Meyer Lemon Bars (Secret Recipe Club)

It's Secret Recipe Club reveal day once again and we were assigned Life's Simple Pleasures, a beautiful blog that is completely overflowing with recipes for bars, breads, cakes, cookies, pies, tarts, and snacks, as well as a few savory dishes. We scrolled our way down the recipe list trying hard to decide what to make. It wasn't easy! Should we try to make challah bread? How about a fallen souffle chocolate torte - doesn't that sound amazing?!?!? Or candied bacon chocolate chip cookies? Um, yum!!! All of these are most assuredly on our to-do list. 

What forced our final decision for this month, though, was that we have made two batches of Meyer lemon curd in the last couple of weeks and we have been looking for something way with which to use it when we spotted LSP's lemon bars. They looked so lovely and reminded us so much of sunshine and springtime that we just had to go with them. 

We made them to take to our neighbors' St. Patrick's Day dinner so we gave them a little Irish twist by tinting some powdered sugar green with green food coloring and making shamrock decorations on them. Chris finnagled a cookie cutter/aluminum foil thingie to make that work. He's a good problem solver!

Although we didn't use the lemon topping part of the recipe (since we used our lemon curd instead), the crust was to die for. Flaky, tender and buttery indeed. They were sunny bites of citrus heaven. Now if spring would just get here already, we'd be all set!

Meyer Lemon Bars

recipe from Life's Simple Pleasures

Ingredients:

2 cups unsalted butter, softened

4 cups all purpose flour

1 cup powdered sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons grated lemon zest

1/2 cup Meyer lemon curd

additional powdered sugar for garnish
green food coloring (if desired)

In a medium bowl, cream together the butter and powdered sugar. Add salt, lemon zest and flour; mix only until combined and crumbly. Spread dough evenly in a 12x18-inch sheet pan. Using a piece of wax paper, press down down as flat as possible. Refrigerate dough for 30 minutes. Heat oven to 350 and bake crust for 20 minutes or until golden brown. Set aside to cool. Spread lemon curd evenly over crust and return to oven. Bake additional 15 minutes. Dust with powdered sugar and refrigerate 1 hour to set. Cut and serve.

Meyer Lemon Curd

Amy writes:

So a couple of weeks ago we took a baking class called Baking for English Tea, and one of the recipes we learned to make was lemon curd. Then Chris went away for the weekend, off to a theoretical physics conference in Santa Barbara, California. Yeah, I don't really know what that is, either. 

Anyway... I was feeling a little bored, and I knew that if I made something yummy, I could bring it to the last winter farmers' market and enter it into the swap for something else. I had a bunch of Meyer lemons at home, so I decided to make a batch of Meyer lemon curd. The recipe made enough for 2 decent-sized jars, so I kept one for myself (well, I may share it with Mr. Science) and brought one to the swap where I swapped it for a pretty little dragonfly made from recycled silverware (Thanks, Ed)! Love it!

So, as hinted at in an earlier post, here's the recipe for Meyer lemon curd. The recipe is from Chef Chris French, who makes his with "normal" lemons, but there is something I just love about the hint of sweetness the Meyer lemon offers. If you like things a little more tart, use regular lemons but add another 2 tablespoons of sugar.

Meyer Lemon Curd

recipe courtesy of Chef Chris French

Ingredients:

5 Meyer lemons, zested and juiced

8 egg yolks

1 cup granulated sugar

6 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into pats

Whisk the lemon zest, lemon juice, egg yolks and sugar together in a stainless steel bowl. Create a double-boiler by placing the bowl over a sauce pan with simmering water. Gently heat the contents of the bowl on low to medium heat, stirring frequently. Continue to heat until the mixture is very thick and reaches 180-185 degrees. Immediately remove the bowl from the pan and pour the contents through a fine mesh sieve to remove the zest and any egg solids (discard those). Immediately put 2 pats of butter into the lemon curd and whisk in until incorporated. Continue by adding 1 pat at a time, whisking until incorporated before adding the next. Cover with plastic wrap in contact with the lemon curd and refrigerate until set, 4 hours or longer. Serve with scones as a spread or to fill mini tarts, or as a topping on shortbread. 

Sparkling Lemon and Blueberry Terrine

There is no reason not to enjoy a wonderful blueberry dessert in the winter time when there are frozen blueberries to be had. They really are "little blue dynamos." Since we couldn't help ourselves from eating all of our freshly picked blueberries last season, when we saw frozen berries on sale at our local market, we had to buy them. Once we had them in our hot little hands, we knew they were destined for greatness.

The lemon and the blueberry go so well together with their beautiful blend of sweet and tart, bright colors and delightful tanginess. When the holidays are drawing near, we are always looking for something special that will not only taste amazing, but will also look gorgeous on the seasonal tablescape.

Fancy. Sparkling. Different. Pretty. These are the adjectives that inspired us to create this dessert - a "terrine" made with frozen blueberries, Meyer lemon juice, and sparkling lemon seltzer. Refreshingly light as the finale to a filling holiday meal yet just so elegant, this dessert is sure to draw oohs and ahhs from holiday guests.

Sparkling Lemon and Blueberry Terrine

Ingredients:

2 envelopes (1/2 ounce total) unflavored gelatin

1/2 cup Meyer (or regular) lemon juice, divided

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1 1/2 cups lemon seltzer

4-5 cups frozen blueberries

Pour 1/4 cup of lemon juice into a medium bowl and sprinkle the gelatin in it. In a small saucepan, heat the remaining 1/4 cup lemon juice and sugar over low heat, just until sugar is dissolved. Stir lemon/sugar mixture into lemon/gelatin mixture, then slowly add the seltzer (it will foam/fizz up). Pour the blueberries into a loaf pan and pour the gelatin mixture over them so they are completely covered. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until completely set, preferably overnight. To serve, rest the bottom of the pan in a sink of hot water to loosen the terrine, then carefully turn it upside down over a serving platter and slice it. Serve with whipped cream if desired.