Martha Stewart Thin Pear Tart

Hey there. Writing these posts have become somewhat of a little battle. Primarily because I tend to eat all of what I bake and that does no wonders for my waist-line, unless I have people round to share it. I have to sample my creations, of course – but I'm not really the type of person that can stop at just 'two' of those delicious Brownies or those cookies.

I exercise regularly and all, but what I really need is an in-house taster! Someone that can help me polish off the remaining slices or handful of biscuits! I currently don't have one of those, but I'm on the look out! In the meantime I just have to cleverly bake when I'm expecting friends or when the parents come round. I would love to hear from other food bloggers – How do you stop yourself from devouring all of what you bake?

White Choc Lime Cookies

 

I'm here writing to you and eating one of these cookies at the same time (multitasking), before I go and watch The Great Gatsby with the other half. I know I can easily say that I like cookies. And I know you’ve probably heard me say that before, but can I just tell you about these ones, please? Before I tell you about anything else – as nothing else is more important right now – these cookies are were so delicious! I don’t even want to say 'delicious' as that word is so over-used here. I need a new word for delicious to describe these cookies. When I first embarked on baking these, I did think: “these cookies are going to taste funny, as they have lime in them”. And cookies are meant to have sweet ingredients in them, right. We all know this. But was I wrong. I don’t know how, but together, the lime and white chocolate really work.

And the best thing about cookies in general – they're finished baking in 10 minutes! Normally with cookies I personally have a tendency to over-bake them, and then they end up like crunchy biscuits, but I did exactly as it said ‘on the tin’ this time and they came out perfect.

P.S: the secret to a good tasting white choc chip cookie, I believe, is to use a good quality chocolate chip! I have used Dr. Oetkers chocolate chunks.

Kiwi Strawberry Banana Tart

        

         

Today everything seemed like hard work. It's Sunday and I got stuck in a house-work rut. One chore led to another. And before I knew it I'd spent my whole morning and afternoon doing house-work. Even just going to the next room to use my computer is feeling like an effort for me, as I lay on my bed writing this post from my iPhone.

Maybe it's just 'lazy-itis' today.
However I did make the time to photograph today's creation. The final product tasted delightful, the fruit was sweet and the custard was light. My friends put in a 'special request' for this one to be made again.

This creation was more of a lesson for me. I made my own pastry here. And I can't deny I did find it a wee bit of an effort today. I've always made my own, but whilst battling with the evil dough, a small voice popped in to my head: "maybe using shop-bought pastry instead of making my own isn't so bad?" Gasp! Oh gosh, who said that?! Now, such an idea is a bit controversial coming from some one who is meant to be "baking" in every sense of the word! I know, I know. Seriously, after the way I feel today, if you try this recipe and decide to forgo the pastry-making part and use shop-bought stuff instead, I completely understand!