Sweet breads and muffins | Lemon and tomato

As a child I always loved lemons. When my mom made something with fresh lemon, I always snuck the left overs and sucked on them. At that age, older people thought it was strange yet charming as I waited for the lemon in their cocktails.

As I got older, I would actually cut lemons into segments and eat them right to the pith which friends, (rightfully?), thought was downright weird.

Out on my own and learning to cook, I found a whole new world of lemons in the form of lemon bread, lemon curd, lemon chiffon pudding, lemon cheesecake, Avgolemono, lemon chicken – you get the picture.

Today, lemon is a go to for me in both sweet and savoury cooking. There are few single ingredients that can enhance flavours in a dish the way lemon can.

With it being January lemons bring the sunshine in. Not that we can complain here on the west coast given that we have flowers blooming, but January always seems such a long dark month and the vibrant colour and taste of lemons is just bound to brighten anyone’s day. Even better, January is when Meyer lemons are in season so head to the store a buy a big bag.

Now I realise some of you might prefer to turn to chocolate in the dark days of winter but it doesn’t have quite the same vibrancy and tang to wake up your taste buds and maybe your soul. Don’t get me wrong I like chocolate just fine too, but a good lemon treat is really what makes me get up and do the Snoopy dance.

P.S.

I finally discovered that I was not an anomaly once my younger sisters were old enough to ask for their own lemons! Still eating lemons in every shape and form. Go ahead, try some.

Lemon Tarts

Flaky Tart Dough (is there any other kind?)

5 cups all purpose flour
pinch of salt
1/2 cup cold butter, cubed
3 Tbsp cold water

Make sure everything is COLD. Cut butter into flour until it resembles small flat peas. Add water in 2-3 batches. Flatten between plastic wrap into a disk. Rest for 30 minutes or overnight in the fridge before rolling. Roll out.

Next,

Press the dough into the tart pans. Place parchment or aluminum foil over the dough and gently mold it to the dough in the pan. (Sometimes I just skip this step and put the weights right on top of the pasty) Add pie weights (or dried beans). Bake for 20 minutes until golden. Remove from oven and let cool.

Lemon Curd

juice of 2 large lemons (Meyer lemons have a great flavour if you can find them)
zest of 2 lemons (I prefer organic lemons when I am using the zest)
3/4 cup sugar
3 eggs
1 tsp cornstarch
1/2 cup cold butter, cubed

Whisk all ingredients, except the butter, in a saucepan on low heat. Let the mixture cook just until it starts to bubble and thicken slightly. Remove from heat and immediately add cubed butter & whisk until thick. Cool slightly and then spoon into the waiting pastry shells.

Serving suggestion: Top with a spoonful of whipped cream and lemon zest curls, then sprinkle with a bit of confectioner’s (icing) sugar.

Original recipe courtesy of Northwest Culinary Academy and Chef Tony Minichiello

aka plum cake for those of us in the English speaking world. Fall has to be just the best of times especially when its like this year and we have day after day of hot sunny weather right through the end of September. I can’t say that the heat makes me feel like venturing into fall cooking but thankfully the heavens opened up the last few days. Between the weather turning and my mom arriving with 5 bags of ripe plums, I was finally kick started. When I lived in Germany, I remember having this amazing plum “thing” that was made on a cookie sheet. It was not too sweet and came out of the oven oozing goodness. Having gifted a number of the plums, I was faced with cooking them sooner than later and as my Dad is here and he has a sweet tooth I was looking for something to bake. Now first let me say, I am not a baker and desserts and baked goodies are few and far between in this house so I needed outside help. I searched the net and found pictures that looked promising but no recipes that looked right. I sent an email to Monika of http://www.monikas.country-living-in-the-city.de to ask if she had a recipe and even though she was on holiday in Spain she kindly replied. However, no recipe. In the end, I appealed to a colleague in Tübingen, whose mother had already sent me a great starter on German Christmas cookies and again she came through. So here is Frau Behrmann’s Pflaumenkuchen. I have to admit that I was intimidated the minute that I saw the word yeast! Happily, I can say it was yumilicious.

Frau Behrmann’s Plum Cake

For the dough:

1 packet of yeast
75 grams of white sugar
1/4 teaspoon vanilla or 1 packet of vanilla sugar
200 ml of warm milk
300 grams of flour
1 egg
1 pinch of salt
75 grams melted butterPlace the flour in a mixing bowl and create small wells with your fingers. In a separate container stir the yeast into the warm milk. Next pour the milk and yeast into the flour wells. Cover and let stand for about 15 minutes. Next add the rest of the ingredients and gently knead together into the dough. Again cover the bowl and let it stand about another 15 minutes or until the dough is about doubled.Prepare a cookie sheet (with sides) by greasing it with butter. Next roll the dough out onto the pan ( used my fingers to stretch and spread it)

For the topping:

Depending on the size of your cookie sheet you will need about 4-6 cups of plums, sliced in half, pitted.
Place them on the dough, cut side up and nestled closely together (see photo above)

For the streusel topping:

150 grams of flour
100 grams of sugar
1 packet of vanilla sugar or about 1/4 teaspoon
ground cinnamon to taste ( I use about 1 tablespoon)
150-200 grams of butter softened but not meltedMix all ingredients with a fork, mix until crumbled and spread over the plums

Bake at 350 for about 20-35 minutes. When the crust is brown and you can test with a toothpick and it comes out clear its time to eat!