If you’ve never enjoyed a Meyer Lemon, then you don’t know what your missing! I was lucky enough to pick up a club pack of Meyer Lemons at Costco and they have been sitting there patiently waiting for me to use them, pleading with me, cajoling…sigh Ok, maybe it wasn’t the lemons, just me thinking of all the wonderful things I could use them for.
I thought about muffins, cookies, tarts, curd, all kinds of delicious baked goods, but then my thoughts turned towards gelato, that creamy, luscious, and so very flavorful frozen dessert that has it all over ice cream! Gelato isn’t that much different than ice cream, the big difference being that milk is used instead of all cream, which actually makes the flavors of what you’re using stand out even more, and if you find the right balance between cream and milk, you still get that rich creamy texture that Americans have come to love about our ice cream!
The other difference is the amount of air that is worked into the mix, gelato does not incorporate as much air, thus giving you a denser product which also gives you more pronounced flavors. If you don’t have a gelato maker, don’t worry, you can still make this recipe in a standard ice cream maker, and it will still be delicious!
So when life hands you Meyer’s Lemons make Gelato!
- 1 cup Meyer Lemon Juice (about 6)
- zest from one Meyer lemon (very fine)
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 cup milk
- 1 cup heavy cream
- ⅛ tsp salt
- Using a micro planer or a very fine grater, zest one Meyer Lemon
- Cut lemons in half and juice them, straining out all the seeds.
- Add the cream, milk, lemon juice, zest, sugar and salt together and using a wire whip, mix until the sugar is dissolved and completely incorporated. (the mixture should thicken some)
- Pour the mixture into a Gelato or ice cream maker and freeze following the manufacturer’s instructions.
- Yield will be about 1 quart of lemon Gelato
Ask Chef Dennis
Social Media-
I just got done reading a post from Mashable that stated that Pinterest drives more traffic than Google+, Linkedin, and You Tube combined, and only one hundredth of a percent behind twitter. I think that speaks volumes about the direction that Pinterest is going, so if your not on board, get on board soon! If you need an invitation to join, just send me an email and I’ll make sure you get one. According to Google Analytic’s, Pinterest comes in at #5 on my hit list, surpassing foodgawker, or any of the other food porn sites and it requires a lot less work, thanks to the pin it button.
Since were talking about Pinterest, I want to again bring up the issue we have been having with some pinners, that being that some have been pinning entire recipes, and that’s just wrong. Now the good news is, that when you complain to Pinterest, they do take action and remove the offending pins, and places the pinner on notice that the entire board will be removed if they continue. For those of us that do enjoy Pinterest and the benefits we receive from the pins, (new readers and hits) it’s important that when you’re on Pinterest to keep a look out for those types of offending pins, and please notify the blogger affected.
Remember, were all in this together people, we have to watch out for each other, more now that ever before. While some folks just don’t know they shouldn’t do it, there are more that do know and are just trying to make money of our work! I’m sure each of you would want to know if your content was stolen, so if you do see someone’s content anywhere else but they’re blog, please let them know, even if you don’t know the person. I can guarantee more times than not you’ll make a new friend.
I would like to mention one more thing about Pinterest, while you’re pinning your friends image for all the world to see, make sure you list it properly for them. List the title followed by their Pinterst Name, in my case for this post it would be Meyer Lemon Gelato @Chef Dennis Littley {A Culinary Journey} . Once you start typing in the name, options will usually appear with names to choose from , so you usually don’t have to fill in the whole name. This will help everyone get more visibility, and recognition for our work and we all want that.
If you don’t have the Pinterest button installed on your toolbar, get it, it makes pinning so much faster!
While I have absolutely no idea what it’s going to be, I have read that Lady Gaga’s new site Little Monsters is going to be a Pinterest type site, they are accepting requests for invitations now.
Google+
Ok, I don’t want to beat a dead horse here about Google+. I have mentioned it in a few posts, and I always get the same complaint, I just don’t have the time. I understand, that all too well, and that’s why I have stopped using so many foodporn sites and allotted time to Google+. Hits from Google are now coming in at #3 according to Google Analytics….that’s an increase of over 1500% in about 3 months. It is worth your time, and as Google+ just went over the 100 million member mark, you still have time to get involved before it gets really big….lol….100 million users and its going to get bigger, that’s hard to imagine! While it’s true facebook still rules the airwaves, my hits coming from facebook hardly even register.
One last word about Google+, I have over 300 food bloggers in my circles on G+, but only a little over 100 of them are active. That’s not good, people want consistency, if you don’t have time to interact much you can at least put your link in the same time you do facebook, it takes no more time. So if your going to get started on G+ be consistent and post at least as often as you do everywhere else. One nice thing about G+ too, its a whole new audience and all of your old posts are new to them, so you can repost them as extra’s during the week to keep your readers coming back.
For Google Friend Connect users, if you’re not a blogger blog, it’s going away as of March 1st, they don’t have a date yet for blogger blogs, but they will be next. GFC is going away for good, and Google is telling everyone to move on over to Google+. Now I’m with the rest of you and not at all happy with that move, but unfortunately there isn’t anything we can do about it.
If you have question on getting started drop me a line and I’ll be happy to help you out, and once your on G+ let me know and I’ll share the food bloggers circle to get you started.
That’s going to do it for today, thanks so much for stopping by. If you have any questions, suggestions or information to share please drop me a line, I do love hearing from you….and remember, this is our community and we have to take care of each other, so …..
Share Your Knowledge-Together We Are Stronger
What a lovely, refreshing gelato this must be!
mmm, Meyer lemons! I just bought some from Costco also, and made a curd-mousse kinda thing. your gelato sounds terrific (and I pinned it!!)
I am loving pinterest – I have been on for a while, but just recently started using it more, as stumbleupon has changed quite a bit. I am LOVING pinterest as a fun site for myself and as a source for new readers. I will be on the lookout for whole recipes!
The gelato looks yummy. Mr. Hungry Couple would be all over that in a heartbeat! On the social media front, I agree with you completely about Pinterest. I just got started and already can’t believe how much traffic has come to my blog from there. Thanks for all the info!
Wow this looks so refreshing and delicious. YUM!
Great looking gelato, I have a friend who keeps me well stocked on Meyers. I love them! As always great advice for g+
Take care…
I love gelato and lemons. My mouth started watering immediately.
Mmmm… the weathers getting warmer here, and this would be so perfect! Thanks for sharing this recipe, Chef Dennis! And thanks, as always, for the great tips!
Yummy meyer lemon recipe. You know me and frozen treats. I need to try making gelato, I bet I would be addicted in no time. Great advice as always. I just can’t bring myself to hit the invite button on the Little Monsters thing no matter how hard I try.
This looks just lovely–I think I need an ice cream maker for my birthday – or maybe, I’d be making this all the time!
This gelato looks fantastic! I wish I’d seen it before I used the last of my meyer lemons. I may have to pick up another bag of them, just to try it. Do you think it would be too strong with regular lemons? Or would simply adjusting the amount be ok?
Second, I’m on Pinterest as a tool for pinning my own personal favorites, but I don’t pin my blog posts or anything like that. You aren’t pinning your own things, right? Just your finds online? I’ve seen a dramatic increase in Pinterest traffic over the past few weeks, from things other people have pinned from my site. The hits have always been there, but lately they are increasing like crazy.
Is there a benefit that I am missing, by not having people follow me on Pinterest? How does having them follow me there, help me as a blogger?
Dear Chef….I had no idea that gelato would be this easy. In fact, gelato has never passed my lips…ahh! I know, sad indeed. Thanks for the inspiration to get something going with that Costco club pack of Meyer lemons I, too, snagged up the other day. I’ve also taken notes of your online socializing tips…ta!
hi Correen
Gelato can be made with eggs also, I just don’t think the results have that intense flavor that you get from a plain milk based mix, and using less cream even makes the flavors more intense…go figure. It’s finding that happy medium with the cream and milk, finding that creamy spot without using too much cream.
Dennis
Hi Chef Dennis – Yes, I am going to love this gelato recipe!! I love gelato and ate it every day during my trip to Italy a few years ago. I make ice cream quite often, but have not tried gelato yet. I just hope next time I go to Costco, there will be these meyer lemons waiting for me. Thank you for the great recipe!
Hello!
finaly I had the time to pass by your lovely blog!
The gelato looks wonderful. we r mostly used to gelato these days in europe so ice cream is not so much of a trend anymore in middle europe the past 10 years. I have worked in a italian gelateria in my youth and I know how much better the italian ice cream is. unluckily I am not able to enjoy it in india right now, since good ice cream is still difficult to find and a ice creammakers are even more difficult to obtain.
about pinterest,… I must say its the most useful social network right now in the web. totaly user friendly. why it is so well working is I guesse is because of its simplicity and the fact that pictures say a 1000 times more then words. the only problem right now is that there is no proper social pin it button feature for blog pages. I had to insert mine manually into each post after the plugin failed to work.
about google+,… I have been witnessing a growth in this social network, especially in the past 2 months. its for sure more useful then fb to me and I realy need to be more active there too.
My favourite social network is still twitter, though.
and u r right, I always keep an eye on copycats. To me its one of the worst sins and I realy hate to see hard worked material being missused by some noobs.
I confess to loving all things lemony but I am actually in love with Pinterest more! Love your tips about it. I also find Google+ a great place to hang out and share. It seems to have a more ‘professional’ following.
It looks amazing! I’ll have to give your recipe a try! I love Meyer Lemons!
I always appreciate your Ask Chef Dennis posts. I need to get on pinterest. I found it counter-intuitive and lost interest but I’m going to try getting into it and read some tutorials. Also – good tip on posting old content in between new on google+. I hadn’t thought about that. Thank you!
I’ve never had a meyer lemon, let alone been lucky enough to see them in the store. However, I’m sure your gelato is delicious! Very interesting point about pinterest. I find I have a hard time truely seeing what pictures of mine have been pinned.
Another question: I’ve just moved to a self-hosted wp blog and I’m trying to figure out if google analytics is worth trying. Is it much different from the stat summaries that wordpress give you, as far as how many people visisted your blog, if they were refered and from where, etc…
Thanks as always for an informative Ask Chef Dennis post!
Well I have found out that you just can’t buy 1 meyer lemon around here-you will have to buy a bag. That does have a way of getting you inspired on the many wonderful things you can make. I am sure I will not have any problem using them up! This gelato looks like a delicious treat-so this is well worth putting on the list!
Thanks for all the information here about the move of the social media. Also, I wanted to mention the benefits of unique recipe names-you sure can find out just where these posts are going. You can easily search on something with a unique name and see links or pins right away because most likely there is no other listing by that name, but searching on chocolate brownies to see where your post has gone does not really give you any help because their are tons of posts with that subject.
The gelato looks fab! I wrestled with how to use my first bag of Meyer lemons too and am posting what I finally decided on later today. I may have to pick up another bag to make this now!
Thanks for the information about the newest darlings of social medial. I love Pinterest and see quite a bit of traffic from it and just joined Google+. Would love more information on how to use it as I’m a bit confused right now!
hi Candy
the best advice on using google+ is to post something at once a day of your own work, and repost others work that you find interesting, maybe 2-3 a day. the biggest mistake I see is people don’t fill out their profile, and don’t post regularly, the other problem is that others flood your stream with too many posts, and they get themselves ignored very quickly! It’s like with your blog, people expect consistency and thats how you create a following. Remember all your old posts are new to these people too, so use them as fillers on off days from your posting schedule.
Dennis
I have this goal of having a Lemon Meyer tree once I own a home. Isn’t that a marvelous idea. Gelato is definitely a favorite in my house. Such rich flavor it is so good all on its own.
I always love your hints and tips, Dennis…I learn something each time I visit. Plus I get to gawk at your fabulous gelato!
There’s that Meyer word again. I’m going potty trying to find them here. Love creamy lemon ice creams (I’ve never liked lemon sorbet, isn’t that weird?) and this one looks fabulous. Love your tips – funnily enough, I’ve started using Pinterest but not for food. It’s helping on ideas on our house project and is so much easier just having all the photos in one place. Great tips as ever, Dennis;
A marvelous dessert! I am a fan of your gelatos. This is a must try for me and I am so sure I will prepare it many times more in the future
Thank you for all your info in Ask Chef Dennis section.
Have a wonderful day!
The gelato sounds fabulous, I love gelato but have never thought about making it at home! Pinterest is very quickly becoming my #1 traffic source. You are right too, it’s so easy!
Hey Chef!
I am a new blogger and am hooked. Love this gelato recipe. My son and I are going to make it. Thanks for all the wonderful advice about Pinterest and Google+. I have signed up on both but need to actually get stuff up. I can’t wait to see your cooking classes on Google+. You blog is always a treat.
Just found this recipe via your post on Google+. Pinterest is amazing. I encourage everyone to get on board. Some early adopters have thousands of followers and it is such a simple and organic way to bring in traffic. Unlike other sites, I have also noticed that Pinterest is bringing me new FB and twitter followers as well.
Dennis – do you know anything about Stumbleupon? Can we discuss this next. I’m getting a lot of traffic from it and can’t figure it out.
Fabulous gelato!
This gelato is making me smile! And thanks for the advice!
Chef Dennis, your gelato photo was like a breath of Spring this morning! Reminded me of the color of pale daffodils…
Thanks for the on-line info, too — your research and opinions are greatly respected and appreciated!
what a wonderful comparison, thank you!
Oh my, that gelato looks amazing. I adore citrus…anything. This is definitely joining the ‘to-make’ list. Looks like I need to pin it.
You are too kind!
Chef Dennis…you rock. I’ve been trying to figure out Pinterest and you just gave me some clarity and direction. G+ was next on my list of Things I Need to Google A Bunch to Understand. Thank you for sharing your knowledge…again. p.s. Meyer Lemon Gelato…I’m in!
I’m glad I could help, if you have any other questions don’t hesitate to ask!
Chef the Gelato is amazing! I actually prefer it to ice cream any day of the week, so thank you so much for sharing this
Thanks for all your pointers about Pinterest. I am new to it and I want to make sure I follow the proper etiquette
Thank you for addressing these newer forms of social media. It takes some time to get used to new things. I just tried the “@” thing when pinning a fellow blogger’s photo, and it didn’t create a link or anything, so why do it? The picture links back to the blog post anyway, so I guess I just don’t see the point. Maybe I’m missing something…
I don’t feel like I’m breaching any kind of etiquette by pinning something without explicitly stating the blogger’s name because it links straight to their blog anyway. I personally like to write a really short sentence describing why I like or want to make whatever it is I’m pinning (i.e., great for a dinner party, freezer meals, etc). I realize typing out the whole recipe is overkill, but a little something to show what is great about that particular pin is nice, in my opinion.
I love Pinterest because it’s given me a place to visually store all the fantastic recipe and crafting/decorating ideas I come across on the internet every day. Before this I had no good way of remembering them for later. I have made many, many new recipes I might not have remembered to try otherwise!
hi Robyn
you are certainly not breaching any etiquette, using the @ is just like a shout out on one of the other social media platforms, not at all necessary but nice to do for your friends. I don’t do it for everyone, but when I am trying to give a friend a little extra recognition I use it.
Dennis
Dennis, I actually saw this post on Pinterest. I love anything lemon! Will be repinning (from your pin)
Thanks for all the other wonderful information. I have a google + account but no idea how to use it, I think I have 4 friends in my circle right now? I would love any assistance you are willing to offer on that subject.
Cristina@the Scrappy Housewife recently did 2 posts about “Pintegrity”
Really great information.
Thanks for always posting the most delicious recipes.
HI Joan
thanks for the info I will check out the links. As for google+ the best advice on using google+ is to post something at once a day of your own work, and repost others work that you find interesting, maybe 2-3 a day. the biggest mistake I see is people don’t fill out their profile, and don’t post regularly, the other problem is that others flood your stream with too many posts, and they get themselves ignored very quickly! It’s like with your blog, people expect consistency and thats how you create a following. Remember all your old posts are new to these people too, so use them as fillers on off days from your posting schedule.
Dennis
Great post, not only for this fabulous lookinglemon gelato recipe, but also for the great tips on using Pinterest and Google Plus! I am loving Pinteerst, but had no idea you could type in someone’s name with the @ symbol when you pin their images, so I’ll definitely have to start doing that. If you like lemons, you might like my latest recipe for Kale, Pasta, and Pistachio Salad with lemon vinagrette
I’m doing the happy dance right now, because I have so many lemons on my Meyer’s Lemon tree!
I just got an ice cream maker and I love anything involving lemon, so I am definitely going to save this recipe!
Thanks for the info about Pinterest too–I complained about people copying & pasting entire recipes to a pin in a blog post you commented on a few weeks back, but I had no idea that this was actually against Pinterest’s TOS and that the users would get a warning for it. This is really good information to know, as it’s happened to me a few times. Apart from the whole intellectual property thing, it’s also goes against the whole idea of Pinterest, which is a visual Pinboard NOT a text one. I’ve just put a copyright notice at the end of each of my posts (before I had it in my footer & About page), so I’m hoping that deters people from lifting content, including on Pinterest. But we’ll see!
Amazing looking dessert and can’t imagine how good does it taste. Pleas, take a look at my marshmallow creations, I would love to have your opinion, thank you so much:)
I use Pinterest daily – however, do not list any of the sites as my own. It allows me to link (Pin It) so that it opens into the original owner’s blog or webpage. If others are stealing stuff then they are completely in the wrong but many of us on Pinterest are not out to do so.
Hi Bess
99.9% of those using Pinterest are doing it just for the fun, and I think most that pinning recipes aren’t necessarily stealing, they are just uninformed. Having our work lifted and spread around the internet has become a growing problem, with many people just trying to make money off of our work, so we tend act first now when ever we see an infraction. As a whole we love pinterest and have made many new friends from it.
cheers
Dennis
this looks fabulous and i LOVE pinterest!!
Question for you: I just switched over to word press and seem to have lost most of my followers, I know you did this recently, how did you get them back?? i believe I have updated my url on most sites but still my numbers are WAY down, any suggestions?? Thanks, Chef! Anne http://www.anniebakes.net
hi Anne
I wish I had an easy answer for you, but the truth is after 6 months I still get the occasional, I wonder where you went, your link has not been updating! when I first made the change my hits were cut in half, and contrary to what everyone told me about increasing just from WordPress it never happened, at least for me. As I sorry I moved, not at all, I just wish I had done it sooner. It’s been an uphill battle recapturing all of my followers, some of it was also the name change, so at least you’re not tackling that one.
Did your designer, set up your old blog to redirect to your new site? I also actually bought the .net and .org of my domain and all of them including my old More Than A Mountfull, redirect to my new domain name.
Where you will start to see an increase is through the built in SEO in wordpress, I assume you are using it. Also don’t worry as much about reformatting your recipes as much as adding in the SEO to all your most popular posts, also you should put in a paragraph about the post, mine always started rambling about anything but the post, this way it can talk about what I made, and if I gave my post a cute name, I can change it for the SEO so that its more searchable.
if you have any questions please feel free to email me and I will be happy to help you.
Dennis
I don’t eat a lot of ice cream during the winter, butt now I really want some. Correction: I want some of this lemon gelato. Yum!
I just tried Meyer lemons for my first time this week, and WOW just beautiful! I love the aroma of the lemons, really unique:-) I made lemon curd, but would love to make some gelato! The gelato looks amazing:-)
Yummy that gelato looks so refreshing! I’m loving Pinterest but I am having a hard time getting used to G+
Hi Arlene
it does take time, I still don’t get twitter and I barely use facebook, but Google+ just seems more interactive to me. Just keep posting on a regular basis and share to public, go down the stream and +1 posts, you’ll start to see it come together. Also remember all your old posts are new to these folks!
if you have any questions, please feel free to email me!
Dennis
I’m posting on Google+ everyday, but I’m having a hard time figuring out how best to make it worthwhile. I’m still not seeing any real traffic from it… I’m willing to keep at it though!
Hi Jen
I hate to tell you that its going to take a few months, it was probably 4 months for me before it really took off, but it really has paid off. are you also using your built in SEO on wordpress, that helps with google just as much.
if you have any questions please feel free to email me.
Dennis
Chef Dennis, thank you for your tips on Pinterest. I just saw that a couple of people have put my entire recipe with their pin. I went ahead and reported those pins! I LOVE Pinterest and a lot of my traffic is now coming from the site!
By the way, this gelato looks incredible! I love meyer lemons!
I’ve been wanting to get an ice cream maker, this may just be what pushes me over the edge. I have always loved lemon ice cream, but you can’t get it anywhere where it doesn’t taste like toothpaste. Putting this on my ever-growing list of “must-tries”.
ha Meyers…have heard so much about them. we just wont get them here. and i realise you’ve a serious love for gelatos….i haven’t had them but loved your notes on it. your first photo is classic. i dunno… i just dont want to jump aboard any social network sites due to lack of time and interest. but sometimes i think should i try Pinterest….have heard rave reviews.
I’ve been looking for something a bit different to do with Meyer lemons…this is perfect! Thanks, Chef Dennis!
Would you send me an invite to Pinterest? I’ve requested one from them a couple of times, but never have received one. The gelato reminds me of the flavors I had in Italy this past summer–you’re given me flashbacks of Genoa!
Dear Chef,
I thought you might get a kick out of this – I find you so helpful I started a pinterest board of “Ask Chef Dennis” so I can easily find those bits of advice that have been most useful.
Thank you for all you do to help all of us!
Best,
Jessica aka Oh Cake
Jessica
that is the nicest thing anyone has done for me in a long time! Thank you so much, I’m on way over to see it now!
Dennis
Oh, this makes me so very eager for summer. This looks so crisp, light and refreshing.
Chef Dennis – I am back to tell you I made this gelato last night, and we had it as a desert tonight. It’s very refreshing and delicious! It does have a good gelato texture as well. Thanks for the great recipe!
How beautiful..now you have totally confused me, I was ready to make strawberry topped lemon bars until I found your delicious looking gelato. Perhaps back to the store for more Meyer Lemons and I’ll do them both.and oh wouldn’t Dorie Greenspan’s Sablés au Citron send this gelato over the edge ! Thank you for sharing.
Thanks Sandy, it was really tart and refreshing, you can really taste the flavors when you cut back on cream and just use milk!
Just made this today. It was excellent and will be made again. Thanks so much for sharing this.
You’re welcome Pam, thanks for letting me know! Happy New Year!
Hi Chef D,
I have made this recipe twice and the 3rd batch is in my ice cream maker now. It is so easy and so delicious! I did a taste test with some friends against some imported Italian lemon gelato that I picked up at a gourmet grocery store for $8 a pint! My friends liked yours as much as the expensive imported stuff. They were really close in taste. I have a Meyer lemon tree in my backyard. It feels so good to have a recipe that uses 6 lemons. Now, here’s my only complaint / question…how do you keep the zest evenly distributed? The first time I made it, all the zest aggregated and stuck in lumps on the stirring paddle of my Cuisinart ice cream maker. The second time I made it, I decided to hold back the zest until the very last minute or two of freezing so that the gelato would be thick when I added the zest. Unfortunately, it still just clumped up and left little zest meatballs in my gelato. So this time…no zest at all. I am thinking to candy some peel as a garnish for some cordial glasses that I will serve the gelato in. Any ideas on how to solve the zest distribution problem?
Hi Courtney
thanks so much for letting me know how much you’ve enjoyed my Meyer Lemon Gelato. As for the zest you might try making it very fine, and you may still see some on the paddle but probably not as much. One thing about the zest is it does add flavor to the final product, so removing it totally might slightly alter the flavor. If it does still prove to be a problem, I would suggest making the mixture the night before with the zest, then straining it before you put it into your freezer. Once it comes out of the maker you might try adding the bigger zest into the ice cream by simply sprinkling it on top and folding it into the mixture, add it in about 1/3 at a time.
The candied peel sounds like a nice garnish and even fresh zest would work as well, it would add a nice aroma to the gelato when it was served.
hope this helps!
Dennis