Lemon, Thyme, Almond Sugar Cookies

I'm going to say something very anti-American, and probably even anti-Southern: I don't like lemonade. I just don't. It doesn't do anything for me. Nor do I like lemon in my sweet tea... see, I'm not a complete loss as a Southern gal; I do like sweet tea. Just don't put lemon it it or my water glass, and we'll get along just fine. Here's the catch though... I LOVE lemon in baking and cooking. I'm addicted to any lemon cookie or cake imaginable. 

Now to switch gears here, I also love watching the baking and cooking shows, and after watching enough of them talk about how they incorporate a challenge ingredient into a recipe they already have, I thought, "I bet I can do that too." So, I did. I used my Sugar Cookies recipe (courtesy of Betty Crocker) and made it unrecognizable, but dang, are they good. I replaced some of the flour with almond meal, which creates a wonderful texture for these cookies. I used lemon zest and thyme in the cookies, which created an amazing flavor. Top that with the texture of sliced almonds in the cookie plus a delicious lemon glaze and sugared lemon zest, and oh my. This really isn't a difficult recipe, and would be a good starter recipe for you.

Cookies
1 cup butter
1 1/2 cup powdered sugar
2-3 lemons (zest and juice, separated)
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp almond extract
1 egg
1 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup almond meal
1 tsp ground thyme
1/2 tsp thyme leaves, plus a little more for decoration
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cream of tartar
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup diced almond slices, plus a a few more for decorations

Glaze
1 1/2 cup powdered sugar for glaze
1/2 tsp almond extract

In a small bowl combine the flour, almond meal, cream of tartar, baking soda, salt, and thyme. Whisk gently until mixed.

Chop the almonds until they're the size you want. The cookies are thinner because they're sugar cookies, so you don't want the almonds pieces to be too large.

Zest and juice the lemons. Put a couple of teaspoons in a separate bowl with a pinch of sugar - start with a couple teaspoons. "Fluff" the sugar and zest together to coat it. Keep adding sugar to this during the making and baking of the cookies until the zest is crystalized and drier and doesn't look like it will take any more sugar.

In your stand mixer add the butter, powdered sugar, egg, vanilla extract, almond extract, lemon zest and about a teaspoon of lemon juice. 

With the paddle attachment, combine ingredients until smooth. Fold in dry ingredients.

Mix in almonds  until spread throughout evenly.

Wrap dough in plastic and chill in the refrigerator for three hours.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Sprinkle flour lightly on your surface, and then roll out dough to 3/16" thickness. Cut to desired shapes - I used a round with scalloped edges.

Bake cookies 7-8 minutes or until edges just begin to brown. Rest cookies for at least 5 minutes before removing to a cooling rack until they are cool and set firm.

Create glaze by combining powdered sugar, almond extract and enough lemon juice to reach a nice thick glaze. You want the glaze thick enough to adhere to the cookie without running off too much. Dip each cookie into the glaze and then let it rest on a piece of parchment.

I set up an assembly line of dried thyme leaves, sugared lemon zest, almonds, and I added a little crystal sugar decoration to give a little extra crunch and shine to the cookies. Sprinkle on just a few thyme leaves, as much sugared lemon zest as you prefer, and a design with the almonds to your liking.

Allow cookies to rest on parchment until dry and hardened before putting in a container. But enjoy one or two as soon as possible because these are amazing!

If you give this recipe a chance, please let me know how it worked for you!

Blueberry Syrup

So, my daughter may be boycotting blueberries soon. Recently, a local grocery store greatly reduced their blueberries cost from $0.99 for a 6 oz container, which was awesome anyway, down to two-6 oz containers for $1.00!!! I bought a lot of containers - more than 20 with three different visits. I froze a bunch of them in 1 and 2 cup servings, and then I made a bunch of blueberry muffins and this blueberry syrup. I had never made anything like this before, so I perused Pinterest and saved four different recipes that I used to help me decide how to make mine. The four I looked at were: Blueberry Syrup, Blueberry Syrup, Homemade Blueberry Syrup, and Homemade Blueberry Sauce. The lemon I used just add a beautiful brightness to the blueberries, and the addition of almond extract along with the vanilla just adds a little something that you can't quite put your finger on. Here's how I made it:

2 1/2 cups blueberries
1 cup sugar
2 1/4 Tbsp cornstarch
2 Tbsp lemon juice
1 Tbsp lemon zest
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp almond extract
1/2 cup water

Combine the blueberries, sugar, and lemon zest in the pot. Whisk the cornstarch with the water and lemon juice and stir into ingredients in the pot.

Heat blueberries until they come to a boil.

Simmer for 10 minutes stirring frequently until sauce thickens.

Remove from heat and incorporate the vanilla and almond extracts.

You can use this syrup on just about anything you wish - french toast, waffles, pancakes, yogurt. What might you use it on?

Cranberry Breakfast Cake

Cranberries, cranberries, cranberries! I may have possibly been going a little overboard with cranberries the past five weeks. See, here's the deal. Back over the summer, I had found a cranberry citrus sorbet recipe that I wanted to make for my daughter. So I went in search of cranberries. While I didn't expect to find fresh ones, I couldn't even seem to find frozen cranberries. Publix was not even able to order any frozen cranberries. 

So what's a mom to do? Well, when those bad boys come in season, a good mom buys dozens of bags and freezes them, right? Well, that 's what I did anyway. In all, I think I've bought about 30 bags of cranberries since right before Thanksgiving. I froze 15-20 bags, but I've been on the hunt for all kinds of fresh cranberries recipes, and I've been very lucky in the recipes I've found. They have all been really good. This one included. I found it on Pinterest as Cranberry Christmas Cake, but since I didn't make this for Christmas and since it is a light slightly sweet cake without icing, I decided to call it a breakfast cake instead. The addition of almond extract and cinnamon extract raises this cake to a new level that you must try!

3 eggs
2 cups sugar
3/4 cup butter, softened
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp almond extract
1/8-1/4 tsp cinnamon extract (or 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon)
2 cups flour
12 oz fresh cranberries

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9x13 pan with baking spray, then line with parchment paper. Lightly spray the parchment as well. This will keep the cake baking more evenly and make for very easy removal.

With a mixer, beat the eggs with the sugar until slightly thickened and light in color, about 5-7 minutes. The mixture should almost double in size. The eggs work as your leavening agent in this recipe, so do not skip this step. This mixture should form a ribbon when you lift the beaters out of the bowl.

Add the butter, vanilla and almond extracts; mix two more minutes. Stir in the flour and cinnamon until just combined.

Add the cranberries and stir to mix throughout. Spread in a prepared 9x13 pan. Lightly sprinkle with 1-1.5 Tbsps of sugar.

Bake for 40-50 minutes, or until very lightly browned and a toothpick inserted near the center of the cake comes out clean. Let cool completely before cutting into small slices. 

French Toast

I'm not a huge pancake fan. I'm not a huge waffles fan. French toast, however, I can go crazy with some of that! My family is not a big breakfast bunch. We just don't have an organized, cooked breakfast very often. When I do, it's either toast, eggs and bacon; sausage and biscuits; or French toast. Here is my version of French toast. I think it's pretty dang good. I use vanilla and almond extract and cinnamon and nutmeg to liven this recipe up. Hope you enjoy it!

Bread

4 eggs

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 tsp almond extract

1 heaping tsp cinnamon

1/2 heaping tsp nutmeg

splash of milk (I probably used about a 1/4 cup)

Whisk eggs, milk, vanilla extract, almond extract, cinnamon and nutmeg in a bowl. Heat several tablespoons of butter in a skillet over med-high heat. Dip the bread in the whisked egg mixture (I whisk mine several times throughout to ensure the spices are distributed). Then quickly turn it over to coat the other side. Place bread into hot butter, and cook for several minutes on both sides until bread is browned and more firm.

Top French toast with a dash of powdered sugar, and top as desired.