Lemon Bars with Olive Oil and Sea Salt

I love the classic lemon bar, but this particular New York Times recipe was unique and I love anything with sea salt. They definitely have a richer and more complex flavor and the sea salt sprinkled on top sure brings it out. They are very rich in flavor and texture though, so I cut mine into little bit size squares and loaded them with flaky Maldon sea salt.

The one cautionary advice with these is to make them on a not so humid day.  The olive oil in the recipe makes them softer and likely to break down much easier on a warmer day. However, sunny summer days just seem the right time to make a bright lemony dessert. So, bake away and turn the A/C on.

Lemon Ricotta Pancakes with Cherry Sauce

Our weekday mornings can be a little rushed sometimes, so I really love to take our time on the weekend to make a nice breakfast. I've made several varieties of pancakes - buttermilk, buckwheat, corn meal, with blueberries, pumpkin, apples, pears, etc.  I really wanted to make some with ricotta cheese though. I had some extra cherries on hand and thought this sounded like a great combination for a summer pancake breakfast.

I think the cherry pitter is the best invention, especially when you're cooking/baking with fresh cherries.

I've usually only used ricotta cheese to make lasagna, but it's going in pancakes this time.

The lemon peel smelled amazing and adds such a nice bright color and taste to the pancake batter.

I think they turned out great and little A agreed after gobbling down a few.  The pancakes were a nice light and fluffy texture and the cherry sauce provided a great balance of flavor with the cherries and lemon.

Recipe for Lemon Ricotta Pancakes with Cherry Sauce

Adapted from recipes in Bon Appetit and Gourmet

Ingredients:

Pancakes:

4 large eggs, separated

1 1/3 C. ricotta cheese

1 1/2 T.sugar

1 1/2 T. freshly grated lemon zest

1/2 C. all-purpose flour

melted butter for brushing the griddle

Cherry Sauce:

1/2 C. (or more) water, divided

2 t.cornstarch

1 T. unsalted butter

2 cups halved pitted fresh Bing cherries or other dark sweet cherries (about 14 ounces unpitted cherries)

2 T. (packed) golden brown sugar

1 T. fresh lemon juice

Directions:

Pancakes:

In a bowl whisk together the egg yolks, ricotta, sugar, and lemon zest, add the flour and stir the mixture until it is just combined. In a bowl with an electric mixer, beat the egg whites with a pinch of salt until they hold stiff peaks, whisk about one fourth of them into the ricotta mixture, and fold in the remaining whites gently but thoroughly. Heat a griddle over moderately high heat until it is hot enough to make drops of water scatter over its surface and brush it with some of the melted butter. Working in batches, pour the batter onto the griddle by 1/4-cup measures and cook the pancakes for 1 to 2 minutes on each side, or until they are golden, brushing the griddle with some of the melted butter as necessary. Transfer the pancakes as they are cooked to a heatproof platter and keep them warm in a preheated 200°F. oven.

Sauce:

Whisk 1/4 cup water and cornstarch in small bowl. Melt butter in medium nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add cherries, 1/4 cup water, and brown sugar; stir until sugar dissolves. Increase heat to medium-high; add cornstarch mixture and stir until mixture boils and thickens, adding water by tablespoonfuls if sauce is very thick, about 1 minute. Remove from heat; stir in lemon juice.

Lemon Curd Layer Cake

I went a little crazy this past week with all kinds of baking projects, but it was such fun. My husband was traveling and I used nap times and evening to try out some new things. I was originally intending for this cake to be my birthday cake. However, I really wanted to try using fondant and fondant just didn't sound good on a lemon cake with lemon curd, so I made this cake in addition and we enjoyed it the day after my birthday when we visited family at the lake.

I wanted to make lemon curd anyway and found this recipe for a lemon cake with lemon curd layers and a lemon swiss meringue buttercream frosting in the Martha Stewart Baking Handbook. It sounds like lemon overload, but it was a great combination. I don't have very many nice photos of this, unfortunately, as I forgot my nice camera and we were away from home. But, it was a lovely cake and I wanted to record making this.

The cake itself was a very nice texture and it wasn't too lemony at all. The cake was moistened by including creme fraiche that was mixed with the lemon zest and lemon juice.

It was meant to be a four layer cake, but I was short on time, so I chose not to cut the layers and just did two layers. However, I think it would be worth it to trim the layers the next time I would make this as the additional lemon curd layers would make the cake even more moist and flavorful.

The swiss meringue buttercream was nice and smooth, but didn't seem to refrigerate and keep that well for the next day. I did beat it to soften it for frosting the cake, but it didn't seem to come together as nicely as a traditional buttercream. I had some extra lemon curd and used it to roughly pipe on the outside of the cake.

When Life Gives You Lemons, Make Lemon Curd!

Curd is such a strange name for this thick and velvety lemon spread. I would much prefer to call it lemon butter as it's so smooth and buttery (and because it's made with about a stick of butter) with perfectly tart and perfectly sweet lemon taste. I've made lemon curd previously and have had it at a few tea rooms since so I thought I'd try to make some again and see if it turned out as well as the one we tried at the Crown & Crumpet last fall.

It's made on the stove top and I just used a saucepan vs. using a double boiler and made sure I didn't leave it on the heat without stirring for more than a few seconds. It's important to use real lemon juice and the recipe I made used the juice of about four fresh lemons. Once you squeeze the lemon juice, it's very easy to make and doesn't take long at all. I cooked the lemon juice, sugar and egg yolks (which help to thicken it) on the stove top until the sugar was dissolved. I took it off and added the butter a piece at a time until it was completely melted. Most recipes tell you to put the curd through a strainer and I just about skipped this step, but it was worth it to strain it to make the final product nice and smooth.

~~~~~~~~Then, I simply covered it with plastic wrap and put it in the refrigerator to cool. The plastic wrap keeps it from hardening and forming a skin on top and it worked out well.

The next morning we used the curd as a spread (along with strawberry preserves) for scones at breakfast. It was a hit! Audrey loved it too!

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The recipe made about two cups of lemon curd and we had so much leftover so I decided to make some lemon curd tartlets. I cut the pastry dough with a round scalloped cookie cutter and used a mini muffin pan with a this handy tart tool to push them nicely in the pan to form the tart shell. I baked the pastry for about 10 minutes and let them cool.

Then, I put a teaspoon or so of lemon curd in each tart shell and topped with a yummy fresh raspberry. I've made these tartlets using a rum custard before and have used pomegranate seeds and raspberries for decoration. What a versatile spring treat from breakfast to dessert!

Crepes

When I went to school in England, we had several trips to France for field trips to complement our studies. One of my courses was art history and we were lucky enough to have a field trip to Paris visit the Louvre and Musee D'Orsay and see all the beautiful paintings we were studying. One of my favourite things about walking around Paris were all the crepe stands. I remember one time in particular when my friends and I were on our way to take a boat ride on the River Seine and stopped at one of the crepe huts. I ordered a Nutella and banana crepe and it is one of my favourite combinations to this day. Crepes have become quite popular in the U.S. as well and many restaurants focusing on crepes have opened (Creperies). This nice light pancake is not only good with sweet fillings, but great on its own or with savoury fillings for lunch or dinner. I love them filled with melted cheese and sauteed mushrooms. Many pancake house chains serve them, but they tend to be made too thick (more like a traditional pancake) and often have too much cream cheese type fillings. I think they call them blintzes. You can usually ask for them plain, but you might as well leave them to what they do best - traditional pancakes - and make the real crepes at home.

It's a nice creamy batter and it is best to let it rest after you mix it for the flour to absorb as much moisture as possible. I usually make it the night before, leave it in the refrigerator overnight in a bowl wrapped in plastic and then make them for breakfast the next morning.

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You don't need one, but I have a special crepe pan that is non-stick and has low edges and works perfectly to make a 6 inch crepe. Most recipes tell you to measure out a 1/4 or 1/3 cup of batter, but I find it easiest to use a ladle and pour it in the pan and then move the pan around to spread the batter for a nice thin crepe. They cook very quickly and turn easier (much easier than our traditional cakey pancakes).

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Now for preparing them to eat.... I usually never use maple syrup with these, but you could. My mum's favourite is to sprinkle them with powdered sugar and have a some fresh squeezed lemon on them. My favourite is much more rich, but I love a light spreading of Nutella on the inside with sliced fresh banana. Bon Appetit! Next, I want to try to make a yummy dessert made of crepes.