Coconut Flour Pancakes w/ Lemon Curd and Blackberries

There really isn't a story for this one. More like a craving--an intense morning craving for something sweet and carb-y. I've been relying heavily on eggs and sausage, which as incredible as they are, can really do a girl in after so long. But I was good, and though there are bags and bags of flour in my freezer, I resisted and decided to whip up a little something delicious and still low-carb friendly.

The coconut flour makes a reappearance here. I realize that I've been using it in just about everything lately, but I hope you don't mind. It really is the most incredible, versatile (and delicious!) ingredient I've discovered this year. My friend Lindsay was visiting the weekend I made these pancakes and I spent all weekend expounding on the marvels of it. The morning before her flight, I enthusiastically pressed an unopened bag of coconut flour into her hands as a parting gift of sorts.

This recipe is incredibly quick and easy to make, but be warned that these are not the pretty perfect pancakes you might be used to. They're slightly odd shaped and no matter how neatly you pore the batter in, the coconut has a tendency to spread and crinkle at the edges. It toasts quickly, too, so keep your eye on it. Feel free to experiment with extracts for flavoring. When I made these for myself I sweetened the batter with Splenda, but skipped it for Lindsay's benefit as she's quite sensitive to the aftertaste (I don't taste it, but I'm sure that's because I've been using it for so many years now).

I topped mine with homemade lemon curd (another recent obsession) and a few fresh blackberries, but they're also lovely with syrup or even just a bit of butter.

The lemon curd recipe I used is a modification of Alton Brown's but made with Meyer lemons plus the addition of a bit of cream at the end for a slightly paler and thicker curd. Pairs perfectly with blackberries!

Flourless Coconut Pancakes

2 Large Eggs
3/4 cup coconut flour (ground dessicated unsweetened coconut)
1/4 cup heavy cream
1 teaspoon sugar or Splenda (optional)
2 tablespoons melted butter
1/4 cup heavy cream
A pinch of baking powder
A pinch of salt


1.) Combine the eggs, cream, butter, sugar, and salt in a medium sized bowl.

2.) In a separate bowl, mix the baking powder and coconut flour.

3.) Add the dry ingredients to the wet and mix gently until completely incorporated.

4.) Heat a heavy bottom skillet over medium heat and melt butter.

5.) Spoon batter into skillet one or two at a time. Take care to not let pancakes run into each other. let cook until edges start to frill and brown, then flip gently once and let cook for another minute on other side.

6.) Remove to serving dish and enjoy immediately as you would traditional pancakes.
Note: Leftover pancakes will keep in the fridge if covered with plastic wrap but will lose quite a bit of their "fluffiness." Definitely better if consumed right away.

Makes approximately 8 medium-sized pancakes.

P.S.

If you shop at my Whole Foods, I owe you an apology. I cleaned them out of Meyer lemons today. I took all but three, I think.

The basket kept getting smaller and I was scared there wouldn't be any left next time I shopped so I just kept filling my bag. "Just one more," I would say. "One more." Six pounds later I finally stopped. A woman near the bananas looked at me funny. The cashier raised her eyebrow. I just smiled, visions of tarts, curds, and preserves dancing in my head.

Oh! And do you like my beautiful new bowl? Look out for it in my blog posts over the next few days. There is a story behind it...

Infusions

My recent bursts of voracious citrus shopping have left me with far more blood oranges and Meyer lemons than I can possibly consume. In the past couple months I've worked my way through a bevy of citrus concoctions: marinades, salad dressings, flavored mayonnaise, court bouillons, and citrus ice creams.

All delicious, but as the season is really starting to wind down the time has come to preserve these lovely winter flavors. I've got orange and lemon juice cubes in the freezer and am fully intending on getting myself over to Zabar's this week to pick up a few canning jars for Moroccan preserved lemons and blood orange marmalade. Candied rinds are a given, but I really want to try and capture the flavors in as many different ways as possible. And what better way of capturing these pure, brilliant flavors than with infusions!?

I'm experimenting with three different kinds right now: blood orange vodka, Meyer lemon olive oil, and (just because) a blackberry-spice vodka with cloves, ginger, cinnamon, and cardamom.

These are my first attempts so I'm really looking forward to seeing how they turn out. I should start to get results in about a week--just in time for BFF Matt to help me sample when he arrives from Vegas for our two-day mini-visit. In the meantime, I'm quite taken with the little mad scientist lab I have building in my kitchen. Few things more exciting than multi-colored elixirs brewing in glass jars of varying shapes and sizes. Once I get my canning projects started it's going to look even more intriguing!

Hmmm... Now all I need now is a handsome male assistant to rinse my beakers and light my Bunsen burners... Any volunteers?

Meyer Lemon Custard Ice Cream

What do you do when you have two big juicy Meyer lemons and a craving for something creamy and sweet? Well, if you are anything like me, you make ice cream! A rich, lemony custard serves as the base for this lovely dessert. Try and use the ripest Meyer lemons that you can find; the juice will be even sweeter. And if you're looking for something to serve the ice cream with, make sure you save your egg whites and try it with my Coconut Financier-Madeleines.

Meyer Lemon Custard Ice Cream
Instead of grating the lemon zest for the infusion, I sliced off large pieces with a potato peeler and left them in. The peel candied in the custard and made for a great little flavor surprise in the finished dessert. They look pretty too!

Ingredients
2 1/2 cups heavy cream
3/4 cup sugar (or Splenda if you're low-carbing it!)
Zest of one whole Meyer lemon, peeled into strips
Pinch of salt
6 large egg yolks
1 cup fresh Meyer lemon juice


1. Combine the cream, lemon peel, salt, and sugar in a heavy-bottomed saucepan. Bring to just a boil and let simmer for a few minutes to infuse the cream with the scent of the lemon peel.

2. In a small bowl, beat the egg yolks until creamy in color.

3. Temper the eggs by slowly trickling in a portion of the cream mixture, stirring until well blended. This will warm up the eggs slowly so that they don't scramble when you pour into the hot cream. Pour the egg cream mixture back into the saucepan containing the rest of the cream, stirring continuously.

4. Continue to cook over medium heat, stirring until the custard thickens and coats the back of a spoon. (About 7 minutes.)

5. When ready, remove from flame, pour into a clean bowl, and stir in the Meyer lemon juice. Let cool for a few minutes and then place in refrigerator to chill. (Or the freezer, if you're impatient like I am!)

5. Once cool, pour the chilled custard into your ice cream maker and freeze according to manufacturer's instruction.

The ice cream will be thicker than most. It actually is quite perfect straight from the ice cream maker, but can be stored in an air-tight container in the freezer for up to a week. Note that it will likely freeze very hard due to the high fat content of the cream (yum...), so be sure to take it out a couple minutes before serving. This recipe can be easily converted to low-carb with the substitution of Splenda for the sugar.

In which Alejandra goes to the grocery store and discovers a new kind of mutant lettuce

The wind was biting when I left the office today so I skipped my usual six-block walk to Whole Foods, and instead popped into the nearby Morton Williams. For those of you who don't live in New York City, you should know that the grocery stores in Manhattan are a dismal lot. The big specialty stores, like Whole Foods are wonderful, but twice as expensive and always packed to the gills. The other stores—Gristedes, C-Town, D’Agostinos—all seem to exist in constant states of disarray, with employees perpetually restocking, sweeping, mopping, and doing just about anything they can to make the shopping experience as inconvenient as possible.

The Morton Williams near my office isn’t as bad as some of the others, but I’m completely puzzled by their stock. They boast an olive oil and imported Italian product selection enviable of most gourmet specialty stores. They sell just about every kind of ice cream flavor known to man (Acai Berry! Mexican Chocolate! Pinot Noir!). They even have an entire aisle devoted to British products like tea, Cadburys chocolates, and two different kinds of Marmite (ugh). And yet, they always seem to lack the most basic of products. Necessities like skim milk, toilet paper, and sour cream seem to never be available.

But perhaps this is the reason why I actually enjoy this store. I am not a quick food shopper. I browse supermarkets much like I do bookstores: going around and around the same aisles surveying my options and usually leaving with much more than I planned to buy. I rarely shop with a list or preset recipe in mind, preferring to base my meals on whatever is in season or simply strikes my fancy. It’s a creative process (an adventure, even) to walk into the store knowing that I have a completely blank slate on which to experiment.

Lately, I’ve been drawn to the oddball products on the grocery shelves; the dusty, imperfect things found up high or way down low, all but obscured from plain view. Morton Williams is perfect for this with its weirdo stock. Somewhere in the back of my head I seem to have decided that any items produced outside of the US must be better than their American counterparts. For this reason, I regularly come home with bags full of slightly more expensive imported products like unsalted Danish butter in lopsided little bricks, slightly dented cans of Israeli tuna, and jars of clotted cream covered with tiny British flag stickers.

Accustomed to strange little discoveries in the inner aisles, I was surprised to be surprised in an entirely new part of the store today: the produce section. There, nestled among the tightly cellophaned balls of iceberg lettuce and the lush, wet bouquets of romaine, was a plastic clamshell package containing what it proudly proclaimed to be a: “New Lettuce!”

"A NEW lettuce?!" I thought. I had no idea they were still making new lettuces! It's called “Cosmopolitan ™ Lettuce,” and claims to be the “Best of Iceberg and the Best of Romaine.” I stared at this for a while. Turning the package over and over in my hands, trying to figure out the magic behind Cosmopolitan ™ Lettuce. I’d never really seen a trademarked lettuce before, so that was exciting in itself.

At 5 dollars a pop, Cosmopolitan ™ Lettuce is twice as expensive as the other kinds, which I suppose is what one would expect of mutant lettuce. There were several packages on display, all baring a “Best By 1/24” stamp on them. Checking my watch for the date, I suddenly grew a little concerned for the Cosmopolitan ™ Lettuce, picturing it meeting an early demise in a stinky Hell’s Kitchen dumpster. I thought, "that’s no way for Cosmopolitan ™ lettuce to end its days."

So I rescued it. I adopted the Cosmopolitan ™ Lettuce, vowing to bring it home and bathe it in Meyer lemon cilantro dressing and serve topped with pieces of spicy, citrus marinated flank steak and avocado.

So that’s exactly what I did.

A bit more about Cosmopolitan ™ Lettuce*:
I may have purchased this wierdo x-lettuce out of some kind of strange sense of yuppie food guilt, but I can honestly say that I’m glad I did. The lettuce really does bring together the best parts of iceberg and romaine—the crispness of the former with the sweet, leafy flavor of the romaine.

The leaves are long, and almost taco-shaped, so they work perfectly for wraps or sandwiches. (Ideal for the low-carber who can't eat bread.) The crisp leaf holds its shape really well even when stuffed with steak and avocado (like I did), and the flavor really is a cut above.

Though a bit overpriced, I would still recommend trying it out. I couldn’t help thinking that the smaller inside pieces would be great with dips or fillings as an hors d’oeuvres.

Meyer Lemon Marinated Flank Steak with Lemon Cilantro Dressing in Cosmopolitan ™ Lettuce Wraps
This recipe would work just as well as a normal salad, but I wanted to see just how much these Cosmopolitan ™ Lettuce wraps could hole. The answer is a lot. Please note that the flax seed in this recipe is completely optional--I just like to toss it in everything as it's an amazing source of fiber and also adds a lovely (and subtle) nutty crunch.

Ingredients
1/2 lb flank steak
1 bunch of cilantro with stems cut off
2 Meyer lemons, juiced
1/2 cup of olive oil
1/4 cup of pine nuts or almonds
3 tablespoons of ground flax seed (optional)
2 cloves garlic
course sea salt
black pepper
Cosmopolitan ™ Lettuce leaves (or other kind of lettuce)
1/2 large avocado
3 tablespoons homemade or packaged mayonnaise


1. In a food processor, puree the cilantro, garlic, olive oil, lemon juice, nuts, and flax seed. Season to taste with course salt and freshly ground pepper. The final mixture should resemble a loose pesto in texture, with a brighter (almost neon) shade of green.

2. Set aside about a third of the dressing. This will be used at the end to dress your salad so keep away from the raw meat. The rest of the dressing will be your marinade. Place the steak in a glass dish and pour the marinade over. Let marinate for at least 45 minutes, covered, in the refrigerator.

3. Broil the steak for approximately 5 minutes on each side, or to desired doneness. After removing from the oven, let sit for a few minutes (covered) so that the juices sink in. While waiting, mix the portion of dressing you originally set aside with the mayonnaise (or sour cream if you prefer).

4. When ready, slice the steak thinly against the grain (meaning perpendicular to the natural lines of the meat), and pile into your lettuce leaves. Top with a few cubes of avocado and drizzle on the dressing according to taste.

Enjoy!

*Please note that the opinions expressed in this post are entirely my own and that I am in no way affiliated with the makers, producers, or other evil geniuses behind Cosmopolitan ™ Lettuce. Nor do I believe is Cosmopolitan ™ Lettuce affiliated with the magazine of the same name. Or with the cocktail. Or that new resort they're opening in Vegas.

Glazed Meyer Lemon Nut Cake (The Results & The Recipe)

I was a little bit worried about this caked. It looked beautiful, but I wasn't convinced that the flavor combination of hazelnuts, coconut, and Meyer lemon was exactly right. Well, I was proven wrong! I brought both cakes into work with me last week (the flourless chocolate hazelnut torte and the Meyer lemon cake), and both were big hits.

My coworkers were divided on which they preferred. The lemon cake disappeared first, but I got more requests for the chocolate torte recipe. I'm convinced that the lemon cake works best a day or even two after it's been baked. The flavors blend in with each other and seem to mellow out in a way that is really quite perfect. I was surprised by how prominent the coconut flavor was--everyone noticed it right away. And like me on the first night, nobody could believe that neither one of the recipes contained any flour!

I haven't had the chance to try it yet, but I'm willing to bet that the lemon cake will go from "great" to "WOW!" if the hazelnuts are switched out for almonds. I encourage you guys to try it out and let me know what you think... (And feel free to send me your mediocre pics!)

Now for the recipe:

Glazed Meyer Lemon Nut Cake (100% flourless)
This cake tastes better the second or third day, after the flavors have had a chance to meld. If you can, try and make it at least the day before then store in an air-tight container at room temp. Glaze just before serving (otherwise the glaze will melt).

Ingredients:
2 cups almond or hazelnut meal
1/3 cup plus 2 tablespoons unsweetened coconut flour
1/2 cup Meyer lemon juice (approximately 2 Meyer lemons)
Rind of 1 Meyer lemon
1 cup sugar or equivalent substitute
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 pinch of salt
6 medium eggs
1/2 cup olive oil

For the glaze:
1 cup powdered sugar
2 tablespoons freshly-squeezed Meyer lemon juice
2 tablespoons water

1.Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and grease a 9" round or springform pan.

2. Combine the nuts, lemon rind, sugar (or substitute), salt, and baking powder in an electric mixer or food processor and pulse a few times until any lumps are broken up.

3. Add the eggs one at a time, followed by the oil and lemon juice. Continue to mix at high speed for a couple minutes to work some air into the batter--it should grow in size a bit.

4. Pour into your greased pan and place in the oven. The baking time will vary depending on your oven and the humidity in the environment. Start checking it about 30 minutes into baking. It will be ready when a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

5. When ready to glaze, mix the powdered sugar, water, and Meyer lemon juice together until smooth. Drizzle all over the cake and allow to set. Serve immediately after glazing or cover with a loose cake cover (plastic wrap will only make the glaze melt or flake away--think Krispy Kremes at the bottom of the box. Yummy, just not as pretty.)

Glazed Meyer Lemon Nut Cake

It's citrus season! At the grocery store tonight, I went a little crazy throwing blood oranges and Meyer Lemons into my basket, giddy with the possibilities. The scent of the fruit tickled my nose the entire subway ride home.

If you're not familiar with the Meyer Lemon, you need to stop reading and head to your nearest grocery store right now. Larger, rounder, and with a slightly more orange hue than the conventional lemon, the Meyer Lemon originated in China, where it's believed to have derived from the Mandarin orange. The skin of the Meyer is thinner, making for a softer and juicier fruit, but what stands out above all is its enticing fragrance. It's a sweet, citrus smell with earthy undertones; I've always thought it resembled a blend of oranges and Christmas trees.

Much sweeter than the regular lemon, Meyers are ideal for use in desserts. I'm planning to whip up a Meyer Lemon ice cream at some point in the next couple days, but I couldn't resist playing around with it tonight. While at the store I also picked up a bag of ground almond meal and happened to come across some organic coconut flour. While I've read quite a bit about coconut flour, I'd never actually seen it at the store before. In fact, the only reason I found it today is because I dropped something and so happened to look into that last shelf. There were piles of coconut flour bags and only two dollars each (much more economical than the 14 dollar almond meal). I grabbed a couple, with the intent to experiment with it this weekend.

On the train home I started thinking about the torte I made last night. I decided to use the same basic recipe, replacing the cocoa powder with coconut flour and exchanging a half cup of Meyer lemon juice for the water. A little lemon rind for color and additional flavor, and presto! Torta di Limone!

The cake that came out of the oven was lovely and moist, but not quite as fluffy as the chocolate torte. I was pleased with the golden color of the crust, but still felt it needed a little extra something. I decided on a glaze, borrowing Peabody's recipe from her gorgeous post about Meyer Lemon Madeleines.

I made a tiny version for tasting purposes and am still on the fence about it. I think the problem is with the hazelnuts. While fantastic with cocoa, they feel a bit too overpowering in this recipe. I want the lemons to be the main event here, but right now they're getting lost beneath the strong hazelnut flavor. I was tempted to try again using almond meal, but it was already so late that I resisted. (I don't sleep much as is, and baking three cakes in one night is definitely pushing it.)

Take two will have to wait for tomorrow. I'm not going to post the recipe yet as I still need to tweak it. I think I'll bring the cake into work tomorrow to see what people think and then go from there...

UPDATE: From the LA Times, 100 Things to do with Meyer Lemons

Also coming up in the next couple days:

• Blood Oranges in Italy!
• My answer to a reader question about buying and preparing fish...
• And a special recipe from a secret Guest blogger!

Stay tuned!

**And for those of you on Facebook:

Join the Always Order Dessert Facebook group! (Note that you must be logged into your account to see the page)