Lemon Polenta Cookies

We have a lot of polenta at home, but nobody really eats it. The polenta eater is 15,337 km away and will only be back in December. I tried to use them, but only made a little dent here. I only made half of the recipe and used merely 40 grams of polenta. A dent is still a dent, no matter how small. 

These are lemon polenta cookies, made one afternoon after I was done with my appointment and work. 

Recipes, adapted from Foodidies :

Using an electric mixer, beat 80 grams of butter (room temperature) and 75 grams of sugar until well mixed and pale in color, about 3-4 minutes.

Add 1 egg and continue beating. Add the zest of one lemon and 4 tablespoon of lemon juice, mix well.

In one bowl, whisk together 140 gr of polenta, 120 gr of flour, 2 tsp of baking powder and 1/2 tsp of salt.

Add the flour mixture into the egg mix until they are just combined. Cover and leave in the fridge for one hour.

Preheat the oven 170C.

Divide the batter into 16 parts and make ball shape. Flatten the balls slightly using the back of a wooden spoon or a glass or any tools you wish to use.

Bake for about 15 minutes, cool them on the wire rack when they are done.

Dust lightly with confectioner's sugar

Lemon Madeleines

It was the day after we got back from our holiday in Phuket. I missed baking so much and had been thinking about baking some madeleines, as few as possible, because there were only two of us at home. I came across a recipe from Chuck Williams that uses only one egg and yields 12 madeleines. His method is different than the one I normally use. I made some adaptation and made them as lemon madeleines.

Recipe below:

Adapted from Chuck Williams (William Sonoma)

Ingredients:

1 egg
1/4 c sugar
1 Tbs lemon zest
1 Tbs lemon juice

1/2 cup flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
a pinch of salt

4 Tbs soft butter
Powdered sugar

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 165C
Butter and flour 12 madeleine molds, Set aside.

Sift flour, baking powder and salt.
Beat the egg, sugar, lemon zest and lemon juice on medium speed for about 30 seconds, then increase the speed to high and beat the mixture until becomes very thick, for approximately 8-10 minutes.
Fold the sifted flour in gently.
Add the soft butter into the above and mix well.

Spoon the batter into the molds and bake 10-12 minutes, until they are golden brown.

Invert onto rack and dust with some powdered sugar. Best eaten on the day they are baked.

Lemon Meringue Pie

This mini pie was one of many different desserts offered at Oscar's of Conrad Hotel. We had buffet lunch there today. We were stuffed indeed.

Lemonade With Basil Leaves

It was a simple lemonade on a hot sunny day. Wonderful. Throw in some basil leaves because.... because I have tons of them!

Lemon Cupcakes

A combination of sweet and lemony taste is so yummy to have. For a long time I wanted these and made it happened only yesterday. Aww...  So good!

Lemon Meringue Tart

It's Saturday. We had a couple of workers coming over in the morning to work on the drain in the garden. We then had afternoon dentist appointment that started a half an hour later that the appointed time. How annoying! The dentist apologized and blamed the earlier patient  that came late. This came from a clinic that would call us when we are not there yet on the dot, for our appointment. Anyway. It was quick cleaning for the three of us, it was practically 10 minutes spent on each, we got clean teeth to begin with and the damage was still full price at $235. That's a quick way to make money, study to become a dentist!

We were starving by the time we finished with the dentist and headed to Da Paolo Pizza Bar again. DH seemed to long for the place since we had pizza there less than a month ago. This time, for dessert, Miss K chose Lemon Meringue Tart that she loved so dearly. I helped her out and found it just okay, but I want to make them at home myself. I think it will be more satisfactory.

She Cooks It And She Eats It ...

Like I wrote before, lately we have been having problem with knowing what we want to eat. Without knowing that, it gets harder to cook or to buy our meal. Having said that, I have been trying not to cook too much or at all, as normally the appetite was not quite there for whatever I have been preparing. We all need a little break here and there.

So now, everyone tends to be busy preparing something for themselves at the last minute when their stomach screams to their brain...Ï am hungryyyyy......!! That's our weekends...

For those that know how to get their way in the kitchen like my youngest, that is just fine. She whipped up fettucine with lemon and shrimp, they way she liked it to be i.e. just enough basil, rather lemony and pepperish that she loves and some chopped shrimps. It looked good and according to DH who tasted some, it was good too and she really cleaned up the food well. I surely helped with the dishes! Well done!

Some Like It Lemony...

It is always easier for me to prepare dinner when someone ask for something specific. It was Lemon Chicken the other night, like the one served in Chinese restaurants. So, that's just simple. After all, I have got everything that I need to make them. Except, maybe, the expertise to make the dish taste really like those in the restaurants. Nevertheless, my dish was still complemented. I guess, when you love lemon, you just love lemon-related-dishes too. Most of the time....

Not All Are Sweet

I guess I was wrong. Bitter and painful punches also came along with sweet things that passed by. It's only life just like Kate Voegele's song "It's Only Life". So right, but as usual, it is easier to sing than to do..... As long as it is life, you can't possibly have the sweet things only. There are sadness in the family and friends and nations of the people that were killed in recent Mumbai attack, there are worries around the family and friends of those there are stranded in Bangkok, people that live in the war zones, people that were born in the poor regions in Africa. There's no smooth sailing-everything is good as depicted by many celebrities when asked by reporters.

I have been shocked by the voices I heard this morning from the two intelligent, sweet and wonderful teenagers that for the first time revealed their opinion about certain things. They have grown up. Conveniently they omitted the facts that could backfire them, but pointed out the mistakes made by the parents. Sure, I wish they were mistakes. They were not! When asked back on the solution, the answer was simply, "I don't know!" Yes, let the parents scratch their head! Let the parents talk like a broken gramophone, but never ever yell. Keep on supporting the choices made by their children, irregardless how unreasonable they are?? Tell me how to keep a parent's sanity!

My mother made it looked to easy, she had nine children, none of whom was a problem growing up. Everyone worked hard without having to be asked. Someone cooked, someone did the dishes, another did ironing and another cleaned the house. Everything was taken care of even though we did not have much. Nobody had a room on his/her own. I don't recall my mom being mad at any of us or having to repeat her order, if she ever did. So I got all these wrong ideas about having kids. Throw in the ipod, computer, games, internet and all the current things into the picture, and life as parents now can't be more exciting. Or, might take you to become a resident in a mental institution...........

This is now about the good mixture of sweet and lemon, I utilized the remainder of the buttermilk that I had in the fridge. This is Buttermilk Pound Cake, with a lemony twist added, because we like lemon. The cake is really flavorful and moist.

I halved the recipe and used a ring baking pan and that cut down the baking time to around 45-50 minutes. The full recipe could use a bundt pan.

Buttermilk Pound Cake
Adapted from Allrecipes. com

INGREDIENTS

• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup butter
• 3 cups white sugar
• 6 eggs
• 1 teaspoon lemon extract
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup buttermilk

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Grease one 9 or 10 inch tube pan. Mix together the flour, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
2. In a large bowl, beat butter with sugar. Mix in the eggs, one at time, beating well after each addition. Stir in the lemon and the vanilla extracts. Gently mix in flour mixture alternately with the buttermilk. Pour batter into the prepared pan.
3. Bake in preheated oven for 90 minutes (45-50 minutes if you halve the recipe). Do not open oven door until after one hour (or 30 minutes if you halve the recipe). When cake begins to pull away from the side of the pan it is done. Let cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack and cool completely.