Saturday, June 18, 2011

Summer Recipes Series, Continued


2. Lemon Cake Bon Bons with White Chocolate and Candied Grapefruit Zest

Ingredients:
**NOTE: THIS RECIPE TAKES 24 HOURS**
one box white cake mix (or you can bake a cake from scratch)
16 ounces lemon icing (again you can make it yourself or buy it pre-made)
one large grapefruit
one cup white granulated sugar, divided
wax paper
2 packages of white chocolate candy coating

DAY ONE:
Prepare your cake as directed. Let it cool for about 2 hours. Break up the cake with your hands or a food processor until only soft crumbs remain. Mix lemon icing with cake crumbs until smooth. Refrigerate mixture of cake and icing from one hour. Scoop out cake mixture and roll into one inch balls. Place wax paper on a cookie sheet and place each formed ball on the wax paper. Freeze cake balls overnight.

Zest your grapefruit and collect zest in a small pot. Fill pot with cool water and let it set overnight at room temperature.

DAY TWO:

Boil water with lemon zest for 5-7 minutes. Pour off water, add new water and repeat boiling two more times. After the final boiling, add fresh cool water and 3 tbsp of sugar. Boil for 5-7 minutes until sugar dissolves. Drain water from zest and place zest on wax paper. Sprinkle 1-2 additional tbsp of sugar over the zest and let dry for an hour.

Remove the cake balls from the freezer. Melt the white chocolate coating as directed on the package. Using a toothpick or small dowel rod, dip each cake ball in the chocolate and place it back on the wax paper. Top each bon bon with the candied grapefruit before the chocolate cools. Place completed bon bons back in the freezer for one hour prior to serving.

Summer Recipe Series


Despite the intense San Antonio heat (it's 104 degrees today) I have taken to the kitchen and worked on some great recipes for summer. Some are new takes on old classics and some are personal creations. If you like cooking as much as I do, you're sure to enjoy these tasty treats from your own kitchen.

My goal is to post one new recipe per week. I actually made two new things this week so here we go...

1. Strawberry Spinach Salad with Balsamic Honey Chicken:

I've had this a few times but I finally perfected it to my taste!

You need:
2 large chicken breasts
2 tbsp garlic powder
fresh ground pepper and salt to taste
2 tbsp onion powder
1 cup balsamic vinegar
4 tbsps of honey
fresh spinach (I used spinach and arugula)
1/2 cup diced red onion
1 cup diced cucumber
1/2 cup (candied or plain) walnuts
1/4 cup olive oil (or less depending on your preference)
6 sliced strawberries
1/2 cup feta cheese

Season the chicken with the aforementioned spices. Soak for five minutes in balsamic vinegar. Place the chicken breasts in a skillet with 1 tbsp olive oil. Baste the non-cooking side with honey. Cook chicken and baste the opposite side when you turn it over. Let chicken cool and then dice into bite sized pieces.

Combine spinach/arugula, strawberries, onion, cucumber, feta cheese and walnuts. Top with chicken.

To make the dressing: combine 1/2 cup balsamic vinegar, 2 tbsp of honey and oilve oil. Whisk and pour on salad immediately.

*Image borrowed from: http://i2.yummly.com/Spring-Strawberry-Spinach-Salad-Allrecipes.l.png