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

Almond and apricot slice-and-bake cookies

Learning new things is something that I deeply love, no matter how simple they are, and I’ve told you already that having this blog has taught me a lot all these years: I’ve learned how to make great brownies, American pancakes, chocolate chip cookies… And that is just the food part.

There’s something else I’ve learned by having the blog: slice and bake cookies – having a cylinder of dough in the freezer that can be transformed in cookies whenever I want was a revelation to me, I couldn’t believe how easy that was. Since then I’ve been making these cookies quite regularly for they are both delicious and a great time saver (like the chocolate sablés I posted the other day).

These almond and apricot cookies are tasty and have a wonderful texture, it’s like they melt in the mouth – feel free to replace the apricots with other types of dried fruit to create your own flavor.

Almond and apricot slice-and-bake cookies
slightly adapted from Smitten Kitchen

1 cup (226g/2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
2/3 cup (93g) confectioners’ sugar, sifted
2 large egg yolks
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
260g all-purpose flour
60g almond meal
pinch of salt
½ cup (60g) chopped dried apricots

Using an electric mixer, beat butter and confectioners’ sugar until light and creamy. Beat in the egg yolks, one at a time. Scrape the sides of the bowl. Beat in the vanilla. On low speed, beat in the flour, almond meal and salt just until combined. Stir in the apricots. Cover and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Divide the dough into two equal parts. Place each on a piece of parchment paper; shape dough into logs. Fold parchment over dough; using a ruler, roll and press into a 3.5 cm (1.4in) log – like Martha does here. Wrap in parchment. Chill in the fridge until very firm, 2-3 hours (the dough logs can be kept in the fridge for up to 3 days or stored in the freezer for up to 1 month.)

Preheat oven to 180°C/350°F; line two large baking sheets with baking paper - I like Beyond Gourmet a lot.
Unwrap one log at a time (keep the other in the freezer). Cut log into 6mm (¼in) thick rounds; space 2.5cm (1in) apart onto prepared sheets. Bake until golden brown around the edges, 12-14 minutes. Cool completely on the sheets.

Packed airtight, the cookies will keep for about 5 days at room temperature or in the freezer for a month.

Makes about 50 cookies

Coconut and apricot bars to shake off the sadness

My sister and I take turns choosing the movies we watch together at the theater, and last Saturday it was her turn to pick it: I wanted Robocop, but she went with The Book Thief.

I haven’t read the book, therefore can’t verify if the movie is faithful to it, but in general I liked the story and I’ll watch anything with Emily Watson and Geoffrey Rush, actually. However, the movie made me feel really sad at the end – movies about the Nazism are never easy to watch, but I’d seen more graphic ones on the subject, and up to now I haven't been able to figure out why Liesel’s story had stuck in my head like that.

I went home thinking about it and tried to shake it off by spending some time on the treadmill, with no success. Then I decided to bake something, something sweet, and all that sugar and coconut and apricots took my mind off the sadness for a while – by the time I removed the cake pan from the oven I was feeling a little lighter already, and then I had something tasty to munch on while I watched another episode of House of Cards – the Underwoods make me so nervous I could have chewed all my nails off.

Coconut and apricot bars
slightly adapted from a Bill Granger recipe published by The Independent

Crust:
120g unsalted butter, melted
120g granulated sugar
50g sweetened flaked coconut
150g all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
pinch of salt
1 egg, lightly beaten
180g ready to eat dried apricots, chopped

Topping:
150g sweetened flaked coconut
50g granulated sugar
1 egg, lightly beaten
pinch of salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 tablespoons apricot jam

Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F. Lightly butter a 20cm (8in) square cake pan, line it with foil leaving an overhang on two opposite sides and butter the foil as well.
Crust: in a large bowl, mix the melted butter, sugar, coconut, flour, baking powder, salt and egg. Spoon into the pan and spread the mixture out into an even layer. Dot the chopped apricots over the top. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until slightly golden around the edges.
Make the topping: in a medium bowl, mix the coconut, sugar, egg, salt and vanilla until combined. Remove the pan from the oven, spread over the jam and use 2 spoons to spread out the coconut mixture in a rough, even layer.
Return to the oven and cook for a further 20-30 minutes or until top is golden. Cool completely in the pan, then cut into bars to serve.

Makes 16

Zesty oaty cookies + the book I have finished reading

It took me a while to start reading "Gone Girl" but when I did I found it impossible to put the book down: I’d be reading it every chance I got, even if it was for five minutes while waiting for the elevator. I got seriously hooked on Gillian Flynn’s story and how well written it is. While reading the book I kept thinking of how perfect Rosamund Pike is for playing Amy and how wrong Ben Affleck is for the movie – I might have liked “Argo” a lot, but I don’t think he can pull the part of Nick Dunne off – or Bruce Wayne, for that matter. :S

If you, like me, are diehard fans of the amazing Millennium trilogy and are looking for a book that will keep you up till 3 in the morning go ahead and give “Gone Girl” a try. And if you like baking like I do and not a weekend goes by without you making a cake take a look at Amber Rose’s beautiful book – I have tried several recipes from her and the results were always a hit, like these soft oaty cookies, packed with citrus zest and spices – I take them as a more delicious and healthier version of granola bars.

Zesty oaty cookies
slightly adapted from the absolutely gorgeous Love, Bake, Nourish (I bought mine here)

220g unsalted butter, softened
1 large egg
90g all purpose flour
150g honey
70g demerara sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon ground ginger
¼ teaspoon ground cardamom
finely grated zest of 1 lemon
finely grated zest of 1 orange
70g golden raisins
80g dried apricots, finely chopped
pinch of salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
140g rolled oats

In the large bowl of an electric mixer, cream the butter for about 2 minutes. Beat in the egg, then scrape the side of the bowl. If the mixture looks curdled, beat in 1-2 tablespoons of the flour, then beat until mixture is light and fluffy. Gently fold in the rest of the flour along with all the other ingredients – do not overmix; the dough will be soft. Cover and refrigerate for 2 hours.
Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F. Line two large baking sheets with baking paper.
Roll 2 leveled tablespoons of dough per cookie into balls and place 5cm apart onto prepared baking sheets. Press each ball slightly with the back of a fork. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until golden around the edges. Cool completely on the sheets over a wire rack.

Makes about 25

Apricot cream cheese babka + an unforgettable movie

A couple of days ago I could finally watch “Bullhead” – I spent months looking for the DVD with no success but luckily for me it was on cable last Saturday. It’s that kind of movie that stays with you for days, or even weeks after you watched it, and the main reason is Matthias Schoenaerts’ absolutely powerful and flawless performance – the physical transformation he went through to play Jacky is pretty impressive, but there’s so much more than that in that role, and I find it such a pleasure and a privilege to watch an actor immersed in a character like that; to tell you more would be to spoil the film, so I’ll stop at saying that it’s a great thing that there are actors still willing to go the extra mile to create performances like Schoenaerts’, and that makes me want to watch “Rust and Bone” even more – actually, I want to see more from both him and Michaël R. Roskam, and what a lovely surprise it was for me to read that they’ll be working together again, with Tom Hardy, Noomi Rapace and James Gandolfini to boot. \0/

I also want to bake more from this lovely cookbook, which is full of gorgeous photos and tasty recipes – if everything else turns out as beautiful and delicious as this babka, I'm a lucky person!
Don’t be put off by the different steps in this recipe – each one of them is really simple to make and the final result is worth every second of preparation. But if I still can’t convince you to try the babka I beg of you to make at least the apricot filling – it is fantastic and would turn your morning toast into something a lot more interesting. :)

Apricot cream cheese babka
slightly adapted from the delicious Standard Baking Co. Pastries

Dough:
1 ¾ cups + 2 tablespoons (265g) all purpose flour
2 tablespoons + 1 teaspoon granulated sugar
pinch of salt
1 teaspoon dried yeast
1 egg, room temperature
1/3 cup (80ml) whole milk, lukewarm
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons (28g/1oz) unsalted butter, softened

Apricot filling:
½ cup (120ml) freshly squeezed orange juice
1/3 cup (80ml) freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 ½ cups dried apricots
2 tablespoons granulated sugar

Cream cheese filling:
225g (8oz) cream cheese, room temperature
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
pinch of salt

Streusel:
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 ½ tablespoons light brown sugar, packed
pinch of salt
¾ cup (105g) all purpose flour
3 ½ tablespoons (50g) unsalted butter, melted and cooled

Egg wash:
1 egg
pinch of salt

Dough: place the flour, sugar, salt and yeast in the large bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the dough hook. Stir to combine. Add the egg, milk, vanilla and butter and mix on medium speed until a smooth dough forms, about 5 minutes. Form into a ball and place into a lightly buttered large bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and place in a warm area for 1 hour or until doubled in volume (it was a cold day and my dough needed 1 ½ hours). While the dough rests, make both fillings and the streusel.
For the apricot filling, combine the orange juice, lemon juice, apricots and sugar in a small saucepan and simmer over medium-low heat for 10-15 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the apricots soften and the liquid is reduced by half. Remove it from the heat and cool completely. Transfer the mixture to a food processor and process until a purée forms. Set aside at room temperature.
Cream cheese filling: in a medium bowl, combine the cream cheese and sugar and beat with a wooden spoon until smooth. Add the vanilla and salt and stir to combine. Set aside at room temperature.
Streusel: in a medium bowl, whisk together the granulated sugar, brown sugar, salt and flour. Add the butter and mix with a rubber spatula until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Refrigerate.
Assembling the babka: lightly butter a 9x5in loaf pan.
Working on a lightly floured surface, roll the dough out onto a 25x60cm (10x24in) rectangle, with the long edge facing you. Spread the apricot filling evenly over the dough leaving a 1cm (1/2 in) border. Spread the cream cheese filling over the apricot filling. Starting with the bottom edge, roll the dough into the middle of the rectangle and do the same with the top edge so that the two rolls meet in the center. Visualize the long cylinder divided into three equal lengths. Fold the left third over onto the middle third. Then fold the right third over the middle third. Pick up the dough and turn it over so the seam is on the bottom. Then, holding each end, gently twist it in the middle and place it in the prepared pan. Place the egg and the salt for the egg wash in small bowl and lightly whisk it with a fork. Brush it over the babka, cover with plastic wrap and leave it to rise for 1 ½ to 2 hours in a warm place – it is ready to be baked when the dough holds a dimple when pressed lightly with a finger. Place the remaining egg wash in the fridge.
Preheat the oven to 190°C/375°F. Brush the babka once again with the egg wash and spread the streusel evenly on top, pressing lightly with your hands so the crumbs adhere to the babka. Bake for about 50 minutes or until deep golden brown. Let cool in the pan over a wire rack for about 25 minutes then carefully unmold onto the rack to cool completely – carefully because some of the crumbs will fall out of the babka while you unmold it.

Serves 6-8

Colomba Pasquale

My husband is not into sweets – I guess that the Universe knows better, right? :) – but he likes certain baked goods, like panettone and Colomba Pasquale. However, the store-bought versions are so heavily scented with artificial essences that he no longer eats them – he says those baked goods are not what they used to be when he was younger anymore and that all those artificial ingredients disagree with his stomach. Therefore, he was very excited about my homemade Colomba, and after having a slice of the freshly baked bread he said that not only it tasted delicious – like “the real deal” – he felt absolutely fine after eating it.

The picky-eater hubby enjoying my Colomba Pasquale really made my weekend, and reading that the production on season 2 of “House of Cards” is expected to start this month was the icing on the cake. \0/

Colomba Pasquale
slightly adapted from the always delicious and beautiful Australian Gourmet Traveller

Starter:
¾ cup + ½ tablespoon (110g) all purpose flour
⅛ teaspoon dried yeast
90ml water, room temperature

Colomba:
1 ½ cups + 1 ½ tablespoons (225g) all purpose flour
¼ cup + 1 tablespoon (62g) granulated sugar
3 tablespoons (42g) unsalted butter, softened
2 large eggs, whole
1 large egg, yolk and white separated
2 teaspoons dried yeast
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
finely grated zest of 1 orange
½ cup (75g) golden raisins
1/3 cup (35g) dried cranberries
75g dried apricots, finely diced
60g finely chopped candied orange peel

Topping:
1/3 cup (66g) demerara sugar
1/3 cup (33g) almond meal
30g flaked almonds

For starter, stir ingredients in a bowl until smooth, cover with plastic wrap and stand at room temperature for 12 hours.
Transfer starter to an electric mixer fitted with a dough hook, add flour, granulated sugar, butter, the whole eggs, the yolk, yeast, vanilla and orange zest and mix on medium speed until dough is smooth and shiny and starts to leave sides of bowl (about 8 minutes). Add dried fruit and candied peel, mix to combine, then cover and stand until doubled in size (1-2 hours).
Knock down dough and divide into two pieces, one slightly larger than the other. Shape the larger piece into a 30cm-(12in) long cylinder, tapering slightly at one end, and place on a large baking sheet lined with foil. Form remaining piece into a 20cm-(8in) long cylinder and lay across the larger cylinder, about one-third of the way down from the tapered end. Cover with a tea towel and stand until slightly risen (35-40 minutes). In the meantime, preheat oven to 190°C/375°F.
Topping: combine demerara sugar, almond meal, almonds and egg white in a bowl, scatter over dough, bake for 15 minutes, reduce oven to 160°C/320°F and bake until golden and cooked through, 15-20 minutes (cover with foil if colomba gets too brown). Serve warm or at room temperature.

Serves 10

Fruit-and-nut cookies

The first time I saw a date I thought it looked... weird. That encounter happened when I was old enough to know better than to judge food by its looks, so I decided to try it anyway and it was delicious - it is an ingredient I don't use very often, but definitely should.

I had some dates left from making the lebkuchen and did not know what to make with them - Martha came to my rescue with these cookies, which combine other ingredients I love: pistachios, dried apricots and coconut. Irresistible and easy to make.

Fruit-and-nut cookies
slightly adapted from the delicious and foolproof Martha Stewart's Cookies

2 ¼ cups (315g) all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon table salt
1 cup (226g/2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup (175g) packed light-brown sugar
½ cup (100g) granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 ½ cups (150g) sweetened shredded coconut
1 ½ cups chopped dried apricots
1 ½ cups chopped dates
1 ½ cups (195g) pistachios, whole and unsalted

Preheat oven to 180°C/350°F. Line two large baking sheets with baking paper.
Whisk together flour, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment; cream butter and sugars until creamy and light and color. Mix in eggs, one at a time, until combined; mix in vanilla.
Reduce mixer speed to low. Add flour mixture and mix until just combined. Stir in coconut, apricots, dates and pistachios.
Drop batter, 2 heaping tablespoons at a time, onto prepared sheets, spacing 5cm (2in) apart. Flatten slightly. Bake until golden brown around the edges, 12-15 minutes. Remove from oven; transfer cookies on baking paper to a wire rack to cool completely.

Cookies can be stored in airtight containers at room temperature up to 3 days.

Makes about 3 dozen – I halved the recipe above, used 2 leveled tablespoons of dough per cookie and got 26

Maple-iced fruity Advent bread

Trying the lime and coconut flavor combo both in cookie and cake form was not the end of my testing around: the apricot, cranberry and golden raisin trio worked out so beautifully in oatmeal cookie form that I thought it would be wonderful to use it again, this time in a yeasted treat: this delicious bread, with a hint of cardamom, comes from one of the best cookbooks I’ve ever bought – and let’s just say that means a lot! – and my husband, after trying a slice of bread, could not believe how tender it was – I did not keep track but I’m pretty sure he said that more than five times. :D

Maple-iced fruity Advent bread
slightly adapted from the beautiful, beautiful Scandilicious Baking

Bread:
1 cup (240ml) whole milk
1/3 cup (75g) unsalted butter
2 cups + 2 tablespoons (300g) all purpose flour
¾ cup + 2 tablespoons (125g) whole wheat flour
1/3 cup + ½ tablespoon (72g) granulated sugar
1 teaspoon freshly ground cardamom
¼ teaspoon table salt
2 ¾ teaspoons dried yeast
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
¼ cup (60ml) Marsala wine
150g mixed dried fruit (I used 50g each of golden raisins, chopped apricots and dried cranberries)
1 egg, beaten with a fork, to glaze

Icing:
½ cup (70g) icing sugar
1 tablespoon maple syrup

Bread: scald the milk by heating it in a small pan with the butter until it is almost boiling and then leave to cool while you assemble the other ingredients. Scalding the milk makes the finished bread softer.
Place the flours, sugar, cardamom, salt and yeast in the large bowl of an electric mixer (place salt in one side of the bowl and yeast in another, so they’re not close). Add the egg and vanilla, then the warm milk mixture (make sure it’s not hot) and, using the dough hook, mix on medium speed until a soft and sticky dough forms. Mix for 5-6 minutes or until elastic. Transfer to a lightly buttered large bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Leave to rise in a warm place for 45-60 minutes or so until doubled in size and springy to the touch.
While the dough is rising, pour the Marsala over the dried fruit in a small bowl. Leave to soak for 30-40 minutes, turning the fruit occasionally so they’re all soaked in the wine. Drain the fruit right before adding it to the dough, discarding the wine.
Transfer the dough to a lightly floured surface, than add the fruit and knead a couple of times to incorporate and evenly distribute. Divide dough in half and shape each half into a rough loaf shape. Place them about 10cm (4in) apart onto a large baking sheet lined with foiled. Cover with a clean kitchen towel and leave to prove in a warm place for a further 45-60 minutes of so, until the dough no longer springs back: you can test it by gently poking it with your little finger – the indentation should stay put – in the meantime, preheat the oven to 200°C/400°F. Brush the loaves with the beaten egg, then bake for 30-35 minutes until the loaves are golden brown and sound hollow when tapped on the base. Cool on the sheet for about 20 minutes, then carefully peel off the foil and transfer to a wire rack. Cool completely.
When the bread is cool, sift the icing sugar into a small bowl and whisk in the maple syrup until thick but still drizzable – add water if necessary. Drizzle over the cooled loaves and set aside for 15 minutes to dry.

Makes 2 loaves

Cranberry apricot oatmeal cookies and a question

I do love cookies – and you know that – and oatmeal cookies are really favorites of mine: besides being delicious there’s a whole “I’m eating something healthy” vibe behind them. :D
These, from one of my latest cookbook acquisitions (a very good one, by the way), have a touch of spices (yum) and three kinds of dried fruit (yum, yum): the cinnamon, ginger and cloves turn them into an even tastier kind of oatmeal cookie and the addition of cranberries, apricots and raisins is a good way to use up the dried fruit left from the holidays.

On a different note: have you watched “Cosmopolis”? I’ve started watching it last night but gave up after 30 minutes of the movie: as much as I love Cronenberg (he’s one of my favorite directors) watching Robert Pattinson act like a robot is oh, so tedious. Do you think I should go on and watch it till the end or should I spare one hour of my life and ignore it completely? :S

Cranberry apricot oatmeal cookies
slightly adapted from the beautiful The Dahlia Bakery Cookbook: Sweetness in Seattle

145g all purpose flour
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon ground ginger
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
1/8 teaspoon table salt
130g rolled oats
125g unsalted butter, room temperature
150g light brown sugar
85g granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 large egg
85g diced dried apricots
45g golden raisins
45g dried cranberries

Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F; line two large baking sheets with baking paper.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, cloves and salt. Stir in the oats.
In the large bowl of an electric mixer, beat butter, sugars and vanilla until light and creamy. Add the egg and mix to combine. Scrape the sides of the bowl occasionally. In low speed, add the dry ingredients in 3 additions, mixing just until incorporated. Mix in the apricots, raisins and cranberries.
Roll 2 leveled tablespoons of dough per cookie into a ball and place onto prepared sheets 5cm (2in) apart. Bake for about 15 minutes or until golden around the edges. Cool in the sheets over a wire rack for 10 minutes, then carefully transfer to the rack to cool completely.

Makes about 2 dozen

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

Oatmeal biscotti

And the biscotti saga continues: these, packed with oats, pecans and apricots have a healthy feel and taste delicious. A couple more great things: they last a month (not that I think they will, but...), travel well and are wonderful as snacks between meals, but... As much as I hate to admit it, I think it will be really hard to find one biscotti recipe that can top the caramelized-pecan orange ones. Well, I don’t mind keeping on testing new recipes to find that out. :D

Oatmeal biscotti
from the amazing The Craft of Baking: Cakes, Cookies, and Other Sweets with Ideas for Inventing Your Own

1 cup (115g) old-fashioned rolled oats
1 ¾ cups (245g) all purpose flour
¾ cup (131g) light brown sugar, packed
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
¼ teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
¼ cup (60ml) dark molasses
2 tablespoons canola oil
¾ teaspoon vanilla extract
¾ cup (82g) pecans, lightly toasted, cooled and roughly chopped
¾ cup dried apricots, chopped

Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F. Line a large baking sheet with baking paper.
Place ½ cup of the oats in a food processor and process until finely ground. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment whisk together the oat flour, remaining ½ cup oats, all purpose flour, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt.
In a separate bowl, whisk together the eggs, molasses, oil and vanilla. With the mixer on low speed slowly add the egg mixture to the dry ingredients, scraping down the sides of the bowl as necessary. Mix until combined. Mix in the pecans and apricots – dough will be stiff.
Turn out the dough onto a lightly floured surface and divide it in half. Shape each portion into a 40x5cm (16x2in) log and transfer them to the prepared baking sheet, 7.5cm (3in) apart. Bake until the logs are golden and firm to touch, about 30 minutes. Transfer the logs, still on the parchment paper, to a wire rack and cool for 10 minutes. Reduce the oven temperature to 150°C/300°F and line two baking sheets with baking paper.
With a serrated knife, slice the logs on the diagonal into 8mm (1/3in) thick slices. Place the biscotti slices onto the prepared sheets 2.5cm (1in) apart and bake until they are dry and firm to touch, about 40 minutes. Cool completely on the sheets over a wire rack.
Biscotti can be kept in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 1 month.

Makes about 3 dozen

White Christmas

Going through the holiday editions of my old DH magazines I found this recipe for White Christmas – it was easy to make and looked really good; the white chocolate, cranberry and strawberry rocky road I made a while ago had already been a hit and these bars, studded with dried apricots and nuts, were equally loved.

White Christmas
slightly adapted from the always gorgeous DH magazine

350g white chocolate, finely chopped
½ teaspoon ground ginger
2/3 cup (100g) whole blanched almonds, toasted and cooled
70g dried apricots, chopped
¾ cup (83g) pecans, toasted, cooled and coarsely chopped

Very lightly butter a square 20cm (8in) baking pan and line it with foil (the butter will keep the foil from sliding around the pan).
Place the chocolate in a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of barely simmering water – do not let the bottom of the bowl touch the water – and cook until chocolate is melted and smooth. Remove from the heat, add the ginger, almonds, apricots and pecans and stir until well combined. Pour mixture into the prepared pan and smooth the top. Set aside until firm, 2-3 hours (the recipe calls for placing the pan in the refrigerator but I chose not to).
Cut into pieces, remove the foil and serve.

Makes 64

Carrot and apricot croquettes and a little white lie

I might be a cookbook junkie but certain cookbooks don’t appeal to me – I would never buy this book, for example. Never. I hate the idea of deceiving kids in order to make them eat veggies and fruit. They should eat good food and be aware of that. They should know what beetroots and carrots and eggplants look and taste like. That’s how my mom fed me as a kid and how I fed my sister when she was little.

But life is full of surprises and I ended up marrying a picky eater. Yes, go ahead and laugh now. :)
Therefore, when he asked me which ingredients there were in these croquettes, I lied. I LIED, people. I did not tell him there were dried apricots in it. No, sir. Just plain carrots and a pinch of herbs. Nothing more.

I probably should feel guilty for lying to him but I do not. He ate several croquettes and said they were delicious. I guess I’ll keep on lying about ingredients – hell, I might even turn it into an Olympic sport. :D

Carrot and apricot croquettes
slightly adapted from the always delicious and beautiful Australian Gourmet Traveller

650g carrots (about 5 medium), peeled and coarsely chopped
90g day-old white breadcrumbs
5 dried apricots, finely diced
2 spring onions, thinly sliced
3 tablespoons flaked almonds
1 garlic clove, crushed
½ cup packed flat-leaf parsley leaves, finely chopped
finely grated zest of 2 lemons
1 egg
salt and freshly ground black pepper
breadcrumbs, extra, for rolling the croquettes
2 tablespoons olive oil, for shallow-frying

Steam carrot in a steamer over a saucepan of boiling water until tender (20-25 minutes). Transfer to a bowl, mash to a smooth purée, add the breadcrumbs, apricots, spring onions, almonds, garlic, parsley, lemon zest, egg, season to taste and mix to form a soft dough, adding more breadcrumbs if dough is too sticky. Roll 1 ½ leveled tablespoons of mixture into cigar shapes then place on a tray lined with baking paper and refrigerate until firm (1-2 hours).
Preheat the oven to 200°C/400°F. Heat olive oil in a deep-sided frying pan over medium-high heat. Roll the croquettes in the breadcrumbs, then cook them in the olive oil, in batches, until golden on the outside. Transfer to a baking sheet and bake for 15-20 minutes or until cooked through.
Serve immediately with lemon wedges.

Makes about 25