Baked carbonara

I’m a walking contradiction. Although I don’t eat red meat and can’t stand pork, I love bacon... :D

I’d been meaning to prepare this recipe for quite some time but João (my husband) doesn’t like cream so I always decided to prepare pasta with other types of sauce.

That day I decided to give it a try. After cooking the pasta, I prepared some for him with different ingredients and made the recipe with the remaining pasta. I loved it!

A simple, delicious and quick to put together dish that I’ll be certainly making again.

Baked carbonara

from

400g ziti or fettuccine – I used Barilla's Maccheronci
4 rashers of bacon, chopped
4 eggs
500ml cream
375ml milk - I used low fat
50g grated parmesan cheese
salt

Cook the pasta until al dente; drain.
Cook the bacon until crisp – I always use the microwave oven for this ‘cause the bacon gets crispier this way.
Whisk together the eggs, cream, milk, parmesan and salt.
Place the pasta in a 2 liter capacity ovenproof dish and top with the bacon and the egg mixture.

Bake in a pre-heated oven (180ºC) for 30 minutes or until set – my pasta needed 35 minutes in a 200ºC oven.

Serves 4.

Cherry chocolate truffles

There’s only one word good enough to describe these truffles: perfect!!!
The amounts of cream and chocolate are exact and you’ll get a firm mixture, great to be molded.

Haalo, from Cook (almost) anything at least once – stop whatever you’re doing and go check her blog now – made these truffles using poached cherries. She even teaches us how to poach cherries.
Unfortunately, I wouldn’t have time to do that so I used glacé cherries instead and even though the result was very good I’m still curious and I’ll make them with poached cherries too.
I couldn’t find the beautiful edible glitters she used to dust her truffles, so I had to improvise: I added edible golden powder (which is thinner than glitter) to cocoa powder and used it to coat my truffles – I thought they would look very Christmassy.

I liked these truffles so much that I already have other delicious filling ideas in mind, yum…

Haalo, thanks for sharing such a wonderful recipe with us!

Cherry chocolate truffles

12 poached cherries, drained – I used glacé cherries

White chocolate ganache:
40g white chocolate, chopped
15ml cream

Dark chocolate ganache:
150g dark chocolate, chopped - I used semisweet Callebaut that is made in Brazil with Belgian cocoa mass
60ml cream

edible red glitter and gold glitter, for dusting

Place the chocolate and cream into a small pan and over a low heat, keep stirring until chocolate has melted and the mixture is smooth and silky. Pour into a small bowl and allow to cool before storing in the fridge to harden.
For the dark ganache, proceed the same way as above.

Take small amounts of white ganache and roll into small cylinder shapes. Place this inside the cherries where you'd normally find their stones. Store in the fridge until ready to proceed to the next stage.
Take tablespoons of the dark chocolate ganache and roll between your palms to soften slightly, then flatten it out to form a circle. Encase the cherries inside this ganache circle - roll it around your palms to form an invisible seal. You may want/need to use gloves for this stage as the chocolate is quite sensitive to heat.
Place this on lined tray while you continue with the remaining cherries. Store them in the fridge to harden slightly.

Take two bowls and sprinkle some edible red glitter and edible gold glitter into each. Coat each truffle in the red before giving it a brief coating in the gold. When finished, place in the fridge until ready to serve (mine didn’t stay in the fridge).

Truffles ready to be delivered:

Makes 12 truffles

Snickerdoodles

I sent these snickerdoodles with the chocottones, as part of the same gift. You'll think I'm shallow but when I saw these cookies' name I knew I had to bake them!
Reading the recipe I found out that the dough had to be rolled in sugar and cinnamon before going to the oven - perfect for me, a cinnamon lover.

Full of flavor and quick to prepare - you just make balls of dough, roll them in the cinnamon mixture and bake them. People who are used to making "brigadeiros" (a very traditional type of candy here in Brazil) will make these cookies with their eyes closed.

Snickerdoodles

Dough:
2 3/4 cups (385g) all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups (300g) sugar
1 cup (226g) butter, softened
2 eggs
2 teaspoons cream of tartar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon salt

Cinnamon mixture:
3 tablespoons sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

Heat oven to 205ºC (400°F). Combine all dough ingredients in large bowl. Beat at low speed, scraping bowl often, until well mixed.
Stir together 3 tablespoons sugar and cinnamon in small bowl.
Shape rounded teaspoonfuls of dough into 2.5cm (1-inch) balls; roll in sugar mixture.
Place 5cm (2 inches) apart from each other - the cookies spread a lot - onto lined cookie sheets.
Bake for 8 to 10 minutes or until edges are lightly browned (the center will be a little soft)
Leave them in the sheets until they're cold.

Makes 55-60 cookies

Vanilla sable biscuit

I wanted a good cookie recipe to make for Christmas gifts. I read so many recipes, searched so many websites... I even sent Valentina and Cinara e-mails asking for help. I needed cookies that would stay crunchy longer - and that would also look cute.
I found this recipe - in case you don't know this blog, you should go there now. It's full of good recipes and beautiful photographs.
Jenjen filled her cookies with ganache, but I skipped this part to get fresh cookies for more days. I will certainly try it, though.

I was very happy with the result: they were buttery and delicious, without being overpowering. The recipe didn't call for it, but I used real vanilla extract - a lovely gift from a lovely friend - and the wonderful perfume was all over my kitchen.

Vanilla sable biscuit

450g plain all purpose flour
50g cornflour or cornstarch
400g butter, diced and at room temperature
200g confectioner’s (icing) sugar
4 egg yolks
Pinch of salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract - optional

Before baking the cookies, preheat oven to 160°C. Prepare a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
Sift the flour and cornflour into a mixing bowl. Make a well in the centre of the flour mixture and add the butter and sugar.
Work together with your fingertips until no hard lumps remain.
Add the egg yolks, (the vanilla, if using) and salt, drawing in the flour. Work until the dough resembles coarse breadcrumbs. Do not over work the dough.
Roll the pastry into a log and refrigerate for two hours.
Remove from fridge and carefully roll the dough out to a thickness of about 6mm. Cut out desired shapes using a cookie cutter.
Place on lined baking tray and bake for 10-12 minutes, or until just golden on the edges.

Makes 85-90 cookies (my cookie cutter is 5cm)

Chocottone

I wanted to make a gift for a friend who has 3 children. So I decided to bake a big chocottone and 3 mini-chocottones, all of them decorated with rolled fondant.

Chocottone is a panettone that has chocolate chips instead of glacéed fruits. I love it. But my dear friend Valentina says that "chocottone" is a word that makes her laugh... :D

I used cellophane bags, because the minicake boxes I had at home weren't the right size... If you decide to do it, too, wrap and deliver them right away - the heat inside the bags will make the fondant melt and your pretty decoration won't last...

I took a class about chocolate once (sponsored by a big chocolate company) and got the recipe there. If you want more recipes with chocolate, visit this site.

Chocottone

Sponge:
60g fresh yeast, crumbled
3 tablespoons sugar
200ml lukewarm milk
2 eggs
240g all purpose flour

Dough:
150g butter, softened
80g sugar
4 egg yolks
1 egg
3 tablespoons honey
4 tablespoons oil
1/2 teaspoon spices (cinnamon + nutmeg)
2 tablespoons rum - I used 1 tablespoon brandy
500g all purpose flour
300g semisweet chocolate chips

Make the sponge: in a large bowl, mixture yeast and sugar, then add milk, eggs and flour. Cover with plastic and let it rise for 30 minutes.

Beat butter, sugar, egg yolks, egg, honey, oil, spices and rum until you get a dense cream. Add this mixture to the sponge and gradually add the flour. Knead until dough becomes uniform - mine was very sticky, so I added 50g flour.
Cover with plastic and let it rise again for 30 minutes.

Roll the dough on a floured surface and sprinkle the chocolate chips. Roll it, divide it into 3 equal parts, form balls and place each one of them in paper panettone molds. Let it rise for 10 minutes - mine rose for 30, since I was making cookie dough and couldn't take my hands off it. :D

Bake in a pre-heated oven (180ºC) for 40 minutes or until golden brown.
When the chocottones are cool, wrap well in plastic wrap, then in parchment or tissue paper.
Store at room temperature.

Makes 3 500g chocottones - I got 2 550g chocottones + 6 110g mini-chocottones