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Friday, June 10, 2011

Free-form Pear & Raspberry Tart and Little Lime & Coconut Friands

Yesterday in the midst of trying to be social media savvy, lunch dates, scripting my pilot, and putting the wrong kind of fuel in the car I was driving...I therapeutically did a little baking too!

I had a bunch of egg whites left over from something I made the other day and a whole heap of lime juice I had squeezed, so I thought I would make coconut-lime friands.  I snagged the recipe out of my Women's Weekly Cook and made a few adjustments (they were a little too sweet so I have cut the sugar back by a half cup).  For those of you who are not familiar with friands, they are very popular in Australia basically a nice little cake, primarily made with almond meal instead of flour and lots of egg whites which makes them gluten free.  They are yummy and moist and perfect with a cup of tea or coffee.


(GF) Little Lime & Coconut Friand Recipe
6 egg whites
185g butter (melted)
1 cup almond meal
1 cup icing sugar (powdered sugar)
1/2 cup flour
1 tablespoon lime zest
3 tablespoons lime juice
1/3 cup dessicated coconut

1. Preheat oven to 180C/350F degrees and lightly grease mini muffin pan holes, or regular sized.
2.  Place egg whites in a medium bowl, whisk lightly to combine.  Add butter, almond meal, sifted sugar, coconut and flour.  Stir to combine and then add lime zest and juice and stir just to combine.
3.  Divide among holes and top each friand with coconut or sliced almonds.  Bake for about 15 minutes and then let stand 5 minutes before removing onto a cooling rack.  Enjoy!

Next I decided to whip up a little tart for dessert last night.  This is a very EASY recipe and I promise you can do it too.  I had some extra pie dough in my fridge left over from last week, so that is what inspired me.  I also had some leftover mascarpone cream which I thought would be perfect to serve it with.  For a quick and easy dessert it was perfect, we enjoyed it with a warm after dinner drink.  Yum.

Free-form Raspberry & Pear Tart
pastry dough
2 pears
1 cup raspberries
1/3 cup raw or brown sugar
2 tablespoons butter

1.  Prehear oven to 200C/375F.  Roll out the dough on a flour surface, not to thin.
2. Peel and dice pear.   Mix with raspberries and toss with sugar.  
3.  Put pie dough onto a baking tray and pour ingredients into the center of dough.  Sprinkle with pieces of butter and a little more sugar if needed.
4.  Fold the sides of dough up around the fruit and pinch together where needed.  Use a pastry brush to brush the edges with cream or a little egg yolk and sprinkle with raw sugar.
5.  Bake for 45 minute or longer depending on how soft you want the fruit.  Serve warm with ice cream or whipped cream.  Enjoy!



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