My Precious

In May I turned 45 years old and was introduced to my new forever friend, Le Creuset.

Paul calls the pieces that I have the "magic pans" because everything that I have made in them has turned out too good for words.  It must be the magic pans!  My in-laws contributed to my new weakness by sending me a set of 4 mini casserole dishes.  They are so cute with little lids and little handles, if they had cheeks I would have to pinch them.  The little cuties have been sitting on the shelf waiting to be broken in.  Today I found a yummy recipe in Everyday Food's, Great Food Fast book, lemon custard cakes.  All together now, "Yummmm!"  So I went on an adventure with my little cuties and we documented the whole thing, for your enjoyment of course.

I will have the full recipe at the end of the post but you can probably identify most of what it here.  Eggs that have been separated, flour lemon peel, salt, milk, sugar, and lemons for the juice.

First are the egg yolks and sugar, they need to dance together till they are good and dizzy.  When you are that dizzy you tend to get a little pale and when they are, you can add the flour to the mix and whisk it well. 

Now we get to introduce the lemon peel and juice and whisk it again.  Oh heaven is in lemons!  Finally add in the milk and you are ready for the fun part.

I saw once that if you put a metal mixing bowl in the freezer for 15-20 minutes making egg whites come to peaks can take a second or two and I will say that it works for me.  Add a little salt to the whites and then whisk them till they are soft peaks.

Notice how my "action" shots degrade into these out of focus 1970's Instamatic camera photos?  Well, don't!  Thank you very much.

Below is the folding of the fluff into the lemony goodness.  This picture is a little better, I think that I have updated to at least the late 1980's.  The batter is pretty thin but do not fret my children, this is what helps to create the masterpiece of lemon love.  OK, OK!  I can get a little carried away sometimes. (I really do love lemon)

Where are my little cuties?  Ah!  The show stoppers.  How cute are these!  And with lemon inside...LOOK OUT!  Yea, Yea, it is time to fill them with the batter so that we can cook them up but we need to use butter to make sure that nothing sticks or burns.  Get you hands into it and slather the little cuties.  Now fill 'em up! 

Hey Renee?  Why the heck do you have a kitchen towel in the bottom of the baking dish!?  Now before you all start yelling that I am going to burn my house down, the towel plus the hot water I add to the dish will make our little cuties cook up nice and even.  And you won't set the towel a flame if it is covered in water.  I learned that in collage! HA

To our left we have the bathing beauties getting ready for their tanning session.

To the right you will see the beautifully suntanned lemon cake custard.  I will give you a minute to swallow all of the saliva that has collected. 

Good, now I can show you more taste bud temptations.

It only gets better with a dusting of powdered sugar and when, at last, you spoon out that first golden bite...AHHHHHHHHHH!  Look at how good that looks!

So here is this lemony, cakey, custardy masterpiece and I need to run it past my critics.  No Moo will not be included in this one because he is never a critic, what does Paul say?

Yes!  A thumbs up is good but the smile makes it Great!  What about a picky 5 year old?

He took a good mouthful and I waited to see if his patented spit technique would be used.  Waiting....waiting...."Max!

I tried to get a review out of him but he just wanted to eat more.  So there you go,  Lemon Custard Cake, so good that a 5 year old becomes speechless.  I could probably make a million dollars if the silence lasted just a little bit longer.

Please always remember and don't ever forget:

"Look, just tell me where that lemon came from and I'll shut up and go away."

Ricky Gervais

Lemon Custard Cake  Printable Recipe

Room Temperature butter for the baking dishes

3 large eggs, separated

1/2 cup granulated sugar

2 Tablespoons flour (I would use 3 to make the custard thicker)

2-3 teaspoons lemon peel (use real lemon peel not the dry stuff)

1/4 cup lemon juice (about 1 large lemon worth)

1 cup milk

1/4 teaspoon salt

Powdered sugar to dust

Preheat the oven to 350 and boil water to add to the baking dish.  Butter the small baking cups and place them in a larger baking dish with a kitchen towel in the bottom.  Put your metal mixing bowl in the freezer.

In a large bowl, mix the egg yolks and sugar till they are pale in color and add the flour.  Whisk in the lemon juice and peel, then add the milk.

In the cold metal mixing bowl add the egg whites and salt and beat with an electric mixer till soft peaks form.  Fold this into the lemon mixture with a whisk.  The batter will be thin.

Divide the batter among your small baking dishes and put them in the oven.  Pour the boiling water into the larger dish till it is about half way up the sides of the small bakers.  Bake until the puddings are puffed and slightly browned, 20-25 minutes.  Serve warm or at room temperature with a dusting of powdered sugar.

If you don't have the little ramekins to bake individual servings, bake batter in an 8 inch square baking dish for 30-35 minutes.