Lemon Tart Love

 I had so many comments and requests for the recipe for the lemon tarts that I decided to  post it. It seems there are a lot of lemon lovers out there.The risk is now you'll all know how easy they are and I'll lose my "baking genius" reputation. Oh well ...such is life.

I love lemon tarts but had never made my own before  last weekend.  Like a complete sap - I was tripping down to Assaggio twice a week like a crack addict to get my lemon tart fill. Not anymore.

You're going to need:

Pastry

50 grams self raising flour

90 grams plain flour

20 grams caster sugar

80 grams cold butter cut into pueces

1 egg

Lemon filling

1 egg

1 egg yolk

75 grams caster sugar

1 teaspoon of lemon zest

2 tablesppons of lemon juice

50 grams of butter cut into pieces

Pastry:

Sift the SR flour , plain flour and sugar together . Place in a food processsor with the butter and process until it resembles fine breadcrumbs . Add the egg and process until it clumps together. If you're doing this process by  hand rub in the butter with your finger tips then add the egg and mix well. Knead it into a flat ball then wrap in plastic and pop it into the fridge for an hour.

Even Faster Pastry Method

Some people would call this cheating. I call it superior time management.   And it will save you getting your food processor dirty, and flour on your bench and crap under your fingernails. And if the universe didnt want you to use ready made pastry it wouldn't have allowed it to be invented. So there. And if I hadn't just dobbed on myself you never would have known that I copped out and used stuff from a packet.

Lemon Filling:

Discover at 9am on a Sunday morning you have a 1 cm square piece of  butter in the house. Send hapless husband (who didn't put butter on the shopping list when he used the last 250 grams) down  to the convenience store to buy some. Why would you need to buy from the convenience store? Because the normal shops don't open until 11 am Sundays here in order to enable everyone to go to church or sleep off their hangovers. Remind husband to steal a lemon on the way back, from the old guy round the corner that has a lemon tree that overhangs the footpath. Remind youself you really must plant a lemon tree.

When your husband returns from a 30 minute hunt for butter assume an injured air because he just paid $8.00 for a pound of butter. Convenience is expensive. Mix together the egg , extra egg yolk , lemon juice and lemon zest in a saucepan. The original recipe didn't mention where to add the sugar so I just guessed it went in at this point. Place the saucepan over medium heat and add the butter, stirring continuously until the mixture thickens and becomes translucent. Yes that's right- Stand there stirring until you develop muscles in your arm  that look like Popeye's. Apparently this step takes approximately 10 minutes but it will feel like hours.  Vow never to make bloody lemon tarts again. Review dreams of becoming the Australian version of Pioneer Woman because this baking caper is hard work . Remove the saucepan from the heat while you're ruminating on another career choice that will make you famous. Once the mixture has cooled slightly transfer it to a bowl and cover it with plastic wrap and stand to the side until it cools completely.

Pre-heat your oven to 180 C and grease a 12 hole tart or muffin pan. Remove the dough from the fridge (if you're not cheating like me ) and use a rolling pin (wave this in the general direction of your husband for fun and to watch him flinch ) and a floured board to roll it out to a 5 mm thickness (The original recipe said to roll it out to 5 cms but that just doesn't seem right does it?) Cut 6 cm diameter circles with a fancy schmancy cookie cutter so you have pretty edges and put them in the tart or muffin pan and prick the bottoms to stop them from exploding in your oven because that stuff sets like concrete and cleaning your oven is going to cut into your quilting time.

Place the tart shells in the oven and bake for about 10-15 minutes or until golden . If they end up looking slightly mutant it's OK because you can hide your mistakes with filling. Take them out of the tart pans and let them cool completely on a wire rack.  Spoon the lemon filling into each pastry and sprinkle with icing sugar. Wait for the compliments to flow. 
 

Hide at least 6 in a secret spot so you can eat them at your leisure. Let everyone else fight over the remaining 6 tarts. Enjoy!

15 Minute Challenge With Kate

I'm linking up to Kate's 15 minute challenge again this week . Pop on over to her blog for a peek. Apparently her daughter has a plan to make money on eBay from Kate's fabric stash once Kate kicks the bucket. I've already given Little Miss Sunshine strict instructions that she is to come and rescue my stash when I pop off this mortal coil or I'm sure my lovely fabric will end up at the local Goodwill.

It's been another slow paced week on the sewing front here at Maison Pyjamas but I'm enjoying it. Aside from finally finishing the Dresden blocks this week, starting and finishing a surprise project  and hand sewing  another Tis the Season block there was a lot of other slow creativity happening.

I made a label for the top secret project (all will be revealed soon )

I started making  some cupcakes of the inedible variety

Half the Dresden's have actual sashing. Now I'm stressing out about getting everything to match up at the end.

I pressed and cut half  of the red and black and white quilt into strips because if I don't get moving on that project it's not going to be done in time for my nephew's birthday in August. . By the way I just want to reiterate how much I hate pressing seams. I must really love that kid because this quilt has a billion of them.

I went mad with my rotary cutter and cut the rest of the fabric into strips ready to bang together when I get a spare 5 minutes three hours.

I have some loose goals for this week but we'll see what develops. Life is good.

Pop on over for a sticky beak at what other creative types have been up to this week.  

Pyjama Party Sunday

I must have been watching too much Masterchef or Jamie's kitchen or something because I've been a full on Domestic Goddess this weekend.  Before I donned my goddess like apron  I had to go buy new kitchen scales because my old ones  died this week after 22 years of faithful service. Kitchen scales have gone up market and are bloody expensive.  And they've gone high tech too . It's almost impossible to get ones that don't beep , read your fortune and measure your IQ  while you cook.  Naturally the ones I really wanted were 160 bucks. Calm down - I'm not completely insane. For that kind of money I can hire someone to come in and weigh my ingredients for the next 10 years . I bought a set that were much more middle of the road. I'm nothing if not sensible. 

I whipped up these lemon tarts this morning...I love lemon tart. It's my favourite dessert. These are utterly sublime. I can make that call since I've eaten 8 of them since lunchtime. Lemons are a fruit and fruit is good for you. Acid eats fat cells. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

 

Emboldened by the lack of high drama in making the tarts  I made foccacia at great personal cost,  since touching anything sticky makes me want to ralph. And yes - crumbing anything in this house is  a massive production of OCD hand washing activity.  I digress- the foccacia is yum! I'm batting two for two. Tomorrow I may just make a  croquembouche  since I'm apparently a baking genius.

I spent Saturday night transcribing recipes into the recipe book Miss P gave me for Mother's Day. Some of them had been lurking round on scrappy bits of paper since 2006. I'm over calling Patty every time I want the salt and pepper squid recipe because I misplaced it again. Now I'm all organised and feeling virtuous especially since I didn't cop out and paste typed recipes onto the pages.  Yes-I ended up with writers cramp but it was totally worth it.

I hit the motherload of crafting magazines at one of my local Op shops this weekend. I can't argue with the logic of a dollar per magazine. Where else can I buy that much fun and inspiration so cheaply?

And I finally bought some more mint to re-plant since the cats in this house seem to like killing my mint by using it as a porta-potty. I have an ingenious plan to keep this stuff alive and the cats out of the pot.  And that's how sad I am - I've spent hours plotting how I'm going to outwit two cats just so I can make my own mint sauce.

In creative news ....I started and finished a new project . I cant show you the whole thing yet because it's a gift  for a house guest I have coming to stay with me next week.

I was inspired by something I saw in one of my new  crafting magazines and hopped right on it.

And I finished another Tis The Season block. That's 6 down . Halfway there. I wonder if I'll be finished by Christmas....

I made the final 10 Dresden centres and sewed them on . I can hear you all cheering! This quilt is going to be vintage by the time it's finished.

And in the thank you department  this week, Thea sent me this gorgeous card and some of my favourite sewing needles which was incredibly fortuitous because I'd almost run out.  Thank you Thea.

Shell sent me a stitching pattern I had been coveting (after I saw her beautiful version )  as well as some other lovely  goodies. When I'm  done  I'm going to send the pattern back out into the universe thereby ensuring my place in the sisterhood of the travelling pattern club.

It's a long weekend here so I'm not going to bitch and whine tonight about having to go back to work tomorrow. I'm saving that for tomorrow's post. Right about now every one who isn't in Australia is wishing they still had a Queen rule the crud out of them so they could have tomorrow off as a public holiday.  I hope we never become a republic unless they plan to swap the Queen's Birthday for some other equally cool free day off work. 

Favourite Things Friday

It's Friday again. Time to 'fess up and share a Favourite Thing. Don't be shy ...we're all friends here. Your favourite thing probably won't be any weirder than mine. So if you want to share something cute or lovely or inspiring or wacky write a post telling all of the Blogisphere about it and link up at the bottom of this post.

Fridays roll around relatively quickly each week if my thoughts of "Is it the end of the week again already", are an accurate indication, but they seem so far away in the cold pre-dawn light of Monday. And Saturday and Sunday move at the speed of light-what's the deal with that? Why does time away from work seem to  go faster than say a Tuesday and Wednesday  ? Two days is two days - both have 48 hours. It doesn't make sense.

I love the thought  of Friday. I especially love Fridays  when it's Thursday night. Its the  anticipation  I love.  I love thinking of the 63 whole hours I have till I have to be back at work on Monday and everything I can cram into those 63 hours. Or all the things I can avoid doing in that 63 hours too. I'm seriously annoyed that I have to sleep at least 18 hours of it away.

I know that everyone loves weekends. My favourite is not unique. But when you work Monday to Friday and your butt belongs to the man for 50% of your waking hours during the week ,  the weekend is something you dream about a lot. Don't get me wrong-I do like my job - but after a work week I'm ready for something fun.

The only thing better than dreaming of a weekend is  dreaming about a long weekend. That's 87 hours of wonderful right there . 24 extra hours of fabulous I can plot and plan and play with. And when it's the last long weekend until sometime in October and you're staring down the barrel of a long cold Aussie winter you can believe I'm going to make the most of it.

Every  week I make plans for using every spare minute of my weekend and every week I realise it's the thought of having  time off and doing exactly what I want that's the thrilling part. Oh- the possibilities of having time to call my own. Anything is possible.

So my favourite thing this week is the leadup to weekend, the thought of days off that I can fill however I like and the idea that for two days (or in the case of a long weekend three days -yay!)  my time is my own to spend exactly how I want! 

Does anyone NOT love the weekends?

 

15 Minute Challenge with Kate

I'm linking up again this week to Kate's 15 minute challenge .

I've had  a re-think about the way I sew and craft and I've realised I just can't do it every day. And when I don't - I feel like a failure. Some days my creative mojo is completely absent and forcing myself to do something isn't good for my crafting karma or my disposition.

I only really enjoy sewing when I'm feeling creative and at one with my universe. And I usually  intersperse it  with wandering off to bake or read blogs or chase butterflies or play with Indy and Lola or look for lint in my belly button. Yes- I have the  attention span of a 3  year old kid.  When Kate originally started the 15 minute challenge she stated that each participant should decide what was going to work for them (15 minutes a day - 3 hours a week - whatever ) and I've decided to go back to that philosophy. So my Tuesday linky posts are destined to  become a running diary of what I've been working on  through the week,  and what my loose  plans are for the coming week.

This week, under the new world order  I finished binding three quilts and I did some work on the Dresden quilt. I'm hoping to have the Dresden top completed by the end of this month so I'm gonna be getting jiggy with it a lot over the next few weeks.   This week I sewed more days than I didn't- and a lot of it was hand sewing which I am learning to like...who would have thought that would happen!

And I am still working on this quilt although things have stalled because I passionately hate pressing seams and this quilt has 1076 of them. (OK perhaps I'm exaggerating slightly)

And I have some ideas running round in my head for this lot of fabric . Ms. Seams Inspired and I are doing a Christmas quilting project in July with the same fabrics (If I can get my act together and decide what we're going to do !)

I hope your crafting week was all you wanted it to be. Pop on over to Kate's to see what other crafty individuals have been doing this week .

Pyjama Party Sunday

Little Miss Sunshine is incapacitated  so she's asked me to take over hosting Pyjama Party Sunday for her this week. 

Incapacitated could mean so many things couldn't it? She could be in re-hab , or having a wild weekend with George Clooney  or in jail or on a secret mission for ASIO. When she wanders back to Blogland  she'll probably let you know what she's been up to  but in the meantime I'm kind of having fun making up stories about what might be going on. Feel free to spread scurrilous rumours of your own until she re-surfaces. You can also feel free to link up to this post so that fabulous people can visit to see what you spent your Sunday doing regardless of whether you stayed in your pyjamas or piked and actually got dressed.

Sunday at Maison Pyjamas was slow and lazy. I love Sundays like that.

Google Earth called and congratulated me on having a toilet paper stash that could be seen on satellite from deep space. Today I came to the realisation that when the stack is taller than you are and there are only two bums in the house you know you have a hoarding problem . You should see my toothpaste stash.

I made some more labels for quilts ...I wish I could remember my last name. I'm getting tired of leaving those spaces blank. Amnesia is no laughing matter.

I finally sewed 15 circles down to the centre of the Dresden Blocks  and I used the sewing machine to do it because I'm lazy like that. I like the way they look and I'm amazed I haven't managed to screw this project up yet.  I just keep loving it more and more.  However , it's starting to feel like I've been making this quilt since Adam was a nipper.

Suzan from  The Reluctant Quilter sent me a chocolate cake recipe this morning. Naturally I had to try it out because it had chocolate in the title. She described it as "so good you want to slap your grandma. "

She was right ....I swear I ate half a pound of frosting straight from the bowl. I couldn't eat dinner because I had totally pigged out on cake. Now I feel like throwing up.

And for all my "It's all about the process " talk recently  , I finished three quilts this week... I've been binding like a crazy lady.

First up is my Fairy Garden Quilt which I'm donating to a local women's shelter.

40 x 32 inches.

Rainbow Charlie is finished. Thanks to Ms. Seams Inspired for the name for this one.  I love this quilt. By the way I've decided that Blogland can name all my quilts from here on in and I'll give the person who comes up with the best name credit on the label , thereby immortalising you forever (or as long as the quilt lasts)

This one measures 44 inches by 58 inches

And my favourite quilt is this one...

From "A to Z for Little P" is finally finished and I adore it.

 52 inches by 68 inches : the perfect size for Little P  

I sent From A to Z  off to my magical quilting goddess  to be quilted and Sharon at Patchwork on Parade did a fantastic  job. This quilt looks ultra special and exactly like I imagined it would  (And Sharon , it was finished at 9 pm last night)

Add some fabric and op shopping to round out my week .

These dishes struck me as perfect for an afternoon tea party. More on that later this week.

I've totally blown the 100 yards thing ...just like we all knew I would. My name is Shay and I'm a fabric addict.

After 8 months of unemployment (aside from about 30 days of casual work ) Mr. P got an offer for a permanent job on Friday and starts tomorrow. To say I'm deliriously happy would be an understatement. It hadn't been a good week and this news changed everything. Thank you to all my  wonderful blog friends who have supported us with kind words , thoughts and even prayers through the last 8 months. This blogging community is an amazing place, and I'm deeply grateful to be a part of it and for the friendships I've made here.  

Enjoy the rest of your weekend and may the craft be with you. I'm off to shave my legs . I bet I lose three pounds.