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Lemon love: Lemon Possett Shortcakes

2/25/2015

10 Comments

 
My post is late!  So rather than wax poetic, I will get straight to the point--this is a wonderful recipe!  

Four components: 

  • ethereal sponge cakelettes
  • lemon syrup
  • apple glaze
  • impossibly light, creamy lemon possett filling
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The batter for the cakelettes is so fluffy and perfect!  
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Here is my 12-cavity shortcake pan by Fox Run sprayed with non-stick spray and ready for the batter.  The recipe specified a 6-cavity Marianne shortcake pan.  This one was much less expensive.  Thinking that it would make twice as many cakelettes, I doubled the recipe.  Turned out that my little cakes were much smaller than the Marianne pan and I ended up with lots of extra batter.  I baked the extra in an assortment of ramekins. 
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The cakes baked in ramekins had to be cored to create a cavity for the possett.  I am doing a rather awkward job of it with the first knife I could put my hand on.  The cakelettes in the back of the tray are the ones from the nice shortcake pan.  They have a nice, smooth uniform shape.
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The cooled cakelettes are brushed inside and out with a sugar syrup laced with fresh lemon juice.
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The cakelettes are brushed with a thinned apple jelly glaze.  I admit it--I was getting sick of handling these little things at this point.   I was wishing that I had only made six like the recipe called for!
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The Possett: A magical concoction of cream, sugar and lemon juice.  It thickens into a soft mound to fill the cakelettes.  
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A perfect marriage of sponge cake filled with creamy tart lemon filling.
Do I love the Lemon Possett Shortcakes?  Yes, I do! 


The recipe calls for Meyer lemons, which are available, but much more expensive in this area.  I used regular lemons with the modifications to the recipe that Rose recommends in her book.  



I would like to try this recipe with key lime juice instead of lemon.  I would also love to make this as one big cake instead of the individual servings.  


Here's a link to the pan-- http://www.amazon.com/12-Cup-Shortcake-Pan-Non-Stick/dp/B004FRYCF8/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1424914879&sr=8-1&keywords=shortcake+pan

And to see how the rest of the rest of the Alpha Bakers did with this extraordinary recipe, click here!  http://rosesalphabakers.blogspot.com/


NEXT WEEK:  Hamantaschen


Thank you, dear readers, for visiting my blog and leaving your comments!  
10 Comments

A Valentine for Jessica

2/14/2015

6 Comments

 
I introduced my husband Smitty a few weeks ago.  Now I would like to you to meet Jessica, my marvelous daughter!  
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Jessica's apple pies are legendary!  Here she is picking apples for pies, applesauce and apple butter.  Fortunately, North Carolina has lots of orchards within driving distance.  I wish I had a photo of one of her pies but they are usually eaten before anyone get can get a camera out!

When a mother wishes for a a little girl, she wishes for a daughter just like Jessie.  She is wise, generous, courageous, funny, and much smarter than her mother. No one in the world is unimportant to Jessica.  I am so blessed to be her mother.  Her middle name is Rose, after my beloved mom.  Jessica Rose, my jewel!  

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This is part of her harvest of carrots.  Jessica is a passionate gardener.
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Okay....here's the one thing I just don't get about this wonderful young woman. She runs!  I keep telling her that running is only for emergencies but she doesn't listen!  Here is Jessica and her friend Christina at the end of a half marathon last fall. 
Crazy girls.  
Jessica, like both of her grandmothers, is a nurse.  When she graduated from nursing school, we had a big party to celebrate!  As I have mentioned, she is a very fine baker. Spritz cookies are another of her specialties.  She makes dozens of them every Christmas for lucky friends and family.    
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Aren't these adorable?  She pressed these spritz cookies in heart shapes and piped the EKG symbol on them for her nursing school graduation party! 
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Happy Valentine's Day to all, most especially to Jessica Rose, RN, my dear daughter.  Gifted in many ways, she brings joy to those who are lucky enough to know her!  
Thank you for visiting and commenting!
6 Comments

A treasure!

2/10/2015

0 Comments

 
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This is just a short post, but I wanted to share a photo of this beautiful sterling silver angel food cake comb that Smitty gave me for our 30th wedding anniversary (in November 2014).  Isn't it a wonderful gift?  Most recently used on the Chocolate Cuddle Cake (see the post on Rose's Alpha Bakers, January 2, 2015).


Smitty found it at "The World's Longest Yard Sale," otherwise known as the "127 Sale," which is an enormous string of yard sales and flea markets set up along Highway 127 for 690 miles!  We managed to see a little bit of the sale while visiting my father in law in Tennessee last summer.  It was amazing!  


Imagine this--as far as you can see down the road, on both sides--tables and tents and stands and even full sized flea markets peddling antiques, "man-tiques" books and junk, along with barbecue, kettle corn and Mennonite ladies selling fried pies and homemade bread.  Picture a combination of church groups selling homemade preserves, dusty boxes from your dad's garage next to tables laden with your grandmother's fanciest stuff, and caravans of folks in RV's who make the trip every year from points across the country.   It goes on for two weeks every summer.  We just might have to go back this year, it was so much fun!

For more information on this extraordinary event, here's a link: http://www.127sale.com/  
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Always busy in the kitchen!

2/1/2015

8 Comments

 
I've been meaning to post photos and comments about my baking over the past two weeks but time has not allowed.   Here's part of what's been keeping me busy:

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Bread dough for "Basic" White Sandwich Bread from the Bread Bible.  What Rose calls "basic," we call wonderful!  This recipe makes two loaves.  I increased the ingredients by 15% to accommodate my larger loaf pans.
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Here is one of the loaves hot from the oven and glazed with butter.  The extra loaf is carefully wrapped in foil and then in a plastic bag and frozen.  


If you haven't discovered the baking  books by Rose Levy Beranbaum, I hope you'll consider them!  They are all treasures.  Her recipes are foolproof!   


I am baking through her newest release, the Baking Bible with an online community of bakers called Rose's Alpha Bakers.  Over a two-year period, we will bake all the recipes in this extraordinary book!  
8 Comments
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    I'm Michele, and I was born with a wooden spoon in my hand.  Join me in my natural habitat--the kitchen!

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