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Since most of the U.S. is covered in a blanket of snow, I figured now would be a great time to whip up something summery. You know, a bit of summer in the dead of winter. And what better ingredient to use than limes. Now would be the time to close your eyes and picture some place tropical with palm trees and hammocks swaying in the salty breeze. Go ahead. I’ll wait.

Okay, back to reality.

I discovered this recipe recently when I picked up a copy of Nigella Lawson’s How to Be a Domestic Goddess. Let me tell ya, if this is what it take to be a domestic goddess, I’ll happily bake these every day! The cakes are flavored with lime zest and they get an added boost of lime flavor from the syrup that is poured over while they are still warm. In the book, Nigella mentions that you can easily substitute lemons for the limes, or even orange juice for orange-syrup cakes. Which ever type of citrus you decide to use, the outcome is bound to be great!

Something new to me is self-rising cake flour, which I had never heard of. After searching the supermarket and coming up empty handed, I decided to turn to my friend, Google. He pointed me in the right direction, and I found that, apparently, White Lily self-rising flour is equal to self-rising cake flour. There you go. Problem solved and it seemed to work just fine.

They have a bit of a peak in the middle but I have a feeling that is due to the fact I over-mixed the batter. Nevertheless, they taste divine!

Mini Lime-Syrup Sponges
adapted from How to Be a Domestic Goddess

For the mini cakes:
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon sugar
2 eggs
zest of 1 lime
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons self-rising cake flour
pinch of salt
4 tablespoons milk

For the lime-syrup:
4 tablespoons lime juice (1-2 limes) plus zest for decoration
1/2 cup confectioners’ sugar

Preheat oven 350 degrees F.

Generously butter a 8-cup mini-loaf pan; set aside.

Cream together butter and sugar. Add eggs and lime zest, until incorporated well. Gently fold in the flour and salt and then add the milk. Divide evenly into mini-loaf pan, and bake for 25 minutes (Note: I used a dark non-stick pan and the baking time was about 20 minutes).

While the cakes are baking, prepare the syrup by putting the lime juice and confectioners’ sugar into a small saucepan and heat gently so that the sugar dissolves.

As soon as the mini-sponges are ready take them out of the oven and prick them all over with a cake-tester (or toothpick). Pour over the syrup evenly. Let the middle absorb the liquid as well as the sides, then leave it to soak up the rest.

When they have cooled slightly and the syrup looks like it has been absorbed, turn them out onto a cooling rack. Don’t let them cool completely in the pans or they may be difficult to remove.

For a garnish, grate some lime zest on the tops.

Makes 8.

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This months Cookie Carnival recipe is Chocolate Citrus Biscotti (flavored with orange and lemon zest) from Giada De Laurentiis via the Food Network.

I love anything citrus. I can eat all the navel oranges you can put in front of me. In my opinion, Florida grows the best oranges. Of course, I may be a bit biased as I grew up in the middle of a county that is home to approximately 95,050 acres of commercial orange groves. In case you were wondering, that’s a ton of oranges!

Back to the biscotti… This is a recipe I plan on baking again and again. It was absolutely wonderful. I loved the cornmeal texture. It’s something I hadn’t tried before with biscotti. It got even better when dipped in hot coffee. Y-u-m-m-y.

I had my doubts that it would be citrus-y enough for my liking, but I was pleasantly surprised with the flavor. It was just right and they smelled absolutely wonderful as they baked!

A couple of notes:

I found the dough to be really soft when trying to form it into logs. It kept wanting to spread outward. In the end, I had more of a large rectangle rather than a well formed log. It still worked though, they were just a little wider than originally intended.

The recipe says it makes 3 dozen. Somehow, I only came out with about 1 dozen. Probably due to the aforementioned widening of the logs.

On the last round of baking I cut the baking time to 20 minutes instead of 25.

Also, there are a few reviews on Food Network’s site saying the biscotti was extremely hard. I didn’t find it to be that hard. Yes, it was a bit harder than some biscotti I have baked but it wasn’t break-your-teeth hard.

For an extra touch, I chopped some walnuts and sprinkled them on the chocolate before it set.

They are even delicious for breakfast. Not that I had any for breakfast. This is just hypothetically speaking of course….sort of….

Get the recipe: Chocolate Citrus Biscotti

Also, if you haven’t already, check out the Cookie Carnival!

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