Lemon Cloud Tart with Salted Caramel Sauce

Every year for my birthday Dan makes me a dessert. I get to choose the dessert, and he makes it for me. It’s something that I’ve come to really look forward to. It means so much to me that he is willing to do something a bit out of the ordinary (the kitchen is really my area), that he is will to learn new things, and that he is willing to give his time to make me some complicated dessert (and, I always seem to choose something complicated). He says that he really enjoys doing it too. So, it works out for both of us- he gets new cooking skills, and I get a super tasty dessert.

This year I wanted something that wasn’t chocolate. And, I’m on a bit of a citrus kick lately. Thus, Lemon Cloud Tart with Salted Caramel Sauce.

I really can’t express how good this was, but, here’s my attempt, and I’ll take it part by part. The crust is nutty without being overpowering; it’s just the right foil to the cloud inside- crunchy and crisp next to light and airy. The cloud is made by swirling lemon curd and whipped cream (my mouth is watering now just thinking about it!). This lemon curd could be made on its own, and served with shortbread cookies; it’s tangy, tart, and smooth. As a cheater method (I won’t tell anyone), if you wanted to make this dessert but were in a hurry, you could purchase jarred lemon curd and swirl it in. The creaminess and lightness of the whipped cream helps to offset the tartness of the lemon curd. Next, comes the Salted Caramel Sauce. Yum. Just yum. (oh, there goes my mouth watering again). If you haven’t tried salted caramels, I totally recommend them. In fact, try this sauce- you will love it. The salt in the caramel helps it not be so cloyingly sweet. This recipe makes more then enough for the tart, and I plan on using some to top some vanilla ice cream.

We couldn't wait for the tart to set up

I’d have to say that the Lemon Cloud Tart with Salted Caramel Sauce was probably the best birthday treat to date. And, well worth the time to make it (well, all I did was sit around reading magazines while it was being made, but it seems worth it to me).  Enjoy! And, thanks so much, Dan!

Lemon Cloud Tart with Salted Caramel Sauce

Lemon curd filling:
4 large egg yolks
3 large eggs
1/2 cup fresh lemon juice
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, diced
1/2 cup sugar

Hazelnut crust:
1/2 cup hazelnuts, toasted
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
1/3 cup powdered sugar
1 tablespoon (packed) finely grated lemon peel
1 large egg yolk
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt

Lemon cloud:
1 ½ cups chilled heavy whipping cream
3 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon finely grated lemon peel
¼ teaspoon lemon extract

For filling:

making the lemon curd

Whisk yolks and eggs in medium bowl to blend. Combine lemon juice, butter, and sugar in large metal bowl. Set bowl over saucepan of simmering water; whisk until butter melts and sugar dissolves. Gradually whisk 1/3 of hot butter mixture into eggs, whisk mixture back into bowl with remaining butter mixture set over simmering water. Whisk constantly until custard thickens and thermometer inserted into mixture registers 180°F, about 5 minutes (do not boil). (If you don’t have a candy thermometer, wait until the mixture thickens and coats the back of a wooden spoon.) Pour lemon curd through strainer set over medium bowl. Place plastic wrap directly on surface of lemon curd; chill overnight. (Can be made up to 2 days ahead. Keep refrigerated.)

For crust:
Finely grind hazelnuts in processor. Using beat butter, powdered sugar, and lemon peel in medium bowl until well blended. Add yolk and beat until smooth. Beat in hazelnuts, then flour, and salt. Gather dough into ball; flatten into disk.

Rolling out the hazelnut crust

Preheat oven to 350°F. Press crust onto bottom and up sides of a 9-inch-diameter tart pan or spring-form pan with removable bottom. Chill 20 minutes. Bake crust until golden brown and cooked through, pressing with fork if crust bubbles, about 25 minutes. Cool crust in pan on rack. (Can be prepared 1 day ahead. Cover and store at room temperature.)

For lemon cloud:
Using electric mixer, beat whipping cream, sugar, lemon peel, and lemon extract in large bowl until stiff peaks form.

Spoon half of lemon curd and half of lemon cream into another large bowl. Using small rubber spatula, gently fold curd and lemon cream together, creating marble effect and being careful not to overmix to retain marbling. Spoon marbled mixture in dollops into cooled crust. Using tip of knife or small rubber spatula, swirl and pull mixture upwards in peaks. Repeat with remaining curd and lemon cream mixture. Refrigerate tart at least 1 hour and up to 4 hours. Remove pan sides. Place tart on platter. Serve with salted caramel sauce.

filling the crust

Salted Caramel Sauce:
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup water
2 tablespoons light corn syrup
3/4 cup heavy cream
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 1/2 teaspoons fleur de sel

adding the butter to the caramel

In a medium saucepan, combine the sugar, water and corn syrup and bring to a boil. Using a wet pastry brush, wash down any crystals on the side of the pan. Boil over high heat until a deep amber caramel forms, swirling often, about 6-12 minutes (be careful, as it will darken rapidly once it reaches that stage). Remove the saucepan from the heat and carefully whisk in the cream, butter and salt. Let the caramel cool to room temperature. The salted caramel sauce can be refrigerated for up to 2 weeks. Rewarm before serving.

The tart after it has rested and set up

Bottle openers

I have been trying to clean out the “junk” drawers around the house lately. Maybe it’s spring cleaning. Maybe I’m just tired of looking at all that stuff that doesn’t seem to belong.  Whatever the reason, I’ve been trying to tackle at least one space a week. Sometimes it works out, and sometimes I don’t quite get around to a new space.

I cleaned one of the drawers in the kitchen recently, and came across Dan’s bottle openers. He has some pretty interesting ones, and they inspired me to take photos. So, here are some of the more interesting ones from the collection.

For my birthday my husband always makes me a special treat. I get to choose. No matter how long and involved, he makes it. I love that he is so sweet to make it for me. In years past he has made me Chocolate Silk Pie, S’more Pie, and a Chocolate Cake with Chocolate Mousse. This year I decided I didn’t want a chocolate dessert. (I plan to post the results of this year’s birthday treat once it’s complete, so I won’t say what it is yet). Unfortunately, this past weekend, it just didn’t happen. So, instead I snuck into the kitchen and whipped up this super easy chocolate cake.

I bet you have all the ingredients to make this chocolate cake in your cupboard right now (which is what makes this cake great for the “Cupboard Cooking” Cookbook). Scratch cakes are not that hard, nor are they time consuming. The cake is delightful, and not overly sweet. You could also add 1 teaspoon of espresso powder to the mix to make it mocha cake.

Oh, and as an added bonus for some people, this cake is vegan. But, don’t tell anyone when you serve it, they don’t need to know, and they won’t be able to tell any difference.

P.S. my fantastic brother-in-law made cream cheese filled lemon cupcakes for me on Sunday. They were fabulous! Thanks Dave!

Chocolate cake

Makes 12 servings

3 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups sugar
2 cups cold water
2/3 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp white vinegar
1 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla

Heat oven to 350 degrees F. In large mixing bowl combine all ingredients. Beat with electric mixer on medium to high speed until well combined. Pour batter in a greased bundt pan, or cupcake liners (filling cupcakes about ¾ of the way full).

Bake 30 minutes for the cake or 20-25 minutes for the cupcakes or until a toothpick inserted near center comes out clean.

Serve with ice cream or whipped cream, or dust with powdered sugar.

Click on the “Cupboard” Tag on the right to see other posts about the cookbook that I’m writing.

I haven’t done a front yard remodel update in awhile. All the rain we’ve had lately has slowed us down a bit, but hasn’t stopped us.

For those of you who don’t know, We decided to dig out part of our front lawn and put in drought tolerant plants. This landscaping with drought tolerant and native plants is called Xeriscaping. I think what we really need at this point is an artist’s rendition poster of the proposed finished area so that the neighbors can actually picture what we are doing. Here are links to my two prior posts about the project: Part 1 and Part 2

So, here are some picture of the progress:

The grass is all gone and the foundations for the boardwalks are being placed

The concrete has been poured in the foundations

The foundations are dry

Weed barrier fabric has been placed on the boardwalk areas

The next steps will go something like this:

1. Dan will build out the four boardwalks

2. I will place weed barrier in the planting areas

3. I will plant the drought tolerant plants. I plan on using mostly grasses- ones that will remind us of the beaches in Washington

4. We will mulch the planting areas

5. Sit back and enjoy not watering or mowing that part of the yard

Making cinnamon rolls reminds me to slow down. Making them takes a little time. Baking them in the morning takes a little time. Drizzling the icing over the top becomes an art form. But, even though it takes time, I think it’s worth the extra time. The cinnamon rolls become an event. A special occasion. It reminds me to take time for the little pleasures in life. It reminds me to slow down and enjoy- enjoy breakfast; enjoy the company of those around you. Enjoy sitting outside and eating your breakfast -even if it’s just in the backyard.

When Dan drives to work in the mornings, he passes by a cinnamon roll bakery. The smell of cinnamon rolls wafts over the freeway, and you can smell it for miles. Man, those smell good! Well, after a few times of smelling this, he came home and told me all about how he had a craving for cinnamon rolls. This is not only understandable if you drive the freeway and smell the yummy-ness in the morning, but it became somewhat of a need for cinnamon rolls.

So, we started by purchasing the treats from the grocery store- you know those ones you bake yourself, but they are already made and all you do is untwist the package. Tasty. They satisfied the need for cinnamon rolls in the morning. Then we found some mini cinnamon rolls in the freezer section. You could take out as many as you wanted at one time and bake them up. Great! We tried them, and we liked them. And, the bake-as-many-servings-as-you-wanted thing was great! Then, we read the ingredient and nutrition labels. Yikes! Each mini cinnamon roll had one gram of trans fat. Each cinnamon roll! That meant that if we had three rolls at breakfast we had already had three grams of trans fat. So, I knew that I needed to make homemade ones.

I did some research and some testing (Dan is such a trooper to do all this testing for me!).

Here is my cinnamon roll recipe. I love that I can make up the rolls and keep them in the freezer. I pull out as many as I need and bake them up in the toaster oven. Now we often have fresh homemade mini cinnamon rolls on Friday mornings before he goes to work, and no trans fat!

Cinnamon Rolls

Rolls:
1 cup warm (100° to 110°) fat-free (or 2%) milk
3 tablespoons melted butter
1 large egg, lightly beaten
3 ¾ cups all-purpose flour
¼ teaspoon salt
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1 package quick-rise yeast

Filling:
3 tablespoons melted butter
2/3 cup (scant) packed brown sugar
1 ½ tablespoons ground cinnamon

Icing:
2 cups powdered sugar
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
¼ teaspoon salt
1 ½ tablespoons butter, softened
3-4 tablespoons cream or milk

To prepare rolls: Measure and add liquid ingredients to the bread pan of the bread machine. Measure and add dry ingredients (except yeast) to the bread pan. Form a well in the dry ingredients; measure the yeast and carefully pour it into the well. Choose dough setting according to manufacturer directions.

Combine brown sugar and cinnamon. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface; roll dough into an 18 x 11–inch rectangle. Brush 3 tablespoons melted butter over dough; sprinkle evenly with brown sugar mixture. To make mini cinnamon rolls, cut dough in half along the length of the dough so you have two 18 x 5.5 inch rectangles. Beginning at one long side, roll up each rectangle tightly, jellyroll fashion; pinch seam to seal (do not seal ends of roll). Cut dough into 18 (1-inch) slices. Arrange slices, cut sides up, in baking dishes coated with cooking spray. Cover and let rise 35 minutes or until doubled in size. At this point, cinnamon rolls may be frozen. Place baking dishes in freezer. Once frozen, store is zip top bags and pull out as many cinnamon rolls as you need.

Preheat oven to 350°F. Uncover rolls (no need to defrost if they were frozen). Bake at 350° for 13-15 minutes or until lightly browned.

To prepare icing: combine all ingredients adding cream or milk to achieve desired consistency. Spread icing over rolls; serve warm. Store leftover icing in the freezer in a small covered container. Microwave a couple spoonfuls as needed to bring it back to spreadable consistency (high for 10-30 seconds).

In my ongoing series on cooking and politics, I bring you more on Michelle Obama and Jamie Oliver. Both of these people strike a chord in me. Both are doing great work to bring light to an ongoing national crisis.

Watch this video of Michelle speaking about the small changes that added up to big results.

I believe that cooking meals with your family and for your family will make our nation healthier and happier. Whole foods. Healthy foods. Tasty foods. I don’t believe anything is “off limits” as far as home cooked food goes. If you want to eat ice cream, make ice cream and eat it knowing where it came from and what’s in it. If you want cookies, bake cookies. I don’t eat dessert with every meal or even every day. I eat mostly whole healthy dinners and lunches.

But, before I go off too far, let’s get back to Michelle Obama’s recent announcement…

First Lady Michelle Obama announced on Feb 10^th, 2010 an ambitious national goal of solving the challenge of childhood obesity within a generation so that children born today will reach adulthood at a healthy weight and unveiled a nationwide campaign – Let’s Move – to help achieve it.  Making healthy choices. Healthier food in schools. Access to healthy affordable food. Increasing physical activity.

Crisis? Over the past three decades, childhood obesity rates in America have tripled, and today, nearly one in three children — 25 million kids — in America are overweight or obese, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.  One third of all children born in 2000 or later will suffer from diabetes at some point in their lives; many others will face chronic obesity-related health problems like heart disease, high blood pressure, cancer, and asthma. A recent study put the health care costs of obesity-related diseases at $147 billion per year.  Yes, I’d call that a crisis.

The campaign’s goal: to eliminate childhood obesity in a generation.

Watch Jamie Oliver’s TED talk on his wish:

“I wish for your help to create a strong, sustainable movement to educate every child about food, inspire families to cook again and empower people everywhere to fight obesity.”

“It’s an ambitious goal, but we don’t have time to wait,” the first lady said in an interview with USA TODAY “We’ve got to stop citing statistics and wringing our hands and feeling guilty, and get going on this issue.” She says she intends to “sound the alarm” about the epidemic.

Obama says she will use all the power of the White House to promote a campaign that will include more healthful food in schools, more accurate food labeling, better grocery stores in communities that don’t have them, public service announcements and efforts to get children to be more active. Some of her plans, such as tax incentives for businesses, will need congressional approval. Read more

“This is business, too. And part of the public awareness is changing the demand, because if you have more and more families that are going to be demanding low-fat, low-salt, easy-to-prepare meals and they start speaking with their wallets … “So we need to change the beliefs as the beginning part of the business model because as soon as they change their desires, industries have to follow and they will readily follow. If more families are packing bottled waters in lunches, they’re going to package water so cute and pretty, right? And make it all nice. They’re going to figure it out. So if we build it, they will come.”

The Food Environment Atlas

Mrs. Obama also announced an online Food Environment Atlas on Feb 10, 2010.  The searchable maps in this comprehensive database made possible by the USDA Economic Research Service (ERS). To view the atlas click here: http://maps.ers.usda.gov/FoodAtlas/

I’m so glad that people are raising the issue of healthful eating. We need to spend more time with our families, cooking and playing together. These are the important things in life- these are the things that matter. Please spend some time cooking this weekend. Whole healthy foods. It doesn’t have to be a big deal, or even a fat-free deal. Bake some chocolate chip cookies- not ones from a tube. The time you spend, the mess you make will be worthwhile!

If you would like to read my prior postings on Cooking Matters or Michelle Obama please click here.

What is a portion? Yes, some packaging tells you the portion size, but that doesn’t always help, and few people are going to pull out their scale (if they even have one) or their measuring cups to judge perfectly. Learn to judge your portions by sight and by comparing to things you know.

Here are some guides…

1 cup = a baseball
½ cup = a rounded handful or tennis ball
¼ cup = an egg
3 oz = a deck of cards
2 teaspoons = a ping pong ball

Snack serving, such as chips or pretzels: A rounded handful, about ½ cup

Cheese: 1 oz or one slice, about six dice

Meat, fish or poultry: 3 – 4 oz, about the size of your palm or a deck of cards

Dried fruit or nuts: Golf ball or large egg, about one quarter cup

Ice cream: Tennis ball, about one half cup

Pancake or waffle: Compact disc

Veggies or fruit: about the size of your fist or baseball

Valentine’s Day Martinis

Here are my two suggestions for Valentine’s Day martinis. No, I didn’t include a chocolate raspberry one; I figured that was so obvious. Though, if I make one, I’ll try to photograph it for a later post.

The nice thing about both of these martinis is that that both have lots of vitamin C, so they will help you stay healthy! Also, they use some of the citrus fruits that are so plentiful right now.

A note on vodka: I think it is really worth the extra expense to get a good vodka. I love Grey Goose; it’s smooth and doesn’t have that harsh aftertaste that some vodkas can leave you with. If you want to experiment with flavored vodkas, Goose has many, and again, I’d go with a good vodka. I have my bother-in-law, Dave, to thank for knowing about Grey Goose.

I like to garnish my martini glasses with a sugared rim. You can make lemon sugar or orange sugar by combining zest and sugar. Or, use Sugar in the Raw for a pretty look.

Rosemary Lemon Drop Martini

This one takes a little prep time, but it’s worth it. Also, I like to mix 3 teaspoons of the lemon rosemary syrup into club soda for a non-alcoholic beverage.

1 cup sugar
1 cup water
1 sprig fresh rosemary
Zest of 1 lemon
¾ oz fresh lemon juice
1 ¼ oz citron vodka (plain vodka will also work)

Bring sugar, water, rosemary, and lemon zest to a boil in a small saucepan, stirring until sugar dissolves. Cover and remove from heat; let stand for 20 minutes. Strain, discarding solids, and refrigerate syrup.

Combine chilled syrup, lemon juice, and vodka. Pour over ice in a martini shaker. Shake until really cold. Strain into martini glass or old-fashioned glass, and garnish with small sprig of rosemary or a lemon twist, if desired.

Orange Blossom Martini

1 ¼ oz orange vodka (plain vodka will also work)
¾ oz Cointreau or Grand Marnier
2 ½ oz fresh squeezed orange juice

Shake with ice and strain into a martini glass or an old-fashioned glass with a sugared rim. Garnish with an orange slice, if desired.

Enjoy, and happy Valentine’s Day!

Cookbook Update with a recipe for Superbowl Chili

Superbowl Chili

Cupboard Cooking

I decided it was time for a cookbook update (as it has been a little while since I posted about how the book writing goes). The research portion is complete (whew!).  Now, we are fully engulfed in the testing and rewriting portion. I feel really good about the direction the book is headed.

Maybe I should back up a little for those who haven’t heard me talk about what I’m writing.

Cupboard Cooking is convenient and tasty, all while being mostly healthy (I include some desserts which shouldn’t comprise your whole diet, but aren’t that bad for you either). The ingredients are easy-to-find items that you probably already have in your cupboard, freezer, or refrigerator. The techniques are not difficult, and I believe that anyone can master their cupboard, and provide tasty meals for lunch, dinner, and snacks with the ideas I have presented.

I was talking about the book with someone the other day, and she was telling me how she doesn’t like to cook. She’ll come home and just make a poached egg for dinner because that’s all she feels like doing. After telling her the basic idea of my cookbook, she got really excited and exclaimed that these were recipes that she could do, and she would even like to do!

We had several items at the Superbowl get together the other day. The one that I’m particularly happy with was the chili. It was a four-bean chili made in the slow cooker. It smelled fantastic! Really easy, tasty, and healthy- that’s exactly what the book is all about, and chili is one of the things that the Superbowl is all about. We had different things to top your bowl of chili with- from grated cheddar cheese to chopped cilantro to chopped red onion. My husband even put steak in his (that made him a happy man)!

So, here is my Superbowl Chili recipe, which will be in the Cupboard Cooking Cookbook. And, for those of you who would like to go back and read the other posts about the cookbook (each with a different recipe), here are some links…

Coconut Oat Cookies

Maple Almond Slow Cooker Granola

Pasta e Ceci (Pasta and Chickpea Soup)

Superbowl Chili

Serves 10 to 12
Serve with chopped red onion, cheddar cheese, sour cream, chopped cilantro, or your favorite toppings.

2 cans (15 oz each) kidney beans, drained and rinsed
2 cans (15 oz each) spicy chili beans, undrained
1 can (15 oz) pinto beans, undrained
1 can (15 oz) white bean, drained and rinsed
2 cans (14.5 oz each) chunky tomatoes, undrained
4 1/2 teaspoons chili powder
¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper

In large slow cooker, mix all ingredients. Take 3 to 4 cups of the chili and blend in a blender or use an immersion blender. The more chili that’s blended, the thicker the chili will be. Cover, and cook on low 5 to 6 hours.

My neighbors are awesome! We have sort-of a food co-op going on around here. I grow butternut squash and tomatoes, and give them to my neighbors. I’ve already written about how my fabulous neighbor, Amy, gives me oranges. There’s another woman down the street who has a lemon tree. She gives me lemons all the time. They are so wonderful – bright and cheery. Now, if we could just get the woman with the avocado tree to participate, we would all be very excited!

I have a new batch of lemons, and so now I’m coming up with new things to do with them. So, I thought I would try these lemon sandwich cookies. I had a great time making them. And, although they are a bit time consuming, there is nothing difficult about them. And, my husband is having a great time eating them!

I made the cookies with a 2.5 inch round cutter because that’s all had readily available. But, I would recommend using a smaller cutter- say 1 to 1.5 inch as the cookies would be nicer bite sized nibbles. I already adjusted the timing in the recipe for the smaller cookies.

Also, the filling could be made ahead and kept refrigerated, but I would recommend making it after the cookies are done cooling, as it is softer and creamier when it is first made. This will make it easier to spread on the cookies.

You could switch up the look and taste of these cookies by adding a teaspoon of raspberry jam in the sandwich along with the filling.

Either way, these cookies will be a great dessert for parties or just to have with tea. Enjoy!

Lemon Sandwich Cookies

Makes about 36 sandwiches

Cookies:
1/2 cup fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon finely grated lemon peel
3 3/4 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 large eggs
2 large egg yolks
1/2 teaspoon lemon extract

Filling:
1 1/2 tablespoons finely grated lemon peel
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon lemon extract
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 cups powdered sugar

For cookies:
Boil lemon juice and lemon peel in small saucepan until mixture is reduced to 2 tablespoons, about 4 to 5 minutes. Pour into small bowl and cool.

Sift flour, salt, and baking soda into medium bowl, and set aside. Using electric mixer, beat butter in large bowl until fluffy. Add sugar to butter, and beat until blended. Beat in eggs, 1 at a time, then beat in yolks. Beat in lemon juice mixture and lemon extract. Add dry ingredients and stir to blend well. Cover dough and chill until firm, at least 4 hours and up to 2 days; store airtight in refrigerator.

Preheat oven to 375°F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper or Silpats. Roll out 1/3 of dough on lightly floured surface to scant 3/8-inch thickness. Using 1 to 1.5 inch round cutter, cut out cookies. Transfer cookies to prepared baking sheets. Bake, 1 sheet at a time, until golden at edges, about 6 minutes. Let cookies cool 5 minutes. Transfer to racks and cool completely. Repeat with remaining dough.

For filling:
Using back of spoon, mash lemon peel and salt to paste in medium bowl. Add lemon extract and lemon juice, and mix to combine. Add butter, and using an electric mixer, beat until fluffy. Add sugar in batches, beating well after each addition.

For sandwiches:
Spread 2 teaspoons filling on flat side of 1 cookie. Top with another cookie, flat side down. Repeat to make more sandwich cookies.