Except for lemon in my iced tea or lime in a Corona, I used to not care much for citrus, especially as a flavoring in candies and baked goods. When I had a bag of Skittles or a pack of Starbursts, I’d leave half of it behind, the yellows and the oranges. I only ate the green ones if they were apple. It’s not that I didn’t like orange, lemon, lime, and even grapefruit; it’s just that when I have a choice, I’d pick something else.
lots of love to squeeze all that juice
It’s still difficult for me to want to bake an orange poppyseed muffin or pop a few Lemonheads, but I’m learning to like citrus more and more, especially now since my constant cocktail is Absolut Citron with soda. Perhaps as I get older and the tastebuds become less alert than they used to be, the tartness of citrus helps me to taste. And being more open to citrus fruits, I may be able to appreciate those cuisines that rely heavily on lemon and lime, like Thai. *eh* Maybe not, I’m still not in love with coconut in savory dishes.
cool lemon tart with fresh strawberries outside on a warm LA day
Making tarts is totally new to me, and I probably should have stuck with baking something that was more familiar to me, like a cake or cookies. But LA in late spring feels like the Tropics in August, so a light, refreshing tart sounded appropriate. “Light” is a textural word here, i.e. not rich and heavy, rather than a calorie word, i.e. not fattening. No, this lemon tart most certainly does not fit into any diet plan, since it’s made with one whole cup of sugar, eight egg yolks and eight tablespoons of butter!
greedy with heat by 30 seconds – grainy edges
Maybe I’m biased. What am I saying? Of course I’m biased. :) Ginger Graham Cracker Crusted Lemon Tart is pretty tasty, and I especially like the addition of ginger to the crust. Sadly, it isn’t as beautiful as I had imagined. 3…2…1, and I yanked the oven door open when the kitchen timer twinkled, and it looked perfect. But I was afraid that it *might* be underdone; it would be too soft to slice into pretty little triangles. So, I shut the door, counted to 30 then gently opened the door again. *Gasp!* the tart was overdone, the filling was practically boiling right there in the crust, pulling away from the sides. I leapt to grab the oven mitt, rescued the pan from the horrendous heat, but it was just too late. *sigh* That’s a lesson for next time. Don’t get greedy with the oven. Just as a side note, I also learned that freezing egg yolks is a tricky thing. I had a veritable chicken coop’s worth of frozen egg yolks (I knew they’d come in handy one of these days!), but they just never thawed back to normal. Had to hatch a fresh batch of egg yolks for the tart.
Thanks to Alice at My Adventures in the Breadbox for hosting Sugar High Friday Number 8!
