Posts from the ‘Cooking’ category

Meyer Lemon Curd and Thyme Cupcakes

Meyer Lemon Curd and Thyme Cupcakes

These are really fresh-tasting, tart, and delicious.

I used 4 Meyer lemons for this recipe, but you may need more or fewer.  This would be fine with regular lemons, as there’s plenty of sugar to go around in this recipe.

This recipe is cobbled together from many others.  Special thanks to Local Kitchen for teaching me to make curd in the first place.

Meyer Lemon Curd and Thyme Cupcakes
makes 24 cupcakes

To start:

Zest and squeeze 4 Meyer lemons.  You might need more, but this is a good starting point.

For the cakes:

  • 2 cups heavy cream
  • 2 cups granulated sugar
  • 2 eggs, lightly beaten
  • 3 cups self-rising flour (Don’t have any?  Google and there are tons of recipes.)
  • 1/4 of the zest

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Line muffin pans with 24 cupcake papers.

2. Place cream, sugar and eggs in a large mixing bowl and whisk until smooth. Gradually add flour and zest and continue whisking until the mixture is smooth.

3. Divide mixture between prepared liners and bake for 20 minutes or until cakes are lightly browned and spring back when gently poked. Cool thoroughly.

For the curd:

  • 1/2 cup Meyer lemon juice, plus half the zest
  • 1 large egg + 1 egg yolk
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 4 Tbsp. butter, cut up
  • pinch salt
  1. Place the zest in a heatproof bowl with a fine strainer over it.
  2. In a small, heavy-bottomed saucepan whisk together the juice, eggs, sugar and salt. Add butter and cook over medium-low heat, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, until the foam subsides and the curd is thick enough to heavily coat the back of the spoon, about 10 – 15 minutes.  Don’t let it boil.
  3. Pour the curd through the strainer into the bowl with the zest, pressing curd through the strainer. Scrape any curd from the underside of the strainer into bowl and stir gently to incorporate zest. Refrigerate for a couple of hours to set.

Assemble:

  1. “Core” your cooled cupcakes.  I used an apple corer and went about 3/4 of the way down.  I took the crusty top off the core and reserved it to plug the hole.  Those cores are your snacky reward for all of this hard work.
  2. Put the cold curd in a piping bag or a Ziploc bag with the corner snipped off and fill the cupcakes, leaving a bit of space at the top so that when you plug the hole, it’s level with the top of the cupcake. Core, fill, and plug them all.

Icing:

  • 2 Tbsp. sour cream
  • 2 Tbsp. Meyer lemon juice, plus 1/4 of the zest
  • 2 tsp. packed fresh thyme leaves, separated
  • pinch of salt
  • 2 cups confectioners sugar
  1.  Whisk the sour cream, lemon juice, zest, 1 tsp. thyme, and salt together until smooth.  Whisk in sugar until smooth.
  2. Let sit 10 minutes until it firms up a bit.
Final assembly:
  1. Place cupcakes on a rack and spoon icing on top.  Garnish with more fresh thyme leaves.
  2. Let icing set for 30 minutes and serve.
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4 oz. Challenge

It’s been a while since the 4 oz. Challenge, but I finally finished my contribution, which reminded me that I needed to post a wrap-up of the contest. We had some seriously wonderful entries, but our super duper favorite was Stacey Simpson Duke’s Sweetgum (free Ravelry download). It’s a beautiful use of just 4 oz. of handspun yarn! Seriously, how cute is she?

Sweetgum

Our other winners were:
Valeria by Jacie Falkowski
Shelburne Falls by Rachel Brown
Albina Armwarmers by Vera Brosgol

Here’s a link to a Ravelry page with all of the submissions. There are so many fantastic ways to use just 4 oz. of handspun yarn, and many of the patterns are free!

My entry, so late to the game, is Tip Down Mittens (free Ravelry download)

Tip Down Mittens

Spun from Southern Cross Fibre’s Polwarth wool in the Boys of Summer colorway. Yarn measures 804 ypp and 11 wpi. Mittens used 3.1 oz./ 156 yards. 9” in circumference and 9.5” long. Gauge is 5.25 sts per ”. Happy happy soft soft.

Tip Down Mittens

Spun from Spunky Eclectic Corriepaca in the Orchard colorway. Yarn measures 614 ypp and 10 wpi. Mittens used 3.3 oz/ 127 yards. Mitten measures 8.5” in circumference and 10” long. Gauge is 4.75 sts. per ”. Happy happy color color!

You might remember the tragedy of two left mittens. Thankfully, I had 8 oz. of fiber and now have 2 pairs of mittens. :)

Oddments:

– Much sitting and knitting was done leading up to the holidays, which is always prime TV time here. We have become obsessed with Black Books, which is available for viewing on Hulu. It’s so funny that we’ve watched it two and a half times through in the last month. “Which… one of you bitches… wants to dance?” < — quote for those who’ve already watched and want a giggle.

– FOOD. I made some glorious foodstuffs over my holiday break. Salted lavender caramels, milk liqueur (trust me on this), cordials, pebernødder, salted chocolate dulce de leche tart, TV cookies (I need to make these again), dark chocolate honey lavender tart, and Julia Child’s Boeuf Bourguignon recipe (twice). All recipes are perfection. PERFECTION. Half of the reason I’ve just listed them is to remind myself of how delicious they all were.

Salted Lavender Caramels

Trust me. Make them.

– HOLY COW, it’s nearly potholder time again. We are going to host the potholder swap again this year. I’ll be back with more info once we hammer out the details.

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What I Did This Summer and Fiber Club

When people start emailing to see if you’re okay, maybe it’s time for a blog post. I’ll play catchup.

What I did over the summer:

2009 Larder

I grew food, foraged for some more, cooked it and ate it and preserved the rest. Lots of food. TONS! We have a freezer full and I canned 116 jars (info here), with more to come, now that apples are in full swing. I never expected the warm, toasty feeling that comes from preserving all that food and seeing the jars in neat little rows, but I suppose I should have. I get the same feeling from piles of sweaters I’ve made. It’s that much work, too. Goodness! I spent the summer pretty sweaty and tired. :)

Pippa:

Pippa Looking Pensive

Pippa is well and enjoying life. She spent an idyllic (bar the ticks) summer hiking every morning with Mr. HelloYarn and enjoying her fenced yard and having friends over to play in it. She has grown into a fantastic dog who’s just a pleasure to be around (bar the ticks).

What’s up now:

Fall is here, there are epic piles of leaves around our house, and it’s almost time for Rhinebeck! I’ll be there, shopping like a maniac and waiting in the artichoke line. I look forward to seeing all my woolly friends there. If I really knit a lot this week, I’ll even have a finished sweater. I’ve actually done a bunch of knitting that I haven’t showed here. I’ll be back with proper discussions and photos.

Fiber Club:

The fiber club renewals are up for November through January. If you’re a current member and would like to join again, go get ’em! I’ll leave this up for 2 weeks, then start emailing people on the waiting list to invite them, if there are any slots left. Please note: I sent out a newsletter today and, as usual, about 20 were returned. Please add adrian at helloyarn dot com to your contacts.

Stuff I Love:

* Guardians of Russian Art Museums– Check out this wonderful series of photos.

* Postcards from Yo Momma– A Depository of Moden Day Maternal Correspondence. Mom, I swear I won’t send any of your emails in.

* New House Textiles– The hearts! The mushrooms!

* Cooking- My new favorite recipes are this Vidalia Onion Tarte Tatin, this apple cake, cream scones, and this tomato galette. Nom nom nom.

Onion Tarte Tatin

See you at Rhinebeck!

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