YumSugar

Know Your Ingredients: Orange Flower Water

YumSugar — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 15:00:52 -0700

Now that Party's cleared up the mystery around one foreign spirit, Pimm's, I'm going to attempt to demystify another mixer - orange flower water.

A delicate flavoring used in desserts, drinks, and other dishes, orange flower water is a natural extract made from distilling orange blossoms from bitter orange or Seville orange trees. Sometimes known as orange blossom water, it has a delicate yet powerful, jasmine-like scent. The flavoring can be categorized into two different genres - French flower water and Middle Eastern flower water. The French version (like the venerated Provençal brand A. Monteux pictured here) is perfumed and floral, while the Middle Eastern kind is brighter with citrusy notes.

Orange blossom water can be used to enhance the flavor of cocktailsm such as the Ramos Gin Fizz and is an ingredient in true orgeat. It's also a key component in some madeleines, cakes, and cookies. Drops may be used to flavor hot water, a common practice in the Middle East, or other desserts like fruit salad and ice cream. How do you make the most of orange flower water?

Source

Reader Recipe: Chocolate Chip Pancakes With Blueberry Syrup

YumSugar — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 16:00:16 -0700

Cooking when you don't have all the ingredients on hand can be frustrating, but it can also be empowering: Since you have to think on your feet, some of the most successful outcomes are born out of limited circumstances.

TeamSugar regular FinnLover has long been the master of innovatively tweaking reliable recipes based on what she has in her kitchen. So guess what happened when she ran out of maple syrup for her pancakes? Finn improvised (and improved) her recipe by adding chocolate chips to her pancakes and using frozen blueberries stowed in her freezer to make a delectable compote. To see the recipe, which left me with a hankering for a sweet, sticky breakfast, read more.

Submitted by TeamSugar member FinnLover

Dark Chocolate Chip and Blueberry Pancakes
Adaptation of a Nigella Lawson recipe.

I just made these for breakfast and they were so good! They're a twist on a pancake recipe I posted a while ago. I just added some dark chocolate chips to the batter and made a simple blueberry syrup to serve with them because I was out of maple syrup. They were to die for!
Here's the original post:
http://teamsugar.com/group/30207/recipes/2607875

Ingredients

- 225g plain flour
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- pinch of salt
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 2 large eggs, beaten
- 30g butter, melted and cooled
- 300ml milk
- 125g 70% cacao chocolate chips

For the blueberry syrup:
- frozen blueberries
- a splash of water
- brown sugar
- a tbsp or two of lingonberry or raspberry jam

Directions
1. In a big bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder, salt and sugar. Beat in the eggs, melted butter and milk. Add the chocolate chips. Leave the batter for about 20 minutes before using it; and you may then want to add more milk to the mixture if it's too thick to pour in the pan.
2. Put the frozen blueberries in a small saucepan. Add a splash of water to get it going and a bit of brown sugar. Bring it to a boil. Add the jam and more brown sugar if necessary. Let simmer for 5 to 10 minutes until it becomes thicker and syrupy.
3. Pour some batter in a non-stick pan (medium heat). When you cook the pancakes, remember that when the upper side of the pancake is blistering and bubbling it’s time to flip it and cook the second side. It will only take about 1 or 2 minutes.
4. Makes about 11 blini-pan-sized pancakes, maybe 16 silver-dollar-sized ones on the griddle. Serve with the blueberry syrup.

Print recipe with images | without images

Simple Tip: Heat Syrup in Hot Water

partysugar — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 10:15:56 -0800

During our girls Winter weekend, my sister made the most delicious corn cakes with spicy sausage for breakfast. Since we were feeding a crowd, it was necessary to heat the entire bottle of maple syrup.

While you can easily heat syrup in the microwave, the best way to heat syrup or ice cream toppings is in a pot of hot water. The temperature gradually increases and no burnt or caramelized crystals form.

Start by filling a large saucepan with water. Loosen the cap on the syrup and gently place the bottle in the water. Heat over medium-high heat, bring the water to a simmer, and warm the syrup. Keep an eye on it to ensure that it doesn't burn.

Got a tip for heating syrup? Please share with us below!

Yummy Link: French Toast with Homemade Blueberry Syrup

YumSugar — Thu, 15 May 2008 05:00:48 -0700

Pancakes, waffles and French toast just seem to taste better when you make your own syrup. Here you can find a great French toast recipe, plus one for homemade blueberry syrup. - 80 Breakfasts

Reader Recipe: Maple-Balsamic Dressing

YumSugar — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 06:27:19 -0700

I was checking out all the great recipes everyone's been posting, when I came across this dressing from TeamSugar member FinnLover. She's based in Québec, and finally caved in to the local maple syrup frenzy. Lucky for us, it's resulted in a yummy looking maple-balsamic dressing. To get her recipe and try it for yourself, read more.

Submitted by TeamSugar member FinnLover

Yummy Maple - Balsamic Dressing
Tyler Florence's Fall Salad, Tyler's Ultimate

The Province of Québec is the world's largest producer of maple syrup and every year, during the months of March and April when the production takes place, happens some kind of maple frenzy. Wherever you go, restaurants have maple dishes on their menus (pie, cake, pork, salmon...). So last week, I decided to make this sweet and simple dressing. It was fast, easy and tasted great. Tyler's recipe called for candied pecans and pears, but since I had none of that on hand I made a simple green salad.

Ingredients

- 1 small shallot, finely chopped
- 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
- 2 teaspoons Balsamic vinegar
- 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
- 2 teaspoons maple syrup
- salt and pepper to taste

Directions
1. Mix together the shallot, Dijon mustard and Balsamic vinegar.

2. Slowly add the olive oil while you whisk to emulsify.

3. Add the maple syrup, mix well, and season with salt and pepper to taste.

4. Serve with the greens of your choice. I used Romaine because that's all I had, but endives, radicchio or baby spinach would have been great too.

Print recipe with images | without images

Cooking the Cover: Bon Appétit's Blueberry Pancakes

YumSugar — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 08:13:31 -0800

I have been drooling over the cover of the February Bon Appétit cover ever since it landed in my mailbox a few weeks ago. On a stark white background sits a huge stack of whole grain pancakes topped with blueberry syrup. Yesterday evening, YumJimmy and I finally decided to curb our pancake cravings by whipping up our own batch. So imagine our surprise when we found out that today was actually National Blueberry Pancake Day! Talk about a fun coincidence.

So, how did ours turn out compared to theirs? Find out, and get the recipe so you can try it at home, just read more.

We did the recipe up exactly as it stated. The batter ended up being really thick, and a bit difficult to work with. If I make them again, I'll definitely thin it out a bit. We ended up botching the first few - Does this happen to anyone else? - and so I ate them plain as the others cooked. I wasn't sure if I liked the flavor, it was definitely whole grain and chewy. YumJimmy thought they tasted too healthy and I had to agree with him. However, once I doused them with the blueberry syrup it was heavenly.

Whole Grain Pancakes with Wild Blueberry-Maple Syrup
From Bon Appétit, February 2008

1 cup plus 2 tablespoons maple syrup
1 cup frozen wild blueberries
2 cups whole grain complete pancake and waffle mix (the Bon Appétit Test Kitchen used Kodiak Cakes brand)
2 cups buttermilk
6 tablespoons wheat germ
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
2 tablespoons (1/4 stick) butter

Boil 1 cup syrup and blueberries in heavy medium saucepan until reduced to generous 1 cup, about 13 minutes. Cool to lukewarm.
Meanwhile, combine pancake mix, next 4 ingredients and 2 tablespoons maple syrup in medium bowl and whisk to blend (batter will be thick).
Melt 1 tablespoon butter on griddle or in 2 large nonstick skillets over medium heat. Drop batter by 1/4 cupfuls onto griddle or skillets and quickly spread with back of spoon into 3- to 4-inch rounds. Cook pancakes until brown and cooked through, about 2 minutes per side. Transfer to plates. Repeat with remaining butter and batter. Serve with syrup.

Nutritional Information
One serving contains the following (2 pancake equals one serving): Calories (kcal) 389.92; %Calories from Fat (kcal) 55.03; Fat (g) 6.11; Saturated Fat (g) 3.14; Cholesterol (mg) 16.60; Carbohydrates (g) 74.63; Dietary Fiber (g) 6.24; Total Sugars (g) 45.24; Net Carbs (g) 68.39; Protein (g) 10.23

Print recipe with images | without images

View 9 Photos ›

Pipette Glass Dispenser: Love It Or Hate It?

YumSugar — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 04:01:39 -0700

These Menu Pipette Glasses dispense just the precise amount of liquid - be it oil, vinegar, syrup or more. They work like regular droppers and are available in two sizes 150ml and 300ml. I love that you'll get exactly how much you want, but wonder how long it might take for your salad to get just the right amount of dressing. What do you guys think? Love them or hate them? If you love them, a set of two is available for $30.18.

Source: Cooking Gadgets

Apples For Dessert

partysugar — Mon, 29 Jan 2007 16:01:15 -0800

Lately I have been bombarding you with super chocolatey decadent desserts. For this I apologize. If you are ignoring my temptations and really sticking to your diets, congratulations! Here is a dessert that can serve as your reward without being overly loaded with chocolate, whipped cream, and marzipan. It's actually quite simple, apples are usually widely available and make a delicious fruity dessert on their own with a little flavorings (translation: you can have apples for dessert not in the form of pie, pastry, or cake). Ok it does have a little butter and sugar..but it's a dessert. If you really don't want to consume butter, sugar, and the like you shouldn't be having any dessert. Oh no, I'm starting to sound like FitSugar! Make it at your own discretion, apples poached in vanilla syrup sounds too good to deny...for the recipe, read more

Apples Poached in Vanilla Syrup
From Saveur magazine

12 tbsp. butter, softened
4 1/4 cups sugar
3 vanilla beans, split lengthwise
1 lemon
4 golden delicious or gala apples
8 slices white bread

Put the softened butter and 1/4 cup of the sugar in a medium mixing bowl. Using the back of a knife, scrape seeds from 1 of the vanilla beans into the butter, then mix well to make a soft, creamy vanilla butter. Reserve vanilla pod. Set vanilla butter aside.
Combine remaining 4 cups of the sugar and 4 cups water in a wide medium saucepan; cover and boil over medium-high heat, swirling pan once or twice, until sugar dissolves, 4-5 minutes.
Meanwhile, avoiding the white pith, cut the rind off the lemon in long, wide strips using a vegetable peeler or a sharp paring knife and set aside. Cut lemon in half.
Peel apples, then cut out the core, leaving each apple intact. Squeeze juice from lemon halves over apples to keep them from discoloring.
When sugar has dissolved, reduce heat to maintain a gentle simmer, then add the remaining 2 vanilla beans, the reserved vanilla pod, the reserved lemon rind, and the apples.
Poach, partially covered, until apples are just tender when pierced with a skewer, about 15 minutes. Transfer apples with a slotted spoon to a plate and set aside.
Pour 1 1/2 cups of the poaching liquid into a small saucepan and simmer on medium-high heat until thickened and syrupy, 10-15 minutes. Set vanilla syrup aside to cool. Reserve remaining poaching liquid.
Meanwhile, preheat oven to 350°.
Cut crusts off bread slices and chop crusts into a medium-fine crumb. Spread crumbs out evenly on a baking sheet and bake until deep golden brown, about 10 minutes. Set aside to cool.
Roll out each slice of bread with a rolling pin until there is no spring left in its crumb and it is completely flattened. Butter both sides of each slice with some of the reserved vanilla butter.
Press 2 slices of bread, one on top of the other, into each of four individual 4'' tart molds, allowing the corners of the bread to extend over the edge of the mold. Set tart molds on a small baking sheet and bake until bread is brown on the edges and golden in the center, about 30 minutes.
Place poached apples upright in the center of each tart crust. Combine bread crumbs and remaining vanilla butter in a medium mixing bowl, then spoon into hollowed-out centers of poached apples.
Spoon some of the reserved vanilla syrup over each apple and return to oven to bake until heated through and slightly browned on the edges, about 30 minutes.
Serve apples warm, drizzled with some of the reserved poaching liquid.

Serves 4.

Print recipe with images | without images

Simply Simple Syrups

YumSugar — Wed, 03 Jan 2007 09:43:12 -0800

It seems like you can get flavored syrups for everything: flavored coffees, flavored alcohols, flavored water, the list doesn't seem to end. However, commercial syrups aren't always the greatest and can often taste quite terrible. So why not skip the risk and make your own simple syrups?

First of all they're called simple syrups for a reason, they're ridiculously simple. All it takes is a little bit of sugar, water and any number of flavorings. My personal favorite is a ginger syrup; I like to keep some on hand in the fridge and mix it with sparkling water for a make-shift ginger ale.

To learn how to make your own simple syrups, including my favorite ginger syrup, read more

Simple Cinnamon-Ginger Syrup

2 cups of water
1 cup of sugar
1 small ginger root
1 stick of cinnamon snapped in half
1 tsp rose water (optional)

Rinse and clean ginger, chop into thin slices.
Put water into a pot, add sugar and stir.
Bring to boil over hight heat and let boil for several minutes.
Reduce heat to medium-low and add ginger & cinnamon.
Let simmer for about 5-10 minutes.
Remove from heat and cool.
Once cooled strain into clean container.
Add rose water if desired.

Syrup will keep in the fridge for up to three months.

This syrup is great mixed with sparkling water, mixed drinks and served over fruit for a nice light dessert (especially pears).

Try other flavors like orange (use the zest), mint, berries, cucumbers, etc. However, I find that when using fruits, it is best to omit the simmer, and let the ingredients steep (like tea) instead.

Print recipe with images | without images

Love Maple Syrup?

partysugar — Mon, 17 Dec 2007 01:01:31 -0800

Happy National Maple Syrup Day! Let's celebrate the classic waffle accompaniment by taking a quick quiz. Find out how much you know about everything maple syrup! Once you get your results, tell us how you did.

Source

Take the quiz