Lemon-buttermilk Icebox Pie (Lemon curd pie)

Lemon-buttermilk Icebox Pie (Lemon curd pie)

I got this recipe from Southern Living-a gift from my sisters who live in North Carolina.  It was very well received at our Thanksgiving celebration this year.

Ingredients

1 can (14 oz) sweetened condensed milk

1 Tbsp loosely packed lemon zest

½ Tbsp Fresh lemon juice

3 large egg yolks

¼ cup buttermilk

1 recipe graham cracker crust

Directions

Preheat oven to 325.

Whisk together first three ingredients into a bowl.

Beat egg yolks with a hand blender at high speed for 4 to 5 minutes until yolks become pale and ribbons form on surface when the beaters are lifted.

Gradually whisk in condensed milk mixture and whisk until thoroughly combined.

Whisk in buttermilk.

Pour into prepared crust.

Bake at 325 for 20 to 25 minutes or until set around edges. 

Cool on a wire rack for one hour.

Cover pie with a sprayed plastic wrap and freeze for 4 to 6 hours.

Graham Cracker Crust

Crumb Crust

Ingredients

1 ½ cup graham crackers

¼ cup sugar

1 tsp kosher salt

6 Tbsp butter, melted

Instructions

Process crushed crackers, Sugar and salt until finely chopped.

Add melted butter and process till combined.

Press into a nine inch pie pan, bottom, sides and lip.

Freeze for 30 minutes.

Fill and proceed!

Cream Scones

Cream Scones Recipe

Ingredients:

2 cups (9 ounces) All Purpose Flour  

1 Tbsp baking powder

3 Tbsp sugar

1/2 tsp salt

5 Tbsp cold unsalted butter grated

1 cup heavy cream

2 Tbl. of sugar for sprinkling on top

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Mix the flour, sugar, salt, baking powder in a large metal bowl.  Grate the butter into the flour mixture.  Mix together with flour with a large metal fork.

Stir in heavy cream,  mixing the dough by hand until it forms into a uniformed and slightly moistened dough.  Don’t over mix! 

On a floured surface, grab enough dough to fit into your hand about the size of a baseball and gently roll it in a ball.

Flatten the ball and until your disk is approx. 3/4″ in height. Press down the outside of the dough circle so the center is slightly taller. 

Evenly sprinkle sugar on top of each circle.

Cut each circle in quarters. You should have enough dough to make 4 circles and 16 scones.

Bake on a un-greased cookie sheet, or line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Bake for 15 minutes until the bottoms are golden brown. Remove scones from baking sheet and cool on a wire rack. Serve with butter and jam. Enjoy!

My favorite variant of this is to add a half cup of crystallized ginger and an equal amount of chopped pecans.  Mix them into the flour before you add the butter and proceed as normal.   Brush the top with ginger sugar (ground ginger mixed with coarse sugar). 

Try and eat just one.

Honey Glazed Carrots

Ingredients

Salt (for the boiling water)

1 pound baby carrots

2 tablespoons butter

2 tablespoons honey

1 tablespoon lemon juice

Freshly ground black pepper

1/4 cup chopped flat-leaf parsley

Directions

In a medium saucepan, bring water to a boil. Add salt and then carrots and cook until tender, 5 to 6 minutes. Drain the carrots and add back to pan with butter, honey and lemon juice. Cook until a glaze coats the carrots, 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper and garnish with parsley.

Recipe courtesy of Sunny Anderson

French Onion Soup

French Onion Soup

From Cook’s International

Ingredients

3 tablespoons unsalted butter , cut into 3 pieces

6 large yellow onions (about 4 pounds), halved and cut pole to pole into 1/4-inch-thick slices (see illustration below)

Table salt

2 cups water , plus extra for deglazing

1/2 cup dry sherry

4 cups low-sodium chicken broth (see note)

2 cups beef broth (see note)

6 sprigs fresh thyme , tied with kitchen twine

1 bay leaf

Ground black pepper

Cheese Croutons

1 small baguette , cut into 1/2-inch slices

8 ounces shredded Gruyère cheese (about 2 1/2 cups)

Preparation

For the soup: Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position and heat oven to 400 degrees.

Generously spray inside of heavy-bottomed large (at least 7-quart) Dutch oven with nonstick cooking spray.

Place butter in pot and add onions and 1 teaspoon salt.

 Cook, covered, 1 hour (onions will be moist and slightly reduced in volume).

Remove pot from oven and stir onions, scraping bottom and sides of pot.

 Return pot to oven with lid slightly ajar and continue to cook until onions are very soft and golden brown, 1 1/2 to 1 3/4 hours longer,

Place pot over medium-high heat.

Cook onions, stirring frequently and scraping bottom and sides of pot, until liquid evaporates and onions brown, 15 to 20 minutes.

Continue to cook, stirring frequently, until pot bottom is coated with dark crust, 6 to 8 minutes, adjusting heat as necessary.

Stir in 1/4 cup water, scraping pot bottom and cook until water evaporates and pot bottom has formed another dark crust, 6 to 8 minutes.

Repeat process 2 or 3 x, until onions are very dark brown.

Stir in sherry and cook until sherry evaporates, about 5 minutes.

Stir in broths, 2 cups water, thyme, bay leaf, and 1/2 teaspoon salt, scraping up any final bits of browned crust on bottom and sides of pot. Increase heat to high and bring to simmer.

Reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer 30 minutes.

Remove and discard herbs, then season with salt and pepper.

For the croutons: arrange baguette slices on baking sheet and bake in 400-degree oven until bread is dry, crisp, and golden at edges, about 10 minutes. Set aside.

To serve: Adjust oven rack 6 inches from broiler element and heat broiler.

Set individual broiler-safe crocks on baking sheet and fill each with about 1 3/4 cups soup. Top each bowl with 1 or 2 baguette slices (do not overlap slices) and sprinkle evenly with Gruyère.

Broil until cheese is melted and bubbly around edges, 3 to 5 minutes.

Let cool 5 minutes before serving.

Easy no Knead yeast rolls

I wish I could remember where I got this from-wandering around on the internet... This recipe is a keeper since I have made them a dozen times and they have turned out every time!

Ingredients 

2 [1/4 oz] packets rapid rise yeast [such as Fleischmann's]

1/4 cup granulated sugar, plus 1 tsp

1 1/3 cup of lukewarm water or milk

4 cups all purpose flour

1 tsp salt

1 large egg

8 Tbsp butter, divided

Directions:

In a measuring cup, dissolve both packets of yeast and 1 teaspoon of sugar in 1 1/3 cup of lukewarm water.  If you use hot water or milk, it will kill the yeast and the bread won't rise.  So, make sure the water is lukewarm not boiling. [tip: I use water most often for these rolls]  Let the yeast mixture sit on the counter for 5-7 minutes to allow the yeast to "bloom."  You'll see bubbles and froth begin to gather on the top.

 In a medium size mixing bowl, sift together the flour, salt and sugar.  Add the egg

After the yeast has developed, gradually add it to the dry ingredients in the bowl, along with 5 tablespoons of melted butter.  Begin to blend the ingredients together, using a large spoon incorporating more liquid as you go.  I used a silicone spatula, and the dough didn't stick to it, making this task a lot easier

Then, after I incorporated all of the flour, it looked like this.....I then placed it into a buttered bowl, and covered it with a damp cloth.

 Allow the dough to sit in a warm, draft free place, covered for 1 hour.  After one hour, the dough had doubled.  The smell of the rising dough was heavenly and could only be topped by the aroma of the rolls while they were baking.

You can make these rolls any size you like, of course.  I used a 2 ounce ice cream scoop, lightly sprayed with cooking spray, to separate the dough into even portions after punching it down to release the air bubbles.  Roll into a ball in your hands then arrange side by side, in a buttered non-stick metal baking pan. I used a 10-inch cast iron frying pan.  [Tip: It's important that the rolls to be uniform in size so they'll bake evenly.]

Melt the remaining 3 tablespoons of butter and using a pastry brush, lightly brush the tops.  Reserve some of the melted butter to brush on the tops after the rolls come out of the oven, too.  How many times can I say butter in this recipe?  We are making bread, right?  ☺ At this point, you can cover with a damp cloth and allow the rolls to rise again until doubled.  [about an hour]  I baked them immediately, so, the rolls you see in the pictures didn't rise twice.   Patience?  Not so much...

Bake in a preheated 400°F oven for 20-22 minutes.  Gorgeous, right?  It doesn't get much simpler, or better than that!  Serve hot.

  Yield: 24  small rolls or 12 large rolls

Cook's note:

To make the rolls in advance: 

After forming the dough into rolls, cover with a damp cloth or plastic wrap sprayed with cooking spray and refrigerate overnight, if desired.   Uncover, brush with melted butter just before baking at 400°F for 20-22 minutes until golden.  The rolls will continue to slowly rise even in the refrigerator.

Mandazi-East African Donuts

Mandazi -East African Donuts  

A friend, Odilliah Shibale posted this on her facebook page and we had to try it!  Yum!

Ingredients

two cups warm water

two teaspoons baking powder or one teaspoon dry yeast

four cups all-purpose flour

one-half cup sugar

one-quarter teaspoon cardamom

two tablespoons butter, margarine or vegetable oil

one-quarter cup warm milk (optional)

one egg, lightly beaten (optional)

1 pinch salt

4 cups oil (for deep frying)

Directions

1. All pastry ingredients should be allowed to come to room temperature if they have been in the refrigerator. If using yeast: mix the yeast with a few spoonfuls of the warm water.

2. In a mixing bowl combine the flour, baking powder, Sugar, and spice (cardamom is most common in Eastern Africa). Add the yeast. Mix the water, butter, milk, and egg together. Gradually add this mixture to the flour while kneading into dough. Knead until a smooth and elastic dough is formed—fifteen to twenty minutes. If using yeast: Place dough in a clean bowl, cover with a cloth, and allow to rise in a warm place for an hour or more. If using baking powder, let dough rest for several minutes.

3. Divide the dough into several hand-sized pieces. Roll or press the pieces into circles about one-half inch thick. Cut circles into halves or quarters (or whatever you like). Some cooks place the doughs on a cookie sheet and let them rise a second time.

4. Heat a few cups of vegetable oil to 300 degrees Fahrenheit in a skillet or deep pot. Fry the doughs in the hot oil, turning a few times, until they are golden brown all over. Fry only as many together as can float in the oil without touching one another. Place on paper towels to drain. Serve warm.

Powdered sugar option for the finished product!