Lemon Posset

I saw this pretty photo somewhere and thought this dessert looked good.  The appearance reminded me a bit of creme brulee which is my all time favourite super rich dessert, not to be eaten more than once a year.

I found out it was called, Lemon Posset...bonus. I love lemon. Curious to find out what "posset" meant and assuming it was some kind of french culinary term, I searched google translate.

Wow...who knew? Posset, means...posset. That got me nowhere.

So I tried another tact, looked up "posset" and "detect language". Google detected Latin. Seriously? So posset is Latin for the word "could".

Posset this possibly be correct? I doubted it.

Further research was required because I hate not knowing stuff, and now I needed a derivation and definition.

I looked up "posset" in dictionary.com. Thankfully, I didn't do this first because I would have given up my quest. I found this meaning, "a drink made of hot milk curdled with ale, wine, or the like, often sweetened and spiced." Sounded very unappealing.

Alas, wikipedia came to my rescue...or did it? Once again, I found the British hot drink with milk and ale description. 

So after looking at the recipe, I decided to create my own definitions.

Posset - n.  A fancy french pudding with lots of sugar. A diabetic nightmare.

                  Alternate  meaning - A decadent  dessert, insanely expensive at a restaurant.

                                      

I actually found the recipe for this dessert to be very simple and very high in calories. It's just one step away from eating from the sugar bowl.  Dare I try it? Tempting.  I'll report back if I do.

Ingredients

2 cups whipping cream
2/3 cup sugar   
1/4 cup fresh squeezed lemon juice (2 lemons)
lemon zest from 2 lemons

Directions

Bring whipping cream to a gradual boil for 3 minutes. Combine and boil sugar, zest, and lemon juice. Whisk lemon mixture into cream. Remove from heat and strain out zest before pouring into individual dessert bowls. Let cool then put in fridge to chill until firm. Decorate with fruit or flowers

UPDATE

I made it. It's not so simple. I combined a couple of recipes as I always do and noted changes in "ingredients" and "directions" above. If you don't warm the cream slowly, it gets a strange consistency. Also, I heated the sugar and lemon juice to dissolve sugar. Used only 2/3 cups sugar. Then I whisked the sugar, lemon mixture into the cream. Strained the whole thing to remove zest. Poured into dishes and cooled.  Once cooled, I put it in the fridge to solidify. Decorated.

It tasted pretty good but I likely won't make it again.

Where Have the Months Gone? A Pandemic Review

For awhile since self isolation,  I'd wake up in the morning with the title and melody from a Carpenters' song, "It's Yesterday Once More" swimming in my head. Although the song has nothing to do with our current situation, it does contain a poignant verse which spoke to me.

"Lookin' back on how it was in years gone by
And the good times that I had
Makes today seem rather sad, so much has changed"

I miss my friends, my trips, certain group activities, shopping, my appointments (yes even those), and mostly, my freedom. I suppose it is affecting me more since I am now considered "older", "senior", and "high risk group", during this time of covid-19 pandemic. The problem is that with age, there's also a certain element of urgency to get on with life, and to do all those things we always wanted to do while it's still possible. This isolation is severely impacting the time I have left to complete those activities.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not playing the world's tiniest violin here. I understand how fortunate I am. I know there are all kinds of horrific issues in the world, and there are people who were suffering prior to this, and even more so now as a result of this pandemic. The loss of jobs, the homelessness, the poverty, the hunger, the death toll, has escalated everywhere. I too have family members who are impacted.

Nonetheless, I'm no longer young enough to recoup this time, or to consider it as just a blip in my life.

On the bright side, there are things I've accomplished during my stay at home time. I'm trying hard not to think of them as "make work projects", since that would depress me. So, in an effort to make the best of my "captivity" as it were, here are some of my escapades and accomplishments over the last couple of months. This summary, is not meant to sound boastful. I have not found ways to save the world. It is rather an attempt to remind myself that I have managed to use some of the time to a good end.

It all started with new and inventive ways of cooking with food finds early on, while we were unable to shop. I've completed several blogs about that including  "Covid Cooking" 5/21/20 .

The cooking, then got interspersed with the dreaded housework, "Fanatical Tidying, Organizing, or Not! " 5/15/20, and as the weather improved,  gardening, "Pandemic Planting" 5/16/20.

For awhile, when we thought the pandemic would be short lived, we had special celebratory days. I decorated, we dressed up in costumes, and it was fun. Eventually, my poor hubby got tired of my silliness and I got sick of all the work involved, so we've put everything on a hiatus. It's only temporary, so shhhhh...don't tell.

First we celebrated the Blue Jays no home opener day this year.  We wore our fan gear and ate hot dogs, fries, and other ballpark delicacies.  Next came Maritime fish Fryday...self explanatory, but who knew I had an Anne of Green Gables outfit and would dress hubby as a fisherman in his yellow slicker?

German Day was a celebration of our heritage, complete with schnitzel, sauerkraut, spaetzle, and beer. Medieval Times was a lot of work. We wore elaborate costumes and wigs and performed feats of strength. Formal Friday was a suggestion by late night talk show host Jimmy Kimmel, even though I'd already thought of it. Then there was our Green Eggs and Ham party.  For Cinco de Mayo, which conveniently fell on Taco Tuesday, I made a papier mache pinata and sombrero.  Choice of food was obvious and simple.

Then,  after hearing everyone complaining about the length of their hair, it became time for a little haircutting fun.         

 Hobbies have managed to take on a new life. First, I painted a bookcase (details in blog "Now I Am An Old Purple Woman" 5/29/20).  The stool was an old rickety unpainted wreck. Now, it's an old rickety, weirdly painted wreck. I'll never be a Picasso, but I'm having fun. The easel has seen a few of my efforts.

I recently wallpapered the laundry room, practiced piano, and  reverse tie dyed a shirt (blog yet to come). I've also managed to make a dent in the pile of books I've been meaning to read.

Perhaps it's all been time well spent after all. At least that's what I'll tell myself.

There are countless jokes on the internet about the coronavirus, and this calendar year. There are comments about unused day planners, and those who say that 2020 doesn't count and we're really not a year older. I fear that I will be at least a year older before all this is over. 

After  I saw a rather humorous meme from Aunty Acid using the  movie "Groundhog Day", I now no longer hear the Carpenters' song "It's Yesterday Once More" in the morning.  Instead, I've started waking up to "I've Got You Babe".

Cool Tip I Learned in My Old Age

I can't imagine where the world would be without youtube videos to show us how to do anything and everything nowadays. It's especially useful during our current self isolation.

My daughter has become an expert at crochet. I have not as yet been quite as ambitious, although I have learned some new things. Who says you can't teach an old dog new tricks?

This morning, hubby opened the cereal cupboard and laughed when he saw this.

Why had nobody told me about this before? This is brilliant. I'm tired of ripped lids, and half open boxes, particularly cereal boxes.

I found a video on youtube that showed how to close a cereal box. Since I was tired of shredded, half open lids, I thought I'd try it.   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FhEHnIypRM0

The first box was rather large, and I was unsuccessful, although, I was able to get it sealed enough that all I needed to add was a clip and it still looked neat.

Next, I attempted a smaller box. Wow... it worked.

Before long, my cereal cupboard was organized. I had managed to seal all the rest of the boxes as in the video. Another unnecessary pandemic self isolation project completed. 

Here's a repeat of how for those who haven't seen the video.

Step 1 - Close inside waxed paper containing cereal. Then, at the top of the box, fold in one large lid and two small end ones.

Step 2 -  Bend small end portions of box to from a V shape which points to the inside of the box.

Step 3-   Tuck the other large lid in on the far side of the V's against the first large lid.

Fantastic!

Amazing isn't it how these small efforts and successes keep us amused during the current health crisis?

Someone told me there's a hack to seal potato chip bags as well, to which I asked, "Who actually has partial potato chip bags?" Anyhow, I shall leave that little trick for someone else to post.

Cinnamon Rolls

As I mentioned before, this was never meant to be a cooking or baking blog, but alas. Facebook has been inundating me, and probably everyone else with recipes. I wonder what makes them think we all have time to cook and bake? You'd think there was a pandemic, and we were all bored while sitting around at home. Having said that, I must admit, I've looked at some of the recipe offerings and I've even tried a few.

Today, I made easy, healthier, crock pot chicken and dumplings thanks to Allrecipes.com. It was a pretty good lunch. Then, I made some zucchini pancakes, and the following cinnamon rolls.

I'm sharing this method of making cinnamon rolls, which I discovered under the heading "Newfoundland Recipes" because it was incredibly easy, quick, and delicious. Although I'm certain most people in my age group have probably made variations of cinnamon rolls before, I haven't...until now. I suppose I always thought the process to be much more complex.

I will share the recipe here, and what I learned. I absolutely would do several things differently, having completed this once. In fact, I think it would only take one more batch to perfect these. Now if only someone would eat up all of the first platter so that I could make more.

Dough

2 cups flour
1/2  cup shortening
1 cup milk
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt

Mix ingredients together and roll out on lightly floured surface.

Filling

Mix together -

1/4 cup melted butter
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 cup brown sugar (I used brown sugar substitute for part of this)

***What I learned - I would probably add nuts or raisins to this filling next time. Also, do not spread filling too close to edge because it oozes out while baking.

Spread filling onto rolled out dough.

Now, here's another of my regrets. I rolled up the dough lengthwise until it looked like the rolling pin.  I suppose I was afraid it would get too thick. Next time, I will roll it in the other direction. The buns need to be a bit bigger than what I made. Also, I cut one inch slices. I found them to be too small. So, in my opinion, thicker and fatter is better.

Place on parchment lined cookie sheet but not too close together. They do tend to get middle age spread. Bake at 350F for 20-30 minutes until they are lightly browned and done looking (not at you but done looking to you...as in not raw).

After you bring them out of the oven, brush on glaze while rolls are still warm.

Glaze

1 cup icing sugar
2 tblsp. milk

So here they are...my first attempt. Not pretty, but very delicious.

Empire Cookies...a favourite

Empire Cookies

From what I’ve read, empire cookies originated in Germany and are a form of linzer cookie (the ones with the cut out on top and various jams inside). Later they were adopted in other countries in various forms, but they are basically supposed to look like a little crown. 

This is one of my favourite simple cookies. I use the same cookie dough recipe for special holidays. I cut them out with seasonal cookie cutters, and decorate accordingly. In this case, I don’t double them up and I make the individual cookies a bit thicker. 

Basically, these are a sugar cookie and pretty easy. My original recipe came from Canadian Living, but I have made some adaptations as necessary over the years and they're my "go to" emergency cookie.

I prefer smaller cookies, because I’m a dainty person, and because after the effort, I want them to last for a few minutes before they all get eaten. I think that most recipes are similar, and when I google the photos, most look like mine.

The last time I made these cookies was in Atlanta, Christmas 2019 while visiting my daughter. I worked with what I had because there was no rolling pin, and none were available at stores. In the words of one sales person, “What do you use those for?” 

We did manage to find a vast array of cookie cutters on sale and there was one which I found suitable, roundish with wiggly edges, although regular round, or a small juice glass will work as well.

Ingredients                                                                          

1/2 cup butter, softened                                                        

1/2 cup sugar

1 egg                                                                                     

1 tsp. vanilla                                                                         

2 cups flour                                                                           

1 tsp. baking powder     

Filling & Topping

raspberry jam (for inside cookie)

1 cup icing sugar

1/4 tsp. almond extract

2 tsp. hot water approx. (add more by drops if necessary)

maraschino or candied cherries

Directions

Cream butter and sugar together until smooth. Beat in egg and vanilla. Combine flour and baking powder and add gradually to creamed mixture. On a lightly floured surface, roll out dough quite thin because, don’t forget they get doubled. Cut into rounds. Place on parchment paper or ungreased baking sheet.

Hint - I usually use a large cafeteria type tray to sprinkle flour and roll out the dough. This saves a lot of mess, and clean up later.

Bake 325 for about 7-10 minutes for small, or 10 minutes if you made larger ones. My oven runs hot. Don’t let them get brown...just a bit at the edges. Let cool. Spread half the cookies with raspberry jam.

Combine icing sugar, almond extract and enough water for a thin icing...start with less and add lest it get too runny. Frost tops of cookies. Put a small piece of cherry on top. I usually cut about 3 or 4 cherries into bits and dry them on a paper towel (not drying them will make the red bleed into the icing). Size of cookie cutter determines how many you get. I usually have a couple dozen.

What can I say...no rolling pin? Use a liquor bottle. Only problem is that it’s hard to get the dough really smooth and even harder to get all the dough off the bottle.

I'm not too fussy so they never look perfect. They still taste the same.                                     

Pandemic Pancakes - Easy Peasy

I had forgotten about these very simple pancakes. I made them for myself this morning when my breakfast chef was not available.

Many years ago, I belonged to a diet group (Insert name of any diet group here. I've belonged to them all.)   I remember getting this pancake recipe. It's ridiculously simple, delicious, and filling. They're especially great if you don't have, or don't want to use flour, baking powder, or sugar.

The beauty of these is that the content is easily measurable in calories, protein, carbs, and fruit. There's no added sugar.

If you have a blender, it makes a more smooth pancake, but it's not essential. Basically, just toss all these ingredients together.


Ingredients    (makes 2 medium or one large)

1 egg     80 calories
1 slice bread (any kind you like, I used thin sliced) 70 calories
1/2 banana (good use for any that are starting to darken) 45 calories
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
cinnamon if you wish

Total calories for a substantial breakfast 195 . I find these pancakes
to be quite sweet and moist enough on their own, but if you prefer to top them with a bit of syrup, honey, agave, or a dusting of powdered sugar, be sure to consider the extra sugar and calories.

If doubling the recipe, just use another slice of bread and another half banana.  I  have never used a second egg, but have added a splash of milk if the mixture looks too dry.

Directions

If using a blender, put egg and banana into blender and mix. Tear bread into a few pieces and add it along with vanilla. Blend briefly until smooth. Pour onto a pan as in photo.  (I used a tiny amount of spray olive oil to cook).

Recipe as I wrote it made 2 medium sized pancakes or if you prefer, one large.

If  you don't have or don't want to use a blender,  mash the banana and whisk
together with egg and vanilla. Break bread into very small pieces and add to banana and egg . Mix together. Pour into pan. If there are small pieces of undissolved bread, it's not really a problem.

I hope you enjoy them. I did.