Lemon pistachio yogurt cake - yes, cake again :)

Here I am once again with cake. :) 

Days have been pretty busy around here, lots of work, back at the office twice a week, but all in all everything is fine. I took my first vaccine shot two weeks ago and I felt something I hadn’t felt in quite a long time: hope.

It was quite an emotional moment for me, when a mix of feelings emerged: happiness and relief, and at the same time anger because of all the people who have died because the psychopath who is the president of my country refused to buy vaccines, because he wanted to make money out of it – corruption in its most disgusting shape.

One thing I have not changed on my weeks is baking a cake to snack on in the afternoons: my husband and I got completely hooked on that. The Epicurious yogurt cake recipe continues to be a hit in my house, and I have made it so many times since quarantine started that I have lost track of it. So easy to put together, so adaptable. 

This version I made with lemon and pistachio and it turned out amazing – very tender and sort of marzipany in taste, even though I used pistachios instead of almonds. My favorite take on this recipe, tied with the apple version.

 

Lemon pistachio yogurt cake

adapted from the Epicurious recipe, once again

Cake:

1 ¼ cups (175g) all-purpose flour

½ cup (50g) pistachio flour (finely ground hazelnuts)

2 teaspoons baking powder

¼ teaspoon table salt

1 cup (200g) granulated sugar

finely grated zest of 2 lemons

¾ cup (180g) plain yogurt

½ cup (120ml) vegetable oil – I used canola

2 large eggs, room temperature

½ teaspoon vanilla extract

1 tablespoon lemon juice

2 teaspoons Cointreau (optional)

 

To sprinkle to cake:

1 tablespoon granulated sugar

 

Preheat oven to 180C/350°F. Brush with oil a 6-cup capacity loaf pan (22x11cm/8.5x4.5in), line with baking paper leaving an overhang in the two longer sides and brush the paper as well.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the all purpose flour, pistachio flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.

In a large bowl, rub sugar and lemon zest with your fingertips until sugar is fragrant. Whisk in yogurt, oil, eggs, vanilla, lemon juice and Cointreau (if using) until smooth. Fold in reserved dry ingredients – if batter is too lumpy, whisk for a few seconds – do not overmix or the cake will become tough.

Pour the batter into prepared pan and smooth the top. Sprinkle with the sugar. Bake for 50-55 minutes, or until a skewer or toothpick inserted into center of the cake comes out clean.

Let cake cool in pan on a wire rack for 15 minutes. Carefully and using the paper as a guide, remove cake from pan and transfer to the rack to cool completely.

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

Serves 8

Lemon and raisin oatmeal cookies

Days ago I was thinking (again) of certain ingredients and why they are so hated: aside from coconut and cilantro, I can’t think of anything that divides people as much as raisins do – at least here in Brazil. Every December there are hundreds of memes on Facebook and Twitter of either people saying how much they hate raisins and begging others not to add them to the Christmas dishes or people saying how much they love them, “please add raisins to everything”. It is crazy. :)

I like raisins and have nothing against them, but have to say I prefer them on sweet dishes rather than savory ones. In cookies they work beautifully and here, combined with lemon and oats, make them even more delicious.

Lemon and raisin oatmeal cookies
own recipe

¾ cup (105g) all purpose flour
½ teaspoon baking soda
pinch of salt
1/3 cup (67g) granulated sugar
1/3 cup (58g) light brown sugar, packed
finely grated zest of 2 lemons
½ cup (113g/1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 large egg, room temperature
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/3 cups (120g) rolled oats
1 cup (150g) raisins – use golden raisins if you prefer

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 and salt. Set aside.
In the bowl of an electric mixer, rub sugars and lemon zest together with your fingertips until sugar is fragrant. Add the butter and beat until creamy and light – scrape the sides of the bowl occasionally throughout the making of the recipe. Beat in the egg and the vanilla. Add the flour mixture and the oats at once and mix on slow only until a dough forms. Stir in the raisins.

Roll 2 leveled tablespoons of dough per cookie into balls and place onto prepared sheets, 5cm (2in) apart. Bake for 12-14 minutes or until cookies are golden around the edges. Cool on the sheets for 5 minutes, then slide the paper with the cookies onto a wire rack to cool completely.

Makes 20

White chocolate and lemon blondies

Back in the days when I was still dreaming of writing a book I remember telling my husband that I intended to add as many citrus recipes to it as possible, and had all types of ideas for lemon baked goods and desserts – the thought of the fruit makes my mouth water already.

However, every time I went to the grocery store the price of the lemons made me cringe, and I would go back home empty handed. I was unemployed then, so I went from wanting a book filled with lemon recipes to choosing very wisely which recipes to use the fruit in. :(

That is one of the reasons why I am so proud of these blondies: they are delicious, perfumed with lemon and the tart flavor of the fruit goes really well with the sweetness of the white chocolate. The lemons were expensive, but it was worth spending that money to make something so tasty (not to mention easy): the blondies were gone very fast in each of the three times I made them.

White chocolate and lemon blondies
own recipe

¼ cup (50g) granulated sugar
finely grated zest of 2 lemons
2 ½ tablespoons (35g) unsalted butter, room temperature
200g white chocolate, chopped – divided use
1 large egg
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
¾ cup (105g) all purpose flour
½ teaspoon baking powder
pinch of salt

Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F. Lightly butter a square 20cm (8in) baking pan, line it with foil leaving an overhang on two opposite sides and butter the foil as well.

In a small bowl, rub together with your fingertips the sugar and the lemon zest until sugar is fragrant. Set aside.
In a large bowl set over a saucepan of simmering water (do not let the bottom of the bowl touch the water) combine 150g of the chocolate and the butter, stirring until they are both melted. Remove from the heat and cool slightly.
Whisk in the sugar, followed by the egg and vanilla. With a rubber spatula, fold in the flour, baking powder and salt. Fold in the remaining 50g white chocolate.

Spread the batter evenly into the prepared pan and smooth the top. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the center comes out with moist crumbs. Cool completely in the pan over a wire rack before cutting into squares to serve.

Makes 16

Pear lemon muffins with almond streusel

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

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

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

Pear lemon muffins with almond streusel
own creation

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

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

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

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

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

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

Makes 12

Spiced cake bars (gewürzschnitten) - flavors of my childhood on a recipe I had never seen before

In my searches for Christmas themed recipes every year I have learned about new types of baked goods, have seen beautiful photos and known gorgeous food blogs and websites. Some of the recipes were completely new to me, some were made of flavors I recognize from my childhood, from the sweets my German grandmother used to make.

These delicious bars, super easy to make, were new to as I did not know their name – gewürzschnitten; however, the taste was no stranger to me: as I bit into a square and tasted the mix of spices, chocolate and lemon from the glaze, my taste buds took a trip down memory lane. I don’t really remember what I ate as a kid that reminded me so much of these bars, but what started as inspiration found on this beautiful blog ended up as wonderful discovery – grandma Frida is no longer around for me to ask her this, but I can start my own tradition and bake gewürzschnitten every December from now on. <3

Spiced cake bars (gewürzschnitten)
slightly adapted from this beautiful blog

Cake:
1 ¼ cups (175g) all purpose flour
¾ cup (75g) ground almonds
2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa, sifted
1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
pinch of freshly ground nutmeg
pinch of ground cloves
½ teaspoon ground ginger
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon ground allspice
2 large eggs, yolks and whites separated
pinch of salt
¾ cup (150g) granulated sugar, divided use
1/3 cup (75g) unsalted butter, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon Amaretto (optional)
100ml whole milk, room temperature

Glaze:
¾ cup (105g) icing sugar, sifted
2-3 tablespoons lemon juice

Preheat oven to 180°C/350°F. Lightly butter a 20cm (8in) square baking pan, line it with baking paper leaving an overhang on two opposite sides, then butter the paper.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, almond meal, cocoa, baking powder and spices. Set aside.
In a small bowl, using an electric mixer, beat egg whites and salt until soft peaks form. Gradually add half of the granulated sugar (75g), beating until mixture gets thick, silky and shiny. Set aside.
In another large bowl, using again the electric mixer, beat the yolks, butter and remaining sugar until light and creamy, scraping the sides of the bowl occasionally. Beat in the vanilla and the Amaretto. Add the dry ingredients in three additions alternating with the milk in two additions, starting and ending with the dry ingredients. Fold in the egg whites. Spread onto the prepared pan and smooth the top. Bake for about 20 minutes or until risen and cooked through when tested with a skewer. Cool completely in the pan over a wire rack.

Glaze: mix the icing sugar and lemon juice until you get a thin glaze. Spread over cooked cake, set aside until set and then cut into squares to serve.

Makes 16

Saffron lemon cookies and Claire Danes

Those of you around here for a while know how much I enjoy movies and TV awards – I root for my favorites, hate it when the ones I find untalented and undeserving win and usually go to sleep at 2 in the morning. :)

For a couple of years I saw Claire Danes take home lots of awards for her role in Homeland and I did not quite understand why: I like her, I find her a talented actress and very versatile, too – who doesn't love Angela Chase? –, but those were the years she was going against Glenn and Mireille, and those two certainly deserved taking the awards home – I was rooting for them for Damages and The Killing are deep favorites of mine.

Now that I have started watching Homeland – and got completely addicted to it – I understand all the fuss: Claire is really amazing in it! If at first I did not understand all the awards, now I say “keep them coming!” :)

I’m OK with my favorites not winning as long as the ones who do actually deserve the awards, and now I see that is exactly what happened with Claire Danes; in September my heart will be divided for I would love her to win, just as much as I would love Viola Davis, Elisabeth Moss and Robin Wright – I haven’t watched season 3 of House of Cards yet but I am sure she’s fabulous in it.

As for these cookies, they look plain but they have a very special ingredient in them: saffron (which was the name of a character’s dog in Damages). :) I don’t use it very often for it is an expensive ingredient, but I could not resist trying them in cookies along with lemon and almond – they were delicious! The almond meal gives the cookies a wonderful texture that is why I recommend this recipe even if you don’t have saffron around: I am sure that cardamom would be beautiful here, or nutmeg, for instance.

Saffron lemon cookies
slightly adapted from the beautiful and delicious Annie Bell's Baking Bible: Over 200 triple-tested recipes that you'll want to make again and again

1 cup (100g) almond meal
1 cup (140g) all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon table salt
½ cup (113g/1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
1 cup (200g) granulated sugar
1 egg
finely grated zest of 2 lemons
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
20 saffron filaments, ground and mixed with 1 ½ teaspoons boiling water – let it cool before using

In a medium bowl, whisk together the almond meal, flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
Using an electric mixer, cream butter and sugar together until light. Beat in the egg, lemon zest, vanilla and saffron infusion. On low speed, mix in the dry ingredients just until a dough forms. Cover with cling film and refrigerate for 4 hours or overnight.

Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F. Line two large baking sheets with baking paper.
Roll 2 teaspoons of dough per cookie into balls and place 5cm (2in) onto prepared sheets. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until golden around the edges. Cool on the sheets over a wire rack for 5 minutes then carefully slide the paper with the cookies onto the wire and cool completely.

Makes about 45

St. Clement’s posset

I try to eat in a healthy way most of my days, with a brownie or a cookie here and there, and even though it doesn’t look like it I don’t eat dessert every day, and when I do I try not to go overboard with it.

I adore possets for I’m a big fan of citrus flavors, but I don’t make them frequently because well, they’re not exactly lean: the dessert is purely heavy cream flavored with something (I’m aware of that, people). ;) There are, however, occasions that call for something special and easy to put together, and those are the days when a posset is most welcome.

Today’s recipe is something I saw on a Jamie Oliver magazine and it was the dessert I served for New Year’s Eve dinner – I made the posset in a matter of moments! The glasses sat beautifully in the fridge while I focused on the savory side of my dinner.

I love both oranges and lemons, they’re delicious together – in cake form as well – and the posset was a very refreshing finish to a delicious and celebratory meal in a very hot night.

St. Clement’s posset
from the always delicious Jamie Oliver magazine

400ml heavy cream
1/3 cup + 1 tablespoon (80g) granulated sugar
finely grated zest of 1 lemon
finely grated zest of 1 orange
¼ cup (60ml) freshly squeezed lemon juice
3 tablespoons freshly squeezed orange juice

Put the cream, sugar and lemon and orange zests in a saucepan over a medium-high heat. Bring to the boil and cook for 3 minutes. Add all the juices, bring back to the boil and continue to cook for another 3 minutes.

Pass the mixture through a fine sieve and let it cool slightly (to avoid cracking the glasses in which you’ll serve the posset). Pour it straight into 4 small wine glasses. Allow it to set for at least 3 hours in the fridge, or overnight.

Serves 4

Lemon poppy seed whipped cream cake, or how to use up heavy cream in a fantastic way

Here where I live one thing happens time and time again during the holidays: heavy cream disappears from the grocery stores. Because there were years I needed heavy cream for a number of recipes and couldn’t find any, now I usually stash two bottles of the ingredient before all the craze begins, and that way I can make desserts and ice cream (it is summer here after all).

I was too greedy last time, and ended up with a lot of heavy cream to be used – really, a lot. Shame on me. I made popsicles, a tart, and also a posset, but every time I opened the fridge I had the feeling that the cream was taking over the whole thing.

Pressed for time – heavy cream doesn’t last long, unfortunately – I came up with a wonderful solution: Rose Levy’s whipped cream cake, which I’d baked before and it was delicious, but this time I added lemon zest, limoncello and poppy seeds to make it even more interesting.

Lemon poppy seed whipped cream cake
slightly adapted from the wonderful Rose's Heavenly Cakes

225g cake flour (or 200g all purpose flour + 25g corn starch)
2 teaspoons baking powder
¼ teaspoon table salt
3 tablespoons poppy seeds
1 cup + 2 tablespoons (225g) granulated sugar
finely grated zest of 2 lemons
1 ½ cups heavy cream, chilled
3 large eggs, room temperature
½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 teaspoons limoncello (optional) – I used homemade
icing sugar, for dusting

Preheat oven to 190°C/375°F (180°C/350°F if using a dark pan). Butter and flour a 10-cup fluted metal tube or Bundt pan.

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, salt and poppy seeds. In another bowl, rub sugar and lemon zest together with your fingertips until sugar is fragrant.
In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, whip cream on low, gradually increasing speed to medium-high as cream thickens, until stiff peaks form.
In a medium bowl, whisk together eggs, vanilla and limoncello. With the mixer on medium-high, gradually add egg mixture; beat until thickened (like mayonnaise) and well combined. Gradually add sugar, about 30 seconds.
On low speed, beat in the flour mixture until flour is dissolved and well combined. Transfer batter to prepared cake pan and smooth surface.

Bake until a cake tester inserted into cake comes out clean and springs back when lightly pressed with your finger, 25-35 minutes. Transfer cake pan to a wire rack and let cool 20 minutes; cake will begin to shrink from sides of pan.
Carefully unmold cake onto the rack and cool completely. Dust with icing sugar before serving.

Serves 8-10

Crustless lemon tart - a brilliant idea

If the weather here at this time of the year is not superb for rolling out cookies rolling out pastry for a tart is out of the question as well: the last time I tried doing that with 35°C days there were so many trips to the fridge with the pastry involved that the thought of it makes me tired already. :)

So you can only imagine how glad I was when I found this recipe on one of my Bill Granger’s cookbooks: one of my favorite desserts in the world made without the hassle of pastry. I thought it was too genius not to give it a go, so I tried it and the result was a very delicious dessert – from now on, I’ll no longer feel lazy when the urge of making lemon tart crosses my mind. \0/

This tart tasted great both warm and cold, so it is perfect for entertaining – that is why I’ll probably make it again for dessert tomorrow for my New Year’s Eve dinner.

Crustless lemon tart
slightly adapted from the delicious Bill's Basics

3 eggs
½ cup (70g) all purpose flour
1 cup (200g) granulated sugar
pinch of salt
100g unsalted butter, melted
finely grated zest of 2 large lemons
125ml lemon juice
1 cup (240ml) heavy cream
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
icing sugar, for dusting

Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F. Lightly butter a 20cm round springform cake pan (I used one with a removable bottom).

Whisk the eggs and then gradually whisk in the flour. Add the sugar, salt, butter, lemon zest and juice, cream and vanilla and whisk well. Pour into the pan and bake for 35-40 minutes, until lightly browned around the edges.

Leave in the pan to cool for 20 minutes before turning out and slicing. Dust with icing sugar.

Serves 6-8

Lemon burst cookies and a Merry Christmas

Christmas is around the corner and it’s time to wrap up the gifts, get the nice china, spread flowers around the house and start preparing the food for the dinner on the 24th – I want to make as much as I can in advance so I can enjoy myself on Christmas Eve and relax having a glass (or two, or four) of champagne. ;)

I hope you have enjoyed the Christmas series this year and I also hope it’s inspired you to bake for your family and friends – as the last post of the series, I chose lemon cookies (surprise, surprise) that look beautiful and taste even better.

I wish you all a Merry Christmas and thank you for keeping me company throughout the year. xx

Lemon burst cookies
slightly adapted from here

1 ¾ cups (245g) all-purpose flour
1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
pinch of salt
finely grated zest of 2 lemons
1 cup (200g) granulated sugar
½ cup (113g/1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
2 large eggs, room temperature
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
2 teaspoons limoncello – optional; I used homemade
½ cup (70g) powdered sugar, for rolling the cookies

In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
In the bowl of an electric mixer, rub granulated sugar and zest together with your fingertips until sugar is fragrant. Add the butter and cream together butter until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time and mix well. Add vanilla and limoncello. Mix again.
With mixer on low speed, mix in flour mixture only until just combined. Cover and refrigerate for 30 minutes – in the meantime, preheat oven to 180°C/350°F and line two large baking sheets with parchment paper.

Using 1 leveled tablespoon of dough per cookie, roll into balls and then roll balls generously in powdered sugar – the more you cover the dough, the more beautiful the cookies will look.
Place on baking sheets 5cm (2in) apart. Bake for 12-14 minutes, or until puffed and bottoms are golden brown.
Cool on sheets for 2 minutes, then slide the paper with the cookies to a wire rack to cool completely.

Makes about 40

Lemon and coconut Bakewell bars and wondering about my food

Sometimes I wonder what my cooking would be like if it wasn’t for the Internet: my food would certainly be different, I would not have this blog and I would not probably own all the cookbooks and food magazines I own today.

I have learned a lot about cooking and baking by reading all sorts of materials (maybe someday I’ll have the time and money to actually study the wonderful world of food), and I’ve come across many things I’d never heard of and those were things I doubt I would know today if it weren’t for all the reading.

For instance, before I had a blog I had no idea of what fruit curds were, and now they are such favorites of mine, lemon curd being #1 (though passion fruit curd easily gives lemon a run for its money). If the Internet did not exist, I would probably not know about curds and how delicious they are.

That sounds very silly, and I am probably in a very silly mood right now giving curds such huge importance; all I know is that they are yummy and the lemon one goes incredibly good with coconut, like in these irresistible Bakewell bars.

Lemon and coconut Bakewell bars
adapted from the wonderful Feast: Food to Celebrate Life, inspired by the delicious John Whaite Bakes: Recipes for Every Day and Every Mood

Base:
145g all purpose flour
30g icing sugar
pinch of salt
150g unsalted butter, cold and chopped

Filling:
100g unsalted butter
2 eggs
100g granulated sugar
finely grated zest of 1 large lemon
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
100g unsweetened coconut
2/3 cup lemon curd

Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F. Lightly butter a square 20cm (8in) baking pan, line with foil, leaving an overhang in two opposite sides. Butter the foil as well.

Start with the base: put the flour, icing sugar and salt into a food processor and blitz to combine and remove any lumps. Add the butter and process again to get a crumbly mixture that’s beginning to come together. Transfer mixture to the prepared pan and press into the base of the pan. Bake for 20 minutes or until lightly golden.

Make the topping: melt the butter and set aside. Put the eggs, sugar, lemon zest, vanilla and coconut into the bowl of the food processor. Process until smooth.

When the base is cooked, remove it from the oven and let cool for 5 minutes. Spread the curd evenly over the base. With the processor motor running, pour the slightly cooled melted butter down the funnel into the other ingredients and process until smooth. Pour it over the curd layer. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until golden and a skewer inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in the pan, over a wire rack. Cut into slices to serve – it’s best warm, but it tastes delicious at room temperature as well.

Makes 16

Lemon blackberry cake - perfect for spring

If it is a problem for me to make banana cakes, I could never say the same about lemon cakes, right? ;)

It is very rare for me to not have lemons around, especially because I use them for many things other than cakes, and I love them so much that my husband brings a couple of lemons home every time he goes grocery shopping.

Adding frozen berries to cakes is a great idea as we’ve seen here on the blog lately, and in this case the blackberries give a whole new dimension to a simple lemon drizzle cake – a moist, tangy cake as easy to eat as it is easy to make (mine was gone pretty fast). :)

Lemon blackberry cake
slightly adapted from the stunning and delicious Indulgent Cakes

Cake:
¾ cup (150g) granulated sugar
finely grated zest of 2 lemons
125g unsalted butter, softened
2 eggs
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup + 1 tablespoon (150g) all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
pinch of salt
½ cup (50g) almond meal
125g sour cream*
150g frozen blackberries, unthawed

Drizzle:
3 tablespoons granulated sugar
¼ cup (60ml) lemon juice
½ tablespoon water

Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F. Lightly butter a 21.5x11.5cm (8.5x4.5in) loaf pan (6-cup capacity), line it with baking paper and lightly butter the paper as well.

In a large bowl, combine sugar and lemon zest and rub with your fingertips until sugar is fragrant. Add butter and using an electric mixer, cream the ingredients together until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, and scrape the sides of the bowl. Beat in the vanilla. Fold in the flour, baking powder, salt, almond meal and sour cream. Pour half the batter into the prepared pan and sprinkle with half the berries. Cover with the remaining batter, smooth the surface then sprinkle with the remaining berries. Tap pan over surface to settle the mixture.

Bake for 50-60 minutes or until risen and golden and a skewer inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean. Set aside for 10 minutes and in the meantime make the drizzle: combine lemon juice, water and sugar in a small saucepan and cook over medium heat, stirring, until sugar is dissolved. Bring to the boil, then simmer for 2 minutes.
Pour the hot syrup over the cake, then cool completely in the pan. Carefully unmold, peel off the paper and serve.

Serves 8

Lemon and polenta cake (gluten free) + movies, movies, movies

Being away for two weeks left me out of the loop of new releases and movies to long for, not to mention I had no idea what was on theaters here – time to catch up.

On the weekend, I went to the movies with my sister – we hadn’t done that since Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, too long! – and we watched Lucy: I liked the movie a lot, and it is always wonderful to see movies with leading ladies kick ass in the box office, shutting up idiots who think that women don’t make money when it comes to movies (let’s all remember Cate Blanchett’s Oscar speech months ago, shall we?). :)

Some more good news: I was glad to find out that Gone Girl will be hitting Brazilian theaters one day before the American release, which was a relief since The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo premiered here in Brazil a month after its American release. Yay! \0/

As for what to long for, I saw the trailer for Low Down and can’t wait to know when the movie will be released, not only because it is a great trailer but also because of the amazing cast: I fell in love with John Hawkes after he blew me away three times in a row, being outstanding in Winter’s Bone, Martha Marcy May Marlene and The Sessions (and being robbed of an Oscar nomination for the latter). Anyone who watched Super 8 knows how talented Elle Fanning is, and what to say about Glenn Close? <3 <3 <3

After getting up to speed with movies, I did the same with my kitchen: I hadn’t baked in quite a while and was desperate for freshly baked cake. I made a honey cake that turned out delicious, but since I haven’t been able to work on the photos yet I bring you an equally tasty cake, something I baked before my trip; I bumped into this recipe while searching for yet another lemon cake recipe and I wasn’t disappointed: moist, tangy and delicious, I am sure it will please those of you who like lemon cakes as much as I do.


Lemon and polenta cake (gluten free)
slightly adapted from the delicious Breakfast, Lunch, Tea: The Many Little Meals of Rose Bakery

150g granulated sugar
finely grated zest of 2 lemons
165g unsalted butter, softened
juice of ½ lemon
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
2 eggs
185g almond meal (finely ground almonds)
75g instant polenta
35g corn starch
½ teaspoon baking powder
pinch of salt
icing sugar, for dusting

Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F. Butter a 20x10cm (6-cup capacity) loaf pan, line it with baking paper and butter the paper as well.
Place sugar and lemon zest in the bowl of an electric mixer and rub them together with your fingertips until sugar is fragrant. Add butter and beat until very light and creamy. Add the lemon juice and the vanilla extract. Add the eggs, one by one, beating well after each addition – batter might look curdled.
Mix together the ground almonds, polenta, corn flour, baking powder and salt and fold into the mixture.
Spoon the mixture into the prepared pan and bake for 40-50 minutes or until a knife inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean.
Remove from the oven and cool completely in the pan over a wire rack. Carefully unmold and remove the paper. Dust with icing sugar to serve.

Serves 6-8

Lemon cheesecake tartlets - recipe with a video

Months ago, my sister told me she had to do a project for school: she and her colleagues would have to create a recipe video and she asked for my help. :)

The kids – they’re twenty years old, I call them kids – came to my house on a Saturday and we had an amazing afternoon together. We recorded the video – actually, they recorded me making tartlets – and it was a lot of fun (and a lot of work, too).

By the end of the session, I served cake and cookies to my guests and they told my sister that from that moment on they wanted to do all the future projects at my house. :D

So here it is: the video and the recipe right after it. I hope you enjoy watching my freckled hands in action! :)

Lemon cheesecake tartlets
slightly adapted from the always beautiful Donna Hay magazine

Base:
100g digestive cookies
30g unsalted butter, melted and cooled

Filling:
1 cup cream cheese, room temperature
1/3 cup granulated sugar
¼ cup sour cream*
pinch of salt
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
finely grated zest of 1 lemon
1 egg
100g raspberries

Butter six 8cm-tartlet pans (with removable bottoms). Place the cookies in a food processor and blitz until ground. Add the butter and process to combine. With your fingertips, press the mixture into the pans and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 150°C/300°F. In a medium bowl, whisk together the cream cheese, sugar, sour cream, salt, vanilla and lemon zest. Whisk in the egg, then pour it over the base. Bake for 15 minutes or until slightly firm. Cool completely then refrigerate for 1 hour.
Dust with icing sugar, pop with the raspberries and serve.

* 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 6

Citrus blueberry cake (with buckwheat flour) and a piece of advice

You guys know that I don’t really need an excuse to bake a lemon cake – if I didn’t like trying new recipes so much I would probably have a lemon cake sitting on my kitchen counter every weekend. :)

As silly as it might sound, having baked goods on my kitchen counter is one of the things that make me really happy. :)

When I saw this beautiful recipe for an orange cake freckled with blueberries I decided to add lemon to the mix, making it a citrus cake instead. The cake turned out delicious – both oranges and lemons are wonderful paired with blueberries – very tender and also pretty from being baked in a tart pan.

I did, however, used a pan 1cm smaller than the one called for in the recipe – do I like living dangerously? I wonder – and for the first 20 minutes in the oven I kept checking to see if the batter had overflown. Luckily it didn’t and the cake turned out fine, but if you don’t want to worry like I did use a slightly larger pan – or... :)

Citrus blueberry cake
slightly adapted from Margaret Fulton Baking: The Ultimate Sweet and Savory Baking Collection

250g all purpose flour
50g buckwheat flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/8 teaspoon table salt
250g granulated sugar
2 eggs, lightly beaten with a fork
¾ cup (180ml) whole milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
finely grated zest of 1 orange
finely grated zest + the juice of 1 lemon
130g unsalted butter, melted and cooled
200g fresh or frozen (unthawed) blueberries

Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F. Butter a deep 22cm round loose-based flan pan or cake pan*, line the bottom with a circle of baking paper and butter the paper as well. Dust it all with flour and remove the excess.
Combine the flours, baking powder, salt and sugar in a large bowl. Add the eggs, milk, vanilla, zest, juice and butter and mix until combined. Spoon into the prepared pan. Top with half of the blueberries and bake for 20 minutes.
Sprinkle over the remaining blueberries and bake for another 20 minutes (my cake needed 35 minutes in the oven after the second batch of blueberries were added).
Cool in the pan for 25 minutes, then carefully remove the outer ring of the pan. Cool completely before slicing and serving.

* the tart pan I used is 21x4cm and the batter almost overflew – I recommend using a slightly larger pan

Serves 8

Amaranth cantuccini - no butter, no olive oil

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Cool completely, then store in airtight containers.

Makes about 35

Cardamom, lemon and olive oil madeleines

Madeleines are small cakes, therefore I guess it was just a matter of time until I went for a version made with olive oil after using the ingredient in so many cakes.

I found some recipes online (I’ve told you I love the Internet, haven’t I?), but what really caught my attention was the combination of cardamom and lemon: it sounded delicious and Russell’s madeleines looked super cute.

Cardamom and lemon are indeed great together, and madeleines made with olive oil are as fantastic as the ones made with butter (and they stay moist and tender on the following day).

I do like making things from scratch but I’m all for shortcuts when they’re good and feasible; however, one thing I don’t use is pre-ground cardamom – I bought it once, ages ago, but did not like it. I started buying the pods and grinding the seeds myself and I never looked back. If I may, I recommend you do the same, not only for these madeleines but for all sorts of cardamom recipes (click here for some inspiration).

For completely dairy-free madeleines, the molds should be brushed with oil instead of butter – I haven’t tried that yet, so if anyone tries it I would love to hear about it.

Cardamom, lemon and olive oil madeleines
slightly adapted from here

80g granulated sugar
finely grated zest of 1 large lemon
¼ teaspoon freshly ground cardamom
2 eggs
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
110g all purpose flour
½ teaspoon baking powder
pinch of salt
1/3 cup (80ml) extra-virgin olive oil

Place sugar, lemon zest and cardamom in a large bowl and rub together with your fingertips until sugar is fragrant. Add the eggs and vanilla and using an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attached, beat for 5 minutes until the mixture becomes light and thick.
Sift flour, baking powder and salt over mixture and fold to combine. Fold in the olive oil.
Cover with cling film and refrigerate for at least 3 hours or up to overnight.

Preheat oven to 200°C/400°F. Brush twenty 2-tablespoon capacity madeleine molds with melted butter and refrigerate for 10 minutes. Brush the molds again and refrigerate for another 10 minutes. Divide the mixture between the molds (do not spread it out). Bake until golden and cooked through (8-10 minutes), then immediately unmold onto a wire rack.
Dust with icing sugar. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Makes 20

Avocado and lemon zest linguine - becoming good friends with whole wheat pasta

I guess that once we get old and start feeling more comfortable in our own skin what others think doesn’t matter much – what you feel or like or want should come first. I like to believe that.

Back in high school it was all about being trendy and cool or, in other words, doing and saying what others did. I remember going to a concert with my friends a couple of times, it was a cover band that played Elvis Presley’s songs, but I never liked Elvis – I just pretended I liked it so I could fit in, since all the girls kept saying how great Elvis was (lucky for me the concerts were free). I was so bored one of the nights I started doing my Physics homework right there (the concerts were held on Friday evenings, and we would go right after school).

That did not do any good for my “cool reputation”, I’ll tell you that. :)

Up until months ago I would tell everyone how awful whole wheat pasta was, and make faces when people brought the subject up. Then, while reading a recipe that called for that kind of pasta, it suddenly hit me: I was just replicating other people’s opinions. I had, indeed, had my share of bad whole wheat pasta dishes, but as someone who’s been cooking for as long as I have I should know better – I should know that maybe, and just maybe, there was something wrong with what I’d tasted. It could have been a case of bad pasta or bad recipe (or both).

I continue to avoid Elvis like the plague, but I have become good friends with whole wheat pasta. :)

Things we do and say now and then, sometimes without putting much thought to them. I have been there, you probably have, too. We’re humans, we say stupid things sometimes, we follow wrong people. We make mistakes.

Nobody’s perfect.

But this pasta dish is (and I would never have thought of pairing avocado and pasta). :)

Avocado and lemon zest linguine
slightly adapted from the wonderful A Modern Way to Eat: Over 200 Satisfying, Everyday Vegetarian Recipes (That Will Make You Feel Amazing)

400g whole wheat linguine
2 tablespoons olive oil
4 tablespoons capers in brine, coarsely chopped
2 cloves of garlic, minced
finely grated zest of 2 lemons + juice of ½ a lemon
a handful basil leaves, coarsely chopped
a handful parsley leaves, coarsely chopped
2 ripe avocados
1-2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
freshly grated pecorino, for serving

Cook the linguine in a saucepan of boiling salted water until al dente (follow the instructions on the package).
In the meantime make the sauce: heat the olive oil in a large nonstick frying pan on a medium heat, then add the capers and garlic and cook until fragrant. Add the lemon zest and the herbs, mix to combine and remove from the heat.
Halve and destone the avocados, then use a knife to make criss-cross cuts through the flesh, chopping it inside the skin. Use a spoon to scoop out each half into the pan, and stir to mix all the flavors together. Before you drain the pasta, scoop out half a mugful of the pasta water. Drain the pasta, add it to the frying pan and return it to medium heat, tossing to combine. Drizzle with the lemon juice and extra-virgin olive oil, season with salt and pepper, and add a splash of the cooking water if necessary.
Serve at once, sprinkled with the cheese.

Serves 4

Almond, lemon and buckwheat tea cake and weekend plans

I think you guys should know that I managed to keep the plans I’d made for the weekend: I watched more than just one movie (one of them probably for the tenth time) and I also baked and cooked a bit – the cold days are a great excuse to keep the oven on. :)

I find it almost impossible to switch channels when some of my favorite movies are on, and yesterday one of the channels had a Godfather marathon: all the three movies were being aired in a row. I don’t care for the third movie, but I love The Godfather and The Godfather II and ended up watching the first movie once again (a couple of glasses of wine kept me from watching the second one). :)

Another thing I find almost impossible to do is to resist the urge to bake lemon cakes: as much as I try to vary – and sometimes I succeed, you know that – I always bookmark the lemon cakes in the cookbooks I buy, and this beauty was no exception: there are tons of wonderful recipes there and the first recipe I tried from it was a recipe for cookies, but after those I could not wait to take the lemony route, and here it is.

I used buckwheat flour instead of all purpose flour and loved the result – it’s not a very tall cake (mine turned out just as the one on the photo of the book) but it’s packed with flavor (and gluten free).

Almond, lemon and buckwheat tea cake
slightly adapted from the oh, so beautiful The Baking Collection (The Australian Women's Weekly)

½ cup (100g) granulated sugar
finely grated zest of 1 large lemon
125g unsalted butter, softened
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
¼ cup (35g) buckwheat flour
pinch of salt
¼ teaspoon baking powder
120g ground almonds
2 tablespoons whole milk, room temperature
2 tablespoons flaked almonds
2 tablespoons pine nuts

Preheat the oven to 180°/350°F. Lightly butter a 5-cup loaf pan, line it with baking paper and butter the paper as well.
In a large bowl, rub sugar and zest together until fragrant. Add butter and using an electric mixer beat the ingredients together light and creamy. Add the three eggs and the vanilla, then beat until incorporated – scrape the sides of the bowl occasionally. Sift the buckwheat flour, salt and baking powder over the mixture, add the almond meal and milk and stir to combine. Transfer the batter to the prepared pan, smooth the top and sprinkle with the almonds and pine nuts.
Bake for 30-35 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 onto the rack. Cool completely, then peel off the paper.

Serves 6-8

Baked fish with salsa verde and potatoes - the oven as an ally

Despite my love for fish I don’t eat it as often as I should or would like to, which is such a shame – if my mom was around she would certainly be mad at me for that. When we were little she made sure we ate fish at least once a week – mom was a health nut, over thirty years before that became fashionable. :D

My favorite way of eating fish as a kid was rolled in corn flour (very fine cornmeal, not corn starch) then deep fried – the thought of it makes me drool already. Crispy on the outside and tender on the inside, it was probably my favorite meal when it was served with a simple tomato salad (with loads of lime juice) and fluffy rice – very simple, yet delicious, especially when cooked by mom. <3

These days, however, I rarely deep fry anything: besides the health issues, I live in a small apartment and I don’t want every piece of fabric in my house (or my hair, for that matter) smelling like fried food. :P Therefore, the oven is always a good ally – I don’t use it for sweet things only, you know. :D


This recipe is really, really simple: fish fillets baked in a bed of potatoes. Nothing much, you might think. I thought so, too, until I tasted the salsa verde: I’d never tried that sauce before and my goodness, it is delicious –it transformed the simple dish into something special and very flavorsome.


I hope you give this recipe a go – if tasty and healthy don’t convince you, this is also quick and easy to put together. :D


Baked fish with salsa verde and potatoes
slightly adapted from the always fabulous Delicious Australia

300g small waxy potatoes, thinly sliced (a mandoline is ideal)
1 lemon, thinly sliced
handful fresh oregano leaves
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
salt and freshly ground black pepper
4 x 120g firm white fish fillets – I used flounder

Salsa verde:
1 small garlic clove
½ cup flat-leaf parsley leaves
½ cup basil leaves
2 tablespoons capers, rinsed, drained
finely grated zest of 1 lemon¼ cup (60ml) extra-virgin olive oil
salt and freshly ground black pepper

Preheat the oven to 200°C/400°C. Toss potato, lemon slices and oregano with the oil, season with salt and pepper and spread in a lightly oiled 20x30cm (8x12in) baking pan, in a single layer. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until potatoes start to golden.
Meanwhile, to make salsa verde, whiz garlic, parsley, basil, capers and lemon zest in a food processor until finely chopped. With the motor running, slowly add the olive oil and process until mixture is a drizzling consistency. Transfer to a small bowl, season with salt and pepper and set aside.
Remove roasting pan from oven and place the fish on top and season the fillets with salt and pepper. placing a lemon slice from the pan on top of each fillet. Return to the oven for a further 8 minutes or until the fish is cooked through.
Serve drizzled with salsa verde.

Serves 2