Nothing Better Than a Garden: Homemade Herb Syrups

 

Is there any place better than a garden?
I don't know, I think I would be hard pressed to find one. Except maybe a tea house, or a forest, a sledding hill, a big bed full of fresh fluffy pillows, a hammock in the sun, a cliff looking over a sea...
Okay. So an herb garden is one of many perfect places.

 

But really, try and be unhappy when you take a handful of something herb-y and crush it in your fingers. It's impossible.
There is a monstrous bush of mint in the back yard. It really is huge. Gigantor, King of the Mint. There isn't anything that's bigger, unless it's the bush of lemon balm.
A month or so ago my sister and I tied bundles and bundles of the herbs and hung them to dry on racks.

 

11 bundles of lemon balm? What on earth am I going to do with all that lemon balm? 9 bundles of Mint? A person can only drink so much tea before going crazy. (I can't believe I said that. I never thought my limits of tea drinking would be tested. But here we are.)

 

So I brainstormed and eventually set out to make syrup. Syrup is great fun. It smells awesome and you can use it in so many things.
In...
Coffee drinks
Smoothies
Frosting
Mixed Drinks
Cakes
Iced Tea
Plain old Club Soda
((Also, everything always looks prettier in jars. It's a well known fact of life.))

Really, anytime you want to feel homemade and herbaceous you can add it to whatever your eating/drinking at the time and be awesome. You'll feel like Martha Stewart except not creepy and way cooler. (Am I allowed to say that? Because I do think that Martha is creepy and un-cool. I hope that's okay with everybody because c'mon. That fixating glued on smile and even-toned Stepford wife voice thing? Creeps me out. Heebie Jeebie levels off the charts stuff.)

Herb Syrups
3 cups water
3 cups sugar
3 cups of packed dried herbs or spices (mint, lemon balm, lavender, rosemary, cinnamon sticks, whole anise seeds, basil, ginger root, or rose petals)
For lemon balm syrup, you can also add lemon slices or lemon juice, depending on your preference.

 

Also, a drop of green food coloring will make the mint syrup a pretty color if you don't want them all to look too similar.
In a high sided pot bring sugar and water to a boil. Lower heat to low-medium and simmer until the sugar is dissolved and the syrup is clear about 3-5 minutes. Stir constantly! No burning sugar, that's no fun.
Add your herbs (and fruit slices if that's the route you're going. I used four small lemons sliced and one lemon's juice.) and simmer an additional minute.

 

Strain the syrup through a cheesecloth lined sieve and ladle into jars or bottles. You can choose not to line the sieve with cheesecloth, but you'll have a few leafy bits swirling around on the bottom of your jar. They don't harm anything, but if you want to avoid them for presentation purposes, stick with your cloth o' cheese.
Refrigerated, these will keep for 6 months. On the counter it's best not to keep them out for more than a week.

Happy Easter!

And today, on the best Sunday of all, I give you pictures of lemon meringue cupcakes. 

And a boy fashioning a cross for the garden.

And a picture of spring unfurling.

Happiest of Happy Easters!

He is Risen...

Life has begun. 

Duvall Plant Sale

The best time of the year!!! At least, it is for anyone living here in the Pacific Northwest. Winter is a dreary, wet, gray, soggy, ugly mess of a month in Seattle. So now that it's May and the sun is shining a bit more it's time for this gal to get baking!
At each change of the seasons I always get inspired. All of my spring and summer baking goals pop out of the woodwork from last year and I vow to bake something new every day. Of course, it doesn't always work that way...but you will see a bunch of baking projects I think!
May 12th our purple booth will be open at Duvall's Annual Plant Sale. Last year was a blast and everyone had fun and enjoyed the baked goods. I'm hoping this year will be even better. But you are all waiting for the menu so let's get that out of the way...

First things first...cupcakes! We have five flavors for sale this year instead of four.
Coconut Cream- everyone that eats one of these vows they are the best...and they are fun because they are filled with coconut custard. Filled cupcakes are always the best, don't you agree?
Orange Dream- This was a request from the little brother. He said they were a very spring themed garden cupcake. He has good taste...vanilla frosting, orange cake, filled with marmalade, topped with candied orange peel. I'm excited for these!
White Chocolate Raspberry- At first I wasn't going to add these to the menu. Until EVERYONE started asking me if I was going to be selling them. They are the most famous of PDB's cupcakes I think. And who wouldn't love em?
Chocolate Peanut Butter- Another returning favorite. These were the first to sell out last year.
Spiced Chai Latte- And to add to our "healthy" options, our vegan cupcake: spiced chai! You can't really tell he's vegan or healthy, though...just as tasty as the rest of the bunch.

We also are planning on selling
Mediterranean Focaccia: Olive oil bread, Parmesan cheese, kalamata olives, sun-dried tomatoes and tasty spices...
Pesto Rolls: Soft buttery crescent rolled with pesto...
Gluten Free Peanut Butter Cookies: lots of people wanted gluten free options last year. We heard you! We are also selling Gluten Free Brownies.
Jumbo Decorated Sugar Cookies: For the kiddos! I'm planning on all sorts of shapes including dinosaurs, smiley faces, and flowers.

Plus Homemade Lemonade, Coffee, Water, and Tea. Go ahead and comment below. Anything you were hoping to see this year? I'm still deciding if we should have slices of pie available as well.

I'm super excited and I'm so glad my grandma and mom will be there helping as well. Three generations in the Bakery Booth. Doesn't get much better than that. :)

Puffs of Garden Happiness

Last week I ventured out into the land of the unknown: Cream Puffs.

I had never made a cream puff before and people had warned me about them. I was told they were difficult to make, they were a failure unless you did everything perfectly, sometimes they didn't puff, they didn't store well...warning after warning.
Needless to say, I was a little intimidated by the thought of them. But when I got a request to make some small snacks for a garden party I thought cream puffs would be a good idea. (Actually, my mom thought it would be a good idea and I cautiously took her advice. Good move on my part, always trust your mother!)
I didn't make the original sweet cream puff with ganache, though. I made a savory puff!
Sun dried tomatoes, red pepper and chive cream cheese: Heaven.
They were so awesome! I mean, they tasted good, too. But my favorite part was making them. the dough wasn't even comprehensible when I piped them onto the baking sheet. It was like: Savory Garden Goop from the Swamp of Failure. I was pretty nervous putting them into the oven.

 But lo and behold! They were true to their namesake and puffed up like good little children.

My sister even took a picture of me happily noting their progress from goopy to delicious in front of the oven:

Yay!

The final product: Yumminess in the form of a garden puff. Perfect with a glass of wine. Classy and Tasty at the same time. Score.