Lemon Curd

Lemon Curd

This is another one of my ‘not really baking’ recipes but having some great lemon curd in the cupboard makes for some fantastic cakes and is fabulous in homemade bread!  The recipe is based on one given to me by my mum several years ago – I have altered it slightly so it has less butter in it.  Later this week I am going to use some of it to fill a Swiss roll (when my new Swiss roll tin arrives in the post!)

Lemon Fork Biscuits

I seem to have a bit of a lemony theme going on at the moment – I must try a bit of variety!

I have made these biscuits as a gift for my neighbour who looked after my pets whilst we were on holiday.

I love fork biscuits, they are so easy to make and I usually have all the ingredients I need without going out to the shops especially.

For these biscuits I creamed together 100g soft butter and 50g sugar with the zest of one lemon.

Then I added 150g self-raising flour and mixed it all together to form a smooth dough.

I rolled the dough into walnut sized balls

and pressed each ball down with a fork.

They were then baked for about 20 minutes in at 160C (fan) oven until they were lightly golden and crisp.

The same recipe can be used to make orange or lime fork biscuits or some of the flour could be substituted for cocoa.  They could also be made with cinnamon or ginger added with the flour.

Lemon and Blueberry Drizzle Cake

I made this delicious cake to take on a holiday and share with friends.  It is a traditional lemon drizzle cake with added blueberries (from the garden) which add a bit of interest.  I forgot to take photographs when I was making it but basically butter and sugar are creamed together along with the zest from 2 lemons, then eggs are beaten in and flour folded in.  The blueberries are added at the last minute and just gently folded in – if you toss them in flour first it stops them all sinking to the bottom.  The cake is then baked.  I made it in a very large loaf tin – about 30cm x 15cm.  The juice from the lemons is then mixed with icing sugar and, whilst the cake is still hot, holes are poked in the cake with a skewer and the icing is poured over.  The resulting cake was very popular and lasted only one day!

Lemon Cookies

I love lemon cookies but have never tried making them before.  Having a lemon which needed using was the reason for making them today.

The resulting cookies have a sugary, crunch crust and a soft and chewy lemony crumb.

First I creamed together some butter and white sugar and then, when the mixture was pale and smooth, a beat in an egg, some vanilla, lemon zest and lemon juice.

I then mixed in some flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and salt and mixed everything together to make a smooth, soft dough.

Small balls of the dough were rolled in sugar and then placed on a lined baking sheet well spaced out.

They were then baked at 175C for about 10 minutes until a the cookies were a pale golden colour and with a crackled appearance.