Mini Lemon Meringue Pies (gluten-free and dairy-free)

Mini Lemon Meringue Pies

Makes 12 gluten-free, dairy-free, very pretty pies

Ingredients:

Pastry

110g Gluten-free plain flour mix

1 pinch of gluten-free baking powder

1/4 tsp Xanthum gum

1 pinch of salt

55g block soya margarine like Pure

1/2 medium egg, beaten

splash of cold water (if dough too crumbly)

Lemon filling

3 lemons, zest and juice

30g cornflour

125g caster sugar

3 free-range egg yolks (keep the whites for the meringue)

Or cheat, and use Gale's Lemon Curd (which is both gf and df)

Meringue

3 free-range large egg whites

170g caster sugar

1.5 tsp cornflour

How to make the pastry

1. Place the flour, salt, Xanthum gum, baking powder and margarine into a bowl and rub with fingertips until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs
2. Add the egg and combine with hands to make a dough
3. Keep an eye on the texture, you may need to add a little water if it's too crumbly
4. Refrigerate for 20 mins
5. Roll out the dough using plenty of icing sugar to cover both work surface and rolling pin to prevent the dough sticking and to provide a little sweetness to the pastry
6. Cut out 12 rounds using a cutter (or wine glass) and place each pastry circle into one of the cups of a 12 x cupcake baking tray. Do not grease the baking tray beforehand
7. Cover the tray with cling film and refrigerate the pastry cases for at least 30 mins before blind baking for 12 - 15 mins at 180c
8. To blind bake, fold a sheet of baking parchment in half, then thirds, and then draw around your cutter on the top face. Cut your folded parchment along the line of the circle created by drawing round your cutter thus cutting out 12 circles at once. Pop one parchment circle on top of each pastry case and weigh it down using baking beans (not baked beans) if you have them or use uncooked rice. After cooking the pastry blind for 12 - 15 mins, take off and discard the rice and parchment and return to the oven for a further 2 - 4 mins, until the cases are slightly golden.

How to make the lemon filling (if you're not short-cutting with shop-bought lemon curd)

1. Mix the lemon zest and juice with the cornflour and stir to form a smooth paste. Bring to the boil 225ml of water, then add the lemon cornflour paste and stir over the heat until the mixture has thickened. Then remove from the heat

2. In a bowl, mix together the sugar and egg yolks and carefully whisk into the lemon mixture in the pan. Stir over a medium heat until thickened. Set aside for a few minutes and then pour into the baked pastry cases

How to make the meringue

Whisk the egg whites in a free-standing mixer until soft peaks form when the whisk is removed. Add the caster sugar a little at a time, still whisking until the meringue is stiff and glossy. Add the cornflour and whisk again.

Pie construction and final bake

1. Reduce oven heat to 170c

2. Spoon a generous dollop of the meringue on top of each lemon curd-filled pastry case, and spread it to completely cover the lemon filling. Then create a swirl on the top of each meringue-topped pie

3. Bake in the oven for about 10 - 15 mins, until the filling is completely set and the meringue is lightly golden and crisp.

Serve hot or cold. 

Warning: these pies are so darn cute, they're almost too sweet to eat. Good luck.

1. 0:

Want to know what your children are into right now?

Get an honest insight into your kids' current interests, priorities and opinions without them feeling like they're being put on the spot.

         

 

Living in London, we don't use our car for day-to-day journeys, so when we get in it to go somewhere out of town, it's always a bit of a novelty. For my children, I'm pleased to say, it's a well known and looked forward to chance for chat, music and games. A few days ago, when we were on a weekend car journey to visit family, I suggested we play a new game that I had just thought up and quickly decided to call 'My Top Three'. I find that a new game always has better status and chance of sticking if it arrives with a name, however hastily thought up.

I explained that to play the game we would take it turns to each choose a topic or theme or thing, and then everyone would take a minute to think about what their top three would be, ranking them accordingly. Well, they jumped at the chance of playing it and, youngest first as is often our way for deciding who starts, my daughter immediately came up with our first category. 'What are your Top Three... birds?' she asked, brilliantly. Well, we all took some time to think about it, and then we announced our answers and compared our choices. Here's what we all came up with:

D: #3 golden eagle, #2 robin, #1 penguin 

B: #3 red kite, #2 hawk, #1 peregrine falcon

Me: #3 peacock, #2 pied wagtail, #1 robin

Then we went round and round the car, each choosing a different category like Top Three Cars, Top Three Days Out, Top Three Books, Top Three Smells, Top Three Toys, Top Three Things Daddy Does, and my son, somewhat out of the blue, suggested Top Three Plays by Shakespeare.

Now, you will probably not be so interested in what all our answers were - but play this with your nearest and dearest and you'll definitely be intrigued. Their answers may surprise you, they may even delight you or move you, like my children's answers did me. But one thing's for sure - they will give you an up-to-the-minute insight into what your children are about right now. 

Try it, and see what's making your child's Top Three today. 

Way to Play : Stay and Play

Learning Opportunities: speaking about one's own opinions and listening to those of others, taking turns, making thoughtful choices, respecting other people's choices, developing self-awareness and increasing knowledge of one's own and other's preferences

Turn your 2015 parenting resolutions into routine with The Playful Parent

It's about now, in mid-January, when any New Year's resolutions we might have made to help us make a fresh start, or better ourselves in some way or other, begin to waver. Maybe you've had a glass or two of wine by now, or skipped that last gym session, or bitten your nails - and grrrr... you'd promised yourself you weren't gonna do that in 2015. It's about now that most of us really need a bit of help; to really turn those resolutions into routine; to stop those chances to change becoming discarded and forgotten like yesterday's socks.

I recently read a fascinating article here, by Emily Temple for flavorwire.com, which shared 50 books to inspire and keep you on the straight and narrow with your New Year resolutions. The list featured a pretty eclectic selection of fiction and non-fiction books to encourage you to travel more, watch less TV, play a musical instrument, learn a new language - there was even a book to get you thinking about living your life in an arboreal kingdom amongst the treetops. But, for me, there was a category missing; for anyone who's made a parenting New Year resolution this year. You don't often hear about those, and yet I know that many mums and dads have made them. These are the parents who are trying their best but still want to improve the way their family functions. They might have made a resolution to feel more empowered as a parent and less like the maid, to be more in control more of the time, to be more present, to play more with their children, to improve their family's communication, to yell less, to get frustrated less - or they might - dare I say it - have even made themselves a promise to try to enjoy being a parent more. 

It is for those people, who have made, in my opinion, such noble New Year's resolutions - and who might by now be needing a source of inspiration - that I wish to add The Playful Parent; 7 ways to happier, calmer, more creative days with your under-fives to that list of books. There is no better time than now to plunder its pages for practical, non-patronising and positive ideas to help make the parenting of young children more of a pleasure and less of a chore this coming year.

Here's the link to my book's website The Playful Parent, and here are a few of my favourite reviews:

'As a stay at home mum of two (4 years and 21 months) I thought this would be worth a read. I must admit I approached it with a slight skepticism, having read some pretty patronising and unrealistic 'how to do parenting' books, but I've been really very pleasantly surprised. It openly acknowledges the struggles we face in raising young children and juggling the chores of every day life, but passes no judgement, and offers loads of ideas of how to entertain your little ones without having to be giving them 100% of your attention all of the time. At the time of reading this, I'd been really struggling with my feisty 21 month old boy, and even just reading the introduction really inspired me and reminded me how very lucky I am!'

'This book is full of fun ideas, simple ideas and useful ideas. It will show you how to engage your kids when you have jobs to do, how to create invitations to play and to set up play very quickly. It encourages you to get involved and to make it easy for your child to access play independently too. It is a wise,fun and inspiring book and an easy, pleasant read.'

'I love the fact that this book is written by someone who clearly knows how kids work. It's refreshingly positive and offers such fun, interesting ways out of real, every day problems where both the parent and child can win. It's certainly a book that you can dip in and out of whenever you feel in a rut or lacking motivation. I have already adopted some of her ideas and found they have worked a treat.'

If you did make a parenting New Year resolution back on 1 Jan, I salute you, and wish you the very best of luck. Please keep me posted about how it's going - you can find me on Twitter here or on Facebook here. 

I'd love to hear from you.