Lemon-less Brazilian Lemonade

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A few years ago hubs and I took a vacation to Barbados. During one particularly hot day of sightseeing, we came across a street vendor selling shaved ice type drinks. I ordered a lemon ice and was shocked when he pulled out a can of sweetened condensed milk and poured it all over the top of the ice along with the lemon syrup. This was not at all what I expected when I ordered the shaved ice. I was pretty sure that there was no way this shaved ice was going to be refreshing and probably not taste very good either. Happily, I was wrong and the shaved ice was both tasty and refreshing. I'd thought about trying to recreate it when we got home from Barbados, but since shaved ice isn't something that can really be done at home, I never did. Recently I found this recipe  for Brazilian lemonade. It was made up of the same basic components as the shaved iced so I knew it would be similar to what we'd had in Barbados and I couldn't wait to try it. I think it's even better than the shaved ice. Tart and creamy, kind of like a liquid key lime pie. The perfect party drink for a Labor Day cookout. 

As you can see from the recipe and may have gathered from the title of this post, there are no lemons in this lemonade. You may find that as shocking as the addition of the condensed milk. I guess in Portuguese lemons and limes have the same name? I'm not sure about the origins of the name but who cares what it's called when it tastes this good!

 

Brazilian Lemonade

Source: Allrecipes.com

INGREDIENTS:
2 limes
1/2 cup sugar
3 tablespoons sweetened condensed milk
3 cups water
ice
DIRECTIONS:
Be sure to buy limes that are very ripe and have thin skins. Limes with thick skins will make the drink very bitter. Wash limes thoroughly. Cut off the ends and slice into eight wedges. Place limes in a blender with the sugar, sweetened condensed milk, water, and ice. I used a couple of glasses full of ice.
Blend in an electric blender, pulsing several times. Strain through a fine mesh strainer to remove rinds. Serve over ice.

Call it lemonade or limeade...I call it delicious!

Lemon Lime Baby Cakes

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 Sing Sing it's Spring!!

Beautiful Spring days like today bring back to mind a song from my childhood. As a young child, I loved playing my records on the family record player. I realize I'm probably dating myself by admitting we had a record player, as I'm sure some of you never had/used a record player. We had a record player even after CD's were readily available. New-fangled technology was not at all important to my parents and the record player worked just fine, so why change? My sisters and I had quite a few records that were recorded books with songs. The books to follow along with, accompanied the records. Each one of these records started with instructions on what sound to listen for to know when to turn the pages of the book. We had all the classics, Peter Pan, Alice in Wonderland, etc. But my favorite was the Black Beauty record/book and I could probably still sing the songs from that record. Anyway, one of the story records had a song called "Sing Sing it's Spring" on it. That's all I remember from that particular record but this morning when I woke up to the sounds of happy chirping, that old song popped into my head. 

That recollection has absolutely nothing at all to do with these baby cakes, except that the light fresh lemon lime flavor of these cakes will have you singing for Spring too!

Tint the glaze with some food coloring in pastel colors and these little babies are perfect for Easter! 

Lemon Lime Baby Cakes
Printable Recipe

Source: April 10th, 2009 - by Stephanie Younger
Yields: 18-24 mini cakes using a mini muffin tin or 12 cakes using a regular muffin tin
Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter, at room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
2 teaspoons fresh lime juice
1 tablespoon fresh lemon zest
1 teaspoon fresh lime zest
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/8 teaspoon almond extract
1/2 cup plain yogurt

For the drizzle:
1 1/2 cups confectioners’ sugar
lemon and lime juice or use several tablespoons of frozen lemonade or limeade concentrate, thawed
Tint with food coloring, if desired

I added some sprinkles too!

Whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside. In a mixer, beat the butter and sugar until fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, mixing well between additions. Add lemon and lime juice and zests, vanilla and almond extract and yogurt. Add the flour mixture, mix just until combined. Grease the pan of your choice and fill the cups half way. Bake at 350 degrees for 15-17 minutes or baked through and when cooled, transfer to a wire rack. In a small bowl combine the confectioners’ sugar and enough lemon and lime juice or lemon-aid concentrate to make a nice consistency for the drizzle. Drizzle over the cakes.

Are you singing yet??

Blueberry Lime Pound Cake

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 I have a confession to make. I have a slight problem with hoarding. Well that's a bit of an exaggeration, I only hoard one thing, old cooking magazines. I keep a few Bon Appetit's and a Martha Stewart Living, here and there, but mostly it's limited to Fine Cooking magazines. For some reason, I can't stand to throw them away. I love every issue. They only publish a new magazine every other month, which is probably a good thing because with only six issues a year, it would take a long time for me to make it on to "Hoarders: Buried Alive!"
Actually, recently in a fit of spring cleaning, I did part with quite a few issues. I kept only the ones that with lots of recipes I want to make, or had really pretty pictures... Yes I know I can look up old recipes online, but it's way more fun to grab a cold drink and flip through a stack of magazines. Thank goodness I still had my Jun/July 2008 issue, because it was chock full of great blueberry recipes.  I remembered there were several recipes in that issue that I wanted to make. I had dogeared the page to this recipe a long time ago and I decided now was the time to put that hoarded issue to good use! 

Blueberry Lime Pound Cake
Source: Fine Cooking: by Nicole Rees (adapted)
Printable Recipe
Ingredients:
For the cake:
1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
2-1/3 cups all-purpose flour
1-1/2 tsp. baking power
scant 1/2 teaspoon salt
1-3/4 cups granulated sugar
2 tsp. finely grated lime zest
*6 oz. mascarpone or cream cheese, softened
4 large eggs plus 1 large egg yolk, at room temperature
1 pint blueberries, room temperature, not cold from the refrigerator 
For the glaze:
4 oz. (1 cup) confectioners’ sugar
2 Tbs. fresh lime juice; more as needed
1/2 tsp. lime zest

*Note: I used mascarpone because I had it and didn't have any cream cheese on hand. It was delicious in this cake!

Method:
Position a rack in the center of the oven and heat the oven to 350°F. Butter and flour a 12-cup Bundt pan.
Make the cake: Sift the flour, baking powder, and salt into a medium bowl. Stir the lime zest into the sifted flour mixture.
With a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment or a hand mixer, beat the butter and mascarpone or cream cheese in a large bowl on medium speed until smooth, about 1 minute. Add the sugar mixture and beat on medium until light and fluffy, 1 to 2 minutes. With the mixer still running, add the whole eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition and stopping the mixer to scrape the bowl twice. Beat in the egg yolk. Reduce the mixer speed to low and slowly add the flour mixture. Stop the mixer one last time to scrape the bowl and then beat at medium speed until the batter is smooth and light, about 20 seconds. With a rubber spatula, gently fold the blueberries into the batter.
Pour the batter into the bundt pan, spreading it evenly with the spatula. Lightly tap the pan against the counter to eliminate any air pockets. Bake until a wooden skewer inserted in the center comes out clean, 50 to 55 minutes. Set the pan on a wire rack to cool for 10 minutes and then invert onto the rack, remove the pan, and let cool completely.

Glaze the cake: In a small bowl, whisk the confectioners’ sugar, lime zest, and lime juice together until smooth. The glaze should be thin enough to pour. If not, add more lime juice, 1 tsp. at a time. Put a baking sheet under the rack to catch drips and drizzle the glaze over the top and sides of the cake. Let the glaze set before transferring to a cake plate.

Or you can add the glaze right on the cake plate, like I did!

Other blueberry recipes you might like:
Low Fat Blueberry Oat Loaf Cake
Fresh Blueberry Pie
Orange Blueberry Muffins
Blueberry Ice Cream
Blueberry Barbecue Sauce

Lime Cornmeal Cookies

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Looking back over the last couple of years on my blog, I noticed a trend. I seem to start the new year with some lemon based dessert/baked item. I'm not sure why but I crave citrus this time of the year. It is a refreshing change from the rich, decadent desserts that pervade the holiday season. With the New Year, I get a feeling of fresh start, or a new beginning. So maybe that's why I find citrus so appealing this time of the year. 

What seems fresher than lemons, possibly only lime! That's partially what drew me to this recipe. The other reason I wanted to make these cookies is because I'd never a cookie with cornmeal as an ingredient. In the spirit of New Years, this year I want to challenge myself to bake and cook things I've never tried before. That's about as close as I'm getting to a resolution. 

Lime Cornmeal Cookies
source: Southern Living, Jan 2011 (adapted)
 (Printable recipe)
 Makes about 2 1/2 dozen cookies
Ingredients:
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup plain yellow cornmeal
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup sugar
1 large egg
1 tablespoon lime zest
1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Wax or parchment paper

Optional sugar mix for rolling: 
1/4 crystallized cup sugar
1 tablespoon lime zest

Method:
Combine flour and cornmeal. Beat butter and sugar at medium speed with an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Add egg and next 3 ingredients, beating until blended. Gradually add flour mixture, beating just until blended after each addition. Cover and chill dough 1 hour. Shape dough into a 12-inch log using wax paper. Wrap tightly in plastic wrap, and chill 8 hours.

If using, stir crystallized sugar and zest together, Spread on a piece of parchment paper or on your work surface, Unwrap the cookie log and roll log in the sugar mixture. Try to coat the log evenly, pressing lightly to help sugar to adhere.

 Preheat oven to 375°. Using a sharp knife, cut log into 1/4-inch-thick slices. Place 1 inch apart on ungreased baking sheets. Bake 10-12 minutes or until set. Transfer to wire racks; cool completely.

When I tasted these cookies, I thought they were pretty good. They had a nice subtle lime flavor, but  I wanted to kick that up a little more so I decided to add a lime glaze. I think it made these cookies even better.
The glaze on these cookies is a totally optional addition...well maybe for you, for me it's mandatory!

Lime Glaze
1 1/2 cups confectioners sugar
2-3 tablespoons lime juice
zest from one lime
In a bowl, stir confectioners sugar and lime juice together. Stir until smooth. If the mixture is too thick, thin out by adding more lime juice, a teaspoon at a time until you get a glaze like consistency. Stir in lime zest
Place cookies on a baking rack over a baking sheet, to catch any drips. Drizzle on about a teaspoon of the glaze on the cookies. Wait about 5 minutes for the glaze to set-up slightly.