All My Eggs

Living Simply and Frugally

Candied Lemon Peel

 

Hard Candied Lemon Peel

Hard Candied Lemon Peel

This is the first time that I have made candied lemon peel, and I have to say it was quite fun! You can make this confection as something that is soft and chewier, or hard, depending to what stage you cook it to. I made mine hard, I just wanted to see how it would come out. It tastes great! Here is the recipe:

6 lemons (approx.)

1 ½ c sugar

1 ½ c water

6 tbsp. light corn syrup

Granulated or extra-fine sugar (used to coat the candied peel)

Remove the peel

Step 1: With a sharp knife, score the skin of the lemon into quarters, then peel it off with your fingers. Keep the white pith attached to it.

Step 2: Lay each quarter of the skin on a cutting board and with a heavy knife, cut on the bias, in uniform strips about 1/8 to ¼ “ wide. You should end up with 3 cups of strips.

Lemon peel slices

Lemon peel slices

Step 3: Place the peel in a saucepan and cover with a generous amount of water. Bring to a boil, cook for 1 minute then remove and drain. Do this step 2 more times. After the 3rd time, replace the peel in the saucepan and cover once again with fresh water. Bring to a boil and cook for 20 minutes. Then drain and set aside.

Boil the peel

Boil the peel

Step 4: Next make the syrup: combine the sugar, water and corn syrup in the saucepan. Boil for about 2 minutes. Add the lemon peel. Simmer briskly, stirring occasionally until the syrup is considerable reduced, then watch constantly.

Syrup

Syrup

Step 5: Now decide on whether you want the candied peel tender – cook down until there is about 2 – 3 tbsp of syrup left. For medium-firm – leave only a spoonful of syrup before removing, and candy-like peel – cook until the syrup is on the point of hardening (or hardball stage) Note: When it is close to hardball it starts cooking up quickly. Watch it closely so that there won’t be any scorching.

Boil Peel in Syrup

Boil Peel in Syrup

Step 6: Take a fork and arrange the candied peel on a bed of sugar on a jelly-roll pan. If you’ve cooked it to hardball stage, this is a little difficult. I had to spread it little by little, and let it cool some. I then pulled pieces apart with my fingers, they worked better than the fork. But be careful, it can be hot!

Step 7: Keep tossing it in the sugar until cooled. If you did the soft peel, place them on cake racks and leave them to dry. I was able to place the hard candied peel into a jar fairly quickly.

Store in a Jar

Store in a Jar

You can store in bags or jars closely covered. This makes great gifts! Enjoy!

March 25, 2009 Posted by inonebasket | Food, Gifts, Homemade | , , , | 2 Comments

Lemon Bread

I will tell you, this has got to be one of my very favorite lemon recipes!  Not too sour, not too sweet!  Just yummy!

Lemon Bread

This isn’t the best picture, but I wanted to get this recipe to you pronto!

Ingredients:

1/2 c. vegetable shortening (I used butter flavor)

1 c. granulated sugar

2 eggs

1 1/3 c. all-purpose flour

1 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 c. milk

1 tbsp. finely grated lemon zest

optional: 1/2 c. chopped pecans

Preheat the oven to 350°.  Grease and flour 8 1/2″ x 4 1/2″ loaf pan.

In a bowl, combine the shortening and sugar, beat until blended.  Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.  In another bowl, mix the flour, baking powder, and salt.  Add to the shortening mixture, along with the milk and lemon zest.  Beat until completely blended and smooth.  If you are adding nuts, mix them in now. Pour the batter into the pan and spread out evenly.  Bake until a thin wooden skewer inserted into the center, comes out clean.

Lemon Syrup:

1/4 c. granulated sugar

3 tbsp. fresh lemon juice

Confectioners’ sugar

While the bread is baking, mix together the granulated sugar and lemon juice.  Stir occasionally, don’t worry if the sugar doesn’t dissolve.

After removing the bread from the oven, use a fork to gently poke the top in several places.  Stir the syrup, then slowly drizzle it over the hot bread.  Let the bread cool in the pan for 15 minutes.  Then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely.  Dust with confectioners’ sugar if desired.

March 23, 2009 Posted by inonebasket | Food | , , | 1 Comment

Week 13 – March Food Tips – Vanilla

There are 3 popular varieties of Vanilla we currently see here in the US.  There is Mexican Vanilla, Madascar Bourbon Vanilla, and Tahitian Vanilla and the taste will vary with place of origin. You can purchase vanilla by the bean, as a powder or in liquid extract.

Here are a few tips for using and storing vanilla beans:

  • Wrap vanilla beans in aluminum foil, seal in a zip-top bag and store in a cool, dark place.  This will keep them for several months.
  • If the bean does dry out – fill the tube with the bean still inside (if it is still in the original tube) with light cream or half-and-half and let it soak in the refrigerator a couple of days.  This will soften the bean and you can split it and scrape it.  Use the vanilla-flavored cream for your coffee, or to bake with.
  • Make vanilla sugar by taking the scraped out bean and placing it in a jar of white sugar, or confectioners’ sugar.  Use the confectioners’ sugar to sprinkle over pastries and cakes, as well as for frosting and cooking. As you use the sugar, replace it with fresh sugar.  The bean will flavor the sugar for a couple of months if they are good quality. You can also use the beans that you used to make vanilla extract for this purpose, after they are strained from the liquid (see recipe below).
  • You can take the beans, and powder them in a food mill and use the ‘dust’ to flavor food.

To split and scrape a vanilla bean:  place the bean on your work surface.  Split it lengthwise with a sharp paring knife.  With the tip of the knife, scrape out the black paste from each half.  This is the seed. Use the seed in your recipes.

Vanilla Extract:

You need vanilla beans and vodka.  Cut the vanilla beans into quarters, and split them lengthwise.  Place the pieces into small, clean, dry bottles that have a tight cap.

Add 1 oz. (2 tbsp) of vodka per vanilla bean.  Cap and shake well.  Shake the bottle often, the extract will be ready in about 4 weeks.  Before using, strain the vanilla into a clean bottle.  Store tightly capped.

Note:  Store all vanilla extract in a cool dark place.  Vanilla extract is sensitive to heat and light.

This would make a great homemade gift.  Enjoy!

March 23, 2009 Posted by inonebasket | Food-Tips, Gifts | , , | Comments Off

Giveaway!

I just wanted to let you know that I am having a giveaway – A Cowboy Fabric Tote – over at my sewing blog The Stitchin’ Chicken!

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Please stop over there and leave me a comment telling me what you like to see when you visit a sewing blog.

Thanks, and I hope to see you there!

March 22, 2009 Posted by inonebasket | Giveaways | , , | Comments Off

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