Spring!

“Is the spring coming?" he said. "What is it like?"... "It is the sun shining on the rain and the rain falling on the sunshine...” ~Frances Hodgson Burnett, The Secret Garden

We have had a very busy month over here, so I apologize to my readers for taking such a long time to get back in the groove of things. Today is the second day of April and we have showers, but we also have flowers. The highways are starting to brighten up with their annual blanket of Bluebonnets and Indian Paintbrush. One of the many things I love about Austin is the Spring, as it reminds me of a Monet painting. Out in the backyard we have buds bursting on the Meyer lemon tree again and the bees are busy dancing around the blossoms. Little radishes are popping their heads from the soil to say hello. Bunches of baby lettuces are making there way to salad bowls along with plenty of fresh herbs from the garden.

Whether you have a garden in the back or one in your heart, why not consider sewing some seeds of good health. It will do your soul a world of good, I'm jus’ sayin’!

12 Days of Meyer - Day 10: Candied Meyer Lemon

Candied fruit. It's been around for ages and it's what some people love in fruitcake and what others dread. Personally, I would take a strip of home-made candied citrus over any candy bar. This year, instead of making strips I decided to go with whole slices and then dice them up to create my own version of candied fruit for fruit cake. Stay tuned and I'll let you know how that turns out. 

Candied Meyer Lemon Slices

2 Meyer Lemons sliced 1/4 inch thick

1 Cup of Sugar

1 Cup of Water

Bring all of the above to a boil in a heavy pot. Then lower heat and simmer for 25 minutes, or until the slices are translucent. Remove slices from syrup and place them in a shallow pan that has sugar sprinkled on the bottom. Coat the slices with the sugar and then lay them on a clean plate to dry overnight. Once dried, they can be kept in an airtight container in your fridge for several months.  I used two kinds of sugar to do the final coat. I used granulated sugar for some slices and coconut sugar (hence the brown colored slices) for the others. Both taste equally delicious. Add some more water to the leftover syrup in the pan and make a meyer lemon simple syrup for lemonade or cocktails. This will keep in the fridge for 3 weeks. 

12 Days of Meyer - Day 9: Meyer Margarita

Meyer Lemon Margarita

In a blender or bullet, combine:
1 Part Organic Agave Nectar
4 Parts Freshly Squeezed Meyer Lemon Juice
2 Parts Tequila (I used Republic Plata Tequila)
2 Parts orange Juice
Ice Cubes
*garnish glass rim with tangerine salt (I used Confituras).

Blend and pour into a salt rimmed glass. Enjoy!

12 Days of Meyer - Day 6: Meyer Hummus

Being on a low glycemic diet these days pushes me to make better snack choices. I have always loved hummus but when I realized that homemade tastes much better then the store bought, as well as being cheaper, then why not, right? This recipe is not traditional as I leave out the tahini, but you can certainly add some if you like.

Meyer Lemon Hummus

(Makes approximately 1 1/2 cups of Hummus)

In your blender, blend the following until a paste is made, fine or coarse - your preference.

1 1/2 cups of cooked Garbanzo Beans (chick peas). I like to cook my own but you can use canned.
Zest of 1 Meyer Lemon
1/3 cup fresh juice of a Meyer Lemon
1/3 cup good extra virgin olive oil
1 clove of fresh garlic
1 tsp of salt (more if you prefer)
Black pepper (to taste)

Place in a dish and serve with pita wedges or raw veggies.

12 Days Of Meyer - Day 5: All Purpose Household Cleaner

All-purpose cleaning solution: combine lemon juice, vinegar and water in a spray bottle. You can use this for all of your counter tops or shower/tub cleaning. It does a decent job on windows too.

Cut a lemon in half and sprinkle baking soda on the cut section. Use the lemon to scrub dishes, surfaces, and stains. I cleaned my whole stove-top with one lemon half and 1/4 cup of baking soda.

To make furniture polish, mix one part lemon juice and two parts olive oil.

End of Meyers - Beginning of Spring?

Well sadly, as I am zesting my last Meyer and juicing my last blood orange, I feel the need to post one more entry about this amazing piece of fruit that entices my five senses like no other fruit does. OK, maybe that's a bit dramatic considering that I love all fruit, but I think the reason why Meyers hold such a dear spot in my heart is that they have this uncanny way of just brightening my day. Whether I'm squeezing the juice into my daily glasses of water or whipping up a jar of curd, it let's me know that Spring is just around the corner and soon the cold, gray, and bleak Winter will turn sunny and bright and full of new life.

I made a jar of lemon curd, thanks to one of my many favorite bloggers. She shows how incredibly easy it is. What I was not prepared for was how hard it would be to keep wanting to put a spoon in the jar and devour it. Trying to remind myself that I need to taste and not obsess over these recipes has forced me to think of another way to use this creamy dessert. I volunteer in my daughter's middle school office every Tuesday and though I know the staff there tries hard to remember my name, for some reason, the "Tuesday Baker Lady" has become my official name. Don't get me wrong, I am not offended by that at all, and find it very complimentary. I digressed a bit (sorry) so now back to that luscious lemon curd... I decided to make tartlets to take into the office this past Tuesday. I had some mini French tartlet molds I had purchased from a tag sale many years ago and they got to come out of hiding and be the star in this recipe. I made an easy pastry dough. Then I combined the lemon curd I made with a half of container of left-over (this is where you must try hard not to cringe) fat-free Cool Whip. I know, what in the world was she thinking not using real whipping cream! Trust me, it was left over from another fat-free recipe and so I used it up. Believe it or not, it proved to be a very light lemony mousse-like filling. The added little sprigs of mint I picked from my backyard were the perfect garnish to enhance these little tarts.

So while I may not have anymore lemons on my tree, I do have a fridge full of juice! And while Winter is still showing it's nasty weather outside, I love that I can defrost a cube of sunshine inside and perhaps give a new meaning to bitter-sweet endings - I'm jus' sayin'!

Meyer Tartlets

Sweet Pastry Crust

1 1/2 cups (210 grams) all purpose flour
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (113 grams) unsalted butter, room temperature
1/4 cup (50 grams) granulated white sugar
1 large egg, lightly beaten

In a separate bowl, sift or whisk together the flour and salt. Set aside. Place the butter in your mixer and beat until softened. Add sugar and beat until light and fluffy. Gradually add the beaten egg, beating just until incorporated. Don't over mix or the butter will separate and lighten in color. Add flour mixture all at once and mix just until it forms a ball. Don't overwork or pastry will be hard when baked.

Flatten dough into disk, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for about 30 minutes or until firm.

Have ready an 8 - 9 inch (20 - 23 cm) tart pan with removable bottom. (Or 12 mini tart shells) On a lightly floured surface, roll out the pastry into an 11 - 12 inch (28 - 30 cm) circle that is about 1/8 inch (3 mm) thick. To prevent the pastry from sticking to the counter and to ensure uniform thickness, keep lifting up and turning the pastry a quarter turn as you roll (always roll from the center of the pastry outwards to get uniform thickness). To make sure it is the right size, take your tart pan, flip it over, and place it on the rolled out pastry. The pastry should be about an inch larger than pan.

When the pastry is rolled to the desired size, lightly roll pastry around your rolling pin, dusting off any excess flour as you roll. Unroll onto top of tart pan. Never pull pastry or you will get shrinkage (shrinkage is caused by too much pulling of the pastry when placing it in the pan). Gently lay in pan and with a small floured piece of pastry, lightly press pastry into bottom and up sides of pan. Roll your rolling pin over top of pan to get rid of excess pastry. With a thumb up movement, again press dough into pan. Roll rolling pin over top again to get rid of any extra pastry. Prick bottom of dough (this will prevent the dough from puffing up as it bakes). Cover and refrigerate for about 20 minutes to chill the butter and to rest the gluten in the flour.

Filling
Take 1 cup of Lemon Curd
1 1/2 Cups of non dairy whipped topping
Mix together until light and mousse like.
Place in a pastry bag fitted with a decorative tip and refrigerate while tart shells are cooling.

When shells and filling have properly chilled, then pipe each tart with filling. ** If you are making these in advance and you do not want the filling to create a soggy mess I suggest that you melt some white chocolate and lightly paint a coating in the pie shell and then chill until hard and then pipe your filling in. This will create a barrier so no moisture will make crust soggy.

Garnish tart with fresh mint sprigs or very thin slices of Meyer Lemons

Visions of Sugar Plums!

Ahhh, the visions of sugar plums danced through their heads. I totally get this. I sometimes find myself daydreaming about that very thing. During the holidays, I feel so justified when I bump up my baking a degree or two to a psychotic frenzy! Maybe it's because it's the one time of year when people allow themselves to indulge. Or maybe it's the thought of giving all those gifts of "food". Whatever the reason, I find myself entranced in the "spirit" of all things sweet and delicious. I have some stand-bys that are my "expected traditions" - baklava, truffles, salted caramels, and candied citrus peel. This year, I will have another one to add to that list.

Last year, I played around with making marshmallows. Before you get that wrinkled furrow on your forehead and that feeling of "Martha failure", just hear me out. This really is easy if you have two things. You need to have a good candy thermometer - without it, candy making is totally hit or miss. You will also need patience, this being of the utmost importance. If you're covered in these two areas then you're ready to begin. I cannot stress enough that when it comes to candy making, you need to read over the recipe several times before you start. Sometimes, it's not the ingredient that you discover you don't have on hand, but rather the utensil for the job.

I got this recipe from marthastewart.com and I plan on making several different flavors of these marshmallows this year for gift giving. Some of the flavors are Meyer Lemon (I have a tree in my backyard), Vanilla (the traditional flavor) and of course, these lovely peppermint swirls shown in the link. Give a bag of these with some homemade cocoa mix and I swear, you will be the hostess with the mostess! And when your recipients are sipping a steaming cup of cocoa with those marshmallows slowly melting and frothing up, I bet they, too, will be having visions of sugar plums! I'm jus' sayin'...

Peppermint Swirl Marshmallows


Makes sixteen 2-inch squares

* Vegetable-oil cooking spray
* 2 cups sugar
* 1 tablespoon light corn syrup
* 4 packages (1/4 ounce each) unflavored gelatin
* 3/4 teaspoon peppermint extract
* 2 large egg whites
* 2 teaspoons red food coloring

Directions

1. Coat an 8-inch square pan with cooking spray; line bottom with parchment paper. Coat the parchment with cooking spray, and set pan aside. Put sugar, corn syrup, and 3/4 cup water in a small saucepan. Cook over medium heat, stirring, until sugar is dissolved. Stop stirring; let mixture come to a boil. Raise heat to medium-high; cook until mixture registers 260 degrees on a candy thermometer.

2. Meanwhile, sprinkle gelatin over 3/4 cup water in a heatproof bowl; let stand 5 minutes to soften. Set the bowl with the gelatin mixture over a pan of simmering water; whisk constantly until gelatin is dissolved. Remove from heat, and stir in extract; set aside.

3. Beat egg whites in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment until stiff (but not dry) peaks form. Whisk gelatin mixture into sugar mixture; with mixer running, gradually add to egg whites. Mix on high speed until very thick, 12 to 15 minutes.

4. Pour mixture into lined pan. Working quickly, drop dots of red food coloring across surface of marshmallow. Using a toothpick, swirl food coloring into marshmallow to create a marbled effect. Let marshmallow stand, uncovered, at room temperature until firm, at least 3 hours or overnight. Cut into squares.