A Vat of Lemon Curd

Well, it is citrus season [I started this post a while ago when it really was citrus season] and I needed to use up some Meyer Lemons that I had, so why not make 1 1/2 recipe of  Ina Garten's Lemon Curd. It so easy and delicious. Who cares that I have already have a pint in my refrigerator. 

I ended up with total 4 1/2 pints and 4 little jars of curd. I used a bottle for the cookies below and keep 1/2 pint for myself for another attempt at the Black Sesame Chiffon Cake and some macrons. And the rest of the curd will be for friends.

I'm going to try and make some lilikoi curd using this recipe. Stay tune.

Both WG and I love cookies with jam in it. Been dying to try out this thumbprint/Sable cookies from Lottie + Doof with some leftover whole wheat flour and walnuts. And I thought the lemon curd would go great as the filling. This recipe gets a thumbs up. It's perfectly sweet and such great texture. I will more of this. Wish I took a picture. They were very picture worthy. Next time.

But what I really want to use the lemon curd for is a Chai Spice cupcake with lemon curd filling and cinnamon cream cheese frosting. It's one of my favorite cupcakes [I really want to make a layered cake with this recipe but the customers just seem to like the red velvet].

Tah dah! Chai Tea cake with lemon curd filling and lemon cinnamon buttercream. I avoided a decorating disaster, buttercream too hard from spending too much time in the refrig to firm up. Took apart once, to level off layer 1, sort of. This is why I don't enjoy decorating cake. Gave up to idea of frosting the top, buttercream just wasn't doing what I wanted it to do. Made a ring of flowers to hold the lemon curd in the center. I went around a couple times, started to like the look--like a pikaki lei.

Pretty good save. But I have bring it in to work one day late. Forgot to put it in the car. Oh well, Happy Belated Birthday! Hope people like it.

A Bunch of Energy

So far this year I've had a bunch of energy and I've been putting it to good use. Besides the usual baking and jamming for the restaurant, I've been recipe testing and knitting my way through my yarn stash. I guess it doesn't hurt that it is bitterly cold outside and all of these tasks are prefect for a cold day. Here's a couple of recipes I've tested that came out great.

Recipe Testing

{Savory} Tried out two recipes from http://nomnompaleo.com/. No, I'm not on the Paleo diet. These recipes are great and really worth trying out. 

Slow Cooker Kalua Pig

A pile of shredded goodness

I know you can't beat the really thing but when you live thousands of miles away from Hawaii, you got to go to the next best thing. All done in my crock pot in 12 hours. Of course, I started it at 8:30am so it was done at 8:30pm. But my house smell delicious. And guess who came home and ate a bunch of it. I made it again and have a container in the freezer. I even made Kalua Pork and Cabbage with the little bit of leftovers that I had. Hmmmm. So good. 

Crackin' Chicken
I forgot to get a picture of this but this is a must try if you like crispy crunch chicken. A bit messy as the grease pops as the chicken is cooking. I had to scrub and wipe down my stove after. [I'm off to the dollar store for a splatter guard--totally worth the dollar]. I even made a small batch of the ghee to cook the chicken in. Very addicting.