Infused Sugar

I love making and using infused sugar. The wonderful uses of infused sugar are endless. It adds a depth of flavor to baked goods, whether that be a poundcake, scones, or cookies. A teaspoon in a cup of tea or coffee adds a little hint of flavor to the drink. It can be used to garnish the rim of a cocktail. They are easy to do and make wonderful gifts for your favorite baker.

For years I have kept a canister of vanilla sugar on my counter.  I make homemade vanilla extract.  I dry the used vanilla beans and put in my sugar canister.  Anytime I am making a recipe that calls for vanilla and sugar I almost always go to my canister.  When it starts getting low, I just add more sugar.

There are many kinds of infused sugars to be made; lavender, citrus, herbal (salt can also be infused!)  Recently I was given a lot of lemons and oranges.  Some of them went into lemon and orange infused sugar. Oh, they smell so good! I plan to use some in a few baked goods this weekend.

Below is the basic recipe to create citrus sugars; zest amounts can be adjusted depending on the size of your produce. I always seem to go by "more is better", but adjust to your taste buds.

Orange sugar: 2 cups of sugar + the zest of one orange

Lemon sugar: 2 cups of sugar + the zest of 2 lemons

Lime sugar: 2 cups of sugar + the zest of 3 limes

Use a zester to zest the outer part of the skin, being careful not to get into the white pith area. Toss into a food processor bowl with 1 cup of the sugar, pulse a few times until you have uniform pieces of zest in the sugar. Add the rest of the sugar and pulse until combined.

Lay the sugar mixture out on a baking sheet for a few hours until it has dried out.

Store in a jar (I use my favorite mason jars).

I was knee-deep in oranges the other night, orange infused sugar is drying on the cookie sheet.

Classic French Madeleines

Madeleines are very small sponge cakes with a distinctive shell-like shape acquired from being baked in pans with shell-shaped depressions. They are super easy and quick to make.  My granddaughter and I made them for our recent tea party. The only drawback to these little cakes is that they don't stay fresh long.  If you have more than you can use at one sitting, bag them up and pass them around to the neighbors.  They won't complain!

 

The madeleines were a great addition to our tea time treats!
 

Most madeleine recipes call for vanilla extract in the batter. As I went to grab the vanilla from the cabinet my eye drifted to a bottle of Fiori di Sicilia (Flowers of Sicily) that I have.  It's an extract that combines vanilla, citrus and flower essences. It smells so good and the combination of citrus and floral in baked goods is wonderful.  I used this flavoring in lieu of the vanilla and omitted the lemon zest called for in the recipe. They were delightful!

The lemon zest can be replaced with any citrus zest or omitted if you're not a fan of citrus flavors.

Classic French Madeleines

2/3 cup granulated sugar
3 large eggs, room temperature
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup butter, melted and cooled
1 teaspoon vanilla extract **
1 tablespoon lemon zest **
Powdered sugar for dusting

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and spray two madeleine pans with nonstick spray.

Place butter in a microwave safe dish and microwave in 20-second intervals until completely melted. Set aside to cool.

Combine the sugar and eggs in a bowl and mix on medium-low speed. Mix until slightly foamy. Add the flour and baking soda and mix until combined. Add in the melted butter, vanilla extract and lemon zest.  Stir until combined.

Add approximately one tablespoon of batter to each of the shell-shaped cavities in the madeleine pans.  Bake for 8-10 minutes, or until the edges are golden brown and the tops of the madeleines no longer jiggle.

Cool the madeleines in the pans for a few minutes, then gently remove them from the pans (using a knife if necessary).  Finish cooling them on a wire rack.  Dust with powdered sugar before serving.

Makes 20-24.

** I used 1/2 teaspoon Fiori di Sicilia and omitted the lemon zest.

Nectarine Vanilla Pie

My sister recently told me about a nectarine pie she bought at our favorite local produce stand. I realized that, though I've baked with nectarines many times, I've never baked, nor had, a nectarine pie!  It was time to rectify that. It had to be just like making a peach pie, right? Off to my kitchen I went!  My favorite peach pie has a touch of almond extract in it, I think that really brings out the flavor of the peaches. I wanted to do something a little different with the nectarines so I decided vanilla would be the flavoring of choice.  The pie was so very yummy! We had a slice after dinner and I shared with my next-door neighbors. We also enjoyed a piece for breakfast the next day. My justification for this is it can't be any more calories than a few pieces of toast and jam. That's my story and I'm sticking to it!

 

 

As I've mentioned before, I keep a jar of vanilla sugar on my countertop.  Whenever I use a vanilla bean I throw the scraped bean in my jar.  I add sugar when it gets low. The vanilla infuses the sugar with the most luscious flavor.  And it smells heavenly, too.  Sometimes I'll walk by and lift the lid just so I can smell it! I use this vanilla sugar all the time; in baking and homemade whipped cream. If you don't have vanilla sugar you can easily make enough for this recipe.  In a food processor, combine the 2/3 cup sugar with 1/2 vanilla bean, which has been cut crosswise in three or four pieces. Blend until the vanilla bean is finely minced.  Sift the vanilla sugar mixture over a bowl, discarding any large chunks of bean.

Nectarine Vanilla Pie

Pie dough disks for 2-crust pie (homemade or from the deli section)
2/3 cup vanilla sugar
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
3 1/2 to 4 pounds firm, but ripe nectarines, pitted and sliced (about 10 cups)
1 tablespoon unsalted butter, room temperature

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Combine vanilla sugar and flour.  Add the nectarines and toss gently to coat. Let sit 5 minutes, stirring occasionally (this helps get the juices flowing!)

Roll out 1 pie crust disk on floured surface and transfer to a 9-inch pie pan. Trim dough overhang to 1/2 inch. Spoon nectarine mixture into crust; dot with butter. Roll out second pie crust disk on floured surface to a 12-inch round.  Drape over fruit mixture, trim overhang to 1 1/2 inches. Fold top and bottom edges under, pressing together to seal.  Crimp edges decoratively and cut small slits in the crust for steam to escape (or make a lattice or other decorative crust). If desired, brush crust lightly with whipping cream and sprinkle with sugar. Place pie on rimmed aluminum foil-lined baking sheet (trust me on this, you don't want it overflowing on your oven floor!) Bake until crust is golden, nectarines are tender, and juices bubble thickly, about 1 hour. Transfer pie to rack and cool until lukewarm.  Of course, it's best when served with a scoop of vanilla ice cream!

The Sweetness of Forgetting - Book Review & Cupcakes

I love to read or live to read, not sure which one it is. My day is not complete if I don't have at least a few minutes of reading time. Ideally, this reading time is with a good book, but a magazine or blog will work. Reading relaxes me.

I recently finished reading The Sweetness of Forgetting by Kristin Harmel.  The main character, Hope, owns a bakery in Cape Cod. The bakery had once belonged to her Grandmother who is now suffering from Alzheimer's disease.  With urging by her Grandmother, Hope travels to Paris and begins to uncover secrets her Grandmother has carried for over 70 years.  It's a story of lost and found love, the Holocaust, new relationships.  I really enjoyed it. 

Interspersed throughout the book were recipes from the fictional bakery.  Most of the recipes have a Jewish or Muslim background, so they are a little unusual, not things I would be inclined to make. My Granddaughter spent the night and, as usual, asked if we could bake something. I remembered that the book had a recipe for simple vanilla cupcakes.  I had a full day of plans and chores ahead of me so this recipe allowed me to play in the kitchen with her but not spend all day baking. The bakery makes the cupcakes with pink frosting, my Granddaughter wanted purple, so purple is what she did!  

My Granddaughter is four.  Anytime we bake I try to incorporate numbers, counting and measuring into our baking time.  She doesn't realize that I'm schooling her and I can see results.  Today, as we were using the Kitchenaid mixer, I told her to turn the mixer to number 4.  She did and I was impressed.  We turned the mixer off and I added the flour.  Before I could tell her we would start with number 2, she had turned on the mixer to 4 and we had a flour explosion! This was her face after she turned the mixer off.  We had a good laugh and then I taught her how to clean up! There are all sorts of life lessons to be learned in a kitchen!

The cupcakes have a nice vanilla flavor and use common ingredients. No running to the store for a special ingredient to make these! We only used half a recipe of the frosting as we didn't need all that sugar. More frosting would have made a prettier-looking cupcake but we had enough mess in my kitchen for one day, anyway!

I sent the cupcakes home with her, to give to her Mommy & Daddy.  She was so proud of them!

North Star Vanilla Cupcakes

1 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
4 large eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
3 cups flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup milk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line 24 muffin cups with paper liners.

In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar using an electric mixer. Beat until light and fluffy, then beat in eggs one at a time.  Beat in vanilla extract and mix well.

Sift together flour, baking powder and salt, and add to the butter mixture, about a cup a time, alternating with milk.

Fill muffin cups about halfway.  Bake for 15-20 minutes, or just until a skewer inserted through the top of a cupcake comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes in pan, then move to wire rack to cool completely.  Once cool, frost with pink icing.

Pink Icing
1 cup unsalted butter, slightly softened
4 cups confectioners' sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract 1 teaspoon milk
1-3 drops red food coloring

Beat the butter in a medium bowl with an electric mixer until light and fluffy.

Gradually add the sugar and beat until well blended.

Add the vanilla and milk and continue to beat until well-blended.

Add one drop of red food coloring and beat well to incorporate.  If you'd like the icing to be a deeper pink, add one or two drops more, and  beat after each drop to incorporate.

Whopper (Malted Milk Balls) Ice Cream

My husband is getting treated quite well this week.  First he got his favorite pie, pumpkin.  Now he gets his favorite ice cream. He thinks I'm being a loving wife.  Little does he know that I have a  huge project planned that I will need his assistance with!  he he

Whoppers are his favorite candy so when I incorporated them into a plain vanilla ice cream base many years ago he instantly declared this as his favorite ice cream.  It's so easy to make.  The ice cream base is adapted from a Ben & Jerry's recipe.  It has a creamy texture and a mild taste making it a good background for any kind of fruit or more substantial add-ins such as Whoppers.

Whopper Ice Cream

2 large eggs
3/4 sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla **
2 cups heavy or whipping cream
1 cup milk
1/2 cup crushed Whoppers
Chopped Whoppers, in desired quantity

Whisk the eggs in a mixing bowl until light and fluffy, 1 to 2 minutes.  Whisk in the sugar, a little at a time, then continue whisking until completely blended, about 1 minute more.  Add vanilla, cream, milk and crushed Whoppers and whisk to blend. 

Process according to your ice cream maker's instructions. When done, stir in chopped Whoppers. Some people like a high candy to ice cream ratio, others not so much.  You be the judge of how much candy you want to add in!

Makes 1 quart

** I always have a canister of vanilla sugar in my kitchen so I used 3/4 cup of vanilla sugar, omitting the liquid vanilla.  To make vanilla sugar, add split vanilla beans to sugar in a canister or jar.  Stir every now and then, until the sugar has a vanilla scent.  Add more sugar and/or vanilla beans, as needed, to maintain a full container. It's wonderful stuff, great for baking, whipped cream, even in a cup of coffee!

Instead of just adding chopped Whoppers to the ice cream I like to crush some of the candy, too. This gives the ice cream more of a malted milk taste rather than tasting like vanilla ice cream with candy in it. Doing so also gives you little flecks of chocolate throughout the ice cream mixture.

The Flavorful Vanilla Bean

The vanilla bean (technically a long capsule) is derived from the vine of the vanilla orchid. 

 The Totonaca Indians, along the Gulf of Mexico coast, first cultivated the orchid.  They used its beans for a variety of medicinal purposes and in rituals.  The Aztecs were the first to use vanilla as a flavoring.  The Spanish landed in Mexico at the beginning of the 16^th century and brought vanilla back to Europe where it soon spread worldwide. Most vanilla beans produced today come from Madagascar and Indonesia.

It wasn’t until 1847 that a Boston chemist invented the liquid vanilla extract.  Pure vanilla extract combines pure vanilla beans with alcohol.  Imitation vanilla extract combines pure and synthetic vanilla (usually made from paper pulp) with alcohol.

Vanilla is the second most expensive spice after saffron, mainly because pollination and harvesting of the beans is all done by hand.  And that is your culinary history lesson of the day!

A number of years ago I began reading stories online about people making their own vanilla extract.  My interest in making my own vanilla extract was really sparked when Ina Garten, The Barefoot Contessa, demonstrated how easy it is to do. I’ve been making my own vanilla extract for about five years now.  It’s easy and inexpensive, the taste is exquisite. I will never buy vanilla extract again!

I use mason jars to make my extract (aren’t mason jars just the most versatile things?)  I take vanilla beans, split them so the yummy goodness inside the beans will be exposed to the liquid.

Then I cover the beans with vodka (Some use rum or bourbon.  Vodka is more neutral so I think you get more of the true vanilla taste. However, it’s nice to have various kinds in your pantry to use in baking ventures). Also note that any inexpensive vodka will work, this was all we had at the time! Then put a lid on it, put in your cabinet and forget about it except for shaking it every now and then.  The longer it sits, the darker it gets and the more pronounced the vanilla flavor is.  I usually have two jars in my cabinet; one that I’m currently using and one that is curing.

 

 

Homemade vanilla extract makes a great gift; just decant into a cute bottle or jar, add a vanilla bean, put a cute label or tag on it and you have a wonderful culinary gift!

I buy my vanilla beans in bulk from online sources such as Amazon and store in mason jars.  They run about $25 for ½ pound of good bourbon beans.  Don’t let that scare you as the package will last a while.

I also keep a sugar container on my kitchen counter with vanilla beans in it. When it gets low I add more sugar and/or beans. It’s nice to use this sugar for baking recipes that call for vanilla (just omit adding the extract to the recipe), for making fresh whipped cream, even in a cup of coffee.

 

 I am linking up to Metamorphosis Monday at Between Naps on the Porch.