Merlin's Desserts

[Merlin5]

I made creamy lemon bars and almond macaroons for a party I went to on the weekend. Haven't done any proper baking for ages but these are two sweet treats that I love.

First, lemon bars. I made the shortcrust pastry and blind baked it for about 20 minutes. The lemon filling I made with several eggs, sugar, plain flour, lemon juice I squeezed from two fresh lemons, and I used a zester to gather a bunch of zest from the outside of the lemons which got added to the lemon filling mixture. Added the mixture to the pastry, baked for about 20 minutes till it was set, refrigerated overnight, sliced and dusted with icing sugar. Hard work and many steps but worth it!

In my Paul Hollywood tin straight out of the oven.

Next, almond macaroons made with ground almonds, icing sugar, egg whites, vanilla extract and almond extract.

Adding whipped egg whites with fairly firm peaks to the ground almonds and sugar, then some vanilla extract, then a couple of capfuls of almond extract.

Smashing granulated sugar into icing sugar.

Mixture in piping bag and it made about 28 of them in all. Had to make in two batches.

Added a flaked almond to each one, some water and icing sugar before baking, this helps give them the distinctive surface cracking.

Baked.

Ready to serve at the party. They were very popular.

 

[Merlin5]

They do look good! Was it a recipe you already knew or did you find one online? I can not remember the last thing I baked, I need to find the time to do it.

Both online. The macaroons I got from this video. It's in French but pretty easy to follow what's she doing.

I also watched one or two other english videos with similar recipes.

For the lemon bars I followed this Joy of Baking video.

If you're interested in making either, here's my instructions I wrote for myself.


LEMON BARS SHORTBREAD PASTRY BASE:

Beat 113g butter (room temperature) on medium slow speed till smooth with paddle attachment.

Then add in 30g icing sugar, and beat till just combined.

In separate bowl, stir together 130g plain flour with quarter teaspoon (1g) salt.

Add to butter/sugar mixture and beat medium slow just till it comes together but don't over mix.

Put into 8 x 8 x 3 tin, smooth out and jab fork holes into dough to help keep it from lifting. (I put foil in tin and buttered it before pastry went in).

Chill in fridge for about 15 minutes

Blind bake for 18 to 20 minutes at 180c.
..........................................

LEMON FILLING:

(I USED TWO TESCO LEMONS, about 30p each)
1 cup (200 grams) granulated white sugar
1 tablespoons (5 grams) grated lemon zest ( I added about 8 or 9 grams from 2 lemons)
2 tablespoons (20 grams) all purpose flour
1/8 teaspoon salt
2 large (100 grams) eggs, at room temperature ( I actually used 3 medium sized egg yolks plus 2 whole medium eggs)
1/3 cup (80 ml/grams) freshly squeezed lemon juice (that was about one and a half of the lemons).

You'll need a little zester tool to scrape the yellow zest from the outside skin of the lemons. Don't scrape any of the white parts as they're bitter.

In a bowl, combine the lemon zest into the sugar with a fork.

Stir in the flour, then the salt.

In another large bowl, manually whisk the eggs with whisker. (Don't over whisk or lemon filling will rise too much during baking).

Then manually whisk in about half the lemon zest-sugar-flour-salt mixture to the whisked eggs until smooth, then add the rest.

Add the lemon juice and stir with spatula to combine.

Pour the filling over the shortbread crust and bake for about 18-20 minutes, or just until the filling has set. Watch the top doesn't get bubbled up brown bits.

Remove from oven and place on a wire rack to cool for about 45 minutes to room temperature.

Refrigerate the bars for about 2 hours or until firm. This will make it easier to cut the Lemon Bars.

Cut the bars into little squares and decorate with icing sugar when ready to serve otherwise the icing sugar can get absorbed and disappear a little.

............


MACAROONS:

You can do 100g ground almonds and 100g icing sugar and a couple of eggs if you want for a few less macaroons. But I always do 150g for more cookies! Buy your bag of ground almonds from Aldi. It's a 150g bag and cheap as chips. Everywhere else is very expensive!

The Pantry Ground Almonds 150g

groceries.aldi.co.uk

For about 22 to 28 macaroons:
 
150g Ground Almonds
150g Icing Sugar
3 medium egg whites
Vanilla and almond extract. (Don't buy essence, make sure they're extract)

Put ground almonds into bowl.
Sift in the sugar and mix together with fork.
Add 2 capfuls of vanilla extract to the sugar mixture.

In another bowl, whisk 3 egg whites to fairly firm peaks. (Won't drip out when you turn the bowl upside down).

Add egg white to the almonds and sugar bowl, (I add most, sometimes all of it). Fold in gently to make dough.
Add 2 capfuls of almond extract to dough.
Fridge for 10 minutes (not strictly necessary, I don't always bother).

Scoop into a piping bag and pipe small blobs onto baking paper. IMPORTANT: Must leave enough space between as they will expand.

Optional: Put flaked almond in centre of each blob.
Dab water on each, this helps develop the cracked top coating.
Dust with icing sugar. This will melt with the water, forming a crust and giving a shine.
Bake at 160c about 12 to 15 minutes.
Let them cool and spray water under baking paper to help lift them off.(but they usually come away easily with no spraying needed).

Done.

 

[Merlin5]

I want to give the lemon bars a go. Thanks!

I will try the lemon bars, they look great

Excellent! You'll love them.