Its really hot this summer. Technically its not as hot as it was last summer, but somehow it seems worse this year or I’m becoming a bigger and bigger wimp. You’d think that being born & raised in Texas would mean that I have some sort of tolerance from the heat but no! One of the best ways to cool down is a bit of ice cream. I’ve mentioned before that sherbet is my new summer go-to. Not as bad for you as ice cream but fruity with some fabulous creaminess. One of my priorities for this summer was to find/create a perfect orange cream sherbet. This is it. We love love love this recipe. You can use grocery store orange juice. Its still good but fresh squeezed is worth the effort Enjoy!

Orange Cream Sherbet

1 Tbsp grated orange zest from 1 to 2 oranges
1/2 – 3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/8 tsp kosher salt
2 cups fresh-squeezed orange juice, ~ 2 to 3 pounds oranges
2 Tbsp lemon juice
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups whole milk

In the bowl of a food processor or a blender, combine all of the ingredients except the milk, and process until the sugar is dissolved, approximately 1 minute. Transfer this mixture to a mixing bowl, and whisk in the milk. Cover the bowl, and place in the refrigerator until the mixture reaches 40°F or below, approximately 1 hour.

When mixture is thoroughly chilled, freeze in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Serve immediately or transfer to storage container; press plastic wrap against surface of sherbet & freeze until firm. To serve, let stand at room temperature until softly softened.

Source: Adapted from Alton Brown

I am smitten with the Pastry Queen. Is that weird to say?? Sorry if that’s awkward for you, Rebecca, but I am. Shawnda of Confections of a Foodie Bride has a shared love of the Pastry Queen and her recipes, so we recently met up for one of Rebecca Rather’s cooking classes in Austin. It was a sit, eat & watch cooking class rather than a hands-on class which was perfectly okay since I get plenty of hands on kitchen experience at home. I’ve been eyeing this kolache recipe, along with many many others, since this cookbook landed on my doorstep several years ago but I hadn’t ever gotten around to making the kolaches; this is the case with all my cookbooks as my ever growing collection continues to grow. But Shawnda & I have are going to change that — we’re going to cook our way through Rebecca’s first cookbook, The Pastry Queen! This is post #1 of Project Pastry Queen (I’ve also added a new tag so you can easily find all the recipes in the future). Are you a pastry queen fan and want to join in on the fun? Leave a comment or shoot me a message!

[The Foodie Bride, The Pastry Queen, and Me]

Now for these kolaches, one reason I’ve never made them is that all in all it calls for 9 cups of flour. Yes, you read that right. NINE. haha. Hello carbs!! BUT these are ridiculous delicious and great for an occassional treat and of course they do make a lot of kolaches so you can share with your friends! Having been born & raised in Texas, I never realized that they don’t have kolaches everywhere. The origins of kolaches aren’t exactly clear — some say Polish though in my experience, most say Czech. Origins aside, if you’ve never had a kolache, then you must give them a try. They are a sweet & soft and filled with all sorts of wonderful fillings.

When we visit a kolache shop (there are a lot in Texas although one of the most famous ones is located in West, Texas), I almost always get the savory kolaches whereas hubby goes for the cream cheese ones. So deciding what fillings to use was easy — cream cheese, jalapeno sausage & cheese, and peaches. The first two were natural choices since they’re our personal faves and peaches were a must because (1) its peach season (2) The Pastry Queen resides in Fredericksburg, Texas — home of our hill country peach capital. They were all fabulously delicious and we couldn’t decide which were our favorites. Hubby even liked peach although he’s anti cooked fruit.

Experiment with fillings when you give this a try. You can use the peach filling recipe as the basis of try other fruit fillings (just substitute blueberries & blueberry preserve for instance). The fruit filling is easily halved, or even quartered, so you can try out multiple flavors when you whip these up. Don’t wait years to try this recipe out at home like I did. Its worth it! (Oh and don’t be discouraged by the lengthy recipe. Its really not too complicated!)

Kolaches
Yields 18 large buns (or 27 smaller buns)

Dough:
2 cups milk
1 (1/4 ounce) package active dry yeast
1/2 cup lukewarm water (110°F to 115°F)
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted & cooled
2 large eggs
1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
2 teaspoons salt
8 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1 batch of filling (see recipes below)

Streusel Topping:
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar
3 tablespoons chilled butter, cut into small pieces

For the Dough: Warm the milk in a medium saucepan set over medium heat. Heat just until it starts to steam and a skin is formed – do not simmer or boil. Take off the heat and allow to cool slightly – to about 110°F - 115°F. Meanwhile, dissolve the yeast in the water. Let it sit until it is foamy. If yeast doesn’t foam, discard and start over.

In a large bowl, whisk together the sugar, eggs, salt and melted butter. Add in milk and the yeast mixture. Add in the flour, 2 cups at a time, making sure not to overwork the dough. Keep adding flour until it is fully incorporated. The dough should be sticky, moist and light.

Transfer the dough to a lightly greased bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and set in a draft-free place and allow to rise until doubled, 1 to 2 hours. Punch down the dough, recover, and refrigerate the dough for at least 4 hours or overnight.

Grease a 12×17 inch baking sheet. With lightly oiled fingers, shape dough into balls – about 2 1/2 inches in diameter, about the size of small limes. Arrange the balls on the baking sheet – 3 across and 6 down. (I actually make mine 4 across and 5 down and use an extra cookie sheet for the remaining kolaches). Gently flatten balls of dough.

For the Filling: Make filling of choice (see recipes below). Use your thumb to make a generious indentation in each dough round. Fill each indentation with filling mixture, a heaping Tablespoon or two depending upon the size of your kolaches. Cover the tray with a clean tea towel and allow to rise until doubled, about 1 hour.

Preheat the oven to 375°F.

For the Streusel: Meanwhile, to make the topping, use your hands, a food processor or a pastry cutter to mix the topping ingredients until crumbly. Scatter the topping over the kolaches right before they go into the oven. (Yes it seems like a lot of streusel, but don’t be shy!)

Bake the kolaches until lightly browned – about 25 to 30 minutes. Cool slightly. Serve warm (or at room temperature).

Peach Kolache Filling

2 cups pitted, chopped peaches
1 cup good quality peach jam

Mix together the peaches and peach jam. Follow recipe above as directed.

Cream Cheese Kolache Filling

8 oz cream cheese, softened
1 egg yolk
1/4 cup sugar
Zest of one lemon
1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract

Beat all ingredients together in a medium-sized bowl. Follow recipe above as directed.

Sausage & Cheese Kolaches

~ 1 1/4 lb Smoked Sausage (highly recommend using a Jalapeno sausage)
~ 1 1/2 cups shredded cheddar cheese

Follow directions for dough. Press dough into 5 inch circles. In center of rounds, add 1 Tbsp shredded cheese and medium-sized smoked sausage. Enclose sausage and cheese, pigs-in-a-blanket style. Place seam-side down on baking sheets. Allow to rise in a warm place ~1 hour. Bake as directed above.

Source: Adapted from The Pastry Queen

Summer fruit goodness is pure heaven. I love indulging on tons and tons of fruit throughout the summer; its one of the best parts of summer. The other day I was reminiscing about childhood summers. Some of my fondest summer memories were spent at my Grandparent’s house. We’d go for a week at a time a couple times a summer. If it was the week of Vacation Bible School then allll my cousins would stay the week as well and we’d have a blast. VBS in the morning and fun activities and swimming in the afternoons. Too bad I have an 8-5pm job that keeps me from doing that sort of stuff now! It’d be much more enjoyable than being in the office! Being a grown-up with bills is so overrated!

Well, like I was saying. Summertime is all about the abundance of fruit. I usually make fruit salad simply by tossing cut up fruit together. When fruit is at its prime, it doesn’t really need additives but it is fun to change things up a little. This recipe calls for some OJ and Grand Marnier (aka Grand Fruit Salad). If you don’t have Grand Marnier, you can use another orange liquor. Enjoy!

Oh and want to know something else grand?? I’ve been working on adding thumbnails to all my posts so now when you do a search or click on a category you’ll get a little thumbnail image too Sweet! I’m still working on it, but the last two years of posts have already been complete! Hope you like it!

Grand Fruit Salad

3 cups sliced strawberries
2 cups green grapes
2 cups sliced peaches
1 cup orange segments
1 cup sliced peeled kiwi
1/4 cup Grand Marnier or other orange liqueur
1/4 cup orange juice
2 tablespoons sugar

Combine all ingredients in large bowl. Cover and refrigerate up to 8 hours.

Source: Adapted from Bon Appétit, July 1992

I’m not sure how May snuck up on me; time really does go faster as you get older. Speaking of getting older, May means birthdays for both hubby and I  Which means I need to start experimenting with some cake recipes! I rarely make cake but our birthdays give me a good excuse to experiment and have a little fun! (Any recipes you love that you want to throw my way?)

I’ve already been experimenting and having a little fun with my ice cream maker since the weather has warmed up (yup, we’re in the 90′s already). Sigh. The only good thing about warmer weather is lots of frozen treats. I love experimenting with my ice cream maker! And sherbet is definitely me new favorite treat. I can enjoy dessert without feeling too guilty cause its fruit, right? But its better than sorbet cause the milk adds some fabulous creaminess that gives you that indulgent feeling. Perfect middle ground, right? We think so.

Pineapple Sherbet

16 oz. frozen pineapple chunks
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1 Tbsp + 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
2/3 cup whole milk

Combine all ingredients in large food processor. Puree until smooth. Chill the mixture thoroughly, then freeze it in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Best when served immediately. Can be stored in freezer; leave out for approximately 10 minutes to soften before scooping and serving.

I had the intention of making this for new year’s. Unfortunately, getting sick for a week totally threw off my plans. As well as my plans of updating the blog daily while I was at home on vacation for a week. Being sick was definitely not in the plans! I figure it was God’s way of slowing me down though. I needed some downtime.

Luckily for me (and you!), our 3rd wedding anniversary is today so I still had an excuse to whip this up. So tonight we’ll have some fabulous Champagne Sorbet to celebrate three years of wedded bliss. Thanks hubby for all your support and love. I couldn’t do any of it without you by my side!

I really liked this sorbet. It was really different than other sorbets that I’ve made in the past (Peach Mango Sorbet, and Strawberry Peach Sorbet). My usual fruit sorbets are made by creating a fruit puree with very little liquid. This sorbet though is mostly liquid which created a different almost airy texture, opposed to the heavier texture of my other sorbets. I was worried after making the mixture, it tasted SO sweet. But after the final freeze, it was much more balanced! Perfect!

Pink Grapefruit Champagne Sorbet

1 1/2 c pink blush champagne
1 c granulated sugar
1 tsp light corn syrup
1 tsp of lemon zest
1/4 c fresh squeezed lemon juice (Meyers if possible)
2 1/2 c fresh grapefruit juice

Put champagne, sugar, corn syrup, and zest into a saucepan. Bring to a vigorous boil so that the sugar completely dissolves, remove from heat.

Pourinto a stainless steel bowl, add the grapefruit juice and lemon juice. Chill completely. To do this, either place bowl in a larger bowl half-filled with ice water, and stir until champagne solution is completely cold, refreshing the ice in the outer bowl if necessary. Or you can cover with plastic wrap and chill in your refrigerator over night.

Process the mixture in your ice cream maker according to the ice cream maker directions. Transfer mixture to a storage container and freezer in your freezer until firm, at least 6 hours.

Yields: ~1 quart

Source: Adapted from Simply Recipes

Its summer time. I’ve been craving ice cream daily. I tried making a batch of frozen yogurt but the first attempt was not sweet enough and was too yogurt-y. I’ll give it a few more tries and hopefully be back with a winning Fro Yo recipe. For now though, I figured I’d stick with sorbet.

Peach Mango Sorbet

2 c fresh ripe peaches (peeled and diced)
2 c diced ripe mango
1/4 c fresh-squeezed lime juice
1/4 – 1/2 c white sugar *

Combine all ingredients in a food processor and blend until smooth. Refrigerate fruit mixture until very cold, at least 2-3 hours. Pour into ice cream maker or frozen dessert machine and finish according to the manufacturer’s directions. Best served immediately.

* I always taste the fruit while I’m cutting it. The better the fruit, the less sugar I use.

I’m very excited to be able to participate in this year’s wonderful blogging event, A Taste of Yellow hosted by winos and foodies. A Taste of Yellow is a blogging event supporting Livestrong Day, which is on May 13th this year. Livestrong Day, an event developed by the Lance Armstrong Foundation was created to to raise awareness and funds for the cancer fight.

As soon as I heard about Barbara’s a Taste of Yellow event, I knew I had to participate. My entry honors hubby’s recently deceased Grandfather; he passed away peacefully on March 25th, only 2 weeks after his diagnosis… Grandpa, we miss you!

Onto my dish for this event…I couldn’t decide whether to call this a salsa or salad. When I got to work in the kitchen I imagined a spicy savory sort of pineapple salsa. But I didn’t have cilantro or red onions. So I started to shift gears. I was in the mood for something sweet anyway, so a sweet pineapple salsa it’ll be!

And oh my goodness, I wish I had tried making this sooner because it was so delicious! I literally ate about half of it standing over the bowl in the kitchen as soon I finished making it. It was sweet with just the slightest bit of kick from the jalapeno… absolute pineapple heaven. I plan to make this a lot more in the future!

Be sure to check out the write up on May 13th at winos and foodies!

Pineapple Salsa

2 cups freshly diced pineapple, chilled
1 jalapeno, seeded and minced
2 Tbsp fresh chopped mint
1 Tbsp light brown sugar
1-2 Tbsp lime juice, as desired

Combine all ingredients in a bowl. Mix. Taste and add more brown sugar and/or lime as desired. Serve immediately or refrigerate.

Its not quite fall here in Texas, so ice cream and sorbet still sound like delicious treats. I never did get around to trying out a sorbet recipe this summer, so I figured I ought to get busy now before the weather actually does start cooling down. Now most of the recipes I found for strawberry sorbet called for some water in the mixture, but we prefer our sorbet very creamy not icy in the least so you’ll find nothing but fruit and sugar in this recipe. It was a delicious mid-day treat for our lazy Sunday afternoon.

Strawberry Peach Sorbet

1/3 cup granulated sugar
3 cups of sliced strawberries
2 medium sized peaches, peeled & sliced
1 pinch of salt

Put strawberries in a bowl with sugar. Cover and all to sit for 1 hour, stirring occasionally. Using blender or food processor, combine strawberries with their juices, peaches and the pinch of salt. Puree. Refrigerate mixture for at least 1 hour until puree is chilled. (You can strain if you prefer no strawberry seeds but personally, I like the texture).
Place in an ice-cream maker and follow the manufacturer’s instructions.

Makes 4 single scoop servings.

Grilled Tequila Cinnamon Pineapple

1 whole pineapple, peel, cored & cut into rings, chilled
1/2 cup tequila
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Combine tequila, brown sugar & cinnamon in a small bowl. Mix until brown sugar is dissolved. Brush marinade on slices of pineapple.

Grill pineapple until brown, basting with marinade and turning occasionally, about 10 minutes. Serve hot.

Warm Cinnamon Peaches

2 ripe peaches, halved with pits removed
4 Tbsp brown sugar
1/2 Tbsp butter, quartered
Cinnamon to taste

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Prepare shallow baking dish (I used a pie pan). Halve peaches, and using a melon baller or spoon remove red fleshy part of peaches. Fill each peach with 1/8 Tbsp butter, 1 Tbsp brown sugar and top with several dashes of cinnamon.

Bake 15 minutes until peaches are warm and sugar melted. Serve warm.