Citrus Theme Bridal Shower

Welcome summer and my obsession with all things lemon! Like clockwork, the onset of warm weather and sunny afternoons makes me crave the sharp zing of citrus. This time of year I'll take my lemons as lemonade with a sprig of mint, squeezed over grilled fish or chicken, or baked into something sweet. I was fortunate enough to kick off my sweet and sour summer with a citrus themed bridal shower. Being the fanatical party food enthusiast that I am, I jumped at the challenge of figuring out a menu with citrus in every dish.

Immediately, my brain began to churn out citrus dessert ideas. However, out of respect to those who believe cupcakes and chocolate do not a meal make, I added some savory components. I even went as far as adding a salad to the menu.

Citrus Bridal Shower Menu

 Baked Sweet Potato Fries with Honey Lime Sauce 

ourbestbites.com

  (bottom left) I served these in little plastic cups I bought at a restaurant supply store. Scoop a tablespoon of the dipping sauce into the bottom of the cup and stand the fries up in the sauce. This presentation turns fries and dipping sauce into finger food!  

Strawberry Citrus Spinach Salad

spinach, strawberries, mandarin oranges, candied almonds, poppy seed dressing. Simple!

Mixed Fruit with Citrus Yogurt Sauce

tasteofhome.com 

Lemon Basil Chicken Salad Sandwiches  

a bright Paula Deen chicken salad sandwiched into mini croissants

Chocolate Orange Cupcakes

i added orange extract and zest to my favorite chocolate cupcake and cream cheese frosting recipes. Just make sure you add them little by little until you've achieved your desired citrus flavor level.

Lemon Bars

twopeasandthierpod.com 

the best lemon bar recipe EVER

Izze Sparkling Juice

we used the cans of clementine, lime, and grapefruit flavors. So cute!

True to form, I took too few pictures of the table. Also true to form, I took 2 closeups of my favorite part of every bridal shower....DESSERTS!

Don't those just scream summer? The best part of this menu was how much could be made in advance. The honey lime dipping sauce, chicken salad, and citrus yogurt sauce was made the night before so the flavors had plenty of time to blend and intensify. I baked the lemon bars and the cupcakes the night before, but saved the frosting for the day of the party. Remember, when planning a shower or dinner party, do as much in advance as possible. Your guests want to see YOU at the party as well as enjoy your culinary truimphs!

Cinnamon Honey Butter

I had a traumatic experience with honey in kindergarten. We were learning about insects, making ants out of peanut butter no-bake cookies with 6 little pretzel "legs" stuck into the sides. This activity was meant to cement insect anatomy into our young minds while attempting to hold our short attention spans. After this lesson was over, we were allowed to eat our ants for snack. I don't remember much from kindergarten, but as I said this was traumatic, so I can easily recall how I felt about eating my ant cookies. I was stoked. We had helped make the cookies. When you are 5 and an adult lets you stir cookie ingredients together, that's the highlight of your week! So, I took a bite of my ant cookie that I had helped make and spit it out immediately. All I could taste was honey. I went without snack that day. And that is the only time I can ever remember turning down a cookie. Traumatic.

To this day, if I can taste honey, I'm not going to eat it. I do not like peanut butter and honey sandwiches, will not take honey in my oatmeal, and if I were a tea drinker, I wouldn't use it there either! However, I will eat an entire plate of Baklava in one sitting. How?? Because I have no self control when it comes to dessert. Oh, you mean how can I eat Baklava when it is soaked in honey?? Well, I have found that I can handle honey if it is a background sweetener and not the star ingredient. That being said, this cinnamon honey butter is my kind of honey. The creaminess of the spread carries the deep cinnamon flavor across your taste buds and at the last second, you taste a hint of sweetness from the honey. And did I mention it tastes great on an English Muffin;)

This recipe takes 5 minutes and uses one bowl. If you are making my fabulous Homemade English Muffins, you could whip this cinnamon honey butter up, literally, in the time it takes for your English muffins to cool.

This is a one bowl recipe. Make sure your butter is at room temperature before starting.

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat butter until smooth.

 

Beat in honey and powdered sugar.

Finally, add cinnamon. Beat for 2-3 minutes on high speed until fluffy.

Cinnamon Honey Butter

recipe adapted from Allrecipes.com

Ingredients:

1 stick salted butter, room temperature  
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1/2 honey
1 tsp cinnamon

Directions:

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat butter on high speed until creamy. Add honey and powdered sugar and beat until smooth. Add cinnamon and beat on high speed for 2-3 minutes until honey butter is light and fluffy.