Lemon Tart
Lemon tart is a classic French pastry, which has long been loved by almost all countries of the world. It has a thin base and a refreshing sweet and sour lemon filling that make people experience delight from the first bite. It has a delicate and creamy texture. Lemon tart is very fragrant and bright cake with a lemon cream, while the whole taste is framed by the airy French meringue. It has a very rich flavor and aroma and a long aftertaste.
To make a lemon tart, one will need several ingredients such as wheat flour (1 glass), butter (300 grams), powdered sugar (2 glasses), cream 20% (5 tablespoons), 4 lemons, 7 eggs, and sugar (1 glass). First of all, it is necessary to cook dough by mixing the flour with powdered sugar and then adding 150 grams of butter. Then, it is necessary to gradually pour in the cream, lay out the dough in the baking form and spread the parchment paper on top. The oven should be heated to 200 degrees. The cake should be baked for 15 minutes. After the removal of the parchment, it should be baked for another 10 minutes. Then the caked should be cooled completely. The cream has t be prepared in advance. First, the lemon zest should be placed in a bowl with lemon juice. 6 yolks and 1 whole egg should be whisked with sugar. After this, the juice should be added, and the mixture has to be set on slow fire. As soon as the mixture warms, the remaining 150 grams of butter should be added. Stirring constantly, one should wait for the mixture to thicken. It is possible to add some gelatin to the cream so that the finished product does not spread. After this, it is important to cook the meringue by whipping 6 egg whites with powdered sugar. The cream should be put on the cake, and the meringue is put further on top. Then, the cake should be put in the oven for 3-4 minutes so that the meringue slightly browns. The lemon tart can be served with fruits like strawberries. It is especially good for brunch or an afternoon tea.
Macaron
Macaron is a small cake made from crushed almonds and meringues. It was invented by Pierre Defontaines in the 1930s, swiftly becoming a traditional French dessert (Rogers, 2010). The process of baking macaroons is definitely not easy. The success depends on the quality of the almond flour which should be fine and dry. When cooked correctly, macarons indeed melt in the mouth.
To make this cake, it is necessary to take such ingredients as almond flour (2/3 cup), powdered sugar (1.5 glasses), 3 egg whites, 5 tablespoons of sugar, and 1 tablespoon of the vanilla extract. The oven should be preheated to 120 degrees and the baking tray should be covered with baking paper. Next, powdered sugar and almond flour should be mixed. The egg whites should be whisked with sugar and vanilla extract, and after that, the flour should be added. The mixture should be homogeneous but not liquid. Then, the dough should be put into a pastry bag and squeezed onto a baking tray in the prepared mugs. It should be baked at 150 degrees for around 15 minutes. The simplest filling for macarons consists of soft butter (7 tablespoons), 2 raw yolks, powdered sugar (1/4 cup), milk (3.5 tablespoons), vanilla extract (1 tablespoon). The butter should be cut into pieces and softened. After this, it is necessary to whisk yolks with sugar, add milk, and whisk the mixture again. It should be put on the oven and cooked until it thickens. Then, the mixture has to be cooled to room temperature. To make it creamy, the butter should be added. Finally, the filling should be spread on macarons so that it occurs in the middle between the two halves.
This exquisite pastry should be better served in the special stands. At home, it is better to pick the plates of unusual shape, carefully putting macarons in a fancy row. Yet, it is also possible to experiment by making the real “towers” from this delicate pastry, putting the macarons at the different levels of the stands. This two-sided almond cake is crumbly, crispy, and slightly dry, which adds to its fragility and tenderness. Overall, macarons are best accompanied with berries, yet they can be a self-standing delicacy served for a tea.
- Rogers, T. (2010). Macarons: The heir to the cupcake craze. Salon, March 3, 2010. Retrieved from: https://www.salon.com/2010/03/03/faddy_food_macarons/. Accessed March 18, 2019.
