Citrus Angel Biscuits

It's July, the middle of summer, and I feel like baking. I've been suppressing the urge to bake for a few weeks because it's been so hot, and I didn't want to have to reve up the air condition just because I've decided to do some baking. Anyway, I couldn't resist any longer, and since this weekend is a little cooler, I baked some angel biscuits. These biscuits are a little sweet and tangy because I slather some zesty citrus glaze on them before baking. The glaze also gives them some wonderful, summer colour: yellow, orange, and green. Can you guess what citrus zests I used?

The Recipe:
Dry ingredients:

• 2 cups whole wheat flour
• 1 tbsp sugar
• 1/2 tsp cardamom
• 1 1/2 tsp dry instant yeast

Wet ingredients:

• 1/4 cup butter
• 1/3 cup plain cream cheese
• water

Glaze:

• 1 orange
• 1 lemon
• 2 limes
• 3 tbsp sugar

Stir dry ingredients together. Cut butter and cream cheese into little chunks and rub into the flour mixture until the largest piece of butter of cream cheese is about the size of a split pea or lentil, and evenly distributed. Add water until a soft dough forms. Gather dough into a dough ball, wrap loosely with plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator for a few hours to let the dough soften and rise. 

To make the glaze, wash the orange, lemon, and limes, and grate the zest into a bowl. Add sugar and mix to evenly distribute the zest. To make it spreadable, squeeze either the juice of the lemon, or the two limes over the sugar. 

Roll out dough to 1/4 inch (or ~3/4 cm) thickness, fold the dough in half so that there are two layers. Cut out into squares or circles or whatever shape you want your biscuits to be, brush citrus glaze over biscuits, and slide into a hot oven to bake. Bake at 425 F (~220 C) for 10 to 12 minutes. Let biscuits cool on a rack and enjoy!

Rested and risen dough with a particularly large chunk of butter

Ready to be baked

Cooling and waiting to be devoured

Cranberry Cheesecake: A very late post

I hope you're looking forward to summer! What is the one aspect of summer that you're most looking forward to? Maybe you like the long hours of daylight, the endless blue skies, all the outdoor activities, family gatherings and holidays, the beach, or glorious sunsets? Or perhaps you like watching the magnificent summer thunderstorms? I'm mostly looking forward to enjoying those cool, sweet treats that the hot sun makes me crave. Here is a recipe for a no-bake cheesecake filling that I made last year around this time. I'd promised to post about it when I made those mung bean potato biscuits (remember?) but never got around to writing the post. Well, here it is, a year late, but still a recipe to make.

The Recipe (makes two 8" tarts):

Pie crusts (follow recipe here)

Filling:

• 300 mL fat free, plain greek yogurt
• 400 mL light, plain cream cheese 
• 3/4 cup frozen cranberries
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 tbsp milk
• 2 tsp gelatin (powder)
• some water

Mix together yogurt, cream cheese, and milk until a smooth mixture forms. It's best to let the cream cheese come to room temperature so it softens before blending. You can also soften the cream cheese in  the microwave using the defrost setting. 

Melt and cook frozen cranberries in a pan. Pour some water on the bottom of the pan until the bottom is covered with a layer of water. Cook until cranberries pop and soften. Pour into blender and blend until an even mixture forms. Strain to remove large pieces of skin and seed. Return to pan, add sugar, stir to dissolve, and cook until thickened, like a syrup. Take off heat and stir in gelatin to dissolve. Add to cream cheese and yogurt mixture and stir to combine. Pour into prepared pie tins, and place in the refrigerator to set for at least 4 hours before serving. 

Note: you can set aside some cream cheese and yogurt mixture to decorate the top if you like. 

This is the yogurt I used. I also added the jam to the rest of the cranberry puree (it's only a small amount). 

Frozen cranberries.

Mung bean potato biscuits baked into a tart crust

Adding the filling

Swirls for decoration

You can also make it one colour. Texture after setting.