Favourite Lemon Recipes – Drizzle Cake – Lemon Curd – No Churn Ice Cream – limoncello
Simply lemons
Anyone who knows me well, knows better than to bring me chocolate, unless, of course, it’s Pavlides Greek chocolate; dark chocolate with a zingy, mouthwatering, gooey lemon filling.
For as long as I remember, even as a small child, when everyone else went for chocolate or strawberry, I consistently went for lemon.
Pavlides Greek dark chocolate with lemon
Lemons have such a distinctive taste, acidic, tangy, they’re just so, well, just so lemony!
I can’t say that cooking up a storm in the kitchen is my cup of tea, but bring me lemons and I’ll deal with them!
Lemons forever!
A week never goes by without me making at least one of the only three recipes I need; Lemon curd/cheese (In Yorkshire we call it lemon cheese, so that’s what I’ll call it), lemon drizzle cake or lemon ice cream.
I’ve at last managed to convince my little helper, my granddaughter Melina, that you can have too many cupcakes,the only thing Mel ever wants to bake, and now, there’s no stopping us, and we’re whipping up lemon drizzle cake two at a time!
Mel’s lemon drizzle cake
Lemon Drizzle Cake
Ingredients for 2 cakes
250 g sugar
250 g butter (Room temperature)
250g self-raising flour
2 tsp baking powder
4 eggs, lightly beaten
Zest of 4 lemons
Juice of 2 lemons
200g icing sugar
Method
Preheat oven 180 degrees C
Line 2 standard loaf tins with greaseproof paper and grease with butter
Beat sugar & butter
Beat in eggs, a little at a time
Fold in flour and slowly mix in juice of 1 lemon
Mix in lemon zest
Divide mixture between 2 standard loaf tins
Bake in oven 45 minutes (Insert a knife to test if done, when knife comes out clean, that’s it…done!)
Remove cakes from oven, leave in tins.
Why make only one when you can make two? My little helper, Mel
Preparing to ‘drizzle”
Put icing sugar in a bowl and mix with juice of 1 lemon, if not runny enough, add a little water, it needs to be quite thick, but runny enough to pour.
Prick cakes all over with a toothpick, (I use a souvlaki skewer), pour sugar mixture all over surface of cakes while they are still hot. Some recipes for lemon drizzle cake, state castor sugar, not icing sugar, for the “Drizzle”.
I’ve tried this, but much prefer it with icing sugar, I’m not too keen on the crunch you get with castor sugar.
Dare to be decadent, slice the cakes in half, lengthways, and sandwich together with lemon cheese! You can never have too much lemon!
Lemon Curd (Lemon Cheese)
Ingredients
Lemon cheese ingredients
100g Sugar
100g Butter
Zest of 3 lemons
Juice of 3 lemons
3 eggs
Method
Mix all ingredients in a pan, bring to the boil, stirring continuously, turn down heat to a simmer, keep stirring…important, for about five minutes until mixture thickens.
Pour into jars while still hot, cool and put in fridge.
Alternatively, put all ingredients in a microwave safe bowl, blast on high in microwave for 1 minute, stir mixture well, put in microwave for another minute, stop, and stir again.
Do this about five times, always stirring in between.
Don’t be tempted to skip the mixing in between each minute, and cook for a continuous 5 minutes, you’ll get great lumps of hardened egg white.
You’ve guessed how I know this haven’t you?
In fact, in between each minute in the microwave, I give it a good beating with a wire whisk!
I have tried many recipes, this is the best, less sugar, gives the lemon cheese that zesty, tangy taste.
The simple things in life
Lemon cheese, bread and butter.
Delicious with bread and butter, used to sandwich cakes together, stirred into Greek yogurt, or why not try it with perfect panna cotta
Panna cotta with lemon cheese
Lemon cheese produces the best lemon ice cream andno – churn ice cream is so easy to make, no machine needed!
Why not try using this delicious, authentic, homemade Italian Limoncello recipe, for the lemon ice cream, given to me by my dear Italian friend Mirella, who, in turn, had it given to her by her father?
My dear friend Mirella, the Italian bombshell!
Homemade limoncello is far superior to shop – bought, there is no comparison!
Mirella’s authentic, homemade, Italian limoncello recipe.
Homemade, authentic, Italian Limoncello
Ingredients for limoncello
1 Kilo large lemons (unwaxed variety)
750 mls of either Greek tsipouro, Italian grappa, or vodka
1 Kilo sugar
500mls Water
Method
We only need the lemon peel, not the whole lemon, so peel the lemons as thinly as possible, scrape off and discard any white pith that may be present on the peel.
Put the lemon peel and alcohol into a large lidded jar and store in a cool, dark place for one to two weeks and give it a good stir every day.
After two weeks, put the water in a saucepan, along with the sugar and bring to the boil on a low heat, stirring until the sugar has dissolved.
Remove from heat and leave to cool.
Once cool, add the lemon and alcohol mixture and mix well, pour into large airtight jar and leave in fridge for one day.
Strain the liquid, discard lemon peel and pour into glass bottles and keep in the fridge, or even better, in my opinion, the freezer.
Italians drink this delicious, lemony beverage after meals, as a digestive, Mirella tells me, Italians drink anything alcoholic after a meal, my answer to this Mirella, is, I would drink your heavenly limoncello morning noon and night!
No-churn lemon ice cream
Homemade no-churn lemon ice cream
Ingredients
500 ml double cream
1 tin (450g) sweetened condensed milk
200g lemon cheese
50 ml limoncello
People in Greece have been asking about the double cream, what can be used instead?
Whenever a recipe calls for double, (or single) cream, I use Greek “Krema galaktos”, any brand, always full fat though, never “Lite”
There is the another one “Vegetalcrem” ….which I know nothing about,
I have been told it works better for ice cream.
Substitute double cream for Greek “Krema galaktos”
If you want, use the “Vegetalcrem”
Method
Whip the double cream until just thick, don’t overdo it, if you make the cream too stiff, it can cause the ice cream to leave a fatty film in your mouth.
Pour the sweetened condensed milk into a separate bowl and slowly fold in the whipped cream.
Add limoncello and mix well.
Add lemon cheese, either gently swirl it around, creating a marble effect, or mix in well, giving the ice cream a uniform lemon colour, it’s up to you.
Put into a container, I use an empty “bought” ice cream container, or a standard loaf tin, and leave in freezer for at least 4 hours.
I have to say, this no-churn ice cream is all very well, but, it does tend to be rather rock hard when it’s been in the freezer for a few days (If it lasts that long!).
Adding alcohol of some sort helps to keep it soft, but it is best eaten after 4-5 hours of making; otherwise, remove from freezer about 15 minutes before you need it.
Homemade Lemonade
Keeping cool in a red hot Greek summer. Homemade lemonade
This is not really a recipe, it’s just pure lemon juice and water, but so refreshing on hot Greek summer days…don’t add sugar!
1 litre iced water
Juice of 6-8 lemons, depending on how much you love lemons!
A few sprigs of fresh mint
Plenty of ice
Mix it all together!
This is my lemon life; any more lemon recipes are welcome!
