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Of the many types we like to make, the rhubarb is decidedly a house-favorite! [I am certain to feature other versions of clafoutis in the future….]
 Preheat oven to 350. Prepare a pie or square baking dish: Butter & dust with sugar. Rough-chop your cleaned rhubarb & your candied ginger. Place the pieces in the prepared pan, spacing them evenly. In a mixing bowl, beat ½ cup of sugar with the eggs. Add milk, mix well. Slowly add the flour [sifting if desired,] stirring to incorporate. Stir in the Buttercup [or vanilla] baking extract & the melted butter. Pour your batter over the fruit; redistribute the pieces of rhubarb & ginger so they are evenly distributed if necessary. Bake until cooked through & a knife inserted in the center comes out clean, about 35 minutes. Sprinkle 1 TBS sugar on top & return to the oven for an additional 2 minutes. Your clafoutis will puff up beautifully as it cooks, but will settle as it is removed from the oven -- No worries though! It will still be delicious! Despite being crustless, slice it up like pie to serve. Serve it warm or cold, with vanilla ice cream if desired. Personally, I like to save a slice or two to eat cold the next morning with my tea! I hope you give this ridiculously easy recipe a try-- Clafoutis just may be your new, favorite thing! It is quick & easy to make, & I find it disappears just as fast! Truly one of the best ways to enjoy rhubarb, this recipe is just the thing to make if you find yourself with a bunch you're not sure what to do with! Do let me know if you give it a try & please share what you think! Until next time -- Take care & take time to #StopAndEatTheFlowers  Click For The Recipe
Lilac Honey Zabaglione [serves 4] 1 cup Heavy Cream 1 cup Lilac Flowers, removed from stems 4 Large Egg Yolks ½ tsp Vanilla Extract 1 tsp Almond Extract 1 ½ TSB Honey ¼ tsp Fresh Lemon Juice Pinch Coarse Sea Salt Strawberries, cleaned & sliced, a few whole for garnishes I like strawberries with mine; they compliment the honey & lilac flavors well
Next Day: Strain the petals off from your cream. Lilac petals can be rinsed with water & added to your compost. Your cream will now be flavored with the lilacs &, depending on the color blossoms used, it may also be a soft, pale purple. Pour your lilac-cream into the bowl of mixer with whisk attachment. Prepare your double boiler [or fashion one with a glass mixing cup or bowl & saucepan] with water on the stove. Bring water to a boil. Place the egg yolks, honey, lemon juice, & salt in the bowl over boiling water & whisk until doubled in volume, about 10 minutes. Keep it moving to avoid scrambling the eggs & it will easily double in volume. Add the baking extracts. Turn heat off.
This is one of my favorite ways to use lilacs. I also love to infuse honey with them & make lilac syrup for use in drinks. This year, I just may add some to my witch hazel too--we shall see! I hope you give this recipe a try-- Please let me know what you think! Until next time -- Stay safe & take time to #StopAndEatTheFlowers
the cultivar, before the petals drop to collect any you’d like to dry or use. Here in Maine, that happens in the end of May, but full bloom can happen mid-April in more southern states like Virginia. Best to be prepared to ensure you don’t miss out of these delicacies!
Both apple blossoms & apple leaves are wonderful in tea; this is a great way to incorporate their adaptogenic properties into your daily routine. Wilted & steeped in witch hazel, they make a fantastic facial toner & sunburn soother. The most delicious way to enjoy them though is to make some jelly with them -- Let me show you how!
between two fingers & gently pulling toward yourself to pop it off the branch. The color of your jelly will depend on the color of your blossoms; the beautiful white & pink flowers have varying amounts of pink depending on the apple variety. Your jelly will range from pale yellow [completely white flowers] to vivid pink [darker pink flowers.] Our ancient apple tree gives us mostly white flowers with a fair bit of pink that creates the palest, most stunning colored jelly I have ever seen. The color is impossible to capture in pictures. It is breathtaking and just as delicious as it is beautiful. We like to take the flavor up a notch by adding cardamom to our batches-- It compliments the sweet, softly floral flavor of the jelly perfectly. Cardamom Apple Blossom Jelly
large pot on the stove & bring to a full boil. Reduce heat & simmer for about 15 minutes. Pour your infusion into a large jar, allowing it to steep. For best flavor, I let it steep overnight. The steeping petals resemble gari [ginger] as they float in your infusion-- So pretty.
flavor bombs in ours--you can use finely ground if you prefer. The rough is quite visible in the resultant jelly as you can see. Bring to a full, rolling boil, stirring to prevent scorching.Keep at a rolling boil for a full minute, then add your pectin, stirring to incorporate, & bring the batch back to a rolling boil. Boil your jelly for 2-10 minutes until it is glossy & thick. Ladle into prepared jars & set aside to cool completely -- And there you have it! You can either keep your jars in the fridge or process them in a water canning bath for the proper time for your elevation.  Prepare yourself--This jelly is absolutely AMAZING! Wonderful on toast, or crusty bread with some chevre. It is also my favorite for filling thumbprint cookies -- With almonds & apples coming from the same family, it isn’t surprising how well their flavors play together & these cookies really show off how gorgeous this jelly is! Here is my recipe for them: Almond Shortbread Thumbprint Cookies With Apple Blossom Jelly 1 c Unsalted Butter, softened 2/3 c Sugar 1 TBS Vanilla Exctract* ½ tsp Almond Extract* [*or just 1 ½ TBS Buttercup extract] 1 ½ c All-Purpose Flour ½ c Almond Flour Apple Blossom Jelly Note: This is a very soft dough & it must be refrigerated for at least 3 hours prior to baking.
Okay--that is all for this round! Don't miss the extremely short window of opportunity to try these recipes. Hopefully, I got this out in plenty of time for you to plan for harvesting apple blossoms this season. It really is worth the fuss! I do hope you enjoy these recipes -- Let me know how it turns out for you & share pictures! I love to see all the different shades of jelly nature produces! Until next time--Stay safe & #StopAndEatTheFlowers
explore our forsythia skincare products
Forsythia Syrup 1- 1 ½ cups fresh forsythia blossoms 1 cup spring water 1 cup pure honey [*for raw honey, see note at end of recipe] Sort your blossoms, taking care to remove any hitchhiking bugs; there is no need to remove their green bases, but some people do. Removing the bases will enhance the floral aspect of your syrup’s flavor, while leaving them gives a more herbaceous/floral combination that I enjoy. Add your forsythia & water to a pot; bring to a full boil, stirring occasionally. You'll notice the flowers begin to darken & lose their color to the liquid. Boil for 3-5 minutes, then turn your heat down to simmer & add the honey, stirring to dissolve & incorporate. Once fully dissolved, remove the pot from heat & strain out the spent blossoms with a fine strainer or cheesecloth. You can compost or toss the forsythia. *IF USING RAW HONEY: to protect the beneficial qualities of raw honey, remove your forsythia tea from heat & strain out the blossoms, allowing the tea to cool a bit BEFORE stirring in your honey. It’s a bit harder to incorporate, but still gives you a lovely syrup, while protecting the raw-honey benefits that would be damaged by heat. Allow to cool completely & pour into a sterile bottle for storing. This syrup will keep for 3 weeks or so in the refrigerator. Try it over pancakes or vanilla ice cream for a real treat! Add a spoonful to a cup of Earl Grey tea or add a splash to homemade lemonade. Or use it is cocktails, like this one: Forsythia Bees Knees 2 oz Gin ¾ oz Fresh Squeezed Lemon Juice ½ - ¾ oz Forsythia Honey syrup Lemon Peel Twist for Garnish
That’s it for this post. I hope you give these recipes a go -- they are so easy to make & so very tasty! Forsythia’s bright flavor is the perfect way to Welcome Spring. Until next time--Stay safe & remember to #StopAndEatTheFlowers
Electric pizzelle irons are readily available today & worth the investment, as they are the easiest route to best results. Most cook two cookies at a time. We actually own two irons -- My mother’s ancient one & a newer model she brought us so each of our daughter’s could press cookies with her at the same time back when they were about 5 & 6. I have heard regular waffle irons can be used instead, with minor tweaking to amount of batter & cooking time based-off your iron’s size.
Aunt Pipey’s Pizzelle Cookies 6 large eggs 1 ½ cups sugar 1 cup butter, melted 3 ½ cups all-purpose flour 4 tsp baking powder 2 TBS ‘i tres grandi’ extract or roughly 1 ½ TBS anise + 1 tsp lemon extract + ½ tsp orange extract [extra butter or non-stick spray for iron]
 Pizzelles are fabulous plain or dusted with powdered sugar. â–¡: culinaryhill There you have it! Such a simple recipe & process with such pretty & tasty results! Feel free to change up the flavor by playing with your extracts -- these are lovely made with vanilla, almond, or lemon extract as well -- & really quite delicious with our Buttercup extract too! I have such fond memories of making these with my grandmother & my mother, & of watching my girls make them with my mother too. It makes them all the sweeter for me.
I hope you enjoy these Pizzelles as much as we do! Until next time -- STAY SAFE!
find nettles in these popular products:
Another delicious way to reap these benefits is in using nettle to make syrups & cordials. You will find them to have an absolutely delicious & completely unique flavor when used this way. The flavor is quite impossible to describe-- rather vegetal & green with strong apricot-peach notes. It’s AMAZING! Its adaptogenic properties make it a natural for relaxing, end-of-day drinks, both with or without alcohol. Fresh or dried nettle can be used, with fresh cordials often turning a pinkish shade [similar to how Queen Anne’s Lace turns color.] I like it best as a British-style, non-alcoholic cordial [similar to an herbal syrup with citric acid added] & will share my recipe for that here, as well as Zero-Alcohol & Craft-Cocktail recipes made using it.  Gather your ingredients and let's do this! Nettle Cordial [non-alcoholic cordial]
Now that we have our cordial-- Let's make some tasty drinks with it!When using fresh instead of dried nettles, your cordial will be a stunning pale pink color like this! Sparkling Prick Cocktail 2 oz Gin ½ fresh lime juice 1 oz nettle cordial Splash soda water
Nettle Refresher [Zero-Proof] 2 dashes Bitter Housewife Grapefruit Bitters 1 oz nettle cordial Lime wedge Soda water or sparkling water
That is it for this week! I hope you enjoy these recipes & get some use of them. Nettles are a really wonderful herb to add to your diet, even simply enjoying them in tea.
They are loaded with flavor & amazing benefits. Scoop them up in premade teas like we offer or dried at herb houses if you aren’t feeling brave enough to harvest them yourself -- just don’t pass them over for fear of a sting or you will truly miss out! Take care until next time -- & don’t forget to #StopAndEatTheFlowers |
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