Quest 44: Zucchini Muffin Minish Caps

It's zucchini time! I have been looking ways to incorporate more green ideas into the blog, and today I think I may have succeeded. Minish Cap is a great game in the LOZ series that takes advantage of size in a bigger way that Ocarina of Time. It also brings to life the hat that Link wears in a way that is beyond imagination. With this in mind, today we will attempt to make Minish caps to place upon our zucchini muffins. It will be an interesting and tasty quest that I hope you give a try! Enjoy!

Gear! - Get the Printable Recipe Here!
Muffins!
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter, softened
2 eggs
1/2 cup sour cream
1 t. vanilla
1/4 cup apple sauce - I used unsweetened
2 cups GF All-purpose flour with xanthan gum mixed in
2 t. cinnamon
1/2 t. cardamom
1 T. baking powder
1 t. baking soda
1 t. salt
1 cup finely grated zucchini
1/2 cup walnuts chopped

Streusel Topping!
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 T cinnamon
2 T. butter cold and cubed
1 T. GF flour

For the Minish caps!
carrots
zucchini
toothpicks
mandolin

Quest!

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Prep a muffin pan with muffin liners. Cream together sugar and butter. Add eggs, sour cream, vanilla, and apple sauce. Mix together.

To the mixture, add flour, cinnamon, cardamom, baking powder, baking soda, salt, grated zucchini and walnuts.

Spoon the muffin mix into the muffin liners and push the thick dough into the liners to remove bubbles.

Make the streusel topping by adding all ingredient to a bowl and crumb with a fork. Do not cream!

Spoon the streusel topping over each of the muffins.

BEING VERY CAREFUL!! Set your mandolin to 1/8 inch setting. Slice zucchini lengthwise creating 12 equal pieces. A medium zucchini should get you just enough. Set the mandolin to 1/16 setting and repeat with peeled carrots.

After some trial and error, the best way to make little caps is to start rolling on one end until it makes a nice spiral. Use a toothpick to secure at the top. Add the carrot piece to bottom and press into the muffin. If you don't press them into the muffin, as it rises, it will push the cap off and it will tip over.
Make a cap for each muffin. I added a little vanilla sugar over the top of the caps.

Bake muffins for about 25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Remove from the oven and let cool for a few minutes and Enjoy!

Be sure to follow on social media to stay up-to-date with all the latest from the Zelda Gourmet!

Side Quest: Craft Night! Owl Quilt

Kaepora Gaebora is a crazy owl that has a whole lot of say. Between Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask, he is mostly not helpful, but at least has his heart in the right place in trying to give advice. In honor of this character, I have created an owl quilt that is just as crazy as he is. This quilt was made in square sections of 4 inch squares and then put together with 2 1/2 inch strips. Before putting together the layers of the quilt, I did some embroidery on the strips to add some extra embellishment. Quilting is a great hobby, and if you can sew with a 1/4 inch seam line in a straight line, you too can make a quilt! Enjoy!

Quest 43: Triforce Triple Berry Trifle

In the U.S. it is time once again to celebrate our independence and what better way than with things that are in season - Berries!! Being that there are so many berries in season all at once where I dwell, these work really well with our favorites like lemon curd and cool whip and cake. Don't worry - we'll make this Zelda related by using Triforce shapes. It may be a bit of a stretch, but it sure is delicious. Enjoy!

Gear! Get the printable recipe here!
1 yellow cake - I used a GF Betty Crocker mix this time
2 cups of lemon curd - ingredients below
6 oz. marscapone cheese
2 T. lemon juice
4 T. sugar separated
1 cup heavy whipping cream
2 cups sliced strawberries
2 cups blueberries
2 cups raspberries

Lemon Curd
5 Egg Yolks
1 Cup Sugar
1/3 cup of fresh lemon juice and zest (about 3 lemons worth)
1 Stick of Butter - Cut into small pieces then chilled

The Quest!

First, let's make the lemon curd! We covered this in our Pi Day Special and I can't encourage you enough to make your own. It is so easy and so much cheaper than buying it. Anyways, in a double-boiler bowl, combine egg yolks and sugar whisk until smooth, about 1 minute. Zest and squeeze the lemons. Add juice and zest to egg mixture and whisk smooth. Place on double boiler. Continuously whisk until thickened over medium heat, approximately 8 minutes, or until mixture coats the back of a spoon and is generally the consistency of pudding. Remove promptly from heat and stir in butter a piece at a time. Transfer to a container and chill for at least 2 hours.

Next prepare your cake. You can make a cake from scratch, use a cake mix or a pre-made cake from the bakery - really whatever floats your boat. Cut your cake into small slices. Wash and prep your berries.
Note: I used a GF Betty Crocker Cake Mix. This makes the equivalent of a one layer cake. So, you may need to double your berries and cream filling if you are using a two layer cake.

With a hand mixer, whip your cream with 2 T. of sugar until you have stiff peaks - not butter!!! Set aside. Beat your marscapone cheese with 2 T. of sugar until soft then add lemon juice and mix to combine. Fold in whipped cream.

In a bowl place a layer of berries. You can chooses to either keep your berries separated as I did or you can mix them together. Then add a layer of marscapone cheese mixture on top of the berries. The next layer is a layer of cake followed by a layer of lemon curd. Then we repeat the layers.

On the top of the layers, place three golden triangles of cake that were left from the remnants of cake. Divide the remaining berries into three parts around the triforce. Enjoy!

Be sure to follow on social media to stay up-to-date with all the latest from the Zelda Gourmet!