Most of the time I am fine with my sisters living far away. And by fine I mean that I learned to accept it over the years, learned to not wake up and wish they were a little closer. But sometimes, something happens that shift my world a little (good or bad) and make me wish until I ache that they were closer...
Recently my sister had a little girl and boy did I wish I could be there. It was one of those times that the distance between here and her could just as well have been the distance between here and the son; equally unreachable. Equally untouchable.
My mom is there and my dad spends his days here at my house working away the hours and occasionally staring blankly into space and wondering how his new grandchild smells and how the other one would feel in his arms. But all along, we both just wish that we could share some of the magic.
And when all else fails, of course I bake. Bake something to celebrate the happiness of a new baby. A beautiful, little girl who is healthy and loved and, well perfect!
Milk jam is a perfectly french thing that I had years ago while in scouting supermarket isles in France. It is jam made of milk, but does not resemble jam at all. It is like custard in a jar, but more like caramel without the sweetness of caramel. It is the sort of thing you just have to stick a spoon into and lick away.
And then of course macarons need no introduction and is probably the best way to celebrate the birth of a little girl. Don't you agree that they are just the girliest concoction? I always, always opt for Cannelle et Vanille's recipe. There are so many blogs and websites devoted to these, but I experimented with all of these, but found that the added meringue powder in this recipe seems to do the trick. But before you pull your hair out trying to get to the bottom of these, read here and here as well.
I do not have a sweet tooth. Maybe that is a bit of an understatement. I bake a lot of cakes but seldom eat any of it. I'd much rather look at the happy eater's face than to try it myself. I can honestly not remember the last time I ate a sweet and will probably have to go back many years. It gives me goose bumps even to consider eating some artificially flavored jelly concoction. No, give me sour any day.
This little story may help to put it all into perspective. My mom secretly ate a lemon in class when she was still in school. Hunger pangs drove her to it, but she packed the lemon in the lunch box herself. The teacher caught her and he demanded she go to the front of the class to eat it. Little did he know that he would be the one screaming and running out of the class once she took a bite. The idea made him cringe and flee. But we also grew up eating lemons from the tree in the garden. And grenadillas. We used to stick our fingers in the cream of tartar jars for a treat. Hmmm, not sure I'll still do that anymore though. We love sour and my kids now eat lemons too.
Now back to the cupcakes. I was asked to do cupcakes for a friend's stork party with a french theme. Vanilla-vanilla made the cut off-course. But I also wanted to do something not so sweet, lemon meringue like and decided that these will fit the bill perfectly.
Luckily, these are very easy to bake and you can make the lemon curd in advance as it keeps well in a jar.
Lemon Curd (makes 2 jars)
Zest and juice of 2 lemons (unwaxed and washed)
85g butter, diced into small cubes
240g sugar
3 eggs, lightly beaten
Put the butter, sugar and lemon juice and zest in a heat proof bowl on top of a pan with simmering water and gently heat until the sugar and butter have dissolved. Strain the eggs into the mixture and stir continuously until it thickens considerably. It takes around 20 minutes, so have patients. Pour into sterilized jars and store.
Note: I found that using my baby milk bottle sterilizer makes the job so much easier.
Cupcakes (makes 12)
125 g butter, softened
125 g sugar, castor
125g self raising flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp orange flower water
2 eggs
2 Tbs milk
Preheat the oven to 180C
Combine all the ingredients in a food processor and process for around 2 minutes until well combined. Add more milk to achieve a smooth batter. Spoon into individual cupcake moulds and bake for 10-12 minutes. Let cool completely before icing.
Icing
3 egg whites, room temperature
85g castor sugar
85ml water
Combine all the ingredients in a heat proof bowl and beat for around one minute until frothy and opague. Sit the bowl on top of a heat proof bowl with just simmering water and continue to beat for another 7 minutes until soft peaks form.
To combine: Spoon small amount from the center of the cupcakes with a melon baller and fill the hole with a teaspoon of lemon curd and then replace the piece of cake. Top with a generous amount of icing and use a blow torch to brown the edges.
Recently my sister had a little girl and boy did I wish I could be there. It was one of those times that the distance between here and her could just as well have been the distance between here and the son; equally unreachable. Equally untouchable.
Milk jam is a perfectly french thing that I had years ago while in scouting supermarket isles in France. It is jam made of milk, but does not resemble jam at all. It is like custard in a jar, but more like caramel without the sweetness of caramel. It is the sort of thing you just have to stick a spoon into and lick away.
