Lemon Cookie

I was gifted some lemons from my coworker Carolyn from her lemon tree and decided that I would put them to good use and bake something with them.

I've made lemon bars fairly recently so I wanted to try something different.  I decided on a recipe for lemon sugar cookies. 

The recipe used the usual baking staples that I already had on hand in my cupboard. 

First mix 1/2 c. softened butter and 1c. sugar until fluffy.

Then add zest of 1 lemon, 2 Tbsp lemon juice, 1 tsp vanilla, and 1 egg.

Then add 1/4 tsp salt, 1 tsp baking soda,  and gradually 2 c. Flour.

Then cover the dough and chill. 

Then roll dough into balls, roll in sugar, and place on a parchment paper lined baking sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 13 minutes.

Remove from cookie sheet and cool on a wire rack. 

These came out soft and fluffy like a snicker doodle, but with a bright lemon flavor. Thanks for the lemons and the inspiration Carolyn ;) !!!

Baking with miso

Ever since I've heard of sweets with miso I have been intrigued. Miso is fermented soy bean paste used in Japanese cuisine.   I have used it before to make miso soup and I have also used in a marinade for salmon. I looked at a variety of baked goods recipes and found some for brownies, chocolate chip cookies, and oatmeal cookies with miso. Originally I was going to make chocolate chip cookies, then I changed my mind and thought that oatmeal looked good. In the end I combined the two recipes and made oatmeal chocolate chip cookies. 

The recipe used 1/4 cup miso paste.  The umami flavor was very subtle, but gave these a little something extra. I'm glad that the miso flavor was not too salty or overpowering.  I think that most of my Guinea pigs would not have guessed what the secret ingredient was.  I would be curious to try brownies with miso next. 

Quiche with goat cheese

So I have made two quiches recently- both inspired by the bounty of my Easter basket. This year my mom gave me a wine and cheese themed Easter basket that contained a variety of trader joes cheeses.  I saved the best for last and ended up with goat cheese being the last cheese left in my fridge. Found this recipe on food gawker. http://sallysbakingaddiction.com/2016/03/11/goat-cheese-spinach-sun-dried-tomato-quiche/

I didn't follow the instructions for the crust and used my own favorite recipe instead.

Also, I couldn't find my pie plate! So I used a 9" cake pan instead. First I pre baked the pie crust for 8 minutes at 350.

 

Sautéed spinach with garlic.

The quiche had 4 eggs and 1 cup of milk. Then added 1/2 cup sun dried tomatoes, the spinach, goat cheese and some fresh ground pepper. 

Baked at 350 for 50 minutes.

Another quiche success story!

Here is the quiche I made before this one. It had spinach, tomatoes and Gouda. Also crust from scratch!