Strawberry Lemonade

Here is a quick and easy recipe for restaurant-quality strawberry lemonade! Simple syrup and club soda add complexity, and fresh local strawberries and lemon juice add sweetness with a kick. Feel free to substitute lime juice to make Strawberry Limeade! I halved this recipe, and it was the perfect amount for me and my best friend.

Strawberry Lemonade

From Food Network

Ingredients

• 2 cups water
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 tablespoon grated lemon peel
• 1 cup fresh lemon juice
• 1 pint fresh strawberries, halved
• 2 cups cold club soda
• Ice
• Mint sprigs, garnish
• Whole strawberries, garnish

Directions

• In a medium saucepan, bring the water and sugar to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer, stirring occasionally, until the sugar dissolves. Add the lemon peel and lemon juice, stir, and remove from the heat. Let cool completely, then strain into a clean pitcher.
• In a blender, puree the pint of strawberries and add to the pitcher with the lemon juice. Stir well to combine and refrigerate until well chilled.
• Add the sparkling water and stir well. Pour over glasses filled with ice and serve, garnished with mint and strawberries.

Chocolate Chip Zucchini Bread

Since it's been so dreary outside these past few days, I figured everyone could use a comfort food post. Zucchini bread is one of those things that you eat while curled up watching the rain fall (at least that's how it was in my house), and this transition into fall is the PERFECT time to make it! This recipe makes two loaves- perfect for sharing or freezing.

My garden produced copious amounts of zucchini this year, so I had plenty to work with. 

Vanilla Creme Brulee

Well, I didn't know what dessert to make this week, and I was browsing around on Facebook. I found the "Questions" tab, and decided to poll my friends to see what they thought. Most people thought I should make a tiramisu, but Savannah's response (below) was so enthusiastic that I just HAD to make creme brulee! Savannah also LOVES to bake, so hopefully she'll feature a dessert on A Dessert a Week soon.  I apologize for the crappy photos; my external flash decided to stop working immediately after I started photographing.

Creme brulee is such an easy dessert to make. I used to be a volunteer sous chef at an OUTSTANDING restaurant, The Brandon House, in downtown York, and I made their creme brulee a time or two, and it was so delicious. If you are ever in upstate South Carolina, then stop by there for a bite to eat.

If you don't happen to have vanilla beans in your house, then substitute 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract for the vanilla bean. Vanilla beans are wonderful though, and you can reuse them to make vanilla sugar!

As you see, I'm horrible about fully separating the white from the yolk. You can strain the creme brulee mixture before pouring into ramekins if you wish, but it'll turn out fine if you don't.

I waited until I put the pan in the oven to add water; I didn't want to spill extremely hot water all over myself, but it's whatever you feel comfortable with. I used a glass 9x13 baking dish and a square cake pan for the water bath. You can use anything that is oven safe to place the ramekins in.

I used a welding blowtorch to melt the sugar, but it would be a lot easier and safer to use a kitchen blowtorch or the oven!

Ingredients

• 1 quart heavy cream
• 1 vanilla bean, split and scraped
• 1 cup vanilla sugar, divided
• 6 large egg yolks
• 2 quarts hot water

Directions

• Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. 
• Place the cream, vanilla bean and its pulp into a medium saucepan set over medium-high heat and bring to a boil. Remove from the heat, cover and allow to sit for 15 minutes. Remove the vanilla bean and reserve for another use. 
• In a medium bowl, whisk together 1/2 cup sugar and the egg yolks until well blended and it just starts to lighten in color. Add the cream a little at a time, stirring continually. Pour the liquid into 6 (7 to 8-ounce) ramekins. Place the ramekins into a large cake pan or roasting pan. Pour enough hot water into the pan to come halfway up the sides of the ramekins. Bake just until the creme brulee is set, but still trembling in the center, approximately 40 to 45 minutes. Remove the ramekins from the roasting pan and refrigerate for at least 2 hours and up to 3 days. 
• Remove the creme brulee from the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes prior to browning the sugar on top. Divide the remaining 1/2 cup vanilla sugar equally among the 6 dishes and spread evenly on top. Using a torch, melt the sugar and form a crispy top. Allow the creme brulee to sit for at least 5 minutes before serving.

Chocolate Whoopie Pies

These were my first experience at making whoopie pies, and I was so pleased by the results! The first time I made them with a seven minute frosting (as pictured), and the second time I used a marshmallow creme filling. Both are delicious: the seven minute frosting is much airier and lighter, and the marshmallow creme is for those of you that love a filling with more substance. The seven minute frosting only keeps for a few hours before separating, so be sure to make it right before you plan to serve the whoopie pies. The marshmallow creme filling doesn't seem apt to separate, and could probably be made ahead of time. The whoopie pies last at least four days in a sealed container at room temperature.

Recently, I started collecting vintage cooking items for my soon-to-open Etsy store. This is my first experience with selling items, and I am SO EXCITED about it! I will be sure to update everyone when the items are up and put a link at the top of this website. Thank you so much for all of your support! 

If you have a large cookie scoop, then by all means use that. I haven't bought one yet, so I just used a large spoon to shape the dough. 

If you are using the marshmallow creme recipe for filling, then disregard the seven minute frosting photographs below.

Whoopie Pies
from Martha Stewart

• 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 cups unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 tablespoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 2 cups sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 2 cups buttermilk, room temperature
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• Seven Minute Frosting (recipe and ingredients below)

Directions

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Sift together flour, salt, cocoa powder, baking soda, and baking powder. Set aside. Line two baking pans with Silpats (French nonstick baking mats) or parchment paper. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs, buttermilk, and vanilla. Beat until well combined. Slowly add dry ingredients. Mix until combined.
• Using a 1-ounce ice cream scoop, place cookies onto lined baking pans, 12 per pan. Bake for 12 minutes. Remove to a rack to cool. Repeat with remaining batter.
• Spread 2 tablespoons frosting onto each of 24 cookies. Sandwich together with remaining 24 cookies.

Seven Minute Frosting

• 3/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1/3 cup water
• 1 tablespoon light corn syrup
• 3 large egg whites
• 1/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Directions

• Heat 3/4 cup sugar, the water, and
  corn syrup in a medium saucepan
  over medium heat, stirring until sugar
  dissolves. Increase heat, and bring to
  a boil. Wash down sides of pan with
  a wet pastry brush to prevent sugar crystals from forming. Cook until it registers 235 degrees on a candy thermometer.
• Meanwhile, whisk whites with a
  mixer on medium speed until soft
  peaks form, about 2 1/2 minutes. Add
  remaining tablespoon sugar; reduce
  speed to medium-low. Pour sugar syrup
  into whites in a slow, steady stream.
  Increase speed to medium high; beat
  until stiff peaks form, about 7 minutes.
  Beat in vanilla; use immediately.

Marshmallow Crème Filling

• 1/2 cup butter
• 1 cup confectioners' sugar
• 1 cup Marshmallow Fluff
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

Directions

• In a medium bowl with mixer at medium speed, beat butter and remaining ingredients until light and fluffy.

Kahlua Refrigerator Pie

I received this recipe from a church member after lamenting on Facebook about how much Kahlua I had in my cabinet. She broke through the hordes of typical college students' comments to pass on a delicious, easy dessert! Monday is Labor Day, and this refrigerator pie is the perfect item to bring to the celebration!

This is the quickest dessert I've made on A Dessert a Week yet, but don't let that fool you about the taste. Once the flavors have time to mix, this dessert is as complex as any. Excluding chill time, this recipe took about 5 minutes to prepare.

If you prefer the taste of Kahlua to be more prevalent, then add 1-2 tablespoons extra.

Ta-da! Instant, delicious pie!


Ingredients:

• 1 chocolate pie crust
• 6 Heath Bars (or a bag of Heath Bar chips)
• 1/4 cup chocolate chips (reserve 2 tablespoons extra for the topping)
• 6 oz cream cheese
• 8 oz Cool Whip
• 1/4 cup Kahlua or to taste!

Directions:

• Crush candy with knife blade in food processor (or with a mallet, car tires, whatever). Add cream cheese to this and process. Add chocolate chips and Kahlua and process. Pour this over Cool Whip and mix.
• Place all in crust and put reserved chocolate chips on on top. Chill overnight or all day if possible to allow flavors to mix through. Freezes very well. You can pour extra Kahlua over the pie or drizzle some on the plate if you wish.

Fig Galette

Lately, I have been on a dough kick. Ever since I discovered the perfect dough recipe, I had been using it as much as I can: in tarts, pies, galettes, you name it. If the directions at the bottom seem too complicated, believe me, it really isn't at all. The dough and the frangipane are so simple that they basically make themselves. And people will think that you are fancy if you throw out all of those French names and terms. It's a win-win!

Also, if you don't have a food processor...this could possibly be done in a blender. I have no idea. If anyone is brave enough to attempt it, please let me know! By the way, in case any of you were wondering, my first week of college has gone great so far! 7 classes this semester, and 4 of them are Human Nutrition classes. I already know I'm going to be super busy, but it'll be worth it.

I'm not sure what type of figs these are....I bought them from my local produce place called the Bush-N-Vine, and I suspect that they are Black Mission Figs. I think the type of fig I used in the other galette was a Turkish Fig.

You can arrange your figs any way that you would like. I arranged them differently each time I made the recipe. Don't stress too hard.

I should have left more room around the edges so that I could fold the galette over, but I forgot. As a result, a little bit of the fig juice leaked out, but it wasn't enough to affect the final product. This is an extremely unpretentious dessert, and it will forgive you if you make mistakes. And the silicone mat that I used in the recipe is so fantastic. It is a little pricey, but definitely worth the money; I can tell the difference between cookies/tarts/galettes baked on it and on parchment paper. 

I made the galette below with a different type of the fig that in the photographs above. I made two galettes because I had a lot of leftover ingredients and because the first one was so delicious! The crust is so buttery and flaky, and the sugar in the figs caused them to caramelize slightly. 

I used an icing spatula to fold the edges of the dough over; it made it so much easier.


Fig Galette
Adapted from Chez Pim


Frangipane Ingredients:

• 75g whole almonds (about 1/2 cup)
• 75g sugar, you can use half granulated sugar and half confectioner’s sugar, or just all granulated sugar (about 1/8 cup granulated plus 1/4 cup confectioner’s, or just 1/3 cup granulated)
• 75g butter at room temperature
• 1 large egg

Directions for Frangipane:

• Preheat the oven to 350F (180C).  Spread the almonds evenly on a baking sheet and place them in the oven.  Roast them for about 10 minutes, or until slightly toasted and fragrant.  Transfer to a plate and let cool to room temperature.
• Put the cooled almonds and the sugar into a food processor and process until fine.  Add the butter and the egg and pulse until well-combined.  If you don’t want to use it right away, divide the frangipane into four equal parts, wrap each tightly in plastic.  They will keep in the fridge for a couple of days, and up to a month in the freezer.

Pastry Dough Ingredients (makes two 9 inch rounds):
This dough was also used in the Nectarine Lattice Pie post!

• 2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
• 5 tablespoons (or more) ice water
• Milk for crust
• 1 tbsp. sugar

Directions

• For the crust: whisk sugar, flour, and salt in a large bowl to blend. Add the butter and rub in with fingertips (or a pastry blender) until small pea-sized lumps form. Add 5 tablespoons of ice water. Mix lightly with a fork until the dough holds together when small pieces are pressed between fingertips. Add ice water by the teaspoon if too dry. Gather dough into a ball, and divide in half. Flatten each half into a disk, wrap separately in plastic wrap, and chill for at least 30 minutes. This can be made two days ahead, just make sure to let it soften slightly at room temperature before rolling out.

To make a 9″ fig tart

• 1 9″ pie dough listed above
• about 10 large figs or about 15 small ones
• 1/4 the recipe of frangipane above

Directions

• Preheat the oven to 400F (200C).  Roll out your pastry dough to about 10-inch diameter – more or less won’t harm anything.  Spread about 1/4 of the quantity of frangipane on the dough, leaving about 1 inch parameter around the outer edge of the dough.  
• Quarter the figs (only halve if small) and arrange them -pointy end up will be prettier- in concentric circles to cover the frangipane.  Fold the edges in, pinching a little to make sure they stick.  If you want, you can brush the dough with eggwash and give it a good shower of sugar.  Bake for about 45-50 minutes, or until the pastry edges are golden brown.

Kara's Buttermilk Peach Cobbler

Wow, this week has been so busy. Yesterday, (when I normally would've posted this week's recipe) I was on the way to Charleston to take my best friend to college. Putting together a room with all new, pretty stuff is always fun, but the trip was still emotionally exhausting. Plus, it foreshadows my move-in date at my new school this coming Friday, and I am not looking forward for the summer to end. I left my summer job a few days ago, and am working harder than ever on getting my website up and running, and brainstorming ideas for my Etsy store. Within the next month, I will have all sorts of fun things for sale: some handmade, some vintage picks, and photography. The majority of the items will be centered around baking, cooking, and food in general. I'm really excited about the direction that I'm moving in; I just wish that I could do everything at once to get it ready faster! This week's recipe was made with a tiny peach tree that has been growing in my front yard for 5-6 years. The peaches this year were finally edible, so I decided to make something that would showcase them. Oh side note, I just discovered that my college just assigned me a new roommate......four days before I move in. And they already messed up with my supposed-to-be roommate before this with rooming. Fantastic! So they are going to get a piece of my mind at 2:00 when we both go up there. Not to rant, but I am sick of this school messing stuff up for me. Just do your job, PLEASE. Anyways, I didn't have enough milk for the original recipe, so I substituted out some baking soda and buttermilk instead, and it turned out fantastic. You could do this recipe with any sort of stone fruit, but peaches are the best!

Boiling the peaches, then placing them in ice-water is the easiest way to remove the skin.

 

These peaches, probably because they were small peaches from a young tree, weren't quite as sweet as fruit from mature fruit trees, but they were still delicious.

This is my favorite and best tasting recipe on A Dessert a Week yet! This would be great served with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.

Ingredients

• 4 cups peeled, sliced peaches
• 1 3/4 cups sugar, divided
• 1/2 cup water
• 8 tablespoons butter
• 1 1/2 cups self-rising flour
• 3/4 cup milk
• 3/4 cup buttermilk
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• Ground cinnamon, optional

Directions

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Combine the peaches, 1 cup sugar, and water in a saucepan and mix well. Bring to a boil and simmer for 10 minutes. Remove from the heat. Put the butter in a 3-quart baking dish and place in oven to melt.
• Mix remaining 1 cup sugar, flour, and milk slowly to prevent clumping. Pour mixture over melted butter. Do not stir. Spoon fruit on top, gently pouring in syrup. Sprinkle top with ground cinnamon, if using. Batter will rise to top during baking. Bake for 30 to 45 minutes.