Lovely Bush Lemon Crostata....with thanks to Matt and Bill Granger

 


Last week while Biss was visiting me at my new home on the Sunshine Coast we went for a nice long walk along my nice long beach... On the path to the beach by my home Biss spotted a bush lemon tree.... the lemons were knobbly and juicy looking, alas we could only reach one little lemon.

A few days later on a walk to the beach with my darling husband i asked him to collect the lemons for me. OK, so i may have been taking advantage of his drunken state and may have challenged him to retrieve me some lemons. So up the tree went Matt and down came the lemons! It turns out though that lemons are quite thorny buggers, poor Matt had plenty of battle wounds and decreed i better make him something "f*#*king yummy" with those bush lemons. And so i did.

This recipe is a combination of two of Bill Granger's recipes from his cookbook Bills Basics. I had been wanting to make his Plum Jam Tart (p45)  recipe for a while, however there are no plums yet! i spotted his Lemon Tart (p234) recipe which is a crustless tart, only i love my biscuitty bases... so decided to bastardize his 2 recipes to suit me to a T.  This is a really easy recipe as there is no kneading required, no leaving to rest in the fridge and although i blind baked the crust i didn't need to worry about any pastry weights.

I have now eaten WAY WAY more than my share of Crostata and am a content fatty... man do i need some friends around to help eat all these goodies!

happy baking until next post~
x Ba

Lemon Crostata

Base
100g unsalted butter (melted and cooled)
1/3c caster sugar
175g (just over 1c) Plain Flour - i use wholemeal
1/4c ground almonds

Filling
3 eggs
1/2c plain flour - i used wholemeal
1c caster sugar
125g unsalted butter melted
zest of 2 unwaxed lemons
150ml lemon juice
300ml cream

Method

* Pre-heat oven to 180degrees
* Line the base of a 23cm spring form cake tin
* In a bowl stir the butter and sugar together.
* Add the flour and a pinch of salt, stir to make a soft dough
* Press the dough evenly into the base of the tin
* Bake in oven on a baking tray, for 15-20mins until the pastry is just slightly puffy and golden
* Remove from oven, sprinkle the ground almonds over and let cool while you make the filling
 * In a large bowl whisk the eggs
 * Gradually add the flour, then the sugar, butter, lemon zest, juice a small pinch of salt and the cream. Whisk well
* Pour on top of the base and bake for a further 40-45 minutes, until slightly browned.
* Remove from oven and let cool for 20minutes before slicing.
* serve with yoghurt or cream.

Yummy still warm...or cool

Strawberry Hazelnut and Condensed Milk Brioche Scrolls (with Chia Seeds)

 

Hello Friends!
We are here, still alive and kicking..... Sorry for the long wait between bites, life has been happening at quite a pace lately!
I know Biss has been a busy girl since arriving home from her 4 months of travels gallivanting around the globe... and me? Well I've been cooking up my bun in the oven, 6 weeks until he is ready to join us in this delicious world. On top of pregnancy i have just moved with my husband to the Sunshine Coast in Queensland. The past few weeks i have spent unpacking DIY-ing and nesting...and trying to learn the ways of my new kitchen and oven. Prior to that i was madly packing and organizing our great migration... so i apologize profusely for the neglect the blog has been experiencing.

I hope you are all well and have sprung to life with the change of season. The change in menu has been most welcomed in my house with the spring fruit and veg now available and i eagerly await the tropical summer fruits just around the corner.

Today I baked some buns in the oven, I have been craving sticky cinnamon  scrolls for a few days...and found in the current (October) issue of Delicious magazine a yummy looking recipe for Dulce De Leche Brioche Buns by Rachel Khoo author of cookbook The Little Paris Kitchen. We have a recipe for Dulce de Leche on our blog if you would like to make this recipe as it can be hard to find ready made. I cooked up a variation as i had plenty of strawberries in the fridge, which turned out to be delicious and slightly (only slightly) better for you.

Strawberry, Hazelnut and condensed milk Brioche Scrolls (with chia seeds). All i can say is yummo my craving has finally been satisfied!

This is a bit of effort to cook as you need to begin the day ahead, knead and prepare and then let rest the following day for another 2 hours before baking... and they are best eaten warm from the oven...however I do suggest though that you give it a try and i hope you enjoy them as much as i did!


 Strawberry  Hazelnut and Condensed Milk Brioche Scrolls (with Chia Seeds)

Ingredients:

dough:
75g unsalted butter
50ml milk
7g dried instant yeast
1 2/3C plain flour (i used half wholemeal)
60g Rapadura sugar 
2 eggs (lightly beaten)
1 heaped tbs creme fraiche (i used sour cream)
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp orange blossom water (optional)
filling:
150g condensed milk
2tbs chia seeds
1 punnet (250g) strawberries roughly chopped
1 handful chopped hazelnuts

Method
Put the butter and milk in a small saucepan and heat until the butter has just melted. You want the milk and butter lukewarm NOT hot. Add the yeast and stir to dissolve

In a large bowl mix the flour, sugar and a pinch of salt. Create a well in the middle and stir in the the milk mixture, half the egg, and the remaining dough ingredients. Mix until you have a soft sticky dough. Place in a bowl cover with plastic wrap and chill overnight.

Next day... Line a 24cm spring form cake tin with baking paper.

Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured working surface and knead for 5 mins.
Roll into a large rectangle (approx 40 x 30cm)

Drizzle the condensed milk over the dough leaving a 2cm border. Sprinkle the chia seeds over, then the strawberries and hazelnuts. Roll the dough up to form a long log. Cut into 6 equal pieces.

the condensed milk will make this a little messy but the condensed milk will thicken and caramelise in the oven and be delicious. Place the cake tin on a baking tray lined with baking paper (to catch the excess oozy mess).

Place the pieces cut side up into the prepared pan, brush with some of the egg then leave covered with a clean tea towel in a warm place to rise for 2hours, or until doubled in size. (I placed the tray on top of my little coffee machine on the cup warmer..it worked a treat. i have also used a Italian trick in the past of filling the kitchen sink with hot water and placing the dough in the cupboard under the sink.)

Pre-heat the oven to 160 degrees. Brush the buns with a little more egg, then place in the oven to bake for 30-40minutes or until nice and golden brown. Once cooked transfer to a wire rack to cool slightly.

Wholemeal Banana Oat Bread - No Butter or Oil!

On a cold morning when i am getting ready for the daily grind my morning cup of warm maple syrup latte and a slice of toasted buttery banana bread is really the only thing that can wake me up and warm me up.

For this recipe i used wholemeal self raising flour, but added LSA oats and hazelnut meal to give it some extra nutrition and texture. I have a sweet tooth but can't afford to have dessert for breakfast. I need some health benefit in my meal!

Instead of using the usual brown sugar called for in most banana bread recipes I used Rapadura (aka Panela) sugar which is unrefined cane sugar. It has a lovely caramel flavour and a nice crunch...i love to sprinkle it onto of my latte and eat with the froth... it is by far more delicious than regular sugar and i urge you too to make the swap! i also swapped some of the sugar for maple syrup simply because i love the stuff and it too is unrefined.

This recipe uses NO oil or butter, so although it does have sugar it is far healthier than most banana breads. I admit i love to slather it with butter after i toast it....but i can suggest you slather it with some macadamia butter if you want to stay away from the bad saturated fats.

This recipe takes only minutes to make and the smells permeating from your oven while it cooks are too good to not try baking this recipe... so go...do it now!

and enjoy!
xxx Ba

Ingredients

* 3/4c light evaporated milk
* 1/2c Rapadura (or brown sugar)
* 1/4c Maple syrup
* 2 eggs
* 4 extra ripe bananas mashed (the riper the better)
* 1/2c Rolled Oats
* 1 1/4c Wholemeal Self Raising Flour
* 1/3c  LSA
* 1/3c Hazelnut meal (or almond meal)

Method

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees, line a loaf tin with baking paper

Whisk Rapadura, maple syrup, eggs and evaporated milk together in a large bowl

Stir in bananas, Stir in Oats, Stir in LSA and Hazelnut meal, Stir in Flour

Pour into Loaf tin and place in centre of oven. Bake for approx 1 hour....or until a skewer inserted comes out clean.

Remove from oven and leave to cool for 15 - 20 minutes. turn onto a baking rack to cool.
Cut and eat while warm or wait until it has cooled slice and wrap..or even freeze some for later.

upside down, plum and chocolate cake

I love this combo of fruit and the subtle addition of chocolate. This one is from the mouth-watering Crave Cookbook. Plums and chocolate, moist and delicious....a success for sure and one to add to the regular birthday cake list for summer birthdays!