Half Baked: lemon

Showing posts with label lemon. Show all posts

Sunday, April 29, 2012

Lemon Thyme Cake

I made these cakes for a ladies group I spoke at about using herbs in cooking. Most of the women in the group were fairly familiar with cooking with herbs like thyme, but very few had ever used any herb, other than mint, in baking. Thyme is from the mint family and has a slightly minty, lightly lemony flavor which makes it perfect to use in baking. Thyme pairs perfectly with this lemony cake. I added thyme to the cake batter. After the cakes were baked I poked holes into them with a skewer and topped them with a lemon thyme syrup. The syrup adds even more lemon thyme flavor. Poking holes into the cake allows the syrup to get all the way into the cake and keeps it extremely moist. In fact, these cakes seem to taste better the longer they sits. If you've never tried baking with herbs, this cake is a great place to start!

Lemon Thyme Cake

Source: Martha Stewart (adapted)
Yields: 2 loaf cakes or one bundt cake
Printable Recipe

Ingredient:

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter
3 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup low-fat buttermilk
Zest of 2 lemons, finely grated

1 tablespoon fresh thyme,chopped, (if the center stem of the thyme is tough, pick the leaves off and discard the stem).
1/3 cup fresh lemon juice (about 2 lemons)
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2 cups sugar
5 large eggs

Lemon Thyme Syrup
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup lemon juice
3/4 cup sugar
Zest of one lemon, finely grated
5-6 sprigs of fresh thyme

Method:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees, with rack in lowest position. Butter and flour or spray with cooking spray, two 4 1/2-by-8-inch (6-cup) loaf pans.
Make the syrup:
In a small pot, stir together the lemon juice, zest, sugar, and thyme. Heat the mixture on medium for about 10 minutes, until the sugar is dissolves and the liquid is clear. Take off the heat, cover and set aside while you prepare the cake.

For the cake:

In a a 2 cup liquid measuring cup,combine buttermilk with lemon juice and fresh thyme. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, salt, baking powder, and baking soda.

In a separate bowl mix lemon zest and sugar together. Rub the sugar together with the zest until the sugar is slightly damp.

With an electric mixer, cream butter and sugar/zest until light and fluffy about 3 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.

With mixer on low, add flour mixture in three parts alternately with the buttermilk mixture in two, beginning and ending with flour; beat just until smooth (do not overmix).

Divide batter evenly between pans; smooth tops. Bake until a toothpick inserted in centers comes out clean, 50 to 60 minutes (tent with foil if browning too quickly). Cool 15 minutes in pan. Turn out cakes onto a rack; cool for about 20 minutes before glazing with the syrup.

Set rack with cakes over a baking sheet lined with waxed paper. Poke holes in the cakes over the top with a skewer or a thin knife. Pour the syrup over cakes, letting it run down the sides; let dry, about 30 minutes.

I also want to congratulate Kerry S. on winning our Woodland Fairy giveaway!! Our fairy party was also featured on two wonderful blogs last week. Woohoo!

Check out our feature on Happy Hour Project and Kate from A Creative Cookie picked our party to be featured on Sugar Bee Crafts! Thanks ladies, I am honored!

Wednesday, January 6, 2010

Lightened Up Lemon Bars

It's that time of the year when we make those resolutions and try to change old habits. After all it's a whole ~~new year~~ decade! So I guess it's just the natural time to take stock and try to make changes for the better. Be more organized, don't procrastinate, eat less, exercise more...etc. All of which, in theory, are wonderful ideas. So why are they so difficult to put into practice? Especially the eating less and exercising more one. Cut back, eat less, no junk, work out = healthier life. Okay got the formula. It sounds so simple. Reasonable you might even say. Then how come almost no one sticks to the plan? Want the answer?? I'll let you in on a secret. It's because fat tastes GOOD. Butter, cream, cream cheese, yum! Bring it on. They are all delicious, and quite frankly I wouldn't want to live in a world without butter. Still I would like to shed a few pounds and just be in all around better shape so I guess somethings got to give, at least a little.

These lemon bars are a lightened up version of the original. Typically the crust of lemon bars is a butter laden shortbread type crust. Nothing wrong with that but like I said somethings got to give! This crust is made with oats and only has 3 Tbl. of butter, compared to the 8 tablespoons in the original recipe and instead of 2 whole eggs you use only 1 egg and 1 egg white. Okay so there's still a bit of sugar but a lot less fat. So feel free to have your cake, or in this case lemon bar, and eat it too

Lightened Up Lemon Bars

For the Base:

1 cup all-purpose flour

1/4 cup sugar

1/2 cup quick oats

3 tbsp butter

For the Topping:

1 egg

1 egg white

1 cup sugar

3 tbs flour

1/4 tsp baking powder

Pinch of salt

Juice and zest of 1 large lemon

Confectioner's sugar, sifted, for sprinkling

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Coat an 8-inch square baking pan with nonstick cooking spray. Combine flour, oats and sugar in a medium bowl. Using a pastry blender, add butter and blend until the mixture is crumbly.
Press crumbs into the bottom of the baking pan. Bake for 10 minutes until edges are golden.
Meanwhile, whisk egg and egg white. Add sugar and beat until creamy. Add flour, baking powder, salt and lemon; whisk until smooth.
Pour lemon mixture over pre-baked base. Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until center is set.
Cool in pan for 15 minutes, then transfer to wire rack to cool completely.
Makes 16 squares.

(Printable Recipe)

Source: Fiona Haynes About.com low-fat cooking

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Super Meyer Lemon Ice Cream

Meyer lemons were on sale this week at the grocery store so of course I couldn't leave without a bag of 6 or 7 of these beauties! I recently became the proud owner of two Meyer lemon trees so hopefully next year I'll be picking them from my own backyard. In the meantime however, I couldn't resist bringing these home with me. After buying them I had to decide what I wanted to do with them. Oh the possibilities! I came across this article in the LA Times for 100 things to do with Meyer lemons. I'd like to try every single one of them. With my two trees, I just might get the chance! One of the suggestions they listed was for Meyer lemon ice cream. They had a link to a recipe, but I didn't have everything it called for so I decided to look to David Lebovitz, my ice cream guru. He had a recipe for Super Lemon Ice Cream that not only sounded wonderful but was also quite simple to make. So I decided I'd try my Meyer lemons in this recipe. I replaced the regular lemon juice with Meyer lemon juice. Meyer lemons are a little milder than lemons and I wanted the ice cream to have a real lemony punch so I added a bit more zest in mine. I think this ice cream has a great balance of tart and sweet.

Ingredients

3 teaspoons lemon zest (I used a little more than a Tablespoon of Meyer lemon zest)
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup Meyer lemon juice
1 cup milk
1 cup heavy cream
1 pinch salt

Zest lemons directly into food processor. Pour in sugar and process until the sugar is faintly lemon-colored and the zest is finely ground.

Juice the lemons and straining out any seeds. Pour the measured juice into the sugar/zest mixture. Blend until the sugar dissolves.

Add half and half and blend.Chill for about an hour; the product may break up, but just stir it back together. Freeze in an ice cream machine according to manufacturer's directions.

For Easter we had a strawberry and rhubarb sauce to go with our cake. I had a little left over and topped the ice cream with the sauce. The flavors were perfect together.

Sunday, January 4, 2009

Meyer Lemon Custard Cakes

It's been gray and rainy for several days. The holidays are over and after all that baking I'm lacking motivation a bit. Hubs and I are trying to get in better shape. These are a few of the reasons I've been finding it difficult to blog right now. Don't worry there will still be plenty of baking going on, I'm just in a slight funk.
I got a bag of these gorgeous sunny Meyer lemons from my parents farm. They're so pretty they're begging to baked into something wonderful. I just got the latest Bon Appetit and in it is a recipe for Meyer lemon custard cakes. There small light and lemony, the perfect antidote to all those heavy holiday desserts.

Meyer Lemon Custard Cakes
source: Bon Appetit

3/4 cup plus 2 TBS sugar, divided
1/4 cup all purpose flour
pinch of salt
1 1/3 cups whole milk
2 large eggs, separated
1/3 cup fresh Meyer lemon juice or regular lemon juice
2 TBS finely grated Meyer lemon peel or regular lemon peel
1 8-ounce container chilled creme fraiche

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter eight 3/4-cup ramekins or custard cups. Whisk together 1/2 cup plus 2 TBS sugar, flour and pinch of salt in a medium bowl. Combine milk, egg yolks, lemon juice, and lemon peel in a large bowl; whisk until blended. In another bowl, beat egg whites with an electric mixer until soft peaks form. Gradually add remaining 1/4 cup sugar and beat egg whites till stiff but not dry. Fold 1/4 of whites into custard. In two additions fold in the remaining egg whites in the custard. (the custard will be runny and I had lumps of egg whites when I made it)
Divide custard equally among the ramekins. Place ramekins in a large roasting pan. Pour enough hot water to come halfway up the sides of ramekins. Bake custards until golden brown and set on top (custard cakes will have a soft center), about 25-27 minutes. Cool slightly, and refrigerate custard cakes. Chill custard cakes until cold at least 4 hours, then cover and keep refrigerated.
Using electric mixer, beat creme fraiche in a medium bowl until softly whipped.
Run a knife around each custard cake to loosen. Invert each on a plate. Serve with whipped creme fraiche.

*Notes: I made this recipe according to the recipe except for the creme fraiche because I didn't have any on hand. I think I would use 1/2 cup lemon juice and 3 TBS grated lemon peel the next time I make these. The lemon flavor was very light and I like a little more tang. The custards definitely need to be made in advance so the flavors have a chance to meld.