Individual Lemon Meringue Pies

So cute!

I also got a mini blow torch for Christmas and it was a toss up between lemon meringue pie or creme brulee. I think I made the right decision! The pastry and filling is from Gregg Wallace's favourite puddings, but he uses normal meringue and I wanted to do Italian.

I only have four mini tins, but this recipe will make 6 or one big one.

Ingredients:

300g plain flour

150g butter, diced and chilled

50g caster sugar

75g ground almonds

1 egg yolk, beaten

2-3 tblsp iced water

6 tblsp cornflour

75g sugar

350ml water

finely grated zest of three lemons and the juice of two

3 egg yolks

160g granulated sugar

3 egg whites

60ml water

Method:

-Make the pastry. Sift the flour in to a bowl, add the butter and rub lightly until breadcrumby. Stir in the sugar and nuts and add a pinch of salt. Using a round ended knife, mix in the yolk and enough water to make a dough.

-turn on to a floured board and knead briefly. divide in to 4/6/one whole and roll out to line the tins you are using. Chill the tin(s) in the fridge for 30 mins. Preheat the oven to gas mark 6 / 200C.

- line the pastry with pieces of baking paper and baking beans. Bake for 15 minutes. Remove the lining and beans and return to the oven to cook for a further 5 mins until golden. Remove and cool.

- to make the filling, mix the cornflour and sugar together in a saucepan. Add the water, zest and juice and stir well. Bring to the boil, stirring constantly, until thickened and smooth. Remove from the heat and leave to cool slightly. Beat the egg yolks in a separate bowl, add two tablespoons of the lemon mix to the eggs and beat, then add the eggs to the lemony saucepan. Cook, whilst stirring until the mixture has thickened further. Leave to cool for a bit, then fill your tart cases!

- Now for the meringue! Place the whites in to a heatproof, clean bowl.

-put the sugar and water in a saucepan and heat on the lowest setting until the sugar has dissolved. Once dissolved, whack up the heat and boil until it reaches 110 on the thermometer. Once it does, whisk the egg whites until they become stiff. Once the syrup reaches 118, pour it in to the egg whites in a thin stream, whisking all the while.

- continue to whisk on high until the bowl has cooled. Once cool and stiff and meringuey, pipe on to the cold lemon tarts in any way you fancy. Stick under a hot grill or have fun with a blowtorch!

Lemon, Poppyseed and Cardamom Drizzle Cake

Lemmony, crunchy and drizzley!

This is very easy and very tasty! It's based on a Mary Berry one, but I added cardamom, poppy seeds and lots more lemon, and altered the method.

Ingredients:
225g softened butter
225g caster sugar
275g self raising flour
2 tsp baking powder
4 large eggs
4 tbsp milk
zest of 4 lemons
1 tbsp poppy seeds
5 cardamom pods, seeds removed and bashed

175 granulated sugar
juice of 3 lemons
2 cardamom pods, bashed but seeds in

Method:
-Preheat the oven to gas mark 3/ 160C. Grease a square cake tin/brownie tin and line with a square of baking paper cut to fit snugly in the bottom.
-beat together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, then add in the eggs, beating as you go. if it looks like its going to curdle a bit, add a little flour in between the eggs.
-add the flour and the baking powder and beat until mixed, it may be quite thick. Add the lemon zest, the poppy seeds, the milk and the cardamom seeds and mix well.
- pour in to the prepared tin and bake for 35-40 minutes, checking after 35. If it needs more time, give it another few mins and check again. The sides should look like they are shrinking away from the tin a bit. Whilst it's baking, mix the granulated sugar with the lemon juice and pods and allow to steep.
- cool in the tin for 5 minutes or so, then remove to a wire rack set over a plate/tray.
- jab a cocktail stick or fork in to the tops of the cake a few times then spoon the sugary juice over the top of the cake (whilst it's still warm), removing the pods as you go.
-put the kettle on whilst you leave it to cool, and enjoy a slab with your brew

Lemon and Chocolate macarons

The lemon one's right at the back!

So! It was my boyfriend's birthday this week and I made him an array of food for the occasion. We had blueberry pancakes for breakfast, lavender and honey pannacotta and blackberries for dessert and a coconut Genoese with lime French butter cream for the birthday cake (among some savoury eats, too!). I made Hugh F-W's sponge and substituted half the flour with whizzed up dessicated coconut, and brushed the cakes with coconut syrup. I made the French butter cream from this post, here, but used lime instead of lemon. It was pretty tasty! It didn't have quite as good a rise as a normal un-coconutty one, but it was slightly chewy and fragrant. This adventure landed me with some leftover egg whites. And leftover cream from the pannacotta...so ganache filled macaron attempt 3 it was!


I used the same recipe and method as my previous post (this one)but split the mixture in two. I flavoured one half with lemon zest and coloured it yellow, whilst the other was spiked with 40g of cocoa powder. Next time I would prefer to go really chocolatey by adding in melted chocolate and taking a little more time over the whole process. 
This time I didn't bother to leave them out for any specific length of time, aside from the ones that were waiting to get baked- and I don't think it made that much of a difference, if any.
I tried to make slightly smaller ones this time, which was a disaster on two accounts: 1, they didn't come out as smooth and uniforms as my last attempt and 2, I ate more.
They are filled with a ganache made by boiling cream and whisking in an equal amount of dark chocolate.

See! There's the lemon one!

ALSO! NB!!!! Handy hint to help next time: Only use the top shelf of the oven and bake one tray at a time. The first batch I did, I put two in at once. The middle shelf ones didn't cook properly, hence the lack of lemony goods (I also ate a lot of them). 

Lemon Courgette Cake

Lovely moist courgette lemon drizzle

A lovely, moist summery lemon drizzle courgette cake with zingy cream cheese icing. The courgette ensures the cake doesn't dry out and gives it a really good texture. I tried to make this last year and followed the recipe exactly- I was a little dubious about the method, and rightly so! It said to cream the butter with the sugar at the same time as adding the courgette and the lemon juice, which stopped it from blending together properly resulting in lumpy greasy bits of butter in the finished product. The cake tasted nice but it was greasy as. So this time I used the ingredients and made the cake as I saw fit. It went marvellously! (even though the oven was turned off by accident). Delicious. NOTE! If the butter for the icing can't be scooped and measured with a spoon, it is too cold and will not blend well. 

Ingredients:
250g very soft butter, 2 tsp scooped out and set aside
200g caster sugar
3 lemons
3 eggs
3 courgettes, grated (around 300g)
1tsp poppy seeds + more to decorate
1tsp vanilla
100g self raising flour + 100g wholemeal plain (or just SR)
1tsp baking powder
85g icing sugar
200g cream cheese 


Method:
Heat the oven to gas mark 4 and grease and line 2 20cm round tins
- zest and juice 2 of the lemons. Set aside
- cream together the butter (less the 2tsp) and sugar. 
-Add in the eggs and whisk together. If it starts to look a little curdled, add in a tablespoon of the flours. 
-Add in 2 tablespoons of juice, the vanilla, the seeds and the courgettes and mix well. Then add the flours and baking powder with 1/4 tsp salt.
- spoon in to the tins and bake for around 25 mins. They should be slightly browned and springy to the touch.
- cool for 15 mins in the tine then turn on to a wire rack.
- make a drizzle: mix 1 tablespoon of juice with 25g of the icing sugar. Poke holes in the cakes and drizzle over.
-make the icing: beat the 2tsp of butter with the cream cheese NOTE! they should be the same temp for them to blend together. Then add in the rest of the icing sugar. Add the zest of the 3rd lemon and 2 tablespoons of juice, or to taste.
- when cold, place one half of the cake on a plate, ice with half the icing, add the other cake and top with the rest of the icing. Add on some more poppy seeds.

ta da! nice with a cup of tea

Keeps well for a few days. Nom Nom.