Orange Blossom Shortbread

Having recently returned from Scotland I was inspired to make a vegan shortbread. Most shortbread contains butter which is thankfully an easy thing to substitute. I wanted to make a shortbread that was traditional but had a little something extra that wasn't overpowering. Some recipes called for chocolate or lemon, but these things seem to be a little much and if you're not careful you lose the flavor you were going for.

I still had a bottle of Orange Blossom Water and decided to add about two teaspoons worth to the recipe. The result was a nice shortbread with that slight hint of Orange Blossoms. I was very pleased at the result and plan on making variations of this recipe.

Orange Blossom Cupcakes with Matcha Icing

These cupcakes have been months in the making, I was dorking out in a big way when I finally got to make them. When we were in Paris in early June I stumbled upon orange blossom water and got excited at the prospect of bringing back an ingredient that wasn't readily available in the States. My fondest memory from that trip was strolling through the Tuileries with James inhaling the the scent of orange blossoms. Sadly I was mistaken regarding its availability because every WholeFoods or Mediterranean Market carries it. On the bright side I'll be able to make these cupcakes whenever I want.

I started with a simple vanilla cupcake and instead of vanilla extract I used about 2 tablespoons of orange blossom water. This gives the cupcake a subtle flavor of orange blossom. The hardest part was coming up with the right frosting/icing to compliment the cake. I made two different frostings before I decided upon using a matcha icing. The flavors work really well together and as almost always the cupcakes disappeared within minutes.