As well as knitting a little, and not updating my blog, I have been cooking bits and pieces. It’s difficult to blog them though, because 9 times out of 10 I finish dinners and deserts when it’s already dark, and the photos don’t turn out very well!
But, I have been baking…
Sweet things – these are Lemon Bars from A Second Helping (more from Ladies, a Plate). The recipes is actually online, as a preview for the book, available here! I hiiiiiiighly recommend these – they have just the right amount of sweet to sour, and crunchy to gooey, and the chocolate on top is lovely. I actually used a little less icing sugar than the recipe suggested, mainly because I didn’t have enough…
I love lemons, and have also made one successful batch of Macaroons/Macarons – my first ever! These are flavoured with a little lemon rind, and are stuffed with lemon curd and mascarpone cream laced with lemon juice. As you can see, this photo was taken in the dark! They didn’t last until the morning light… Even my dad, who doesn’t usually eat sweet things, had one.
Look how perfect they are! Now, I have one confession… Though my first batch turned out perfectly, the second batch that I attempted were a complete flop. As in, they flopped and spread out and cracked and just didn’t look very nice at all. But, they still taste OK (although a bit chewy), and I am eating one right this moment with my tea. I have a friend coming for dinner on Friday night who does not eat gluten, so will attempt another round of Macaroons/Macarons. They don’t have any flour at all in them, the texture comes from ground almonds (and I have found some quite cheap almond meal at Countdown – only $4 for 150 g, which would make about 3 batches of Macaroons/Macarons). Oh, and the recipe I used is from the book entitled, unsurprisingly, Macaroons. It’s a bit of a confusing book actually, it looks gorgeous but includes instructions for making certain stages of the Macaroon the same consistency of shaving cream, or ribbons… I think the ribboning texture is standard, but I would venture that the target market for this book doesn’t use much shaving cream…
Well, that’s my update on my lemony baking! Hopefully I’ll get back into regular updating, and I’ll let you know how my next lot of Macaroons/Macarons go…
Wool and Spoons 