When life hands you lemons....

I mope around for a while, feeling like I'm not coping with anything.... and then I make lemon slice :-)

I have been playing with a camera that is not quite new, but that I have never really taken the time to learn about.  And the fruit on the lemon tree in our backyard is just ripening.  Recipe for the lemon slice comes from the Women's Weekly 'Cook' book -  my kitchen Bible!

Tangy Lemon Squares

Base

125g butter, softened

1/4 cup icing sugar (powdered sugar)

1 cup plain flour

Lemon curd

3 eggs

1/4 cup plain flour

1 cup caster sugar

2 tsps finely grated lemon rind

1/2 cup lemon juice

Preheat oven to moderate (180'C). Grease circular springform pan.  Beat butter and icing sugar in small bowl with electric mixer, until smooth.  Stir in 1 cup sifted flour. Press mixture evenly over base of pan, bake, uncovered for about 15 mins or until lightly brown.

Place eggs, caster sugar, 1/4 cup plain flour, rind and juice in medium bowl; whisk until combined.  Pour egg mixture over hot base.  Bake, uncovered, about 20 minutes or until firm. Cool in pan on wire rack.  Run knife around edge of pan, then release springform to remove slice.  Dust with extra icing sugar.

I hope your lemons are turning into yummy lemon slices this week :-)

Chocolate pudding that any mug can make!

Here it is, the recipe for chocolate pudding, also known in this house as 'the best ever use for spare mugs'....

Ingredients -

125g melted butter
125g melted chocolate (I used the cooking choc chips and melted in a glass bowl over a pot of boiling water).
3 eggs
3 tablespoons plain flour
3/4 cup sugar
mixed berries and cream to serve

Preheat oven to 190 deg C (375F).  Mix the melted butter and chocolate together.  Add the flour, sugar and eggs to the mixture, stirring thoroughly.  Pour the mixture into 4 x 1 cup capacity ramekins (or spare mugs), that have been lightly greased.  Bake for 25 mins, or until cooked when tested with a skewer.  Dust with icing sugar and serve with berries and cream (optional).

These are divine when eaten warm, from the oven.  They also kept well in the fridge overnight, and were just as yummy when eaten at room temperature, or heated in the microwave, the next day!

I wish I had a lovely artsy photo of these beautiful puddings to add in here... but I don't.  My kitchen is dark, poky, and impossible to get a good photo in... and the puddings never last long enough to take outside for a decent shot!

I can't take credit for the recipe - it comes from a shopping centre calendar that my dear mother-in-law gave me for Christmas... thanks Southgate Shopping Centre!