All The Live Long Day: Breakfast Biscuits With Homemade Lemon Curd

I like spending weekends at home. When nothing is planned and I have loads of leisure time at hand, there is ample opportunity to cook, try new recipes and have long, lazy meals with Marco. During the week, I usually have breakfasts of fruit salad, porridge, or cereals with yogurt. Anything that is quick to prepare and easy to take into work. But on the weekends, we make sure we treat ourselves to a nice breakfast on one of the days, if not both Saturday & Sunday. Marco is the best pancake and smoothie maker, and I often bake, make french toast or fry up a proper English Breakfast.

On one of the Saturdays past, I made these breakfast biscuits that I adapted from a recipe out of my trusted Better Homes And Gardens cook book, which I brought with me after my stay in the States 13 years ago. I also wanted to try a lemon curd recipe that my Mama is using and thought that it would accompany the biscuits nicely. It did so! I like the recipe because it uses the whole egg instead of just the egg yolks, so the potential for waste is eliminated.

Here are the recipes for both:

BREAKFAST BISCUITS

(makes about 10)

Must Have:

2 cups plain flour

2 tbsp sugar

1 tbsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

80g butter, chilled & cubed

1 egg

1/2 cup milk, plus extra for brushing

Must Do:

Preheat the oven to 210°C.

In a bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Add the butter and use two knives or a pastry cutter to work it into the flour. When combined, whisk the egg and milk together and add to the mixture. Stir till just moistened.

Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface. Knead until almost smooth, about 15 to 20 strokes. Make sure not to work it too hard, a lightly kneaded dough will make the biscuits rise better.

Flatten the dough with your hands to about 1.5 cm thickness. Use a cookie cutter or the rim of a glass to cut out biscuit-sized rounds.

Place the biscuits on a baking sheet lined with a silicone sheet or non-stick baking paper. Brush each with a little milk and bake for about 12 to 15 minutes or until they are golden on top.

Remove from the oven and let cool on a wire rack for about 5 minutes before serving.

These biscuits also freeze well and can be reheated easily by giving them a short blast in the microwave.

EASY LEMON CURD

(fills about 1 regular jam jar)

Must Have:

3 medium lemons, zested & juiced

120g golden caster sugar

1/4 tsp vanilla extract

10g butter

3 eggs

pinch of salt

Must Do:

In a small saucepan, combine lemon zest and juice, sugar, vanilla, and butter. Stir over a medium heat until all the sugar has dissolved and the mixture reaches boiling point. Take saucepan off the heat.

Whisk the eggs together thoroughly. You may like to pass them through a small sieve in order to get rid of any small impurities, although this step is not essential.

Carefully add the eggs to the slightly cooled lemon mixture in a slow stream, stirring all the time so as not to curdle the eggs.

Put the saucepan back over a low heat and reheat for about 10 minutes until thickening and piping hot. Again, keep stirring all the time!

Fill the lemon curd into a sterilized jar and close the lid. Be careful not to burn yourself. Let cool to room temperature and then place in the fridge until you are ready to eat. The lemon curd will keep in the fridge for about a week.