Lemon curd

I've always, always, always(!) wanted to make it! :D

According to a certain online encyclopedia ;), in 19th and 20th century England, lemon curd was served with bread, scones, biscuits, and other treats at afternoon teas - as an alternative to jam. Today, apart from the above, it's used as icing for cakes; it's being spread on toasts, waffles, pancakes, and muffins :) You can also add it to yoghurt(!), to achieve a refreshing taste. Sadly, it does not keep as well as jam - you've got to use it within two weeks. But how about a jar of it, anyway? :)

Recipe found at BBC Food.

Serves: two 250-300ml/9 oz jars. Preparation: 35 min. Cooking: 10-13 min.

Equipment:

- 2 jars,

- zest grater,

- juice squeezer,

- heatproof bowl,

- saucepan,

- small bowl,

- whisk or fork

Ingredients:

- 4 lemons,

- 200g caster sugar,

- 100g butter,

- 3 eggs + 1 egg yolk

Method:

Heat oven to 160C/320F.

Wash the jars in very warm , soapy water, dry them with a towel, place on a baking tray and sterilize them in the oven for about 10-15 min.

In the meantime, wash the lemons, grate their peel, and squeeze the juice from them.

Take out the jars and let them cool.

Half fill the saucepan with water andbring it to the boil.

Put the butter, lemon juice and zest in a heatproof bowl, and put it on the saucepan with gently simmering water, stirring from time to time, until the butter melts completely and the mixture becomes smooth.

Lightly whisk the eggs and egg yolk, and stir it into the mixture.

Leave it to cook for about 10-13 min., stirring from time to time.

The curd should have the consistency of custard, and it will continue to thicken in the jars.

Remove the mixture from the saucepan and put it aside to cool, again, stirring from time to time.

Once it cooled, pour it into the jars and seal.

Keep it in the fridge.

Orange breakfast muffins

They were haunting me from the moment I read the recipe ;) so I thought that it's high time to bake them. At first glance, they may seem nothing special, but the proof of the pudding is in the eating, as they say, and here the very way how to eat them is indeed intriguing.

Recipe from Nigella's book 'Nigella bites'.

Serves: 12 muffins. Preparation: 15 min. Baking: 16-18 min.

Equipment:

- zest grater,

- juice squeezer,

- saucepan or microwave ;),

- 2 bolws, 

- whisk or spoon,

- muffin tin,

- muffin cases

Ingredients:

* dry:

- 250g (1 2/3 cup) flour,

- 25g (2 tbsp) ground almonds,

- 1/2 tsp baking soda,

- 2 tsp baking powder,

- 75g (1/3 cup) granulated sugar,

* wet:

- 75g unsalted butter,

- 1 large orange,

- 100ml (ca 1/2 cup) milk,

- 1 egg

Method:

Melt the butter in a saucepan or in the microwave and let cool it to room temperature.

Preheat your oven to 200ºC/390ºF.

Grate the orange peel.

In a bowl, whisk toghether the dry ingredients along with the orange zest..

Squeeze the juice from the orange.

In another bowl, stir together the wet ingredients: juice, milk, cooled butter and egg.

Pour the wet mixture to the flour mixture and mix only until incorporated.

Fill the muffin cases with batter.

Bake 16-18 min, until a toothpick inserted into a muffin comes out clean.

Let them cool for a few minutes.

Serve while still warm: cut them in half with a knife, and spread some delicious jam, honey, good quality buttes (that's right!) or lemon curd (recipe forthcoming ;)) on them. 

Divine. :)

Lemon biscuits

Simple, quick, fragnant, crunchy, with a cup of morning coffee, or of afternoon tea, for a picnic, for work, for every-day routines, for celebrations, when you're grinning, when you're blue, for yourself, your children, your guests - any reason will do: grab a lemon biscuit ;)

Recipe taken from KUCHNIA magazine (issue 10/2011).

Serves: 20 biscuits. Preparation: about 15 min. Baking: 20 min.

Equipment:

- zest grater,

- bowl,

- mixer,

- rolling pin,

- biscuit cutter,

- baking paper,

- baking tray

Ingredients:

- 120g butter,

- 120g (1/2 cup + 1 tbsp) granulated sugar,

- 2 egg yolks,

- zest of 2 lemons,

- 150g (1 cup + 1 tbsp) flour,

- 110g (3/4 cup) potato starch,

- powdered sugar (for sprinkling)

Method:

In a bowl, mix the butter and sugar until light and fluffy (ca. 2 min.).

Preheat your oven to 160C/320F.

Add the egg yolks, lemon zest and both flours to the mixture.

Mix until incorporated.

Roll the dough out to about 1 cm (1/2 inch) thick sheet.

Line the tray with baking paper.

Cut out biscuit in variuos shapes and place them on the tray.

Bake for about 20 min., until golden brown.

Let them cool on the tray for a few minutes, and then put them on a wire rack to cool completely.

Sprinkle with powdered sugar before serving.

Caution!: they disappear in a blink of an eye ;)

Mini-Mazureks

OK. "What in the hay is a Mazurek??" - if this question was the very first thought upon seeing this post - well, I'm not surprised ;) let me explain:

A Mazurek is a traditional Polish cake, baked specifically for Easter. From the technical-baking perspective it's really nothing special: just a piece of shortcrust pastry (the one you use e.g. for pies or tarts). But (!) from the decorative perspective, it's something more ;) for a Mazurek would definitely not be a true Mazurek if not for the decoration of its surface. Usually, people cover it with an icing based on either chocolate or oranges, or dulce de leche, and decorate it  with almonds or nuts, often writing "Hallelujah!" or "Happy Easter!" with chocolate icing.

Fascinating.

Now, let me tell you what I found in the latest issue of KUCHNIA magazine: a recipe for Mini-Mazureks. And what an adorable recipe it is! Presented by pastry chef Iga Sarzyńska, they're covered with fondant icing and decorated with all kinds of sprinkles and satin ribbons (you don't want to eat THEM). I fell in love with them instatnly!

OK, OK, enough with this longish word production. Let's bake some Mini-Mazureks!

Serves: 2 baking trays of mini-mazureks. Preparation: 40 min. + 1 h refrigeration + about 1 h decoration. Baking: 2 x 12 min.

Equipment:

- bowl,

- mixer with whisk attachment and spiral beaters/dough hook attachement,

- cling film,

- rolling pin,

- biscuit cutters (best in simple shapes),

- 2 baking trays,

- 2 sheets of baking paper,

- 2 saucepans,

- a large metal bowl or pot,

- piping bag with a narrow decorating tip (optional in simpler decorations)

Ingredients:

* for the mini-mazureks:

- 180g soft unsalted butter,

- 170g (1 1/4 cup) powdered sugar,

- 1 egg,

- 1/4 tsp salt,

- 1/5 tsp vanilla extract,

- seeds of 1 vanilla pod (I just added more extract),

- 330g (2 cups + 1 tbsp) flour

* for the fondant icing:

- 3 tsp gelatin,

- 50ml (1/4 cup) cold water,

- 600g (4-4,5 cup) powdered sugar,

- 75g (less than 1/2 cup) grape sugar (glucose)

* for (plain) icing:

- 1 egg white,

- 1-1,5 cup powdered sugar,

- juice of 1/4 lemon

Method:

In a bowl, beat the butter until light and fluffly (ca. 2 min; with the whisk attachment).

Add in the powdered sugar and mix well.

Mix in the egg, salt, and vanilla extract (and seeds).

Form the dough into a ball, wrap it in cling film, and refrigerate for an hour.

Preheat your oven to 180ºC/350ºF.

Line the trays with baking paper.

Roll the dough out to about 5 mm thick sheet. 

Cut out biscuits and place them on the trays.

Bake for about 12-15 min, until golden brown.

In the meantime, prepare the fondant icing:

Pour the cold water into a glass, pour in the gelatine, stir, and leave for a few minutes.

Fill one saucepan up halfway with water and heat it until it begins to simmer.

Put the gelatin into the smaller saucepan, add the grape sugar, and stir the mixture over the pan with gently simmering water, making sure the water is not touching the bottom of the saucepan. Stir until smooth.

Pour the mixture into a metal bowl or pot and let it cool a bit.

With the spiral beaters/dough hook attachement, gradually mix in the powdered sugar.

At the beginning the icing will be very (very) sticky.

On the left - mixture after adding 2 cups of powdered sugar. On the right -  the final result.

If the mixture turns out too thin, add a bit more powdered sugar.

Mold the icing and place it on a pastry board covered with some powdered sugar.

Roll it out to about 2 mm thick sheet. 

Cut out shapes with the same biscuit cutter as the mini-mazureks.

If you end up having more fondant icing than you need, you can store it, wrapped tightly in cling film in a dry, dark and cool place.

Prepare the (plain) icing (I used ready-to-use icing tubes):

In a bowl, mix toghether (using either a mixer or a spoon) all the ingredients. Thoroughly. No lumps allowed.

he icing has to be very thick - it can't run down the biscuits. 

Pour it into a piping bag.

Spread the cooled mini-mazureks with a thin layer of (plain) icing, or pipe an icing line about 1 cm (1/2 inch) from the edge of the biscuits. Place the fondant icing on top and gently press.

Decorate at will ;)

Spring lemon cupcakes

Obviously, not restricted for spring only ;)

Magnificently soft and wonderfully scented lemon cupcakes covered with sweet and colourful royal icing (I've never expected these two would make such a tasty connection!). These are my absolutely first steps with ready-to-use royal icing, so the decorations are not exceptionally complex ;) Feel free to use your imagination. Enjoy and bon appetit!

Serves: 12 cupcakes. Preparation: about 40 min. Baking: 17-20 min.

Equipment:

- zest grater,

- 2 bowls,

- mixer,

- muffin tin,

- muffin cases (or a bit of butter to grease the tin),

(now, for the decoration part:)

- 1 or 2 sheets of baking paper,

- rolling pin,

- biscuit cutter (round/roundish/flower-shaped) about 8cm (3 in) in diameter,

- small flower-shaped biscuit cutter (optional)

Ingredients:

* cupcakes:

- 113g (1/2 cup) soft unsalted butter,

- 130g (2/3 cup) granulated sugar,

- 3 eggs,

- 1 tsp vanilla extract,

- zest of 1 lemon,

- 2-3 tbsp lemon juice,

- 200g (1 1/2 cup) flour,

- 1 1/2 tsp baking powder,

- 1/4 tsp salt,

- 60ml (1/4 cup) milk,

(for the decoration:)

- 100g cream cheese,

- 180-200g ready-to-use icing,

- sugar pearls

Method:

Line the muffin tin with paper cases, or grease it with butter.

Grate the lemon zest.

Preheat oven to 180ºC/350ºF.

In a (larger) bowl, mix together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy (ca. 2-3 min.).

Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.

Stir in the vanilla extract and lemon juice.

In the other (smaller) bowl, whisk together the lemon zest, flour, baking powder, and salt.

With the mixer on low speed, alternately add the flour mix and milk to the butter mix, beginning and ending with the flour. Beat only until incorporated.

Fill in the muffin cases.

Bake for about 17-20 min., until a toothpick inserted into a cupcake comes out clean.

Allow the cupcakes to cool completely and, with a knife, spread a thin layer of creem cheese on top of them.

Prepare the decoration:

Mold the icing in your hands, until it gains the consistency of plasticine.

Put the icing between two sheets of baking paper (or just put in on one side of a sheet and cover it, folding the paper in half), and roll it out to about 1,5 mm thick sheet.

Cut out circles or flowers (with the larger cutter), carefully peel them off and place on the tops of cupcakes..

Cut out flowers (with the small cutter), and glue them with cream cheese to the cupcake icing.

Glue also the sugar pearls at the centre of the flowers.

Easter egg cake pops

Easter inspirations!

For lovers of cake pops and white chocolate: cute Easter egg cake pops!

Basic recipe from over here, but I did add a bit of lemon juice - dunno why, but this taste and scent sort of reminds me of upcoming spring (yay!).

(Big thanks to Wybreda for the idea ;)).

Serves: 20 cake pops. Preparation: ca. 50 min. Refrigeration: 45 min.

Equipment:

- bowl,

- baking tin,

- 2 saucepans,

- mixer (optional),

- 20 lollipop sticks,

- glass or mug (best if narrow at base),

- cling film,

- baking paper,

- teaspoon,

- Styrofoam block

Ingredients:

- 400g of your favourite (dry) cake (it can be sponge cake, chocolate cake, etc.),

- 200g cream cheese,

- 2-3 tbsp lemon juice,

- 250g white chocolate for the coating,

- 1 tbsp sunflower oil,

- sprinkles, ready-to-use icing tubes

Method:

Make some room in your freezer :)

Crumble the cake into a bowl and mix thoroughly with cream cheese and lemon juice (a mixer might come in handy). 

Form the mixture into a ball, wrap it in cling film, and put into the freezer for 15 min.

Line the tray with baking paper.

Take teaspoonfuls of cake and form into balls of about 3 cm in diameter and then roll and flatten them until they resemble little eggs; place them on the tray.

Put the tray into the freezer for 15 min.

Don't they look like small potatoes? ;D 

Fill one pan up halfway with water and heat it until it begins to simmer.

Finely chop the chocolate and put into the other pan, along with the sunflower oil.

Stir the mixture over the pan with gently simmering water, making sure the water is not touching the bottom of the saucepan. Stir until all the chocolate melts.

Pull out the cake balls from the freezer.

Dip the tip of a lollipop stick in the chocolate coating and insert it in the cake balls (a little less than halfway).

Place them again on the tin, and again put them into the freezer for 15 min.

During this time the chocolate coating will probably cool, so you'll have to melt it once more.

Pour the chocolate coating to a glass/mug.

Pull out the cake pops from the freezer and dip them in the coating, NEVER stir, and delicately tap off the excess.

Sprinkle each cake pop immediately after covering them in coating. You can also glue your decorations with icing, once the coating is dry.

Place your cake pops in a Styrofoam to dry completely.

It's best you keep them in the fridge.

Cake pops

It's cake pop time! :D

On my personal list of top desserts, cake pops are second (right behind cupcakes) cutest desserts in the world. I bet most of you already know the undeniable cake pop queen - Bakerella, who made them (and herself, too ;)) famous through her book and website. Basically cake pops are small balls of cake set on a lollipop sticks, covered in coating :) Bakerella makes them in almost all the shapes in the world: not only balls, but also hearts, mini-birthday-cakes, animals, cartoon characters - to name just a few - and my favourite of favourites - cupcake-shaped cake pops (surprise, surprise ;)). Her ideas are endless...

Yeah...so below you can find a basic cake pop recipe. Since Bakerella uses ready made cake mixes, I used the proportions for the "raw" ingredients from here and here. I did need a bit more chocolate for the coating, though. Oh! And do watch Bakerella's video on how to properly coat a cake pop. Trust me, just do it.

Serves: 20 cake pops. Preparation: about 45 min. Refrigeration: 45 min.

Equipment:

- bowl,

- small bowl,

- baking tin,

- 2 saucepans,

- mixer (optional),

- 20 lollipop sticks,

- glass or mug (best if narrow at base),

- cling film,

- baking paper,

- teaspoon,

- Styrofoam block

Ingredients:

- 400g of your favourite (dry) cake (it can be sponge cake, chocolate cake, etc.),

- 120g cream cheese,

- 80g chocolate peanut butter,

- 250g chocolate (milk or dark) for the coating,

- 1 tbsp sunflower oil,

- sprinkles

Method:

Make some room in your freezer :)

Crumble the cake into a bowl.

In the smaller bowl, mix together the cream cheese and chocolate peanut butter.

Mix thoroughly the cake with the just made icing (a mixer might come in handy), form the mixture into a ball, wrap it in cling film, and put into the freezer for 15 min.

Line the tray with baking paper.

Take teaspoonfuls of cake and form into balls of about 3 cm in diameter; place them on the tray.

Put the tray into the freezer for 15 min.

Fill one pan up halfway with water and heat it until it begins to simmer.

Finely chop the chocolate and put into the other pan, along with the sunflower oil.

Stir the mixture over the pan with gently simmering water, making sure the water is not touching the bottom of the saucepan. Stir until all the chocolate melts.

Pull out the cake balls from the freezer.

Dip the tip of a lollipop stick in the chocolate coating and insert it in the cake balls (a little less than halfway).

Place them again on the tin, and again put them into the freezer for 15 min.

During this time the chocolate coating will probably cool, so you'll have to melt it once more.

Pour the chocolate coating to a glass/mug.

Pull out the cake pops from the freezer and dip them in the coating (hope you watched the video before doing this ;)), NEVER stir, and delicately tap off the excess.

Sprinkle each cake pop immediately after covering them in coating.

Place them in a Styrofoam to dry.

It's best you keep them in the fridge.

Irish pralines

Deliciuos and very easy to make :) I suppose they're called 'Irish' because of Baileys ♥ ;) but I guess you can use any other/favourite liqueur. I coated them in powdered sugar and cocoa poder, but finely chopped nuts will do the trick as well :)

Recipe (a bit changed) taken from a very (very) old issue of Lubię gotować mini-magazine.

Serves: 33 pralines. Preparation: 40 min. Refrigeration: 1 h + 1 night.

Equipment:

- bowl,

- blender or grater,

- mixer

Ingredients:

- 150g sponge cake (can be leftovers),

- 160g (1 2/5 stick) cold butter,

- 200g dark chocolate,

- 6 tbsp Baileys,

- 40g ground almonds,

- 4 tbsp cocoa powder,

- 3 tbsp powdered sugar 

Method:

Finely grate the chocolate, or blend it into really tiny pieces.

Crumble the cake into a bowl.

Chop the cold butter into thin pieces and add it to the cake, along with the chocolate.

Mix well.

Add 2 tbsp of cocoa powder, the liqueur, and the ground almonds, and mix.

Form the mixture into a ball and refrigerate for an hour.

Then, roll the mixture into small balls (ca. 3cm in diameter).

Refrigerate through the night.

In the morning, coat half of them in powdered sugar, and the other half in the remaining cocoa powder.

Yummy :)

Vanilla Cupcakes

If you're just starting your marvelous cupcake adventure, I dearly recommend this simple recipe for basic vanilla cupcakes. They're topped with classic buttercream icing - of which, to be honest,  I'm not a huge fan...YET - but you can easily replace it with cream cheese icing. But just so you're aware of the basics, I'm putting the recipe here as well. Mind you, cupcakes taste best within an hour from baking...but I doubt they'd stay that long anyway ;)

Recipe takien from this fantastic website (check out their video clip for the recipe!).

Serves: 12. Preparation: 25 min. Baking: 17-20 min.

Equipment:

- zest grater,

- 2 bowls,

- mixer,

- muffin tin,

- muffin cases (or a bit of butter to grease the tin)

Ingredients:

* cupcakes:

- 113g (1/2 cup) soft unsalted butter,

- 130g (2/3 cup) granulated sugar,

- 3 eggs,

- 1 tsp vanilla extract,

- zest of 1 lemon,

- 200g (1 1/2 cup) flour,

- 1 1/2 tsp baking powder,

- 1/4 tsp salt,

- 60ml (1/4 cup) milk

* buttercream icing:

- 230g (2 cups) sifted powdered sugar,

- 113g (1/2 cup) soft unsalted butter,

- 1 tsp vanilla extract,

- 2 tbsp milk,

- food colouring (optional)

- sprinkles (optional)

Method:

Line the muffin tin with paper cases, or grease it with butter.

Grate the lemon zest.

Preheat oven to 180ºC/350ºF.

In a (larger) bowl, mix together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy (ca. 2-3 min.).

Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.

Stir in the vanilla extract.

In the other (smaller) bowl, whisk together the lemon zest, flour, baking powder, and salt.

With the mixer on low speed, alternately add the flour mix and milk to the butter mix, beginning and ending with the flour. Beat only until incorporated.

Fill in the muffin cases.

Bake for about 17-20 min., until a toothpick inserted into a cupcake comes out clean.

In the meantime, prepare the icing:

In a bowl, beat the butter until smooth and creamy.

Stir in the vanilla extract.

With the mixture on low speed, gradually add the powdered sugar.

Add the milk, and mix everything on high speed until fluffy (ca. 3-4 min).

At the end you can add and mix in the food colouring (a teeny-tiny amount will do).

Allow the cupcakes to cool completely.

Decorate them with the icing, using either a piping bag, or simply a knife ;)

Finally, sprinkle them, and...enjoy :)