Creamy Lemon Almond Pastries Food

CREAMY LEMON PIE

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350°F (177°C).
• Using a food processor, pulse the graham crackers and almonds together into crumbs. A few larger pieces of nuts is OK. Pour into a medium bowl and stir in the sugar. Add the melted butter and stir until combined. The mixture will be thick, coarse, and sandy. Try to smash/break up any large chunks. Pour the mixture into an ungreased 9-inch pie dish. With medium pressure using your hand, pat the crumbs down into the bottom and up the sides to make a compact crust. Do not pack down with heavy force because that makes the crust too hard. Simply pat down until the mixture is no longer crumby/crumbly. Tips: You can use a small flat-bottomed measuring cup to help press down the bottom crust and smooth out the surface, but do not pack down too hard. And run a spoon around the bottom "corner" where the edge and bottom meet to help make a rounded crust⁠-this helps prevent the crust from falling apart. For more shaping technique tips, see the graham cracker crust recipe page.
• Pre-bake crust for 8 minutes. Remove from the oven and leave the oven on.
• Whisk the sweetened condensed milk, lemon juice, and egg yolks together. Pour into warm crust.
• Bake the pie for 19-21 minutes or until only *slightly* jiggly in the center. You want it mostly set. Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely on a wire rack. Once cool, cover and chill for at least 1 hour (and up to 3 days) before serving.
• Garnish as desired. Store leftovers in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.

LEMON-ALMOND BUTTER CAKE

Steps:

• For the curd, combine zest, juice, sugar and eggs in a heatproof bowl, and beat well. Add butter, and place over a saucepan full of simmering water. Cook, stirring constantly with a rubber spatula or wooden spoon, until mixture thickens into curd, about 5 minutes. Strain into a bowl, and press plastic wrap onto surface to keep skin from forming. Refrigerate until cool, at least 1 1/2 hours.
• Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease 9-inch spring-form pan with 1 tablespoon butter, and dust with 1 tablespoon flour, shaking out excess.
• With an electric mixer, cream the remaining butter and 1 cup sugar together until light and fluffy. Sift together the remaining flour, baking powder and salt, and stir in. In a separate bowl, whisk eggs until they start to foam. Do not overbeat or the cake will be tough. Add eggs and ground almonds to batter, and mix well.
• Scrape batter into the prepared pan. Drop 8 individual tablespoons lemon curd around perimeter of batter, leaving a 1-inch border, and taking care to space drops evenly. Drop 3 to 4 tablespoons curd into center of batter. Refrigerate remaining curd for another use. Sprinkle cake with toasted almonds and 1 to 2 tablespoons sugar, depending on taste.
• Bake until cake is toasty brown on top and a toothpick inserted into cake (not curd) comes out clean, about 40 minutes. Let cool on rack 10 minutes, then remove sides of pan, and cool completely.
• Whip cream with almond liqueur. Present cake at table, and offer whipped cream on the side.

CREAMY LEMON BARS

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 325 degrees.Grease a 9 x 13 pan. Line with parchment and grease parchment. Set aside.
• Place almonds in a food process and process until fine. Alternatively chop almonds finely.
• Add flour, powdered sugar and a pinch of salt to almonds. Pulse or mix until combined.
• Add butter to food processor and pulse until mixture becomes crumbly but small bits of butter are visible. Alternatively you can add butter and use a pastry cutter to cut butter into flour mixture until butter is in very small fine pieces.
• Press dough into greased and lined pan. Use palm of hand to spread crust evenly.
• Bake for 20 minutes or until crust is lightly golden brown.
• Reduce oven temperature to 300 degrees.
• Combine eggs, egg yolks, flour and lemon zest. Stir until well combined.
• Slowly stir in water and lemon juice. Stir until combined.
• Pour lemon filling over crust and bake for 30-35 minutes until filling is set.
• Remove from oven and allow to cool completely.
• Remove creamy lemon bars from pan and dust with powdered sugar.
• Cut to desired size and enjoy!

EASY DANISH ALMOND PASTRIES

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Line a 9x13-inch cake pan with parchment paper.
• Unroll 1 tube of crescent roll dough and spread in the bottom of the prepared pan. Seal the seams of the dough to prevent from separation.
• Roll almond paste into a thin sheet, large enough to cover your cake pan. Cut edges with a knife or rolling pizza cutter.
• Combine mascarpone cheese, 1/2 cup white sugar, and egg yolk in the bowl of an electric mixer; mix until thoroughly combined and smooth with no lumps remaining. Spread evenly on top of dough. Place rolled out almond paste on top of cheese mixture.
• Open the remaining tube of crescent dough, unroll it, and put on top of the almond paste. Seal all of the seams and ensure dough covers the entire top of the pan. Whisk egg white and use a pastry brush to spread on the top of the rolled out dough. Spread sliced almonds on top to coat. Lightly sprinkle remaining white sugar evenly on top.
• Bake in the preheated oven until top is golden brown, 25 to 30 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow to cool.
• Meanwhile, mix powdered sugar and water for glaze together in a bowl. Drizzle over the top of the cooled Danish and cut.

LEMON POSSET WITH SUGARED-ALMOND SHORTBREAD

Steps:

• Make the posset first. Put the cream in a big saucepan with the sugar and gently heat, stirring, until the sugar has melted. Bring to a simmer and bubble for 1 min. Turn off the heat and stir in the lemon zest and juice. Divide between pots or bowls, cool to room temperature, then carefully cover and chill for at least 3 hrs, or up to 24 hrs.
• To make the shortbread, heat oven to 160C/140C fan/gas 3. Whizz the butter and flour together in a food processor until no lumps of butter remain (or rub together with your fingertips). Tip into a bowl and stir in the sugar, ground rice and almonds. Line the base of a roughly 22cm square tin with baking parchment. Tip in the mixture and press it down firmly, making it as flat as you can. Dredge with more sugar and bake for 25-30 mins until pale golden. Cool in the tin.
• Cut the shortbread into shards and serve with the possets and little spoons.