SPANISH MADELEINES / LEMON MUFFINS

Growing up in Spain I didn't hear about muffins and cupcakes until I was almost in my 20's, for me this sweet and perfect bake name was and still is madeleine, it's not like the french version (that I didn't know either) and it is perfect for breakfast. This version is made with olive oil so it is really fluffy and moist, if you have a non dairy diet you can swap the full fat milk for rice or soy milk with no problem. You re going to need:

3 eggs (L)
250g of sugar
325g of cake flour
250ml of olive oil
250ml of full fat milk
16g of baking powder
1 lemon (grated)
pinch of salt


We have to separate the yolks and whites, the whites we have to whip them to soft picks and the yolks we have to cream them with the sugar until the mixture becomes pale, after creaming the yolks and still beating them we start adding the oil and the milk really slowly until they are perfectly integrated.
Now we add the grated lemon and the mix of baking powder, flour and salt. We beat it for about 3min. After that we add the whites and we mix all together very slowly with a silicon spoon o similar, then we cover it and leave it to rest for one hour.
Preheat the over to 200C, pour the dough into the madeleine or muffin cases and put in the oven for 5min, after that change the temperature to 180C and bake for another 15min or until golden.

Hope you like this recipe, I made this one a few times and works perfectly every time :)

Apple Tart

This is why everything started for me, the apple tart, so easy, so tasty and so difficult to find in Scotland, at least this one, with a base with some lemon, a custard filling and an apple top, there is nothing that makes me think about home like this. Takes 2 hours from start to finish, but I do everything myself, even the glaze on top. Hope you enjoy it.

For the tart shell: 
100g of butter
2 eggs
2 Tbsp of white sugar
Flour (as much as you need)
1 lemon (zest)

Filling :
1/2 l of milk
4 Tbsp of white sugar
1 lemon (peel)
2 Tbsp of cornflour

Top layer:
3/4Kg of apples
1cup of brandy (optional)
1 cinnamon stick
300g of white sugar

 Peel the apples and core and cut them in thin slices, put the whit the cognac, a cup of water and the sugar over a low heat until soft. For the filling just make a custard and use the cores and peels cook them with water for one hour, strain it and mesure the liquid, now add the same amount of sugar and make a syrup. For the tart shell, put all the ingredients together, mix them and start adding flour until you get a soft dough, roll it and put it on a greased tin, fill it with the custard and place the apples on top, like a circle, place the tart in the oven until bake, once is out using a cooking brush paint the apples with the syrup. Now wait until cold to it it... If you can :)