RASPBERRY SUMMER DESSERT

Good Morning to you,

The weather here is not warm, the sun is not shining, but at least it is not raining, so what can a girl do, but ignore the weather and get on with something pleasurable.... and I have something very pleasurable to bake today,

A Raspberry Summer Dessert

This dessert took me an age to make.... not because it was difficult, but because the battery in my camera was low.

Last evening, I thought to myself, I must charge my camera battery as I did not want it to run out midway through taking photographs, but I became involved in making supper.

After supper and whilst I was washing-up, I thought to myself, "I must remember to charge my camera battery when I have finished washing-up".

I made coffee and was chatting to George, then I picked up my sewing and began sewing the hearts for a quilt I am making for little Polly who is coming into the world in the next couple of weeks.  As I was sewing I thought.... yes you have guessed it, "I really must charge my camera battery when I have finished sewing", but I became so engrossed with my sewing, it totally slipped my mind.

I went to bed...... and that's right, I did not charge my camera battery, so of course I had to do it first thing this morning..... and it takes a good couple of hours, so everything was on hold until the battery charged itself..... and of course I kept checking and the light remained red, it was like waiting for water to boil. So I wandered into the garden and did a little gardening..... and yes, you are right, I lost myself in the gardening..... do you see a theme developing here, I do lose myself in things I am doing. So by the time I came indoors it was lunchtime and that was only because George came into the garden to water his bonsai trees and mentioned that he thought I was baking a tasty little treat today. I dropped my gardening tools and hotfooted it back into the kitchen, to find the battery had turned to green and was completely charged, it probably had charged itself twice over. 

So, I have washed my hands and put on my apron, so I think we had better get cracking, as time is moving on.

The music I have chosen to listen to today is a collection of songs from the film, Peter's Friend's.

This music makes me think of Natasha, as this was her favourite film in 1992 and she loved the music.  She had finished her A Levels and had began her first year at Bristol University.  When she came home for the holidays, this music could be heard throughout the house...... do you remember  as a teenager how we all seemed to  love loud music, the louder the better.

But now it is time to press on, we really must start baking before time slips away from us.

I am listing the ingredients for the pastry, as they are slightly different, but I am not going through the process as we did that when we made the Lemon Meringue Pie, but I will need to show you the baking tin I used as it is different from the Lemon Meringue Pie tin. 

It is a little deeper, as the pastry must come up the sides of the baking tin. So you will need a 9 inch   (23 cm) buttered baking tin which has a depth of about 2 inches (5 cm).

INGREDIENTS FOR PASTRY

175g (6 oz) plain flour

125g (4 oz) butter cubed

40g (1 1/2 oz) sugar

1 egg, separated

 2 tablespoons of  cold water

You will find the pastry will be a little short, but this makes for a lovely textured pastry.  When you roll out the pastry and put it in your baking tin, you will find little pieces might fall away, as mine did. Don't worry, you can patch the pastry using your  spatula. It creates a lovely texture as you can see in the photograph.  Also I used scissors to trim the pastry instead of my usual knife, so the edges are not as straight as normal, but have a lovely rustic look about them.

When you have lined the baking tin with pastry, place it in the fridge for 15 minutes before baking.

INGREDIENTS

FOR THE VANILLA CREAM FILLING

75g (3 oz) sugar

3 large egg yolks

50g (2 oz) cornflour

250ml (9 fl oz) milk

1 vanilla pod, split 

300ml (10 fl oz) single cream

300ml (10 fl oz) double cream

1 tablespoon of icing sugar to dust over

the raspberries

450 g washed and dried raspberries

METHOD

Whisk together the sugar, egg yolks and 

cornflour in a bowl,

until the ingredients are fully

 incorporated and the

mixture is smooth

Split the vanilla pod 

Heat the milk, single cream, vanilla pod

in a saucepan

until just boiling

you will see the odd bubble emerge.

Remove the vanilla pod from the milk.

Add the heated vanilla milk, to the egg mixture

a little at a time,

pouring slowly, be sure

to keep whisking.

Return the mixture to the saucepan.

 Place over  a low heat and

 keep whisking

until the mixture has thickened.

You will feel the texture thicken

and little bubbles will appear.

Please remember it is important

to keep whisking.

Place the vanilla cream into a large heatproof

bowl, remove the vanilla pod,

cool and chill in the fridge

TOPPING

450 g (1 lb )  of fresh raspberries

Wash and dry the raspberries

Remove the vanilla cream from the

fridge and whisk until smooth

Whisk the double cream until stiff

and gently fold into the vanilla cream 

Spoon mixture into the pastry case

and smooth to give an even surface.

Chill until set, about an hour

When the cream has chilled, remove from

the fridge and arrange the raspberries 

on the top.

Sprinkle with icing sugar

Cut yourself a slice, arrange some

extra raspberries on top,

pour over some cream

and there you have it,

a perfect Raspberry Summer Dessert

...... and now for the verdict of my resident taster, George, who always seems to appear at the right moment.

This Raspberry Summer Dessert,

"Makes him think of sunshine and sunny days,
he would love to eat it in the sunshine,
 sitting on a garden swing.

The dessert was light 

and the tartness of the raspberries

offset the sweetness of the cream,
It was scrumptious"

So there you have it, all in all I think a resounding success, maybe I should rename it A Raspberry Sunshine Dessert, in honour of George.

Oh yes, before I go, you will be wondering what to do with the three egg whites which were not used.  Place them in a zip lock bag, label them and place them in the freezer.  We will be using them next Sunday to make Pavlova...... did you really think I would waste them?

Oh yes, and another thing, just in case you are wondering who little Polly is, Charmaine is Danielle's best friend and she is expecting her first baby in the next few weeks..... we are all so thrilled for her.

I am going now, honestly, so take care and I will see you later in the week,

This week I shall be joining,

Karen from Sew Many Ways
Yvonne at StoneGable

Sherry at No Minimalist Here

Kate at Chic on a Shoestring Decorating