Coconut Slice

It's been about a month since I've baked. Yesterday I decided, today was the day... what to make?! I love Coconut Slice, so here we are.

As usual, I searched the net for the most appealing recipe... here's where I found it http://www.channel4.com/4food/recipes/baking/biscuits/coconut-slice-recipe

Rub the flour and butter together until it's a crumbly texture. With a spoon, mix the egg yolks in then add and mix in the water. It's a fairly moist dough so I needed to keep cleaning my hands in order to press the dough into the tin. I questioned the fact that it didn't ask for the base to be blind baked. So I decided that I would go with my gut and blind bake it for 10mins. Fingers crossed...

Whenever I have had this slice in the past, it has always contained Raspberry Jam, which is also what the recipe asked for. I remembered that I still had jars of Plum Jam I had made earlier in the year, so why not use that instead?! What I also loved about using my homemade jam, was the fact that all the ingredients were preservative free... never a bad thing! So after the base came out of the oven, I spread a very generous layer of the jam over it ( I didn't follow the amount on the recipe).

Last stage of preparation, and what really gets me excited about eating this slice, the toasted, sweet and sticky, coconut top! Whip the egg whites until you get soft peaks ( remember, room temperature eggs always whip up a lot quicker ). Fold the mix of coconut and sugar into the egg whites with a large metal spoon. Finally, spread the coconut mixture over the jam and place in the oven for 20mins ( or until golden brown ). I placed it on the top rack to ensure the base stayed light in colour.

For the next hour or so, while the slice was cooling, of course I was questioning whether I had made the right decision by rebelling and blind baking the base. Time to taste and see how I'd done... my initial reaction was, perhaps I should have followed the instruction. It wasn't bad but as I'm quiet hard on myself, I felt it wasn't great. So I left  for work a little bummed. As always, I took a few pieces to share with some of my work friends. Still questioning the base, I eagerly anticipated the opinions of my taste tester's. I was extremely happy and relieved to hear the reactions were unanimous... It's delicious, Kylie and the base is a winner.... YAY! Of course I was then ready to try it again. Yep, Delicious! For some reason I always forget that refrigeration really can help in rounding out the end result... 

I'm always a little heavy handed with my portioning so I only got 15 pieces. Slicing it into 21 pieces, as the recipe recommends would make ample portions.

Enjoy ;)

P.s. One particular work friend had agreed to be my Food Critic once I got this blog up and running. So far he has been very happy to taste my makings and always has encouraging feedback. Hopefully soon I'll get some of his own words to "quote", so It's not always just from my perspective... hint hint ;)

• 7 tbsp plum jam
• 3 egg whites
• 100g caster sugar
• 150g desiccated coconut
• Toasted coconut flakes (from health food shops), optional

        For the base

• 100g butter, plus extra for greasing
• 200g self-raising flour
• 50g caster sugar
• 2 egg yolks

Lime and Lemon Tart

I looooove Citrus anything. So, the reason for baking this was simply my palate!

... Just to go back a bit though, I feel I need to reiterate that I am very new to baking. I'm making no excuses, just need to be clear on that point...

I only truly discovered my love for baking in the last year-ish. I have always been far more into savoury dishes.

Anyway, back to the title of the blog...

Like most recipes I've used of late, I found this via Google. Going through a number of recipes, I decided on the Lemon Tart from the Exclusively Food site http://www.exclusivelyfood.com.au/search?q=lemon+tart. This would've been a Lime Tart but unfortunately, Limes are so expensive at the moment so I decided to make it with both Lemon and Lime.

I really wish I had have read all 3 pages provided, properly before getting started (always leaving things last minute ;p). I started preparation at 11am and expected I'd have the Tart cooked and ready to pop in the fridge before heading to work at 2.30pm, then I read on... Make pastry and refrigerate for 2-3 hours... Ummm, oops!! Long story short, I rushed the pastry step! So now, I write this, waiting the 2 hours resting time for my second attempt at the pastry.

To be continued .....

..... Continue ( better late than never ) ...

The pastry has rested for the required time, so it's time to roll it out. This was definitely the most time consuming part of the recipe. It is a fairly crumbly pastry which means it was very delicate. Turning regularly and also moulding the edges is an absolute must. Once rolled, gently place the pastry into the tin (Unfortunately, I don't have a tart tin so had to use a spring tin), which proved quiet difficult. As I very carefully rolled it over the tin, it fell apart....argh! So I then had to put the pastry back together on the bottom and around the sides of the tin, smoothing it with my fingers. Like I said, a long process but when I saw the result, it was well worth it. In fact, I think I will use this pastry recipe for a lot of my sweet pies in the future..

The filling was easy and deliciously citrusy. The only thing I didn't agree with in the instructions, was the time needed to thicken. It took about 12mins. But as the recipe says, if you run your finger along the spatula and it creates a line it's ready. So that is a good measure to go by I think. 

Baked, rested and chilled, it's time to slice it up to take to some of my Taste Testers at work. I took the tin out of the container and.... lost the function of my hands. The tart fell and exploded onto the floor. As I stood, starring in disbelief, I took a deep breath, (stamped my feet just a liitle) and had a giggle! What else could I do?!

So I repeated all of the above steps a couple of days later and you can see the result for yourself. 

I had some Macadamia Nut Honey I got from Tasmania so I put a teaspoon of that into the cream, whipped it up and served it.... Chilled! All in all, a successful recipe.

Pastry
162g (1 cup plus 1 tablespoon) plain flour
38g (1/4 cup) self-raising flour
60g (1/3 cup, firmly packed) pure icing sugar, sifted
100g cold butter, chopped into about 15 pieces
1 large egg yolk (we use eggs with a minimum weight of 59g)

Lemon Filling
4 large eggs (we use eggs with a minimum weight of 59g)
40g (2 tablespoons plus 1/2 teaspoon) butter, chopped into a few pieces
166ml (2/3 cup) cream (35 to 40 percent fat)
166ml (2/3 cup) fresh lemon juice
200g (3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons) sugar

Pastry
Place plain flour, self-raising flour and icing sugar in a food processor and process on medium speed for about 20 seconds to combine the ingredients.

Lemon Melting Moments

I decided on this recipe as my first entry because it was the first time ( since being a child ) I realised that I loved to bake, found it so relaxing and wasn't too bad at it either.

I saw these made on MasterChef and had always thought they'd be a hard recipe to get right. So I bought the Magazine, aproned up and took it on! This recipe has never failed me. I failed it once by using "icing mixture", we live and learn! I have made them a number of times now and they are always a hit.

There's nothing I would change in this recipe. I love how the Passionfruit butter compliments the Lemon biscuit... delicious!!

200g plain flour

100g cornflour

225g unsalted butter , softened

80g icing sugar, sifted + extra for dusting

3 lemons, zested

1tsp vanilla extract

1/4tsp salt

Passionfruit Filling

4 passionfruits, pulped

200g icing sugar, sifted

1tbsp liquid glucose

80g unsalted butter, softened

Preheat Oven 170C. Sift flours and salt in a bowl. In another bowl, cream butter and sugar. Add lemon zest and vanilla, then gradually beat in flour until it all just comes together.

Roll a heapish tsp of dough into a ball and place on a lined baking tray. Using a floured, flat bottom glass, flatten balls to 3.5cm ( I use the 1/8 measuring cup and flatten to size ), then with a floured fork mark the biscuits. Bake for 12 mins, swapping trays half way, or until biscuits are light golden. 

Meanwhile, press pulp through a fine sieve ( I use a lemon juicer), saving the seeds. Place 2 tbsp juice, 3 tsp of pulp, softened butter, icing sugar, and liquid glucose into a bowl. With an electric mixer, beat until fluffy. Refrigerate for 30mins.

Spread filling on one biscuit and sandwich with another biscuit. Dust with icing sugar. 

Makes approx 20