Boo hoo!!! I’m crying because I used the rest of my lemons on this cake. I can see more on Eileen’s tree next door. Just need to pull some pantyhose over my head tonight, drug her dog “Amanda Barks-A-Lot,” sneak on over there & help myself… That or ask her for some.

You probably have most of these ingredients:

You might not have lemon curd but can buy it pre-made at most grocery stores:

Lemon curd (click photo for recipe)

INGREDIENTS:
Crumb Topping
1-1/2 c all-purpose flour
2/3 c sugar
1 TBSP lemon zest
1 TBSP orange zest
1/8 tsp salt
1/2 c cold butter, cut into pieces

Cake Batter
1/2 c butter, softened
1-1/2 c sugar, divided
3 eggs, separated
1-1/2 c flour
1/8 tsp baking soda
1/2 c plain Greek yogurt
1 TBSP lemon zest
3/4 c lemon curd
1/4 c powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 350.

Make the crumb topping first. It’s easy. Combine flour, sugar, lemon & orange zest and salt. Add butter & cut into flour mixture with a pastry cutter.

Voila!

Cover & chill in refrigerator.

Now make the batter:

Beat the butter until creamy.

Then add 1-1/4 c of the sugar and beat for about 3 minutes. You want it fluffy. Add egg yolks.

The original recipe says to add them one at a time but I added them all at once because I have 2 small children who get all up in my business when I’m trying to cook.

(And here I thought I was being fancy by having them separated at ALL.)

Beat just until they’re incorporated.

In another bowl, whisk together flour & baking soda.

Just this leetle teeny tiny amount of baking soda makes a big difference!

Add about 1/3rd of it to butter mixture, then add 1/2 the yogurt,

then another 1/3rd of the flour mixture, then the rest of the yogurt and finally the last 1/3 of the flour.

Finally, stir in the zest. Be careful not to over mix this.

In another bowl – beat the egg whites at a high speed until foamy. Then add the last 1/4th cup of sugar, a little at a time, until stiff peaks form.

Fold whites into the batter. Pour batter into a greased & floured 9×9″ square pan.

Drop dollops of lemon curd on top of batter.

Swirl curd into the batter with a knife.

Sprinkle crumb mixture on top & pop into the oven for 45-50 minutes.

I definitely needed to bake mine for 50. Original recipe says stick a toothpick in to see if it comes out clean BUT it might not b/c of the curd. My curd tricked me and I baked it too long. What I recommend is gently shaking the pan – if it jiggles a lot it needs a little more time.

Sprinkle with powdered sugar & serve. YUM!

 
Source: Southern Living Magazine

In the fall/winter it’s pomegranate season here in southern California. This time of year I look forward to eating half a pomegranate on the couch whilst watching “American Horror Story” or any of the Real Housewives franchise (of course!). As a result, my hands look like a cabinet maker’s – stained dark reddish-brown with what look like dirty fingernails. I don’t mind at night b/c I’m about to go to bed soon anyway. However, now that Maddie also loves pomegranates I need to seed them in the morning for her lunch and I just don’t want to deal with the mess!

There are two ways to seed (de-seed?) pomegranates without your kitchen looking like a massacre just took place. I’m going to demonstrate the second method in this post.

No matter which way you’re doing it, you’ll need: a pomegranate & a knife.

1. First way which is all over You Tube is to cut it in half & knock the seeds out onto a plate or into a bowl with the back of a heavy spoon or object. This is a civilized method but it can still splatter juice.

2. The second way is to fill a medium/large bowl with water,

This bowl is too small. I'd use a bigger bowl if I were you. But that's just me.

cut the pomegranate in half

and just pick the seeds out in the water.

See what I mean about this bowl being too small? Still works though!

That green bag contains Bea's diapers, which I forgot to take to daycare.

Then strain it in a mesh strainer & you can compost the pulp (??) or discard.

Any juice that was going to spurt onto your brand new white t-shirt, cream-colored cashmere sweater or just wiped countertops ends up in the water.

Use the leftover water to water a plant or dump on your lawn if you have one!

Btw: am I the only person in the world who didn’t know about these methods??