My friend Claire Reishman is a true Renaissance woman. When she's not throwing beautiful clay pieces on her potter's wheel in Sewanee, TN, she's fox hunting in Giles County, reading aloud over Zoom to her adorable grandchildren, or cooking her way through new cookbooks from front to back (I don't think I've ever eaten the same meal twice at Claire's table).
Two things do show up on Claire's menu again and again, and I think they are the perfect combination for dessert after a hearty fall supper. I hope you'll enjoy Claire's lemon curd and gingersnaps at your next autumn meal. I like the idea of serving the lemon curd in our Hand Blown Amethyst Goblets, with a generous helping of gingersnaps piled into a Persimmon Bowl. If you want to keep gingersnaps on the kitchen counter for after school snacking, use our Splatterware Cake Stand in Brown and Rose. And since there's nothing better with a gingersnap than a glass of cold milk, I'd bring our Apulian Pitcher in Blue Marble Glaze to the table, too.
These are two recipes worth keeping, so be sure to jot them down in one of our Cambridge Imprint Journals for the next time company comes calling.
Using an electric mixer, combine molasses, sugar, eggs, and melted margarine. Add the remaining ingredients, sifted together, with the mixer on low. Our Baker's Dozen Spoons are just the thing for giving the dough a final stir. Dough should be stiff enough not to stick to your hands. Refrigerate for several hours.
When ready to bake, roll "marbles" of dough (about 3/4" in diameter) into balls, coat with sugar, and bake on a cookie sheet at 350°F for 14 minutes.
[Any remaining dough can be rolled into "logs" about 1" thick and refrigerated until ready for rolling into balls and baking.]
In a non-reactive saucepan, combine sugar, lemon juice, and zested rind. Add butter and simmer until all is melted and sugar is no longer visible.
Whisk 4 eggs until light and slowly dribble hot lemon mixture slowly into eggs, whisking vigorously. Be careful as eggs will curdle if you go too fast. Return mixture to top of double boiler and simmer until it thickens. Cool and refrigerate.
Spoon the chilled lemon curd into Amethyst Goblets and serve alongside the gingersnaps. A rather nice ending to a fall supper.
