30 | 52 Mango Bars

Right now is not the time of overripe bananas.

But time of the overripe mango...

So I started browsing the mango dessert recipes on Pinterest and stumbled upon these Mango (Lemon) Bars that looked and sounded so good.

And they truly are:

Mango Bars

From Curried Cantaloupe

For the crust

113 g (1 stick) butter, melted

190 g (1 1/2 cups) flour

2 teaspoons lemon juice

1 tablespoon sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

For the mango (lemon) curd

240 ml (1 cup) mango pulp

1 teaspoon lemon juice

200 g (1 cup) sugar

4 eggs

2 egg yolks

zest from one lemon

113 g (1 stick) butter

• Preheat oven to 17ºC (350ºF).
• Combine flour, lemon juice, sugar, and salt. Pour in melted butter and combine to form a dough with a spatula. Line a 20 x 20 cm / 8 x 8 in pan with parchment paper and press the dough evenly onto the bottom of the pan. Poke with a fork several times and bake for 10 minutes.
• While the crust is in the oven, whisk together eggs, yolks, and sugar. Add mango pulp, lemon juice and zest, and stir until smooth. Cook over low heat, stir constantly just until you notice that clumps are coming up from the bottom. Remove from heat and stir in butter.
• Pour over crust and bake for 10-15 minutes until edges are set.
• Cool in the fridge for at least 3 hours before serving. 

My modifications:

I pureed one mango and got a bit over 1 cup of pulp. So I thought I would just omit most of the lemon juice and just use a bit under 1 cup of mango pulp plus 1 teaspoon of lemon juice. It worked really well and I didn't miss any lemon taste. (The original recipe calls for 180 ml (3/4 cup) of mango pulp and 80 ml (1/3 cup) lemon juice.)

The taste:

If you like mangos, you will like these Mango Bars (duh). Another refreshing summer dessert that is a keeper.
Next time I might add a bit more lemon juice though (like the original recipe does) because it could have used a bit more kaboom. If you know what I mean.

Have you ever baked anything with mango? What was it and how did you like it?
 

29 | 52 Gooseberry Apricot Cake

Do you like gooseberries?

I do. But only if they are small and sweet :)

Not if they are big and not very sweet and with a very thick skin.

Like the ones I bought last week...

So I thought that baking those gooseberries would make them better or at least edible.

Note to self: if gooseberries don't taste good 'raw' then they also don't taste good 'baked'.

Gooseberry Apricot Cake

Adapted from Edeka

For the yeast base

250 g (2 cups) flour

40 g (1/4 cup minus 1 tablespoon) sugar

pinch of salt

zest of 1 lemon

20 g (0.7 oz) fresh yeast (or one pack dry yeast)

125 ml (1/2 cup) milk

1 egg

For the filling

400 g (14 oz) gooseberries

500 g (18 oz) apricots

For the glaze

150 g (3/4 cup minus 1 tablespoon) butter, room temperature

100 g (1/2 cup) sugar

4 eggs

50 g (1/3 cup plus 1 tablespoon) flour

pinch of salt

125 g (1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon) heavy cream

• For the yeast base, sift flour into a bowl and make a dent in the middle. Sprinkle sugar, salt, and lemon zest onto flour rim. Dissolve the yeast in a bit of milk and pour into the flour dent. Cover and let rise for 30 minutes.
• Knead yeast with flour, the remaining milk, and the egg. Cover again and let rise for another 15 minutes.
• Butter a round springform pan and distribute yeast base evenly on bottom of pan. Let rise for another 15 minutes.
• Preheat oven to 200ºC (400ºF).
• Wash and dry the gooseberries and apricots. Cut apricots in pieces.
• For the glaze, beat together butter and sugar, add eggs one at a time. Add flour, salt, and heavy cream.
• Distribute gooseberries and apricots evenly on yeast base. Pour glaze over fruit and bake for 45 minutes.
• Let cool completely before serving.

My modifications:

I used fresh apricots (the original recipe calls for canned apricots).

The taste:

I didn't like it. And I'm not sure that it was only those gooseberries that spoiled it for me.... But try for yourselves - maybe you'll like it!

Any gooseberry baking recipes we should know about?

 

28 | 52 Berry Pavlova

When my mother requested 'something with fruit and meringue' for her birthday cake, she was probably thinking more in the direction of the Redcurrant Meringue Pie I made for her birthday last year (and which was delicious).

But of course I wanted to try something new.

I've seen so many Pavlova recipes over the last couple of years but never made one.

BIG MISTAKE, as I know now.

If you like meringue (and berries, in this case) then this is for you. It's the perfect summer dessert.
And it was a big hit with my mom (and me) :)

Oh, and it looks real pretty, too.

Berry Pavlova

From Morrisons Magazine

For the meringue

4 egg whites

250 g (1 1/4 cups) caster sugar

1 teaspoon white wine vinegar

1 tablespoon cornflour

For the topping

250 g (9 oz) fresh raspberries and blueberries

1 tablespoon icing sugar

200 ml (3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons) double cream

150 g (5.3 oz) Greek yogurt

• Preheat the oven to 150ºC (300ºF). Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. 
• Whisk egg whites until they form stiff peaks. Continue to beat and add the sugar slowly. Add vinegar and cornflour. Spoon the mixture onto the parchment paper, forming a circle (or 2 smaller circles). Make the sides slightly higher than the middle of the circle. 
• Bake for 1 hour, turn off the oven and leave the meringue inside until it has completely cooled down (2-3 hours).  
• To prepare the topping, press some of your raspberries through a fine sieve with the back of a spoon. Throw away the seeds and mix the juice with the icing sugar. In a separate bowl, whip the cream until stiff and fold in the yogurt. 
• Just before serving, spoon the cream-yogurt-mix on top of the meringue, drizzle the raspberry juice over it and top with fresh berries.

My modifications:

None. Other than using raspberries and blueberries (not just raspberries).

The taste:

Heavenly. Really. So light and yet so so good. Perfect for summer. You might not be able to stop eating it.

What is your favorite way of eating meringues?

27 | 52 Individual Key Lime Pies

If you've ever been to the Florida Keys, I'm sure you've had various different Key Lime Pies.

If not, I hope you were still able to taste a Key Lime Pie somewhere else.

Because it's delicious. And so perfect for a hot summer day.

I personally also really like Key Lime Cheesecake but this time I wanted to make the regular pie again but split into individual portions.

And pure = without a whipped cream or meringue topping.

So here we go:

Individual Key Lime Pies

Adapted from cook. eat. love.

Makes 6 small pies/ramequins

For the crust

170 g (6 oz) graham crackers

113 g (1 stick) butter, melted

2 tablespoons sugar

pinch of salt

For the filling

4 egg yolks

400 g (14 oz) sweetened condensed milk

160 ml (2/3 cup) lime juice

• Preheat oven to 160ºC (325ºF).
• For the crust, put graham crackers into food processor and pulse until in crumbs. Add melted butter, sugar, and salt and pulse until combined. Press the crust onto the bottom of your ramequins and bake for 10 minutes. Take out of oven and allow to cool.
• For the filling, beat the egg yolks with an electric mixer until fluffy. Gradually add the condensed milk and continue to mix until thick. Add the lime juice slowly and mix until combined. 
• Pour the mix over the crusts and bake for another 15 minutes.
• Let cool on wire rack. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour.

My modifications:

I halved the ingredients for the crust and it worked well for those 6 small pies.

I also omitted the lime zest that the original recipe called for because I didn't have any limes at hand (just bottled lime juice).

As I said, I also didn't use any topping (whipped cream in this case) and I didn't freeze the pies (my freezer is too small).

The taste:

Very good. The pies weren't as cold as would have been nice (because I couldn't put them in the freezer) but otherwise very limey and yummy. A perfect summer pie.

What is your favorite refreshing summer pie?

26 | 52 Funfetti Cookies

Colorful sprinkles.

Don't they just make you happy?

Not necessarily eating them but just looking at them.

Very rare with any other food, I'd say.

(And yes, you might actually not want to categorize sprinkles as food...)

So. Let's bake something that will make you happy.

Cookies. Sprinkles. Lots of sprinkles. And cookies...

Funfetti Cookies

From Averie Cooks

113 g (1 stick) butter, room temperature

150 g (3/4 cup) sugar

1 egg

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

190 g (1 1/2 cups) flour

2 teaspoons corn starch

3/4 teaspoon baking soda

pinch of salt

100 g (3/4 cup) sprinkles

• Beat together butter, sugar, egg, and vanilla extract for about 5 minutes until creamy and fluffy.
• Add dry ingredients (except for sprinkles) and beat to combine.
• Fold in sprinkles.
• Cool dough in the fridge for a minimum of 2 hours.
• Make balls with your hands, flatten them a bit, and put on your prepared cookie sheet.
• Bake at 175ºC (350ºF) for 8-10 minutes. Make sure they don't start to brown. 
• Let cool.

 
My modifications:

The recipe also called for almond extract which I omitted.

And I doubled the amounts because I wanted to give some cookies away. 

The taste:

I know I should be writing about the baked cookies.

That dough though. Don't even start tasting the dough before baking the cookies. It's dangerous. VERY dangerous. Don't say I didn't warn you.

And the baked cookies - they're alright, too :)

Which baking recipe makes you happy by just looking at one ingredient or the result?