Showing posts with label simple desserts. Show all posts
Showing posts with label simple desserts. Show all posts
Water Lily Pie. What's in a name. Deliciously different.
I was kind of feeling like baking something today, but was really unsure as to what it was I actually wanted to bake.
I went into my studio/office to look through my books and see if I might find something which caught my eye.
Very early on in my blogging days I made friends with a fellow blogger named Susan Bellah Dahlem. She has/had a blog called Not Quite June Cleaver.
I am pretty sure it was the June Cleaver tag which attracted me to the blog because I am a lover of anything June Cleaver-ee, June having been my ideal wife/mother when I was growing up.
Even someone who considered themselves to not be quite June was very appealing to me. Susan and I connected and somehow became friends and have remained friends to this day.
A number of years back she published this Pie cookbook. Not Quite June Cleaver Bakes a Pie. It is filled with everything to do with pie. Crusts, fillings, hints tips, family favourites, recipes with a history, tarts, resources, etc.
It caught my
eye this morning . . . I suddenly I fancied pie, and when I was ruffling through it looking for a recipe, the
Water Lily Pie really caught my interest.
It sounded simple and unusual . . . easy to execute, and I happened to have everything in the house to make it.
I bet you do too.
It really only takes a few ingredients.
Eggs. Sugar. Butter, and some flavourings (almond and vanilla). Oh yes and some cream of tartar.
It was very simple to put together. You just separate the eggs, whip sugar into both the whites and the yolks . . .
The whites get whipped into a stiff meringue with half the sugar . . . and the yolks get whipped until light, with the other half of the sugar, and then you add butter and flavourings to them.
The white meringue forms a type of crust . . . almost like a Pavlova . . .
Golden and crisp on the outside and marshmallow-like inside . . .
The yolks beaten with the flavourings and butter get poured into the centre of the whites prior to baking and they create an almost "Butter-tart" type of filling . . .
I don't know about you, but I totally adore butter tarts . . .
When it came out of the oven I wasn't quite sure if I had done everything right. I have never seen a Water Lily Pie before . . . but then I looked up water lilies and found this image and it looked kind of like the pie turned out looking like, so I figure I got it just right.
It is fabulously delicious . . . I think this is one of the nicest desserts I have baked this year.
And yes, I only meant to try one little bite . . . but after one bite, I couldn't help myself. I ate the whole piece of pie.
It really was THAT good . . . . I just kept digging my fork into it and before I knew it, the piece was gone, gone gone . . .
I had to cut another piece for Todd . . . .
and now I am thinking that this pie is far too dangerous for me to keep around for very long . . .
Too, too, too dangerous. I better invite someone over to help us eat the rest.
Water Lily Pie
Yield: makes 1 nine inch pie
A deliciously unusual pie recipe that I got from a book written by my good friend Susan Dahlem. It is maybe not the most attractive pie, but what it lacks in looks, it more than makes up for in taste! You are going to love LOVE this!
ingredients:
- 3 large free range eggs, separated
- 190g granulated sugar, separated (1 cup)
- 115g butter (1/2 cup) at room temperature
- 1/2 tsp almond extract
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/4 tsp cream of tartar
instructions:
How to cook Water Lily Pie
- Preheat your oven to 150*C/300*F/gas mark 2.9. Butter a 9 inch pie dish and dust lightly with flour. Set aside.
- Separate your eggs, putting the whites in one (scrupulously clean) glass bowl and the yolks in another smaller bowl. Add the cream of tartar to the whites and beat with an electric whisk until light and then continue to beat whilst adding half of the sugar (95g/1/2 cup) until very stiff peaks form. Set aside.
- Beat the butter along with both flavourings. Beat the egg yolks until light, then continue to beat whilst adding the remaining sugar. Beat in the butter mixture. Set aside.
- Spread the egg white mixture into the prepared pie dish, spreading it to cover the bottom and up the sides of the dish and leaving a bit of a hollow dip in the centre to about 1 inch of the sides all the way round. Carefully pour/spread the egg yolk mixture into this hollow area.
- Bake for 55 to 60 minutes until the crust/meringue is golden brown and the filling is set. Allow to cool completely before serving.
- Fresh fruit and berries go very well.
If you are looking for a simple and easy dessert pie that is sure to impress, don't look any further. This is the one! It might be kind of ugly, but it makes up for its looks in flavour. We enjoyed it with some sliced berries. You can buy Susan's pie book on Amazon. I highly recommend. I have never baked a recipe from it that wasn't totally delicious. I think you would like it too!
This content (written and photography) is the sole property of The English Kitchen. Any reposting or misuse is not permitted. If you are reading this elsewhere, please know that it is stolen content and you may report it to me at: mariealicejoan@aol.com
There used to be a big old family restaurant on the Main Street where I lived a good part of my childhood called Eisner's Restaurant. It was a family run place and "THE" place to go if you wanted a nice place to take the family for special dinners, or to meet up with your friends or social groups for nights out and celebrations.
They served great food! Going there was a real treat. One of the most popular items on their menu was the "Seafood Platter" which had lobster, shrimps, clams, scallops, fried fish, coleslaw and chips. It was a huge platter and meant only for the heartiest of appetites. Luckily you could also buy a "Half Seafood Platter!
Every Tuesday night they had Banana Split nights. You could get a Banana Split for half price. My mom and her friend Marlene used to go and treat themselves to a Banana Split every Tuesday night. It was a great night out for them! My parents also used to go there regularly for coffee.
They shut down the Town Cinema and turned that into a family type restaurant and pub with music and Karaoke, and then Tim Horton's got built just two doors down from Eisner's and so it was only a matter of time before they ended up closing the restaurant, which was kind of sad I thought. It was like they were shutting down a town institution . . .
I was thinking about my mom and how much she enjoyed those Banana Splits the other day. I had seen a recipe on line for Mini Cinnamon Sugar Churro Bowls on Tablespoon. They were created using the smaller tortilla boats and were filled with a variety of mousses.
I thought to myself that this simple idea would work also for creating Churro Banana Split Boats, except you would have to use the larger tortilla boats, because well . . . banana splits are large!
They were a very simple make. I simply brushed each tortilla boat with some melted butter and sprinkled them with cinnamon sugar, baking them in a moderately hot oven until crisp and golden.
Then I made my candied flakes almonds to sprinkle on top. Oh boy but these are some good and they, too, are a very easy make. I could just munch on them. You could also sprinkle them with sugar to continue the churro theme if you wanted to.
Into each baked churro boat went one banana sliced in half lengthwise . . .
On top of the sliced banana went three small scoops of a good vanilla ice cream. I used Cornish Clotted Cream Ice cream . . . yum!!
Each ball got their own drizzle of sauce . . . chocolate fudge . . . strawberry and toffee . . .
Then some softly whipped cream got dolloped on top of the ice cream . . .
Finally I sprinkled on the candied almonds, which I broke up and crumbled a bit, leaving a few whole . . . toasty and crunchy and scrumptiously nutty.
Really they should have been topped with a maraschino cherry (with a stem) to finish them off perfectly, but I didn't have any on this particular day. These were simple, delicious and very easy to make and then went down a real treat. I remembered my mom and how much she enjoyed her banana splits with every mouthful
Churro Banana Split Boats
Yield: 4
Simple and delicious. Your family will love this quick and easy dessert!
ingredients:
For the Churro Boats:
- 4 Stand and Stuff soft Tortilla boats
- 4 TBS butter, melted
- 2 TBS granulated sugar
- 2 tsp ground cinnamon
For the Candied Almonds:
- 50g of toasted flaked almonds (generous half cup)
- 100g caster sugar (1/2 cup)
You will also need:
- Vanilla ice cream for scooping (3 small scoops in each boat)
- 4 small bananas
- chocolate, strawberry and caramel sauce
- whipped cream
- maraschino cherries (optional)
instructions:
How to cook Churro Banana Split Boats
- First make the churro boats. Preheat the oven to 200*C/400*F/ gas mark 6. Line a small baking tray with baking paper. Whisk together the sugar and cinnamon. Brush the insides of each tortilla boat with some melted butter. Shake on some of the cinnamon sugar, shaking off any excess. Brush more butter on the outsides of the tortilla boats and sprinkle with the remainder of the cinnamon sugar. Place onto the paper lined tray. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes until crisp and golden. Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely.
- To make the candied almonds, have ready a lightly buttered baking sheet. Toast the almonds carefully in a skillet, over medium heat, stirring constantly. Tip out into a bowl. Add the sugar to the skillet and let it sit, undisturbed until it begins to melt. Swirl every now and again until it is completely liquid and turns a golden caramel colour. Don't be tempted to rush this process as you will end up with burnt sugar. Medium heat is sufficient. Remove from the heat. Tip in the almonds, stirring to coat. Pour onto the prepared baking sheet and tear them apart with two forks while they are still hot, breaking them up into little clumps. Allow to cool completely. Remember hot sugar is HOT. Don't touch.
- Place a tortilla boat onto one each of four dessert plates. Peel and slice the bananas in half. Place two halves in each boat. Top each with 3 small scoops of ice dream. Drizzle the syrups onto the ice cream balls, making sure each boat has one drizzled with caramel, one with chocolate and one with strawberry. Top with the whipped cream, sprinkle with the candied almonds and cherries ( if using.) Serve immediately.
You could do a Churro Banana Split bar for children's parties if you wanted to, making up the churro tortilla boats ahead of time and then just providing the other makings for kids to make them up themselves. In that case I would also add some dandy sprinkles, M&M's etc. Kids would really love this idea!
This is a recipe I was working on posting when I got the news earlier this week that my mother had passed away. I couldn't quite bring myself to finish the post, so it has sat here all week in limbo waiting. Today is the day of my mother's funeral. I cannot be there which really breaks my heart. I still can't quite bring myself to believe that she is gone . . .
I've been trying to stay super busy all week so that I don't have to think about it all. As soon as I stop and slow down, the tears come and my heart feels as if it is going to break in two. They tell me that with time this lessens, and the sadness is replaced with happy memories. I hope that is true.
This was a dessert I prepared earlier this week when our friends Tina and Tony came to us for lunch. Its a bit of a cheat really, as it uses only 5 ingredients, and those are all store cupboard ingredients . . . things you are likely to always have in the house.
Tinned sliced peaches, a vanilla cake mix, butter, soft light brown sugar and chopped walnuts . . . that's it!
You layer the ingredients in a baking dish, beginning with the undrained peaches . . . I used peaches in juice, but you could also use peaches in syrup. It depends on how much sugar you want to ingest.
After that you sprinkle the cake mix over top. The original recipe used a yellow cake mix, but we don't get those over here. We do get vanilla cake mix and that is what I used. I am sure any cake mix would work. Spice, lemon, anything but chocolate.
Over the cake mix you layer on slices of butter. Just dab them here and there, trying to cover as much of the cake mix as you can. I cut the butter very thinly.
You sprinkle the brown sugar over top of the butter slices . . . I push it through a sieve so that there are no lumps, but you don't have to do that if you don't want to. I'm just pedantic like that.
I just try to sprinkle it over as evenly as I can . . .
Finally, chopped walnuts are scattered over top . . . and then it is popped into the oven.
Where somehow, magically . . . some of the cake mix sinks into the peach juices thickening them into a sauce . . .
and the cake mix that doesn't sink works together with the butter, brown sugar and nuts to make a nutty crunchy topping. It just works. I don't know how, but it does. Its delicious.
Yield: 8
Peach Crunch Cake
prep time: 10 minscook time: 45 minstotal time: 55 mins
A bit of a cheat, but delicious nonetheless. Very simple to make and uses store cupboard ingredients.
ingredients:
- 2 (215g) tins of sliced peaches in juice, undrained (24.5 ounces)
- 1 (425g) vanilla cake mix (family size vanilla or yellow cake mix)
- 125g butter, cut into 16 pieces (1/2 cup)
- 200g soft light brown sugar (1 cup, packed)
- 45g chopped walnuts
To serve (optional):
- custard, pouring cream or vanilla ice cream
instructions:
- Preheat the oven to 180*C/350*F/ gas mark 4. Layer all the ingredients in a 13 by 9 inch baking dish (or 8 individual single serving dishes), beginning with the peaches. Sprinkle the cake mix evenly over top of the peaches. Lay the butter slices over top of the cake. Sprinkle on the brown sugar, evenly, then sprinkle with the chopped walnuts. Bake in the preheated oven for 40 to 45 minutes, until golden brown and bubbling. Serve hot or cold with custard, pouring cream, or vanilla ice cream.
Created using The Recipes Generator
I like to serve this warm with either vanilla ice cream on top or with pouring cream or custard. Todd likes the custard. Tony wanted both cream and custard. Tina took the cream. Me . . . ice cream all the way. I am such a North American. Bon Appetit!
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Welcome, I'm Marie
Canadian lover of all things British. I cook every day and like to share it with you!
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