Mother's Day Brunch Menu

Tweet

Looking for some ideas for a Mother's Day brunch? I've rounded up a few recipes from the past and made up this Mother's Day Brunch menu. Happy Mother's Day!

Smoked Salmon Cheesecake

Asparagus Bacon Quiche

Make Ahead and Freeze Biscuits

Strawberry Honey Butter

Strawberry Lemon Curd Tart

Or you could surprise Mom with a bouquet of these hydrangea cupcakes and take her out for brunch!

Hydrangea Cupcake Bouquet Tutorial 

Biscuits, hot and fresh...anytime!

Tweet

I feel compelled to add a warning to proceed with caution to this post. I will just remind you that I am merely providing recipes and ideas here on Half Baked. What happens after that is out of my control. I cannot help that these delicious biscuits are super easy to make, and if you freeze them, you can have a hot and fresh biscuit, anytime you want one. (Kinda like Krispy Kreme when the sign is on.) Consider yourself warned, I'm no longer responsible!  

Here in the South, we love a good biscuit but I rarely make them. As much as I enjoy biscuits, most recipes make about a dozen or so. Even if I half the recipe, there are still at least six biscuits. I'm not saying that Hubs and I couldn't eat all, well most, ok probably all six. Don't judge, hot biscuits and butter are hard to resist. However, after a few dinners like that and I'd have to start hunting for a tent maker to buy clothes that fit! True we could exercise a little self control (who am I kidding!) and only eat one each but what would we do with the four biscuits that are leftover? Biscuits, hot out of the oven are amazing, crunchy outside, soft flaky and buttery inside, just heavenly.  A leftover biscuit on the other hand is nothing like that. Not even close. They're more like hockey pucks after spending the night in the fridge. So I had resigned to not making biscuits unless we had guests to help eat them. Well all that has changed! These biscuits can be made, frozen, and baked up a couple at a time, whenever we feel the need for a hot flaky biscuit! Okay, so I may still need find a that tent maker if I'm not careful, which is why I cautioned you at the beginning of this post. Please bake responsibly....

Make and Freeze Biscuits
Source: King Arthur Flour
Yields: about 12-16 biscuits

Ingredients:
4 cups King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour or Perfect Pastry Blend
4 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
8 Tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces
1 1/4- 1 1/2 cups of cold milk

Method:
In a large bowl whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Drop the butter into the bowl and cut it into the flour with a pastry cutter, two knives, or your finger tips.Work in the butter until the mixture is crumbly; some larger, pea-sized pieces of butter may remain intact.

Pea-sized pieces of butter!

Add 1 1/4 cups of cold milk and mix together (I like to use a fork). If the mixture seems too dry add the other 1/4 cup of milk (I almost always need it). Gather the dough into a ball and transfer it to a lightly floured work surface and fold it over once or twice. Pat it into a 3/4 - 1 inch thick square, rectangle, or circle. Cut out with a round cutter, re-rolling the the leftover pieces of dough until you've used up all the dough.
OR, if you don't mind a square biscuit, you could use my new favorite method for cutting out these biscuits (also from the King Arthur website). It's awesome. I can't believe I never thought of this:

Pat the dough evenly into an 8 inch square pan.

Flip it out on your work surface.

Slice....how cool is that? 

So much easier than cutting them out with a cutter!

Place the cut biscuits on a baking sheet. Now, you have a choice to make here: bake the biscuits right away; or freeze, bag, and bake at a later date, or freeze some and bake some...you get the idea!

To bake biscuits right away, heat oven to 475 degrees. Brush the tops of the biscuits with milk or melted butter. Bake them for 5 minutes, then turn off the oven. Leave in the oven for an additional 5 to 10 minutes, until they’re golden brown.

To freeze, leave the biscuits on the baking sheet, wrap with plastic wrap and slid them into the freezer for at least an hour, or until the biscuits have frozen. Once they’re frozen, remove from the freezer, bag airtight, and store in the freezer for up to about 3 months. (Who am I kidding, there's no way those biscuits will be around that long!)

Beautiful frozen biscuits, just 15 minutes from biscuit heaven...anytime!

When ready to serve, preheat your oven to 475°F, and bake biscuits for 8 minutes. Turn the heat off, and leave in the oven for another 5 to 8 minutes, till they're golden brown.

You know you want one!

Lemon Thyme Cake

Tweet

I made these cakes for a ladies group I spoke at about using herbs in cooking. Most of the women in the group were fairly familiar with cooking with herbs like thyme, but very few had ever used any herb, other than mint, in baking. Thyme is from the mint family and has a slightly minty, lightly lemony flavor which makes it perfect to use in baking. Thyme pairs perfectly with this lemony cake. I added thyme to the cake batter. After the cakes were baked I poked holes into them with a skewer and topped them with a lemon thyme syrup. The syrup adds even more lemon thyme flavor. Poking holes into the cake allows the syrup to get all the way into the cake and keeps it extremely moist. In fact, these cakes seem to taste better the longer they sits. If you've never tried baking with herbs, this cake is a great place to start!

Lemon Thyme Cake

Source: Martha Stewart (adapted)
Yields: 2 loaf cakes or one bundt cake
Printable Recipe

Ingredient:

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter
3 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup low-fat buttermilk
Zest of 2 lemons, finely grated

1 tablespoon fresh thyme,chopped, (if the center stem of the thyme is tough, pick the leaves off and discard the stem).
1/3 cup fresh lemon juice (about 2 lemons)
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2 cups sugar
5 large eggs

Lemon Thyme Syrup 
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup lemon juice
3/4 cup sugar
Zest of one lemon, finely grated
5-6 sprigs of fresh thyme

Method:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees, with rack in lowest position. Butter and flour or spray with cooking spray, two 4 1/2-by-8-inch (6-cup) loaf pans.
Make the syrup:
In a small pot, stir together the lemon juice, zest, sugar, and thyme. Heat the mixture on medium for about 10 minutes, until the sugar is dissolves and the liquid is clear. Take off the heat, cover and set aside while you prepare the cake.

For the cake:

In a a 2 cup liquid measuring cup,combine buttermilk with lemon juice and fresh thyme. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, salt, baking powder, and baking soda.

In a separate bowl mix lemon zest and sugar together. Rub the sugar together with the zest until the sugar is slightly damp. 

With an electric mixer, cream butter and sugar/zest until light and fluffy about 3 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.

With mixer on low, add flour mixture in three parts alternately with the buttermilk mixture in two, beginning and ending with flour; beat just until smooth (do not overmix).

Divide batter evenly between pans; smooth tops. Bake until a toothpick inserted in centers comes out clean, 50 to 60 minutes (tent with foil if browning too quickly). Cool 15 minutes in pan. Turn out cakes onto a rack; cool for about 20 minutes before glazing with the syrup.

Set rack with cakes over a baking sheet lined with waxed paper. Poke holes in the cakes over the top with a skewer or a thin knife. Pour the syrup over cakes, letting it run down the sides; let dry, about 30 minutes.

I also want to congratulate Kerry S. on winning our Woodland Fairy giveaway!! Our fairy party was also featured on two wonderful blogs last week. Woohoo! 

Check out our feature on Happy Hour Project and Kate from A Creative Cookie picked our party to be featured on Sugar Bee Crafts! Thanks ladies, I am honored!

Kissin' Wears Out, Cookin' Don't!

Tweet

My Mennonite grandmother used to say this all the time. It's a fairly common saying in Mennonite kitchens and one that always made laugh. Ten years ago today, Hubs and I got married. As I was thinking about how to celebrate, my grandmother's words came to mind. I had to laugh at the truth and wisdom in that saying that I now understand more fully. Walking down the aisle, harp playing, birds singing, I had more kissing on my mind than cooking. After ten years of marriage, I can tell you that dinner time comes around every day. Kissing is still important but dinner time is eternal. It's one of those things I thought I knew before I got married. After answering "what's for dinner?" for 10 years now, I really get it. So here's ten things I've learned in ten years:

1. Grammy was right, you'll do more cooking than kissing.
2. You'll probably experience everything you vowed to love each other through.
3. Marriage isn't easy. It takes hard work, every day. It's easy to take each other for granted, it hard work not to.
4. Dirty laundry is another one of those constants.
5. It's the little things, more than the grand gestures, that mean the most.
6. Learn to say "I'm sorry", it goes a looong way!
7. When he apologizes, accept it and move on. Holding on to past hurts ruins future happiness.
8. Be prepared to change course. You never know what road ahead holds.
9. Accept that you won't agree on everything, and that's a good thing.
10. Kissing is still really important!

Ok so this list barely scratches the surface of the lessons learned in ten years but these were some of the biggest for me. I know that there'll be many more things to learn in the years to come. Here's to ten more years and all the cookin' it brings!

Woodland Fairy Party and Giveaway

Tweet

Be warned this Woodland Fairy party just may be cute overload!
My sister and I put together this party for my niece's 7th birthday. My sister made all the printables for the party and I made the food. I made toadstool and monogram cupcake toppers and cake toppers from fondant to match the invitations. We are in the process of putting together an Etsy store so that you can buy these (and many other styles/themes) printables and fondant decorations and throw a Woodland Fairy party of you own. In the meantime we are going to have a giveaway and one lucky reader will receive the pdf files with the printables for this party from Fat Bird Designs and two dozen of the Woodland Fairy Cupcake toppers, a fondant fairy cake topper and 3 fondant mushrooms from me!

Woodland Fairy Birthday Banner

The invite, you can edit to add your party information, and the cupcake toppers!

Even if you don't win the whole party, Fat Bird Designs is offering this FREE printable and DIY instructions on how you can make the felt mushroom, pictured below.

 Enter to win the pdf files for the printables for the party, one dozen monogram cupcake toppers with the letter of your choice, one dozen mushroom cupcake toppers. The pdf files will include a editable invitation, the Happy Birthday banner, monogram food picks, mushroom food picks, fairy picks, an editable menu, and water bottle /drink wrap.
 Here's how you enter to win! It's super easy. The winner will be chosen by Rafflecopter and announced here next Thursday. Good Luck!!
a Rafflecopter giveaway Party printables: Fat Bird Designs 
Cake, cupcakes, "mushroom" marshmallow pops, chocolate dipped pretzels: Half Baked

Sneak Peek of the Woodland Fairy Birthday Party...

Tweet

I'm so excited to share these photos from the Woodland Fairy birthday party we threw for my niece yesterday. She's turning seven and loves fairies. Her birthday isn't actually until the end of the month, but she lives three hours away, and won't be here on her actual birthday so we celebrated yesterday. This is just a peek. I'm still getting a more in depth post together including how you can win the adorable printables and the cupcake toppers like the ones from the party! I couldn't wait to share so here's your sneak peek!

Invitation by Fat Bird Designs (my sister) I made the cupcake toppers to match the invites

Stay tuned for more details from the Woodland Fairy party!

Strawberry Roulade

Tweet

Like most families, our holiday traditions revolve are food. That's especially true for Easter in our family. We have pretty much the same menu from year to year. The same was true this year. We had our annual Easter lunch at the farm on Sunday afternoon. It was a gorgeous day. My contribution to the meal was this Strawberry Roulade. It was delicious, very light, a perfect Spring dessert. The cake is a light sponge cake filled with a mascarpone whipped cream and fresh strawberries. It's kind of like a rolled up strawberry shortcake.

If you've never made a roulade before don't be intimidated by the process. It can be a little nerve racking to roll up a cake in a towel, but it's easier than it looks.  

Strawberry Roulade
Source: TheBakingPan.com (adapted) 


Printable recipe

For the Cake:
2/3 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 large eggs, separated
3/4 cup granulated sugar, divided
2 tablespoons water
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Method:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Prepare one 10½ x15½ x1 inch Jelly Roll pan; lightly grease the pan or spray with baking spray, line with parchment paper, and then lightly spray with baking spray.

Sprinkle a clean towel with 1/4 cup confectioners’ (powdered) sugar. Set aside to use after the cake is baked. A small kitchen towel that is a little larger than the 15x10 inch pan works well.

In a medium mixing bowl, combine flour, baking powder, and salt; sift or whisk together to mix. Set aside.
In a large bowl of an electric mixer, add the egg yolks and beat 3 to 5 minutes on medium-high speed until the egg yolk foam becomes thick and lemon colored. With the mixer on medium speed, VERY slowly add 1/2 cup of the sugar to the eggs, either one tablespoon at a time, or in a very slow steady stream, taking from 2 to 3 minutes to add all of the sugar, and beating until the eggs and sugar are fully incorporated. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl with a rubber spatula. The mixture will be thick and a pale yellow color. Add the water and vanilla and continue mixing for another 1 minute until well blended.
With the mixer on low speed, gradually add about 1/2 of the flour mixture, mix just until blended, and then add the remaining half, mix just until blended, scraping down the side of the bowl as needed.
In another large mixing bowl and using clean beaters, beat the egg whites with an electric mixer until soft peaks form. Gradually add the remaining 1/4 cup sugar; continue beating until stiff peaks form. Using a balloon type whisk or large rubber spatula, gently fold about 1/4 of the beaten egg whites into the batter to lighten the batter, and then fold the remaining egg whites in.

Bake:
Spoon the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the surface with the back of a large spoon or large offset spatula. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes or until the top of the cake springs back when lightly touched. Remove from oven, immediately loosen edges of cake from pan and turn the cake over onto the prepared towel. Carefully peel off the parchment paper, and then roll the cake and towel together tightly, starting with the narrow end. Place seam side down on a wire cooling rack to cool completely.

For the Filling:
1 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream, cold
1/2 cup mascarpone
1 teaspoon vanilla
2/3 cup of powdered sugar
Sliced strawberries (about 1 1/2 cup)
*(1/2 cup Strawberry Jam, optional)

To make the filling, whip together the mascarpone, heavy cream, sugar and vanilla until stiff peaks form.

Assembly:

Carefully unroll cooled cake but don’t try to make the cake lie completely flat, the edge should remain curled so that the cake doesn’t split.


Spread whipped cream over the cake and under the curled edge and leaving a 1 1/2 inch border on the far side. Sprinkle strawberries over the whipped cream. Gently re-roll the cake without the towel, starting with the curled end. Place seam side down on a serving plate. Cover and refrigerate at least 2 hours before serving. Dust with additional powdered sugar if desired.

*Note: The original recipe called for 1/2 cup of strawberry jam spread over the cake before spreading on the whipped cream. I didn't have strawberry jam so I left it out but the jam would add a bit more strawberry flavor to the cake so I think I'll add it next time I make this.

A great dessert to impress your friends with!