I have a great memory. I remember lots of random facts (I’m good at trivia), can recite a song’s lyrics word for word after only listening to it a few times and I can sit and quote movies/television for hours (Scrubs, The Wedding Singer and Love, Actually are favourites). Also, I never, ever forget a birthday, but I managed to let the first birthday of this very blog slip my mind last month!

Butter Sugar Flour was created on July 8, 2007 and a whole year, plus a bit more, has already passed. This blog has been a very welcome addition to my life as it’s allowed me to to be more creative in the recipes I try and it has sparked a love of photography that I never expected. Through the blog I’ve managed to make ‘meet’ fellow bloggers (a shoutout to Matt, Ellie and Joy!) and although I can get lazy with posting sometimes, I really do love working on this blog and reading everyone’s comments makes me happy :)

So happy first birthday and a special hip, hip, hip hooray for Butter Sugar Flour and with 150, 000+ hits and counting, here’s to another year of yummy recipes and ’sweet’ times!

Chocolate Marshmallows

To celebrate the blog’s first birthday, I wanted to make something special, but different, and I thought chocolate marshmallows would be perfect. I’ve never made marshmallows before and I think it’s great fun to try something new. They are incredibly easy to make, especially if you have a stand mixer and a sugar thermometer.

Recipe adapted from the classic marshmallow recipe by Thomas Keller.

20g powdered gelatine

330g (2 cups) sugar

100ml glucose syrup/corn syrup

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 teaspoons Dutch-processed cocoa powder

icing sugar and Dutch-processed cocoa powder, to dust

1. In a 20cm square cake tin, liberally dust the surface with icing sugar. Set aside.
2. Place the gelatin in a bowl of a stand mixer with a whisk attachment ready, add 80ml of water and allow to stand for 10 minutes.
3. In a small saucepan, combine sugar, syrup and 80ml of water. Place over medium heat and stir until dissolved. Boil until the sugar syrup reaches 121 degrees Celsius or the hardball stage (drop a teaspoon full of the syrup in a small bowl and you have reached hardball stage when you it sets quickly into a ball and only compresses with firm pressure, but stays sticky).
4. With the stand mixer on low speed, in a slow, steady stream, pour the syrup into the gelatin mix. Mix until dissolved. Increase the speed to high and beat for 8 minutes or until thick and fluffy. Do not overbeat or they will be tough. Sift in the cocoa powder and mix for a few seconds.
5. Spread the marshmallow mix into the prepared tin and smooth the top with a spatula. Set aside for at least 5 hours or overnight.
6. Using a lightly greased knife, cut the marshmallows into squares and roll in a mix of icing sugar and cocoa powder to coat.

Mmm, I love lemons! Sometimes only seen as the sour yellow cousin of the mighty orange or the accompanying friend in many an alcoholic beverage. They are one of the very few fruits which can be used well in both sweet and savoury dishes and they are available all year long.

I’ve used them as the star in a few recipes on this blog (see here and here) and once again, the spotlight is on them. The cooler months produce the best citrus and this winter, the lemons have been absolute beauties.

So, what to make with the big bag of lemons I bought from the market last week? A lemon tart of course! This humble tart has kind of lost it’s popularity throughout the last decade and I don’t really know why. You can’t really go wrong with a slice of rich buttery pâte sablée encasing a delicious, tangy lemony filling. It makes me drool even just writing about it!

It’s a shame the lemon tart isn’t as popular as it used to be. Bring back the lemon tart I say, let it reign supreme once again!

Lemon Tart with Candied Lemons

Adapted from a recipe in Australian Gourmet Traveller, August 2008.

4 eggs

400ml cream

150g caster sugar

4 lemons, juiced

zest of 2 lemons

Candied lemons

2 small lemons, thinly sliced

250g caster sugar

Pastry

(I used the pastry recipe in my mango tart recipe)

1 ½ cups plain flour

½ cup icing sugar

¼ teaspoon salt

125g cold unsalted butter, cubed

1 large egg yolk

1. Process all ingredients for the lemon filling in a food processor until just combined. Transfer to a large jug or bowl and refrigerate until the froth separates from the liquid. This should take a few hours.
2. For the candied lemons, place lemon slices in a saucepan, cover with cold water, bring to the boil, then drain and repeat 4 times. Combine sugar and 250ml water in a separate saucepan, bring to the boil, stirring to dissolve sugar, then add lemon slices and cook over low heat until tender and translucent (30-40 minutes). Cool.
3. For the pastry, whizz the flour, sugar, butter, salt and zest Add the butter and whizz until it becomes pebbly, with large bits and small bits. Add the egg yolk and a tablespoon of water and combine until the dough comes together. Turn the dough onto a floured surface and lightly knead for a minute. Wrap the dough up and place in the fridge to rest for 30 minutes. Roll the dough out between two sheets of non-stick paper and line a 22cm (9 inch) fluted flan tin. Place in fridge for 30 minutes to chill and rest. Remove the lined tin from the fridge.
4. Preheat the oven to 175°C. Blind bake for approximately 15 minutes or until the exposed edges are a very light brown. Remove the baking paper and weights. Reduce the oven temperature to 150°. Meanwhile, skim top of lemon filling to remove froth, pour into pastry case and bake until just set (30-40 minutes). Cool to room temperature in tart tin, place candied lemons on top and serve.

Serves 8.