Lemon pudding

Now that it's winter, I love a good hot dessert. When I was a kid, I used to make a derivative of this pudding regularly - chocolate, butterscotch, lemon, caramel... you could do almost anything. I think the original recipe was called "light and luscious lemon delicious" or something equally as wordy, but it was all of those things - light, luscious and delicious.

And although it's self-saucing, that doesn't mean you don't need cream!

Ingredients

60g butter

1/2 cup sugar

1 egg

zest of 1 lemon

1 cup Self-raising flour

1/2 cup milk

Sauce:

1/2 cup sugar

2 tablespoons lemon juice

1 1/2 cups hot water

Method:

Preheat oven to 180C

1. Cream the butter, sugar and lemon zest. beat in the egg.

2. Add the flour and the milk and mix until combined.

3. Spoon into a baking dish (a small one with high sides is good), and sprinkle the sugar over.

4. Very carefully pour over the hot water and lemon juice.

5. Bake 30-40 minutes until brown on top and sauce is bubbling at the sides.

Lemon tarts

Perfect for a tea party!

Or a Tea and Wii party!

See? dainty little  shortcrust pastry cases with the sweet-tart smoothness of homemade lemon curd.

deeeeelicious!

Ingredients:

Crust: 
1 1/2 cups plain flour

1/8 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup butter, room temperature

1/4 cup white sugar

1 egg, lightly beaten

Lemon Curd:

3 large eggs

1/3 cup fresh lemon juice

3/4 cup sugar

4 tablespoons butter, at room temperature and cut into small pieces

1 tablespoon lemon zest


Method:

Lemon Curd:

1. In a bowl placed over a saucepan of simmering water, whisk together the eggs, sugar and lemon juice until blended. cook, whisking constantly until the mixture becomes pale and quite thick, about 10 minutes.

2. Remove from heat and whisk the butter pieces in until melted.

3. Add lemon zest and cool.

Shortcrust Pastry:

Preheat oven to 200C.

1. In a bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.

2. Gradually add the beaten egg, until just incorporated.

3. Add flour and salt and mix just until it forms a ball. Don't overwork or the pastry will be hard.

4. Flatten into a disc, cover and refrigerate 30 minutes until firm.

5. Roll dough out on a lightly floured surface until about 3mm thick (mine was way thicker... was in a hurry! but worked really well with the amount of lemon curd). Keep lifting and turning to prevent sticking, or roll out on greaseproof/waxed paper.

6. Cut with a pastry cutter to whatever size your muffin pan is, and gently place in the holes.

7. Bake the pastry cases for 10-15 minutes until lightly browned. Cool.

8. Fill with lemon curd.

9. Wipe your hands before touching the Wii remote.


Recipe adapted from Joy of Baking.


Little Lemon Tarts

Tea and Wii

Just a little teaser for some recipes coming up soon... I had the lovely Bec and her partner over from Gay Fourth and Multiply over for some wine, some Wii, and some homebaked treats with tea.

Little Lemon Squares

Oh so lemony and shortbready!

Given that I'm not a huge fan of sweets, but obsessed with baking, it's a marriage made in heaven when I find a recipe I not only want to bake, but eat as well.

Enter the shortbready, sweet-tart lemony goodness of these squares. Yum!

Ingredients

125 grams softened butter

1/4 cup confectioners (icing) sugar, plus more for dusting

1 cup flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 eggs, lightly beaten

1 cup granulated sugar

2 1/2 tablespoons flour

3 tablespoons lemon juice

1 tablespoon lemon zest

Method

1. Preheat oven to 200ºC . 

2. Butter an 8-inch square pan. I of course used baking paper...

3. Combine butter, confectioners sugar, 1 cup flour and salt and press into the bottom of the prepared pan, making a crust. I of course screwed this up and accidentally used regular white sugar... worked fine.

4. Combine eggs, granulated sugar, 2 1/2 tablespoons flour, lemon juice and lemon zest and beat until light in colour. I used the juice of a whole lemon, but after tasting it, I would have used more. But I'm the kid that thoroughly enjoyed sucking on a lemon slice as a baby when my mom gave it to me to watch my hilarious reaction to its sourness. One lemon is probably enough for the uninitiated!

5. Pour over crust and bake for 25 - 30 minutes. Let cool until cool to the touch and dust top with confectioners sugar - cut into uniform squares.

Original recipe from www.rachaelray.com here