Lemon Curd Cream Cheese Frosting

You might have had the occasion to make some fruit curd recently and now you're wondering what to do with it.  I can hear you saying, "Thanks for the recipe Jody, it was fun, it was delicious. Now what?"  Not to fear, I am here to help with some ideas.  Because let's be honest, you can only eat so many spoonfuls of straight fruit curd.

1. Make a blackberry fool.  You might have already seen this, but just in case, here's another opportunity.
2. Make some scones and spread them with fruit curd (raspberry or lemon would be the best) while they're still warm.  Try these classic scones from The Boy Who Bakes and for us non-Brits, sultanas are golden raisins.
3. Make some thumbprint cookies and fill with lemon curd, like these cookies from Angie's Recipes.
4. Layer some yogurt, fruit, granola and fruit curd in a drinking glass and voila! Yummy breakfast parfaits.
5. Put the curd (lemon or lime) in a sweet pastry crust to make a tart.  Here is a recipe and video from  Joy of Baking that is superb.
6. Add fruit curd to cream cheese frosting for an extra flavorful icing.  

I whipped up some pumpkin muffins the other day to put in the photo of my "frosting buzz" printable and obviously had to add a generous amount of frosting.  I don't know what goes better on pumpkin (or pretty much any other flavor of) muffins than cream cheese frosting and with the added zing the lemon curd adds, this is the perfect foil for the spicy sweetness of the pumpkin, cinnamon and ginger in the muffins.

You know how it works: download an easier-to-print copy of the recipe by clicking the recipe image above.  Recipes downloads are for hobby room subscribers, so go ahead and sign-up at the top right-hard corner of the page before downloading.

What would you do with extra fruit curd?  And what flavor is your favorite?

Free Printable: Frosting Buzz

Our family tradition of late is giving birthday cards that play music.  You know the ones you open which (loudly) play a clip of some recognizable ditty, such as "Walkin' On Sunshine" or "Shake Your Groove Thang".  The boys love these cards, so all cards we receive go into the toy dresser to be pulled out at such opportune times as:

• waiting on hold on the phone
• waking up a still-sleeping parent
• sneaking up on your brother
• tunes to play along with on your drum set

Recently two particularly obnoxious favorites died:

1. A Hoops and Yo-Yo card that screamed "I hope you feel butter!  Get it?  Butter!"
2. A googly-eyed vibrating cupcake that sang, no joke, "If you eat me you're gonna gain weight, another year older and a stomach ache."

Say it with me now, ohhhhhh, too bad.

My parents just picked up a card for my sister-in-law's birthday that I loved and just had to remake as something for my kitchen.  The front of the card inspired this printable and the inside of the card featured a spinning head yelling, "Sugar, sugar, sugar" and laughing maniacally, which is birthday card gold if you ask me.

And now for a word on frosting.  I am picky about frosting.  For me, the frosting makes the cake.  You might serve the most delicious cake in the world, but slather it with greasy, flavorless frosting and you can kiss that thumbs-up goodbye.  Conversely, a blah cake can be saved in a pinch by a smear of great icing.  I think the ratio of cake to frosting is also important.  There is nothing worse than getting a center square of cake with a measly 1/4 inch of icing only on the top, but I also hate getting the cupcake with a three-inch tall swirl of frosting that's bigger than the cake portion.  I'm going to stop now before you learn the extent of my particularities on the frosting-cake topic.  

Regardless of where you stand on frosting, if you like it, then this printable is for you.  Click the image to download and please, printables are for subscribers of the hobby room only.  Enjoy!

So where do you stand on the frosting continuum?  Butter cream or cream cheese?  Piped on or spread?  A lot or a little?  Are you swiping finger-fulls off the backs of decorated cakes or scraping it to the side of the plate so you can carefully get just the right amount of frosting with each bite?  Okay, those last ones are totally hypothetical, because no one would actually do that.  Right?  Certainly not this blogger.  Not usually.

A Blackberry Fool

In case you missed it yesterday, this is what I guest posted for Taryn at Design, Dining + Diapers.  I met Taryn through the Seattle Bloggers Unite! facebook page (yay for Seattle bloggers!) and was super excited to get the chance to guest post for her.  If you haven't had the chance to check out her blog, why don't you head over and check out some of the great things she's made.  Taryn is gluten- and egg-intolerant, so I wanted to do something she could enjoy which is why I'm talking about vegan lemon curd farther into the post.

Have you ever noticed that no one decorates cute cookies or cupcakes for April Fool's Day?  No one does a special April Fool's mantle or April Fool's printable.  It's sad.

Okay, not really.  What it is though, is an underdeveloped opportunity for making themed things.  Sure, there are the cheap-o plastic gag items (jumbo thumb anyone?) that get handed out and the cruel-joke foods that get gleefully served to unsuspecting diners.  I mean, who hasn't frosted a cupcake with shaving cream or cooked a piece of paper into a pancake?  Wait, you haven't?  Okay, go get the pranky stuff out of your system, then come on back for a better idea.

The dessert we're making today is a fruit fool.  Not familiar?  You're not alone.  All the people I kindly shoved samples in front of said, "Huh?  A what?"  Fruit fools are originally a British dessert and I think this is perfect dessert to head your list of traditional April Fool's Day foods.  And by traditional foods, I mean foods that have the words April, fool or day in the name.

Joking aside, here's the best thing about making a fruit fool: it's dead simple.  There are generally only three ingredients: fruit, sugar and cream.  And fools look and taste fantastic.  It's a triple-win.  Following is a recipe for a blackberry fool that I added a little zing to with some lemon curd.  You can certainly buy some lemon curd, but I highly recommend you make your own, it's not that difficult.  Go here to see my recent tutorials for both traditional lemon curd and a vegan lemon curd that is healthier and just as delicious.  I know Taryn can't eat eggs and it seems pretty mean to wave something in front of her face that she can't have, so that's why I tried the vegan lemon curd, but to be honest I think it's the one I really prefer.

You know how it works: click on the recipe image above to download a printer-friendly copy of the recipe, I just ask that you be a hobby room subscriber to download recipes.

And for those of you who want something a little more fool-ish to celebrate your April Fool's Day with flair, I have a great recipe coming up in a couple days.

Linking up with:

 

Guest Post at Design, Dining + Diapers

I am guest posting over at Design, Dining + Diapers today and would love for you to go visit.  Taryn does crafts, sewing, DIY and gluten-free cooking so she has a lot of great stuff to browse through.  AND you can find the recipe for this yummy-looking dessert I made, it's a blackberry fool.  I'll meet you there!

Technique of the Week: Fruit Curds

This is the start of a new feature here at the hobby room, Technique of the Week.  I want to take a little time each week to teach you something I think you should know.  I'm going to skip the quirky anecdotes and background stories and get straight to a technique I've been using and think you might be able to use, too.

This week we're going to make some fruit curds.  And for anyone wondering, I don't mean some sort of cheese with fruit flavoring.  Fruit curd, is a custard-like fruit spread that is used frequently in tarts and with scones.  I had the occasion to make some lemon curd this week and it's a lot easier than it seems.  I think you might want to make some because it's delicious and versatile.

The technique is basically this:

1. Combine egg yolks and sugar.
2. Add some fruit juice.
3. Cook the whole thing over (a) a double boiler or (b) low heat in a non-reactive pan.
4. Once the curd gets nice and thick (and reaches 170 degrees), stop cooking.
5. Stir in some butter.

Here's a basic lemon curd that was adapted from Alton Brown's Lemon Curd recipe that you can find here.  This stuff is GOOD.  Like scraping-the-top-off-some-lemon-bars good.

Are you ready to try something exotic and fancy?  Check out these recipes from Gilt Taste. 

Now here's another twist: for the recipe I was using lemon curd in, I had the need to make it without eggs.  Soooo, here's a vegan lemon curd for you to try.  This recipe has been adapted from a lemon curd on the blog Angie's Recipes, which you can find here.

Vegan curd has a lot less fat and fewer calories (no eggs, no butter) and is still delicious.  This curd tastes like what you might find in a lemon meringue pie.  Yum.  The technique is almost the same, but instead of using eggs to thicken the curd, we will use a corn starch slurry.  

You know how it works: click on the recipe image to download a printable copy.  All I ask is that you subscribe to the hobby room to get recipes.

Happy cooking,

Square Bottomed Purses

Remember how several years months weeks ago I told you I would do a tutorial on making mini purses with square bottoms?  Well, that day has finally arrived.  I have had the project sitting on my dining room table since I originally posted about mini purses, waiting patiently for me to get back to it.  Each weekend it's been the first thing on my list, but something else inevitably comes up.  Well, no longer.  I guess I'll have to put something else out on the dining room table.

Here's the sad thing, I didn't even have to cut the fabric or mess with the interfacing, my lovely grandma had already done it for me.  I just had to finish the purse, which was a pretty good test to see if I remembered how to do it.  And I did!  So I know you can do this, too.

I'm going to direct you to my original tutorial for mini purses so you know how to get the basic purse.  Start by cutting the fabric and iron and sew it to the batting.  Here is a pictorial reminder of the rest:

1.2.

3.4.

1. Trim and square the fabric and batting pieces.

2. Cut the zipper to size and cover each end with contrasting fabric.

3. Center the zipper and attach to the outside of the panels.

4. Sew the edge of the zipper to the inside of the bag.

 Once you sew all outer edges together, sides first and bottom last, including zig zag stitching, then measure off a square on each bottom corner. The width of the base of your bag will be double the length of one side of your square.  My square is 1 1/2 inches, so the base of my bag is 3 inches wide.

Now for the hard part.  You have to cut out the square you just marked.  After sewing and double sewing all the edges, it seems like a terrible idea, but trust me, nothing bad will happen.

Now, line up the bottom seam with the side seam and smooth it flat, like in the picture.  Sew across, back stitching at each end, then zig zag across just as extra insurance against unraveling.

And that's it, you're done.  Pretty easy, no?  Turn the bag right side out and you're good to go.  I think I'm going to use this one to hold a little knitting project I'm working on and I'm planning to make another one for my camera accessories.  What do you have that could find a new home in a cute little purse like this?