on his wrist and my very adorable precocious niece asked me, "Do they call it monkey bread because monkeys really love it?"  I couldn't stop giggling over her genius.  I'm telling you that kid knows things.

The more I thought about it, the more I realized how many times I've made this monkey bread and never seem to be able to capture a photograph of it.  Then it hit me, there must be some crazed creature with a voracious appetite getting to this bread before I get a chance to photograph it.  So I set out a warm monkey bread on the table, set up my camera on auto-snap, and headed back to the kitchen for some milk.  Imagine my shock and horror when I came back to find an empty plate and these photos of a monkey with a crazy piranha smile on my camera.  Apparently this creature uses sonar to locate freshly baked monkey bread and then uses its oversized grill to consume the bread in one fell swoop and leaves the scene before anyone is the wiser.

You've been warned my friends:  If you plan on bringing this bread with you to an event or even saving it for later; be sure and put out ample Monkey-ranha repellent.

I was under the weather for a few and then I had a custom order to fill for my niece's sister so she could ask a special someone "Will you go to prom with me?  The cookies worked their magic and I can't wait to see photos of the happy couple.  The talented Arty McGoo made the originals that she saw and I made them for her in the colors of her dress.  I need to get my cookies skills back up to speed since I will be making a ton of them soon for the 50th anniversary party I'm working on.

What I really need is some cookie sleeping pills and a warm glass of milk, hmm.

Gina