Homemade Lemon Drops

I couldn't stop smiling after I made these! In fact, I am smiling right now while I am eating one! It took me right back to my childhood. My dad always had a bag of lemon drops in his car and I loved going on random and pointless car rides just so I could savor the tart and sour little drops of sunshine!

Don't be intimidated by this recipe just because it calls for a candy thermometer. If you have a bit of patience lemon drops are easy!

Since I had never made lemon drop candy before I wanted to use an existing recipe instead of trying to come up with my own. I found this one that looked easy enough to follow. I used a half recipe from what the blog did and I formed them differently. So here is the recipe with my take on shaping them.

Lemon Drop Candy - (From chocswirl.wordpress.com - Adapted from Field Guide to Candy by Anita Chu)
1/2 c. sugar
1/4 t. cream of tartar
1/4 c. water
1 t. citric acid
1/4 t. lemon extract
yellow food coloring
powdered sugar for rolling - 1-2 T.

Coat a plastic scraper with butter and have a silpat ready. If you don't have a silpat a marble slab was recommended in the original recipe.

Preheat oven to warm.

In a small saucepan over medium-high heat combine sugar, cream of tartar and water. Stir just until sugar is dissolved. Stop stirring and attach a Sur La Table Candy & Deep Fry Thermometer (Google Affiliate Ad) to the side of the pan. Continue boiling mixture until it reaches 300 degrees F (or hard ball stage).

Pour hot mixture immediately onto silpat. Silpats come in different sizes. Pick on that fits in one of your sheet pans. I like the silpat brand - Sur La Table® Silpat® Baking Mats 8.25" x 11.75" (Google Affiliate Ad). Sprinkle citric acid, lemon extract and coloring onto the sugar mixture.

Using a buttered scraper (of some kind) mix ingredients until combined. The mixture will initially stick all over the scraper but will eventually come together into one cohesive glob of sugar!

While the mixture is still hot pull or cut pieces off and roll them in your hands to form a sphere or egg shape. Be careful not to burn your hands. The mixture should feel hot but not hot enough to burn your skin. If it is, wait for it to cool some.

Since the mixture is hot the lemon drops will ultimately be flattened on one side. Or at least mine were!

Roll the formed lemon drops in powdered sugar (or cornstarch) to coat. This way they will not all stick to each other!
 
Tip - If you find that the sugar is hardening too quickly to shape the pieces put them in the warm oven to reheat the sugar. You will be able to shape them again once they soften a bit.

I hope you enjoy these as much as I did!

Despicable Me - Minion Cake

I can't believe my son is SIX years old. He is in love with the minions from Despicable Me! I think they are adorable and thought it was a great idea to make him the cake of cakes! We are anxiously awaiting Despicable Me 2!!!

My son was very clear that he needed six minions on his cake of cakes since he was turning six! They were so fun to make and the end product was fun too! It was a dark chocolate fudge layer cake so it was delicious too!

If you have ever read about my cakes before you will know that I refuse (unless someone requests) to cover a cake in fondant. I think it tastes horrible (yes, even marshmallow fondant) and when you go to peel it off so the cake can actually be eaten all the frosting comes too. Very disappointing, especially for kids, so I use buttercream and smooth it the best I can. It makes the cake even more delicious. With that said, I do, however, love to make characters and decorations with fondant!

Minions are so basic they are really easy to create with fondant. They are just an egg shape with some britches and some eyes! There are so many fondant tools and gadgets that are supposed to make creating fondant decorations easier. You certainly don't need them for making minions. I used only my hands and a toothpick!

Roasted Garlic Soup

Ahhhh, the time of year when everyone around seems to be sniffling and sneezing. Unfortunately, my husband is currently one of these people. In an attempt to take care of him without getting too close to catch his sickness I decided to use my garlic soup recipe to help him feel better. Since garlic is oh so tasty and a natural antibiotic it was a match made in heaven.

He was thankful for the steaming bowl of soup that cleared his sinuses and loved the soup as much as I did. This roasted garlic soup recipe is somewhat time consuming but is worth it in the end!

Every great soup starts with a great base. In this case homemade chicken stock. You can substitute store bought stock if you prefer but if you have the time and resources you should really make your own. You won't regret the extra effort. Especially when you warm the whole house with the savory aroma of roasted chicken and vegetables and taste the difference in the end product.

Homemade Chicken Stock
4 chicken thighs - bone in (very important)
6 cloves garlic
1 onion, sliced
4 large carrots, quartered
Salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Add all ingredients to an appropriately sized roasting pan making sure fat side of chicken is up. Salt and pepper generously.

Bake 45-60 minutes or until chicken reaches 165 degrees F tested with a Safe Serve Meat Thermometer (Google Affiliate Ad).

Remove pan from oven and let chicken cool until you can pull all of the meat off the bone. Reserve for a later meal.

Add all chicken bones, fat and veggies to a large stock pot and fill with one quart of water. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, cover and simmer about 45 minutes.

Using a large fine mesh colander strain liquid into a large bowl and set aside.

Eat the carrots because you can't resist and discard the rest.

Keep oven preheated to 350 degrees F.

This is a really easy recipe for roasted garlic. Cut the top off of one head of garlic. Drizzle with olive oil and place in a Stoneware Garlic Roaster, White - White (Google Affiliate Ad). Roast 45-60 minutes or until garlic is tender. Let cool then squeeze out the garlic into a small bowl. Set aside.

Roasted Garlic Soup
1 head garlic, peeled and sliced
1 large onion, diced
2 T. olive oil
1 head roasted garlic
1 quart chicken stock
1/3 c. milk
1 small potato, peeled and diced
2 oz. cream cheese
2 T. butter
salt and pepper

Garnish - optional
scallions, thinly sliced
parmesan cheese, shredded
croutons

In a large soup pot sauté garlic and onion with olive oil until translucent over medium-high heat. Add in roasted garlic, chicken stock, milk, cream cheese and potato.

Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer and cover. Continue simmering 10-15 minutes or until potatoes are tender.

Using an immersion blender Cuisinart SmartStick Immersion Blender, Metallic Red (Google Affiliate Ad) blend the soup until smooth. Return to low heat. Add butter and salt and pepper to taste.

Serve hot and garnish with scallions, cheese and croutons if desired.

***If you love garlic and cook with it a lot you may want to consider a garlic press of some sort. It is very convenient and makes quick work of all that garlic! I don't roast garlic all that often but when I do I love to use my garlic roaster! It comes out perfect every time. Mine is ceramic but cast-iron works perfectly also! Both times are a great addition to a home kitchen!

     

Animal Cracker Cookies

I remember being allowed to eat traditional animal crackers twice as a kid. How sad, I know. When I received animal cracker cookie cutters as a Christmas gift I realized that my boys have never had animal crackers and I guess they still haven't. Instead I made them myself and enjoyed every minute of it!

I can't begin to explain my excitement when I first used the cookie cutters. They are plunger cutters and now I believe ALL cookie cutters should be plunger cutters. It makes it so easy. Even if there wasn't a design to imprint in the dough it would still be easier because you can plunge the dough right out of the cutter, if the dough sticks, and mine always seems to. Get some!

Animal Cracker Cookies
6 T. butter, softened
1/2 c. sugar
1/4 c. brown sugar
1 egg
1 t. vanilla extract
1 1/2 c. all-purpose flour
1/2 t. cinnamon
1/4 t. nutmeg

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment cream butter and sugars on medium speed. Add egg and vanilla mixing well.

Sift in flour and spices and mix until well incorporated adding more flour if necessary to make a firm dough. Wrap dough in plastic wrap and chill for about 1 hour.

Remove dough from the plastic wrap and roll dough on a lightly floured work surface until 1/4 inch thick. Using cookie cutters cut out animal shapes. Transfer cut-outs to a parchment lined baking sheet. Arrange cut-outs close together. The dough will not spread or rise much with this recipe. Sprinkle with turbinado sugar if desired and if leaving the cookies un-frosted.

 
Bake approximately 6-8 minutes or until edges are lightly browned.

Transfer to a cooling rack and frost if desired.

Unfortunately, I did not write down the recipe I used for the frosting but it was basically a thin buttercream frosting that I let set up on the cookies without covering for about 2 hours.