Chocolate-It's What's for Dinner

What is a tassie anyway? I looked on the web of knowledge and the definition is a tass (real helpful huh?). Then if you look up tass it says it is a goblet or what is in the goblet - as small draught. The British version says that it is a native of Tasmania. Well none of these definitions quite fit these little lemon filled pastries. Lemon Tassies (Adapted from Martha Stewart ) Crusts: 5T butter, cut into chunks 1c flour 3T sugar 1 egg yolk 1t vanilla 1t lemon zest 1/2 t salt 1-2T lemon juice Filling: 8oz cream cheese 1/3 c sugar 1 egg 2T lemon zest 2T lemon juice 1t vanilla Lightly grease mini-muffin tins. Set aside. In a food processor pulse the butter and flour until it looks like bread crumbs. Add sugar, egg yolk, vanilla, zest, and salt. Process until incorporated. You might need to add the lemon juice for the dough to come together. DO NOT OVERPROCESS. Divide dough into 4 pieces and then each of those 4 further down into 6 pieces. Place each dough ball ...

Why didn't I see these before I used those precious lemons from my lemon tree?? Not that the pasta was a bad choice. These would have been the perfect vehicle for those lemons. Oh well I'll have to bookmark this for next year. These are soft, lemony deliciousness. Lemon Cookies (Adapted from Back to Her Roots ) 1 stick butter zest and juice of 1 lemon 1/2 c sugar 1/4 c honey 1 t vanilla extract 1 3/4 c flour 1 t baking soda 1/2 t salt sugar for rolling Cream butter, lemon, zest, sugar, and honey. For about 8-10 minutes - seriously. It will look a little curdled but that's OK. Add vanilla and mix well.  In a separate bowl combine flour, baking soda, and salt. Add to butter mixture in 3 batches. Refrigerate for a minimum of 30 minutes. Roll into 1" balls; then roll in sugar. Place on ungreased cookie sheet (I used my silpat). Bake at 350 until edges start to turn brown - anywhere between 5-10 minutes. These go from not done to done VERY quickly. C...

2 lone lemons I've patiently been waiting for the lemons on my lemon tree. We've had the "tree" for about 4 years. Every year I get real excited because it gets tons of flowers and then gets tons of little baby lemons. Then they all fall off one by one and we end up with 2 lemons. They usually are ripe anywhere between November or December. I always try to make something special with them since they are such a scarce commodity. Something where lemons are center stage. They have a very thin skin and are very lemony. Look how thin the skin is So this year it was a classic dish - Spaghetti al Limone. I came upon this via Smitten Kitchen who came upon it via American's Test Kitchen. Spaghetti al Limone 1lb spaghetti, linguine,  angel hair pasta 1/4 c olive oil 1/4 c heavy cream 3 lemons or about 1/3-1/2 c lemon juice zest from 3 lemons 1/2 c grated Parmesan cheese 1/2 cup fresh parsley Fresh basil (optional) salt/pepper Boil pasta in salted...

So I made cream cheese again . Boy does that make a lot of cream cheese. I needed to figure out a way to use some of it up. Well this was one way. I have to say the homemade cream cheese is a little thinner than the store-bought stuff. Probably because they have stabilizers in theirs. I found that I used less sugar than the 2 1/2 cups for the frosting. I don't know if that was because the homemade has a very good flavor and it didn't need the additional sugar. The directions for this cake were not that clear or I just didn't read carefully enough (probably the latter). But I mixed all the liquid ingredients sugar and butter then tried to mix them. What a mess. I thought it was a rather strange direction. In order to save the recipe, I ended up straining out the liquid and trying to beat the butter until smooth. UGH - like I said a total mess. I ended up with some pretty large tunnels in the cake and I'm assuming this was the result of the error of my ways. Hopefull...

We're starting to come to the last of the zucchini, which I have mixed feelings about. I really haven't done a saute with them yet this year so I thought that it would round out the season nicely. Zucchini with Sun-Dried Tomatoes (adapted from Fine Cooking ) 2-3 small zucchini salt 3 T olive oil 2 cloves garlic, minced 3 T sun-dried tomatoes, fine chop 10 basil leaves 1/4 of a preserved lemon or 3 T lemon juice and zest of whole lemon Pepper Cut the ends off the zucchini and slice the zucchini length-wise into quarters. Slice off the seeds. Salt the zucchini planks and place on paper towels.  Let sit for about 10 minutes. Dry zucchini with paper towels and cut into diamonds (cut the planks on an angle) about 1" size chunks. Amazing how much liquid comes off Heat skillet and add 2T olive oil. Saute zucchini, tossing occasionally. You want the zucchini to get nice and dark so don't toss them too much. Cook about 5 minutes or until they soften. Add ga...

This was one of those recipes I got out of the books my mother's friend gave me . I found it so interesting that it used whipped cream. There is really no leavening other than the eggs (and whipped cream). Whipped Cream Pound Cake (adapted from Family Cookbook-Central Baptist Oakridge Tennesee - circa 1981) 1 c heavy cream 2 sticks butter 3 c sugar 2 t vanilla zest & juice of one lemon (optional) 3 c flour 1/2 t salt 6 eggs Grease and flour a tube pan. Whip cream in mixer until peaks form. Set aside.  Cream butter and sugar together.  Add vanilla and lemon. In a small bowl mix flour and salt together.  Add flour and eggs by alternating. Mixing well after each addition. Bake at 325 for 1 hour 15 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.  Cool for 10 minutes and then turn out of pan. Dust with confectioners sugar and serve. I put my whipped cream in the refrigerator while I prepared the rest of the cake as it was a rather wa...

Ignore the cooling rack marks - move along there's nothing to see here Yes it is zucchini time.  I managed to give some away to my neighbor and my Mom so far but that still leaves me with quite a few.  Zucchini bread will be coming with me tomorrow to work to unload on unsuspecting coworkers - uh I mean coworkers. Here's the recipe: Zucchini Bread (adapted from The Book of Bread *) 1 1/2 c flour 1 c sugar 2 t baking powder 1/2 t baking soda 1/4 t salt 1/2 t fresh ginger, grated 2 eggs zest and juice of 1 lemon 1/2 c oil 1 t vanilla 2 c grated zucchini 1 c raisins In a small bowl mix all dry ingredients. Mix eggs, oil, vanilla, and zucchini together. Stir in dry ingredients. Stir in raisins.  Place in a 9" greased and floured loaf pan.  Bake for 50 minutes at 375 or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.  Cool in pan for 10 minutes and then turn out onto rack to cool. You don't even need to drag the mixer out for this one. It...

I know, I know,  I already posted a lemon pasta recipe but this one is a little different. I had some lemons in the refrigerator and was all ready to make that recipe again but then I realized we had a nice little crop of spinach in the garden waiting to be picked. Basil, Spinach & Garlic ready to go Lemon Pasta with Spinach (loosely based on Smitten Kitchen ) l lb pasta 1/4 c olive oil 2 cloves garlic 3 lemons, juice and zest 1/4 c  heavy cream handful of basil a generous bunch of fresh spinach, chopped into strips 1/4 c grated Parmesan salt/pepper Cook pasta until al dente in salted water. Remove pasta and reserve 1 cup of pasta water.  Set pasta aside. Dry pot and pour olive oil into pot.  Add garlic and saute until fragrant. Carefully add lemon juice. Stir in heavy cream.  Add basil and spinach.  Stir and then add pasta.  Stir in Parmesan cheese.  Season with salt and pepper. Add some of the pasta water if you feel...

Here's yet another recipe I had patiently waiting around since 2006 to be tried. It's quite a simple recipe and it's very moist. Blueberry Lemon Cake (adapted from Fine Cooking ) 1 1/3 c flour + for the pan 1/4 c yellow cornmeal 1 t. baking powder 1/4 t baking soda 1/4 t table salt 6 T butter, at room temperature 1 c granulated sugar 1 t finely grated lemon zest 2  eggs 1 T fresh lemon juice 1 t vanilla 1/2 c buttermilk Topping: 1 cup (about 5 oz.) fresh blueberries, rinsed and well dried 2 T granulated sugar or blueberry flavored suga r 1 T flour Grease and flour a 9" round pan.  Line bottom of pan with parchment or silicon mat.  In a small bowl mix flour, cornmeal, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together.  ...

DO NOT be deceived by the blah-looking pasta you see here. This was such a creamy, lemony, yummy pasta.  I found it in one of my old Fine Cooking magazines from 2006 (yes I do have so many recipes ripped from magazines that I've been dying to try that I needed to database them.  This was the pre-gee-every-recipe-is-posted-online days. And we won't even discuss how many cookbooks I have with recipes awaiting testing!).  Plus now that it looks like I have a job again, I better get cracking on some of these quick-cooking weeknight recipes! I didn't have fresh parsley, which would have made it a lot prettier looking. I also decided to use penne since that's all I had on hand. I used vodka too instead of the gin or grappa because once again that is what I had on hand. So maybe this isn't really the original recipe from the magazine, but it's still really good and you should try it! Trust me!

I like Chicken Francese but I don't like that awful thick breaded chicken that some restaurants call Chicken Francese (think catering hall). It is more breading than chicken and sometimes the chicken is so thick. So I prefer to call this lemon chicken because I don't want this delicious chicken to be associated with that awful stuff. First pound your chicken cutlets thin. Place the chicken between plastic wrap. Sprinkle the chicken with a little water so that the chicken doesn't tear.   There are two other key things to making "lemon chicken." First the flour. DO NOT use regular all purpose flour - that is where that yucky thick coating comes in. You need to use Wondra . It is the best for thin coatings. Dip the chicken in beaten egg and then the Wondra (seasoned with salt and pepper).  The second most important thing is when you saute the chicken DO NOT crowd the pan.  I only cooked 1 chicken cutlet at a time because they were ...