Tag Archives: lemon

Favourite posts this week

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:: Recommend listening to this reunion interview with the pioneers of the Centre for Alternative Technology. Truly inspirational people, and what a fun time they made the 70s sound!

:: I’m also a huge fan of making not buying and will try this lemon curd someday soon. Maybe with some scones and clotted cream :)

:: Love this list of “unbelievable places”, even more justification for Japan being our dream destination.

:: What people eat in one week around the world. Not sure what to say about this.

:: Roasted strawberry salad sounds interesting. WARNING: EXPLICIT RECIPE.

:: Feta and mint croquettes, toddler friendly food!

:: Coffee: a brief history

:: Stunning Spring Follies from Mimi – I’d eat it all, pleeeeease.

:: Top 10 most annoying things at dinner parties. Do you agree?

:: A long (but worth it!) article on clothing and where it comes from, especially topical after the recent tragedy in Bangladesh.

:: Really enjoying this Spilled Milk series

We won’t have internet access until Tuesday at the earliest but I promise (myself!) that I’ll make more blog effort SOON.

Bake

xoxo

 

Favourite posts this week

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I’m sorry I missed this last week, but we had our friends here and I was too disorganised to arrange in advance…

:: I am slightly in awe of this woman – wow. Ok, I love her.

:: Brownie sandwich cookies? Amazing! I might even just make them as cookies.

:: Pudding! Butterscotch flavoured! With bananas! Rum too!

:: As a chartered accountant (apparently ;) ) this news made me happy!

:: The planner in me (I love lists!) is fascinated by Dana’s take on dinner party planning.

:: We had some nappy free time this week (thanks nappy rash) but couldn’t say we would be able to go the whole way like these guys. So impressive! Maybe with baby#2, whenever that may be!

:: How many slaves work for you? I have 37 apparently, mainly due to kids toys. Only second hand/fair trade for this boy from us, though.

:: Since he was given a macaron last week, I have been thinking about sugar free treats for our boy. These lemon and coconut bars might work?

:: These photographs are really stunning. I’d love someone to make me those tarts.

Wishing you all a lovely weekend

Bake

xoxo

Lemon shortbread

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We always have lemons around the house, I make tea with lemon juice, honey and ginger when I’m feeling run down, but this week I had a few squishy ones that needed using up some other way.

Shortbread was the first thing that came to mind, so here we go!

This is such a quick and simple recipe. If you aren’t a lemon fan you could use the juice and zest of an orange or a couple of limes, or simply add a teaspoon of ground ginger or cinnamon. Let me know if you try anything else!

Lemon shortbread
Makes 12-16 squares

Ingredients:

Oil (I used olive, but you don’t want any flavour from it)
150g butter, at room temperature
100g caster sugar
200g plain flour
juice and zest of 1 lemon

Method:

Preheat oven to 180degC

Oil a baking tin of your choice (as you can see, mine was a little large…I wanted chunky shortbread biscuits) and set aside

Cream the butter and sugar together in a large bowl for a few minutes, until soft

Add the juice and zest of the lemon and stir to combine

Sift the flour into the bowl and work together until a dough forms

Press the dough into your baking dish. Use a knife to create your shortbread shapes and a fork to make indentations as desired

Bake for 20 – 25 minutes, until edges start to brown

Remove from the oven and use the knife to create your shortbread shapes again

Leave to cool completely in the tin

Enjoy!

I made a lemon glaze with the juice of another lemon and icing sugar. I didn’t measure the sugar, just kept adding until I liked the consistency. 

Optional, but Shake recommends :)

Bake

xoxo

Savoury Courgette Cheesecake

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I know it’s November (November?!) and you’re all thinking about pumpkins and feeling snug and cosy with the heating on etc, but whilst I can still buy them, I am making the most of courgettes.

The truth is, I’m just not ready to move on.

When we have beautiful, warm weather like this…

…I don’t feel like wrapping up and eating something hot!

This recipe was inspired by a post I saw a few weeks ago. I think I shared it with you too?

I changed it up a little, as usual, and we are really enjoying the result – the lemon zest in particular just makes it taste extra special.

I made it during a baby nap, so you know it doesn’t take long to whip up!

It isn’t going to win any beauty contests, but it really tastes delicious.

Courgette cheesecake
- serves 4-6

Note: I used two tins, one of 18 cm and one of 13 cm (used in the photos). You could probably just use the large one and have a deeper cheesecake. Or use a bigger tin of course.

100g crackers/savoury biscuits, crushed – I use TUC, Ritz would probably also work well
50g melted butter
1 large courgette, grated
200g goats cheese
3 large tablespoons fromage frais/crème fraîche/natural yoghurt
2 eggs
zest of 1 lemon
1 garlic clove – I used 2, but would use just 1 if serving to other people
small handful of basil leaves, torn
2 tablespoons plain flour
Salt and pepper, as desired

Preheat oven to 170degC

Melt butter and add to crushed crackers. Stir to coat and press into cake tin.
You want a buttery biscuit base ;)

Bake the base in the oven for around 10 minutes. Remove and leave to cool.

Beat goats cheese in large bowl until softened. Add garlic, fromage frais, eggs, plain flour, lemon zest and mix together until combined.

Add the basil, grated courgette and season. Stir so that courgette is evenly distributed.

Pour mixture onto buttery biscuit base and return to the oven for about 40 minutes. The cheesecake should start to colour but not be completely brown. You don’t want it to jiggle too much either.

Serve warm, or cold from the fridge.

Enjoy!

Bake

xoxo

 

Bake’s mayonnaise

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Bake’s mayonnaise

Sorry for my absence. It has been a busy week and there has been little time for blogging.

But, I’m back and have plenty to share with you!

I call this my mayonnaise because my darling mother tells me that I make it “wrong” – because I don’t always use her recipe ;)

It isn’t wrong, of course, as you only need to search “mayonnaise recipes” to find 1,000 different ways to make it. It is so simple to make that you just won’t need any from a jar again.

As usual, I don’t use a mixer or electric whisk but my muscles and some patience!

Bake’s mayonnaise

Ingredients:

2 egg yolks
pinch of salt
olive oil
sunflower oil (or any oil that doesn’t have a strong flavour)
1 garlic clove, crushed
juice from a lemon
pepper to taste

Method:

I’m sorry, but I didn’t measure anything before or after I used it (even though Shake told me to!). I tend to add a bit of this or that until I’m happy with how it looks and tastes…

Whisk the egg yolks in a large bowl for 30 seconds or so. Add a pinch of salt.

VERY slowly start adding olive oil

Slowly adding olive oil…

Keep whisking the whole time.

Once the mixture starts to thicken, switch from olive oil to sunflower oil (or keep with the olive oil, but ours is expensive!).

If after whisking a while the mix doesn’t thicken at all, you may need to start again. Don’t throw away your hard work! Add it very slowly to your new egg yolks and then continue. 

A lot of whisking, but slowly thickening.

Continue to add sunflower oil until the mayonnaise is nice and thick. Stir in the crushed garlic.

Mayonnaise ingredients

Squeeze some lemon juice in, this will thin the mayonnaise a little but give it a good flavour kick. Add more sunflower oil and whisk again if you want it thicker.

Adding lemon juice

Add pepper as desired. We like a lot.

Store in the fridge for up to a week. Don’t serve to pregnant ladies (raw egg).

Enjoy some on toast, dip some veggies in it, make some potato salad…

I’ll share with you soon what I do with my egg whites – don’t throw them away!

Bake

xoxo