Serves 8
400g sweet shortcrust pastry
125g butter, softened
1½ cups caster sugar
4 large eggs
½ cup thick, plain yoghurt
Finely grated zest and juice of 1 lemon
1 cup desiccated coconut
Fresh fruit, such as peach slices, to decorate Icing sugar, to dust
1. Heat oven to 200°C (180°C fan bake). Roll out pastry to 3mm thick and use to line eight 10cm tart tins. Prick bases with a fork and chill for 30 minutes. Line pastry cases with foil and fill with baking beans to bake blind (see tip).
2. Bake for 10 minutes. Remove foil and beans and return pastry cases to the oven for 5 minutes more to dry pastry. Reduce oven temperature to 180°C (160°C fan bake).
3. Place butter and sugar in a bowl, then beat until pale and creamy. Beat in eggs, one at a time. Stir in yoghurt, lemon zest and juice, and coconut.
4. Spoon mixture into prepared tart shells and bake for 20 minutes or until mixture is golden brown and lightly puffed. Decorate with fresh fruit and dust with icing sugar to serve.
Tip: To blind bake (for pies and tarts that have their fillings put in a pre-baked pastry case), fill pastry cases with rice or any dried beans, such as chickpeas or kidney beans, before baking. The rice or beans can be used over and over again but should be reserved specifically for this purpose.
The young Christchurch promotions model determined to walk again after tragically losing her legs in the February earthquake is still coping with the ongoing complications ... More
You need to know
Sign up for our newsletters and get the latest in gossip, beauty and food sent direct to your inbox... Sign up now
Over the Teacups
My four-year-old grandson was at the supermarket with his mother when he exclaimed, “You’re buying something, Mummy, auntie is buying something – I want to buy something!” Mum replied, “You have to be big, have a wife, have a job, then you can buy things.” He replied, “I have a wife – Maia,” meaning his four-year-old friend. Mum said, “What about a job?” Master Four replied, “My job is having a wife!”
Robyn, Whangarei
Water you want?
I was in the car and asking Master Three what he wanted for Christmas. He said he was going to ask Santa for a water pistol. “And Nanny,” he added, “I’m going to ask for some water for our paddling pool.” Now that could be interesting!
Julie, by email
Bee gone
Master Three had his first bee sting recently. The incident broke his heart, but after many cuddles he came right. Later he said, “I never want to see another bee again. I don’t like bees any more, I only like flies.”
Gaileen, by email
Fraud with worry
My daughter warned me that “old people are being taken for a ride,” and that I shouldn’t engage in conversation with phone sales people. To this, Master Five piped up, “Nana can’t go on that ride, she’s old.”
Joseph’s Nana, Hamilton
... More