Curds and Whey

So I've been into making yogurt lately because it's soo easy, and based on the milk prices here, it's actually more economical. I know...crazy! And with making it myself, I can determine the consistency, so I go with the nice thick, Greek-style yogurt. Jacob loves that too.




You can make it a little smoother with some stirring or the addition of some whey, but I'll get to the whey in a minute. Here's the recipe for making yogurt. I don't remember what website I got it off of, but there are plenty out there. Here's the one I make from memory.

Plain Yogurt

1 quart milk (any percentage)
3 tablespoons already prepared yogurt (you can use store-bought or homemade)

1. Pour the milk into a large saucepan and scald. This means to heat up but not boil. Do not boil. I tell when to turn the heat off by looking at the surface of the milk. By then it will have formed a thin skin, and when it's ready it will have reached the "alien stage" as I like to call it. The "alien stage" is when you can see ripples under the skin moving, like something is trying to get out of the milk. After it is doing that steadily, turn off the heat.
2. Let the milk cool down some. This is an important step. If you skip this, you'll kill the yogurt starter and just have some warm milk. I usually let it cool for about 45 minutes to an hour. It needs to just be warm to the touch.
3. Spoon out the skin. You need to take this off, or else you'll be eating it in your yogurt. Mmmm, plasticky yogurt pieces.
4. Stir in the tablespoons of yogurt.
5. Place the mixture, covered, in a warm spot. I like to use the oven with the oven light on. It's warm enough, controlled enough, and enough out of my way. Let it sit in that environment for at least 4 hours. I shoot for 4-5 hours.
6. Refrigerate the yogurt (yes, it's yogurt now) until cool. Then strain if desired. I do suggest a little straining, because it does have a lot of whey produced.
7. Eat and enjoy. Flavor however you want!



This is what I use to strain my yogurt. A sieve over a measuring cup with some cheesecloth. I spoon some of the yogurt in there, put it in the fridge and forget about it for a few hours or overnight...depending on how well I have forgotten about it. The cheesecloth will have your thicker yogurt, and the measuring cup will have caught all of the whey.


When you're done making yogurt, you'll have about this much whey as a by-product. People say you can just drink it. I tried it. It tastes like liquid yogurt. You also can use it in recipes whenever it calls for water. If you do that, you get a more flavorful whatever your making, and it's more nutritious as well, since the whey has a lot of protein and nutrients in it. I've been looking into making some recipes, and I'll post about them later.

But the best thing about making your own yogurt is that you get to flavor it however you want. I've tried honey, jam, lemon curd, and now...

Blueberry Curd! I didn't even know there was such thing as blueberry curd. But blueberries were on sale, and I found this recipe for red currant curd here and thought, why not try, so I did. Here's what I did.

Blueberry Curd
adapted from The Daily Spud

1 pint of blueberries
1/3 cup of water
mounded 1/4 cup of sugar (add more or less to your taste)
pinch of salt
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
4 egg yolks

1. Rinse the berries and put them in a saucepan with the water. Boil for 10-15 minutes until dark purple and pulpy. I squeezed the blueberries that did not pop with the back of my spoon to get an even mixture.
2. Run the mixture through a sieve to remove stems and casing that did not boil down.
3. Return to saucepan and mix in sugar over medium heat until dissolved. Taste and adjust sugar if needed. Add pinch of salt.
4. Whisk egg yolks and add a spoonful of the blueberry mixture to heat the eggs. Then add to the rest of the blueberry mixture, whisking until desired thickness is achieved.
5. Remove from heat and whisk in butter until melted.
6. Let stand or store to let it set up before using.

Now you may remember that I made some biscotti that landed me a gig making a birthday cake. Well, I was experimenting around with cake to find one that would work for the party. I first made a white cake, and it was sooooooo dry. So I did some searches for a more moist cake. Here's one of the cakes I found.

A lemon curd cake. It was pretty easy to make, but I wanted to see if I could make it into a layer cake. The cake was very dense, but I did manage to split it, and I put the blueberry curd I had made earlier in between the layers. Then I covered it all in a cream cheese frosting. The cake was really good. Really lemony, but really heavy and sweet. Definitely a grown-up cake and not a little kid's birthday cake. Darn.

Anyway, here's a cross section.

You may be wondering what that blue thing is at the top of the cake. It was one of my experiments for decorating the birthday cake.

Here's the top view of the cake.

So that blue was a little portion of Cinderella. The part is supposed to be a Disney Princess theme, so I was working on tracing those characters in chocolate to put on the cake. I think it turned out pretty well.

Here's a close-up of Cinderella.

She broke in some places putting her on the cake, so I'm going to reinforce the back with some more chocolate. I'm not exactly sure how many princesses I'll make. We'll just have to see what happens. And pray that I find a cake that's moist and kid-friendly. Pray hard!

Of Lemons and Cookies

So here's another post about my self-forced commitment to bake twice a week for Jacob's company.

This time I chose to make Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins and Espresso-Chocolate Shortbread Cookies, still from Baking from My Home to Yours.

I really, really enjoyed eating the lemon poppy seed muffins. So much so, that I'm going to include the recipe here. Right after you fall in love with them.

They were so darn delicious. And that was even eating them after they had sat out for a few days, I bet they're even better the first day.



Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins
For Muffins
2/3 cup sugar
Grated zest and juice of 1 lemon
2 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup sour cream
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 stick (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
2 tablespoons poppy seeds
For Icing
1 cup confectioner's sugar, sifted
2-3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Butter or spray the 12 molds in a regular-size muffin pan or fit the molds with paper muffin cups. Alternatively, use a silicone muffin pan, which need neither greasing nor paper cups. Place the muffin pan on a baking sheet.
In a large bowl, rub the sugar and lemon zest together with your fingertips until the sugar is most and the fragrance of lemon strong. Whisk in the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. In a large glass measuring cup or another bowl, which the sour cream, eggs, vanilla, lemon juice and melted butter until well blended. Pour the liquid ingredients over the dry ingredients and, with the whisk or a rubber spatula, gently but quickly stir to blend. don't worry about being thorough--a few lumps are better than overmixing the batter. Stir in the poppy seeds. Divide the batter evenly among the muffin cups.
Bake for 18 to 20 minutes, or until the tops are golden and a thin knife inserted in the center of the muffins comes out clean. Transfer the pan to a rack and cool for 5 minutes before carefully removing each muffin from its mold. cool the muffins completely on the rack before icing them.
Put the confectioner's sugar in a small bowl and add about 1 1/2 tablespoon of the lemon juice. Stir with a spoon to moisten the sugar, then add enough additional lemon juice, a dribble at a time, to get an icing that is thin enough to drizzle from the tip of the spoon. You can then drizzle lines of icing over the tops of the muffins or coat the tops entirely, the better tot get an extra zap of lemon.

For the Espresso-Chocolate Shortbread Cookies, on page 125, they turned out all right. I made two batches of them, since they were going to a crowd. One batch I used mini chocolate chips, the other I used chopped chocolate, so I got two very different looks.

I found it really difficult to take pictures of these. I still have loads to learn, I suppose.

Finally, a post...and an Iron Cupcake

So it has been one crazy month. We've moved to LA, and I'm trying to get our apartment set up and find a job. And bake and keep up with this blog. All of which is difficult without internet. I don't get it until Friday! Argh! Anywho, I'm using Jacob's work computer to get this post done, so here goes. My submission to Iron Cupcake: Blueberry Lemon Cupcakes.

And here's how I did it.

Blueberry Cupcakes

adapted from Baking from My Home to Yours

1 pint blueberries

2 cups plus 2 teaspoons all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

1/8 teaspoon nutmeg

2/3 cup sugar

Grated zest of 1/2 lemon plus more for garnish

6 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened

2 large eggs, room temperature

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1 tablespoon lemon curd (recipe below)

scant 1/2 cup milk

1. Using your fingertips, toss the blueberries and 2 teaspoons of flour together in a small bowl just to coat the berries. In another bowl, whisk the rest of the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg together. In a measuring cup with a spout, mix the milk and lemon curd.

2. In the bowl of your stand mixer, rub the zest into the sugar until incorporated and fragrant. Beat the butter in until light. Add the eggs one by one, mixing 1 minute after each. Add the vanilla and mix. Add the flour in three parts and the milk in two parts, alternating beginning with the flour. Gently stir in the berries.

3. Fill lined muffin tin 3/4 the way full and bake in a 350 oven for about 20 minutes, until golden on top.

Lemon Whipped Cream

from New Southern Cooking

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup butter

Grated rind and strained juice of 3 lemons

3 eggs, beaten well

1 cup heavy cream (to be folded in to the lemon curd)

1. Place the sugar, butter, lemon rind and juice, and eggs in a heavy saucepan, and cook gently ove low heat until the mixture is thick but still falls easily from a spoon. (do this with a whisk) Do not boil or let the mixture separate. (I strain my curd so it's silky smooth, especially if I get a little bit of scrambled eggs in it) Refrigerate.

2. Whip the cream to stiff peaks. Fold half of the lemon curd into the cream and top the cupcakes.

There it is. Enjoy!

And here are the prizes:

Our June ETSY PRIZE-PACK is from artists:
A sweet cupcake ID bracelet by INSANEJELLYFISH, http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5021935
A groovy linocut piece from BLOCKHEAD PRESS http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=6108705
a sweet surprise from Sweet Cuppin' Cakes Cupcakery, http://www.acupcakery.com/
PLUS, IronCupcake:Earth can not forget our good friend, CAKESPY, http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5243382, who is now going to be doing a piece for our winner each month until further notice - sweet!

Last and certainly not least, don’t forget our corporate prize providers: HEAD CHEFS by FIESTA PRODUCTS, http://www.fiestaproducts.com/, HELLO CUPCAKE by Karen Tack and Alan Richardson, http://blog.hellocupcakebook.com/, JESSIE STEELE APRONS http://www.jessiesteele.com/; TASTE OF HOME books, http://www.tasteofhome.com/; a t-shirt from UPWITHCUPCAKES.COM http://www.upwithcupcakes.com/. Iron Cupcake:Earth is sponsored in part by 1-800-Flowers, http://www.1800flowers.com/ .

Rainy Day = Lemon Cupcakes + Orange Chocolate Muffins

It rained all last Monday night. And I mean rained. There was thunder and lighting and really heavy, heavy rain. Our power even went out for an hour or so, but it came back on around 8. So the next morning, Tuesday, I got up and was getting ready to go to work when I received a phone call. It was my team leader, and she informed me that school was going to be closed for the day due to weather. I politely thanked her for the information and then proceeded to whoop with delight. I even ran around the apartment a few times out of joy. I know...I'm as bad as the kids. And I'm sure Jacob appreciated the celebration, since he still did have to go to work. Sorry, Jacob. :)

But I was glad.

Since my day unexpectedly opened up, I took the opportunity to do some baking I had actually wanted to to Monday night, but the power going out threw off my schedule. I decided to make some lemon cupcakes with lemon swiss meringue buttercream. And to make it a little more interesting, I filled them with raspberry whipped cream. Then I made some orange chocolate muffins. Both of these goodies, I got from other bloggers. I post the link and recipe below.

I am still working on finding how to make a really good frosting. I overwhipped this one, so it was a little disappointing for the final texture, but it did have a better flavor than my last attempt.


Lemon Cupcakes with Lemon Swiss Meringue Buttercream
from The Humble Gourmand

1 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
¼ tsp. kosher salt
½ tsp. baking powder
¼ pound unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup sugar
zest of 2 lemons
2 large eggs
½ cup buttermilk

1. Preheat oven to 350F.
2. Combine butter, sugar, and lemon zest in large mixing bowl. Using an electric stand mixer or a hand mixer, beat on medium-high speed until the mixture is fluffy and much lighter in color. (This is the key to moist and fluffy cupcakes, so make sure to beat well, at least 5-10 minutes.)
3. Combine the flour, salt, and baking powder in a bowl. In a third, small bowl, combine the buttermilk and lemon extract. (The recipe's ingredients didn't say anything about lemon extract, so when I got to this part on the recipe, I threw in a teaspoon of lemon extract.)
4. Add the eggs one at a time to the mixer, making sure to fully incorporate the first egg before adding the second.
5. Alternate adding the flour mixture and buttermilk in the following order: add 1/3 of the dry ingredients, 1/2 of the wet, another third of the dry, the rest of the wet, and the rest of the dry. Mix until just combined and finish with a spatula. (If you overmix after the dry ingredients are added, the cupcakes will not rise properly and the texture will be chewy and dense.)
6. Bake in the top third of the oven for about 20 minutes or until the tops are slightly golden and a toothpick inserted into the center of a cupcake comes out clean.
7. Let cool completely before topping with the lemon buttercream (recipe follows).

Lemon Swiss Meringue Buttercream

7 egg whites
Pinch cream of tartar
2 c. sugar
½ c. water
1 lb. unsalted butter at room temperature
2 tsp. lemon extract

1. Combine the egg whites, cream of tartar, and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer. Set over a water bath and heat to 110F, making sure to stir the sugar and egg whites with the whisk attachment. At 110F, the sugar should be somewhat dissolved and the mixture should feel hot to the touch but should not burn you. Remove from the water bath and whip on high speed to medium peak.
2. Add the butter in small clumps (about 1½” cubes) and whip until the mixture becomes light and fluffy, and holds together.
3. Add the lemon extract and whip to combine.

Orange Chocolate Muffins
from SeaSaltWithFood

Grated zest of 2 Oranges
Juice of 1 Orange
About 3/4 Cup Buttermilk
2 Large Eggs
3 Tbsp Honey
1 Stick (8 Tbsp) Unsalted Butter, melted and cooled
1/3 Cup Sugar
2 Cups All-Purpose Flour
2 1/2 tsp Baking Powder
1/4 tsp Baking Soda
1/4 tsp Salt
1 Cup Semi-Sweet Chocolate, coarsely chopped or
1 Cup Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips (I used chocolate chips, but if I do it again, I would chop the chocolate myself of use mini chocolate chips. Mine sunk to the bottom a lot.)

1. Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 400˚F. Butter or spray the 12 molds in a regular-size muffin pan or fit the molds with paper muffin cups. (I made 6 jumbo muffins.)
2. Pour the orange juice into a large glass measuring cup or a bowl and pour in enough buttermilk to make 1 cup. Whisk in the eggs, honey and melted butter.
3. In a large bowl, rub the sugar and orange zest together with your fingertips until the sugar is moist and the fragrance of orange strong. Whisk in the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Pour the liquid ingredients over the dry ingredients and, with the whisk or a rubber spatula, gently but quickly stir to blend. Don’t worry about being thorough - the batter will be lumpy and bubbly, and that’s just the way it should be. Stir in the chocolates. Divide the batter evenly among the muffin cups.
4. Bake for 22 to 25 minutes. If you want to top the muffins with decorating sugar, sprinkle on the sugar after the muffins have baked for 10 minutes. When fully baked, the tops of the muffins will be golden and springy to the touch and a thin knife inserted into the center of the muffins will come out clean. Transfer the pan to a rack and cool for 5 minutes before carefully removing each muffin from its mold.


These muffins didn't rise very much for me, and I was really trying to not over mix the batter. When I try it again, I will preheat the oven to 450, and then when I put it in, turn it down to 400. Also, I might add a little more baking powder to the mix and try even harder to not over mix it. Practice makes perfect, I guess. I just haven't practiced enough.