Lemony Goodness
There's just something refreshing about lemons. And what better way to end a meal than with a lemony dessert?
Here are six lemon desserts to help you through the day, including Frozen Lemonade Pie and a Meyer Lemon Tart. Enjoy!
LEMON BUTTER COOKIES
This is from Diana Rattray on The Spruce Eats. Diana wrote, “These lemon butter cookies are delicious little snowballs full of vibrant lemon flavor. Fresh finely grated lemon zest and lemon juice flavor the cookies perfectly, and the powdered sugar coating makes them extra special. I add chopped walnuts to the cookies but they may be made with chopped pecans or no nuts at all.
“Bake these easy lemon butter cookies for a special occasion or family treat. They're perfect for a party or holiday. Bake them for Easter or a spring or summer event.
“The recipe is easily scaled up for a party or bake sale event. See the tips and variations for a few more ideas and tips for freezing cookies.”
Total: 30 mins; Prep: 15 mins; Cook: 15 mins; Yield: 2 to 3 Dozen (24 servings)
To view this yummy, lemony recipe online, click here.
Ingredients
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour (8 ounces)
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter (unsalted, softened)
2/3 cup sugar (granulated)
2 teaspoon lemon peel (finely grated)
1 large egg
3 tablespoons lemon juice (fresh)
1/2 cup walnuts (finely chopped)
1/4 cup powdered sugar
Directions
Heat the oven to 350 F.
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or grease the pan lightly.
In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, cream of tartar, and salt. Blend thoroughly with a spoon or whisk. Set aside.
In a large mixing bowl with an electric mixer, cream the butter and granulated sugar until light and fluffy, about 4 to 5 minutes.
Beat the egg and lemon zest into the creamed mixture, and then add the lemon juice.
Gradually stir the flour mixture into the first mixture until well blended.
Fold in the chopped walnuts.
With floured hands, shape the dough into small balls and arrange on the prepared baking sheet about 2 inches apart. The cookies will spread just slightly.
Bake the lemon cookies for about 12 to 16 minutes, or until the cookies are lightly browned on the bottoms.
Remove the cookies from the baking sheet to a rack and let them cool.
Using a mesh sieve or sifter, sprinkle the cooled cookies with confectioners' sugar.
Makes about 2 to 3 dozen cookies.
Tips and Variations
If you'll be freezing the cookies, omit the powdered sugar coating. Put the cookies in containers separated with sheets of wax paper and freeze for up to 4 months. Defrost the cookies and place them on a rack. Sift powdered sugar over them.
Omit the chopped walnuts or replace them with chopped pecans or toasted coconut.
Add a teaspoon of dried ground lavender flowers to the flour mixture.
If you are using salted butter, reduce the salt slightly to a scant 1/2 teaspoon.
LEMON SORBET
This is from the infamous long-since-forgotten emailing list. Makes 8 servings.
Ingredients
1 cup water
1 cup sugar
1 cup fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon lemon zest
Directions
In a small saucepan, bring the water and the sugar to a boil, stirring the mixture to dissolve the sugar. Add the lemon juice and zest to the sugar syrup and freeze in an ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions.
LEMON BLUEBERRY SORBET
This also comes from the infamous long-since-forgotten emailing list. Yield: 4 servings.
This begins, “Lemon verbena enhances the lemon flavor of this blueberry sorbet. The rum is optional. The recipe calls for frozen blueberries, so you can make it year-round.”
Ingredients
2/3 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup whole lemon verbena leaves
1 bag frozen blueberries (14 to 16 ounces)
1/3 cup fresh lemon juice
2 Tablespoons lemon-flavored rum (optional)
Directions
Put sugar & lemon verbena in food processor & process 30 seconds. Add frozen blueberries & process 1 minute.
With the processor on, pour lemon juice & rum, if using, through feed tube; process until smooth.
Serve sorbet immediately, or transfer to a covered bowl & keep in freezer (soften slightly before serving, if necessary).
FROZEN LEMONADE PIE
This yummy pie comes from Pat and Gina Neely from The Food Network's Down Home with the Neelys. Total Time: 8 hr 18 min; Prep: 10 min; Inactive: 8 hr; Cook: 8 min; Yield: 8 servings
Read more at: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/patrick-and-gina-neely/frozen-lemonade-pie-recipe.html?oc=linkback
Ingredients
For the Crust:
2 cups graham cracker crumbs
1/4 cup sugar
7 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
For the Filling:
2 cups heavy cream
1 14-ounce can sweetened condensed milk, chilled
1 6-ounce can frozen lemonade concentrate (do not thaw)
For the Topping:
1 cup blueberries
1 cup raspberries
2 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Make the crust: In a medium bowl, combine the graham cracker crumbs, sugar and melted butter. Press firmly on the bottom and up the sides of a 9-inch pie plate. Bake for 7 minutes; cool completely.
Make the filling: In a cold medium bowl, whip the cream until stiff peaks form. In another bowl, stir together the condensed milk and frozen lemonade. Gently fold the lemonade mixture into the whipped cream. Pour the filling into the crust; freeze overnight.
About an hour before you serve the pie, make the topping: Toss the berries in a medium bowl with the sugar and lemon juice. Set aside until ready to serve.
Let the pie come to room temperature for 10 minutes before cutting. Top each slice with berries.
7UP CAKE
This comes from Sam Sifton in The New York Times cooking e-newsletter. Sam wrote, “I love a clandestine soda in the preparation of food, a flash of carbonation where the French might use wine, or brandy. It may be transgressive to say so, but I’m hardly alone, for all those who cringe at the thought. Page through church or community cookbooks and you’ll find examples: Coke-spiked Jell-O situations, root beer-glazed fillets of salmon, beans simmered in Moxie. This recipe for a lemon-and-lime soda cake came to me a while back from a Times reader who thought I’d appreciate it (I did!). She said she’d gotten it from a grandmother down south, who stored it on an index card placed in her copy of the cookbook published by the Symphony League of Jackson, Miss., in 1971. The original called for oleo and Crisco oil. I swapped these out for dairy and neutral oil, and a little less soda, and an additional 15 minutes in the oven. This leaves the cake toast-brown and glistening, glossy-crumbed and high-risen, a marvelous moist yellow within. I’m no shill for Big Soda. You could just as easily make it with plain sparkling water and a spritz of lemon or lime. You could make it with sparkling wine!”
Yield: 10 to 12 servings; Time: 1 hour 30 minutes, plus cooling.
This was featured in “The Secret to Poundcake That Really Pops”, and can be viewed online at https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1020510-7up-cake.
Ingredients
1 cup unsalted butter (2 sticks), at room temperature, plus additional for greasing
1/2 cup vegetable, canola or other neutral oil
3 cups granulated sugar
5 large eggs
1 teaspoon lemon extract
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
1 cup 7Up
3 cups all-purpose flour
Preparation:
Heat oven to 350.
In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream together the butter, oil and sugar at medium speed. Add eggs one at a time, blending until incorporated, then blend in the lemon, vanilla and almond extracts. Add half the 7Up, blending until combined, then half the flour; repeat with the remaining 7Up, then the remaining flour until evenly blended.
Grease a 10-inch Bundt pan with butter; add cake batter. Bake until golden on top and firm to the touch, about 1 hour 15 minutes. Let cool in pan 10 minutes, then invert onto serving platter, and let cool to room temperature before slicing and serving.
MEYER LEMON TART
This is from Amanda Hesser at The New York Times cooking e-newsletter. Amanda wrote, “The Meyer lemon has always been something of a California secret, and every year when its brief growing season begins there, eager cooks sigh with relief. The Meyer is not as assertive as the common supermarket varieties, but it offers so much more in nuanced flavor that it is unforgettable. And these days, the Meyer's secret is finally out. A Meyer lemon contains about four times the sugar of a regular lemon, but it can be used almost interchangeably with the traditional varieties, adding a rounder edge to both sweet and savory dishes. And you can use the whole thing – from pulp to peel. This gorgeous tart is the ideal way to showcase its seductive fragrance and flavor. (Regular lemons will work well in this recipe too, but you'll likely want to add a bit more sugar.)”
Yield: One 10-inch tart; Time: 1 hour.
This was featured in “All Perfume, No Pucker” and can be viewed online here.
Ingredients
For the Crust
8 ounces (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened, plus extra for greasing pan
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg yolk
1/2 tablespoon milk
12 ounces (about 2 1/3 cups) all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
For the Lemon Curd
1 1/4 pound (5 or 6) Meyer lemons
1 cup sugar
5 1/2 ounces (1 stick plus 3 tablespoons) unsalted butter, softened, plus extra for greasing pan
7 large egg yolks
5 large eggs
1/8 teaspoon salt
Preparation
Make the crust: in the bowl of a mixer, cream together butter and sugar. Add egg yolk and the milk, and beat to combine. In a medium bowl, combine the flour with salt. Slowly add the flour to the butter mixture, stirring until completely blended. Gather dough into two balls. Freeze one for future use, chill the other for at least 1 hour.
Heavily butter a 10-inch tart pan with a removable bottom. Press the dough into the pan and trim the edges. Prick the bottom with a fork, and place the shell in the freezer for 30 minutes.
While shell is in freezer, prepare lemon curd. Grate zest of lemons. Squeeze lemons to extract 1 cup of juice. In a medium nonreactive saucepan, combine juice and zest. Add remaining sugar, butter and salt. Place over medium heat, stirring once or twice, until sugar is dissolved and the butter is melted.
In bowl of a mixer, combine eggs and egg yolks until blended. Slowly add hot lemon mixture to eggs until blended. Return mixture to saucepan, and place over low heat. Whisk constantly until mixture thickens to a pudding-like consistency; do not allow it to boil. Remove from heat, and continue to stir to stop the cooking. Strain lemon curd into a bowl. Adjust sugar to taste; the curd should be tart, but may need additional sugar if the lemons were unripe. Cover with plastic wrap, pressing it right against the surface of the curd. Allow to cool.
Heat oven to 375 degrees. Remove tart shell from freezer, and bake until lightly golden, 20 to 25 minutes. Remove from heat and allow to cool slightly. Spoon lemon curd into tart shell, and smooth the top. Bake until filling has puffed around the edges, about 30 minutes. Cover edges with foil, if necessary, to prevent over-browning. Cool to room temperature before serving.
Meyer Lemon Tart, 7U
Here are six lemon desserts to help you through the day, including Frozen Lemonade Pie and a Meyer Lemon Tart. Enjoy!
LEMON BUTTER COOKIES
This is from Diana Rattray on The Spruce Eats. Diana wrote, “These lemon butter cookies are delicious little snowballs full of vibrant lemon flavor. Fresh finely grated lemon zest and lemon juice flavor the cookies perfectly, and the powdered sugar coating makes them extra special. I add chopped walnuts to the cookies but they may be made with chopped pecans or no nuts at all.
“Bake these easy lemon butter cookies for a special occasion or family treat. They're perfect for a party or holiday. Bake them for Easter or a spring or summer event.
“The recipe is easily scaled up for a party or bake sale event. See the tips and variations for a few more ideas and tips for freezing cookies.”
Total: 30 mins; Prep: 15 mins; Cook: 15 mins; Yield: 2 to 3 Dozen (24 servings)
To view this yummy, lemony recipe online, click here.
Ingredients
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour (8 ounces)
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter (unsalted, softened)
2/3 cup sugar (granulated)
2 teaspoon lemon peel (finely grated)
1 large egg
3 tablespoons lemon juice (fresh)
1/2 cup walnuts (finely chopped)
1/4 cup powdered sugar
Directions
Heat the oven to 350 F.
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or grease the pan lightly.
In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, cream of tartar, and salt. Blend thoroughly with a spoon or whisk. Set aside.
In a large mixing bowl with an electric mixer, cream the butter and granulated sugar until light and fluffy, about 4 to 5 minutes.
Beat the egg and lemon zest into the creamed mixture, and then add the lemon juice.
Gradually stir the flour mixture into the first mixture until well blended.
Fold in the chopped walnuts.
With floured hands, shape the dough into small balls and arrange on the prepared baking sheet about 2 inches apart. The cookies will spread just slightly.
Bake the lemon cookies for about 12 to 16 minutes, or until the cookies are lightly browned on the bottoms.
Remove the cookies from the baking sheet to a rack and let them cool.
Using a mesh sieve or sifter, sprinkle the cooled cookies with confectioners' sugar.
Makes about 2 to 3 dozen cookies.
Tips and Variations
If you'll be freezing the cookies, omit the powdered sugar coating. Put the cookies in containers separated with sheets of wax paper and freeze for up to 4 months. Defrost the cookies and place them on a rack. Sift powdered sugar over them.
Omit the chopped walnuts or replace them with chopped pecans or toasted coconut.
Add a teaspoon of dried ground lavender flowers to the flour mixture.
If you are using salted butter, reduce the salt slightly to a scant 1/2 teaspoon.
LEMON SORBET
This is from the infamous long-since-forgotten emailing list. Makes 8 servings.
Ingredients
1 cup water
1 cup sugar
1 cup fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon lemon zest
Directions
In a small saucepan, bring the water and the sugar to a boil, stirring the mixture to dissolve the sugar. Add the lemon juice and zest to the sugar syrup and freeze in an ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions.
LEMON BLUEBERRY SORBET
This also comes from the infamous long-since-forgotten emailing list. Yield: 4 servings.
This begins, “Lemon verbena enhances the lemon flavor of this blueberry sorbet. The rum is optional. The recipe calls for frozen blueberries, so you can make it year-round.”
Ingredients
2/3 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup whole lemon verbena leaves
1 bag frozen blueberries (14 to 16 ounces)
1/3 cup fresh lemon juice
2 Tablespoons lemon-flavored rum (optional)
Directions
Put sugar & lemon verbena in food processor & process 30 seconds. Add frozen blueberries & process 1 minute.
With the processor on, pour lemon juice & rum, if using, through feed tube; process until smooth.
Serve sorbet immediately, or transfer to a covered bowl & keep in freezer (soften slightly before serving, if necessary).
FROZEN LEMONADE PIE
This yummy pie comes from Pat and Gina Neely from The Food Network's Down Home with the Neelys. Total Time: 8 hr 18 min; Prep: 10 min; Inactive: 8 hr; Cook: 8 min; Yield: 8 servings
Read more at: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/patrick-and-gina-neely/frozen-lemonade-pie-recipe.html?oc=linkback
Ingredients
For the Crust:
2 cups graham cracker crumbs
1/4 cup sugar
7 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
For the Filling:
2 cups heavy cream
1 14-ounce can sweetened condensed milk, chilled
1 6-ounce can frozen lemonade concentrate (do not thaw)
For the Topping:
1 cup blueberries
1 cup raspberries
2 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Make the crust: In a medium bowl, combine the graham cracker crumbs, sugar and melted butter. Press firmly on the bottom and up the sides of a 9-inch pie plate. Bake for 7 minutes; cool completely.
Make the filling: In a cold medium bowl, whip the cream until stiff peaks form. In another bowl, stir together the condensed milk and frozen lemonade. Gently fold the lemonade mixture into the whipped cream. Pour the filling into the crust; freeze overnight.
About an hour before you serve the pie, make the topping: Toss the berries in a medium bowl with the sugar and lemon juice. Set aside until ready to serve.
Let the pie come to room temperature for 10 minutes before cutting. Top each slice with berries.
7UP CAKE
This comes from Sam Sifton in The New York Times cooking e-newsletter. Sam wrote, “I love a clandestine soda in the preparation of food, a flash of carbonation where the French might use wine, or brandy. It may be transgressive to say so, but I’m hardly alone, for all those who cringe at the thought. Page through church or community cookbooks and you’ll find examples: Coke-spiked Jell-O situations, root beer-glazed fillets of salmon, beans simmered in Moxie. This recipe for a lemon-and-lime soda cake came to me a while back from a Times reader who thought I’d appreciate it (I did!). She said she’d gotten it from a grandmother down south, who stored it on an index card placed in her copy of the cookbook published by the Symphony League of Jackson, Miss., in 1971. The original called for oleo and Crisco oil. I swapped these out for dairy and neutral oil, and a little less soda, and an additional 15 minutes in the oven. This leaves the cake toast-brown and glistening, glossy-crumbed and high-risen, a marvelous moist yellow within. I’m no shill for Big Soda. You could just as easily make it with plain sparkling water and a spritz of lemon or lime. You could make it with sparkling wine!”
Yield: 10 to 12 servings; Time: 1 hour 30 minutes, plus cooling.
This was featured in “The Secret to Poundcake That Really Pops”, and can be viewed online at https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1020510-7up-cake.
Ingredients
1 cup unsalted butter (2 sticks), at room temperature, plus additional for greasing
1/2 cup vegetable, canola or other neutral oil
3 cups granulated sugar
5 large eggs
1 teaspoon lemon extract
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
1 cup 7Up
3 cups all-purpose flour
Preparation:
Heat oven to 350.
In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream together the butter, oil and sugar at medium speed. Add eggs one at a time, blending until incorporated, then blend in the lemon, vanilla and almond extracts. Add half the 7Up, blending until combined, then half the flour; repeat with the remaining 7Up, then the remaining flour until evenly blended.
Grease a 10-inch Bundt pan with butter; add cake batter. Bake until golden on top and firm to the touch, about 1 hour 15 minutes. Let cool in pan 10 minutes, then invert onto serving platter, and let cool to room temperature before slicing and serving.
MEYER LEMON TART
This is from Amanda Hesser at The New York Times cooking e-newsletter. Amanda wrote, “The Meyer lemon has always been something of a California secret, and every year when its brief growing season begins there, eager cooks sigh with relief. The Meyer is not as assertive as the common supermarket varieties, but it offers so much more in nuanced flavor that it is unforgettable. And these days, the Meyer's secret is finally out. A Meyer lemon contains about four times the sugar of a regular lemon, but it can be used almost interchangeably with the traditional varieties, adding a rounder edge to both sweet and savory dishes. And you can use the whole thing – from pulp to peel. This gorgeous tart is the ideal way to showcase its seductive fragrance and flavor. (Regular lemons will work well in this recipe too, but you'll likely want to add a bit more sugar.)”
Yield: One 10-inch tart; Time: 1 hour.
This was featured in “All Perfume, No Pucker” and can be viewed online here.
Ingredients
For the Crust
8 ounces (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened, plus extra for greasing pan
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg yolk
1/2 tablespoon milk
12 ounces (about 2 1/3 cups) all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
For the Lemon Curd
1 1/4 pound (5 or 6) Meyer lemons
1 cup sugar
5 1/2 ounces (1 stick plus 3 tablespoons) unsalted butter, softened, plus extra for greasing pan
7 large egg yolks
5 large eggs
1/8 teaspoon salt
Preparation
Make the crust: in the bowl of a mixer, cream together butter and sugar. Add egg yolk and the milk, and beat to combine. In a medium bowl, combine the flour with salt. Slowly add the flour to the butter mixture, stirring until completely blended. Gather dough into two balls. Freeze one for future use, chill the other for at least 1 hour.
Heavily butter a 10-inch tart pan with a removable bottom. Press the dough into the pan and trim the edges. Prick the bottom with a fork, and place the shell in the freezer for 30 minutes.
While shell is in freezer, prepare lemon curd. Grate zest of lemons. Squeeze lemons to extract 1 cup of juice. In a medium nonreactive saucepan, combine juice and zest. Add remaining sugar, butter and salt. Place over medium heat, stirring once or twice, until sugar is dissolved and the butter is melted.
In bowl of a mixer, combine eggs and egg yolks until blended. Slowly add hot lemon mixture to eggs until blended. Return mixture to saucepan, and place over low heat. Whisk constantly until mixture thickens to a pudding-like consistency; do not allow it to boil. Remove from heat, and continue to stir to stop the cooking. Strain lemon curd into a bowl. Adjust sugar to taste; the curd should be tart, but may need additional sugar if the lemons were unripe. Cover with plastic wrap, pressing it right against the surface of the curd. Allow to cool.
Heat oven to 375 degrees. Remove tart shell from freezer, and bake until lightly golden, 20 to 25 minutes. Remove from heat and allow to cool slightly. Spoon lemon curd into tart shell, and smooth the top. Bake until filling has puffed around the edges, about 30 minutes. Cover edges with foil, if necessary, to prevent over-browning. Cool to room temperature before serving.
Meyer Lemon Tart, 7U
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