S'mores in the Pecos

Despite it having been just about one and a half weeks since my last post, it feels like ages. It has been so busy lately that I haven't had the time to keep up with the world of the interweb. But now I have a lot of catching up to do! There are a variety of exciting posts lined up, so stay tuned :)

Last week was fast paced. I occupied my time with work, phone interviews, and preparing for a weekend trip to the Pecos for my mom's birthday. But it was all worth it when we finally arrived at a little mountain cabin nestled in the heart of the pine tree forest. I think sometimes I am so preoccupied with fantasies of beautiful far flung destination spots that I fail to realize that there are some pretty incredible places just a couple hour's drive from my own home.

So here I enclose a condensed (I tried my best, but I apologize for the length of this post) summary/ photo log of our little trip.

Friday evening we arrived at the cabin after a drive through the lovely Pecos mountain area. We wandered down to the river valley and followed a path through a meadow alongside a gently flowing river. There was an amazing abundance of current bushes, raspberry bushes and wildflowers, so naturally I had to make a bouquet to take back to the cabin.

I must also note the abundance of hummingbirds (which I have yet to master photographing) who were very fond of the sugar water on the cabin porch and bouquet on the lawn table :)



For dinner we had a very "New Mexican" calabacita enchilada casserole dish I had prepared the night before (layers of blue corn tortillas, sharp cheddar, squash, corn, green chile, tomatoes and onions) as well as a salad of baby greens, avocado, blackberries, pumpkin seeds, lemon juice and olive oil.



Saturday morning as we sat on the lawn for breakfast, two deer came to graze on a nearby hill. They were close enough to snap some good photos.

We drove away midmorning to nearby Cowles (which I pictured as a quirky little town, but is really a parking lot acting as a hub for trailheads and campgrounds in the area). We chose to hike Cave's Creek trail which starts along the creek amongst grass, low green foliage and wildflowers, then rises to rockier vanilla smelling ponderosa forests, through meadow clearings with purple aster, black eyed Susans and aspens, falls back down to the water's edge, until the creek empties into several dark caves in the rocky mountainside. It was such a beautiful hike.



 After the hike we returned to the cabin and that evening we decided to walk down in the river valley once again. We followed the path until it ended near a pool where trout swam, raspberry bushes were starting to show red berries, and a rusty ancient car was overgrown with green.



 For dinner we had a more "Italian inspired" antipasto/ cheese platter and minestrone soup. The three cheeses (Blueberry Wesleyan, Argentine Parmisan Reggiano, and an Italian Provolone) were served with cherry honey, blackberry jalapeno jam, a variety of marinated olives and peppers, marcona almonds and gluten free crackers :) The soup was full of Swiss chard, fennel, leek, snap peas, mint, cannellini beans and gluten free pasta, topped with a squeeze of lemon and a sprinkle of parmesan. It was perfect for a cool evening in the mountains.



The next morning we left the cabin and stopped at our final hiking destination before heading home. The trail, beginning at Holy Ghost campground, was unbelievably pretty. We were prompted to go there only because we had heard that we could find an endangered variety of orchid, but we did not know that the scenery itself would be so incredible.



While we did not see any orchids :(  (wrong season?) we did enjoy following the creek through even more flowery meadows, more aspen groves, more current and raspberry bushes, and more greenery. The trail climbed more than we expected, rising into a much different woodland environment. Along the way we saw lots of colorful butterflies, a family of brown grouse, a turkey, lots of chipmunks, and a Western tanager. The lighting was also incredible, and the blue sky was dolloped with the fluffiest white clouds.







And what would a wilderness trip be without s'mores? Before we left to go to the Pecos I baked gluten free graham crackers, and was very pleased with my discovery of vegetarian marshmallows. There is not much else like roasting marshmallows under the millions of stars and shooting stars in the fresh, cool mountain night air. The graham crackers are darker brown and nuttier that the store bought kind because they contain molasses. I really liked them, so I am including the recipe below.

I hope everyone else is having some great outdoor adventures this summer.

Graham Crackers (GF)

makes about 30 square crackers

1/3 cup honey

2 tablespoons molasses

4 tablespoons whole milk

2 teaspoons vanilla

2 1/2 cups plus 2 tablespoons GF Artisan Flour blend (see raspberry scone post)

1 cup dark brown sugar

1 teaspoon baking soda

3/4 teaspoon salt

7 tablespoons butter, cold

1. Whisk together the honey, molasses, milk, and vanilla until thorougly combined. Set aside.

2. Place the flour blend, brown sugar, baking soda, and salt in a food processor and pulse until combined.

3. Cut the butter into the food processor and pulse until the mixture resembles a coarse meal.

4. Add the pre-mixed liquid ingredients to the food processor and pulse just until a dough begins to form.

5. Dump the contents of the food processor out onto a floured surface and form into a rectangle. Cover and chill in the refrigerator until firm, preferably overnight.

6. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.

7. Once chilled work with the dough in two batches, keeping one batch in the refrigerator while working with the other. Roll the dough out thinly on a floured surface until it is about 1/8 inch thick. Cut out squares your desired size (About 3 in. by 3 in.) and place each on the baking sheet about an inch apart. Prick the surface of each cracker a few times with a fork. Chill the baking sheet for 25-30 minutes.

8. Bake the crackers in the oven for about 18-20 minutes, rotating the sheet halfway through. Remove from the oven when the crackers have turned brown and are slightly firm to the touch. Let cool completely.

Recipe slightly adapted from Stephanie Shih of Desserts For Breakfast

Raspberry Scones (GF)

I promise that this post will be short and will not bore you for too long :) My only purpose is to tell you that you must make these scones now.

For me, raspberry scones are kind of nostalgic. In the summertime my family would buy them at a little hole in the wall bakery. They were served warm out of the oven, buttery and crumbly. The raspberries were a sweet suprise, bright and bursting with flavor.

I believe that this gluten free version could actually be better than the "real thing". They are very light, unlike most gluten free scones I have tried, which are dense and sometimes even have a gritty texture due to the brown rice flour. I know sometimes gluten free baking can be unreasonably expensive, but if you can afford to spend a little extra on superfine brown rice flour, it really works much better. I have yet to find it in a local store, so I have been buying it online. The brand I like best is Authentic Foods.

I know that these scones are not perfectly shaped, but I personally believe their imperfection makes them look all the more delicious. As you can see I prefer to make them jumbo- sized and full of fruit :) but you can really adjust the recipe to your liking.

Raspberry Scones
makes 6-12

3 1/2 cups plus 1 tablespoon Artisan GF Flour blend (recipe below)
2 teaspoons xanthan gum
2 tablespoons GF baking powder
1/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) cold salted butter
1 cup heavy cream plus a little for brushing on scones
1 egg
1 teaspoon GF vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon salt (optional)
1 cup frozen raspberries
coarse sugar for dusting (optional)

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
2. Mix 3 1/2 cups of the flour, xanthan gum, baking powder, and sugar in a large bowl.
3. Cut the butter into the flour mixture until the mixture resembles pea-sized crumbles (use a pastry blender, two knives, or your hands).
4. Mix together 1 cup of the cream, egg, vanilla, and salt in a seperate bowl. Add to the flour mixture and work together until a dough forms (using your hands is the best way to combine the ingredients).
5. In a small bowl toss 1 tablespoon of flour with the raspberries to coat them well.
6. Very gently fold the raspberries into the dough.
7. Form the dough into a rectangle or circle that is about 3/4 inch thick. Cut the dough into triangles to form 6 to 12 scones depending on your desired size.
8. Place the scones on an ungreased cookie sheet 1 inch apart. With a pastry brush, brush a little cream on top of each scone and dust with coarse sugar.
9. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes (depending on size and number of scones), or until light golden brown.
10. Allow the scones to cool on the cookie sheet. Serve warm or at room temperature and enjoy!

The original recipe recommends storing the scones in an airtight container for up to 1 week, as they keep very well, but I usually freeze them right away, and find that they when they thaw they are just the same as the day they came out of the oven.


Artisan GF flour blend (slightly altered)
This makes roughly 6 cups, store the remaining in an airtight container in the refrigerator:
         2 1/2 cups brown rice flour
         1 1/2 cup sorghum flour
         1 1/3 cup cornstarch
         1/2 cup potato starch
         2 tablespoon plus 2 teaspoon potato flour
         2 teaspoon xanthan gum
         1 cup sweet rice flour (mochiko)
Wisk all ingredients together thoroughly


Recipe slightly adapted from Artisanal Gluten-Free Cooking by Kelli and Peter Bronski


         

Happy 4th and Firecracker Popsicles

Happy belated 4th of July! Even though the day didn't turn out how I expected, it was still great, and I had time to step back and enjoy the holiday. My family had planned on going hiking in the mountains, but we soon realized that many other families had the same plan, and we were not in the mood to fight the traffic or the crowds. So alternatively, my brother went off to the lake with his friends and my dad went golfing, leaving me and my mom to come up with something fun and different from our usual everyday routine.



We usually go to the annual 4th of July parade held in our little village, but I have been really wanting to take my mom to see Brave, and it was really the only time she would be able to go. And so we decided to drive to our favorite, quiet movie theater (also the furthest away). When we got there, we discovered it was sold out! So we drove back home, just missing the parade, so I wasn't able to get photos of a typical Corrales 4th of July :(

But I can tell you what 4th of July usually consists of in Corrales: horses painted in stars and stripes, red tractors with American flag banners and firetrucks spraying the parade spectators with water guns to cool them down in the scorching heat. It has its charm :)

I decided that I had to at least make something festive. So I spent the afternoon making popsicles and admiring the fluffy clouds and beautiful lighting. I am so excited that it is the beginning of cloud season! I prefer to call it cloud season instead of monsoon season because the later is not always true in New Mexico. But so far we have had a great streak. We have had rainstorms five days in a row!

The popsicles were supposed to be red white and blue. I am always disappointed when blueberries turn out to be not very blue. But I thought that the look of the final product resembled firecrackers, so I went ahead and put them on this post. The combination of the cherry, Greek yogurt and blueberry was still pretty tasty and refreshing!

The following picture is of a cookbook that my mom had when she was a kid. I think it is very fun and retro!

Firecracker Popsicles

makes about 6

1 cup blueberries

4 teaspoons sugar

1 cup plain Greek yogurt

1 tablespoon agave or honey

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup cherries

1. Combine the yogurt, vanilla and agave or honey to taste in a bowl.

2. In a food processor, puree the blueberries until smooth. With a spatula press the mixture through a fine-mesh strainer into a bowl, extracting as much juice as possible. Discard the solids. Whisk in 2 teaspoons of the sugar and 2 tablespoons of the yogurt mixture until well combined. Spoon the mixture into ice pop molds, dividing it evenly to fill each mold about one-third full. Freeze for 30 to 45 minutes until set.

3. Divide 2/3 cup yogurt mixture evenly among the molds, placing it on top of the blueberry layer and filling each mold another third of the way full. Freeze until the yogurt layer is set, 30 to 45 minutes.

4. Puree the cherries in the food processor until smooth. With a spatula, press the mixture through a fine-mesh strainer into a bowl, extracting as much juice as possible. Discard the solids. Whisk the remaining sugar and yogurt mixture into the cherrie puree until well combined. Carefully spoon the cherry mixture on top of the yogurt layer, dividing it evenly. Insert sticks. Freeze until firm, at least 4 hours or up to 1 week.

5. To unmold the pops, run hot water over the outsides of the molds for a few seconds, then gently pull the sticks.

Recipe adapted from Perfect Pops by Charity Ferreira









Ice Cream and a Party

It has been hot lately. Very hot. And it didn't help that the air conditioner in part of our house was not working. Ironically this meant that the coolest and most welcoming room in the house was the kitchen. Naturally on these kinds of days, the best thing to make is something frozen (also the reason that July has been dubbed national ice cream month!) So I made four fruity flavors of ice cream- banana, strawberry, peach and key lime. All very refreshing and cheery.

But I didn't make all of these just for my family :) I made them for a summer dinner party. The purpose of the party was much debated in our house. Both my brother and I graduated this year (he graduated from college), but neither of us wanted a party. It was also my dad's birthday, but he didn't want a party either. So we threw them all together as a compromise, so the focus was not on any one person. It turned out to be a very nice evening. We all enjoyed catching up with family friends in the unusually cool evening air. 

And everyone seemed to enjoy the ice cream! I don't know if I am just weird, but I found it really interesting to see what flavor everyone chose. I spent pretty much the entire evening scooping ice cream, but for me it was fun. We had set up tables with fresh flowers and jars filled with sand and tea lights. I really liked this simple, rustic setting.

For dinner we served lasana (gluten free and not) and a variety of grilled summer vegetables. I love grilling vegetables because it makes their natural sweetness come out (especially peppers).

As I was making the gluten free spinach lasana, I got some really good snapshots of the process, and it looked really pretty, but as soon as it came out of the oven, everyone dug into it so fast that I was not able to take a picture of the finished product. I will make it again, so watch for it in a future post!

Please note that none of the following ice cream recipes contain egg yolk. I prefer to make ice cream without egg. The result was still creamy and smooth, especially the flavors containing sweetened condensed milk.

Strawberry Ice cream

makes about 2 pints

1 pound strawberries, stemmed, hulled, halved

3/4 cup sugar

3/4 teaspoon lemon juice

1/8 teaspoon salt

2 cups half and half

1. Combine the stawberries, sugar, lemon juice and salt in a large bowl. Use a potato masher to mash them until coarse. Let the strawberry mixture stand for 10 minutes, stirring and mashing every few minutes.

2. Transfer the strawberry mixture to a blender and add half and half. Puree until smooth, then pour mixture back into a large bowl. Cover and refrigerate for at least 6 hours, or until very cold.

3. Freeze the mixture in an ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's instructions. Store in an airtight container in the freezer.

Recipe from Tracy's Culinary Adventures

Key Lime Ice Cream

makes about 2 pints

1 1/2 cups whole milk

1/2 cup bottled key lime juice

1/2 cup heavy cream

pinch of salt

1 can sweetened condensed milk

1. Combine the milk, lime juice, heavy cream, salt and sweetened condensed milk in a large bowl. Whisk to combine. Refrigerate until very cold.

2. Pour mixture into an ice cream maker, and freeze according to manufacturer's instructions. Store in an airtight container in the freezer.

Recipe adapted from Cooking Light

Peach Ice Cream

makes about 2 pints

1 1/3 pounds ripe peaches (about 4 large)

1/2 cup water

3/4 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup creme fraiche

1 cup heavy cream

1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

a few drops of lemon juice

1. Peel peaches: Bring a large pot of water to a boil on the stove top. Cut and x on the bottom of each peach. Carefully drop peaches in the boiling water and blanch for 20 seconds. Quickly remove from heat and drain in a colander running cold water over them. After peaches cool, the skin will peal off.

2. In a medium saucepan, add peaches and water and cook over medium heat, covered, stirring twice, until soft and cooked through, about 10 minutes.

3. Remove from heat, stir in sugar, and let cool to room temperature.

4. In a blender, puree the cooked peaches and their juices with the creme fraiche, heavy cream, vanilla and lemon juice.

5. Chill the mixture throughly in the refrigerator.

6. Churn mixture in an ice cream maker according to manufacturer's instructions. Store in an airtight container in the freezer.

Recipe adapted from The Perfect Scoop by David Lebovitz

Banana Ice Cream

makes about 3 pints

2 cups half and half

1 can sweetened condensed milk

1 cup heavy cream

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 very ripe bananas

2 teaspoons lemon juice

1. Whisk together half and half, sweetened condensed milk, heavy cream and vanilla until well combined. Chill until very cold.

2. Pour mixture into an ice cream maker and freeze according to manufacturer's instructions.

3. Mash bananas with the lemon juice and add to the ice cream maker about 2 minutes before it is finished. Store in an airtight container in the freezer.

Recipe from Rita of Pink Bites

                                                                                                                                                     

 



Lemon and Goat Cheese Ravioli (GF)

Hello again! This first week after the creation of my blog I know that I will probably be publishing an abnormal number of posts. This is because I have been dreaming of my blog for so long and preparing for it by baking and cooking a variety of appealing recipes and taking pictures. I only just now had the time to get everything together and get my blog up and running. But anyway, here I am! and don't the ravioli look pretty? I was inspired to create a gluten free version of the recipe that I saw in the cookbook Plenty by Yotam Ottolenghi. Again, I am still constanly in the mood for citrus because it just seems so bright and summery.

It was actually my very first time making ravioli. I know, it probably wasn't very smart to attempt to create a gluten free version of an already somewhat difficult dish. But I couldn't help it, it didn't seem very hard...

Yes, I was wrong. Despite the ravioli's tasty appearance, the dough became quite dry. I suggest that if you attempt this recipe, you always make sure to keep the dough under a damp cloth when not working with it. Its always hard because with my personal experience, gluten free dough can be very sticky, so it is tempting to keep adding flour to it or letting it dry out. But it will become very stiff if you do this.

Nevertheless, I still really loved all of the flavors in this dish. Tarragon is not an herb that I am used to cooking with, but the licorice-like flavor was really delicious with the lemon and pepper. The goat cheese that I used was pretty mild but salty, which made it taste more like feta to me.

Anyway, I hope to keep trying gluten free ravioli in the future. I am curious to hear if any of you have tried it. Any tricks or tips?

I will be back very shortly with more exciting and I promise more interesting posts to come.


Lemon and Goat Cheese Ravioli
makes about 4 servings

Pasta Dough

2 1/2 cups GF flour (like Gluten-Free Pantry's French Bread Flour Mix)
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon olive oil
5 eggs
1 egg yolk
1/4 teaspoon ground turmeric
grated zest of 3 lemons

1. Place GF flour, salt, oil, eggs, turmeric and lemon zest in a food processor. Pulse processor until mixture resembles dough. Remove from the bowl and place on a GF floured surface.
2. Knead dough by folding over and turning over and kneading for a few minutes, until the consistency is almost like bread dough (Since the dough was very sticky, I covered it and waited about five minutes before kneading).
3. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap or put in a bowl and cover. Allow dough to rest for at least 20 minutes.
4. Place dough between two pieces of wax paper, and roll it out like pie dough. Try to make it as thin as you can, but make sure it doesn't stick or tear when peeling it off the wax paper.
5. Using a ravioli cutter, cookie cutter, or the rim of a glass, cut out roughly 3 inch discs from the pasta sheets. After you cut the disks, cover them with a damp cloth, so that they don't dry out.

Pasta Filling

11 ounces soft goat cheese (I used Farmer's Goat Cheese)
1/3 teaspoon sea salt
pinch of chile flakes (I'm from New Mexico so I used lots of pinches :) )
black pepper
Ricotta cheese to soften (optional)
1 egg white, beaten

6. Once all the pasta disks are made, make the filling by combining all ingredients, except for the egg whites, in a bowl and crush together with a fork. If you don't like the consistency of the filling very crumbly, add ricotta until it becomes more smooth.
7. To form each raviolo, bush a disk with a little egg white and place a heaping teaspoon of filling in its center. Place another disk on top. gently press out any air and seal the edges of the two disks together. Make sure you cannot see a seam where the two disks meet.
8. Transfer the ravioli to a tray and leave for about 10 minutes, and then cover with plastic wrap until ready to cook.

Presentation

2 teaspoons pink peppercorns, crushed
1 teaspoon chopped tarragon
grated zest of 1 lemon
grapeseed oil
lemon juice

9. When ready to cook ravioli, bring a large pan of salted water to a boil. Cook ravioli until they begin to float on the surface of the water. Drain and divide among four plates.
10. Spinkle with pink peppercorn, tarragon and lemon zest. Drizzle grapeseed oil over the ravioli and sprinkle with exta salt and a squirt of lemon juice.

Serve and enjoy!


Recipe adapted from Yotam Ottolenghi, and gluten free pasta adapted from Gluten Free Girl and the Chef.



Lemon Lime Cupcakes with Lime Basil Buttercream (GF)

   Summer at last! All of senior year I sat in class dreaming about having the time to bake and draw 

   and photograph all of the sweet nostalgic flavors of summer - and now here I am writing my first blog 

   post! I can't wait to share with you a glimse of my imagination and all of the whimiscal fantasies I create in

   my head.



   The first thing that I baked after graduation was cupcakes. I chose the flavors that I though best embodied

   the sunny long days of summer. I have been obsessed with citrus lately, so I chose lime, which seemed to

   contrast nicely but unexpectedly with the basil in the buttercream.

    My favorite character in Alice and Wonderland has always been the Cheshire Cat. He is unexpected and
    crazy, much like the tart lime basil combo. He is also not the most beautiful cat, so again he perfectly
    embodies these cupcakes! I had quite a bit of trouble with the buttercream. And although in the second
    attempt I did not carmalize the sugar as I did in the first attempt, the buttercream was still, well, very
    buttery. I could not pipe it on how I wanted, but at least it still tasted great!

    Since I was still in a lime phase after making the cupcakes, I decided to make lime-lemonade. Even
    though it took me forever to squeeze all the limes and lemons, and even though I had to keep picking
    lemons off our little lemon tree to get the right amount of juice, it was all worth it. It was the perfect
    refreshing, sour summer drink.

    And now I excitedly await a year of blogging and of being inspired by all of the beautiful natural things 

    around me. Thank you summer for giving me the time to put my overactive imagination to use and share

    my creations with others!

Lemon Lime Cupcakes
makes 24 cupcakes

3/4 cup salted butter (1.5 sticks), room temperature
1 3/4 cups sugar
2 teaspoons GF pure vanilla extract
4 large eggs, room temperature
1 cup buttermilk, room temperature
1/2 cup lemonade
zest of 1 lime
1/4 cup lime juice (1 or 2 limes, juiced)

3 cups Artisan Gluten-Free Flour blend:
   1 1/4 cups brown rice flour
   3/4 cup sorghum flour
   2/3 cup cornstarch
   1/4 cup potato starch
   1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon potato flour
   1 teaspoon xanthan gum
   1/2 cup sweet rice flour (mochiko)
wisk all ingredients together thoroughly

2 teaspoons xanthan gum
2 1/2 teaspoons GF baking powder
1 teaspoon GF baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line standard cupcake tins with liners.
2. With an electric mixer, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, then add vanilla.
3. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing to incorporate after each addition.
4. Add the buttermilk, lemonade, zest, and lime juice, and mix until combined.
5. In a seperate bowl, combine the flour blend, xanthan gum, baking powder, baking soda, and salt, and mix with a whisk, breaking up any lumps.
6. Add the dry ingredients all at once to the sugar mixture, and mix for about 10 seconds at medium-low speed to incorporate.
7. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and mix at high speed for about 5 seconds, just until the batter is completely mixed and smooth.
8. Divide the batter evenly among the paper-lined cups. Make the top of the batter as smooth as you can.
9. Bake for 25 minutes.
10. Allow the cupcakes to cool in the tins for 10 minutes, then remove from tins and let cool completely on a wire rack.


Lime Basil Buttercream

1 1/3 cups plus 1 tablespoon sugar, divided
1/2 cup water
15 basil sprigs (about 30 leaves)
4 large egg whites
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups salted butter (3 sticks), removed from refrigerator when you start the buttercream
1/4 cup lime juice (1 to 2 limes, juiced)
zest of 1 lime

1. Mix 1 1/3 cups of the sugar and the water in a heavy saucepan. Add the basil sprigs. Put a candy thermometer in the sugar mixture and heat to 240 degrees F without stirring.
2. Meanwhile, in a stand mixer using a whisk attachment, whisk the egg whites and salt at medium-high speed until frothy.
3. Add the remaining 1 tablespoon of sugar to the egg whites and whisk until soft peaks form. Turn the mixer off and let the egg whites sit until the sugar comes up to temperature.
4. When the sugar mixture reaches 240 degrees F, carefully remove the basil sprigs, and with the mixer at medium speed, slowly drizzle the hot sugar mixture down the side of the bowl into the beaten egg whites.
5. After all the sugar is added, continue whisking the mixture until cool, about 10 minutes.
6. While the egg whites are whisking, cut the butter into tablespoon-size pieces.
7. When the egg whites are cool, leave the mixer running at medium speed and add the butter, 1 tablespoon at a time, allowing enough time for each tablespoon to incorporate after each addition, until all the butter is added.
8. Switch to the paddle attachment, add the lime juice and zest, and mix at medium speed for an additional 1 to 2 minutes until the air bubbles are out of the frosting, and it is silky smooth.

Frost the cupcakes and garnish with a lime slice or sprig of basil -I used the leaves of our lime basil plant which actually smells just like lime :)

Enjoy!


Recipe adapted from Artisanal Gluten-Free Cupcakes by Kelli and Peter Bronski