Clementine spiced cookies

I think one can say I am addicted to baking cookies – as you have probably noticed already – and for a good while now slice and bake cookies have been my favorites: they are easy to make and the uncooked dough can spend some time in the fridge or in the freezer waiting for the right moment to be baked.

Even though the dough can be kept for a good while before baking, I hardly ever keep it that long: I prefer to bake lots of cookies at once and eat them and also share them with my family and friends – a “spreading joy” operation, let’s say. :)

These cookies, deliciously fragrant from the tangerine zest and with a kick from the spices, will make your kitchen smell like heaven. The almond meal makes them quite delicate and tricky to be transported, so for a bit firmer – but still wonderful – cookies omit the almond meal and use a total of 175g all purpose flour.

Clementine spiced cookies
slightly adapted from Annie Rigg's breathtakingly beautiful book

1 cup + 1 tablespoon (150g) all purpose flour
¼ cup (25g) almond meal
¼ teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon ground ginger
¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
pinch of freshly ground nutmeg
pinch of salt
finely grated zest of 2 clementines
¼ cup (50g) granulated sugar
½ cup (113g/1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 tablespoon honey
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
2-3 pieces of crystallized ginger, cut into small dice

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, almond meal, baking powder, baking soda, ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt. Set aside.
Put zest and sugar to the bowl of an electric mixer and rub them together with your fingertips until sugar is fragrant. Add the butter and using the mixer beat ingredients together until creamy and light in color. Beat in the honey and vanilla. Turn off the mixer and mix in the dry ingredients using a rubber spatula just until a dough forms – do not overmix.

Place the dough on a large piece of parchment paper; shape into a log. Fold parchment over dough; using a ruler, roll and press into a 3.5cm (1.4in) log – like Martha does here. Wrap in parchment. Chill in the fridge until very firm, about 4 hours or overnight.

Preheat oven to 180°C/350°F; line two large baking sheets with baking paper.
Unwrap the dough log and cut into 5mm (¼in) thick rounds; space 2.5cm (1in) apart onto prepared sheets. Gently press a piece of crystallized ginger in the center of each cookie. Bake until golden brown around the edges, 10-12 minutes. Cool on the sheets for 5 minutes, then carefully slide the paper with the cookies onto a wire rack and cool completely.

Makes about 30

Gingerbread honey cake because Christmas is coming

I was sitting home the other day, thinking about Christmas and how it is my favorite time of the year. I thought about my Christmas tree, and how I would be decorating it in a few days and felt miserable because this year I would not be able to prepare the Christmas recipes for the blog like I’d done in previous years.

I decided that there would be at least one recipe for the Christmas series this year, went to the kitchen and baked this cake – actually, I baked some cookies, too. ;)

This gingerbread cake is super tender, smells and tastes delicious and will perfume your entire home while in the oven and even after cooled down. It is, in fact, a loaf cake, but the one I used was a bit smaller and I ended up with a loaf + a small round cake (I used a 1-cup capacity pan). Since the mini cake looked so adorable that was the one I used for the photo – I hope the cake’s cuteness entices you to bake it, too, and you can thank me later. ;)

Gingerbread honey cake
slightly adapted from the beautiful Home Baked: More Than 150 Recipes for Sweet and Savory Goodies

85g crystallized ginger
50g crystallized orange peel
220g (1 ½ cups + 1 tablespoon) all purpose flour
½ cup (50g) almond meal
2 teaspoons baking powder
¼ teaspoon table salt
1 teaspoon ground ginger
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
¼ teaspoon ground cloves
100g unsalted butter, cold and cubed
1 ¼ cups (300ml) whole milk, room temperature
100g light brown sugar
150ml honey
2 eggs
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
½ teaspoon Cointreau (optional)
¼ teaspoon Amaretto (optional)
icing sugar, for dusting

Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F. Lightly butter a 6-cup capacity loaf pan, line it with baking paper leaving an overhang in two opposite sides and butter it as well.

Chop the crystallized ginger and crystallized peel, place in a bowl and stir in 1 tablespoon of the flour. Set aside.
Combine remaining flour, almond meal, baking powder, salt and spices in the bowl of an electric mixer. Add the butter and on low speed mix the ingredients together until mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Mix in crystallized ginger and orange peel. In the meantime, heat together over low heat milk, brown sugar and honey until honey and sugar are dissolved (mixture should not get too hot, otherwise it might cook the eggs). Pour over the flour mixture and stir until just combined – do not overmix. Stir in the eggs, one at a time, followed by the vanilla, Cointreau and Amaretto.
Pour batter into prepared pan and bake for 50-60 minutes or until risen and golden and a skewer inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in the pan over a wire rack for 15 minutes, then carefully unmold and cool completely over the rack before peeling off the paper.
Dust with icing sugar to serve.

Serves 8-10

Lime, ginger and coconut drizzle cake + the Golden Globes

I was up till 2 am this morning watching the Golden Globe Awards but it was worth it: some of my favorites won (The Affair, Ruth Wilson, Kevin Spacey), some of my favorites did not win (Steve Carell, Rosamund Pike), but overall I though the winners really deserved the awards (unlike previous years).

I did not understand, though, Fargo and Billy Bob taking the Globe home for I strongly believed that True Detective and Matthew were impossible to beat (I haven’t seen Fargo for I really don’t like the movie).

When it comes to award shows surprises can be a good thing, but when I’m in the kitchen I prefer to stick to what I trust – in this case, the Good Food magazine. Everything I’ve made from it turned out great, and this cake is no exception: the limes and the ginger add a refreshing touch to the good old lemon drizzle cake, and it turned out so tender it was hard to slice.

And to make things even better, there’s coconut in the batter as well – yum!

Lime, ginger and coconut drizzle cake
slightly adapted from Good Food magazine

Cake:
175g granulated sugar
finely grated zest of 3 limes
200g unsalted butter, softened
3 large eggs
200g all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 rounded teaspoon ground ginger
pinch of salt
50g desiccated coconut
2 tablespoons finely chopped crystallized ginger
2 tablespoons milk
juice of 1 ½ limes

Drizzle:
juice of 1 ½ limes
1 ½ tablespoons granulated sugar

Preheat oven to 180°C/350°F. Butter a 20x10cm (8x4in) loaf pan, line it with baking paper and butter the paper as well.

Place sugar and lime zest in the bowl of an electric mixer and rub them together with your fingertips until sugar is fragrant. Add butter and beat until light and fluffy. Gradually add the eggs, mixing well between each addition.
Sift together the flour, baking powder, ground ginger and salt in a medium bowl. Using a spatula, fold into the cake mixture with the coconut and chopped ginger. Add the milk and lime juice and mix until smooth. Spoon the mixture into the prepared pan and smooth the surface.

Bake for 60-70 minutes or until risen and golden brown – a skewer inserted into the middle of the cake should come out clean. Cool the cake in the pan for 10 minutes.
Use a wooden skewer to make holes all over the cake. Mix the drizzle ingredients and slowly spoon the sugary mixture over the top of the warm cake and leave in the pan until completely cold.

Serves 8

Chocolate gingerbread cakes, pixie and bob

Besides TV shows and Christmas baking, this month has also been about my decision to grow out my pixie: I’d decided that a month or so ago, then dropped the idea and thought of keeping the pixie, but then I fell in love with Emma Stone’s beautiful bob and now I cannot wait to have that haircut (and I’ve thought of stealing her color, too, since I’ll inevitably have to start dying my hair soon to cover the grey strands).

Food, movies and hair styles – one can definitely find all sorts of things on this blog. ;)

I’ll have to patient for it will take months for my hair to grow that long, and it will certainly be an interesting exercise for me; luckily in the kitchen I don’t have to wait too long to eat something delicious (which is one of the reasons why learning how to cook can be so empowering) and these cakes are proof of that: small as they are, they bake and cool quickly and in no time at all mine were looking beautiful on the wire rack, just waiting for the ganache to set – if you’re impatient like me you can go ahead and eat the cakes as soon as you finish spreading the ganache on top of them: I promise I won’t tell a soul. ;)

Chocolate gingerbread cakes
slightly adapted from the always wonderful Delicious Australia

Cakes:
¼ cup honey
¼ cup molasses
125g brown sugar
¾ cup (180ml) whole milk
¾ cup (105g) all purpose flour
½ cup (45g) unsweetened cocoa
1 ¼ teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon ground ginger
¾ teaspoon freshly ground allspice
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
¼ teaspoon ground cloves
pinch of salt
65g unsalted butter, room temperature
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
crystallized ginger, to garnish

Ganache:
200g dark chocolate, finely chopped – I used one with 53% cocoa solids
100ml heavy cream
1 tablespoon (14g) unsalted butter

Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F. Butter a 12-hole muffin pan and line the bottoms with a circle of baking paper (I cut the bottoms of cupcake liners and used them to line the pan). In a small saucepan, place honey, molasses, sugar and milk and cook over low heat, stirring until sugar is dissolved. Cool.

Place flour, cocoa, baking powder, spices, salt and butter in a food processor and pulse to combine. Add egg, the cooled mixture and vanilla and process until a smooth batter forms. Divide among muffin holes and bake for 20-25 minutes or until risen and a skewer inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then carefully unmold, peel off the paper and transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Ganache: heat the cream in a small saucepan over medium heat until it starts to bubble around the sides. Remove from the heat, add the chocolate and butter and set aside for 2 minutes. Stir until smooth. cool to room temperature, then spread over the cooled cakes and garnish with the crystallized ginger – I had some ganache left, so I refrigerated it and rolled into truffles and dusted them with cocoa powder.

Makes 12

Crystallized ginger millet cookies with orange icing

One of the many things I loved about New York – I can pretty much say I loved everything about the city, both times I visited it – was going to the Whole Foods: there was so much variety, everything looked so good, so delicious, that I felt like bringing each and every ingredient home with me (too bad I couldn’t). :)

[if you ask me about the clothing stores on Fifth Avenue I probably won’t be of much help]. :)

There were tons of types of fruits, vegetables, chocolates, nuts – you name it. I was impressed by all the different varieties of flours: there were so many I stared at them for a good while (so I’m told by my husband). :D I did not think it was a good idea to stash pounds and pounds of flour in my luggage, so I brought home only a package of hazelnut meal, leaving all those amazing products behind. :(

Cut to a year after that and I was surprised to find Bob’s Red Mill’s products in a supermarket here in Sao Paulo – there aren’t as many different flours as I saw in NY, but there are some interesting ones available, and I brought home a package of millet flour, which I have used twice so far: timidly in the orange rosemary shortbread and more boldly in these ginger cookies.

The cookies turned out great, delicious and I cannot wait to use the millet flour in other baked goods – maybe in a cake next time?

Crystallized ginger millet cookies with orange icing
slightly adapted from the wonderful Supergrains: Cook Your Way to Great Health

Cookies:
½ cup (113g/1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
2/3 cup (115g) light brown sugar, packed
1/3 cup honey
1 cup (140g) millet flour
¾ cup (105g) all purpose flour
1 tablespoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
pinch of salt
75g crystallized ginger, finely chopped

Icing:
½ cup (70g) icing sugar
1 tablespoon orange juice

Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F. Line 2 large baking sheets with baking paper.

Using an electric mixer, cream butter, sugar and honey until pale and creamy. Sift the millet flour, all purpose flour, salt, ground ginger and cinnamon together, add to the butter mixture with the crystallized ginger and stir until well combined.
Roll 1 leveled tablespoon of dough into balls and place on prepare sheets, 5cm (2in) apart. Flatten the balls slightly. Bake for 12-15 minutes or until the cookies are golden. Cool on the sheets for 5 minutes, then slide the paper with the cookies onto a wire rack. Cool completely.

Glaze: sift the icing sugar into a small bowl. Gradually add the juice and stir until you get a drizzable consistency (add water if necessary). Drizzle over cooled cookies and let it set for 15-20 minutes.

Makes about 35

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

Ginger and milk chocolate cookies and choosing recipes

To me, choosing a recipe might be hard sometimes, but it basically involves: a) if I want something sweet or savory, b) the ingredients I have at home, c) the amount of time I have at that moment, d) if I have someone in mind and/or e) there is something new/unusual about the recipe I really want to try.

Libbie Summers’ ginger cookies caught my eye because I absolutely loved her idea of rolling the cookies in minced crystallized ginger before baking them – it was genius! I had to try that. Then I remembered I had the ingredient in my pantry, with some molasses that had to be used within a month, and the choice was made – this time I had no one in mind but myself, for the only person I know that loves crystallized ginger as much as I do lives on the other side of the Atlantic. :)

These cookies pack a strong ginger punch, which is cooled down a bit by the milk chocolate (my addition), and the rolling in the ginger is indeed a great idea. They could have been a wonderful addition to my Christmas series, but if I couldn’t even wait for the cookies to cool to eat a couple of them how on earth would I be able to wait till December to share them with you? :D

Ginger and milk chocolate cookies
slightly adapted from the oh, so beautiful Sweet and Vicious: Baking with Attitude

2 ¼ cups (315g) all-purpose flour
3 teaspoons ground ginger
1 teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
¾ cup (1 ½ sticks/170g) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup (175g) packed light brown sugar
1 large egg
¼ cup molasses
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
½ cup minced crystallized ginger, divided use
200g milk chocolate, in chips or chunks
½ cup (100g) demerara sugar

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, ground ginger, baking soda, and salt and set aside.
In a large bowl, using an electric mixer, cream together the butter and brown sugar until smooth. Beat in the egg, molasses and vanilla. Gradually mix in the flour mixture. Mix in half the crystallized ginger, then the chocolate chips. Cover and refrigerate the dough for at least 2 hours, or overnight.
Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F. Line two large baking sheets with baking paper.
In a small mixing bowl, stir together the demerara sugar and the remaining crystallized ginger. Using 2 leveled tablespoons of dough per cookie, shape the dough into balls and roll them in the demerara sugar mixture. Place them 5cm (2in) apart on the prepared baking sheets and bake for 10-12 minutes or until golden around the edges. Slide the paper to a wire rack and cool completely.

Makes about 35

Roscón de Reyes (King Cake)

My favorite time of the year is coming to an end, and later on today I’ll put away all my Christmas decorations – it’s such a pity, I love seeing them throughout the house.

The sixth of January is also the day to celebrate the Three Kings, and to do so I bring you this delicious recipe, a sort of brioche topped with a lemon glaze – unlike the King Cake I’d seen on this book, Gourmet Traveller’s version is a lot prettier, with no plastic baby hidden inside: just tender sweet bread with almonds, ginger and cranberries.

Who said atheists can’t enjoy some of the Catholic traditions? ;)

Roscón de Reyes (King Cake)
slightly adapted from the always gorgeous Gourmet Traveller

110ml whole milk
2 ½ teaspoons dried yeast
60g granulated sugar
500g all-purpose flour
pinch of salt
55ml olive oil
finely grated zest of 1 lemon
finely grated zest of 1 orange
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
75g unsalted butter, coarsely chopped and softened
glacé ginger, halved glacé cherries and blanched almonds, for decoration – I used dried cranberries instead of cherries

Lemon glaze:
100g confectioners’ sugar
juice of 1 lemon

Warm milk and 100ml water in a small saucepan over low heat until lukewarm, add yeast and 1 teaspoon of the sugar and set aside in a warm place until foaming (4-5 minutes). Combine flour, salt, oil, citrus zest and remaining sugar in an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, gradually add milk mixture, beat for 5 minutes, add eggs and vanilla and beat to combine. Beating continuously, gradually add butter and beat until a soft dough forms (3-4 minutes). Cover and set aside in a warm place until doubled in size (1-1½ hours).
Knock back dough, cover and set aside to rest (10 minutes). Lightly butter a 10-cup capacity Bundt pan.
Turn onto a lightly floured surface, roll into a 30cmx50cm rectangle, then roll into a long cylinder, pinch edge to seal firmly, then bring ends together to form a ring and pinch to seal. Place seam-side down in prepared pan. Cover with greased plastic wrap and set aside in a warm place until nearly doubled in size (30-40 minutes). In the meantime, preheat oven to 180°C/350°F.
Bake the bread for 25-30 minutes or until loaf sounds hollow when tapped. Cool in the pan over a wire rack for 10 minutes, then carefully unmold onto rack. Cool completely.

Lemon glaze: sift the icing sugar into a small bowl and gradually add the lemon juice, stirring until drizzling thick drizzling consistency. Drizzle roscón with glaze, set aside until icing is almost set, then top the glaze with ginger, cherries and almonds and serve.

Serves 8-10

Plum and ginger crumble with flapjack topping

As I’d imagined, my list of favorites wasn’t on the Academy members’ minds, but at least Ang Lee took home the Best Director award and that was great – the moment his name was announced I jumped on the bed so hard I ended up waking up my husband. :D

I have tremendous respect for Lee who, to me, is one of the best directors out there: not only is the man super talented but also very versatile – how many directors actually deserve both adjectives? Too bad, once again, his movie did not get the Best Picture award, but just as to me “Brokeback Mountain” was the best movie back in 2005 “Life of Pi” was the best in 2012.

And, speaking of best this and best that, this crumble comes from one of the best cookbooks I own, and certainly one of the most beautiful as well: the flapjack topping - and by flapjack I mean the cereal bar and not pancakes, as the fantastic Jeremy Irons explains to Martha - is so good I’ll try this recipe with apples once fall arrives.

Plum and ginger crumble with flapjack topping
slightly adapted from the wonderful Good Things to Eat (mine was bought here)

250g small plums, halved, stones removed
1 teaspoon finely chopped crystallized ginger
1 tablespoon water
pinch ground cinnamon
50g + 1 tablespoon unsalted butter, divided use
¼ cup (50g) + 1 tablespoon granulated sugar, divided use
1/3 cup (30g) rolled oats
1/3 cup (46g) self-raising flour*
½ tablespoon golden syrup
1 ½ tablespoons heavy cream – I used sour cream I had left from another recipe

Preheat the oven to 200°C/400°F. Have ready a shallow 500ml-capacity ovenproof baking dish.
Put the plums in a small saucepan with the ginger, water, cinnamon and 1 tablespoon of the butter. Cook over medium heat for a few minutes, until the plums have started to soften. Transfer the mixture to the ovenproof dish and sprinkle with 1 tablespoon of the sugar.
In a small bowl, mix together the oats, the remaining sugar and the flour. Melt the remaining butter in a saucepan, remove from the heat then add the golden syrup and cream and mix well. Pour over the oat mixture and stir together. Spoon on top of the fruit, level out in a thin even layer about 1cm (½in) thick – try not to make it any thicker, or it may not cook through. Put the baking dish on a baking sheet and bake for about 30 minutes or until fruit is bubbly and topping until is set and golden brown.
Cool for 10 minutes then serve with cream or vanilla ice cream.

* I replaced the self-raising flour for 1/3 cup (46g) all purpose flour + ¼ teaspoon baking powder + pinch of salt

Serves 2 or 1 very greedy and hungry person :)

Ginger plum muffins

Quite a while ago I made some peach muffins spiked with ginger and they turned out absolutely delicious; now I've learned that ginger goes really well with plums, too, again in muffin form (but please don't ask me to pick a favorite). ;)

Ginger plum muffins
slightly adapted from the delicious Tate's Bake Shop: Baking For Friends

150ml whole milk
6 tablespoons (85g) unsalted butter, melted
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
finely grated zest of ½ lemon
1 ½ cups (210g) all purpose flour
1/3 cup + ½ tablespoon (65g) light brown sugar, packed
½ tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon ground ginger
¼ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
1 cup diced plums (about 4 small)
2 tablespoons finely chopped crystallized ginger

Preheat the oven to 200°C/400°. Generously butter 8 cavities of a 12-hole muffin pan – 1/3 cup (80ml) capacity each.
In a small bowl whisk together the milk, melted butter, egg, vanilla and lemon zest.
In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, brown sugar, baking powder, ground ginger, baking soda and salt. Make a well in the center and add the liquids. Stir with a just until combined; do not overmix. Fold in the plums and crystallized ginger. Divide the batter among the prepared muffins pans. Fill the empty cavities halfway up with water.
Bake for about 15 minutes or until the muffins are golden brown and a cake tester comes out clean.
Cool in the pan on wire rack for 5-7 minutes; carefully remove muffins from pan to wire rack and cool completely.

Makes 8

White chocolate, honey and almond panforte

Back in my college days, I had a classmate that was ten years older than me (I was 16 then) and we used to disagree about music preferences: she loved Brazilian music while I preferred American and British rock bands. She used to tell me that when I got older I would begin enjoying the kind of music she did back then. Well, eighteen years have passed and nothing has changed: I still don’t listen to MPB and American and British bands are still favorites (with a pinch of French and Canadian bands here and there). :)
I might not have changed my music preferences, but all those years have brought me something I lacked in the past: patience – in my case that virtue is very much liked to getting older. I am sure that if I had baked this panforte years ago I would have thrown the whole thing in the garbage the minute I unmolded it and saw that the baking paper had stuck on the bottom of the candy – but now at 34 I serenely removed it, little by little, with a sharp knife and tons of patience.

White chocolate, honey and almond panforte
slightly adapted from the always wonderful Delicious - Australia

300g white chocolate, chopped
¾ cup honey
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/3 cups (185g) all purpose flour, sifted
¼ cup crystallized ginger, finely chopped
¼ cup dried apricots, finely chopped
¼ cup finely chopped candied orange peel
½ teaspoon ground ginger
¼ teaspoon ground allspice
¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
pinch of salt
pinch of freshly ground black pepper
200g whole almonds, toasted and cooled
Icing sugar, to dust

Preheat the oven to 160°C/325°F. Line a 22cm (9in) springform cake pan with baking paper*.
Place chocolate, honey and vanilla in a heatproof bowl set over a saucepan of simmering water (don't let the bowl touch the water), stirring until melted and smooth. Set aside.
Combine flour, crystallized ginger, apricots, orange peel, spices, salt, black pepper and almonds in a bowl. Stir in melted chocolate mixture until combined.
Pour into the cake pan and press down with the back of a spoon. Bake for 50-60 minutes until golden but soft to touch (cover loosely with foil if it is browning too quickly). Cool in pan, then turn out and dust with icing sugar, slice and serve.

* I used a regular 22cm baking pan, buttered, bottom lined with a circle of baking paper buttered as well. It was easy to remove the panforte from the pan, but the problem is that the paper got stuck on the sweet! I had to remove it with a sharp knife and it was a pain in the neck to do it (and it took me half an hour). I haven’t tested it yet but I believe foil would be a better alternative (buttered as well)

Serves 12-14

Apple, pecan and gingerbread loaf + "Top Chef"

There are shows and series I adore but never have the time to watch; “Top Chef” is one of them – I watched the first season back in the day but then never got to watch the following seasons, therefore it’s been wonderful to watch the reruns at Sony for the past months.

* spoilers – seasons 1 through 7 *

Apart from Howard, which I thought truly deserved winning “Top Chef”, I did not like all the other winners, up to season 7; by the end of each season I would promise myself not to watch the following season, but I guess that some TV shows are like bad habits we can’t quit. :)
For some reason Sony went from season 5 to 7, so I can’t comment on Voltaggio, but watching the season 7 finale a couple of days ago made me dislike Ilan even more (I was team Sam) while at the same time Hung grew on me – to watch him work like a horse to help someone else was really cool.
And you? Do you think the “Top Chef” wins have been fair? I’d love to hear your thoughts about it.

* end of spoilers *

Like pears apples are at their best now, in the fall, therefore this delicious gingerbread loaf could not wait until the end of the year to be part of my Christmas series; the loaf was easy to make and tasted even better two days later.

Apple, pecan and gingerbread loaf
from the absolutely beautiful Delicious - Australia

2/3 cup (150g) unsalted butter
150g soft dark brown sugar
½ cup minus 1 tablespoon (150g) golden syrup – I used corn syrup
200ml whole milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 ¾ cups + ½ tablespoon (250g) all purpose flour
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
pinch of salt
2 large eggs
2/3 cup (75g) pecans, roughly chopped
1 ½ tablespoons finely chopped crystallized ginger
2 Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored and chopped into 1cm (½in) pieces

Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F. Butter a 1.5l loaf pan*, line with baking paper and butter the paper as well.
In a small saucepan over medium-low heat combine the butter, sugar, and syrup and stir until melted. Stir through the milk and vanilla and allow to cool.
Sift the flour, cinnamon, ground ginger, baking powder and salt into a large bowl, make a well in the center and pour in the cooled milk mixture. Mix until smooth, then fold in the eggs, pecans, crystallized ginger and apple.
Pour batter into the prepared pan and bake for 40-50 minutes or until golden and a skewer inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean. Cool in the pan over a wire rack for 5 minutes, then carefully unmold and transfer to the rack to cool completely (peel off the paper after the cake has cooled, because it’s too soft while warm).

* I made the exact recipe above but there was too much batter for the 1.5l pan; I ended up baking the excess batter in a 4-cup capacity loaf pan

Serves 10-12

Ginger and molasses cake + Christian Bale (again)

I know that by telling you again how much I adore Christian Bale I might sound like a broken record, but what can I do? Not only is he an amazing and versatile actor – one of my top favorites – he’s also been making headlines these past few days for all the right reasons – how can one not love the guy? :)
“The Dark Knight Rises” opens tomorrow here in Brazil and my tickets were bought a long, long time ago; anxiety has been building up and I cannot wait to watch the movie.

***
This incredibly tender cake, deliciously perfumed with ground ginger and dotted with little nuggets of crystallized ginger has become a favorite: it has a wintry feel (perfect for July), can feed a crowd and besides being easy to make it is prepared in one saucepan (less washing up). ;)

Ginger and molasses cake
slightly adapted from the always fabulous Donna Hay Magazine

2 1/3 cups + 1 tablespoon (335g) all purpose flour
1 tablespoon ground ginger
pinch of salt
2/3 cup (150g) unsalted butter, chopped
2/3 cup golden syrup (I used corn syrup)
2/3 cup molasses
2/3 cup (116g) dark brown sugar, packed
1/3 cup chopped crystallized ginger
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 tablespoon hot water
1 cup (240ml) buttermilk*
2 eggs
icing sugar, for dusting

Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F. Butter a 20x30cm (8x12in) baking pan.
In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, ground ginger and salt.
Place the butter, golden syrup, molasses, brown sugar and crystallized ginger in a large saucepan and cook over low heat, stirring, until butter is melted and mixture is smooth. Remove from the heat.
In a teacup, combine the baking soda and the water and add to the saucepan, stirring to combine. Add the buttermilk and eggs and mix to combine. Add the sifted ingredients and stir until smooth. Pour into the prepared pan and bake for 45-50 minutes or until risen and golden and skewer inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean. Cool completely, then dust with icing sugar to serve.

* 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 slightly, then use the whole mixture in your recipe

Serves 12-15

Gingered pear and raspberry pandowdy

Despite loving their first film collaboration, I’m not a fan of Burton or Depp (both together and separate). Burton’s just not the kind of director I admire, and I find Depp very limited as an actor – playing the weird doesn’t necessarily mean one is talented. To make things even worse, they butchered one of the most important movies of my childhood. Having said that, you must know that I loved "Dark Shadows" – I laughed so much I felt renovated after leaving the theater. I do not know if that was because after the awful “Alice in Wonderland” I had no expectations about Burton’s new movie but I thought the script was very witty and funny and that Depp was absolutely fantastic as Barnabas – his performance goes far beyond all that make up and one can tell he’s having a lot of fun playing the vampire. Eva Green, whom I would never have imagined had such great comedy timing, is magnificent, too. The only thing I did not like much in “Dark Shadows” was Chloe Moretz – she’s only 15 and tried too hard to be a femme fatale, all those languid looks and cascading hair and the pouting... Not good. Yet, the movie is worth watching – laughing that much on a Monday was certainly a good way to start off the week. :D

***
Crumbles are my favorite dessert and because of that all the variations of warm desserts involving fruit get my instant attention: after the apple pandowdy, it was about time I tried a different spin on that delicious dessert – the pears and raspberries were wonderful together and the biscuit topping, with lovely ginger kicks here and there, complimented the fruit beautifully.

Gingered pear and raspberry pandowdy
from the fabulous Rustic Fruit Desserts: Crumbles, Buckles, Cobblers, Pandowdies, and More

Fruit filling:
½ cup (100g) granulated sugar
2 tablespoons + 1 teaspoon cornstarch
pinch of salt
4 large pears, peeled, cored, and sliced (1kg/2 pounds prepped)
1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
250g (2 cups/ 9oz) raspberries, fresh or frozen – I used frozen, unthawed
1 tablespoon cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

Biscuit topping:
1 ¾ cups (245g) all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons granulated sugar + 1 tablespoon extra, for sprinkling
¾ teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
10 tablespoons (140g/5oz) cold unsalted butter, cut into small cubes
1/3 cup chopped candied ginger
2/3 cup (160ml) cold buttermilk + 1 tablespoon extra, for brushing*

Position a rack in the lower third of the oven and preheat the oven to 200°C/400°F. Butter a 22cm (9in) cast-iron skillet or deep-dish pie pan.
Make the filling: rub the sugar, cornstarch, and salt together in a large bowl, then add the pears and lemon juice and toss until evenly coated. Gently fold in the raspberries, then transfer the fruit to the prepared pan. Dot the fruit with the butter.

Biscuit: whisk the flour, 3 tablespoons of the sugar, the baking powder, and salt together in a bowl.
Add the butter and toss until evenly coated. Using your fingertips or a pastry blender, cut in the butter until the size of large peas. Stir in the candied ginger, then pour in the 2⁄3 cup buttermilk and stir just until the dry ingredients are moistened (my dough was too soft, so I added 1 tablespoon flour).
The dough will be crumbly, with large pieces of butter still visible. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface and gently press the dough together, then press it into a 22cm (9in) circle.
Carefully place the dough atop the fruit. Brush the dough with the 1 tablespoon buttermilk, then sprinkle with the remaining 1 tablespoon sugar.
Bake in the lower third of the oven for 30 minutes, then turn the oven down to 180°C/350°F and bake for an additional 20 minutes or until the pastry is golden and the juices are bubbly and thick.
Allow to cool for 30 minutes before serving.

* 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 slightly, then use the whole mixture in your recipe

Serves 8

Gingerbread chocolate madeleines

My last holiday post almost turned out like a big FAIL: after baking these delicious and oh, so tender madeleines I decided to deep them on a chocolate glaze I’d seen in one of my cookbooks. But the problem was that the glaze never set. Not ever. So I recommend dipping them in tempered chocolate to avoid that problem (just so you know it, the madeleines are great without the chocolate coating, too).
There was one good thing about the whole story, though: I adapted the madeleine recipe from my newest cookbook love. :D

Happy Holidays!

Gingerbread chocolate madeleines
adapted from Short and Sweet - mine was bought here

Madeleines:
2 large eggs
1/3 cup + ½ tablespoon (73g) granulated sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/3 cup (75g) unsalted butter, melted and still warm
¾ cup (105g) all purpose flour
½ teaspoon baking soda
pinch of salt
1 teaspoon ground ginger
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
¼ teaspoon ground cloves
1 ½ tablespoons finely chopped crystallized ginger

Chocolate coating:
75g dark chocolate, melted and tempered

Preheat the oven to 200°C/400°F. Butter thirty 1-tablespoon capacity madeleine molds.
Place the eggs and sugar in the large bowl of an electric mixer and whisk for 3-4 minutes or until thick and doubled in volume. Add the vanilla.
Sift the flour, baking soda, salt, ground ginger, cinnamon and cloves into the bowl and gently fold into the egg mixture. Gently fold in the butter and crystallized ginger. Spoon the batter into the molds until they’re ¾ full. Bake for about 10 minutes or until risen and lightly golden. Remove from the oven and unmold the madeleines onto a wire rack to cool completely.
Deep them in chocolate if desired.
Keep the madeleines in an airtight container to keep them from drying out.

Makes 30

Chocolate ginger crinkle cookies and movies I cannot wait to watch

In my world, there is no such thing as too many cookies, especially at this time of the year – therefore, my baking spree included these crinkle cookies (along with the almond spice wafers).

On a different note, have you seen this poster? Absolutely amazing – I have the feeling that a masterpiece is coming (as if I did not have enough to long for already). :)

Chocolate ginger crinkle cookies
from the gorgeous and delicious Gingerbread

¾ cup (105g) all purpose flour
¼ cup (23g) Dutch process cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
1 ½ teaspoons ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ cup (1 stick/113g) unsalted butter, room temperature
210g (7 ½ oz) dark chocolate, chopped, use divided
¾ cup (150g) granulated sugar
¼ cup (44g) dark brown sugar, packed
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
¼ cup (35g) finely chopped crystallized ginger
confectioners’ sugar, sifted, for rolling the cookies

Whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, salt, ground ginger and cinnamon in a medium bowl. Set aside.
In a large heatproof bowl, combine the butter and 85g (3oz) of the chocolate. Set over a saucepan filled with barely simmering water and stir until melted and smooth. Remove the bowl from the water bath and set aside to cool slightly, about 10 minutes.
Add the granulated and brown sugars into the chocolate mixture and stir. Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing to combine. Stir in the vanilla extract and gradually incorporate the flour mixture. Fold in the remaining chocolate and the crystallized ginger. Cover the dough with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 2 hours or overnight.
Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F. Line two large baking sheets with baking paper.
Shape 1 leveled tablespoon portions of dough into balls and roll very generously in the confectioners’ sugar. Place onto one of the prepared sheets, 5cm (2in) apart – you’ll bake one sheet at a time; keep the remaining dough in the refrigerator – if the dough is not firm enough the cookies will spread too much in the oven. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until cookies have spread, the tops are cracked and the dough looks matte.
Cool completely on the baking sheets over a wire rack. Store the cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 4 days.

Makes about 50 cookies