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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Chicago Part Two

During a family dinner this weekend, I made a lemon blueberry bundt cake. I got the recipe from Martha Stewart, but I never follow a recipe to a "T," so there are a couple edits. It turned out great. Dense and lemony, super easy. Here are the first round of pictures, more coming soon as I had back to Chicago for the rest of the week.

Lemon Blueberry Bundt Cake
adapted from Martha Stewart

cake
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup packed light-brown sugar
1 cup granulated sugar, plus 1 tablespoon
4 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup sour cream
2 cups blueberries
2 tablespoons grated lemon zest
3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a bowl, whisk 2 1/2 cups flour with baking powder and salt; set aside.

In a mixing bowl, cream butter and 1 cup granulated sugar and brown sugar on high speed until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating until incorporated. Beat in vanilla, zest, and lemon juice. Reduce speed to low; add flour mixture in three additions, alternating with two additions of sour cream.

In a bowl, toss blueberries and 1 tablespoon granulated sugar; mash with a fork. Grease bundt pan with butter and flour. Pour half cake batter into pan, then cover with berries; fill with remaining batter.

Bake cake on bottom rack of oven until a toothpick inserted into center of cake comes out clean, 60 to 70 minutes. Cool in pan 20 minutes. Invert onto a rack; cool completely, top side up. Let cool for at least 1 hour before glazing.

glaze
1/3 cup fresh lemon juice
1/3 cup confectioner's sugar

Mix juice and sugar in a bowl with a fork. Pour over cooled cake. Enjoy!



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Birthday and Update

Hi everyone. As most of you are aware, it's been over a year since I've done a full post. I know, I know: I've been really bad. My last year of high school has sort of needed my attention what with this little thing called college. Oh, yeah! College. Some of you might be wondering where I've decided to go and I'm proud to say that I've decided to attend the Rhode Island School of Design. It's a fantastic school and I'm a little nervous, but I'm really excited to start there in the fall. It's an extremely challenging school, so I have a feeling baking may have to take the backseat (again!) for a while, but I know that it's something I'll love to do for my entire life and it will come in and out of focus.
The post I'm putting up today is about my birthday I recently celebrated. My actual birthday fell on a Sunday this year. While I didn't celebrate on my actual birthday, I decided to host a Sunday brunch for all my girlfriends and go on a baking + decorating binge. A couple rooms of my house were decorated in entirely pink and gold (this was my color palette, duh!) as were the invitations and party favors. We used an instant camera to take pictures during the party, which was fun because everyone was dressed up nicely. As party favors, people got to take home two photos, along with some jelly beans.



I've mentioned this before, but not in detail, but i am obsessed with Martha Stewart. Everything from scone recipes to her not-so-secret cattyness. For my party, I basically scoured Martha Stewart.com for hours finding ideas, photo galleries, and how-tos. Some of you might recognize the tissue paper pompoms that you can buy online from her site. I made mine using a tutorial on marthastewart.com since I'm pretty crafty (see, art school) and hung them from the ceiling using thread, duct tape, and medical tape (to hide the duct tape).



The brunch was practically an ode to Martha. Almost every recipe was one I've adapted from her. Here was the menu:

Glazed Lemon Pound Cake
Spiced Banana Bread
Orange-Poppy Scones with Butter + Jam
Blueberry Coffee Cake
Bacon
Asparagus, Potato, Cheddar, & Leek Frittata
Doughnuts from Mighty O
Cranberry Sparklers
Sparkling Cider with Cara Cara Orange Punch
Pink Grapefruit Margaritas

The drinks above are links to the pages on Marthastewart.com where you can find the recipes.




Glazed Lemon Poundcake
Cake
3 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2 sticks unsalted butter; softened
2 cups sugar
3/4 cup plain yogurt
3 tablespoons lemon zest
2/3 cup lemon juice
5 eggs

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Sift together the flour, salt, baking powder, and baking soda. Whisk together in a large bowl thoroughly, and set aside.In a stand mixer, beat butter and sugar until smooth.
In a medium bowl, stir together yogurt, lemon zest, and lemon juice.
Add the eggs to the butter and sugar one at a time, beating in between each addition.
With the mixer on a low speed, add the flour mixture in 3 parts, alternating with the yogurt mixture in 2 parts. Start and end with the flour mixture. Grease and flour a 9" bundt pan. Bake for 40 minutes, or until a cake tester comes out clean and the top begins to brown slightly. Let cake cool for at least 2 hours before glazing.

Glaze
Juice from 1 lemon (not exact)
2 tablespoons confectioner's sugar

Mix using a fork until a paste forms and brush on the cooled cake.

Blueberry Coffee Cake
Cake
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
10 tablespoons (1 1/4 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature, plus more for pan
1 cup granulated sugar
3 large eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups sour cream
2 cups blueberries

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Into a medium bowl, sift together flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Butter a 9-inch square baking pan.

In the bowl of electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream butter and granulated sugar until light and fluffy, about 4 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, until well combined. Add vanilla, and beat until combined. Add reserved flour mixture and the sour cream, and beat just until well combined. Fold in blueberries. Spoon batter into prepared pan. Bake until golden brown and cake tester comes out clean, 50 to 60 minutes. Dust with confectioners' sugar before serving.

Crumb topping
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon coarse salt
1/2 cup packed light-brown sugar
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
12 tablespoons unsalted butter, cold

In a medium bowl, combine cinnamon, salt, sugar, and flour. Cut in the butter using your pastry cutter until well combined. Put aside or refrigerate until use.

Orange-Poppy Scones
From Martha Stewart Everyday Food
2 1/2 cups flour
1/4 cup sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon coarse salt
1 stick unsalted butter, cold, cut into small pieces
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons buttermilk
2 tablespoons finely grated orange zest
1/4 fresh squeezed orange juice
1 large egg yolk
1 1/2 teaspoon poppy seeds
sanding sugar

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. With a pastry cutter, work butter into flour mixture until mixture resembles coarse meal, with a few pea-size pieces of butter remaining. With a fork, stir in 1/2 cup buttermilk, orange zest and juice, egg yolk, and poppy seeds until just combined.

On a lightly floured, surface, turn out dough and knead several times. Form dough into a 7-inch square; cut into 9 squares, then cut each in half diagonally. Transfer dough triangles to two parchment-lined rimmed baking sheets. Brush tops with buttermilk; sprinkle with sanding sugar. Bake until scones are pale golden, 15 to 17 minutes, rotating sheets halfway through. Let cool on wire racks. Serve with butter and jam.

Banana Bread

1 cup sugar
1 stick butter, softened
2 over-ripe bananas, mashed
2 eggs, well beaten
1 1/4 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Beat sugar and butter together in a mixer. Add mashed bananas and eggs one at a time. Sift the flour, salt, baking soda, cinnamon, and nutmeg together and whisk until well blended. Add to butter mixture and beat in mixture just until combined. Bake in a greased and floured loaf pan for 45-50 minutes.


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Happy Mother's Day!

Happy mother's day to all the moms out there. My mom gets a lot of baking gifts, as you might have guessed, and today was no exception. I made some lemon scones which were spread with homemade (not by me) blackberry jam. I also put together a fruit salad of mango, blackberry, and bananas, and a split-shot latte. If you are a mom, have a nice, relaxing day and if you have a mom in your life, be extra nice.



I have an obsession with packaging and so if I have any excuse to wrap gifts, I go to town. The wrapping in this picture is just done with some purple tissue paper, brown kraft paper, a kraft takeout box, and some striped bands that I made really quickly. I also made a little square card for my mom.


Also, this last Thursday, was the Seattle THAW 2010. It's a charity event that benefits the hdsa (huntington's disease society of america). If you don't know much about the disease or organization, check it out because it's a really great cause. I was sponsor of the event and provided 600 mini cupcakes, the flavors being bailey, lemon blackberry, and spiced carrot cake. I will create a post all about the event, so that is coming soon.

Anyways, happy mother's day!
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Strawberry Lemonade Macarons

After many trials, I finally made some successful macarons. They're still not perfect, but they're heading in the right direction and they taste great, so I consider that a mini-success. Citrus right now is at its best, so I've been trying to use it as much as possible. When my parents had friends over, I made them meyer lemon ice cream, pistachio crumble, and a blackberry compote. Unfortunately, I didn't get to photograph it, but hopefully I well get to make it again, with some photos. For these macarons, I didn't use meyer lemons, but I'm sure they would do well with this recipe.





A little while ago, I was browsing one of my favorite blogs, Cannelle et Vanille, when I came across a recipe for raspberry macarons that used raspberry powder. I did a little research to find out that it was dehydrated raspberries crushed into a powder. The macarons sounded so good, I knew I had to make them, or at least try to. But raspberry powder is a tricky thing to find anywhere but online. I was a little defeated and kind of gave up on the idea, as I didn't really want to order anything online at that moment.

So, one day I was at Trader Joe's, just getting some groceries, when I noticed they had a selection of dehydrated fruits, like strawberries and bananas. I threw some in the basket and didn't use them for a couple months. But then, the other day, I saw them at the back of the cabinet and decided I would try out my idea. I took the dehydrated strawberries and finely chopped them, then used a bench scraper to pulverize the strawberries and I was left with a fine powder. I proceeded to make the macarons, and they turned out well. They have a nice, subtle strawberry flavor. If you happen to see any other kinds of dehydrated fruits, I suggest you try them out!

Strawberry Macarons
Adapted from Cannelle et Vanille

140 grams egg whites
3 grams egg white powder
80 grams sugar
180 grams almond flour
240 grams powdered sugar
2 grams salt
8 grams dehydrated strawberry powder
2 drops red gel food coloring

Let the egg whites come to room temperature, uncovered, overnight.

Sift together the almond flour, powdered sugar, salt, and strawberry powder.

Whip the egg whites in a stand mixer with the egg white powder until frothy, and almost to stiff peaks. Add the sugar gradually while whipping. Add the red food coloring and continue whipping to stiff peaks.

Add the dry ingredients to the meringue and fold with a spatula until a shiny meringue forms. The batter should make ribbons when the whisk attachment is pulled off the mixer.

Once you have the right consistency, place the batter in a pastry bag with a large, circular tip. Pipe small rounds onto sheetpans lined with parchment or silpat. You can use a cookie cutter or other template to draw perfect circles on the other side of the parchment paper. Let them sit at room temperature for at least 45 minutes to an hour. The top should be shiny and dry before being put in the oven.

Preheat the oven 300 degrees F. Place one sheetpan in the oven at a time and bake for 8 minutes and rotate sheetpan and bake for another 2-3 minutes.

For amazing, very specific directions, I suggest you go to Tartelette's Macaron Tutorial. It is about half way down the main page, on the right side.

Lemon Curd

1 stick butter
5 egg yolks, lightly beaten
3/4 cup lemon juice
3/4 cup sugar
3 tablespoons lemon zest
1/2 teaspoon salt

In a double broiler, melt butter completely, then remove top of double broiler from heat, but leave the water to boil.

Add lemon juice, sugar, lemon zest, and salt to melted butter and stir thoroughly. Put back over heating water, and whisk until sugar is dissolved. Add egg yolks to the mixture, and continue to whisk over medium heat until it is a custard consistency and coats the back of a wooden spoon and leaves a clean trail when a finger is dragged across. Do not let it boil.

Remove from heat and let sit at room temperature for 10 minutes, then cover surface with plastic wrap, pressing down so that a skin does not form on the top. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours before using.

You will have a little left over if using this recipe for the buttercream (below).

Lemon Curd Buttercream

1 stick unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup lemon curd
1 1/4 cup powdered sugar (or more for correct consistency)

Combine ingredients in a stand mixer until smooth. You may need more powdered sugar for a frosting consistency that you can pipe.

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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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Cupcake Duo

This was definitely one of the more frantic baking orders I've done. It's all thanks to this darn heat. It's not supposed to get this hot here. Several things went wrong, starting with the frosting. Seeing as it rarely goes above 70 degrees here, I didn't plan on any difficulties with making buttercream frosting at 2:00 in the afternoon. Wrong. I made two batches of peach frosting, using my delicious, ripe peaches from Pike Place Market, only to find the butter breaking down. I didn't figure that out until the second batch of frosting. I'd already made the cakes earlier in the day, before it got too hot, but I couldn't make the frosting until late at night when it cooled off. I also needed to make recipe cards, as it was for a little in-office cook off at the University of Washington, for my aunt. It was too hot to do anything (for me, at least), so I slept. Then I realized I hadn't made the recipe cards, and did so frantically. They were all printed and ready to go when I realized I would have to make different frostings because of the heat and my wasted peaches :( . I quickly made new ones, after I had frosted my cupcakes with their final frostings: chocolate peanut butter and lemon (with drops of peach puree on the cake). While the recipe cards ended up being kind of ugly, due to it being 12:30 at night, the cupcakes turned out well, which is what mattered in the end.


Lemon, Peach & Blueberry Cupcakes

Vanilla Blueberry Buttercake

1 stick unsalted butter
1- ¼ + 2 tablespoons cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup whole milk
1 cup fresh blueberries
2 medium peaches

Preheat oven to 350F. Line a muffin tin, or mini muffin tin with paper liners. Sift 1-1/4 cups flour, baking powder, and salt into a bowl and whisk thoroughly. In a stand mixer bowl, beat the butter and sugar on medium speed until smooth. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing well in between. Add the vanilla and beat for 2 minutes. On low speed, add the flour mixture in 3 parts, and the milk in 2 parts, starting and ending with the flour. Beat just intil combined. Toss the blueberries in 2 tablespoons of flour to coat. Add the batter and mix in by hand. Fill each cupcake liner to the top (whether standard or mini sized). Bake standard cupcakes for about 18 minutes and minis for 12 minutes.
In a food processor, puree peaches until liquid consistency. Pour through a sieve to remove chunks. Spoon ½ teaspoon of peach puree on tops of cupcakes.

Lemon Buttercream Frosting

1-1-½ stick unsalted butter
1 cup powdered sugar
½ teaspoon salt
1-1-½ teaspoons lemon oil
Sanding sugar (for sprinkling)

In a stand mixer, beat softened butter and powdered sugar, then salt, and mix thoroughly. Add in lemon oil and mix. Transfer to a piping bag and pipe onto cupcakes. Sprinkle sanding sugar.



Chocolate Peanut Butter Cupcakes

Chocolate Cake

4.25 oz unsweetened chocolate
1 cup AP flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 stick unsalted butter; softened
1 1/4 cups sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup plain yogurt
1/2 cup water
1 tablespoon instant espresso powder

Preheat oven to 350F.

Put the chocolate in a heatproof bowl over simmering water. Stir until melted. Remove from water and let cool.

Sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt into a bowl.

In a large bowl, mix the butter and sugar until smooth and creamy. On low speed, add the melted chocolate until incorporated. On medium speed, add the eggs, one at a time. Add the vanilla and beat until the mixture has changed to a slightly lighter color. Mix in the yogurt until completely blended. Dissolve espresso powder into water and pour into batter. Mix on low speed just until smooth. Line a muffin tin with paper cups and spray the whole pan with vegetable oil [to prevent sticking]. Fill each cup almost to the top. Bake regular sized cupcakes for aprox. 12 minutes, minis for 8 (depending on your oven.)

Peanut Butter Frosting

1 stick unsalted butter; softened
2/3 cup creamy peanut butter
1- 1/2 cups powdered sugar

Combine butter and peanut butter until smooth. Add powdered sugar and mix thoroughly.
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Lemon Cupcakes with lemon curd and raspberry buttercream

I got the amazing opportunity to work with a professional photographer to help me with my photography. I went to his studio and got to use his fancy lenses and software. I learned a lot about lighting and how to enhance photos to their full potential. I can't wait to use his helpful suggestions in future photos. The only photo in this post is the one at the top because I worked with only one main style at his studio, and by the time I got home, it was too dark to take photos. I wanted the cupcakes to get eaten soon because that's when they're best, so I gave them to neighbors. Have a happy 4th of july!

Lemon Buttercake

1 1/4 cups cake flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 stick butter
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoons lemon oil
2 medium lemons; zested
1/2 cup whole milk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a muffin pan with liners. Sift the cake flour, baking powder, and salt into a medium bowl and set aside. In your mixer, beat the butter and sugar until combined and creamy (about 2 minutes). Stop the mixer and scrape the sides of the bowl as needed during mixing. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing until each is blended into the batter. Add the lemon oil and zest and beat for 2 more minutes. ON low speed, add the flour mixture in 3 additions and the milk in 2 additions, beginning and ending with the flour mixture ad mixing just until the flour is incorporates and the batter looked smooth. Fill the cake pans equally and shake to smooth top. Bake for about 12 minutes, depending on your oven. When the cake tops are dark-golden brown and a tester comes out clean, remove from oven and cool for 15 minutes before removing from pan. After at least 2 hours, you can frost the cupcakes.

Lemon Curd

2/3 cup sugar
2 tablespoons finely grated lemon zest
3 eggs
2 egg yolks
3/4 cup fresh lemon juice
4 tablespoons unsalted butter; chilled and cut into 1/2-inch cubes

Combine sugar and lemon zest with a fork in a small bowl until very fragrant. Combine lemon sugar, eggs, and egg yolks in a heatproof bowl and whisk together for 30 seconds. Place the bowl over simmering water and immediately begin whisking, continuing for 15 seconds, until the sugar is dissolved. Add the lemon and limes juices and cook, whisking continuously for about 5 minutes. Insert a thermometer. The curd is done when it has a consistency of sour cream and a temperature of 160 degrees F. Whisk in the butter cubes. Strain through a sieve and set in an ice bath to cool. Cover with plastic film to prevent a skin from forming.

Raspberry Buttercream

2 sticks unsalted butter; softened
1 cup confectioners sugar
2 cups fresh raspberries

Combine the butter and sugar in your stand mixture until smooth, and set aside. In a food processor, blend berries to a puree consistency. Sieve the raspberry mixture into your butter and sugar mixture, to remove the seeds. In your mixer, mix until smooth.

Assembly

Once your cupcakes are cool, use a small but deep cutter to make a hole in the center of your cupcake. You may need a knife to prod out the cylinder of cake being removed. Transfer your lemon curd into a piping bag and pipe it into the holes in your cupcakes. Transfer your frosting into a piping bag with a plain tip and pipe a ring around the outside rim of your cupcake, continue working upwards in a spiraling motion. Top with a little sprinkle or fondant cutout [this is what I used].
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Lemon Sandwich Cookies

Well, I'm back from my camping trip with my class. It was pouring rain the first night, and my tent was on the small side, but by the end it was sunny and warm. I had a good time, regardless of the little things that were unpleasant. Lemon seems like one of those spring+summer flavors. I don't really know why, since they're available all year long, but eating lemon desserts in December seems a little funny to me (although, you'd be hard pressed to find someone to turn down a dessert simply because it was lemon). It's been really warm these past couple days, so I decided to start using a bag of lemons I had in the fridge. I made some lemon pound cakes, but I haven't had the light to photograph them yet, so they're coming soon.
I'm having a bake sale at my school next week for the Susan G. Komen breast cancer foundation, so I've been testing out a lot of cookies. These were ones that I've been wanting to try for a while, with the interesting method of piping the dough. Apparently they were very tasty, so they might be in the running for the bake sale.



Cookie Dough
Adapted from Modern Classics 2 by Donna Hay

6 oz butter; softened
1/4 confectioner's sugar
1 teaspoon lemon oil
1 cup AP flour
1/4 cup cornstarch

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Place the butter, confectioner's sugar, and lemon oil in the bowl of a mixer and beat until light and fluffy. Sift the flour and cornstrach into the bowl and mix until combined. Place the mixture in a piping bag with a fluted nozzle. Pipe 1" rounds onto a baking tray lined with parchment. Cook for 12 minutes (depending on your oven), or until golden.

Lemon Buttercream

2 sticks unsalted butter; softened
1 cup confectioner's sugar
1 teaspoon lemon oil
1/2 teaspoon orange oil

Combine the ingredients in your mixer until smooth and creamy. Transfer to a piping bag fitted with a 1/4 plain tip. Pipe onto smooth side of cookie and sandwich together. Tada!
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Strawberry Rhubarb Tart & Pizzaz!

Sorry I haven't posted in a while. I've just been getting home too late to make anything interesting. No worries though, 'cause I'm back with a double dose. For a family gathering, I made strawberry rhubarb tarts accompanied by vanilla cinnamon brown sugar ice cream. Berries and rhubarb is a favorite combo for a lot of people. Not to mention, it's seasonal (right now), and not making something out of rhubarb would be a shame.
Making the tarts was a little stressful because I was also making a lemon tart with mixed berries for a fundraiser for my school. I've been experimenting with different doughs for a couple weeks, and ended up using Tartine's Sweet Tart Dough. I was having some problems with the dough sliding down the sides of my tart rings, but this dough held perfectly. I was going to use a large tart ring for the Pizzaz! tart, but I decided at the last minute to use a fluted one, not sure why. They turned out really nicely, and I took them over to the fundraiser. I was expecting the other desserts to have been made by other people associated with my school, but I was pleasantly surprised. My tart got to stand next to various desserts from Macrina Bakery, Simply Desserts, and Cupcake Royale. Some of the finest bakeries in Seattle donated desserts to the fundraiser, and I got to be a part of that. I was so excited (still am).



Lemon Tart with mixed berries:

Sweet Tart Dough
From Tartine

1 cup+ 2 tablespoons unsalted butter; room temp
1 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 eggs; room temp
3 1/2 cups AP Flour

Using a stand mixer with paddle attachment, combine the butter, sugar, and salt and mix on medium speed until smooth. Mix in 1 egg. Add the remaining egg and mix until smooth. Stop the mixer and scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula. Add the flour all at once and mix on low speed until incorporates.
On a lightly floured surface, divid the dough into 4 equal balls and shape each ball into a disk 1/2" thick. Wrap well in plastic wrap and chill for at least 2 hours or overnight.

Filling:
4 eggs; room temperature
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 cup lemon juice
2 tablespoons lemon zest
3 tablespoons butter; room temperature/soft
2 tablespoons heavy cream

Beat the eggs until foamy. Gradually add sugar until thick and lemon colored. Add lemon juice, zest, and butter until combined. Add the heavy cream.

Assembly:
Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Roll out the chilled dough to 1/8" thick. Cut a circle with a 2" overhang to fit your tart ring (pan). Gently press into tart pan and remove excess from the top. Chill in freezer for 15 minutes. Once chilled, remove from freezer and use a fork to make holes in the bottom of your tart. Bake for 8 minutes. Pour filling into crust and return to oven for an addition 8-12 minutes. It's done when you shake it and the center moves just a little. Cool on a rack for at least 2 hours. Place berries on top and serve.



Strawberry Rhubarb Tartlets:

Dough:
See above.

Filling:
1 lb. fresh rhubarb; sliced 1" thick
1 pint strawberries
300 g sugar+ 3 tablespoons
600 g water
5 tablespoons of butter

To poach the rhubarb, make a simple syrup by combining 300g sugar and water in a medium saucepan. Once simmering, add the sliced rhubarb in the syrup and cook for 5 minutes. Remove from syrup and place in a bowl, set aside.
Cut strawberries into quarters and toss in 1 tablespoon of sugar. Let macerate for 15 minutes. Add the rhubarb to the strawberries. Using a sharp knife, run it through the bowl until the rhubarb and strawberries kind of mix together.
Bake in a glass/ceramic pan for 8 minutes at 350 degrees F. Leave at room temperature until serving.

Vanilla Cinnamon Brown Sugar Ice Cream

Cinnamon Ice Cream
1/2 cup brown sugar
4 egg yolks
1/2 vanilla bean; scraped
1 cup whole milk
1 cup heavy cream
1 teaspoon cinnamon

Whisk egg yolks and brown sugar together. Heat the milk, heavy cream, cinnamon, vanilla bean seeds & pod in a saucepan to a simmer. Pour half the mixture into the egg yolks. Make sure to continue whisking, so the eggs don't cook. Pour the egg yolk/milk mixture back into the saucepan and heat until the mixture has thickened a little and coats the back of your spoon.
Pour into your ice cream maker and use manufacturer's instructions.

Vanilla Ice Cream

2 cups heavy cream
1 cup whole milk
3/4 cup sugar
1 vanilla bean; halved, seeds removed

Whisk ingredients together until sugar is dissolved. Place in refrigerator to let vanilla seeds infuse into the cream, for 1 hour. Place in ice cream machine and churn for the amount of time given by manufacturer. Remove from machine and place in air-tight container overnight to harden.

Mix the two ice creams together just a little. I put mine into molds, but putting the mixture into an airtight container is just fine, too.
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