When I think of purple foods, the first thing that comes to mind are blueberries. There are, of course, other purple foods — plums, potatoes, cabbage even artichokes, eggplant and asparagus — but the easiest for me is blueberries as I have a whole bunch frozen in my fridge plus the jar of jam that I made last year. The color came out very dark but the glaze was perfectly blueberry-esque.
I haven’t made Linzer Cookies for a while and these happen to fit in with the “Color Game” that I have going on. Refreshing, sweet and tart and really quite a lovely combination, I give you these awesome Lemon Linzers with Passion Fruit Curd. Passion Fruit is definitely a food of the foodie gods. So delicious!
It wouldn’t be Easter if I didn’t make some variation on the Hot Cross Bun. Everyone has their own, there are literally thousands of styles, combinations and variations. This year, I went for the somewhat rustic Cranberry Walnut Whole Wheat Sourdough Hot Cross Buns version. It’s an enriched sweet (but not too sweet) sourdough brioche dough, fruit and nuts added. Eat with sweet jam or honey or make into a bacon sandwich. nom nom nom.
Me, and Crumble Bars, eh? Yep. thought I would make some more – these are Yuzu Lemon Shortbread Crumble Bars – and even though they aren’t exactly Easter-y, they are bright and tart and delicious. Never heard of Yuzu? Well, nor I had I until I tried some juice while at an Asian restaurant a while back. Yuzu is sometimes called a Japanese Lemon. Sometimes called a Korean Tangerine and has roughly been described to me as a mashup between a lemon, grapefruit and a mandarin, round, but lemon yellow. I’ve never had a fresh one, but the jam, extract and syrups are amazing.These crumble bars would be a great addition to an Easter dessert spread.
Despite the fact that I am in snowy New England it’s February, here is a little bit of tropical sunshine to warm you up, still on the topic of “Citrus” : Coconut Key Lime Pie Cheesecake, that I made as a birthday present for a friend whilst I am visiting up in the Bangor/Orono, Maine area. I have to say that the result came out phenomenal. It’s light, it’s fluffy, it’s sweet and tart, and has a lovely, clean finish. Almost all cheesecakes are quite a bit of work but the result here was great. I am very pleased.