summer – Page 2 – Bea's cookbook

Late summer TART

Posted on 09/02/201602/08/2018 by Bea

Somewhere around three years ago I got myself a camera. I had no freaking idea about photography. All I knew was that this small black box that was going to turn up in the post had lots of weird buttons and somehow I had to figure it out and learn how to take decent photos. You see, I’m quite a sentimental gal, the first thing I’d take if my house was on fire would be the box filled with the pictures of all my favourite moments I collected over the years. (By the way, I do keep this box next to the bed in case of the fire!) So now that I lived so far away from my family home I wanted to make sure these precious moments we spent together were nicely captured. That was my mission.

Little did I know at the time that I was just about to start one of the most emotional journeys that was going to change my entire life. Photography has totally shifted the way I see the world. Totally! It makes me jump out of bed in the morning, it excites me, make me curious to learn new things and scares the sh** out of me at the same time. It challenges and pushes me out of my comfort zone, makes me do things I’m so frightened of and turns me into the person I’ve always wanted to become. It gives me freedom and makes me feel alive.

But the best part of this journey, without a doubt, are all the amazing human beings I connected with along the way. People who make this planet such a unique place. Who prove that creativity has no limits. Whose work makes my heart beat faster. Who make me fall in love with the world every single day.
So here is a delicious tart for you guys!For making this journey so special! For inspiring me!For all your support! For being here! Thank youuuuuuuuuuu!

The base of this tart is one of my favourite recipes to make. It’s easy, effortless and can me used in lots of different ways.You can turn it into these cups, use it for a cheesecake base,crumble on the top of the porridge, not to mention it makes amazing cookies that can be then dipped in dark chocolate!

INGREDIENTS:

for the base

100g wholegrain flour
100g desiccated coconut
100g unsalted butter, melted
60g coconut sugar or 40g unrefined cane sugar

for the filling

300ml double cream(cold) + 2-4 tablespoons
250g mascarpone cheese
icing sugar/maple syrup or any of your favourite sweetener to taste

top with:

fig slices, blueberries, blackberries
cinnamon
maple syrup

PREPARATION:

Preheat the oven to 180C.

Mix the ingredients for the base and line the bottom of the 35cmx12cm tart tin using your fingertips.

Bake for around 20 minutes. The tart will ‚swell’ a little bit so take it out and press the pastry back to it’s shape with the back of the spoon and put back it the oven for extra 5 minutes.

Take it out the oven and let it cool down.

In the meantime, whip the cream until it’s thick and creamy, add mascarpone cream and icing sugar to taste (you can also leave it unsweetened or add couple of spoonfuls maple syrup or any of your favourite sweetener). Add extra double cream in case it’s to thick and might feel difficult to spread.

Spread the mascarpone mixture over the base and decorate with fruit. Pour over the maple syrup and sprinkle with cinnamon just before serving.

Enjoy xxx

Lemon TART

Posted on 08/01/201607/25/2018 by Bea

“What can one person do?” whizzed pass me, displayed on the side of the local bus, next to the picture of smiling Nelson Mandela. I have heard these words many times before but they suddenly seemed more powerful now than ever before.

I have been struggling to write anything lately.A craftsmanship of turning thoughts into words is something I always admired. It has never really been a skill I’ve owned but it became even harder to tell stories about food while what is happening around the world makes me so sad.

How can you talk about baking while at the same time you dread to put the morning news on and while the recent events make you feel so terribly helpless?

So what can one person do when life gives you more and more lemons and the world is turning into a sour place?

Make a lemon tart.And pass a slice to everyone around you. One person, in fact, can’t fix the world overnight, but what one person can do is to spread more kindness and maybe change another person’s life.And who knows, maybe that person will spread the love even further and changes someone else’s life too. Good deeds are contagious you know and I believe (although it might seem a little naive) we’ll wake up in a better place one day, filled with tolerance, a place where things like your gender, colour of your skin, what language you speak, who you love and who you are won’t matter.Because they simply DON’T.This is the world I’m going to fight for.

Let’s be the change that we want to see in the world. That’s what we all can do.

LEMON TART

Ingredients for the pastry:

250 g plain flour
125 g butter, cold
1 egg yolk
2 tablespoons icing sugar
vanilla beans, removed from 1 vanilla pot (optional)
1-2 tablespoons of cold water (or more necessary)

Sift the flour, add the butter and rub it into the flour with your fingertips until the dough will resemble coarse crumbles. Add the egg yolk, sugar, vanilla beans, water and quickly knead. If it feels too dry, add some more water, if it’s too sticky, add a little bit more flour. Form the dough into a ball, flatten into a disc using palm of your hand (it will roll out easier), wrap in cling film and cool in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 160C

Removing the dough from the fridge roll it out and line a 24 cm round tray. Prick the pastry with the fork and place in the fridge for additional 30 minutes. After that time take it out the fridge, place baking paper on the top of the pastry followed by baking beans to keep it in place while in the oven. Bake for 15 minutes. Then remove the paper and bake an additional 15 minutes until lightly browned.

Ingredients for the lemon filling:

5 eggs
100g caster sugar
1-2 tablespoons honey (optional)
150 ml double cream
100 ml freshly squeezed lemon juice
grated zest of 2 lemons

Place all the ingredients in a medium bowl and mix well until smooth.

Transfer the lemon filling onto the pastry. Bake 30-35 minutes until the top of the tart has set. Leave to cool, serve at room temperature or chilled.

Serve with icing sugar, fruit or ice cream or even better – all three 🙂

Spread the love,

Bea
xxx

Awesome cherry and mascarpone trifles

Posted on 08/20/201502/15/2018 by Bea

I swear it feels like I was going to Poland 5 minutes ago and I’m already back from my holidays,unpacked, thrown back into my routine and I’m missing my family like crazy.It was soooo amazing!At times I feel like it never happened,like it was just a beautiful dream,but then I look at the photos(hundreds of them!) to reassure myself I’m not freaking out and that it was all real.

Poland is an amazing country and I would just love to take you guys all there and show you some of my favourite places.So just be patient and wait for the next post 😉

For now I’m going to leave you with this lovely recipe.Do you also have a weakness for puddings served in glasses?Seriously,I melt the minute I see them arriving into the room.And cherry and mascarpone combo-OMG!-you want to try it!
The recipe sat unfinished on the blog for a long while and I had this very ambitious plan to write about it when I was in Poland.Hahaha!I know!What was I thinking?I didn’t even open the laptop once and only wasted space in my luggage where I could jam some more wild flower teas on the way back….lesson learned!

Boycotting internet and social media may be good idea on holidays but GOD!I missed this space!

RECIPE:

Makes 6 glasses

INGREDIENTS:

for crumble

140g almond flakes
50g sesame seeds
4 tablespoons of ground almonds
4 tablespoons unsalted butter,melted
2 tablespoon honey or maple syrup

for cream

250ml double cream (cold)
400ml mascarpone
2 tablespoon maple syrup

Additionally

1kg cherries + 2 tablespoons hone/maple syrup/unrefined cane sugar

PREPARATION:

Preheat the oven to 190C.Mix all the ingredients for the crumble together and arrange it on a baking tray lined with a baking paper. Bake for 10 minutes,flipping the crumble with a spoon from time to time to prevent burning.Put on the side to cool.

Remove the stones from cherries,put 600g in a pot on medium heat.Cook for around 10 minutes,add the sweetener (honey/maple syrup or sugar) if needed (ripe and seasonal cherries may be sweet enough). Leave to cool or blend the cherries straight away(depending on the blender you’ve got-some shouldn’t be used with hot food). Put to the side.

Whip the double cream with maple syrup and fold in the mascarpone.The cream should be thick but quite light and fluffy.

Arrange puddings in glass cups,starting with a layer of cream,followed by cherry sauce,fresh cherries,crumble and repeat.

Enjoy with your favourite people 😉