Serving This Week 7-13 To 7-17-2020
Come and see what I will be cooking up on Marilyns Treats this week!
This is what I featured the week of 7-13 to 7-17 on my blog. On Tuesday was an Easy Graham Cracker Crust. Wednesday saw Candied Citrus Fruit. Thursday was a Citrus Cheesecake. And winding up this Citrus Week was my post, Tip Friday Cutting In aka Creaming. Enjoy!
If you missed what I served up last week please click Serving This Week 7-6 to 7-10-2020.
Easy Graham Cracker Crust
What tastes the best?
Store bought under plastic?
Or home made with love using all fresh ingredients?
Your own home made hands down!
But the store bought will suffice when you want to spend your time making the rest of the dish from scratch.
This Easy Graham Cracker Crust only requires 2 ingredients. And you should have all 2 on hand!
Taking only 17 minutes to prepare and cook. And most of that is melting the butter.
There is even an option for using the crust for pumpkin pies! Just add some cinnamon and sugar and you have the perfect answer for a crust that compliments the filling! Yum!!
I have used this crust many times. Between this and my Oreo Cookie Crust they are typically the only ones I make from scratch.
I still haven’t mastered a pie dough crust from scratch. I rely on my daughter-in-law for those.
My crusts really allow my fruit pies and cheesecakes to shine. They do not compete with the fillings.
Ever have a really crumbly crust that allows the filling to drip on the plate when you take a forkful?
This Easy Graham Cracker Crust doesn’t do that. The amount of butter, once cooked creates a barrier that doesn’t allow your fruit or cheesecake filling to leak through.
That is a win win in my book!
My family looks forward to my pies made with graham cracker crust.
And I trust them when I take my pies to a bake sale or church auction. The bring in a nice sum of money for the organization.
They also make a statement on the dessert table that brings them to a higher level than a store bought crust.
One of the nice things about home made is that you can adjust this crust to the size of the dessert you want! Make it 6” to 12”. Just adapt your ingredients accordingly.
This recipe can easily be halved or doubled to whatever size you need.
Candied Citrus Fruit
You can brighten a recipe just by using Candied Citrus Fruit.
That sweet and tart flavor you want to bring out in your recipe will be perfect using this Candied Citrus Fruit.
Top your dish or mix it in you still get the perfect blend of flavor that compliments your dish without competing with it.
I use this recipe for Candied Citrus Slices in my Raspberry Lemonade Cake, Citrus Cheesecake, as well as my Creamy Lemon Bars.
The drippings caught as the fruit sets also makes a simple syrup when you remove your fruit.
This is a bonus!
That syrup can be used on other fruits, in sauces and toppings as well as mixed drinks.
For this recipe I used oranges and lemons. I was out of limes but those are also excellent. The combination of the three fruits will cleanse your palate.
There are just so many uses for candied fruit.
The fruits can used as is for a nice treat. I serve them on my Christmas tray. The family loves them. You can eat the candied fruit in your hand without much a mess. Add them to cordials or even zest them for the top of your cake or pie.
They give a pop of color to any dessert table. And we are all about the grab and go foods in my home. All you need is a napkin or plate.
These candied fruits go well with cookies, cakes, pies, and breads. If you can think of a combination you can probably find a recipe.
But one thing you never need to look for is someone to enjoy the candied fruits.
When you serve these the kids and their friends will come out of the walls for their share.
The hardest part is not licking your fingers when you are done!
Citrus Cheesecake
It is no secret I am a lover of cheesecake! With over 50 different cheesecake recipes on my blog there is no doubt.
It was my specialty when I worked with a group of woman to cater locally.
And there are many different ways the cheesecakes were made. Many are light and only slightly sweet. And the crusts I use have different ingredients that are dependent upon the filling used.
I am particularly proud of this Citrus Cheesecake. This one was made using my Candied Citrus Fruit. And it sits in a basic Graham Cracker Crust.
I debated using an Oreo Cookie Crust but I was out of the Lemon Flavored Cookies. So my Basic Graham Cracker Crust won out.
This recipe is one of my lighter and creamier cheesecake recipes.
The orange and lemon zest mixed with the cream cheese makes for a sweet and sour flavor that will pucker your mouth while licking your lips at the same time.
Sitting on top of this mountain of flavor are two slices of my Candied Citrus Fruit. I used one each of orange and lemon varieties.
I also zested a bit of the candied fruits on top of the cheesecake before I added the slices.
The first time I served my husband a slice he looked at me puzzled.
He couldn’t figure out what exactly this cheesecake was. I had never prepared a cheesecake like this one before.
As he slid his for into the cake for a bite he understood. This was a special dessert. And he also understood he was, once again, my guinea pig.
After 44 years of marriage though he was fairly sure eating this cheesecake was a good thing.
It may have been a first, but it was after all a cheesecake!!
And over the years there could be no surprises, right?
Actually, yes. There could be.
He was unprepared for the sweet blend of the cheesecake coupled with the lemon and orange flavors.
I could tell he enjoyed it.
I didn’t hear a peep out of as he sat there slowly savoring every bite.
In the end I got the thumbs up and a request to make this citrus cheesecake again.
That was enough for me!!
I just know your family and guests will react the same way. And the smiles just won’t be on their faces.
The smile will be on yours too!
Bonus Tip Friday Cutting In aka Creaming
Creaming simply means mixing your butter and sugar together until well blended, leaving you with a fluffy light yellow mix. Just do not over mix!
Butter and sugars are over mixed when the butter begins to separate. The reason we cream butter and sugar together is to create little air pockets in our dough.The air will mix with the leavening agent expand making cookies rise.
Chilled butter is too hard to break down and fully blend with the sugar. Overly soft or melted butter will whip up into frothy air bubbles. These will eventually collapse into a greasy wet batter and bake into a heavy and soggy baked good.
Using chunks of butter the size of your thumbnail will yield the flakiest results. This technique combines fat and flour in a way that preserves shards of fat in the mixture.
These shards create a flaky, tender texture in the baked cookie by getting between the layers of flour and liquid in the dough keeping them separate as they bake.
Creaming can be accomplished with a pastry fork, a pastry blender, a food processor pulsed gently or your stand mixer.
THE TOOLS YOU NEED TO CREAM BUTTER AND SUGAR
Stand mixers are ideal for creaming butter and sugar, but hand mixers work well, too. You can gently mash sugar into your softened butter with the tines of a fork.
Then use wooden spoon and stir the mixture until it is light and fluffy.
A rubber spatula can be used to periodically scrape the mixture from the sides of the bowl.
HOW TO CREAM YOUR SUGAR AND BUTTER BY HAND
Place the butter out on the counter for at least an hour, or until it becomes room temperature. The butter should feel soft, but not warm or melty. If your finger leaves a little indent when you touch it your butter is ready.
Slice the butter into cubes or grate using the largest side of a grater, and put them in a large mixing bowl. Beat the butter with a wooden spoon until it is soft.
Add your sugar to the butter and gently mash it with the tines of a fork. With your wooden spoon stir the butter and sugar until they are light and fluffy. Use a rubber spatula to scrape the mixture off the sides of the bowl periodically. The butter is creamed when it has almost doubled in mass and it has lightened to a yellowish white color. If it looks grainy and white it is over mixed.
HOW TO CREAM YOUR SUGAR AND BUTTER IN A MIXER
Place the butter out on the counter for at least an hour, or until it becomes room temperature.
Use a grater or your mixer on low to break up the cubes of butter.
Then turn the speed up to medium and mix for 1 -1 1/2 minutes. Stop the mixer every so often and scrape the butter out of the beaters with a rubber spatula.
Set your mixer to medium speed. Begin adding in the sugar a little bit at a time. Use a rubber spatula to scrape the mixture off the sides of the bowl periodically.
The butter is creamed when it has almost doubled in mass and it has lightened to a yellowish white color.
Keep mixing on medium speed until the mix starts forming little peak-like ridges. This takes 6–7 minutes.
Besides looks, the feel of well mixed and over mixed will be different as well.
Under creamed and your mix will feel like wet sand or damp cornmeal.
Over creamed, and your mix will have the feel of oil and sugar on your fingers, rather like a facial scrub.
Your well creamed mix will be moist and light and the sugar will be nearly dissolved. You’ll barely feel any grit when you rub it between your fingers.
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