Homemade Lemon Pepper

Since the Seasoned Salt seemed to turn out so well, I decided to try my hand at a homemade version of another spice pantry staple: lemon pepper. Now I know there are countless recipes for lemon pepper out there, but in my opinion most of them miss the boat. Lemons taste sour (duh) and so must lemon pepper. Yet none of the recipes floating around the web contain any sour component.

The solution seemed pretty obvious to me—why not include a bit of citric acid along with the pepper and lemon zest? I mean, it occurs naturally in lemons and limes, and it’s cheap, readily available, and something I have in my pantry anyway for making candy. So I did some research—that is to say I read the back of a jar. And you know that brand of lemon pepper with the big L on the label and the bright yellow cap? Citric acid is listed right there in the ingredient list. Obvious indeed! Citric acid not only provides the necessary tartness, but it comes as a powder, which just happens to be the perfect form for using in a spice mix.

So after a fair amount of tinkering, I came up with my own from-scratch recipe for Lemon Pepper. According to my completely impartial taste tester husband, it’s way better than the bottled kind, which he described as having a “chemically” taste. Let me know if you agree.

Lemon Pepper
Printable Recipe

Grated zest of 3 large lemons
3 tablespoons freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon kosher salt
2 teaspoons citric acid
2 teaspoons granulated garlic
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon sugar

Spread the lemon zest on a parchment-lined cooling rack on a baking tray and let dry at room temperature for about 24 hours.

Combine the dried lemon zest, pepper, salt, citric acid, granulated garlic, onion powder, and sugar in a spice jar. Cover and shake until well blended.

Makes a generous 1/3 cup. Use a microplane for grating the lemon zest. Each large lemon will yield approximately 1 tablespoon of dried grated zest. This blend keeps for several months tightly sealed in the pantry.

Food Snobbery and Seasoned Salt

Few prepared items ever make it into my grocery cart. I’m OK with certain brands of store-bought mayo and ketchup and some other basic condiments, but nearly everything else I use is homemade. I make my all of my own sauces, salad dressings, spice rubs, and seasoning blends. Cajun spice, chile rub, curry powder, Chinese five-spice—I make all that stuff from scratch.

Well, nearly all that stuff. There is one store-bought item that I’m almost embarrassed to admit I use. You know the seasoned salt with the big L on the label and the dark orange cap? I love it on burgers and chicken fried steak. But every time I use it I feel sort of guilty.

I know, I know—I’m a food snob. I can’t help myself.

So I finally decided to make a homemade knock-off. It tastes almost exactly like the bottled kind but a little less salty and much less harsh. (Makes me wonder if the stuff in the bottle is made with iodized salt.) The best part is that my version contains zero mystery ingredients.

Now this is a seasoning blend I can feel good about using. So good, in fact, that I used it in the preparation of Thanksgiving dinner. Game hens (remember, I live in a family of turkey haters) stuffed with fresh sage, rosemary, and thyme and seasoned inside and out with my very own homemade Seasoned Salt. It gave the little birds a lovely color and delicious savory flavor…which is nothing to be embarrassed about!

Before I get to the recipe, I’d like to thank Babble for featuring my Beef with Dang Myun in their World Pasta Day recipe roundup.

Seasoned Salt
Printable Recipe

3 tablespoons fine sea salt
2 teaspoons paprika
2 teaspoons granulated garlic
1 teaspoon onion powder
½ teaspoon ground turmeric
½ teaspoon sugar
¼ teaspoon celery seeds, ground
¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Combine all of the ingredients in a spice jar. Cover and shake until well blended.

Makes about 1/3 cup. Keeps for several months tightly sealed in the pantry. Don’t be afraid to use lots, it’s not too salty.

Intrigued by Tonka Beans and a Giveaway

Have you ever heard of tonka beans? I read about them on Cannelle et Vanille, Tartelette, La Tartine Gourmand, and Dessert First, some of my favorite food blogs. They said that tonka beans smell and taste like a mix of almond, vanilla, and clove. Let’s just say that I was more than a little bit intrigued.

So, you know me, I decided I had to get my hands on some and try them for myself. I started poking around and immediately discovered that, while tonka beans are legal and even quite fashionable to use in desserts in France and other parts of Europe, they have been banned in the U.S. from use in food. Yeah, I’m sure we know something that the Europeans don’t. Anyway, I read up about the little tonka bean and figured that anything will kill you if you eat enough of it.

I boldly continued my search and found that tonka beans are readily available on the internet, just ask Google. I hit the jackpot at an obscure local herb shop. The owner said that he stocked the tonka beans to sell to a lady who uses them for voodoo. Not for food use, so I guess that makes it OK.

I can’t tell you how exciting it was to finally score some illicit tonka beans. The smell hit me even before I even opened the bag—it’s no wonder the scientific name is odorata. Their fragrance made me flash back to eating apricots and peaches as a little girl. I remembered being at my Baba and Deda’s house and eating the sweet, juicy flesh and then the bitter kernel from inside the pit.


It’s that same bitter almond quality…


Funny how a certain smell or food can make you feel someone’s presence again…

The memory of eating apricot kernels is what inspired me to pair tonka beans and fresh apricots together in these cakelettes.


It was a happy marriage, and even my husband, who hates almonds (crazy, I know), loved it.

I would love to do a giveaway to share my tonka beans with you, but I figure I shouldn’t stray that far to the wrong side of the law. Instead, I’ll be giving away a set of 6 mini brioche tins, just like the ones I used to make these cakelettes, to one lucky reader. All you have to do to enter the giveaway is leave a comment between now and Sunday, July 5 telling me if you are willing to consume tonka beans or not. One winner will be chosen at random from the commenters (so don’t sign in anonymously!). Good luck! I will announce the winner on Monday, July 6, so be sure to stop by to see if you’ve won.


Apricot-Tonka Bean Cakelettes
Printable Recipe

5 ounces (1 ¼ sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature, plus more for greasing the pans
All-purpose flour, for dusting the pans
9 ounces cake flour
½ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon freshly grated tonka bean
¼ teaspoon fine sea salt
10 ounces sugar
3 large eggs, at room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
8 ounces crème fraîche, at room temperature
12 apricots, peeled, halved, and pitted

Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Butter and flour 2 standard 12-cup muffin pans or 24 3 ¼-inch brioche tins. Sift together the cake flour, baking powder, baking soda, tonka bean, and salt.

In a mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat together the butter and sugar on high for 3 to 4 minutes, or until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at a time until thoroughly combined and then beat in the vanilla extract. Add 1/3 of the flour mixture, then ½ of the crème fraîche, then 1/3 of the flour mixture, then the remaining ½ of the crème fraîche, and then the remaining 1/3 of the flour mixture, mixing on low for only a few seconds after each addition until just combined, and stopping the mixer once or twice to scrape down the sides of the bowl. Do not overmix. Divide the batter among the muffin cups or brioche tins. Press 1 apricot half cut side down into the center of each one. Bake for 22 to 24 minutes, or until the edges of the cakelettes start to shrink away from the pans and a toothpick inserted into the center of a cakelette comes out clean. Let the cakelettes cool in the pans for about 10 minutes. Invert onto cooling racks and finish cooling completely.

Makes 24 cakelettes. You can substitute a few drops of almond extract and a pinch of ground cloves for the tonka bean. If you are using muffin pans, feel free to use paper liners instead of greasing and flouring them.

Chile Rub

I really don’t know why they call it a spice rub. It works much better when you pat it on than when you rub it in. Rub a spice mix, and it ends up all over your hands. But pat it, and it sticks to the food instead of seasoning your fingers. Maybe we should call it a spice pat?

Whatever it’s called, I have to have a jarful of my chile rub in the pantry at all times. I can coat a steak or salmon fillet with it, throw it on the grill along with some veggies, and, voilà, dinner in 15 minutes!

This rub is fantastic on nearly everything, whether it’s grilled, broiled, roasted, or smoked. It’s fantastic on shrimp.


It’s perfect on vegetables and fish, especially salmon.


It’s absolutely delicious on a thick steak.


And it’s even great on pork and chicken.

Lucy’s Chile Rub
Printable Recipe

3 tablespoons ancho chile powder
3 tablespoons pasilla chile powder
2 tablespoons guajillo chile powder
2 tablespoons granulated garlic
1 tablespoon ground cumin
3 tablespoons packed light brown sugar

Combine all of the ingredients in a large spice jar. Cover and shake until well blended.

Makes almost a cup. Keeps for several months tightly sealed in the pantry. Season the item with salt first, then sprinkle generously or even coat with the rub, patting it gently so that it adheres. Don’t be afraid to use lots, it’s not too hot! Ancho, pasilla, and guajillo chile powders, which all bring distinct flavors to the mix, can be found at most gourmet grocery stores, Mexican markets, and online.