Lemon Glazed

16 June 2010
Posted by GS

For anyone who loves lemon, you're in for a treat. The cookies have a light lemon flavour but for an extra burst of tanginess, you must add the glaze. On Martha Stewart's website, the cookies appear to be quite flat holding a sizeable amount of glaze; however, my cookies turned out quite domed leaving much glaze to drip down the sides. In saying that, I had about half of the glaze left so, of course, I had to bake another batch of cookies. One should never waste frosting, right? I should also mention that the second time around, I used exactly a tablespoon of dough for each cookie, instead of "heaping" tablespoons, and ended up making about 35 cookies instead of 24. Life is good.


Glazed Lemon Cookies
marthastewart.com, makes 24

2 cups all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled)
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon finely grated lemon zest, plus 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Lemon Glaze (below)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, salt, and lemon zest. In a large bowl, using an electric mixer, beat butter and granulated sugar until light and fluffy. Add egg, vanilla, and lemon juice and beat until combined. With mixer on low, beat in flour mixture.

Drop dough by heaping tablespoons, 1 inch apart, onto two baking sheets. Bake until edges are golden, 15 to 20 minutes, rotating sheets halfway through. Let cool 2 minutes on sheets, then transfer cookies to a wire rack to cool completely. Spread cookies with Lemon Glaze and let set, about 1 hour.

Lemon Glaze

2 cups confectioners' sugar
2 tablespoons finely grated lemon zest
1/3 cup fresh lemon juice

In a medium bowl, whisk together 2 cups confectioners' sugar, 2 tablespoons finely grated lemon zest, and 1/3 cup fresh lemon juice until smooth.
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Jamie's Basic Risotto

15 June 2010
Posted by GS
from jamieoliver.com, serves 6

approx. 1.1 litres/2 pints stock (chicken, fish or vegetable as appropriate)
1 knob of butter
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 large onion, finely chopped
2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
½ a head of celery, finely chopped
400g/14oz risotto rice
2 wineglasses of dry white vermouth (dry Martini or Noilly Prat) or dry white wine
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
70g/2½oz butter
115g/4oz freshly grated Parmesan cheese

stage 1

Heat the stock. In a separate pan heat the olive oil and butter, add the onions, garlic and celery, and fry very slowly for about 15 minutes without colouring. When the vegetables have softened, add the rice and turn up the heat.


stage 2

The rice will now begin to lightly fry, so keep stirring it. After a minute it will look slightly translucent. Add the vermouth or wine and keep stirring — it will smell fantastic. Any harsh alcohol flavours will evaporate and leave the rice with a tasty essence.

stage 3

Once the vermouth or wine has cooked into the rice, add your first ladle of hot stock and a good pinch of salt. Turn down the heat to a simmer so the rice doesn’t cook too quickly on the outside. Keep adding ladlefuls of stock, stirring and almost massaging the creamy starch out of the rice, allowing each ladleful to be absorbed before adding the next. This will take around 15 minutes. Taste the rice — is it cooked? Carry on adding stock until the rice is soft but with a slight bite. Don’t forget to check the seasoning carefully. If you run out of stock before the rice is cooked, add some boiling water.

stage 4

Remove from the heat and add the butter and Parmesan. Stir well. Place a lid on the pan and allow to sit for 2 minutes. This is the most important part of making the perfect risotto, as this is when it becomes outrageously creamy and oozy like it should be. Eat it as soon as possible, while the risotto retains its beautiful texture.
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Simple Black Cupcakes

12 June 2010
Posted by GS
from allrecipes.com, makes one dozen

3/4 cup + 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 cup white sugar
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1 eggs
1/2 cup strong brewed coffee
1/2 cup buttermilk
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Simple White Buttercream (see below)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and line a cupcake pan with twelve cupcake liners. In large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Make a well in the center and add the eggs, coffee, buttermilk, oil and vanilla. Whisk together by hand for about a minute. *Note: the batter will be thin. Use an ice cream scoop to evenly divide the batter into the prepared cupcake liners.

Bake for 15 to 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into center comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes, then transfer to wire frame to finish cooling.


Simple White Buttercream
makes enough to frost 1 dozen cupcakes

3/4 cup unsalted butter
1 1/2 cup icing sugar
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
3/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Whip together all the ingredients using an electric mixer on medium-high speed for 5 minutes until light and fluffy.
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