whats your favorite holiday sweet treat ?

memike try this lemon pie. while the orange date bread is baking.

Ye Olde Two Crust Lemon Pie
( from a memory proven to be faulty )

Da Stuff What's In It:

Pastry for large or deep dish pie
1 stick butter (softened)
1 2/3 C sugar
3 Tbls flour
4 large eggs ( reserve 1 Tbls white )
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 C + 2 Tbls water
2+ tsp grated lemon rind
juice and just the meat of 2 to 2 1/2 large lemons ( peel lemons removing all white skin then pry out meat from ribs and chop fine then squeeze the hell outa the ribcage to get all the juice )

Cream butter and sugar, add flour and salt, add eggs ( one at a time or throw em all in at once, pie tastes the same, beat eggs beforehand if they have been naughty ), add water, toss in lemon juice with meat + grated rind. Taste to see if you think it needs just a little more lemon juice or sugar.

Pour in bottom crust ( works better if bottom crust is in pie pan when this takes place ), mixture will be VERY thin, that's OK, trust me. Gently place & trim top crust and do magic finger twirling around edges. Brush top with reserved egg white and sprinkle with just the barest hint of nutmeg then sprinkle with a bunch of cin/sugar. Cut vents.

Bake at 375 degrees for 40 minutes. Pie looks better if a sheet of foil is placed 2" above top crust for first 15-20 minutes then removed.

Remove from oven before attempting to eat.

Orange Date Cake Recipe: Printer Friendly version from Just Fruit Recipes
Orange Date Cake
3/4 c Butter
1 c Sugar
3 Eggs
1 c Buttermilk
2 c Flour
1 Grated orange rind
1 c Cut-up dates
1 c Ground nuts
1 ts (heaping) soda
3/4 c Sugar
1 1/2 c Orange juice

Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Drop in whole eggs and beat well. Stir soda into buttermilk and add to mixture; gradually add flour, beating well; add orange rind. Fold in nuts and dates. Bake in greased bundt pan at 350 for 1 hour.

Have ready 3/4 cup sugar and orange juice. Remove cake from pan, stir juice and sugar and spoon over cake.



To the above I add 1C chopped fresh cranberries,1 tsp cin',eh...a little nutmeg, 1-2 Tbls molassas,raisins if so desired, and in batter use 1/2 dark brown sugar.

I use all dark brown sugar in the orange juice and gently boil while cake is baking so it thickens.