Nectarine Scones

Nectarine Scones
Makes 4 Scones, serves 2

1 C All-Purpose Flour
1 1/2 tsp Baking Powder
1/4 tsp Salt
1/8 tsp Ground Nutmeg
1 Tbs Sugar
1/4 C Butter, cold
5 Tbs Heavy Cream
1 tsp Vanilla Extract
1/3 C Nectarine, peeled, diced, frozen

2 Tbs Heavy Cream
2 Tbs Sugar
1/2 tsp Ground Nutmeg
1 tsp Ground Cinnamon

Preheat oven to 425.

In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking powder, salt, nutmeg, and sugar. Stir in cream.

Using a fork or pastry cutter, cut in butter until mixture resembles course crumbles.

Turn dough out onto a floured surface. Knead until mixture comes together in a ball.

Gently fold in frozen nectarine. (If the nectarine is frozen it will keep from falling apart in the process of being folded in.)

Form dough into a rectangle, approximately 3/4 inch thick. Cut into 4 triangles.

Place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Brush the remaining 2 Tbs of cream onto eat scone. Sprinkle with sugar, nutmeg, and cinnamon.

Back for 15-20 minutes, or until scones are lightly browned and toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

**Scones DO NOT last more than a day, you have to eat them when they come out of the oven**

Perfetto! Fantastico!

Browned Butter Raspberry-Lemon Bread

Quick breads are a must in a recipe collection. A basic quick bread recipe, much like a pancake recipe, can easily be adapted to include various spices and a wide variety of seasonal fruits.

It's summer, I still have a rather large stock of frozen fruits from last summer, I'm trying my best to use them up before I restock this summer.

Since they were frozen raspberries, they were soft and kind of fell apart when trying to fold them into the bread batter. It wasn't the prettiest of breads but it was delicious!

Browned Butter Raspberry Lemon Bread
2 C All-Purpose Flour
1 tsp Baking Powder
1 tsp Baking Soda
6 oz Butter, browned
1 C Sugar
1/4 tsp Lemon Extract
2 Large Eggs
1 C Red Raspberries
1 Tbs Lemon Zest

Preheat oven to 325. Grease and flour a 9x5 inch loaf pan.

In a medium sauce pan, brown the butter. This takes about 4 minutes over medium heat.

In a bowl, stir together flour, baking powder, baking soda, browned butter, sugar, lemon extract, and eggs until just combined.

Fold in raspberries and lemon zest gently.  Spread evenly into loaf pan.

(don't you love the adorable measuring cup I picked up at Sur La Table. I'm in love!)

Bake at 325 for 50-60 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Allow to cool in pan for 10-15 minutes.

Cool completely on a wire rack.

Slice and enjoy! I prefer mine served with cream cheese spread on top! Delicious!

Lemon Glazed Blueberry Biscuits

I am behind on my reading.

I always try to read the book before seeing the movie.

I took my lazy butt to the bookstore the other day. I picked up copies of Beastly, Something Borrowed, and I Am Number Four.

I started with Beastly by Alex Flinn since the DVD becomes available through Netflix on 6/28. I'm too poor to afford real movies, so I'm left with my Netflix account. It works out well though. I don't have to get dressed up. I don't have to worry about my hair or makeup. And I don't have to spend $20 just to get some popcorn and a drink. Yes, I'm cheap.

This morning I woke up craving blueberries. I did not want pancakes. Blueberry pancakes are boring. They've been done before. A million times. Nothing unusual or new about that.

Granted Blueberry Biscuits aren't really unusual either, but they are different. At least different from my normal breakfast.

I didn't borrow or steal this recipe from anywhere. The drop biscuit recipe was my grandmothers. I changed it a little to suit my needs.

Lemon Glazed Blueberry Biscuits
1 C All-Purpose Flour
2 tsp Baking Powder
1/2 tsp Salt
1 Tbs Sugar
2 Tbs Unsalted Butter, slightly softened
1/2 C Milk
1/2 C Blueberries

Preheat oven to 400.

In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar.

Using a fork or pastry cutter, cut in the butter until incorporated into the dough.

Stir in the milk in parts, adding more or less as needed to make a stiff dough.

Fold in the blueberries.

Drop by spoonfuls onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.

Bake for 20-30 minutes, or until lightly browned.

Lemon Glaze
3/4 C Powdered Sugar
1 1/2 Tbs Lemon Juice

Mix together in a bowl until the consistency of a glaze.

Drizzle over the biscuits while they are still warm.

Creme Brulee French Toast

Yesterday was against me. I am bruised, sunburned, and I smashed my finger.

I needed comfort food. I needed to read and escape my world.

I made Creme Brulee French Toast.

I finished reading The Help by Kathryn Stockett.

I was not impressed with the ending of the book, I didn't feel like it actually ended anything. Everything was left hanging. Slow to start, great story line, horrible ending. Maybe the movie will be better...

I was highly impressed with the French Toast. Thanks to Smitten Kitchen for a great recipe!


Creme Brulee French Toast (serves 2)
6 Slices of Bread, 1 1/2 inches thick
1/3 C Whole Milk
1/2 C Heavy Cream
2 Large Egg
1 Egg Yolk
4 Tbs Sugar
3 tsp Vanilla Extract
2 Tbs Orange Zest


Preheat oven to 325.

Whisk together milk, cream, eggs, egg yolk, sugar, vanilla, and orange zest.

Arrange bread slices in a baking dish that allows just enough room for the bread, to ensure the custard mix is absorbed evening into the bread. Allow the bread to sit for 30 minutes, turning once.

Bake at 325 for 30 minutes. It will start to puff in the oven.

Turn the French Toast halfway through.

When the French Toast is cooked, turn off the oven, transfer the toast to the a serving dish or onto individual plates. Set aside or place in the oven to keep warm.

In a medium or small heavy-bottomed sauce pan, melt 1/2 C Sugar.

Stirring constantly to allow for even melting of the sugar.

Remove from heat the moment it begins to turn a golden color. It will continue to cook and darken so you must work quickly.

Pour the hot sugar over the toast IMMEDIATELY. Allow the French Toast to cool a bit before serving. The sugar will be VERY HOT.

Enjoy!

S'mores Popovers-A Good Breakfast for a Lazy Day

I was rudely awakened this morning. Cat toys should NOT have bells in them.

Since I was up an hour early, it meant I had time to invest in a more involved breakfast and indulge myself in a couple chapters of my book.

The best thing about popovers is that they need to bake for 20-30 minutes (or long if your oven is as worthless as mine), so it allows you time to get ready or just relax with a book. I chose to relax since I was not energetic enough to move.

Popovers are a mostly forgotten breakfast treat that have appeared in cookbooks as early as the 1780's. Those recipes call for the popovers to be cooked in "gem pans" that were available in a variety of shapes and sizes and made of cast iron. They cost a small fortune on ebay, both new and old ones. Muffin tins work exceptionally well to recreate this classic breakfast.

It is a slight adaptation of a basic pancake recipe, with the extra eggs causing the popovers to pop.

I needed a sugar rush to get moving. I took Joy's Hot Chocolate Popovers and turned them into S'mores Popovers.

Gooey toasted marshmallows, melty chocolate, graham crackers and more chocolate. Can it get any better?

S'mores Popovers
makes 12 popovers, serves 3

2 Tbs Unsalted Butter, melted
1 Large Eggs, room temperature
1 C Milk, room temperature
1 tsp Vanilla Extract
1/2 tsp Salt
3 Tbs Sugar
2 1/2 Tbs Cocoa Powder
3/4 C + 2 Tbs All-Purpose Flour
3 Tbs Unsalted Butter
1/4 C Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips
12 Large Marshmallows

Preheat oven to 400. Place a muffin pan into heat.

If your eggs are not room temperature, place them in a bowl of hot water to warm  up.

In a bowl combine sugar, cocoa, salt, and flour. Stir in eggs and melted butter.

Whisk in the milk in two parts. It will help reduce the lumps.

Whisk until just combined.

Remove hot muffin pan from the oven. Melt ¼ Tbs of butter into each cup of a 12-cup muffin pan. 

Divide the batter evenly between the muffin cups.

Bake for 20-30 minutes. No peaking or they will deflate!

Remove from oven and quickly place several chocolate chips and a marshmallow to the top of each popover.

Place under the broiler until the marshmallow is browned. Watch carefully to prevent burning. 

When I took them out of the oven, I put one part of a graham cracker into the gooey marshmallow (however I forgot to take a picture). I want to find some graham flour (not something easily located around here apparently) and try to make them with a graham flavored popover, chocolate chips and marshmallows. I think that will be delicious! However after going to 9 stores, I have yet to locate graham flour. FRUSTRATING! BLAH!

Serve as is, with syrup, or dust with powdered sugar. Yummy!

Daddy's Peach Cobbler

I was at Wal-Mart and they had the best smelling peaches. Maybe it was because it was the first ripe peaches of the season. Maybe it was just because I wanted something semi-healthy for dessert. Either way I came home with a lot of peaches. 

This is a fairly simple recipe that my dad has used for peach cobbler since I was little. Nothing fancy, just simple goodness. 


Daddy's Peach Cobbler
serves 6 (I cut the recipe in half since I didn't need to eat 6 servings by myself)


Filling
4 C Peaches, peeled and sliced (about 7 or 8 peaches)
1/2 C Sugar
1/2 tsp Ground Cinnamon
1/4 tsp Ground Nutmeg
2 tsp Lemon Juice
1 1/2 Tbs Cornstarch

Combine all the ingredients in a medium sauce pan.

Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring frequently. Boil for 1 minute. Pour into an ungreased 2 quarter casserole dish.

Topping
1 C All-Purpose Flour
2 Tbs Sugar
2 tsp Baking Powder
1/4 tsp Ground Nutmeg
Dash Salt
3 Tbs Unsalted Butter, chilled
1/2 C Half and Half
1/2 tsp Vanilla Extract
1 Tbs Unsalted Butter, melted
2 tsp Sugar


 Preheat oven to 400.

Combine flour, 2 Tbs sugar, baking powder, nutmeg, and salt. Cut in 3 Tbs of butter until the mixture resembles fine crumbs. Stir in cream and vanilla until all ingredients are moistened.

Drop by 6 spoonfuls onto peach mixture. Brush tops with melted butter and sprinkle with sugar.

Bake, uncovered, for 25 to 30 minutes, or until the topping is golden brown.

Serve warm with vanilla whipped cream.

PF Chang's Shrimp With Candied Walnuts

A few weeks ago my friend and I grabbed dinner at PF Chang's at South Park Mall in Charlotte. Great company and great food. Made for a wonderful Tuesday night.



The meal started off with Chicken Lettuce Wraps. Have you tried these? They are a bit of heaven on Earth. The best thing in the world. I have a great recipe for those, but you can find recipes for that all over the place. Nothing too rare or hard to figure out.

I got Stir-Fried Eggplant. A nice, cheap vegetarian dinner. Typically it's my favorite thing on the menu. My friend got the  Shrimp with Candied Walnuts. I read it on the menu....fried shrimp, candied walnuts, honeydew melon balls in a cream sauce. It did NOT sound like something I would care to eat. It sounded disgusting. (The picture doesn't show the yellow-ish tint that the sauce had.)

Then my friend made me try a bite.

Boy was I wrong!

 If you have not tried it, you NEED to run right now to your nearest PF Chang's and try it. Or you can make it yourself.

I have spent over 10 hours on Google, trying to find a copy cat recipe for this dish. Yes 1-0, ten. Ten hours of my life, stalking a recipe. This is not uncommon for me. I tend to obsess. I obsess a lot.

I started with this recipe from All Recipes.

The All Recipes version of the sauce appears all over the Internet. Numerous people reviewed it as being "a little too sweet" and "close" to PF Chang's. This recipe included only:

1/4 C Mayo

1 Tbs Sweetened Condensed Milk

2 Tbs Honey

All I could think is that this was going to taste like mayonnaise on shrimp. 

Out of curiosity, I whisked it together. It tasted like sweet mayo. YUCK! I hate mayonnaise in the first place. This was a major fail! 

Then I found The Evil Chef's recipe. A little different, it was the only recipe I found that contained coconut milk. Coconut milk could account for some of the flavor in the sauce. So I tried this too.

In a saucepan I whisked together:

1/2 C Coconut Milk

1/2 C Sweetened Condensed Milk

1 Tbs Honey

I never got as far as to stir in the teaspoon of cornstarch because upon simmering it, it tasted unbelievably sweet but the flavor was getting closer. 

The third recipe I found was from Jolene Flores's Blog. This was the biggest variation from the first recipe I found on All Recipes. Actually this was the ONLY OTHER recipe I found for it after 10 hours of looking.

This was the first recipe that would at least have the right coloring to the sauce. PF Chang's sauce is a pale yellow. The turmeric in the recipe gives the correct color. However this sounded even sweeter than the second recipe I tried. Plus it would come out to less than half a cup of sauce in total.

2 Cloves Garlic, minced (there is NO garlic taste to the original dish...FAIL)
1 tsp turmeric (way too much FAIL but the right spice YAY)
1 tsp celery salt (way too much FAIL but an ok spice BETTER)
1 Tbs rice vinegar (cuts through the sweetness YAY)
2 Tbs mayo (you could taste a mayo base in the original dish, so this is required)
2 Tbs sweetened condensed milk (gives the right texture to the sauce YAY)
2 Tbs honey (isn't the milk sweet enough? FAIL)
1 Tbs sugar (not sweet enough yet? FAIL)

I didn't even attempt to whisk it all together in a bowl.

Instead, I set out modifying the three recipes until I got what I thing is the correct sauce but not unbearably sweet.

At least the third website had what I believe to be the spices right. That was a big thing for me. I didn't want a white sauce on my shrimp, I wanted the pale yellow sauce that came with the original dish.

So here it is! The complete recipe. Enjoy!


The Walnuts (prepare ahead of time, up to 1 day in advance)
While this recipe is fantastic for the nuts, it is more time consuming and the results are nearly the same. If I was making candied nuts to eat, I'd certainly put in the extra effort. In the recipe, you cannot tell the difference  once they are combined with the fried shrimp and the mysterious sauce.

1/2 C Water
1/2 C Brown Sugar
1 C Walnuts
1 Tbs Unsalted Butter

Prepare a piece of parchment paper or lightly grease a baking sheet. Set aside.

Combine water and sugar in a saucepan. Bring to a boil. Stir until the sugar is dissolved. Add in the walnuts, stirring constantly. Cook for 5-10 minutes or until thickened. Place the walnuts on the parchment paper or baking sheet. Separating them carefully. Allow them to cool fully.

An alternative to this is to simply toss the walnuts in a skillet with some white sugar and heat over medium-high heat, tossing constantly until the sugar is melted and caramelized.




The Sauce:
1/2 C Coconut Milk
1/4 C Sweetened Condensed Milk
1 Tbs Mayonnaise, slightly heaping
1 1/2 Tbs Rice Vinegar
1/8 tsp Turmeric (maybe a dash more)
Dash Celery Salt (do NOT put in very much)

Whisk this together over a low heat until warm. You want a very pale yellow color, if the color is too pale, add a dash more turmeric. Remove from heat.

The Shrimp:
The flour mixture for the breading was rather tricky. Mochiko, a sweet rice flour should be used but isn't always easy to find. Some suggest cornstarch. Don't try that. YUCK! Some recipes said use a tempura batter, but that was too much breading for me. I made a simple batter with flour and corn starch. It worked out well.

1 lb Shrimp, de-veined and shelled
2 Egg Whites
3/4 C All-Purpose Flour
1/4 C Cornstarch
Oil for frying

Clean and dry shrimp well.

Whisk egg whites lightly in a bowl, add the shrimp and coat well.

Combine the flour and cornstarch. Dredge the shrimp.

Fry shrimp in hot oil, 3-5 minutes until the breading is golden and the shrimp are pink.

Fry only a few shrimp at a time, transferring to a paper towel to drain. Continue until all the shrimp are cooked.

The Finishing Touches
Cooked Shrimp
1/2 C Honeydew Melon Balls
1/2 C Cantaloupe Melon Balls
Warm Sauce
Candied Walnuts

Toss the shrimp and honey dew and/or cantaloupe melon balls in the warm sauce. Top with candied walnuts. Serve over rice!