I'm Back with a Lemon Meringue Pie

Hi everyone! It's been 4 years since I last posted in my blog, and I've checked it back, it was right after Mooncake Festival in 2012. That was really a blink of an eye, and it's 4 years. I remembered that 4 years ago, I was really tied up with the kids having a transition from primary school to secondary, and mind you, it was a handful, really!!
Anyway, now that my eldest son is completing Form 5 this year, and my youngest girl is completing Primary 6, and if you are my followers, you do know that I have a pair of twin boys, and they are in Form 4, heading to Form 5 next year. 
Oh by the way, I'm happy to introduce to you all the new addition to my family, I have a Tiny Toy Poodle, and she is the apple of the family now, her name is Pixel, and she turned 1 year old in July (same birthday month with me, hehe, in fact one day after my birthday).

  Isn't she a jewel? LOL

Well, I did not stop baking over the 4 years, but just that it was not so much for the family consumption, but more to orders from my other part-time biz - Cupcakes Fairytale. Well, of course, now that I'm back, I will upload and post as much as I can and share with you all just like the olden days.

To start of this first comeback post, I want to share with you the Lemon Meringue Pie that I made over the weekend. It was my first Lemon Meringue Pie, and I must, it was not bad, and in fact, it's good, cos I ate half the pie myself....hehe
As I am a crazy fan of anything zesty, citrus-sy (is there such word), lemon, orange, lime are all my favourite. I never doubt them if I saw them in the bakery shelf. Oh, and the recipe even teaches you to make your homemade version of the Lemon Curd. It was so good, nothing beats homemade, I always says this. Trust me, the curd was not sweet and it has the lemony citrus flavor that makes you just wanna dig the curd from the jar (the leftover one) and eat it on its own. LOL
The sweet shortcrust pastry for the crust base was perfect density, doesn't goes soggy even after pouring in the lemon curd, and even after 3 days in the fridge, it was still crumbly like a cookie and my daughter loves it!

Lemon Meringue Pie
Makes a 9" inch pie 


For the Crust
1 1/2 cup All Purpose Flour
1 Tbsp Castor sugar
1/2 tsp salt
2/3 cup unsalted butter, diced and chilled until ready to use
1 egg (large)
1 Tbsp lemon juice
*A bit of egg white for brushing the shell
  
Lemon Curd
1 1/4 cup castor sugar
1 1/2 cup water
5 Tbsp Cornstarch
5 large egg yolks
A dash of salt
1 Tbsp finely grated lemon zest
1/2 cup fresh lemon juice
2 Tbsp unsalted butter

Meringue
5 large egg whites 
1/2 tsp cream of tartar
5 Tbsp castor sugar
1 Tbsp Cornstarch

Method: 
For Crust

1. Combine flour, sugar and salt in a bowl. Cut in chilled butter until a rough crumbly texture and bits of butter still visible. You can use a pastry cutter or your fingers to do this.
2. In a separate bowl, whisk egg and lemon juice together, then pour all into the flour mixture and combine it well, until it comes together into a dough. 
3. Shape it into a disc and cling wrap it , store in the fridge to chill for an hour. 
4. Preheat oven to 200C / 400F. On a lightly flour surface, roll out the dough to just about 1/4 inch thick. 
5. Sprinkle the 9-inch pie pan with flour so that it won't stick, and line it with the rolled out dough.Tuck in the edges and let it go up to slightly over the rim, roll out using a rolling pin to cut off the edges.
6. Put the pie shell back to the fridge to rest and firm up for 10 minutes.
7. Once chilled and rested, line the pastry with aluminum foil and let it cover the edges so it won't be burn when bake. Weigh down the pastry with baking beans / dried beans and bake for 10 minutes.
8. Reduce to 190C / 375F and bake for another 15 minutes. Then remove the aluminum foil and the baking beans , and further bake for another 10 minutes to dry our the center of the shell.
9. Useful tip: Once you take the shell out of the oven, lightly brush the base of the tart shell with egg white. This is so that the shell will have a shield against the liquid/ curd that we are going to fill in, it will not turn soggy. Cool completely before filling in with the lemon curd.

For Lemon Curd

1. Whisk sugar, water and cornstarch together in a heavy bottomed saucepot. 
2. Whisk in egg yolks and salt and cook over low heat for about 5 minutes, whisking constantly. Increase heat to medium and still continue to whisk, cook until the filling becomes glossy and thick. You should be able to feel it as it thickens and coat the spatula / spoon that you are using. 
3. Remove from heat immediately and stir in the lemon zest, lemon juice and then the butter until it dissolves. Pour immediately into the cooled pie shell and let it cool for 15 minutes. Chill completely before finishing with the meringue, about 4 hours later.

 For Meringue

1.  Preheat oven to 180C / 350F.
2. Whisk egg whites with cream of tartar until foamy. While whisking, gradually add in the sugar and whisk on one speed below high until whites hold a stiff peak (meringue will stand upright when the whisk is lifted).
3. Whisk in cornstarch until fully combine.
4. Generously dollop over the chilled lemon filling. Use a sweeping motion with your spatula to evenly spread the meringue, let it touched the edge of the curd at the rim, and create your swirl and peaks that look so enticing once browned.
5. Bake the pie for 10 minutes , or just until you see the meringue browns lightly. Let pie cool or chill until you are ready to slice and eat.

 Happy Baking and Bon Appetit!

Durian Tarts

Its been awhile, I felt lazy updating my blog, as I guess I just have so many things to say, and it's kinda hard for me to put them in words to share it with you.  However,I owe it you guys who are a loyal follower of my blogs.......and to compensate it all, here's a really good recipe that I recently tried , which I plucked it out from one of the old cookbook owned by my MiL, hehe

Durian Tarts
Tart crust ingredients:-
240gm plain flour
50gm castor sugar
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
125gm butter, cold and cut into cubes
1 egg

Filling ingredients:-
150ml evaporated milk
4 'Grade A' eggs
140gm durian flesh
100gm caster sugar
250ml water
10gm instant custard powder

To prepare the crust:-

1. Mix the flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl.
2. Add in the cold cubed butter and rub with your fingers until it resembles breadcrumbs.
3. Add in the egg and mix until it becomes a ball of dough.
4. Press the dough into a tart mould, trimming off the edges and the excess with a knife.
5. Blind bake with some beans on a preheated oven of 180 degree Celsius for about 10-12 minutes.
6. Remove from the oven and put on a wire rack to cool , remove the beans.

To prepare the filling :-

1. Combine the durian flesh with castor sugar, custard powder, water and evaporated milk, whisk until well blended. 
2. Add in eggs, using an electric blender, just pulse the mixture to allow the durian flesh to be pureed, do not blend too long as lots of air bubbles will appear on the tart surface later when baking.
3. Transfer the mixture to a jar and fill each tart casing with 3/4 full.
4. Bake on a preheated oven at 200 degree Celsius for 20 minutes or until the durian egg mixture looks set. 
5. Let cool on the wire rack for about 10 minutes before turning the tarts out of the mould.

Hope you like this, as my family loves it so much, the tarts actually disappear so fast, I had to hide a few for photo taking, LOL....Oh yes, the picture below is the second batch that I made the day after, and this time I made the tarts slightly smaller in size......perfect for a bite-size :)

Till then, enjoy and see you soon!

Blueberry Crumble Pie

Sometimes when it comes to afternoon tea-time, our minds will start running wild thinking about pastries, puffs, cupcakes, cookies and some goes for paus (buns) or bread......but I would prefer pie......for today, that is :)
To tell you the truth, I always juggle my lunch and teabreak together, as when I'm in the office, my lunch time was never on time (which is between 12.30 pm to 2.00pm). I'm always late and sometimes, when I'm too busy, I actually forgot about the time and also I tend to ignore the growling of my stomach, hehehe.......cruel of me huh,  in fact I sometimes purposely do that as an excuse to go on a diet, LOL


Anyway, today, as I still have a portion of the leftover 'Sweet Shortcrust Pastry' that I have after baking my 'Mini Apple Pie' the other day, I decided to have another pie treat for tea-time ....and 'Blueberry Crumble Pie' takes the crowning , haha


So, here is the recipe for this treat, use back the 'Sweet Shortcrust Pastry' recipe and also the method of rolling out the pastry for the pie pan. As for the Blueberry filling, I bought a small tub (25ogm) of ready-made Blueberry Pie filling from BWM ( I didn't use all, too much and little sweet too) and as for the crumble, please refer below.

Crumble topping
1/3 cup + 1/2 Tbsp all purpose flour
35gm butter, room temperature, cut to cubes, not melted 
1/3 cup ground almond, pulse it in the food processor for a more fine texture
2 1/2 Tbsp castor sugar


In a medium bowl, place the flour and butter and using your fingertips, rub the ingredients together until mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Add the ground almond and sugar and mix it in. Sprinkle over the blueberry filling and bake at preheated oven of 180~C for 30 minutes or until the topping is golden brown and the fruit is bubbling.

Serve with your favourite English Tea or..... coffee is just as good too!

Happy pie baking, dear!

Mini Apple Pie.....a 'purr-fect' afternoon teatime companion

I had a terrible 'stiff-neck' when I woke up this morning , and I told myself......"what the.....it'a Sunday!! No!!" How can this happen on a Sunday? Oh......well, that wouldn't stop me from having and spending my Sunday like I wanted it to.....huh! Well, I still had a awesome Sunday with Hubby and the kids like any other Sundays, hehe. When I'm at Popular Bookstore, I was as usual browsing all the cookbooks that were being displayed at the racks, one by one, making sure I did not miss out any of it........especially the 'New Arrivals'.

As I was flipping through one of the Women's Weekly Magazine about Pies, I instantly remembered I have not been making pies recently....or should I say, quite a long time, :P OK well, let's make pie then for today's afternoon tea.....and that sounds good, hehe

Right after we reached home, I headed into the kitchen to dig out my pie pan that must have rusted in the cupboard, LOL....kidding! So, to start , I made my 'Sweet Short Crust Pastry', and as I have a tub of Apple Pie filling sitting in my fridge (can't remember when did I bought it, but it's still long before expiry, phew!), I'll take this chance to use it up ;)

Here's the 'Sweet Shortcrust Pastry' that I normally use whenever I make my pies and it's really easy-peasy, hehe...

MINI APPLE PIE

Sweet Shortcrust Pastry (good for any fruits / savoury pies)

200gm Plain Flour (I normally use HK Flour)

20gm Milk powder

110gm butter, cold and cubed

35gm Icing Sugar

1/4 tsp salt

3 Tbsp ice water

500gm Ready-made Apple Pie filling (you can also choose to cook up your own apple pie filling)

Method

1. Sift the flour, milk powder and icing sugar into a big bowl, add in the salt. Stir to mix well. 
2. Add the cubed cold butter into the flour, and using your fingertips, rub it until it resembles coarse crumbs.
3. Add in the ice water one tablespoon at a time and knead the mixture to form a dough. Monitor in order that the dough will not be too wet or too dry. If either happens, that's OK, just more flour if it's too wet, or add a bit more water if it's a little on the dry side....no worries :)
4. Shape the dough into a ball and using a cling wrap, warp it up and let is sit in the freezer for about 15 - 20 minutes.
5. After 15-20 minutes rest, take the dough out of the freezer and roll it out in between 2 pieces of parchment paper...remember not too thin or too thick.....about 0.3mm would be good :) By the way, I'm using a 6" inches pie pan.
6. Place the pastry onto the outer ring of your pie pan, gently pressing it in to the sides to fit the bottom of the pan. Using the rolling pin, gently roll across the top of the ring to trim off of the excess of the pastry.
7. Take a fork and lightly prick the surface of the pastry to release any air bubbles trapped beneath and use your fingertip to lightly press on it.
8. Put the pastry back into the freezer to rest for another 10 -15 minutes. 
9. Preheat the oven to 175~C, and place a piece of aluminium foil on top of the pastry and blind bake it with some dried beans (I used soya beans) for about 20 minutes.
10. Remove the dried beans and foil after baked, and let it cool for about 5 minutes on the rack. Then fill the pie pan with the apple pie filling , not to full, just below the brim of the pan will do. You can decorate the top with the leftover of the pastry , cut it into strips of about 0.5cm width and weave it like a basket . 
11. Bake it for about 25-30 minutes , take it out, let it cool on the rack before removing it from the pie pan. Serve hot......it's really yummy!!

p/s: Don't forget to make a good aromatic cup of coffee to go with it ~wink!

Sherperd'sPie .....A Wholesome Meal

I have been quite busy for the postpone week preparing for Angel's 7th birthday party and then it was Ian's UPSR examination on the 13th-15th Sept. Well, like all mothers, I felt like I'm the one sitting for the examination instead, duh! I has sleepless nights thinking if Ian would be able to answer all the questions in time, would he know how to do, this and that. Anyway, I'm seriously relief the day the exam came to an end, phew!!!!
Well, sounds like I should indeed celebrate about it, right? LOL........OK then, let's cook up something 'wholesome' to feed the whole family. I bought this cookbook called 'Granny's Favourites' by Love Food" a month ago and haven't yet got a chance to try anything from it.  I have decided to try the "Sherperd's Pie" as the picture on the book looks just awesomely delicious, and knowing that Sherperd's Pie called for 'minced lamb meat'......woohoo, lamb is my second favorite after beef in meat list, :)
So, right after work on Saturday (half-day until 12.30noon), I headed straight to Consfood and bought a packet of minced lamb meat that weighs about 670gm per packet. I can't wait to get started and quickly head home after that. 

Here is the recipe that I followed, of course I changed and altered a little to suit my taste, hehe.....


SHERPERD'S PIE
Ingredients
1 Tbsp Olive oil ( I used my normal Canola Cooking oil)
2 onions, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
675gm good-quality minced lamb meat ( I used only 670gm)
2 carrots, finely chopped
1 Tbsp plain flour
225ml beef / chicken stock
125ml red wine (I didn't use this as I don't have red wine in the house)
Salt & pepper, to taste

for Mashed Potato
675gm potatoes, peeled and cut into even sized chunks
55gm butter
2 Tbsp cream / milk (I used Anchor Whipping Cream)

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degree Celsius/ 350 degree Farenheit. Heat the oil in a large casserole dish and fry the onion until softened, then add the garlic and stir well.
2. Raise the heat and add the meat. Cook quickly to brown the meat all over, stirring constantly. Add the carrots and season well with salt and pepper. Stir in the flour and add the stock and wine (if using). Stir well and heat until simmering and thickened.
3. Cover the casserole dish with aluminium foil and cook in the oven for about 50 - 60 minutes. Check the consistency from time to time and add a little more stock or wine if required. The meat mixture should be quite thick but not dry. Season with salt and pepper.
4. While the meat is cooking, make the mashed potato. Cook the potatoes in a large saucepan of boiling salted water for 15-20 mins. Drain well and mash with a potato masher until smooth. Add the butter and cream and season well with salt and pepper.
5. Spoon the lamb mixture into an ovenproof serving dish and spread or pipe the mashed potato on top.
6. Increase the oven temperature to 200 degree Celsius and cook the pie for about 15 -20 minutes at the top rack of the oven until golden brown.

trust me.......you'll love it!!

 

APPLE CRUMBLE PIE

 I have always loved 'crumble' or 'streusel' recipes, I have dozens of them and are still collecting. The reason why I love them is, it gives you a very satisfaction 'first bite' as it's cookie-like crust on top is so buttery and fragrant. I just loved it! So today, I have planned to bake Apple Crumble Pie that I have been wanting to bake for so long already, everytime it just happened that I don't have apples in the house. Then, one day when I was browsing in the BWM store, I saw they have this 'Apple Pie Filling 'packed in 250gm and 500gm tub. So, I bought one tub of 250gm and decided that I can finally bake my Apple Crumble Pie, although I know that making your own apple pie filling would be much better than getting a store-bought. Well, maybe for this time only lah………next time I'll definitely make my own….;)

So the recipe I used this time is taken from 'Famous Cuisine – The Lifestyle Cuisine Magazine & Cookbooks No.44', one my Hubby's cookbook collection……..hehe, most of his cookbooks now becomes my regular reference already, LOL. Actually the original recipe calls for peach as it is a 'Peach Crumble Pie'. In fact I do have recipes that is an Apple Crumble Pie ones…..but just wanted to try this recipe out to see if the sweet shortcrust pastry for the pie crispy or not after a day..…..as there are just so many of them out there, some good ones are still crispy like a biscuit after one day.

What I can summed up for this one is, it took me extra 20 minutes to bake, as I think I rolled the crust too thick, hehe :P, as for the filling, eventhough it's a store bought, I would say it's not that bad too, but a bit sweet, that's all. The pie crust was crispy the day it was baked, for sure and turned soggy on the second day and same goes to the cookie crumbles…….I guessed it's because the apple pie-filling was wet, therefore that's the cause of it. But, if you can finish the whole pie on the day you baked it, I would say this recipe is 'a keeper'…….^_^, for me, I had trouble finishing it, as the kids don't really fancy eating apples in a pie……haha, and definitely not Hubby……so I am the only one who is digging my dessert spoon on it………geez, I bet the scale must have gone up a bit already, especially when I pair it with a scoop of vanilla ice-cream……..stop, stop, stop right there!!! 

Here, this is the recipe, do try it out and you might like it……Happy Apple Crumble Pie baking, folks! ^_^


APPLE CRUMBLE PIE - Adapted from Famous Cuisine Magazine No:44 
Ingredients
For Crust 
200gm plain flour
60gm icing sugar
130gm butter, cold and cubed
1 egg yolk

For Filling 
250gm Apple pie-filling (store-bought)

For Crumble 
80gm plain flour
20gm castor sugar (I used 20gm brown sugar instead) 
40gm butter, cold and cubed

Method

1. To make pie crust : combine sifted flour and icing sugar. Rub in cubed butter using your fingers, add in the egg yolk and knead to form a dough. Do not over knead. Wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
   
2. Pre-heat oven to 170~C. Roll out the dough using a rolling pin in between 2 sheets of parchment paper, and press into the 20cm / 8 inch pie dish. Trim off the edges.
   
3. Evenly spread the apple pie filling on the pie dish.
   
4. To make crumble : rub butter into combined flour and sugar until mixture becomes coarse bread crumbs. Sprinkle on the top of the apple pie filling.
   
5. Bake in preheated oven at 170~C for 35-40 minutes or until cooked. (I took 60 minutes to get it cooked)
   

Happy Apple Crumble Pie Baking !

 

Egg Tarts

My kids are one of those that loves egg tarts ......or should I say, any types of pastries J Before, I used to think that egg tarts is used to steam and not bake, how silly. Few months back, when I was searching for the shortcrust pastry recipes in the net, I found out that there are a few of them......3 of them in fact. The best thing is, with this shortcrust pastry, you can actually make a lot of other types of savoury tarts from it........for instance, fruit tartlets, custard tarts, blueberry tarts, almond tarts, quiche and of course, egg tarts and many more. I have tried "Sweet shortcrust pastry" before with Blueberry cheese filling and also the Fruit Tartlets, and the result..........excellent, I get very good comments and praises from those who ate it.

OK, what I found in the internet about this type of pastry is.......there are three types of it..... (1) Pate Brisee (2) Pate Sucree and (3) Pate Sablee :) all from France. So far, I have only tried "Pate Brisee" and will definitely make a day to try "Pate Sucree" as I have a Daring Bakers Challenge (for March) to make an "Orange Tian" that requires us to make a Pate Sucree.  I opted to skip this month's challenge because of the tight schedule I'm drowning in.......but will definitely make it one day when I'm free.....let's see when, ok? :P

Alright, I know I don't usually write a lot as I'm not a good writer and moreover, the purpose of this blog is to share the recipes that I have 'tried, tested and tasted' myself......so that my dear friends can have a piece of 'full-proof" recipe that will surely works. This 'Egg Tarts' recipe was from one of MiL's very old cookbook collection, SriRasa. I find that this recipe is quite easy to make, the only part that I find it a bit tough is when I use the round cookie cutter to cut out the shape, I couldn't quite lift the disk nicely, it'll break somewhere.......hmm, or maybe I rolled it out too thin (??) or maybe it's testing my patience....haha

So, this is the recipe, give it a try, because I think Egg Tarts are a favourites to the young and old ........Happy Egg Tart baking!

EGG TARTS
(Makes about 13-15 tarts)

For the Sweet Shortcrust Pastry

125 gm butter, cold and cut into cubes

60 gm castor sugar

250 gm plain flour

1 egg yolk

½ tsp vanilla essence

1 Tbsp water

For Egg filling

(A) 250 ml water and 125 gm sugar – boil to dissolve the sugar and let cool

(B) 5 eggs and 100ml evaporated milk – mix together

Method

To make the Sweet shortcrust pastry

1. Sift the flour and sugar into a mixing bowl.
   
2. Rub the cold butter cubes into the flour mixture until it resembles coarse crumbs.
   
3. Add in the egg yolk, essence and water.
   
4. Shape dough into a ball and refrigerate for about 1-2 hours before using.
   
5. Pre-heat oven to 180~C, take the dough out from the fridge and roll out the dough on lightly floured surface with a rolling pin.
6. 
   
   Use a round cookie cutter to cut out a disk shape and mould it into your greased tart pan.
   Tips: do not poke holes on the pastry with fork , this will enable the egg filling to sip out later when you bake. I learn my lesson on this one :(
   
   
7. Put some beans into the tart to weigh down the pastry when baking and bake at 180~C for 10 - 12 minutes. Let it cool slightly before putting in the egg filling.
   

To make the Egg Filling

1. Mix (A) and (B) together and train to remove any coarse materials and bubbles.
   
2. Pour the egg filling into the half baked tart shells.
   
3. Bake at 180~C for 20 minutes. Let cool on wire rack and slowly take out the egg tarts and ready to serve.
   

Happy Egg Tarts Baking!

MY “DOME” CHICKEN PIE (3 of 4)

After completing the two non-bake cheesecakes, I continued to get my ingredients ready for the "DOME" Chicken Pie that the kids ordered. It's actually pretty simple and straight forward, nothing too fancy though. Just refer to the below ingredients , and like I named it, it's my version of the "DOME" Chicken pie that one of my good friend (Winnie) introduces me when we had lunch at The 'DOME' Cafe at 1Borneo quite some time ago. Give it a try, because it's really simple and tasty too for both young and old. Happy Chicken Pie baking!

MY 'DOME' CHICKEN PIE

Ingredients for the filling

300-350 gm of chicken breast, diced

Some cornflour for marinating

2 tsp of soya sauce

200gm packed frozen mixed vegetable, defrost

1 can (290gm) Campbells PREGO Cheese & Herbs Cream

Some oil for cooking

4 - 5 pieces of puff pastry – 5inch x 5 inch (you can buy the ready-made ones from any supermarket)

4 – 5 ramekins ( I use the 4 inches in diameter ones)

Method:

1. Marinate the chicken meat with cornflour and soya sauce, leave aside.
   
2. Heat the sauce pan with tbsp cooking oil, and sautéed the chicken.
   
3. Add in the mixed vegetables and stir-fry for a few minutes.
   
4. Add in the Cheese and herbs cream. Use the emptied can, refill with half –can of water , stir and pour into the saucepan.
   
5. Cook for a few minutes, turn off the heat.
   
6. Spoon the chicken filling into the ramekin (should make about 4 – 5 ramekins) and covered it with a piece of the puff pastry. You will need to use some egg white to seal the sides of the bowl by pressing it with your fingers. Don't forget to use a scissor to cut an 'X' on the top-centre of the puff pastry to let the hot air escape when baking.
7. 
   
   Bake at pre-heated oven at 180~C for 20 minutes or until the puff pastry is golden brown and cooked. Enjoy!
   
   

   

   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   

Happy Pie Baking!