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

Lemon Yogurt Bars

These really taste like cheesecake, but I put more yogurt than cream cheese in it so it would probably be more appropriate to call it "yogurt bars". Besides, it sounds more austere than "cheesecake bars". Instead of the traditional graham crackers crust, I make a hearty buckwheat crust. The yogurt I use is 2% plain greek yogurt, and the cheeses I used were light ricotta and light cream cheese. I know it seems like I'm using light everything, but there's no shortage of flavour. Even my mom, who thinks desserts have to be full fat to taste good, couldn't tell I used light ingredients. Try them for yourselves.

The Recipe:
Crust:

• 1 cup dark buckwheat flour
• 1/4 cup soy flour
• 1/4 cup wheat bran
• 1/4 cup butter
• 3 – 6 tbsp water
• 1 tsp white sugar
• 1/4 tsp salt

Yogurt layer:

• 1 cup 2% plain greek yogurt
• 3/4 cup light ricotta cheese
• 1/4 cup light cream cheese
• 2 large eggs
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• zest and juice of one lemon

Stir together buckwheat flour, soy flour, wheat bran, and salt. Rub in butter until there are no visible chunks of butter left. Don't worry about keeping it cold because we aren't making flaky pastry; we are only trying to distribute the butter evenly, and I find it easier to do it this way rather than melting it. Add water as needed until it forms a crumbly mixture. If you squeeze a handful of dough together, it should stick together like wet sand. Press into a lined 9 inch (22.9 cm) square tin and bake in a 350 F (175 C) oven for 15 to 20 minutes. Set aside to cool. 

For the yogurt layer, simply stir all ingredients together, pour onto the cooled, baked crust, and bake at 325 F (~165 C) for 20 to 30 minutes, or until the yogurt layer has just set. Cool to room temperature and chill before slicing into bars. 

Note: to prevent the crust from becoming soggy, I poured about 1/4 of the yogurt mixture over the crust, spread it in a thin, even layer, and baked it for about 5 minutes before pouring the rest over the crust. 

Lemon yogurt filling

Buckwheat crust, before baking

Buckwheat crust, after baking

Baked and cooled lemon square – no cracks! :D

We sliced it into smaller pieces this time to serve as finger food