Watermelon Un-Margaritas

So, I'm breaking slightly from desserts, the usual focus of this blog, to tell you about one of my other favorite parts of the meal--the drinks!  Given the fact that I have 5 recipes tagged "wine" (and don't even get me started on the Baileys, bourbon, brandy, champagne, Chardonnay, rum, tequila, and Triple Sec tags), you've probably figured out that I like my drinks.  This particular one is a great fruity drink for a hot afternoon or sitting out on the porch watching the sun set.  It's refreshing, potent, and relatively healthy, for an alcoholic drink, anyway (there's no added sugar)!

Now, I've called these drinks un-margaritas because I made mine with rum, since I'm not the biggest fan of tequila.  The boyfriend made his with tequila.  The recipe is written so that you can pick your poison.  If you're using rum, you may want to rim your margarita glass in sugar.  With tequila, salt will, of course, work.  I like my drinks pretty strong, so feel free to decrease the amount of liquor to suit your tastes.  Without further ado, here's the recipe!

Watermelon Un-Margaritas (adapted from We Are Not Martha)

• 1/2 medium seedless watermelon, cubed
• 1/2 c. lemon juice
• 1/2 c. lime juice
• 2 c. Triple Sec
• Tequila or rum
• Lime wedges
• Salt or sugar

Puree the watermelon in a blender (you may have to do this in batches).   You'll want about 8 c. watermelon puree.  Combine the watermelon puree, lemon juice, lime juice, and Triple Sec in a pitcher.  Refrigerate until cold.

Run a lime wedge around the rim of the margarita glass.  Pour salt (for tequila) or sugar (for rum) onto a small plate.  Invert the glass onto the salt or sugar and twist a bit to coat the rim.  Add a few ice cubes to the glass, then up to 1/4 c. tequila or rum and 1 c. of the watermelon mix.  Stir to combine, and drink up!

Green Tea Cupcakes with Pink Lemonade Frosting

The boyfriend and I were entertaining another couple last weekend, and we started planning the menu: Asian pork burgers with soy glaze and/or sriracha mayo and grilled chicken in an Asian-inspired marinade. Can you tell he loves grilling and loves Asian flavors? Anyways, I volunteered to come up with a similarly Asian-inspired dessert. I immediately thought of a box of matcha sitting on my baking shelf that I had ordered online, intending to bake something, anything green tea-flavored. Perfect! Green tea cupcakes! But then I needed a frosting flavor. I didn't want to go with matcha frosting, too...I wanted something that would complement and play off the green tea cupcakes. So I got thinking....

My favorite coffee shop in Rochester, NY is a little place called Java's. They have standard coffee house fare, but it's all just really good and in a fun, quirky environment. Being a non-coffee-drinker myself, my favorite drink on the menu is perfectly refreshing on a summer day, which is usually when I find myself at Java's. It's called a Kinky Reggae, and to the best of my taste buds' knowledge, it consists of a blend of iced green tea and pink lemonade, served nice and cold over ice. I know this is an unusual combination, but it's so good! And voila! I had my frosting flavor: pink lemonade!


These cupcakes turned out great! The cupcakes are a vivid green color (my Facebook friends had fun guessing what made them green!), and the grassiness of the green tea flavor is perfectly offset by the light sweet/sour flavor of the frosting. The only complaint that I have is that the frosting is ever so slightly grainy due to the pink lemonade powder, but that didn't stop me from wolfing it right down! This unusual flavor combination went over very well with everyone who tried it!


Green Tea Cupcakes with Pink Lemonade Frosting (adapted from Chockylit with an original frosting recipe)

• 1 1/2 c. unsalted butter, softened, divided
  
• 1 c. granulated sugar
• 1 egg plus 1 yolk
• 1 1/2 c. all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1/8 tsp. salt
• 1 1/2 Tbl. matcha*
• 1/2 c. milk
• 2 c. powdered sugar
• 3 Tbl. pink lemonade powdered drink mix

Cream together 1/2 c. butter with the granulated sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the egg and egg yolk until incorporated. Meanwhile, sift together the flour, baking powder, salt, and matcha. Add half of the dry ingredients to the butter mixture and beat just until incorporated. Mix in the milk. Finally, mix in remaining dry ingredients just until combined. *I bought my matcha from Amazon. If you don't want to do that, you could probably substitute 1/2 c. of very strong brewed green tea for the matcha and milk.

Portion the batter out evenly into greased muffin cups (I got 11). Bake for 22-25 min. at 350 degrees F, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool completely.

Cream together remaining 1 c. butter with the pink lemonade mix. Beat in 1-2 c. of powdered sugar, or until desired sweetness is reached and frosting is a spreadable consistency. Frost your cupcakes using a knife when the plastic bag that you were using to pipe the frosting bursts. Enjoy!

Another Pictureless Post...

Sorry guys, another pictureless post. This is the last one, I promise. But I really wanted to share this one--it's a Blondie original! And that made me excited. I had friends over to watch a movie (Sherlock Holmes--very good!). I made a small selection of goodies for them to munch on, including a veggie tray with homemade hummus, Joelen's crab rangoon appetizers, and these pear cigars. I have no idea what to call them, but pear cigars sounds as good as anything else. They were light, tasty, and not too sweet!

Pear Cigars (A Blondie original!)

• 4 medium to large pears
• 1 Tbl. lemon juice
• 1/2 tsp. ground ginger
• 3 Tbl. honey
• 2 Tbl. cornstarch
• 1 package filo dough, thawed
• 1/2 stick butter, melted
  

Slice the pears up nice and thinly (a mandoline works well for this). Peeling them before slicing would probably be nice, but I was lazy and didn't do it, so feel free to omit that step. Put about 1/2 in. of water in the bottom of a medium saucepan, and add the pears. Add lemon juice, ginger, and honey, and stir to evenly coat pears. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer covered for about a half hour, or until pears are tender. Mix the cornstarch with about 2 Tbl. cold water until dissolved and smooth. Add the cornstarch slurry to the pears, and stir to combine. Simmer 1 minute longer, or until thickened. Let the pear mixture cool.

Take one sheet of filo dough, and brush with melted butter. Top it with another sheet of filo dough. Brush with melted butter again. Fold the filo stack in half, like a book (hint: the filo stack should NOT be long and skinny...if it is, you folded it in half the wrong way. Unfold and try again). Brush with butter again. Spoon 2-3 Tbl. of pear mixture along the folded edge. Do NOT go all the way to the edge with the filling. Roll the filo dough over the pear mixture once, then fold in the sides (like wrapping a burrito) and continue rolling until you reach the end of the filo sheet. Your cigar should have all the ends tucked in so as to minimize the chance of tasty filling leaking out. Place the cigar seam-side down on a greased baking sheet. Repeat this whole process until you've used all the pear filling. It should make around 18 cigars.

Bake the cigars at 375 degrees for 30-35 minutes, or until golden. Enjoy!

We Interrupt Your Regularly Scheduled Programming...

Rest assured, the final installment of my Eat, Pray, Love recipes will be posted soon. However, in the meantime, I have a special treat for you! So, I'm terrible about following recipes. I mean, I CAN follow a recipe...I just usually DON'T. And sometimes, that makes me very, very, very happy. Because while I'm sure lemon tassies are delicious and all, they're just so *yawn* normal. Now, honey lemon lavender tassies, on the other hand, are anything BUT typical. They're unusual. And unexpected. And unique. And make you pause to go "hmmmm..." as you savor them. Now THAT'S my kind of dessert!


Honey Lemon Lavender Tassies

Crust (adapted from Dorie Greenspan via Smitten Kitchen)

• 2 c. all-purpose flour
• heaping 1/2 c. powdered sugar
• 1 stick cold butter, cut into small pieces
• 1 large egg plus 1 Tbl. of egg white

Pulse together flour and powdered sugar in a food processor until well-combined. Add the butter and pulse until the largest pieces are the size of peas. Add the egg and white and pulse in several long pulses to combine ingredients together.

Scrape out onto a piece of plastic wrap. Form the dough into a disk, wrap in plastic wrap, and refrigerate 1 hour. Spray a mini muffin pan with cooking spray. Roll out the dough on a well-floured surface to about 1/8-in thickness. Using a biscuit cutter, cut rounds out and press into the cups of the mini muffin pan to form mini crusts. Prick the bottoms with a fork (I like to make an "X"). Bake at 375 for about 12 minutes, or until golden brown and crisp. Cool completely.

Side note: this was the first pie crust I have ever made from scratch! Woohoo! So if I can do it, you can do it.

Honey Lemon Lavender Curd (adapted from Joy of Baking via The Way The Cookie Crumbles)

• 4 large eggs plus one egg yolk
• 1/3 c. lemon juice
• 3 Tbl. lavender mead (I got mine from Hilltop Berry Farm)
• 1/3 c. honey
• 1/2 c. sugar
• 6 Tbl. room temperature butter, cut into small pieces
• Zest of 1 lemon

Fill a saucepan with about an inch of water, and bring to a simmer. In a stainless steel bowl, combine eggs, egg yolk, lemon juice, lavender mead, honey, and sugar. Whisk together. Place bowl over the saucepan (be sure the water is not touching the bottom of the bowl!), and cook, whisking constantly, until mixture thickens considerably and becomes pale in color (about 10 minutes).

Remove from heat and pour through a fine sieve into a small bowl. Whisk in the butter and lemon zest until butter has melted. Cover with plastic wrap, pressing the plastic wrap against the surface of the curd, and chill in the refrigerator until cool.

Note: if you have the misfortune of not living within driving distance to Hill Top, you could also probably increase the amount of lemon juice to 1/2 c., heat it gently, and steep some fresh lavender sprigs in it to infuse it with that lovely lavender aroma and taste.

Pipe the cooled curd into pre-baked, cooled mini tart shells, and enjoy!