Adding a tang to Easter

So, how was your Easter? Did you eat way too much chocolate? Did you drink too much beer/wine/whatever floats your boat? Last night did you vow only to eat carrot sticks for the next month? Well, if you said yes to all of the above, sounds like you had a pretty good Easter break!

Easter for me was a little different than past years. It was the first time since my son was born that I didn't share the joys of discovering what treats the Easter Bunny had left for him on Easter morning. I have loved seeing the excitement and shock across his face when he's come out of his bedroom to find evidence that the Easter Bunny has been to our house and even better, left him some delicious chocolate. The first Easter he was only about 9 months old, so instead of lots of chocolate, he got a few toys and chocolate custard. The next Easter he was old enough to eat chocolate and of course the family took full advantage of that - he had chocolate coming out of his ears! His third Easter he got pretty spoilt again, mainly because it was around the time his Dad and I were getting separated and I think we both just wanted him to have a great day and be spoilt by everyone and anyone. This Easter we were all pretty good. He spent Easter day with his Dad, which meant the Monday was our day. Even though it was only a few people around for lunch, I wanted to make it special by baking some fresh and Eastry desserts. It was lovely and even better, the Easter Bunny made a surprise stop at our house even though Reuben wasn't there. How exciting!

Lemon Tart

Sweet Shortcrust Pastry
2 cups plain flour
pinch salt
125g chilled butter
1 tbs icing sugar
1 egg yolk
2 - 3 tbs icy water

Grease a medium pie/tart tin and set aside. In a food processor, add the flour, salt, butter, icing sugar and egg yolk. Mix on a high speed until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. Slowly add the icy water as the processor is still going. Stop mixing when the dough forms a ball. Remove from the processor and roll out between two sheets of baking paper until the dough is about 0.5cm thick. Carefully roll the dough into the tart tin, pressing the sides and base down and leaving the edges too long and hanging over the sides. Place in the fridge to rest for about 30 minutes.

Lemon curd
1 cup caster sugar
3 tbs corn flour
5 - 6 lemons, squeezed
2 tbs butter

In a small/medium saucepan, add the sugar and corn flour and mix until combined. Add the juice from the lemons and whisk until combined (make sure there's no lumps). Turn the hotplates on to a medium heat and constantly whisk the lemon mixture together for about 5 - 6 minutes until it starts to thicken. Once thick, allow the mixture to bubble for about a minute to ensure the corn flour is fully cooked off. The mixture should resemble a very thick custard or jam. Remove the mixture from the heat and cover until ready to fill pastry shell.

Final steps
200mL thickened cream

Pre-heat oven to 180 C. Remove the tart shell from the fridge. Trim the edges and using a fork, prick some light holes in the base of the tart shell (this will stop the pastry from rising and bubbling in the oven). Pop in the oven to bake for about 15 - 20 minutes, or until a light golden brown. Remove from oven when ready and allow to cool before adding the lemon mixture.

Whip the cream until thick. Pour the lemon mixture into the shell then top with the cream. Pop in the fridge until ready to eat. ENJOY!

I've made the below carrot cake twice on this blog (here and here), but this is just another way to serve it. Was delicious as always ;-).