Tuesday, Tuesday...

HELLO!

I kind of have already forgotten about this blog, but alas, here I am. Not a very eventful week in terms of baking (and everything else). As promised, I made lemon sandwich creams and they came out very well--perfectly lemony and not too sweet. I brought most into work but made sure to save a few for us.

Some came out a little crunchier than others...

Finished product

This recipe is one of my favorites. It is pretty easy, but is time-consuming because you have to let the dough solidify in the fridge for a few hours. If you want to eat lemon cookies quickly, I wouldn't recommend making these!

(based on Citizen Cake recipe)

Filling:

-2 tbsp finely grated lemon peel

-pinch or two of salt (I usually use sea salt)

-1 stick unsalted butter, at room temperature

-1.5-2 cups of packed powdered sugar (I usually don't like anything to be overly sweet, so I adjust to taste)

Mash lemon peel and salt into a paste in a medium bowl. Add in butter and beat until fluffy. Add sugar slowly until mixture is well-blended and to your liking in terms of sweetness.

Cookies:

-.5 cup fresh lemon juice (Must be fresh!)

-1.5 tbsp fresh grated lemon peel

-3.75 cups APF

-1 tsp salt

-.5 tsp baking soda

-2 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature

-1.5 cups sugar

-2 large eggs

-2 large egg yolks

Boil lemon juice and lemon peel until it is reduced to about 2 tbsp--this will take a few minutes, but don't turn your back on it because it reduces quickly. Let cool. Sift flour, salt and baking soda into medium bowl. Beat butter until fluffy. Add in sugar until blended. Beat in eggs (one at a time!) and then yolks. Blend in lemon juice/peel mixture and then dry mixture in a few batches (otherwise, flour etc will fly everywhere and make a mess). Stick in the fridge (covered) for at least an hour or two. When dough hardens, roll out and cut on a floured surface. I find that a biscuit cutter works best for cutting out the dough. Bake for about 12 minutes at 375 degrees on baking sheets lined with parchment paper or silicone mat.

Once cookies have cooled, spread on a healthy helping of cream and top with another cookie. Yum!

So, other than the lemon cookies, not much happened in the culinary world for me. I cooked dinner for some friends on Monday--grilled chicken with homemade BBQ sauce--and then again on Wednesday--salmon with lime + garlic butter sauce, but that's about it.

I unfortunately find that by Thursday at 5 pm, I do not want to cook. HOW DO I GET OVER THIS?! So bad. Thursday evenings are when this generally really sets in:

...and this is when I usually break my gluten/grain/sugar-free diet, cave because of laziness and order a) pizza, b) Chinese food or, much worse, c) both (KIDDING, that has never actually happened...). 

BACKSTORY: About 6 months ago, I decided to eat a healthier diet void of refined sugars, all grains and other inflammatory foods (trans-fats, bad cooking oils [canola...it's real name is rapeseed...], legumes blah blah etc). It wasn't hard to maintain or adhere to, despite my incessant baking. In fact, I came up with and found many great Primal-esque recipes that were tasty, kept me full and didn't make me feel like poo. I even found some (most are garbage) good healthy baking recipes.

More to come on this...

xo,

C