Although I am not a fan of themed holidays, particularly when it comes to love, because love should be cherished every day.
Okay I can overdo it once a year?;p
Food is undoubtedly my passion, but you already know that, and preparing meals during those special days only inspires me more.
Cooking has been a major factor in our relationship since my sweetheart and I first met. He enjoys eating, and I enjoy cooking - perfect combo some might say. Otherwise, there is no special celebration of Valentine's Day for us, no gift-giving, and no showy events.
But today I was certainly going to make some desserts, and after seeing the V challenge yesterday, I had lemon flavors on my mind.
If you recall my awful effort at a lemon cake, you'll notice that it appears I am determined to try again鈥攁s long as I make it succeed, that is.
I dug deeper at the recipes in an effort to find the one that could be the best. But in order to avoid reiterating myself entirely, I chose to combine the lemon with homegrown raspberries from the harvest of the previous year and shape them into hearts as a symbol of the upcoming Valentine's Day.
You'll need the following ingredients:
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups flour (180gr)
1 cup sugar (200gr)
Baking powder, 1 1/2 tablespoons
Salt, 1/2 teaspoon
1/2 cup unsalted butter (115gr, room temperature)
juice from half a lemon
1/2 cups of milk (120ml)
Lemon zest, 1 teaspoon
Separately combine all of the dry ingredients except the sugar, then in a separate bowl, cream the butter and sugar until frothy, then add the eggs and continue to beat (at a lower speed) until the mixture is completely combined. To ensure that the biscuit stays light and airy throughout baking, use a wire whisk in instead of a mixer as you slowly add the remaining dry ingredients to the butter and eggs.
Before squeezing the lemon, grate the zest as finely as possible and combine it with the rest, do not forget to join the milk.
Raspberries are optional; you may use any other fruit that pairs nicely with lemon or simple vanilla cream, but these two are my favorites combo. Apart from that, it reminds me a lot of love, when we have sour days but know that the core is juicy and luscious like a raspberry.
I added two teaspoons of powdered sugar after squeezing a few tablespoons of raspberries.
Molds - you remember my muffin challenges, well I changed the shape!
Well oiled and ready to fill.
One spoonful of mixture - one spoon raspberries - one spoonful of mixture.
Use a toothpick to spread the mixture evenly and tuck in the raspberries so they don't come out during baking. Preheat the oven - 180 degrees.
Bake them until they get a golden color, baking took me about 15 minutes.
The irresistible scent of lemon was wafting from the oven, and I could already see that the recipe had worked this time! The only thing I can fault myself for is overfilling the molds, which caused the edges to get buried under the soft biscuit. But that didn't hurt the taste, except that I lost a few extra minutes taking them out carefully so as not to lose their shape.
Love takes time and patience, true that!
Raspberries have dropped to the bottom of the biscuit, giving the hearts the appearance of having two faces; you may pick which one you want to gaze at. :p
Will it last until Valentine's Day? No, they've already gone, and I haven't even published them yet. 馃槒
(shhhh, I hid a few)
So, my dears, love each other with or without gifts, every day all over again, add some tasty bites, and even the slightly bitter ones have to be swallowed every now and then.
Since love is undeniably individual, love the best you can, holidays aside, respect will always be a top priority and the core of every relationship.
Bon appetite!鉂わ笍
