Razzleberry Lemon Custard Tart

How about a recipe?  It’s been awhile.  :)  I found this gem at Lick the Bowl Good. I’m certain most of you have taken a gander at Monica’s blog but if you haven’t yet you are missing out on a delicious blog! 

I pretty much followed the recipe as written. I did have to use a 10 springform pan instead of the 9 inch as I didn’t have one. Or it could just be that my baking pan situation is out of control and I can’t remember that I have one.  My other change was swapping out the blueberries for raspberries and blackberries. If you’ll notice from my photo I probably should have gone with a smaller pan.  Unfortunately, I didn’t realize it until after I had already pre-baked my crust and poured in the custard.  It also didn’t help that my blackberries were HUGE!

Razzleberry Lemon Custard Tart, adapted from Lick the Bowl Good (printable recipe)

• 3 cups fresh or frozen berries (1 pound, I used a combination of raspberry & blackberry)

Shortbread Crust:

• 1 stick plus 6 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1 & 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

Lemon Custard:

• 3 large eggs
• 3/4 cups sugar
• 1/4 cup flour
• Zest and juice of 2 lemons (about 1/4 cup juice)
• Powdered sugar, for dusting

Drain the blueberries in a strainer set over a bowl. Preheat the oven to 400°.

For the shortbread crust:  Using your fingers, combine the butter, 1/2 cup of the sugar and 1 & 1/2 cups of the flour and blend together until coarse crumbs form (You can use a pastry blender to incorporate the ingredients or a food processor works well too). Pour the mixture into an ungreased nonstick 9-inch springform or cake pan (If you do not have a 9 inch I suggest going with a slightly smaller pan and baking for a little longer.) and press down evenly to form a crust. Bake the shortbread crust until lightly golden, about 20 minutes.
Remove the shortbread from the oven and reduce the temperature to 325°. Scatter the drained berries evenly over the baked shortbread.

For the lemon custard:  Beat the eggs with the 3/4 cup of sugar until thick and pale yellow. (Here’s where I always stray from the recipe.  I mix the zest with the sugar, giving it a stronger lemon flavor.) Whisk in the lemon zest, the lemon juice, and the 1/4 cup of flour. Pour the lemon cream over the berries.
Bake the tart until the custard is set, about 30 minutes. (See note below) Let cool completely, then dust with powdered sugar. (I forgot to.)

NOTE:  It may take longer than 30 minutes to bake.  The top of the custard doesn't brown much so it's hard to tell if it's done, but it shouldn't be wet and liquidy. The custard is done when it firms up in the center. I gave my pan a gentle shake to check.

Oh, I almost forgot to mention that the four of us might have polished this off in one day. Maybe……  :)

Fruit Pizza

I made this fruit pizza for Father’s Day.  The star of the pizza though was the pineapple curd. 

And lucky us, we don’t need all pineapple curd that the recipe makes for the pizza, which means leftovers!  Babygirl generously drizzled it over her raspberries. She’s a smart girl. :)

I followed the curd recipe though I did adjust the method a tiny bit.  I’ve made curd several times and used my previous experiences to end up with a smooth and yummy pineapple curd.  The original recipe does not call for straining the curd once cooked.  I did.  I think because the eggs are not tempered they scramble a bit.  Scrambled eggs in curd is NOT yummy so be sure to strain it.  The only other change I made was to sweeten the cream cheese for the pizza.  The pizza recipe only called for lemon juice to be added to the cream cheese but I went ahead and added some powdered sugar.  I thought it needed it.

Pineapple Curd from Myrecipes.com, my changes.

Yield: 2 1/2 cups (serving size: 1 tablespoon)

Ingredients

• 1/2  cup  sugar
• 1  tablespoon  cornstarch
• 1/8  teaspoon  salt
• 1  cup  pineapple juice
• 2  tablespoons  fresh lemon juice
• 3  large eggs, lightly beaten 
• 2  tablespoons  butter, cut into smaller pieces

Preparation

Combine the first 3 ingredients in a medium, heavy saucepan, stirring with a whisk. Stir in juices and eggs; bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring constantly with a whisk. Reduce heat, and simmer 1 minute or until thick, stirring constantly. Remove from heat; add butter, stirring gently until butter melts.

Strain mixture into medium bowl. Cover with plastic wrap directly touching the top of curd to prevent a skin from developing.  Chill for at least 6 hours or overnight (the mixture will thicken as it cools) in the fridge.

Babygirl’s Strawberry Topped Cheesy Lemon Pie

This beauty is brought to you by my babygirl.  She not only made the pie by herself, she also took the photos.  ( I edited them in Picasa.)  In keeping with the theme of today’s post I’m going to allow McKenna, aka Babygirl tell you all about her pie.

Hi! This is Babygirl and I really loved this pie that I made.  It was fun and a little easy but it was more fun. Instead of just tossing the berries on top I wanted to make a flower with strawberries. (Well my mommy told me about it and I like the idea so I went with it.) It was hard making the strawberry flower because you have to pick the right strawberry slices. If you want to make the strawberry flower you can find it on Ms. Monica’s blog. If you have any questions send them to my mama and say that they are for me. Thank you. Babygirl out.

Here’s the adapted recipe by Babygirl: 

 Strawberry Topped Cheesy Lemon Pie, printable recipe

Ingredients:

• 18 graham cracker squares, crushed
• 5 tablespoons of unsalted butter, melted
• 3 TBS granulated sugar
• 1 lemon, zested & juiced
• 16 oz cream cheese (2 8 oz blocks) at room temperature
• 14oz sweetened condensed milk (1 can)
• Various berries for decoration

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Place graham cracker crumbs in a medium sized bowl, sprinkle sugar over top, and pour in melted sugar.  Stir well with a wooden spoon.  Once the mixture is even in color place it into a 9 inch pie pan.  Using your fingers pat crust  mixture into place covering the bottom of the pie pan and completely up the sides.  Once the crust has been shape, bake for 6 to 7 minutes.  Remove from the oven and set  on cooling rack. Allow to cool completely. Meanwhile place cream cheese in a medium bowl and beat until smooth.  Add sweetened condensed milk and beat well, about 1 minute. Scrap down sides of bowl and add in lemon zest and juice.  Beat until smooth scraping down sides as needed.  Pour cream mixture into cooled pie crust and smooth out top.  Chill in the fridge at least 3 hours.  After the 3 hours or prior to serving top with fresh berries.

The original un-adapted recipe can be found in William Sonoma’s Sweet Treats.  This is a great book for young kids interested in baking.  Babygirl has successful made 5 or 6 recipes out of it!

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A proud Mommy moment, Babygirl was awarded The Presidential Award for Educational Excellence!  Only 20 out of 99 fifth graders in her school received it!  :) YAY!

Dessert Table: Lemon Berry Trifle

I’ve actually made this twice since I first saw it on Recipe Girl.  The first time was for Easter and then again for my brother’s dessert table.   It was a hit both times and will definitely be making a repeat appearance.

The first time I made this I used all strawberries and the second time I used a combination of strawberries and blackberries.  I also doubled the recipe for the wedding as I was feeding more people. 

Lemon Berry Trifle, adapted from Recipe Girl                                            (for a printable recipe with my changes click here)

SYRUP:
1/4 cup granulated sugar
¼ cup fresh lemon juice
¼ cup water                                                                                                          (I added the zest of the lemon(s) I  juiced)

LAYERS:
12 oz. pound cake or butter loaf (store bought ok)
8 oz cream cheese, at room temperature
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1 cup cold heavy whipping cream
3 cups fresh blackberries
3 cups fresh strawberries

1. Slice cake into ¾” slices and place on wax paper in a single layer.

2. Prepare lemon syrup: In a small saucepan, bring sugar, lemon juice, zest, and water to a boil over medium heat. Stir to dissolve sugar completely. Let cool, then brush over both sides of each cake slice. Quarter each slice.

2.5 Wash and dry berries well.  Hull and half strawberries if using. I kept the strawberries and blackberries separate because I wanted two distinct layers of berries in my trifle. After prepping the berries I placed them into a bowl and tossed them with half of the left over lemon sugar syrup.

3. Beat cream cheese with sugar on high speed until light and fluffy. Reduce speed to medium and slowly add cream. Continue beating until mixture resembles soft whipped cream.  (I added the last of the lemon sugar syrup.)

4. Arrange half of the cake pieces in the bottom of a glass serving bowl or dish (2 qt. size is sufficient). Spoon half the cream-cheese mixture over the cake in dollops; spread to the sides of the dish. Scatter berry of your choice on top. Repeat layering with cake, cream cheese, and berries.

5. Cover and refrigerate until chilled (about an hour). You may also refrigerate overnight.

Servings: 6-8

Recipe Tips:
*For a lower fat version, try fat-free pound cake and reduced-fat cream cheese.
**You can use any variation of berries.  I’d just make certain to have 6 cups worth.     

This recipe is very forgiving; play around with it and make it yours.  I also think the lemon sugar syrup and cream cheese/whipped cream filling would be great in other recipes. Recipe Girl, has a “how to” video for putting this trifle together.

Lemon Lime Goodness

Lemme get this out of the way.  If you’re opposed to using cakes mixes you should probably stop reading and click the red “x” in the top right hand corner, because this recipe uses a cake mix and boxed pudding but that’s okay because in the end it was all kinds of lemony lime good!  If you’re okay with shortcuts that take you straight to yum than by all means please continue on….

I saw this  lemon lime cake at my buddy Monica’s.  She was contacted by Duncan Hines to review one of their recipes.  Lucky for us she chose this beauty.

Instead of making one big bundt like Monica I decided to cut my baking time down. I made one 6 cup bundt, 2 mini bundts, and 2 mini loaves.  Sounds like a lot of cake, right?  Well, they were ALL gone by the next night. Guess we like them. :) I did make one major change to the recipe and that was to leave out the first glazing of the cake.  It’s not a glaze in the traditional sense as you’re supposed to poke holes in the warm cake and pour the "glaze” over the cake allowing the cake to suck in the glaze and cool.  Monica mentioned to me that she thought it almost made the cake too moist and suggested foregoing that glaze.  I followed her suggestion and still ended up with a moist cake though I did lose the sugary crust the glaze makes.  

Lemon Lime Cake adapted from Lick the Bowl Good      (For the complete printable recipe click here)

Cake:

• 1 pkg Duncan Hines® Moist Deluxe® Lemon Supreme Cake Mix
• 1 (3.4 oz) pkg lemon instant pudding
• 4 large eggs
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 3/4 cup water
• 1/4 cup lime juice

Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease and flour 10-inch Bundt or tube pan.

For cake, combine cake mix, pudding mix, eggs, oil, 3/4 cup water and 1/4 cup lime juice in large bowl. Beat at low speed with electric mixer until moistened. Beat at medium speed 2 minutes.

Bake 50 to 60 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

Cool in pan 25 minutes. Remove cake from pan onto cooling rack.  Allow cake to come to room temperature before adding glaze.

 Lime Glaze by Monica

• 1 cup powdered sugar
• zest of 1 lime
• juice of 1 lime

In a small bowl, combine powdered sugar and zest. Squeeze lime juice into bowl a little at a time. Stir until there are no lumps and continue to add more lime juice until the glaze is thin enough to drizzle. Pour over cooled cake and allow to set.

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A little Baseball;  the Twins made their high school’s summer baseball team! Woohoo! Now I just have to figure out how to get them to all their games when I’m supposed to be working.  :)

Burn, Baby, Burn

And burn it did! My meringue that is…

April’s recipe challenge was Emeril’s lemon meringue pie and was chosen by Michelle.  Normally we try to blog about our results by the first of the following month but someone, I don’t know who, held things up.  (Sorry, Ladies! :)) So, we’re a little late.

Except for my kitchen torch not working and burning my meringue a bit broiling it in the oven, I think this recipe was a success. All three of my children devoured their mini tarts, which is an excellent sign that they loved them.  I think I even caught Devon about to lick his plate!  :) I know he thought about it and wanted to. 

I made two changes to the recipe.  I used the Michelle’s pie crust recipe, which is actually Julia’s by way of Dorie.  And instead of making a 9 inch pie I made four, 4 inch mini tarts.   I’m most proud of my crust as it was the biggest challenge for me.  I’ve only made pie/tart crust once before and looking back I don’t think I did a very good job.  (Thanks, Debby for your encouraging post on pie crust!)  This crust was light and flaky, perfect! 

If you make 4 mini tarts you’re going to have a lot of the filling left over.   I’m not sure what’s in store for mine but I have an idea!  I didn’t have any meringue left because I piled it on and lost some of it out of the top of my piping bag, which I might have over filled.  Okay now you know the drill!  Hop over to see how Monica and Michelle fared with their pies! 

Pie Dough, for a printable recipe

(from Baking with Julia by Dorie Greenspan)

~yields enough dough for two double-crust pies** (You can find the halved recipe here.)

5 1/4 c. pastry flour or all-purpose flour

1 Tbsp. kosher salt

1 1/2 sticks (6 ounces) cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

1 3/4 c. solid vegetable shortening (11 ounces), chilled

1 c. ice cold water

Fix mixer with paddle attachment (or use a pastry blender).  Put flour and salt in bowl and mix.  Add butter and mix on low until it is cut into dry ingredients and the mixture looks coarse and crumbly.  Add shortening in small bits and continue to mix on low.  When the mixture holds together when a small bit is pressed between your fingers, add the water and mix only until it is incorporated.  Turn the dough out onto a work surface and fold it over on itself two or three times, just to finish the mixing and to gather it together.

Divide the dough into four equal balls and flatten into thick discs.  Wrap dough discs in plastic and refrigerate for 2 hours or as long as 5 days.  When dough is thoroughly firm and chilled, roll for pie crusts.

**For baking instructions follow the recipe you’re using this crust in. 

Almond Lemon Ricotta Pound Cake

This pound cake was amazing.  It was so moist and perfectly flavored with hints of almond and lemon!   The kids and I absolutely loved it.  Devon even bartered away one of his precious mechanical pencils for his brother’s last slice.  When I first saw this pound cake on the blog, Mike’s Table I knew it wouldn’t be long before I gave it a try.  He called it lemon and ricotta pound cake but from my title you can see I took a different route.

I did make two slight but big flavor changes to the recipe.  I used almond extract (1/2 tsp) in place of the vanilla and added some lemon extract (1/4 tsp) which Mike has listed as optional. (Hilary, it was all your yummy almond and citrus posts that inspired my changes!  Thx!)I also baked four mini loafs instead of one large one.  (Have you read Peabody’s reasons for using mini loaf pans?  Reason numbers 2 and 8 are right on the money!)  This recipe is definitely a keeper.  I’ve already bought more ricotta  for another try only this time I’m going with orange  and almond.  Mmmmm!

Technorati Tags: almond,lemon,pound cake,ricotta

Blackberry Lemon Sour Cream Bundt Cake

Updated:  Please, note the amount of flour has been corrected!  Thanks, Monica!

This cake is actually an adaptation of Coleen’s Blueberry Sour Cream Bundt Cake.   I baked it for the Twins’ birthday along with  cookies and cream ice cream brownie bites. 

In an earlier post I mentioned that Jalen and Babygirl brought me baggies filled with freshly picked, ripe blackberries from their PopPop’s garden in NC.  While Devon actually asked for a cookie cake for his birthday I had all those blackberries and two meyer lemons that needed to be used so he got this bundt cake instead. And let me tell you he wasn’t disappointed!  He (we) loved it and not once asked about “his” cookie cake. You wanna know how good it was? My honey, Joe, who generally eats whatever I make with out any fuss actually told me that it was really good after the first bite!  I baked this after breakfast on Sunday and it was gone by evening!  This was one of the best cakes I’ve baked in awhile.  It was so moist and flavorful with its burst of sweet berries and lemony undertones! I wish I could describe it better.  Sunny is the word that comes to mind. Does that makes sense? 

Normally I would post the recipe just as Coleen posted it on her blog with my changes noted but because I made several significant changes I’m posting my version instead.  Please be sure to check out Coleen’s bundt cake as it inspired mine!

Blackberry Lemon Sour Cream Bundt Cake

1 CUP BUTTER AT ROOM TEMPERATURE
2 CUPS WHITE SUGAR
1 CUP SOUR CREAM at room temperature
2 EGGS at room temperature
1 TEASPOON VANILLA EXTRACT
The zest of two lemons
1 & 3/4 CUPS ALL PURPOSE FLOUR (see note)
1 TEASPOON BAKING POWDER
1/4 TEASPOON SALT
1 CUP FRESH OR FROZEN Blackberries

Measure your sugar into a medium size bowl.  Set aside.  Zest both of your lemons taking care not to remove any of the pith.  (I zested my lemons over the bowl containing the sugar. ) Once both of your lemons are completed zested add the lemon zest into the sugar.  Mix well. (I rubbed the zest into the sugar by hand.  The smell of the lemon sugar is intoxicating!) Set aside. (I let my lemon sugar sit while I was setting everything up.)

Preheat your oven to 350 and grease and flour a 9" bundt pan.

In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy; beat in eggs one at a time; stir in sour cream and vanilla. Combine the flour, baking powder, and salt.  Stir it into the butter mixture until well blended; gently fold in your “floured” blackberries.  Carefully pour or spoon the batter into your prepared bundt pan.

Bake the cake for 55 to 60 minutes in a preheated oven. (I checked mine at 50 minutes and noticed it looked done.  A cake pick inserted into the center came out clean but I think it might have benefited from a few more minutes though I would have needed to cover it with aluminum foil.)  Cool cake (in the pan) on a wire rack for about 10 minutes before turning out onto a cake plate.  (Normally I would turn mine out onto a wire rack to finish cooling but I followed the recipe’s direction and  flipped it out onto the cake plate.)

Note:  Remove 1 TBS of the flour and sprinkle it over your blackberries to help them stay afloat in your batter.  I’ll be honest,  I didn’t do this as you can see from my photos.  It wasn’t suggested in the original recipe and Coleen doesn’t mention having any problems with her blueberries sinking so who knows for sure.  I do know that because most of my blackberries sunk they wound up sticking to the pan.

I hope the recipe made sense.  As I typed this out I kept thinking of little things I could/should have done differently.  If you noticed anything off or have any questions please let me know.  (Sorry about that Monica! I stink! :)) I wasn’t always one for playing around with recipes (scaredy cat baker!) but as I’ve grown more confident I have come to realize that most recipes can be altered, easily and successfully to suit my taste.  So, please alter away to suit yours.

Speaking of Monica I neglected to mention in my last post that the skull and bones cupcake liners everyone admired were won from her blog, Lick the Bowl Good.  I actually won several different and very pretty liners that I am savoring saving for a special occasion. (Thanks, Monica!)

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Okay, my last bit of business. I mentioned in this post that I  topped my chocolate chip cinnamon bars with a Roasted Banana Buttermilk Ice Cream. I don’t have a specific recipe to give you at this time.  I took my inspiration from several blogs and came up with a recipe.  Not 100% happy with it I tweaked a different recipe to come up with a similar but even tastier ice cream.  Before I give you a recipe(s) I think I should make it a couple more times.  I’d hate for you to follow my directions only to have it not be what you or I hoped for.  I say this because I can’t recall when I made them which means it likely that I don’t remember all my changes. Wanna know how long ago it was?  Late May/very early June! 

Thanks for taking the time to leave me such thoughtful (& funny) comments!  They (YOU) make my day!  :)

Technorati Tags: blackberries,bundt cake,lemon,sour cream

Lemon Curd & Mascarpone Cream Shots

Wanna know how far behind I am on posting?  I made these lemon curd and mascarpone cream shots the day before Easter!  Yea, that far behind! Even after posting this one I'll still have another Easter day treat to share with you.  That one will have to wait as I'm just back into town from the Twins' baseball tourney and decided to wrap this one up.  We lost in the quarterfinals.  You win some you lose some. 

Thanks to everyone for Devon's get well wishes!  The tooth's roots weren't cracked or broken (YAY!) but we're still waiting to see if there is any nerve damage.  I take him on Thursday to see a specialist.  Back to the recipe!  I saw and lusted for this parfait after seeing it on the blog, One Ordinary Day.  She made hers as parfaits but I piped mine into shot glasses.  I didn't get a photo of one totally put together as I put the finishing touches on them at my brother's house but I did take a few photos to show ya.

We loved this!  It was nice and lemony but not over the top.  The cream filling is delish and just lightly sweet.  The original recipe called for vanilla wafers but Michelle used a lemon white chocolate shortbread cookie and I suggest using it over the wafers.  I didn't think I liked lemon and white chocolate together but I do! Now this isn't  the quickest recipe and you know how I am about quick and easy but it was well worth it! I felt a huge sense of satisfaction after making all the components (on their own each is easy) and putting it together. 

Recipe: Lemon Mascarpone Parfait

(adapted from relish)

Cream Filling:

8 oz. mascarpone cheese

6 oz. cream cheese, softened

1/4 c. granulated sugar

1/4 c. sour cream

2 Tbsp. grated lemon zest, to taste

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1 c. heavy cream, whipped

Lemon Curd:

3 eggs

1/3 c. freshly squeezed lemon juice (I used Meyer lemons)

3/4 c. granulated sugar

4 Tbsp. unsalted butter, cut into small pieces and room temperature

1 Tbsp. grated lemon zest (I used Meyer lemons)

Crumbs:

24 lemon white chocolate shortbread cookies (available at Target)(Their the target brand)

(Optional garnish:  (1) 1 oz square of Bakers chocolate, lemon zest, and cookie pieces)

To prepare the curd, whisk eggs, lemon juice, sugar, butter and lemon zest in a stainless steel bowl over a pot of simmering water.  Cook, whisking constantly, for 10 minutes or until thick.  Remove from heat and strain if necessary to remove any lumps.  (I mixed in some lemon zest I had leftover) Lay plastic wrap on the surface of the curd and bring to room temperature.

Whip heavy cream.  (I find it’s quick and easy to do this when I place my mixing bowl in a larger bowl full of ice. (I set my bowl of heavy cream and  the hand mixer whisk in the freezer while I'm setting everything else up) )To prepare the cream filling, beat mascarpone, cream cheese, sugar, sour cream, lemon zest, and vanilla in a large mixing bowl until smooth.  ( I did this while Gently fold in whipped cream.

To prepare the crumbs, place cookies in a food processor and pulse until fine.  (I lightly crushed mine by hand.)

Layer the cookie crumbs, cream filling, and lemon curd in parfait glasses or in a trifle dish.  Top with sweetened whipped cream, if desired. (I didn't add the additional whipped cream later and my layers went like this cookie pieces, lemon curd, and mascarpone cream.  I garnished them with cookie pieces, lemon zest, and white chocolate curls.  As I mentioned earlier except for the cookie layer I piped in the curd and cream layers.  It made things much neater. To make the tiny white chocolate curls I microwaved the square for 1o seconds to soften and used my vegetable peeler to "peel" the chocolate.)

Technorati Tags: lemon,mascarpone,cream cheese,sour cream,whipping cream,white chocolate

Em's Hybrid Lemon Bars

For those who may not know...Em is the lady behind the wonderful blog The Repressed Pastry Chef.  Em is a huge fan of lemons but others (Jamie) call her obsessed. :) A few weeks ago Em posted this recipe and this recipe. Each one was very good in it's own separate way.  Em claimed that the first recipe's shortbread crust was one of the yummiest and the second recipe's filling was near perfect though not (in her opinion) tart enough.  Leaving a her a comment asking for her opinion on which was the best one to make she suggested the brilliant idea of combining the best of each recipe.  Along with her suggestion she also mentioned cutting back on the sugar in the filling.  Because I, too like my lemon bars tart and tangy I went ahead and cut back on the sugar. I'm very happy to say these bars were terrific!  They'll definitely make you pucker up but in a good way. Not overly so but I did think that the sprinkling of powdered sugar on top complimented it nicely.  Usually I prefer mine with it out.  If you like a milder lemon taste  just follow the recipe and use the full amount of sugar.

Around the same time I was whipping up these bars so was Jamie.  Please hop over and check out hers.  I love how she always adds sprigs of mint leaves to her dessert giving 'em that little something extra.  Be sure to check out the original recipes at Em's.

Em's Hybrid Lemon Bars

Makes about two dozen 1-1/2 to 2-inch squares

Ingredients

--The Crust--
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
2/3 cup confectioners’ sugar -- plus extra to
decorate finished bars
1/4 cup cornstarch
3/4 teaspoon salt
12 tablespoons unsalted butter -- (1 1/2 sticks) at
very cool room temperature, cut into
1-inch pieces, plus extra for greasing pan

--Crust Directions--

1. For the crust: Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly butter a 13-by-9-inch baking dish and line with one sheet parchment or wax paper. Dot paper with butter, then lay second sheet crosswise over it. (I used Reynolds nonstick aluminum foil and lightly sprayed it with Pam.)
2. Pulse flour, confectioners’ sugar, cornstarch, and salt in food processor work bowl fitted with steel blade. Add butter and process to blend, 8 to 10 seconds, then pulse until mixture is pale yellow and resembles coarse meal, about three 1-second bursts. (To do this by hand, mix flour, confectioners’ sugar, cornstarch, and salt in medium bowl. Freeze butter and grate it on large holes of box grater into flour mixture. Toss butter pieces to coat. Rub pieces between your fingers for a minute, until flour turns pale yellow and coarse.) Sprinkle mixture into lined pan and press firmly with fingers into even, 1/4-inch layer over entire pan bottom and about 1/2 inch up sides. Refrigerate for 30 minutes, then bake until golden brown, about 20 minutes. (I baked mine for less as I noticed it was already golden brown and smelling heavenly after the 15 min mark, so I took it out.)

Ingredients

--Filling--

• 6 extra-large eggs at room temperature (I used 6 large eggs) 
• 3 cups granulated sugar (I only used 2 cups)
• 2 tablespoons grated lemon zest (4 to 6 lemons) (I used 3 regular lemons & 3 Meyer)
• 1 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice (I used 3 regular lemons & 3 Meyer)
• 1 cup flour
• Confectioners' sugar, for dusting

--Filling Directions--

For the filling, whisk together the eggs, sugar, lemon zest, lemon juice, and flour. Pour over the crust and bake for 30 to 35 minutes, until the filling is set. Let cool to room temperature.  Sprinkle generously with confectioners' sugar and cut.

Note:  I don't know if the filling is normally very "watery" when the recipe is followed (exactly) but mine was.  When I noticed how much I was really worried but it worked out fine. 

Technorati Tags: lemon,bars

Whole meyer lemon tart

I've got a few recipes that I've made but haven't blogged about yet thanks to being sick for a week. So this is going to be short, sweet, and a little tart. 

Well, if you've been reading here you'll remember that I recently bought and tried meyer lemons.  Since that first time I've purchased more and made this whole lemon tart I saw on Smitten Kitchen. It was very good and one of the twins, Devon absolutely loved it.  I know some people commented  on Deb's blog and mentioned that it didn't go well for them but I didn't have any issues and it was my first time making tart (or pie) crust.  I did find the recipe for the crust a bit confusing but in the end it worked out.  I made my tart in the rectangular tart pan that I received for Christmas this year which means my crust was thicker than what it would have been had I used the proper sized pan.

Next up will be meyer lemon curd but first photos of a dessert (a  kinda charlotte, trifle thingy) I made.  I won't post the recipe (there wasn't one) to as it was pretty but just okay nothing that you couldn't whip up on your own (& probably even better).

FYI~ the lemon tart photos are courtesy of my sitter, Miss Karolyn! 

Technorati Tags: lemon,tart,strawberries,trifle

Meyer lemons & what to make?

Earlier this month I raved about a great "grocery" store I found called The Fresh Market.  In that post I mentioned that I finally found and bought meyer lemons.  Yay, now what to make!?  There are an amazing amount of lemon recipes floating out there, several of which I thought to try. (click here to see a meyer lemon recipe round up which I didn't find until after I used my lemons!) The problem I kept running into was that I didn't buy enough lemons.  I only bought three!  One of the things I thought to make but was secretly glad I didn't have enough lemons for was lemon curd!  (click to see the gorgeous lemon curd by Sweet Charity Pie) It goes back to being a scaredy cat baker!  During the course of my "research" there was recipe that I couldn't shake. It was Ina Garten's Lemon Yogurt  Cake  that I had previously seen on a few blogs (in 2008).  The blog, Picky Cook had made a grapefruit version of Ina's recipe and while I wasn't using grapefruits I couldn't get her photos out of my head.

Meyer Lemon Yogurt Cake and mixed emotions.  I'm not certain how I feel  about it.  While the recipe was easy enough  I did have to adjust a few things in order to make it.  Unfortunately, I didn't have extra large eggs and  I didn't have the full amount of plain yogurt.  (lesson learned... read recipes slowly and carefully!)  Because I have grown some what as a baker, I forged on and made what I thought was the best adjustments.  They were as follows instead of three extra large eggs I used four large ones.  For the 8 ounces of plain yogurt I used 6 ounces and added 2 ounces of sour cream. Feeling proud of myself I completed the recipe and had a taste once it cooled and was glazed!  Nope, didn't really like it.  I'm not sure why. It was very moist, almost overly so.  As for the kids they ate it, no complaints and one of the Twins really enjoyed it. He made certain to eat his share which is unusual for him as he often only gives my desserts a try leaving the lions' share for his twin. Day two, I cut myself a tiny sliver, taste, okay, this is not bad.  I cut myself a bigger slice.  Day three, hmm, there's still a slice left albeit a thick one, cut it in half, taste. Hey, this is actually really good.  Weird, did my changes noticeably effect the outcome or is this one of those desserts that needs to sit for a day or so before you eat it?  Okay, I just remembered I might have made another booboo.  I read somewhere that if you'd like a pretty seam on top of your cakes baked in a loaf pan take a knife and run it down the center.  I tried the tip; again, I don't know if it was my adjustments to the recipe but the seam while pretty did not rise up above the pan until much later during the course of its baking time. Instead the edges did which (I think) lead to their over browning!  In order to truly see if it was me or not.  I need to make this again following the recipe!

Here's a photo of my babygirl...check out her sleeve thingies (not sure what they're called).  When I asked how everyone liked her outfit she said that they liked the "sleeves" best.  She's a trendsetter! LOL!

 

 

LiveJournal Tags: lemon,pound cake