This is always a crowd pleasing dessert.  It's been a while since we have made it, but I saw a post from a while back that reminded me how much we love this.  I think we will have to make it again this weekend.

makes: 4 Servings

Ingredients:

• 2 cups heavy cream
• 4 egg yolks
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 tsp good vanilla extract
• 8 tsp fine raw sugar or granulated sugar for caramelizing

Instructions:

• Preheat oven to 300°. Keep a pot of hot water nearby.
• In a saucepan over medium heat, combine cream and sugar and cook, stirring frequently until steam rises, approx. 4-5 minutes.
• In a bowl, beat egg yolks and vanilla until blended. Gradually pour hot cream into yolks, stirring constantly.
• Strain mixture through a fine-mesh sieve set over a bowl, divide among four 7-ounce ramekins.
• Line a 3" deep baking pan with a clean kitchen towel, place ramekins in pan, and add hot water to fill pan halfway up the side of the ramekins. Cover loosely with foil.
• Bake until set, 30-35 minutes, until the centers of the custards shake gently when the pan is shifted.
• Remove the pan from the oven and allow the ramekins to cool slightly.
• Remove the ramekins from the pan, cool to room temperature, then chill thoroughly 3 hours or overnight.
• Just before serving, sprinkle the custards with 2 tsp. Sugar and caramelize the topping with a kitchen torch, or place the ramekins under a broiler, 2-3 inches from the heat source for 3-4 minutes.

We love cookies!  We love chocolate chip cookies!  I don't even know how many different cookie recipes we have, and we use them all.  This is a new one for us.  Chocolate chip cookies with bourbon (and taragon) in them.  Tried it out for th efirst time and surprise, surprise... we love them.  The sea salt is optioal, but we have found with many of our cookie recipes that a little sprinkle of salt on top really brings out the flavors and makes a great cookie.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup butter (2 sticks)
• 2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
• 3/4 tsp baking soda
• 3/4 tsp salt
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 3/4 cup light brown sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1 egg yolk
• 1/4 cup bourbon
• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 1 cup bittersweet chocolate chips
• 1/2 Tbs finely chopped tarragon leaves
• Course sea salt to sprinkle tops (optional)

Instructions:

• Melt butter in a small saucepan.  Continually stirring, heat until it browns to make brown butter. Remove from heat once butter turns nutty brown. Set aside to cool
• In a bowl stir together the flour, baking soda & salt
• In a stand mixer, beat together cooled butter and sugars until smooth. Add egg, egg yolk, bourbon & vanilla extract, beat until well combined
• Add in flour mixture, mix until evenly incorporated. Fold in chocolate chips and tarragon by hand. Chill dough for 30 minutes
• Using a cookie scoop, scoop cookies dough onto parchment lined cookie sheet
• Top with a sprinkle of course sea salt (optional)
• Bake in preheated 350 degree oven for 12-14 minutes

Adapted from kitchenbowl.com

The other day we decided to make kebabs for dinner.  We had a london broil that we cut up into chunks, but we needed a good marinade.  Brenda whipped this together quick and we let the meat soak all day while I worked on some projects around the house.  I added some cut red and yellow bell peppers and onions to the marinade an hour before putting everything together on wooden skewers and grilling.  They turned out great.  The marinade really gave everything great flavor, and the meat turned out pretty tender as well.  We will definitely use this recipe again!

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 1/4 cupwWorcestershire sauce
• 3 Tbs soy sauce
• 1 Tbs freshly squeezed lemon juice from 1 lemon
• 1 Tbs Dijon mustard
• 1 Tbs minced garlic
• 2 tsp dark brown sugar
• 2 tsps freshly ground black pepper

Instructions

• Combine all ingredients and marinade beef chunks for 4 to 6 hours.
• Add cubed vegetables and allow to marinade for 1 hour additional (bell peppers, onions, potatoes and zucchini are great with this)
• Skewer meat and vegetables on wooden skewers (soak skewers in water ahead to prevent burning on the grill).  Reserve some of the marinade for basting while grilling
• Grill over medium high heat 3 to 5 minutes per side or until beef is medium rare

A few weeks ago Brenda decided she wanted to try something new for a dessert.  She came up with this lemon olive oil cake.  It came out really good considering this was the first time we have tried it.  We topped it with some fresh cut strawberries and whipped cream.  Yummy!  definitely a keeper.  Give it a try.

Ingredients:

• 5 egg yolks
• ¾ cup plus 2 tablespoons granulated sugar, divided
• ¾ cup good extra virgin olive oil
• Zest of 1 lemon
• 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 4 egg whites
• Whipped cream, and berries for serving

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9-inch springform pan with non-stick cooking spray. Line the bottom with a circle of parchment paper and grease with the non-stick spray.
• In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a wire whisk attachment, whip the egg yolks with ½ cup of the sugar until pale and thick. Combine the olive oil and lemon juice and with the mixer running on low, slowly add it to the yolk mixture. It may look slightly curdled. Add the flour and lemon zest and gently fold into the yolk-olive oil mixture with a spatula.
• Transfer mixture to a separate bowl and set aside. Clean the stand mixer bowl and whisk attachment.
• In the bowl of the stand mixer fitted with the wire whisk attachment, whip the egg whites until foamy, then slowly add ¼ cup of the sugar and continue to beat to soft peaks. Gently fold into the olive oil mixture, just barely until incorporated. Do not overmix.
• Spread into the prepared pan and sprinkle with the remaining 2 tablespoons of sugar. Bake until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, 40-45 minutes. Let cool for 10 minutes, then remove the sides of the springform pan and cool completely.
• Serve with whipped cream and fresh berries, or as desired.