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Posts tagged ‘Lemon Juice’

Valentine’s Day Treat: Passion Fruit Geleés

2012 © copyright Savory Simple, all rights reserved

2012 © copyright Savory Simple, all rights reserved

Hello Lovers!  Valentine’s Day is just around the corner and I have a special treat for you.  Sometimes a heavy dessert can kill the mood, but a few bites of these passion fruit geleés will be the perfect end to a romantic meal.  They need to be made the day before but the recipe steps are very easy.  Also, you may have to go searching for a few of the ingredients.  I ordered passion fruit puree from L’Epicure, but you can use any fruit puree sold at your local grocery store (check the freezer and international sections).  A good quality fruit nectar, such as Goya, will also work perfectly in this recipe.  I think mango, strawberry or blood orange would all look beautiful and taste delicious.   The recipe calls for glucose, which you can find for sale online as well as in many baking and craft stores, such as Michael’s.

I used a silicone mold from Sur la Table to shape the geleés.  Most shops that carry cookware will sell an assortment of molds.  I’ve also seen a nice variety at online shops such as Amazon.  Silicone molds are great for creating perfectly shaped confections.  Because the silicone is flexible, the geleés are very easy to unmold.  If you don’t have a silicone mold or don’t want to use one, you can simply use a brownie or lasagna pan lined with parchment.  After the geleés have set, you can use a knife to cut them into individual pieces.  Geleés in a silicone mold need approximately 12 hours to set.  If you use a baking pan they’ll take up to 24 hours.  I attempted both methods and found that the candies will hold their shape a bit better when using the molds.

I recommend using a baking scale for this recipe to measure ounces, which is how I measured ingredients.  I’ve converted everything to cups and spoons but the measurements aren’t 100% the same.  Baking scales are inexpensive and a great way to achieve consistent results.

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Blood Orange Curd and Buttermilk Scones

2012 © copyright Savory Simple, all rights reserved

2012 © copyright Savory Simple, all rights reserved

My friends and I had a tea party today! Not to be confused with anything political, this was just a good old-fashioned girl gathering with tea, coffee, finger sandwiches and dessert.  I brought blood orange curd and buttermilk scones.  I also made these cucumber tea sandwiches, which were a hit.

Blood orange curd is no different than lemon curd, if you’ve ever had it.  You can make curd with any citrus fruit.  It’s a rich, tangy custard that goes well in tarts or spread thick on fresh scones.  If you’re feeling especially decadent it’s also heavenly by itself.  Blood oranges are typically available in winter months, and sometimes you can find the juice bottled at the grocery store near regular orange juice.  The recipe yields 5 cups, which is clearly a lot of curd and more than you’ll need to serve with the scones.  You can certainly cut the recipe in half, but I think it makes a great gift!  Buy some decorative canning jars and add cute labels.  I gave everyone at the party a small jar of blood orange curd.  Homemade gifts are always a special touch.

With regards to the scones, I only made a few changes to the original recipe.  Most notably, I cut down on the sprinkled sugar since I knew I’d be serving them with sweet curd.  If you’re making these scones as a stand-alone recipe, I recommend increasing the sugar to 4 tablespoons.

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Rosemary Apricot Bars

2011 © copyright Savory Simple, all rights reserved

2011 © copyright Savory Simple, all rights reserved

It has been awhile since I’ve gone nuts over a recipe.  These bars are AMAZING.  I had some dried apricots in the pantry and was trying to decide what to do with them when I came across a unique looking recipe for baked apricot bars, courtesy of David Lebowitz.  I think I died and went to heaven when I first took a bite.  These bars have a layer of rosemary shortbread on the bottom, brandy-infused apricot paste in the center, and a brown sugar pecan crumble on top.  Put all your other recipes aside and make these right now!

I made a few modifications to the original recipe.  I didn’t have California dried apricots, which are less sweet, so I added 1 1/2 tbsp of lemon juice to the apricot filling.  I made a few other minor changes to the filling and crumb topping.  The results were stunning.

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