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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© Stormie for BiteSizeBaker.com, 2009. | Permalink | 3 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Biscotti, chocolate, citrus, cookie carnival, Cookies & Bars, lemon, orange

IronCupcake:Earth is back! After taking a brief hiatus, this year’s first monthly challenge is Music! I’m excited to participate, considering I’m completely addicted to music.

The inspiration for this cupcake comes from one of the most famous songs in history, Over the Rainbow by Judy Garland.

I, like many other kids, grew up watching The Wizard of Oz. It is such a whimsical movie and I always had a soft spot for Toto. I really wanted a pair of ruby slippers, too. One of my favorite quotes comes from The Wizard of Oz; “A heart is not judged by how much you love; but by how much you are loved by others.”

2009 marks the 70th anniversary of this classic movie. To celebrate, Warner Bros. has released a digitally remastered, high definition version.

Now on to the cupcakes!

The cupcake itself is a rainbow lemon cupcake with bits of lemon drops (hard candies) mixed in the batter. Why lemon drops you ask?

“Someday I’ll wish upon a star
And wake up where the clouds are far behind me
Where troubles melt like lemon drops…”

They are topped off with a “cloud” of marshmallow frosting. I’m pretty sure if you could taste a cloud it would be made of marshmallows. It just has to be.

I searched for real lemon drops in my local grocery store but the only ones they carried had never seen actual lemons. So I ordered some old-fashioned, 100% naturally flavored lemon drops made by Claeys Candies (since 1919).

To crush the lemon drops, I double bagged them in zip top bags and took a hammer to them, on a cutting board of course. It was very therapeutic. Once they were a manageable size, I put them in my 4-cup chopper and chopped/ground them until they were 1/8″ or smaller. When the lemon drops bake in the cupcakes, they melt and leave behind little bursts of lemony goodness.

Lemon Drop Rainbow Cupcakes – Makes about 2 dozen
adapted from Martha Stewart’s Cupcakes (originally Lemon Meringue recipe)

3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
2 cups sugar
4 large eggs, room temperature
3 tablespoons finely grated lemon zest (about 3 medium lemons)
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 cup buttermilk
1/4 cup crushed lemon drops

Preheat oven to 325°F. Line standard cupcake tins with liners.

Whisk flour, baking powder and salt together; set aside.

With an electric mixer on medium-high, cream the butter and sugar (using the paddle attachment) until pale and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing after each one. Scrape down the sides of bowl if needed. Beat in the lemon zest and vanilla extract. Combine the buttermilk and lemon juice in small bowl or measuring cup. Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture, alternating with two additions of the buttermilk/lemon juice mixture. Beat until just barely combined after each addition.

Gently fold in the crushed lemon drops. To avoid the batter getting too stiff, try not to overmix when adding the lemon drops. It will be mixed even more when you add the colors.

Divide the batter into 1 cup increments and put into 5 separate small bowls (if doing 5 colors). Gradually add food coloring to each bowl, until you get to your desired colors. Stir gently to make sure there aren’t any remaining streaks of color.

To measure the coloring I dipped a toothpick about 3/4″ into each jar of color (with the exception of the green, see below), swirled it through the batter and mixed throughly.

Here are the colors and amount of coloring I used from the bottom of the cupcake to the top:

• Orange – Wilton Creamy Peach – 1 toothpick plus a tiny bit more.
• Yellow – Wilton Buttercup Yellow – 1 toothpick
• Green – AmeriColor Avacado – 5 drops
• Blue – Wilton Cornflower Blue – 2-3 toothpicks
• Violet – Wilton Violet – 1 toothpick

Put 1 teaspoon (slightly heaped) batter of your first color in each of the cupcake cups. I gently smoothed out only the first color, just to get an even bottom. Repeat with the other colors.

Bake at 325°F for 22-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Cool completely on a wire rack. Decorate!

Marshmallow Frosting
adapted from MarthaStewart.com

8 large egg whites
2 cups sugar
1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

In a heatproof bowl of an electric mixer, place egg whites, sugar and cream of tartar. Set over a saucepan of simmering water. Whisk the mixture constantly until the egg whites are warm to the touch and the sugar is dissolved, 3 to 4 minutes.

Transfer the bowl to electric mixer, fitted with the whisk attachment. Starting on low speed, gradually increasing to high, beat until the mixture is stiff and glossy peaks form (5 to 7 minutes). Add the vanilla extract and mix until combined.

Use immediately, as the marshmallow frosting will continue to stiffen.

Makes enough for 2 dozen cupcakes.

Voting for IronCupcake begins Friday, October 30th at 8 p.m. (cst) and will be open through Thursday, November 5th. You can use the icon below or go here to VOTE.

The awesome IronCupcake:Earth Prize Providers are:

• The Demy™ by Key Ingredient
• Hello, Cupcake by Karen Tack & Alan Richardson
• Bella Cupcake Couture
• Cupcake Stackers by Gourmac
• The Cake Mix Doctor Returns! by Anne Byrne
• Beautiful Baking Liners by Vestli House
• Sweet Cuppin’ Cakes Bakery & Cupcakey Supply

Check out all things IronCupcake:Earth!

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© Stormie for BiteSizeBaker.com, 2009. | Permalink | 19 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Iron Cupcake, iron cupcake earth, lemon, lemon cupcakes, lemon drop cupcakes, lemon drops, rainbow cupcakes, the wizard of oz

Everybody has their favorites when it comes to cupcake flavors and lemon is definitely one of mine. With that being said, I was super excited when I found an awesome recipe for Lemon and Lavender cake. I had never tasted the two flavors together so I was eager to try it for my second IronCupcake Herbs entry this month.

Now, I know lemon and lavender is a popular combo but there is a reason… It’s because they are outstanding together. In this recipe, the lemon taste hits you first, followed closely by a subtle hint of lavender.

To top it all off, these cupcakes were a breeze to make. Just dump all the ingredients in the bowl, mix and bake. How simple.

While they were still warm, I drizzled some lemon-sugar syrup on each cupcake (recipe below). It kept them extra moist and added a bit more lemon flavor. So if you aren’t really crazy about that much lemon you could skip this step.

Rather than pairing them with a fancy frosting, I opted for a plain cream cheese icing. I didn’t want to do anything that would detract from the lemon and lavender.

Also, I had a bit of batter left over, but not enough for another pan of regular size cupcakes, so I made some mini cupcakes. I actually wish I would have made more mini sized cupcakes because they were just so darn adorable!

Voting for the IronCupcake:Earth Herbs challenge begins Tuesday, July 28th and will be open through Wednesday, August 5th. You can use the icon on the right side of the page or the link below to vote for your 3 favorite cupcakes.

VOTE!

Also see my first entry for the Herbs challenge, Peach-Rosemary Filled Pound Cupcakes.

Etsy Prize-Pack:

• A sweet cupcake ID bracelet by insanejellyfish
• A delicious treat from circlemonkey
• a sweet surprise from Sweet Cuppin’ Cakes Cupcakery
• PLUS, IronCupcake:Earth can not forget our good friend CAKESPY who is now going to be doing a piece for our winner each month until further notice – sweet!

Corporate Prize Providers:

• Head Chefs by Fiesta Products
• Hello Cupcake! by Karen Tack and Alan Richardson
• Jessie Steele Aprons
• Taste of Home books
• A t-shirt from Upwithcupcakes.com
• Iron Cupcake:Earth is sponsored in part by 1-800-Flowers

Learn more about IronCupcake:Earth and join the fun at www.ironcupcakeearth.com

Lemon & Lavender Cupcakes:
adapted from here.

Cream Cheese Frosting:
adapted from Martha Stewart’s Cupcakes

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© Stormie for BiteSizeBaker.com, 2009. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Cupcakes, ICE_012, Iron Cupcake, Iron Cupcake Herbs, IronCupcake:Earth, lavender, lemon, mini cupcake

In a quest to find a good, fruit inspired breakfast muffin I came across a recipe for Lemon-Raspberry Muffins from EatingWell. So keeping with my bite-size obsession, I of course made mini muffins. Somehow I happened to have everything on hand thanks to a bag of organic frozen raspberries in the freezer that needed to be used.

These aren’t your normal muffins. They are actually pretty healthy. Low calorie, fat, sodium, and cholesterol!

I know what you might be thinking… healthy=bland. I was thinking the same thing…

My goodness was I wrong. So very wrong!

The lemon. The raspberries. The lemon-raspberry combo. Yum. My kitchen smelled like a bakery for a good 3 hours after they came out of the oven. I think I’ll bake them again just for the smell. If only I could bottle it…

Also, they freeze for up to a month! Just wrap the muffins individually in plastic wrap and when you’re ready to devour one (or two), pop it in the microwave for 30 seconds wrapped in a paper towel (without the plastic wrap of course). I will be keeping some on hand for those mornings when there really isn’t time for breakfast.

Lemon-Raspberry Mini Muffins
adapted from EatingWell

Notes:
I used regular whole-wheat flour, not whole-wheat pastry flour and they came out just fine.
For regular size muffins, bump up the baking time to 20-25 minutes. Makes 1 dozen regular muffins.
Also, the original recipe says to serve warm; while they are excellent warm, they are also really good room temp or cold.

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© Stormie for BiteSizeBaker.com, 2009. | Permalink | One comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Breads & Muffins, lemon, lemon-raspberry muffins, mini muffins, raspberry