Anyone for sweets?

DOLCI DOLCI DOLCI

I've never had cake for lunch before and I felt like I was channeling Marie-Antoinette when we sat down to taste the food I had made on day 4 of my cooking course. When I started the course I thought to myself that 3 hours over 4 days wasn't really much to learn how to cook a lot of typical Umbrian dishes and I had wished it was a bit longer. By the Friday (day 4), I was ready to hang up the apron and go and detox. I didn't of course which is why my jeans are now punishingly tight, but the thought was there. For you Facebookers out there, you might recall my post a few weeks ago of NO...MORE...FOOD! Well, that was posted a few hours after the tasting of day 4 of the cooking course.  See the recipes below and you will understand why.  After this I also realized why dessert is great sometimes, but you certainly can't eat dessert as a meal, and certainly not four or five different types at the one time, I feel sick writing this just thinking about the amount of sugar consumed on that day and how I was becoming the pin-up girl for boombah (I could see Jane Kennedy waving her skinny little finger at me as I went for another piece of the apple torta)

Charlie and Sam were a little confused as they sat down to a 'lunch' of cake...is this a joke mummy?

Crostata di marmellata (Jam tart)
Ingredients
2 eggs (1 whole egg plus one egg yolk)
100g butter soft at room temperature
130g caster sugar
300g plain flour
2 tsp baking powder
Lemon peel of half a large or 1 small lemon
Jam of your choice  1 small jar (the standard jars that you get at the supermarket should be fine)

Method
Butter and flour a pie dish (this is a round dish like one that you use for making tarts)
On a clean bench or wooden surface, make a well in the centre of a heap of flour with baking powder mixed at the edge
Stir in the egg, and the sugar and mix them together in the centre
Add very small dabs of butter and use your fingers as a 'whisk' to gently soften the butter and work it in with the eggs/sugar
When fairly smooth, begin to work this into the flour, blending from the centre outwards, together with the grated lemon peel
Mix until you have a smooth homogenous ball
Knead until the board/surface stays clean as you work
Divide the dough into a big half and a small half! (Best to do this recipe when it's cooler so the dough doesn't break, Spring would be the perfect time for all you Melbourners!)
Press the big half of the dough into a disc, place in dish, and begin to press it out to meet the edges, ensuring that the pastry base is uniform thickness
Spread the base with jam
With the remaining pastry, form thin strips, by rolling with both hands (using fingers close to palms) to elongate gently
Lift these over the filling, 5 in one direction, and 5 more at a diagonal to produce diamond shapes. Use the rest of the dough to make thicker strips which you place at the edge to form a border. Don't press it down just push it gently into place.
Using a lightly floured spoon, press the tip all round the border to create a pattern, and then press it gently at each intersection to create the appearance of weaving.
Back at 180c for 20 minutes. Allow to rest 5 minutes before inverting from pan, then invert again onto serving platter, or just serve in the dish you baked it with if you're a big chicken like me and don't want to see your hard work go 'splat' all over the floor.

Tiramisu (for ten ppl)
Ingredients
Cup of espresso coffee cooled
3 eggs
3 lightly heaped dessert spoons of caster sugar
Pavesini or equivalent biscuits (savoiardi) enough to cover the base of a square or rectangle serving dish (about 15-20cm in length)
250g marscapone
square of good quality cooking chocolate
Dash of milk

Method
Dip each side of the biscuit into the coffee mixture and layer the base of the dish
Separate the eggs
To the yolks, add the sugar and beat with electric mixture for 2-3 mins until you have a foamy zabaglione, then mix in the marscapone
While the yolks are being beaten, start to beat the whites in another container, until they are really solid
Gently fold the whites into the zabaglione with a spatula to incorporate gently without losing the texture
Gently spread mixture over the biscuit base
Melt chocolate with a dash of milk and then spoon over the tiramisu
Enjoy!

Semifreddo all'amaretto
Ingredients
200g cream (the type of cream you can whip)
40g sugar
3 eggs
40g amaretto biscuits
40g good quality cooking chocolate
Amaretto di Saronna (40g)
Dash of milk

Method
Beat the egg yolks and the sugar
Add the crumbled amaretto biscuits together with the chocolate coarsely chopped
Whip the cream and add to the mixture
Add the amaretto liquor
Beat the egg whites to stiff peaks and blend gently
Fill small containers with the mixture and place in the freezer
Just before serving, melt a little chocolate with milk, turn the semifreddo upside down onto a plate and drizzle with chocolate

Luisa adding the finishing touches to the Semifreddo all'amaretto

Torta di mele caramellata (the best of the bunch)

Ingredients
150g butter
100g sugar
5 apples, peeled
1 cup rum
Shortcrust pastry (bought or homemade)

Method
Preheat oven to 160c (top and bottom element only)
Cut the apples into quarters and then half again
Place a layer of sugar and some dabs of butter into an ovenproof skillet, and spread the apple pieces over it
Put this over a brisk flame to caramelize the apple
Add a small glassful of rum to the pan and light it so it flames
Remove from the heat, and cover with a sheet of pastry
Place in the oven at 160c for 40 mins
Remove from the oven and press flat gently if it has risen too  much
Allow to cool somewhat, then immediately invert it onto a serving dish. If you forget about it and the caramel hardens (like you could with such yumminess almost ready to be eaten), you can put it in the oven a little to warm
Serve it warm with ice-cream.