Dessert

Lemon Meringue Pie[11]

Lemon Meringue Pie

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup white sugar
  • 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
  • 3 tablespoons cornstarch
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1 1/2 cups water
  • 2 lemons, juiced and zested
  • 2 tablespoons butter
  • 4 egg yolks, beaten
  • 1 (9 inch) pie crust, baked
  • 4 egg whites
  • 6 tablespoons white sugar

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).

To Make Lemon Filling: In a medium saucepan, whisk together 1 cup sugar, flour, cornstarch, and salt. Stir in water, lemon juice and lemon zest. Cook over medium-high heat, stirring frequently, until mixture comes to a boil. Stir in butter. Place egg yolks in a small bowl and gradually whisk in 1/2 cup of hot sugar mixture. Whisk egg yolk mixture back into remaining sugar mixture. Bring to a boil and continue to cook while stirring constantly until thick. Remove from heat. Pour filling into baked pastry shell.

To Make Meringue: In a large glass or metal bowl, whip egg whites until foamy. Add sugar gradually, and continue to whip until stiff peaks form. Spread meringue over pie, sealing the edges at the crust.

4.Bake in preheated oven for 10 minutes, or until meringue is golden brown.

Chocolate Coconut Macaroons[12]

Macaroons

Ingredients:

  • 6 tablespoons cocoa
  • 1/2 cup butter
  • 1/2 cup milk
  • 1 1/2 cups sugar
  • 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
  • 3 cups oatmeal
  • 1 cup coconut

Instructions:

Boil first 4 ingredients for 2 minutes.

Remove from heat and add vanilla.

Pour over oatmeal and coconut and mix well.

Drop tsp fulls onto wax paper and wait until dry and easy to lift off paper.

Strawberry Napoleon[13]

Strawberry Napoleon

Ingredients:

  • 1 package of Pepperidge Farm Puff Pastry (use only 1 sheet)
  • 3 1/2 oz Vanilla Instant Pudding Mix and Pie Filling (1 small package)
  • 1 cup milk
  • 1 cup heavy cream for whipping
  • 1 cup powdered sugar
  • 1/4 tsp vanilla extract
  • 2 tsp milk
  • 1 1/2 cup fresh strawberries, sliced
  • 1 oz semi-sweet baking chocolate (1 square), melted
  • 1 tsp heavy cream
  • 2 drops of rum extract

Instructions:

Take out one Pepperidge Farm Puff Pastry sheet, and thaw at room temperature, until ready to handle (about 40 minutes).

Using a pizza cutter, cut into three pieces, lengthwise, along the folds. Cut each long piece across into three equal pieces (single servings).

Grease two baking sheets (I use Crisco), and set above cut pieces on there, spacing them slightly.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Bake on the middle oven rack, for 17 minutes.

Remove from the pans onto a wire cooking rack , and cool completely.

Cut each square horizontally, to make three layers of pastry.

Set aside.

Pudding filling:

Pour 1 cup of cold milk into a medium size bowl.

Pour in the pudding mix.

Whip for few minutes, until creamy pudding forms.

Set aside.

Whipped Cream:

Use a small bowl,pour in 1 cup of cold heavy (whipping) cream.

Whip until firm peaks form.

Fold into the pudding mixture.

Cover and refrigerate for now.

Sugar Icing:

In a small bowl, add 1 cup of powdered sugar.

Add 2 tsp of milk, and 1/4 tsp. of vanilla extract.

Mix all well, to form glaze.

Set aside.

Strawberries:

Prepare strawberries by removing the green leaves, rinsing and drying them.

Slice into thin slices (1/16 inch think).

Set aside.

Dessert Assembly:

Starting with the bottom layer, spoon 1/4 cup of pudding filling.

Arrange strawberry slices around the edges, with the pointy ends outward.

Dab some pudding mixture on the bottom of a second pastry layer (for better hold), and place on top of the strawberries.

Spread 1/3 cup of pudding on top of this layer, and arrange strawberries slices as before.

Spread the sugar glaze on top of the last layer, dab some pudding on the bottom of this layer (for better hold) and place over strawberries.

Repeat the above process with all remaining pastry pieces.

Chocolate topping:

Using a double boiler, melt 1 oz of dark semi-sweet baking chocolate, mix in 1 tsp heavy cream, and 2 drops of rum extract.

Remove from heat, and drizzle over the sugar iced top layer of each dessert. (I placed the melted chocolate in a freezer zip lock bag, made a small pin hole in the corner, to form a thin chocolate flow for decorating the tops). I also, drizzled some chocolate on the bottom of the dessert plates, before setting the Strawberry Napoleons on it.