Oh Lemon!

 Oh how I love lemons! Especially those beautiful, fragrant Meyer lemons. My tree hasn't been especially 'fruitful' this year but luckily the local fruit shop has been. So when I brought home a lovely little bag full yesterday I just knew that I NEEDED to make a Lemon Slice. I found a recipe on Pinterest, tweaked it a little, and the result was so successful! I can see it becoming a regular on the baking list round here.

 THE BEST LEMON SLICE


Crust
1 1/2 Cups Plain Flour
1/3 Cup Sugar
1/4 Tspn Salt
1 Tbspn Lemon Zest
125 gms Butter, at room temp

Filling
4 Large Eggs plus 1 Egg Yolk
1 1/4 Cups Sugar
1 Cup Lemon Juice, strained

 Preheat oven to 170C. Grease a 25cm by 35cm Non-stick Pan.
 Mix together Flour, Sugar and Salt and then place in the bowl of a food processor. Cut butter into chunks and add to processor, process mixture until it forms fine crumbs. Press into baking pan, smoothing down with the back of a spoon. Bake for approx. 15 mins until lightly golden.
 For the filling, whisk all ingredients together in a large pot, cook over a low heat until just starting to thicken. Spread over base and bake for approx. 20 mins or until filling is just set.
 Cool completely before slicing. Store in the fridge.

YUM!

Vanilla Baked Cheesecake with Fresh Raspberries

 Okay, so it doesn't get much better than this. Creamy Vanilla cheesecake and Fresh Raspberries. Personally I think baked cheesecake 'takes the cake' over the unbaked variety. I find the latter too sickly, too cloying, too sweet. But the fantastic thing about either Cheescake is the incredible array of flavours you can make. Caramel and Ginger. Cookies and Cream. Chocolate. Choc-Mint. Lemon. Blueberry. Red Velvet. What's your favourite?

 VANILLA BAKED CHEESECAKE WITH FRESH RASPBERRIES


1x Packet plain or Chocolate Chip biscuits, finely crushed
60g Butter, melted

2 X 250g tubs of Cream Cheese (I use Philadelphia)
1 x 250g tub Sour Cream
4 Eggs
3/4 Cup Caster Sugar
2 tbspns Vanilla Essence (or use real vanilla if you're splurging!)

Fresh Raspberries
Icing Sugar

Preheat oven to 150 DegC (not fan-forced)
Combine melted butter with the biscuit crumbs and press into a greased non-stick tin. Refrigerate while you prepare the filling.
Process Cream Cheese, Sour Cream, Eggs, Sugar and Vanilla in a food processor until smooth. Pour onto chilled base. Tap tin lightly to remove any air bubbles. Place in middle of the oven and bake for approximately one hour until the centre still wobbles a little when pan is shaken lightly. Turn oven off and open the door but LEAVE the cheesecake in until the oven has cooled completely. (This helps to prevent the top of the cheesecake from cracking.)
Cool and then refrigerate until ready to serve.
Pile fresh raspberries on top of your cheesecake and then dust liberally with icing sugar.

 Enjoy!

Why Hello there!

                              These few words really spoke to me and inspired me to start this little Blog. Finally, after many years, much deliberation, lots of changes, some study (including a sizeable student loan) and plenty of frustration, I know what it is I want to do. You see, food makes me happy. Sharing food makes me happy. Being creative makes me happy. Beautiful things make me happy. So this is where it begins. Welcome! So pleased to have you here :)