The week before
last, when I wrote about that delicious zucchini
bread, you may have spotted
something in one of the photos that looked like decorative pats of
butter (and now that I think about it, I may just make decorative pats of
butter, but I digress). They weren't pats of butter at all but, brace yourself,
homemade sugar cubes! How cool is that? The idea is not mine, but Sue's from The
View from Great Island blog. She'd made a few varieties including rose water and lemon, so,
being inspired by the clementines that I have in my
fridge, I made clementine sugar cubes.
I cannot tell you how wonderful these are. First of all, they are a total
breeze to make. Second, cuteness notwithstanding, they are absolutely delicious in
both coffee and tea. When I made this clementine variety I was thinking about how
much I love Cafe Brulot (a New Orleans after dinner coffee with cinnamon,
orange, and orange liqueur), and was not disappointed with the hint of orange
sweetness in my morning coffee when I used one of these.
You can add a hint of color from paste food coloring, if you like, but I loved the natural look of the pale orange from the fruit. These are easy and big fun. My Sunday night “Downton Abbey”
tea and cakes will be enormously enhanced with the addition of these flavorful
sugar cubes. Try them!
Clementine Sugar Cubes
1/2 cup sugar
Zest from an entire
clementine (please use organic fruit)
Place the sugar into
the work bowl of a food processor (a mini one will do, I actually used a small
Ninja blender). Remove zest from clementine using a vegetable peeler to ensure
that you get just the zest and none of the bitter pith. Add the zest to the sugar, and process until the rind disappears
completely into the sugar.
Spoon the moist
sugar into plastic molds and press down into mold firmly. Invert the mold onto a cutting board or piece
of parchment paper. Tap it gently, if
necessary. Let them sit for at least 30 minutes, or up to an hour, to fully
harden.
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