Make Room for Meyer Lemons

With winter fast approaching, it's time for citrus to start popping up at the markets. And one of my favorites is the enticing Meyer lemon. Used by many restauranteurs and chefs, the Meyer lemon has a sweeter smell and taste than regular lemons. To me, it's almost like a fresh tangerine scent, less tart and really beautiful. Lemons, in general, are pretty expensive at the markets already. So why not take the time to hunt down these local beauties and use them in your cooking. The Meyer lemon season is just starting and should last into mid-January. I got these lemons at the Ferry Building Farmers' Market in San Francisco this weekend from the farmer stand from Fresno. They had this incredibly dark yellow color that was slightly yellow-orange, signaling that it was kissed by the Central Valley sun.

Now, Meyer lemon can be a nice substitute to anything where you're using lemon. Of course, when I think of lemon, I think of dessert. I've said before that I'm not a big dessert maker, being a single guy and all. Once you make dessert (unless you're planning a dinner party), then you have tons of sweet leftovers. Well, at least at my home. So I typically go out and buy desserts from my favorite bakeries. But I have a soft spot for certain desserts (such as tiramisu). One of them is any kind of custard. I found this recipe for Lemon Custard Cakes from the Martha Stewart Web site. (All recipes on my site are by me and copyrighted by me, unless I specifically note otherwise, like right now.) :) They were incredibly easy to make, and the custard was silky smooth and topped off by a cake-like covering. And even though the recipe makes 6 servings, the Meyer lemon gave the cakes such an incredible taste that I easily ate them all myself. I altered Martha's recipe by adding a teaspoon of vanilla extract to give the dessert a more full-bodied taste. And again, the Meyer lemons made it exquisite. I'm sure this will be fine with just regular lemons, but since I had these Meyer lemons, I figured why not. Try it!