Archive for: orange
Olive oil is a great match for citrus, because it often has zesty notes in it that are similar to the zesty flavors in citrus – although olive oil isn’t quite as sweet as an orange usually is. I like baking with it, and it goes particularly well in recipes where there is already a citrus element, like my Orange Olive Oil Muffins. It can also work in even more unexpected places, as it does in this Tangerine and Olive Oil Sorbet.
The sorbet is primarily made with fresh tangerine juice, with a little lemon juice added in to add a hint of tartness to the sweet orange juice. The sugar is just right to balance the sorbet without masking the orange flavor (and the frozen sorbet will taste less sweet than the unfrozen base does). A little bit of olive oil gives the sorbet a slightly grown-up note to it – although it is subtle, so don’t be nervous that your sorbet will taste like cold olive oil! The olive oil also serves to keep the sorbet creamy and scoopable. Many sorbets are icy, and turn out more like granita when you try to scoop them out of the freezer. That little bit of fat that comes from the olive oil helps to give this sorbet a very smooth texture.
You can easily make this sorbet with other types of oranges instead of tangerines. Blood oranges, for instance, would be a great option. Freshly squeezed juice is will always give you the best flavor. As with all ice creams, you are going to get the best results if you make this sorbet in an ice cream maker. If you don’t have one, you can still make it by pouring the mixture into a shallow dish and placing it in the freezer, then stirring it every 30-45 minutes with a fork until it freezes. This method won’t give you as smooth a finished product, but it will still be delicious.
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All kinds of citrus are in season during the winter, and my orange trees seem to be producing a bumper crop this year. I don’t usually need any excuses to bake with citrus, but all those fresh oranges are giving me many reasons to do so! This Orange Bundt Cake is a great way to put a bunch of oranges to good use. The cake has a simple name, but it has a lot of orange flavor to it thanks to fresh orange juice, orange zest and a topping of a little orange glaze that finishes it off.
This Orange Bundt Cake is for anyone who loves citrus, but if you are a fan of oranges in general, it just might become a new favorite. All of that orange gives the cake a bright, sweet flavor that will be a bright spot on a cold winter day. It also makes a very nice change of pace from lemon baked goods, since lemons are a citrus fruit that get a little more use in cakes than oranges usually do. Fresh oranges and fresh orange juice are definitely going to give you the best flavor in this cake (the fresh orange zest is particularly important), so take advantage of citrus in season – although you can certainly find oranges all year round – to use the real thing to bake this cake. I used a mixture of blood oranges and navel oranges in this particular cake, but any sweet, ripe oranges will do the trick.
The cake has a very soft, tight crumb and has a texture that is similar to pound cake, although this cake is a little lighter and less dense than a typical pound cake might be. I used a combination of butter and oil, which gives the cake a great flavor and really keeps it moist. The cake stores very well and will stay fresh for quite a few days after baking, especially if it is stored well-wrapped or in an airtight container.
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The creamsicles I ate as a kid were orange-flavored popsicles filled with a vanilla ice cream. When you bit into the popsicle, you got a nice blend of orange and cream that is what everyone associates with a creamsicle. These popsicles are ones that I rarely buy these days, but I also rarely make them at home, even though I make other popsicles regularly. They are difficult to make at home because, even with fancy popsicle makers, it can be tricky to get that ice cream filling into a popsicle shell. After a little experimentation, I came up with a compromise that captured the flavor of a creamsicle in an easier to make format.
My Orange Yogurt Creamsicles are two-layer popsicles. One layer of the pop is fresh orange juice, and the other is a combination of juice and yogurt. Although the ice cream in a creamsicle is typically vanilla, I found I got a great creamy element to the popsicles with plain yogurt instead, and the popsicles still had a very zesty and refreshing orange flavor. I filled the molds partly with orange juice and let it partially freeze, then added the yogurt layer on top to get the two-tone effect. The orange layer doesn’t need to be completely frozen, just frozen enough to hold its shape while the second layer is added.
For the orange juice layer, I prefer to use just plain, freshly squeezed juice. The orange juice sets up a little bit icier than the yogurt mixture, and has a tart-sweet taste to it. I like the contrast, personally, but you can decrease the iciness and up the sweetness by adding a tablespoon or two of confectioners’ sugar to the plain orange juice for that layer if you prefer. Either way, this flavor combination will bring back memories of those classic pops – even if the format is slightly different this time around!
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Blood oranges are definitely the jewels of the citrus world. Their red vibrant red color makes them a standout, and they’re known for being very sweet, with floral and berry notes that you don’t find in other citrus varieties. I often eat them plain, as their color gets lost in most recipes that call for oranges, but their flavor can be a great addition to many desserts.
This Blood Orange Tart has a curd-like filling made with fresh blood orange juice and orange zest. The filling takes on a slightly pinkish orange hue from the blood oranges. It is creamy, with a bright orange flavor, and is a nice match for the shortbread-like tart dough. The filling is not very thick, which makes this tart seem quite light. Using a 9-inch tart pan will get you a slightly thicker layer of filling, which might take an extra minute or two in the oven to bake all the way through.
I made an Orange Almond Tart Dough for this recipe, adding some fresh orange zest to an almond-enriched tart dough. The dough is fairly sticky and it is very tender, so use flour generously when you roll this out on your work surface and have a bench scraper handy to make it easy to transfer to the tart pan. Fortunately, this dough also patches very, very easily so if it tears as you put it into the pan or isn’t quite even, you can simply break off another small portion of dough and press it into place. The baked crust is slightly crisp, buttery and very tender – so it is worth a little extra effort getting it into the pan.
Blood oranges can vary quite a bit in their color, from light orange with a few red streaks to a dark purple. No matter the color inside, any blood orange is going to give you good results in this recipe. The only difference will be some slight variation in the color of the curd. This tart can be made with other oranges (cara cara and naval oranges are good choices), too, if you can’t find blood oranges to work with. Regardless of the type of orange, be sure to use freshly squeezed juice for the best results.
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Citrus is in season and the trees – here in Southern California, at least – are bursting with oranges, lemons, grapefruits, limes and other sweet, tangy citrus. Not only do I squeeze oranges to make juice for breakfast, but I find myself making lemonade and lemon bars, generously squeezing limes onto homemade tacos and into all manner of baked goods. The zest from these fruits also makes a regular appearance in my recipes. This Citrus Lover’s Bundt Cake is a cake for anyone who also loves all kinds of citrus fruits because it uses orange, lemon and lime all in one delicious dessert.
Lemon, lime and orange juice are all incorporated into this cake, as well as the zest of all three fruits. They blend together and give the cake an overall citrus flavor, without one fruit dominating the rest. The result is a cake that is tasty and surprisingly complex. The cake has a moist, soft texture and a fluffy crumb, so it’s not too heavy and is a great snacking cake to keep around the kitchen – although it is elegant enough to serve at a brunch or dinner party, as well. The fancier your bundt pan is, the fancier your cake will be. I used my Heritage Bundt Pan for this particular cake.
Freshly squeezed fruit juice is the key to a great cake with this recipe. You’re going to get the most vibrant flavors in both the cake and the glaze with fresh lemons, limes and oranges. You can, in a pinch, use pre-squeezed juice, but try to get the freshest you can and get at least a few fruits for the zest, as that will really punch up the flavor in the cake. I used orange and lemon zest in the cake, where I wanted to make sure that their flavors stood out, but saved the zestier lime zest for the glaze, where it added a little extra brightness without dominating the other flavors. If you want to highlight one fruit over the others, use only that fruit’s juice in the glaze (just orange or lime, for instance), as that will add a nice overlay of that flavor to the whole cake.
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