These little cakes are delicious, can be made ahead and are simple to put together. This recipe is from the wonderful, and out of print (and offline forever now), Fine Cooking Magazine. I'm sharing some of my favorite recipes from the magazine, with my little changes.

softened butter for the ramekins
1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly
1 cup granulated sugar
3 large eggs, separated, at room temperature
1/4 cup pastry flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 cups whole milk, at room temperature
1/3 cup fresh lemon juice, at room temperature
1 tablespoon finely grated lemon zest
lightly sweetened whipped cream for serving

Position a rack in the center of the oven and heat the oven to 350°F. Butter ten 6-ounce oven-proof ramekins or custard cups and arrange them in a baking dish or roasting pan.

In a large bowl, whisk the melted butter with 2/3 cup of the sugar and the egg yolks until smooth and light, about 1 minute. Add the flour and salt and pour in just enough milk to whisk the flour smoothly into the egg yolk mixture. Then whisk in the remaining milk and the lemon juice until smooth. The mixture will be very wet.

Put the egg whites in a large bowl. Beat with an electric mixer on medium speed until the whites begin to foam, 30 to 60 seconds. Increase the speed to high and beat just until the whites hold soft peaks when the beater is pulled away, another 1 to 2 minutes. Reduce the mixer speed to medium. With the mixer running, very slowly sprinkle in the remaining 1/3 cup sugar; this should take about a minute. Stop the mixer and scrape the bowl. Beat on high speed until the whites hold medium-firm peaks when the beater is pulled away, about another 30 seconds.

Scrape one-third of the egg whites into the egg yolk mixture, sprinkle the lemon zest on top, and whisk until combined. Gently incorporate the remaining whites into the batter, using the whisk in a folding/stirring motion. The batter will still be thin.

Portion the mixture evenly among the ramekins; the cakes don’t rise much, so you can fill the ramekins pretty full. Pull out the oven rack and put the baking dish full of ramekins on the rack. Pour warm water into the dish to reach halfway up the sides of the ramekins. Bake until the tops of the cakes are light golden and slightly puffed, and when touched with a finger, they should feel spongy and spring back a bit but hold a shallow indentation, 25 to 30 minutes. Using tongs, carefully transfer the ramekins to a rack. Let cool to room temperature and then refrigerate for at least 2 hours and up to 24 hours before serving, with whipped cream if you like.

Cherry Ciapirissima

This is a recipe for one cocktail. Have your ingredients ready and you can make several right in a row for your friends. You can make a pitcher of them, by following the instructions after this.

3/4 ounce simple syrup
3 cherries, pitted and halved
half a lime, cut into quarters
2 ounces white rum

In a cocktail shaker, press and mix the simple syrup, cherries and lime quarters with a muddler or wooden spoon. Add the rum and 6 ice cubes. Shake hard and pour everything into a rocks glass.

12 ounces simple syrup
48 cherries, pitted and halved
8 limes, cut into eighths
32 ounces white rum

In the bottom of a large pitcher, press and mix the simple syrup, cherries, and lime pieces with a wooden spoon. Add the rum and a several scoops of ice cubes (to fill the pitcher). Stir vigorously and pour everything into rocks glasses. Makes 16 cocktails.

Labels: Homemaking, Recipes, Tales from the Kitchen

// posted by Ranee @ Arabian Knits @ 7:46 AM