The Tree That Keeps On Giving and Giving and…
December 19, 2009
I now have an experiential understanding of what it is to joyfully anticipate the first-fruits of the harvest and the fatigued “enough already of a good thing” when the harvest keeps on giving and giving. That one little lemon tree just around the corner from our house will not stop handing over lemon after lemon. Even now, despite squeezing more lemon juice and zesting more peel than I have in my entire life collectively, there remains a half full bowl of lemons sitting on our kitchen counter taunting me and my prayer at this moment, while the rest of the world is occupied with Christmas thoughts and activities is “Please, let one more ridiculously huge batch of lemon curd end this nightmare.” I fear it will be a prayer unanswered for weeks to come.
And so until that day comes I continue to juice and zest, cook and bake. While there actually is another batch of lemon curd in my immediate future (to be consumed by unwary congregants following the Christmas Eve service along with scones, warm buttered cinnamon bread, and wassail) on Monday I made 1o mini-loaves of Lemon-Poppy Seed Cake spiked with rum, and 10 mini-loaves of Ina Gardner’s Lemon Cake. I gift packaged a third of the baked goods and distributed them to our neighbors that evening, another third my beloved took to the lunch room at her work place, and the remaining loaves will find their place on the after church hospitality table along side the pumpkin pie bars I’m making this afternoon. The reviews so far have been mixed. Everyone LOVES the Ina Gardner Lemon Cake and understandably so. It’s real lemony. Three layers of lemony. The light lemon cake is soaked with simple syrup infused with lemon and then topped with a lemony sugar glaze. In my book the sign that people truly like what you’ve made is when they ask, or rather demand, the recipe and without exception, everyone has asked, or rather demanded, this one. Now, the Lemon-Poppy Seed Cake spiked with Rum….not so much. Okay, not at all. It’s not that it’s terrible. There’s just too much rum, too little lemon, and was overshadowed by the grand citrus splendor of its companion cake.
So if you have some extra lemons just hanging around in a bowl on your counter threatening to over-ripen if you don’t do something quick, go with Ina.
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Posted in Anita Cooks, Desserts, Recipes
December 21st, 2009 at 6:39 pm
Have you considered lemon meringue pie? That’s one I have heard you mention. It uses a lot of lemon. And have you mentioned pound cake? I can’t remember but I sure wish I had some lemon poppy seed muffins without the rum thank you. And by the way, Santa might prefer a tall lemonade and a muffin to the traditional milk and cookies on Christmas Eve. He can have that at all the other houses but since you’ve gone all out with your contests, baking, and decorating he’d like a special “Anita” snack I’m sure. Merry Christmas to youand D, Anita. Happy zesting!
Katie