Sticky Lemon Tart

After two crazy busy weeks it was great to return to NZ for a couple of days of down time and a bit of quality catch up with some buddies. Always on the look out for more delicious dessert ideas, and with a few lemons languishing in the fruit bowl, I decided to adapt the ever popular Sticky Lemon Slice into a dessert. Behold, the Sticky Lemon Tart; complete with Meringues on top - Little Miss and her buddies loved eating the spare meringues with jelly.

Sticky Lemon Tart

Tart Case
130g plain flour
40g icing sugar
120g butter

Cream the butter and icing sugar together, then fold in the flour. 

Find yourself a 25cm fluted loose botton tin, then spread the batter evenly around the bottom and sides of the tin. 

The batter is very soft, so just take your time spreading it evenly. 

Now take a sheet of baking foil and gently press it into the tin to hold the batter in place. 

Chill in the fridge for half an hour. 

Heat the oven to 200deg. C. and bake the tart shell for 15 minutes. 

Take the tin from the oven and gently remove the foil. 

Return the half cooked tart shell to the oven and bake for a further 5 minutes.






Lemon filling
180g caster sugar
2 whole eggs plus 2 extra egg yolks - reserve the extra egg whites to make the meringues
2 tablespoons flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
the zest and juice of 4 lemons

While the tart shell is baking make the filling: 

Beat the eggs and sugar until pale and fluffy. Add the remaining ingredients and beat briefly until combined. 

Pour the filling into the hot baked tart shell and return to the oven. 

Turn the oven down to 160deg. C. and bake for approximately 45 minutes until set. Once cooked it will still have some wobble in the filling.








The filling will have puffed up, but will fall on cooling. 












Meringues
2 egg whites
a pinch of cream of tartar
1/2 cup caster sugar

Beat the egg whites and cream of tartar until soft peaks appear. While continuing to beat the whites, add the caster sugar a little at a time until the mixture becomes smooth and glossy.

Place tablespoon lots onto a lined tray and pop into the oven with the tart. Cook until dried out and crispy. 





To assemble the tart: Once cool, use a mug or small bowl to sit the base of the tart onto, then pull the sides of the tart tin down to free the tart. 

Leave the tart tin base in place and put the whole thing onto a serving plate. 







Whip 200ml of cream until stiff. Spread the cream into the tart, then top with a stack of the meringues, find some plates and a knife, call up your buddies and serve.

Very Quick Lemon & Sultana Cake

So in need of a Milo and a piece of cake after another busy end-of -term day. All the preparation for the school's Tonga trip has left me rather time poor. I don't normally like making cakes in the food processor, but this one is tasty and ready in a flash. It's a great everyday cake. I adapted the recipe from an Orange cake by Alison Holst.

Food Processor Lemon Cake and Sultana Cake

2 lemons
125g butter - softened
1 cup caster sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
2 cups flour
1 cup sultanas

For the syrup: 2 tablespoons lemon cordial and 2 tablespoons of caster sugar mixed together. 

Preheat the oven to 175deg. C and line a 25cm square tin with baking paper.

Cut the lemons up into small pieces and blend in the food processor until finely chopped. 

Add the softened butter, caster sugar and eggs. Blend for about 30 seconds until well combined. 

Add the baking soda dissolved in the milk, and the flour, vanilla, and sultanas, and pulse briefly until just combined. 

We just got this great Magimix. You need a reasonable sized kitchen wizz to make a cake.

Spread the cake mixture into the lined tin and bake for 40 to 45 minutes until a skewer comes out clean.

Mix the sugar and cordial together. 

The finished cake.












Using a pastry brush spread the sugar mixture onto the cooked cake straight from the oven. 

This ones a great lunch box filler too. Happy Baking xx 

Catching up with our buddies

There are many advantages to holidays: time away from work, the occasional sleep-in, that relaxed feeling you get after a few days of down time, holiday food, the excuse to eat holiday food and deciding where to start on all those half finished projects. But by far the most excellent feature of holidays to the opportunity to catch up with friends.
Our Tuesday Plunket group catch-up was always a welcome patch of sanity among the very new world of stay-at-home motherdom. Time to share stories, grip gripes, and celebrate milestones. Now that work has intervened, holiday time is our opportunity to catch up with our buddies. Even after almost two years of Preschool, Little Miss 3 still regards her plunket buddies as her best friends. 

As is our tradition, we put on a lovely spread to host our friends: Fruity caramel crumble slice, Sticky lemon slice, jellies, sandwiches, Cheese and prosciutto scones and chips and dip. When asked Little Miss 3 regards chips and dip as her favourite party food; a preference she shares with many of her buddies. 

Here's two of the recipes I made:

Sticky Lemon Slice

This recipe came, via my mother, from the Dunsandal School fundraiser cook book Over the Fence and Under the Oak Tree. It's a lovely book full of the school community's favourite recipes. Mum loves to accumulate cookbooks; she picked this one up at the Cafe in Dunsandal for no better reason than the quality of the book.

225g butter
70g icing sugar
270g flour
400g caster sugar
4 eggs
4 tablespoons flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
zest of 3 lemons
100ml lemon juice
icing sugar for dusting

Cream the butter and sugar. Fold in the flour and press the mixture into a paper lined slice tin.  It's quite soft, so wet hands are useful for spreading the mixture. Bake at 170deg. C for 15 minutes.

While the base is cooking make the topping.
Beat the sugar and eggs together until thick and creamy. Beat in the flour and baking powder. Lastly, briefly beat in the zest and juice. Be sure to scrape the zest from the beater whisk attachment, as they tend to get stuck and you want them in the mixture not stuck to the beater.

Pour on top of the hot base and return to the oven for approximately 30 minutes at 160deg. C. The centre should be set, but not bubbly or overcooked.










I had some oven temperature issues - too hot - and ended up with slightly scorched edges and a huge crack on top. Its amazing what icing sugar can hide.










Fruity Caramel Crumble Slice

I adapted this from the Caramel Crumble recipe in Edna Low's Recipes from Edna's Kitchen. Its a great compendium of a life time of recipes from this amazing lady's kitchen, all compiled by the Mid Canterbury Federation of Women's Institutes. Mum bought my sister and I a copy each of this useful book. It's my go to when I want to make something new and need a reliable recipe. I added oats and fruits for some extra texture in the base, and used the whole tin of condensed milk, as a half tin always seems to end up wasted.



180g butter
125g sugar
3/4 cup flour
3/4 cup rolled oats
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup dried fruit - I used cranberry, glace cherries and currants

Cream the butter and sugar well. Fold in the sifted flour and baking powder and the rolled oats. Lastly fold in the dried fruit. 



Press 3/4 of the mixture into a lined slice tin. Bake at 180deg. C. for approximately 15 minutes.


While its cooking, prepare the topping.







120g butter
2 tablespoons golden syrup
1 tin condensed milk
1/4 cup sugar

Put all the ingredients in a pan and heat, stirring, until the mixture is melted.








Place on top of the hot cooked base. Crumble the remaining base mixture on top of the caramel. Bake at 160deg. C. for about 30 minutes until the topping is cooked and the caramel is bubbly at the sides.









Leave in the tin until cold, then cut into small squares. It's a very rich slice. 












Our afternoon tea spread. All ready for our buddies to tuck into.

Little Miss 3 having fun with her buddies.  There is nothing like the joy that comes with spending time with good friends. Thanks for coming over today. It's always a pleasure to see you all!