Mother's Day recipes: Strawberry swirl blondies & lemon meringue cookies

Nothing says "I love you" more than a mouthwatering dessert and nobody deserves a sugary treat more than the Supermom in your life. 

The Tocka Blog's Landi Govender is sharing two of her favourite dessert recipes with us - just in time for Mother's Day. 

"I absolutely love Strawberry Swirls, even as a child I recall constantly picking out the jammy part and eating the entire biscuit saving the best (jammy) part for last. Adult me: nothing has really changed - with the exception that I now prefer my biscuits baked in dreamy blondie batter!" the food blogger says. 

Another must-have this Mother's Day is lemon meringue pie. Landi put her own twist on the traditional dessert by making cookies instead of pie.

"I have to admit I was in no mood to create a whole pie from scratch even though I’ve been craving it forever! I recreated it my own way with these lemon meringue cookies. How gorgeous are they? Each cookie has a lovely smooth lemon curd filling, topped with meringue torched to perfection. I mean, how gorgeous are they," she says. 

Your mom will definitely love these two these desserts. 

Strawberry Swirl Blondies 

Here’s how you can make these divine morsels.

Ingredients

125g unsalted butter

200g white chocolate, finally chopped

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 eggs, room temperature

150g castor sugar

100g cake flour

75g self raising flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

200g pack of Strawberry Swirls

Method

1. To make blondie batter, preheat oven to 180 C°. Grease a 20cm square cake pan. Line base and sides with baking paper.

2. Place butter, chocolate and vanilla paste in a small saucepan. Stir over low heat until melted and smooth. Transfer to a large bowl.

3. Whisk eggs and sugar until pale and creamy. Stir into butter, chocolate and vanilla mixture. Fold in combined sifted flours and salt. Spoon mixture into prepared pan and level surface. Place Strawberry Swirls on top and cover with foil.

Bake for about 40 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean.

Wait for the blondies to cool completely before slicing and serving.

 Lemon Meringue Cookies

Ingredients

Lemon Curd

*Makes about ⅔ cup

3 large egg yolks

⅓ cup

2 teaspoons lemon zest

¼ cup strained fresh lemon juice

¼ cup unsalted butter, cubed

Shortbread biscuits

250g butter, room temperature

240ml icing sugar, sifted

540ml, cake flour sifted

Meringue

3 remaining egg whites

1/2 teaspoon cream of tar tar

1/4 cup of castor sugar

Vanilla paste/essence


Method:

Lemon curd

In a small heavy-bottomed saucepan, whisk together egg yolks, sugar, and lemon zest and juice until combined. Add butter; cook over medium heat, whisking constantly, until mixture thickens and an instant-read thermometer registers 170°F (77°C), about 12 minutes. (Do not boil.)

Immediately remove from heat. Strain curd through a fine-mesh sieve into a small bowl. Cover with a piece of plastic wrap, pressing wrap directly onto surface of curd. Let cool slightly. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.

Shortbread biscuits

1. Cream icing sugar and butter for 8 minutes until light and fluffy and pale in colour.

2. Mix in your sifted flour until well combined and you have a soft dough.

3. Shape into balls, flatten slightly and using your thumb make a well in the centre of each biscuit. Do this for all of them. Pop them onto a baking tray and place in the fridge for 30 minutes.

4. Preheat oven to 180°C, bake for 8- 10 minutes.

Note: if your biscuits come out puffy, use the back of a teaspoon to gently push down and make a well in the centre.

Meringue

1. Whisk the egg whites until frothy, add the cream of tar tar and gradually add the sugar. Whisk until you have stiff peaks.

Assemble

Spoon lemon curd into the well of the biscuit, pipe meringue over and torch till browned.

Best served the same day.

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Main image supplied: The Tocka Bog