My weakness for lemon tarts is well known. This combination of sour and sweet of the lemon custard simply drives me crazy. If I add another great weakness that I have for meringues it is very hard for me to resist in front of such a tart.

Although this tartelettes requires 3 steps to do them, eating them is like in an instant. It takes a bit of time and work to prepare them but every bite is well deserved.

I often enter in fresh fast food restaurants to grab a quick lunch. While queuing to pay my food I watch the deserts exposed strategically just in front of me. They look fantastic, like fresh harvested mushrooms. Many times I wonder how do they make them to look so perfect and so beautiful? Regardless the impressive look and the first impuls to put one on my tray, I pay my food without picking any of them. The reason is evident ... I can do better myself while knowing exactly what's inside.

Mines, they may not look like a "star" but they look pleasantly and decent. Above all, they are homemade with great passion and pleasure. They are exactly the kind of deserts I would give to my children without having second thoughts. I also have the great satisfaction of controlling the amount of sugar inside.

Doing them is another story. Making deserts with my daughter is one of the things I really enjoy. She is so actively involved in measuring correctly the ingredients and mix them all (or one after another) and I do not want to lose these great moments spent together with my daughter. For her is a game, but for me, as an adult, sharing all the tricks and experiences with her is like creating history. I, myself, do remember such moments from my childhood when I was doing cakes with my mother and those moments are kept very dear to me. Now it's my time to create sweet memories for my own daughter.

Therefore, is there a reason for me to buy muffins from a shop?

It is not the first time that I make this recipe. I made a variation with chocolate here. However, I think that this time I enjoy them the most. Without the addition of chocolate you get the chance to taste the pure basic dough. Surprisingly, they really made an outstanding impression.
To give them a specific note, I added some pearl sugar that I found lost in my pantry on a bottom of a paper box. The crunchy and caramelized spots created by the pearl sugar after baking where the cherries of this cake.
I have not appreciated them that much in the beginning but when my kids asked for a 3rd portion I ate a full one myself so I can distinguish what makes them like them so much. They are soft, they almost melt into your mouth and the aroma of almond combined with vanilla makes them special.

You may try and taste different recipes of breads but going back to the simplest one gives an incredible feeling of satisfaction. In the end, the basic ingredients: flour, water and salt is all you need. Sourdough is made only from flour and water. The gluten addition is optional just to improve the proteins of the flour. To the limit, if you prefer not to use salt for the bread, you end up having a bread that is made of only 2 ingredients. Isn't it amazing that you could achieve to do a bread with with only 2 ingredients?
But for my taste, salt is a must be inside bread. You can put up to 2% of salt inside. I usually chose to put less, somewhere around 1%.
By choosing different types of flours you enrich the taste. But this doesn't mean that going to one single, basic wheat flour won't lead you to a great result. And here is the proof.

The recipes you like leave a strong footprint in your mind. For me, the Vermont sourdough bread is a reference recipe. Its taste and its texture left deep pleasant memories and from time to time I like to try different versions of it. For this time, I needed a sandwich bread to be able to easily fit it in the toaster. But basically, the recipe is almost the same. The addition of sesame seeds distinguish this bread form other versions I made and always the taste and texture do not disappoint me.