lemons, lemons, lemons

The other day I had a bit of a bake up and went a bit lemony.

I made a lemon tart, lemon ice cream and candied lemon slices.

The lemon tart recipe came from a free Coles recipe booklet.

I made my own pastry instead of using the frozen pastry they suggested.

I halved the pastry recipe from the apple pie and left out the egg as I wanted a shorter pastry- this seemed to work well.

The recipe is as follows

Lemon Tart

1 sheet frozen pastry

4 eggs

1/2 C caster sugar

1/2 C lemon juice

finely grated lemon rind from 1 lemon

1/2 C cream

1. Preheat oven to 180 C or 160 C fan. Grease a 22cm pie dish

2. Line dish with pastry. Trim edges. Chill for 15minutes.

3. Blind bake for 15 minutes. Remove paper and weights and bake for a further 5 minutes. Cool in pan.

4. Mix together eggs, sugar, juice, rind and cream. Pour into tart shell. Bake for 30-35 minutes, until just set, but still a little wobbly. Cool in pan.

5. Dust tart with icing sugar. Serve in wedges with thick cream.

I found the recipe for the lemon ice cream on the internet, but I am not sure where from.

It was very nice with a nice lemon flavour but not sour and easy to make.

Lemon Ice Cream

Juice and grated rind of 1 large lemon

1C white sugar

1 cup milk

250ml thickened cream chilled

1. Blend the lemon rind and sugar in a food processor until the rind is very fine.

2. In a medium bowl, stir together the lemon rind sugar and milk until the sugar has dissolved, then stir in the lemon juice.

3. In a separate bowl, whip the cream until stiff but not grainy. Gently fold the whipped cream into the lemon mixture until evenly blended.

4. Pour the mixture into a loaf tin (I used two very small loaf tins lined with plastic wrap) and cover with plastic wrap. Freeze for 3 hrs until firm.

I just tipped it out of the tin and sliced it to serve.

I also attempted to make candied lemon slices, they were going along fine and then all of a sudden they sugar went brown- so next time I will need to keep a closer eye on them, they were still fine however even if they were a little crunchy. I think this recipe came from Martha Stewart.

Candied Lemon Slices
 1 large lemon
1 C sugar

1. Prepare an ice water bath; set aside. Using a mandoline, v sliver or sharp knife slice lemon into 12 paper thin slices; discard seeds and ends of rind.
2. Bring a medium saucepan of water to a rolling boil. Remove from heat and add lemon slices; stir until softened, about 1 minute. Drain, and  immediately  plunge slices into ice-water bath. Drain.
3.Bring sugar and 1 C water to a boil in a medium skillet, swirling to dissolve sugar. When liquid is clear and bubbling, reduce heat to medium-low. Add lemon slices, arranging them in one layer with tongs. Simmer (do not let boil) until rinds are translucent, about 1 hr.
4.Transfer to a baking sheet lined with non stick baking paper. Let stand ready to serve.
Although I had the heat really low- the sugar went brown at about the 20 minute mark so will have to look at this next time I cook it- maybe a thicker pan and a simmer mat?

These looked pretty on the tart after it was cooked

Amended to add- I have just seen a recipe in BHG for candied lemons and they only cook it for 6 minutes- so will give this a go and let you know how I get on.

apple pie

I am looking at the sound/letter "a" with the littles ones at the moment, so it was logical to make an apple pie.

I have used this recipe for years and have never felt the need to look for another. 

It is easy to make the pastry in the food processor and the apples don't need to be precooked.

But I have recently seen a recipe for a deep dish apple pie and I am keen to try this now.

I am sure my apple pie expert B4 will be there to lend a hand, in fact except for cutting up the apples he made most of this pie, including rolling out the pastry.

 Apple Pie

Pastry:

2 C plain flour

1/4t baking powder

125g butter cubed

1T sugar

1 egg

3-4 T cold water (out of the fridge)

Put flour, baking powder and butter into the food processor and wizz until mixture resembles breadcrumbs.

Add sugar and egg and wizz again.

While processor is still going pour in the water, a little at a time until a soft dough forms.

Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 15-20 minutes.

Divide into two pieces (make one slightly larger for the base)

Roll out larger piece on a lightly floured surface to fit a 23cm pie dish.

Ease into greased dish and refrigerate.

Filling:

6-8 green apples peeled cored and sliced

1/2 C castor sugar

1T cornflour

rind and juice 1 lemon

1/4 t mixed spice

Combine apples and sugar in bowl

Blend cornflour with lemon juice to form a smooth paste. 

Mix in rind and spice.

Pour over apples.

Toss to coat.

Pile mixture into pastry case.

Roll out remaining pastry to cover top.

Brush edge of pie with some milk or beaten egg, place pastry on top and press to seal edges.

Trim and decorate edges of pie.

Cut a slit in the top for an air vent.

Decorate top of pie if desired, we put an "a" and an apple on ours.

Brush with milk or egg and sprinkle with sugar.

Bake at 200C for 15 minutes, reduce heat to 180C for a further 25 minutes.

Serve hot or cold with cream or ice cream.

Oops did you notice - I started to cut the pie before taking the photo!

mazurka cake

This is a Polish Easter Cake. 

When I was in Year 11 our Home Economics teacher wanted us to make something a little less traditional than hot cross buns for Easter and found this recipe in a magazine. 

It blew the home ec budget providing 250g of almonds per cake for 15-20 of us.

I have made it just about every year since- it is thus the longest of our family's Easter traditions.

I usually serve it as dessert or for afternoon tea on Easter Day.

It has no raising agents and was probably traditionally served as part of Passover by Jewish families.

It is also gluten free - which is a bonus if you have any guests who can't eat wheat.

I usually make it on Good Friday while I'm waiting for the hot cross buns to prove.

It keeps quite well and freezes well if you want to get a head start.

Mazurka Cake

Ingredients:

4 eggs separated

grated peel of one orange

3/4 C caster sugar

3T sour cream

250g of hazelnuts or almonds toasted (I always use almonds)

pinch salt

Method:

1. Grease a small spring form pan (I also put baking paper in the bottom).

2. Preheat oven 180C/ 375F.

3. Beat egg yolks and orange peel until thickened in a large bowl. 

4. Gradually add caster sugar, beating constantly with an electric mixer until very thick and creamy.

5. Beat in sour cream.

6. Place nuts in blender or food processor and process until finely ground, fold into cake mixture.

7. In a medium bowl beat egg whites and salt to soft peaks.

8. Gently fold into cake mixture until no white streaks remain.

9. Pour into prepared tin.

10. Bake for 35-40 minutes, it is cooked when top springs back when pressed lightly with fingertip.

11. Cool slightly before removing from tin, cool completely

Topping:

1/2 C cream

1T icing sugar

1T dark rum (I use whatever I have on hand it was Kahlua  this year)

Whip together and serve with cake, either spread over the top or serve with dollop at the side.

You only need a small slice each, we served 10 and still had some left over.

pavlova

Here is the recipe to one of my favourite desserts.
It is from the red NMAA Cooks book available here.

(this pav is still cooking and I don't have one of the finished pav)

Pavlova

Ingredients:

4 egg whites

8 T castor sugar

0.25 t sugar

0.5 t vanilla

1t vinegar

Method:

Pre-heat oven to 180C.

Beat egg whites and salt until stiff.

add sugar gradually, I like to do 1 or 2 tablespoons at a time, beating constantly.

Fold in vanilla and vinegar.

Cover tray (I usually use a large pizza or biscuit tray) with baking paper and spoon mixture onto it, making outer edges a little higher.

Turn oven down to 130C , put pavlova onto the lowest shelf and cook for 1.5-2hrs.
Allow to cool in oven.

To serve cover with whipped cream and fresh fruit. Strawberries in season are lovely or passionfruit, banana and kiwi fruit is another favourite.

Hint: Do not cook this on a rainy humid day if you want it crispy on the outside.

sachertorte

This is the Sachertorte that B2 made for his dessert - come morning tea to conclude our study of Europe.
This has been sitting in my draft folder for weeks and I hadn't got around to publishing it.
I was going to include the recipe but when I looked at it it is all in grams which I find annoying and I can't remember what the cup measurements were when we went through it as it was too long ago.
It was nice but I think I would add more cocoa powder, as I don't think it was really dark enough.

apple turnovers

We love these for breakfast, morning tea or dessert.
They are quick and easy to make.
I usually use frozen puff pastry and tinned pie apple.
But I have made them with my own pastry and stewed apples.

Apple Turnovers

Large tin Pie Apple (425g)
Sultanas (optional)
Cinnamon (optional)

6 sheets puff pastry (makes 24)
Icing sugar
Whipped cream or ice cream to serve

1. Cut pastry sheets into four squares, place a spoonful of pie apple on each, sprinkle with cinnamon and sultanas if you want to, or you can mix it all into a bowl and just spoon from there.
2. Fold over pastry square to make a triangle and press edge with a fork.
3. Put on an oven tray with baking paper and bake at 220C until cooked 10-15 minutes (I use my fan bake option on my oven which heats top and bottom evenly which is great for pastry, if you don't have this you may need to turn them over to brown the other side)
4. Cool on wire rack for 5-10 minutes and sprinkle with icing sugar.
5. Serve with whipped cream or ice cream.
(NB the cream in the photo had cocoa powder added to it for some chocolate scones I made the day before)

This is the pattern left by the icing sugar after I sprinkled them the other day, I thought it looked cool!

wednesday night's tea

On Wednesday night we enjoyed a scrumptious tea.
I cooked my favourite lamb cutlets (which are affordable when you buy a whole lamb).
I always do something with lamb cutlets because they are such a special cut of meat.
This time I crumbed them.
I have found an easy short cut.
Mix breadcrumbs with melted butter, grated parmesan or some other hard cheese, and chopped parsley together in a bowl.
Press onto each side of the cutlet and grill under the griller in your oven.
This was accompanied by boiled potatoes tossed in butter and parsley, green beans lightly cooked so they are still green and crisp and honeyed carrots.
So simple yet so delicious.

Strawberries are cheap at the moment so we had strawberries and cream for dessert.
We don't often have dessert but who can resist strawberries and cream?
I quartered the strawberries sprinkled them with sugar and a splash of balsamic vinegar- it might sound strange but it really brings out the sweetness. After they had marinated about 1/2 an hour I added some chopped fresh mint and served them with whipped cream MMMMM!!!!

deep fried ice cream balls

We have ice cream sundaes every Sunday afternoon for afternoon tea. Sometimes I like to do something a bit different and after having made these for a Chinese night last year, we have these occasionally (read twice). Allow time to make these. If I start early in the morning this gives them time to freeze properly between each layer, but if it is summer you may need to start the day before, you can also make them and have them sitting in the freezer until you want them.

This time instead of making the caramel sauce that is in the recipe I made the American hot fudge sauce as featured on Maya*Made's Blog- yummy. It goes down very well with some ice cream after the kids are in bed SHHHH!! don't tell them.

Deep Fried Ice Cream Balls

Ingredients:
2 L vanilla ice- cream
2 eggs
1/2 C milk
1/2 C flour
breadcrumbs

Method: you need to work quickly, so it can be good to have some helpers, make sure everything is very cold, pre freeze your trays so they are already cold.
1. Take ice cream out of freezer and scoop into balls, place on cold tray
2. Put into freezer and leave until really hard
3. Put flour, eggs and milk whisked together, and breadcrumbs into separate bowls.
4 Working quickly take ice cream balls from freezer and dip into flour, then egg mix, then breadcrumbs and back onto tray. Put back into freezer until really hard.
5. Take from freezer again and dip into egg mix and then breadcrumbs to double coat them. Return to freezer until ready to use.
6. To fry, place two balls at a time into deep hot oil (I found a saucepan half filled with oil on the stove better than a deep fryer as I could get the oil much hotter). Fry for 30 seconds or until golden brown, place on absorbent paper. Serve immediately with sauce of your choice. Mine are only small in comparison to the ones in a Chinese restaurant but just as yummy.

Caramel Sauce:
60g butter
1C brown sugar
1/2 C water
3 T Grand Marnier (optional)
1 T cornflour
1/2 C cream

Method:
1.Put butter and sugar into pan.
2.Stir over heat until butter has melted.
3.Add combined remaining ingredients.
4.Stir over low heat until sugar dissolves.
5.Increase heat, bring to boil.
6.Reduce heat, simmer three minutes stirring constantly.

sammy cooks (aka B4)

Today with my mummy I was cooking an apple pie.
When mum finished there was some pastry left over, she said I could make something with it.
So I made my own little apple pie.


Mummy went off to work on the computer and while she was gone this is what I did all by myself. I rolled out the pastry and put it into a metal dish, then I cut up some apple and put in some lemon juice, mixed spice, cornflour and sugar. Then I put that on top of the pastry and put some more pastry over that, then I put it into the oven with Mum's pie.
I ate it after tea with some ice cream and whipped cream. It was very yummy.

by Sammy

apple pie

This is my apple pie recipe, I probably only make it once or twice a year- we don't eat a lot of dessert but usually during winter I have a craving for things like self saucing puddings, crumbles and pies.

This recipe comes from a cookbook that is an old favourite, it is in a magazine style so has long since lost its cover.

Apple Pie

Pastry:
2 C plain flour
1/4 t baking powder
125g butter cubed
1T sugar
1 egg
3-4 T cold water

Filling:
6 green apples, peeled, cored and sliced
1/2 C castor sugar
1 T cornflour
juice and rind of 1 lemon
1/4 t mixed spice
milk
extra sugar

Method:
Pastry:
Put flour, butter, and baking powder together into your food processor and process until it resembles breadcrumbs add sugar and egg while processor is still running then slowly pour in cold water. stop when it starts to form a ball. Take out and need lightly before wrapping in plastic wrap and putting into the fridge for 15-20 minutes. (while this is in the fridge I peel and slice the apples). Divide dough into two pieces one slightly larger than the other. Roll out the larger piece to fit a 23cm pie plate. Put into greased pie plate and press down. Refrigerate.

Filling:
Put apples with the sugar into a bowl. Blend cornflour with lemon juice to form a smooth paste. Mix in rind (I don't always add the rind if you want it sweeter leave it out) and spice. Pour over the apples and toss to coat.

To finish:
Pile mixture into pastry case. Roll out remaining pastry to cover top. brush edge of pie with milk. Place pastry over the top and press down edges with a fork or the back of a spoon. Cut a slit in the top with a sharp knife for an air vent. Brush pastry over the top and sprinkle on extra sugar.
Bake in a hot oven 200 C for 15 minutes. Reduce temperature to 180C and bake for a further 25 minutes. Serve warm or cold with cream or ice cream.

lemon tartlets

Afternoon Tea: lemon (with icing sugar) and passionfruit tartets

I have some of my grandmother's recipes and one is for a passionfruit tart. Apparently as a child this was my Dad's favourite and he just could not get enough of it. So one day my grandmother made him two and told him to sit down and enjoy. He ate both but never touched passionfruit tart again!

I made some passionfruit tartlets today and they were just lovely. I have a recipe for lemon tartlets and so I swapped the lemon for passionfruit and they were just delightful. However a couple of weeks ago I tried adapting the same recipe with oranges but it didn't have much flavour, I have thought if I tried again I should try adding more orange rind. I might try some lime ones next!

Lemon Tartlets:

Ingredients:
1/2 cup caster sugar

grated zest and juice of 1 lemon

3 sheets shortcrust pastry- just thawed

3 eggs, lightly beaten

2/3 cup thickened cream

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 200 C
2. Whisk sugar with zest and juice in a jug and set aside to let sugar dissolve.

3. Grease 2 x 12 patty pans, cut pastry to fit and push down. pierce the bottom of the pastry once or twice with a fork.

4. Add cream and eggs to lemon mixture and whisk to combine, pour into pastry shells.

5. Bake for 10-12 minutes until pastry is brown and filling just set.

6. Cool in pans for 10 minutes and dust with icing sugar to serve.

Passionfruit tartlets: replace lemon and rind with pulp from 1 or 2 passionfruit.