Lemon Ricotta Cookies

     When I first told my sister that I wanted to make these lemon ricotta cookies, she made it pretty clear that she refused to eat anything with the word “ricotta” in the title, and my mother and other sister had similar reactions. I’m not sure what caused their aversion to it, but these cookies looked too delicious not to make. I ignored their hesitation and decided to make them anyway... And we were all glad I did. In fact, I think the three of them actually ended up eating even more cookies than me. So good! On their own, these cookies are good but nothing spectacular. When the tangy lemon glaze is spread onto them, however, they become ridiculously addictive. I dare you to try and eat just one.



Lemon Ricotta Cookies
Adapted from Fleur D’Elise
Ingredients:

Cookies:
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder 1 teaspoon salt
1 stick unsalted butter, softened
2 cups sugar
2 eggs
1 (15-ounce) container whole milk ricotta cheese (shhh, I used part-skim ricotta)
3 tablespoons lemon juice
1 lemon, zested

Glaze:
2 cups powdered sugar
4 tablespoons lemon juice
1 lemon, zested

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
2. Cookies: In a medium bowl combine the flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside. In a large bowl, combine the butter and the sugar.
3. Using an electric mixer beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the eggs, 1 at a time, beating until incorporated. Add the ricotta cheese, lemon juice, and lemon zest. Beat to combine. Stir in the dry ingredients.
4. Grease baking sheets. Spoon the dough (about 2 tablespoons for each cookie) onto the baking sheets. Bake for 15 minutes, until slightly golden at the edges (I over-baked my first batch and had to throw them away, so watch carefully). Remove from the oven and let sit on baking sheets 5 min. before transferring them to a cooling rack.
5. Glaze: Combine the powdered sugar, lemon juice, and lemon zest in a small bowl and stir until smooth. Gently spread a thin layer of glaze onto each cookie, and let harden.

Blueberry Boy-Bait

     Blueberries have never really thrilled me. I tolerate them, yes, but they are not generally at the top of my mind when I want to bake (or eat) anything fruit-based. I found the recipe for this cake a while back, got bored, and decided to bake it one night on a whim. For one thing, it’s called Blueberry Boy-Bait, and I think right there it just screams, “bake me!” The cake itself is fantastic, like a wonderfully moist coffee cake, and the blueberries baked into the top add a tasty punch of sweet to the cake. I have made this recipe twice so far and both times it has been devoured within two days. If I had any boys to bake this cake for, they’d surely be in trouble.



Blueberry Boy-Bait
Adapted from Christopher Kimball’s The Yellow Farmhouse Cookbook, as posted on Barefoot Kitchen Witch
Ingredients:
2 cups flour
1 ¼ cups sugar
10 tablespoons (1 ¼ sticks) cold butter
½ tsp cinnamon
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 eggs, separated
1 cup milk
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 ½ cups fresh blueberries, washed, drained, and blotted with paper towels (or frozen blueberries that have been thoroughly thawed and drained)

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 13 x 9-inch pan with butter and then flour it lightly. Sift together the flour and sugar into a large mixing bowl. Cut the butter into pieces, then work into the flour mixture using your fingertips or a pastry blender (If you have a food processor, place the flour and sugar in bowl and pulse to mix. Add the butter, which should be cold and cut into pieces, and pulse 7 or 8 times until the flour takes on the texture of coarse meal). Reserve ½ cup of this mixture to use as a topping, and add ½ tsp cinnamon, if desired.
2. Add the baking powder, the salt, the egg yolks (reserve the whites), and the milk to the flour mixture still in the bowl. Beat with an electric mixer on low speed for about 3 minutes (this can also be done by hand with a wooden spoon.)
3. In a separate bowl, whip the egg whites until they hold 2-inch peaks. Fold gently into the batter, and spread batter in the prepared pan. Sprinkle blueberries on top of the batter (make sure they are dry), and then sprinkle with reserved ½ cup crumb mixture.
4. Bake for 40 to 50 minutes or until the center of the cake bounces back when pressed with the flat side of a fork. Let cool for 30 minutes before serving.

Vanilla Buttermilk Cupcakes

     I have never been a huge fan of cake. Sure, the occasional birthday cake from the grocery store was cool, but I have always, for the most part, disliked the taste of boxed cakes. My mother never made cakes from scratch, however, so boxed cakes were what I was left with for most of my life. Even as I started to bake more and more, I stuck mostly to cookies and other non-cake treats. I’d tried some homemade cake recipes in the past, but with little to no success—the texture and taste always left something to be desired—and so I would retreat back to cookies and other things that I felt I was better at baking.
     But the other day, I got a huuuge craving for cupcakes and just had to have one. I scoured the internet and finally found a recipe that seemed promising. As I put the cakes into the oven, I crossed my fingers and hoped they would finally turn out right (I even made a half batch in case they were too disappointing). Luckily, they were delicious. The crumb was perfect, the cakes themselves were moist, and my mother, sisters, and I devoured them. There was a downside, though: now my mom won’t stop asking me to make them again. I frosted them with a simple frosting (4c powdered sugar, 1/2 stick butter, 1 tsp vanilla, some food coloring), but I think next time I’ll go with a chocolate frosting. Yes, there will be a next time. It is so exciting to finally have a go-to cupcake recipe—almost as exciting as it is to finally become a cake-lover.



Vanilla Buttermilk Cupcakes
(I can’t for the life of me find where I got this recipe from, sorry!)
Ingredients
1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
½ tsp baking soda
½ tsp baking powder
¼ tsp salt
1 cup sugar
¼ cup butter, room temperature
1 large egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
1c buttermilk

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and either line muffin tins with paper liners or grease and flour them.
2. Stir together flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. In a large bowl, beat butter and sugar together until creamy. Beat in egg and vanilla extract until smooth.
3. Add half of the flour mixture to the butter mixture, and stir until almost combined. Add the buttermilk, stir until almost combined, then add the rest of the flour mixture. Stir until all ingredients are mixed in.
4. Divide batter evenly into cups, and bake 18-20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Let cool completely before frosting.

Yields 12 cupcakes.

Should've Put A(n Onion) Ring On It

     I wanted to come up with a clever “hello, world” line that wasn’t as lame as “hello, world” to open this first blog post. Clearly, I failed, so err… hello, world! My name is Tayler, I’m 19 years old, and I love to cook, bake, and sew. I currently live with my mom, dad, twin sister, older sister, two dogs, two birds, and pet capuchin monkey. Once August rolls around, however, I’ll be finishing my senior year in college, hooray! I initially became interested in baking about 3-4 years ago when I first baked a batch of homemade pumpkin cookies (oh yes, this recipe will most definitely be posted in the future). They were so delicious that I wanted to keep baking and trying new recipes, and from that day I was hooked.
     But enough about me, let’s talk about onion rings. I realize onion rings may be an odd choice for a first post, but come on, who doesn’t love onion rings? Well, okay, don’t answer that, I know a lot of people who don’t like them, but personally, I think onion rings are delicious. And this recipe was pretty good; I would definitely make them again. The potato chip crust made them crispy and crunchy, and the onions were perfectly cooked. So to all those people who turn their noses up at onion rings: more for me!


Mmmm, potato chips.

Oven-Fried Onion Rings
Recipe adapted from Not Without Salt
Ingredients:
2 medium onions (I used sweet onions), sliced ½-inch thick
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 egg
1/4 cup + 1 tbs flour
1 1/2 cups crushed kettle-cooked potato chips
3 tbs vegetable oil

1. Pre-heat your oven to 450*. Combine 1/4 cup flour, salt, pepper and cayenne in a bowl large enough to dip the onions into.
2. In another bowl, combine the buttermilk, egg and 1/4 cup + 1 tbs flour. Whisk until a smooth batter is formed. In a third bowl, place your crushed potato chips (see note below).
3. Dip an onion ring into the seasoned flour, then into the buttermilk batter. Let the excess batter dribble off before you coat the wet ring with the crushed chips. You will need to use your hands a bit to make sure the chips adhere. Repeat this process with all the onion rings.
4. Cover a baking sheet with a piece of parchment. Drizzle with vegetable oil then pop it into the hot oven for 8 minutes – or until the oil just starts to smoke. Carefully remove the baking sheet from the oven and rotate to evenly coat with oil.
5. Quickly place your onion rings on the baking sheet then return to the oven. Bake for 8 minutes then flip each ring over before baking for another 8 minutes.
6. Hoard as many as you can for yourself before anyone else in your family realizes they’re finished.


Before.


After, mmmmmm. And seriously, how cute is that basket?!

Note: I had a minor issue coating the battered onions with chips because as I progressed, the chips got pretty wet and icky from the batter and would no longer stick to the onions. I recommend using the crushed chips a bit at a time rather than placing them all into the bowl at once.