Poppy Seed Waffles with Lemon Cream

I made these for breakfast this morning and we were all fans of them. Carrie and I especially enjoyed the lemon. :) Jeremy didn't love the lemon, but he put maple syrup on them and said they tasted just like a poppy seed muffin with syrup.

Poppy Seed Waffles with Lemon Cream

Lemon Cream:
1 large egg plus 2 large egg yolks
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup fresh lemon juice
1 tbsp lemon zest

Poppy Seed Waffles:
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup cake flour
1/2 cup sugar
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
2 tbsp poppy seeds
1 cup sour cream
1/2 cup milk
3 large eggs, separated
4 tbsp butter, melted
1/2 tsp almond extract

For the Lemon Cream, in medium sauce pan, whisk together egg, yolks, and sugar. Slowly add cream, whisking until well blended. Heat over medium heat, whisking the entire time, until mixture thickens (about 8-10 minutes). Remove from heat and stir in lemon juice and zest. Refrigerate about 2 hours or until cool (you can also put it in the freezer now and it should be cool by the time the waffles are ready).

For the waffles, in a medium sized bowl whisk together the flours, sugar, baking soda and baking powder. Stir in poppy seeds. In another medium sized bowl, whisk the sour cream, milk, egg yolks, butter and almond extract. Pour mixture into dry ingredients and mix just until wet batter is formed (lumps are okay). Meanwhile, in a small bowl, with an electric mixer, beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form. Gently fold egg whites into batter. Cook according to manufacturer's instructions on waffle iron. Top with lemon cream.
Yield 8 - 10 waffles

**These were not difficult, but they were a bit time consuming. It also makes quite a bit of the lemon cream. I think next time I do these I'll double the waffle recipe and then freeze the extras along with the extra lemon cream.

Gingerbread with Lemon Sauce

This is so yummy! I haven't made it in a while so I'm glad that Becky asked me to track down the recipe for her so I know where it is now! I use a gingerbread recipe from Pillsbury and a lemon sauce from Betty Crocker. As a side note, gingerbread is also really good with whipped cream!

Gingerbread with Lemon Sauce

Gingerbread
1 1/3 c. flour
1/2 c. packed brown sugar
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
3/4 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ginger
1/2 c. butter
1/2 c. boiling water
1/2 c. molasses
1 egg, slightly beaten

Lemon Sauce
1/2 c. sugar
2 T. cornstarch
3/4 c. water
1 T. grated lemon peel, optional
1/4 c. lemon juice
2 T. butter

Heat oven to 350.  Grease bottom only of 9-inch round pan.  In large bowl, combine dry ingredients.  Add remaining gingerbread ingredients; blend well. Pour into greased pan. Bake for 25-35 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

For the sauce: Mix sugar and cornstarch in a 1-quart saucepan.  Gradually stir in water.  Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until mixture thickens and boils.  Boil and stir1 minute; remove from heat.
Stir in remaining ingredients.

Serve warm with the gingerbread.

Choco-Berry Tarts

We found this recipe in Family Fun over Thanksgiving and decided it sounded rather tasty! We're thinking that it would be good with other berries too. Our raspberries were huge so we cut them in half. Since it only uses some of a can of sweetened condensed milk, you could use the rest to make Escamochas! So buy some extra fruit!

Choco-Berry Tartlets

Crust:

1/2 C butter, softened

3/4 C sugar

1 egg

2 tsp vanilla

1 2/3 C flour

1/3 C unsweetened cocoa powder

1/4 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

Filing:

3/4 C semi-sweet chocolate chips

3/4 C sweetened condensed milk

1/2 C seedless red raspberry jam

36 fresh raspberries

Powdered sugar

Heat oven to 350°.  LIghtly grease 36 mini muffin cups. 

Crust:

In the large bowl of an electric mixer, beat the butter and sugar on medium-high speed until creamy, about 2 minutes.  Beat in the egg and vanilla until well blended, about 1 minute.  Add the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt, and beat on medium-low speed until just blended, 1-2 minutes.

Transfer dough to a clean work surface and divide it into 36 equal pieces.  Shape each piece into a 1-inch ball and press it evenly into the bottom and up the sides of the prepared muffin cups.

Filling:

In a medium saucepan over low heat, stir together the chocolate chips and condensed milk until the mixture is smooth, about 2 minutes.  Remove it from the heat and stir in the jam until well blended, about 2 minutes.  Place a raspberry in each cup, then cover it with about 2 teaspoons of the chocolate mixture.

Bake the tartlets until the crust is set, about 15 minutes.  Set the pan on a wire rack to cool for 10 minutes then transfer each tartlet to a rack to cool completely.  Once cool, sprinkle tartlets with powdered sugar.

For maximum freshness, store in the refrigerator.