Culinary Adventures with Camilla

For my girls' holiday party, my jolabokaflod , I made a cookie platter for dessert and decided to paint the sugar cookie hearts like the Icelandic flag.  I don't use a lot of food coloring because I don't like the chemical aspect. So I was really tickled to find a set of  natural  food dyes. I love that the green and blue were made with spirulina extract and the yellow made with turmeric. That's definitely my kinda dye. But, I have a caveat: they don't stay true to color when they are heated. For instance, the red is a beautiful carmine hue...until you heat it...because it's made with beets. I tested it and it went from red to purple, which was not what I had in mind. Whoops. And everyone commented that the colors fade in the sunlight. So, these aren't as vibrant as colors made with Red No. 40 or Blue No. 1, but I love that they are naturally derived! I no longer bake with these, but they are great and vibrant in icings. I don't know...

D's class is doing a Secret Santa Gift Exchange this week. He decided that he wanted to bring his buddy some decorated gingerbread men on the first day. I still had some  Puerquitos  dough. So I rolled out, cut the men, and baked before I ran out the door for a girls' evening with Pia.  D decorated the cookies with Jake (thanks for helping, my Love); and I helped D wrap them up in the morning. Royal Icing Ingredients egg whites from two eggs, or more if needed to thin icing 4 C organic powdered sugar, or more to thicken icing juice from one lemon Procedures Beat the whites until stiff but not dry.  Add sugar and lemon juice. Beat for another minute.  If the icing is too thick, add more egg whites; if it's too thin, add more sugar.  Add food coloring if you desire. This icing may be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. D's Secret Santa neglected to bring him a gift. He w...

Remember the giant peanut butter cookie request from Riley ?!? Well, this is what he made for the Thanksgiving feast goody-bags: atomic cookies for each of the guests. He made a royal icing and attached chocolate chips to the cookie, correlating an element with each person, For instance I, Camilla, got Carbon. The circles represent the electron shells while the chocolate chips are the electrons and the neutron. Royal Icing 3 egg whites, at room temperature 4 C powdered sugar 1/2 t cream of tartar 1. Make sure the egg whites are at room temperature before beginning. 2. In the clean, dry bowl, place the egg whites, powdered sugar, and cream of tartar. Using a hand mixer,  beat the mixture on medium speed until very thick, shiny, stiff and white.  3. Check the texture to ensure that it is suitable for your needs. If you require a stiffer icing, add a little more powdered sugar at this point.