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Lemony White Chocolate Blueberry Streusel Muffins

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Lemony Blueberry Streusel Muffins

Lemony Blueberry Streusel Muffins

We just got back from church a while ago and I figured I needed to get this written since at this point the muffins are long gone and the photos sitting on my desktop were constantly calling to me saying, “edit me! Edit me!”

Am I the only one who sits in church and while 99% of the mind is listening, the other 1% is totally off on a tangent? Mind you, in my defense, my tangents are pretty much always related to something church-ish (yes, that is now a word because I said so). Today, the gentleman in front of us was singing along and he had a sweet, if somewhat off key voice. The thought popped into my head that when we get to Heaven and our voices are raised praising God, I imagine it will be rather like in church. There won’t be a bunch of people with perfect voices sitting in perfect rows with perfect manners. It will be a mass of voices; the off key, the sweet soprano, the deep bass, the whispering alto and the childish murmurs of the young. I imagine we won’t be sitting on hard benches with politely folded hands; we’ll be shouting and waving our hands in praise as we listen to The Lord speak or shout in awe at the voices of an angelic choir. We’ll be on our feet or on our knees, but we sure won’t be silent. We certainly won’t be boring and worried about Sunday Manners.

I look forward to that in a way I never did when I was going to the quiet Lutheran church I went to as a child. The church we attend now took some getting used to for a lady who was used to quiet services, printed hymns sung in polite unison and above all else, manners, always manners. While I will probably (at least not in this life) never be a person who stands and waves my hands, who sings at the top of my lungs or shouts out “Praise God!”, I take a quiet joy in watching the tiny older lady who sits a few pews in front of us do so. I get choked up when I see the one man who always has his hands raised and a smile on his face that speaks of a elated communion with God. I find it hard to sing without tears as I hear all of these voices raised together in worshipful community and I see the worship leaders looking as though they feel that on that stage, in that moment, is where they want to be above all else. It’s not the songs I grew up with and I admit to being thrilled when we all sang “It Is Well With My Soul” a couple of weeks ago, but nonetheless, I think I have found my place, my home for this lifetime, the people I will watch grow and change over time. I look forward to that too.

Moving onto muffins, if you like the blueberry lemon citrus combo, this should be right up your alley.  Plus, they have streusel! What else does one need in life, right? I need to come up with a recipe for streusel topped streusel to satisfy my streusel addiction. In the meantime, I need to make more of these muffins. They are loaded with fresh blueberries, sweet white chocolate and lemon zest, then topped with buttery, crunchy streusel. These are perfect for breakfast, an afternoon snack or even dessert.

You know the drill…. 🙂

Lemony White Chocolate Blueberry Streusel Muffins

  • Streusel-
  • 3/4 cup flour
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 3 tablespoons brown sugar, packed
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 cup oats
  • 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, cold and sliced thin
  • Muffins-
  • 1 cup buttermilk mixed with 2 tablespoons lemon juice
  • 1 cup oats
  • 1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted
  • 1/2 cup packed dark brown sugar
  • 1 1/2 cups flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 2 tablespoons lemon zest
  • 1 egg
  • 1 cup good quality white chocolate chips
  • 1 1/2 cups fresh blueberries
  1. Preheat oven to 350. Grease 15 muffins cups or line with foil or paper liners.
  2. Make your streusel- In a medium bowl, combine the dry ingredients. Cut in the butter with a pastry blender until you have pieces that are about pea sized. Set aside
  3. In a small bowl, combine the buttermilk mixture and the oats. Let sit for about ten minutes to soften the oats.
  4. In another small bowl (you have someone to wash the dishes, right?), whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
  5. In a large bowl (last bowl, I promise), stir together the melted butter, brown sugar and lemon zest. Dump the oats mixture into that and stir well.  Pour all of the flour mixture in at once and stir JUST until combined.
  6. Gently fold in the blueberries and white chocolate chips.
  7. Divide the batter evenly between the prepared muffin cups, filling each cup to near the top. Top each with a heaping tablespoon or so of streusel and gently press down (you’ll have streusel left over. Just put it in a tightly covered container or ziploc bag and freeze it for another time) Bake at 350 degrees for 15 to 20 minutes, or until the muffins are golden brown on top and a wooden pick inserted in the center comes out clean.
  8. Gently remove from the muffin cups and let cool on a rack.

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Lemony Blueberry Streusel Muffins

Lemony Blueberry Streusel Muffins

 

White Chocolate And Lime Mousse Tart

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Yum

White Chocolate And Lime Mousse Tart 4



Most of my strongest memories of my father center around food. Dad was an….interesting cook, to say the least. I mentioned once (maybe twice or more… I’m getting old and forgetful) before that dad used to make things like chili or spaghetti sauce and besides adding jalapenos to both (yes, even the spaghetti sauce) and when I say adding jalapenos, I mean making it so hot, your tongue fell out of your mouth in protest, he also never ever drained the grease from his ground meat. So there you’d have some otherwise lovely (and mouth burning) dish, swimming in a pool of grease. But no one wanted to hurt his feelings or incur his wrath, so no one ever said anything. I got my opening one day however a couple of years after I moved him next door to me. He asked me why my spaghetti sauce was so much better than his and also, did I drain the grease off for some reason? I did a cheer inwardly and said that yes, I drained the grease off my ground beef and that that may be why mine was better, because too much grease makes it (I said politely) a bit heavy on the stomach. I didn’t mention that burning the stomach lining of people may not be smart. I knew when to shut up. 😀

Dad also loved jello. My kids though, as much as they loved Gramps giving them unlimited amounts of sweets when I wasn’t looking, weren’t jello fans. So he would make it for himself and me, just the same way he did when my brother, sister and I were kids. No plain jello for dad. Nope, nope, nope. He would drain some sort of canned fruit or a jar of maraschino cherries, use the juice from it as the liquid and then add the fruit when it was almost set. Then he would top it with about 4 pounds of Cool Whip and we were good to go on calories and sugar for about a year. It was utterly delicious and still how I like my jello. I think of him every…single…time I eat jello.

But sometimes I like to get a little fancier and not use the sugar laden flavored kind of gelatin and go back to the plain old fashioned gelatin that you flavor yourself. I have been, like most people, waiting not so patiently for Spring. Speaking of which, we are supposed to be getting an ample amount of snow here in Kentucky again tomorrow. But I’ll save that whining for later.

I have been heavy into anything citrus lately. It’s both my favorite sort of fruit, plus it makes me think of Spring. Spring…warmth…my garden.. warmth… fresh produce… did I mention warmth? Sorry. I’ll stop now. So, when I saw some pretty limes at the store, I got to thinking about what to do with the ones that jumped into my shopping cart. I got home and saw some white chocolate sitting out. I had bought it for something else, but who cares? When an idea hits, you run with it. 😀 I had seen a recipe for white chocolate mousse elsewhere that I couldn’t find now, so I improvised and completely messed around with using a mousse recipe I found elsewhere. What I ended up with was a delicious tart with both lime and white chocolate sharing the limelight (hehe… LIMElight) equally. This is rich and creamy and a small slice will do you just fine. Unless you’re a teenage boy. Then… make two. I originally planned on using graham cracker crumbs as the crust, but all I had were Oreos. And I love the way it turned out with them.

You know the drill….

Mrs. Cupcake, who is sobbing over the thought of more snow

White Chocolate And Lime Mousse Tart

  • Crust-
  • 14 oreos (NOT Double Stuffs)
  • 2 1/2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
  • Filling-
  • 8 ounces good quality white chocolate, chopped
  • 1 1/2 cups heavy cream
  • 2 to 3 tablespoons lime zest (from about 3 limes)
  • 1 packet unflavored gelatin (sold with the other types of flavored gelatin in packs of 4, usually on the bottom shelf)
  • 1/4 cup fresh lime juice
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  1. Make your crust- put your Oreos in the bowl of a food processor and process them down to crumbs. Add in the melted butter and pulse until it is combined. Pour the mixture into a buttered 9 inch tart pan (the kind with the removable bottom) and press it down onto the bottom of the pan.
  2. Bring 1/2 of the cream to a simmer. You can use a small pot or just do it as I do in the microwave.. When it comes to a simmer, remove from the heat and dump in the chopped white chocolate. Let sit for about five minutes, then stir until it is smooth. Let the mixture sit until it’s just barely warm.
  3. Meanwhile, sprinkle the gelatin over the lime juice in a small pot. Let it sit for about ten minutes to soften up, then stir it over low heat just until the gelatin dissolves. Let cool, then fold the gelatin mixture into the white chocolate/cream.
  4. Whip the remaining one cup of cream with the vanilla extract until it has soft peaks. Fold the white chocolate mixture into the cream, then pour this all into the prepared crust. Smooth the top and refrigerate for at LEAST 6 to 8 hours, but preferably overnight. Gelatin takes a few hours to set firmly anyway and the addition of a citrus juice in this one makes it set slower.
  5. When done, gently push it out from the bottom (it always helps to have someone else there to grab the pan bottom. Otherwise, you have this tart in one hand with no way to remove what looks like a huge cream covered bracelet dangling from your other arm. Don’t ask… just don’t ask.
  6. Garnish with more whipped cream and some lime slices.

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White Chocolate And Lime Mousse tart 3

Orange Creamsicle Cookies

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Orange Creamsicle Cookies

Orange Creamsicle Cookies



When I was a kid, I lived in inner city Chicago. Not the suburbs (not till I was a bit older), not someone saying “I’m from Chicago” who actually grew up in Des Plaines or Joliet, but actually right in the heart of the city. And while I’ve been in Kentucky since 1988 (oh, crap, I’m old!) and can’t imagine ever living in a big city again, there are some things I miss about it.

I miss the culture of a city; the museums, the theater, etc. I miss the shopping that encompasses more than Wal-Mart and Target. I definitely miss that. And I miss the food. The largest city near me is Lexington and while I love it, it isn’t exactly a thriving metropolis when it comes to ethnic foods. But they are slowly working on that.

But know one of the things I miss most due to living in the country? I miss ice cream trucks. Yep… ice cream trucks. Hey; this is me! What were you expecting? Something sophisticated and exciting? Yeah… right. 😛 Nope. Ice cream trucks it is. When I was a kid, we still had Good Humor trucks. Ohhhhh, I miss those.  We also had ice cream trucks where you could get actual soft serve cones. Those were awesome. AND… we had the ubiquitous ice cream trucks that had a huge scary clown face and tinny music that would have worked well in a Stephen King movie.  Thank God I’ve never been the type to get easily traumatized *twitches a little and sucks my thumb* One of the things I used to love to get was a Creamsicle. Or Dreamsicle. I’ve seen it as both, but I prefer Creamsicle. It has the word cream in it, after all. That lovely ice cream bar of vanilla ice cream surrounded by tangy orange sherbet. What could be better? You got sweet mixed with tangy. worked for me.

So I wanted to make a cookie with flavors reminiscent of a Creamsicle. Vanilla and orange, but without dribbling it all over my chin and down my arm. I think I succeeded here. You don’t get as much of the tang is about the only miss. I thought about adding a touch of citric acid to the dough, but I know that not many people keep that in their cabinets and that I’m odd with that one. But this is a wonderful mix of orange flavor, vanilla flavor and a chewy cookie base. If you like the orange/vanilla combo, you’ll enjoy these. They’re great lunch box cookies too.

You know the drill…. 🙂

This makes a boatload of cookies, btw, so if you don’t want enough to give away, either make half a batch or freeze half for later use.

Orange Creamsicle Cookies

  • 4 3/4 cups flour
  • 2 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 tablespoon orange zest
  • 1 1/2 cups unsalted butter, room temp
  • 1 1/2 cups light brown sugar
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 4 eggs
  • 2 tablespoons vanilla extract
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons orange extract
  • 1 3.4 ounce  box or instant vanilla or cheesecake pudding mix
  • 1 3 ounce box orange jello
  • 3 cups good quality white chocolate chips
  1.  In a medium bowl, mix, then whisk to combine the flour, salt, baking soda and orange zest.
  2. In a large bowl (preferably a stand mixer, though this can be done by hand or with a strong hand mixer), combine the butter and the sugars. Mix on medium speed until thoroughly creamed and slightly fluffy looking.
  3. Add in the eggs, the extracts, the pudding mix and the jello mix. beat on low until thoroughly combined.
  4. Dump the flour mixture into the bowl and beat on low speed until thoroughly combined, stopping mixer once and scraping down sides of the bowl.
  5. When nicely combined,  add in the white chocolate chips and beat on low speed until combined.
  6. Dump the dough out onto a piece of foil, wrap tightly and chill for at least two hours. If you made a full batch and aren’t planning to make them all, wrap half of it in a double layer of foil and freeze.
  7.  When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350 degrees. Shape the dough into golf ball sized balls; smaller if you want smaller cookies, obviously. Place on ungreased cookie sheets about 2 inches apart. bake at 350 for between 17 to 20 minutes; check at the earlier time if you want a chewier cookie, later time if you want one that is crispier.
  8. Let cool on the cookie sheet for a minute, then transfer to a rack to finish cooling.

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Triple Chip Chocolate Chip Cookies

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 Triple Chip Chocolate Chip Cookies


I doubt it’s a secret anymore that I have six kids (and eleven cats…and one husband). For the newbies to my blog….ummm…I have six kids. 😛 I think of them as separate batches. There’s my three oldest, all within a few years of each, my next two, also close in age and then my baby, who is only five while the rest are grown or almost grown. I swear; it was something in the water.

When my oldest were young, I was baking all the time then too. I had to if my kids were going to get any treats at all, because we were stone broke. With, at one point, five kids at home, plus myself and my ex husband, I had to learn to bake (and cook) in bulk. No “this makes four servings” foods for my household; not if I wanted to let everyone eat. These cookies are one of the first things I ever made. I remember that the first time I made them, all I did was double the recipe for Toll House Cookies and that was that. Yummy, sure, but over the years, it has morphed into what I make now.

For the most part, these are like the back of the bag cookies. The changes are subtle. But they are enough to make this a very different cookie. I lowered the amount of sugar, I added orange zest and extra vanilla and when I have it in the house, I use some Fiori di Sicilia from Williams Sonoma. Oh yeah, did I forget to mention that this used three different types of chips? Yep. Semi Sweet, White Chocolate and Butterscotch. All three of these chips go so well with the subtle orange flavoring (and it IS subtle, so don’t worry; it’s NOT a “chocolate/orange” flavor by any means.) and the Fiori di Sicilia, plus they complement each other as well.

This makes a TON of cookie dough, so you can either half the recipe or do as I do when I make them now (since I’m not feeding as many anymore and I’m more careful with how much sweets I keep in the house) and just bake half of the dough and  freeze the rest. You can either make preshaped balls of dough, freeze them and then transfer them to ziploc bags or just wrap the full half of dough in heavy duty foil and freeze it that way.

No matter what you do, definitely make these cookies. They are totally fantastic, if I do say so myself. 😀

You know the drill….get to cookin’!

Triple Chip Chocolate Chip Cookies

  • 2 cups unsalted butter, room temp
  • 1 1/2 cups dark brown sugar
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 4 eggs
  • 2 tablespoons vanilla extract
  • 1/2 teaspoon Fiori di Sicilia (optional)
  • 2 tablespoons orange zest
  • 4 1/2 cups flour
  • 2 teaspoons baking soda
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1 12 ounce bag semi sweet chocolate chips
  • 1 bag butterscotch chips
  • 1 bag white chocolate chips
  1. In the bowl of your stand mixer (you can also do all of this with a hand mixer, but make sure it’s a strong one; this is a lot of dough), combine the butter and sugars. Mix on low speed with the paddle attachment until smooth and creamy.
  2. Add the eggs, vanilla extract, orange zest and Fiori di Sicilia, if using.
  3. Beat well, until the mixture is well combined.
  4. In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. Whisk to blend. Pour into the butter mixture, put on the splatter shield and beat at low speed until the dough comes together in a soft dough.
  5. Add in the three bags of chips (make sure to snag a few first; quality control and all) and beat on low speed until combined.
  6. The dough will be soft. Transfer it to another bowl, cover and chill for at least 2 hours and up to 24.
  7. When ready to bake, either grease your cookie sheets very lightly or use parchment paper or a silicone baking mat ( I love these mats) and preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
  8. Scoop rounded tablespoons (or do as I do and use a 1/4 cup ice cream scoop. What? I like large cookies! :-P) of dough onto the prepared sheets and bake at 350 for 10 to 12 minutes or until the tops are firm and golden brown. If making the big cookies, bake for 14 to 17 minutes.
  9. Let cool on the sheet for one minute, then transfer to a rack to finish cooling.

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White Chocolate Coconut/Lime Bars

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White Chocolate Coconut/Lime Bars

White Chocolate Coconut/Lime Bars




For a few years now, there has been a recipe floating around the ‘net for lemon brownies. They have, in their various incarnations, been pinned about 4 bazillion times and remade probably as much. There is, at this point, no way to dig and find out who did it first. So, now you’re thinking, “so you made those lemon brownies even though they are all over the internet?! I’m disappointed in you, Janet!”

Surely, you jest? ( “I don’t jest and don’t call me Shirley!” Sorry… I was channeling one of my fathers old jokes.) Me? Me?! Repeat what has been repeated  ad nauseam? Not happ’nin. So what did I do, you ask? Please tell me you were asking or about to. Otherwise, kittens will cry.

I…wait for it…changed it up. A lot. You’d NEVER expect that out of me, now would you?! I took the original recipe and kind of turned it on it’s head. It’s no longer lemon. It’s Lime. With coconut flavor… and chunks of Lindt White Coconut Bar. This is…so…good. The bar is slightly chewy and then you get a somewhat melted in bite of White Chocolate Coconut bar along with the tang of lime in the bar and in the glaze. Did I mention that these are fantastic?

You know the drill… 🙂

White Chocolate Coconut/Lime Bars

  • 3/4 cup flour
  • 3/4 cup sugar
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temp
  • 2 eggs
  • 2 tablespoons lime zest
  • 3 tablespoons lime juice
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 1/2 teaspoon lime oil
  • 1 teaspoon coconut flavoring (in the same area in the store as the vanilla extract)
  • 2 3.5 ounce Lindt Excellence White Coconut bars, coarsely chopped
  • 2 tablespoons flour to toss the chocolate in
  • Glaze-
  • 2/3 cup powdered sugar
  • 1 tablespoon lime juice
  • 1 tablespoon lime zest
  • milk if needed to thin glaze
  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line an 8 inch square pan with non stick foil.
  2. In a medium bowl, beat together the butter, sugar, flour and salt until well combined.
  3. In a small bowl, whisk together the lime juice, lime zest and the flavorings. Pour into the flour mixture and beat well for about two minutes on medium speed. The mixture will look really thin and even might look somewhat curdled. You didn’t mess up; it’s fine.
  4. Gently, fold in the chopped chocolate. Pour into the prepared pan
  5. Bake at 350 for between 30 to 40 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the middle comes out barely clean.
  6. Cool completely in the pan on a rack.
  7. When cool, combine all the glaze ingredients and spoon over the bars. When the glaze has had a while to firm up (refrigerate if you want o hasten this) lift the bars by the foil and lay out on a cutting board.  Cut into desired size squares…or rectangles or if you cut as badly as I do, something resembling a hexagon on steroids.
  8. So far as I can tell thus far, these are good at room temp or straight from the fridge. Haven’t tried frozen.

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Lemon-White Chocolate Pound Cake With A Lemon Honey Glaze

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Lemon White Chocolate Pound Cake With A Lemon Honey Glaze

Lemon White Chocolate Pound Cake With A Lemon Honey Glaze


I have a thing for pound cake. I may have mentioned that before. While I love fancier desserts too, especially those that are rich, creamy and filled with 5000 sticky calories per serving, I also love the simple desserts. Pound cake is just so homey, comforting, and darned easy. And if you want creamy, all you need to do is top it with whipped cream, 12 scoops of ice cream and chocolate sauce. Not that I’d do that of course. Nope, nope, nope, not me *wipes chocolate sauce off chin*


I was torn between making a lemon pound cake, which I’ve been promising my husband for weeks lol, or Pumpkin Bread, because personally, I’m ready to get my Autumn on. But the followers on my facebook page voted for the pound cake (you meanie butts you!!! You’d better be glad I lurves you all! 😛 ) so here you go.

As I mentioned to them, I can’t, however, make just a “normal” pound cake. I’ve said before (and will probably say again because I’m getting old and forgetful. Did I mention that I’m getting old and forgetful?) and will say again (because I’m old and forgetful) that I lack the gene that makes me capable of making a recipe as listed. Nope… gotta either drastically change one so that it is like giving plastic surgery to Justin Bieber and making him look like Madonna or I have to just make up one of my own.

This one is just your basic pound cake incarnation. But I added a ton of lemon flavor as well as a touch of ginger for zing to the batter. Then for good measure I dumped some white chocolate chunks in there. They melted entirely into the batter, leaving these little pockets of slightly crispy sweetness. And if you’ve never had white chocolate with lemon, you’re in for a treat. They go SO well together! Then I topped this with a tart lemony glaze that has a subtle hint of honey.

This is NOT a mild little cake. It’s quite sweet, so serve small slices.

You know the drill…

Lemon-White Chocolate Pound Cake With A Lemon Honey Glaze

  • 1 1/2 cups flour
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1 teaspoon ground ginger
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 2 tablespoons lemon zest
  • 1 cup white chocolate chips
  • 3 eggs
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons lemon extract (if you have an emulsion, even better, Use 1 teaspoon)
  • 1/2 cup lemon juice
  • 2/3 cup oil
  • GLAZE-
  • 1 cup powdered sugar
  • 2 tablespoons honey
  • 2 teaspoons sour cream
  • 1 teaspoon lemon zest
  • 1/4 teaspoon lemon extract
  • 2 tablespoons lemon juice
  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9 inch loaf pan with a non stick spray such as Bakers Joy.
  2. In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, baking soda, lemon zest and white chocolate chips. Stir well.
  3. In a medium bowl, combine the eggs, extracts, lemon juice and oil. Whisk to combine.
  4. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ones, all at once. Stir well to combine until there are no dry floury spots left.
  5. Pour the batter into the prepared pan Bake at 350 until a wooden skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean, about 60 minutes. If it starts to get too brown on top, cover loosely with foil.
  6. When done, cool in pan for five minutes, then run a butter knife along the edges to loosen the cake and turn it out onto a wire rack to finish cooling.
  7. For glaze, combine all the glaze ingredients in a small bowl. Whisk to combine, making sure to get rid of all the lumps.
  8. Pour or spoon glaze over the cooled cake.

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White Chocolate Coconut Mojito Cookies

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White Chocolate Coconut Mojito Cookies

I’m not a huge imbiber when it comes to hard alcohol. I joke about it on my facebook page and yes, I do like my wine and every once in a while something harder. But generally speaking, I’m pretty darn boring that way. I did all my drinking in my wild younger days (someday I’ll tell the story of waking up in the backseat of a car, unclothed, with no memory of how I got there. I was…interesting when in my late teens and early 20’s). But even then I tended to drink wine. When I drank the hard stuff, I ended up..well, in situations. Learn from me, grasshoppers.

So I’ve never had a mojito. But the IDEA of them has always intrigued me since I absolutely LOVE lime and enjoy mint too. So the thought of them together sounded yummy. But it meant buying rum and the only time I buy rum is when I buy an airline sized bottle around Christmas to soak my fruitcake in.

So I saw a recipe a few days ago for a Mojito Scone. That sounded interesting but I know I do a lot of that type of baked goods in here and hadn’t done any cookies for a while <insert Cookie Monster voice here saying “COOOOOOKIEEEESSSS!”>. So I thought. Then I thunk some more. Then I answered the door cause the fire department was there saying they had multiple reports of the smell of burning coming from my house.

So I stopped thinking. And that’s when it came to me. These cookies. Mojito flavored. As well as tasting of some toasted coconut just because I love any excuse to throw toasted coconut into things.

These turned out both good and not to my taste, all at once. Will I make them again? Yes, but next time I will double the lime zest, add some lime oil, cut the mint extract in half (it was a bit overpowering for me) and add some coconut extract as well. Then, I think they would be absolutely perfect. But if you prefer the flavor of mint to be more prominent, make them exactly as I will type them out here. Otherwise, try them the way I just suggested up above. that will make the lime and coconut flavors more noticeable. But for an experiment, I was really pleased with these. They are nice and chewy, the toasted coconut was a great addition and were pleasantly buttery. I WILL be making these again 🙂

White Chocolate Coconut Mojito Cookies

  • 1 cup unsalted butter, room temp
  • 1 1/2 cups brown sugar, packed
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 1 teaspoon rum extract
  • 1 teaspoon mint extract (cut in half if you want mint flavor lighter)
  • zest and juice from one small lime (remember, double the zest and add some lime oil if you prefer the lime to dominate over the mint)
  • 1 cup shredded sweetened coconut, toasted in a 350 degree oven until light brown (also, about 1/2 teaspoon coconut extract if you want a heavier coconut flavor)
  • 3 cups flour
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 11 ounce bag of white chocolate pieces
  1. In a large bowl, beat together the butter and the sugars.
  2. Add the eggs, the extracts and the lime juice and zest. Beat until well blended.
  3. In a small bowl, mix the flour, baking soda and salt. Add to the butter mixture. Mix just until blended. Stir in the white chocolate pieces and the toasted coconut.
  4. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and chill for about an hour.
  5. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and/or line cookie sheets with parchment paper.
  6. Spoon or scoop rounded spoonfuls of the dough onto the prepared cookie sheets. Bake at 350 for about 10 minutes. They should be just barely browned on the edges of the cookies.
  7. Let cool on pan for a minute, then transfer to a wire rack to finish cooling.


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Warning. This Is NOT Diet Food :-D

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Lemony White Chocolate Cheesecake

You’ve been warned. As a matter of fact, I warned you when I came back to the blog that yes, I would be sharing some lower calorie/lower fat dishes (preferably dessert hehe) but that I would still be…well… ME and would continue sharing the type of goodies that make you have to get your fat girl (or fat boy as the case may be… and while I’m thinking of it, how come it seemed ok to say “fat GIRL” instead of woman but I had to stay an urge to write “fat MAN”? What’s up with that backwards “I must have been born in 1825” sort of thinking?) pants and make you sob uncontrollably when you get on the scale. Why? Because I enjoy torturing you. Heck, who am I kidding. I’M the one who has most of a creamy delicious cheesecake taunting me here. I suppose just burying my face in it and inhaling would be strange huh?

I think we all know by now that I love anything lemon. I don’t care if typically, it’s considered a Summer food and all the cuter, prettier and more popular bloggers *grins* have moved on to all pumpkin/maple/apple/cinnamon/elephant/cranberry/squash/turkey recipes. I’m a rebel! A rebel I say! Or I was just in the mood for lemon. Whatever. But really; I like lemon. Lots. I like These Lemon Crumb Bars , I like This Lemon Curd. A LOT., I like These yummy cookies and I also absolutely LOVE cheesecake as shown here . So give me a chance to combine the two and I’m one happy woman (notice I said woman and not girl :-p ) It uses white chocolate which my friend Bel says isn’t really chocolate at all, but that’s ok; I love her anyway. She loves pumpkin as much as I do so she can’t be ALL bad. White chocolate not being a flavor that shouts itself from the rooftop, it adds more of a creaminess and vanilla flavor to this rather than a pronounced in your face chocolate flavor. But creamy is never a bad thing. I like creamy. And lemon. And white chocolate. So yup, I like this cheesecake. Too much. Please come take it from me before I have to go back to my fat girl pants. Better yet, make it yourself, have no self control, eat far too much and then tell me about it so I can feel better. Misery loves company and all that rot.

This originally comes from Taste Of Home. I didn’t change much at all. I gave it a graham cracker crust cause I was feeling lazy and I added a touch more lemon juice. Otherwise, all Taste Of Home here.

Lemony White Chocolate Cheesecake

  • CRUST-
  • 2 cups graham cracker crumbs
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 1/3 cup butter, melted
  • FILLING-
  • 4 8 ounce packages cream cheese, softened (could use low fat, but I wouldn’t recommend fat free)
  • 1 1/4 cups sugar
  • 10 ounces white chocolate, melted and cooled (please don’t use “white baking chips”. It’s fine in cookies but you really need to use higher quality white chocolate when using it melted)
  • 2 tablespoons flour
  • 2 tablespoons heavy cream (could use evaporated milk instead)
  • 3 tablespoons lemon juice
  • zest from one lemon (about 1 tablespoon)
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 4 eggs, lightly beaten
  • about 2 cups boiling water to put in oven for steam
  1. Combine crust ingredients and press into the bottom of a 9 inch springform pan. Bake at 325 degrees for 10 minutes.
  2. Meanwhile, in a large bowl, beat together the cream cheese and sugar until smooth. Add in the rest of the filling ingredients except for the eggs. Beat until combined, scraping down the sides of the bowl a couple of times. Don’t add the boiling water please 😛
  3. Add the eggs, then beat on low speed just until combined. Remember, I’ve said it before, unless specifically instructed, you never want to overbeat a cheesecake batter. It adds air to the mix which can cause those unsightly cracks on top.
  4. Pour the batter into the crust.
  5. Put a pan (I just use a cake pan) into the bottom rack of the oven. Carefully pour the boiling water into it.
  6. Put the cheesecake into the oven, middle rack. Bake at 325 for anywhere from 65 to 85 minutes. Mine took about 80 minutes. The sides should be set but the center of the cheesecake should still be jiggly.
  7. Cool on a wire rack for about ten minutes, then unlatch the side of the pan and let it cool completely. Refrigerate at least 4 hours before cutting and to get good cuts, use a sharp knife dipped in very hot water.
  8. Serve with whipped cream and lemon peel garnish. Or just bury your face in it and inhale.


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Who’s Ready For Spring?

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25

Not me. I want 5 feet of snow and a blizzard that buries our house!

Ok, ok, that’s not true. As much as I enjoy Winter, I’m ready for warmer weather. NOT the boiling hot “omg, my face is melting” hot that Summer brings here in Kentucky, but the warmth of Spring. Mind you, warm here can mean high 80’s unfortunately (we had had strange Summer like weather here the last few days; even had to use the a/c) but that’s neither here nor there.

I love the gentle breezes of Spring, the smell in the air, the blooming trees and flowers and the crickets and frogs singing to me.

Ok, enough waxing poetic. Let’s get to the food!

I also love the foods that come in Spring; the wonderfully fresh asparagus and spinach, the new berries that can’t be matched  by the hothouse ones or imported ones any other time of year. Plus the colors! All the foods are so bright and cheery looking to match the season. Well, except for liver… it’s nasty no matter what season it is. And Cheetos are bright and cheery even in the middle of Winter. Just sayin’.

One thing that most everyone uses more of in Spring is Lemon. I’m no exception. I love it no matter when or where but it adds a special brightness to already fantastic food in Spring. I use it on top of veggies, in compound butters for fish and chicken and of course in baked goods. This is ME, after all.

One thing I make every Christmas is thumbprint cookies. I was craving some today. But the normal ones, filled with jam, seem only fitting for Christmas. I’m not sure why, they just do. So I played around. That seems to be one of my usual sentences doesn’t it? Lol.

I made a normal thumbprint cookie with some minor variations but messed with the filling. I decided to go with lemon and white chocolate. Both seem Springy to me. I used
This recipe here

for the lemon curd recipe. It’s the one I always use for curd and always have some of in the fridge. For the white chocolate, I used some of the new

Philly White Chocolate Spread . I’m madly in love with that stuff. All three of the flavors are awesome.

These turned out great. Very Springish (yes, that too is now a word) and they would be perfect for an Easter buffet or brunch or after school snacks or dessert or swiped from the fridge late at night or dinner or as a reward for breathing in and out. So c’mon… go make some lemon curd and get to work.

Lemon White Chocolate Cheesecake Thumbprints

  • 1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 1 egg
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 1/4 teaspoon butter flavoring (optional)
  • 1 tablespoon lemon zest
  • 1 tablespoon lemon juice
  • 1/4 cup cornstarch
  • 1 1/2 cups flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/2 to 3/4 cup lemon curd
  • 1/2 cup Philadelphia White Chocolate Cream Cheese Spread
  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease two cookie sheets.
  2. In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar.
  3. Add in the egg, lemon juice & extracts. Beat well.
  4. In a small bowl, combine the dry ingredients, including the lemon zest. Mix well.
  5.  Dump the dry ingredients into the wet. Using a wooden spoon, mix well.
  6. Shape into about 1 inch balls and place on greased cookie sheets. Use your fingers or the handle of a wooden spoon to make a nice indentation in the cookies.
  7. Bake at 350 for about 9 minutes or until the edges of the cookies are light brown.
  8. Cool completely on wire rack. Do NOT attempt to add fillings until cool or they will melt and run off.
  9. Add a small dollop of the white chocolate cream cheese to each cookie, then top with another small dollop (about 1/2 teaspoon or so) of the lemon curd.
  10. Dust with powdered sugar. Store these in the fridge due to the cream cheese. That’s assuming there are any left to store.

 


A Blogger By Any Other Name…

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26

…is NOT a good thing. The other day I went to a blog I go to frequently. I loved what I saw, made a comment and realized a few hours later when it popped into my mind, that I had called the lovely lady, a blogger I know (know as in blogs) by the wrong name. Needless to say, when I went back and looked, the comment I had made had NOT been approved. Lol… this aging thing sucks. In my defense I had been to about 40 gazillion blogs that day (t’was before I got sick and kind of disappeared), reading and buzzing and commenting and at that point, I’m surprised I remembered my own name, much less that of anyone else.

Anyone else find things like that happening as you age? And by as you age, I mean anyone over 25 hehe because God help me, I remember it happening back then too. I blame my kids. The memory loss and the fact that I haven’t had a full nights sleep or hot meal since 1985 are all the fault of my kids 😛 I’ve found though that It really does get worse as you get older. I can think to myself, while sitting here at the computer, “Oh, I need to look up such and such” and literally by the time I get Google pulled up to do a search, I’ve forgotten what I wanted to look up. Talk about wanting to slam my head into my desk! I frequently decide I’m just gonna give up trying to remember things and go adopt 36 cats, buy a pair of glasses that hangs by a string around my neck (though I just know I’ll still forget where they are), a case of Geritol and call myself the Crazy Old Cat Lady. It suits me… the crazy part anyway. Right now we only have 4 cats so that isn’t enough to qualify me. At least I think we have four cats. I can’t remember. Continue reading →