Blueberry Earl Grey Cupcakes

Blueberries and Earl Grey tea may sound like a strange combination, but when you try these cupcakes, you’ll be amazed by how well these flavors mesh.  The light citrusy flavor of the Earl Grey tea complements the fresh blueberry flavor of the preserves, and the cake itself is light and fluffy.  The blueberry preserves keeps the cake from drying out and the additional flavor transforms ordinary cupcakes into something special. 

Blueberry Sauce or Preserves

This blueberry sauce or preserves is made by cooking the blueberries until they break down and their natural juices are released.  This recipe should be made with fresh, sweet blueberries, since it does not have much sugar added and the flavor of the fresh blueberries really shines through.

If you add Wondra (a type of flour for mixing into sauces and gravy) as the blueberries are cooking, they will thicken up like a jam, which is perfect as a spread on toast or for filling cupcakes, such as my Blueberry Earl Grey Cupcakes, or you can leave it without flour to make a blueberry sauce which is perfect served over vanilla ice cream or as syrup for pancakes, waffles, or French toast.  I make this sauce or preserves in small enough batches so that it gets eaten before I have to preserve them using glass jars.  

Lemon Bars

The gooey, sweet, lemon filling pairs nicely with the buttery, crumbly crust in these lemon bars.  The crust is so buttery and tender that these lemon bars should be eaten with a fork since the crust can crumble under pressure.  This recipe is simple to master and the lemon bars can be made in about an hour or less.  This lemon bar recipe was one of my favorite recipes growing up and I actually prefer this over the more time consuming Lemon Meringue Tarts. 

Mini Strawberry Lemon Cupcakes

These bite-sized Mini Strawberry Lemon Cupcakes are refreshing and light; perfect for dessert on a warm day.  When you bite into the mini cupcake, you immediately taste sweet strawberries from the preserves; then the subtle citrus flavor of lemon shines through from the cupcake. 

Mini Lemon Cupcakes

These mini lemon cupcakes are one of my favorite cupcake recipes.  The lemon flavor is refreshing, but not overpowering, and the cake is light and moist.  These cupcakes are perfect filled with Lemon Curd and topped with Vanilla Bean Swiss Meringue Buttercream in my Lemon Meringue Cupcakes, or filled with Vanilla Bean Strawberry Preserves and topped with Strawberry Swiss Meringue Buttercream in my Mini Strawberry Lemon Cupcakes. 

Vanilla Bean Strawberry Preserves

These strawberry preserves are made by cooking the strawberries until the fruit’s natural pectin thickens the mixture.  I make these preserves in small enough batches so that it gets eaten before I have to can them using glass jars.  This is perfect accompaniment to your breakfast toast, bagel, or English muffin, or you can use these preserves in my Strawberry Swiss Meringue Buttercream or to fill cupcakes, such as my Mini Strawberry Lemon Cupcakes.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups strawberries, stems removed and cut into quarters
• 1½ cups sugar
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice, freshly squeezed
• ½ vanilla bean, split and scraped

Combine the strawberries, lemon juice, sugar, and vanilla bean seeds into a medium sized saucepan.  Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until the sugar has dissolved and the strawberries start releasing their juice. 

Bring to a boil (mixture will become frothy and double, or even triple, in volume) and boil for 10-12 minutes.  The strawberries will start to break down and become somewhat translucent and the syrup should be slightly thick. 

Let mixture cool to room temperature uncovered (about 30 minutes to an hour).  The mixture will thicken up even more as it cools.  Store the preserves in an airtight container in your refrigerator. 

Meyer Lemon Meringue Tart

The billowy, sweet Vanilla Bean Meringue offsets the rich, tartness of the lemon custard in this Meyer lemon meringue tart.

I adapted this recipe from Bouchon's Tarte au Citron.   Instead of using Bouchon’s Pine Nut Crust, I made the tart shell with a Pâte Sucrée and shaped it to fit a rectangular tart pan.  The Meyer lemon filling is made using the sabayon method, where the egg mixture is whisked and slowly heated over simmering water until it has thickened and increased in volume.  I piped meringue on top and used a torch to get the nice brown color.