Recipe: Caramel Meringue – Edmonds Cookbook

This recipe is copied directly from my 1962 edition of the Edmonds Cookbook, as requested by Carol on 26 August in a comment on my Anzac biscuits recipe. Carol, I trust this is the recipe you’re referring to!

Caramel Meringue

• 3 ozs butter
• 1 1/2 tablespoons sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 breakfast cup flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• pinch of salt

Cream butter and sugar, add egg and beat well. Add sifted flour, baking powder and salt. Roll out on greased paper (about quarter-inch thick). Bake 10 to 15 minutes at 375 degrees Fahrenheit.

FILLING:

• 1/2 tin sweetened condensed milk
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1 tablespoon golden syrup
• 2/3 teacup brown sugar
• 2 egg yolks
• 1 teaspoon vanilla essence
• 1 1/2 tablespoons flour

Put condensed milk into a saucepan with butter, golden syrup, sugar, egg yolks and vanilla. Warm the mixture, then add the flour. Pour over the bsicuit mixture. Cover with meringue made with 2 egg whites beaten stiffly, then add 4 tablespoons sugar. Bake about 40 minutes at 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Cut while hot.

link: yoghurt/yogurt tartlets

On Friday I made a potato curry with tomato and coconut milk, and decided that a nice dairy dessert would be appropriate for afters. I have lots of yoghurt in the fridge, so I decided to try the 101cookbooks recipe for yoghurt tarlets. Next time I’ll probably use ground flax and sunflower seeds instead of some of the flour and butter, and maybe I’ll put some of the oats in the food processor, instead of leaving them whole … but basically, it’s a great recipe, with very little sweetener. I didn’t use any sugar, but used silan (date syrup) in the crust, and maple syrup (as per the recipe) in the filling. Highly recommended!

Unfortunately, I wasn’t convinced that they were going to be successful, so I ended up making a pavlova as well. I’m out of white sugar (semi-intentionally), so used brown sugar instead. The end-result was a pretty colour and one of the nicest, highest pavs that I have made. Next stop – creme caramel, to use up my five egg yolks!

Recipe for Pavlova (Schaum Torte)

This is my father’s recipe, inherited from his mother, written down for me in 1995 by Peter Haines, the man privileged to have received it in writing from my father. I grew up watching dad make this without the recipe and always assumed that none existed. My fondest memories of this pav are licking the beaters – a memory that I re-enact every time I make it. As far as I’m concerned, no-one has an excuse to complain about pesach cooking - the treat that is pavlova is as kosher for pesach as macaroons … and far more delicious. 

 

pavlova

• 4 egg whites
• 8 oz castor sugar
• 2 level teaspoons cornflour
• 1 teaspoon vinegar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla essence
• pinch of salt

1. Beat egg whites until very stiff (your arms that is: make sure the whites are stiff also).
2. Mix sugar, cornflour and salt.
3.  Add above to egg whites one spoonful at a time, beating vigorously after each addition.
4. Add vinegar and vanilla and beat again.
5. Spoon onto baking tray.
6. Cook in oven preheated to 300 F and turned down to 140 F, for 45 minutes.

simmer down notes:

• Anyone who tells you that pavlova requires whipped cream and fruit before earning the title “Pavlova” is lying.
• HOWEVER … the classic rendition of pavlova topped with whipped cream and strawberries is a winner.
• To use up the leftover egg yolks, I recommend making a mock-carbonara sauce for pasta. That post is to follow … although it’s not really in the spirit of the upcoming pesach festival.
• An alternative and probably very unpopular use for leftover egg yokes – add them to an omelette! Who wants an egg white omelette when lovely, rich egg yolks are to be had??

recipe: cake

Lemon-iced Poppy Seed Cake

cake

• 250g butter
• 250g castor sugar
• 4 eggs, beaten
• 250g self-raising flour
• grated zest and juice of one lemon
• 100g poppy seeds

icing

• 250g icing sugar
• grated zest and juice of two small lemons

Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, a little at a time, stirring in between each addition, until mixture is smooth and all the eggs have been incorporated. Sitr in the flour, and then beat in the lemon juice, zest, and poppy seeds.

Spoon mixture into a buttered and lined 8-cup capacity loaf pan or cake tin and bake for about 1 hour, or until golden and springy to the touch.

Remove from the oven and leave to cool for about 20 minutes in the pan. Turn onto a wire rack and leave until completely cold.

To make the icing, sift the icing sugar into a large bowl, add lemon zest and enough juice to give icing the texture of thick pouring cream. Spread icing over the cold loaf using a palette knife and leave until set.

simmer down notes:

• I took the cake out of the oven at about 45 minutes and it was a bit over-done. That could be the fault of my oven, I think it isn’t calibrated correctly, I have to get a gadget to measure the temperature in there.
• The juice of two lemons in the icing was a bit too much – one would have done the trick, but maybe I had a juicy lemon (and I have an excellent lemon squeezer).
• Other highly recommended lemon poppy seed cakes:

recipe: semolina cake

Semolina Cake 

Originally uploaded by sonnnia

Heat oven to 180 degrees Celsius 

Cake:

• 2 cups semolina flour
• 1 cup sugar
• ½ cup oil (corn, canola, or vegetable)
• 1 cup yoghurt
• ½ teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon vanilla sugar
• ½ cup rose water (or half a cup of water with drops of rose essence added)
• ¼ cup blanched almonds (and halved if you can be bothered)

Syrup:

• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup water
• juice and zest of half a lemon
• ½ teaspoon ground cardamom 

Combine semolina and oil. Add remaining ingredients except almonds. Grease baking dish, pour mixture in and smooth with a spatula. Arrange almonds in rows. 

Bake for about 1 hour.

Prepare syrup towards end of cooking time. Cook for 10 minutes on low heat. Remove cake from oven and cut into squares. Pour syrup on top of cut cake while both are still hot.

other new things

Recently, both our baby and I have been doing new things – he’s been doing more than me. My new things are few so I’ll tell them first – I cooked wheat berries (why berries? I’m confused by that – isn’t it just … wheat?). I’m sure there was something else new but can’t remember what.

The baby has been rocking on his hands and knees, and jumping forward, and scooting all over the place. He has also, for the last month, been sleeping, in a way that enables me finally to realise why people refer to a certain kind of sleep as sleeping like a baby. At nights he sleeps between 10 and 12 hours – so ladies, don’t let anyone tell you that the boob won’t give him enough sustenance to last the night: since four months, he’s been sleeping all night.

He has also been grabbing both feet and putting them into his mouth, which he seems to find pretty satisfying.

three new things

Our lovely boy did all of the following on Tuesday 11 March, at the ripe age of three months: 

1. Grabbed his foot
2. Turned from his back to his front
3. Started blowing raspberries

a very basic salad

Cut the following into fine strips (I use a mandolin, if you’re capable of making julienne strips without such an aid, good for you):

• carrot
• cucumber
• red capsicum
• fennel bulb

Mix together the following in quantities that seem sensible:

• canola oil
• sesame oil
• apple vinegar
• rice wine vinegar
• brown sugar
• soy sauce
• ginger (powdered or grated fresh)
• chilli powder

Cook some three-minute noodles, toast some sesame seeds, put everything in a bowl, EAT.

12 and a half weeks

I’ve been noticing lately that our lovely boy:

• Has very active and expressive eyebrows – even if they are somewhat sparse
• Is still a very patient and calm little person
• Can go 4.5-5 hours after his morning feed before getting antsy for more food
• Only eats for about 10 minutes when he’s hungry … much longer if he’s sleeping like during night feeds, or if it turns into a comfort feed; I’ve been pulling him off once in a while but only after reasonable amounts of time (according to me, that is), and for the sleepy feeds he usually continues sleeping so I’m pretty sure he doesn’t mind
• Grabs toys in a fairly determined way
• Stuffs things in his mouth, mainly his fingers – either a selection of two or three, or all four (haven’t graduated to a thumb yet) – but also his blankets if we let him
• Laughs and talks all the time and smiles readily at strangers – sometimes those who talk to me but mainly those talking to him

simple pleasures at 10 weeks

Today my lovely boy and I went for a big walk, halfway through which I bought pastries and sat down for a coffee and an almond croissant. We went to a few parks: one where we walked down an olive tree lined path, one where we lay under carob trees, and one with a big sculpture dedicated to Herzog.

At home, worn out by all the parks and fresh air, he fell asleep and I managed to do a load of laundry and paint my toenails – something I’ve been waiting to do for about a month, if not longer.

Other things that our gorgeous boy is doing:

• moving his legs at the same time
• lifting his legs up in a not-related-to-gas way – apparently it’s the beginnings of thinking about turning over
• batting and grabbing at toys in a more organised way
• lifting himself pretty high on his arms, and on Monday February 18, at 10 weeks and 3 days, he rolled over from his belly to his back
• sleeping more! Friday night and Sunday night he only got up to eat ONCE in the night

He also let me make eggplant involtini last night (I have another recipe to post! it’ll happen eventually) and allowed us to eat chocolate croissants and coffee this morning.