lemon ginger madelines

black and white packaging design here and here
floral packaging parts one
two
some more black and white packaging design from graphic designer, ashley r. tipton
a coffee shop website
one last designer a series of black and white business cards
black and white branding with a pop of color.

lemon ginger madelines
1 1/2 sticks clarified butter
3 lemon ginger teabags
2 eggs
1 cup sugar
1 cup flour
1 tablespoon brandy
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 3/4 teaspoon fresh lemon peel
3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
You will need a madeline pan for this recipe. I prefer not to use the non-stick type, as this is more authentic, but do what you can.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees farenheit. Melt butter in a small saucepan. Once melted, place teabags in butter and steep for 20 minutes and allow butter to cool. Heat eggs and sugar atop a double broiler until lukewarm; stir constantly. Remove from heat and beat until thick but light and creamy. When cool, sift and gradually add the flour, melted butter, brandy, vanilla, lemon peel, then juice.
Grease and flour a madeline pan, bake for about 8-10 minutes. Cool on a rack, shell side up.



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Three Cookies

Hi everyone! It's been a while since I've done a post. Unfortunately, this won't be a full post. Life is just a little crazy right now, but I hope to be able to do some full posts for you in the not-so-distant future. Today, I have some pictures of ginger cookies, rosemary butter cookies, and chai tea shortbread. Have a nice weekend.







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Lemon Ginger Sandwich Cookies

I'm not much of a tea drinker. I usually think it smells kind of weird and makes the back of my tongue feel scratchy. But all that is changing. I had a sip of my friend's chai tea the other day (we snuck it into a movie, shh!) and it was tasty. So that night I had some peppermint tea. It was so refreshing and reminded me of the holidays coming up.




I saw a cup of Lemon Ginger tea on the counter, and I tried that. As soon as I tasted it, I knew that whatever I made this weekend was going to have those flavors. The acidity of the lemon goes perfectly with the gentle earthy flavors of ginger. I wasn't loving the idea of a lemon ginger cake at the time, although I'm sure it would be interesting, so I went with cookies.



I love making roll-out cookies because you can get those nice crisp shapes. Again, I don't usually love roll-out cookies, but I tasted a little of this cookie and it is good all by itself. If you like that kind of cookie better, then just don't frost them. You will be pleasantly surprised. You will see a lot of cookies soon because I'm going to be running a booth at a holiday crafts fair with my cookies. I'll try and take pictures when I make the bags, but no guarantees because I will probably be covered in flour and entirely frantic by the time I will be ready to photograph them. Have a nice weekend!

Ginger Cookies

2 1/4 cups unbleached all purpose flour
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground allspice
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 cup (packed) golden brown sugar
1/4 cup mild molasses

Whisk the dry ingredients together in a medium bowl, then set aside. In a stand mixer, beat butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Then, add the molasses. Once smooth, add dry ingredients and mix well. Transfer the dough onto some plastic wrap, and pack tightly. Put the dough in the fridge for at least 2 hours.

After chilling, preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Roll the dough out on a floured piece of parchment paper until 1/4" thick. Using a cutter of your choice, cut out shape and transfer to parchment lined sheet pans. Bake for around 12 minutes, until only slightly darker around the edges. Remove from oven and let cool for at least 2 hours before frosting.

Lemon Buttercream

1.5 sticks butter
1 cup confectioners sugar
1 teaspoon lemon oil
Zest of one medium lemon

Combine ingredients in a stand mixer. Transfer to a piping bag with a small, plain, tip.

Assembly
Ice a circle slightly inside the border of the cookie and fill the circle. Place another cookie on top and press lightly. These store well in the fridge up to a week.

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Pumpkin Gingerbread Ice Cream Sandwiches

My school is a little weird in that it divides the year into 5 parts. My first "quint" is ending, which means teachers decide to pile on the work. All at one time. The last week of the quint is always a little insane; everyone's very stressed and a little grouchy. But there is reward to the difficult week. We get a couple days off to recuperate, which means I'll most likely have time for an extra post (woot woot). I've been doing a lot of college searching lately, and I'm completely falling in love with the courses I've been looking up. I'm not exactly sure what I want to, but graphic design has always been a love of mine. I get really excited whenever I start to research it. There's a lot of anxiety involved in picking out what you want to be for the rest of your life. But there's a lot of fun involved, too. Seeing the types of things I'll get to do in a couple of years, eases the pressure, as it looks like so much fun. I know I love my web designing, photography, and baking, so that's what I'll stick to for now!

Pumpkin Ice Cream

1 cup pumpkin purée
2 cups heavy cream
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
5 egg yolks

Combine pumpkin and vanilla and mix thoroughly. Cover and place in refrigerator for at least 30 minutes.

Whisk egg yolks with 1/2 cup of cream and 1/2 cup brown sugar until thick.

In a medium saucepan, combine 1/4 cup brown sugar and remaining 1 1/2 cups of cream. Heat on low until sugar is dissolved and steam rises, continually mixing.

Add 1/2 cup of hot cream into egg mixture gradually, whisking thoroughly.
Pour egg mixture into saucepan and heat on medium-low until mixture is thickened, but does not boil.

Pour through a strainer and let cool in refrigerator for 30 minutes, then mix in pumpkin. Cover in an airtight container for at least 2 hours, or overnight.

Transfer mixture to ice cream maker and use manufacturer's in structions.



Gingerbread Cake
adapted from martha stewart

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for pan
3/4 cup sugar
2 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 tablespoon ginger
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup molasses
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 cup canola oil
1/2 cup buttermilk
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 cup boiling water

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Spray a half sheetpan with cooking spray and line with parchment. Spray parchment and use a paper towel to spread. Flour well and set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk together spices, salt, sugar, and flour.

In another bowl, whisk together molasses, egs, canola oil, and buttermilk.

Dissolve the baking soda in the boiling water.

Gently fold in molasses and water mixtures into the dry ingredients until a batter is formed. Pour into prepared sheetpan and bake for 20 minutes, or until the cake springs back with a light touch, depending on your oven.

Let cool for at least 20 minutes before attempting to remove. Once cooled, use a ruler or other straight edge to cut equal size squares. remove the squares and each cut in half, producing two rectangles.

Assembly

Once the ice cream is made, spread it in a sheetpan lined with parchment into one even layer. Let set up in freezer for at least 3 hours. Once hardened, use a ruler to cut ice cream squares the same size as the cake.

Just before serving, stack ice cream on top of one piece of cake, layering another on top of the ice cream. You can make a little powdered sugar+cream glaze to drizzle on top, and pecans go nicely with this.

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