Recommended Recipes for Spring Special Occasions

These are all recipes that made previous appearances on JennyBakes, but deserve to be in rotation!

First of all, check out the time I colored eggs for easter using natural ingredients!

Something for breakfast?

White chocolate apricot scones
Key lime yogurt cake with raspberry coulis

For dessert, try:
Easter candy cookies
Sicilian cassata (easter cake!)

And the best ingredient of spring is rhubarb, of course! What to do with it?
Rhubarb crisp
Rhubarb coffee cake
Strawberry rhubarb crisp
Rhubarb pecan muffins
Vanilla rhubarb jam
Strawberry rhubarb pie
Rhubarb custard pie

Chaat Masala Mango Buttermilk Icebox Pie

I received a sample of chaat masala from Raw Spice Bar, and had fun deciding what to do with it. I found a few recipes with it sprinkled on fruit, even a dish called mango masala. I remembered a southern icebox pie recipe featuring mango, and decided to make a hybrid recipe. I wanted the masala spice to accent the mango but not overwhelm it; I think I'd used twice as much next time. Even undoctored, this is a lovely pie for spring or summer!

Chaat masala contains coriander, cumin, ajwain, black salt dried ciles, amchoor, asafoetida, ginger, black peppercorns, dried mint, and paprika.

Mango Masala Icebox Pie
(loosely adapted from Mango-Lemon-Buttermilk Icebox Pie on Southern Living)

• 1/2 cup water
• 1 cup chopped fresh or thawed frozen mango
• 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
• 1 (14-oz.) can sweetened condensed milk
• 1 tablespoon loosely packed lemon zest
• 2 tablespoons mango nectar
• 3 large egg yolks
• 1/4 cup buttermilk 
• 1/2 tsp chaat masala

Ginger Spice Crust
(a variation of the Crumb Crust Recipe)

• 1 1/2 cups crushed gingersnap cookies
• 1/4 cup sugar 
• 1/2 tsp chaat masala
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt (omit when using buttery crackers or saltines)
• 6 tablespoons butter, melted 

1. Make the crust. Process crushed gingersnaps, sugar,  chaat masala, and salt in a food processor until finely crushed and well combined. Add melted butter, and process until thoroughly combined. Press on bottom, up sides, and onto lip of a lightly greased (with cooking spray) 9-inch regular pie plate or 9-inch deep-dish pie plate. Preheat oven to 325°. Bake crust 8 to 10 minutes or until lightly browned.

2. Bring water to a boil over medium-high heat in a saucepan. Stir in 1 cup chopped fresh or thawed frozen mango. Remove from heat, and stir in 1 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice. Process mixture in a blender until smooth.

3. Preheat oven to 325°. Whisk together sweetened condensed milk, lemon zest, 1 cup mango puree, 1/4 cup lemon juice, and mango nectar  in a bowl.

4. Beat egg yolks with a handheld mixer in a medium bowl at high speed 4 to 5 minutes or until yolks become pale and ribbons form on surface of mixture when beater is lifted. Gradually whisk in sweetened condensed milk mixture, and whisk until thoroughly combined; whisk in buttermilk. Pour mixture into prepared crust.

5. Bake at 325° for 20 to 25 minutes or until set around edges, sprinkling more chaat masala on the top in the last five minutes of baking. (Pie will be slightly jiggly.) Cool on a wire rack 1 hour. Cover pie with lightly greased (with cooking spray) plastic wrap, and freeze 4 to 6 hours.


 6. Top with whipped cream and another shake of the spice, if desired.

Chocolate Chip Cookies (gluten-free, lower-sugar, grain-free)

Thanks, big bag of almond flour from Costco (not a paid advertisement.)

Chocolate Chip Cookies

1/2 cup butter, softened
1/4 cup packed brown sugar*
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 egg + 1 egg white
2 1/2 cups almond flour
1 cup chocolate chips or pieces
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt

1. Preheat oven to 350 F and line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
2. Beat together butter, sugars and vanilla extract in a large bowl, then beat in eggs.
3. Stir in almond flour, baking soda, salt and mix well.
4. Stir in chocolate chips.
5. Drop tablespoons of dough onto baking sheets 2 inches apart.**
6. Bake for 12-15 minutes or until lightly browned and firm to the touch.

Makes 2 1/2 dozen cookies

*I substituted coconut sugar for each of these but if you do this, add slightly more or they will not be sweet enough.
** I found that these did not spread on their own, so pressing down a bit before baking made a nicer cookie.

Appalachian Baking: Gravy Horse & Ouita's Biscuits

We were driving around the NC mountains yesterday and I remembered I needed sorghum (aka sweet sorghum or sorghum molasses or sorghum syrup.) We stopped beside the road and bought some from a guy in camo and a pickup truck. I have a cookbook that I remember required sorghum for some of the desserts, but I didn't have all the other ingredients. I went looking online and found a recipe called "gravy horse." Since it is based on a foodlorist's research, I'd recommend going to the post on Bakepedia to read more, but I'm copying the recipe here.

Gravy Horse & Ouita’s Biscuits
Author: Ronni Lundy 
Makes: 6 biscuits

Ingredients

Ouita’s Biscuits:

• 2 cups flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• ¼ pound (1 stick) unsalted butter, chilled or frozen
• ¾ cup buttermilk

Gravy Horse:

• 1 tablespoon butter
• 2 tablespoons sorghum syrup

Instructions

1. For the Biscuits: In a large bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and sugar. Using a cheese grater, grate butter into dry ingredients and mix lightly with fingers until crumbly.
2. Add buttermilk and quickly work into flour mixture with a pastry cutter, wooden spoon, or by hand. Knead with a few quick strokes into a rounded mound and let rest 20 to 30 minutes in the refrigerator.
3. Heat oven to 400°F. Lightly grease or line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
4. Roll dough on a floured surface to a thickness of ½ inch. Cut with a 2-inch biscuit cutter and transfer to prepared baking sheet. Bake 10 to 12 minutes or until lightly browned and baked through.
5. For the Gravy Horse: Put the butter in a small bowl or saucer and let sit at room temperature until it is softened but not runny. Pour sorghum over the top and use the tines of a fork to first mash then gently whip together. You can use the fork to daub it onto hot biscuits, and this should be enough to grace a half-dozen of Ouita’s Biscuits.