Lemon Tart with Walnut Crust

Easy Peazy Lemon Squeezy
This past winter, I thought for sure I would lose all my citrus trees during that long stretch of sub-freezing temperatures. There was a lot of frost damage, and I had to cut them way back. But if you walk into my back yard right now you would never know it.

The trees are in bloom, and the scent is phenomenal. When combined with the fragrance from my honeysuckle it almost smells like Hawaii, without the beach, or the guy with a Mai Tai.

As wonderful as all this is, unfortunately I will have to wait months for the fruit. And I’ve got a wicked craving for all things lemon: lemonade, lemon sauce, lemon cake, preserved lemons…well you get the idea.

To tide me over until harvest, I picked up some beautiful Meyer lemons downstairs in the store, and made a tart from a recipe from the August/September 1997 issue of Fine Cooking magazine—which I bought years ago. It is easy, and so tasty, and a great way to end a Spring meal. Read more…

Classic Yellow Cake with Chocolate Frosting

Let Them Eat Cake

This Sunday, My dad will turn 70 and we will have a big celebration which is tradition. There will be the usual grilled fatty meats, adult beverages and, of course, there will be cake.

In my family we take birthday cake pretty seriously. We all have our personal favorites. Growing up, my mother’s mother would make sure that we all got “our cake” for our birthday dinner. A few years ago though I learned that a great travesty had occurred. The usual death by chocolate cake that Gam made for Dad every year was, in fact, not his favorite cake. (Gasp! Say it ain’t so!)

The running joke when I was growing up was that Dad was Gam’s favorite despite the fact that he was a USC grad (Gam went to Cal) and married her only child. Every year Dad got a promise from Gam that she would someday buy him the red Ferrari he always wanted. Alas, it never happened and instead, every birthday Gam would give Dad the biggest piece of his “favorite” chocolate cake with chocolate frosting. As it turns out though, it wasn’t his choice, and Dad being Dad never said anything. (Or maybe it was the promise of the Ferrari?)

Turns out Dad’s favorite cake is a yellow cake with chocolate frosting. And if it comes from a box, so much the better! Since I have learned of his preference, I have tried to make up for the many years of incorrect cakes by making sure that there is a yellow cake with chocolate frosting at Dad’s birthday celebration. Though, the food snob in me can’t handle doing it from a box.

Yellow Cake is the epitome of a classic birthday cake. For me, when I picture a slice of birthday cake, the picture of a yellow cake with chocolate frosting quickly comes to mind. But you just don’t see it served all that often which is a crime. Yellow cake is moist and tasty and is the perfect compliment to a good chocolate frosting recipe.

Interestingly enough, there aren’t a whole lot of yellow cake recipes even in the so called “baking bibles”, but I have found a few. The best one is from The Joy of Cooking. (Of course it is.) I also give you Gam’s Chocolate Frosting which was legendary—especially when she added some instant espresso to it. Read more…

Chocolaty Caramel Thumbprints

Cookie Time!

I have holiday whiplash. Just when I was settling into turkey and pie Thanksgiving was over, and now my family is getting ready for our Holiday Cookie Exchange this weekend. We bought our tree on Sunday, and now it is in it’s preferred spot awaiting adornment. I am in a mad dash around the house to get the rest of the decorations up in time for Sunday’s soiree. Did I mention that my husband was in New York on business all week, and that my daughter’s school called to have me pick her up because she is sick? Ho. Ho. Ho.

The good thing is that the kids are old enough now to actually help rather than hinder, and the help required is making cookies. Cleaning the bathroom would be nice too but I know that ain’t happenin’. What kid (or adult for that matter) doesn’t want to help make cookies?

For sanity’s sake, I am sticking with classics this year for my cookie line up. Shortbread, Swedish Ginger Cookies, Spritz Cookies and last but not least, just for decadence, I am making Chocolatey Caramel Thumbprints.

I am sucker for anything with chocolate, caramel and nuts so these babies are a no-brainer. I am still on the fence as to whether I will share them or not.…I think they will be my reward for cleaning the bathroom! Read more…

Mincemeat Pie

Making Mincemeat of ‘Em

I love Thanksgiving. It is fast becoming my favorite holiday. In the past, if you had asked me what my favorite holiday was I would have quickly answered that it was Christmas. As I get older I seem to like Thanksgiving more and more.

Possibly it is because I love the Over The River And Through The Woods feel of the drive through the back roads of Central California to my mother-in-law’s house. It’s gorgeous. The leaves on the trees are all different colors. The persimmons hang on bare limbs of enormous trees. You can smell the wood fire smoke in the chilly morning air. Norman Rockwell perfect, I tell ya.

It is also possible that I like Thanksgiving because I don’t do all of the cooking. In fact I do very little if any at all. (Strange, I know but it is nice to just show up and be fed from time to time). This year, though, I am adding a little Larson flare to the Thanksgiving table.

Growing up, Gam, my mother’s mother, would always make a mince pie. Mince pie is a throwback to an older generation and is frankly very misunderstood. Since traditionally it was made using suet, a.k.a. beef fat, people assumed that mince pie would taste like, well, beef fat. It does not. It is actually made of dried fruits and nuts and is quite good. However, the only people of my childhood who would risk their taste buds and eat the Thanksgiving mince pies were Grandpa Larson (my Dad’s Dad), Pa (my Mother’s Step Father), and my dad because he never saw a pie he didn’t like. The rest of us treated mince pie like poison and stuck with the pumpkin.

I had the opportunity to try legit mince pie when I was traveling in Scotland, and I have been hooked ever since. I do admit I make it without the suet. In all fairness, I don’t even make the mincemeat. I use the jarred Robertson’s Classic Mincemeat that we carry in our gourmet department. It’s just as good as what I could make, and so much easier. I do add a splash of brandy. I can’t help myself. I just gotta mess with it a little.) And here’s another tip, the frozen Upper Crust ready made pie shells are by far the best frozen shells I have tasted, and they have a gluten-free version too. Just buy two shells, and roll out one for the top crust.

For those who are interested in trying a mince pie but don’t want to make it, or even just bake it, we have them available in our pastry case during the holidays and, frankly, we are one of the few markets who do, so grab your forks!