45 lemon liqueur recipes

Meringues aux noix: light, low-calorie nut meringue cookies with chopped hazelnuts, honey, and amaretto. Crisp, airy French-style cookies that crackle and dissolve.

This fat-free blond fruitcake is packed with candied pineapple, dried apricots, and peaches, held together with applesauce instead of butter. Aged in orange liqueur for deep, boozy flavor.

Lemon chocolate bars with a cocoa shortbread base, silky lemon curd middle, and bittersweet orange ganache on top. Three layers of contrasting flavor in every rich bite.

Chilled peach soup with white wine, orange liqueur, maple syrup, and whipped cream. A silky, boozy fruit soup that works as an elegant summer dessert or first course.

A bold seafood marinade and grilling sauce with coffee liqueur, citrus, hot sauce, fresh ginger, and dill. Shake it up in a jar and let it transform any fish on the grill.

This sorbet, based simply on commercially canned pears, can be enhanced with the flavor of eau-de-vie de poire (pear liqueur) or, if preferred, with fresh lemon juice.

Layered fresh fruit cups with bananas, strawberries, peaches, pears, raspberries, and walnuts, soaked overnight in Grand Marnier and topped with orange-zest whipped cream.

Salmon en papillote steamed in parchment with seared zucchini, crookneck squash, onion, merlot, lemon butter, and Grand Marnier. A 7-minute oven finish for restaurant-style presentation.

Tiramisu made with mascarpone blended with cottage cheese for a lighter, less heavy filling. Coffee-soaked ladyfingers, a cloud of whipped egg whites, and a dusting of cocoa, with no baking required.

Frozen layered parfait with honey-almond cream base and raspberry mousse top, served with warm raspberry sauce. The dinner-party showstopper from the Masterchefs collection.

Homemade peach liqueur infused with fresh peaches, vodka, lemon peel, and cinnamon. A DIY fruit liqueur that steeps for 8 weeks into a smooth, fragrant sipping cordial or cocktail mixer.

Homemade blueberry liqueur infuses crushed berries in vodka with lemon peel and clove for a deep ruby-purple cordial. A long, slow steep delivers a gift-worthy fruit liqueur.

Homemade papaya liqueur infused in vodka with lemon zest for one week, then strained and aged. Just 4 ingredients for a tropical, fruity spirit. Best made in May or June.