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 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!

Marmalade Again...

I took a different family member this time. We went there before 12 , after church, but before our planned shopping. My third time in their new premise was a charm, I got to have the dessert, a slice of Lemon Meringue Cake, and a cup of Cappuccino. Of course I had them shared and that was after we had our meal.

This time, I wanted to try something smaller than what I normally had there and went to their Quiche Lorraine with Leek and Canadian Bacon. However, I did not find both the salad and the quiche to be appealing to my taste. I like the presentation. My companion this time was Miss K, she had Avocado Caesar Wrap with Vegetable Chips. Hers, I found out, was tastier than my pick.

Getting Better...

I am on my way to recovery, my stomach is still "funny", not ha-ha funny, but weird funny. But I am dying to get better. My body can't handle foods other than the bland ones, but my head has started imagining the fancier one. Surprisingly, I feel like having salmon sashimi. I do not know why..... Definitely, I am not having it too soon... I don't want to jeopardize my chance to recover. I am going to be careful. Too bad, my baby is still in pain. And too super bad that I can't even anything much on my birthday.



I have not been baking or cooking, of course, these Buttermilk Lemon Mini Cakes were made a few days ago when I was in good health.

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.
   

Lemon Inspired

What a historical moment it is right now, today. Barack Obama will be the next US President, the first African American President ever. A real intelligent leader has been elected. Racial barriers fell and he proves that anybody, irregardless what race a person is, can be anything they want to be. Such an inspiration!



Talking about inspiration, I was inspired to bake a lemon sponge cake yesterday and I did it. My intention was for DH to take some with him as he was flying overseas, but he took an earlier flight instead and my cake didn't make it in time. The cake turned out just fine, but the next time I make this, I will use more lemon juice, as it was not lemony enough to our liking. While I like it plain, the kids love them with lemon sugar icing drizzled all over it. Either way, they are wonderful.

( Recipe used was adapted from Better Homes & Gardens, New Cook Book, 14th Edition)

Keep The Kitchen Smoking.....

It was an incredibly busy week indeed, somehow, I got so excited over preparing dishes after dishes on daily basis. I even attempted to broiled Black Cod with Miso Sauce ala Nobu and baked Ina Garten's Lemon Cake. I was quite pleased that both turned out pretty well.



In between, I also prepared Gado-gado, Indonesian vegetable salad with peanut sauce and shrimp crackers, it's always yummy.