Mother's Day Brunch

I love my mother and grandmother's. I love my mother-in-law too! It's so wonderful to be able to have such loving, supportive and helpful women in my life. I am proud to be their daughter. To show them my love I decided this year I would cook for them and give them a special brunch.

After I had seen this lovely brunch set-up on OCP's blog I realized that I could create a simplified version! My mom was already in town for the weekend to arrange flowers for my cousins wedding. It was perfectly timed. And I already live next door to my grandma, like across the driveway! Here is a photo from our adjoining yard. Sadly this lilac tree is no longer here. The roots weren't strong enough to handle my 6 year old monkey.

I quickly ran to Sunflower Market to buy some fresh fruit on Friday night. I asked my mom, who was quietly reading a novel, if she could watch my two oldest while I took the little one to the store. Sadly, though, I didn't think I'd be gone more than 40 minutes while the make-ahead manicotti was baking in the oven. My mom had no idea it was in there and in my haste I forgot to look at the time when I left so I didn't call her to check on it. Needless to say now we're stuck eating dried up crusty leftovers. Such is life.

So anyway, back to the brunch. I invited my mom and grandma over along with J, my oldest daughter.

I loved the citrus theme. It felt so summery. I gave up the idea of sleeping in and woke up and got to work. This was a day that I wished I had two ovens. I thought about using my grandma's but I didn't want to to spoil my surprise!


The menu consisted of homemade quiche similar to this recipe (and I made the shell this time!), orange rolls (Rhodes with zest and glaze added), poppy seed bread and citrus drop cookies.

We ate outside on my Grandma's patio. It was perfectly warm and we had a lovely and brief time chatting and eating. Two of my favorite things to do! And with some of my best friends!





On a side note. I was messing around with Picnik and I'm not sure if I like the effects. It was a bright beautiful day but you can't really tell with the film grain effect I added. I like the vintage look to them for this particular shoot anyway. But the original photos were so bright and shadowy. What is your opinion? Do these photos still look edible?

Citrus Drop cookies

I saw a cookie recipe on Our Best Bites that looked perfect for this up and coming Spring weather. They reminded me of a citrus pound cake recipe that I love but also of these simple lemon drop cookies my mom used to make when I was a child. Sadly my husband does not like these sentimental cookies but I don't like grapefruit either. And I thought the orange version could be jazzed up a bit so I decided to combine all the citrus into one so that we were all happy!

Well, let me flashback a little. I was preparing a simple white sauce to make biscuits and gravy for dinner the night before. Simple recipe, right? Well, I had started melting the 8 tablespoons butter (I was doubling it so I could freeze half of it) and I began to measure the flour. But instead of 8 tablespoons flour, I measure 4 cups! And proceeded to pour into the melted butter without even thinking! Until I dumped that last 2 cups, I finally realized, "Oh, crud! Why am I using 4 cups? I only need 8 tablespoons! Aaaahhhh." So, instead of stopping while I was ahead by throwing out the 4 cups flour and 1/2 cup butter, I decided to just multiply it by a lot more. I ended up making enough to feed gravy to 50 people. Then I decided to stop. LOL. I froze some of the gravy before I added the hamburger to it. But some of it was in a roux form still, with a lot of butter and little flour. So I experimented and tried making this mini citrus pound cake from Wilton (that I cannot find online but luckily I saved the recipe from that came with the loaf pan) that I have successfully made before. But this was another epic fail. Too much butter. lol. Still edible (though not healthy). So in two days I successfully failed at making 2 recipes I know well. Such is life of a busy minded person!

However, I did successfully adapt the two favorite recipe to make a fantastic new one. I call them--

Citrus Drop Cookies

Adapted from Our Best Bites and Allrecipes.com
Yield: 2 dozen cookies

Cookie Ingredients:
1 c. white sugar
1/2 c. butter-flavored shortening
1 egg
1/2 c. sour cream
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
2 1/2 c. all-purpose flour (add another 2 tablespoons for high altitudes)
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 c. + 2 Tbsp. thawed orange juice concentrate
1 Tbsp grated grapefruit zest
1 Tbsp grated orange zest
1 tsp grated lemon zest
1 tsp grated lime zest

Glaze:
2 Tbsp fresh grapefruit juice
1 Tsp fresh orange juice
1 cup powdered sugar

Frosting:
1 tsp grated grapefruit zest
1 tsp. grated orange zest
1/2 tsp grated lemon zest
1/2 tsp grated lime zest
1/4 c. thawed orange juice concentrate
1/2 c. softened butter
3 c. powdered sugar

Directions:
1. Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees.
2. To make the cookie batter, first, combine the dry ingredients in a medium sized mixing bowl. Set aside.
3. In a large bowl bowl beat the shortening and sugar until well blended.
4. Add the egg and mix well. Then add the sour cream and vanilla and beat until light and fluffy, about 1 minute.
5. Incorporate the flour mixture.
6. Finally add the zests and orange juice concentrate and mix well. It will be a very thick and sticky batter.
7. Using an ice cream scoop (if you have one) or scoop about 1 heaping tablespoon onto a parchment lined cookie sheet.
8. Bake for about 10 minutes or until cookies are set and just golden brown around the edges.
9. Remove from oven and let sit on cookie sheet for an additional 5 minutes. Then remove from cookie sheet and allow additional cooling on a cooling rack.
10. Allow cookies to cool completely before adding glaze or frosting.

Directions for Glaze:
1. Combine zest, juice and powdered sugar in a small bowl with a small whisk. Drizzle about 1/2 tsp on top of the center of cooled cookies.

Directions for Frosting:
1. Combine all frosting ingredients with an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Continue to add orange juice concentrate or sugar to desired consistency.
2. Pipe or spread over glazed cookies.

Eat chilled or at room temperature!

Enjoy!


Maybe I'll share this citrus pound cake recipe once I make it successfully again ;0