Note: The month of January will feature a retrospective of recipes from the past three years, allowing your FYCE team some well-deserved time off. As my family used to say, “we are all cooked out”. If you wish to join the FYCE team, please ping me. FYCE scheduling is a bit less random than some, to prevent too much repetition or double posts.
I think that all we FYCE folks have contributed lemon bar recipes. Here and here and here, for example. Lemon bars are a nice, refreshing dessert, especially after a heavy meal.
Ingredients:
- 1¼ cups plus 3 Tbsp. all-purpose flour
- ¼ cup powdered sugar, plus more for dusting
- 1¼ tsp salt, divided
- 7 Tbsp. chilled unsalted butter, cut into pieces
- 2 large egg yolks, divided
- 1 cup (200 g) granulated sugar
- 2 tsp. finely grated lemon zest (or more to taste)
- 3 large eggs
- ⅔ cup fresh lemon juice
- ¼ cup whole milk
- ½ cup heavy cream
Directions:
Place a rack in middle of oven; preheat to 325°. Line an 8×8″ baking pan with parchment paper, leaving overhang on all sides.
Mix 1¼ cups flour, ¼ cup powdered sugar, and ¾ tsp. salt combine. Add 7 Tbsp. chilled unsalted butter, cut into pieces, until mixture is like coarse sand. Add 1 large egg yolk. The mixture will be very dry looking and powdery but should hold together when squeezed in your hand.
Spread the dough in the prepared pan and pat to even the top. Bake crust until golden, 27–29 minutes. Let cool 5 minutes (don’t go longer; it needs to be warm when you add the lemon mixture).
While the crust is baking, place 1 cup granulated sugar and 2 tsp.+ finely grated lemon zest in a medium bowl. Using your fingers, massage zest into sugar until fragrant and lightly tinted yellow, about 1 minute. Add 3 large eggs, remaining 1 large egg yolk, and remaining 3 Tbsp. all-purpose flour and gently whisk just until combined. Add ⅔ cup fresh lemon juice, ¼ cup whole milk, and remaining ½ tsp salt; stir to combine.
Pour filling over slightly cooled crust and gently tap pan on counter to pop any air bubbles on surface. Bake until lemon mixture is set but still jiggles slightly when gently shaken, 20–25 minutes. Let lemon bar cool, then chill until cold, at least 4 hours.
Using parchment paper overhang, lift lemon bar from pan and place on a cutting board. Cut into 16 squares. Dust lemon bars with powdered sugar or sanding sugar (I used gold, for pretty). Just before serving, whip the heavy cream and dollop on the bars.
Mom used to make these for Xmas. I would stuff my face with them at this time of year.
I overdid it these past weeks, so I’m gonna have to lay off the lemon bars. However, I will drink coffee with you while you eat these. Your enjoyment will be my enjoyment.
You can never, never have enough lemon bars. If they had them on The Titanic I would have grabbed a couple as I went down with the ship.
Speaking of that though (O/T) I was just reading today more about that ship that was disabled as it traversed the North Sea from Norway to England. A huge wave knocked it out. Someone was quoted as saying they were about to fill the lifeboats. Then another person was quoted as saying that crew members told him that the waves were 10 to 20 meters high. That’s 30 to 60 feet! Although maybe the lifeboats weren’t the traditional ones, maybe they were more like tenders, which are enclosed, motorized small boats used to ferry cruise passengers into ports where the harbors aren’t deep enough to accommodate the big boats.
Those people must have been terrified. I have seen the North Sea but I’ve never been on it. It can get really, really angry and aggressive. I wonder if the Vikings and Angles and the Jutes had a god equivalent to Poseidon? Probably, they were seafarers.
The North Sea is probably the most dangerous area (outside of the North Pacific) for carrier flight operations.
The scariest was the Brits who used tiny escort carriers for convoy escort duty during WW2 and had to land their Swordfish biplanes (and Martlett fighters) on a deck 1/2 the size most aviators were trained on while it is rolling and pitching up and down. That’s without the computerized landing system and the “ball” bank of fresnel lenses that guide them down today. Back then you were trusting your life to the spatial judgement of a guy waving day glo paddles on an icy deck.
When medical professionals measured the heart rate and blood pressure of naval aviators, they found that it wasn’t combat where it peaked. It was during a carrier landing especially during rough weather.
north sea isnt exactly kind to beachgoers and swimmers either….tho i didnt know that growing up….it was just the sea to me
blew my mind first time in greece seeing people with floaties happily splashing about a fair ways off shore and just letting the waves bring them back
i didnt know not all seas were trying to kill you most of the time
My dad landed f4 Phantoms on aircraft carriers in the Pacific during the Vietnam war. He had 100’s of successful landings and take offs but said the landings were pretty stressful, especially for him being the squadron leader making sure all your men got back safe.
Big cargo ships increasingly have enclosed lifeboats like the tenders you describe. The movie Captain Phillips showed one based on the real lifeboat.