M&M and Oreo Chunk Cookies

So one Saturday I'm sitting around, getting some stuff done and I notice both Oreo's and M&M's in my panty (I use the word "pantry" loosely here. We have a few shelves we store food on). Well, I certainly can't have those both just lying around or the sweets monster will have them in her belly before too long (thats me!).

I'm sure I could have just thrown them into a chocolate chip cookie recipe, but scouring the internet for recipes is waaaay more fun!

I found this recipe on Cookie Madness and the only thing I did differently was omit the chocolate chips. I promise you there's enough candy going on in these guys. They are delicious! Very sweet, but kind of salty too, I think from the Oreos. Very simple. Very good.

M&M and Oreo Chunk Cookies
From Cookie Madness

6 oz unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons light brown sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 large egg
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
2 cups all purpose flour
1 cup M&M candies
6-8 Oreos, broken into thirds or fourths (do not crush)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Cream butter and both sugars. Beat in vanilla and egg. Add soda, salt, baking powder and cream of tartar and beat well to ensure the baking powder is well-distributed. Add the flour and stir until it’s absorbed. Stir in the M&M’s and cookies. I chilled the dough for about an hour here, but only because my kitchen at the time must have been about 100 degrees!

Using a heaping tablespoon, drop the cookies about 2 inches apart onto cookie sheets. Bake for 12-15 minutes.

Vanilla Bean Ice Cream

So a few summers ago, Spice and I decided to embark on a little journey called Lost. It took us almost the entire summer to catch up on all the seasons so we would be ready for the next one. Unaware of the world around us, Spice sat on one couch, I on the other, and we went through 4  seasons of Lost.

Stop judging us. We have since expanded our horizons to include TrueBlood and also have a continuous stream of Harry Potter coming from our television.

Last Sunday, our Lost journey came full circle and ended just as it had begun. Spice and I. On the couches. Enjoying our time.

Of course, we needed gourmet snacks. Spice made stuffed artichokes and halibut with a mango salsa (that one of us will have to post soon), and I made vanilla bean ice cream to make root beer floats with.

Root beer floats remind me of summers, on vacation with my family. My cousins and I would eat root beer floats until our belly's hurt and then would beg our parents to get more root beer or vanilla ice cream for us when we ran low.



The root beer float brought me right back there. To my mom telling me to eat some real food, and me stubbornly shoving more root beer and ice cream into my mouth. A pang of nostalgia, if you will.

The Vanilla Bean Ice Cream is non-other than David Lebovitz's recipe. It is so rich and full of vanilla flavor. Perfect to make root beer all frothy and sweet. Of course, I could't even get a picture once I poured root beer in my glass. My mouth was too full. =D

Vanilla Bean Ice Cream
From The Perfect Scoop or DavidLebovitz.com

1 cup (250ml) whole milk
A pinch of salt
3/4 cup (150g) sugar
1 vanilla bean
2 cups (500ml) heavy cream
5 large egg yolks
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Heat the milk, sugar and salt in a saucepan. Split the vanilla bean in half and scrape the seeds into the mixture. Throw in the vanilla bean. When warm, cover, remove from the heat and let it sit for one hour.

Set up an ice bath and set a strainer over the top bowl. Pour in the cream to the bowl.

Stir together the egg yolks in a separate bowl. Rewarm the milk and gradually pour it into the egg yolks, whisking constantly. Scrape the yolks and milk back into the saucepan.

Stir over low heat, stirring constantly and scraping the bottom with a spatula until the custard thickens enough to coat the spatula. Strain the custard into the heavy cream. Stir over the ice until cool, then add the vanilla extract (homemade if ya got it!). Refrigerate until cold throughout.

Remove the vanilla bean and freeze in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's instructions.

Snickerdoodle Blondies with Cinnamon Penuche Frosting

These are one of my favorite cookie bars. I've made them before and they were gobbled up before you could say "Bob's your uncle" (name that movie)!

Bananie asked me to make something for her to take to class and all I got from her about what she wanted was:

"Something snickerdoodle-like. With cinnamon and sugar. And some kind of frosting. Snickerdoodle frosting. And easy to carry."

Hmm.

After I got that out of her, I immediately thought of the Snickerdoodle bars and figured I could add some cinnamon to a frosting recipe and just make it a Snickerdoodle party.

These were every bit as good as I remembered them! The bars have such a unique texture, and are literally like an actual snickerdoodle cookie. The penuche frosting was great as well, but EXTREMELY sweet. It hardened over the bars, causing it to flake off as you ate it, where it proceeded to melt in your mouth. Yum.  I've posted the Snickerdoodle bar recipe before here and below you will find the Cinnamon Penuche Frosting.



Cinnamon Penuche Frosting
From Cupcake Project

1/2 C butter

1 C brown sugar, packed

1/4 C milk

1 T ground cinnamon

1 1/2 C sifted confectioners' sugar

In a saucepan, melt 1/2 C butter. Add the brown sugar. Bring to a boil and lower heat to medium low and continue to boil for 2 minutes, stirring constantly. Add the milk and cinnamon and bring to a boil, stirring constantly.

Cool to lukewarm.

Gradually add sifted confectioners' sugar. Beat until thick enough to spread. If too thick, add a little hot water. Let cool completely before frosting bars.

Spring Sugar Cookies

Boy, our apartment has become sugar cookie capital of the world. Every time Spice and I want to send cookies to someone or make them for a special event, we almost always break out the iced sugar cookies.

Although it's a bit time consuming (which I just find fun), these cookies always get us praise. Not only do they look beautiful, but they really are delicious. So many decorated sugar cookies out there skimp on the cookie so that the decorating stands out. Lame!

These are the best of both worlds!

These were cute cookies. I think the colors were a little glaring, but to each their own!

One of the cookies had a little mishap coming out of the oven. Waste not! I just made him a little more special =)



The cookie and icing recipe we use. Have fun!

Chocolate Rolled Cookies

One of the only things I dislike about baking is wasting ingredients. Whether that means you waste ingredients on something that was less than mediocre, you use egg whites and have no use for the yolks, your fruit goes bad before you can bake it into something (this happened to me yesterday and gave me a sad), or you make too much frosting than you need.

Well, these chocolate dudes don't use egg whites, have no fruit in them and tasted delicious so by process of elimination you can guess that I had an excess of frosting on my hands! Ding ding ding! You win!

I had almost 2 cups of chocolate frosting left over from my Butterfly Cupcakes and just couldn't bring myself to chuck it. And what better to go with chocolate frosting than chocolate cookies? Ok, chocolate frosting is delicious on vanilla as well, but I wanted to try Meaghan's Chocolate Rolled Cookies in her book Cookie Sensations (By the way, I LOVE this book). And what a perfect way to get rid of some chocolate frosting!

These cookies were great! Soft on the inside, but hold up VERY well to decorating and have a perfect chocolate taste! I rolled them out and used a small, circular cookie cutter. I piped this chocolate frosting on them and sprinkled some white non-pareils on the top. A few of the others I made "sandwiches" with and rolled the edges in the non-pareils.

Chocolate Rolled Cookies
From The Decorated Cookie

1 cup (2 sticks) slightly softened, unsalted butter
1 cup granulated sugar
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 cups flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt

Cream butter and sugar. Add the egg and vanilla and blend. Mix together the dry ingredients and gradually add to the wet. Cover and refrigerate 1 to 2 hours. When chilled, roll out on a floured surface, cut out shapes, and bake on a parchment paper-lined baking tray in a preheated 375 degree oven. Bake 8 to 10 minutes for small cookies, 10 to 12 minutes for larger cookies, or until edges are crisp. TIP: In lieu of flour, which may show up on the surface, you can roll cookies between two pieces of wax paper.

The View: My Brush With Fame

If you happened to watch The View last Thursday, you would have seen me right before a commercial break, announcing James Pickens Jr. as the next guest, right next to Vanessa Williams!

Let me start at the beginning. Spice signed up be an audience member on The View a few years ago. She was finally issued four tickets and brought me and two other friends. What a pal!



We were all so excited and showed up to the taping in bright, solid colors with big smiles! We waited in line and after about a half an hour, they let us inside, where we showed them our id's (and they noticed I was from Washington State) and were then passed through a metal detector. As we were waiting in the hallway to get into the studio, one of the interns came up to me, remembering I was from Washington. He said I MAY be selected to do a short promo. Well color me excited! He told me I was on a standby list, so I figured I wouldn't actually be doing anything.



Eventually, we were brought into the studio, where we got front row seats! The studio was actually smaller than I thought it would be. The main table and chairs were all set up for the women to come sit in. After an MC riled up the crowd a bit, the women came out and the show started! The women were all beautiful, but it was interesting to watch the makeup people rush in at every commercial break!



At the first or second commercial break, one of the producers came up to me (I was on the aisle) and asked if I was 'Allison from Washington'. He proceeded to inform me that I would be doing a commercial lead in with Joy! He also handed me a script, which I had to practice several times in front of the girls. =)

At the next commercial break, the producer came back to get me and put me on a landing right below where I was sitting. He then told little, ol' me that Vanessa Williams (who was filling in for Barbara Walters) would be doing it with me.

My response: "I'm sorry, s-s-sir. I m-m-must've got d-d-deaf for a second. WHAT?!"



Ms. Williams came up a few seconds later and introduced herself.

I died a little bit inside.

Then I mumbled something about '"hello".

Then they started shooting and Ms. Williams introduced me as Allison from Washington and I read from the teleprompter.



Then the aliens put me back into my body and I went and sat back down next to Spice.

And as if that wasn't awesome enough, L.L. Cool J came on. And Spice melted next to me. During his interview, L.L. did bicep curls with Elisabeth, Joy and Sherri. L.L kept licking his lips and being gorgeous. I wasn't sure the day could get any better!



All in all, it was a great morning! And what an experience for my first TV taping! Spice and I had a wonderful time and are ready to sign up for other shows now!

Butterfly Cupcakes

I have some pretty awesome friends. Not only are they just generally awesome, but they support my fanatic and insatiable need to bake. Spice will cook me dinner when I'm too busy making cookies, other friends come over to my apartment frequently so that I can use my oven, Kitchen Aid and cookie cutters and then an awesome friend and supporter got me "Hello, Cupcake!". This book is amazing. I'm not kidding you. I can't wait to try my hand at more creations from this book. They are all super duper adorable and have step by step instructions. 

After looking through the book for awhile, marveling at each cupcake in turn, I decided on butterflies for Spring. First, I made chocolate cupcakes from the book, which I did not care for. They were too dry, so I won't even post the recipe. But any cupcake will work, really.

For the butterflies, you will need to following:
2 cups dark cocoa melting wafers
2 cups orange candy melting wafers
3 tablespoons white nonpareils
3/4 cup dark chocolate frosting
Vanilla frosting
72 brown candy-coated chocolates such as M&Ms 

I made a batch of vanilla buttercream and dyed it orange before piping it onto each cupcake. You can also just spread the frosting on. 


Draw butterfly wings and antennae on paper with a dark marker to use as a template. I used the template in the book, but I'm sure you can trace wings online as well. Place template behind wax paper.

Place 1 cup each of the dark cocoa and orange candy melting wafers into separate ziploc bags. Do not seal the bags. Microwave for 10 seconds to soften. Massage the wafers in the bags, return to the microwave, and repeat the process until the candy is smooth, about 1 minute total. Press out the excess air and seal the bags.

Snip a 1/16-inch corner from each bag. Working on one wing at a time and using the melted dark cocoa, outline the template on wax paper. Go over the outline several times to thicken. Fill in with the orange melted candy. Tap the pan slightly to flatten. Using a round toothpick, pull the dark cocoa into the orange to create a wing design. While the candy is still wet, sprinkle the upper portion of the dark cocoa outline with the white nonpareils. 

 
Repeat with the remaining melted candy, melting additional wafers as needed. Reheat the candy in the microwave for several seconds if it becomes too thick. Place the cookie sheets in the refrigerator until set, about 5 minutes. Follow the same procedure to make the antennae, using the melted dark cocoa.


Make some chocolate frosting. I used the one in the book, which I will post at the end, but any chocolate frosting will do! Spoon frosting into a ziplock bag, press out the excess air, seal and set aside. I used  pastry bag, instead. 

Remove the wings from the refrigerator and carefully peel from the wax paper. Place 2 brown chocolate candies, 1/2 inch apart, on top of the cupcakes to form supports for the wings. Press the inside edge of a pair of wings into the frosting about 1/4 inch apart, allowing the wings to lean on the chocolate candies. Gently press the antennae into the frosting at the head of the butterfly. 



Snip a 1/8-inch corner from the bag with the chocolate frosting. Starting at the antennae, pipe 4 or 5 bead of frosting down the length of the body, drawing the frosting into a small point of the last bead. 


Chocolate Frosting
From Hello, Cupcake! 

1 stick (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter, cut into 8 pieces
2 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder,
1 box (16 ounces) confectioners' sugar
1/3-1/2 cup milk

Combine the butter and the chocolate in a small saucepan. Melt oven medium heat, stirring constantly. Add the cocoa powder and stir until smooth. Transfer the chocolate mixture to a large mixing bowl and beat with an electric mixer.

Add the confectioners' sugar alternately with the milk, adding more milk, if necessary, to thin, and beat until fluffy.

*If you are using this frosting for the butterfly cupcakes, I would recommend halving the recipe as it makes about 2 1/2 cups.

Pop Tarts

Oh boy, was I a Pop-Tart kid or what?! My mom believed that if she allowed me to eat what I wanted (to an extent) I would tire of it and therefore not care for it anymore. This method worked like a charm for soda. My beverage of choice has been water for many years now, and I hardly ever drink any carbonated beverages.

One area where my mother's method failed was sugar. My mom let me have Pop-tarts, sugary cereal, candy, etc. Of course, I'm pretty sure there were restraints on my consumption but, still, I love sugar. My tastes have grown with me, but when I saw a recipe for homemade Pop-tarts on Smitten Kitchen, I, well, was smitten.

I remember vacations where I would eat a pop-tart for breakfast and a pop-tart for lunch. Just call me the Queen Child of Healthy Eating. Or not. Luckily, nutrition has prevailed.



These Pop-tarts were a fun project and came out delicious! The crust was flaky and buttery, and each filling popped right out of the tart! I made 4 tarts with a cinnamon and brown sugar filling, 4 with a nutella filling and 2 with a lemon-curd filling. I bet if you froze these after baking them, you could pop them in a toaster oven for a yummy, quick breakfast. Or dessert. I'll let you choose.

Homemade Pop-Tarts
From Smitten Kitchen, adapted from King Arthur Flour

Pastry
2 cups (8 1/2 ounces) all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks or 8 ounces) unsalted butter, cut into pats
1 large egg
2 tablespoons (1 ounce) milk

1 additional large egg (to brush on pastry)

Cinnamon Filling (this is enough for 9 tarts, if you do less, I would halve it)
1/2 cup (3 3/4 ounces) brown sugar
1 to 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon, to taste
4 teaspoons all-purpose flour

Nutella, lemon curd, jam, chocolate chips or any other filling you can think of!



Whisk together the flour, sugar, and salt. Work in the butter with your fingers, pastry blender or food processor until pea-sized lumps of butter are still visible, and the mixture holds together when you squeeze it. If you’ve used a food processor, transfer the mixture to a large bowl. Whisk the first egg and milk together and stir them into the dough, mixing just until everything is cohesive, kneading briefly on a well-floured counter if necessary.

Divide the dough in half (approximately 8 1/4 ounces each), shape each half into a smooth rectangle, about 3×5 inches. You can roll this out immediately (see Warm Kitchen note below) or wrap each half in plastic and refrigerate for up to 2 days.

If the dough has been chilled, remove it from the refrigerator and allow it to soften and become workable, about 15 to 30 minutes. Place one piece on a lightly floured work surface, and roll it into a rectangle about 1/8″ thick, large enough that you can trim it to an even 9″ x 12″. [You can use a 9" x 13" pan, laid on top, as guidance.] Repeat with the second piece of dough. Set trimmings aside. Cut each piece of dough into thirds – you’ll form nine 3″ x 4″ rectangles.

Beat the additional egg and brush it over the entire surface of the first dough. This will be the “inside” of the tart; the egg is to help glue the lid on. Place a heaping tablespoon of filling into the center of each rectangle, keeping a bare 1/2-inch perimeter around it. Place a second rectangle of dough atop the first, using your fingertips to press firmly around the pocket of filling, sealing the dough well on all sides. Press the tines of a fork all around the edge of the rectangle. Repeat with remaining tarts.



Gently place the tarts on a lightly greased or parchment-lined baking sheet. Prick the top of each tart multiple times with a fork; you want to make sure steam can escape, or the tarts will become billowy pillows rather than flat toaster pastries. Refrigerate the tarts (they don’t need to be covered) for 30 minutes, while you preheat your oven to 350°F.

Remove the tarts form the fridge, and bake them for 20 to 25 minutes, until they’re a light golden brown. Cool in pan on rack.

Birthday Paella

Hello Friends! It has been a long time. I bet you are all feeling lonely, what with Sugar's absence (due to her surgery) and my laziness/ crazy schedule.

In truth, for the past two months I have been busy persuing my new career as a professional bridesmaid. With two weddings only 29 days apart, I have been a busy bee. During the past two months in between showers, bachelorette parties, and wedding weekends I have been doing a lot of cooking. I have mastered Lady JayPee's amazing Braised BBQ chicken , I have treated my boyfriend and roomies to homemade sausage and onion ravoli, and a bevy of delicious risottos.  However nothing struck me as post worthy, that is until one special day...

April 26th was my boyfriend's 24th birthday and this year I promised to make him his favorite dish ever, paella.



Paella
Serves 6-8


4 bone-in chicken thighs, or 1 large chicken cut into 10 pieces (cut the breast in half, so everything cooks evenly)
Coarse salt and freshly ground pepper
10 large shrimp, peeled and deveined (I used 1/5 lb.)
1 lb of mussels, cleaned and de-bearded


1 lb. calamari - cut into 1/2 inch rings
6 Tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil
2 cloves garlic, crushed, plus 2 tsp. minced
5-6 cups low-sodium chicken broth (I use Swanson’s Organic)
1/2 cup dry white wine

2 small bay leaves
1 tsp. saffron threads
1 chopped red bell pepper
1 chopped yellow onion
2 (3-oz.) chorizos, cut into slices
1 tsp. sweet paprika
1 (14 1/2 oz.) can diced tomatoes with the juices
1 1/2 cups Aborio rice
1 cup frozen peas, thawed

 

1. Generously sprinkle the chicken and shrimp with salt and pepper and place in a large bowl. Add 2 tablespoons of the olive oil and some crushed garlic. Cover the bowl, or seal the bag, and refrigerate an hour or up to overnight.

2. In a large saucepan, bring the chicken broth to a boil. Decrease the heat to low and add the wine and bay leaves then cover to keep hot.

3. Crush the saffron with your fingers and transfer to a small bowl and add a ladle of the simmering broth. Cover and let stand until ready to use.

 

4. When ready to cook the paella, remove the chicken pieces from the marinade and place them on a plate. Heat the remaining 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a 12-14 inch paella pan or an extra-large skillet over medium heat until hot enough to sizzle the chicken. Add the chicken, skin side down, and cook the other side for 5 to 8 minutes, or until browned. Return the chicken to a clean plate.

5. Add the bell pepper, onion, chorizos, calamari  and the remaining 1 teaspoon of garlic to the pan and cook over medium heat, stirring with a wooden spoon or spatula, for 5 minutes, or until the vegetables are browned. Add the paprika and cook, stirring, for 1 minute. Add the tomatoes and cook, stirring, for 3 minutes, or until the juices boil off and the tomato is dry. Add the rice and cook, stirring for 2 minutes. Sprinkle with 1 teaspoon of salt. and 4 cups of broth and wine mixture over the rice. Add the reserved broth (with saffron) and stir into the other ingredients. Arrange the chicken pieces around the outer edges of the pan.


6. Cook uncovered over medium heat, without stirring, for 15 minutes, or until most of the broth has been absorbed by the rice. Taste the rice and add more spice (salt or paprika) if needed.

7. Tuck the shrimp down into the partially cooked rice, concentrating them in the center area of the pan. Ladle 1 cup of the simmering broth over the rice and cook 5 minutes more. As the rice cooks, it will continue to absorb the broth. Add more broth as needed, tasting the rice each time. It should be tender, but firm.


8. Sprinkle the peas on top. Tuck the cleaned and debearded mussels into the rice and the broth. Lay a piece of extra-wide aluminum foil over the paella for the last 5 minutes of cooking, or until the mussels have opened. Remove from the heat and let the paella stand covered for 5 to 10 minutes before serving.


When you serve your paella, you should have a browned bottom. Unfortunately when I made mine I actually burned the bottom, as I was a little over zealous with the chicken broth. But it still looked and tasted great! And the boy was pretty impressed with all my amazing skill.

Although this recipe looks a bit intimidating, it was really fun and easy cook. So flippers up, and get to cooking!

White Cake with Lemon

It has been one heck of a Spring for me! There has been a lot going on, both good and bad. Just quite a bit all at once!

Nothing like a bit of comfort food for when your overwhelmed. At least that's what I'm telling myself! Oddly enough, chocolate is not my go-to comfort food. Lemon is. I think it's because my Dad made me lemon pie (sans meringue) for me when I was little and I always remember home when I have lemon. I stepped outside my little lemon pie comfort zone, however, and made a lemon-y cake! I can't say lemon cake because it's technically a white cake, but there is no way to miss the lemon in this one!

This is a Martha Stewart white cake, which blew me away. I will definitely be using it again. The cake is very soft and moist, without being mushy, and tastes very light (although its most certainly not!). I used my lemon curd as a filling between layers and made a lemon-butter icing to top it with. I think the icing might have been a little much (even for me). Next time, I will probably just use a whipped cream-type frosting with a little lemon juice added in!

White Cake with Lemon

Cake:
From Martha Stewart

3 cups cake flour (not self-rising)

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature

2 1/4 cups sugar

1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1 cup milk

8 large egg whites

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter two 9-by-2-inch round cake pans; line bottoms with parchment paper rounds. Butter parchment, and dust with flour, tapping out excess; set aside.

Into a medium bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, and salt; set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat butter and 2 cups sugar until light and fluffy, 3 to 4 minutes, scraping down sides of bowl as needed. Beat in vanilla. With mixer on low speed, add flour mixture in three parts, alternating with milk and beginning and ending with flour; beat until just combined. Transfer mixture to a large bowl; set aside.

In the clean bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat egg whites on low speed until foamy. With mixer running, gradually add remaining 1/4 cup sugar; beat on high speed until stiff, glossy peaks form, about 4 minutes. Do not overbeat. Gently fold a third of the egg-white mixture into the butter-flour mixture until combined. Gently fold in remaining whites.

Divide batter evenly between prepared pans, smoothing with an offset spatula. Bake, rotating pans halfway through, until cakes are golden brown and a cake tester inserted in centers comes out clean, 30 to 35 minutes. Transfer pans to a wire rack to cool 20 minutes. Invert cakes onto rack; peel off parchment. Reinvert cakes, and let them cool completely, top sides up.

Lemon Butter Frosting
From Allrecipes.com

4 cups confectioners' sugar

1/2 cup butter, softened

2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

1 teaspoon grated lemon zest

2 tablespoons milk

In large bowl, beat confectioners' sugar, 1/2 cup butter, 2 tablespoons lemon juice and 1 teaspoon lemon zest until smooth. Beat in milk, and increase speed and continue to beat until light and fluffy.

To Assemble:

Using a serrated knife, split each cake layer in half horizontally, making 4 layers. Place 1 layer, cut side up on a cake stand or serving plate. Spread with lemon curd. Repeat with remaining layers. Frost top and sides of cake with frosting. Refrigerate cake.

Lemon Curd

Apologies for my absence but I was being a good little cripple and resting my foot, which meant no baking. I can't tell you how difficult it was to have so much time on my hands, but not be able to stand up to bake! Luckily, I'm off crutches as of today and ready to take on the world!

Ok, that's a bit of a stretch since my idea of "walking" means I hobble along on the heel of one foot with my arms flailing at my sides like a lame duck. Imagine THAT on the streets of New York!

Anyways, I was obviously itching to get back in the kitchen, but I knew that I was going to have to make something somewhat easy.

Enter: MICROWAVE Lemon Curd. Could it get any easier?! And not only that, but I knew a large jar full of lemon curd would need a higher purpose somewhere down the line.

This lemon curd is so easy to make. AND it tastes great! It is more on the tart side than sweet, which I appreciate, but probably not everyone will. Although I hardly ever go the easy route when baking, it was a necessary requirement for me this time. Just call me Gimp in the Kitchen. =D

Microwave Lemon Curd
From Allrecipes

1 cup white sugar

3 eggs

1 cup fresh lemon juice

3 lemons, zested

1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted

In a microwave-safe bowl, whisk together the sugar and eggs until smooth. Stir in lemon juice, lemon zest and butter. Cook in the microwave for one minute intervals, stirring after each minute until the mixture is thick enough to coat the back of a metal spoon. Remove from the microwave, and pour into small sterile jars. Store for up to three weeks in the refrigerator.