Another Chocolate Cake Recipe - Always for the Win

Another chocolate cake recipe in less than one month? It seems so...Blame the cold weather of the last week and the early mornings, when I am looking for a companion for my strong Turkish coffee. As I also started to clean up the kitchen of the things that are usually forbidden during the Pesach holidays - coming up in less than one month in a chametz-clean kitchen near you, I decided to finally use some of the things that were in my pantry for a longer time. Add a pinch of creativity and this delicious chocolate cake was born, that even my big one, usually very critical towards everything I do - teenage years may last longer than expected - noticed that it is really something special.

Ingredients

2/3 cup grated almonds

1/2 cup grated coconut

1 1/3 cup white flour

7 gr. baking powder

1/2 cup brown sugar

3/4 cup brown cocoa dissolved in warm water

2 tablespoons honey

50 pistachio grated, for the decoration

Directions

Heat the oven at 250C, at least 10 minutes before starting the baking. Smear vegetable margarine on the oan before adding the ingredients.

In a bowl, add the ingredients, one by one, and mix well after each of it and bring it to bake in the oven.

Ten minutes into the oven, add the pistachio. Another idea would be to add the pistachio directly to the ingredients, which make it into a nice crunchy interior. 

Preparation time: 10 minutes

Baking time: 45 minutes

To be served with a warm cuppa or a hot chocolate or coffee. Even after three days, the interior was moist, because I kept the cake outside, at the room temperature, instead of storing it in the fridge. It serves around 25 moderate sizes of delicious pieces of cake. 

Bon Appétit!

Spicy Cookies for a Healthy Start into the Day

I've started to experiment lately with turmeric, either as the classical 'golden milk' or in savory recipes, as a coating for the fish. One of those mornings, I had another genius ideas - thank you baby D. for waking me up at 6.30: why not create my own turmeric cookies. However, I had to find also a balance for the strong taste of this spice, therefore, I matched it with cinnamon and some freshly grated ginger too. The results were very easy going, delicious and a good companion for the lunch box or any other short trip snacks. It can be done easy and baked within one hour. What can you expect more from a cookie?

Ingredients

700 gr. white flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

200 gr. white sugar - brown sugar is also a good option

1 tablespoon turmeric

1 tablespoon cinnamon

125 ml. sunflower oil

4 medium-sized eggs, beaten

1 tablespoon fresh grated ginger

Directions

Heat the oven at 250C, at least 10 minutes before starting the baking. Add a parchment paper on a big tray. 

Add the dry ingredients one by one and mix well. Especially when you are dealing with spices, it is very important to do some extra mixing as it is important to have them spread properly. Add the eggs, the oil and the ginger. As usually when I want a smooth dough, I add some warm water and mix again for another couple of minutes. 

Split the dough into medium-sized portions and let it bake for around 15 minutes each batch.

Preparation time: 15 minutes

Baking time: 45 minutes

Make it into around 20 big spicy cookies

Bon Appétit!

Delicious Ricotta Cheese Quiche with Tomatoes and Basilicum

I love quiches, especially during the winter, and as an easy meal to kill some short days when I am not too in the mood for cooking. Although I know that it is easy to make and hard to finish, I do not credit myself too often for such a culinary adventure, not because I might have some unpleasant cooking failures memories, but simply because baking requires on my side a lot of attention and focus which I am not always have in excess - especially when the baby chooses to roam around the kitchen exactly in the moment when I am about to prepare some complicated recipe.

A couple of weeks ago, I had a look at a German cooking book - Biergarten Cookbook, by Julia Skowronek - dealing with the usual food served in the famous local beer garten. Most of the recipes were not my cup of tea, but the ricotta cheese quiche with tomaotes and basilicum rang a bell home and decided to try my hand to something new.

The following recipe is a slight adaptation from the book. 
Ingredients
1 ready made Filo pastry
250 gr. ricotta cheese
200 gr. sour cream
4 eggs, medium size
1 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon olive oil
5 shallots, finelly chopped
20 cherry tomatoes, halved
100 gr. Pecorino hard cheese
12 fresh Basilicum leaves
I used a 50cm. diameter baking pan.

 Directions
Heat the oven at 250C, at least 15 minutes before baking.
Add the ricotta, sour cream, eggs, shallots and mix well. Continue to add the salt, pepper, olive oil and mix until creamy.

Set the pastry in the pan and pour the cheesy content. Add the tomatoes and the leaves, and spread the hard cheese on the top. You can also add the basilicum when the quiche is ready to keep the leaves fresh, but I loved how the taste of basilicum infuses the mix of ingredients. You can leave to rest before putting to the oven for a couple of minutes - 5 to maximum 10.

Preparation time: 15 minutes

Baking time: 45-50 minutes

Serves: 7

Bon Appétit!

My perfect pizza calzone

Hungry and with a lot of creative ideas about how to mix some ingredients? Coping with an overload fridge with a lot of stuff you have no idea how to match? This calzone recipe - I wanted first to call it a pizza, but I spontaneously decided to fold the entire composition in two - can be the answer for a cold winter day.

I used for my calzone a lot of ingredients, but the most important is the dough. From the REWE store I bought a Tante Fanny pizza dough - both vegan and veggie -, which is very flexible, tasty and crunchy after staying in the oven. While preparing the dough, I warmed the oven at 350C for around 10 minutes. I spread the dough in its full beauty on the table and started to add the ingredients:

350 ml. tomato sauce basis pomodoro Italiano - Barilla Basilico

3 hard boiled medium size eggs, cut into little piece

2 slides of butter cheese, finelly cut
150 gr. Parmesan cheese
150 gr. canned mushrooms
150 gr. green peas
200 gr. canned corn
2 scallions finelly chopped
1 pinch of salt
1 teaspoon of black pepper

Fold it carefully and seal the ends, in order to be sure that the - too many - ingredients - are not spilling out. I spread a pinch or two of parmesan cheese one more time on new shape, plus by hand, spread olive oil.

The preparation time takes around 10-15 minutes. It is important to spread the ingredients on the entire surface of the dough. You can eventually reduce some of the ingredients, for instance some of the cheese. Butter can be also a good match. Tuna or slices of salmon are equally a good choice for the fish lovers. If you are interested in the meaty - kosher version - just eliminate all the cheese and spread some pre-cooked minced meat.

The baking takes around 20 minutes. If you want it more crunchy, you can keep it for another 5 minutes. To be served warm. It serves at least 5 hungry mouths. 

Bon Appetit!

Cheese puff pastry in the morning

Germany doesn't have a tradition of salty puff pastry, and once in a while I miss having some oily pastry with rich white or yellow cheese. Although I still fight hard with what I call my 'baking inferiority complex' - meaning that I simply don't trust my baking skills, I am trying to overcome this issue. Sometimes, my hunger for something crunchy and salty in the morning is strong enough to win me over all my issue. A couple of days ago, I tried my hand in preparing some cheese puff pastry as early as 7 o'clock in the morning. It was not only easy, but with 90% successful results. The time spent preparing was of maximum 20 minutes, with a minimum money investment and delicious results.

For a batch of 10 puff pastry I needed one ready made puff pastry - the German supermarkets like REWE do have plenty of them and very good quality too, sometimes for less than 2 EUR. For the filling, I used Philadelphia olive cheese, but you can practically use any possible variant of cheese, from Gouda to Parmesan or goat cheese (yum). For beautiful effects and in the memory of the golden Middle Eastern burekas, I also needed some white sesame seeds to sprinkle on the cover. One teaspoon of olive oil for the cover is also recommended for an amplified golden cover impression.

Cut the dough in various shapes: square, triangle etc. Add the cheese filling in thee middle and roll the dough or close it over it. 

Warm the oven at 250C and place each figure of puff pastry on a parchment paper. Let it bake for around 15 minutes.

The breakfast is ready! The smell of fresh dough is wrapping the house and makes the early mornings more bearable. After all, playing with puff pastry is not that difficult.

Bon Appetit!