mango berry sorbet

While we were with my family last month, we went to Red Lobster.  I am not sure I have ever been to a Red Lobster before.  I have lived very close to the ocean most of my life so I am used to very fresh seafood.  The grilled salmon was not bad but the daiquiri I had gave me ideas for sorbet.  It was mango berry.  And the sorbet I made - speechless.  It is another that will disappear much to fast for our own goods!  I did used a caramelized lemon rum in it that an acquaintance distilled.  Just use a good rum instead if you chose to use the rum.  What I have will most likely never be on the market.

Mango Berry Sorbet

2 cups water

2 cups sugar

10 ounces raspberries

3 mangos, peeled, seeded, and sliced

4 ounces rum (optional)

Put the water and sugar in a pan.  Bring to a boil and boil one minute.

Put half the fruit in a blender.  Add half the simple syrup.  Blend.  Put in a large bowl.  Put the rest of the fruit and simple syrup in the blender.  Blend.  Put in the same bowl as the other blended mixture.

Add the rum.

Freeze per your ice cream makers instructions or put in your freezer and stir every couple hours until solid.

Looks like raspberry or strawberry sorbet.  Does not taste like it.  Yum!

stitching in the heat (bag)

All I really want to do right now is drink large amounts of hot tea and sew.  But it is about 100 degrees outside, plus or minus a little bit, so the large amount of hot tea seems a little crazy.  I am drinking it any way because that is what I want and I am getting a little bit of sewing done.

I got another bag done.  My Beloved walked by when I was taking pictures of it and said "wow, I like that!"  

I do as well.  This red side is a strange little Christmas print that I found as a remnant.  I would not have thought it was a Christmas print though until I read the selvage.

I have one more bag to make like this.  I bought more fabric this weekend and I am going to change the pocket.  The funny thing, I never have enough bags for me!

tangerine shortbread

When I made the sorbet, I decided I needed to make a gluten free shortbread to go with it.  I wanted to pick up the orange flavor from the Cointreau.  I was reading Tartelette and she did a gluten free shortbread that looked right.  But I looked at her recipe and to me it was more of a sable (add egg) then a shortbread.

So I decided to play.  My Beloved has started to wait in anticipation as I play because things have a tendency to be yummy in the tummy.  Especially his tummy (and skin).  I was very pleased with how these cookies turned out.  I would say addictive and if you eat them with the sorbet from yesterday - there are no words.

Tangerine Shortbread

1/4 cup butter, room temperature

3 tablespoons sugar

zest of one tangerine (about 1 teaspoon)

juice of one tangerine (about 1 tablespoon)

40 grams arrowroot flour

40 grams almond flour

40 grams millet flour

45 grams sorghum flour

dredging sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.  Line a cookie sheet with a silpat or parchment paper.

Cream the sugar, butter, zest, and juice together.  Mix in the flours.  Take teaspoons of the dough, roll into balls, and roll in the sugar.  Place on the cookie sheet.  Shape until the dough is gone.  Bake for 20 minutes.

Decadence.  These got a little brown, mostly due to the movie we were watching but they were not burnt.  The outside of the cookie caramelized.   I may have to do it on purpose some other time (evil grin).  

pop!

I was playing with sorbet recently.  I was reading something (do not ask me what right now because I cannot remember) and decided that my strawberry sorbet needed orange.  But it really needed a pop so I added a bit Cointreau.  My Beloved's eyes got huge when he tasted this because the flavor of the strawberries popped so much!  This disappeared faster then normal, even with the temperature being close to a hundred outside.

Strawberry with a touch of Cointreau sorbet

1 cup sugar

1 cup water

10 ounces strawberries

1 ounce Cointreau

Put 1 cup sugar and 1 cup water in a saucepan.  Bring to a boil and boil one minute.  Put the strawberries in a blender.  Pour the syrup over the strawberries and blend very well (about 30 seconds to a minute).  Add the Cointreau.  Freeze per directions of you ice cream machine or put in a freezer proof container, cover.  Stir it up in two hours.  Cover.  Stir again in a couple hours.  Freeze.

Yum!  Then I added the cookies I am going to post about tomorrow.  Fabulous.  My Beloved did the wordless groan.  All very good.

dinner rolls that can be cheese rolls that can be cinnamon rolls....

Miss E asked me for my dinner roll recipe today.  I realized I had two.  I am posting this one because I think this is the she ate at a party.  But it might be the other.  I based this on the cinnamon and cardamon buns in Apples for Jam by Tessa Kiros.  I really like how it turns out.

Dinner rolls

Note:  Instead of the sourdough starter, 1 cup flour, and 3/4 cup water you can use 1 package dry yeast.

sourdough starter

1 cup flour

3/4 cup water 

1 cup hempmilk or other milk

1/2 cup sugar

1 egg

1/2 cup butter

1 teaspoon salt

4 plus cups flour (can be up to 5 1/2)

butter, cheese, or cinnamon sugar for filling

The night before, put the starter, water, and 1 cup flour in a large bowl.  Let sit for at least eight hours until bubbly.  In the morning, remove some starter for next time.

If you are not using starter, dissolve the yeast in the milk and let sit for about five minutes until a bit bubbly.

Add the milk to the starter if you are using starter.

From this point on, everything is the same.  Mix in the sugar and egg.  Mix in the butter and salt.  The butter will be in chunks.  Mix in the flour one cup at a time into the yeast mixture.  You will get a stiff dough.  Dump out on the counter and knead until smooth.  You will probably need to add flour as you knead to make the dough not sticky.

Put the dough in a bowl, cover with a cloth, and let rise until double in a warm place.  

Once risen, turn out on to a counter.  Roll the dough out until it is about 1/4" thick.  It is easier if you make this a rectangle shape.  Spread with butter.  At this point, if you wish, you can also sprinkle with cheese and/or herbs, or a cinnamon sugar mixture.  Roll up along the long edge. 

Put cut side down on a baking sheet covered with silpat or parchment paper.  ( I ran out rising surfaces in the picture.)

Let rise for about 45 minutes to an hour.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

Bake rolls in oven for 20-25 minutes.  The edges will be golden.

This is a picture of the baked cinnamon rolls.  The plain rolls go wonderfully with soup.  I have not tried them with many other savory dishes just because that is a mainstay for dinner around here when it is chilly.