Lemon Cream Tart

This was the dessert I made for a recent family event. I'd been dying to have a reason to try Dorie's Lemon Cream tart, and I thought it made a perfect springy dessert.

And I was right. Let me tell you, this is without a doubt the most delicious thing I've ever made. I suppose my love of lemon makes me slightly biased, but honestly, it was wonderful. My mom and I ate it two pieces at a time. (which I actually don't recommend because after we were both completely stuffed- it's very rich!)

Making the tart itself was fun. My shell came out a little imperfect as I have an 11" tart pan, and the recipe made a shell for an 9" pan. I managed to stretch it a bit, unfortunately it didn't have that perfect professional look on the sides, but we'll just call it rustic. And maybe next time I should check things before I rush into them.

Making the cream was unlike anything I've ever done for a dessert. It involved making a lemon curd over a double boiler and then mixing it up in a blender with TONS of butter. The result is an absolutely amazing, creamy, sweet lemon filling, that I could not stop spooning out of the bowl and eating.

I then candied slices of lemon to decorate the tart. This is an incredibly simple thing to do. I sliced lemon very, very thin, and boiled it with a cup of sugar and 1 and 1/2 cups of water until the lemon slices were translucent (that's how you know they're not bitter anymore). I laid them out on a paper towel, sprinkled with sugar for a sparklyish effect, and let them hang out until tart time.

In keeping with my "rustic" shell, I went for a rustic look on the filling. I spread it out into the shell, and used the back of a teaspoon to "lift" up the filling sporadically across the tart- that's those peaks you see. You use the back of the spoon to make a small circles all over the filling, and lift the spoon when you're done with each circle. I topped with my candied lemon, and then I ate a billion slices.

Sweet Tart Dough, from Dorie Greenspan, Baking From My Home to Yours

1 1/2 cups flour

1/2 cup confectioner's sugar

1/4 tsp salt

1 stick plus 1 tbsp very cold unsalted butter

1 large egg yolk

Put the flour, salt, confectioner's sugar in a food process and pulse to blend. Scatter the pieces of butter over the dry ingredients and pulse until the butter is coarsely cut in. You will have pieces in all different sizes. Stir the yolk and add it a little at a time, pulsing to blend for about 10 seconds after each addition. The dough will form clumps and curds, and as you continue processing, the sound of the machine will change, indicating that it's done. Turn the dough out, and knead it to incorporate any dry ingredients.

Butter a 9" tart pan. Press the dough evenly on the bottom and up the sides, being careful not to overwork it, lest the dough lose its crumbly texture. Freeze the crust for 30 minutes before baking. (Or, if not baking immediately, freeze for up to 2 months).

To bake, butter the shiny side of tin foil and fit it, buttered side down, on the crust. Bake it for 25 minutes, and if anything puffs (it shouldn't, as you froze it) just press it down with a spoon.

Lemon Cream Filling (also Dorie Greenspan)

1 cup sugar

Grated zest of 3 lemons

4 large eggs

3/4 cup fresh lemon juice

2 sticks plus 5 tbsp butter, cut into tbsp size pieces, at room temp

You will also need a blender, a pan of simmering water and bowl to set over it (ie a double boiler), and instant read thermometer. I suppose it's better to have a pastry or candy thermometer, but I just used the one we normally stick in a roast.

Rub the sugar and lemon zest together in your double boiler bowl until fragrant. Whisk in the four eggs and lemon juice.

Set the bowl over the pan of simmering water and place your thermometer in it. Begin whisking it when it feels tepid. Whisk constantly until the mixture reaches 180 degrees. It will be close to 180 when the whisk starts to leave track marks in the cream. Don't stop whisking yet, but be aware that you will be close to finishing.

As soon as it reaches 180, strain it into the blender. You can discard the zest. Let it stand until it reaches 140 degrees. You can stir it occasionally to let some air in and help speed the cooling process, but it will most likely take a good 10 minutes. (During this time feel free to enjoy licking the lemon/egg mix out of the sieve like I did).

Turn the blender on high and with the machine running, add the butter 5 pieces at a time. (If you're afraid of splattering lemon cream all over your kitchen it's okay to shut the machine off for a second to drop the butter in). Once all the butter is in, continue to let the machine run for 3 minutes. If your machine is as loud as mine, those 3 minutes will be excruciating, but deal with it.

Pour the cream into a container and press a piece of plastic wrap into the surface, then cover with container's lid and refrigerate for 4 hours or overnight. The cream will last in fridge for 4 days, or can be frozen for 2 months and thawed in fridge.

Assemble the tart shortly before you want to serve it. Just whisk the cream, pour it in, top with your candied lemon, and enjoy!! Everyone will LOVE it.

Lemon Sables

In this post-graduate part of my life, there are many things I miss about school. While I wouldn't go back if given the opportunity, I never anticipated a lot of the stress and confusion that goes along with everything. My biggest worries are no longer "What will I wear to happy hour?" but instead, "What's my career plans? Where is my life going? Where's everything else going?" Some people might thrive on that kind of uncertainty, calling it excitement, but I'm not one of them. My job is moving in two years and I need to figure out if I'll be going with it; my friends will probably all move away, and boyfriend situation's up in the air (we've got very different future plans).

What I miss most is having roommates. I lived with my three best friends (and sometimes additional people) for 4 years, and it was like having built in fun 24/7 (well, most of the time). It was nice that no matter what I did I had friends there doing it with me, whether it was getting drunk for Mardi Gras or cooking a Thanksgiving dinner or just loafing around watching hours of wedding shows on the Style Network. So it was definitely nice to recreate all of this on a recent Saturday night, when my best friend (and former roommate) Jenn came by, and we sat around the entire night drinking wine and eating my new official favorite cookies.

Those would be Dorie's Lemon Sables. These were incredible! Between the two of us, we demolished about 20 of them. I also made a batch for a Superbowl party, and they got my guy friends' approval (they merely said, "Wow these are good," instead of busting my chops as usual). And my boyfriend, who is notorious for his extremely small appetite, ate an entire half batch alone. That, my friends, is no small wonder. And it's proof of the awesomeness of these cookies.

This is a very basic recipe, one which encourages customization and new versions. I personally can't wait to try the Smitten Kitchen Margarita Cookies version, but for now, I wanted to try out the base recipe and see where that went. And it was truly delicious: crumbly, simple, buttery cookies with a crackly coating of sanding sugar sprinkles around the edges.

Lemon Sables, from Dorie Greenspan, Baking From My Home to Yours
2 cups flour

1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup confectioner's sugar

2 sticks butter, at room temp

2 large egg yolks

Grated zest of 1 lemon
1/4 tsp fleur de sel

To Decorate:

1 egg yolk, beaten

Sanding sugar

Pour the granulated sugar into a bowl. Add lemon zest and rub together with fingers until fragrant (this is the best smell in the world).

Beat the butter in a mixer on medium speed until smooth and creamy. Add the sugars and mix until smooth, being careful not to beat in too much air. Reduce speed to low and beat in egg yolks.

Pour in all the flour. Cover mixer with a towel or guard and pulse until dough is uniformly moist. This is like a shortbread, so be careful not to overmix. The dough won't really come together, and that's fine.

Scrape dough onto a work surface and gather into a ball. Divide this in half, and roll each half into a log, working the dough as little as possible. I find it easiest to smush it into a messy rectangle on top of a piece of Press and Seal, then use the press and seal to cover it and then roll it into a neater log shape.

Refrigerate for 2 hours, or up to 3 days. Dough can be frozen for 2 months at this point.

When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350. Line a baking sheet (I use nonstick foil). Brush the outsides of each log with egg yolk, and sprinkle or roll in sanding sugar. Slice into 1/3 thick slices and bake for 17-20 minutes. Remove from oven, let rest five minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool.

Lemon Poppy Muffins

I have to be at work at 8 am every morning. I live close to the Army base where I work, but every morning I'm still cutting it short. I don't think I've actually ever been on time to work. Anyway, I clearly have little time for breakfast. I usually throw an English muffin in the toaster while I speed-apply my makeup, leaving said muffin burned or undertoasted, or just generally unappealing. Needless to say, I've grown to dislike English muffins. Nothing makes them taste good- putting cream cheese on them makes me nauseous, putting cheese on them makes me wish there were eggs, and plain butter is just gross to me. So, clearly, it was time for a new breakfast option.

Enter Dorie Greenspan, saving my mornings with her Lemon Poppy Seed muffins. These are really, really delicious. They're not too sweet, they're moist, and the flecks of poppy seeds give the muffins a nice occasional crunch. Plus, they freeze well, so I can defrost one overnight and grab and go in the morning- no more messing with the temperamental toaster.

I used some raspberry jam in the center, going for a kind of jelly donut/muffin idea. It was AWESOME. I ate two immediately out of the oven, and really had to hold myself back from a third (I reasoned that if I ate them all the first day I'd still be out of luck for breakfast).

Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins, adapated from Dorie Greenspan Baking.

2/3 cup sugar

Grated zest and juice of 1 lemon

2 cups flour

2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

3/4 cup sour cream

2 large eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 stick unsalted butter, melted and cooled.

1 and 1/2 tbsp poppy seeds

1/2 c raspberry jam or preserves (not jelly)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F, and line muffin pan with baking cups (I used super fun Valentine's day ones!)

In a large bowl, combine the sugar and lemon zest, rubbing together with your fingers until fragrant (this is the best smell ever). Whisk in the flour, baking powder, and baking soda.

In another bowl, combine the melted butter, sour cream, eggs, vanilla, and lemon juice together (this may look curdled).

Pour the liquid ingredients over the dry ingredients. Use a rubber spatula to blend together, being careful not to overmix, or you'll wind up with tough muffins. Stir in the poppy seeds.

Fill each muffin cup about 1/3 or 1/2 of the way with batter. Use a teaspoon to scoop in some raspberry jam. Fill the rest of the cup with batter. These don't rise that much, so you can fill up to the top.

Bake for 18-20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

To freeze, wait until fully cooled, then wrap individually in plastic wrap and foil, and store in a Ziploc bag in freezer. To defrost, just pull out overnight and enjoy in the morning!