Butter Tarts

Ingredients:

1. 1 cup (250ml) brown sugar, packed
2. 1/2 cup (125ml) dark corn syrup
3. 90ml butter, softened
4. 2 large eggs
5. 160ml golden Sultana raisins
6. 1/2 cup (125ml) currants
7. 1 tblsp (15ml) white vinegar
8. 1 tsp (5ml) good quality real vanilla extract
9. 2ml (a pinch) salt
10. 24 small unsweetened tart shells (approximately 3″ diameter)

Yes, the tart shells used in this recipe are the frozen ones you buy at your grocery store. Sin! Mom says: what would Martha say?!

Combine sugar, corn syrup and butter.

Beat eggs until foamy and add to the mixture, blending well. Stir in the remaining ingredients. Preheat your oven to 375 degrees (or you can do this before you start, I just hate the idea of leaving my oven running while I prepare my tarts).

Fill the unbaked tart shells about two thirds full (approximately 25ml of mixture in each 3″ shell). Bake for 15 to 20 minutes or until golden and bubbly.

The key to this dish is to give yourself lots of time — slow cooking the beef is the key to getting tender meat that melts in your mouth.

Ingredients:

1. 1kg stewing beef (I got meat “cut from the hip”)
2. 1 tblsp butter
3. 2 sticks celery, diced
4. 1 medium onion, diced
5. 900ml beef broth
6. 2 carrots, diced
7. 3 Baker potatoes, diced
8. 1 tblsp Worcestershire sauce
9. 2 stems fresh rosemary, minced
10. 2 bay leaves
11. 2 stems fresh thyme, minced
12. 1 clove garlic, minced
13. 250ml frozen peas
14. 2 tblsp dark Bisto gravy powder
15. 1/2 package of Tenderflake frozen puff pastry, thawed but cold
16. Salt and pepper to taste

Begin by browning the beef in a large pot in small batches in olive oil and set aside. Add the butter to the pot and add the celery and onion, tossing to coat and cooking over medium-high heat until softened. Add the broth, Worcestershire sauce, garlic and herbs. You may wish to add additional beef stock concentrate or powder if the liquid is not flavourful enough. You can use dried herbs if you don’t have fresh.

Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low and simmer, covered, for at least 90 minutes or until the beef is tender. Then add the carrots and potatoes and additional water or stock if necessary. Continue to cook, covered, for about 15 minutes or until the potatoes are cooked through.

In the meantime, roll out the thawed puff pastry large enough to fix a 9×12 Pyrex casserole dish. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Add the frozen peas and salt and pepper. Taste and adjust seasonings as necessary. Place your Pyrex dish on a rimmed baking sheet. Using a slotted spoon, remove all the solids from the pot into the Pyrex dish.

Place the pot back on the heat and bring to a boil. Mix the Bisto powder with a little cool water in a mug, stirring until all lumps are gone. Stir the Bisto mixture into the gravy and allow to boil through. Taste and adjust seasonings again as required. Simmer until thickened and reduced. Using a ladle, spoon some of the gravy over the meat and vegetables in the Pyrex dish. Pour the remaining gravy into a gravy boat to be served on the side.

Place the pastry over the dish, pressing firmly around the edges and sealing with a little water if needed. Poke a few holes in the surface of the pastry with a fork.

Bake at 400 degrees for about 15 minutes or until the pastry is puffy and golden brown. Serve hot with the additional gravy on the side. Makes enough for six large portions.

Even just by themselves, these are a crowd pleaser. Better yet, the batter can be fully prepared up to a day in advance so you can give your dinner guests a serious wow-factor dessert without spending all your time in the kitchen instead of socializing. Give these a try for your next get-together and I guarantee your friends will be asking for these every time!

Molten Chocolate Lava Cakes

Ingredients:

1. 150g bittersweet chocolate (I use Lindt bars in the silver/grey wrapper)
2. 125ml + 30ml unsalted butter
3. 3 large eggs
4. 3 large egg yolks
5. 375ml powdered sugar (icing / confectioner’s sugar)
6. 125ml all purpose flour
7. Fresh raspberries, raspberry coulis, powdered sugar, or whipped cream, for garnish

Preheat oven to 230°C / 450°F. Butter six 180ml (3/4 cup) soufflé dishes, custard cups, or a jumbo muffin pan. By placing 1″ wide strips of parchment in your dishes, you will have much less trouble getting the cakes out intact.

Place chocolate and butter in a heavy medium saucepan, and stir over low heat until melted. Set aside to cool slightly.

Whisk eggs and egg yolks in large bowl to blend.

Whisk in sifted sugar, then chocolate mixture, then sifted flour.

Pour batter into dishes, dividing equally. (Can be made one day ahead. Cover; chill).

Bake cakes until sides are set but centre remains soft and runny, about 11 minutes or up to 14 minutes for batter that was refrigerated. Carefully run small knife around cakes to loosen. Immediately turn cakes out onto prepared plates and serve.

This recipe came to me via my good friend and fellow Saffie, Tessa. Sharing some rusks and a cup of tea with her is one of my favourite things, though it happens less often now that we live on opposite ends of the country. But every time I make them, I think of her.

Ingredients:

1. 1kg whole wheat flour
2. 250g all purpose flour
3. 2 tsp baking powder
4. 2 tsp baking soda
5. 2 tsp cream of tartar
6. 2 tsp salt
7. 250g butter
8. 2 eggs
9. 1 1/2 cups brown sugar
10. 2 cups buttermilk
11. 1 cup canola oil
12. 1 tsp good quality vanilla extract

Optional Ingredients:

1. Scant 1/2 cup raisins
2. Scant 1/2 cup dried cranberries
3. Scant 1/2 cup raw sunflower seeds
4. Scant 1/4 cup wheat bran
5. 2 tblsp wheat germ

You can experiment with different combinations of ingredients including various nuts, seeds, dried fruits, currants, rice crisps, hemp hearts, chia seeds, flax, and even chocolate or toffee bits. You may also substitute all purpose flour for the whole wheat flour. I like to split the batch and make half ‘healthy’ and half ‘treat’ rusks!

Preheat the oven to 380 degrees.

Lightly grease a large high-sided pan of any type (a roasting pan works well) with canola oil, butter, or cooking spray.

In a very large mixing bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cream of tartar and salt. Cut the butter into small cubes and rub into the flour by hand. Add the optional ingredients (raisins, cranberries, seeds, bran and wheat germ) or any other combination you wish. Plain buttermilk rusks are good too!

In a medum-sized mixing bowl, mix together the buttermilk, sugar, eggs and oil and beat until well combined. Stir the liquid into the dry ingredients with a sturdy wooden spoon and mix then knead into a firm dough. Do not over-handle.

Form the dough into balls roughly the size of a golf ball and pack them together in the pan in a single layer. Bake for 45 minutes or until golden brown.

Turn out onto a cooling rack and allow to cool for 30 minutes before breaking the rusks up along the joins. Dry out in a warm oven (200 degrees) for four to five hours until the centre is completely dry. You may want to vent the oven to prevent burning or over-browning the rusks (you can do this by leaving a wooden spoon in the door to leave a gap).

Warning: You must dry the rusks out completely or they will not keep nearly as long or have the necessary crunch. Store the dried rusks in an airtight container and they’ll survive nuclear apocalypse!

Beginning with this recipe from Nigella, I created a delicious, moist coffee flavoured cake with a layer of chocolate hazelnut ganache and a delicious coffee vanilla bean buttercream. This cake was very easy to make and turned out great. I will definitely be making it again — perhaps for my own birthday!

Ingredients:

Cake:

1. 50g hazelnuts, toasted at 350 for 10 mins, skins removed
2. 225g berry (fine) sugar
3. 225g butter, softened
4. 200g all purpose flour
5. 4 tsp instant espresso powder
6. 2½ tsp baking powder
7. ½ tsp baking soda
8. 4 eggs
9. 2 tbsp milk

Buttercream:

1. 350g icing sugar
2. 175g butter, softened
3. 2½ tsp instant espresso powder, dissolved in 15ml tbsp boiling water
4. 1 vanilla beans (seeds scraped out)
5. 2 tsp good quality vanilla essence

Chocolate hazelnut ganache:

1. 1/3 cup heavy cream
2. 2 1/2 oz dark chocolate, finely chopped
3. 1 tbsp Nutella hazelnut spread
4. 1 tbsp butter, softened

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Spray an 8″ round baking tin with cooking spray and line the base with parchment, then coat with flour.

Put the hazelnuts on a baking sheet and toast for 10 minutes. Remove from oven and place in a tea towel. Allow the nuts to steam inside the towel for 5 minutes, then vigorously rub the hazelnuts within the towel to remove the majority of the skins.

Turn the oven down to 315°F.

Place the hazelnuts and sugar into a food processor (minimum 7-cup capacity) and blitz to a fine nutty powder.

Add the 225g butter, flour, 4 teaspoons espresso powder, baking powder, soda and eggs and process to a smooth batter. Add the milk, pouring it down the funnel with the motor still running to loosen the cake mixture: it should be a soft, dropping consistency, so add more milk if you need to.

Pour the batter into prepared pan and bake in the oven for 50 minutes, or until the sponge has risen and feels springy to the touch. And a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.

Cool the cake in the pan on a wire rack for about 10 minutes, before turning it out and peeling off the baking parchment.

Make the buttercream: Whip the butter in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Add the sifted icing sugar and beat until smooth. Next, add the scrapings from the vanilla bean pod and the vanilla extract.

Dissolve the instant espresso powder in 1 tablespoon boiling water and add it while still hot to the butter and sugar mixture.

Make the ganache: In a small saucepan, bring the cream to a boil. Place the finely chopped chocolate in a heat-proof bowl with the Nutella spread. Pour the boiling cream over the chocolate and mix with a spatula until smooth and creamy. Add the butter and stir to combine.

Carefully slice the cooled cake in half with a serrated knife to create two thin layers. Pour the ganache over the first layer, smoothing with an offset spatula. Top with the second layer of cake and press firmly to seal the second layer onto the ganache to prevent slipping.

Using a small offset spatula, coat the entire cake in the buttercream frosting, smoothing as much or as little as you desire. I prefer a more rustic look where you can see the spatula marks. Cool the cake, slice and serve as is. Or, garnish with chocolate-covered espresso beans.

In addition to the prune plums, I decided to add about two cups of blackberries that Brad and I had picked at the end of August and frozen. This added a tart dimension to the plums that added something extra. I have also made this crumble with just blackberries and no plums and it does not turn out as well — the juice from the berries can make the dish quite watery.

Ingredients:

1. 24 prune plums, pitted and quartered
2. 1/4 cup brown sugar
3. 3 tbsp flour
4. 1/2 tsp cinnamon
5. 1 cup sugar
6. 1 tsp baking powder
7. 1 cup flour
8. 1 egg
9. 1/2 cup butter, melted

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Begin by sprinkling the pitted and quartered prune plums with the brown sugar, first amount of flour, and cinnamon. Toss to mix and place in a Pyrex dish.

In a medium bowl and using a fork, combine the second amount of sugar, baking powder, flour, and egg. Sprinkle the topping over the plums evenly. Pour the melted butter over the topping.

Bake for 45 minutes or until the topping is a light golden brown. Serve warm with good quality ice cream. I hate to admit this, but this crumble also makes an excellent breakfast!

I knew that I wanted to create a quilt for my nephew who was about to turn 3 and wanted something vibrant and energetic to match his personality. I used the Oh Fransson! mosaic pattern as my inspiration for the quilt top which resulted in a very cool effect on the back of the quilt after quilting in grey tone-on-tone.

I also added a monogram S on the back in a similar mosaic style to add some interest. I’m very happy with how this quilt turned out and I hope it will stand up to some good use by my rambunctious nephew!

Both my husband and I love lemon meringue pie – so much so that we actually had it as a dessert choice at our wedding in 2010. My homemade lemon meringue pie is easy to make, tastes even better the next day (so it’s great for potlucks) and is so much better than store-bought, I can’t even explain. It’s always a crowd-pleaser and I often get asked for the recipe.

Personally, I think this pie is best in summer, but you really can enjoy it year round (if you don’t mind your fruit legging it here from the southern hemisphere). The key is the freshly-squeezed lemon juice. You can adapt this recipe easily to create a key lime pie if you want to try something different and even more tart.

Lemon Meringue Pie

Ingredients:

1. 175g Arrowroot cookies
2. 200ml freshly squeezed lemon juice
3. 100g salted butter, melted
4. 3 eggs, separated
5. 2 cans condensed milk
6. 120ml extra fine (berry) sugar

In a food processor, crush cookies until fine (or smash up with a rolling pin in a Ziploc bag). Combine with melted butter and press mixture firmly (use the back of a metal spoon) into a deep 9” pie plate. Refrigerate while preparing filling.

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

In a blender, blend together condensed milk, strained lemon juice and egg yolks (you can also combine these ingredients in a jug and blend with an immersion blender). Pour into prepared crust.

Beat egg whites until peaks form. Gradually beat in half of the sugar (if you don’t have berry sugar, you can use regular granulated sugar). Fold in remaining sugar and gently spread mixture on top of lemon mixture, using your spatula to make pretty peaks in the meringue.

Bake for 20 minutes, or until lightly browned.

This pie keeps very nicely in the fridge, covered loosely with plastic wrap for four days or so. But I guarantee it won’t last that long. Tastes best the day after making.

Finding myself bored while grocery shopping, I stopped at the magazine section to flip through America’s Test Kitchen’s latest Summer Desserts edition. I balked when I saw the cover price at $12.95! First, I surreptitiously snapped photos of the ingredients and instructions of the one recipe I wanted to try with my iPhone. But fortunately, when I got home, I was able to find it online over at Lick The Bowl Good (bad form, probably, but I could buy enough ingredients for two cheesecakes with what they wanted for their magazine!)

Before you get too terribly excited about the whole “no-bake” part–you do indeed need to bake the crust. So if you don’t actually own an oven, I can say with certainty that this recipe isn’t going to work for you!

If you do own an oven, and you follow these directions to the letter, you will have the most gorgeous, velvety smooth, mousse-like cheesecake that’s not too sweet, and just the right amount of lemony! I will absolutely make this again. I can see it becoming a family favourite.

With apologies to America’s Test Kitchen for a little mild copyright infringement, I’m sharing their recipe for Lemon Icebox Cheesecake, with my own adaptations. I elected to use Arrowroot cookies rather than graham crackers for a milder tasting crust (plus it’s what I had on hand). Also, I used whipping cream where this recipe calls for “heavy cream.”

No-Bake Lemon Cheesecake

Crust:

1. 1 1/2 cups crushed Arrowroot cookies (175g or one sleeve of biscuits less 2)
2. 6 tablespoons butter, melted

Lemon Curd:

1. 1 large egg plus 1 egg yolk
2. 1/4 cup sugar
3. Pinch of salt
4. 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
5. 1 tablespoon butter
6. 1 tablespoon heavy cream

Filling:

1. 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice, from about 2 lemons
2. 1 packet (2 3/4 teaspoons) unflavored gelatin
3. 3 bricks cream cheese, softened to room temperature
4. 1 teaspoon grated lemon zest (really chop it down with a knife so it’s very fine)
5. 3/4 cup sugar
6. Pinch of salt
7. 1 1/4 cups heavy cream, room temperature (I used whipping cream)

In a food processor, finely crush the Arrowroot cookies. Add the butter and pulse until combined.

Press the mixture onto the bottom of a 9-inch spring form pan. Bake the crust on the middle rack of an oven preheated to 350 degrees until it is lightly golden brown, about 8 minutes. Cool the crust completely on a wire rack before proceeding.

While the crust is cooling, whisk the egg, egg yolk, sugar and salt together in a small saucepan. Whisk in the lemon juice and cook over medium-low heat, stirring constantly, until the mixture is thick and pudding-like, about 3-4 minutes. Remove from the heat and stir in the butter and cream. Press the mixture through a fine mesh strainer or sieve into a small bowl and refrigerate.

Put the 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice into a small bowl and sprinkle the gelatin over the top.  Let it stand until the gelatin softens, about 5 minutes. Microwave the mixture until it is bubbling around the edges and the gelatin completely dissolves, about 30 seconds. Set aside. (Note: I ended up fishing out 2 or 3 tiny clumps of undissolved gelatin with a teaspoon. Better to microwave a little longer or scoop out any lumps than leave them in.)

In the large bowl of a stand mixer, beat the cream cheese, lemon zest, sugar, and salt until smooth and creamy, scraping down the sides of the bowl, about 2 minutes. Slowly add the cream and beat until the mixture is light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add the gelatin mixture and 1/4 cup of the refrigerated lemon curd. Beat until the mixture is smooth and airy, about 3 minutes. Pour the filling into the cooled crust and smooth the top.

Place the remaining curd in a small Ziploc bag, then clip the corner to create a simple piping bag. Carefully drizzle the curd in stripes over the top of the cheesecake and lightly drag a skewer through the lines to create a marbled appearance.

Refrigerate the cheesecake until set, at least 6 hours, before removing the sides of the spring form pan. (Note: I refrigerated it overnight and the texture was perfect.) To cut, dip a sharp knife in very hot water, dry it, then make one cut, repeating that process to ensure slices are clean. Serve garnished with candied lemon zest, an edible flower, or a mint leaf, if desired.

Monica from Lick The Bowl Good notes that jarred lemon curd will work in place of the homemade curd in a pinch!