Individual Lemon Meringue Pies

I made a batch of these and a proper sized lemon meringue pie at the same time and talked my mum so far into believing that the large quantity of eggs and lemons in these pies make them pretty much healthy that she ate the whole full sized pie in one evening! 
What do they say? The proof is in the pudding pie?
These came about in a two-fold way: Firstly, I love anything miniature. Secondly, I really wanted to try out my meringue piping skills!!


The orange juice in the filling subtracts the tartness from the lemons which is why these pies are so lovely. I also made the pastry myself, which I don't normally do and managed to convert myself to making my own pastry from now on!


Pastry Ingredients
200g plain flour
100g cold butter, cut into cubes
2 egg yolks (save whites for meringue)
1tbs icing sugar
A little milk to loosen
You will also need tin foil and baking beans, or some heavy dried pulses such as pinto beans
Filling Ingredients
2 level tbs corn flour
100g caster sugar
2 lemons grated finely
125ml lemon juice (about 3 lemons)
Juice of 1 orange
85g butter, cubed
3 egg yolks
1 whole egg
Meringue Ingredients
4 egg whites
200g caster sugar
1 heaped tsp cornflour


Method
(preheat oven to 180, have a 12 hole cupcake tin greased, or 6 mini fluted flan tins)

1. Put all of the pastry ingredients into a food processor and blend until pastry is formed, add a little milk (no more than 1tbs) to loosen
2.  Roll out pastry onto a lightly floured surface. I like a very thin pastry, around 2mm. With a cutter, or a cup if you don't have the right size. 
3. Cut out your 12 pastry rounds and press into cupcake holes. Prick all over with a fork and chill for 15 minutes
4. Cut out 12 tin foil squares and place them, shiny side down onto the cases. Pour baking beans or pulses into each one and place in the oven and bake blind for 5 minutes before turning the oven down to 160, removing the foil and beans and baking for a further 5 minutes or until a light golden brown
5. While the pastry bakes, prepare the filling: mix the cornflour, sugar and lemon zest in a medium saucepan. Strain and stir in the lemon juice gradually. Make orange juice up to 200ml with water and strain into the pan. Cook over a medium heat, stirring constantly, until thickened and smooth. Once the mixture bubbles, remove from the heat and beat in the butter until melted. 
6. In a cup, whisk the egg yolks and whole egg together with a fork, stir them into the pan and return to a medium heat. Keep stirring vigorously for a few minutes, until the mixture thickens and plops from the spoon. (It will bubble, but doesn't curdle.) Take off the heat and set aside while you make the meringue.
7. Whisk the egg whites in a large bowl till they form soft peaks then begin adding the sugar, spoonful by spoonful. Half way through, add the cornflour, all the time, whisking until thick.
8. Spoon lemon filling into pie cases- make them level with pastry.
9. Attach a large round nozzle to your piping bag and spoon meringue into it. Pipe meringue onto your pies, beginning at the edge before curling into the middle
10. Put pies back into the oven and bake for around 10 minutes or until meringue has colour to it and is slightly crisp.
11. Remove from oven and leave in the tins for 10 minutes before removing from tins and leaving for a further hour.

Enjoy! x

Perfect Pancakes!

To make perfect pancakes you need the perfect pan, and this is it Lakeland Non-stick Crepe Pan. This pan, honestly, will not let you ruin pancakes. You won't even need to loosen the pancake- it just won't stick! It's even got shallow sloped sides so much easier to flip!
I use a fork rather than a whisk for this recipe, but, its really up to you!


Ingredients
110g plain flour, sifted
2 eggs
200ml milk mixed with 75ml water
50g butter
pinch of salt
plus, whichever toppings you like- mine are with lemon wedges and white sugar


Method

1. Sieve the flour into a mixing bowl
2. Make a well in the centre of the flour and break the eggs into it
3. Whisk the eggs into the flour, incorporating all the bits from the side
4. Very gradually begin to add the milk-water mix into the flour, while whisking. Make sure to do this really slowly as it will reduce lumps
5. When this is done, the mixture should be very thin. Now, put the butter in a non metallic ramekin and melt in the microwave. Spoon 2 tbs of melted butter into the batter and keep the rest to hand
6. Get the pan very hot, turn down to a medium heat then dip a piece of kitchen roll in the melted butter and wipe it round the pan
7. A ladle is easiest to make the best pancakes because the batter all goes in at once. Fill the ladle about 2/3 of the way and pour into the pan.
8. As soon as the batter hits the pan, tip the batter from side to side, evenly coating the whole pan, until it stops moving
9. The pancake should take about 30 seconds to cook, give the pan a shake to loosen it and check if the bottom is golden brown with a palette knife
10. Flip the pancake over- either using your 'pancake flipping skills' or with a palette knife! Leave for just a few seconds on this side and then slide onto a plate
11. Squeeze your lemon on, sprinkle with sugar and either roll or fold into quarters

Enjoy! x

Carrot Cake with Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting

I would never eat carrot cake when I was little because I hated the idea of a vegetable cake, but then I discovered the amazingness that is cream cheese frosting and decided to try one out- its good! I made them in cupcake form first, but it seems to work better as a proper cake. The thing which makes this carrot cake better than other recipe's you might find is that as soon as you take it out of the oven, you prick the top all over and feed the cake with lemon juice mixed with a little icing sugar. This gives it a sort of second topping, under the frosting which seems to work really well! Also, this is the only cake I ever use oil rather than butter, but I guess thats another factor which makes carrot cake a 'healthy cake'.


Ingredients
240g grated carrot
80g desiccated coconut
80g toasted walnuts (chopped coarsely)
240g self-raising flour
1/4tsp cinnamon
1/4tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
3 eggs
180ml sunflower oil
200g castor sugar 
+ Juice of half a lemon mixed with icing sugar


For the Cream Cheese Frosting
60g butter (soft)
120g light cream cheese
60g icing sugar
1tsp grated lemon rind


Method
(preheat oven to 170°C)
1. Sift the flour with baking powder and soda into a large mixing bowl with the caster sugar
2. In a separate bowl, lightly beat the eggs and add the vanilla essence
3. Beat the egg mix into the flour and stir in the coconut and carrots, followed by cooking oil and walnuts
4. Pour mixture into a greased bake tin and bake in the middle shelf for 45 minutes, or until a skewer comes out clean
5. When you take the cake out of the oven, leave it to stand for 30 seconds before pricking the top all over with a knife and pouring over the lemon juice mix, making sure it all gets soaked in
6. Leave to fully cool


Frosting
1. Beat cream cheese and butter on a low speed setting until well blended
2. Gradually add the sifted icing sugar and blend until smooth
3. Finally, add the lemon rind


You can ice the cake however you like and put on decorations as you wish, I think it looks lovely with a pile of frosting on top, an inch away from the edges, then sprinkling crushed walnuts over the top.


Enjoy! x