Take a Megabite

Strawberry Ricotta Graham Tartlets

I’m looking forward to moving, because I know for a fact that there will natural light promised in the lease. I also can’t wait to have a yard that doesn’t back up to mean growly dogs that want to eat Elliot.

When I envision my future home, I imagine white walls, a white oven and windows Elliot can see out of without standing on the back of the couch … and preferably a huge tupperware of these mini tarts in the fridge.

These are cheesecake-ish mini tarts … also known as a cookie stacker … also known as delicious. I’m totally down with ricotta being dessert-y. And as you’ve probably noticed, I’m always down with a dessert involving strawberries. Did you know there’s lemon in these? Oh yeah. Zest in the ricotta + juice in the berries.

And I can just say, that I’m glad to have some strawberries leftover? I’d like to put them on my yogurt and ice cream, please. Would that be an ok dinner? When it’s really hot out, is that kind of thing allowed?

Strawberry Ricotta Graham Tartlets
Recipe adapted from Food & Wine via Smitten Kitchen

Ingredients:

graham cookies -

• 1 cup + 2 T all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
• 1/4 cup graham flour, or whole wheat if you can’t find graham
• 3/4 t cinnamon
• 1/2 t kosher salt
• pinch of ground cloves
• 8 T (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
• 2 T light brown sugar
• 2 T granulated sugar
• 2 T honey
• 1 1/2 t molasses, you can just use more honey if you don’t want to use molasses

strawberry goodness -

• 3/4 pound strawberries, thinly sliced
• 3 T granulated sugar
• 1 1/2 T fresh lemon juice

ricotta mixture -

• 1 1/4 cups ricotta (10 oz.), fresh if you can find it, or a full-fat store-bought
• 2 T confectioners’ sugar
• 1 t finely grated lemon zest

Directions:

1. Make grahams. In a bowl, whisk both flours with the cinnamon, salt and cloves. Beat the butter, light brown sugar and 2 tablespoons granulated sugar at medium speed on an electric mixer until fluffy, about 1 minute. Beat in the honey and molasses, about 30 seconds. Scrape down the side of the bowl and beat in the flour mixture at low speed, just until incorporated. Pat the dough into a disk, cover with plastic and refrigerate until firm, about an hour.
2. Preheat ove to 350ºF. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. On a lightly floured work surface, roll out the dough 1/8 inch thick. Using  a 1 1/2 inch round cutter (or a larger cutter of your choice) stamp out your bases (about 45 minis). Reroll the dough scraps as necessary. Transfer the grahams to the baking sheets and bake for about 9 minutes (12ish minutes for 3 1/2 inch cookies), or until lightly golden around the edges. Let cool on the pans for 5 minutes, then transfer the grahams to racks to cool completely.
3. Make toppings. In a bowl, toss the strawberries with 3 tablespoons of granulated sugar and lemon juice. Let stand until syrupy, 20 minutes, or overnight. In a medium bowl mix the ricotta, confectioners’ sugar and lemon zest with an electric mixer. Cover both and refrigerate until time to assemble.
4. Assemble tartlets. Divide ricotta mixture between all the graham bases. Arrange strawberries over the ricotta, drizzle with syrup and serve.

P.S. Just know that with these little (1 1/2 inch) tarts, you might only need half of the ricotta + strawberry mixtures, since so little fits on the teeny 1 1/2 inch cookies. If you make the graham cracker bases a bigger size, you’ll be all set since you can just be so generous with the topping.

Do ahead: The grahams will keep in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks. Ricotta mixture will last only for a day or two if fresh, or up to a week from packaged ricotta. Strawberry mixture will keep for a few days, but tastes amazing on everything so probably won’t last that long in real life.

Just the tall-drink-of-water of the cookie world.

Blueberry Crumb Bars

I get weird in the heat. It’s right up there with being hungry. If I get too toasty I will surely stop talking and most likely get sassy about it. If I join you for a patio lunch, just save me a spot in the shade will you?

On the other hand, this is a picnic dessert for real. It doesn’t bother getting weird in the heat. So bring it to your next bbq or take it to the park. It won’t get sassy. And check out those lemons up there. They make these bars zesty on top of being crumby (in a good way). So get these in your belly before crabbiness from hunger strikes!

Blueberry Crumb Bars
Recipe adapted from Smitten Kitchen

Ingredients:

crumby goodness -

• 1 cup sugar
• 1 t baking powder
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup ( 2 sticks) cold unsalted butter
• 1 egg
• 1/4 t salt
• zest of 1 lemon

berry mixture -

• juice of 1 lemon
• 4 cups blueberries
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 4 t cornstarch

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 375ºF. Grease a 9×13 inch pan. (I lined mine with foil and then greased that for easy removal later on.)
2. Make the crumby goodness. In a medium bowl, stir together 1 cup sugar, 3 cups flour and baking powder. Mix in salt and lemon zest. Using a fork or pastry blender, cut in the butter and egg. Dough will be crumbly. Pat half of dough into the prepared pan.
3. Make berry mixture. In another bowl, stir together the 1/2 cup sugar, cornstarch and lemon juice. Gently mix in the blueberries. Sprinkle berry mixture over the crust. Crumble remaining dough over berry layer.
4. Bake in preheated oven for 45 minutes, or until top is slightly brown. Cool completely before cutting into squares. I stored mine in the fridge for awhile to hurry up the cooling process.

Doilies are the new napkins.

Lemon Drenched Lemon Cakes

I know that I’m not very good at washing dishes. I know that I always want crêpes for dinner. I know that I don’t like construction people making a racket at 7:00am. And I REALLY know that Mondays are better with cake.

This cake is zesty and bright. Basically this cake will punch you in the face with dreamy and fresh lemony flavors.

You might want to split a piece with your total BFF. You might want to keep the whole thing for yourself.

So, you should probably make this today, because your Monday will be way more tasty.

Lemon Drenched Lemon Cakes
Recipe adapted from Dorie Greenspan via Joy the Baker

Ingredients:

cakes -

• 2 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 1/2 t baking powder
• pinch of salt
• 2 1/3 cups sugar
• 1/2 plump, moist vanilla bean, split lengthwise, seeds scraped out and reserved, or 1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 6 large eggs, preferably at room temperature
• 2/3 cups heavy cream
• zest of two lemons, finely grated
• 1 stick + 7 T (15 tablespoons) unsalted butter, melted and cooled

syrup -

• 1/3 cup water
• 1/4 cup sugar
• juice of two lemons

Directions:

1. Make the cakes! Center a rack in the oven and preheat to 350ºF. Butter two loaf pans, dust the insides with flour and tap out the excess. Even if they are nonstick, it’s still good to grease them, just to be sure! Place the pans on a baking sheet.
2. In a medium bowl sift together the flour, baking powder and salt.
3. Put the sugar and lemon zest in a large bowl, working with your fingers, rub them together until the sugar is moist and smells fabulously lemony. It will be magical. Add the vanilla bean seeds and work them into the sugar. If you’re using vanilla extract, add it later after you’ve added the eggs.
4. Add the eggs and whisk them into the sugar, beating until they are thoroughly incorporated. Whisk in the extract (if using), then whisk in the cream. Continuing with the whisk, or switching to a large rubber spatula, gently stir in the dry ingredients in 3 or 4 additions; the batter will be smooth and thick. Finish by folding in the melted butter in 2 or 3 additions. Pour the batter into the pans, smoothing with a rubber spatula.
5. Bake for 55-60 minutes, or until a knife inserted into the center of the cakes comes out clean. As soon as the cake goes into the oven, make the syrup. After about 30 minutes in the oven, check the cakes for color – if they are browning too quickly, tent them with foil.
6. Make the syrup! Stir the water and sugar together in a medium saucepan over medium heat until the sugar melts and it’s no longer grainy when stirred. Bring to a boil. Remove from heat and stir in the lemon juice. Pour syrup into a heatproof bowl and let cool.
7. When the cakes test done, transfer them to a wire rack to cool for 5 minutes before unmolding them and turning them right side up on the rack. Place the rack over a baking sheet lined with wax paper and using a thin skewer, cake tester or thin-bladed sharp knife poke holes all over the cakes. Brush the cakes all over with the syrup, working slowly so that the cakes sop it up. Leave the drenched cakes on the rack to cool to room temperature.

Just drenching the lemon cakes with lemon syrup.

Lemon Yogurt Cake + Blackberry Sauce

I have a new oven! So I have cake!

Have you ever been to a cake wedding? This may as well have been one. A lemon cake and some blackberry sauce eloped, and nobody judged them.

Have you ever eaten blackberries and felt like you were getting bullied by seeds? Well, don’t bother worrying about that with this delicious sauce topping this lemony cake. After blending the sauce ingredients, you simply strain it through a fine mesh strainer and next thing you know it’s a dream come true.

Lemon Yogurt Cake + Blackberry Sauce
Recipe adapted from Smitten Kitchen

Ingredients:

cake -

• 1 cup whole milk plain yogurt or 2% Greek yogurt
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil
• 1 cup sugar
• scant 1 T lemon zest, about half a lemon
• 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
• 2 eggs
• 1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 t baking powder
• 1/2 t baking soda
• 1/8 t salt

sauce -

• 12-ish ounces fresh blackberries
• 1/4 cup water
• 3 T sugar
• 1 T fresh lemon juice

Directions:

1. Make the cake. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease the sides of a 9-inch round cake pan or springform pan with oil or cooking spray and line the bottom with parchment paper if not using a springform pan.
2. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the yogurt, oil, sugar, lemon zest and juice. Add the eggs one by one, whisking well after each addition. Sift flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt together right over your yogurt batter. Stir with a spoon until just combined. It may appear lumpy, but don’t bother over-mixing.
3. Pour the batter into the prepared cake pan and bake for 35-40 minutes, or until the top is golden brown and a knife inserted in the center comes out clean. Transfer pan to a cooling rack and let stand for 10 minutes. Run a knife around the pan to loosen. If using a springform pan, unclasp the sides. Otherwise, flip the cake onto a plate and flip back onto the rack.
4. Make sauce. Combine blackberries, water, sugar and lemon juice in a blender (or food processor). Blend until very smooth. Press through a fine mesh strainer to remove seeds. Cover and refrigerate until cold.
5. Serve cake slightly warm or at room temperature. Sprinkle with powdered sugar, slice and top with about a tablespoon of blackberry sauce.

Yum. For real. I miss it already…

Lemon-Scented Olive Oil Mini Muffins

Don’t bother biting these guys in half. Eat them in one bite like sushi!

And then eat at least one more, ok?

These little lemony delights use olive oil instead of butter and are flavored with real fruit! So there you go!

Lemon-Scented Olive Oil Mini Muffins
Recipe from Cooking Light

Ingredients:

muffins -

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1 t baking powder
• 1/4 t salt
• scant 1/2 cup light sour cream
• 1 T lemon zest
• 2 T extra virgin olive oil
• 1 1/2 T skim milk
• 2 t fresh lemon juice
• 1 large egg
• 1 large egg white

glaze -

• 1/2 cup powdered sugar
• a pinch of lemon zest
• 1 T fresh lemon juice
• strawberries for garnish

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Spray 2 (dozen) mini muffin pans with cooking spray. Set aside.
2. Whisk together the dry ingredients: flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl. Make a well in the center.
3. In another bowl whisk together the sour cream, lemon zest, olive oil, milk, lemon juice, egg and egg white until mixed completely. Pour into the well in the dry ingredients stir just until moistened.
4. Divide batter 1 teaspoon at at time into the prepared muffin tins (mine made about 23 mini muffins). Bake for 10 minutes or until cakes spring back lightly when touched. Remove from pans and allow to cool on a wire rack.
5. Make glaze. Whisk together the powdered sugar, lemon zest and drizzle juice until smooth. (You might not need all the juice. Just mix until it’s the consistency you want.) Dunk the tops of each mini muffin into the glaze and set aside until glaze sets. Top each with a strawberry sliver.

Lemon Rosemary Shortbread

Rosemary in a cookie is equivalent to a cookie in a party dress. It’s just how it is.

The shrubs outside my windows look like rosemary. One of them is growing wider and trying to block my front door. It might be happening right now. Maybe if it was rosemary I wouldn’t feel as though I’m being bullied by a shrub.

When I baked the first cookie sheet’s worth of these guys, I put the dough too close together (kinda like that picture below…). So keep in mind they will spread out a little bit while baking.

Although, Jake says that when cookies spread while baking and run into another one it’s called a “kissing crust”. I guess it makes me not mind so much when it happens. They’re just in love. And I’m just in love with these cookies.

Lemon Rosemary Shortbread
Recipe [cut in half] from Eat Boutique

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 sticks of butter (6 oz.), room temperature
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 t vanilla
• 1 T fresh lemon juice
• 1/2 t lemon zest
• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 1/2 t sea salt
• 1 1/2 t chopped rosemary

Directions:

1. In a medium bowl, using an electric mixer (or in the bowl of a stand mixer using the paddle attachment) cream together butter and sugar until pale and fluffy. Add vanilla, lemon juice and zest. Mix until combined.
2. In a small bowl whisk flour and salt together. Slowly add this to the butter mixture, mixing until completely incorporated. Add the rosemary and beat until evenly distributed.
   
3. Shape the dough into a flat disk and wrap in plastic wrap. Chill in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.
4. Roll out the dough on a lightly floured surface until 1/4 inch thick. Cut with a small cookie cutter and place on an ungreased cookie sheet about an inch apart. Bake for about 8-10 minutes, rotating half way through. They will be just golden around the edges. Watch them closely, since they can bake quickly at the end. Transfer to your belly.

Lemon Remix Bars

I’m not a rule follower. Betty Crocker says to allow these to cool for a whole hour after baking. I ate one 15 minutes into that hour, and I don’t even care.

Take that, Betty.

These guys are 2/3 lemon + 1/3 orange, and rumor has it they can convert even the lemon bar haters out there.

Jacob went from a hater to a participator. Believe it.

Lemon Remix Bars
Recipe adapted from Betty Crocker

Ingredients:

crust -

• 1 cup flour
• 1/2 cup butter ( 1 stick), softened
• 1/4 cup powdered sugar + more for sprinkling

lemon -

• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 2 t lemon zest
• 2 T lemon juice
• 1/2 t baking powder
• 1/4 t salt
• 2 eggs

{remix} orange -

• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1 t orange zest
• 1 T orange juice
• 1/4 t baking powder
• 1/8 t salt
• 1 egg

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Make crust. In a medium bowl mix together the flour, butter and powdered sugar until combined. Press evenly into an un-greased 8-inch square pan, and 1/2 inch up the side of the pan. Bake 20 minutes.
3. Meanwhile mix up the lemon ingredients with an electric mixer until light and fluffy (about 3 minutes). In another bowl mix up the orange ingredients until light and fluffy (about 3 minutes).
4. Pour the lemon ingredients over the hot crust, then pour the orange ingredients over the lemon ingredients. Twirl the two flavors into each other with a fork. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until almost no indentation remains when you gently press in the center. (If the center bubbles up while baking poke with a toothpick and it’ll settle.)
5. Cool completely (for about an hour). Sprinkle with powdered sugar, cut into squares and eat!

Lemon Curd Tartlets

Someday I hope to have an oven that fits the big cookie sheets. Currently my oven is small and sassy.
Someday I’ll eat these tartlets for dinner; you might be tempted to do the same…
Someday I will make homemade lemon curd for these guys.

Today, however, I used Trader Joe’s Lemon Curd which comes in a jar that deserves respect. So much so that I’ve been saving this jar for just the right recipe and didn’t want to merely use it on a whim. I did taste it a week ago and I almost fell in love on the spot. If you love lemon bars as much as I love lemon bars, you’ll love this remix.

Lemon Curd Tartletts
Recipe idea from my mom

Ingredients:

• 1 cup flour
• 1 cup powdered sugar, plus more for sprinkling
• 1 stick of butter, softened
• 1 jar of Lemon Curd (10.5 oz)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Whisk together the flour and powdered sugar.
2. Rub the butter into the sugar and flour mixture until it resembles coarse crumbs, and there are no butter bits bigger than a pea. Drop about a tablespoon of the crumbs into each mini muffin cup pressing onto the bottom and up the sides.
3. Bake for 7 minutes. Remove and press center of each cup down with a shot glass and then bake for 1-2 more minutes. Remove and allow to cool for at least 10 minutes before lightly loosening each tartlette crust with a knife and placing on a cooling rack.
4. Using a small sandwich bag with a corner trimmed, pipe lemon curd into each mini crust. Sprinkle with powdered sugar and enjoy!

Makes about 30 little tartlets. Mine made 31. The 31st was burnt a smidgen though. My oven has an attitude, for real.

Do you kinda see what I mean about this jar? To me it looks like it should have lemon potion in it, but what do I know?