LMB's anyone?

Hello all!

Have you guessed what LMB stands for? It is the one, the only, the beautifully tasty Lemon Meringue Buns!

These are my all time favourite buns! They are spongy, tart, sweet and tangy all in one. They are both elegant looking and delicious tasting! I find that they make any party, afternoon tea or gathering a great one!

I made these this yesterday morning as I hadn't made them for a long while and I like to make certain recipes again and again as it helps me to maintain the skill and also have an excuse to eat something delicious!

Yesterday seems to have been the day where the weather has turned- all rainy and cold. I miss the sun. The sun is such a mood lifter, it really makes me want to be out and about in the garden or walking with the dog. Toffee doesn't really do walking in the rain. But if we didn't have rain, then it wouldn't be home and also we wouldn't have all of the lush greenery that we do, and how lush it is!

So, I brought a little sunshine of my own into the house by baking these little delights.

The ingredients you'll need to make 18 buns are:

- 220g Self Raising Flour
- 220g Butter
- 220g Caster Sugar
- 4 Eggs
- 1 Lemon, juice and zest

Meringue Topping:

- 3 Eggs
- 6 oz Caster sugar

Curd Decoration:

- 1 jar of lemon curd, I would have made my own, but as I just had the notion to make these yesterday, I didn't really have the time or ingredients.

Method:

- Preheat the oven to 170 C in a fan oven. I always find if you are making buns, opposed to a cake or cakes, it is always that little bit faster to make. But only like 5 minutes or so. I find that this is due to the smaller amount of batter needing to be baked, and the fact that you need only pop a bun case in a tin and there is no need to melt butter, grease any tins and then cut baking paper to the required shape and size. I enjoy doing all this anyway, just thought you may like to know is all... :)

- Pop the butter into a mixer bowl and allow this to beat until it is smooth, light and fluffy. I find that whisking the butter for around 5 minutes first, before adding anything else, ensures that the whole batter will be smoother, lighter and fluffier. All of this together equals a good crumb.

- Add in the sugar and allow this to whisk for another five minutes until light, full of life and creamy.

- Crack the eggs into a separate bowl, in case of any egg shell invasion, this cracking method will ensure it doesn't contaminate the butter/sugar mix. Pop these into the mix and allow this to froth up and incorporate.

- Add in the flour and lemon zest and juice and mix this until smooth, pale and full of beautiful lemon.

- Bake at 170 C for 25 minutes or until they are risen, golden brown on the top and have little cracks in the surface.

- Leave these to cool on a cooling rack and make the meringue.

- Pop three egg whites into a clean bowl and whisk until they foam up to their full potential and form soft peaks. Pop the 6oz of sugar and a little water into a pot and heat until it forms a sugar syrup. This is your sugar syrup and will essentially cook the egg whites, as the hot sugar set them. Whereas, in a french meringue, it needs to be baked as the sugar is on its own and doesn't have any boiling water or liquid to heat the whites and cook them there and then.

- With the whisk on low, pour in the sugar syrup and allow this to whisk until it cools down and is stiff, glossy and beautifully full of stiff peaks.

- Using a piping bag and star nozzle, pipe little stars all around the surface of the buns and grill them.

- This will set them and essentially cook them again, as the sugar syrup cooked them the first time.

- Grill them until they are browned on the top. Pipe lemon curd on top in little strands and then serve.

- These are delicious and decadent. They are zingy and sweet, soft and silky and wonderful!

I hope you've enjoyed this and I'll be posting about the bread soon!

Thanks

Ciara