Lemon Macaroon Pie

I'm in flux, a lot like May's weather.  There is sun and showers, often in the same day.  But the days are consistently warm and the flowers are oh so happy with the weather. It's just about time to plant the basil and the tomatoes, any week now.  The stress of exams has been wearing on both of us.  My mood is hot and cold, always changing.  Shane finished his first year of school this week and with it I certainly hope goes all the stress.  To go with the sunshine I made this lemon macaroon pie.  Lemon, coconut and almond, it's a quirky combination.  I can't say we totally enjoyed it, there was pie leftover at the end of the week.  The texture threw us off, with it's stringy coconut and the almond didn't blend in as seamlessly as it should.  The pie crust stuck like crazy to my glass pie pan, which made getting it out a total mess.  In the end it wasn't something I'd find myself craving and I'm happy to move on to the next thing.

Baking notes:
-I used a pre-made pie crust, which you could say was my first mistake (though I am terrible at making them, so my results would have been less than satisfactory too).
-I did not bake the pie as long as the recipe stated, but my oven tends to burn everything, so it may not have been ready to come out on the inside.  I baked a total for 30 minutes.

80/569

The recipe for Lemon Macaroon Pie can be found on the epicurious website.

Rhubarb-Raspberry Jalousie

Mother's Day 2013 has to go down as the best mother's day so far.  Not for me of course, that's about...well a long way off, but for my mother.  We planned a surprise for my mother, got her out of the house first thing and went gangbusters decorating her back porch patio.  While we sped through assembly I whipped up a delicious brunch for seven and the dish that got the most praise? This rhubarb jam jalousie.  When I saw this dish in the book I thought to myself, it's a perfect brunch food!  It's like a grownup pop tart! The only person who didn't love this dessert? My thirteen year old brother, go figure.  It's crisp and bright, with a superb crunchy crust and a gorgeous rhubarb-apricot-cherry jam filling. It was super easy to put together and a really fun treat for a spring brunch.

Baking notes:
-Instead of a raspberry jam (which was all used up from my pantry) I substituted a cherry-apricot jam from last summer.  It was a bright and super flavourful substitute.
-I only had to bake the pastry for 20 minutes, or it would have started to burn.
-There was a lot of leftover jam (about half), which would be great on toast, or as a topping for ice cream.

The recipe for Rhubarb-Raspberry Jalousie can be found on the epicurious website.

79/569

Lemon-Raspberry Cupcakes

It was her birthday and she asked me two weeks ago to bring cupcakes.  I checked and double checked the schedule.  I made the cupcakes after dinner and brought them to work. At 11pm do I see her walking down the hallway towards me? No, she called in sick.  Whooomp whooooomp.  I fed the cupcakes to my co-workers who did show up, but I certainly felt silly for my efforts.  Luckily, the reviews I got were rave!  I set myself a challenge on Sunday not to go to the store for five days, for anything.  And so far I've succeeded!  The challenge with the cupcakes was that the options in the book are so limited and most of the recipes are quite different, so I didn't have six limes on hand, or cans of sweetened coconut.  I settled on this lemon cupcake with secret pockets of jam, and everyone was happy.

Baking notes:
-I made a half batch of the recipe, which made 7 cupcakes.
-Instead of raspberry jam I used a fruit punch jam I made last year.
-Instead of the glaze frosting in the recipe (not much worth celebrating with a glaze frosting if you ask me), I used a simple cream cheese lemon frosting.  It was the icing on the cake.
-I think the cupcakes might have been a little over baked at 20 minutes, I recommend checking on them at 18 minutes.

The recipe for Lemon-Raspberry Cupcakes can be found on the epicurious website.

78/569