Lemon Meringue Pie

This is one of my favourite things to bake for people, because it looks so impressive, it tastes great, and it’s dead simple. And this is coming from someone who doesn’t even like Lemon Meringue Pie!

Ingredients
Base
2tbs butter
¼ cup sugar
1 cup self raising flour
1 egg yolk

Filling
1 tin condensed milk
2 egg yolk
Juice & rind of 2 lemons

Meringue
3 egg whites
½ cup sugar

Method
Mix base ingredients in food processor.
Press into base and wall of pie plate (for presentation purposes, I roughly line the pie plate with baking paper, it means at the end you can lift the whole pie out and it looks fabulous.
Nb: The mixture resembles fine powder at this stage, but keep pressing, it will all work out.

Mix filling ingredients in bowl, pour into base

Beat egg whites until very stiff, stir in sugar. Spread on top of pie.

Bake @ 120° for 1 hour

Creamy Vanilla Semifreddo

Semifreddo is the Italian version of ice cream. This soft and creamy dessert can be made days ahead of time, making it the perfect choice for summer entertaining. It does not require churning in an ice cream maker.

Flavour Base:
100ml cream
3 Tablespoons caster sugar
1 Vanilla bean, split & seeds scraped out
1½ tablespoons pure vanilla extract

Semifreddo:
300ml cream
3 eggs, separated
½ cup caster sugar


To make flavour base place cream, caster sugar and vanilla bean, seeds and extract in a small saucepan. Stir over medium heat until sugar dissolves, bring to the boil then remove from heat. Remove vanilla bean.
Pour the cream for the Semifreddo into a bowl and beat to soft peaks.
In another bowl beat egg yolks with half the caster sugar until thick and pale. Add the flavour base while beating constantly.
In a separate bowl, beat egg whites to soft peaks. Add remaining caster sugar and beat to firm peaks.
Gently fold together cream and flavour mixture. Fold a little cream mixture into egg whites to loosen then gently fold in remaining mixture until smooth and thick. Spoon into prepared container and freeze. Makes about 1¾ litres

Other flavour base ideas: Dark Chocolate & Expresso (approx 1 cup of roughly chopped best quality Dark chocolate you can get, and 2tbs strong Expresso). White Chocolate & Pistachio (approx 1 cup each of roughly chopped white chocolate, and roasted Pistachio nuts)