Lemon and Meringue Tart

I made this tart a few months ago, but hadn't had time to upload the recipe.

I think it looks quite impressive, but it wasn't one of my favourites, too lemony!

The tricky bit for me was to get the meringue toasted... You're supposed to use a torch for this, but I didn't have one, so I tried both with the grill and with a lighter - probably not the best idea!

Anyway, here it goes:

Lemon and meringue tart

For the base:
200 g plain flour
70 g ground almonds
40 g white sugar
1 large egg
85 g butter at room temperature (plus a bit for greasing the tin)
A pinch of salt

For the lemon mix:
200 ml lemon juice
160 g white sugar
140 g butter
2 eggs
2 egg yolks
20 g cornflour

For the meringue:
2 egg whites
100 g white sugar

Grease the bottom and sides of a 22 cm round oven tin and cover the base with baking paper. Preheat the oven to 180C.

To make the base, mix the flour, almonds, sugar, egg, butter and salt in a bowl with your fingers.

Now, to extend the base, you're supposed to use a rolling pin over a floured surface. However, I find this quite difficult, so what I did was to take small bits of the dough and mash them with my fingers into the oven tin little by little until the whole base was covered.

Cover the pastry with another piece of baking paper and put some dry chickpeas over.

Bake the base in the oven, at 180C, for 15 minutes. Remove the chickpeas and the baking paper and bake for another 10 minutes.

To prepare the lemon mix, heat the lemon juice with half of the sugar and the butter in a sauce pan. In a bowl, beat the eggs, the yolks, the rest of the sugar and the cornflour.

Add the lemon juice, sugar and butter mix to this bowl (while it's still warm) and beat well. Pour back into the sauce pan and cook at a low heat, stirring continuously, until it thickens.

Remove from the fire, leave to cool down and then pour into the base.

To make the meringue, whip the egg whites and then add the sugar. Continue beating to get soft peaks.

Using a piping bag, form small meringue drops all over the cake. Then use the oven grill or a blow torch to toast the meringue so it gets a golden colour.

Orange Muffins

One of my favourite muffins, so spongy!

Orange Muffins

280 g plain flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1/2 tsp salt
100 g white sugar
1 egg
Grated orange rind from 2 oranges
200 ml orange juice
40 ml water
90 ml sunflower oil

For the icing:
4 tbsp orange juice
80 g icing sugar
1/2 tsp grated orange rind

Preheat the oven to 195C and prepare the muffin cases.

Sift together the dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, salt and sugar) into a bowl.

In another bowl, beat egg with a fork and then add the orange rind, the juice and water (240 ml in total) and the sunflower oil.

Pour the wet ingredients into the dry mixture. Stir until just mixed.

Spoon into the muffin cases and bake for 23 minutes.

Mix the juice, sugar and orange in rind for the icing and spoon on the muffins while they're still hot.

Leave to cool down on a wire rack.

Tarta de Santiago

This is a flour-less cake, very typical from Spain, which is incredibly easy to make and really nice.

Tarta de Santiago


250 g ground almonds
250 g white sugar
5 eggs (large)
Lemon zest from 1/2 lemon
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
Icing sugar for decoration

Preheat the oven to 175C.

Mix the sugar, almond, cinnamon and lemon zest on a bowl with a fork.

Add the beaten eggs and mix with a spatula (just enough so it's mixed).

Grease a 22cm springform round oven tin with butter and cover the bottom with baking paper.

Pour the mix into the tin and bake at 175C for 50 minutes, until golden. Once done take it out of the oven and leave to cool down before removing from the tin and decorating.

To decorate, you need to download and cut the cross template (there is one here). Place the template over the cake and sprinkle with icing sugar (using a sift).

Banoffee Pie

I had forgotten how good this dessert is! It had been a while since I made it last, but last week I made it twice!
Not a light dessert, I have to say, but one of my favourite!

Banoffee Pie

1 packet of oat chocolate digestives (or any similar biscuits)
3 tbsp butter
1 tin of condensed milk (~400g)
2 large bananas
180 ml whipping cream
Cocoa powder for sprinkling

Put the tin of milk (without opening it!!) in a saucepan full of boiling water and boil for 2 hours.

In the meantime, crush the biscuits in a plastic bag with a rolling pin. You can use a food processor/blender, but I personally like the big-ish lumps you get when doing it manually.

Melt the butter in a pan and mix the biscuit crumbs in.

Transfer the crumbs mix into a glass dish and push down with the back of a spoon to have an even base. Place on the fridge to set.

After the two hours, take the milk tin out of the pan and let it cool down. Open it carefully and pour the toffee over the biscuit base. Leave in the fridge to cool down.

Thinly slice the bananas and place the slices over the toffee.

Whip the double or whipping cream and pour over the banana slices. Smooth out and sprinkle the chocolate on top.

Oaty bread!

Lovely white bread with some porridge oats and wheat germ. It's fully made in the breadmaker (no time for anything else!).

Oat and Wheat Germ Loaf

1 tsp yeast

400 g strong white flour

1 1/2 tsp sugar

2 tbsp olive oil

1 1/4 tsp salt

50 g wheat germ (or wheat bran)

50 g porridge oats

350 ml water

Add all the ingredients to the breadmaker in the correct order for your machine and start the basic (white) - bake program.

Once finished take the bread out and let it cool down on a wire rack.

Cake

After my plan for making a "Tarta de Santiago" didn't work out (it would be the most expensive cake ever, considering the price of the almonds here in Denmark), I decided to make this cake instead, which is one of my favourites.

Pistachio, cardamom and yogurt cake (with lime syrup)

150 g pistachio nuts
1/2 tsp ground cardamom
150 g unsalted butter, chopped
185 self-raising flour *
310 g caster sugar
3 eggs (at room temperature)
125 g plain yogurt
1 lime

Preheat the oven to 180C. Lightly grease a 20 cm round cake tin and line the base with baking paper.

Place the pistachios and the cardamom in a food processor and pulse until just chopped. Add the butter, flour and 185 g of the caster sugar and pulse for 20 seconds or until crumbly. Add the combined eggs and yogurt and pulse for 10 seconds, or until just combined. Spoon into the tin and smooth the surface.

Bake for 45-50 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean.

To make the syrup, peel the zest of the lime (try not to get any of the white stuff). Place the rest of the caster sugar and 100 ml of water in a saucepan and stir over low heat until the sugar has dissolved. Bring to the boil, then add the lime zest and cook for 5 minutes. Strain and cool slightly. Pierce the cake with a few skewer holes and pour the hot syrup over the cake.

* Today I didn't have self-raising flour so I used 185 g of plain flour and 6 g of baking powder.

Pasta bake

I'm not usually a big fan of pasta bakes, I prefer fresh pasta with a simple sauce, but I thought this was more interesting with the butternut squash and the creme fraiche.

Squash and bacon pasta bake

1 butternut squash
Olive oil
3 garlic cloves, peeled and sliced
400 g pasta
100 ml creme fraiche
100 g cheddar cheese (or your choice of grated cheese)
12 slices of bacon

Peel the squash and chop into small cubes.

Heat a splash of olive oil in a pan and fry the garlic over a medium heat until it starts to brown.

Add the squash and a small glass of water. Cover with a lid and simmer for about 20 minutes or until the butternut squash is soft. Then uncover and cook until the water has almost disappeared.

Remove from the heat and mash the squash. Season with salt and pepper.

Cook the pasta according to the packet instructions, then drain.

Mix the pasta with the mashed squash and the creme fraiche on a bowl. Stir in most of the cheese and then spoon into a baking dish. Top with the rest of the cheese and the bacon slices.

Bake in the oven at 200C for 30 minutes, until the bacon is crispy.