Chewy Maple Almondbutter Cookies

Chewy Maple Almondbutter Cookies - AMAZING!
That's the short version. The longer version goes something like this..

So I'm currently on vacation in the States and being the foodie that I am, I have to try as many things as possible, so I ended up with this Raw Maple Almondbutter that I planned on using on my morning oats, yoghurt etc. but it turned out that Raw Maple Almondbutter isn't near as exciting as it sounds. Compared to peanutbutter it is really bland actually. So what do I do? I can't just toss it, no way! So off to one of my foodie websites I went for inspiration and using a peanutbutter cookie recipe I created this one and who would have thought. Bland Raw Maple Almondbutter is actually not so bland in cookies. These cookies turned out so nice and chewy. Halfway between Maple Almondbutter cookie dough and Maple Almondbutter cookies. I like to say that, can you tell? So here they are: Chewy nommy Maple Almondbutter Cookies!

Chewy Maple Almondbutter Cookies
0.4 Cup Raw Maple Almondbutter
1/2 to 2/3 stick of butter(or about 75g)
0.45 Cup White Granulated Sugar
0.45 Cup Light Brown Sugar(Muscovado sugar)
1 egg
100g about chocolate(coarsly chopped or chocolate chips - I eyeballed it)
1 Cup White All Purpose Flour
2 tsp vanilla extract(imitation works just fine)
1/2 tsp baking soda

Whit a handmixer(or whatever you like to use) whisk butter, Raw Maple Almondbutter, Sugar and Light Brown sugar until soft and well incorporated.
Add the egg and mix until incorporated.
Add the chocolate, flour, vanilla and bakingsoda until just combined.
Form the batter into 2-3 turds the length of your baking tray and flatten them to no more than 1/2 an inch thick.
Bake at 400F for 8-10 minutes depending on how chewy you like them. They're done when the edges begin to brown.
Let the long flat turds of cookies cool for a little while(but not cool completely) and then cut them crosswise like in the picture.

Zebra Tiger Cake

Zebra cake, or white tiger cake? I couldn't decide! Today was spent flavour testing for a future order. While I was making a cake anyway, I couldn't help but play around with the decoration as well.

Chocolate Blueberry Vanilla-custard Cake

Isn't it just too adorable?

The blueberry curd I used for this cake is amazing!

225 g blueberries
1 lemon(zest and juice of)
2 dl sugar
2 tbsp vanilla sugar(or 1 tbsp of vanilla extract?)
50 g butter
2 eggs

Put the blueberries and lemon zest and juice in a pot and boil on medium-low for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Strain the mixture through a sieve into a glass bowl. Use the back of a spoon to work it through. Toss the peels.
Put the glass bowl over a simmering pot. Add sugar, vanilla, butter and eggs to the glass bowl and stir continuously for about 20-30 minutes or until the mixture is nice and thick.

If you are unsure whether your curd is done or not, you can test by putting a small amount on a plate and put in the fridge for a few minutes before you check the consistency.

Biskvi

This is a very interesting cookie/pastry. It's originally from france, but if you try to look it up there doesn't seem to be any english name for it and it seems alot of people outisde of Sweden have never heard of, or eaten a biskvi. This is crazy because they're delicious beyond imagination! The base cookie crispy yet sticky chewy like toffee, topped with delicious buttercream and finally dipped in chocolate. It's like someone took all the best things of the baking world and put in one cookie.

Since this is a 3 step cookie I have mixed and matched my favorite recipes and created a completely awesome combo of chewy base, a light and fluffy french buttercream with the tiniest hint of salt and finally some dark chocolate on top.

Biskvier:

The Base:
400 g almond paste
200 g sugar
100 g egg whites(keep the yolks)

Preheat oven to 180C.
Mix the almond paste with the sugar until incorporated. If you, like me, have a pretty weak mixer you might want to use your hands for this.
Mix in the egg whites, just a little bit at a time until you get a good consistensy. This can be a little tricky. It has to be soft enough to be pipable but not so soft that it just leaves puddles on your baking tray. If you try to make a peak in the batter it should slowly sink back into the rest of the batter, but not all the way. There should still be some lines left.

Pipe the batter onto baking trays, think 4 cm diameter coins.
Leave plenty of room between each cookie because they will expand.
Bake for about 12 minutes or until golden brown.
If they sink too much in the middle, you either made them too big or they were not done.
Cool the cookies on the tray and then stick the whole tray(or baking sheet) in the freezer. This way you can get them off the tray without ruining them.

The french buttercream:
170 g sugar
200 g water
160 g egg yolks
450 g butter(not unsalted)
50-100 g dark chocolate

Measure out your egg yolks and your butter.
Put the sugar and water in a pot, preferably a wider one(it's quicker).
Gently heat the sugar and water while stirring until all the sugar is dissolved.
Continue to eat on medium without too much stirring until the syrup is at 106C(you can also test by putting some syrup between your thumb and index finger. If you get a string when you pull them apart then the syrup is ready).
When the syrup is almost done, put the egg yolks in your mixer and whip until foamy.
When the syrup is done, gently stream it into the egg yolks while the mixer is running. Avoid getting syrup on the side of the bowl. Mix until fully incorporated.
Slowly add your butter in small blobs. It might look like the mixture is curdling, but be patient and it should come together. Mix well between each addition of butter.
Carefully melt the chocolate in the microwave. Stop your kitchen robot, quickly dump the chocolate into the buttercream - make sure it doesnt hit the side of the bowl, and turn the machine back on.
Whip until well incorporated and then stick it in the fridge for a while to help it set.

For the chocolate cover:
400 g dark chocolate
canola oil

Assembly:
Flip your cookies upside down and pipe a generous blob of buttercream on the bottom of each cookie.
Stick the cookies in the freezer for about 10 minutes.

Melt your chocolate on as low heat as your patience allows. If the chocolate is too thick for good dunkin add some canola oil. A few teaspoons to a tablespoon should do the trick.
Dip the buttercream side of each cookie into the chocolate, making sure it fully covers the buttercream and the entire bottomside of the cookie, right up to the edge.
Let any excess run off and leave on a tray or rack to set.

And there you have it. Alot of steps and takes a while to finish, but I have never met anyone who hasn't been all over these things. If you're in need of some good therapy-time in the kitchen then these cookies are well orth the effort!

Strawberry Cheesecake

Ok so I had to share this one too. This cheesecake was the best I can remember ever eating. Though, I don't eat cheesecake all that often. Usually not even once a year! It's not something I'm proud of but there you have it. A baker that fails at eating cake..

This cheesecake had the perfect ooey gooey texture that just makes you want to eat more and more and more.

Double Strawberry Cheesecake:

Crust:
200g digestive cookies
100g butter, melted

Filling:
700g full fat philadelphia
1 tsp vanilla sugar(or extract)
1 1/4 dl sugar
3 eggs
80g frozen strawberries, defrosted
strawberry jam

Blend or crush the digestive cookies and mix them with the melted butter.
Press the mixture into a medium-small springform and chill for about 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 150C.
Whip the philadelphia, vanilla and sugar until smooth.
Add the eggs one at a time and don't forget to scrape down the bowl.
Gently fold the defrosted berries into the mix.
Put about half of the mix into your springform.
Gently spread a layed of strawberry jam on top, not too thick.
Add the other half of the cheesecake mix on top of the strawberry jam.
Bake for about 35-40 minutes or until it's slithly browned in the middle and a little bit darker around the edges.

If you don't want it to crack, wrap the bottom of the springform in aluminum and put it in a deep baking tray that you fill with water about half way up the side of the spring form. Bake it like this.

The Perfect Oatmeal Cookie

I've been on a hunt for these cookies for a long time. Ultimately I'm looking for the perfect subway cookie copycat recipe, but I came across these and they're nice and chewy and yummy AND so easy to make. Works for me!

Chewy Oatmeal Cookies:

150g margarine
1 1/2 dl sugar
1 1/2 dl raisins
3 dl oatmeal(not instant)
1 1/2 dl flour
1 tsp baking soda

Mix all dry ingredients in a bowl.
Add the butter and work it til you get a dough-like mix.
Spoon out and roll each portion to a ball and flatten it on the tray.
Bake at 175C until the cookies melt down a little and just start to brown around the edges - about 10 minutes, but do not over bake if you want them nice and chewy!

Pumpkin Cheesecake

I made this for my love on his birthday since he loves pumpkin pie and cheesecake and so pumpkin cheesecake wins any day in his book.

I made another cheesecake a while back and to be honest I liked that one much better. This one was a little more creamy and less sticky-cheesecakey which is how I like it, but it had a good pumpkin flavour and my lover ate the whole thing almost by himself. It was his cake afterall! ;p

Pumpkin Cheesecake:

Crust:
1 ½ cups digestive cookie crumbs
1/3 cup margarine, melted
1/4 cup sugar

Mix all 3 ingredients in a bowl, then press it into a medium sized spring form pan.
Bake at 175C for 8 minutes, dont let it brown. Cool while you make the filling.

Filling:
673 g philadelphia
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup lightly packed light brown sugar
2 eggs
1 small can pumpkin puree(420g)
2/3 cup sweetened condensed milk
2 tbsp corn starch
1 1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg

Beat the cream cheese, sugar and brown sugar until fluffy. Beat in the eggs, pumpkin and condensed milk. Add corn starch, cinnamon and nutmeg and beat well until really mixed.
Poor filling into crust and bake for 50-60 minutes until the edges are set but the center still jiggles slightly.
Let the cake cool and stick in the fridge over night.

If you dont want the cheesecake to crack while you bake it, cover the bottom of the springform in tinfoil and put in a deeper oven tray. Fill the tray with water so that it comes about halfway up the sides on the springform.

Pumpkin pie

So I finally went around and made my first pumpkin pie. I've only had pumpkin pie once in my life so I was unsure how this would turn out, and what a normal pumpkin pie should look like when it's done and so on. I have to say that I'm pretty pleased with the results. It's been a long time since I really enjoyed one of my own pies this much.

Pie crust:
3 dl flour
200 gram butter
3-4 tbsp water

Mix flour and butter.
Add water until good consistency.
Wrap and store in fridge until it's time to roll.

Pumpkin filling:
750 gram pumpkin
1/2 dl brown sugar
1/2 dl sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ginger
1/2 tsp nutmeg
2 eggs
3 dl half & half

Dig out the seeds and everything unwanted from the pumpkin, cut off the skin. Chop the meat into chunks. Try to make sure that you have about 750 gram of pumpkin chunks. Put the pumpkin in a pot and boil for about 20 minutes. Drain the water and puré the pumpkin meat.

Mix pumpkin puré, brown sugar, sugar, salt, cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg in a bowl.
Whisk together eggs and half&half then add it to the pumpkin mixture.

Line a pie dish that is about 20 cm in diameter with pie dough, not too thick. Pour in the pumpkin pie filling.
Bake for 15 minutes at 250 C then another 40-45 minutes on 200 C.

If your pie, like mine, gets too much color towards the end - cover it with tinfoil but make sure that the tinfol does not touch the top of the pie or it might stick to it. I solved this by putting a rack in the oven and placing the tinfoil on that.

Day of the Mudcakes!

Today is the day of the mudcakes, kladdkakans dag.

I didn't know this until after I made this cake but now that I do I just have to share it with you.
When I was testin out another type of cake in the kitchen I had some pie crust dough left over and I felt the need to get creative so I pulled out my little portion sized creme brulé cups and went for it.

Pie crust:
1 dl flour
70 gram butter
1 tbsp water

Mix flour and butter.
Add water until you have a good consitency.
Wrap and store in the fridge.

Mud cake filling:
1 dl sugar
1 egg
1/2 tsp vanilla sugar
50 gram butter
1/2 dl flour
1 1/2 tbsp cocoa
pinch of salt

50 gram chopped dark chocolate

Whisk together eggs, sugar and vanilla sugar until white and fluffy.
Add flour, cocoa and salt and mix until combined. Add the butter.

Chop the chocolate into fairly large chunks and set aside.

Take your pie dough and line four small portion sized, oven safe cups. You will probably have some dough left over.
Divide the chocolate batter between the four cups and sprinkle the chocolate chunks on top.

Bake at 175 C for about 15 minutes. Let cool, preferably over night, before serving.

Swedish bakes: Semla

In Sweden we have some strange traditions. Don't get me wrong, I love most of them, but alot of our traditions seem to have slowly faded and all that's left of it is the tradition to eat a certain food on a certain day. This baked goodie is one of those things that most people don't remember why we eat it, they just eat it.

Originally the Semla was eaten before or during the fast that led up to Easter. Some believe that it was invented during that same period by the exception that you were allowed to eat white bread during the fast. According to some, the people cheted on their fast by hiding other goods inside the bread - where noone could see it!

A semla is a piece of white bread(bread roll) cut open, filled with almond paste and whippd cream and dusted with powder sugar. This recipe contains spelt flour and a home made sugar free almonst paste with hazelnut. I made this during my low-GI period that I had earlier this spring and they turned out pretty good. Definitely more filling than the original.

Semla - bread:
50g fresh yeast
3 dl milk
2 tsp sweetener(+ 1 tbsp of sugar to feed the yeast if you want them fluffy)
75 g butter
1 egg
7 dl spelt flour
1 dl whole meal spelt flour
1 tsp whole cardamom
1 egg to coat the buns

How to:
Pestle the cardamom seeds. Heat the mlk to 37C. Dissolve the yeast in the milk.
Add sweetener(and sugar), butter, a lightly pre-whisked egg, flour and cardamom. Work the dough until it's got the chewing gum consistensy(about 5 min with a machine). Cover the bowl and let rest for 30-60 minutes until it's about doubled in size.
Split in 16 pieces and shape to balls. Put them on trays, cover and let rise for another 30 min.
Set the oven to 250C, coat the buns with a lightly whisked egg. Put the bread in the oven and lower the temperature to 225C. Let them bake for about 10 min. They're done when they feel light of sound hollow if you tap the bottom.


Almond hazelnut paste:
2 dl whole almonds
0.5 dl whole hazelnuts
1 egg white
1 dl sweetener

How to:
Boil some water and drop the almonds in for about 10-30 seconds. Take them out and let them cool just a little bit before you peel them by squeezing one of the ends of the almonds.
Put all ingredients in a mixer and blend until smooth. Scrape down if needed. Pack the paste in plastic and shape into a log. Keep in the fridge until you're ready to use it.

Assembling:
Whipping cream
sweetener(or sugar)
powder sugar
(milk)

How to:
Cut a the top off the bread.
With a fork, scrape out a small hole in the bottom half of the bread. Mix the scraped out bread crumbs with some of the almond paste. I added some milk to my almond-bread mix to make it softer and easier to work with. Take some of the mixture and lightly squish it down into the hole in the bread roll.
Whip up some whipping cream and sweeten it, either with sweeteners or with sugar. Pipe(or just splat) some whipped cream onto the bottom of the bread roll. Put the small lid back on, preferrably at an angle and dust your piece of art with some powder sugar.

Lemon Curd

So, what took me so long you ask? Everybody else has already gone bonkers over lemon curd and it's deliciousness. I have no good answer to that question, but this weekend it finally happened... and the bowl was scraped and licked empty(not by me, I promise).

The recipe couldn't have been more simple. I found one that required no separating of eggs and no moment-of-thruth-omg-hurry-! steps. I urge you to try.

All you need is to buy
2 eggs
1,5 dl sugar
2 lemons
50 g butter

and

Put a pot with some water on the stove, set on medium heat to simmer.
Zest the lemons. Squeeze the lemonjuice.
Add eggs, sugar and lemonjuice to a heatproof(metal) bowl, beat it lightly.
Put the heat proof bowl over the simmering pot of water and whisk continiously until it thickens(about 10 minutes), don't let it boil(it will curdle).
When it's thickened enough, pull it off the heat and add the butter, small cubes at a time. stir until the butter has completely melted.
Set to cool.

Ta da!
That was hard, wasn't it? I know, right?

Here's a picture of my first ever lemon curd. Sadly my camera doesn't handle yellows very well.. but it still looks mouth-watering nummy!

Oh, oh, I almost forgot!
If you make this you HAVE to try it with fresh, sweet strawberries. There's no two ways about it! It's amazing! <3

Frozen Candy Cane Cake and other romances

What should we talk about today? There has been so much going on. I keep on baking every day, every week... and I'm loving it. This week I focused on baking different types of cakes in school. I've been making them from scratch starting one day by making the base for the cakes in masses and the next few days putting them all together. It has been great fun and to be honest I think I fall in love a little with each one of my cakes. They're all a piece of art in their own way and the ones that don't come out perfect still symbolize my path to becoming more experienced and a better cake crafter.

Anyway, on to something that might interest you a little more. This weekend was my mother's birthday and I ofcourse had the pleasure of baking the desserts for her party. She requested a rerun on the minty marshmallow fluff cake that I made this summer. She really likes that cake. It's like the smoothest textured icecream cake you've ever had and it's so easy to make. Nobody would ever know!

Frozen Candy Cane Cake
For the crust:
20 chocolate cookies/bisquits
2 tablespoons cocoa

For the icecream fluff:
5 deciliters heavy cream
1 jar of marshmallow fluff
peppermint oil/essence/flavour
red food coloring
candy canes

For the chocolate sauce:
125 grams dark chocolate
75 grams butter
½ deciliter sugar
½ deciliter light syrup
salt
½ deciliter water

The crust:
Melt the butter, put the cookies, butter and cocoa in a food processor and mix until it's all crumbs.
Press into a springform, press some up on the sides if you wish, else just make the bottom a little thicker. Put in the freezer for now.

The icecream fluff:
Whip the cream until soft peaks form.
Mix the marshmallow fluff with some of the whipped cream until it's loose enough to easily fold into the rest of the whipped cream. Do so.
Add peppermint flavour to taste. Put about a third of the mixture in a separate bowl and save for later.
Crush the candy canes with a pestle and mortar until fairly finely crushed. It's ok if there are some larger bits.
Mix the crushed candy canes with the larger batch of fluff. Pour this mixture into the springform.

Take the rest of the mixture and add a few drops of red food coloring until nice and pink. Drop blobs of this onto the cake.
Use a knife to slightly swirl it around, mixing it with the rest of the fluff.
Put back in the freezer for atleast 5 hours but it can be made well in advance.

The chocolate sauce:
Put all the ingredients for the sauce in a pot and bring to a boil.
Stir until all chocolate has melted.
Let the sauce simmer for about 10 minutes or until the sauce thickens and gets glossy.

Personally mine never thickens while it's boiling but 10 minutes is usually good enough. You can make the sauce in advance as well and when it's time to serve just take the cake out of the freezer 5 minutes ahead of time and reheat the sauce in the microwave.

This cake is so nummy if you put the warm sauce in the bottom of a plate and put a slice of cake on top of it. The flavours in the crust really comes out then. That's all for today. Next time I'll tell you about this really nummy buttercream that I used for the biskvies that I made for my mother's party as well.

Pear Marmalade with Honey

I've been posting alot about my baking adventures lately but I hardly ever post any recipes. Originally I wasn't going to . I wanted this blog to be about my adventures and the things I've learned on my quest but let's face it. How mean isn't it to post about all these nummy things and not tell you how to make them? So I will slowly start adding my recipes as well. It's probably a good idea. That way I have everything gathered in one place and I wont lose my recipes or confuse them with each other.

Pear Marmalade with Honey
1.5 kg Pears(peeled and cored)
1 Lemon(0.75 dl lemon juice)
25 g Ginger(fresh)
500 g Jam Sugar(syltsocker)
3 tablespoons Honey

Afgter peeling and coreing the pears, cut them into small pieces and put them in a pot.
Squeeze the lemon and pour this over the pears.
Bring the pears to a boil then simmer on low heat for about 10 minutes(until the pears are soft and mushy).
Peel the ginger and cut them julienne(or in small pieces).
Add ginger, jam sugar and honey to the pot and let it boil strongly for at least 2 minutes.
Put the pot aside and leave it for 5 minutes.
After 5 minutes, skim the pot using a perforated ladle.
Pour the marmalade into hot, sterilized jars.

This marmalade is very sweet and it's hard to decide whether it's more like honey or more like marmalade. I made3 a second batch and reduced the jam sugar to about 425-450 gram and it turned out much better in my opinion.

Now let's talk about methods. When I make jam and other perserves I prefer to use air tight glas jars. I start by cleaning them thoroughly. Even if they're already clean. It's very important to use very clean jars. I then pop them in the oven on a damp towel on a low heat(about 100C) for at least 20 minutes.
Right before it's time to fill them I take them out of the oven and rinse the insides with a little bit of Sodium Benzoate dissolved in water.
When the jars have been filled I immediately put the lid on, turn them upside down and leave them until cooled off completely.

If you want to take things one step further you can also mix some Sodium Benzoate with a spoonfull of marmalade which you then mix with the rest of the marmalade.

And if you don't want your marmalade to turn brown you might also consider adding some Ascorbic Acid to the marmalade.

Both the Ascorbic Acid and the Sodium Benzoate can be bought in a regular grocery store. Usually near the baking supplies. Dosage for mixing it into jams and marmalades is usually found on the package. For the rinse I mix about half a teaspoon of Sodium Benzoate and half a litre of water.

Glögg - a Swedish Christmas Tradition

A few days ago(three to be exact) I started a project: to try to make my first glögg ever. Usually I just buy my glögg at the liqeur store. They have great varieties there. Some with raspberry, some with whiskey, vanilla. Every year there's a glögg of the year, a speciall flavor but a few days go I decided to make my own. It's not hard if you take a small shortcut and skip fermentation.

Do you guys know what glögg is by the way? In case you don't; It's a Swedish version of eggnogg I suppose. It isn't anything like an egg nog but it is what we drink around christmas. Originally to keep warm during the cold winters. The word glögg comes from the word "glödga" which originally meant "to heat up". Glögg is, simplified, wine that has been spiced up with Christmas spices, sweetened and then heated up. I heat mine to about 55-58C.

Some glögg can be overpowering if it's been spiced up with too much whiskey or sherry. The recipe that I found, however, had a perfect balance of spices and sweetness and eventhough it is quite potent the taste isn't overpowered with hard liqeur. I found the recipe on a Swedish blog called Kastrullresan and I find that place very inspiring. You can visit it here: http://www.kastrullresan.com/

If you want to try a typical Swedish Christmas tradition, here is the recipe. Translated and everything. =)

You'r going to need:
15 cl of vodka or other pure, hard liqeur
10 gram Cinnamon
1 ½ gram Clove(about 20?)
1 piece of dried Ginger
2 gram crushed Cardamom
½ Seville orange peel

1 litre Red whine(any, cheap kind will do)
2 deciliter Sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla sugar

Step one:
Crush the cardamon
Break up the cinnamon into smaller pieces
Put the cinnamon, clove, ginger, cardamom and seville in a glass jar.
Pour the liqeur on top and close the lid/cover.
Leave this for about 3 days, less if you want a less Christmassy taste.

Step two:
After 3 days strain the liquid and put it in a pot. Add the wine, sugar and vanilla sugar and head slowly on low head. Don't let it boil or the alcohol will evaporate. Stirr once in a while until the sugars have dissolved completely. Done!

The taste will improve even more if you leave this until the year after, in sealed bottles. But I suspect my glögg wont survive that long, sadly.

Reheat the glögg before serving.  In Sweden we serve it in small glasses and add raisins and blanched almonds. Enjoy!

Competition and my go-to recipe for Lemon Meringue Pie

So, I logged in at bloglovin.com - that is where I keep all my favorite blogs nowadays. They're so many now that I can't possibly keep track of them all on my own. Anyway, through bloglovin I found out that Smulan over at Smulans Bakblogg is holding a competition and the prize is three(3) Flame Boy Burners. The question she asks us is "What would you want to make if you owned a burner?".




Easy! The first thing that popped into my head was Lemon Meringue Pie.
If you remember; I have made lemon meringue pie several times and my favorite meringue to top the pie with is the meringue of all meringues(in my opinion at least): Italian meringue!

Here's the catch tho. Italian meringue is gorgeous. The texture is amazing and I would eat the whole batch of it straight out of my mixing bowl if I could. But when you bake it in an oven, which you do to make the surface crisp and slightly brown, it changes. Don't get me wrong, it's still very good but that wow-factor fades slightly after cooking the meringue in an oven.

My belief is that if I was to brown the meringue with a burner instead of using the oven, not only would it get a crispier surface, but it would also leave the center of the meringue at its original, super yummy state.

Smulan also requests the recipe for whatever it is that I would like to make and if I win I would have to bake and show the results of it. =) Gladly!

Here is my current go-to recipe for Lemon Meringue Pie.

Pie Crust:
260 grams of flour
0.5 tablespoon salt
110 grams of butter
a few tablespoons of water
(and an optional pinch or two of sugar)
---
Mix or whip all ingredients but the water on low until it has formed a slightly lumpy mess.
Add tablespoons of water, one at a time until you have a good and not too crumbly dough. I think I usually use 3 tablespoons of water.
Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and store in the fridge for about an hour.

Place the dough between two baking sheets and roll it out fairly thin. Then place it in a pie dish(23 cm) and fit it. Cut off any excess dough.
Fill the crust with some dry peas and pre-bake at 175C for 10 min plus an extra 10 without the peas.
Remove from the oven and let it cool.

The lemon filling:
8 egg yolks
2 cans(about 800g) condensed milk
The zest and juice from 8 lemons
---
In a glass bowl add the yolks, condensed milk, lemon juice and lemon zest.
Mix very carefully until it's all well blended. I like to think of it as if I'm folding flavouring into a meringue batter. Don't overmix it or the chemical reaction will be broken and the mixture wont thicken as it should.
Pour the mixture into the pie crust and bake at 150C for 20-30 minutes.
It's ready when it's soft in the middle but doesn't wobble when you move it.

The Italian meringue:
6 egg whites
330 grams of granulated sugar
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract/essence
water
---
Pour the sugar into a small saucepan and add just enough water to cover the sugar.
Bring to a boil on medium heat.
Put the egg whites in your mixing bowl(I REALLY suggest a stand mixer for this) and whisk until it's slightly foamy - not thick like a meringue just until it begins to foam. Turn off the machine and leave it until the syrup is ready.
Let the syrup continue to boil until it passes the soft ball stage. When this happens, turn your mixer back on and set it to medium speed.
Slowly stream the syrup into your egg whites.
When all the syrup is in the egg whites, switch the mixer to high and let it work for about 10-15 minutes.
Swtich to medium and mix for a minute or so until the meringue has reduced a little in fluffiness.

Now you can spoon the meringue over your pie and put it back in the oven at 150C for about 20 minutes or until the meringue has gotten a nice color(this is where I would use the burner instead!).

Oh, and the pie is best served after it's completely cooled so either prepare it in the morning or the evening before and don't forget to make sure that the meringue completely seals the pie. There should be no gaps between the meringue and the pie dish or the meringue will shrink.

If you are worried about raw egg whites, don't! The awesome thing with Italian meringue is that as you are adding the syrup the egg whites are cooked by the heat of the syrup. That's why I think the burner would be great because the maringue doesn't need to be actually cooked in the oven. It's basically sent in there just to get some color and surface.