Joanne Fluke's Lake Eden Cookbook Part 69

Cover a cookie sheet with parchment paper. (You can use brown parcel-wrapping paper, but parchment works best.) Draw two 8-inch diameter circles on your paper, using a round 8-inch cake pan as a guide. DO NOT cut them out of the sheet of parchment paper.

Spray the inside of the circles you've drawn with Pam, or another non-stick cooking spray, and then sprinkle it lightly with flour. The circles you've drawn are a guide. You will be filling them with meringue.

Beat the egg whites on HIGH speed until they are stiff enough to hold a soft peak. Add cup of the sugar gradually, sprinkling it in and continuing to beat as you sprinkle. Pour in the vanilla extract and sprinkle in the rest of the sugar ( cup). Mix it in very gently (on LOW speed), or fold in with an angel food cake whisk or a very clean (not a speck of grease!) rubber spatula until the meringue is smooth.

Spoon half the meringue neatly into one of the 8-inch circles. Smooth the top with your rubber spatula. It should be about inch thick. Spoon the remaining meringue into the second circle and smooth the top of that one, also.

Bake at 250 degrees F. for one hour, or until slightly golden on top and the surface is hard when touched.

Cool the sheet of meringue circles completely on the cookie sheet on a wire rack.

When the meringues are cool, gently loosen them by peeling off the paper. Put them back on the paper, loose, and move them to a cool, dry place. (A dark cupboard is fine, but the refrigerator is NOT FINE.) FILLING:.

4 egg yolks (the ones you reserved)

cup white (granulated) sugar

3 Tablespoons lemon juice

2 teaspoons lemon zest (finely grated lemon peel just the

yellow part)

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

cup whipping cream (heavy cream)

cup white (granulated) sugar (You'll use cup total in

the filling)

Beat the egg yolks with the cup sugar until smooth. Add the lemon juice and zest.

Cook this mixture in the top of a double boiler, over gently boiling water, until it's smooth and as thick as mayonnaise. (That's a little thicker than gravy and takes about 3 minutes or so.) Move the top part of the double boiler to a cold burner and let the mixture cool while you complete the rest of the recipe.

Pour the vanilla into the whipping cream. Whip the cream just until it holds a peak. Don't over beat. Beat in the remaining cup of sugar. Slowly stir the whipped cream mixture into the warm lemon mixture until you have a light, smooth sauce. (Lick the spoon it's yummy!) Cover it and refrigerate the sauce for at least 2 hours, or until you're ready to serve.

To a.s.semble, get out the meringues and the lemon filling. Decide which meringue looks best and set that aside for the top. Place the other meringue on a cake plate.

Spoon half of the lemon filling over the top of the meringue on the cake plate. Spread it with a rubber spatula so it's almost out to the edge.

Put the best-looking meringue on top. Spoon the rest of the lemon filling on top of that meringue and spread it out with a rubber spatula.

To serve, cut pie-shaped wedges at the table and transfer them to dessert plates. This is a light, sugary but tart, totally satisfying summer dessert.

Yield: Serves 4 to 6 people (unless you invite Carrie she always has thirds.) Hannah's 2nd Note: This dessert is certainly yummy, but it's not gorgeous. When Sally serves it at the Lake Eden Inn, she slices it in the kitchen because the meringues tend to crumble. Then she puts it on a beautiful dessert plate or in a cut gla.s.s dessert bowl, tops it with a generous dollop of sweetened whipped cream, and places a paper-thin lemon slice on top to make it look fancy.

LEMON FLUFF JELL-O.

1 large can (20 ounces) crushed pineapple

2 cups water (for boiling)

3 small (3 ounces each) packages of Lemon Jell-O

2 cups COLD water 67

1 small (2-cup) container thawed Cool Whip (or any other

frozen, whipped, nondairy dessert topping you can

thaw it overnight in the refrigerator the night before you

plan to make the Lemon Fluff Jell-O)

1 can (enough to make an 8-inch pie) lemon pie filling68 Drain the can of crushed pineapple in a strainer over a bowl. Save the liquid to use later.

Boil two cups of water in a small saucepan. Take it off the burner.

Empty the three packages of Lemon Jell-O powder into the recently boiled water. Stir until the Jell-O is dissolved. This step should take about 2 minutes. (There's nothing worse than Jell-O powder that doesn't dissolve. It makes a layer of sweet lemon rubber at the bottom of your Jell-O mold and the mixture on top is runny. To tell if Jell-O powder is dissolved, reach in with your impeccably clean fingers and rub a bit of liquid between your thumb and your finger. If it's not gritty, it's dissolved.) When the Jell-O powder is dissolved, combine the pineapple juice with COLD water to make 2 cups of liquid. Add this to your saucepan and stir it in.

Refrigerate your saucepan until the Jell-O is partially set. (This should take approximately 45 minutes.) Spoon the Jell-O mixture into a bowl and whip it with a whisk or an electric mixer until it's a little fluffy. (Not too long or you'll beat warm air into it.) Fold in the thawed Cool-Whip.

Fold in the lemon pie filling. (This is the time to make the instant pudding and pie filling and fold it into your Jell-O if you couldn't find canned pie filling.) Fold in the drained, crushed pineapple and blend just until it's mixed in.

Spray a 2-quart Jell-O mold, or a standard-sized Bundt pan with Pam or another nonstick cooking spray. You'll also need a second, much smaller bowl or mold to hold the Jell-O that won't quite fit in the first mold.

Transfer the Jell-O mixture to your molds and chill it in the refrigerator for at least 12 hours before serving.

MINNESOTA PEACH COBBLER.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F., rack in the middle position.

Hannah's 1st Note: Don't thaw your peaches before you make this leave them frozen.

Spray a 9-inch by 13-inch cake pan with Pam or another nonstick cooking spray.

10 cups frozen sliced peaches (approximately 2 and

pounds)

cup lemon juice (2 Tablespoons)

1 and cups white (granulated) sugar

teaspoon salt

cup flour (don't sift pack it down in the cup when you

measure it)