Lemon Bars / Squares
These did not appear in my house when I was growing up... We always had Lemon Meringue Pie. However, I had an Aunt and Uncle that lived out in the Rockies; I would visit them to do some skiing and these Lemon Squares were always in the lunches they packed.
Flash forward a few years, and I moved out west to work at one of those ski resorts... when I came home this recipe was in my bag. Now it probably isn’t that special on its own, what makes it special to me are all the memories that flood back when I make and eat them.
These memories are a huge part of what makes food special; the associations that we make over smell, taste, and the visual.
In the end these are still great lemon bars / squares, the cookie base along with the slightly sweet acidity of the lemon filling - maybe I should make some more on the weekend.
So take a look at the recipe video, and then check out the Zesty Lemon Bars Recipe page.
Clafoutis
This is our panic dessert, all of the ingredients are always in our pantry and it can be on the table in 25-30 minutes. Super fantastic for unexpected guests, or on those nights when you crave a little something after supper.
So you can watch the video right here, or go over to the recipe page where you can watch the video and get written downloadable recipe directions for Clafoutis.
Pie and Tart Dough
Of all the recipes that we can make, it seems that pie dough strikes the most fear in our hearts. I have to tell you I don’t know why... Most dough or pastry recipes contain only 3 or 4 ingredients: Fat, Flour, Water. In an easy to remember formula (by weight): 3 parts fat, 2 parts flour, 1 part water. Couldn’t be easier, right?
Well, yes and no.
First off what fat to use? in our kitchen Lard is number one; I know that over the years it’s got-ten a lot of bad press but that was mostly just hype by the shortening marketers. On the box of lard in my fridge there is only one ingredient - Non-Hydrogenated Lard, the ingredient list on shortening is significantly longer... Our second choice is butter, and this is usually used when we add sugar for a sweeter crust.
Some recipes will call for an egg, sugar, and sometimes vinegar; these are all personal preferences with everyone claiming that their Grandma did it this way or that so it must be best. So who are we to argue?
By hand vs food processor? I now fall squarely in the food processor camp, you just need to make sure you don’t over process.
Once you’ve made the dough, you need to roll it out. I’ve been baking pies for 26 years or so, and usually I can roll it out OK but sometimes there is still a disaster. So don’t worry if it doesn’t look pretty, I prefer to think of it as ‘rustic’ or ‘hand-made’, in the end it will taste better than anything you can buy at the store.
Here are some great recipes to get started with:
3-2-1 Pie pastry recipe using butter
3-2-1 Pie pastry recipe using lard
Sweet Tart dough recipe
Rolling pie dough
How-to blind bake a pie shell
Pumpkin Pie Recipe
Date Custard Pie Recipe
Common pie crust problems, and solutions.
Crust is tough & rubbery: Too much water and / or overhandling
Too tender & falls apart: Undermixed, too little water, too much fat.
Dry & mealy: Fat mixed in too finely, too little water
Desserts for two
Most nights around our house, somewhere between doing dishes and making a cup of tea, discussion turns to making a sweet dessert. We don’t buy cookies or cakes at the store - nothing wrong with them, it’s just a matter of preference and self control.
You see a bag of cookies just screams out to be eaten, we comply and then wish we hadn’t. So our pact is: if you want sweets for dessert you need to bake them after supper. Not a problem, actually. Cookies, cakes and other treats can end up on the dessert plate quite quickly when you are motivated. Jules can have any number of cookies ready from scratch in 20 - 25 minutes. On the nights without motivation, we are saved from eating something we probably don’t need.
My vote is always for brownies, my current fave is this recipe for Black and Tan Brownies.
Problem is leftovers. I work from a home office, and try as I might the leftover brownies usually don’t make it to supper on the second day.
Enter this Molten Chocolate Cake Recipe for Two.
In the video Julie whips it together in no time, and it uses very few ingredients.
So when is a molten chocolate cake not a brownie? I’m sure that the lack of a leavening agent might have something to do with it, but it’s probably just in the cooking time. Follow the directions and you get an oooey goooey mess that tastes great - if you don’t burn your tongue because you couldn’t wait for it to cool.
If you cook it a bit longer the centre firms up and you have something that’s just like a brownie, dense and chocolately.
The video goes live on Friday June 12, we hope you enjoy it.
