Wondrous Small Cakes

This week I'm in New York City helping my sister pack up and move. In the process, we realized there were four sticks of butter in the frig that simply couldn't be wasted. So we dug this recipe out of one of the boxes and whipped up a batch of small cakes. They are an awful lot like shortbread cookies and would make an excellent crust for fruit pies or put in mini muffin pans as cups for fruit preserves or berry compote. They are highly addictive with tea. I found some delicious roasted green tea at a store in Korea town and it's the perfect pairing.

Small Cakes
adapted from The Gift of Southern Cooking by Edna Lewis and Scott Peacock
Makes 12 cakes

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, chilled and cubed
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/8 cup granulated sugar
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 tsp ground ginger
demearara sugar (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Butter 12 muffin tins or muffin pan.
Put butter, flour, sugar, salt, and ginger in a bowl. Mix on low until blended. (I do this with my fingers.)
Spoon equal amounts of  batter into muffin tins and press gently to flatten. Top with demearara sugar. 
Bake 15-20 minutes until lightly browned. Cool for five minutes before turning onto a cooling rack.

Eagle Brand Magic Lemon Pie

My family often escapes to North Georgia for the Fourth of July. It's a little cooler up in the mountains where my grandmother lives and let's face it, any degree below the 100+ temps and killer humidity we've been having in Atlanta is welcome. Plus, the small towns around here throw the best birthday parties for America. I'm not sure how they do it, but the fireworks are always amazing. The little downtown areas come alive and every four-way stop is a traffic jam, especially this year since they just discontinued the only two red lights in town. If I listed all the food we consumed, one would easily think we were providing for a small army camped out in the hills. But no, just three petite women with healthy holiday appetites. By the second day we had run through all the planned desserts so my Granny whipped up an Eagle Brand Lemon Pie. This is a recipe from "The Dessert Lovers'Handbook" printed in 1969. In the introduction, it explains that "Eagle Brand is the 'magic' milk product...And what a wonderfully easy way of getting extra milk in your family's diet!" I just might be gullible enough to believe this, or let it make me feel a little better eating something magical!

Filling
1 can Eagle Brand sweetened condensed milk
1/2 cup lemon juice (we used 2.5 large lemons)
2 egg yolks
Combine the milk and juice. Blend in the yolks.
The original recipe calls for a pastry shell or crumb crust. We use ground Nilla Wafers in the center surrounded by whole wafers standing up for the crust. Starting in the middle, pour in the filling. Meringue
2 egg whites
1/4 tsp cream of tartar
1/4 cup sugar

Beat the egg whites and cream of tartar in a small bowl until soft peaks form. Add the sugar and beat until stiff peaks form. Spread on top of the filling. Bake at 325 degrees F for 12-15 minutes or until golden brown. I like this best chilled.