Blackberry coconut oat bars

Last Sunday, for the first time since 1997, I watched the entire Academy Awards, from the very first minute until “The Artist” was announced as best movie. Back in 1997 what made me stay up until 2 a.m. was my love for “The English Patient” – I’d become obsessed with the film after reading the book and, to me, Anthony Minghella had done such a brilliant job that I really wanted the film to get as many Oscars as possible. Ralph Fiennes did not take the award home but I wasn’t so disappointed because he lost to the fabulous Geoffrey Rush – it wasn’t something unfair like losing to Tommy Lee Jones. :)

This year, I watched the ceremony wishing with all my heart for Gary Oldman, Rooney Mara (since Tilda did not get a very much deserved nomination) and Scorsese or Malick to take the awards home, but wasn’t disappointed by the way things turned out because I loved “The Artist” and losing to Meryl Streep is an honor – it’s not unfair like losing to Paltrow, Roberts, Witherspoon or Zellweger. :)

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I’m still interested in recipes baked in 13x9in pans, that is why the first recipe I tried from this lovely book was these bars – they are every bit delicious as they are easy to make, and you can get away with the fact that there’s a huge amount of oats in them and call them “healthy”. :)

Blackberry coconut oat bars
slightly adapted from the adorable and delicious One Girl Cookies: Recipes for Cakes, Cupcakes, Whoopie Pies, and Cookies from Brooklyn's Beloved Bakery

¾ cup (75g) sweetened shredded coconut
1 ¼ cups (175g) all purpose flour
¾ cup (131g) light brown sugar, packed
¼ cup (50g) granulated sugar
½ teaspoon table salt
¾ cup (170g) unsalted butter, cold and cut into small pieces
1 ½ cups (172g) old-fashioned rolled oats
½ cup blackberry preserves

Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F. Butter a 32x22cm (13x9in) baking pan* and line it with foil. Butter the foil as well.
Spread the coconut on a baking sheet and toast in the oven for 2-3 minutes. Cool completely (leave the oven on).
In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment combine the flour, brown sugar, granulated sugar and salt. Mix on low speed to combine. Add the butter and mix on low speed until the dough starts to come together. Add the coconut and the oats. Mix on low for 1 minute until the dough has a crumbly texture.
Reserve ¾ cup of the mixture. Transfer the remaining dough to the prepared pan. Using your fingers, press it evenly over the bottom of the baking pan. Bake, rotating the sheet halfway through, for 14 minutes or until the crust is golden around the edges. Let the crust cool for 10 minutes (leave the oven on). Spread the blackberry preserves evenly over the crust, leaving a ½ in border.
Crumble the reserved dough over the preserves. Bake for 8-10 minutes or until the preserves are bubbling and the topping is firm. Let cool completely then cut into bars.

* I made the exact recipe above using a 20x30cm (8x12in) pan; I reserved 1 cup of the dough for the topping and used the rest for the base. Since my pan has a removable bottom I did not line it with foil

Makes 24 bars

Tomato, red onion and gorgonzola salad - simple and delicious

Ok, I’ll admit it: this is not a very romantic salad – all that raw garlic and onion (not to mention the gorgonzola!) won’t do your breath any good. But it is so simple – I put it together in a matter of moments – fresh and delicious, and it comes from such an amazing book, that I had to share it with you – even if, in the end, you make it for a solitary lunch/dinner (or some “me time”, as I like to call it). To wrap things up beautifully, a bowl of ice cream, the couch and one of those movies you have seen several times but make you cry your eyes out every single time. :)

My husband loved this dressing so much that he drizzled some over his steak and used it for dipping his fries, too. :)

Tomato, red onion and gorgonzola salad
slightly adapted from the fantastic Sunday Suppers at Lucques

Dressing:
1 ½ tablespoons marjoram leaves, packed + a few extra leaves for decorating
1 clove garlic
¼ teaspoon Maldon sea salt or fleur de sel, or 1/8 teaspoon regular table salt
freshly ground black pepper, to taste
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
½ tablespoon fresh lemon juice

Salad:
1 large red onion
4-5 ripe tomatoes
200g (7oz) cherry tomatoes
80g (3oz) gorgonzola cheese, coarsely crumbled

Pound the marjoram, garlic and salt in a mortar to a paste. Add the pepper, olive oil and lemon juice and mix to combine. Set aside.
Soak the onion rings in ice water for 5 minutes to mellow their strong flavor. In the meantime, quarter the tomatoes and arrange them on a plate. Halve some of the cherry tomatoes and arrange them all on the plate, too. Tuck in the gorgonzola pieces. Drain the onion slices and pat them dry with paper towels. Add them to the plate. Drizzle the salad with the dressing, sprikle with the extra marjoram leaves and serve.

Serves 2

Frangipane ripple chocolate pound cake

I love almonds – they’re my favorite nut. But for far too long I avoided recipes that called for almond paste because I’ve never seen the ingredient around here. Then it suddenly hit me: if I made eggnog from scratch for a pound cake recipe, why not almond paste? I do not know why it took my brain so long to come to that conclusion. :)

The homemade almond paste – recipe from this gorgeous book – is smooth, delicious and can be kept in the freezer for a good while. And if you’re not convinced of making your own almond paste yet, take a look at this chocolate cake. ;)

Speaking of avoiding things, I’ve heard some people are avoiding "The Artist" because it’s: a) a silent movie, b) a b&w movie, c) a silent and b&w movie. I feel sorry for those people, really do. Because they’re missing a spectacular film, so beautifully made, with fantastic performances – I left the theater completely in love with both Berenice Bejo and Jean Dujardin – and a great story. Something I’d never seen before, so moving and entertaining at the same time. But what do I know, right? I’m just a girl who likes to bake (frangipane ripple) cakes. :)

Frangipane ripple chocolate pound cake
from the always delicious and never failing Baking for All Occasions

Frangipane filling:
1/3 cup (33g) almond meal
½ cup almond paste – I used homemade, recipe follows
¼ cup (50g) granulated sugar
1 large egg
¼ cup (56g) unsalted butter, softened

Cake:
260g cake flour*
¾ cup (68g) unsweetened Dutch-processed cocoa powder
2 teaspoons baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
280g (10oz) unsalted butter, room temperature
2 cups (400g) granulated sugar
3 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup (240ml) whole milk, room temperature

Make the frangipane: in a food processor, combine the almond meal, almond paste and sugar and process until well mixed. Add the egg and butter and process until smoothly blended. Cover and refrigerate while you make the cake batter.
Make the cake: preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F (160°C/325°F if the pan has a dark finish). Butter and flour a 10-cup capacity Bundt pan.
In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt.
In the large bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment beat the butter on medium speed until creamy and smooth. Gradually add the sugar, beating until light and fluffy. Scrape down the sides of the bowl occasionally. On medium speed, add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the vanilla. On the lowest speed, add the flour mixture in three additions alternately with the milk in two additions, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients. Scrape the sides of the bowl again.
Remove the frangipane from the refrigerator. Spoon about 2 cups of the cake batter into the prepared pan, spreading it evenly. Spoon half of the frangipane in dollops over the center of the batter, and then spread it over the cake batter avoiding the center tube and sides of the pan. Spoon about 1 ½ cups of the batter evenly over the filling. Spoon the remaining frangipane over the batter, spreading it evenly. Spread the remaining batter over the top and spread evenly.
Bake the cake for about 60 minutes or until risen, the top springs back when lightly touched and a skewer inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean. Cool in the pan over a wire rack for 15-20 minutes, then carefully unmold onto the rack. Cool completely.
Dust with confectioners’ sugar before serving, if desired.

* homemade cake flour: 1 cup (140g) all purpose flour minus 2 tablespoons + 2 tablespoons corn starch

Serves 12-15

Homemade almond paste
from the beautiful Home Baking: The Artful Mix of Flour and Traditions from Around the World

1 cup (100g) ground almonds
1/3 cup (46g) confectioners' sugar
2 tablespoons (28g) unsalted butter, softened
1 large egg white, lightly whisked
½ teaspoon almond or vanilla extract (optional)

Place all the ingredients in a food processor and process until smooth. Refrigerate in an airtight container for up to 2 days or in the freezer for up to 2 months. Let paste come to room temperature before using it.

Makes ¾ cup dense, smooth paste

Spiced brown sugar cookies

As much as I love cooking and baking I understand it’s not everyone’s cup of tea – so you can imagine how happy I felt when I noticed that my sister loved cooking and baking, too – I swear I never pushed her towards it: it all began with her passion for brownies and cookies. :)

After tasting some of these cookies she told me they were delicious and she needed the recipe “asap”; she also told me she’d already imagined them covered in chocolate, which I thought sounded like an amazing idea – should I be proud of my sister or what? ;)

Spiced brown sugar cookies
from the always beautiful and delicious Donna Hay Magazine

Sugar coating:
¾ cup (105g) confectioners’ sugar, sifted
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Cookies:
2 1/3 cups + 1 tablespoon (335g) all purpose flour
½ teaspoon ground ginger
½ teaspoon ground allspice
¼ teaspoon ground cloves
¼ teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg
¼ teaspoon baking soda
pinch of salt
½ cup + ½ tablespoon (120g) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup (175g) brown sugar, packed
1/3 cup (80ml) golden syrup
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F. Line two large baking sheets with baking paper.
In a small bowl, mix together the confectioners’ sugar and cinnamon. Set aside.
Make the cookies: in a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, ginger, cinnamon, allspice, cloves, nutmeg, baking soda and salt.
in the large bowl of an electric mixer combine the butter, brown sugar and corn syrup and beat in medium speed for 2 minutes or until creamy. Add the egg and vanilla and beat to combine. In low speed, add the dry ingredients at once and beat until just combined – you might want to finish mixing by hand; the dough was too soft, so I added 1 ½ tablespoons of flour.
Roll 1 leveled tablespoon of dough into balls and place onto the prepared sheets, 5cm (2in) apart. Bake until lightly golden on the edges, about 10 minutes. Remove from the oven and cool on the sheets over a wire rack for 10 minutes. Toss the cookies in the cinnamon sugar mixture to coat then set on the rack to cool completely.

Makes about 50

Almond and dulce de leche muffins

Besides being someone who watches the same movies over and over again I also purchase ingredients in excess, though I’ve been dealing with that a lot better lately (since the inventory decision). But when I saw some really good Argentinean dulce de leche for a great price at the supermarket I could not resist: I brought home three (very large) jars. After making the dulce de leche cake several times I still had some ddl left and it became the filling for these muffins, the same linzer muffins from the amazing Gourmet Today.

Almond and dulce de leche muffins
slightly adapted from the great Gourmet Today

1 ½ cups (210g) all-purpose flour
1 ½ cups (150g) almond meal (finely ground almonds)
¾ cup (150g) superfine sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 cup (240ml) whole milk, room temperature
6 tablespoons (¾ stick/84g) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
about 1/3 cup thick dulce de leche
confectioners’ sugar for dusting

Preheat the oven to 200°C/400°F. Butter a muffin pan with twelve 1/3 cup (80ml) capacity muffin cups.
Whisk together flour, almond meal, sugar, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon in a large bowl. Whisk together milk, butter, egg and vanilla extract in a small bowl, then stir into dry ingredients just until combined – do not overmix; batter should be lumpy.
Put 1 ½ tablespoons of batter into each muffin cup. Top each with 1 teaspoon dulce de leche. Divide remaining batter among cups. Bake until risen and golden and muffins pull away from edges of cups, about 15 minutes. Cool in pan on a rack 5 to 10 minutes, then turn out onto a rack. Dust with confectioners’ sugar before serving.

Makes 12

Peanut butter sandwich cookies with milk chocolate filling + two favorite Tumblrs

I’ve been obsessing with sandwich cookies lately – I want to bake each and every recipe for sandwich cookies I see (and no, I haven’t forgotten about biscotti, believe me). :)
I’d planned making one of Martha’s fabulous cookies but the jam I had around was very chunky – the jam is actually quite good but not thin enough for filling the cookies. I turned to the Karen DeMasco’s wonderful book and made these fantastic cookies, which allowed me to finish off a jar of peanut butter as well. Win/win situation. :)

You know that when I like something I really like it and because I am a movie junkie I have now two favorite Tumblrs: “Old Love” and “This Had Oscar Buzz” – I am sure some of you will love them, too. :)

Peanut butter sandwich cookies with milk chocolate filling
slightly adapted from the wonderful and delicious The Craft of Baking: Cakes, Cookies, and Other Sweets with Ideas for Inventing Your Own

Cookies:
1 ¾ cups (245g) all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon table salt
6 tablespoons (84g) unsalted butter, room temperature
½ cup + 1 tablespoon (100g) light brown sugar, packed
¾ cup + 1 tablespoon (115g) confectioners’ sugar, sifted
½ cup creamy peanut butter
¼ cup (60ml) vegetable oil, such as canola
1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
1 large egg

Filling:
168g (6oz) milk chocolate, chopped
½ cup creamy peanut butter
¼ cup (35g) confectioners’ sugar, sifted
1/8 teaspoon table salt
¾ cup (180ml) heavy cream

Start by making the cookies: preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F. Line two large baking sheets with baking paper.
In a large bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
In the bowl of an electric mixer, fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter, brown sugar and confectioners’ sugar on medium-high speed until creamy. Add the peanut butter and beat to combine, scraping down the sides of the bowl. With the mixer on low speed, slowly add the oil, vanilla and egg and beat until just combined. Add the flour mixture beating just to combine.
Roll the dough into balls – 1 ½ leveled teaspoons of dough per ball – and place them onto the prepared baking sheets, 2cm (1in) apart. Bake, rotating the sheets halfway through, until the cookies are golden brown on the edges, about 12 minutes. Transfer the baking sheets to a wire rack and let cool completely (unfilled cookies can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 1 week).

Make the filling: combine the chocolate, peanut butter, confectioners’ sugar and salt in a medium bowl. In a small saucepan, bring the cream to a boil. Remove the cream from the heat and pour it over the chocolate mixture. Stir until the ingredients are melted and the mixture is smooth. Refrigerate until thick enough to spread. Using an offset spatula, spread the filling over the flat sides of half of the cookies. Sandwich with the remaining cookies*.
Filled cookies are best eaten on the same day but can be kept in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.

* there was some filling left; I believe that ¾ of the filling recipe would be enough to fill all the cookies

Makes about 50 sandwich cookies

Vanilla-spiked plum galette

Plums are one of my favorite fruits and I usually eat them all in a very short period of time, before I can actually bake something with them. But this time the plums I’d bought were too tart – even for my citrusy taste – and they became this fabulous galette; the super flaky pastry is delicious and holds all the juices without getting soggy, and the plums, soft and perfectly sweet, get a boost from the vanilla seeds – a perfect combo. I’m usually very controlled around my baked goods but this time I had two huge slices of galette at once. :S

If I’m controlled about food – at least, sometimes – I cannot say the same about my favorite movies: I watched "Shutter Island" for the third time last night. :D

Vanilla-spiked plum galette
from the delicious and beautiful Rustic Fruit Desserts

Dough:
1 ¾ cups (245g) all purpose flour
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
¼ teaspoon table salt
¾ cup (168g) unsalted butter, cold and diced
3 tablespoons ice water, more if necessary
1 teaspoon freshly squeezed lemon juice

Filling:
¾ cup (150g) granulated sugar
1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise, seeds scraped with the back of the knife
1 tablespoon corn starch
pinch of salt
6 plums, pitted and each cut into eighths – 675g/1½ pounds prepped
sour cream*, crème fraîche or vanilla ice cream, to serve

Make the dough: put the flour, sugar and salt in the bowl of a food processor and place it in the freezer for 10 minutes or until very, very cold.
Place the bowl onto the food processor and blitz to combine the ingredients. Add the butter and pulse until the mixture is coarse and crumbly. Stir in the water and lemon juice together and add to the dough while pulsing – pulse until the pastry is shaggy but holds together when squeezed in the palm of your hand; add more water if necessary. Dump the pastry onto a lightly floured surface and form it into a disk, without handing the dough too much. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate for at least 1 hour (well wrapped, the dough can be kept in the refrigerator for up to 3 days, or frozen for up to 3 months).
Line a large baking sheet with foil.
Make the filling: in a large bowl, rub together the sugar and vanilla bean seeds. Rub in the cornstarch and salt. Set aside 2 tablespoons of this mixture then add the plums to the bowl, tossing to cover the fruit completely with the mixture.
Roll out the dough into a 32-35cm (13-14in) circle then transfer to the prepared sheet. Sprinkle the reserved sugar mixture over the center of the dough, leaving a 5cm (2in) border around the edge.
The plums will release some juice while in the sugar mixture, therefore lift each slice of plum from the bowl and arrange the slices on the dough in a spiral over the sugar mixture sprinkled on the dough. Drizzle with 1 tablespoon of the juices – more than that will make your dough soggy. Fold the outer edge of the dough over the fruit, pleating the dough as necessary.
Place the galette in the refrigerator for 20 minutes – in the meantime, preheat the oven to 200°C/400°F.
Bake the galette for 30 minutes, then turn the oven down to 180°C/350°F and bake for an additional 20-25 minutes or until the crust is golden and the fruit is bubbling – if the crust begins to get too dark towards the end of the cooking time cover the galette loosely with foil. Cool the galette for 30 minutes before serving.
Covered with a tea towel the galette will keep at room temperature for up to 2 days.

* 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)

Serves 8-10

Dried cranberry shortbread + Tilda

There are things one just knows without the need of much explanation – one just feels it. I haven’t, to this day, watched “The King’s Speech” but I know, deep down in my heart, that its winning of the Best Picture Award last year was so, so wrong. And I know that because I’ve seen five of the movies that were nominated with it – if the world were a fair place that would never have happened. And don’t even get me started on Tom Hooper winning for best director – that was heresy.

I watched “We Need to Talk About Kevin” last night and I left the theater with a mix of emotions that is hard to describe. If it was up to me this year’s best actress in a leading role award would go to Tilda and I don’t need to watch the other performances to know that – I just feel deep down in my heart that no one could beat Tilda this year, despite my love for Close and Streep; it’s humanly impossible.

*Spoilers*

If the movie had this effect on me it must be devastating for parents. I can’t imagine what it feels like for a mother, or for anyone for that matter, to watch a psychopath in the making – all those signs, no matter what anyone does or says. It seems that it cannot be stopped. Kevin’s eyes –throughout all the different ages – creeped me out. A human being without feelings, someone who is capable of being so mean. During those two hours I caught myself holding my breath dozens of times; all that noise, all that red – it makes you uncomfortable, suffocated. You feel the mother’s desperation and fear, the father being such an idiot makes you angry. The minute I saw the little girl with a patch over her eye I knew her brother had had something to do with it – the more you see of him the more evil you expect. As the film goes one, in a non-linear way, Eva’s feelings – of course her name would have to be Eva – became my feelings, all the guilt she carries with her. The brief dialogue and the hug in the final scene felt like a punch in the stomach. I don’t like to play the gender card but in this case I strongly believe that being directed by a woman made this movie what it is – looking forward to seeing more of Lynne Ramsay’s work; to me, she deserved the nomination more than Alexander Payne or Woody Allen this year.

Out of eggs after baking two cakes I still wanted to bake cookies; therefore, shortbread seemed the perfect choice. Martha’s book on cookies had just what I needed: an easy recipe that turned out delicious.

Dried cranberry shortbread
adapted from the absolutely delicious Martha Stewart's Cookies

1 cup (226g/2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
¾ cup (105g) confectioners' sugar, sifted
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 cups (280g) all-purpose flour, sifted
¼ teaspoon salt
½ cup (55g) dried cranberries, finely chopped

Preheat oven to 160°C/325°F*. Line two large baking sheets with baking paper.
Combine butter, confectioners' sugar, vanilla, flour, and salt in a large mixing bowl. Beat with an electric mixer, in low speed, just until combined. Stir in dried cranberries. Wrap the dough in plastic and refrigerate for 20 minutes.
Roll out dough between two sheets of lightly floured baking paper until 3mm thick. Use a 4cm (1½in) cookie cutter to cut out cookies. Use a paring knife to trim stray bits of cranberry from edges – if the dough gets too soft, place it in the freezer for 5 minutes. Place cookies onto prepared sheets, 5cm (2in) apart, and bake until lightly golden on the edges, about 20 minutes.
Cool completely on the sheets over a wire rack.
Cookies will keep for 5 days at room temperature in an airtight container.

* I baked my cookies at 180°C/350°F for 15 minutes

Makes about 60 cookies

Escarole and salami tart

Something I’ve been trying to do more often is to bring lunch to work – eating out gets more expensive by the minute while the quality and flavor of the food get worse.

This tart might seem like a lot of work – making your own pastry! – but believe me, it’s not: you just need to plan ahead. Go wild with the filling: the original was a mix of spinach and ham, but I used what I had in my fridge. Since the tart tastes great both warm and at room temperature I brought the leftovers in my lunchbox – but, to be honest, I wish I’d had lunch somewhere else. ;)

Escarole and salami tart
adapted from the wonderful and delicious Jamie at Home: Cook Your Way to the Good Life

Pastry:
250g all-purpose flour
100g unsalted butter, cold and cut into cubes
30g freshly grated parmesan cheese
salt
1 large egg, lightly beaten with a fork
about 1 teaspoon milk, more if necessary

Filling:
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
½ tablespoon olive oil
1 large onion, finely sliced
1 clove of garlic, finely chopped
300g (11oz) escarole, coarsely chopped
a few sprigs of fresh thyme, leaves picked
salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 cup crème fraîche – I used homemade sour cream*
30g freshly grated Parmesan cheese, plus extra for grating
2 large eggs
100g (4oz) salami slices

Make the pastry: put the flour, butter, cheese and a generous pinch of salt into a food processor and pulse for 10-15 seconds, until the mixture is crumbly and fine. Pour in the egg and add the milk. Pulse for a few more seconds until the mixture comes together. Scoop your dough out of the food processor onto a clean, floured work surface and pat it a few times to make it more compact – don't knead it. Shape it into a disk, wrap the dough in a plastic wrap and place it in the fridge to rest for at least one hour.
Lightly butter a 33x23cm (13¼x9¼in) baking sheet. Roll out the pastry between two sheets of lightly floured baking paper until you have a 35x25cm (14x10in) rectangle. Line the sheet with the pastry, leaving a 1cm (½in) overhang. Pinch this overhanging dough up to give a little rim. This not only gives it a rustic edge but also stops the pastry from shrinking and it means there’s no need to fill the pastry case with beans or rice before baking it blind. Prick the pastry all over with a fork and chill in the freezer for another 30 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 190°C/375°F.
Make the filling: heat the butter and olive oil in a large frying pan, add the onions and a pinch of salt and gently fry the onions on a low heat for 10 minutes until they're soft and sweet, but don't let them color. Turn up the heat, add the garlic, the escarole (in batches if your pan isn't big enough) and the thyme. Season lightly and give it a good stir. Take the pan off the heat when the escarole has wilted – this will only take a couple of minutes. Set aside.
Put the crème fraîche (or sour cream) into a bowl, stir in the parmesan, eggs and a pinch of salt and pepper, mix together and set aside.
Remove the sheet from the fridge and bake your pastry crust in the preheated oven for 10-12 minutes, or until lightly golden. (This is called baking it blind, and it stops the pastry from going soggy when you add the filling.)
Remove the baking sheet from the oven and spread the escarole mixture over it. Lay the salami slices over the escarole, then spoon the crème fraîche mixture evenly over the top, smoothing it out with the back of the spoon. Grate over a generous helping of Parmesan.
Bake in the preheated oven for 20-30 minutes, or until the top is golden and the filling has set.
Delicious warm or at room temperature.

* 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)

Serves 4

Coconut cupcakes with chocolate frosting

I watched "The Tree of Life" last August but to this day I haven’t been able to write anything about the movie; just couldn’t put into words everything the film made me feel – there were so many tears that my eyes were swollen when I left the theater. Jessica Chastain’s character reminded me so much of my mother it felt like I was going back in time – that was the first movie I saw with the actress and I loved her performance. Not to say I wish I had her hair. :) And last week I read something about her that made me like her even more. :)

A couple of weeks ago I decided to bake something with the tons of coconut stashed in my pantry, so I adapted a recipe from the amazing "Bon Appetit Desserts" and got these tender, delicious cupcakes – then all I did was switch the cream cheese frosting for a chocolate one.

Coconut cupcakes with chocolate frosting
adapted from the always delicious Bon Appetit Desserts: The Cookbook for All Things Sweet and Wonderful

Cupcakes:
1 cup (140g) all purpose flour
½ teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon baking soda
½ cup + 2 tablespoons (124g) granulated sugar
2/3 cup (150g) unsalted butter, room temperature
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
1 large egg
1/3 cup (80ml) sour cream*
¼ cup (60ml) coconut milk
1/3 cup (33g) sweetened flaked coconut, plus some extra for decorating

Frosting:
112g (4oz) semisweet chocolate (do not exceed 61% cacao), chopped
56g (2oz) milk chocolate, chopped
2 tablespoons heavy cream
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
½ cup sour cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
¼ cup (35g) icing sugar, sifted

Bake the cupcakes: preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F. Line 10 standard (1/3 cup capacity) muffin cups with paper liners; fill the empty cavities halfway up with water.
In a medium bowl, whisk flour, baking powder, salt and baking soda.
In the large bowl of an electric mixer beat butter, sugar and vanilla until light and fluffy. Beat in the egg. Scrape the sides of the bowl eventually. In low speed, beat in half of the dry ingredients, then the sour cream, then the remaining dry ingredients. Beat in the coconut milk and sweetened coconut. Fill each paper liner 2/3 full with batter. Bake for about 18 minutes or until risen and golden and a skewer inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool the cupcakes in the pan over a wire rack for 10 minutes then carefully remove from the pan. Transfer to the rack and cool completely.

Make the frosting: stir both chocolates, cream and butter in a medium bowl over a saucepan of simmering water until melted and smooth. Remove bowl from the water. Whisk in sour cream and vanilla, then icing sugar. Let stand until thick enough to spread, about 10 minutes (I was in a hurry and after those 10 minutes I refrigerated the frosting for 5 minutes).
Spread frosting on top of completely cooled cupcakes and sprinkle with the extra coconut.

* 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 10

Chewy macaroons + "J. Edgar"

The first time I saw Leonardo DiCaprio was in his – and mine – teenage years: I’d rented "This Boy's Life" expecting to watch another great performance by Robert DeNiro (back in the day when he was a wonderful actor) but what really took me by storm was this boy’s performance, this boy I’d never heard of before, whose face or name I did not recognize (that was way before the whole “Romeo and Juliet” hysteria). I started to pay attention to that talented boy and I wasn’t the only one: after "What's Eating Gilbert Grape" everyone was talking about Leonardo, and I knew for sure that he would become one of the greatest. Ever since, he’s portrayed several fantastic characters and I’ve become a huge fan – that is why I watched "J. Edgar" last night (spoilers below for the ones who haven’t watched the movie yet).

Let’s forget, at least for 5 minutes, the bizarre makeup – it really pisses me off that the minute the movie is mentioned everyone starts talking about the makeup and how bad it looked; yes, it looked awful, but I cannot understand how people can focus on that – and only that – while both DiCaprio and the always fantastic Judi Dench kick some serious ass onscreen – I mean, really? Give me a break.
The way DiCaprio moves around, always holding so much within – especially around his mother – made me claustrophobic; it must be so hard to hide your true essence all the time, so tiring. We all have been there somewhere in our lives, haven’t we? The herculean effort to please our parents, the fear of disappointing them. Throughout the film we see his need to hide behind a façade and the responsibility that comes with it; the power his mother had over him and how he reacts to that – the scene where she tells him that she’d rather have a dead son than a homosexual son and then insists on teaching him how to dance brought tears to my eyes: only a talented actor could portray feelings like those without being exaggerated or sappy, and that kind of subtlety is really hard to find. I haven’t watched "Moneyball" yet but to me Brad Pitt stole DiCaprio’s Oscar nomination – in my world Pitt would never, EVER, be superior to DiCaprio.

From one favorite to another: Nigella Lawson. I’m a huge, huge fan. And if you make these cookies – which are as simple and easy as they’re addictively delicious – you’ll understand why I like her so much. :)

Chewy macaroons
from the always gorgeous and delicious Feast: Food to Celebrate Life

2 cups (200g) almond meal
1 cup (200g) superfine sugar – I used granulated
¼ teaspoon finely ground cardamom
2 egg whites
1-2 tablespoons rosewater
about 28 whole blanched almonds

Preheat oven to 200°C/400°F and line two baking sheets with baking parchment*.
Mix together the ground almonds, sugar, ground cardamom and egg whites and knead with your hands or use the flat beater in a freestanding mixer until you have a coherent paste – the dough is very thick, that is why I recommend using the mixer.

Sprinkle some rose water onto your hands and roll the dough into little balls, about the size of smallish walnuts. Place onto prepared sheets 2.5cm (1in) apart and squish them down slightly so they are no longer balls but fat patties – sprinkle more rose water on your palms throughout the process of rolling the dough balls. Stud the center of each disc with a blanched almond and bake for 10-12 minutes or until lightly golden at the edges. Cool completely on the baking sheets over a wire rack.
When cooled, store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 1 week.

* some of the cookies stuck to the paper – I think foil would be a better alternative here

Makes about 28 – I made the exact recipe above, used 1 leveled tablespoon of dough per cookie and got 24

Cherry-cornmeal upside down cake

It’s no secret I’m a big Martha Stewart fan – her recipes are delicious and work every time; I sometimes wish I were more skillful so I could make all the other beautiful projects on her website (I would love to learn how to sew and even bought a book on the subject a while ago). Speaking of that, would you please tell me if you know any good blogs on the subject? That would be really helpful! :)

Anyway, back to Martha: one of the first cakes I saw on her blog (back in 200... – who knows?) was her cranberry upside down cake – isn’t it gorgeous? Since fresh cranberries do not exist here in Brazil I decided to mimic Martha’s cake using fresh cherries instead; I ended up with such a tasty cake – so tender! – that I regretted not doing that years ago.

Cherry-cornmeal upside down cake
adapted from the always great and delicious Cake Keeper Cakes

Topping:
600g cherries, pitted
¼ cup + 1 tablespoon (70g) unsalted butter
¼ cup (44g) light brown sugar, packed

Cake:
1 cup (140g) all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ cup (77g) yellow cornmeal
¼ cup (25g) almond meal
pinch of salt
¾ stick (85g) unsalted butter, softened
¾ cup (150g) granulated sugar
3 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
½ cup (120ml) milk, room temperature

Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F. Butter a 20cm (8in) round cake pan and dust with flour.
Make the fruit topping: combine the butter and brown sugar in a medium saucepan and heat over medium heat until the butter is melted. Stir in the cherries, increase the heat to medium-high and bring just to a boil. Cook for 3-5 minutes or until cherries begin to become tender. Use a slotted spoon to transfer the cherries to plate to cool. Set aside the caramel still in the saucepan.
Arrange the cherries in the bottom of the prepared pan. Bring the caramel back to a boil over medium-high heat, cook without stirring for 2 minutes then pour over the cherries (caramel will be thicker).
Make the batter: combine the flour, baking powder, cornmeal, almond meal, and salt in a medium bowl. Set aside.
In the large bowl of an electric mixer beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Scrape the sides of the bowl occasionally. In low speed, add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. After incorporating the eggs, turn the mixer to high speed and beat until mixture is light and increased in volume, about 2 minutes. Beat in the vanilla extract.
With the mixer in low speed, add the dry ingredients in three additions alternating with the milk, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients. Scrape the sides of the bowl then beat the batter in high speed for 30 seconds.
Pour the batter gently over the cherries and smooth the surface.
Bake until the cake is golden and a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean, 40-45 minutes. Transfer the cake to a wire rack and cool it in the pan for 10 minutes. Carefully unmold the cake onto a serving plate. Serve warm or at room temperature.
Cake can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 days.

Serves 8