Week 2: Recipe 4: Lemon Cakes with Syrup

Recipe 4 of the 52 Recipes a Year challenge, and it occurs to me that I gravitate toward baking. Perhaps it's the December spirit lingering, but I find there is nothing like sharing a homemade treat wih family and friends. The fact that there is always a pack of flour in the house (leering at me), may have something to do with it. It's just too tempting to get my bake on.

Hence, these lemon cakes. 

Counting in the Fall Baking Challenge, these little cakes were among the best pastries I've made so far, which was a surprise. Since they look like muffins I expected the dough to be airy and the flavour mild (bland), but the lemon flavour was strong and the dough was substantial and tastefully sweet. (I must admit I did tweak the recipe a bit.) In short, these cakes are basically slices of pound cake disguised as muffins. As for the raspberries and the whipped cream, they were an okay but unnecessary addition. The whipped cream (unsweetened) added little to the texture of the cakes, which were moist enough to enjoy without additions, and the sour raspberries clashed a little with the sweet dough. Perhaps blackberries would have been a better choice. (Tweaked) recipe below, serves 6.

Ingredients:

• zest and juice of 1 lemon
• 100 grams flour 
• 1 tsp. dried yeast
• 50 ml milk
• 2 whisked eggs
• 40 grams full-cream butter
• 100 grams sugar
• 50 ml orange liqueur
• 125 ml whipping cream
• 125 grams raspberries
• pinch of salt 
• 50 ml water

Directions:

1.  Mix lemon zest, flour, salt, yeast, milk, eggs, butter, and 60 grams sugar. Cover with a clean kitchen towel and let batter rise in a warm place for 40 minutes.
2. Preheat oven to 200°C or 390°F. Scoop batter into muffin molds. Bake for 15 minutes.
3. Meanwhile, mix lemon juice, liqueur, 50 ml water, and the rest of the sugar in a saucepan. Bring to a boil and let simmer on low heat for 5 minutes.
4. Take cakes out of the oven and put them in a deep plate. Pour hot syrup onto them and let cool 1 hour. While they cool, pour syrup onto them a few times more.
5. Beat whipping cream until stiff. Serve cakes with wipping cream and raspberries.

Week 2: Recipe 3: Vol-Au-Vents with Minced Meat and Onions

My third dish for the 52 Recipes in a Year challenge are these vol-au-vents. 

Since they are filled with a mixture of minced meat, onions, and bell pepper, they are more sausage rolls than vol-au-vents, but what's in a name? Seasoned with worcestershire sauce and powdered paprika, they're a simple but tasty treat to have for lunch. Recipe below (serves 10).

Ingredients:

• 10 puff pastry sheets of about 10 x 10 cm (about 4 x 4 inch)
• 1.5 onion, shredded
• 1 green bell pepper, shredded
• 3 tbsp worcestershire sauce
• 2 tsp powdered paprika
• 1 whisked egg 
• 300 grams of minced meat
• baking parchment

Directions:

1.  Preheat oven to 200°C or 390°F. 
2. Mix meat, onion, bell pepper, worcestershire sauce, and powdered paprika. 
3. Cut the corners round off the puff pastry sheets. Scoop a bit of the meat mixture onto the center of the sheet and fold. Press the edges together and brush some egg onto the dough. Bake for 25 minutes, turn halfway.

Bon appetit. 

Apple-Blueberry Crumble

This Apple-Blueberry Crumble was a first for me. In the Netherlands, our 'crumbles' contain a crust, filling, and crumble on top, usually dusted with some powdered sugar. So when I got this recipe I thought it was quite interesting to see the British variety of 'crumble' is basically the best part of the pie: the filling and the crumble, without the crust. Seems like someone had their priorities straight. I had to give it a go, and it turns out this apple-blueberry crumble is nothing short of a tasty mess.

The crumbs are sweetened with vanilla and sugar, and the mixture of apples and blueberries gives the 'filling' a sour-sweet flavor. To my taste, the sweetness of vanilla and the sourness of the berries contrasted a bit too much. Perhaps apples and pears would have been a better choice, but that's not to say the apple-blueberry mixture didn't work alright. My brother-in-law tested it and gave a thumbs up, and I had two scoops of it.

To conclude, the recipe categorizes this dish as a dessert. While that's not a stretch, to call it comfort food would do it better justice. It's really the sort of food to munch on when you're binge-watching the Gilmore Girls in your PJs. It's messy, tasty, and easily eaten out of the baking dish. (It's also tempting to take a bite from in passing, simply because it doesn't require slicing.) 

Now, on to the recipe, which serves 8:

Ingredients:

• 3 apples
• 150 grams blueberries (deep-frozen)
• 200 grams self-raising flour
• 150 grams sugar
• 3 tbsp oatmeal
• 175 grams cold butter
• 1 vanilla pod 
• Optional: 8 scoops of vanilla ice cream

Directions:

1.  Preheat oven to 190°C or 375°F. Peel apples, remove core, and dice. Mix apple dices with blueberries and spread out onto the bottom of the baking dish.
2. Mix the flour, sugar, and oatmeal. Dice butter and add. Scrape seeds from vanilla pod and add. Knead with fingertips into a crumbly dough. Scoop onto the fruit.
3. Bake for 35 min. in the center of the oven. Can be served hot (with a scoop of vanilla ice cream) or cold. 

Biscotti

Winter has officially put its spell on our home. The Christmas tree is up, the treats are on the table, and the radio is on most of the day. We indulge the season spirit, whether that means gathering near the Christmas tree for coffee or curling up with a good book and a big mug of tea. This week I've baked cookies (unpublished, there was as much shape in them as in Flubber), almond-apple pie, boterkoek, and biscotti. It's coziness galore, and that's exactly what winter is supposed to be - or at least December, the month before we all start worrying about what we've done to our waistline and start sprinting towards the gym. But let that be a later concern.

These biscotti are a great treat to go with coffee or - better - with espresso. The full flavor of coffee and dark chocolate go well together. Unsurprisingly, perhaps, because espresso and biscotti are two very Italian things.

Biscotti are crunchy and airy, a bit like rusks, but they are cinnamon flavored and sweetened with chunks of dried prunes and apricots. They take about two hours to make but they are worth the effort. You'll find the recipe below. Bon appetit.

Ingredients:

• 75 grams dried apricots
• 75 grams dried prunes
• 200 grams dark chocolate
• 280 grams flour + extra to dust
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1.5 tsp. ground cinnamon
• pinch of salt
• 60 grams soft butter
• 175 grams sugar
• 8 grams of powdered vanilla
• 2 eggs

Directions:

1.  Cut apricots and prunes in small bits. Chop 100 grams chocolate coarse. Mix flour, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt. With an electric mixer, beat butter, sugar, and vanilla. Mix in eggs one by one. Add flour mixture and stir. Add apricots, prunes, and chopped chocolate. Knead into a sticky dough.
2. Pre-heat oven to 200°C or 390°F. Divide dough in two portions. On a parchment lined baking sheet (and with floured hands), shape dough into two sheets of 25 cm or 10 inch long and 8 cm or 3 inch wide. Bake for 25 minutes.
3. Take the baking sheet out of the oven and let cool for about 20 minutes. Lower oven temperature to 175°C or 350°F. Cut sheets into biscotti of about 2cm or 0.75 inch thick. Bake for another 20 minutes. Turn the biscotti over after 10 minutes.
4. Break 100 grams chocolate in chunks and melt au bain-marie. Use chocolate to decorate the biscotti.

Grape Tart & Strawberry Pie

Challenge 6 (tarts) and 7 (pies) were done at the same time because I was getting behind on schedule (Fall Baking Challenge).

Grape Tart with Ricotta and Walnuts

This recipe was actually for 6 grape tarts of about Ø 10cm, but I only had a springform pan of Ø 18cm so I made one big one instead. I didn't think it would matter much, but the weight of the grapes caused the tart to break when it was taken out of the pan. I suspect this wouldn't have happened if it had been smaller. On the other hand, the grapes leaked their moisture into the dough and I don't think smaller pans would have made a difference as far as that goes. But all in all the flavor and structure of the tart were quite okay. 

As you can probably guess from the photo above, the tart is a bit heavy on the stomach. The dough and the ricotta are quite filling, so a small slice was quickly enough for me.

All in all the grape-walnut tart is nice, but I wouldn't opt to make it again. The ricotta tastes fine and goes well with the grapes, but I think there are many, much nicer pastries to make, eat, and serve guests.

Ingredients:

• 200 grams flour
• 100 grams sugar
• 100 grams butter
• 1 egg
• pinch of salt
• 200 grams ricotta cheese
• 2 tbsp. molasses sugar
• 300 grams seedless grapes, sliced in half
• 100 grams walnuts, coarsely chopped
• 2 tbsp. regular sugar
• plastic foil
• rolling pin
• 6 tart molds of about Ø 10cm, or in this case a springform pan of Ø 18cm

Directions:

1. Mix flour, sugar, butter, egg, and salt, and knead into a supple dough. Wrap in plastic foil and refrigerate 30 min.
2. Pre-heat oven to 190°C. Mix ricotta with molasses sugar. Use rolling pin to flatten dough. Press dough into the tart molds/springform pan.
3. Put grapes with the round side up into the crust. Add ricotta mixture. Sprinkle with walnuts and sugar.
4. Bake 20 to 30 min. in the center of the oven. Let cool and take out of the molds/springform pan.

 'All American' Strawberry Pie

This recipe, sent to me by an American pen pal, was originally an 'All American Blueberry Pie' - but the supermarket didn't have blueberries, and I couldn't be bothered to go out of my way to get them. Hence, strawberries it became. 

Also, for the crust the recipe mentions 'unbaked deep-dish pie crusts' as an ingredient, which seems a rather typical American thing to me. While those crusts are available here they are not as common as they apparently are in the USA - which meant I had to go search for them and I didn't want to. Besides, I like baking my own crusts much better. Otherwise what's the point of baking? So, I adjusted the recipe to my taste and convenience. 

I should mention that it was my first time baking any sort of pie, hence my first time baking any sort of crust. So, the crust ended up a bit too thin, and the strawberry filling boiled over the edges, as you can see in the photo. Now, the pie looks messy but I think it adds a rustic sort of charm (if pies can have charm), so I'm very pleased with it.

As for the filling, I'd slice one open and show you but I think the photos are pretty self-explanatory. 

The pie is very good - about as sweet as the strawberries are. Mine were a bit sour, but I love sour and think that's actually better. The crust is crunchy  - my father calls it bland, but I think it's just right because it would distract from the filling otherwise. 

All in all, two thumbs up for this one. Definitely one to gobble up by yourself or share with guests.

Ingredients for the crust:

• 2 cups flour
• 1 tsp salt
• 2/3 cup butter
• 5 - 7 tbsp cold water

Ingredients for the filling:

• 6 cups diced strawberries
• 1/2 cup light brown sugar
• 1/4 cup cornstarch
• 1 tsp. orange zest
• 1 tbsp. powdered vanilla or 3/4 tsp. vanilla extract

Other:

• Silver foil
• Deep dish pie plate (I used the same springform pan I used for the grape tart)

Directions:

1. Put flour into a mixing bowl with the butter. Using a pastry cutter, cut the butter into the flour. Add salt and water. Knead until dough is formed. Roll out on flat surface.
2. Preheat oven to 220℃. Coat a deep-dish pie plate or springform pan with non-stick baking spray. Line with half the dough dough. Roll the rest of the dough into a circle and cut into strips. Set aside.
3. Place strawberries in a large bowl. In a small bowl, combine brown sugar, cornstarch, orange zest, and vanilla. Add to strawberries. Toss to coat. Pour into pie crust.
4. Place 5 pastry strips on top of the strawberries in vertical rows and then in horizontal rows. Seal all of the strips to edge of crust, crimping with fingers or a fork. Place pie on baking sheet.
5. Bake 20 to 30 minutes. Reduce temperature to 175℃. Cover with silver foil and bake 30 minutes more (or until juices are bubbling and thickened). Remove from oven, remove foil. Let cool completely before slicing.

And there you go, your delicious pie is ready! 

 

 

Cinnamon Cookies

Week 5 of the Fall Baking Challenge.

Bam! Cookies.

They were supposed to be ginger cookies but I'm not a big fan of ginger, so I made them cinnamon cookies. Not the best decision I've made so far, really. After trying one I must admit ginger would have been the better choice. But hey, the cinnamon doesn't clash with the rest of the ingredients. The cookies are still a tasty treat. They're simple and modest, sweet and crunchy. I made mine about 4cm x 4cm (about 1.5 x 1.5 inch), so they're actually bite size and perfect to eat with a cup of coffee or tea. They're also very easy to make and quickly done! The drawing of the bows might take some practice (which I didn't get, clearly) but it's still good fun. ​

The recipe:

Ingredients:

• 175 grams of wheat flour + extra to dust
• 80 grams light brown sugar
• 1 tbsp. powdered ginger or powdered cinnamon
• 0.5 tsp. baking powder
• 70 grams cold butter in small cubes (I used 100 grams because the dough remained too floury with 70g)
• 1 egg yoke
• 2 tbsp. honey
• pinch of salt
• red and white cake decoration / food coloring pens, like these.
• rolling pin
• baking parchment
• cookie cutters

Directions:

1. In a bowl, mix flour, sugar, ginger/cinnamon, baking powder, and a pinch of salt. Use your fingertips to mix in the butter so you get a crumbly dough. Mix in the egg yoke and the honey. Knead until you get a cohesive dough. Wrap in plastic foil and refrigerate 30 min.
2. Preheat oven to 180°C or 356°F. Dust working surface. Flatten dough into a sheet of 0.5 cm or 0.25 inch thick. Cut out cookies and place on a parchment lined baking sheet.
3. Bake cookies 8 - 15 minutes, or until golden-brown and done. Let cool 1 hr (they have to cool to become crunchy). Decorate cookies with coloring pens.

Et voilà, your cookies are done.

Baklava, or: Pistaccio Rolls

So, weeks - nay, a month has passed since my last post and too many pastries have been baked, eaten, and digested unreported. Since my disastrous Orange Mascarpone Cake (recipe contrived by a sadist), the Fall Baking Challenge has required us to make foreign desserts, cookies, tarts, and pies. Today (the day this post was written) was the day for the latter two since I was falling behind, and since this is a day of catching up I might as well post an update gigantique. Well, split in three, because all those photos in one post would be overkill.

So. Baklava. The Turkish goodness. 

Personally, I love baklava but the baklava I know is soft, sweet, squishy, and moist with what I suspect is syrup. Quite different from the pistaccio rolls these things apparently are. 

Anyway, you wouldn't guess from the looks of it but this dessert took me around 5 hours to make. (Includes a trip to the supermarket for pistaccios and filo dough.) Most of the time went into the chopping of the nuts. 

The recipe recommended grinding them in a food processor, but since I don't own a food processor I had to go old school. This meant that the nuts didn't get as finely ground as they were supposed to, but the result was all the more satisfying.

This heap of nuts is nowhere near the actual amount 10 rolls require. It's far too much. I didn't want to waste anything, so I kept on folding pistaccio rolls until I'd run out. In the end I had about 25 rolls.

Also, a heads up: the folding is not as simple as the recipe makes it sound. Practice is needed for decent looking rolls because the amount of filling must be just right and evenly divided. On top of that the dough must be folded just right, otherwise the sheets might open again, or they break or tear, and everything spills out.

It's a bit of an art, actually. In total, I must have spent two hours measuring and folding, spilling butter and ground nuts all over the place. In the end I was so fed up I used the rest of the filling to make one big ass baklava roll, just to get it over and done with.

But all that work pays off. Even though it's not quite what you get at a Turkish bakery, it's actually very good. Crispy, crunchy, and sweet (imagine pistaccio flavor blended with honey and cinnamon), and it works great as finger food / party snacks.

They have been Dad Approved, so you can rest assured they make a good treat. Personally, I love the syrup that comes with it. It's delicious.

Without further ado, the recipe:

Baklava Rolls
Makes: recipe says 10 but if you're going to make bite-sized rolls definitely 20 to 30
Takes: 25 min +15 min baking. That is, if you're a Gordon Ramsay specialized in Turkish desserts. No, this will take a few hours.

Ingredients:

• 200 grams light brown sugar
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 4 tbsp honey
• 300 grams unsalted nuts like pistachios and almonds + 1 tbsp of unsalted ground pistacchios
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
• a pinch of black pepper
• 100 grams of unsalted dairy butter
• 10 to 20 sheets of filo dough, depending on how you fill the rolls and what size the sheets are
• food processor or chopping knife
• parchment lined baking sheet

Directions:

1. In a saucepan, mix 100 ml water, 100 grams sugar, 1 tbsp lemon juice, and cinnamon stick. Bring to a boil. Let simmer for 10 - 15 min. Stir in honey and let cool. (This is the syrup.)
2. Preheat oven to 200°C or 392°F. Grind the nuts and mix with the sugar and spices.
3. Melt butter. Take a sheet of filo dough. Brush butter onto it and fill with nut mixture. Scoop nut mixture onto middle of the dough sheet. Roll the left part of the sheet over the nut mixture, fold sides over the filling, and roll again until closed. Brush butter onto all sides and place on baking sheet.
4. Bake for 10 - 15 min, or until golden-brown and ready. Put them on a dish and pour the syrup onto them. Sprinkle with ground pistachios. Serve lukewarm or on room temperature.