Lavender and honey ice cream

Lavender....the color purple, the smell of that sweet, seductive, sexy plant... it got me thinking, how many different ways could there be to cook with it! Ice cream for sure! The first time I tried Lavender ice cream was at a place in Seattle called Molly Moon, modern little shop with about 5 or so flavors on the menu. I saw Lavender and was very curious! Sure enough it tasted so good, a grown up flavor for sure, not one for the kiddos. I had a craving to make this over the winter months, why I have no idea, but I wanted to go to the Lavender fields and learn more about this plant....so now that summer is here and it is the season, I set off with my daughter in tow and we ventured upon these fields in Yamhill.

The owner is a really nice woman, who spent a lot of time telling us about the different plants. Worth the trip out for sure. We bought our culinary lavender and set home to make ice cream! 

The ice cream turned out very good, but the kids did not like it, it's a grown up flavor for sure!

Lemons Lemons and more Lemons

Oh how do I love lemons...lemon everything! It all started 10 yrs ago when I was pregnant with my daughter, I couldn't get enough lemons. Lemon cookies, Lemon yogurt, Lemonade, Lemon bars, Lemon meringue pie.. I loved Lemons! I still do, now I explore using Lemons in salad dressings, in marinades, and of course baking! The citrus, tart, tangy taste of a Lemon is just so refreshing and light...one can't go wrong with these colorful fruits! I recently received one of the best gifts from my really sweet guy, The Grand Central Bakery cookbook. I absolutely love this local bakery, and when he gave me this book, I was on cloud nine! I knew I would put this book to a lot of great use! So my first recipe out of this book is Lemon Sandwich cookies...yes, Lemons!!
Here is there site for more info on this wonderful gem of a bakery...
http://www.grandcentralbakery.com/

Lemon Sandwich cookies, Grand Central Bakery style:

They turned out amazing! So amazing, I only had one and the rest disappeared within an hour!!! Oh how I wish they saved me another one!

Apple Cobbler for a rainy day

Ahhh  rainy days in the Pacific NW calls for some comfort food on a Sunday afternoon with a movie and good company... when the rain pours all day on a Sunday and you just feel like indulging in some good ole comfort food, well apple cobbler hits the spot every time! I can't take all the credit for this one, my friend suggested we make apple cobbler...so off to store for the goods and we were ready to get to bakin...
We used Granny apples and Braeburn, and left the peels on. We also decided to use the left over mexican sticks from the night before...oh yeah, we did Mexican night, and it was off the hook, maybe I'll save that one for a later post! Anyway, you might be asking "Is there really a difference in Mexican Cinnamom sticks vs. our American sticks"? Oh yeah, definitely! Once you grind them down, the aroma is so sweet with a little kick, it's very tasty, so if you get the chance- hop over to your local Mexican grocery store and pick these babies up!

Toss the sliced apples in Cinnamon and lemon juice, it makes all the difference! The taste will have your taste buds jumping for joy! A party in your mouth for sure!

Ready for the oven, oh the anticipation....hurry up, bake, bake, bake.....

Yes!!!!!  It is finally done, the house smells of sweet spiced apples, serve this cobbler up warm with Vanilla ice cream and homemade caramel sauce....put on a movie, and kick back and enjoy! 

Bon Appetit!

Key Lime Tarts

It's a Friday morning, and I'm going to my friends house for dinner tonight..we decided on a Caribbean theme...So with my love of the Caribbean and baking, I decided to do key lime tarts. But not the ordinary tarts, I wanted to do something on the fly, a bit rustic. I wanted a tart cup with buttery flaky crust, fresh key limes and cream. I decided on my trust worthy crust recipe, and had the idea of placing parchment paper in a muffin tin to make the molds for the crust, I baked these for 15 mins, then added the filling and baked for another 10 mins. Also, one neat technique my friend taught me was to grate the cold butter before processing,  this helps mix the butter with the flour in less time and keeps the butter colder longer! Voila!

These cute little gems turned out so good, so good we ate them all, just the 2 of us, and all 6 of these!  I think I need to do an extra spin class next week!!!

For the crust:
1/2 stick unsalted butter, very cold
3/4 C  to 1C flour ( I used Bob's Red Mill gluten free)
a dash of salt
whipping cream
Grate the butter and place in a food processor with the flour salt, process until crumbly, then add the cream just until moist. Line muffin tin with parchment paper (cut into squares), using about 1/2 C of the dough, form a ball and flatten into a disk in your hand, place in paper lined tin, forming a cup. Bake for 15mins @375
For filling:
14 oz can sweetened condensed milk
1 bag of key limes
2 eggs
mix eggs, milk, and juice from about 10 key limes, about a cup, pour in shells and bake 10 more mins

Whip heavy whipping cream and place on tarts, garnish with shredded lime peel and sliced limes.
Enjoy with good company and mojitos!