Lemon Meringue Buns

Hi again. Sorry for not posting in a while, we were busy moving Cùshla to France for her year abroad. Wow- that took so much out of us all- with the travelling, Susie the annoying programme thing that brought us to where we needed to go (she was a computer). I loath Susie- I thought satnavs were supposed to be clear and polite. This one came with a lot of sass and kept saying either bare left, turn left, keep to the left or stay left and turn left in the next 300 meters then stay left... Stay left... Turn left. This chick was confusing. Made for an interesting trip though.

It was funny (let it be known that this was not funny to me, but the other two laughed their arses off.) We were having a perfectly lovely dinner, food was nice, company good and the atmosphere was good too. Food arrives and we all eat. My food however decides to leap onto my top. Making me look like I had up- chucked on myself. The five year old beside us looked at me as if to say 'what is wrong with you. You have a napkin for a reason. Your an utter mess.' Followed by a snide



 look from his dad and this man who was sitting behind mama and seemed to enjoy making me feel uncomfortable. He liked to stare. I was a mess and everyone knew it. That cheered the two up though and we all had a chuckle.

We were out at OX - the best restaurant in Belfast as far as I'm concerned. It is where the Doll with the Ball is or you may know it as the Thing With The Ring, or its actual name being the Maden of Hope or so i've heard

These buns are my own creation so I really hope you enjoy them as much as I have. (: One day I wanted to eat lemon meringue pie and buns, but was too lazy to bake both as it was quite late at night, and my priorities like revising were running weak from hunger. So I came up with these lemon meringue buns- combining both my cravings. Procrastination at its best!

The first thing you need to do is weigh out the ingredients, pre- heat the oven and put the bun cases into the bun tray.

What you need to make the buns are;

- 110g Butter
- 110g Caster Sugar
- 110g Self Raising Flour
- 2 Eggs

(This basic batter recipe is from Delia Smith- but that is where the help ended. Now it is all me! Haha)

That's the base to the bun batter. Ooh alliteration- I love it when that happens. You want to cream the butter and sugar together until fluffy and a pale light colour that looks delectable to shove into your gob. Then add the eggs- at this point the mix is going to look pretty grim as it will resemble scrambled eggs- no matter how slowly you beat the mix. Once you add the flour the mixutre will become beautiful and silky. I wanted to eat it raw, but the fact that that would involve consuming raw eggs especially turned me off the notion.

Get you ice cream scoop and don't get the ice cream out, we're not porkers. Use this to weigh and portion out even scoops of the batter into each bun case in the tray. Then pop these into the oven that you have pre- heated for around 25 minutes at 170C in a fan assisted oven. This will vary on your oven and the power that it is at.


I believe that one day it will be the case where a 'waiter's freind' isn't a bottle opener, but an ice cream scoop. Imagaing the magic it would bring. You want ice cream- not a bother, I have my trusty ice cream scoop handy. Pull up a bowl and eat!

The ingredients that you'll need for the syrup are (this is to drizzle onto the buns to make them moist and lemony.

This is the sugar and lemon juice

This is the sugar and lemon and water when it is bubbling

- 50g Lemon juice and zest
- 100g Caster Sugar
- 10g Water

Heat this all in one pan slowly until the sugar dissolves and then it all starts to bubble wonderfully around the edges and then the middle. Or until it is all warm and a little syrupy. Use a pastry brush or a spoon - NOT YOUR FINGER- UNLESS YOU WANT TO BURN IT OFF. You know when you were kids and you'd put your fingers into the warm, melted wax in the candle- well this is much much worse. Drizzle this over the surface of the buns when cooked and slightly cooled. It is good to do this when they are warm as that will help the syrup to really seep in and make them full of lemony goodness.

Leave the buns aside and let's get started on the meringue. This is Italian meringue, so it is cooked with the hot sugar syrup. I then grill it to brown the tops and set the meringue completely so it won't splat everywhere over everything.

The ingredients you'll need are, according to mum which come to think of it probably means Delia are 6 oz (ounces) of sugar for 3 eggs whites. Whisk the egg whites until stiff and fluffy. To make it Italian meringue you need to make a sugar syrup like we did for the bun base. This is to cook the egg whites as it isn't going to be cooked in the oven.

- 3 Egg Whites at room temperature as this will help them fluff up more freely
- 6 oz of Caster Sugar
- 2 tbsp of water
- 50g Lemon Curd

Yours truly pouring the boiling syrup into the egg whites

Put all of these ingredients into a pan and heat until the sugar melts and dissolves, but hasn't crystallised. Wait until this bubbles and becomes quite syrupy and shiny and slightly thicker. Pour this into the whisked eggs whites slowly and then whisk at a high speed until the eggs whites are glossy and stiff.

Piping away- notice the hair net? No fooling around

Now you want to put this into a piping bag with a star tipped nozzle and pipe little stars around the top of the bun until completely covered. Then put this under the grill at a medium heat until the top is golden brown and toasty looking. Get another piping bag and with a small star tipped nozzle, pipe little strands of lemon curd over the meringue. Alternatively friends, we could spread the meringue on with a knife or back of a spoon, as you mightn't have a piping bag or nozzles. Works just as well.

Thanks again