A Li'l Lemon Crazy

I gave you a lemon dilemma, and you gave me lemonade.

And lemon cake.

And lemon jelly.

And lemon pie, chicken, salad dressing and more.

In last week's The Dirt, I asked what the heck I should do with all the fruit from my Meyer lemon tree. Dozens of you e-mailed tips and recipes.

The easiest solution - and the most often suggested - was to simply juice the lemons, freeze the juice in ice cube trays, then put the juice cubes into plastic bags in the freezer.

I can use the cubes later for recipes or to make lemonade, or I can throw a cube into iced tea, diet cola or water.

The lemon juice also can be mixed with olive oil, soy and garlic for a great marinade, Minnie Savanna wrote.

Michael Bingham sent several recipes, but he had other suggestions, too, including using the juice to keep cut fruit from turning brown, or using it to clean pennies.

Autumn Watson turns her lemons into lemon jelly, using Kraft Sure-Jell or JelEase. (Her husband makes lemon wine.)

Sharon Wascher sent several recipes, including Lemon Butter Snowbars and a delicious-sounding lemon cake.

Eleanor Oliver sent her mother's recipe for lemon pie. My dad loves lemon pie, so I'm definitely giving this one a try - just in time for Thanksgiving.

Here are a few of the recipes. You'll find more online on our blog.

Kim Franke-Folstad

LEMON BUTTER SNOWBARS

Crust:

1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened (salted also works)

1 1/3 cups flour

1/4 cup sugar

Filling:

2 eggs

3/4 cup sugar

2 tablespoons flour

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

3 tablespoons lemon juice

Powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a small mixing bowl, combine crust ingredients and mix until blended. Pat into an 8-inch square pan. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes. Let cool, partially. Stir ingredients together for filling. Pour over partially baked and cooled crust. Bake for 18 to 20 minutes, or until set. Sprinkle with powdered sugar. Refrigerate until firm before cutting.

LEMON CAKE

(This recipe requires a food processor.)

2 lemons

1 cup sugar

1 cup (2 sticks) butter, preferably unsalted, softened

4 large eggs

1 3/4 cup all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 cup powdered sugar

Juice of 1/2 lemon

Preheat oven to 325. Butter and flour a 6-cup ring mold or loaf pan, or two 3 3/4 cup loaf pans.(You can also use a Bundt pan.) Remove the peel of the lemons (yellow part only, the white will be bitter) using a vegetable peeler, cut into 2-inch pieces.

With metal blade in the food processor, combine lemon peel and sugar and pulse until peel is finely chopped, about 60 seconds. Add butter and process until smooth, about 30 seconds.

Add eggs and process until smooth, about 30 seconds. Scrape down sides of bowl as needed.

Stir together flour and baking powder, add to bowl all at once and pulse until flour just disappears. Do not overprocess.

Transfer batter to baking pans and bake until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, about 50-55 minutes for ring mold or small loaves, allow 10 minutes longer for large loaf.

Let cool slightly in pan. Remove cake.

Stir together lemon juice and powdered sugar, spoon glaze over top of cake, repeat as cake cools until all the glaze is used. When cool, wrap in plastic or foil and refrigerate.

LEMON PIE

Crust:

1 cup graham cracker crumbs

3 tablespoons melted butter

3 tablespoons sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

Filling:

3 eggs separated

1/2 cup plus 1 teaspoon sugar

Juice and freshly grated zest of 1 large lemon

1 cup heavy cream

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine ingredients for crust and press into 9-inch pie plate. Bake for 10 minutes and set aside to cool.

Beat egg yolks with 1/2 cup of sugar until light. Blend in lemon juice and zest. Beat egg whites with remaining sugar until stiff, but not dry. Fold into yolk mixture. Whip cream to stiff peaks and fold into mixture. Pour into crust and freeze at least 5 hours.