Orange You Glad It's Summer?

I've had one bijillion reasons to bake for various different friends and events and I have to say these two ingredients were the most delicious additions to all my summer culinary adventures.

You may remember me extolling the virtues of the Minced Lemon Peel from The Spice House in Chicago that my friends Dan and Kathy bestowed upon me as part of a most wonderful birthday gift.  I used it so much I had to order more and that's when I saw Minced Orange Peel. I was about to make some Orange Olive Oil Cakes and thought it would kick it up a notch.  It did!

For one of the Orange Olive Oil Cakes, the recipe for the orange syrup that is poured over the cake after it comes out of the oven called for Orange Blossom Water.  Oh My God!  A few drops of this gloriousness added to -- oh I don't know JUST ABOUT EVERYTHING -- is serious divinity to the taste bud!

So here is what I made and here are the recipes and how I changed them, etc.

• Orange Almond Pecan Chocolate Chip Cookies -- find my Best Chocolate Chip Cookie Ever Recipe (probably over on the Lazy Woman Blog) and add orange zest and minced orange peel + toasted almonds and pecans + a few tablespoons of coconut .  You will NOT be disappointed and everyone will think you are a goddess.

• Orangey Celebratory Trifle -- I actually can't bear angel food cake.  It's too sweet.  I was shopping last minute and couldn't find sponge cake so I had to use angel food cake.  Don't recommend but people still really liked it.  To offset the sweetness I took this recipe 4th of July Trifle by Sunny Anderson and did the following:
• Add to the cream mixture:
•  orange zest of two oranges
• a couple tablespoons of Minced Orange Peel
• a splash of Orange Blossom Water
• Gran Marnier
• two oranges (yep, the oranges you just zested, peel and cut up in tiny pieces, leaving most of juices on the counter)
• To the top of the whole trifle I whipped up another pint of whipped cream and put just a small amount of sugar + more orange zest, peel + blossom water
• I made the orange sauce (see the little brush man floating in it in lower right of pic above) that I loved the most from one of the olive oil cakes I made Citrus Semolina Olive Oil Cake and added zest of a second orange and only did orange juice plus a splash of orange blossom water AND Gran Marnier.
• Orange Semolina Olive Oil Cakes  -- I made SIX different recipes and honestly loved all of them for different reasons but I have to say the recipe above (link in previous paragraph) from Food52 is pretty spectacular when you add the orange blossom water and Gran Marnier to the sauce and add the Minced Orange Peel to the batter.  And the piece de resistance -- and I know this is not how it is supposed to be done but on the 6th recipe -- which was the Food52 one -- I added chocolate chips, almonds and pecans.  Oh.  My.   God.  I now that the chefs from Italy and the Middle East who are famous for this kind of cake would probably tar and feather me but I don't care.  The semolina flour with the orange and the chocolate and the nuts....swoon!     

But really you can't go wrong with any citrus semolina cake recipe and they are all pretty darned easy to make.  Most have a combo of semolina and all purpose flour.  A few recipes have semolina only and you can guess the texture is different, but still divine. Highly recommend making them because super easy to also do ahead.   I think I will make one for Christmas time and serve with orange chocolate mousse.

This was my very favorite of the six.  I swore I would remember the recipe but I don't.  All I remember is I added coconut, almond meal, almonds and of course the Orange Peel.  Look for the recipes that have yogurt in them too. I know this one had yogurt in it.  But throwing coconut in there added a wee bit of crunch. Super moist.  Super yum.  Honestly you can't go wrong with these cakes.

 

 

Check out The Spice House in Chicago for all kinds of groovy ingredients.  I also use their extra strength vanilla regularly and, of course, the lemon peel.  You can find Orange Blossom Water where ethnic foods are sold, or order on Amazon.   I highly recommend having both Rose Water and Orange Blossom Water on hand, a splash of either in whipped cream, drinks, lemonade, etc. can kick a recipe up several notches with one tiny bit.

 

So happy zesty summer to all!!!