Sweet Things ~

Last night my childhood friend Jojo and her Normie came for dinner.I made Josée di Stasios' Farfalle with peas and prosciutto..

Some munchies before.. some bread..the morrocan pepper salad I shared here a while away(I really really really like that salad..)
And for dessert I thought I would use the microwave lemon curd I made a couple of days ago to test drive it..



I give it a 2 thumbs up.The taste was delicious..the texture too..
I decided to make lemon tarts with Dorie's sweet tart dough that I enjoy so much.I used small 2.5 inch metal rings from Bulk Barn to make them .



I also hollowed out 2 lemons divided in half..reserved the juice and put my ice cream in them and froze.
The ice cream stays out of your tart and stays nice and chilled on the plate..





I've know Jojo since I was born on the top floor of this building.Her family and our family shared the upper balconies.. When I was 9 her family moved to the suburbs..My father bought the house across the street to theirs.. We both lived there until I married and moved a couple of years later.We still live less than 1/2 hour from each other.And have always been friends.I love that.


The white flowers in these photos are from a beautiful flowering shrub commonly known as Bridal Wreath Spirea.
Jojo was my maid of honor..at my very small very humble wedding.Fitting blooms!



Lemon Curd..Microwave Recipe..
INGREDIENTS

* 1 cup white sugar
* 3 eggs
* 1 cup fresh lemon juice
* 3 lemons, zested
* 1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted

DIRECTIONS

1. In a microwave-safe bowl, whisk together the sugar and eggs until smooth. Stir in lemon juice, lemon zest and butter. Cook in the microwave for one minute intervals, stirring after each minute until the mixture is thick enough to coat the back of a metal spoon. Remove from the microwave, and pour into small sterile jars. Store for up to three weeks in the refrigerator.
There are a few versions of this recipe around..the above is the one I used from AllRecipes.

The Sweet tart dough is from Dorie's Book that I love and have ..Baking From My Home To Yours.Highly highly recommend it.


Sweet Tart Dough (Pâte Sablée)
From Dorie Greenspan's Baking: From My Home To Yours

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup confectioner's sugar (powdered sugar)
1/4 tsp. salt
1 stick plus 1 tablespoon (9 tablespoons) very cold (or frozen) unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
1 large egg yolk

Put the flour, confectioners' sugar and salt in a food processor and pulse a couple of times to combine.
Scatter the pieces of butter over the dry ingredients and pulse until the butter is coarsely cut in--you should have some pieces the size of oatmeal flakes and some the size of peas
Stir the yolk, just to break it up, and add it a little at a time, pulsing after each addition. When the egg is in, process in long pulses--about 10 seconds each--until the dough, whisk will look granular soon after the egg is added, forms clumps and curds.
Just before you reach this stage, the sound of the machine working the dough will change--heads up.
Turn the dough out onto a work surface and , very lightly and sparingly, knead the dough just to incorporate any dry ingredients that might have escaped mixing.
To press the dough into the pan: Butter a 9-inch fluted tart pan with a removable bottom. Press the dough evenly over the bottom and up the sides of the pan, using all but one little piece of dough, which you should save in the refrigerator to patch any cracks after the crust is baked.
Don't be too heavy-handed--press the crust in so that the edges of the pieces cling to one another, but not so hard that the crust loses its crumbly texture. Freeze the crust for at least 30 minutes, preferably longer, before baking.

To partially or fully bake the crust: Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

Butter the shiny side of a piece of aluminum foil and fit the foil, buttered side down, tightly against the crust.
(Since you froze the crust, you can bake it without weights.) Put the tart pan on a baking sheet to bake the crust for 25 minutes. Carefully remove the foil. If the crust has puffed, press it down gently with the back of a spoon. For a partially baked crust, patch the crust if necessary, then transfer the crust to a coking rack (keep it in is pan).
To fully bake the crust: Bake for another 8 minutes or so, or until it is firm and golden brown. (Keep a close eye on the crust's progress--it can go from golden to way too dark in a flash). Transfer the tart pan to a rack and cool the crust to room temperature before filling.

To patch a partially or fully baked crust, if necessary: If there are any cracks in the baked crust, patch them with some of the reserved raw dough as soon as you remove the foil. Slice off a thin piece of the dough, place it over the crack, moisten the edges and very gently smooth the edges into the baked crust. If the tart will not be baked again with its filling, bake for another 2 minutes or so, just to that the rawness off the patch.

Storing: Well wrapped, the dough can be kept in the refrigerator for up to 5 days or frozen up to 2 months. While the fully baked crust can be packed airtight and frozen for up to 2 months I (Dorie), prefer to freeze the unbaked crust in the pan and bake it directly from the freezer--it has the fresher flavor. Just add about 5 minutes to the baking time.



Sweet Things~ Lemon Curd,Lemon Tarts,Ice Cream..and Jojo.