lemon

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Lemony Desserts

Last year’s birthday cake order did not go as planned, so this year I am reluctant to outsource my birthday dessert. My husband has kindly volunteered to make me whatever I want with two exceptions: he will not make a cheesecake (He made a lemon curd cheesecake for my birthday a few years ago, and it was WONDERFUL but he said it was A Whole Big Deal and would rather not go through that again.) and he will not make a cake.

(This is a little disappointing, I have to admit, because what my heart really desires for my birthday dessert is the cake I wanted last year. A vanilla cake with lemon curd filling and a cream cheese frosting. I would be fine with a cupcake matching that description, honestly. But my husband does not make cake and he would not be able to make it until the day of my birthday anyway, so. No cake. Unless I want to make it myself, an idea which I have contemplated and discarded for its high probability of making me feel grumpy and resentful.)

(My husband did come up with a list of local bakeries that we could try instead of the one we used last year. Carla and I dutifully visited one a few weeks ago, to sample the cupcakes. They did not have anything with lemon curd, so that was a disadvantage right out of the gate. But also the frosting wasn’t my favorite – I like a cream cheese frosting, not a simple buttercream because I am picky – and the vanilla cake was just okay. The other bakeries either don’t have cupcakes available for sampling [and by “sampling” I mean buying, as one would normally procure a cupcake] or they don’t have a cream cheese or lemon option in the lists of cakes they offer. So I think we decided that spending $40 on a cake that MIGHT be okay wasn’t the best use of our money or calories.)

Anyway! Cake is passe. An entire world of lemony desserts lies at my fingertips! And yet I cannot choose among them. Care to join me in a genial overthinking of the narrowed-down (yes, I speak the truth) list of considerations? Perhaps you have strong opinions about which way I should lean? Or perhaps you have other lemony desserts to recommend that sound even better!

Lemony Options:

Lemon Bars

Pros: Delicious. Easy to make. Probably freeze well, if there are any leftover.

Cons: But which recipe??? Are they too simple to feel special? 

Magic Lemon Pudding Cake

Pros: My husband has made this before and it is truly delicious.

Cons: I am just not feeling it this year.

Lemon Curd Yogurt Cheesecake Bars

Pros: A marriage between cheesecake and lemon bars – both of which I love.

Cons: I am unfamiliar with this recipe and the blog, so can’t attest to quality.

No Bake Lemon Curd Cheesecake Bars

Pros: I am sensing a theme, and that theme is cheesecake in bar form, and this addresses both points very succinctly. 

Cons: I am unfamiliar with this recipe and the blog, so can’t attest to quality. Also, I apparently have a weird and heretofore unknown bias against “no bake” recipes for some reason???

Mini Lemon Curd Cheesecakes

Pros: This might be a way to sneak around my husband’s no cheesecake restriction. 

Cons: Again, a new-to-me blog and recipe. Also, I’m not sure if a lemon curd swirl would give me the burst of lemon curd I’m craving. Also, should I really be trying to trick my husband into making something he does not want to make?

Lemon Curd Dessert

Pros: This looks lovely in photos, and I like the idea of pillowy whipped cream. This also has a lot of elements that seem to be popping up in my “that sounds yummy” list this year: cream cheese, lemon curd, shortbread crust.

Cons: What IS it, exactly? A bar? A pie? 

Lemon Curd Mousse

Pros: Finally, something that isn’t cheesecake adjacent! This looks light and yummy and wonderful! I have never had a lemon curd mousse before and it seems like I really SHOULD do.

Cons: Will this feel about as special as eating Jello on my birthday? Hard to say.

Lemon Curd Tartlets

Pros: This is exactly the kind of thing I would buy from the pastry case of a fancy patisserie. Plus, they are very cute. 

Cons: Perhaps I would eat one and think, “Is this all?”

Lemon Supreme Pie

Pros: This looks magnificent. 

Cons: Can I really ask my husband to make a PIE from SCRATCH?

Lemon Tiramisu

Pros: I love tiramisu. Many lemon tiramisu recipes call for limoncello, which I do NOT like, and this one doesn’t. 

Cons: I am suspicious of the pudding ingredient. And…there is no CURD.

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Slow Cooker Lemon Garlic Chicken

I have been meaning to post this for a long time, primarily so I don’t have to go back and forth between the original recipe and my adaptations, trying to figure out what to do.

This is a fairly easy, fairly tasty slow cooker meal. The garlic gets very soft and almost sweet (I love smushing a half-clove onto a bite of chicken), the sauce is luscious and lemony, and the chicken is very tender. 

As written, this produces a good amount of sauce; notes below, sauce-wise. I have (heavily) adapted this recipe from a Martha Stewart recipe to amp up the flavor, but you can find the original here if you like.

Slow Cooker Lemon Garlic Chicken

1 lb boneless skinless chicken breasts 

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

1 medium yellow onion, chopped

1 head of garlic, cloves peeled and halved

1/2 cup dry white wine + 1/4 cup for deglazing

1/2 cup lemon juice

1/2 cup chicken stock

2 teaspoons of dried thyme

Salt and pepper, to taste

The worst part of this recipe is peeling all the garlic.

1a.    Sauté chopped onion and garlic, in olive oil, in a small pan, on medium high heat, until the onion is translucent and the garlic is beginning to brown. 

1b. Optional step: Brown chicken breasts in sauté pan. This is truly optional; I almost never do it, and the chicken is still flavorful.

2.    Pour onion and garlic (and browned chicken breasts) into your slow cooker; deglaze the sauté pan with 1/4 cup dry white wine, scraping up any browned bits. Pour the wine and browned bits into the slow cooker.

3.    If you didn’t brown your chicken, put that in on top of the onion and garlic.

4.    To the slow cooker, add lemon juice, remaining 1/2 cup wine, and chicken stock, plus the 2 teaspoons of dried thyme, plus salt and pepper to taste.

Wow, this is an unflattering angle. But this is what it looks like after you add everything to the slow cooker.

5.    Cover and cook on high for 3 hours, or low for 5-6 hours.

6. Taste and adjust for seasoning.

7. Remove chicken breasts carefully with tongs, as they fall apart easily. Top with sauce.    

Notes: 

  1. If the sauce is too thin for you, you can mix in a little cornstarch slurry (1 tablespoon cornstarch mixed with 1 tablespoon water) before serving. 
  2. Because I make this for just me and my husband, I always use two chicken breasts. HOWEVER, this dish makes a LOT of sauce. You could easily double the chicken without needing to double the sauce, it will cook just fine and, yes, you’ll have less sauce for drenching your couscous, but some people are less interested in making dinner purely for the sauce than I am.
  3. The type of white wine you use will affect the flavor; I usually just make this with whatever open bottle of wine I have on hand. Riesling makes it very sweet, but still palatable. I think Chardonnay is the best fit. 
  4. When I feel fancy, I throw in a little lemon zest with the other ingredients. Does it add anything? Hard to say. 
  5. Because this is very saucy, I like to serve it with sauce soppers: couscous is my favorite, but rice or quinoa would work well, too. Steamed broccoli is a good vegetable pairing, in part because you can dip the florets in the sauce and the flavors go well together. Sauce sauce sauce.
It’s not a photogenic meal (although a lot of that can be blamed on the photographer), but it TASTES good.