Lemon Curd Ice Cream

We're getting some warm for us weather here in Wisconsin (it's supposed to be 70 tomorrow!), so I'm breaking out the ice cream maker :)

Earlier I'd made RLB's lemon curd, using the adding the butter at the end idea. I had a cup leftover, which ended up being perfect for a half batch of Sherry Yard's lemon curd ice cream. I got the proportions from a discussion board, originally it's from The Secrets of Baking. I left out the lemon juice as I didn't have any lemons on hand.

I really liked this - it was easy, already having the curd made, I didn't have to make a custard. It was smooth, almost like a custard instead of ice cream. I'll be keeping this one in mind for the summer!

Lemon Curd Ice Cream
1 cup lemon curd
1 1/2 c whole milk
1 c whipping cream
pinch of salt
Whisk together, chill, then churn.

TWD Coconut Tea Cake

I made the base of this cake without the shredded coconut. I've never really liked the texture of coconut in baked goods or candy bars. I really liked the coconut milk, though, and made a powdered sugar-coconut milk glaze. Since some of the top stayed in the silicone pan, I glazed the bottom. Which I think I like better, that crispy part with the glaze, mmmm. I love the idea of some lime, too, for next time.

I added a little basic blueberry sauce (thaw 1 1/2 cups wild blueberries, reduce juice til thick, add a TB of lemon juice and sugar to taste - I added about 1 TB). This was a great cake, and a great base for "playing around". I'm looking forward to making it again!

Thanks to Carmen of Carmen Cooks who picked this week's TWD recipe!

Yellos gf cupcakes

Another of my efforts to bake gluten free. The little ones wanted some yellow cupcakes with chocolate frosting, so I found these Gluten-free Yellow cupcakes from allrecipes via cakecentral. CakeCentral has been a great resource for me. The bakers there are very helpful, and it's fun to browse everyone's projects!

Anyway, the cupcakes went ok. They fell, so they didn't look as nice as the photos on allrecipes. I find the rice flour to have a little bit of metallic aftertaste. I'm hoping to try experimenting with some other flours, and just picked up some millet flour yesterday (though I passed on the $12 quinoa flour, I think I may have to purchase a mill).

These were nice and light, though. And leveled and decorated in cake form, I'm sure they'd be a great cake!

Gluten-free, Dairy-free Waffles

In our search for gf breakfast foods, I found these fantastic gf waffles! I used the flour mix suggested of 2 cups White Rice Flour, 1 cup Potato Starch, 1/2 cup Tapioca Starch, 1-3/4 tsp Guar Gum, and have also subbed in some brown rice flour. With our changes:

Gluten-free waffles

Whisk together
1 cup white rice flour
1 cup brown rice flour
1/2 c millet flour
1 c potato starch
1/2 c tapioca starch
2 tsp guar gum
3/4 tsp salt
2 TB baking powder
1 TB sugar

In a separate bowl, beat to soft peaks
4 egg whites

In a separate bowl, beat together
4 egg yolks
3 cups milk (we've used rice, almond or soy)
1/4 c oil
1 tsp vanilla

Add dry ingredients to wet, reserving the egg whites. Blend and let stand for about ten minutes.
Using a rubber spatula, combine egg whites. Bake on waffle iron. In our four square belgian waffle iron, the recipe makes about 20 squares (or five rounds on the iron).

TWD Soft Chocolate and Raspberry Tart

Inspired by the candied kumquats in the P&Qs, I subbed some candied lemon peel for the raspberries, and I thought it turned out nicely, very mellowly lemon. I also just used a pie crust I had in the freezer, and used my muffin tin for minis. So quite a few subs in all, but these were great little snack "tarts". Also like the comments, I was surprised by how brownie-ey these were! I'm looking forward to trying this one again this summer with some good raspberries!

HBin5 Bread Braid #7

For the HBin5 Bread Braid #7, we had the Avocado-Guacamole bread and Pesto Pine Nut bread. Both hearty, snack-able breads!















No substitutions for the avocado bread, and my husband liked it. It was ok for me, I liked the hint of garlic. I think maybe I need to try it with some cheese...






























For the Pesto, I subbed walnuts for the pine nuts, and I used Trader Joe's pesto. My dough turned out really wet for this one, so my loaf is a little odd. I think this would be great with a pasta dinner. It was good right out of the oven, but I liked it even better toasted with some butter. I think this could be great for sandwiches, too!
















Visit Michelle at Big Black Dog to see how all the other bakers did!

SK granola bars

This isn't gluten-free, but it is a wheat-free recipe. The kids love the granola bars, and they are amazingly convenient, but I'd really like it if it was all real food in those bars!

When I saw Deb's granola bars I figured I've give them a try. For my two cups of add-ins, I used craisins, raisins, shredded coconut, unsalted sunflower seeds and slivered almonds. My husband loved these, so I think I'll be making them again for him. About my recent efforts to make a decent granola bar, my daughter asked, "Do we only get the baked ones now?" That and the fact that she only ate one bite told me these were a no-go. Not so much a bar for my kids, but I'll be making them again for the grown ups!

Thumbprints for Us Big Guys

I love thumbprints, and I was thrilled to see these selected! I wasn't able to get this in by Tuesday, but I still really wanted to try these, so here's my belated TWD. These were incredibly easy to throw together.

My biggest challenge was finding the right jam. I didn't have any raspberry in my freezer, so I tried a peach-honey-cardamom, raspberry-blueberry, red currant jelly and lemon curd. The peach and berry were just plain sweet, and I couldn't taste the jam at all. The lemon curd was good, but the red currant was by far the best. Maybe because it looked prettier than the curd :)

Thanks to Mike from Ugly Food for an Ugly Dude for the great pick!