Lemon Bar Tart

We do not have a 9 inch pan, we do not have it, Sam I am.

We do not like them in a square, it's so passé I wouldn't dare.

A round pan works, 'cuz in a pinch, you just pull out your bag of tricks.

Like cutting bars in the form of a kite, or sifting powdered sugar oh so white.

This tart, alas, dirties many a bowl, but the creamy custard's got me sold.

The crust's a very good bake, it's crisp for heaven's sake!

Lemon Bar Tart
Yield: One tart and one nibbling pan (4x4). Alternatively, a 9 inch square pan of traditional lemon bars.

Ingredients:

For the crust:

• 1 1/4 cups (6 1/4 ounces) all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup (2 ounces) powdered sugar, plus more for decoration
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 8 tablespoons softened unsalted butter, cut into 16 pieces

For the filling:

• 7 large egg yolks
• 2 large eggs
• 1 cup + 2 tablespoons (7 7/8 ounces) granulated sugar
• 2/3 cup lemon juice (2 1/2 lemons gave me more than enough, but you might need more if they're small or dry)
• 1/4 cup lemon zest (I needed 4 lemons for this)
• pinch salt
• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into 4 pieces
• 3 tablespoons heavy cream, cold

Method:

1. Prepare the pans. If you're using a tart pan, butter the inside of the dish and disk, and butter a small, ~4x4 inch ramekin of some sort (this is for snacking, because the recipe is not designed for a tart pan!). If you're using a 9x9 inch pan, butter it and make a parchment or aluminum foil sling so it's easier to take them out of the pan.
2. For the crust: In a food processor, pulse the flour, powdered sugar, and salt a couple of times to combine. Add the butter chunks and pulse a few more times until the mixture looks like crumbs. Press into prepared pans, going up the sides if you're using a tart pan. Chill in the refrigerator for 30 mins.
3. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and position the rack in the middle of the oven. Bake crust for about 20 minutes, or until golden brown.
4. While the crust is baking, prepare the filling: whisk eggs and sugar together in a medium saucepan. Add lemon juice, lemon zest, and salt and whisk again to combine. Add butter and cook over medium-low heat until the mixture reaches 170 degrees F, or until it thickens significantly (you'll feel it).
5. Strain custard into a medium sized bowl, then stir in the cold cream. Pour directly into the hot crusts and bake again for 10-12 minutes, or until the filling still jiggles a bit.
6. Cool on wire racks to room temperature, about 45 minutes, before taking out of the pan and cutting. 
7. *While it looks beautiful to sift powdered sugar over the whole tart, it won't last in the fridge overnight so just sift over the pieces you're going to serve (ignore the pictures above which I did for beauty's sake sifting over the whole thing). Keeps in the refrigerator a few days, but top will get wet. Just blot off the moisture, sift some sugar over the whole shebang, and serve!

Recipe from Baking Illustrated, modified for pan size.

Lemon Blueberry Cheesecake Bars

These are dreamy, creamy, crazy bars. Like lemon bars mashed up with cream cheese and lets throw some incredibly purple swirls from fresh blueberries in there.

Like portable blueberry lemonade flavored cheesecake.

If this looks orange to you, I promise you it's lemon. Also I'm obsessed with juice/zest bowls--they look like eggs!

It has all the good parts: graham cracker crust, 2 full packages of cream cheese, and two full lemons, juice and zest. Now, about the cream cheese: I love using neufchatel cheese, which is basically low-fat cream cheese, in these kinds of recipes. I believe you get more tangy cheese flavor, while helping to keep these...umm, I was going to say "more healthy," but I think "less unhealthy" makes more sense. And I always get the store brand.

Mostly I do it for the cheesiness, even though I have no idea if that's true. Neufchatel is sold the same way as cream cheese, in 8 ounce blocks. The Kitchn has a nice explanation of the difference here.

Also (BONUS), this recipe uses one food processor. Dump ingredients and go. wipe out. repeat.

Portable, not fussy or (too) messy, and big on flavor. Glorious, creamy, fruity and summery, these bars beg to be made.

Lemon Blueberry Cheesecake Bars
Yield: 1 8x8 pan (I cut it into 9 generous pieces)

Ingredients:

• 9 graham crackers, broken into pieces
• 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
• Pinch ground cinnamon
• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

• 16 ounces cream cheese or neufchatel (see note above), room temperature if possible
• ½ cup granulated sugar
• 2 eggs
• Zest and juice of 2 lemons
• 1½ cups fresh blueberries

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Line an 8x8-inch baking pan with parchment paper, letting excess hang over the sides of the pan. (or grease it, and then at the end you can just cut the bars out of the pan)
2. Make the Crust: In a food processor, process the graham crackers, sugar, and cinnamon until you have the texture of bread crumbs (do not cut your thumb on the blade reaching in to break up the crackers, like I did). Add the melted butter and pulse a couple of times to fully incorporate. Press the mixture into the lined baking pan and gently pat down evenly. Bake for 12 minutes, until golden. Set aside.
3. Make the Filling: Wipe out the food processor. Add the cream cheese, sugar, eggs, lemon zest and lemon juice. Process until well combined. (If your cream cheese is cold, process just cream cheese and sugar for a minute or so to soften it up before adding the liquidy eggs) It should have a smooth consistency. Pour the filling onto the crust and then sprinkle the blueberries over top. The blueberries will sink slightly, but should still be half exposed. As they bake, they will sink a little more and break down.
4. Bake in the oven for 35 minutes or until the center only slightly jiggles. Remove from the oven and cool completely to room temperature and then refrigerate for at least 3 hours before serving. Once set, remove from pan using the parchment lining and slice.

Recipe from Brown Eyed Baker. This recipe is so perfect that I changed literally nothing.

Madeleines au Citron et Crêpes Suzette

Another (the last) class with Hélène! There is no chocolate in this post. That sort of made me sad!
...but not that sad.

Because can we talk oranges? I love them. My dad's dad was a citrus farmer so we're into it at my house. Marmelade is such a good jam-like thing, because of the bitterness in the peel. It balances the sweetness the same way the bitterness of cocao balances the sweetness in chocolate.

Crêpes Suzette is a delicious dessert of crêpes with orange juice/zest caramel sauce and flambé-ed Grand Marnier.

I didn't really taste the alcohol (or what was left--all of the alcohol burns, so it's kid-friendly!) but the orange was out of this world. We melted granulated sugar, freshly squeezed orange juice, and all of the zest from both oranges to make a caramel, then dipped each crêpe.

It is a sticky situation. I was totally scraping my plate.

We also made Madeleines with lemon oil. Hélène swears by it, as opposed to lemon extract, because it has a much stronger flavor. But, be forewarned...too much essential oil is nasty. A little bit is heavenly!

These were amazing! The baking process is really interesting: you preheat to a hot temperature, immediately lower the temperature when you put the cakes in, then lower another two times in the process.

The heat-shock at the beginning of the cooking process allows the outer sides to attach to the mold and the middle to puff up dramatically, and the lower tempuratures allow the cakes to fully cook through without burning. It's a scientific miracle.

Butter the dish with your fingers...it's the most fun you'll have all day. Also, a nice coating of butter gives the outsides a lovely golden brown as if they were fried, but they're not too greasy. It's fantastic!

So yeah...not missing chocolate. That's the first time I think I've ever said that!

P.S. Also...none of these recipes have salt in them. I think if you want to add a pinch, it could help balance/intensify the sweetness!

Crêpes Suzette
Yield: probably around 12-16

Ingredients:

• 250 g flour
• 4 eggs
• 1/2 liter milk (2 cups plus a tablespoon or so)
• 5 tablespoons vanilla sugar (leave a vanilla pod in a bunch of sugar for about a week, or just use 5 tablespoons sugar and a teaspoon of vanilla extract)
• 120 g sugar
• 2 oranges, zested and juiced
• Butter, to cook crepes
• Grand Marnier (about 1 cup)

Method:

1. Mix eggs and milk. Add vanilla sugar and mix to combine. Add flour and mix to combine. Allow batter to rest, and add milk after resting if you flour is feeling particularly absorbative today.
2. Melt in a wide, flat saucepan the orange juice, zest, and sugar to caramalize and reduce. Gentle, low heat.
3. Cook crepes: put a pad of butter in a small saucepan over low heat (we made small crepes--they're easier to flip), ladle in a thin layer of batter, swirl to coat. Flip once the first side is golden/brown in spots, using a butter knife/frosting spatula and fork. Cook all crepes like this, layering on a plate on the side as you finish them
4. Put the Grand Marnier in a saucepan and heat to warm. Set on fire and let burn until all of the alcohol has burned off (liquid will be very hot).
5. Put each crepe in the orange sauce, fold over, and place on a plate. Pour a bit of the Grand Marnier on the top and serve warm.

Madeleines au Citron
Yield: 2-3 dozen Madeleines

Ingredients:

• 3 eggs
• 130 g sugar
• 20 g honey
• 150 g flour
• 150 g butter (soft)
• 5 g baking powder
• 3-4 drops of lemon essential oil

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 230 degrees C (450 F). Butter madeleine mold.*
2. Mix sugar, honey, and butter to combine. Add eggs and lemon oil and mix to combine. Mix flour and baking powder in a separate bowl, then add and mix to combine. Smell, if it needs more lemon add 1-2 more drops. Fill molds (not all the way to the top; see picture above) with batter.
3. Put pan in oven and immediately lower temperature to 200 degrees C (about 400 F). Bake 5 minutes, then lower temp to 180 degrees C (350 F) for another 5 minutes.
4. Unmold as soon as they come out of the oven!

*Note: if you don't have a madeleine mold, you can make these cakes in real shells off the beach! Just wash them and butter them up. The cakes will be bigger...is that a bad thing or something?

Recipes courtesy of Hélène Biesse.