Lemon macaroon tarts

Every year J and I take a trip down the coast and come back with kilos lemons from his parent's coast house. The trees are magical, they get very little love and attention but every year around August they become covered in lemons of all shapes and sizes so every year I have to come up with new ways to use lemons.

So when I saw this recipe on Evan's Kitchen Ramblings I knew I had to make something similar. I couldn't make the exact recipe as I had the intention of making these for a celiac friend and, well, pastry is gluten central.

Sure, I could have made gluten free pastry but I've tried that before and it was, to be completely honest, a disaster. I won't doubt that the issue was me but I wasn't game enough to try again.

Instead I opted for a macaroon base which was perfect as it was extremely simple and an excellent way to use up the egg whites I had stashed in my freezer.

As the base is macaroon it is extremely coconut-y tasting if you don't like coconut this isn't for you. However I would definitely recommend making the filling and using it in something else as it's seriously good.

Lemon macaroon tarts

Adapted from Simple Essentials: Chocolate by Donna Hay and Desserts by Pierre Herme

makes six 10cm (3 1/4") x 2.5cm (1") or seven 10cm (3 1/4") x 2cm (3/4") tarts

Macaroon base

• 3 egg whites
• 165g (5 3/4oz) sugar
• 255g (7 7/8oz) unsweetened, dessiccated coconut

1. Preheat oven to 140°C (280°F). Grease and line the bases of 8 10 tart tins.
2. Combine the egg whites, sugar, and coconut in a large bowl. Once thoroughly mixed divide evenly between the tart dishes. Press mixture firmly over the base and up the sides, using the back of a spoon if necessary.
3. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until macaroon shells are firm and lightly golden. Cool then remove from the tins.

Lemon filling

• 240g (1 cup) castor sugar
• Zest of 3 lemons
• 4 eggs
• 330ml (3/4 cup) freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 295g (10.5 oz) unsalted butter, cut into tablespoon sized pieces

1. Place a saucepan of water of heat and bring it to a simmer. Combine the sugar and lemon zest in a heatproof bowl. Rub the sugar and zest together with your fingers until fragrant. Whisk in the eggs and lemon juice.
2. Place the bowl over the saucepan of simmering water. Cook, whisking gently, until the cream thickens and reaches 82°C (180°F). You will see the cream turn from light and foamy in the beginning to thick and smooth as it nears the correct temperature. When the whisk starts to leave tracks the cream is nearly finished. Be patient, it could take as long as 10 minutes for the mixture to cook.
3. As soon as the cream reaches the correct temperature, remove it from the heat and strain it into a blender or food processor. Cool the cream to 60°C (140°F), or for about 10 minutes.
4. Working with the blender or food processor on high speed, add the pieces of butter about 5 at a time. Blend until combined, scraping down as required. Continue until all the pieces of butter are combined, then blend on high speed for another 3-4 minutes to ensure the cream is perfectly smooth.

Assembly

1. Spoon the lemon cream into the cooled coconut shell. Transfer to the refrigerator for 2-3 hours or until set.

Basbousa

I'm taking a short detour from my barely started quest to find the perfect egg white biscuit recipe to bring you what is probably one of simplest things I've made in a long time. This tasty slice is a breeze to make and, providing you have a sweet tooth, down right delicious.

As it's really quick to make this is an excellent dessert for an impromptu dinner with guests. You know,the ones where you decide an hour or two beforehand that you want to have a guest or two around for dinner and somehow you have to cook a meal, make a dessert, set the table, and make the house presentable. The kind of dinners you can only have with close friends because otherwise you look flustered and slightly disorganised and, in my case, everyone knows that's already the case so there's no harm done.

When I cook I try to make things I've never had before and this is no exception. I've had very similar things but they've always been more complicated to make, involving hot pots, stoves, and all that jazz. Is this really requires for the cake is a minute or two of time and a bowl. The syrup is done in a pinch too. What more can you ask for?

Basbousa

(from Food Safari by Maeve O'meara)
makes 25-30 pieces

For the cake

2 1/2 cups coarse semolina
1 cup dessicated coconut
1 cup (220g) caster sugar
1/2 cup (75g) self-raising flour
200g thick yoghurt
200g unsalted butter, melted
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
25-30 blanched almonds
milk, if required

For the syrup

1 1/2 cups (330g) sugar
1 cup (250ml) water
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon rosewater

Preheat the oven to 190°C (375°F), grease and line the base of a 30cm x 20cm x 4cm (12" x 8" x 1") baking tin.

Mix the semolina, coconut, flour, yoghurt,melted butter, and vanilla in a bowl. The mixture should be stiff but not dry, if it is too difficult to stir add a little milk.

Spread the mixture into the baking pan, then cut it diagonally into diamonds about 5cm (1") wide. Place an almond in the centre of each diamond.

Bake the cake for 3040 minutes, or until golden on top.

Whilst the cake is cooking, begin the syrup. Combine the sugar and water in a small saucepan over medium heat, stirring until all the sugar has dissolved. Bring the mixture to the boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for 5 minutes. Remove from the heat and stir in the lemon juice and rosewater.

Orange & coconut syrup cake

It's hard being an obsessive baker when only two people live in your house. Actually, hard is probably the wrong word, the baking bit is easy whether you live in a household of two or ten. The hard it is finishing what you make, particularly on the weeks you don't have people around for whatever reason.

Luckily for me, we seem to have an endless number of people coming and going from our house so most things get eaten fairly quickly. Whipping out a slice of cake makes guests feel comfortable and welcome and it also prevents me from having any unwanted leftovers. It also means I can start on whatever recipe next strikes my fancy without feeling guilty.

I do try to reduce the quantity of most recipes but I'm either paranoid that I'll reduce too much or there's only so small a recipe will go. This recipe falls into the first category, I didn't want to reduce it too much just in case it was delicious (which it was) and I wanted to eat more than one slice of it (which I did). The original recipe made one 26cm (10 1/2") cake, mine makes one 20cm (8") cake. I probably could have reduced the quantity further (down to two eggs, from five) but I'm not sure I have a cake tin that small. Anyway, I'm glad I didn't because it there's all the more for me.

This cake is kind of surprising. Most coconut cake I've made contain desiccated coconut whereas this one contains shredded. As a result the cake has bits of coconut that you can feel as you bit into it throughout. It's weird but nice. I think it works well as the cake itself is super moist due to syrup, the shredded coconut gives it a noticeable texture.

Orange & coconut syrup cake

(adapted from Eating in by Philip Johnson)
makes one 20cm (8") cake

200g (7 oz) Greek-style yoghurt
70g (2.4 oz) cream cheese
90g (3 oz)unsweetened shredded coconut
Finely grated zest and juice of 1 orange
120g (4 1/4 oz) unsalted butter, softened
190g (6 3/4 oz) caster sugar
3 eggs
120g (4 1/4 oz) self-raising flour
1/4 teaspoon baking soda

Orange Syrup

120g (4 1/4 oz) caster sugar
Juice of 1 orange

Preheat the oven to 150°C (300°F). Grease and line the base of a 20cm (8") spring-form cake tin.

In a food processor or a blender combine the yoghurt, coconut, cream cheese, orange zest, and juice. Process until smooth, then set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream the butter and sugar together until light and pale. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Fold through the yoghurt mixture, incorporating it well. Sift the flour and baking soda over the top, then fold through.

Pour the cake mixture into the prepared tin and bake for 50-55 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean. Remove from the oven.

While the cake is cooking, prepare the orange syrup by combining the sugar and just enough water to cover it in a small saucepan over medium heat. Stir until the sugar dissolves. Add the orange juice, then remove from the heat.

Drizzle the syrup over the warm cake in a steady stream until it is absorbed, using a pastry brush to distribute the syrup evenly if necessary. Cool the cake to room temperature before removing from the tin. When ready to serve, slice and serve with ice cream.

Coconut macaroons

I know, I know, could you get more simple than coconut macaroons? They're so simple you barely even need a recipe let alone a whole blog post. Nevertheless, I'm going to continue.

My mother used to make coconut macaroons when I was a kid, they were the go to treat due to their simplicity. Her macaroons were quite different to these, they were filled with nuts and sultanas and various other things we had around the house. Most startlingly of all, they didn't use eggs.

These macaroons do use eggs so they're by no means mother's macaroons but they are a great way to use up those pesky egg whites you get stuck with after making ice cream. Ice cream that gets eaten before you ever get a chance to photograph it.

Coconut macaroons are simple, unlike the frequently misspelled, and unrelated, macaron. Sometimes simple is the way to go.

I used unsweetened coconut for these even though all the recipes I found called for sweetened coconut. They're sweet enough for me without the extra sugar. Though if you can't find unsweetened coconut, apparently, sweetened coconut is a-ok.

Coconut macaroons

makes about 20

3 egg whites
150g (5.2 oz) caster sugar
250g (8.8 oz) desiccated coconut
A handful of currants

Using an electric mixer, whip the egg whites until soft peaks form. Add 2 tablespoons of caster sugar and continue whipping until the whites are smooth and glossy.

Fold in the remaining sugar and all the desiccated coconut. Add the currants and mix until just combined. Cover mixture and place in the refrigerator for 1 hour to firm up.

Preheat oven to 180°C (350°F). Line one large, or two small, baking trays.

Remove the coconut mixture from the refrigerator and, using lightly oiled hands, roll mixture into 2.5 (1 inch) balls. Place balls 2.5 cm (1 inch) apart on trays. Bake for 15 minutes or until light golden. Remove from oven and cool on wire racks.

Chocolate, raspberry, & macaroon tarts

I actually made these quite a while ago but I figure there's no harm in adding them to the blog. I've been a bit sick over the last week so I haven't had a chance to cook, let alone photograph anything. I do remember these being delicious so I think they're worth sharing. There's no harm in sharing things for the past, right?

I'm a sucker for coconut and I'm always surprised when I meet people who don't like it as much as I do. I'm not sure what it is about coconut that I find so irresistible but if something has coconut in it, I'm there.

I'm also a sucker for chocolate and raspberries despite only having had fresh raspberries a few times in my life. I adore anything with frozen ones in it, so I can only imagine how good fresh ones are!

These tarts turned out quite different to the picture in the book, in the book they've sunken and collapsed in on themselves. They look good both ways, so if yours sink it's not a big deal.

Cramming the macaroon mixture into the cases was quite hard, I think the tart tins I own are shallower than the ones used in the book but I didn't realise this until after cramming all the mixture in. I'll never quite understand why books don't specify the height of tart tins, so if you're using 2cm (2/3") tart tins you'll probably end up with 7 tarts. You can cram the mixture into 6 tart tins but it's not really worth the effort. If you're using 2.5cm (1") tins you should be fine, though I haven't tried it.

Chocolate, raspberry, & macaroon tarts

(adapted from Simple Essentials: Chocolate by Donna Hay)
makes six 8cm (3 1/4") x 2.5cm (1") or seven 8cm (3 1/4") x 2cm (3/4") tarts

Macaroon base

3 egg whites
165g (5 3/4oz) sugar
255g (7 7/8oz) unsweetened, dessicated coconut

Preheat oven to 140°C (280°F).

Combine the egg whites, sugar, and coconut in a large bowl. Once thoroughly mixed divide evenly between the tart dishes. Press mixture firmly over the base and up the sides, using the back of a spoon if necessary.

Bake for 25-30 minutes or until macaroon shells are firm and lightly golden.

Raspberry chocolate filling

125ml (4 fl oz) single cream
125g (4oz) dark chocolate, chopped
2 eggs
2 tablespoons caster sugar
2 tablespoons self raising flour
200g (7 oz) raspberries, fresh or frozen

Turn oven temperature up to 160°C (320°F)

Place the cream and chocolate in a saucepan over a low heat and stir until smooth. Remove from heat and set aside. Place the eggs and sugar in a bowl and beat, using an electric mixer, until light and creamy. Fold in the flour and chocolate mixture.

Spoon the chocolate mixture into macaroon shells and top with raspberries. Bake for 25 minutes or until the filling is firm. Cool in tins.