Lesson #130: Marmalade Muffins

These YUMMY breakfast muffins have a ton of orange flavor! Inside the muffins are currants which are soaked in Grand Marnier (orange flavored liqueur), orange zest, freshly squeezed orange juice, and orange marmalade. AND the muffins are topped with candied orange peel. Now, that's a lot of orange in one small muffin!

LESSON LEARNED: You don't have to go to the extra trouble of making candied orange peel. These muffins have plenty of orange flavor without it.

Recipe for Marmalade Muffins

Lesson #83: Orange Creamsicle Ice Cream

I never cared for the orange creamsicle pops growing up. The vanilla ice cream always tasted chalky and the orange never tasted too much like real oranges. So, when I saw an idea for creamsicle ice cream in this month's Bon Appetit magazine, I thought I would give the homemade version a try. I wasn't disappointed! This homemade version is a million times better than my memory of creamsicles!

This recipe takes a little bit of planning ahead because you use an ice cream maker twice. Once for the vanilla ice cream and again for the orange sorbet. I used a different recipe than my typical vanilla ice cream because I like to keep trying new things. The vanilla ice cream was perfectly creamy and not too sweet. In the orange sorbet, I used freshly squeezed orange juice to give it the most natural (and not artificial) orange flavor possible. I also used orange zest and orange herbal tea to boost the flavor and give it a little more color. The one downfall of this recipe is that the sorbet doesn't have a strikingly orange color. I definitely didn't want to add orange food coloring, so all you see in the pictures are some pieces of orange zest. However, what it lacks in color, it makes up in taste! This ice cream is packed full of orange flavor swirled with creamy vanilla ice cream!

LESSON LEARNED: Freshly squeezed orange juice isn't bright-neon orange, but it tastes really good!

Recipe for Orange Creamsicle Ice Cream

Lesson #7: Pavlovas with Orange Curd

When I received my Food & Wine magazine for September, I was completely enthralled by a dessert that at first glance looked exactly like an egg. I thought it was a really neat idea to present a meringue (i.e. baked, sweetened whipped egg whites) and curd (i.e. custard - usually containing citrus) dessert. Yesterday, I thought I would give it a shot because I had a few hours between the two classes I teach on Monday. Surprisingly, it wasn't very time consuming - at least with the hands on time because the meringues take an hour to bake - AND I didn't even get my dress clothes messy. :)

When we tried it last night after dinner, it was excellent! The meringues were a bit crunchy on the outside and slightly chewy in the center and when you mixed it with the curd, the citrus cut some of the sweetness of the meringue. Check it out below!

Recipe for Pavlovas with Orange Curd

LESSON LEARNED: Even fancy looking desserts can be whipped up in no time!