Blanc-Manger

I was so excited to try this one! The summer raspberries haven't done very well here, but I'd found red currants for the first time ever here at a farm stand. (I had to get a picture of the currants - I think they're the prettiest fruit possible!) So I subbed the currants for the raspberries. The only other change was I only made a half batch.

For the blanc-manger, I ground slivered almonds in our little coffee grinder and sifted it. It got fine enough, I think, but it looks less pretty with the speckles of skin. Maybe if I try this to serve, I'll try ordering almond flour. I also lined the pan with waxed paper, so it looks a little wrinkly, so I'd get the chair to reach the parchment if I were going to make this for anyone :)

We really liked this. The currants worked really well, I thought their tartness was balanced well with the base. I'd like to try a mix of raspberry and currant, too.

Thanks to Susan of Sticky, Gooey, Creamy, Chewy for this great pick!

Honey Wheat Sandwich Bread

It was pretty cold yesterday, so I tried a bread recipe that could involve the kids, too. I used the Honey Wheat Sandwich Bread from Apple Pie, Patis and Pate, an adaptation of a Peter Reinhart recipe.

It was my first time trying to use a soaker, and it seemed to go pretty well. We just finished it up today, and though it got left a little too long and got pretty dark, it still ended up tasting pretty nice!

ICE: Lemonana Cupcakes

We have tons of mint in our garden, and even though I've never tried an authentic lemonana made by anyone who would know, after finding a recipe online, I've been stuck on it. My second ICE: Herb submission is a Lemonana cupcake: lemon cupcake with lemon-mint buttercream.


Our June ETSY PRIZE-PACK is from artists:

• A sweet cupcake ID bracelet by INSANEJELLYFISH, http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5021935
• A delicious treat from CIRCLEMONKEY http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5335273
  
• a sweet surprise from Sweet Cuppin' Cakes Cupcakery, http://www.acupcakery.com/
  
• PLUS, IronCupcake:Earth can not forget our good friend, CAKESPY, http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5243382

Last and certainly not least, don’t forget our corporate prize providers: HEAD CHEFS by FIESTA PRODUCTS, http://www.fiestaproducts.com, HELLO CUPCAKE by Karen Tack and Alan Richardson, http://blog.hellocupcakebook.com, JESSIE STEELE APRONS http://www.jessiesteele.com; TASTE OF HOME books, http://www.tasteofhome.com; a t-shirt from UPWITHCUPCAKES.COM http://www.upwithcupcakes.com/. Iron Cupcake:Earth is sponsored in part by 1-800-Flowers, http://www.1800flowers.com .

Voting will begin no later than Tuesday, July 28 at 8 p.m. at NO ONE PUTS CUPCAKE IN A CORNER, http://www.ironcupcakemilwaukee.com and will be open through Wednesday, August 5 at 12 noon. You still have time to join the fun! Visit IronCupcake:Earth at http://www.ironcupcakeearth.com

ICE: Lemon Verbena Cupcakes

The Iron Cupcake Earth challenge for July is herbs. I just got some lemon verbena, and I can't wait to use it all summer! It smells incredible.

My first submission for the ICE challenge is a lemon verbena cupcake. I hadn't gotten to the Perfect Party Cake for TWD, so I used it for this and added some lemon verbena. The mini cuppies are frosted with a lemon swiss meringue buttercream and garnished with a raspberry (the first and only from our garden!).

Our June ETSY PRIZE-PACK is from artists:

• A sweet cupcake ID bracelet by INSANEJELLYFISH, http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5021935
• A delicious treat from CIRCLEMONKEY http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5335273
  
• a sweet surprise from Sweet Cuppin' Cakes Cupcakery, http://www.acupcakery.com/
  
• PLUS, IronCupcake:Earth can not forget our good friend, CAKESPY, http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5243382, who is now going to be doing a piece for our winner each month until further notice - sweet!

Last and certainly not least, don’t forget our corporate prize providers: HEAD CHEFS by FIESTA PRODUCTS, http://www.fiestaproducts.com, HELLO CUPCAKE by Karen Tack and Alan Richardson, http://blog.hellocupcakebook.com, JESSIE STEELE APRONS http://www.jessiesteele.com; TASTE OF HOME books, http://www.tasteofhome.com; a t-shirt from UPWITHCUPCAKES.COM http://www.upwithcupcakes.com/. Iron Cupcake:Earth is sponsored in part by 1-800-Flowers, http://www.1800flowers.com .

Voting will begin no later than Tuesday, July 28 at 8 p.m. at NO ONE PUTS CUPCAKE IN A CORNER, http://www.ironcupcakemilwaukee.com and will be open through Wednesday, August 5 at 12 noon. You still have time to join the fun! Visit IronCupcake:Earth at http://www.ironcupcakeearth.com

Tribute-to-Katherine Hepburn Brownies

I loved these brownies. Growing up, our family's brownies were a Katherine Hepburn version (the same as these on epicurious), but they were called Saucepan Brownies. I think I even liked these better - how can you go wrong adding chunks of bittersweet chocolate to a great brownie :)

I used a pyrex 7x11 since that's what was free at the time, and I didn't make any adjustments for baking . I also halved the espresso powder and left out the cinnamon, and no nuts. Just chocolate in my brownies :) These weren't even cool yet, so the melted chocolate looks a little messy, but I don't think I had the challenges of over-gooey-ness, or maybe I just have a really high tolerance for gooey chocolate desserts.

Thanks Lisa of Surviving Oz for the great pick!

Mint Chip Gelato

I've made plenty of sorbet and ice creams in our ice cream maker, but this was my first time trying a gelato recipe (not really sure the difference between this and ice cream...). I started with Martha Stewart's mint chip recipe, and made a few little changes (soymilk, the number of yolks I had, the cornstarch, no extract).

The adapted recipe:
2 1/2 c plain soymilk
15 sprigs mint
4 egg yolks
2T cornstarch
1/2 c sugar
4 oz chocolate, chopped (I used Trader Joe's dark chocolate)
Bring soymilk and mint to boil, take off heat and let steep 30 min. Blend yolks and sugar til thick and pale. Strain the soymilk and bring it back to a boil, then add half the milk to the eggs. Add the milk-egg mixture to the milk and cook til thickened. Mine didn't thicken so I took out about 1/2 c of the mix and added 2T cornstarch, and added that back. Remove from heat, add cream, and strain into container. Refrigerate til very cold, and then freeze in ice cream freezer. When it's set, add the chocolate and let mix for a minute.

The family loved this! The entire quart was gone in about 15 min. I'm not sure about the color - it's sort of the greyish-greenish color of key lime stuff only paler. I think using regular milk would make for a prettier gelato. We'll definitely be making this one again!

Lemonana Granita

It's hot! Til this week we've been lucky if it's gotten to 70 any time this summer, today it's 97! I needed a cold dessert/snack for the day.

A few days ago I'd made lemonana using a recipe from a blog I'm not able to find again - but it was something like 1/2 lemon, juiced; 1 T sugar and 15 leaves mint. I thought it'd make a nice granita. I started with a Mint Granita recipe from epicurious and had to make some changes after tasting (not that I don't like mouthwash...). I ended up with:
2 1/4c water
1c mint leaves
3/4 c sugar
1 lemon - juice and zest
1/3 c key lime juice (bottled)
Bring all to a boil, let sit 3 min, strain into container and freeze, stirring every 30 min.

The lime juice was the late change, it was quite minty, so I threw in the quickest citrus I had :) It's a better balance now, though I've no idea of what a true lemonana should taste like, especially one with half bottled lime - ha! Anyway, it's been nice for our first real days of summer!