Meringue Cookies

I finally made beautiful vanilla meringue cookies.  It has taken me several attempts to get these to turn out looking and tasting great.

          (These were the not-so-pretty ones)

 My mom, as always, was right.  A little cream of tartar helped to form stiff glossy peaks.

Ingredients:
4 medium egg whites let sit until room temp
1/4 tsp. Cream of tartar
1/8 tap. Salt
2/3 cup granulated sugar extra fine
1 cap full of vanilla

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 250°.
Add cream of tartar, vanilla, and salt to the egg whites and beat until light and frothy.

Next SLOWLY add sugar, allowing the sugar to fully incorporate while mixing on high before adding more sugar.

Once sugar is added, continue to mix until stiff shiny peaks form.  Mine looked a bit like marshmallow cream but not as thick or sticky.
Spoon into piping bag that has been fitted with a Wilson 21 tip.

Either on parchment or a silpat mat pipe a "kiss" shape.  Mine were roughly the diameter of a lemon.

I had to bake for an hour, but your oven/ altitude may differ.  Turn off oven and leave cookies inside for 30 minutes to an hour to cool.

Lemon Curd

I am more than ready for summer.  This past week I've been eating all the foods that remind me of summer, and what tastes more like sunshine than lemons?!

This weekend I made up a batch of lemon curd.  The silky texture and bright flavor was enough to convince me I needed to shave my legs and get ready for bikini season. Just kidding! Nobody who eats curd by the spoonful cares about prepping for swim season.

Speaking of preparing, there are only a few steps you need do to prepare this tantalizingly tart treat.

You may or may not use 3 lemons.  It worked out for me that my 3 lemons produced enough zest and juice for this recipe.  If you use less, no worries make lemonade.

Sugar! This little devil has quite the reputation, and if you are on a diet plan that keeps you from using processed refined sugar try it out with honey or agave.  *Check the Internet for amounts on the sweetener you decide to use.  Typically you would use less honey than sugar (2/3 to every 1 cup).

This recipe calls for unsalted butter; however, you can use salted. Just don't add the pinch of salt or add less of it.  What's less than a pinch?  Maybe a titch?

Separate the whites from the yolks, This recipe only calls for the yolks.  The whites can be whipped as a meringue to use for a topping if you decide to use your curd as a tart or pie.

After you have assembled all your ingredients, you'll need a heavy bottom pan over medium heat to make your curd. Start by melting together your butter, sugar, lemon juice, and zest.

If you are using unsalted butter, don't forget to add your pinch of salt. I almost did and you really do need just a little bit of salt in the recipe to round out the flavors.  NOT TOO MUCH!

Once the butter has melted down and the sugar has dissolved, slowly whisk in your egg yolks.  I stir constantly!! This is to keep me from getting distracted and leaving the mix too long or letting it burn on the bottom.  Once you add the egg it should thicken within 5-7 minutes. It's like a brand new puppy. You can't take your eyes off it.

 Don't let it boil. Once it has a pudding consistency, and it starts to slightly bubble you will want to pull it off.  This cooks up fast and if you let it go unattended you will have lemon crud not lemon curd.

Pull your thickened mix off the heat and strain into a fine mesh sieve.  This step separates the zest from the rest and is essential for a silky smooth finish.

You'll want to press the liquid through the strainer so that you are left with a pulpy lump in your sieve.

Discard pulp and allow your curd to cool  to room temperature.  While it is cooling, stir a few times so that the result is a smooth texture.  Once cool you can transfer to the refrigerator or use right away.

I used this curd as a filling for strawberry lemonade cake.  Feel free to share with me how you use yours.

Ingredients:
3 Lemons:

• 3 Tablespoons zest (I give it a nice rough chop after zesting)
• 1/2 cup lemon juice

4oz unsalted butter
3/4 Cup granulated sugar
6 Large egg yolks
Pinch of salt.

Chocolate Meringue Pie

Pie crust 
9 inch pie pan
Pre-bake crust and let cool.

1 1/2 cups sugar
1/4 cup corn starch
Pinch of salt
4 eggs (use yolks only can reserve the whites for topping if you don't want to use whip cream)
3 cups whole milk
2 tablespoons butter
1tsp vanilla (can omit if you don't have any or substitute maple syrup)
3/4 cup of bitter chocolate chips (I use Ghirardelli)
  
In a heat proof dish put butter chocolate and vanilla...You'll add the hot custard later.

Sift sugar, corn starch and salt together into a medium saucepan pan.

Whisk milk and eggs together then add to sauce pan. Cook over medium-high (depending on your stove. I usually opt for the lower end so as not to burn the custard)

I stir almost constantly, as it goes from thin to pudding to scalded fast.  Should take 6-8 minutes depending on your stove, but as soon as it gets pudding thick and just starts to bubble remove from heat and add to the choco-vani-butter mix and stir until smooth and silky...so so silky.

Pour into pie pan.  Depending on the depth of your pan you may have a little left over.  Don't throw it out!!! Eat it or put it in a jar and save for later.

Make sure you lick the spoon and bowl before washing....it's called "pre-wash" ;)

I let the pie cool before I cover with cellophane wrap and place in refrigerator to chill for 2-3 hours until set.

Top with whip cream and serve, but don't tell my Mom! This is a mortal sin.. remember the egg whites?!  You should whip those up with some sugar until stiff peaks form then mound on top of your chilled and set pie, place under broiler (or use one of those super cool chef torches if you have one) until the top of the meringue is golden. 

 (My pops called meringue "calf slobber" feel free to impress your dinner guests with that little nugget).

I can NOT get my meringues to whip up correctly in our altitude so I've given in and use the cream...

Enjoy enjoy. We always had this pie at our family Thanksgiving, and after you have a taste you'll be thanking me :)

Skillet Brunch

 Frittata Friday!  Had a very late start to the morning, and breakfast was quickly turning into lunch. What's better than quiche for brunch?  Crust-less skillet bake of course!

 Notice how I've managed to say frittata, quiche and skillet bake all in this opening dialogue...so what exactly did I make?  According to Kevin: "The BEST breakfast you've ever made!".

 I was hungry. I had a lot of breakfast meats in my fridge and a carton of eggs, so I did what I do best Experiment.  Really how could I go wrong with this list of ingredients.

Ingredients:
1/2 tube of sausage
Several Strips of bacon
1/2 tube of chorizo
3 small sweet peppers
1 shallot
1 small yellow onion
3 small potatoes or 1 HUGE one
3 cloves garlic
1 cup cherry tomatos halved
6 eggs
Barely Buzzed by Beehive cheese

Directions: Pre-heat oven 450

I used this deep skillet

Brown sausage then drain, and in the same skillet chop and brown bacon then drain, or maybe you brown then chop...what ever works.

Dice peppers, shallot, onion and potato (make sure it's a small even dice on the potato so they cook quickly and uniformly. I make my peppers and onion a little bigger so they don't burn since I'm doing them all together with the potato) cook in the skillet with the bacon fat until the potatoes or soft (not mushy) then drain.

At this point I just had a pile of deliciousness on a plate with napkin for draining.  Next brown the chorizo.  I use very little spices since the chorizo is packed with flavor.  I did add a sprinkling of salt pepper and paprika to the eggs.  Once the chorizo is ready, dump all the meat, veggies and potatoes back in the pan.  Add the tomatoes, and in a separate bowl whisk your 6 eggs and add whatever additional spices you use.

Poor egg mix over skillet ingredients and give it a little shake so it settles evenly over the top.  Pop it in a 425-450 degree over for about 20-25 minutes.  You are just cooking the egg through since all other ingredients are precooked.

Remove from the oven and shred your cheese on top.  I love the Barely Buzzed by Beehive cheese.  It has a Turkish grind of Colorado Legacy Coffee Company's "Beehive Blend" coffee beans encrusted on the outer part of cheese.  It has a mild nutty flavor.

I plated with the cherry tomatoes, Cilantro micro-greens and my house made basil vinaigrette.  It would have been awesome with avocado, but I live in Montana so a good aguacate is hard to find at the Columbus IGA.