Sparkling strawberry lemonade



Sparkling strawberry lemonade by Lucy Mercer/A Cook and Her Books

Here's a cooling taste of summer for a Fourth of July holiday weekend: Fill a tall glass pitcher with Fizzy Strawberry Lemonade, easily assembled from ingredients from your freezer and pantry.

Fizzy Strawberry Lemonade

• 1 pound bag frozen strawberries, slightly thawed

• 1 (12 ounce) container frozen lemonade concentrate

• 2 tablespoons sugar, or more to taste

• 3 cups club soda, chilled

• Fresh strawberries for garnish, optional



Directions:

1. Place frozen berries in glass container and defrost on 50 percent power for two minutes.

2. Place berries and lemonade concentrate in glass container and blend thoroughly together, about 30 seconds. Add sugar, taste and add more, keeping in mind it will be diluted with club soda. At this point, the mixture can be placed in an airtight container and refrigerated until ready to serve.

3. When ready to serve, pour strawberry lemonade mixture into glass pitcher and add club soda, in equal parts. Serve over ice and garnish with fresh strawberries.

Lemons by Lucy Mercer/A Cook and Her Books

Strawberries by Lucy Mercer/A Cook and Her Books

Atlanta Food Blogger's Bake Sale + Lemon Glazed Cookie Recipe

I'm very proud to have participated in this past weekend's Great American Bake Sale to benefit Share Our Strength. This amazing organization has the goal of eliminating childhood hunger in America by 2015. The Great American Bake Sale takes place across the country on the same day - all bake sales, all committed to helping families and communities.


Atlanta's Food Blogger Bake Sale was coordinated by Tami Hardeman of Running With Tweezers who just announced this afternoon that not only did the bake sale raise $3,000, but because it was the highest-grossing bake sale in the country, Duncan Hines will add another $10,000 to go to the Atlanta donation for Share Our Strength!

I want to send out special thank you's to Tami for coordinating this project and Wanda of The Teacher Cooks who graciously transported my cookies to the event.

It's been awhile since I participated in a bake sale and I had an inkling that this sale's emphasis on individual packaging would require a lot of time to label and assemble. I chose to make two of my favorite cookies - Ginger Cookies with Strawberry Jam and Glazed Lemon Cookies. I'm glad I listened to the inkle - baking a double batch of ginger cookies and a single batch of lemon cookies took about 3 hours. Packaging the cookies took another 3 hours. All the work was absolutely worth it.

Ginger cookies with strawberry jam. Lucy Mercer/A Cook and Her Books

Soft, spicy ginger cookies with strawberry jam are my go-to giveaway cookie. They're old-fashioned and a change-up from the usual variations on chocolate chip (not that there's anything wrong with chocolate chip cookies). I've been on a lemon kick lately so I added my adaptation of the Glazed Lemon Thins recipe in Susan Purdy's "The Family Baker." About lemons - my dessert output this year includes lemon pudding, lemon pound cake, lemon tea loaves. Truth be told, I've been on the lemon kick for awhile - the very first story I ever wrote for the blog, in January 2008, was for coconut macaroon tarts with lemon curd, a little bridal shower treat that I must find an excuse to make again. And there's homemade lemon ginger ice cream chilling in the freezer as I type.

Glazed Lemon Cookies by Lucy Mercer/A Cook and Her Books

Glazed Lemon Cookies
adapted from Susan Purdy's The Family Baker


Yield: about 40 cookies

Cookies


1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup sugar
1 egg
Juice of 1/2 lemon
Zest of 1 lemon
2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons confectioners' sugar
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1/2 teaspoon baking soda

Glaze
3/4 cup sifted confectioners' sugar
1 teaspoon grated lemon zest
1 1/2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

1. For the cookies: In a large bowl with an electric mixer, beat together the butter and sugar until smooth and well blended. Beat in the egg, lemon extract, lemon juice and lemon zest. Scrape down the bowl and beater and add flour, confectioners' sugar, cornstarch and baking soda, beating everything together until fully incorporated.

2. Dust a countertop with a small amount of flour and turn dough out. Knead lightly and shape into a log. I like a square cookie, so I square the edges. You can divide the dough into two logs, if that works better for your refrigerator. Wrap the cookie dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate at least two hours or overnight. You can also double wrap the dough logs, place in a freezer container, label and freeze for up to 2 months. If using frozen dough, set out on counter while the oven preheats, to make the dough easier to slice.

3. When ready to bake, preheat the oven to 350. Line baking sheets with Silpats or parchment paper. Place cookie dough log on a cutting board and use a sharp knife to slice 1/4-inch slices. Place on prepared baking sheets about 1 inch apart. Bake for 10 minutes at 350 or until the cookies are a light golden brown on the edges. While cookies are baking, make glaze by combining lemon juice, confectioners' sugar and lemon zest. Use a spatula to gently remove the cookies from the baking sheet and place them on a wire rack set over wax paper or foil (to catch drips) to cool slightly. Use a brush to spread glaze on cookies while they're still warm. Let cookies dry and place them in airtight containers for storage. (As if. They'll be gone before you can turn around.) It's a good idea to put parchment paper or waxed paper between the  layers of cookies.

Time for tea, and lemon



Lemon Tea Loaves by Lucy Mercer/A Cook and Her Books


I have a long-standing love for lemon, as witnessed by my recipes for Lemon Pound Cake and food-of-the-gods Lemon Pudding. When I was a little girl in pigtails, scooter skirts and Keds, I loved Sunshine lemon cookies, the kind with the powdered sugar that would leave white chalky sugar dust at the corners of my mouth. I would pull out my childhood tea set, a collection of mismatched "Made in Nippon" teacups and saucers, fill with tea and serve the cookies alongside.

Now, I'm all grown-up, completely over the pigtails and scooter skirts, (but still loving my Keds). To get my lemon fix, I sometimes bake this Lemon Tea Loaf, a rich, citrus-scented cake with a tart lemony glaze. If it's been awhile since you've used your wedding china, pull out a few cups and saucers, make a pot of Earl Grey and slice up this lovely cake. Invite a neighbor over to share the tea, then send them home with the second loaf. Or, be very strong and wrap both loaves up to give as gifts - a hostess gift on Easter or Mother's Day, or perhaps the upcoming end-of-school. Your lemon-loaving friends will be grateful.


Lemon Tea Loaf

Yield: 2 loaves

2 sticks unsalted butter, softened


2 cups sugar

4 eggs

Zest of 2 lemons

3 cups unbleached, all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

1 cup milk

For glaze: ½ cup sugar dissolved in juice of 2 lemons

1. Preheat oven to 350. Prepare two loaf pans using baking spray or greasing with butter.

2. In a mixing bowl, cream together butter and sugar. Add eggs one at a time, mixing until fully incorporated. Add lemon rind. Sift together dry ingredients, then add alternately to the batter with milk. Pour batter into prepared baking pans.

3. Place pans in 350 oven and bake for 45 minutes. Bake until toothpick inserted in middle comes out clean. Remove from oven and let cool on wire racks.

4. While cake is cooling, dissolve sugar in the juice of two lemons. Slowly pour glaze over cakes and let cool.

Lemons by Lucy Mercer/A Cook and Her Books

Text and images copyright 2011, Lucy Mercer.

A version of this story also appears on Examiner.com.

Lemon Pudding Love

Lemons by Lucy Mercer/A Cook and Her Books

After 20 years of marriage, you think I’d know this companion, best friend, loving father of my children. A man who professes to dislike desserts because they are “too sweet,” who can turn down chocolate with a dismissive wave, cheesecake with a grimace. But now, aha! I have found a chink in his armor, an irresistible temptation - lemon pudding. Lemon pudding, satiny and creamy, lush and plush, tongue-tickling tart and eye-brightening sweet, every mouthful a citrus melody in a composition of custard.

I’ve never made the pudding specifically for my husband; it’s my firstborn daughter’s favorite. She had a rough day today, and when she got in the car after school, recounted all her grievances, then got that faraway look in her eyes and adopted a petulant tone, “Why don’t you ever make lemon pudding? You know it‘s my favorite.” And later, at home, I check the refrigerator and see that I have a bag of lemons and the organic eggs that my neighbor brought by; it’s kismet.

The recipe’s a keeper, rich with half and half (you can sub whole milk), sugar and a quartet of egg yolks. And lemon, at least four juicy lemons and their zest are required for this batch. If all goes according to plan, the pudding will not need refrigeration because it will be scarfed down while barely warm, which we all know is the proper temperature for all homemade puddings. Mr. Cosby can keep his Jell-puddings in the fridge; all their generic flavors and paintbox colors. Real pudding, the kind that mommas make for their babies (of any age), is best eaten warm from the pot it’s made in, with a big spoon.

I make lemon pudding in a double boiler, and strain in a sieve, which is the culinary equivalent of Grandpa wearing a belt and suspenders. The gentle heat of the double boiler ensures the eggs don’t scramble and the sieve makes sure that any wayward lumps, plus the fine zest, do not interfere with the supremely creamy texture of the pudding.

Back to the husband - I placed the bowl of strained pudding on the table, the curds in the strainer in the sink and went about the making of supper. Dear Husband asked what was in the sink. I said, honey it’s lemon pudding, that’s just the offal, wait for the real stuff, we‘ll have it for dessert. I snuck a look and saw him hunched over the strained lemon bits like a lion on a zebra carcass and I swear, for the love of Peter Brady and all that is holy, for a split second, my husband’s eyes rolled back in his head.

You can believe what you want to believe, but this momma’s going to be making more lemon pudding.

Lemon Pudding by Lucy Mercer/A Cook and Her Books

Lemon Pudding

2-1/4 cups half and half or whole milk
¾ cup granulated sugar
¼ cup light brown sugar
1/4 cup cornstarch
4 large egg yolks
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons finely grated lemon zest (from 2 lemons)
Pinch salt
1/2 cup fresh lemon juice (about four small lemons)
3 Tbs. unsalted butter, at room temperature (optional if using the half and half)

1. Set up a double boiler and place over medium heat. In top pan, whisk together the milk, sugars and cornstarch until smooth and not lumpy.

2. Whisk in the egg yolks, lemon zest and pinch of salt. Continue cooking, whisking frequently at first and constantly toward the end, until thickened to desired consistency, 10 to 15 minutes.

3. Remove the pan from the heat, add the lemon juice and butter (if using), and stir until incorporated. Pour through a coarse sieve into a large serving bowl and let cool to room temperature.

4. If you must refrigerate right away, cover it with plastic wrap let chill for two hours. In my home, I pour out small servings in bowls, set out spoons, and announce that pudding is ready.

Text and images copyright 2010, Lucy Mercer.