Lemon & Coconut Impossible Pie

Our neighbours invited us over for dinner last weekend and I was asked to bring a dessert. I love it when I get to make dessert. My lemon tree is still laden with fruit so my first inclination was of course something lemony. On Christmas day my contribution to the family table was a citrus curd tart – a recipe I’d tasted at a recent potluck lunch at work. The general consensus of my family was that they’d prefer the tart to be a little more... well... tart! That was not a surprising comment given that the recipe called for a mixture of orange and lemon juice. From memory I also used tangelo juice since I happened to have one in the fridge. Here’s the recipe which I think came from some egg promotion recipe book.

Citrus Curd Tart
Serves 4-6

Ingredients
4 eggs
1 cup sugar
½ cup melted butter
2 teaspoons grated lemon rind
2 teaspoons grated orange rind
1 cup desiccated coconut
½ cup flour, sifted
½ cup lemon juice
½ cup orange juice
1 cup milk

Method
Preheat oven to 180 degrees C/ 350 degrees F
Grease a 20cm (8 inch) diameter pie dish (I used a cake tin)
Place all ingredients in a food processor and blend until mixed
Pour into the pie dish and place in the preheated oven
Cook for 45 minutes or until firm and golden brown on top
Serve sprinkled with icing sugar

For Saturday’s dinner I figured I’d just make the same citrus curd tart but use all lemon juice and see how it turned out. Could I find the recipe? No of course not. I googled “lemon coconut impossible pie” and came up with this link

Lemon & Coconut Impossible Pie

Ingredients
60g (2 ounces) soft butter
½ cup self raising flour
¾ cup caster Sugar
¾ cup desiccated coconut
3 large eggs
grated rind of 2 lemons (or limes)
½ cup lemon juice (or lime)
1 cup of milk

Method
Put all ingredients except milk into a mixing bowl and beat with a balloon whisk until combined
Add milk and whisk for 1 minute
Pour into a greased 23 or 25 cm (10 inch) pie plate and cook in a preheated moderate oven(180C/350F) for 50 to 60 minutes until gold brown and set
Test with point of a knife inserted in centre. It should come out clean
Stand for 10 minutes before serving
Serve warm with cream or ice cream (we had ours cold and it was fine)



My version of impossible pie turned out a little less eggy and a little more cakey than the previous recipe I’d used but it was definitely more lemony. Next time I might add a tad more lemon juice and see if that alters the consistency too much. I served it with fresh strawberries and blueberries and some Kapiti Lemon Meringue Pie flavoured icecream on the side. Kapiti’s Lemon Meringue Pie icecream won the supreme award at the 2006 New Zealand Ice Cream Awards (I didn't even know there were such awards) and I can see why it won as it was the perfect balance of rich creaminess and tangy lemon flavour. I hope they keep it as a regular flavour.

Our neighbours are passionate gardeners and they have a lovely outlook over the golf course. Imagine having this view from your kitchen/dining windows – isn’t it peaceful.

Well I never - a Meme

Early in December Barbara at Winos and Foodies tagged me for a meme.

Not only was December was a bit busy but I struggled with the theme of the meme which is why it’s taken me so long to answer. Barbara’s meme was warm and feel good while mine is just goofy, although mostly true.

10 things I’ll never do...

1. Bungy jump – not even for a frillion dollars*
   
2. Have laser eye surgery
   
3. Eat a bug on purpose
   
4. Wear a thong bikini in public (not that I actually own one but I'm just sayin')
   
5. Be a brain surgeon
   
6. Dot my i's
   
7. Get my brain around sudoku
   
8. Finish anything I start
   

*A bonus point or perhaps even a mystery prize to the first person who correctly guesses the origin of the monetary reference.

And just so y'all have something visual attached to this post - look at what the cat was playing with the other night!

In researching the weta I found out that its name is derived from the Maori word wetapunga which translates roughly to "God of Ugly Things" - well they got that right don't you think. The body of the weta at my back door was about 4" long and about as fat as my thumb and I'm glad I discovered it on my wall and not in my bed or in the toe of my shoe.

Is it a bird? Is it a plane?

No it's Comet McNaught which was discovered by Australian astronomer Robert McNaught on August 7 last year. He discovered the then faint comet on a photograph taken at the Siding Spring Observatory in New South Wales. On January 13, its orbit takes the comet within a distance of 25.4 million km or one sixth the distance of the Earth from the Sun.

The comet is going to be visible in the Southern Hemisphere for a few more days yet. I'd love to see it with my own eyes but I live inland and have issues with buildings impairing my view not to mention very crappy weather of late so I will have to content myself do with these terrific photos my brother took in Wellington a night or so ago.





This is the first picture "autocorrected" with my pathetic computer photo editing program. Isn't it pretty?

What I'm doing this weekend

... I'm going to Quilt Symposium Manawatu

The event opens at lunchtime today and runs through til Wednesday the 24th of January. I have a friend coming from Wellington to stay and I hope to have the chance to catch up with friends from my old quilt groups over the weekend. There's the usual associated activities - exhibitions and a merchants mall; the latter representing a major threat to my wallet despite my groaning fabric shelves. I mean really - you can't go to an event like this and not buy something. Need is such an ugly word don't you think?

I've registered for two classes:

On Monday it's Artist Trading Cards with Jan Mullen of Stargazey Quilts. I've been a admirer of Jan's work for a long time and I love her fabrics - they're so bright and vibrant.


On Tuesday I'm doing a class called The Art Quiltlet with Deanna Hartman which I hope will stretch my artistic ability (or lack thereof) a little.

Both workshops involve small projects and there's a slight chance that I might actually finish something.

I'm also going to three lectures. Priscilla Bianchi will share her experiences about about how she started quilting (and got hooked); and how she overcame obstacles living in Guatemala without any quilting tradition, community or resources. My houseguest is doing Priscilla's workshop. Lecture two is Jan Krentz who is going to present a collection of her work including recent quilts seen from her three books. I have her Lone Star quilt book and it is pure eye candy. Finally, Jane Sassaman will give a pep talk and slide show about accomplishing your work in spice of obstacles - family life, space limitations etc.

See you in a few days.

Nana's Shortbread

I know you're so excited about the prospect of being organised for Christmas that you can't wait for another recipe to add to your collection of Christmas treats. This one is in memory of my Nana who passed away in September 2005 at the ripe old age of 94. Nana was Scottish and she made the best shortbread in all the world - not that I am in any way prejudiced. Christmas isn't quite the same without Nana's and her shortbread and although Mum and I make it to Nana's recipe we never seem to be able to achieve the same tender, melt-in-your-mouth result that Nana did. Having said that Mum definitely makes better shortbread than me.

Scottish Shortbread

Ingredients
1/2 pound unsalted butter
1/2 cup sugar (caster/superfine is preferable but regular sugar works OK)
1/2 cup cornflour (cornstarch)
2 cups all purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt (not necessary if using salted butter)

Method
Cream butter and sugar together
Add dry ingredients
Knead lightly
Shape into rolls and refrigerate until firm enough to slice
Slice as thin or as thick as you desire
Prick with fork
Bake at 150 degrees C/300 degrees F until golden

Golden being a relative term. You can see from the picture that some of the pieces are a little brown around the edges. That's a personal thing - I like mine a little crispedy (thanks Lis for that wonderful word - I've been waiting for an opportunity to use it).

Peanut Brittle

Did you survive the Christmas/Holiday season? Did you make a resolution to try and be more organised for next time? Well why not start planning early for Christmas 2007? Here's the perfect recipe for you to add to your Christmas candy collection ....

I like to give homemade goodies to friends and colleagues at Christmas time and thought I would treat them to some US peanut brittle. Unfortunately we don't get Karo syrup in New Zealand and our equivalent, liquid glucose, is not that easy to find. Mind you that's probably a good thing or else I'd make peanut brittle more often. You can buy liquid glucose at Zarbo who sell online but I managed to find some at a local bulk bin store in a 400 gram jar. They told me that it's used as an ingredient in liqueur making.

Here's the recipe I used which came from a friend in Ohio who got it from a friend who probably also got it from a friend. Anyway, it's delicious!

Peanut Brittle

Ingredients
2 cups sugar
1 cup light Karo syrup
1/2 cup water
1 cup butter (250g in NZ speak)
3 cups RAW spanish peanuts (little red skin ones) - I used a packet of blanched ones
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda

Note: Use wooden spoon for stirring!

Method
In a 5 quart (large!!) sauce pan (heavy duty), heat together over medium heat the sugar, Karo and water
When boiling, blend in butter
Stir frequently after reaching 230º
Add nuts and salt when it reaches 270º
Stir constantly until 305º is reached
Remove from heat quickly and stir in soda and pour onto 2 buttered baking trays
Spread with the back of your wooden spoon
Cool and then break into pieces
Makes aproximately 2 and 1/2 cups
Store in an airtight container (like it's gonna last that long!)

As you can see from the photo I used one of those silicon baking sheets on my cookie tray. It worked a treat.


In case you are wondering, the addition of baking soda to the mixture serves two purposes. 1: it lightens the colour of the finished product by aerating it and 2: it's what makes peanut brittle "brittle". Without the soda it would probably be rock hard and break your teeth.

Scooter helps with the laundry

Happy New Year

Just in case you were wondering if I had fallen off the face of the earth I thought I should post something but since I've not been very creative in the kitchen lately this is the best I could come up with.

Scooter thinks that any pile of clean laundry is a special little bed just for her. She doesn't actually look very comfortable but perhaps she was just annoyed at me taking her photo.