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My first bag of Meyer lemons purchased: Now what?

I bought my first bag of Meyer lemons last night on a whim at my overpriced grocery store. Now what? I probably have a stack of recipes that I've cut out over the years, but does anyone have a tried and true recipe that they can give me? I don't want to experiment on something and have it fail. Wasting money is not something I want to do! I prefer dessert recipes, if possible. I have a lemon loving mother-in-law and a family gathering on Friday. Help?

14 Comments:

I'd go with a classic lemon curd tart. The simplicity of a recipe like this (from Cooks Illustrated, but with 2 T less sugar due to the meyers' sweeter taste) really highlights the flavor of meyer lemons.

1 fully baked warm pâte sucrée tart shell (if you have a favorite, use it. I'll include the CI recipe below too)
7 large egg yolks
2 large eggs
1 cup granulated sugar
2/3 cup lemon juice from 4 to 5 medium lemons
1/4 cup grated lemon zest
pinch table salt
4 tablespoons unsalted butter , cut into 4 pieces
3 tablespoons heavy cream

1. Adjust oven rack to upper-middle position and heat oven to 375 degrees. Place tart pan with shell on cookie sheet.
2. In medium non-reactive bowl, whisk together yolks and whole eggs until combined, about 5 seconds. Add sugar and whisk until just combined, about 5 seconds. Add lemon juice, zest, and salt; whisk until combined, about 5 seconds. Transfer mixture to medium non-reactive saucepan, add butter pieces, and cook over medium-low heat, stirring constantly with wooden spoon, until curd thickens to thin saucelike consistency (and registers 170 degrees on an instant-read thermometer), about 5 minutes. Immediately pour curd through single-mesh stainless steel strainer set over clean non-reactive bowl. Stir in heavy cream; pour curd into warm tart shell immediately.
3. Bake until filling is shiny and opaque and until the center 3 inches jiggle slightly when shaken, 10 to 15 minutes. Cool on wire rack to room temperature, about 45 minutes. Remove outer metal ring, slide thin metal spatula between bottom crust and tart pan bottom to release, then slip tart onto cardboard round or serving plate. Cut into wedges and serve.

Pâte sucrée
1 large egg yolk
1 tablespoon heavy cream
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
2/3 cup confectioners' sugar
1/4 teaspoon table salt
8 tablespoons unsalted butter (1 stick, very cold), cut into twenty-four 3/4-inch cubes
1 tablespoon unbleached all-purpose flour for dusting

1. Whisk together yolk, cream, and vanilla in small bowl; set aside. Pulse to combine 1 1/4 cups flour, sugar, and salt in bowl of food processor fitted with steel blade. Scatter butter pieces over flour mixture; pulse to cut butter into flour until mixture resembles coarse meal, about fifteen 1-second pulses. With machine running, add egg mixture and process until dough just comes together, about 25 seconds. Turn dough onto sheet of plastic wrap and press into 6-inch disk. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate at least 2 hours.
2. Unwrap dough; lightly flour large sheet of parchment paper or plastic wrap and place dough in center. Roll out dough and line tart pan. Freeze dough 30 minutes.
3. Meanwhile, adjust one oven rack to upper-middle position and other rack to lower-middle position; heat oven to 375 degrees. Place chilled tart shell on cookie sheet; press 12-inch square of foil inside tart shell and fill with metal or ceramic pie weights. Bake on lower rack 30 minutes, rotating halfway through baking time. Carefully remove foil and weights by gathering edges of foil and pulling up and out. Transfer cookie sheet with tart shell to upper rack and continue to bake until shell is golden brown, about 5 minutes longer.

Thanks, ChristineB! One question: how "eggy" tasting is the curd? I find that I'm really sensitive to most curds and all I taste are eggs, even the kind that you buy in the grocery store.

I didn't find this one to be eggy at all. However, if you're worried about it, I'm sure you could substitute this meyer lemon curd recipe from epicurious (doubled, probably, to make enough to fill the tart shell), which has a lower egg to juice ratio: http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Meyer-Lemon-Curd-102744 I'd add a few tablespoons of heavy cream, though, like in the CI recipe. It makes the curd really creamy, and extra delicious!

Good luck!

Make fresh lemonade. Or make a lemon cocktail, adding vodka to fresh lemon juice and add either ginger ale or seltzer. Also try making homemade lemoncello by soaking the skins of the lemons in vodka. However, you'll have to soak them for 2 months or so for best results.

Go to my blog as last week I had meyer lemon week so there are tons of ideas!!!!! http://savorthethyme.blogspot.com

Thanks everyone! Love all the ideas so far. I think I'm going to bake and get a little tipsy, hopefully in that order

Savorthethyme, love your site already! I'll be sure to add it to my rotation of food sites to browse.

You must make these meyer lemon ricotta cookies! I swear by them, but you have to use good quality ricotta (no store brand - tried that once and failed).

Hillary
Chew on That

I use them as a variation on my key lime pie:

5 egg yolks

1 can sweetened condensed milk

1/3 cup Key Lime Juice or Meyer Lemon Juice

Graham Cracker Crust

Whipped Cream


Mix 4 yolks from extra large or jumbo eggs + 1 extra large egg, with a whisk. Then thoroughly whisk in 1 can sweetened condensed milk, then whisk in 1/3 cup meyer lemon juice or bottled key lime juice.

Pour into a a graham cracker crust made with 1-1/4 cups graham cracker crumbs, 2 tablespoons cinnamon, 1/4 cups packed brown sugar, 3/4 stick melted unsalted butter. Bake in a preaheated 350 degree oven for 15-20 minutes. Cool throughly, then refrigerate for a few hours till chilled. Serve, topping each slice with whipped cream.

Shortbread cookies are rad with them.

Moroccan Preserved Lemon: Juice 4-6 lemons. Cut 4-6 other lemons into quarters, but leave the sections connected at the bottom. Pack The cut lemons with rock kosher salt, or just kosher salt. Pack these lemons in a jar, ,pour juice over all until submerged. Cover. Leave in a cool place for 24 hrs, then refrigerate for up to 5 mos. To use, slice these babies thinly over lamb, pork, chicken -- a GREAT tangy flavor addition!

I made Meyer Lemon Posset for the dessert I served after Easter dinner today, served it with blueberries on top. It's easy to make. For each one cup of heavy cream, you use 3/4 cup sugar and the juice of one Meyer lemon.

You combine the cream and sugar in a saucepan, over low-med heat, stirring 'til combined. Remove it from the heat when the surface just starts to steam or ripple a bit. Let it cool for 20 minutes, stirring every few minutes to prevent a skin from forming. Then stir the lemon juice in, carefully so the cream doesn't curdle. Blend well, refrigerate for at least 4 hours Yes, it's a bit on the rich side, but small portions, served with fresh berries, it's actually light and refreshing.

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