Fun on the fourth!

Happy weekend my readers! I want to give you a few 4th of July recipes, to keep you cool and looking like a fancy chef at your barbeques! Here's your recipe today:

Honeyed Yogurt and Blueberry Tart with Gingered Crust
www.foodandwine.com
Melissa Rubel Jacobson

Ingredients:

• 10 whole graham crackers, broken into pieces, or 1 1/2 cups plus 2 1/2 tablespoons of crumbs
• 1/4 cup crystallized ginger, finely chopped
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• Pinch of salt
• 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
• 1 large egg white
• 2 cups Greek-style nonfat yogurt, drained overnight
• 2 tablespoons honey
• 1 1/2 cups blueberries (9 ounces) 

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350°. Spray a 14-by-4 1/2-inch rectangular fluted tart pan with a removable bottom with cooking spray.
2. In a food processor, pulse the graham crackers with the crystallized ginger, sugar and salt until finely ground. Add the butter and egg white and pulse until the crumbs are evenly coated. Press the crumbs evenly over the bottom and up the sides of the tart pan.
3. Bake for about 20 minutes, until the crust is lightly browned. Let the crust cool completely.
4. In a medium bowl, mix the drained yogurt with the honey. Spread the yogurt in the crust and arrange the blueberries over the surface of the yogurt.
5. Cut the tart in slices and serve.

Make Ahead

The baked crust can be wrapped in plastic and kept at room temperature overnight.
One Serving 134 cal, 5 gm fat, 2.8 gm sat fat, 18 gm carb, 1 gm fiber.

Happy baking!

Happy hump day!

Hello my dear readers! I hope you're all enjoying the weather and the sunshine (unless you live somewhere cloudy, at which point I'd like to say that I hope you get sun soon!). I continue to scour the recipes of the world, searching for great ones and brilliant kitchen ideas for you to use at home! In the meantime, don't forget to check out the Lizzy Bee's Bakery homepage and LIKE me on Facebook! Happy baking!

Vanilla, chocolate, strawberry, oh my!

Happy Friday everyone! As promised, I have an ice cream recipe for you to try, and my adaptation to make it lighter (lower fat, not sugar free!). This is a classic vanilla recipe, which is a great base to add mix-ins, such as nuts, candies, or fruit.

Vanilla Ice Cream
Adapted from Baking From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan
Makes about 1 quart

Ingredients:

• 2 C whole milk
• 2 C heavy cream
• 1 moist, plump vanilla bean, split and scraped OR 1 T pure vanilla extract
• 6 large egg yolks
• 3/4 C sugar

Directions:

1. Bring milk and cream to a boil in a large heavy-bottomoed saucepan. If you are using a vanilla bean, put the seeds and pod into the pan, cover and set aside for 30 minutes, then bring the milk and cream back to a boil before continuing. If you are using vanilla extract, wait until later to add it.
2. Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, whisk the yolks and sugar together until very well blended and jsut slightly thickened. Still whisking, drizzle in about one third of the hot liquid - this will temper, or warm, the eggs so they won't curdle.
3. Whiksing all the while, slowly pour in the remaining liquid. Pour the custard back into the pan and cook over medium heat, stirring without stopping, until the custard thickens slightly and coats the back of a spoon. If you run your finger down the back of the spoon the custard should not run into the track. The custard should reach at least 170 degrees F, but no more than 180, on an instant-read thermometer.
4. Immediately remove the pan from the heat and strain the custard into a 2-quart liquid measuring cup or clean heatproof bowl sitting over an ice bath. Discard the vanilla pod OR if you are using vanilla extract, stir it in now. Let cool.
5. Refrigerate the custard until chilled before churning it into ice cream.
6. Scrape teh chilled custard into the bowl of an ice cream maker and churn according to the manufacturer's instructions. Pack the ice cream into a container and freeze it for at least 2 hours, until it is firm enough to scoop.

Lizzy Bee's Lighter Version:

Ingredients:

• 2 C nonfat milk
• 2 C fat free half and half

Cook as directed above, just note that it will reach temperature faster in this version.


Either way you do it, be sure to watch the pot carefully so the milk doesn't overflow or burn, and the eggs don't curdle! It's easy once you get the hang of it, but you have to be sure to set up your mise-en-place first, as well as your ice bath!

Happy baking!

I scream, you scream...too cliche?

Hello my readers! Hope you're all doing well in this HEAT! All I could think about ALL day was ICE CREAM! How could I get some? Where could I get some? Then it hit me: I can make my OWN! Today I'm going to tell you about what you need to use, in my next post I'll give you some of my secrets! In order to get a fabulous consistency, better than store-bought ice cream, you need the right ice cream maker. For a small scale batch (which is what we want at home!), try out the Cuisinart Ice Cream Maker from Williams Sonoma. I'm sure you can get this at Macys as well, but as you can probably tell, I LOOOOVE Williams Sonoma! The maker comes with 2 ice cream freezers, so you can keep one in your freezer for whenever the mood strikes you to make ice cream!

Happy baking!

The heat! The heat!

As the temperatures start to get warmer, be sure to close your windows and crank the AC! The temperature outside will always affect the temperature inside, and as a result, the success of your desserts. You're spending hours working on a special dessert, make sure it comes out the way you want. Plan ahead, cool down the room, and turn up the music!

Happy baking!

I'll be back.

Sorry for the delay! I'm away until Sunday, so I'll talk to you on Monday! Enjoy your weekend! Bake something spectacular!

The results are in...

Hi everyone! I had brownie success this weekend! Remember I made a trio of brownies - traditional, peanut butter, and port wine caramel. The flavors turned out great! The caramel has a very light, smooth taste, but for such intense brownies, it might not have been strong enough! Perhaps in a cookie or vanilla cupcake, this would work best. For the purposes of my famous brownies, I will just have to keep thinking. Maybe next time I will try to reduce the port in half, hopefully intensifying the flavor. I will keep you posted for the next time I try it out! In the meantime, enjoy your Monday and hope for sunshine!

See you this week!

Hello my wonderful readers! I've been away all weekend, but fear not, because I'll be posting again tomorrow. See you then!

Wine, glorious wine!

Happy hump day! Yesterday I made a variety of my famously decadent, chocolatey brownies. I did a batch of mostly traditional, a few peanut butter, and then I tried something new. As I mentioned, I wanted to try using a port ganache in a few. Well what started as ganache turned into a big port caramel ganache project!

First I found a recipe claiming to be red wine caramel. I started with 3/4 cup sugar and 2 tablespoons water and I liquified the mixture without stirring, until it became caramel-colored. I took it off the heat and whisked in 3/4 cup red wine very slowly. The sugar mixture stayed very liquidy - too wet to sit well in my brownies. With the mixture on the heat, I added a bit of heavy cream slowly, until combined, and then about a cup more, until the hard sugar softened. I let that boil a bit on the stove, until it thickened up. I pulled it off the heat and added dark chocolate to the mix. I let it melt on its own before I whisked it all together. I poured the mixture into a small bowl set in an ice bath and left it to cool and thicken for about 20 minutes. The end results were a thicker, caramely port ganache. On its own it was pretty delicious with deliciously subtle notes of red wine. I poured some of the ganache into my brownies and baked them off! The brownies haven't been tasted yet but I promise to bring you the results after they're tasted at the party!

Happy baking!

The classic shape; the classic cake

Happy Monday everyone! How was your weekend? I decided to play around with a new cake pan that I received for my bridal shower. I wanted to make one of my classic recipes - mom's coffee cake, but with my twist - crumb topping and filling. The added bonus? Semi sweet chocolate chips in the center! YUM! I used my fabulous new Heritage Bundt Cake Pan from Williams Sonoma. The classic 1950s design makes any cake beautiful while on display! You can order this cake, as well as many other delicious cakes, brownies, and other desserts on my website: www.lizzybeesbakery.com.

Happy baking!