Gail Ball
exc uiiue events
Wedding Specialist
Corporate & Personal
Event Planning
I
•
always maintain a bowl full of fresh lemons somewhere in my house. Always.
First, there's that skin. It's the perfect color. Isn't lemon yellow among the
happiest of all hues? Second, lemons are indispensable to my cooking.
Whenever I put together a sweet
table, I insist on at least one thing
chocolate and something lemon. The
tangy sweet and sour flavor adds just
the right amount of zest to any cele-
bration.
Lemons are fresh. Lemons are
sunny. And they better almost every-
thing around them.
Like most citrus, the lemon is a win-
ter fruit, best from fall to spring, but
it's readily available all year long.
Most lemon desserts are yellow. But
the color doesn't come from the lemon
itself If that were so, lemonade would
not be the cloudy, milky color we
know it to be. What makes lemon-
filled sweets yellow is, most often,
eggs. Most recipes that call for lemon
also include eggs — from pie to pud-
ding to curd.
Look through the following recipes
and you'll see lemon most often sur-
rounded by its ubiquitous pals, eggs
and sugar. Eggs add the form while
sugar cuts the acid.
Unless absolutely necessary, use only
fresh lemons when you cook. In a
pinch, you can use frozen lemon juice
(located in your grocer's freezer, near
the frozen juices). Choose fruits that
are heavy for their size and with a rind
that gives when squeezed. Roll them
with the palm of hand to and away
from you on a flat surface to get the
juices going. For extra juiciness,
microwave them for 30 seconds or so.
The enemy of lemon is too little or
too much sugar. Part of the lemon's
charm is the sharpness that makes you
suck hard after the first encounter, but
too much sugar can be sickening as
well. Be careful.
The great food writer Molly O'Neill
wrote, "There is something eternal
about the freshness a lemon imparts."
It's true. Whenever I want to bring out
the flavor of most cooked foods, I
squeeze a lemon.
Many a baked goods recipe benefits
from adding a spoonful or two of fine-
ly grated lemon zest, even it the recipe
doesn't call for it. In fact, even the
cookbook recipes I follow nearly
always get an extra squeeze of lemon.
Like all condiments, lemon should be
added to taste.
Life has given us lemons. Make
lemonade. And lemon squares and
tarts and cookies. Use lemons as a
theme for entertaining. Cram glass
vases full of lemons and fill them with
water. Then stick yellow tulips in the
vase. Use bright yellow napkins. We
can all use more sunshine.
ingredients in a medium bowl and
whisk well until smooth. Pour into the
baked crust and bake for 20-30 min-
utes, until the filling is set. Let cool
before garnishing with the candy, if
using, and the mint leaves. Makes 12
servings.
Lemon Raspberry Thumbprints
Pretty and elegant. The cookies may
crack a little around the sides when
you make your indentation — I like
them this way (they look homey). If
you prefer your cookie not to crack at
all, add a teaspoon of water to the
dough.
Lemon Tarte With Almond Crust
Crust:
1 cup flour
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup ground almonds
6 T butter or margarine, melted
Filling.
1 cup sugar
1 cup lemon juice
2 T flour
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, melted
6 eggs
jellied lemon slices candy,
garnish (optional)
fresh mint leaves, garnish
Preheat oven to 350F. Spray an 8- or
9-inch tart pan with removable bot-
tom with nonstick cooking spray. Set
aside.
Make crust: Combine all crust
ingredients in a bowl and stir well
until a thick dough is formed (you
ma•also do this with a mixer or food
processor). Press this. mixture evenly
on the bottom and up the sides of the
prepared pan. Bake the crust in the
preheated oven for 20 minutes.
Remove from oven to cool. Set the
oven to 400F.
Make filling: Combine all filling
1/2 cup butter or margarine,
softened
1/4 cup sugar
1 large egg yolk
1 t. lemon extract
Fresh fine-grated peel from one
lemon or lime
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 t. salt
1/4 cup raspberry jam or preserves
Confectioners sugar, for sprinkling
on cookies
Preheat oven to 325°F. Combine
butter, sugar, egg yolk, extract and
grated peel in large bowl. Beat at
medium speed until fluffy, about 3
minutes. Add flour and salt and beat
:until well mixed.
Shape dough into 16 1-inch diame-
ter balls. Place on parchment-lined or
ungreased cookie sheet and flatten
slightly with the palm of your hand.
Press your thumb or index finger
knuckle (second knuckle, where finger
bends in half) into the center of the
cookie to make an indentation in each
cookie (the dough may crack a bit).
Spoon a small amount of jam into the
indentation of each cookie. Bake for
LIFE Is A LEMON on page 34
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2edicated to Thetaiii
Beautiful
Elegant
Memorable
(248) 851-8845
(248) 851-7922 (Fax)
gail22b@aol.com
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