Category: Lemon

Low Carb Sour Cream Lemon Pie

7/21/2019

If you've been reading this blog for any length of time, you know the BF lusts for all things lemon. [Ed. note: LEMONS] Turns out this is genetic, as his Mom was a huge fan of the sour cream lemon pie from Marie Callender's. [Ed. note: Can confirm.] And my Mom loved lemon meringue pie, dare I say almost to the point of being on equal footing with chocolate.

Well this pie isn't just lemony, tart and creamy, it's low carb, as well as sugar, gluten, nut and grain FREE. A perennial favorite, and #GuiltFree.

Broke this out for a client's Fourth-of-July BBQ, along with several other desserts like s'mores bars, ice cream sandwiches, blueberry hand pies, a flag cake and raspberry-nectarine plum cobbler. The pie was swiftly, voraciously decimated down to the last crumb, and most guests were unaware of the ingredients. Tasted like the real deal.

Try it out! Fool your friends! And hope you are all enjoying a wonderful summer.

NOTES:

Each serving has 3.92g NET CARBS. Including the pie crust.
When made for just the BF and me, I cut the recipe in half and make a 6-inch pie with about 4-6 servings. Perfect.
Please see alldayidreamaboutfood.com/ if you have questions on sugar substitutes and the hows and whys of using sugar substitutes in baking. Wonderful blog. The author is diabetic, with a sweet tooth. She knows her stuff!

In other news, a Marlowe update: our beautiful chocolate lab mix is recuperating from a recent surgery to remove a malignant mast cell tumor. So it's a bit like a slumber party in our living room, as we don't want her popping a stitch trying to hop on our rather tall bed. She's doing well and we're counting the days until those stitches are removed, then she can resume chasing squirrels, barking at the UPS guy, jumping on her favorite people, and going on her favorite long walks.

[Ed. note: We thank our family and friends for the kind words and well wishes. Please feel free to click an ad link so we can pay this vet bill! ᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗ ]

Adapted from: All Day I Dream About Food
Number of servings: 10

Ingredients
Low Carb Almond Flour Crust

1 ½ cups almond flour (Bob's Red Mill SUPER-Fine Almond Flour was used here)
¼ cup Swerve Sweetener, either granular or powdered is fine
¼ tsp salt
¼ cup butter, melted

Filling

1 cup heavy cream
4 large egg yolks
⅓ cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 tbsp lemon zest
¼ cup butter chilled and cut into pieces
1 tsp lemon extract
¼ tsp xanthan gum (do not use more than this)
½ to ¾ cup powdered Swerve Sweetener (I like my lemon pie tart-used a little less than ½ cup)
1 cup full fat sour cream

Directions
Low Carb Almond Flour Crust

Preheat oven to 325 °F.
In a medium bowl, whisk together almond flour, sweetener, and salt. Stir in melted butter until dough comes together and resembles coarse crumbs.
Turn out into a glass or ceramic pie plate. Press firmly with fingers into bottom and up sides. Use a flat-bottomed glass or measuring cup to even out the bottom. Prick all over with a fork before baking.
Bake until edges are golden brown, about 20 minutes.

Filling

In a large saucepan over medium heat, combine cream, egg yolks, lemon juice, and lemon zest.
Cook, whisking frequently, until mixture thickens, about 5-8 minutes (watch carefully, you do not want it to curdle).
Remove from heat and add butter and lemon extract. Sprinkle with xanthan gum and whisk quickly to combine. Stir in sweetener to taste (I like mine rather tart).
Whisk in sour cream until no lumps remain. Pour into pie shell and refrigerate for at least 4 hours to set (the longer, the better, so overnight is best if you can wait that long). It's also awesome if you pop it in the freezer for an hour after being refrigerated.
Top with lightly sweetened whipped cream.

6 Comments

Lemon Crème Brûlée with Chambord Soaked Raspberries

5/16/2018

4 Comments

Crème brûlée is French for "burnt cream." It's all about the contrast between the crisp caramelized topping and smooth, creamy custard beneath.

Some people have the impression that this is a difficult dessert to make. Truthfully, it isn't, if you follow a few tried-and-true steps. The first time I made it (in my twenties) it turned into scrambled eggs, because I did not temper the eggs. Over/under-baked the custard? Burned the sugar topping? Been there, done that. One thing is certain, I do learn from my failures.

That said, this particular recipe is pretty fool-proof and simple, a solid "go to" time and time again. Several years ago, I had a client who wanted a small dessert (with no leftovers) once a month. She adored custards, so I made the family a different flavored crème brûlée every month for a year.

Once you've tried making this lemony custard, you can go nuts and make pumpkin, chocolate, espresso, butterscotch, bourbon-maple, eggnog, ginger, Earl Grey–the flavor possibilities are endless.

After the recipe, there are some very extremely helpful tips. Please check them out before you start baking!

One nice aspect of this dessert is that it's very easy to adjust. You can easily make 4 or even 2 (which I do when it's just the BF and me) servings, if desired.

Also, you don't need a butane torch. If I'm doing 8 or more custards I will place all on a baking sheet and put them under the broiler. If you do this, you need to place them back in the fridge for awhile to cool, but I'm okay with that, as this keeps the BF calm (he gets nervous when I break out the butane).

Have fun with this one!

Adapted from: Bon Appetit, June 2005 and most of the "Tips" from Simply Recipes blog
Number of servings: 8

Ingredients

3 cups whipping cream
5 teaspoons grated lemon peel
¾ cup sugar
6 large egg yolks
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
¼ teaspoon salt
8 teaspoons golden brown sugar
Two ½-pint containers fresh raspberries
¼ cup Chambord (black-raspberry liqueur) or crème de cassis (black-currant liqueur)

Directions

Preheat oven to 325 °F. Place a folded tea towel in the bottom of a 13x9x2-inch metal baking pan. Arrange eight ¾-cup custard cups or ramekins on top of the towel.
Combine cream and lemon peel in heavy small saucepan and bring to simmer.
Whisk sugar and yolks in large bowl until thick, about 3 minutes. Gradually whisk in hot cream mixture (See "Tempering The Eggs" in notes below.)
Whisk in vanilla and salt. Let stand 10 minutes.
Strain custard, then divide among cups.
Pour enough hot water into baking pan to come halfway up sides of cups.
Bake custards until just set in center, about 55 minutes. Remove custards from water bath; chill uncovered until firm, at least 3 hours. (NOTE: These can be made one day ahead.) Cover and keep refrigerated.
Preheat broiler. Place custard cups on baking sheet. Sprinkle brown sugar onto custards, dividing equally. Broil until sugar melts and browns, about 1-2 minutes. Chill until topping is hard and crisp, at least 1 hour, potentially up to 2.
Combine raspberries and liqueur in bowl. Let stand at room temperature at least 15 minutes and up to 1 hour. Spoon berry mixture atop custards.

NOTES:

Tempering The Eggs: When adding the hot cream mixture to the yolks, you need to slowly bring the egg mixture up to the temperature of the cream to prevent the eggs from curdling. This is called tempering. To do this, use a small ladle or tablespoon to slowly drizzle one tablespoon full (at a time) of the hot cream into the egg mixture while constantly whisking.
My favorite trick is to place a tea towel at the bottom of the baking pan (before pouring in hot water) and set the ramekins on top of the tea towel. This helps control the temperature and consistency of baking.
Skim the foam off the top of the custard after straining it, but before pouing it into ramekins. You will get a smoother surface when you brulee the sugar.
Do Not Overbake. The custard is done when it has a uniform wobble or jiggle from edge to edge when you tap the side of the ramekin. If the sides wobble while the center sloshes a bit, it's not ready. When you lightly touch the center of the custard, it should spring back just a bit and leave the surface of your finger mostly clean. The color should be even and consistent without any brown spots, and the top should look glossy.
If the custard has set like Jell-O, that means they have over-baked a bit.

4 Comments

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Low Carb Sour Cream Lemon Pie

Lemon Crème Brûlée with Chambord Soaked Raspberries

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