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How to make tarte au citron – recipe. A welcome ray of sunshine at a very grey time of year, this elegant French dessert was popularised in the UK by the late Roux brothers, whose famously rich, nine-eggs-to-four-lemons recipe has spawned a thousand imitations.

How to make tarte au citron – recipe

While my sharper, zestier version may not come garlanded with Michelin stars, it’s not exactly fast food, either, but I promise it’ll brighten your day. Prep 10 minChill 1 hr 20 min+Cook 45 minSet 30 min+ Serves 6-8 For the pastry180g plain flour, plus extra to dust90g caster sugar¼ tsp fine salt90g cold unsalted butter, plus extra to grease3 egg yolks and 1 egg white For the filling275g caster sugar5 unwaxed lemons (NB organic fruit isn’t waxed)4 eggs, beaten300g unsalted butter, diced 1 Homemade or bought pastry? You could, at a pinch, just buy in some shortcrust, but it’s a poor substitute for the crisp richness of a proper pâte sucrée. 2 Make the pastry Put the flour, sugar and salt in a food processor or large bowl. 3 Chill and rest 4 Line the tart tin.

Thomasina Miers' recipe for ginger-crusted lemon cheesecake tart. Cheesecakes are tricky beasts.

Thomasina Miers' recipe for ginger-crusted lemon cheesecake tart

One moment too sweet, the next too creamy, and sometimes that crucially crisp biscuit base goes soggy: it is hard to get them right. I often find they are over-filled, leaving me slumped in my seat. But this one is different: a cheesecake tart with a shallower filling than normal. There’s enough sugar to sweeten, but not so much as to spoil the flavour of the cream cheese. It has a delicious, caramelised, gingery base, and a filling spiked with lemon zest and vanilla. Ginger-crusted lemon cheesecake tart Not all ginger biscuits are the same: different brands will absorb differing quantities of fat, so play around with the amount of butter and flour in the base if you feel it is too stiff or too oily. Prep 25 minCook 1 hr 10 minChill 3 hrServes 8-10 350g ginger biscuits4-5 tbsp plain flour2 ½ tbsp granulated sugar½ tsp salt110g unsalted butter, melted Heat the oven to 160C (140C fan)/gas mark 3½. Lemon tart recipe - Raymond Blanc OBE.

Do something good for the soul this weekend, learn how to make these delicious chocolate cannolis □ #MasterchefUK @masterchefuk… If the Italians did eggnog – how to make the perfect zabaglione recipe. Though I won’t hear a word said against Christmas pudding, this “warm, wine-scented froth”, as Marcella Hazan beautifully describes zabaglione, is surely the ultimate festive dessert: rich yet light, easy to knock up at the last minute and, crucially, boozy enough to put everyone in a good mood.

If the Italians did eggnog – how to make the perfect zabaglione recipe

As Angela Hartnett warns, “don’t eat zabaglione and drive – it’s very potent!” Some of us might remember it from a time when it was a staple of the dessert trolley in Italian restaurants lit by chianti candlelight. But, according to Katie Caldesi, zabaglione is an ancient Venetian speciality, with its roots in the warming eggnogs common throughout medieval Europe, “simply flavoured in France and Italy, highly spiced in England”, if Harold McGee is to be believed.

Indeed, food writer Giuliano Bugialli claims that zabaglione was “originally served as a tonic, stirred into morning coffee”, which sounds a good way to start the day at this time of year. The eggs The sugar The alcohol. How to make the perfect lemon posset. The wonderfully named posset has been enjoyed for centuries, though you won't find it mentioned in Mrs Beeton's chapter on creams and jellies, or alongside Hannah Glasse's everlasting syllabub.

How to make the perfect lemon posset

Up until relatively recently, the term referred to a warming drink rather than a cooling pudding – the medieval equivalent of a bedtime cup of cocoa. Think of Lady Macbeth poisoning Duncan's guards with "drugg'd" possets – she certainly wasn't feeding them dessert. In its earliest form, posset was made from milk curdled with alcohol or citrus juice: sack posset, with Spanish fortified sherry-style wine, was particularly popular in the 15th and 16th centuries. By the mid-18th century, however, the mixture tended to be thickened with ground almonds, crushed biscuits or egg yolks instead. Having gone into a decline, losing ground to relatives such as the syllabub, the eggnog and the trifle, the posset has made somewhat of a revival on menus in recent years. Easter cheesecake: white chocolate mini-egg-nest. How to make the perfect no-bake cheesecake. When I was growing up in the 80s, cheesecake came in two varieties: half defrosted from a Sara Lee packet – for special occasions – or served (not quite often enough) in enormous refrigerated slabs at school.

How to make the perfect no-bake cheesecake

How to bake the perfect strawberry tart. Strawberries, as a rule, are above cooking.

How to bake the perfect strawberry tart

The season for really good fruit is so short, and that fruit’s perfume so very delicate, that to gild the lily with anything other than a dollop of dairy would be sacrilege – as soon as it meets heat, that fresh acidity is gone for good. If you want to cook a strawberry, use this jam recipe.