Summer Refresher

It's no secret that I love lemons, and one of my favorite summer drinks is Strawberry Lemonade. It has just the right amount of sweet, and just the right amount of tart - I could drink it by the gallon.

Earlier this week, I attended a viewing party for the show Glee - an instant classic episode which featured songs by Madonna. Tasked with bringing something fun and festive for dessert, I came up with a recipe for Strawberry Lemonade cupcakes.

Lemon Cupcakes

• 2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
• 2 C. sugar
• 4 eggs
• 3 C. all-purpose flour
• 1/2 t. baking soda
• 1/2 t. salt
• 1 C. milk
• 2 T. lemon zest
• 2 T. lemon juice
• Few drops yellow food color gel, if desired

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Line 2 24-cup mini cupcake pans with liners.

In a large bowl of an electric mixer, cream the butter and sugar together until fluffy, about 4 min.

Add the eggs, one at a time until the mixture becomes creamy.

In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, and salt together. Whisk to combine.

Alternately add the dry ingredients and the milk until completely incorporated.

Add the lemon zest and juice. Mix batter for an additional minute. Add food color gel and mix just until blended.

Divide the batter among the cupcake liners and bake for 17-23 minutes.

Cool before frosting.

Strawberry Lemon Frosting

• 2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
• 1 pkg (8 oz) cream cheese, softened
• 1 pkg (16 oz) powdered sugar, sifted
• 2-3 T. strawberry jelly, heated in a pan until melted, and cooled.
• 1 T. lemon zest
• 2 T. lemon juice
• Few drops pink food color gel
• Fresh strawberries, for garnish

Cream the butter, cream cheese and sugar until fluffy.

Add the powdered sugar about 1/2 C. at a time, turning to high speed for a few seconds after each addition. Scrape down the bowl as needed.

Add the strawberry jelly lemon zest and lemon juice. Beat until combined.

Add the pink food color gel until the desired color is reached.

Frost cooled cupcakes, adding a small piece of chopped strawberry for garnish.

Stawberry Fields Forever

Spring is in the air, and with it have come the first strawberries of the season. The ones at the Farmers Market this weekend were so lush and beautiful that I bought 3 pints! That day I had a party to go to, so I made cupcakes inspired by one of my favorite desserts, Strawberry Shortcake. The recipe comes from Food & Wine magazine, with the only change being that I used strawberry jelly as opposed to strawberry jam, for a smoother textured frosting.

The cupcakes were delicious, but a few days later I was craving the real thing - traditional strawberry shortcake. It's been years since I have made it. So when I invited my friend Andrea over for lunch today, I baked some sweet biscuits and whipped some cream, and voila, one of the best desserts of summer.

Normally when you make strawberry shortcake, you sweeten the strawberries with sugar until they get very juicy and pulpy. I didn't do that this time because the strawberries were already so naturally sweet, and I put a little bergamot mint on top which added a little bit of brightness. The biscuit recipe is from my old standby, the Silver Palate New Basics cookbook. It has an English feeling to it, which made it perfect after a round of Wii Tennis!

A couple of notes about making biscuits. You don't want to overwork them. They are easier to make than pie crust, but the principle is the same: you work butter into flour and pat out the dough to a uniform size (no rolling involved though, thank God) before cutting it. I use my hands, never a pastry blender or two knives. Also, every time I have made this recipe, the bottoms of the biscuits have burned. I just cut the burned part off and the tops are perfect.

Sweet Biscuits

• 1 3/4 C. all purpose flour
• 1 T. baking powder
• 2 T. sugar
• 1/2 t. salt
• 5 T. unsalted butter, cold
• 3/4 C. half and half
• 1 T. butter, melted, and 1/2. T. sugar, for sprinkling

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.

In a large bowl, toss together the flour, baking powder, sugar and salt.

Cut the butter into small pieces, and cut it into the flour using two knives, a pastry blender or your fingertips until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs.

Add the half and half, and stif gently until the mixture forms a mass. Gather it into a ball.

Transfer the dough to a lightly floured surface, knead it for about 30 seconds, and then pat it out to form a 3/4 in thick rectangle.

Using a 2 3/4 inch cookie cutter, cut out 8 circles.

Arrange the biscuits about 1 in apart on a baking sheet. Baked until puffed and golden, about 14 minutes.

Transfer the biscuits to a wire rack and allow them to cool.

Farmers Market Lunch

This cookbook was given to me by my friends Jill & Shyam, as a present for our 15th wedding anniversary. I knew I would find something in here to fulfill my weekly recipe project as well as to use the beautiful produce bought at the market this morning.


What I ended up with was a loose interpretation of a shaved fennel salad that was absolutely delicious:


I didn't have a few of the ingredients, so I just substituted where I needed to and it turned out very well. The vinaigrette was made up of finely diced red onion soaked in 2 T. red wine vinegar and salt for 5 minutes. Then I whisked in 5 T. of extra virgin olive oil. I tossed heirloom lettuce and shaved fennel in a bowl and lightly dressed the salad, then added less than 1 t. of truffle oil and tossed it again. I shaved a little parmesean on top and added 1 ripe pluot, and the salad was done! Recipe #4 completed.

For dessert, I made one of my favorite dishes that I had at my friend Amy's house several years ago - nonfat yogurt drizzled with honey, strawberries, pistachios, and fresh mint. The combination of flavors is absolute heaven, and the strawberries could not have been more sweet and ripe. What a wonderful meal!