Foux de Petite French Lemon Cream Tarts

Jermaine: Je voudrais une croissant
Jermaine: Je suis enchante
Jermaine: Ou est le bibliotheque?
Jermaine: Voila mon passport
Jermaine: Ah, Gerard Depardieu
Brett + Jermaine: Un baguette, ah ha ha, oh oh oh oh
~ Flight of the Conchords, Foux de Fafa

Have I raved to you about how much of a francophile I am yet?

It might have started when I first read Madeline as a kid and I've been obsessed ever since. I took French all the way through school. Went on language exchange there when I was 15.  I've watched Le Fabuleux destin d'Amelie Poulain 14 times.

It's gotten to the point that when I hear strangers speaking French on the street I have to fight the urge to creepily follow just to hear them talk.  Not weird at all right?

{via weheartit}

But let's be franc, what's not to love about the land of romance, cheese, wine, and glorious buttery pastries?  And those accents... As Brett and Jermaine so cleverly illustrate, anything sounds good when you say it in French.

So I was chatting to someone yesterday who had just come back from a trip to France and it got me a) jealous and b) reminiscing about France and the amazing food and irresistible pastries those clever French have invented.  I gained 8 kgs in just 5 weeks living over there.  All happy weight.  All thanks to gloriously sweet and butterific French pastries just like these Petite French Lemon Cream Tarts.

B for Baby Brandy Baskets with Vegan Lemon Cream and Passionfruit Curd

This post is brought to you by the letter B.

B is for Busy Busy Busy.  After weeks of being a bit of a bum and not doing much, I went straight into an action packed event extravaganza of the last three weeks.  Got myself a summer job as a civil servant (when in Wellington...), went back up to Auckland twice, saw a pre-screening of the Hobbit in all its 48 frame 3D glory (ah-mazing - everyone should go!), made my very first pavlova (post to come!), finished up our last Baking for Hospice round for the year, and that's not even counting all the prep for Christmas!!  So B is for need a Breather and Being very sorry for the lateness of this post!

B is also for Back to School. I was lucky enough to get to go back to my old high school's leavers dinner.  2012 marks ten years since my last year at Rangitoto College...but it sure doesn't feel like it's been that long!  Was really awesome getting to catch up with old teachers as an 'adult' to discover that they are all actually hilariously fun people.  Go Rangi!

And finally, B is for these Baby Brandy Baskets with Vegan Lemon Cream and Passionfruit Curd.

I LOVE brandy snaps.  They are just the right mix of gingery, crispy caramelly, and creamy.  All cigar-shaped and cream-filled, they were the height of sophistication in the 80's, so totally retro cool now.  

When brûlée goes bad: Lemon Coconut Cheesecake Bars

Amélie Poulain cultive un goût particulier pour les tous petits plaisirs. Elle aime plonger sa main au plus profond d’un sac de grain... briser la croûte des crèmes brûlées avec la pointe de la petite cuillère... et faire des ricochets sur le Canal Saint-Martin. ~ Le fabuleux destin d'Amélie Poulain.

Amelie cultivates a taste for small pleasures. She likes dipping her hand into sacks of grain, cracking crème brûlée with a teaspoon and skipping stones at St. Martin's Canal ~ Amelie

These were meant to be brûlée bars.  I wanted them so much to be brûlée bars.

Like Amélie (my fav movie of all time!) that first crack through the caramel sugar layer on a crème brûlée never fails to give me tingles down my spine.  It's magical.   Truly one of life's little pleasures.

But despite what people tell you, you just can't brûlée properly in the oven.   Instead of getting that perfectly golden brown, snap crackle caramel coating on the top, you end up with burned edges, melted sugar, and gooey melted cheesecake.  Boo.  One does not simply brûlée without a blow torch.

{is it kinda pyro asking for a blow torch for christmas?}

So I just topped the rest of the Lemon Cheesecake Slices I made for our Baking for Hospice Fifty Shades of Yellow round with crunchy toasted coconut making them Lemon Coconut Cheesecake Slices.  But don't get me wrong, the dud first brûlée attempts may not have looked that flash, they tasted amazing.  That caramel crunchy top was perfect with the creamy tangy cheesecake filling.  Mark my words, once I get my hands on a sweet blow torch, I'm definitely gonna go brûlée crazy with these puppies.  Watch this space. 

Wellington, Wellingtons, and Masterchef Melting Moments

The way I see it, if you want the rainbow, you gotta put up with the rain ~ Dolly Parton

What a wet and windy but wickedly wonderful week!  Have had it all: the good, the bad, and the delicious.

The bad: It has been absolutely bucketing down for ages.  Really gave me new appreciation of just how great owning a pair of gumboots is.   One should not underestimate the utter miserableness that is cold wet socks and the corresponding amazingness that is getting to splash in puddles and retain warm dry toes.

{i heart my hunters}

The good:  I've just found out that I got my clinical placement in Wellington!! Woooohoooo!!  For our final three years of med school, the class is getting scattered to the four winds.  Well, three winds to be precise: Wellington, Christchurch or Dunedin and based on the numbers you may not get to go to the place you nominate.  So it's been hanging over us all for two years now but finally, this week it's all confirmed...whew!  So very excited about living in the Capital City.  Wellywood here we come!!  

And finally, the delicious: I recently made these Much-hyped Masterchef Melting Moments.  They are from pastry queen of Masterchef Australia, Julia Taylor, and were raved about by the judges.  While I don't want to rain on her parade, I wasn't terribly impressed.  Having said that they did go down a treat at my Mum's work!

Lemon sorbet: when life gives you lemons, make sorbet

Every white will have its black, And every sweet its sour. ~ Thomas Percy

This year hasn't been the smoothest of years.  A bittersweet roller-coaster ride of a year.  It's crazy coz so many people I've talked to have also had a lemon of a year too.  Illness, marriage problems, family dramas; not to mention earthquakes, tsunamis and riots: you name it, its happened this year! What was it about twenty eleven?!

This year I've gotten married, passed my first year of med school and celebrated NZ's historic RWC victory but also said goodbye to a dear family friend, my grandma and my uncle. This topsy-turvey year has really driven home for me two important truths:

Fact 1: Life really is like a box of chocolates....dark chocolates.  The bitterness only makes you appreciate the sweetness all the more.  The deeper that sorry carves into your being, the more joy you can contain ~ Kahil Gibran.

Fact 2: Everything happens for a reason so when life gives you lemons, make lemonade...or Lemon Sorbet.

Lemon polenta rose cakes at an italian summer lunch

December.

I must have accidentally stepped into a time machine for it to already be that crazy time of year again.  And crazy it is...the Christmas shopping, the parties, the family dos.  Luckily for us downunder, it also means that we are heading into a glorious summer.
 
So in the hustle and bustle of the silly season, when my gorgeous friend Chloe suggested an italian long lazy ladies lunch in the sun, we all jumped at the opportunity to eat, unwind and chillax for an arvo away from the insanity of Christmas time.

And it was the perfect opportunity to try out a recipe for Lemon Polenta Rose Cakes.

Lemon & olive oil cupcakes with raspberry cream cheese frosting v2.0

 

I reckon if you could taste sunshine it would taste like tangy citrusy lemon and the grassy fruity and pepperiness you get in really good olive oil.

So a wee while ago when I saw a recipe for lemon & olive oil cake I remember thinking: that sounds like sunshine in a cake.  But when I went to find the recipe again, I couldn't for the life of me find THE one I was looking for.

I was positive it was an Ottolenghi recipe but I think I got mixed up with their lemon polenta cake.  Then I was convinced that I'd seen a recipe on smitten kitchen's blog, or maybe orangette's blog.  But alas, no luck.  I vaguely remember the post being about the blogger's sister giving her a recipe for the cake but I'm not 100% sure if that is a total confabulation.  Maybe I'm just getting old...memory like a sieve!

Without a proper recipe, I thought why the heck not adapt my go to cupcake recipe and see if that doesn't work.  I know I've been doing that a lot lately which is not very fun for you all.  I do pinky promise to try out new recipes soon but so often these days I find that I am baking in a manic rush and under such a tight time frame that there isn't much leeway for experiments, you know what I mean?  But I do have a stack of recipes that I'm dying to try out in the Christmas hols so please bear with me!

These cupcakes were for my lovely friend Pav's Alice in Wonderland bridal shower in the weekend.  They were tender and fruity, pretty and girly, and perfect for a mad hatter tea party!

Lemon cupcakes with brown sugar cream cheese frosting

A.k.a. how to make cupcakes when you're running late for yum cha

It was my cousin's birthday the other week and at the very last minute I decided to make her some cupcakes. So with just over an hour till we were due at yum cha, and still in my pj's, I started baking.