Butter – Francois et Moi

How to Make Butter

francoisetmoiblog@gmail.com — Thu, 17 Jul 2014 12:48:32 +0000

My friend, Briony, first introduced me to the idea of making butter a few months ago, when we were cooking together at her house, and she mentioned she had made the butter we were cooking with. I love the idea of making things from scratch whenever possible, so of course I was super interested to hear how she did it! Surprisingly, it’s crazy simple. It’s a matter of shaking cream until the butter separates from the buttermilk, draining the buttermilk, and rinsing the butter with water. And ta-da! …butter. Ingredients & Materials: Fresh Cream (or heavy whipping cream as they call it) Mason Jar with Lid Cold Tap Water for Rinsing Pour cream into mason jar and secure cover tightly. I used 1 cup cream and it yielded about 1/3 c butter, but larger batches are also very doable. Shake, shake, shake and shake the mason jar some more until the butter separates from the buttermilk. Once you feel like the butter has reached it’s solid state, drain the buttermilk into another container. Don’t discard the buttermilk though–use it for buttermilk pancakes later! Pour cold water into the mason jar and use a rubber spatula to press any remaining buttermilk out of the […]

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Meyer Lemon Madeleines with Lavender Glaze

francoisetmoiblog@gmail.com — Thu, 02 Jan 2014 14:50:03 +0000

I’m a big fan of french pastries and sweets, not only because they’re delicious–that’s a given, but they’re always so thoughtfully and beautifully presented. They’re often like eating mini artful masterpieces, which makes the experience that much more enjoyable and fun. For Christmas, I received a madeleine pan (My family knows me too well!), so naturally I got right to work whipping up a batch. In case you’re not familiar, Madeleines (pronounced mad.lɛn) are small french sponge cakes baked into a distinctive shell shape. I found inspiration in A Cup of Mai’s yummy lemon madeleine recipe, and for a twist added a light lavender glaze to the tops of the cookies. I chose to use a Meyer Lemon because they’re in season right now, and I love the sweet, floral flavor, but you could certainly use whatever kind is in season. These little treasures are so delicious (dip them in your coffee!) and fun to make, I’ll definitely be making them again, and next time I want to do one of these! Ingredients: For the Mini Cakes: 2 eggs 1/3 cup granulated sugar 1/4 tsp. salt 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract 1/4 tsp. almond extract 1 tsp. Meyer lemon zest (I used […]

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Flaky Apple Turnovers

francoisetmoiblog@gmail.com — Thu, 14 Nov 2013 13:39:30 +0000

A few weeks ago Ken and I spent an afternoon at Aamodt’s Apple Farm in Stillwater, MN. It was one of those rare, beautiful fall days where the sun was shining and the air was crisp and cool, perfect weather for wandering around the farm in a long sleeve and cozy scarf. By the time we left, we had gathered our fair share of apples, fresh cider and a bottle of Vignoles, a grapefruit and peach white wine, one of my favorites from St. Croix Vineyards, also located at the apple farm. On the coattails of a fun, apple-filled Saturday, I thought I’d make some apple turnovers for breakfast the next morning. I love this recipe from Big Oven. It’s husband-approved, and so perfect for this time of year. Not to mention, the phyllo dough makes you look like you know a thing or two in the kitchen (even if you don’t). The only change I like to make is to cut the amount of lemon zest in half, as I like to let the apple and cinnamon flavors take center stage. People often shy away from phyllo dough because they think it’s too hard to manage or perhaps above […]

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