Ireland - Part 4 - Scary Roads and Pretty Flowers

DISCLAIMER: The blogs about Ireland do not have recipes. *GASP*

This is the last post about my trip to Ireland and the dessert I had while there. Aw...stop crying. I know you're sad.

Here's a pretty flower to cheer you up.

That's from the glorious gardens of the Muckross House in Killarney. Of course, to get to this house (or ANYWHERE in Ireland), one must travel the scary roads.

They were very windy and knowing there were steep hills beyond the curves didn't help. Here, have another flower to calm your nerves.

What's that you say? Ah, yes. The roads WERE tiny. In fact, sometimes cars/trucks had to crawl by each other.But sometimes the roads were fun, like when I drove through a tunnel.

And what's consolatory is the fact that pretty flowers grew by the roads. So if you weren't driving, you at least could focus on nature's beauty and not the frightening roads.

When I was in Kilkenny, I stopped at a cute cafe across from Kilkenny Castle, and this dessert caught my eye.
I HAD to ask....what in the world was it?

Gooseberries and custard! I've never had a gooseberry! Of COURSE I had to try it. I mean, look at the weird hairs on it!

The gooseberries were very tart, but in a good way, and the custard evened it out very nicely. If I had access to gooseberries here, I would make this as a perfect lite summer sweet. Yummy!

Bake well and propser!

Surprise!

It’s springtime in NY and I wanted to make something with lemons. So, I flipped through my Mom’s trusty Best Recipe book and found Lemon Surprise. Well, surprise indeed! I don’t really remember my mom making these bars. But hey! It involved lemons!

Another surprise would be how many faces I saw in the inanimate objects of this recipe! For instance, did you realize lemons look like eyes?

And when you break eggs and separate the yolks…..well, take a look.

And look what I found in the pan!!!

(Ok, ok….I drew that one.)

One more surprise was a little longer in the making. The instructions say to beat the egg whites until stiff. I had a small inkling of what that meant. So, I took a whisk and beat the eggs for about a minute. There. Good enough.

Then I put all the ingredients together and stared at the batter.
There was NO way this was going to bake. At least, that’s what I thought. But, I made a leap of faith and put it in the oven anyway.

The bars came out lovely. SURPRISE! They were almost like custard. SURPRISE! I spoke to my mom today. “Until stiff” = stiff. As in you could make peaks with the whites. So THAT’S why my batter didn’t impress me. SURPRISE!

However, with or without the stiff egg whites, this recipe still tasted great and was a refreshing way to end a lovely spring day.

Lemon Surprise (from my Mom’s Best Recipes Cookbook)

3/4 C sugar

1/4 C flour

2 T melted butter

1/2 C lemon juice

grated rind of 1 lemon

3 eggs, seperated

1 1/2 C milk, scalded

Beat egg whites until stiff. In another bowl, beat egg yolks and milk. In a third bowl, mix sugar, flour, and butter together. Add lemon juice and rind. Add the egg yolk mixture to this and beat well. Fold in stiffly-beaten egg whites. Pour into greased 8x9 or 9x9 pan. Place dish in pan of hot water. Bake 325 degrees for 45 minutes. A custard pudding will be on the bottom and on the top it will be more cake like. Cut into 9 squares.Bake well and prosper!