Lemon curd instantly elevates the classic blueberry pancake to a whole new level of flavor on the palate. These are so easy to whip up and so fluffy. Adding fresh blueberries is the final touch!

Yield: 1 dozen

Ingredients

• 2 1/2 cups flour

• 2 Tbsp sugar

• 2 Tbsp baking powder

• 1 tsp salt

• 2 cups milk

• 2 eggs

• 1/4 cup melted butter

• 1 tsp vanilla

• 1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries

• I jar of lemon curd

Instructions

1. Whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a mixing bowl, preferably one with a pourable spout. In another bowl, whisk together the milk, eggs, melted butter, and vanilla. Add to the dry ingredients and stir lightly. Don't over-mix or the pancakes will be tough.

2. Spoon batter onto a medium hot griddle, and sprinkle blueberries over the batter. Cook till bubbles form, then flip pancakes over and cook till golden brown. Serve hot with the curd of your choice, but lemon is hard to beat. Enjoy!

Soft Fluffy blueberry pancakes

Phyllo Tarts

Soft Fluffy blueberry pancakes

Spooning a little tart curd into either home made or store bought shells, makes this probably one of the easiest and most impressive desserts if you are entertaining.

I am showing you the cheat version -  but if you love to bake please use either phyllo, pate sucree or perhaps make tiny ginger crust tartlets; Just process ginger snaps till crumbs and then add some melted butter. Mix in and press mix into mini tartlet molds.

Ingredients

Packet of mini pastry shells - either phyllo or chocolate

Jar of your preferred flavor of fruit curd

Mixed berries of your choice. 

Rosemary or mint to garnish

Method

If  you bought shells, bake at 350F for 5 minutes till they start to brown. Set aside

Add half to 3/4 tsp of fruit curd to shell

Add berry of your choice and garnish with berry of choice to complement the curd flavor

Also garnish with either mint leaves , rosemary or oregano.

Phyllo

Fruit Tarts

So here is the perfect flavor combination between refreshing curd and sweet meringue.These pretty little meringue nests make such an easy dessert. Not only do they look impressive they taste great with minimum effort. They are both crunchy and soft, and once bitten into, they will melt in your mouth. Make them large or mini, and fill them either just with the curd of your choice or with cream and fruit on the side.

TIP:  trick to baking meringue is to let it bake slowly and uninterrupted in a cool oven. Don’t try to hurry baking meringue!

BUT if you don’t want to make the meringue yourself, you can easily buy little meringue nests at the grocery store. That makes this dessert even easier!

Ingredients

• 4 large egg whites

• ½ teaspoon baking powder, or 1 teaspoon lemon juice or white wine vinegar

• 1 cup (220 g/7.7 oz) caster sugar

• ½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 200F/90C. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and prepare a pastry bag fitted with a round or star tip (mine had a 1cm opening). Set aside.

2. Before you start, make sure that your mixer bowl is extra clean and not greasy, as that would prevent the egg whites from reaching their full volume. In the bowl of an  electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, whisk egg whites on medium low speed until foamy. Add cream of tartar and continue whisking until soft peaks start to form.

3. Then, while mixer is running, add sugar, one tablespoon at a time, and increase mixing  speed to medium-high. Go slowly. Adding the sugar and continuing to beat may take 5-10 minutes.

4. The meringue is ready  once stiff peaks form, it’s glossy and completely smooth but not dry, and the sugar is fully dissolved. Scrape down the sides of the bowl to make sure that no sugar is sticking. Beat in vanilla extract.

5. Transfer meringue to the piping bag. To prevent the parchment paper from sliding, pipe a little of the meringue on the underside of each corner of the paper and ‘stick’ it to the pan. Pipe a 5 cm (or any other size you want, depending on how big or small you want them) round spiral base on the prepared baking sheet, and without lifting the tip, pipe 2-3 circles on top of the outer edge to create a nest.

6. The amount of nests really depends on how wide or tall you make them. This recipe can make anywhere from 10 large to 30 minis. I usually make mine quite tall with a 5 cm base, and it yields me around 16-20 nests.

7. Place in the lower part of the oven and bake for 2-3 hours, or until the meringues are dry, their centers aren’t sticky, and they are easily lifted from the parchment paper with their bases intact. Turn off the oven and, without removing, let meringues cool completely for at least one hour, or overnight.

8. When ready to serve, fill the nests with the curd of your choice, and a good bowl of whipped cream or icecream on the side.

9. Small garnishings just finish it off. in this case I used a few small mint leaves with a few slices of kiwi.

Meringues will keep for several days in an airtight container at room temperature.

Meringue nests