Lemon meringue pie recipe

Hello everyone! Hope your all ok? Today I'm going to share with you a delicious recipe for lemon meringue pie....yummy!! This recipe has 3 elements:- short crust pastry, lemon curd filling and a fluffy meringue topping! So let's get started, you will need:- 

For the pastry

1 cup plain flour

1/2 cup really cold butter

1-4tbsp ice cold water

For the lemon curd

1 1/2 cup water 

1/4 cup cornflour

1 cup granulated sugar

Zest and juice of 2 lemons

4 egg yolks 

1.5 tbsp butter

For the meringue

4 egg whites

5tbsp granulated sugar

Pastry

Put flour in a bowl and mix in butter until mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs

Slowly add in water a tbsp at a time, the less you use the better.....once you can bring the mix together with your hands it's done! 

Wrap in cling film and refrigerate for at least 15 minutes, pre heat oven to gas mark 4

Take out and roll out to a couple cm thick, it may break and crumble a lot but just keep working with it

Place into a greased pie dish, if it tears, simply take another piece and press it into place, use your hands to even it out

Prick several times with a fork, place foil or parchament paper into the pastry case and fill with baking beans or dried rice, bake for 10 mins

Remove the foil and baking beans and bake for a further 15 mins or until slightly golden 

Lemon curd

In a bowl beat the egg yolks

In a saucepan mix together water, sugar, cornflour, lemon zest and lemon juice and bring to a gentle boil whisking the whole time so no lumps form, it will thicken

When its come to the boil mix in the butter then take 2 cup fulls of the hot mixture and slowly add it to the egg yolks again whisking the whole time (this is known as tempering, we are introducing the eggs to the heat, if we put the egg yolks straight into the hot mixture they would scramble.....were making lemon curd here people not breakfast;)) 

Add the egg mixture into the saucepan and cook for a further 1 minute, the mixture will thicken slightly, enough to coat the back of a spoon

Take off the heat and put it to one side

Meringue

Place egg whites into a clean bowl (preferably metal) and beat until frothy

Once frothy slowly add in sugar and continue to beat until stiff peaks have formed, if you can tip the bowl upside down and the mixture does not fall out its done:)

To put it all together 

Pre heat oven to has mark 4 and fill the pie case with lemon mixture and spread evenly, top with the meringue and bake for around 15 minutes or until the meringue is golden! Leave to set at room temperature for 3 hours before cutting (i know i know.... Its tempting but we have to wait or we will have a sloppy mess)

And you are done....dig in and enjoy!!

Hope you enjoyed this recipe, make sure you follow me on bloglovin to see many more:- http://www.bloglovin.com/beautybakesandcakes

Twitter:-@BeautyandBakes 

Happy baking

Xxx

Coconut cream pie

Hello everyone hope your all well? Today I'm going to share a very easy and delicious recipe for coconut cream pie! You will need:-

For the pastry 

1 cup plain flour

1/2 cup butter (cold)

Ice cold water (few tbsp)

Pinch of salt

For the filling 

2 cups milk 

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/4 cup cornflour

1 whole egg

2 egg yolks 

2tsp vanilla extract

2tbsp butter

1 1/2 cups shredded coconut

For the topping

Any cream that you like, i like dream topping so i used 2 packets of that you also want about 3tbsp of shredded coconut which we will toast for decorating.

1) preheat your oven to gas mark 4

2) to make the pastry, combine the flour and salt, add in your really cold butter and mix either with your hands or a food processor until the mix resembles breadcrumbs

3) add in 2 tbsp ice cold water and mix just until the mixture comes together, the less water you use the better, just add a little at a time, the mix may look crumbly but if you can bring it together with your hands you don't need any more water! You may need to add in more water or you may not need as much so do this step slowly

4) once the mix has come together, wrap it in cling film and refrigerate for 15 minutes

5) take out the fridge and roll out onto a lighly floured surface to about 1/4 inch thick, this is short crust pastry and it is very crumbly which makes it so nice, it may be hard to roll at first because its so crumbly but keep working with it, it will come together 

6) place the pastry into a greased pie dish, if it tears just stick some more pastry over the tear and press it down to even out, crimp the sides however you like and prick the base with a fork

7) line the inside of the pastry with foil and fill with baking beans, dried peas or rice and blind bake in the oven for 10 mins, take out and remove the foil and baking beans and bake for a further 15 minutes until lightly golden, turn off the oven and set aside! 

8) now for the filling, place your milk and sugar into a saucepan (leave 2tbsp of the sugar behind) and bring to a gentle boil

9) while the milk is heating up, mix together your egg, egg yolks, 2tbsp sugar and cornflour until you have a lump free mixture

10) once the milk comes to a boil, slowly (very slowly) add the milk mixture into the egg mixture stirring consistently...this method is know as tempering, we are slowly introducing the eggs to the heat, if we put the eggs straight into the boiling mix they would scramble

11) put the whole mixture back into the saucepan put it back onto the heat and bring to a boil, do not stop stirring otherwise you will scramble your eggs, mix consistently, mixture will suddenly become thick thats when it is done (thick enough to coat the back of a spoon), remove from the heat, stir in the butter and vanilla extract until butter has melted

12) pass the custard through a sieve, add your coconut and then place the mixture in a bowl and cover with cling film (place the cling film directly onto the custard to stop a skin forming) and place in the fridge. 

13) place some coconut in a dry pan and heat on medium heat stirring occasionally until the coconut turns golden 

14) make your desired cream, I'm using dream topping as none of my family like whipped cream

15) place the cooled coconut custard into the pie shell and top with your desired cream, i piped mine on using a star tip! sprinkle with the toated coconut and enjoy:) 

Hope you all enjoyed this recipe, if you have any requests please let me know:)

Happy baking

Xxx

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S'mores

Hello everyone! Hope your all well? Sorry ive been a bit MIA lately....had so much uni work to do & now i have broke up for a few months I'm going to be baking loads of yummy things & i will be uploading a lot more regularly :) so today I'm going to show you my delicious recipe for s'mores! Disclaimer...this is by no means the correct way, just my way, using biscuit, Nutella and marshmallows! So let's get started you will need:-

For the biscuit:-

200g butter

100g sugar

350g plain flour plus extra for dusting 

Method

1) preheat the oven to gas mark 6

2) cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy

3) mix in the flour 

4) turn out onto a floured surface, roll to 1/4 inch thick and cut out circle shapes

5) place on a greased baking tray and bake for 12-15 mins, take out and leave to cool

Once cooled, spread Nutella onto half of the biscuits

Place a marshmallow onto the others

Place onto a high shelf into a high oven (gas mark 7) for about a minute or until the marshmallows begin to melt it might only take a few seconds so keep your eye on them!

Take out of the oven and sandwhich the two biscuits together and your done:)

Of course you don't have to use Nutella you could use any chocolate spread or melted chocolate....if you don't want to bake the biscuits use any shop bought biscuit (but homemade is always better;))  

Hope you all enjoyed this recipe!

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http://www.bloglovin.com/beautybakesandcakes

Happy baking 

Xxx

 

Orange shortbread

Hello everyone, hope your all well? Today i thought i would share with you a recipe for these delicious orange shortbread cookies! This recipe has only 4 Ingredients and is super easy!!

Ingredients 

200g self raising flour plus extra for dusting

200g butter

100g granulated sugar

Zest of 2 oranges

Method

1) cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy

2) mix in the zest

3) mix in the flour until a ball of dough is formed

4) place in the fridge for 30 mins 

5) remove from the fridge and add in some extra flour if its too sticky and roll out to 1/4 inch thick on a floured surface, cut out desired shapes and place onto a greased baking tray and bake for aprox 10-12 mins or until slightly golden

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Happy baking 

Xxx

Bakers buttercream

Hello everyone, hope your all well? So for the past two years i have tried and tested many buttercream recipes and never found one that i really like, I wanted one like what you get in the bakery.....so i searched and tried....tried some more and finally found the perfect bakers buttercream! This is fab for crumb coating, icing, decorating, piping and so on, so let's get to it! This makes a lovely white, fluffy buttercream, you can add food colouring if you like, if it gets too runny add more icing sugar, if too thick add more water:) this will keep in a airtight container in the fridge for upto two weeks! 

Ingredients 

1kg icing sugar

2 1/4 cup vegetable shortening

6 tbsp butter

2 tbsp vanilla extract 

5 tbsp cold water

Method

1) mix vegetable shortening and butter until combined

2) add vanilla and mix until combined

3) add the icing sugar a bit at a time until combined (it will appear thick and crumbly...thats fine)

4) slowly add the water while mixing

5) mix until fluffy 

Hope you all enjoyed this recipe:)

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Happy baking 

Xxx

Ice cream sundae style cupcakes

Hello beauties,

So today's post is all about light, fluffy and delicious cupcakes....a light vanilla cupcake topped with a lightly whipped cream and a drizzle of caramel or a cherry and a pinch of chocolate! YUM!!

So we have two styles, caramel drizzle and cherry and chocolate

Vanilla cupcake ingrediants

8oz self raising flour

8oz butter

8oz granulated sugar

4 eggs

1.5tsp vanilla extract

2 tbsp milk

Cream topping

Usually buttercream is a given for cupcakes, but I wanted to create a really light cupcake so i used dream topping instant cream, you can use whipped cream or any cream you like

Caramel ingrediants 

1 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup milk

1/2 cup water

1.5tbsp butter

Additional ingrediants

12 glacé cherries

2 small squares of chocolate

Vanilla cupcake method

1) preheat your oven to gas mark 4 and then cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy (this step is crucial for a fluffy cake)

2) add in the eggs two at a time and mix until just combined 

3) add in the vanilla extract and mix until combined 

4) add in the flour and gently fold in until just combined (be careful to not over beat at this stage)

5) add in your milk and just beat until combined

6) place the batter in cupcake cases and bake for aprox 15 minutes or until slightly golden and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean, leave to cool completely

Cream topping method

Because i used and instant cream (i dont like whipping cream) i just followed package instructions, i used a little less milk so it had a thicker consistency! You can use any light cream!

Caramel method 

Making caramel can be very dangerous, please be careful and don't take your eyes off it:)

1) add sugar and water to a saucepan, place on medium heat and cover with a lid dont stir the mixture at all! Once the mixture starts to boil remove the lid and leave the caramel to turn a golden colour (this can take anything from 1-10 minutes) dont stir, you may gently swirl the pan to ensure even colouring

2) once the caramel is a golden colour remove from the heat and add the butter and stir in until melted ( this will make the caramel froth up so be very careful )

3) while the mixture is still off the heat gradually add the milk slowly (otherwise the mixture will separate) be careful again this might froth up and even spit

4) place back on the heat for about 1 minute until boils, remove from the heat and leave to cool completely (dont be tempted to stick your fingers in, it is dangerously hot) 

Decorating

1) pipe your cream onto your cupcakes, go from the outside and into the middle, or place a blob of cream on the cupcake and using the flat of your spoon spread it out a little

2) using a spoon drizzle over the caramel onto half the cupcakes (use the leftover caramel for ice cream:)) 

3) on the other half of the cupcakes, place a cherry in the centre and grate some chocolate over the top (or use chocolate sprinkles)

Hope you all enjoyed this recipe:) follow me on bloglovin for more recipes!

Bloglovin:- http://www.bloglovin.com/beautybakesandcakes

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Happy baking 

Xxx

British Scones

Hello everyone,

Hope your all ok? So this recipe has been passed down the generations in my family! This is my great grandmothers recipe, its very simple, classic and well very British! This recipe means a lot to me, all my childhood whenever I would bake with my mum this is what we would bake and i love it.....problem is im very boring and like plain scones with a slab of butter, my mum on the other hand loves raisins and currents in hers! I suppose the only way we differ from the traditional British scone is we don't have ours with jam and cream! But that is the great thing about this recipe you can make it your own, add raisins, currents, any dried fruit, eat it hot or cold, with or without jam and cream...its a very versatile recipe! So let's get cracking (or baking) 

Ingrediants: 

1lb self raising flour

5oz butter

2tbsp granulated sugar

2 eggs

4oz milk

Method:

1) pre-heat your oven to gas mark 7 and then using your fingers and thumbs mix together the flour and butter until it resembles breadcrumbs

2) add in your sugar and stir in, at this stage if you would like dried fruits add them in now (cover the dried fruits in a tiny bit of flour to prevent them sinking to the bottom of your scone) 

3) whisk together your eggs and milk

4) add in your eggs and milk mixture gradually, you probably won't need all of it, the less you use the better! Just use enough until the mixture forms a dough! Keep the rest for brushing on top of the scones

5) roll out the dough onto a lightly floured surface (about 1/2 inch thick) and cut out your scones using your desired cutter, place on a non greased baking tray and brush the tops with the remainder egg and milk mixture and bake in the oven for about 8-12 minutes until golden!

  

Take them out the oven and enjoy:)

Hope you all enjoyed this recipe! 

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Happy baking

Xxx