Gingerbread granola

My favorite time of the year has arrived and my Christmas tree is already up – I have been thinking of the Christmas Eve menu already, planning the food and the drinks. However, unlike previous years, I don’t think I will be able to have my oh, so beloved Christmas series here on the blog – too much work, other priorities at the moment.

Having said that, I felt I had to bring you at least one recipe with a holiday touch and it is my gingerbread granola: filled with spices it will make your house smell like Christmas immediately.

Even if I am not able to bring you other holiday recipes aside from this granola, there is plenty of inspiration from previous years: it is just a matter of clicking on the Christmas tag here on the blog.

Gingerbread granola
own recipe

2 ½ cups (225g) rolled oats
¼ cup (40g) golden flaxseeds
¼ cup (35g) raw pumpkin seeds
½ cup (60g) flaked almonds
pinch of table salt
½ teaspoon freshly ground allspice
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
¼ teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg
½ teaspoon ground ginger
3 tablespoons canola oil
1/3 cup (80ml) agave or honey
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
½ cup (75g) dried cranberries, chopped in half if too large
½ cup (90g) dried apricots, diced

Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F. Line a large baking sheet with foil.

In a large bowl, mix together the oats, flaxseeds, pumpkin seeds, almonds and salt. Set aside.
In a small bowl, whisk together the spices, oil, agave/honey and vanilla. Pour over dry ingredients and stir well to coat. Spread mixture over foil and bake for 10 minutes. Stir the granola around and bake for another 10 minutes – the granola will still be soft and will get crunchy once cooled. Remove from the oven and stir in the dried fruit. Let cool completely. Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 weeks.

Serves 6-8

Banana and blueberry crumble

I do not mean to sound like a broken record (again), but things have been a bit slow on this blog and that usually happens when things are everything but slow on this side of the screen. Too much work, all sorts of other things going on… And on top of that I have had almost no energy to cook or bake, let alone photograph and type posts.

Many times in the past I read my favorite food bloggers write about burnout syndrome and I think that maybe the time has come for me, too: I don’t know for sure and my mind sometimes is a blur, to be honest. I have just come back from a wonderful trip to NYC in which I had fabulous food in all sorts of ways, and I thought this would give me inspiration to go back to the kitchen, but honestly, that has not kicked in yet.

Anyway, on a sweeter note: I have baked this crumble several times in the past year and a half and it has become one of my favorites, so here is the recipe.

Banana and blueberry crumble
own recipe

¾ cup + 2 tablespoons (125g) all purpose flour
¼ cup (50g) demerara sugar
¼ teaspoon baking poder
pinch of salt
¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
3 tablespoons (42g) unsalted butter, chilled and cubed
¼ cup (22g) rolled oats
¼ cup (25g) flaked almonds
4 bananas, about 140g/5oz each
1 cup (120g) blueberries, fresh or frozen (unthawed)

Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F. Set aside four 1-cup (240m) heatproof ramekins – if you prefer, bake the crumble in one 1-liter heatproof baking dish.

Crumble topping: in a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and cinnamon. Add the butter and rub the ingredients together with your fingertips until mixture resembles coarse meal. Using a fork, stir in the oats and almonds. Freeze the mixture for 5 minutes while you prepare the fruit.

Cut the banana in round slices and divide among the ramekins. Sprinkle with the blueberries. Cover the fruit with the crumble topping and bake for 25-30 minutes or until topping is golden and blueberries are bubbling. Serve warm with ice cream or heavy cream.

The crumble topping can be kept tightly sealed in a plastic bag in the freezer for 1 month – whenever you feel like having a crumble for dessert, sprinkle the mixture over the fruit of your choice and bake – do not unthaw before using.

Serves 4

Almond poppy seed cake to celebrate the simple things

I was thinking the other day of things that have the power of making my days better and it was sort of a surprise to acknowledge that most of them are really simple: to arrive home from work and immediately remove my shoes (especially when I am wearing heels), to take a piping hot shower in these cold days – I know it is not good for the skin, but who can resist? –, to put on my pyjamas and relax at the couch with a mug of hot chocolate… Some days can be really difficult and it amazes me how much comfort can be found in small things like these (or maybe I am easy to please, who knows?). :)

As I was cooking lunch last Saturday, it suddenly hit me: I hadn’t baked a cake in a long time – and baking cakes is something that really makes me happy: it falls into the category of simple things that can brighten up my day, the ones I mentioned on the beginning of my post. And there is always the advantage of reaching out for a slice of freshly baked cake between meals when you are half hungry/half craving something sweet and a fruit just won’t do.

This is a recipe I baked a couple of times in the past and like the things I describe on this post it is very simple and yet very good: moist and flavorsome. It goes well on its own, with tea or coffee, but I had such pretty and sweet strawberries in my fridge that I served the cake with them and some whipped cream on the side. Still simple, still good and comforting – like being barefoot after a day on top of stilettos. :)

Almond poppy seed cake
own recipe

¾ cup (105g) all purpose flour
1 cup (100g) almond meal
1 ¼ teaspoons baking powder
1/8 taspoon salt
1 ½ tablespoons poppy seeds
½ cup (100g) granulated sugar
finely grated zest of 1 orange
½ cup (113g) unsalted butter, softened
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons Amaretto
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
½ cup (130g) plain yogurt

Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F. Lightly butter a round 20cm (8in) cake pan and line the bottom with a circle of baking paper. Butter the paper as well.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, almond meal, baking powder, salt and poppy seeds. Set aside.
In the bowl of an electric mixer, rub sugar and orange zest together with your fingertips until sugar is fragrant. Add the butter and beat on medium-high speed until light and fluffy – scrape the sides of the bowl occasionally. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in the vanilla and the Amaretto.

On slow speed, beat in the dry ingredients in three additions, alternating with the yogurt in two additions (start and end with the dry ingredients). Beat just until incorporated. Pour into prepared pan and smooth the top. Bake for 30-35 minutes or until cake is golden and risen and a skewer inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool completely in the pan over a wire rack. Unmold carefully, peel off the paper and transfer cake to a serving plate.

Serves 8

Pear lemon muffins with almond streusel

When I cook or bake at home I many times start with a specific idea, something I saw somewhere or that I really want to eat at that moment. However, there are times that I open the fridge or the cupboard and decide what to make at the sight of whatever there is at home.

The muffins I bring you today came to existence when I was grabbing vegetables to cook lunch: I opened the fridge and saw the pears there. My husband had brought home some beautiful lemons so I decided to pair them with the pears, and the idea to add the almond streusel topping crossed my mind because I had baked a fruit crumble with almonds a couple of days before that.

While the whole process of how this recipe was created might be very mundane, I can assure you the muffins are everything but: they are tender, smell and taste amazing.

Pear lemon muffins with almond streusel
own creation

Streusel:
2 ½ tablespoons (25g) all purpose flour
¼ cup (25g) almond meal
1/3 cup (65g) demerara sugar
pinch of salt
2 tablespoons (28g) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
¼ cup (25g) flaked almonds

Muffins:
½ cup (100g) granulated sugar
finely grated zest of 2 lemons
2 cups (280g) all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
pinch of freshly ground nutmeg
pinch of salt
½ cup (113g/1 stick) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
2 large eggs
¾ cup (180ml) whole milk, room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 small pears (about 400g/14oz in total), peeled, cored and chopped

Preheat the oven to 200°C/400°F. Line a 12-hole muffin pan with paper cups.

Make the streusel: mix flour, almond meal, sugar and salt in a small bowl. Add the butter and stir with a fork until mixture resembles coarse breadcrumbs. Still using the fork, stir in the almond flakes, but do not overmix. Refrigerate while you make the muffin batter.

Now, the muffins: in a large bowl, combine sugar and lemon zest and rub them together with your fingertips until sugar is fragrant. Whisk in the flour, baking powder, nutmeg and salt.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the butter, eggs, milk and vanilla. Pour them over the dry ingredients and, with a fork, gently but quickly stir to blend – do not overmix, or your muffins will be tough. Incorporate the pear pieces.
Divide the batter evenly among the muffin cups. Sprinkle with the streusel and lightly press it over the batter to make it stick.

Bake for about 20 minutes, or until the tops are golden and a toothpick inserted into the center of the muffins comes out clean. Transfer the pan to a rack and cool for 5 minutes before carefully removing each muffin from its mold.

Makes 12

Chocolate granola to make breakfast even more delicious

I know that for those of us who like to cook making things from scratch is actually fun and does not feel like a burden, but even for those who are not very fond of cooking I would recommend making their own granola – the difference in quality is huge, you have complete control over the ingredients (especially sugar) and can tweak flavors as you wish, creating delicious types of granola.

I have been making this chocolate granola for a couple of years now for it is so insanely delicious and very easy to put together – it is my favorite granola, hands down, the tastiest I have ever tried. The only real challenge is to NOT eat the entire batch while it cools down – be warned. :)

Chocolate granola
own recipe, inspired for several others I saw online

400g jumbo oats
100g sweetened coconut flakes
50g flaked hazelnuts or almonds
¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon table salt
½ cup (45g) unsweetened cocoa powder, sifted
1/3 cup (80ml) extra virgin olive oil
3 tablespoons light brown sugar, packed
1/3 cup (100g) agave or honey – I prefer agave here because its flavor is more subtle, letting the chocolate flavor shine
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
50g dark chocolate (70% cocoa solids), finely chopped

Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F. Line a large baking sheet with foil.

In a large bowl, mix together the oats, coconut, nuts, cinnamon and salt. Set aside.
In a small saucepan, combine cocoa, oil, sugar and agave (or honey) and whisk over medium heat until melted and sugar is dissolved. Remove from the heat and whisk in the vanilla.

Pour over dry ingredients and stir well to coat. Spread mixture over foil and bake for 15 minutes. Stir the granola around and bake for another 15 minutes – the granola will still be soft and will get crunchy once cooled. Remove from the oven and sprinkle with the chopped chocolate. Wait 1 minute for it to melt, then mix everything together. Let cool completely. Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 weeks.

Serves 8-10

Plum and almond crumble and the end of "Girls"

After I binge-watched Girls while sick with the flu last year I could not help but continue watching the show even though Hannah got on my nerves most of the time – I sometimes wonder if the writers are trying to create the most stupid character in the world of the TV shows.

On the other hand, Elijah and Ray were my favorite characters of the show. :)

So I watched all the seasons, up to the series finale, and at the end I felt that the actual finale was episode 9 – there were several beautiful scenes, and I felt that the story could have ended right there. To be fair, I felt that the whole final season was much better than the others – and it moved me a lot more, too.

I am no stranger to making crumbles to go with my dear TV shows, and this time I made again the plum and almond crumble I had made months before, when I had last found good plums at the grocery store: plums and almonds complement each other perfectly. With my almond crumble and a nice, soft blanket and I was more than ready for Girls – and even though I was never a huge fan of Hannah and the ladies I shed a few tears at the end of the episode.

Plum and almond crumble
own creation

1/3 cup (46g) all purpose flour
2/3 cup (66g) almond meal
¼ teaspoon baking powder
pinch of salt
¼ cup (50g) demerara sugar
4 tablespoons (42g) unsalted butter, cold and diced
1/3 cup flaked almonds
4 large plums
2 tablespoons granulated sugar – if plums are very sweet, omit the sugar

Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F. Have ready four 1-cup capacity (240ml) heatproof bowls – you can also bake this crumble family style, using a shallow 1-liter capacity heatproof dish.

Make the topping: in a medium bowl, mix with a fork the all purpose flour, the almond meal, baking powder, salt and demerara sugar. Add butter and rub ingredients together with your fingertips until mixture resembles coarse breadcrumbs. Using a fork, stir in the flaked almonds – do not overmix. Freeze for 5 minutes while you prep the fruit.

Cut the plums in half and remove the stones. Cut each half in 0.5cm slices, then transfer a medium bowl. Add the granulated sugar (if using) and stir to combine – if not using the sugar, transfer the plum slices to the heatproof dishes. Sprinkle the topping over the fruit and bake for about 25 minutes or until topping is golden and crispy.

Serve with heavy cream or vanilla ice cream.

Serves 4

Honey bee cake - four years later

I have told you already how influenced by beautiful photos I am – if I see a stunning photo of a cake or a pasta dish I instantly add it to my mental to do list and cannot wait to make it. Sometimes that happens within the following weekends, sometimes it takes months, or even years – too many recipes, so little time. :)

This cake, from this gorgeous cookbook, have been on my mind for ages – the photo got stuck in my head when I purchased the book, a long time ago (2012, to be more precise). There were times I felt like baking it but had no honey in the pantry, other times I had no almonds at hand. So here we are, more than four years later, with a cake I could not wait to share with you: tender, perfumed, sweet, delicious – I hope you don’t wait as long as I did to make it.

Honey bee cake
slightly adapted from this beautiful cookbook

Cake:
2 ¼ cups (315g) all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon table salt
¾ cup + 2 tablespoons (200g) unsalted butter, room temperature
½ cup (100g) granulated sugar
1/3 cup (100g) honey
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 large eggs
1 large egg yolk
¾ cup (180ml) buttermilk, room temperature*

Glaze:
½ cup (150g) honey
3 tablespoons (41g) unsalted butter, room temperature
¼ teaspoon vanilla extract
pinch of salt
½ cup (56g) sliced almonds, toasted and cooled

Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F. Butter a 20cm (8in) round cake pan with a removable bottom or use a springform cake. Line the bottom with a disc of baking paper and butter the paper as well.

In a bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, cinnamon and salt. Set aside.
In a large bowl, using an electric mixer, beat butter, sugar, honey and vanilla on low speed until blended. Increase the speed to high and mix until very light and fluffy, 5-7 minutes. Stop and scrape the bowl down often during the whole process. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in the yolk.

With the mixer on low speed, add the flour mixture in three parts, alternating with the buttermilk in two parts, beginning and ending with the flour. Scrape the bowl after each addition and do not overmix.

Spread the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the surface. Rap the pan firmly on the counter to release any air bubbles. Bake in the center of the oven for 45 minutes or until cake is golden and risen and a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean – it is OK if the surface cracks a little while baking.

When the cake is almost ready, make the glaze: place honey and butter in a small saucepan and heat over medium heat until combined, whisking to combine. Bring the mixture just barely to a simmer. Turn off the heat, whisk in the vanilla and the salt and set aside – it has to be still warm when you pour it over the cake.

When the cake is done, remove it from the oven and poke holes all over the cake with a skewer. Pour half of the glaze over the cake, evenly sprinkle the almonds over the cake, then pour the rest of the glaze over the almonds. Place the pan back in the oven for 5 more minutes. Remove from the oven and cool completely on a wire rack. Carefully unmold the cake, peel off the paper and transfer to a serving plate.

Cake can be kept in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days.
*homemade buttermilk: to make 1 cup buttermilk place 1 tablespoon lemon juice in a 240ml-capacity measuring cup and complete with whole milk (room temperature). Wait 10 minutes for it to thicken, then use the whole mixture in your recipe

Serves 8-10

Winter snowball cookies to kick off this year's Christmas series

My favorite time of the year has arrived – it is December! \0/

Last week I decorated my Christmas tree and scattered Christmas decorations around the house – that made me feel absolutely happy. I see golden candles and snowmen when I go to the kitchen for a glass of water and the big Santa Claus hanging on my door salutes me every morning before I go to work: it definitely feels like Christmas already. <3

A couple of days ago my husband and I were at the mall and Christmas songs were being played there – it seemed to be the very same songs my mother used to play at this time of the year when I was a little girl. I had tears in my eyes remembering her, but some of those tears were tears of joy because of how much I love the holiday season.

My Christmas series starts today with these delicious and light in texture snowball cookies – they are really easy to make and placed in a plastic bag tied with a beautiful ribbon can become a very nice gift.

Winter snowball cookies
slightly adapted from The Italian Baker

Cookies:
2 cups (280g) all purpose flour
2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa, sifted
¾ cup (75g) almond meal
¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
pinch of salt
200g unsalted butter, at room temperature
¾ cup (105g) icing sugar, sifted
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon Amaretto

To dust the cookies:
1 cup (140g) icing sugar, sifted

Preheat the oven to 180°C. Line two large baking sheets with baking paper.

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa, almond meal, cinnamon and salt. Set aside.
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, mix butter and icing sugar (the 105g) until light and creamy – scrape the sides of the bowl occasionally. Mix in the vanilla and the Amaretto. On low speed, add the flour mixture and mix just until combined.

Roll 1 leveled tablespoon of dough per cookie into a ball and place 2.5cm (1in) apart onto the prepared sheets. Bake for 18-20 minutes, until the bottom edges are golden.
Remove from the oven, cool on the sheets over a wire rack for 5 minutes, then carefully remove the cookies from the paper and roll them into the icing sugar, coating them generously. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Makes about 48

Spiced almonds

The year is almost over (and I am hoping that 2016 is better than 2015, please Universe, make it happen!) so instead of writing a very long post complaining about the weather or anything else I will give you a recipe that is very quick to make, tastes great with drinks and will be a nice addition to your New Year’s Eve party – or any other party, actually. :)
I used almonds because it was what I had in my freezer, but any other nut would go well here, or even a mix of nuts.

Happy 2016!

Spiced almonds
from the always great Delicious UK

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
½ teaspoon Tabasco
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon garam masala
salt, to taste
200g almonds, or the nuts of your preference

Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F. In a medium bowl, whisk together the oil, sauces, spices and salt. Add the nuts and turn to coat evenly. Spread mixture onto a baking sheet and bake for 10 minutes, then stir. Return to the oven for another 10 minutes or until golden brown. Stir again then tip onto kitchen paper to remove excess grease. Cool, then serve.

The nuts can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 4 days.

Serves 4

Almond, coconut and lime cake

Hello, is there anyone here? :)

It has been a while since I last published a recipe on this blog, and it has been a while since cooked anything new or interesting – I no longer know what baking is, but I’ve told you that already.

Nothing has changed in nearly a month: I’m still working like crazy (and on top of that I have resumed my Spanish classes), I rarely feel like cooking or baking and I don’t think I ever longed for weekends so much in my life before. I hope things get calmer with time and I also hope to be able to go back to cooking, baking and posting here more regularly, for it is something that makes me really happy.

While that doesn’t happen, I hope that after all this time there is still someone reading me for this cake deserves to be shared: it is absolutely delicious, tender and perfumed, and I am sure that I would feel a lot better now if there was still a slice of it around. :)

Almond, coconut and lime cake
slightly adapted from the über beautiful Summer Berries & Autumn Fruits: 120 Sensational Sweet & Savoury Recipes

Cake:
1 cup (200g) granulated sugar
finely grated zest of 2 limes
1/3 cup (75g) unsalted butter, softened
1/3 cup (80ml) olive oil
1 ¾ cups (175g) almond meal
½ cup (50g) unsweetened desiccated coconut
¾ cup + 2 tablespoons (125g) all purpose fl our
2 teaspoons baking powder
pinch of salt
4 medium eggs – I used 3 very large eggs, 70g each
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
3 rounded tablespoons sour cream*

Syrup:
freshly squeezed juice of 2 limes
100ml water
2 ½ tablespoons honey
1 ½ tablespoons granulated sugar

Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F. Butter a tall 20cm round cake pan, line the bottom with a circle of baking paper and butter it as well.

Place the sugar and lime zest in the bowl of an electric mixer and rub with your fingertips until sugar is fragrant. Set aside.
Melt the butter in a small saucepan over a low heat. Remove from the heat, stir in the olive oil and leave to cool slightly.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the almond meal, coconut, flour, baking powder and salt.
Using an electric mixer, whisk the eggs and sugar on medium-high speed until they are very thick and pale, tripled in volume and leave a ribbon trail when the whisk is lifted from the bowl. Beat in the vanilla. Gently fold the almond mixture, then fold in the butter mixture and sour cream. Pour into the pan, smooth the top and bake on the middle shelf of the oven for 40-50 minutes or until risen and golden and a skewer inserted in the center comes out clean.

Syrup: in a small saucepan, bring the lime juice, water, honey and sugar to the boil. Continue to bubble steadily until reduced by half and syrupy.
Leave the cake to cool in the pan on a wire rack for five minutes. Using a wooden skewer, make holes all over the top of the cake, then slowly pour over the syrup, gradually, waiting for each portion to be absorbed by the cake before pouring more. Let cool completely in the pan.

*homemade sour cream: to make 1 cup of sour cream, mix 1 cup (240ml) heavy cream with 2-3 teaspoons lemon juice in a bowl. Whisk until it starts to thicken. Cover with plastic wrap and leave at room temperature for 1 hour or until thicker (I usually leave mine on the counter overnight – except on very warm nights – and it turns out thick and silky in the following morning; refrigerate for a creamier texture)

Serve 8-10

Almond syrup cake and more bad TV news

I apparently spoke too soon, guys – days ago I found out that another one of my favorite TV series has been cancelled. :(

The good thing is I’m not the only one disappointed by the news about Hannibal and like me many others are hoping that the show gets saved by Netflix or some other network – let's hope it works, right, boys? ;)

I’ve loved Hannibal ever since its beginning – how could I not? – and might be a little behind on the episodes because so many other shows have grabbed my attention lately, but it is still one of the best series I’ve seen even though I know it might be a little too graphic for many people – I don’t mind the gore at all because in that case it is absolutely necessary to the story being told, and not only splashed there to shock.

I haven’t baked much lately (which is a shame), but I did make this delicious cake weeks ago and here it is: I know I can be a little too repetitive when it comes to almond cakes – or TV shows ;) – but this one is really special: it tastes delicious and if there’s any syrup left after the cake is gone it is wonderful poured over pancakes or waffles.

Almond syrup cake
slightly adapted from the always gorgeous Donna Hay Magazine

Cake:
3 eggs
¾ cup (150g) granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup + 1 tablespoon (150g) all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
pinch of salt
1 ¼ cups (125g) almond meal
1/3 cup (75g) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
finely grated zest of 1 lime
2 tablespoons Amaretto
½ cup (60g) flaked almonds

Syrup:
1 cup (240ml) water
¾ cup (150g) granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
¼ cup (60ml) Amaretto

Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F. Lightly butter a 20cm (8in) round cake pan, line the bottom with a circle of baking paper and butter it as well.

Place the eggs, sugar and vanilla in the bowl of an electric mixer and beat for about 8 minutes or until thick, pale and tripled in volume. With a rubber spatula, gently fold in the flour, baking powder, salt, almond meal, butter, lemon zest and Amaretto. Pour batter into prepared pan and smooth the top. Sprinkle with the flaked almonds and bake for 35-40 minutes or until golden and risen and a skewer inserted in the center comes out clean.

Cool in the pan over a wire rack while you make the syrup: place water, sugar, vanilla and Amaretto in a small saucepan and cook over medium heat, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Boil over medium heat for about 10 minutes or until reduced and thickened. Pour ¾ of the hot syrup over the cake gradually, making sure it gets absorbed by the cake before pouring more syrup. Cool completely in the pan, then carefully unmold.

Serve the cake with the remaining syrup.

Serves 8-10

Toffee squares and the Oscars

This year I felt less prepared for the Oscars compared to previous years, for I did not watch many of the movies, but it was a lot of fun anyway – I had my favorites even among the movies I hadn’t watched.

Michael Keaton did not take the award home, unfortunately – it is hard to compete with an Oscar-bait role as the one played by Eddie Redmayne – but it was pure joy to see Alejandro Iñarritú up on the stage so many times (too bad the most important award of the evening was delivered by an idiot).

I still haven’t watched Whiplash and Boyhood, but loved both Patricia Arquette and J. K. Simmons’ wins, and their speeches as well – Patricia kicked serious ass with that speech, didn’t she? And so did Graham Morton.

The weekend is upon us and I’ll try to catch up on the Oscar movies I haven’t seen yet, and nothing better than a little tasty something to go with the movie session: these bars are easy to make and you probably have all the ingredients at home.

Toffee squares
slightly adapted from Epicurious

Crust:
1 cup (2 sticks/226g) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup (175g) firmly packed light brown sugar
1 large egg yolk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/8 teaspoon table salt
2 cups (280g) all-purpose flour

Topping:
280g (10oz) dark chocolate, chips or finely chopped – the one I used has 53% cocoa solids
1 ¼ cups almonds, toasted, cooled then coarsely chopped

Crust: preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F. Lightly butter a 22x32cm (9x13in) baking pan, line it with foil and butter it as well – I used a 20x30cm (8x12in) pan.

In a large bowl, with an electric mixer, beat together the butter and sugar on medium speed until light, about 2 minutes. Beat in the egg yolk, vanilla, and salt. Turn off the mixer, add all the flour at once then mix on low speed just until a dough forms – it will be stiff. Pat the dough evenly over the bottom of the baking pan – I used a small spatula to spread the dough onto the pan and thought it made the job a lot easier. Prick the dough all over with a fork.
Bake in the center of the oven until pale gold on top, 20-30 minutes.

Remove the pan from the oven and scatter the chocolate pieces evenly over the crust. Return the pan to the oven for 1 minute. Remove the pan again and, using a knife or spatula, spread the chocolate evenly over the crust. Sprinkle evenly with the almonds, then press lightly with your fingertips to make sure they stick to the chocolate layer.

Let cool completely in the pan on a wire rack*. Using a sharp knife, cut into small squares, then carefully remove from the pan.

* my chocolate did not set at room temperature, so I refrigerated the bars for 1 hour to make it firmer (but don’t leave them too long in the fridge before cutting for it will be difficult to slice through the base)

Makes 24

Ginger twist

I’ve asked my readers over at the blog’s Facebook page if they like to cook and bake on weekends and what they like to make – I love being in the kitchen on weekends because it is when I have more time and get to make more complex things, recipes that take a while to be ready or/and have many steps, such as this ginger twist.

Spending a lot of time in the kitchen can be frustrating if the results aren’t what we expect – and trust me, I’ve been there many times – but in this recipe’s case every bit of work and every second were worth it: the bread looked beautiful and tasted amazing, too.

It is a bit time consuming, I won’t lie, but I recommend you bookmark it for a cold, rainy day when you’re not at all interested in going out – just imagine that after all the work you’ll have something this delicious to go with a cup of tea or coffee. :D

Ginger twist
slightly adapted from the always amazing Gourmet Traveller

Dough:
140ml lukewarm whole milk
2 ½ teaspoons dry yeast
120g granulated sugar
400g all purpose flour
50g whole wheat flour
2 teaspoons ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
finely grated zest + juice of 1 orange
2 eggs, room temperature
100g unsalted butter, softened
1 egg, extra, for brushing the loaf

Filling:
70g unsalted butter, softened
50g brown sugar
50g granulated sugar
1 teaspoon ground ginger
130g pecans, chopped
100g almonds, chopped

Topping:
1 tablespoon all purpose flour
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
1 tablespoon (14g) unsalted butter, cold

Dough: stir milk, yeast and a pinch of the sugar in a small bowl to dissolve and stand until foamy (5 minutes). Meanwhile, combine dry ingredients and zest with a pinch of salt in an electric mixer fitted with a dough hook. Add yeast mixture, 2 eggs and orange juice, then mix on medium speed to form a soft dough. Gradually add butter, beating on medium speed to form a soft dough, then transfer to a buttered bowl, cover with plastic wrap and stand in a warm place until doubled in size (1 hour).

Filling: mix all the ingredients together and refrigerate until needed. Set aside 30g of the filling for the topping.

Knock back dough on a well-floured surface, roll out to a 30x60cm (12x24in) rectangle and spread evenly with filling. Roll from the longest side to form a cylinder, then cut in half. Twist each half around one another to form a rope and place in a buttered 12x25cm (5x10in) loaf tin. Stand until slightly risen (30 minutes) – in the meantime, preheat oven to 180°C.

Using your fingertips, mix the 30g reserved filling with the topping ingredients until a crumble forms. Refrigerate until needed.

Beat the extra egg with a pinch of salt and brush loaf with the mixture. Scatter with the topping and bake until golden and risen (45 minutes to 1 hour). Cover with foil if loaf gets too dark. Cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then carefully unmold onto a rack to cool.

Serves 8-10

Almond cake (with homemade marzipan)

As I flipped through a few cookbooks and magazines searching for inspiration, I thought of how I am attracted to similar recipes, over and over again – I can’t resist a brownie, I make oatmeal cookies quite often, and every time I see a citrus cake recipe I immediately bookmark it.

It might be a matter of taste, or it is because I seem to have the same ingredients at home time and time again, but I sometimes even tell myself that I will bake something different, only to end up making one of the favorites above.

Another recipe I cannot resist? Almond cakes – I’d probably make almond cakes every week if could. This recipe came in very handy for I’d made marzipan for a cookie recipe for my Christmas series (from this book), but the recipe failed miserably and I had to use up the marzipan left quickly.

This cake is easy to make, moist and absolutely delicious – if you’re nuts for almond cakes like me you should give it a go.

Almond cake (with homemade marzipan)
slightly adapted from the delicious and beautiful A La Grecque: Our Greek table

½ cup (100g) granulated sugar
finely grated zest of 1 orange
finely grated zest of 1 lime
250g unsalted butter, room temperature
200g marzipan, chopped – I used homemade
4 eggs
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
1/3 cup (45g) all purpose flour
¼ teaspoon baking powder
pinch of salt
½ cup (60g) flaked almonds

Preheat your oven to 180°C. Butter a 20x7cm (8x3in) round cake pan with a removable bottom, line the bottom with a circle of baking paper and butter it as well.

Place sugar, orange and lime zest in the bowl of an electric mixer and rub together until sugar is fragrant. Add butter and beat until pale and fluffy. Add the marzipan, beating well until it is completely incorporated.
Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in vanilla. Sift the flour, baking powder and salt together and fold into the cake mixture. Spoon into the cake pan and smooth the top. Sprinkle with flaked almonds. Bake for 45 minutes, or until golden and cooked (a skewer inserted in the center of the cake should come out clean).
Cool completely in the pan over a wire rack. Carefully unmold and serve.

Serves 8-10

Fish kibbeh - a delicious and healthy way of cooking fish

A couple of posts ago I told you that in my opinion there are days for chocolate, cream and all things sweet and I firmly believe in that, but even I can’t eat that sort of food every single day: I crave salads, vegetables, fish and grains everyday and I feel really good when I eat them.

I am always interested in new ways of cooking fish other than the way my mom cooked at home when I was little: dusted with corn flour (not corn starch) and deep fried, which is absolutely delicious but not very healthy (I do avoid deep frying like the plague around here, and not only for health reasons).

My husband loves the corn flour dusted fish as well, but he’s willing to try fish prepared in other ways and last weekend I prepared one of Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s recipes in which the fish is coated with spices like paprika and cumin and cooked with peas – it was a hit. Weeks before I’d made these fish kibbehs and they were a huge success, too: me being me I tweaked the recipe just a bit, adding more lime zest, using almonds instead of walnuts and shaping the mixture into small kibbehs instead of baking it pressed into a baking dish.

Both my husband and my sister loved the kibbeh and I thought it was a wonderful way of eating fish.

Fish kibbeh
slightly adapted from the gorgeous Brazilian chef Rita Lobo

1 tablespoon olive oil
2 small onions, finely sliced in half moons
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
pinch of sugar
1 cup cracked wheat (fine bulgur)
500g white fish fillets
handful parsley leaves
finely grated zest of 2 limes
1/3 cup flaked almonds, finely chopped
1/3 cup (80ml) water
¼ teaspoon baharat
extra-virgin olive oil, for drizzling
lime wedges, to serve

Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F. Line a large baking sheet with foil and brush it with olive oil.
In a nonstick frying pan over low heat, heat 1 tablespoon of the olive oil and add the onions. Sprinkle with salt and the sugar and cook, stirring occasionally, until caramelized, about 15 minutes. Cool.
Line a colander with a clean kitchen towel and place the cracked wheat on the towel. Rinse it with cold water, then squeeze it well to remove all excess water.
In a food processor, process the fish and parsley until finely chopped. Transfer to a large bowl, add the onions, the wheat, lime zest, almonds, water and stir to combine. Season with the baharat, salt and black pepper.
Using 1 ½ leveled tablespoons of mixture per kibbeh, roll into a football shape. Place onto prepared sheet 5cm (2in) apart. Drizzle generously with extra virgin olive oil and bake for 20-25 minutes or until golden and cooked through, turning them halfway the cooking time. Serve immediately with lime wedges.

Makes about 20

Fig, ginger and almond bars

I usually plan ahead the recipes I want to cook on the weekend so I have time to do the shopping beforehand – I get disappointed when I choose a recipe from a book only to discover, minutes later, that I don’t have all the ingredients at hand.

I made the honey raspberry cake I mentioned the other day because the only fruit I had at home were frozen berries – empty refrigerator is a classic side effect of vacation time. I baked the cake, then decided to watch some TV, flip through my cookbooks and forget about the shortage of fresh food for a while – I wasn’t really in the mood for grocery shopping, and my husband was too tired, poor thing, I really couldn't ask him to go out just because I wanted to bake.

Two or three flipped cookbooks later, I saw a recipe for marmalade and ginger bars topped with almonds, and they looked delicious. As I read the list of ingredients, I realized I had everything in my pantry and fridge – how rare is that? – except the marmalade – ooops –, but I did have some fig preserves left from making the buckwheat thumbprints.

I felt that the fig + ginger combo would be as good as orange + ginger one, so I replaced the marmalade with the fig preserves and added a bit of amaranth flour for nutritional purposes. Fig and ginger are, indeed, delish together, and the bars were a hit: they tasted great and the baking urge was gone in no time.

Fig, ginger and almond bars
slightly adapted from the beautiful and delicious The Baking Collection (The Australian Women's Weekly)

Base:
90g unsalted butter, softened
½ cup (100g) granulated sugar
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
1 egg
100g all purpose flour
50g amaranth flour
generous ¼ teaspoon baking powder
pinch of salt

Filling:
1 cup fig preserves
¼ cup finely chopped crystallized ginger

Topping:
1 egg, beaten lightly with a fork
120g flaked almonds
60g ground almonds
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 180°C/350°F. Lightly butter a 20x30cm (8x12in) rectangular pan, line it with foil leaving an overhang in two opposite sides and butter the foil as well.
Base: using an electric mixer, beat butter and sugar until creamy. Beat in vanilla. Add the egg and beat to combine. Stir in flours, baking powder and salt*. Spread dough into pan.
Filling: combine fig preserves and ginger in small bowl; spread over base.
Topping: combine egg, vanilla, 80g of the flaked almonds and ground almonds in a medium bowl. Spread almond mix over marmalade; sprinkle with remaining almonds.
Bake for about 40 minutes. Cool slice in pan. Cut into slices or squares.

* at this stage, my dough was too soft (maybe from replacing part of the all purpose flour for amaranth flour), so I added 2 tablespoons (20g) all purpose flour to it

Makes 24

Apple, sour cream and cinnamon crunch muffins

I have to be careful while cooking or baking with certain ingredients for the reason that I adore snacking on them! Cherry tomatoes, carrots, olives, cheese, nuts – I have to control myself not to eat everything before adding the ingredients to the recipe itself. :D

Depending on the ingredient, my husband does the same, and there goes dinner.

Add to that list roasted pumpkin seeds – they’re delicious and I have to avoid getting carried away by the fact that they’re healthy. While preparing these muffins, I set aside the 2 tablespoons needed for the recipe and measured out 2 more tablespoons so I could snack on while baking – they were gone in no time (I’d just whisked the dry ingredients together in the large bowl).

I told myself that it was better to eat a handful of pumpkin seeds than a handful of candy and stopped worrying about it. ;)

Feel free to use raw pumpkin seeds in these muffins – they’re the ones called for in the original recipe – I used roasted seeds because I had them in my pantry. The cinnamon, almonds and the apple make these muffins super tasty, while the sour cream makes them moist and tender.

Apple, sour cream and cinnamon crunch muffins
slightly adapted from Grains: 150 Recipes for Every Appetite

Topping:
70g almonds, roughly chopped
2 tablespoons pumpkin seeds – I used roasted seeds
45g light brown sugar
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon

Muffins:
100g whole wheat flour
100g all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
pinch of salt
75g unsalted butter, melted and cooled
75g light brown sugar
150g sour cream
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 tablespoon whole milk
1 large Gala apple (about 250g), peeled and chopped in small cubes

Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F. Line a 12-hole muffin pan with paper cases.
Topping: in a small bowl, mix together the almonds, pumpkins seeds, brown sugar and cinnamon. Set aside.
Muffins: in a large bowl, whisk together the flours, baking powder, cinnamon and salt. In a medium bowl, whisk together the butter, brown sugar, sour cream, egg and milk. Pour this mixture into the dry ingredients and stir lightly – batter will be lumpy; do not overmix. Stir in the apple and divide the batter among the paper cases. Sprinkle with the topping and lightly press it down the batter to adhere.
Bake for 20-25 minutes or until golden and risen and a skewer inserted into the middle of a muffin comes out clean. Leave to rest in the pan for 5 minutes before lifting the muffins out.

* homemade sour cream: to make 1 cup of sour cream, mix 1 cup (240ml) heavy cream with 2-3 teaspoons lemon juice in a bowl. Whisk until it starts to thicken. Cover with plastic wrap and leave at room temperature for 1 hour or until thicker (I usually leave mine on the counter overnight – except on very warm nights – and it turns out thick and silky in the following morning; refrigerate for a creamier texture)

Makes 12

White chocolate granola cookies - turning something bland into something delicious

I told you weeks ago that my experimenting with new types of recipes had had good and bad results: luckily more good than bad, but some things just did not work at all.

There was an almond cake from this book that ended up in the garbage can – I should have followed my instincts and added flour to the batter once I realized it was much too runny – and there was the granola that tasted funny (the one I mentioned the other day). I felt sad about the cake – it was too rubbery and not flavorsome enough for me to come up with something to do with it – but the good thing is that I managed to save the granola.

If life gives you bland granola, make cookies with it. :D

These are super easy to make and taste great – I used homemade granola, which wasn’t too sweet, and it worked perfectly with the white chocolate. If your granola is sweeter (store-bought usually is), using dark chocolate instead of white chocolate might be a good idea.

White chocolate granola cookies
adapted from the most complete dessert cookbook I own

1 cup (140g) all purpose flour
heaping ¼ teaspoon baking soda
heaping ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
pinch of salt
½ cup (113g/1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup (175g) light brown sugar, packed
¼ cup (50g) granulated sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
250g granola (I used homemade)
150g white chocolate, in chips or chunks

Whisk flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt in medium bowl to blend. Using electric mixer, beat butter and both sugars in large bowl until creamy. Beat in egg and vanilla. Add flour mixture; mix on low speed just until blended. Using wooden spoon, stir in granola and chocolate.
Line two large baking sheets with baking paper. Using 2 leveled tablespoons of dough for each cookie, drop batter onto prepared sheets 5cm (2in) apart. Chill 30 minutes.
Preheat oven to 180°C/350°F. Bake cookies until golden around the edges, 10-12 minutes. Cool in the sheet for 2 minutes, then slide the paper with the cookies onto a wire rack and cool completely.

Makes about 25

Amaranth cantuccini - no butter, no olive oil

So far I’ve made several delicious recipes replacing butter with olive oil, but how about baking cookies without neither? That is what made me curious about these cantuccini: the fat in them comes from the almonds and the eggs – no butter, no olive or canola oil – and the eggs, combined with the fruit juices, are also responsible for the moisture in the dough.

Just for the record: I have nothing against fat, much to the opposite – I feel lost without butter in my fridge and I use olive oil for cooking all the time – but I find it interesting to learn how to make delicious things without it.

This is a fairly simple recipe – no electric devices involved – and the cantuccini turned out very flavorsome from all the fruit zest and juice. These are not rock-hard and they benefit from some time in the cookie jar: the citrus flavor becomes more evident with time, making the cantuccini even tastier days after they were baked (if they last that long). ;)

Amaranth cantuccini
slightly adapted from the delicious Do-Ahead Dinners: How to Feed Friends and Family Without the Frenzy

200g all-purpose flour
50g amaranth flour
150g granulated sugar
½ teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
zest of 1 orange and juice of ½
zest and juice of ½ lemon
2 eggs, lightly beaten with a fork
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
150g almonds (skin on)

Preheat the oven to 200°C/400°F. Line a large baking sheet with foil.
Mix the flours, sugar, baking powder and salt in a large bowl and make a well in the center. Throw in the orange and lemon juice and zest, eggs and vanilla, and mix together thoroughly. Stir in the almonds – the dough will be sticky.

With lightly floured hands, divide the dough into two pieces and roll each into slightly flattened sausage shapes, about 30cm (12in) long each. Transfer to the baking sheet and bake for 20 minutes. Remove from the oven and cool for 5 minutes, then carefully peel off the foil.
Using a sharp knife and one firm cut, slice each log diagonally into 1cm slices, place them onto the sheet, side by side, and bake for 10 minutes or until golden. Turn the biscotti and bake until golden on the other side as well, about 8 minutes.

Cool completely, then store in airtight containers.

Makes about 35

Apple olive oil cake and things that work

Another trailer for Gone Girl has been released, and it is fantastic – one can count on David Fincher to set that kind of dark mood in a two-minute trailer, for sure, and if I already was looking forward to watching the movie now I just hope time flies. :D

I’m not too keen on Ben Affleck portraying Nick Dunne – let’s just wait to see what happens – but, on the other hand, could there be anyone more perfect to play Desi Collings than Neil Patrick Harris? \0/

The music fits the atmosphere of the story really well and when the trailer ended I could read that Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross are the ones behind it – these two have already have already given us two amazing and innovative soundtracks (and deservedly took home the Oscar for The Social Network). It is great news that they’re once again working with Fincher – what a great combo. And the same way Fincher is sticking with Reznor and Ross for another job because he knows for sure they will perform amazingly, I’m back to baking with olive oil.

After the success of the orange olive oil cake I baked the other day – two colleagues told me they baked the cake, too, and they loved it – I was thrilled to see an apple cake made with olive oil on Anna Jones’ beautiful book. Without much thought, it was the first recipe I tried from the book and the result was a tender, moist and flavorsome cake, with a nice hint of spices. Really, really good. This cake is dairy-free and can be made with spelt flour – I can’t find it in my neck of the woods (such a shame!), so I used all purpose flour instead.

Apple olive oil cake
slightly adapted from the amazing A Modern Way to Eat: Over 200 Satisfying, Everyday Vegetarian Recipes (That Will Make You Feel Amazing)

250g all purpose flour
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
pinch of ground allspice
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
pinch of salt
1 tablespoon honey
150g light brown sugar
2 large eggs
150ml extra-virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 Granny Smith apples
handful sliced almonds

Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F. Lightly oil 20x10cm (4x8in) loaf pan, line it with baking paper and lightly oil the paper as well.
Sift flour, cinnamon, allspice, baking powder, baking soda and salt into a medium bowl.
In a large bowl, mix the honey, sugar, eggs, olive oil and vanilla until you have an even mixture. Stir in the flour mixture and mix again, until evenly combined. The mixture should be quite thick. Grate in the apples and mix well. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top. Sprinkle with the almonds.
Bake for 45-50 minutes or until risen and golden and a skewer inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Cool in the pan over a wire rack for 10 minutes, then carefully unmold onto the rack. Cool completely, then peel off the paper.

Serves 8-10