Easy Lemon Mousse

Next time I would use the whole jelly to give the mousse more body - it tasted really nice.

Sponge Fingers (optional)
1/2 Lemon Jelly
Just under 1/2 pint water
170 ml Evaporate Milk Light
Juice and zest of 1 lemon

Make up jelly with boiling water and allow to partially set
Whisk evaporated milk till thick and creamy
Whisk in jelly and lemon zest and juice; allow to set slightly
Arrange sponge fingers in dish and pour in mousse
Chill until required
Serves 4

Nigella's Liquorice Pudding

I adapted the recipe to use 284 ml of cream and liquorice liqueur; to keep calories low I made 4 small mousses (290 cals a portion) 

40 ml water

40 ml liquorice liqueur

284 ml double cream

3 teaspoons cornflour

1.5 tablespoon milk

1.      Put the water and liquorice in your smallest pan and bring to the boil.

2.      Spoon the corn flour into a little bowl, cup or ramekin and whisk in the milk until you have a smooth paste.

3.      Pour this, whisking as you go, into the mixture in the saucepan. Still whisking, put the pan back on the heat and bring back to a bubble, whisking all the while, for 20-30 seconds, or until thickened.

4.      Whisk cream and then stir in liquorice mix

5.      Divide between glasses or cups and and put them in the fridge to chill for at least 2 hours or overnight.

6.      Let the puddings come to room temperature before serving. Put the soft sea salt on the table to sprinkle over as you eat, if wished. 

Rhubarb Cake

Batter was very thick so I added 1 tbsp milk to be able to stir in rhubarb

Cake

4oz (2/3 cup) sugar

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

8oz (2 cups) plain flour

2 eggs, beaten

10oz (1 cup) plain Greek yogurt

5 stalks rhubarb diced

Topping

1.5 oz (1/4 cup) brown sugar

2oz (1/4 cup) butter, softened

1oz (1/4 cup) all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Heat oven to Fan 150 / 350 degrees. Grease and flour a 9x13 inch pan.

In a large bowl, stir together sugar, baking soda, salt and flour.

Stir in the eggs and Greek yogurt until smooth, then fold in the rhubarb. Batter will be very thick.

Pour into pan and spread evenly.

In a small bowl, stir together brown sugar and butter until smooth. Stir in 1/4 cup flour and cinnamon until the mixture is crumbly. Then sprinkle the mixture on top of the cake.

Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 45 minutes. Serve with whipped cream, if desired.

If cut into 12 about 190 calories a piece

Strawberry Shortcake Cake

Made this in an apple pie dish so it had slanting sides to support extra strawberries

1⅓ cups all-purpose flour

½ cup granulated sugar

2 tsp. baking powder

¼ tsp. salt

⅔ cup buttermilk

¼ cup butter, melted

1 egg

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1 cup sliced fresh strawberries

⅔ cup heavy cream

2 Tbsp. granulated sugar

1 cup sliced fresh strawberries

1.   Preheat the oven to 350F.

2.   Grease 9-inch round baking pan. Line the bottom of the pan with parchment paper and grease the paper. Set aside.

3.   In a large bowl, whisk flour, sugar, baking powder and salt.

4.   In another bowl, whisk buttermilk, melted butter, egg and vanilla. Stir into dry ingredients just until combined and moistened. The batter will be thick. Fold in the sliced strawberries.

5.   Transfer the batter to the prepared pan and bake 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pan 10 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely. Remove paper.

Topping

1.   In a medium bowl, beat cream with sugar on high speed until firm peaks form, about 4 minutes. (The cream should become stiff and take on volume - if you take out your whisk out of the cream, the peaks in whipped cream will hold firmly but have a slightly softened tip). Do not whip much more beyond this point or the whipped cream will turn into butter.

2.   Spread the whipped topping over the chilled cake. Arrange sliced strawberries over the top. Serve immediately.

Giant Jaffa Cake

I cut off a top layer of the cake to support the chocolate icing but will post the original recipe which came from an ASDA booklet. I also used 150g of chocolate so I had plenty to spread. Flipping the jelly was not easy as I only had 2x 20cm sandwich tins so had to tidy up the sides - I don't think you are supposed to see the jelly but I think it looked ok.

Orange Jelly
2 tbsp Cointreau
2 large eggs - I used 3 eggs as I think they were medium size
100g caster sugar
100g plain flour
Orange marmalade - I used apricot jam
80g Dark Chocolate
125ml double cream

Preheat oven to Gas 4 Fan 160 Electric 180
Grease and flour a 20cm sandwich tin
Lay clingfilm in a 14cm sandwich tin overlapping edges
Dissolve jelly in 450ml boiling water and allow to cool; add Cointreau and pour over the clingfilm
Chill for at least 3 hours until set

Put eggs and sugar in a bowl and beat with electric mixer until mousse like
Sift flour and fold in
Transfer to cake tin and bake for 20-30 minutes until cake is done
Cool on wire rack

Melt the chocolate and then mix in enough cream till spreadable
Spread marmalade on top of cake
Flip jelly on to cake and then cover with the icing

Lemon Meringue Pie

This recipe is from the Stork Cookbook which I obtained in school when I was 14. I only added half the sugar as I like my lemon tart not sweet :)

Short crust pastry case or make your own
4 level tbsp cornflour
1/2 pint water
1 oz Stork Margarine
Grated rind and juice 1 lemon
8 oz caster sugar
2 eggs (I used 3 as they were fairly small)

Blend cornflour with a little water to a smooth paste
Put remaining water and stork in a saucepan and bring to the boil
Pour over cornflour and mix well; return to the heat and cook for 3 minutes
Remove from heat and stir in lemon rind, juice and half the sugar
Separate egg yolks from whites and stir yolks into lemon mixture
Pour lemon mixture into flan case
Whisk egg whites till stiff then whisk again with remaining sugar
Pile meringue onto top of pie sealing edges
If serving hot bake Gas 6 for 5-10 minutes; Cold on Gas 2 for 20-25 minutes

Tuna Patties

A nice light meal for a very hot day; served with just green vegetables

2 6-ounce cans tuna (340 GRAMS)

2 teaspoons Dijon mustard

1/2 cup white bread torn into small pieces (1 1/2 slices)

1 teaspoon lemon zest

1 Tbsp lemon juice

1 Tbsp water (or liquid from the cans of tuna)

2 Tbsp chopped fresh parsley

2 Tbsp chopped fresh chives, green onions, or shallots

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

A couple squirts of Crystal hot sauce or tabasco

1 raw egg

2 Tbsp olive oil
1/2 teaspoon butter

Drain the liquid from the tuna cans. If you are using tuna packed in water, reserve a tablespoon of the tuna water, and add a teaspoon of olive oil to the tuna mixture in the next step.

 In a medium bowl, mix together the tuna, mustard, torn white bread, lemon zest, lemon juice, water, parsley, chives, and hot sauce. Sprinkle on salt and freshly ground black pepper. Taste the mixture before adding the egg to see if it needs more seasoning to your taste. Mix in the egg.

Divide the mixture into 4 parts. With each part, form into a ball and then flatten into a patty. Place onto a wax paper lined tray and chill for an hour. (You can skip the chilling if you want, chilling just helps the patties stay together when you cook them.)

Heat the olive oil and a little butter (for taste) in a cast iron or stick-free skillet on medium high. Gently place the patties in the pan, and cook until nicely browned, 3-4 minutes on each side.Serve with wedges of lemon. You can also serve with tartar sauce on slider buns for a tuna burger.

From simplyrecipes.com