HOT LEMON AND CINNAMON FONDENT PUDDING

You all almost certainly know the famous, lustful and to-die-for hot chocolate fondent pudding.

Well, i have to admit I truly adore it, but lately I'm not in that chocolatey mood at all. So yesterday evening I thought I'd change it a bit and came up with this lovely and creamy hot lemon fondent pudding. 

I'm so proud of what I baked!

Ingredients for 4 hot lemon puddings

60 g of softened butter

      2 egg yolks

200 g brown sugar (I've used Demerara)

      50 g Corn Flour

finely grated rind and juice from 1 small lemon

200 ml Milk

1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon (or less, depending on one's taste)

a tablespoon of icing sugar for the topping

Preheat the oven to 150 degrees

Cream the butter with the sugar and the ground cinnamon until soft, add the egg yolks and beat together

Add in the corn flour, the grated rind and juice of the lemon, and then the milk. If the mixture appeared lumpy it would be a good idea to smooth it with a mixer. 

Pour the custard into 4 ramekins and bake in the preheated oven for 25 mins, or until just set.

Cool slightly and dredge icing sugar over the top.

LEMON AND POPPY SEEDS BISCUITS

Lemon and poppy seeds. Without a doubt one of the happiest union in my bakery repertoire.
I had tried almost every solution, from the birthday cakes to ricotta cheesecakes, from my creamy lemony mousse, so refreshing after an "important" meal, to the fragrant muffins that remind me so much of those I used to buy every sunday from a californian gentleman who had a bakery stand at People's Park Market in Dun Laoghaire.
There was only one thing left to try: biscuits or, as we call them in Italy, frollini.
It was a grey, rainy evening but my kids and I had a lovely time making them and they were so delicious that we couldn't keep our hands off!

250 g of flour
100 g of caster sugar
70 g of butter (take it off the fridge a  good 30 minutes before and let it soften)
1 egg
8 g of baking powder
few drops of vanilla essence
half a teaspoon of salt
1 tablespoon of poppy seeds
the grated zest of two lemons

In a large bowl cream the butter with the sugar and the vanilla essence, then add the egg and keep beating until soft, foamy and smooth.
In another bowl mix the flour, baking powder, salt, poppy seeds and grated lemon zest. Add the dry ingredients to the butter cream and work with your hands until you get a dough.
Wrap it with clingfilm and store in the fridge for about one hour.
Meanwhile get your work surface ready.
(note: I generally start by placing a sheet of baking paper on the table, I flour the rolling pin and the biscuits cutters and I cover the baking tray with baking paper)
After one hour switch on the oven and turn the temperature to 180 degrees, take the dough off the fridge, lay it on the baking paper sheet you have placed on the table and roll it to the thickness of half a cm.
Cut the biscuits with the cutters and place them on the baking tray. Cook for 10 minutes then take off the oven and dust with icing sugar.
Try them with fruit jam or even Nutella or, simple as they are, with your "cuppa tea" at five o' clock.

HOMEMADE POPPY SEEDS BREAD

Is it ever possible for a person to wake up in the morning with the only idea of baking some bread? Well I don't know if it is, but it happened to me!

I was dreaming of  nice, fragrant bread, just popped out of the oven, with a gorgeous crunchy crust and a soft inside; so soon after my breakfast I found myself kneading with all my energy.

It isn't "just" bread, because I sprinkled some poppy seeds into the dough to make it even crunchier and to add a touch of romantic femininity and because I used no ordinary flour but Molino Manitoba flour which is indeed of a superior quality!

Ingredients

1 kg of Manitoba flour

400 ml of milk

300 ml of water

25 g of brewer's yeast

3 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil

2 teaspoons of salt

2 teaspoons of sugar

2 tablespoons of poppy seeds

Pour flour into a large salad bowl and, little by little crumble the yeast in with your fingertips.

Add milk, water, oil, sugar, salt and mix well.
Finally work the poppy seeds in, kneading the dough quite quickly.

Form a ball, cover it with clingfilm and let it stand for 10 hours at room temperature.

Then take your dough and knead it in order to obtain few loaves, about 4 or 6, depending on the size you want to get.
Preheat the oven at 200 degrees. Lay the loaves on a baking tray covered with baking paper and cook  for about 40 minutes.