Lemon Berry Tartlets

I’ve been making this recipe for years, now.  It’s one of those desserts that look very fancy and tastes great, yet takes hardly any effort to create.  Though you can make it in a traditional tart pan, there is something so fun about making mini ones! I made these individual portions in a muffin tin, so that they would be easy to eat with your fingers.  The crust is the cookie tart pastry which I also used for the strawberry tart.

Lemon Berry Tartlets

Ingredients:

Cookie Tart Pastry

1/2 cup lemon curd

8 oz. cream cheese, softened

3 cups assorted summer berries

Method:

1. Bake cookie tart pastry; remove from muffin tin and cool on a wire rack.

2. Beat lemon curd and cream cheese together in a medium bowl.

3. Spread mix into cool crusts and refrigerate for at least one hour.

4. Arrange berries on top. Store covered in the refrigerator.

 

Cookie Tart Pastry

Ingredients:

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 cup butter

2 Tbsp brown sugar

1 large egg

Method:

1. Heat oven to 400*F (200*C).

2. Mix all ingredients until dough forms. Press firmly and evenly into a 12 count muffin tin.

3. Bake 10-12 minutes, or until light brown; cool.

Original recipe from: http://www.bettycrocker.com/recipes/lemon-berry-tart/0ef75e86-22aa-4978-b192-a2ad1d19ae73?sr=2&st=7#/?term=lemon+berry+tart&pi=1&mr=10

 

Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup Cake

Pure, yummy decadence!  I have never been a huge fan of Reese’s Cups, so I probably would have passed this one by if it wasn’t for my husband who is ADDICTED to them.  I found this recipe right after he was interviewed for a promotion and promised to make this as his celebratory cake if he got the job.  So, here it is!

What really makes this cake shine is the peanut butter icing.  It is uber fattening, but the calories are all worth it!  😉  Rich, creamy. Lush.

Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup Cake

Ingredients:

2 sticks butter, softened

1 1/2 cups sugar

2 large eggs

2 egg yolks

1 tsp vanilla

1 cup milk

2 cups flour (I used a mix of whole wheat and plain..worked fine)

1/2 cup unsweeted cocoa powder

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda (bicarbonate of soda)

1/2 tsp salt

Reese’s Cups to decorate

1 batch of Creamy Peanut Butter Icing (recipe follows)

Method:

*Preheat oven to 350* F (160* C)

1. Cream together butter and sugar.

2. Add eggs and yolks, one at a time and stir until mixed.

3. Add vanilla  and milk; give a quick stir to mix.

4. In a small bowl, mix together all the dry ingredients. Slowly add to wet ingredients, stirring to mix.

5. Divide batter between two greased and floured 9″ round cake tins.

6. Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.

7. Cool in pan for 5 minutes, then remove to a wire rack to cool completely.

8. Meanwhile, freeze Reese’s Cups.

Creamy Peanut Butter Icing

Ingredients:

2 cups powdered sugar (icing sugar)

2 cups creamy peanut butter

10 tbsp butter, softened

1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 tsp salt

2/3 cup heavy cream (double cream)

Method:

1. Combine powdered sugar, butter, and peanut butter in a food processor and pulse until smooth.

2. Add all other ingredients, except heavy cream, and stir until smooth.

3. Add heavy cream and beat vigorously until completely smooth.

4. Fill and frost completely cool cakes.

5. Remove Reese’s from the freezer and chop into desired shapes. Decorate.

6. Cake must be refrigerated!

Recipe from: http://www.cooklikeachampionblog.com/2010/08/reeses-cup-chocolate-peanut-butter-cake.html

Pan-fried Salmon with Mushroom Sauce

Some meals come together purely by chance.  I found this amazing recipe the other week only because I had a bunch of mushrooms that wouldn’t have made it past the day.  So rather than waste, I did a quick search…and I’m so glad I did!  The mushroom sauce is full of flavor and really seems to add some flair to such an otherwise simple meal.  Plus, it only takes about 5-10 minutes from start to finish.  (I do like my quick food!)

Try it on chicken or turkey as well!!

Pan-fried Salmon with Mushroom Sauce

Ingredients:

a small knob of butter or 1 tbsp olive oil

2 Salmon filets

1 tbsp butter or marg

salt and pepper to taste

4 oz mushrooms, sliced

1 small onion, chopped finely

1 tsp dried parsely

1/4 tsp salt

1 tbsp flour

1/2 cup milk

1/4 cup white wine

Method:

1. Heat pan to medium. Once hot, add butter or oil.  Fry salmon, skin side down, for 5-6 minutes, until crispy. Don’t forget to season with salt and pepper!

2. Flip salmon to flesh side, cover with a nice sturdy lid, half remove from heat, and let steam for another 4 minutes. Remove from heat and let rest, covered for another 5 minutes.

3. Meanwhile, make sauce by melting butter in a saucepan.  Add onions and mushrooms and saute until tender.

4. Season with salt and parsley.

5. Add flour, stirring to coat.

6. Add milk, whisking continuously until sauce begins to thicken.

7. Add white wine and boil gently for 1-2 minutes.

8. Serve over salmon.

Recipe adapted from: http://www.food.com/recipe/baked-salmon-with-mushroom-sauce-73975

Fruit Bouquet

Have you ever had someone send you a fruit bouquet?  There is something so appealing about eating fruit that is cut into pretty shapes!! Fun and fanciful, it is the perfect way to get your little ones to try new fruits.  I made this fruit bouquet for Myles’s second birthday party.  It was the first time I’ve ever tried this, and I was surprised at how easy it was to make the different shapes.  And, as it only took about an hour from start to finish, even super busy moms can bust this out for a special event.   🙂

Fruit Bouquet

Ingredients:

1 honeydew melon

1cantaloupe

1 lb red grapes

2 pints strawberries

1 pineapple

skewers, flower styrofoam, and a pretty container

Method:

1. Use a melon baller to make small balls of  cantaloupe melon. Peel and slice pineapple and cut into flower shapes. Skewer.

2. Hull strawberries. Skewer.

3. Wash grapes. Skewer4-5 per stick.

4. Cut honeydew into leaf shapes. Skewer.

5. Arrange by sticking ends of skewers into the styrofoam filled container.

Prawn Pasta with Lemon Yoghurt Sauce

In an effort to broaden my son’s rather limited palate, I am constantly searching for new, yet familiar recipes.  So when I found this little gem featuring one of his favorite foods, greek yoghurt, I knew that I had to try it! I made mine completely vegetarian, but added prawns to my husband’s dish to appease his carnivorous needs.

Verdict: light and scrummy; quick and easy to prepare.

Prawn Pasta with Lemon Yoghurt Sauce

Ingredients:

1 Package Whole Wheat Pasta

1/2 cup plain greek yoghurt

1/4 cup parmesan cheese, shredded

1 tsp lemon zest

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp ground black pepper

1 Tbsp olive oil

2-3 medium zucchini, cubed

8 cherry tomatoes, halved

a handful of spinach, roughly chopped

2 handfuls of fully cooked prawns

Method:

1. Cook pasta according to package’s instructions.

2. Mix sauce by adding together yoghurt, parmesan, lemon zest, salt, and pepper together in a medium bowl.

3. Heat olive oil over medium-high heat.  Add zucchini and cook until soft.

4. Add the tomatoes and prawns, cooking for 3-4 minutes.

5. Add spinach, cooking until just wilted.

6. Remove from heat, tossing together the veg, pasta and sauce. Serve sprinkled with freshly ground black pepper and grated parmesan.

 

original recipe from: http://www.ezrapoundcake.com/archives/13338

Strawberry Tart

Le sigh…

Some desserts look even better than they taste.  And when they taste this good, that is saying something!  I found this recipe when I was looking for a nice, fresh sweet for Father’s Day.  We had invited my father-in-law and sis-in law down; it was the first dinner party that we had after Spencer was born, so I needed to find something that was rather light and easy to prepare.  So, with that in mind, I ousted the complicated sweet short crust pastry that was called for and replaced it with my bog standard Betty Crocker Cookie Crust.  It’s ridiculously simple, only 4 ingredients!  And, as the tart calls for only plain strawberries, a tart shell and a pastry cream, this entire recipe came together in little to no time.  Which is good, cause it disappeared even quicker.

Yum.

Strawberry Tart

Ingredients:

1 sweet tart shell, fully baked

1 batch pastry cream

1 lb. fresh strawberries.

Method:

1. Fill tart shell with pastry cream.

2. Hull and slice strawberries, reserving one for the middle.  Arrange in a circle, starting on the outside working in.

Cookie Tart Pastry

Ingredients:

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 cup butter

2 Tbsp brown sugar

1 large egg

Method:

1. Heat oven to 400*F (200*C).

2. Mix all ingredients until dough forms. Press firmly and evenly into an ungreased 11″ tart pan.

3. Bake 10-12 minutes, or until light brown; cool.

Pastry Cream:

Ingredients:

2 cups whole milk
1/2 cup + 1 tbsp sugar
2 large eggs
4 tbsp unsalted butter
1/4 tsp salt
3 tbsp cornstarch
1 tsp vanilla extract

Method:

1. Pour the milk into a heavy saucepan. Add the salt, place over medium-high heat, and bring to just under a boil, stirring occasionally.

2. Meanwhile, whisk together the cornstarch and sugar. Add the eggs and whisk until smooth.

3. When the milk is ready, slowly drizzle about 1/3 of the hot milk into the egg mixture, whisking continuously. Pour the egg-milk mixture back into the hot milk and continue whisking until the custard is as thick as lightly whipped cream, about 2 minutes. The mixture must come to the boiling point, which produces slow random bubbles.

4. Remove from heat and immediately pour through a sieve into a bowl.

5. Stir in the vanilla extract. Let cool for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

6. Cut the butter into 1 tbsp pieces and whisk into pastry cream 1 tbsp at a time until smooth.

7. Pour into bowl or pastry shell and cover with plastic wrap so that a skin does not form.  Chill for at least 1 hour.

Recipe adapted from: http://confessionsoftart.blogspot.com/2009/04/fresh-strawberry-tart.html