Lavender cupcakes with lemon curd filling

For a very long time, I have wanted to use culinary lavender. I saw a recipe months ago that used lavender in brownies and it just looked so fascinating. I was ready to make that recipe and...I couldn't find lavender in grocery stores anywhere. I checked Stop and Shop, Market Basket (who are we kidding? I doubt very much that I would have found lavender in their spice aisle. But I digress), Whole Foods, Trader Joe's, nothing. A search on Amazon found me lavender at close to $10, not including shipping and handling, which would have brought it closer to $20. I didn't need it that much.

At Christmas time I got a great gift certificate to Williams-Sonoma. I went off a few weeks ago to finally cash it in (when I would just look at the website online I found I wanted EVERYTHING, so going to the store in person just seemed like it might be better). I found a few fun toys that I didn't have in my repertoire of kitchen items, but as I was rounding an aisle I saw it: culinary lavender. For just a bit over $5. Done.





Okay, so now that I have culinary lavender in my kitchen, the question became, "what to do with it?" I could make those brownies, but then I'd still have nearly an entire jar left. Options! I needed options!

...and then we had our friends over for dinner this past weekend. I knew I wanted to make something with lavender in it for them. My friend Mia loves things that have lemon in it (remember this?), so I thought, "maybe I could do a lavender dessert, with a lemon hint in it!" A google search turned up lemon filled lavender cupcakes. Off I went.

Lavender is the weirdest thing to cook with. When I parceled it out into the bowl to use, I swear it smelled like the soap in my bathroom. Or a candle we have downstairs. It did not smell like something I was supposed to put in food. I went ahead anyway, hoping it might all turn out in the end.

The cupcakes were surprisingly easy to make, and really didn't smell overpoweringly of lavender when I was done. I had a feeling the lemon curd was supposed to be in the cupcake to help it keep soft and moist. I made that too, but next time I think I'll buy it premade. I'm always afraid of scrambling eggs when I do things like lemon curd, and I really think I did that with some of them. The curd tasted okay, but some of the egg kept getting stuck in the pastry tip I used to fill the cupcakes. If you're not afraid, go ahead and make your own, but if you hesitate, I'm sure jarred curd would work just fine. I used a different frosting than the one in the recipe only because I couldn't find lavender honey, and when I was ready to go ahead and make it myself, the recipe said I had to let the mixture sit for a week. Having only one day, I nixed it and went with a lavender buttercream I found on another site. No food coloring (mostly because I had no blue coloring to mix with the red I had to make purple) for the frosting, but no problems there.



The cake itself was kind of dry, but it was very mild with the lavender taste. If it weren't so crumbly, I might have had more! The curd (when I found it in my cupcake) was tasty, and helped to make the cake not stick so much to the roof of your mouth. The frosting was tasty but different, a buttercream that had lavender-infused milk in it. I'd definitely try it again though. They were unlike anything I've ever tasted before. It tasted like spring, and after the crappy weather we've had for the past few days, I needed it.




Lemon Filled Lavender Cupcakes (recipe from Yummymummykitchen.com)
1/2 c. granulated sugar
1/4 tsp. dried lavender
1/2 c. softened butter
2 eggs
1 cup flour
1.5 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
2 Tbsp. milk

Put the sugar and lavender flowers in a food processor. Pulse briefly to combine (a blender works too, and depending on the size of your processor bowl, you may want to do that instead to avoid large flowers in your cupcake).
Combine the lavender sugar and butter in a medium sized bowl and beat together until pale and fluffy, for a few minutes.
Beat the eggs into the butter mixture, one at a time, then mix in the dry ingredients and fold gently. Stir in the milk, then spoon the mixture into a prepared muffin tin (with liners or greased. I prefer liners).
Bake for about 18 minutes until risen and golden and a skewer inserted in the center comes out clean, then transfer to a wire rack to cool.

When the cupcakes are cooled, take your lemon curd (either homemade or store-bought) and put it in a pastry bag filled with a small tip. Insert the tip into the top of the cupcake and fill it with lemon curd (be careful not to split the sides!). If you don't have a pastry bag (or a tip, and you don't want to use a plastic bag), you can pare out a portion of the top and fill it in with a spoon. If you use a pastry tip and bag, you can keep your cupcake intact! :)

Lavender Buttercream Frosting (recipe from Penguin in the Kitchen)
14 Tbsp. butter, softened
2 cups powdered sugar
1/2 c. whole milk
1 tsp lavender
Purple food coloring (or red and blue to make your own) (optional)

Combine the milk and the lavender in a small pot and bring to a boil. Remove from heat.
Cover the pan and let it sit at room temperature (take it off the stovetop!) for 15 minutes to help the lavender infuse in the milk. Then transfer it to the fridge for a half hour to cool down completely.
Beat butter and sugar together with a hand-held or electric mixer until well combined and creamy.
Add half of the lavender milk and purple food coloring (if using) and continue to mix well. Use your own taste on this: after adding in half, make sure it's not too strong. I actually found it too weak at this stage and decided to add the rest of the milk in. I also thought there wasn't enough sugar for me (I like my buttercreams a little bit thicker) so I added about another half cup. Feel free to add more or less to your taste.
Spread frosting on cooled cupcakes, or, if you're feeling particularly sassy, use a piping bag with tip to make them all fancy-like!

Lemon Squares

I am currently watching an episode of "The Best Thing I Ever Ate: Snack Attack" on the Food Network. It is reminding me of this very post that I've had in my head for about a week. I remember Lemon Squares being more of a go-to dessert for me rather than a snack, but seeing how Adam and I have been doing a lot of snacking with this particular item this week, it seems only fair that I share it with all of you.

I love lemon squares. As a kid, there were several dishes my mom made that stood out as favorites. Lemon squares were one of them-this is interesting for me because otherwise, lemons really weren't a huge draw. I don't care much for any sort of lemon pie, and lemon cake, while tasty, is something I never crave. I don't even like lemon in my water, and have to be in a mood for lemonade. But these lemon squares...oh, I could always be in a mood for lemon squares. It's quite possibly the only dessert I liked my mom to make as much as this one. Even now, my mouth waters just to think about it. The middle was slightly gooey and the crust nice and crisp, with some powdered sugar on top to take away a bit of the tartness from the lemon. They were just awesome, plain and simple.

I have no idea where she got the recipe. Even now, with all of the recipes she had in a drawer in our kitchen, I can't figure out where it came from because it's not in there. I've tried other recipes in the past and they didn't quite compare. Sometimes the bar was just too crunchy and dry, and other times it just didn't taste right.

This past weekend, I knew I had a lot of lemons in the drawer that needed to be used, so I hunted for a recipe that I thought might work. After perusing the internet, I found a recipe by Ina Garten that seemed to be okay, and got a lot of good reviews.






Kids, I've found the lemon square from my childhood. It was exactly right, even if it wasn't prepared the way I remember it. It was gooey (admittedly, I think I underbaked it a little), the crust was like a butter cookie-but not too crunchy, and the filling was a perfect blend of sweet and tart. This is a winner recipe, and definitely will go in the arsenal of good ol' standbys.

Lemon Squares (recipe obtained from Ina Garten and the Food Network)
Ingredients

For the crust:
1/2 lb. unsalted butter, at room temperature (I actually melted it instead)
1/2 c. granulated sugar
2 c. flour
1/8 tsp. salt

For the filling:
6 eggs at room temperature
3 c. sugar
2 tbsp. grated lemon zest (4 to 6 lemons-I found I had enough at 4 lemons, even if I planned to do 5)
1 c. lemon juice (if you don't squeeze your own, using bottled is fine, which is what I did)
1 c.flour

Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

To make the crust:
Cream the butter and sugar until fluffy using either a stand mixer or a portable electric mixer. Combine the flour and salt and, with the mixer on low, add to the butter mixture until just blended. Place the dough in a lined pan and spread out to the edges using your hands or a spatula. Chill for about 10 minutes.

Bake the crust for 15 to 20 minutes, until very lightly browned. Remove from the oven and let it cool while you prepare the filling (but keep the oven on at 350 degrees!)

For the filling, combine together the eggs, sugar, lemon zest, lemon juice, and flour. Whisk until well blended. Pour over the cooled crust and bake for 30 to 35 minutes, until the filling is set (Note: This can depend on how hot your oven runs. I had to keep mine in for roughly 45 minutes). Let cool to room temperature.

Cut into bars and dust with confectioners' sugar. If necessary, hide them from people in your household so there's more for you. :)

Chicken Pot Pie

I love Chicken Pot Pie. It's really a shame I don't have it more often. There's a place near me that has Chicken Pies that I absolutely *love*, and bonus, they'll even have it hot and ready for you if you call in advance.

I have been on a mission since then to find the perfect pie that might be suitable to make at home. Someone here isn't a fan of potatoes in pie (I'll forgive him) but I wanted to find something that we both would enjoy and one that would make me not even think about the fact that it didn't contain my favorite starch.

A few months ago, I had an abundance of broccoli, so I decided to look up pies that had broccoli in it, and lo! I found the jackpot. Of course I modified it, using rotisserie chicken and a whole boatload of vegetables, even more than what was in it already, and came up with a winner. You know what I really think the key ingredient here was? Cheese. Weird. But it totally works.







I'll admit that the pictures I took in this post were from a few weeks ago (yup, I've
got an arsenal of pictures for recipes I haven't blogged about yet. There's more fun stuff coming! :) ) but thinking about it makes me wish I hadn't made chicken with rice tonight. It pales completely in comparison. Most everything I eat this week will. It is that good.







The beauty about this pie is the ability to put whatever you want in it. I kept the carrots and broccoli the same, but I added peas once. Another time, I put in cream of chicken and mushroom soup. I love sauteed onions and celery in here. It uses a double crust, which is really the only way to eat pie. Also, the recipe says to use two cooked chicken breasts. Thumb your nose at that one and use shredded rotisserie chicken. It could be the best decision you've ever made.



Chicken Pot Pie (recipe adapted from allrecipes.com)
1 box of ready made pie crusts (Pillsbury makes them, and so do most store brands. Make sure you get a package that contains at least two pie crusts)
1 carrot, chopped (I've used a handful of carrot shreds, or several chopped baby carrots, or some pre-chopped carrots. Whatever floats your boat)
1 head fresh broccoli, chopped
2 boneless chicken breast halves, cooked and chopped (or take a fresh rotisserie chicken and shred the breasts, removing the skin first)
1 (10.75 ounce) can condensed cream of chicken soup or cream of chicken and mushroom soup, whichever you choose
2/3 cup milk
1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese
1/2 teaspoon salt
pepper to taste

other vegetables to add (pick and choose or put them all in):
one chopped onion, sauteed
several celery stalks, chopped and sauteed
a handful of mushrooms, chopped
a cup of frozen peas (added frozen, they'll cook in the pie)

Directions

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.

Steam carrots and broccoli in a covered pot for 3 minutes. They will still be slightly firm, and that's okay. If you don't have a steam insert for a pot, ball up several pieces of tin foil and line the pot with it. Then put in some water and make sure it won't touch the vegetables when you put them in, so maybe enough to have about an inch of water.

In a large bowl, mix together carrots, broccoli, chicken, soup, milk, cheese, salt and pepper, and any of the vegetables you choose. Put mixture into an already pastry lined pie pan and cover it with the top crust. Crimp edges together to form a seal and cut steam vents in top.

Brush the top crust with an egg wash: one egg beaten with one tablespoon of water.

Bake in preheated oven for 30 minutes, until golden brown.

Sweet Potato Tater Tots

A few weeks back, I was perusing Facebook, as I often do, and I saw a notice for a new burger place on the South Shore opening up. The restaurant, called Wahlburgers, is owned by the Wahlberg brothers, Mark and Donnie, and their chef brother (I think his name is Paul...anyway). I looked at their menu online, and their burgers looked awesome, but the thing that caught my eye was sweet potato tater tots. I told Adam later that day that we needed to take a field trip down there to try a burger, and to have those tater tots (Five Guys has already been in our regular rotation, as there is a location about fifteen minutes away from us, and I thought, why not try something new?). Adam, in a stroke of genius (and because he knows I'll try almost anything), told me, "well, why don't you try to make your own?"

Genius. Of course. Why not, I have the grater and the deep fryer, and all I needed were the raw materials and the time.

As kids, we loved tater tots. I remember us calling them "trash cans", and it makes a little bit of sense-they kind of look like trash cans, right? It's weird for me to call them tater tots, or even just plain tots, as made famous by Napoleon Dynamite. So, tater tots is the actual recipe, but I don't think I'll be able to think of them without calling them trash cans.

But back to the sweet potato. As Guy Fieri might say, these things were money. (Apologies. I can't believe that actually came out of my mouth. But that's exactly what these things are). They weren't terribly difficult to do, but it did force me to exercise a little bit of patience. Waiting for the potatoes to cool after boiling was particularly difficult. I waited for twenty minutes and then dug in to grate and peel them, ignoring the fact that the hot steam was essentially burning my fingers.







I'd like to think that it was like a facial for my hands. Whatever that's referred to, anyway.





Once that was done, add in the other ingredients, mix together, form into logs, and drop into the deep fryer for four minutes. My taste tester ate four straight from the fryer. He's a pretty fair judge when it comes to my cooking, and when I had to swat his hand away, I knew I had a winner. Paired with a homemade cheeseburger on Portuguese bread and the Patriots/Giants game, it's a perfect evening.





My four-legged sous chef, on the other hand, looked on and sulked. I think he wanted one too. Next time, buddy.


Sweet Potato Tater Tots (adapted from Cook With Tom)
3-4 medium size sweet potatoes (enough to get 3 cups of shreds. I wound up with way too much shredded sweet potatoes, so I'd bump this down to 2. Of course, if you have too much, save it and use it for something else, like sweet potato latkes!)
1/4 c flour
1/4 c Parmesan cheese
1 Tsp alt
1 tsp pepper (not in original recipe, but necessary-it gave it the extra spice it needed!)
Canola oil

Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add the sweet potatoes and boil for 20 minutes (do not peel them beforehand!). Let it cool on a plate before peeling them, either with a knife or a peeler.

Shred the sweet potatoes to have three cups' worth. Wring them out in paper towels or a cheesecloth to remove the extra moisture.

Combine sweet potatoes with flour, cheese, pepper and salt. Mix well to combine. When in doubt, add just a little more cheese.

Using a 1 Tbs measuring spoon, portion out tater tots, and form into small tater logs.

Fry in a deep fryer or a deep pot filled halfway with oil, at 350 degrees, for 3-5 minutes, until brown (we found that four minutes was perfect, but it may depend on whether you're frying with a cover or not.).

These tater tots are perfect without any sauce, but feel free to use your favorite. If I have to pick one, it'd be honey mustard, but to each their own.

"Peanutella"

If you don't know my favorite candy, you may not know me all that well.

...

...

still thinking?

I'm a gigantic sucker for the chocolate peanut butter combination, so your guess of Reese's Peanut Butter Cups is spot on.
(I'm actually eating one now.)

On Halloween, I've gone trick-or treating with my nieces and my sister since they've been old enough to go. One year, quite awhile ago, I told my nieces this little secret of my favorite candy. Ever since, every year, they'll help me in my quest for peanut butter-chocolate euphoria.

"Auntie!" They'll shout, from the lucky houses. "They had Peanut Butter Cups! I got one for you!"

At Halloween, my pockets are stuffed with peanut butter cups and a few wrappers, from those I ate while I walked. I clean up at Halloween.

Today seemed like a perfect day to make this spread: Woburn had it's official Halloween parade this afternoon, we had an unusual freak nor'easter that produced several inches of snow, and I'm procrastinating from doing paperwork at home. I'm also trying to avoid breaking into the bag of peanut butter cups I bought for trick-or-treaters tomorrow. See? Win-win.







This was one of the weirder recipes I've ever made. Put toasted peanuts in the food processor and grind until it looks like peanut butter. Weird. Add cocoa powder and powdered sugar and salt and oil and blend until it looks like a spread. Too easy. Spread it on a piece of toasted challah bread shipped to you from your favorite island bakery. So very right.





Chocolate-Peanut Spread (recipe from Smitten Kitchen)
2 c. shelled and skinned peanuts (the recipe calls for raw; all I could find were salted and roasted. Those are fine too)
1/2 c. unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/4 c. powdered sugar
1/4 tsp. salt (if you find unsalted peanuts, you may need more)
2-3 tablespoons peanut oil

Turn the oven to 400 degrees. Spread the peanuts evenly over a cookie sheet and roast for about 10 minutes, or 5 if they are already roasted.
Transfer the peanuts to a food processor (I'm fairly certain this wouldnt work with a blender, sadly, but if you try let me know how you make out) and grind them for about 5 minutes. It will first look really grainy, then it will have more of a peanut butter look. Leave it alone until it looks like peanut butter and then grind it for another minute or so, just to be sure.

Add the cocoa, sugar, salt and two tablespoons of the oil to the food processor and continue to blend together for about 1 minute.

Refrigerate until ready to use.

Goulash

I know that this recipe is not completely authentic. I am well aware that goulash is a Hungarian dish (right? Someone back me up on this) and I'm fairly certain that the real version does not contain Velveeta. In fact, I'm not sure that goulash contains cheese at all, but I digress. This is the name of the dish I know, and that's what sticks. It's like fat pie. Or oreo balls. You don't try to fix what isn't broken.

I grew up on goulash. My dad made it quite often on the weekends, and I'm not sure if it was because it was a) filling, b)fast, c) extremely tasty, or d) all of the above. At any rate, every time I eat it, I'm reminded of eating this on blue plastic plates, with a little bit of toasted french bread on the side. Sometimes a salad too, because, well, it made us all feel like we were eating somewhat healthy. This is something that very much reminds me of my childhood.

As adults, my dad will still make this dish for us on rare occasions. I wonder if it's because his wife won't let him have it on his own, but I'm glad he'll wait for me to come up there to make it. Awhile back I asked him how he did it. He replied, "I just brown meat, saute an onion, add some velveeta and sauce, a pound of pasta, and frozen peas."







(my father is the king of simplicity when it comes to food. Remember these?)

I made him write it down, since I didn't want to leave room for error the first time I tried it for myself, but it really is as easy as it sounds. It's pure comfort in a bowl. It's great in the wintertime, but I'll eat it any time of year. Like tonight, when it's pouring rain out.



These days, it's gotten several requests. We have switched it up a bit, substituting ground chicken or seasoned ground turkey, whole wheat pasta, and most recently we added red peppers and mushrooms. This is a fun dish to play with.


You really ought to try this. Especially if you're short on time. It's awesome. Everyone who's tried it has given this dish it's due. Go on. You won't be sorry.

Goulash (recipe courtesy of my dad)
1 lb. meat (I grew up on ground chuck. Nowadays, I'll try turkey or chicken-dare I say it tastes almost better than ground beef?)
1 onion, finely diced
1 lb. pasta (the recipe calls for angel hair-I've also made it with fettucini and it's just as good)
a small spoonful of minced garlic
1 jar of Ragu sauce (pick whatever variety you prefer most)
1 box of frozen peas
1/3 block of Velveeta cheese (we use almost a half block these days, because we like more cheese. I once totally forgot and used an entire block. Not only did it just make it totally uncooperative to mix together, it was really unappealing for leftovers. Use judgement, but if you prefer more cheese, stick with measurements closer to a half block.

Saute the onions in a pot for several minutes over medium to medium high heat. Add the meat and brown all over. Drain the liquid well, then return the pot to the stove.

In the meantime, cook a pound of pasta according to the directions on the box. Drain well, then add to the meat mixture.

Put the entire jar of sauce into the pot. Put the frozen peas in the mixture at this point as well. While the goulash is heating through (continue to mix well) add the Velveeta in small chunks so it melts easier and faster. Mix until fully incorporated together, then serve it in bowls. Or hell, just take a fork to the pot. You may save some dish washing that way.

Lemon Blueberry Pancakes

I decided to make these pancakes this morning for a lazy Saturday breakfast (well, it was almost lunch when we finally ate them. Ah well.). Adam took one bite of these, declared them "so good you don't need syrup" and then suggested to me that I should post these on the blog.

Ask, and ye shall receive.







I've spoken before about lemon pancakes. How I kind of felt them to be a little too tart for my taste. I tried making meyer lemon pancakes and found them to be much better, much more subtle. And then there were the lemon blueberry pancakes. I'm still not sure why lemons and blueberries match so well together, but yet, there they were, a perfect pair. Another thing that was great about it was that the blueberries were directly in the batter, something I've admittedly never tried. I've always put the blueberries in as they bake on the griddle. Never again.

This recipe calls for evaporated milk, and like an idiot, when I went to the store I bought sweetened condensed milk instead. Figuring that this might make the pancakes overly sweet, I decided to ditch the condensed milk and use up some leftover buttermilk I had in the fridge. It worked like a charm. We decided that they seemed crepe-like...but maybe a touch thicker. Next time I try these, I'd like to mix it up and try different things: evaporated milk, sour cream, maybe even yogurt!





I thought that maple syrup might overpower these pancakes and that it might make them too sweet. I thought that I might need my raspberry syrup to continue with the fruit theme. I don't know, maple syrup and lemon seemed weird to me. But it worked. I loved it. Let's be honest anyway: Maple syrup (REAL maple syrup, not that fake Aunt Jemima stuff) is the best thing known to man. Of course it would make these pancakes even more awesome.



We ate all of the pancakes in one sitting. Clearly a win-situation for us, and a first when it comes to pancakes. Though I might need to go outside for a run after doing that. :)

Lemon Blueberry Pancakes (recipe adapted from The Pioneer Woman)
1-½ c. cake flour, plus one additional TBSP
¼ tsp. salt
1 T. baking powder
3 T. Sugar
1-½ cup Evaporated Milk (I didn't have it, so I substituted buttermilk instead)
1 lemon
1 large egg
1-½ tsp vanilla
2 T. melted butter
Zest From 1 lemon
1 heaping c. Blueberries

Heat heavy skillet or grill over medium low heat.
In a medium bowl, mix flour, salt, baking powder, and sugar together. Set aside.
In a separate bowl, mix evaporated milk, juice of 1 lemon, and lemon zest. Sit aside for five minutes, then add egg, vanilla, and melted butter. Mix to combine.
Pour wet mixture into dry ingredients. Stir gently to combine. Stir in blueberries. Make sure mixture isn’t overly thick. If it is, add more milk, buttermilk, or whatever liquid you might be using.
Melt butter in heated skillet. Flick some water over the top to see if it's ready (water should dance across if it is). When the skillet is ready, ladle batter in 1/3-1/4 c. amounts, and fry for about 3 minutes a side, or until golden brown, whichever comes first. Add butter to the top and douse in copious amounts of maple syrup.