Peach Frangipane Tart

We have reached 20 degrees in London!... and I am stuck revising inside...
Did find the time to make a tart though, I got my priorities straight.

The original recipe is in, "The Great British Bake Off: How to Turn Everyday Bakes into Showstoppers". The book is great as it builds up more and more complex recipes around the same theme or ingredient such as sponge or pastry. Perfect for beginners as it becomes more and more extravagant but starts off with the basic recipe.

Anyway it was edited slightly.... First I replaced fresh peaches for tinned ones. Just because it is not quite the time for nice peaches according to my mother... Also I removed the salt because I just don't really think it's necessary, I also made the frangipane my way, but it was basically the same.

Pastry:
200g plain flour
100g unsalted butter
4 egg yolks
100g caster sugar
zest of half a lemon

Filling:
100g unsalted butter
100g caster sugar
zest of a whole lemon
2 eggs
120g ground almonds
80g plain flour
8 halves of tinned peaches - about 1 and half tins.
Flaked almonds to decorate

My brother and mum made the pastry which is a "pate brisee", the ingredients are combined by placing the dry ingredients in a bowl with a well. In the well place the egg yolks, lemon zest and butter. Rub with fingertips so that they crumb. Then roll out and place in a 23cm tart tin and refrigerate while you make the filling. (If you want you can make leaves out of any that remains to serve as a decoration)

Preheat the oven to 190 degrees Celsius.

Beat the butter so it is softened and slightly paler in color. Add the sugar and lemon zest and beat again. Add the eggs bit by bit, beating well after each addition. Fold in the ground almonds and flour. When combined well smooth over the pastry.

Decorate the peaches as you wish on the top of the frangipane. I put seven peach halves around the edge of the pastry case with the eighth in the middle. Bake for 25 minutes. Scatter the ground almonds over the top and if you have spare pastry the leaf decor. Bake for a further 25 minutes.

Let cool for a while before attempting to remove from the tin.

Enjoy!

Grace x

Check me out on bloglovin --> http://www.bloglovin.com/blog/11398841

Mother's Day Lemon Meringue Pie

Happy Mother's Day (in most parts of the world)! And spring has finally arrived in London, so decided that a suitable pudding would be fruity as chocolate is probably too heavy?!? 

Lemon Meringue Pie is a shortcrust pastry base, a layer of lemon curd and then a thick layer of meringue on top of that. It has a lot of stages but if you ignore the vast quantity of bowls you need it is relatively easy. You can buy these but they are often very very very sweet so if you make it yourself you tend to get more of a balance between sour lemon and sweet meringue.

Ingredients

For pastry: 

150g plain flour

50g caster sugar

90g butter

1 egg yolk

a little whole milk

For curd:

25g cornflour

200ml water

zest and juice of 3 lemons

100g caster sugar

2 egg yolks

40g butter

For meringue:

4 egg whites

200g caster sugar

Enough ingredients or...?

Method

1. Make the pastry: mix the flour, sugar and butter in a bowl so that it forms a crumb like consistency. Add the egg yolk and just enough milk to make the crumbs stick together in lumps. Then bring the pastry together, refrigerate for at least 1 hour.

2. Preheat the oven to 170 degrees Celsius. 

3. Roll out the pastry and bake blind in a greased 23cm tin. Baking blind is when you cover the pastry in foil and then put baking beans (or raw pasta or rice) on to the top. This keeps the pastry in shape.

4. Cook for 15 mins. Remove the beans and then cook for 10 mins until the pastry is golden brown. Then leave to cool.

5. Meanwhile make the curd. Mix the cornflour with a third of the water in a bowl.

6. Bring the remaining water to the boil, then add lemon zest and sugar. Once dissolved, pour in cornflour solution and mix until smooth. 

7. Remove from the heat and then stir in butter, then lemon juice and finally egg yolks. If there are lumps it may be useful to strain it in a sieve but it doesn't really matter. 

8. Pour the lemon curd onto the cooled pastry and leave to chill until the curd firms up. This will stop the meringue layer from mixing with the curd. 

9. If you have turned the oven off, preheat the oven to 170 degrees Celsius. 

10. Whisk the four egg whites until they form stiff peaks. Then, at a tablespoon at a time, add the sugar, whisking after each addition until smooth and glossy. 

11. Spoon the meringue onto the lemon curd layer (if you want to be neat you can pipe the meringue but I don't think it is necessary) and bake for around 20 mins or until the meringue is golden and crispy on the top. 

12. Leave to cool and then eat.