Meyer Lemon Custard Tart

For Pi Day (3/14) this year, I wanted to bake a pie to bring to work to celebrate. I love lemons and decided to make a meyer lemon custard to fill a tart, following this recipe!

I made the pastry dough by mixing 1-1/2 sticks of butter with 1/2 cup of sugar with an electric hand mixer, and added a splash of vanilla. In a separate bowl, I mixed together 1-3/4 cups of flour with a pinch of salt, and then slowly mixed it into the butter and sugar mixture. After shaping the dough flat, I pressed it into a large pie tin and chilled it for an hour.

I used mini pie tins to use the remainder of the dough and filling. To prep the pie shells, I buttered aluminum foil (buttered-side down) on top of the pastry dough, and baked it in a 350º oven for 20 minutes under the weight of some rice. I removed the rice and foil, poked the pastry with a fork, and baked for another 20 minutes.

Meanwhile... the filling!

I made the batter by zesting a lemon and using an electric hand mixer to cream it with a stick of butter and a cup of sugar. I added in 4 eggs, one at a time, and squeezed in 1/2 cup of lemon juice and added a dash of salt.

After all was mixed together, I heated the lemon mixture in a small pot over low heat while stirring constantly to make a curd. It is very important to keep mixing so that the mixture does not boil. It took about 15 minutes to cook until the curd was thick enough, I love the creamy yellow color.

I poured the curd over the baked pie crust and let it set overnight.

I'm glad I had enough leftover mixture to make mini pies. I love their cute little shapes! And they make the perfect bite-sized snack.

Here's the finished pie that I brought to work:

Have a delicious pi day!
<3 Mandy

Macarons

I thought it would be fun to try to make adorable macarons in different flavors and colors, but had no idea how much time and effort it would take. Read below for a detailed description of the process, and of how I attempted to make the cookies.

I made a batch of macaron batter using a recipe from a blog. I mixed 2.5 cups of almond flour and 2 cups of powdered sugar in one bowl. In another bowl, I used a hand mixer to mix 6 egg whites, and mixed a 7^th egg white separately in another bowl. I added 1/3 cup of sugar 3 times (1 cup total) to the egg white mix and decided to just add the 7^th. I think next time I only need 6 egg whites (I also have 7 yolks I don’t know what to do with – I like flan, but you only need 2 egg yolks and then another 3 regular eggs to make 6 flans, and I don’t want to make 18 of them, along with my 30 cookies).

I divided the batter into 4 and left one plain, mixed one with 2 spoonfuls of matcha, put a little lavender and kumquat marmalade and lemon juice and lemon rind in another, and mixed a couple spoonfuls of hot cocoa powder in the 4^th. I tried using a tip from a cupcake decorating set on the end of my Ziploc bag, but it didn’t hold that well, so I just ended up squeezing the bag and gauging the size by eye. Maybe I should’ve mixed the batter more so that the meringue would peak and hold stiffer. The macarons turned out pretty well, but they were all flat except for the plain almond ones. When I make them into sandwiches, though, I think they’ll look puffier. Also, they are pretty boring colored, so I should probably add food coloring (though the mix before baking was pretty vibrantly colored). I put some water under the wax paper to let them steam since they were really hard to pull off the baking sheets, but the macarons got a little wet on the bottom, so I flipped them upside down and toasted them in the oven for a couple minutes. It took about 4 hours total to make the cookies.

chocolate

matcha green tea

plain almond

lemon

I made some ganache/cream filling, using kinda my own recipe and referencesfrom online: half a bag of chocolate chips and a couple pats of butter; a couple scoops of matcha with a tablespoon of cornstarch and a bit of salt; some cut up lemon rind with some lavender, a tablespoon of cornstarch, and a bit of salt. I boiled about a cup of heavy whipping cream on the stove for all 3 of my ganaches. I poured the cream over my 3 bowls and let them sit for a couple of minutes, and then blended each one with a hand mixer. I added some sugar each into the matcha and lemon mixes. It took a long time to blend and didn’t get that thick, so I added more heavy cream. In a separate bowl, I hand mixed an egg yolk with some sugar while my bowls cooled in the fridge, and then I poured one yolk into each of the 2 non-chocolate mixes. The chocolate mixture turned out like chocolate whipped cream, so I added some ovomaltine to thicken it (so it won’t moisten my cookies too much). I added some of the chocolate ganache to my green tea mixture to make it thicker, which made it browner but still green and also thicker. I microwaved it for 10 seconds in a glass bowl and then put it in the fridge, hopefully allowing it to set. I did the same to my lemon mixture and decided to spread my macarons fresh to prevent them from getting soggy. I made 14 chocolate halves, 24 green tea halves, 18 lemon halves, and 14 plain almond halves. I put my cookies and ganache in the fridge.

filling

plain almond with chocolate ganache

I added sugar and white chocolate to my macaron ganache, which was pretty runny, and refrigerated it. I spread chocolate ganache on some almond and chocolate macaron cookies since that spread turned out pretty well.

Most of the cookies turned out flat instead of puffy, but I think that has to do with how I mixed the batter. I think I also added too much lemon juice, and should try to follow a different recipe for flavoring my fillings (and adding food coloring to the cookies instead of trying to flavor those too).

They took several days to make since I needed almost 24 hours total to prepare, bake, and spread the cookies, but only had a few hours after work each day.  I had no idea how much sugar is in these little guys... I definitely think they look cuter than they taste good. Next time I try making them, I'll recruit my expert little cousin, who makes perfect macarons frequently!

lemon lavender, matcha green tea, almond with chocolate

<3 Mandy

Peanut Butter Delight

Never leave the oven or stove unattended. That said, I have not done this, but that doesn't stop the smoke alarm from sounding off once in awhile. Particularly at 11PM, as it did today.

I've been sick for the last week and a half and have finally begun to recover. Along with that, of course, comes a huge craving for everything I was missing out on! Especially sweets, chocolates, and food my mother cooks. I stumbled across this recipe for peanut butter cookies from The Perfect Pair, who said she got the recipe from Martha Stewart. This is the first time I have every made peanut butter cookies (though I have eaten some my neighbor made - they were delicious!) and am excited to try them!

These are definitely a new favorite, and I recommend you try them out! Don't let the smoke alarm scare you away from baking - these cookies are surely worth it. (And I didn't burn them either; a little crumb fell to the bottom of the oven and caused the smoke detector to sense a burn.)

<3 Mandy

Hidden Treasures on a Lazy Sunday Afternoon

I've been craving some cookies lately but have also been in a healthy mood. What to do? Make oatmeal raisin cookies!

If you were to ask everyone what their favorite type of cookie was, most people would probably say chocolate chip (or some variation of it). It seems that a lot of people I know don't really like oatmeal raisin, but I think they're missing out because these cookies are so delicious! I don't feel bad about eating a few of these at a time, either, because they are healthy, yet delicious. Here are some photos of me making some oatmeal raisin cookies.

ingredients

oatmeal and raisin mixture

eggs, white sugar, brown sugar, vanilla extract mixture

mixtures side by side

mixing together

I tasted a bit of the dough,and it just melted in my mouth. So delicious.

baking in the oven

 

Cookies are especially good to share. My mom, dad, and I each took a first bite at the same time, but I ate a few more cookies afterward because I just couldn't help myself. Luckily for them, they weren't in the kitchen and weren't tempted as easily. At least I don't feel bad because they're pretty healthy! I plan to bring a dozen or two to school tomorrow to share with some of my friends.

<3 Mandy