Total Ingredients (broken up for various components below)
¾ cup lemon juice and 4 tablespoons of lemon zest - about 3-4 lemons total. tip: zest your lemons before juicing them!
4 large eggs - room temperature
1 ½ cup granulated sugar
¼ cup unsalted butter - cubed
3 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
5 tablespoon vegetable oil
½ cup full-fat sour cream - room temperature (I can’t use sour cream so I used ½ cup of mascarpone cheese with a splash of milk and a squeeze of lemon. It came out wonderfully!)
1 ⅔ cups cake flour
1 ¼ teaspoons baking powder
¼ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
2 cup fresh blueberries - washed
12 oz mascarpone cheese - very cold, straight from fridge (more if using as a substitute for sour cream)
1 ¼ cup powdered sugar
Pinch salt
1 ½ cup (355 ml) heavy whipping cream - very cold

Step 1. Lemon Curd

Ingredients
½ cup lemon juice
2 tablespoon lemon zest
2 large eggs - room temperature
½ cup granulated sugar
¼ cup unsalted butter - cubed
* This only uses half of the zest and most of the lemon juice. Make sure to set aside 2 tablespoons of lemon juice for the cake!

Directions
In a mixing bowl, add together eggs and sugar. Don’t whisk yet. Have fine-mesh sieve nearby and reachable.
In a saucepan over medium high heat, heat lemon zest and juice until hot, but not boiling. There may be small bubbles around the edges.
While lemon juice and zest are heating, whisk eggs and sugar together until smooth
Once juice and zest is heated, while still whisking, very slowly pour about half of the juice mixture into the egg mixture. Whisk well to combine.
Reduce heat to medium low. Slowly pour egg mixture back into the pan through a fine-mesh sieve to catch any curdled egg bits.
Whisk the mixture continuously until the mixture thickens enough to visibly coat the back of a spoon.
Remove from heat and whisk in butter one cube at a time. When butter is fully incorporated, transfer to a heatproof container to cool to room temperature.
Set aside and put in fridge after 15 minutes
* You don’t want to cook the mixture too long or the curd will have a strong egg flavor. Just until it solidifies enough to coat the spoon with an opaque substance.

Step 2: Cake

Ingredients:
1 cup granulated sugar
2 tablespoon lemon zest
2 large eggs - room temperature
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
5 tablespoon vegetable oil
½ cup full-fat sour cream - room temperature (I can’t use sour cream so I used ½ cup of mascarpone cheese with a splash of milk and a squeeze of lemon. It came out wonderfully!)
2 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1 ⅔ cups cake flour
1 ¼ teaspoons baking powder
¼ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
1 ½ cup fresh blueberries - washed
*Remember to set aside ½ cup of blueberries for the topping later

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350°F (180°C). Spray an 8-inch round cake pan with baking spray
In a large mixing bowl, combine lemon zest and sugar and press together with a spatula or wooden spoon until mixture is well combined.
Add eggs, oil, and vanilla and whisk well until smooth and thickened. Add lemon juice and sour cream (or mascarpone mixture), and mix well until smooth.
In a separate bowl, whisk together cake flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Add in blueberries and toss to coat with flour mixture.
Gradually fold dry ingredients into wet ingredients until just barely combined. Pour into prepared pan and bake in preheated oven for 35 minutes or until a toothpick in the center of the cake comes out clean.
Let cool on a wire rack. Once cake is fully cooled, start on your frosting.

Step 3: Mascarpone Frosting

Ingredients
12 oz mascarpone cheese - very cold, straight from fridge
2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 ¼ cup powdered sugar
Pinch salt
1 ½ cup heavy whipping cream - very cold

Direction:

In a large bowl with a hand mixer or in the bowl of a stand mixer, whip cold mascarpone cheese with powdered sugar, a pinch of salt, and vanilla until smooth.
Add cold whipped cream and until your mixture reaches stiff peaks
Set in fridge cake is cool

Step 4: Sweat Blueberries

Ingredients
½ cup of blueberries
Pinch of granulated sugar
Cup of ¼ water

Directions:

In a small saucepan, saute add blueberries and pinch of sugar over a medium low heat
Continuously move blueberries until the bottom of pan starts to be coated with the purple juice.
Add splashes of water to unstick the juice from the bottom of the pan
Sweat for about 5 minutes until there is a desired amount of syrupy blueberry juice.

Step 5: Put together and Enjoy!

Spread Mascarpone Frosting over top of cake
Drizzle lemon curd over top
Finally, top with sweated blueberries
Enjoy!

Note: The crust should be made well before you plan on making the pie. At least 4 hours

Crust

Ingredients:

2 ½ cups all-purpose flour

½ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon Cardamon

1 cup butter, diced, then chilled

~ ½ cup ice-cold water, or as needed

Directions:

Combine flour, cardamon and salt in a large bowl. Use a pastry blender or metal spatula to cut in chilled, diced butter until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs.

Add 1 tablespoon cold water at a time, mixing with a spatula or your hands until the dough comes together; you may need less than 1/2 cup water.

Shape dough into a disc, wrap in plastic, and refrigerate for at least 4 hours or overnight.

When ready to make pie, make the filling (see below)

Separate dough into two. Place chilled dough on a generously floured surface and roll out to an 11-inch circle, adding more flour to your rolling pin as needed.

Cut one half of the dough into 10 ~1 inch strips. Set aside

Carefully roll the other half of the dough onto the rolling pin, then unroll over a 9-inch pie dish. Press dough evenly into the bottom and sides of the dish.

Add filling into the pie crust

Filling

Ingredients:

¾ cup white sugar

4 tablespoons cornstarch

¼ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon ginger

½ teaspoon lemon zest

4 cups frozen blueberries

1 tablespoon butter

1 egg (for egg wash)

¼ cup of milk (for egg wash)

pinch of coarse sugar (for topping)

Directions:

Don't preheat yet. Combine sugar, cornstarch, ginger, lemon zest, and salt in a bowl; sprinkle over blueberries in a separate bowl.

Pour berry mixture into crust; dot with butter.

Moisten the rim of the pie with a small amount of water. Start with the longest strips and lay the first 2 in an X in the center of the pie. Alternate horizontal and vertical strips, weaving them in an over-and-under pattern. Use the shortest strips for the edges of the lattice. Fold the ends of the lattice strips under the edge of the bottom crust and flute the crust.

Mix the egg and milk together and brush the wash over the pie.

Sprinkle Course Sugar over the top

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees

Set pie into the oven while preheating

Once preheated, bake pie for 50 minutes

Creamy Goat Cheese, Bacon and Date Dip

By Ali Slagle
Total Time: 30 minutes
Yield: 6 to 8 servings

Ingredients

• 10 ounces goat cheese, at room temperature
• 4 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
• 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
• Salt and pepper
• 5 ounces thick-cut bacon, cut in ½-inch thick
• 10 Medjool dates, pitted and cut into quarters lengthwise, or roughly chopped
• Honey, red-pepper flakes, black pepper, flaky salt, toasted sliced almonds or chopped pistachios, for garnish (optional)
• Crusty bread, grainy crackers, endive or fennel, for serving

Instructions

1. Heat oven to 400 degrees. In a medium bowl, stir together the goat cheese, cream cheese, lemon juice and a pinch each of salt and pepper. Transfer to a 1-quart baking dish or ovenproof skillet, and spread into an even layer. Bake until warmed through and bubbling, about 20 to 25 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, cook the bacon in a medium skillet over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally, until golden and crisp, about 10 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the bacon to a paper towel-lined plate, then add the dates to the bacon fat in the skillet, and cook, stirring occasionally, until the insides are warm and the outsides blister, about 1 minute.
3. Top the baked cheese with the dates and bacon, and garnish as you wish. Serve at once.

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ABOUT THIS RECIPE
This appetizer is like a bacon-wrapped date in dip form — and every bit as luxe, sweet and simultaneously smoky as that sounds. Here, as you swipe crusty bread through the smooth cheese, you’ll gather chunks of bacon and a bit of date, toffee-like from a quick fry in the meaty fat. You could embellish further, with nuts, chile or honey, or you could sip Champagne and dig in just as merrily — with friends hovering nearby for their turn.

Ingredients

• 1 lb dried brown or green lentils (the banked half of the pie's 2 lb bag), rinsed
• 1 lb co-op house smoked sausage, sliced into coins
• 2 onions, diced
• 4 carrots, diced
• 4 stalks celery, diced
• 2 tbsp garlic blend (freezer)
• 2 tsp cumin
• 1 tsp smoked paprika
• 2 bay leaves
• 10 cups chicken broth (Better Than Bouillon + water is the budget move)
• Black pepper

Instructions

1. Everything in the pot, cold. Bring to a boil, drop to a simmer.
2. Simmer uncovered 35–45 min until lentils are tender but intact. Stir once in a while.
3. Fish out bay leaves. Taste, adjust salt/pepper. Want it smokier? Another 1/2 tsp smoked paprika.
4. Cool, portion into cups/deli containers, leaving headspace. Freeze.

Reheating

From frozen: 375°F oven 30–35 min covered, or microwave/stovetop with a splash of water.

Notes

• ~10g fiber, ~20g protein per portion. Eats much heartier than the ingredient list suggests.
• Unlike the split pea, this one keeps texture — lentils stay whole, broth stays brothy. The two soups freeze as genuinely different meals.
• 35-minute simmer means it can ride alongside burrito rolling on cook day.