Cupcakes and Tarts

A friend of mine needed treats to take with her to a baby shower. So I decided to make her Lemon Cupcakes with Raspberry Buttercream Frosting and Lemon Curd Tarts. The tart dough is Pâte Sucrée dough, which in my opinion, is the best dough to use in sweet tarts. It's simple to make and keeps well in the freezer if you do not use it all.

I was worried about the seeds in the raspberry puree I made being too much in the buttercream, but it turned out really well. The flavor is both sweet and tart and I think it's a good balance with the lemon cupcake.

I hope that her guests enjoy them. I'm going to keep this on my list of cupcakes that are winners so I can make them again in the future.

Pickles!

This was an experiment. I used the same brine and canning techniques as my Grandmother's pickled beans formula. They turned out perfectly. The only thing I'd like to change is to try and keep them as refrigerator pickles instead of shelf stable pickles. The shelf stable ones taste delicious, but they lose that vibrant green color. Plus, they don't hold on to the crisp crunch that refrigerated pickles have. At any rate, I've sent these to multiple friends and they have all had rave reviews. Sure, it's not a "sweet", but even a Sweet Girl can make Sour Pickles.