I went to Costco yesterday. I went for the sole purposes of buying vanilla extract and pricing grass seed. I got the vanilla, priced the grass seed and bought quite a few other things I didn’t intend to buy. It’s the Costco way. That’s the reason I try to make trips there are infrequently as I can. When I do go, I spend the entire time I’m there fighting the urge to buy industrial size boxes of cereal or enough dishwasher soap to last until the year 2020.

One of the unplanned purchases was Martha Stewart’s Everyday Food cookbook, Great Food Fast. I’ve had my eye on it for a while and I was unable to resist its low Costco price. I also hadn’t gotten a new cookbook since Christmas so it was time to treat myself.

I’m looking forward to using this book to expand my easy dinners repertoire. I’m still getting used to not working in a restaurant and actually being at home for dinner every night. The restaurant used to feed me dinner when I worked dinner shifts and I probably only cooked dinner 3 nights a week. As a result, I have a very limited regular rotation of entrees. I’ve taken to scouring cookbooks, magazine and the web for new ideas.

Flipping through the book last night, I came across the recipe for these lemon custard cakes and immediately wanted to make them. As is normally the case, I made a couple of changes to the recipe. I used Meyer lemons instead of regular lemons. And I added frozen raspberries…if for no reason other than lemons and raspberries go so well together.

Obviously you can use regular lemons. You could leave out the raspberries (but you’ll only have 6 cakes if you do). You could use some other fruit. Blueberries would probably be pretty fantastic. Or blackberries. Oh, the possibilities.

Meyer Lemon Raspberry Custard Cakes

Very slightly adapted from Everyday Food: Great Food Fast

Makes 8 individual cakes

Ingredients

• Unsalted butter, room temperature, for custard cups
• 3 large eggs, separated
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 3 teaspoons grated Meyer lemon zest (I used 2 lemons)
• 1/4 cup fresh Meyer lemon juice (from the same 2 lemons)
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon lemon extract
• 1 cup milk
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• approximately 1 cup fresh or frozen raspberries
• Confectioners’ sugar, for dusting

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It’s freezing outside. Way colder than normal for the part of Virginia where I live. To combat the cold, I’m pretending it’s warm and sunny with a bright citrus margarita. A bright citrus margarita made with fruit you can’t find when it’s warm and sunny in Virginia.

A friend suggested I make Meyer lemon and agave nectar margaritas with the Meyer lemons I found at Trader Joe’s.

I’m a sucker for a good margarita so I did just that…and I threw in a clementine as well since we’ve got a bowl full of them on the counter. Margaritas seem to be a good fit for Meyer lemons. A regular lemon would make a super tart drink but the Meyer lemon is just about perfect. I usually add orange juice to my margaritas so the clementine was a natural choice as well.

These were pretty much a perfect balance of sweet and tart. You could sort of taste the agave nectar and the tequila taste was there but not overwhelming. I will definitely make these again. Too bad the fruit for them isn’t available year-round.

I made these as I make all of my margaritas. On the rocks with lots of kosher salt. The salt must be kosher. It’s not as good otherwise. Regular table salt doesn’t taste as good and it doesn’t stick to the glass very well.

Meyer Lemon and Clementine Margarita

Makes 1 drink.

Ingredients

• 1 shot (1.5 oz) tequila
• 1/2 shot (.75 oz) triple sec or other citrus liqueur
• 1 Meyer lemon
• 1 clementine
• 1 tablespoon agave nectar
• kosher salt (optional)
• ice

Directions

1. Slice lemon and clementine in half. Squeeze the juice out of them with a juicer or reamer (or your hands).
2. Add the following to a cocktail shaker filled with ice: tequila, triple sec, lemon juice, clementine juice, agave nectar and the fruit rinds you just squeezed.
3. Cover the cocktail shaker and shake it. A lot. Keep shaking it. Shake it some more. And then shake it again.
4. Pour into a tall glass. If you like salt on your margaritas, you should rim the glass with salt before pouring the margarita in the glass.

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I’ve blended summer blueberries with winter Meyer lemons to make these lemon cupcakes with blueberry buttercream frosting.

I missed Meyer lemon season last winter and was determined not to miss it this year. It seems that nearly everyone in the blogging world raves about them, so I figured I should give them a go. I noticed that they were in season when I saw them at Dean & Deluca on a recent visit to Georgetown but I didn’t feel like dragging a bunch of lemons around all day. Fortunately my local Trader Joe’s had them in stock when I got home.

These cupcakes are the first and only thing I’ve made with them so far so the jury is still out on whether I like/love them or not. Lots of people seem to love them because they’re not as tart as regular lemons. I’ve no issues with the tartness of regular lemons so that’s not going to make me love the Meyer lemons. I was advised to try them with agave nectar in a batch of margaritas. That might be when I decide whether I love them or not.

For these cupcakes, you can skip the Meyers altogether and use regular lemons. I would have done so if the Meyer lemons weren’t already in the house. For the blueberry buttercream frosting, I added blueberry jam to a batch of regular buttercream frosting. I made the jam last summer with blueberries I picked. You could use store bought blueberry jam.

If you already have a favorite golden cupcake recipe, use it. Just add lemon juice and lemon zest.

Meyer Lemon Cupcakes

Very slightly adapted from the “Golden Vanilla Cupcakes” recipe in Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World

Makes 12 regular or 24 mini cupcakes

Ingredients

• 1 cup soy milk
• 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
• 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 tablespoons cornstarch
• 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup margarine, softened
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• juice of 2 Meyer lemons (or 2 medium regular lemons)
• 1 tablespoon Meyer lemon zest (or regular lemon zest)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line muffin pan with cupcake liners.
2. Whisk the soy milk and apple cider vinegar in a measuring cup and set aside a few minutes to curdle.
3. Whisk the flour, cornstarch, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a large bowl.
4. In a separate large bowl, cream margarine and sugar for about 2 minutes at medium speed with a handheld mixer. Beat in the vanilla, lemon juice & lemon zest.
5. Alternate beating in the soy milk mixture and dry ingredients. Stop to scrape the side of the bowl a few times.
6. Fill cupcake liners 2/3 full and bake for 20-22 minutes until done. Transfer to a cooling rack and let cool completely before frosting.

Blueberry Buttercream Frosting

Adapted (and no longer vegan) from the “Vegan Fluffy Buttercream Frosting” recipe in Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup shortening
• 1/2 cup margarine
• 3 1/2 cups confectioner’s sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup milk
• 3/4 cup blueberry jam

Directions

1. Beat shortening and margarine together until well combined and fluffy.
2. Add the sugar and beat for 3 more minutes.
3. Add the vanilla and milk, beat for another 5-7 minutes until fluffy.
4. Add blueberry jam and beat until well combined.
5. Pipe or spoon onto cupcakes.

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