New look Raspberry Almond Friand

A couple of weeks back, we were invited to a friend’s home for dinner. I wanted to bake something to bring along with us but didn’t want to fuss about it too much. I had bought my first silicone bakeware recently, and this was my chance to use them, two 6 hole Heart shaped Muffin trays by Willow.

I was shopping at our local Supa IGA when I saw these cute muffin trays. The nice people at Willow had pledged to raise $100,000 for the Breast Cancer Research in Australia with the sales from their new range of ‘Easy Flex’ Silicone Bakeware. I couldn’t think of a better reason to buy these muffin trays.

Of late, I have realized that even though I enjoy baking, I am less inclined to experiment on laborious looking recipes, lovely as they may look. More and more often, I find myself looking in the pantry for ingredients I already have to whip up something quick, yet presentable and delicious

I always stock egg whites and ground almonds, the basis of Friands , and If you’ve read my original post on Raspberry Almond Friands with white chocolate ganache, you would see how easy they are to prepare. This time around though, I diluted the ganache with extra cream to simply drizzle on the friand.

Melting Moments

For the past three weeks, we have been entertaining one relative or another from Singapore. The house has been busier and noisier than usual, but ‘it’s all good’. My Girls are particularly happy spending time with their pretty 19 year old cousin, ‘Sheryl’ who’s been here for about 3 weeks. She’s leaving to go back to Singapore tomorrow, and she will be missed.

I met Sheryl when she was about 4. I was going out with Ming then, and had visited his family in Singapore. I took an immediate liking for this cheeky 4 year old, who was always trying to melt someone with her pretty smile for a lolly. Being 19, she’s not so fond of lollies anymore, but she had wanted to learn how to make Melting Moments, my ‘Durian Dream Cream Cake’ and Strawberry Tart amongst other things to impress her family ( or was it her boyfriend??.. I forget. Wink-wink.)

We managed to make Melting moments together, but after 4 other relatives arrived, the idea of making the other stuff went out the window. We were just too busy going out, then sometimes coming home to do dinner. I was either too exhausted or fearful of dirty looks being thrown at me for making the whole lot of guests wait while I baked.

Anyhow, this recipe is dedicated to you, Sheryl. I hope you will have fun baking these on your own.

Melting Moments

1 cup butter

4 tbsp sugar

1 cup cornstarch

1 cup plain flour

For the lemon cream filling

¼ cup butter , softened

½ cup icing sugar

2 tsp grated lemon rind

1 tbsp lemon juice

Preheat the oven to 180C . Combine the softened butter and sugar in a bowl and beat only until just mixed. Add the sifted flours and beat, again only until just combined. Fill dough into a piping bag and pipe onto lined trays, spacing them about an inch and a half apart as they will expand. Bake the cookies for about 20 minutes or until they are golden.

Remove and cool totally before filling with the lemon cream. To make the cream filling, combine all ingredients and beat to a smooth consistency.

Makes 12

Little Lemon Meringue Cakes

Hello! fellow bloggers and lurkers! I’ve been M.I.A. for two whole months and am glad to be back. I can’t begin to express how frustrating these two months have been , what with the my laptop charger giving up on me , then realizing that the computer was . contaminated with viruses of sorts after waiting for a new charger to arrive from Melbourne. And now.. (sigh!!) that the computer has been fixed, it’s slower than it’s ever been, I feel like I’ve been ‘Driving Miss Daisy ‘ all morning!

Anyhow, enough whining for now, I think. Today , I’m posting a recipe adapted from Julie Le Clerc’s gorgeous book ‘ Little Café Cakes’. It’s beautiful to look at and tastes absolutely yummy!

Little Lemon Meringue Cakes

1 ½ cups Snowflake self-raising sponge flour

¾ cup caster sugar

150g salted butter, softened

3 eggs, lightly beaten

4 tblsp milk

juice and zest of 2 lemons

lemon curd (below)

meringue (below)

1 Preheat oven to 175C. Prepare 12 paper cases.

2 Place first six ingredients into a bowl and beat until smooth and creamy. Spoon mixture to ¾ fill cases. Bake for 20 minutes, then remove to a rack to cool. Reduce oven temperature to 120C.

3 Once cold enough to handle, cut out a large cavity from the top of each cupcake and discard. Fill cavity with lemon curd. Pipe small mounds of meringue on top of lemon curd. Bake for 10 minutes further to set meringue.

Lemon Curd

75g salted butter

½ cup sugar

Juice and zest of two lemons

2 eggs, beaten

1 Place butter, sugar, lemon juice and zest into a double boiler. Stir over heat until sugar has dissolved. Whisk warm mixture into beaten eggs and return to double boiler. Cook over a low heat until mixture thickens to coat the back of a spoon.

Meringue

2 egg whites

½ cup caster sugar

1. Whisk egg whites until stiff. Add 1 tablespoonful of the sugar and whisk until
incorporated. Whisk in remaining sugar until mixture is glossy.

Makes 12