Lemon TART

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“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.

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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

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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!

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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 😉

Coconut cups with strawberries & yogurt

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I freaking love live!With all its ups and downs.With all its perfect imperfections.I really do!(Even when it rains for days in the summer!).I believe that we have bad days so that we can appreciate the good ones,to get to know ourselves,to learn,and to grow.And so I celebrate every single moment-bigger and smaller,because I feel somewhere deep down I might not have a chance to experience it again.Celebration comes in all shapes and sizes.Sitting in pijamas on the patio with a cinnamon latte sounds like the best party ever to me just lately.(Is this what most almost-30-girls do?).Of course great food has to be involve too.OF COURSE!Sweet and not-so-guilty treats-even better 🙂 Just like these coconut cups(And here I would like to pay a tribute to the inventor of muffin tin!) They cups don’t need much attention,they are pretty easy and quick to make(Yuppie!More time on the patio!)  and taste insanely amazing!

So let’s just celebrate life!Eat great food!And make every moment count  xxx
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RECIPE:

for 8

INGREDIENTS:

for the base

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

for the filling

100 strawberries,mashed with fork
310g natural yogurt
1 vanilla pod
2-3 tablespoons maple syrup

for decoration

strawberries,sliced
blueberries
pistachios,chopped

PREPARATION:

Preheat the oven to 180C.

Mix the ingredients for the base and line the bottom and sides of muffin moulds.The layer shouldn’t be too thick as it will ‘swell’ a little bit in the oven.

Bake for 15 minutes.It you notice they ‘swell’ to much,take them out the oven after 10 minutes and press the sides with a teaspoon.(Tried & tested :))

Take them out the oven and let them cool down still in moulds for few minutes,then remove and cool on the rack.

In the meantime,remove vanilla beans from the pod,add them to natural yogurt and mix in the maple syrup.

It’s best to prepare them before serving,as the yogurt will soften the cups.To finish them off:fill the cup with 3/4 of yogurt mixture,mix in 1-2 teaspoons of mashed strawberries.Decorate with strawberry slices,blueberries and chopped pistachios.

Enjoy xxx