meyer lemon madeleines

Madeleines are the perfect little tea cookies.  You can argue that they aren't even cookies they are more like cakes.  Whatever they are they're pretty damn good and even better with fresh Meyer lemons.  Meyer lemons taste like an orange and a lemon had a love child.  A little tart and a little sweet, it makes for the perfect citrus fruit to add to your pastry.

Occasionally I get a box of organic fruits and vegetables delivered to my house from local farms.  It helps me try new ingredients and understand which types of produce are seasonal.  Meyer lemons have such a short window when they are ripe enough to eat and they spoil even quicker.  As soon as the delivery box came, I knew I didn't have much time but I knew exactly what I wanted to make.  Delicate little cookie cakes with an extra sugar coating.  This cookie will please the pickiest of eaters.

Meyer Lemon Madeleine Recipe
From Tutti Dolci

Ingredients

Madeleines
3/4 cup flour
1/3 cup sugar
1 Tbsp brown sugar
1/2 tsp baking powder
Pinch of salt
Zest of 1 Meyer lemon
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 Tbsp honey (I used orange blossom honey)
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
5 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted and cooled

Glaze
2/3 cup powdered sugar, sifted
1 tsp Meyer lemon zest
2 Tbsp fresh lemon juice

Whisk together flour, sugars, baking powder, salt, and lemon zest in a medium bowl. Whisk together eggs, honey, and vanilla in a small bowl. Add egg mixture to flour mixture and stir just until combined. Add melted butter and mix slowly but thoroughly until smooth. Cover and chill in the refrigerator for 1 hour or up to a day.

Preheat oven to 350°F and spray a standard-size madeleine pan with nonstick spray; use a pastry brush to brush the inside of each mold. Spoon batter into molds, filling each about 3/4 full. Bake for 8 to 9 minutes, until cakes are pale gold and spring back to the touch. Immediately shake madeleines out over a clean dish towel; let cool.

To prepare glaze, whisk together powdered sugar, lemon zest, and juice in a small bowl. Use a pastry brush to glaze scalloped side of each baked madeleine. Store leftovers in an airtight container at room temperature up to 2 days.

Blackberry lemon sweet rolls

Now that I've become busier with the two kids, homework, tantrums and a job; I find myself making dishes and freezing them when I have time to cook.  I love this sweet roll recipe because you can substitute any berry you like and freeze it!  

I've been cooking ahead and freezing all sorts of things like meatballs, lasagna, casseroles, baked french toast, empanadas, croissants, cookies and ground beef.  I assemble them in different size disposable foil pans or plastic freezer bags and reheat for a meal on a weeknight or entertaining guests on the weekend.

You can freeze the blackberry lemon sweet rolls with the dough unrisen or already cooked, iced and reheated.  It will turn out delicious either way or if you can't resist the temptation just eat it right away!

Blackberry Lemon Sweet Rolls Recipe

Barely adapted from Ree Drummond

Ingredients

FOR THE DOUGH:
4 cups Whole Milk
1 cup Sugar
1 cup Canola Oil
2 packages Active Dry Yeast, 0.25 Ounce Packets
8 cups All-purpose Flour
1 cup (additional) All-purpose Four
1 Tablespoon Salt
1 teaspoon Baking Soda
1 teaspoon Baking Powder

FOR THE FILLING:
1 stick Butter
3/4 cups Sugar
2 whole Lemons, Zested
2 cups Fresh Blackberries

FOR THE GLAZE:
1 whole Lemon, Juiced
2 whole Lemons, Zested
3 cups Powdered Sugar
2 cups Whole Milk, Or As Needed
1 dash Salt
3 Tablespoons Melted Butter

Directions

For the dough:
Mix milk, 1 cup sugar, and canola oil in a large pot or Dutch oven. Heat over medium heat until very warm but not boiling. Remove from heat and allow to cool until warmer than lukewarm but not hot.

Sprinkle yeast over the surface of the liquid, then add in 8 cups flour. Stir gently until totally combined. Mixture will be very wet and sticky. Cover with a tea towel, keep in a draft-free place, and allow to sit for 1 hour.

After 1 hour, add in an additional cup of flour, as well as the salt, baking soda and baking powder. Mix until combined. Refrigerate dough, covered, until you need it. (Refrigerating the dough helps make it easier to handle.)

Preheat oven to 375 F. Butter a large baking dish (or a couple of smaller dishes) generously. you could use a 9x13 or two 9-inch pie pans which is what I did.

Melt 1 stick of butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. Once melted remove from heat.

Divide dough in half. Store one half in the fridge for another batch of these. Turn the other half of the dough onto a floured surface. Roll into a large rectangle, about 30 inches wide by 10 inches deep. Roll as thin as possible! Drizzle melted butter over the dough, using your fingers to spread evenly.

Using your fingers, mix sugar and lemon zest so that it's a nice, light yellow sugar. Sprinkle it all over the butter. Sprinkle the blackberries evenly over the surface.

Beginning at the side furthest from you, roll dough toward you until it’s in the shape of a tight log. Tuck as you go so the roll stays tight. Pinch the edges to seal the seam shut. With a sharp knife, slice into 1/2 thick hick rolls and lay the slices, cut side down, into the buttered baking dishes. 

(You can freeze it from here and then continue the process when you thaw it or you can continue this process and freeze when it is baked and glazed.)

Allow to rise for 20 minutes, then place in oven and bake for 15 to 20 minutes, or until deep golden brown on top.

To make the glaze: Add lemon juice, lemon zest, powdered sugar, milk, and dash of salt in a bowl. Add melted butter and whisk together until smooth. Taste it and add more of whatever it needs.

Remove rolls from oven and drizzle the glaze all over the rolls. Be sure to get it all around the edges and covering the surface so they’ll be nice and moist!  (You can also freeze it at this point and just reheat after it thaws.)

Serve warm or at room temperature.

Lemon Meringue Pie

If you love lemons then this is the pie for you.  Pillowy meringue on top of tart and sweet homemade lemon curd.  The perfect end to any stressful day.

Lemon Meringue Pie Recipe

From Williams Sonoma

Ingredients:
Basic pie dough for a single-crust pie (see recipe here), rolled into a 12-inch round 1/8 inch thick
8 large eggs
2 cups plus 2 Tbs. sugar
1/4 cup cornstarch
1 cup fresh lemon juice
1/4 tsp. fine sea salt
4 Tbs. unsalted butter, cut into tablespoons
Finely grated zest of 3 lemons

Directions:
Place the dough round in a 9-inch pie dish, fitting it into the bottom and sides. Trim the dough, leaving a 3/4-inch overhang. Fold the overhang under, then flute the edge. Using a fork, pierce the dough all over, then line with aluminum foil and freeze for 30 minutes. Meanwhile, position a rack in the lower third of an oven and preheat to 375°F. Place the dough-lined dish on a baking sheet and fill the foil with pie weights. Bake until the dough looks dry and is barely golden, 12 to 15 minutes. Remove the foil and weights. Continue baking until the crust is golden brown, 12 to 15 minutes more. Transfer to a rack and cool while you make the filling. Raise the oven temperature to 400°F.

In a bowl, beat 3 of the eggs until blended. Separate the remaining 5 eggs, adding the yolks to the beaten whole eggs and putting the whites in a separate large bowl. Cover the whites and set aside at room temperature. Beat the yolks into the beaten eggs. In another bowl, whisk together 1 1/2 cups of the sugar and the cornstarch, then whisk in the beaten eggs, the lemon juice and salt. Transfer to a heavy, nonreactive saucepan, place over medium heat and heat until the mixture comes to a full boil, whisking almost constantly. Reduce the heat to low and let bubble for 30 seconds. Be careful not to undercook or overcook the filling or it will separate as it cools. Remove from the heat and whisk in the butter. Strain through a coarse-mesh sieve into a bowl to remove any bits of cooked egg white. Stir in the lemon zest, then pour into the baked crust (the crust can be warm or cool).

Using a handheld mixer on high speed, beat the reserved egg whites until soft peaks form. One tablespoon at a time, beat in the remaining 1/2 cup plus 2 Tbs. sugar, beating until the egg whites become a meringue with stiff, shiny peaks. Using a rubber spatula, spread the meringue evenly over the hot filling, making sure the meringue touches the crust on all sides (to prevent the meringue from shrinking). Swirl the meringue with the spatula to form peaks. Bake until the meringue is browned, about 5 minutes. Transfer to a rack and cool completely before serving, at least 3 hours. Serves 8.

Lemon Rosemary Scones

I like baking with whole wheat as much as possible to try and sneak in as many nutrients as I can for myself and for my kids.  Pastry flour lightens the scone a bit but you still need the all purpose flour for the body of the scone.

I was truly inspired by my yard to find a recipe for the abundance of lemons

and rosemary.

Lemon Rosemary Scones Recipe

Barely adapted from Ree Drummond

Ingredients

SCONES
1 1/2cup All-purpose Flour

1 1/2 cups Whole Wheat Pastry Flour
2/3 cups Sugar
5 teaspoons Baking Powder
1/4 teaspoon Salt
2 sticks (1/2 Pound) Unsalted Butter, Chilled And Cut Into Pieces
1 whole Large Egg
1 cup Heavy Cream
1 Tablespoon Finely Minced Fresh Rosemary
Zest Of 1 Lemon

GLAZE
5 cups Powdered Sugar, Sifted
1/2 cup Whole Milk, More If Needed For Thinning
Zest And Juice From 1 Lemon
1 teaspoon Finely Minced Fresh Rosemary
Dash Of Salt
Preparation Instructions


Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Sift together flours, sugar, baking powder, and salt.

Mix cream with egg, lemon zest and rosemary and allow to sit for 10 to 15 minutes to steep.

Use a pastry cutter or two knives to cut the butter pieces into the flour. Keep going until mixture resembles crumbs. Mix wet mixture with flour mixture; stir gently with a fork until combined. Mix should be crumbly, but if it's too crumbly to work with, splash in a small amount of heavy cream.

Turn dough onto a floured surface and lightly press it together until it forms a rough rectangle. Use a rolling pin to roll into a rectangle about 1/2 inch to 3/4 inch thick. Use your hands to help with the forming if necessary. Final rectangle should be about 18 inches by about 10 inches.

(This is where my hands got too messy to snap pictures.)


Use a knife to trim into a symmetrical rectangle, then cut the rectangle into 12 symmetrical squares/rectangles. Next, cut each square/rectangle in half diagonally, to form smaller triangles.

Transfer to a parchment or baking mat-lined cookie sheet and bake for 18 minutes, removing from the oven just before they start to turn golden. Allow to cool for 15 minutes on the cookie sheet, then transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely.

GLAZE

To make the icing, add lemon zest, lemon juice and rosemary into milk; allow to sit for awhile. Mix powdered sugar with the milk, adding more powdered sugar or milk if necessary to get the consistency the right thickness. Stir or whisk until completely smooth.

One at a time, carefully dunk each cooled scone in the glaze, turning it over if necessary. Transfer to parchment paper or the cooling rack. Allow the glaze to set completely, about an hour. Scones will keep several days if glazed.

Raspberry Lemonade Bars: Celebrate a California Spring

Raspberry Lemonade Bars

My obsession with raspberries has returned.  Actually it never left.  It's hard not to love these bright colors.  The best part is, this intense color is packed with an intense but smooth tangy flavor. . . and fresh lemon juice.  The top layer is sweet, tart, and luscious.  Pucker up, it's time for Spring.

Raspberry Lemonade Bar Recipe
Ingredients:
For the crust:
2¼ sticks (18 tbsp.) unsalted butter, at room temperature

½ cup sugar
2 cups all-purpose flour
½ tsp. salt

For the raspberry lemon layer:
3 cups sugar
1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
3 tbsp. lemon zest
¼ tsp. salt
3 cups frozen raspberries, thawed
6 large egg whites
2 large eggs
1 1/3 cups freshly squeezed lemon juice

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350° F. Line a 9 x 13-inch baking pan with parchment paper. In the bowl of an electric mixer,combine the butter and sugar. Beat on medium-high speed until smooth, 1-2 minutes. With the mixer on low speed,mix in the flour and salt just until incorporated. Add the dough to the prepared baking pan. Press into an even layer over the bottom of the pan. Bake for about 25 minutes or until light golden brown. Remove from the oven,maintaining the temperature.

While the crust is baking, make the top layer. Combine the sugar, flour, lemon zest and salt in a large bowl and whisk to blend. Add the raspberries to a fine mesh sieve and press through, mashing with a spatula, to extract as much juice and pulp as possible, straining out the seeds. Add the egg whites and eggs to the bowl with the dry ingredients and whisk well to blend. Whisk in the raspberry puree and lemon juice until smooth.

Pour the mixture over the crust and bake until the center is just set and not longer jiggles when gently shaken, about 35-40 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool to room temperature. Cover and chill well in the refrigerator, at least 2 hours. When ready to serve, use the parchment paper to lift the bars from the pan. Place on a cutting board and slice into bars. 

*This recipe can be halved and baked in an 8 x 8-inch baking pan with a slightly reduced baking time.

Recipe from Annie's Eats

Individual Desserts

Layers of Lemon

Layers of lemon promises exactly this: tart and sweet lemon curd alternated with vanilla bean cake and whipped cream.  The best part is, everyone gets their own and it's a stunning presentation.

Stress relief tip of the day:

Press on it. Acupressure is a quick and effective tension releaser—it can reduce stress by up to 39 percent, according to researchers at Hong Kong Polytechnic University. For fast relief, massage the fleshy area between your thumb and index finger for 20 to 30 seconds.

Layers of Lemon Recipe


Ingredients

Vanilla Bean Cake:
2 1/4 cups flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
3/4 cups lowfat milk, room temperature

1/2 cup half and half, room temperature
4 large egg whites, room temperature
1 stick (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla bean paste


Lemon Curd:
2 large eggs
1/2 cup sugar
1/3 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
1/2 lemon, zested
2 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces
1/2 cup heavy cream, whipped

Whipped Cream:
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup powdered sugar

Directions

Center a rack in the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter a 13 x 9" baking dish. In a large bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder and salt. In a medium bowl, whisk together the milk, half and half and egg whites. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, or with a hand mixer, beat the butter, sugar and vanilla bean seeds at medium speed for 3 minutes, or until the butter and sugar are very light. Add in the vanilla extract and one third of the flour mixture, still beating on medium speed. Beat in half of the milk-egg mixture, then beat in half of the remaining dry ingredients until well incorporated. Add the rest of the milk and eggs, beating until the batter fully incorporated and smooth, then add the last of the dry ingredients. Once ingredients are thoroughly incorporated, give the batter a good 2-minute beating to ensure that it is thoroughly mixed and well aerated.  Pour batter into pan coming up half and inch.  Bake for 10-15 minutes.  Allow cake to cool.  Use the parfait glass as a way to cut perfect circles for the layering.

Lemon curd: Bring 2 inches of water to a simmer in a large saucepan. In a mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, whisk the eggs and sugar together until very light yellow and fluffy. Whisk in the lemon juice and lemon zest. Rest the mixing bowl in the saucepan, with the bowl's base above the simmering water (pour out some of the water if necessary). Cook, whisking occasionally, until the mixture is thickened and custardy, about 15 minutes. Remove the bowl from the heat and stir in the butter. Let cool, cover, and refrigerate until cold. Fold in the whipped cream.

Whipped cream: Pour heavy cream into a stand mixer with the whisk attachment.  Start on a medium speed and beat for one minute until it thickens.  Add the powdered sugar and turn speed to high for one minute.  Transfer cream to a pastry bag with a star tip.

Layer cake circles, lemon curd and whipped cream into parfait glasses.  Repeat layers twice.  Top with sprinkles if desired.




Mary-Yum's Sugar Therapy Blog

Tarty Souffle

Lemon and Raspberry Souffle

Light, fluffy, tart and sweet.  Simply delicious.

 

Lemon and Raspberry Souffle Recipe

Recipe courtesy Gale Gand

Ingredients

Souffle Base:

• 1 egg
• 4 large yolks
• 2 cups milk
• 1 1/2 teaspoons sugar
• 3/4 cup flour
• 1/4 cup cornstarch
• 2 tablespoons butter, cut up

Lemon Souffle:

• Butter and sugar, for preparing the ramekins, at room temperature
• 3/4 cup souffle base
• 4 tablespoons lemon juice
• 1/2 lemon, zested
• 4 egg whites
• 2 pinches cream of tartar
• Heaping 1/3 cup sugar
• 3 teaspoons raspberry or blackberry coulis or jam
• 12 fresh raspberries

Directions

Whisk together the eggs and yolks. Boil milk and sugar. In a small bowl stir together flour and cornstarch. Add 2/3 of the flour mixture to the egg mixture. Temper the eggs with 1/4 of the hot milk then return the milk to the heat. Add the rest of the flour mixture to the egg mixture and whisk well. Add another 1/4 of the hot milk and whisk well. Reboil the remaining milk and whisk into the egg/flour mixture to thicken and self-cook. It will thicken on its own. Whisk in the butter chunks until melted. Press plastic wrap against the surface and refrigerate. The base will keep for 3 days. 

Heavily butter 6 individual 4-ounce ramekins or 1 large souffle dish and coat with sugar all around the inside. Whisk together the base with the lemon juice and rind. Whip the egg whites with the cream of tartar until soft peaks. Add the sugar and continue whisking until stiff and glossy, about 30 seconds. Whisk a small amount of the whites into the base to lighten it. Fold in the remaining whites. Spoon the mixture into ramekins, filling half way. Put 1/2 teaspoon of berry coulis and 2 raspberries onto the surface of the mixture, and then top with more souffle mix. Tap the ramekins down on the counter, level the tops with a spatula, and ring the rim with your thumb to create a moat. Chill, if necessary, up to 30 minutes. Bake in a preheated 425 degree F oven, in a water bath, until firm to the touch and risen, about 11 minutes for individual souffles. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes if making a large souffle.

Pucker up

Raspberry Lemonade Cupcakes

Intense lemon cupcake with a velvety fresh raspberry buttercream.