When Life Gives You Lemons.....Make Limoncello!

  The very first kind of alcohol I tried was Limoncello- an Italian lemon liquor. I was on a trip to Italy with my mom... and I was 13. When we visited Sorrento, we had dinner at a little hole in the wall restaurant that served Limoncello between courses. They seemed surprised that I hesitated to try it. It's exactly the type of alcohol a 13-year old would like, it's smooth, sweet, fruity and it tastes more like candy than alcohol. I haven't had it for years, but I found a recipe last week when I was going through some of my mom's old magazines and I thought I'd give it a try. It's surprisingly easy, and would make a pretty gift or base for a New Year's eve cocktail! Some recipes recommend leaving the lemon peel in the vodka for up to 3 weeks, but I also found a couple recipes that only took a couple of days. Basically, the fewer lemons you use, the longer the lemon peel needs to soak in the vodka. It is best when stored in the freezer up to 3 months, and should be served very cold.

     My sister, Melissa, and I decided to make it this year as gifts. We used 80 proof vodka and the Limoncello we made froze when we stored it in the freezer (it gets diluted with a sugar syrup). However, it was delicious and thawed within a few minutes of removing it from the freezer- it never froze solid. Some recipes call for Everclear, which would solve this problem, but I don't think it was be as tasty. A higher proof vodka may be a good intermediate.

Limoncello
22 lemons (preferably organic)
1- 175 ml Smirnoff 80 proof vodka
6 cups sugar
6 cups water

-peel off the zest with a potato peeler, knife or zester. Make sure that you get a very superficial layer, as the white pith below the zest is bitter.
-add the peels to the vodka and allow to sit at room temperature for 2 days- 1 week (we waited 3 days), stirring occasionally.

The lemon peels and vodka

-after the peels been allowed to mix with the vodka for several days, make a simple syrup with the sugar and water. Start by heating the water to a boil in a medium saucepan. Add the sugar until it is all dissolved.
-Remove the sugar syrup from the heat and add to the vodka and lemon solution. Allow to sit in the fridge for a day, then strain out the peels.
-funnel the finished limoncello into glass bottles and store in the freezer. Drink once well chilled.

My parents had these pretty bottles lying around, but you can find similar ones at World Market.

It's Beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

    Christmas is only a few days away, and our family is in full holiday preparation mode, which means baking several batches of cookies a day. We have already made peanut butter blossoms, lime- macadamia nut shortbread, caramels, chocolates with caramel and nuts (peanuts, cashews and pecans), and these cut-out cookies. Needless to say, it's a fun time of year, but good luck fitting into your pants after it's over. I'm posting this recipe because I think it's overall, the most popular type of cookie at the holidays (if there are others you want to see, let me know and I'll try to post it in the next couple of days). And, it's also a lot of fun to decorate them with family and friends. Most people don't have piping kits at home to decorate with, but we just use a ziploc bag with a small hole in it to pipe the icing.

The arm broke off this poor cookie while we were transferring it, but Cory found a way to make it look like we'd done it on purpose. I suggested dressing him in a hospital gown...

     This cut-out recipe is from my grandma, and we've been making them for Christmas for years. Using powdered sugar instead of conventional granulated sugar makes these cookies very soft and delicate. We usually get together to decorate the cookies together. My mom, my sister and I try to make them look pretty, while my dad's technique is to put lopsided smiley faces on most of the cookies. The last couple years, Cory has also joined us for cookie decorating and has made some entertaining additions, including a gingerbread man with a broken arm and a Christmas pirate (see below).

 Cut-Out Cookies

-1 cup butter at room temperature
-1 1/2 cup sifted powdered sugar
-1 egg
-1 tsp vanilla
-2 1/2 cup flour
-1 tsp soda
-1 tsp cream of tartar
-1/4 tsp salt

Buttercream icing
-1/2 cup butter, at room temperature
-1 lb powdered sugar
-3 Tb of milk
-1 tsp vanilla or almond flavoring

for cookies:
-Cream butter in a mixer and sift in sugar until fluffy.
-Add egg and vanilla, and beat well.
-Sift in flour, soda, cream of tartar and salt.
-Chill the dough for at least 1 hour.
-Roll out the dough on a floured surface (to 1/8 of an inch). Cut out the cookies and place on a cookie sheet prepared with parchment paper. Parchment paper isn't required, especially if you have non-stick cookie sheets, but it makes it easier to remove the cookies from the sheet without breaking them.
-Bake at 400 F for 6 min.
-Place the baked cookies on a cooling sheet. They will be very delicate, so you may want to allow them to cool a little before removing them from the tray.
-Allow cookies to cool completely before icing.

How to hold a piping bag

for icing:
-cream butter, sugar and milk together, Add vanilla and add a small amount of food coloring to color the icing. Pipe icing onto cookies by placing icing into ziploc bags and cutting out a small piece of the corner of the bag. You can also use piping bags, but this method requires no equipment.
-Get creative and have some fun! 

My dad did quite a few on this tray- can you figure out which ones? :-)

A Family Tradition

    As long as I can remember, my family has made cookies and homemade caramels the Friday after Thanksgiving. This cookie recipe has been passed down in the family for several generations (my grandma, who is now in her 80's, used to make them with her mother as a child). It is based on the traditional German cookie, Lebkuchen, but it has evolved over the years to become it's own entity. We make them as Christmas cutout cookies, but they can also be made in other shapes or rounds. They are similar to gingerbread cookies or molasses cookies. You can decorate them with icing, but they are pretty and delicious without any decoration at all! Every year, there's a discussion about what shapes to make- my uncles prefer the "wise men," but one looks like a conehead and another looks like Bart Simpson.

     These cookies are best when they are rolled out thicker than typical cut-out cookie, making them too thin will make them crisper and more cracker-like. We use hickory nuts in the cookies, but these can be hard to find and expensive because they aren't grown commercially. Pecans would work well, too, but the flavor will be a little different. This makes a large batch, so you may want to start with 1/2 or 1/4 batch to see if you like them first.

"Lap" Cookies

-4 c molasses
-2 c sour cream
-2 Tb soda
-1/2 tsp cinnamon
-1 lb brown sugar
-1/2 c shortening, softened
-1/2 tsp cloves
-4 cups hickory nuts or pecans
-flour

-Mix molasses, sour cream, shortening, brown sugar, soda, cinnamon, cloves until well blended.
-Add in nuts.
-start adding flour, stirring in as much as you can.

Cookie dough before kneading in the last bit of flour.

-scoop out the dough in workable batches (about 2-3 large scoops). Knead in just enough flour that the dough can be rolled out and becomes easier to work with. Adding too much flour will make the cookies tough.
-Roll out the dough so that it is a little less than 1/4 of an inch thick. It will be thicker than traditional cut-out cookies.
-Cut out rounds or any shape you like. It's best to put shapes of about the same size on each cookie sheet, so that they bake evenly.
-Bake at 375 F for about 10 minutes. Make sure you take them out of the oven before they start to brown- bake them just enough to set. Transfer them from the cookie sheet to the cooling rack before they cool completely to prevent them from sticking.
-Make sure you try some right out of the oven and stay tuned for other holiday recipes :-).

Sinful Lemon Crumb Muffins

    These muffins were one of my favorite treats as a kid, and they still rank at the top of my list! The recipe comes from the Pine Tree Barn Restaurant in Wooster, OH, the town I was born in. In addition to a restaurant, they sell furniture and have a large candy counter (my favorite part). They also have a large Christmas tree farm, and it's where we got our tree every year we lived there. These muffins are really more like cupcakes, but they didn't "count" as dessert, so I was allowed to eat them as part of my meal, which made them even better :-). I couldn't think of any way to improve on this recipe, although I think they'd be good with fresh raspberries or strawberries in them. Also, just to warn you, this recipe makes a ton of muffins. Unless you're baking for a big crowd, it's best to halve the recipe.

Pine Tree Barn Lemon Crumb "Muffins"

For cake:

-3 c sugar                                

-1 1/2 c sour cream

-4 1/2 c flour                           

-2 Tbs +2 tsp lemon juice

-1/2 tsp salt                             

-zest of 4 lemons

-1/2 tsp baking soda                 

-6 eggs

-1 1/2 c cold butter

For crumb topping:

-1 1/2 c cake flour                   

-1 stick melted butter

-1 1/2 c sugar

For glaze:

- 3/4 c sugar                            

-1/3 c lemon juice

-Prepare crumb topping by sifting together sugar and cake flour, add enough melted butter to make crumbs.

-For cake, sift together flour, salt and sugar. Add butter and blend with a fork or food processor until is resembles coarse crumbs.

-In another bowl, beat eggs, add sour cream, zest and lemon juice. Add to flour mixture and blend.

-Fill muffin tins 3/4 full, cover with topping.

-Bake at 350 F for 20 min. Remove and allow to cool.

-Prepare glaze by mixing lemon juice and sugar. Poke 6-8 holes in the top of each muffin, spoon glaze over the top.

-Makes 2-3 dozen muffins.

If you're in the area and would like to try these muffins, visit the Pine Tree Barn Granary Restaurant

Happy Challah-days!

      About a month ago, my friend Debbie convinced me to take a Jewish cooking class, called "Culinary Shabbat." She assured me that it wouldn't be a big deal that I wasn't Jewish, and that it would be a lot of fun to take the class together. I was a little unsure when I showed up at the Chabad House to find that the class was being taught by the orthodox rabbi's wife... I was even more unsure when the girl next to me started talking about the first time she went to Israel. That said, it was a lot of fun to learn about Jewish culture, tradition and food, even though I felt a little bit like I had to keep my Christian heritage a secret. I think the girls in the class must have thought my parents were the worst Jews in the world- they gave me a Roman name, didn't teach me any of the traditions and I'd never even had gefilte- fish before (not that I was missing out on that one)! One of the best recipes from the whole month was the challah (a soft, eggy bread).

The recipe below makes 2 huge loaves! They were about 12"x6".

    It is traditional for challah to be consumed during Shabbat dinners and holidays, but it is delicious during any time of year. A tradition that was new to me was the dividing of the challah, which is usually done by women. It involves removing a small piece of the challah dough prior to braiding it, saying a blessing and burning or throwing the small piece of dough away. The passage describing the ritual cam be found in Numbers 15:17-21. While I did this in the class, I can't bring myself to throw away any of the dough when I make it at home :). 

Challah

bread dough:

2 c warm water

2 packages (or 2 Tbs) dry yeast

1 Tbs salt

1 egg, beaten
1/2 c sugar

1/2 c olive or vegetable oil

7 c flour

egg wash:

1 egg yolk

1/4 tsp vanilla

pinch of sugar (optional)

- To make bread dough, add the yeast and a sprinkle of sugar to the warm water, and allow the yeast to activate for about 5 minutes. It will appear slightly foamy. If you don't see this, throw out the yeast and start over. Be careful not to have the water too hot, as this will kill the yeast. 

-Add the sugar, salt and 1/2 of the flour (3 1/2 cups). Mix well.
-Add the egg and oil and mix thoroughly.

-Then slowly knead in extra flour a half cup at a time. The dough will become smooth and elastic, resembling the consistency of a stress ball. Stop adding flour at this point, even if you haven't added all 7 cups. Too much flour will make the dough (and bread) tough.
-Coat the dough with a thin layer of oil, cover with a towel and place in a warm place to allow the dough to raise.
-Allow dough to rise for 2-3 hours until it has doubled in size:

-Divide the dough in half. Then divide each 1/2 in 4 pieces and create 3 ropes of dough. Place them parallel to one another and braid them as shown below. Start in the middle, passing the rope of dough over the first, under the second and over the third. Repeat, going left to right. When there is no dough left, fold the end underneath the loaf. Repeat with the other side.

-Mix the egg glaze, and spread generously over the top of the bread. Sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar or sesame seeds, if desired. 

 -Bake at 375 F for approximately 30 minutes until the top is golden brown.

Hope you enjoy! My plan is to make some challah with olive oil and rosemary for post-Thanksgiving turkey sandwiches :-).

One Smart Cookie

      Cookies have to be one of my favorite deserts to make and eat. They are generally pretty simple to throw together, and I've met very few that I didn't like. It's also very easy to change the recipes without totally screwing it up- you can add chocolate chips or other add ins, or change the flavoring from vanilla to almond and give an old favorite a totally different personality. Also, they bring back a lot of memories of baking with my family, particularly my mom and sister. Baking cookies was a favorite rainy day activity, although they didn't always turn out perfect- once I added twice the flour to a batch because I used the wrong measuring cup and ended up with chocolate rock cookies!

     This recipe for Anzac biscuits is a personal favorite of mine, both because it is simple and absolutely delicious. I inherited this recipe from my mom,but I'm not sure where she got the original recipe from. They are names after Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC), which was established during the first world war. It is claimed that they were a commonly made cookie during this era because they had a long shelf life and could be sent to soldiers overseas during the war. Although the traditional version are thicker, I like to flatten them till they are very thin prior to baking- it makes the edges caramelize, making them taste even better. I also typically use corn syrup instead of Lyle's can syrup because it's easier to find and less expensive.

They may have a long shelf life, but they won't last long!

Anzac Biscuits

-2 c all-purpose flour

-2 c rolled oats

-1 c unsweetened coconut 

-1 c sugar

-1 c brown sugar

-1/2 tsp salt

-1 c butter

-2 Tbs corn syrup (or Lyle's Golden Syrup)

-3/4 tsp baking soda

-1/3 c hot water

-1 tsp vanilla

-1 c toasted pecans, walnuts or almonds (I typically use pecans,  but used walnuts this time)

-mix flour, sugar, brown sugar, oats, coconut and salt in a large bowl.

-melt butter, mix with corn syrup, baking soda, hot water and vanilla in a separate bowl. Pour the liquid mixture into the dry ingredients and mix.

-scoop dough a tablespoon at a time onto cookie sheets and flatten with the palm of your hand.

-bake for 8-9 minutes at 350 F. Allow them to cool a little before removing from the tray- they are thin and fragile when warm.

More Pumpkin Treats

 Here are the rest of the recipes from making the pumpkin pie, as promised! I don't have too much to say about them, except that the pumpkin seeds were so delicious, they were gone before I even had a change to take a picture of them. Enjoy!

Sweet and Spicy Pumpkin Seeds (adapted from Martha Stewart)

-seeds from 1 medium pumpkin, any variety

-5 tablespoons sugar

-1/4 teaspoon salt

-1/4 teaspoon ground cumin

-1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

-1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

-Pinch of pepper flakes

-1 1/2 tablespoons peanut oil or vegetable oil

-Rinse seeds well, removing all pulp. Spread thin on a cookie sheet and allow them to dry overnight or in an oven at 250 F for 1 hour.

-Mix 3 Tb of sugar, salt, cumin, cinnamon, ginger, and pepper flakes in a medium bowl

-Heat the oil in a small frying pan, add sugar and stir until it starts to caramelize. Add the pumpkin seeds until they are toasted and coated with the sugar mixture.

-Pour the seed mixture into the dry ingredients immediately and mix well. 

Pumpkin Butter  (improvised)

-1-2 c fresh sugar pumpkin puree

-1/2 c brown sugar

-1-2 tsp cinnamon

-1/2 tsp nutmeg

-1/2 tsp ginger

-1/2 tsp salt

-Heat pumpkin puree in a saucepan over low heat, add sugar and other ingredients. Add more or less of the sugar and spices based on taste, this is just a guideline. In the end, it should taste like pumpkin pie, but less sweet.

-Serve one a thick slice of whole wheat bread,  mixed in plain or vanilla yogurt or just eat it with a spoon!