House Tyrell Apple Roses

For tonight's episode, we've got our fingers crossed for Margaery and Loras so we're paying homage to their wonderful house and their sigil's golden rose with apple rose pastries. They take a long time to make but are well worth it in the end.

Prep time: 3 hours ( 2 for puff pastries and 1 for apple roses)
Bake time: 40-45 minutes

Ingredients:

• 1 frozen puff pastry sheet, thawed
• 3 red organic apples (we used red delicious, but you can aim for a more yellow or golden apple to get that perfect Tyrell look)
• Lemon juice
• Extra flour to use when rolling dough
• 3 tablespoons of cherry syrup, which A Song of Spice and Fire pulled from cherry pie filling, without the actual cherries
• about 2 tablespoons of ground cinnamon
• 1 to 2 tablespoons of powdered sugar for decorating

Puff Pastry Recipe:

• 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup and 5 tablespoons butter, frozen
• 5 tablespoons cold water

First, chill a large metal bowl. Once cold, sift flour and salt into the bowl. Then finely grate all of the frozen butter into the mix, making sure to toss the flour so as to cover all of the butter. Grating the butter is a bit slimy as the stick runs out, so make sure to wash your hands before and after.

Now, evenly pour the cold water into the mix. Careful, though, because too much will ruin your dough by making it too soft. While a fork can be use to mix thoroughly at this point, it may help to just get dirty and mix with your hands. Again, stay clean. Test the mix by squeezing it. (See? Using your hands is a must anyway.) The dough is ready if it holds without crumbling. Don't work the mix too much, or else it'll be too tough. If the mix really isn't ready and the water has been completely mixed, add another tablespoon of water--or less, don't make it too soft--and then work the dough to incorporate until ready.

Since the dough is now mixed well, gather it up into roughly a 5 by 5 inch square (it doesn't have to be anywhere near perfect, so don't stress) and wrap in plastic. Place the dough in the fridge for about 30 minutes. While it chills, chill out on the couch and begin an episode of Game of Thrones, take a nap, read a book from A Song of Ice and Fire, but be ready to take the dough out of the fridge and roll it out on a lightly floured surface, using a floured rolling pin. Create a large rectangle, about a foot by half a foot, or bigger. Then, fold it into a small rectangle, similar to folding a letter. Take the bottom third and fold that on top of the middle third, and fold the top third on top of the bottom. Repeat this twice more, then freeze the dough. Either freeze for storage, or if the plan is to finish baking soon, just refrigerate for an hour.

This recipe is very common, but A Song of Spice and Fire referenced http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/rough-puff-pastry-dough-230789 specifically, although some changes have been made.

Now that you have your puff pastry, back to the apple rose recipe...

Begin by thawing out the puff pastry. The puff pastry can either be purchased or made from scratch, the recipe for which can be found below. Also, reheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit  

Have a bowl ready with water and about a tablespoon of lemon juice. Once that is ready, go ahead and core and slice the apples, leaving the skin on them. Put the slices in the bowl to keep them from browning, because brown apples are gross looking. Microwave the slices for 2-3 minutes so that the slices are easy to shape. Don't be fooled, though, as the slices and water are going to be super hot. 

Next, create a big area, lightly floured, to roll out the dough using a floured rolling pin. Make very thin strips, each 9 inches long and 1 1/2 to 2 inches wide. Spread the cherry filling across each strip, then sprinkle ground cinnamon along the strip. Then lay apple slices along the strip, going down the long edge of the dough. The apples should lay partially atop each other, and be laid one the very edge of the strip. This way, once the strip has apples all along the edge, the strip can be folded over on the apples. Roll the strip up just like a fruit roll up; it's a little tricky so don't let the apple slices escape! Using the puff pastry recipe provided, about 8 or 9 roses can be made.

Place each apple rose in a muffin pan, if the pan is not silicon make sure to grease it. Bake at 375 degrees Fahrenheit for 40-45 minutes. Even if apples look cooked  at 30 minutes, the puff pastry is not, but the tray can be moved to a lower rack in the oven. Let the roses cook for the last 10-15 minutes, then remove from the oven. Use a sieve to gently coat the roses in yummy powdered sugar. Lastly, enjoy the desert!

Fruit inspired flowers aren't too rare, but they are rather tough to make. These apple roses were inspired by http://cookingwithmanuela.blogspot.co.uk/2015/03/apple-roses.html

We hope you've enjoyed these apple rose pastries as much as we have! Let us know what you think of them in the comments below and we'll see you next time! 

The House of Sugar and Spice: a Fruit Salsa

Oh, my sweet summer children...you have to try this fruit salsa!

Unfortunately, for us, we've fallen behind in watching Season 5 of Game of Thrones, but we're making a comeback with this blog and to kickstart what we're hoping will be a very eventful summer, and years to follow, we've concocted an easy and quick fruit salsa for you

Here's the recipe:

Prep time: 5 minutes
Total time: 5 minutes

You're gonna need strawberries, blueberries, green grapes (but you can try red ones too, let us know what it tastes like in the comments below, we used green for their tartness), honey, lemon juice, and salt.

Here were our measurements, but yours can vary depending on which flavors you want to bring out...

6 strawberries
3/4 cup of blueberries
A dozen grapes
1-2 tbsp honey (to taste)
1/2 tsp lemon juice
a pinch of salt

Cut up your strawberries and grapes so they blend easier, then put them in a food processor (you can try a blender, but we suggest slower speeds because you're aiming for a salsa, not a smoothie, but let us know your results in the comments section). Add the blueberries, honey, and lemon juice then mix to your desired consistency. Lastly, add the salt, try to sprinkle it add evenly, then stir the mixture with a spoon.

You're ready to serve! And, we have a few suggestions:

You can't go wrong with torilla chips (we used Tostitos), plain torillas for a wrap (we spread Nutella on ours before adding the sauce, then add whip cream and syrup on top for ooey gooey perfection), ice cream (you can never go wrong with vanilla, plus we added Nutella again), and waffles. Our dad gave our mom a belgian waffle maker for Mother's Day so she's been making waffles every weekend. We also added Nutella and whip cream to the waffles as well. What can we say? We really love Nutella!

With three episodes left of Season 5, hopefully you'll feel drawn to add our sauce to one of your viewing party menus. Remember: me parties are parties too.

Let us know what you think of our fruit sauce in the comments section below and we'll see you next time!

Dragon's Sweet Teeth: Blueberry Lemonade Popsicles

This Friday isn't a drink (sorry to say, because I'm thirsty). Today, the Hand of the Kitchen brings you a variation on last week's blueberry lemonade: blueberry lemonade popsicles!

Our hand of the kitchen loves to freeze juices into popsicles during the summer and the lemonade last week was no exception. To make the popsicles extra tasty, though, we've mixed a special batch of lemonade with a little less water so the flavor is nice and juicy.

Fresh Blueberry Lemonade Popsicles

Ingredients

3/4 c hot water

3/4 c sugar

1 c fresh lemon juice

1 c fresh blueberries

2 c cold water 

1 popsicle tray

Step 1: Puree together your hot water, sugar, lemon juice, and blueberries until everything is thoroughly mixed. 

Step 2: Pour your mixture into a pitcher through a fine mesh strainer 

Step 3: Stir in your cold water and pour your juice mixture into popsicle trays, add sticks, and freeze. 

These popsicles are so delicious! 

A Treat for Queens: Crepes

Strawberry and Banana Crepes for the Highborn in Us All

Here at Cook's Landing we appreciate a treat for breakfast. And on those days when we want to feel as highborn as the queen herself, we like to make crepes. We fill ours with fresh strawberries and bananas and drizzle melted milk chocolate over the top. Sometimes, when we're feeling extra decadent, we even add a little whip cream to the top.

So today we'd like to share with you our crepes. They're easy and delicious. Trust us. We won't steer you wrong. Especially when it comes to crepes. 

Prep time: 10 minutes

Cook time: 20 minutes

Makes 8 crepes

Ingredients:

1 c flour

2 eggs

1/2 c milk

1/2 c water

1/4 tsp salt

2 Tbsp melted butter

Step 1: Whisk together flour and eggs. Slowly add in milk and water. Thoroughly beat in melted butter and salt.

Step 2: Heat a lightly greased frying pan on medium high heat. Pour batter into the frying pan. Use about 1/4 cup of batter per crepe. To evenly spread the batter, tilt the pan in a circular motion so that the batter spreads. Do this immediately, before the batter has time to heat. Cook each crepe for about 2 minutes. Flip when the bottom starts to brown - you'll be able to tell if it's browning by watching the edges. To flip, slide a spatula under the crepe and loosen the entire thing before quickly flipping it over.

We chose to fill our crepes with fresh cut bananas and strawberries. Then we took melted milk chocolate and drizzled it over the crepes. To get a perfect drizzle, put the chocolate in a plastic bag and cut off a very small piece of the corner. Then squeeze the chocolate out of the corner of the bag and over the crepes.

Fresh Blueberries for Blueberry Lemonade

Although House Cook is located firmly in suburbia, this area near Atlanta is a bit odd. It grew so fast that in some ways the landscape never had time to catch up. Down the street from House Cook is a tangle of trees that hides a fantastic blueberry patch. Many of our neighbors like to tromp into the woods and pick fresh blueberries, and a few days ago we joined them.

Grabbing tupperware and boots, we trooped out into the undergrowth to hunt for delicious, ripe berries.

It was fantastic! Many of the bushes still had berries that weren't yet ripe, but we found plenty that were.

Looking for something delicious to do with the berries besides just gobble them all up before getting home, we've decided to bring you fresh blueberry lemonade.

 Fresh Blueberry Lemonade Recipe

Ingredients

3/4 c hot water

3/4 c sugar

1 c fresh lemon juice

1 c fresh blueberries

4 c cold water (or sparkling water)

Step 1: Puree together your hot water, sugar, lemon juice, and blueberries until everything is thoroughly mixed. 

Step 2: Pour your mixture into a pitcher through a fine mesh strainer (unless, of course, you like the pulp in which case just dump it all in). 

Step 3: Stir in your cold or sparkling water, serve over ice and enjoy! 

Toasting the Hand of the Kitchen with a Red Wine Smoothie

Just as every king needs his castle and his Hand of the King to manage his affairs, so the kitchen of House Cook needs a sous chef--or, in our case, Hand of the Kitchen--to do most of the actual baking.

House Cook is, sadly, divided between two estates. One is where most of the sisters live in Georgia, and the other is where the oldest, Sarah-Lambert, lives in Texas. Most of our cooking is done in Georgia by the sisters there, but every Friday we will be introducing a new drink--some alcoholic, some not--from the kitchen of Sarah-Lambert.

Today, we toast the introduction of the Hand of the Kitchen, Katy-Lynn. You'll be able to spot who the Hand is at all times in our pictures because she'll be wearing her Hand of the Kitchen spoon brooch:

And now (drum roll, please)... meet the Hand of the Kitchen:

What should we toast her with, you ask? How about a delicious red wine smoothie! Yuuuuummy! 

This is an absolutely delicious drink. Perfect for the hot weather, but not out of place when the cool seasons return, this red wine smoothie is fabulous. Here's how to make your own: 

1 1/2 c red wine 

1/2 c frozen blueberries

1/2 c frozen raspberries

1/2 c frozen blackberries 

1 c Greek yogurt

1 tsp sugar *

Blend it all together and voilá, you have your smoothie! 

 Perfect with smoked Gouda cheese. I also enjoyed some Muenster cheese with mine. 

*I prefer mine a little more bitter, so 1 tsp of sugar is fine for me, but if you prefer sweeter simply add a tablespoon instead

**If you feel like 3 types of berries is too many then sacrifice the blackberries