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Posts tagged ‘lemon’

May 1

50 Comments

Lemon Cream Tart

I have posted this recipe and several variations multiple times but the lemon cream is so good it’s time to post it again. Recipes get lost in the volumes of pages on the blog and are all but forgotten. This creamy lemon filling has been used in cakes, to stabilize whipped cream and as is the case here in a tart. I love just eating it on its own, it’s that good!! You can use other fruit and fruit juice besides lemon, I’ve made this with blackberry, orange, raspberry. It always turns out delicious.

The recipe is from Tartine Bakery and I saw it years ago on Food52. Its super easy to make and has always turned out perfectly. The only change I made was that I added some lemon zest to make the lemon flavor even more intense. I used my go too pie crust by Julia Child and whipped some heavy cream for the top, it would be equally good with meringue.

Lemon Cream

 Recipe for Tartine Bakery’s Lemon Cream

Makes about 2 1/2 cups (625 ml)

1/2 cup + 2 tbsp (5 oz/155 ml) lemon juice (Meyer or regular)

3 large eggs

1 large egg yolk

3/4 cup (6 oz/170 g) sugar

Pinch of salt

1 cup (8 oz/225 g) unsalted butter

zest of 2 lemons (0ptional)

Pour water to a depth of about 2 inches into a saucepan, place over medium heat, and bring to a simmer.

Combine the lemon juice, lemon zest, whole eggs, yolk, sugar, and salt in a stainless steel bowl that will rest securely in the rim of a saucepan over, not touching, the water. (Never let the egg yolks and sugar sit together for more than a moment without stirring; the sugar will cook the yolks and turn them granular.) Place the bowl over the saucepan and continue to whisk until the mixture becomes very thick and registers 180° F on a thermometer. This will take 10 to 12 minutes. If you don’t have or trust your thermometer, don’t worry. It should thicken to the point that your whisk leaves a trail through the curd. NOTE: I don’t use a thermometer, the lemon mixture will thicken and coat the back of the spoon, draw a line on the back of the spoon with your finger, the line will stay intact. It took about 11 minutes for mine to thicken properly.

Remove the bowl from over the water and let cool to 140° F, stirring from time to time to release the heat.

Meanwhile, cut butter into 1-tablespoon (15-ml) pieces. When the cream is ready, leave it in the bowl if using an immersion blender, or pour it into a countertop blender. With the blender running, add the butter 1 tablespoon at a time, blending after each addition until incorporated before adding the next piece. The cream will be pale yellow and opaque and quite thick.

You can use the cream immediately, or pour it into a storage container with a tight-fitting lid and refrigerate for up to 5 days.

 

Apr 4

132 Comments

Lemon Meringue Tart

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I’ve been wanting lemon meringue pie or tart for a while now. I planned on making it last week but got sick. I have had this recipe in my to do pile for a while now and since lemon is one of my favorite flavors it went straight to the top of recipes I wanted to try. Usually when I make a lemon tart I use the tartine lemon cream recipe, It has the perfect consistency and holds up beautifully giving  a perfect slice. Most recipes for lemon meringue pie that I have tried have been really tasty but are a bit on the runny side. When I saw the photo that came with this recipe I thought I had found nirvana, a lemon meringue pie that looks perfect, produces a clean slice and sounds like it’s very tasty. This recipe is all that except that it is still a bit on the runny side even after sitting overnight in the refrigerator. Don’t get me wrong it tastes amazing but it does not produce a clean slice. Next time I will add more cornstarch, while I was making it my gut instinct was to add more but I held myself back. Oh well, should have gone with my gut.

Pate Sucré

Makes 9 inch tart or 6 tartlets
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup sugar
8 ounces cold unsalted butter cut into pieces
3 egg yolks from large eggs
3 tablespoons heavy cream

Put the flour, salt and sugar in the food processor, pulse to combine, add the butter and pulse until it resembles fine crumbs. Add the egg yolk and cream and pulse until the dough comes together, it will be shaggy but thats ok, test it by pinching a piece and if it holds together it’s fine. Divide in two, press into disks and refrigerate for an hour. Pre heat the oven to 375, line tart pan or tartlet pans, prick with fork and place in freezer for 30 minutes. Place a piece of parchment in the tart pan or pans and pour in pie weights or beans. Bake 20 minutes remove the parchment and weights and place back in the oven for another 10-15 minutes until golden brown. Cool on rack.

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Lemon Filling

Fills a 9 inch pie or tart

1 cup water

1/2 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice

1 1/4 cup sugar

1/3 cup cornstarch (Next time I would add an additional 1-2tbs of cornstarch)

pinch of salt

4 eggs separated – the yolks are for the filling and whites for meringue

5 tbs cold unsalted butter

4 tsp lemon zest

In medium sauce pan add the water. lemon juice, sugar, cornstarch and salt and whisk to combine so there are no lumps. Turn heat to medium and cook stirring constantly until mixture is thick, Whisk the egg yolks and slowely add the hot lemon mixture whisking while adding. Pour back into the pan and cook for 60 seconds (1 minute). Remove from heat and add the butter and lemon zest. Let come to room temparature and then cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate.

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Swiss Meringue

4 egg whites

2/3 cup sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

pinch of salt

Whisk the egg whites and sugar together in the bowl of a stand mixer. Place the bowl of the stand mixer over a double boiler and cook, stirring occasionally, until the egg whites are very warm to the touch and the sugar has dissolved.  Whip the egg whites on medium-high until stiff peaks form. Add in the salt and vanilla extract and whip to combine.

A little runny but delicious

A little runny but delicious

 

Jan 11

141 Comments

My Very First Post- A Mixed Citrus Curd

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This week I am taking you all on a little trip down memory lane, I am re visiting a few of my first posts. I actually posted twice on that first day. The first a mere paragraph saying I had no idea what I was doing and would try to get this blog up and running. It is embarrassing a little to read it but also saddens me because my pugs were alive when I started this blog. When I figured it out I posted this recipe which I had already posted on Food52 for mixed citrus curd.   I have not made this recipe since I first posted it in January 2012 and I am using tangerines, cara cara oranges and lemon. This would be good with any citrus you like, the flavor of the mixture of different types is delicious.

I was so nervous starting this blog, what if no one likes me or my recipes or ever even stops by was probably my biggest fear. I posted for the first time on Jan, 14 but the truth is I had the posts sitting in draft for about a week before I got up the courage to hit the publish button.

This is a very nice curd but I prefer the recipe from Tartine, the method is different you process or blend in the cold butter and get a thick, buttery, creamy curd that you can use immediately. Even sitting overnight this curd is not thick enough in my opinion to use as a filling for cake or a tart. When using this curd I would whip some cream cheese into it to stiffen it a bit and add some additional zest from an orange.

Mixed Citrus Curd

Mixed Citrus Curd photo from 2012

Mixed Citrus Curd

Makes 3 cups of curd

1 heaping tbs mixed zest from the fruits

1/2 cup  mixed citrus juice (juice from each fruit mixed to yield the needed amount) I used the juice of 1 lemon, 2 small tangerine and 1 cara cara orange.

6  large or extra large egg yolks

4 oz cold unsalted butter cut into pieces (1 stick)

1 1/2 cup sugar

pinch of salt

1-2 tsp orange zest (added after its cooked)

Instructions:

Zest the fruit and set aside a heaping tbs of mixed zest, juice the fruit mix together and set aside 1/2 cup. In mixing bowl add the egg yolks, sugar and a pinch of salt. Beat with hand held mixer until creamy and light. Whisk in the juice and zest and pour into sauce pan. Cook at medium low heat stirring constantly until the sugar has melted and it’s hot to the touch. Now add the butter one piece at a time stirring constantly until the butter is melted. Place thermometer in and continue cooking until it reaches a temperature of 175 degrees. Remove from heat.

Pour through a sieve into a bowl or large measuring cup, add the orange zest stir to combine and cover with plastic that sits directly on top of the curd, allow to come to room temperature then refrigerate overnight.

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Apr 8

8 Comments

Double Crust Lemon Pie (Super Good Two Crust Lemon Pie)

I love vintage recipes and although my Mother does not know how old this is for sure, she guesses that it was from the 1950’s or earlier, this was my Grandmothers recipe, she said her quest was to find the perfect double crust lemon pie, she tried many different recipes and then found this one in the newspaper, (Mom still has the original it’s so faded you cannot see the date). It’s tart and sweet and lemony. Oddly, my Mom never made it for our family and until today I had never tasted this delicious pie. I am so glad she decided to share it, I love lemon  pie, this is different and very nice. The actual name of the recipe is “Super Good Two Crust Lemon Pie”. Serve with a dollop of sweetened whipped cream or creme fraiche whipped cream.

Makes one 9 inch double crust pie

Double pie crust (homemade or pre-made) see my recipe below.

1 1/4 cup sugar

2 rounded tbs flour- not level

3 large eggs at room temperature

2 tbs melted butter

1/3 cup lemon juice

zest of 2 lemons (1 heaping tbs)

3 tbs water

Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees

Whisk sugar and flour in small mixing bowl and set aside. In another bowl beat eggs until they are thick and creamy and light in color, add the sugar flour mixture and stir until smooth, add the butter, lemon juice and water and mix well to combine.

Line pie pan with bottom crust, pour lemon filling in and roll out the top crust, lay on top crimp or flute the edges to seal, make  a few vents I just cut a few x’s .  Refrigerate the pie for 15-30 minutes so that the pie crust is chilled before putting in the oven. I like to brush the top of the pie with egg wash or cream and sprinkle with sugar, this is optional of course.

Bake for 35-45 minutes, the crust will be golden brown. Let cool completely before serving. Serve with whipped cream of your choice I added elderflower liquor.

Juilia Childs Pastry Dough

Makes enough dough for a double crust 9 inch pie

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1/2 cup cake flour

1 tsp salt

6 oz cold unsalted butter cut into tbs size pieces

4 tbs shortening or leaf lard cold

1/2 cup ice cold water

You can make this either by hand or in the food processor. To make by hand, put flours, salt, butter, lard or shortening into mixing bowl, use pastry cutter to combine until it resembles pea size crumbs. Add water mix with fork, gather with your hands, divide dough into a 2 discs and cover with plastic wrap. Refrigerate for 1 hour.

In Food Processor, add the flours, salt, butter and shortening or lard into the bowl of the processor. Pulse a few times until the mixture resembles pea size crumbs. Add the water and pulse a few times until it becomes a cohesive dough.  Divide dough into two discs and wrap in plastic and refrigerate for 1 hour.

Mar 28

39 Comments

White Cake With Whipped Cream Icing and Blackberry Lemon Cream Filling

I have found a great recipe for yellow and chocolate cake but still continued my search for a white cake recipe, a cake that is moist and tender. I decided to try tweaking my yellow cake recipe to make it white and it worked beautifully. The cake is exactly what I was looking for. I spread a thin layer of blackberry lemon cream on the bottom layer and made a whipped cream icing using some of the Blackberry cream mixed in which acted as a stabilizer. It’s delicious, the icing is not too sweet and has a subtle blackberry lemon flavor. Added plus, it’s a beautiful shade of lavender.
Cake:
  • 4 large egg whites at room temperature (1/2 cup egg whites)
  • 1 1/2 cup sugar divided
  • 2 1/4 cups cake flour
  • 3 teaspoons  baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon  salt
  • 1/3 cup  + 1 tbs vegetable oil
  • 1 cup whole milk at room temperature + 1 tbs heavy cream
  • 1 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Pre-Heat oven to 350 degrees. Butter or spray with cooking spray 2 9 inch round baking pans, place parchment round in each, spray or butter again and coat with flour. Set aside.

In stand mixer fitted with whisk attachment beat egg whites until frothy, add  1/2 cup sugar, 1 tbs at a time beating after each addition. Continue beating until egg whites are thick and glossy. They should be stiff enough that when the beater or whisk is lifted they stay on the beater and don’t drop off.

In large mixing bowl sift flour, remaining 1 cup sugar, baking powder and salt. Add the vegetable oil, milk,cream,and vanilla, beat with hand mixer on medium high speed for 2 minutes. Gently fold in the egg whites.

Pour into prepared pans and bake for 30 minutes or until lightly browned and cake tester comes out clean. Let cool in pan for 10 minutes and invert onto cooling rack. Cool completely before frosting.

Frosting:

Frosts a 9 inch layer cake

1 pint cold heavy cream

1/4 cup  + 2 tbs confectioners sugar

1/3 cup blackberry lemon cream

Get the mixing bowl and beaters cold by putting into the freezer for 15 minutes. Remove from freezer and either using a stand or hand held mixer add the heavy cream and confectioners sugar and whip until its thick, add the blackberry lemon cream and continue whipping until it is the desired consistency.

Spread a thin layer of the blackberry lemon cream on the cake layer and then spread some of the whipped cream on top of that. Place top layer on and frost the rest of the cake.

Mar 11

12 Comments

Bake Together-Goat Cheese, Pepper, Lemon Sables

Goat Cheese, Lemon,Pepper Sables


Abby Dodge’s Bake together this month is Sables,we used her spicy Parmesan sable as the base recipe and I tweaked it a bit to accommodate the ingredients that I used. Because I used goats cheese which is more moist than parmesan I decreased both the butter and liquid and instead of using water I used cold freshly squeezed lemon juice. The pepper is a 5 pepper blend, pink, white, black, green and central american allspice which I crushed using a mortar and pestle. The addition of lemon zest as well as lemon juice gives these sables a tangy flavor and the goat cheese and pepper give a bit of a bite. I served with some soft goat cheese with red pepper jam and tomato jam. Delicious! Here is the link to Bake Together with Abby Dodge.


6 oz flour- 1 1/3 cups
2 oz crumbled goat cheese
1 tsp salt
1 tsp mixed whole 5 pepper blend crushed with mortar and pestle
zest of 1 lemon
7 tbs cold unsalted butter
2 tbs  cold lemon juice
Weigh or measure the flour, crush the peppercorns and add to the food processor along with the salt and lemon zest, pulse a few times. Add the goat cheese and butter and pulse until it resembles crumbs, add the lemon juice and pulse 2 or 3 more times.   Dump the moist crumbs onto the unfloured counter and gather into a pile. With the heel of you hand, push and gently smear the crumbs away from you until they start to come together in a cohesive dough. Two or three ‘smears’ should do the trick. Using a bench scraper, gather the dough together and turn it about 45 degrees and give it one or two more smears.  Gather the dough together and shape the dough into a 7 1/4-inch long and 2 1/4 -inch wide rectangle using the bench scraper to make the sides nice and straight. Wrap tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate until very firm, about 3 hours, or up to 2 days.
Position a rack in the center of the oven and heat the oven to 375°F.  Line two large baking sheets with parchment. Using a thin, sharp knife, cut the logs into 1/4-inch slices and arrange about 1 inch apart (they don’t spread much at all) on the prepared sheets. Bake, one sheet at a time,  until nutty brown around the edges, 16 to 18 minutes. If you like, sprinkle the crackers with a little kosher salt just as the baking sheets come out of the oven. Serve slightly warm or room temperature.

Feb 26

8 Comments

Lemon Ricotta Blueberry Muffins

These muffins are tender and moist, flavored with lemon and chock full of blueberries. The batter has both whole milk ricotta and whole milk buttermilk. I love the combination of lemon and blueberries and the ricotta and buttermilk give these muffins a slight tang that is delicious. I also used some cake flour to give them a more tender crumb. The muffins are only slightly sweet and to add a little more sweetness, after you remove them from the oven brush with some melted butter and dust with granulated sugar.  When you just have to have a muffin I hope you will give these a try, they are simple to make, and you can whip them up in a flash. They also freeze beautifully. NOTE: If you use lowfat buttermilk and part skim ricotta increase butter to 6 tbs +4 tbs vegetable oil, and if you use lowfat buttermilk with whole milk ricotta just increase the butter to 6 tbs+ the 2 tbs vegetable oil.

Ingredients:

4 tbs melted butter
2 tbs vegetable oil
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour +2 tsp for blueberries
1/2 cup cake flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup buttermilk (whole milk buttermilk if you can find it)
1/2 cup whole milk ricotta
2 large eggs at room temperature lightly beaten
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup blueberries frozen (use fresh when in season)
1 1/2 tbs lemon zest
2 tbs butter melted  (to brush on top of muffins)
2 tbs granulated sugar (to dust tops of muffins)
Directions:
Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees and line muffin tin
Melt butter and add the oil, sift flour,baking powder, baking soda,salt and sugar into large mixing bowl, add the wet ingredients and lemon zest and stir only to mix, it may be a bit lumpy but thats ok. Sprinkle the blueberries with the flour and toss, add to the batter and gently stir. Place into lined muffin tin and bake at 350 degrees. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until tops are lightly browned. Let muffins sit for 10 minutes in pan, then place on rack to cool, brush top of the muffin with melted butter and dust with granulated sugar.  Makes 12 muffins

Feb 11

12 Comments

Lemon Saffron Cheese Cake with Whole Meal,Pistachio,Cardamom Crust

This is my submission for the fabulous Abby Dodge’s “Bake Together” cheesecake challenge. I recently worked with Amanda from the blog “Dabblings and Whimsey” on some Persian food and that inspired this cheesecake. You find saffron in almost every Persian dish as well as a citrus element. The crust is made from ground roasted pistahio’s, whole meal cookies and cardamom. I used Abby’s cheesecake recipe and tweaked it a bit.To intensify the lemon flavor I candied lemon slices and arranged them on top of the cake. Here is the link to Abby’s blog, this was so much fun, join in and make a cheesecake!

http://www.abbydodge.com/2012/02/baketogether-cheesecake/

 Crust:
1 1/2 cup whole meal cookies (12-14 cookies) I used Carr’s, ground in the food processor
1/2 cup roasted pistachio’s ground
3 1/2 tbs sugar
1/4 tsp cardamom
6 tbs butter melted.
Roast the pistachio’s on sheet pan in 350 degree oven for approximately 10 minutes. you will smell the nuts. Take them out and let them cool.
When pistachio’s are cool place in food processor and process until nuts are ground into a fine meal. Add the whole meal cookies that have been broken into pieces and process until they are ground into a fine meal. Change oven temp to 375 degrees.
Add pistachio/whole meal crumbs to a mixing bowl. Add the sugar,cardamom and melted butter. Mix thoroughly. Press into the bottom of the prepared 9″ springform pan that has been lined with foil (tear off a large piece of foil there should be a significant overhang) Bake for 12 minutes remove from oven and let cool. Decrease oven temperature to 300 degrees.

Pressed in crust

 Lemons:
1 lemon sliced in thin slices
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup sugar
Place water and sugar in small saucepan and bring to a boil, add the lemon slices and boil until the slices are almost translucent and cooked through. Remove from heat let cool and place in covered container.
Filling:
3 8 oz packages of cream cheese softened to room temp
2 tbs flour
good pinch of salt
1 1/3 cup sugar
3/4 cup sour cream
1 tbs lemon juice
1 tbs saffron
zest of one lemon
4 large eggs at room temp
Fresh raspberries to garnish
Put the lemon juice in a ramekin and add the saffron, stir and let sit while you are preparing the other ingredients.

In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the cream cheese, flour and salt until very smooth and no lumps remain. It’s very important for the cream cheese to be lump free at this point so stop and scrape the beater and sides of the bowl frequently. Add the sugar, sour cream and lemon juice infused with the saffron and beat until well blended and smooth, stopping to scrape beater and bowl several times. Add the eggs, one at a time, and beat until just blended, stopping to scrape beater and bowl before each addition. (Don’t over beat the filling once the eggs have been added or the cheesecake will puff too much.) Tap the bowl several times on the counter to release some of the air bubbles. Pour the filling into the cooled crust. Using the tip of a small knife or a toothpick, pop any air bubbles on the surface.

 Bake at 300°F until the center jiggles like jello when nudged, 63 to 68 minutes. The cake will be slightly puffed around the edges and the center will still look moist. Set on a rack and cool completely. Cover and refrigerate until well chilled, at least 8 hours or overnight or up to 3 days. The cake can also be frozen up to 1 month.
When you are ready to serve, arrange the lemon slices on the cake brush top of cake with some of the syrup, dip each raspberry in the lemon simple syrup and arrange on cake.
 

Jan 14

12 Comments

Mixed Citrus Curd

Mixed Citrus Curd

Recipe:

Makes 2 cups

1 each orange, tangerine,clementine, lemon (I used a navel orange and honey tangerine)

1 heaping tbs zest from the fruits

1/2 cup juice (mixed from each fruit)

6 extra large or large egg yolks

4 oz unsalted butter cut into pieces (1 stick)

1 1/2 cup sugar

pinch of salt

1 tsp orange zest (added after its cooked)

Instructions

Zest the fruit and set aside a heaping tbs of mixed zest, juice the fruit mix together and set aside 1/2 cup. In mixing bowl add the egg yolks, sugar and a pinch of salt. Beat with hand held mixer until creamy and light. Whisk in the juice and zest and pour into sauce pan. Cook at medium low heat stirring constantly until the sugar has melted and it’s hot to the touch. Now add the butter on piece at a time stirring constantly until the butter is melted. Place thermometer in and continue cooking until it reaches a temperature of 175. Remove from heat.

Pour through a sieve into a bowl, add the 1 tsp orange zest stir to combine and cover with plastic that sits directly on top of the curd, allow to come to room temperature then refrigerate overnight.