178: Desserts

Julia was already writing the recipe on the sheet while pulling out some more tools.

“Right! When those muffins are cooked, I’ll get you both started. While we’re waiting, Trev, I’ll get you cracking the eggs. We only need the yolks; put the egg whites to the side. I’ll show you something special with them later,” Julia said.

Again, separating the eggs seemed far easier said than done, but I eventually had eighteen yolks, with the whites off to the side, and I only ruined three eggs in the process.

“Excellent. The next part you’re going to need to do for Crisplet as well, since I’m not sure Crisplet could do it. What we need is to take three lemons for each of you and zest the outside using this grater. It will finely cut some of the skin off,” Julia said, pulling up a lemon to demonstrate.

Taking the handheld grater, she proceeded to lightly scratch the outside, getting a small pile of lemon zests before passing it over.

This part seemed fairly simple, and I quickly also had four lemons’ worth of zest, although I thought that Crisplet could have probably done this part.

Next, she put the zests into her sugar and rubbed them together.

“You want the oils from the zests to mix with the sugar. It might seem like something you can simply forget, but this is very important for the flavour,” she said.

Following her direction, and now seeing where Crisplet would have struggled, I got to work pouring the zests into the sugar, and then using my hands, I rubbed them together, trying to force the oils into the sugar.

“You can feel the difference, right?” Julia said with a grin.

And I could. Not only did it have a strong citrus smell now, but the sugar now had a cohesive texture, almost like dealing with wet sand.

After working it some more, I was instructed that it looked good, and it was just as Crisplet let off a burst of sparks to let us know the muffins were ready. They had golden-brown tops, and you could see the fruit in them.

The smell of baked goods had completely filled the room now, and Lily was staring at the muffins, moving on from the cookies. These, at least, I should be able to infuse for her.

“Let them cool down. Both of you over here; let’s make this lemon curd,” Julia called, getting our attention back.

She was dividing the sugar I had just prepared into two bowls.

“Right, the next part is super simple. Get yourself a pan, pour in your sugar and your yolks, mix it together until well combined, then we’ll be moving it to the heat. You don’t want it to cook too quickly, so keep the heat low, and while constantly stirring, pour in your lemon juice, butter, and a pinch of salt, and that’s all you need for it. Then just keep mixing until it gets a thick consistency with no lumps,” Julia said, mixing her own as she was explaining.

We were soon both left with a thick, custard-like yellow liquid in our pots, as Crisplet let off a burst of sparks.

“Excellent. Now set that aside while we prepare the next part. You’ve done a pie crust before, so we’ll race through that, as we need to have that made and baked before we fill it,” Julia said.

She seemed to have all the ingredients on her, which I was incredibly thankful for, as I had barely had to use any mana today, and I was just about to start making the crust when I got a heavy nudge to my side.

Looking over, I saw Lily just staring at me.

“Ah, sorry, Lily.” I knew exactly what she was after, so pulling two of the warm muffins I had made, I used Infuse, and placed them down for Lily, pulling up the stats myself.

[Common] Dilwater Muffin

• +1 Intelligence
• Minor Poison Potency
• Minor Poison Resistance
• Fire Immunity

I had barely finished reading the stats when I noticed both muffins were gone.

“I didn’t expect you to like it when it had no meat,” I said. All I got in return was a head tilt as she stared at me, then at the other muffins.

I couldn’t help but sigh. “I can’t give you more; the others need to try it as well. I will make you dinner tonight, though something special.”

This seemed to mollify her as she went back to the corner and lay down.

I soon had the pie crust made. It was very similar to other pastries I had made before, just with a bit more sugar in the pastry, and Crisplet was currently baking it. These I knew did not take long.

While that was happening, I moved the lemon curd to the cold room to really start cooling down, and when I came out, the crusts were ready to go.

“Right, final step!” Julia called, getting Crisplet and me back over as she took her egg whites and a bunch of sugar and whisked.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

“We’re going to make a meringue on top. If you tried it at dinner, it was that crispy white part on the top. You don’t need to do this; you could just put the lemon into the pastry crust and it would still be delicious, but this is just going that extra step,” she explained.

Both Crisplet and I started to whisk…

This seemed to take forever, and when I thought I finally had it, I was told it was still too soft and to keep whisking.

I had never really put much thought into what my stats did since the day I got my class, outside of the occasional moment I wished I had more strength. But today — today I was incredibly thankful for my much higher dexterity, or I feel like my arm would have fallen off.

I was finally done when the egg whites were so stiff that they didn’t fold back down at all, and it looked like a dense white foam.