Citrus « Hot Polka Dot

4Mar/10

The Price of Great Muffins.

So I just burnt my nose. Seems odd right? It get's weirder. I burnt the inside of my nose. I was a little too anxious about inhaling the intoxicating scent of a fresh batch of Lemon Blueberry Streusel Muffins that when I opened the oven to check on them I got a face full of 350 degree air.

That's normal right? They smelled so good I burnt my nose. It was worth it though. So worth it.

I was first intrigued by this recipe when I found that it included lemon. Who doesn't like the combination of lemon and blueberry? No one, that's who. Then I wanted to add cinnamon to the streusel recipe because, let's face it, cinnamon is just awesome. I was worried about how the lemon and cinnamon flavours would mingle. You might be too. Don't let them scare you, they're just muffins. Delicious, delicious muffins. Nothing to fear here except an unhealthy compulsion to eat every last crumb. I double dog dare you.

Tagged as: Blueberry, Cinnamon, Citrus, Lemon, Muffins and Scones, Recipe, Streusel Continue reading

22Feb/10

Apples and Oranges.

There are many things in life that I can do, but I really shouldn't. I can eat a stick of butter, but I shouldn't. I can hold my hand over a burning hot stove element, but I shouldn't. I can avoid doing laundry for a month, but I shouldn't. And as I stood over a fresh batch of these amazingly delicious Apple Yogurt Muffins with Cinnamon Streusel I knew I was capable of eating the entire dozen in one sitting, but I also knew I shouldn't.

The thing that really made me fall in love with these muffins is the combination of apple and orange. I get it, the apple is pomaceous and the orange is citrus, but that doesn't mean they can't make a tasty marriage. You may not be able to compare apples and oranges, but you can darn well eat them! So that's what I did and oh my god was it good.

Tagged as: Apple, Citrus, Muffins and Scones, Orange, Recipe, Streusel, Yogurt Continue reading

20Feb/10

Orange You Glad I Didn’t Say Banana?

Knock knock.

Who's there?

Banana.

Banana who?

Knock knock.

Who's there?

Banana.

Banana who?

Knock knock

Who's there?

Orange.

Orange who?

Orange Cake with Chocolate Spiced Rum Ganache, that's who.

Heck yes. I know there are so many good combinations with chocolate. Chocolate and strawberry. Chocolate and banana. Chocolate and peanut butter. Chocolate and raspberry. Chocolate and almond. Chocolate and...my mouth. But really I think chocolate and orange is my favourite.

So, not much new here. This is just a variation of my Lemon Raspberry Cake, the only difference is the orange and the chocolate...and the rum. The devil is in the details. That's the beauty of this recipe, it opens so many doors, so many possibilities, so much deliciousness.

Tagged as: Cakes, Chocolate, Citrus, Ganache, Orange, Recipe Continue reading

16Feb/10

Gimme Gimme Grapefruit.

You know that ridiculous grapefruit diet that people used to go on? The one where they would eat exclusively grapefruit and nothing else then expect to lose weight. I would do that. I so would.

I. Heart. Grapefruit.

I eat at least two maybe three grapefruits every morning. I've been doing that for about a month now and I haven't gotten sick of it and I probably never will. I actually wake up looking forward to it.

I used to have a weird problem with breakfast. On the one hand it's my favourite meal. The crêpes. The bacon and eggs. The waffles. The pancakes. The muffins. The bagel sandwiches. Etc...etc... On the other hand all those things are delicious but, like most of us, I just don't always have the time to make them in the mornings. So the breakfast we get stuck with instead is something like soggy cereal, half-burned toast or a bruised banana. Yum...

Then there's grapefruit. Aaah beautiful grapefruit. So easy and yet so good.

I'm thinking that if I had to eat grapefruit and only grapefruit every day it wouldn't get boring as long as I got to jazz it up with some grapefruit recipes like this little gem. Pink Grapefruit Yogurt Cupcakes with grapefruit cream cheese icing. Heck yes!

Tagged as: Citrus, Cream Cheese, Cupcakes, Grapefruit, Icing, Recipe, Yogurt Continue reading

12Feb/10

Cake Because I Can.

Generally baking is something people do on occasion. A cake for a birthday party. Hour d'ouvres for a get together. Shortbread for the holidays. Chocolates for Valentine's Day. Rarely do people bake for the fun of it. Instead baking is this stressful thing built around high expectations and consequential disappointments when it crumbles.

Well last weekend I spent hours in the kitchen making a cake. Yes a cake. And here's the best part: there was no occasion. I just woke up that day and said to myself, today's a good day to make a Lemon Raspberry Cake. So I did. And no one complained. Why would anyone complain about cake? It's cake.

I propose we all bake more often. And maybe exercise a little bit more to compensate come think of it. Making delicious food is one of the simplest, most gratifying, tasks that a person can do and it makes everyone around you happy.

So here you are. Lemon Raspberry Cake complete with raspberry jam filling and lemon cream cheese icing.

This recipe was transformed from my Oma's Lemon Loaf recipe into the cake you see before you. My Oma is an amazing cook and baker. She always has the kitchen stocked with chocolate chip cookies among other sweet things. My Opa has at least one of her cookies each day and complains innocently if the supply runs out.

Lemon Loaf is one of my absolute favourites of her many recipes. I love anything with citrus in it as you might have already guessed. I remember when I was a kid she would bake Lemon Loaf and wrap it up in wax paper then keep it in a re-purposed dairy milk bag as she still does today. See in Ontario, milk comes in bags more often than jugs or cartons. Might seem strange but it's worth clearing up in order to understand the whole milk bag thing. A very Grandmotherly thing to do I suppose, save bags and containers to make use of them elsewhere. Anyways that bag of delicious Lemon Loaf would not remain in it's place on the kitchen counter for long. It would disappear slice after yummy slice until we made short work of the dessert.

Tagged as: Cakes, Citrus, Cream Cheese, Icing, Lemon, Raspberry, Recipe Continue reading

11Feb/10

Crêpes and Cookies.

Yesterday was my birthday. I've had a few birthdays and they've all been pretty great. No complaints here. Well there was that one birthday when a few of my friends left the party early. Something about not wanting to play hide-and-go-seek. I think that was my seventh birthday and to this day I still don't remember their names so I guess I'm over it.

But this birthday, this birthday was different. For starters it's my first birthday I got to spend here in Edmonton with my sweetheart Lee and his beautiful daughter Sable. Then there was a sweet surprise I woke up to that morning.

It started out like most mornings. I woke up to my hungry cat Jaden whining at me. I texted Lee good morning and got a message back. Then I groggily went downstairs to feed the cats, Jaden's water dish in hand. When I rounded the corner into the kitchen there was Lee making me strawberry banana crêpes with a bouquet or flowers. He was very much not at work and very much upset that I'd woken up early and foiled his breakfast in bed plan. He's so cute when he pouts.

So of course I take over making the crêpes. I often do that in the kitchen. I don't mind. It's nice to think about Julia Child before 9am. I think I've decided that crêpes are my favourite breakfast food. Strawberry, banana, Nutella crêpes topped with whip cream of course. Aren't they glorious?

And that's not all. What do most people do on their birthday? Why, invent cookies of course! What, you mean you don't do that too? Well I did. When I started creaming butter and sugar together I had a fleeting thought, several in fact, about how tainted my birthday was going to be if these cookies didn't turn out exactly – no better – than I planned. What was I going to do with myself when I took these crunchy, malformed, half burned disappointments out of the oven? I was going to cry, that's what I was going to do. Why wouldn't I take it personally? Food is very personal.