The heat has struck again here and guess what I decided to do this afternoon? Remove all the weed from the garden! Really a fabulous idea when the temperatures are soaring way above 30 (can’t really tell exact numbers… I don’t have a termometer in the garden) but at least it’s starting to look like a garden again. It’s weird really, that no matter how dry it is, weed always seems to survive, while the regular plants, the ones you really want to survive struggle! When we came back from Italy our private jungle was a little too realistic… It’s cut down a bit and hopefully it stays down as we’re having a gardenparty next week and I would hate to start all over again. O well, I am really not complaining (oo, did you think that was what I was doing??) as it is finally summer!!

Mango icecream in cookie cup

So obviously after the delicious Strawberry icecream I had to make another flavor and this time I wanted to make a cream-based icecream instead of yogurt based. We have friends coming over tonight and upon asking my friend what flavor of icecream she would like, she instantly called out ‘ mango!! ‘ Now you have to know that we do have mango’s here but in general the ones you can find in the supermarket are really terrible mango’s. Unripe when you buy them and tasteless once they are ripe. Not sure where they get them from but it sure ain’t a good source. But I was lucky this time as I found some really good  looking very ripe mango’s that I had to transport very very carefully as they do bruise easily in this state. I bought four of them and needed only two for the icecream, so guess where the other two went… They were gone before you know it. Now eating a mango is not something you want to do in public, at least I don’t want to do it in public, as it gets incredibly messy. I have not mastered the art of eating a mango and keeping my clothes clean at the same time. Any tips or hints are welcome here (and I have tried most of them so you have to be original!)

Making the icecream was ridiculously easy. I’ll give you the recipe below but you can almost not call it a recipe as it is so simple to make. I do think I am ready for more difficult types of icecream now, as I have not made any containing eggyolks, which is apparently quite normal. I need to make icecream based on creme anglaise, sorbeticecream, semifreddo (but I understand you do not necessarily need an icecreammaker for that) and ooo, the flavor options are just endless!

I gotta think a while what I will be making next, so stay tuned and in the meantime enjoy this lovely icecream! I would like this particular recipe with a little more tang to it. I would have added more lemonjuice but the friend that is coming tonight dislikes lemon so I left it out, but had it been for me I would have added maybe a little zest and some extra lemonjuice. I think that would work really well with this mango taste.

MANGO ICECREAM

500 gr mango, cut into chunks

100 gr sugar

300 ml of double cream or whipping cream (I used whipping cream)

tbsp on lemon juice

splash of wodka

Put the mango chunks in a blender and blend until smooth. If you don’t own a blender I am sure this will work equally well in a magimix or similar machine or handblender.

Once pureed, add the sugar and cream and mix the lot together until smooth. I did this by hand as I was a little afraid that the blender would start whipping the cream into another consistency, but maybe that doesn’t happen. I don’t know.

Add the lemon juice and wodka and cool in the fridge for at least an hour.

Once cool; put in your icecreammaker according to the instructions of the manufacturer. Mine took about 25 minutes to finish.

Check out more mango recipes via the below link to Foodista!

Mango

Strawberry yogurt icecream

Some of you might actually remember that I got an icecream machine for my birthday in february…. And finally, finally I have made my first icecream!! Why so long you wonder? Well, the thing was that our regular freezer has drawers and the icecream bucket or however you call it needs to sit in the freezer for 10 hours prior to use. So I could not put it in the freezer… But this weekend we finally bought a little extra freezer. One of the kinds that loads from above so plenty of space to put thing upright plus we now have extra freezer space. It was a constant battle between Tom wanting to put in fishfood (….) and me wanting to put in normal food. He sort of confiscated the bottom drawer, but that is a lot of space in a small freezer! But finally…. the problem is solved and I can make icecream!!!! I have to confess that I wasn’t really aware when I got it that you have selffreezing machines and non-self freezing machines but this one works absolutely fine. And now that we have the space to keep it in the freezer permanently; no issue whatsoever (until we run out of freezer space again that is..). It’s a Magimix something; if you want to know the exact type I will look it up.

Strawberry icecream

I chose a simple recipe to start with as I have never made icecream before and well, I figured it made sense to get familiair with the process first before diving in head first (which – admittedly – is what I normally do..lol) I got the recipe from David Lebovitz blog, which is a great source of information for making icecream. And I am definitely going to order his book  as that has tons more recipes in there and I’ve already heard many good things about it.

I picked a yogurt based recipe as I figured that would be a little lighter then cream based and it was..

It was a breeze to make and when tasting the final result I already new it would be delicious. And it was. After about 25 minutes in the icemachine (I forgot to time it, so I just checked if it was ok after having chatted to the neighbour for an x-amount of time, so I am not sure if it really was 25 minutes but it’s something like that) I took it out and both Tom and I had a little bowl of the icecream. The rest I put in the freezer to photograph today.

I loved, loved, loved the taste of this icecream; it was not so heavy due to the yogurt but the overall smell and taste of the strawberries was fabulous. I now seriously wonder what on earth they put in commercial icecream as I bet it is certainly not the amount of strawberries that I used. You can find the recipe for this icecream on David’s site, so I am going to point you there to check it out.

I have a friend coming over on thursday and I already promised to make her icecream as well. She loves cream so that will be a creamy version, just have to figure out which flavor I will be adding and how I can make it extra creamy. We have a very famous baker in Amsterdam who makes icecream that is partially whipped cream. I mean; when you eat it, sometimes you only have a bite of whipped cream instead of icecream so it is very very creamy. Too much so for me, as it is literally an entire meal but I would like to recreate a similar effect but maybe with less cream. So if anyone has any suggestions please let me know!

Savoury blintzes

Remember how we started our pancake adventure around the world with these poffertjes? Then we moved on to Aebleskiver and blini and now it is the turn of Blintzes. The funny thing is that when I looked it up on Wikipedia it actually tells me… that it is the same as blini! But when I type in recipe for blintzes in Dutch, I am being told that they are really Jewish and not Russian. I am a bit confused so if anyone can shed some light on this I’d be grateful! I think we should definitely go with Jewish; I think someone on wikipedia is confused!

There are so many pancake varieties out there and if we are talking about a pancake of your native country, please let me know if it is not authentic or in any way wrong according to your culture. I would love to know as the internet is not always the best source of information! In our quest do bake the pancakes of the world I am joined by Nurit from 1familyfriendlyfood and Trissa from Trissalicious. Check out their posts on the subject rom Nurit here and from Trissa here. And if you haven’t checked out their blogs yet, you should really do so as both ladies are extremely funny, great writers and take beautiful photos too! What are you waiting for??

Blintzes with strawberries and cream

Let me first start by apologizing for the somewhat blobby blob of cream on top of that little pancake over there. You know how you’re in a hurry, you’re hungry, the man is hungry and the last thing he or I want is to spend time taking a photo. But you have to or otherwise there will be no blogpost and the agreement was to make a blogpost, so that is what needs to happen. You need to take a photo, so here I am making the blintzes, cleaning the strawberries, whipping the cream and putting it all on a plate. Take a spoon, grab some cream and blob it onto your blintzes… Obviously it wasn’t supposed to be this much or this formless a shape, but I eh… didn’t pay attention..

And no, we did not eat this as dessert, but we ate it as our main course, hence the impatience…

So over to the blintzes; to be entirely honest they tasted just like any other regular pancake we always make. So for me this recipe has really no added value. It’s just the same with the exception being that we normally don’t add vanilla so that was noticeable but other then that it was a tasty pancake. Nothing more nothing less. I gotta do some more research and maybe even make another batch of savoury blintzes this time as I am convinced they must be different.

So I will do some more research and maybe even manage to do that before the 10th (which is our official posting day) and I might even be able to make another batch and take some proper photographs this time. If so… you will see more below!

UPDATE!

I did end up making a savoury version of the blintze tonight for dinner. And it was lovely; still no different from a Dutch pancake but lovely nontheless, so who cares where it comes from or if it tastes different from Dutch! It was good. So was the sweet version by the way; I mean strawberries and cream make just about anything taste good right?

For the savoury version I left out the sugar and the vanilla of the recipe you can find below (Thanks to Nurit for providing the recipe) and I made a couple of versions for the filling, basically using what I had leftover in my fridge. Which makes this really a good recipe to make if you have lots of leftovers. I had some ground meat, some bacon, some peppers, some spring onions, chorizo and some ham. O and we added mushrooms into the mix too. Seasoned it with various herbs (dried), some salt and pepper (not a lot as the chorizo and bacon already made it salty enough) and I added a big tablespoon of philadelphia cheese in there to bring it all together. Even Tom – cheesehater – liked it and didn’t think it was too “cheesy” or creamy.

I spread one of the pancakes  with pesto, but while it was good; it started to be too overpowering. Maybe I should have added pesto into the mix with the veggies and meat. That would probably have been better. And no, it is storebought pesto (I bow in shame) but I didn’t feel like making pesto also and this is a fairly good substitute for the real thing… (Bertolli pesto genovese)

The pancakes/blintzes I made are fairly pale; I tend to get too impatient and I like mine not too browned, so I always struggle in finding a balance between the two. But they were tasty despite the lack of a bit of color..

Blintze spread with pesto

If you want to give these a go then here is the recipe:

BLINTZES (makes about 10, but it depends on how thick you bake them!)

For the batter:

2 eggs

1 1/2 cups milk

2 tablespoons oil

1 cup flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 teaspoons sugar

Butter, for frying

Mix all the ingredients together to make the batter and start baking them! Make them thin, much thinner and bigger as your average american pancake, but if you’re dutch; they are the same as a regular crepe… You need them to be the same thickness.

For filling the choices are really endless. For sweet fillings you can use strawberries & cream or pineapple or banana or mango or… well, I guess you get the point; anything will go in there and taste good.

For savoury the same applies, but if you want to know what I used then these are the ingredients I put in my savoury ones. I didn’t check qty’s or weights so just throw in until it tastes good…

Red pepper, cut into small cubes

Springonion, cut finely

Bacon, small strips

Mushrooms, cut into slices

Ham, cut into small strips

Chorizo, cut into small bits

Ground beef

Philadelphia creamcheese with chives, about 1-2 tablespoons

Season with salt, pepper or any other herbs you think would fit well with your filling. And then just enjoy them. If you would like to know how many you would typically eat per person; I found two more then enough, but if you’re a big eater maybe three. And…. any leftover blintzes you can transform into a dessert! Now how’s that for efficiency?

What is it with me and the Daring Bakers…? I forget one completely (but manage to make it a day late) and now I just did not have the time to make this lovely Orange Tian on time. Ofcourse it is not so much the fact that I do not have time, but maybe I can use a little more structure in the time management of my day! I tend to wake up, get Tom out the door and then I go behind the computer only to find out hours later, that it is already hours later and I still need to shower and do all sorts of stuff. I then end up having to do everything by the end of the day instead of doing it early in the morning and getting things done before going behind the screen. It’s a real time killer this is… Before you know it you been sitting behind the computer for four hours and time has flown away. I really need to chance that… Not that I am making any good progress this morning as it is 8 am and guess where I am? But… I have vowed to myself, I will finish this post, then I will take a shower and first go grocery shopping for the week. I have someone coming over to look at the painting of the house which needs to be redone and in the afternoon I have a photoshoot for Asics for which I need to drive to Hoofddorp first, pick up my model and then go to the studio. So all in all, I really DO need to do the other things before 11 am really… Mmm, better get on it with it then:

The 2010 March Daring Baker’s challenge was hosted by Jennifer of Chocolate Shavings. She chose Orange Tian as the challenge for this month, a dessert based on a recipe from Alain Ducasse’s Cooking School in Paris.

So what did I think of this challenge? Well for one it was rather straightforward and making the various different parts was a breeze. I loved making the marmalade; great taste too although maybe a tiny bit too sweet for my taste, but that could easily be adjusted. As you can probably see from the photos the pate sablee cookies that I made were slightly too big, which I am guessing is probably due to the fact that I added baking soda by mistake instead of baking powder and then I figured I might as well add some baking powder as well. I am not sure but I guess that might have been the cause for the slight expansion of the bottoms. Regardless of that I managed to either squeeze them in the forms (by scraping off the sides of the cookies until they fit into the form) or just put them on top. I had quite a generous amount of marmelade on the bottom I think but that worked out quite well…

The only thing I did not put on the tian was the caramel sauce. I did make it, but it took forever to thicken and quite frankly I am not a huge fan of caramel so I chose to not put it on top of the dessert. I added some lime zest into the whipped cream and I would definitely add different flavors for next time if I make this again (and I don’t see why not) but overall this really was a huge succes.

I am glad I ended up still making it. I was seeing so many gorgeous examples of the April challenge around the web that I just could not resist making this when I had a little bit more time over Easter. So here you have it; better late then never, right?

So now for all those that would  like to recreate this dish; here is the recipe!

For the Pate Sablee:

Ingredients U.S. Imperial Metric Instructions for Ingredients
2 medium-sized egg yolks at room temperature
granulated sugar 6 tablespoons + 1 teaspoon; 2.8 oz; 80 grams
vanilla extract ½ teaspoon
Unsalted butter ¼ cup + 3 tablespoons; 3.5 oz; 100 grams ice cold, cubed
Salt 1/3 teaspoon; 2 grams
All-purpose flour 1.5 cup + 2 tablespoons; 7 oz; 200 grams
baking powder 1 teaspoon ; 4 grams

Directions:
Put the flour, baking powder, ice cold cubed butter and salt in a food processor fitted with a steel blade.

In a separate bowl, add the eggs yolks, vanilla extract and sugar and beat with a whisk until the mixture is pale. Pour the egg mixture in the food processor.

Process until the dough just comes together. If you find that the dough is still a little too crumbly to come together, add a couple drops of water and process again to form a homogenous ball of dough. Form into a disc, cover with plastic wrap and leave to rest in the fridge for 30 minutes.
Preheat your oven to 350 degree Fahrenheit.

Roll out the dough onto a lightly floured surface until you obtain a ¼ inch thick circle.

Using your cookie cutter, cut out circles of dough and place on a parchment (or silicone) lined baking sheet. Bake for 20 minutes or until the circles of dough are just golden.

For the Marmalade:

Ingredients U.S. Imperial Metric Instructions for Ingredients
Freshly pressed orange juice ¼ cup + 3 tablespoons; 3.5 oz; 100 grams
1 large orange used to make orange slices
cold water to cook the orange slices
pectin 5 grams
granulated sugar: use the same weight as the weight of orange slices once they are cooked

Finely slice the orange. Place the orange slices in a medium-sized pot filled with cold water. Simmer for about 10 minutes, discard the water, re-fill with cold water and blanch the oranges for another 10 minutes.

Blanch the orange slices 3 times. This process removes the bitterness from the orange peel, so it is essential to use a new batch of cold water every time when you blanch the slices.

Once blanched 3 times, drain the slices and let them cool.

Once they are cool enough to handle, finely mince them (using a knife or a food processor).

Weigh the slices and use the same amount of granulated sugar . If you don’t have a scale, you can place the slices in a cup measurer and use the same amount of sugar.

In a pot over medium heat, add the minced orange slices, the sugar you just weighed, the orange juice and the pectin. Cook until the mixture reaches a jam consistency (10-15 minutes).

Transfer to a bowl, cover with plastic wrap and put in the fridge.

For the Orange Segments:

For this step you will need 8 oranges.

Cut the oranges into segments over a shallow bowl and make sure to keep the juice. Add the segments to the bowl with the juice.

For the Caramel:

Ingredients U.S. Metric Imperial Instructions for Ingredients
granulated sugar 1 cup; 7 oz; 200 grams
orange juice 1.5 cups + 2 tablespoons; 14 oz; 400 grams

Place the sugar in a pan on medium heat and begin heating it.

Once the sugar starts to bubble and foam, slowly add the orange juice. As soon as the mixture starts boiling, remove from the heat and pour half of the mixture over the orange segments.

Reserve the other half of the caramel mixture in a small bowl — you will use this later to spoon over the finished dessert. When the dessert is assembled and setting in the freezer, heat the kept caramel sauce in a small saucepan over low heat until it thickens and just coats the back of a spoon (about 10 minutes). You can then spoon it over the orange tians.

[Tip: Be very careful when making the caramel — if you have never made caramel before, I would suggest making this step while you don’t have to worry about anything else. Bubbling sugar is extremely, extremely hot, so make sure you have a bowl of ice cold water in the kitchen in case anyone gets burnt!]

For the Whipped Cream:

Ingredients U.S. Metric Imperial Instructions for Ingredients
heavy whipping cream 1 cup; 7 oz; 200 grams
3 tablespoons of hot water
1 tsp Gelatine
1 tablespoon of confectioner’s sugar
orange marmalade (see recipe above) 1 tablespoon

In a small bowl, add the gelatine and hot water, stirring well until the gelatine dissolves. Let the gelatine cool to room temperature while you make the whipped cream. Combine the cream in a chilled mixing bowl. Whip the cream using a hand mixer on low speed until the cream starts to thicken for about one minute. Add the confectioner sugar. Increase the speed to medium-high. Whip the cream until the beaters leave visible (but not lasting) trails in the cream, then add the cooled gelatine slowly while beating continuously. Continue whipping until the cream is light and fluffy and forms soft peaks. Transfer the whipped cream to a bowl and fold in the orange marmalade.
[Tip: Use an ice cold bowl to make the whipped cream in. You can do this by putting your mixing bowl, cream and beater in the fridge for 20 minutes prior to whipping the cream.]

Assembling the Dessert:

Make sure you have some room in your freezer. Ideally, you should be able to fit a small baking sheet or tray of desserts to set in the freezer.

Line a small tray or baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone sheet. Lay out 6 cookie cutters onto the parchment paper/silicone.

Drain the orange segments on a kitchen towel.

Have the marmalade, whipped cream and baked circles of dough ready to use.

Arrange the orange segments at the bottom of each cookie cutter. Make sure the segments all touch either and that there are no gaps. Make sure they fit snuggly and look pretty as they will end up being the top of the dessert. Arrange them as you would sliced apples when making an apple tart.

Once you have neatly arranged one layer of orange segments at the bottom of each cookie cutter, add a couple spoonfuls of whipped cream and gently spread it so that it fills the cookie cutter in an even layer. Leave about 1/4 inch at the top so there is room for dough circle.

Using a butter knife or small spoon, spread a small even layer of orange marmalade on each circle of dough.

Carefully place a circle of dough over each ring (the side of dough covered in marmalade should be the side touching the whipping cream). Gently press on the circle of dough to make sure the dessert is compact.

Place the desserts to set in the freezer to set for 10 minutes.

Using a small knife, gently go around the edges of the cookie cutter to make sure the dessert will be easy to unmold. Gently place your serving plate on top of a dessert (on top of the circle of dough) and turn the plate over. Gently remove the cookie cutter, add a spoonful of caramel sauce and serve immediately.

Yummy creaminess

Blinis

I am not sure how it is in your part of the world but at the moment here it is terrible weather. It seems that the short burst of spring kind of disappeared for a while. Too bad as I was so looking forward to have a long weekend during Easter with lots of sunshine and some spare time to work in the garden. It’s been a while that I had the luxury of three whole days of nothing planned, so better weather would have been nice. O well, on the plus side; it will be perfect for long sleep-inn’s in the morning, leisurely breakfast and some reading or watching movies. Ooo, that doesn’t sound too bad either, now does it. Gardening centers are traditionally completely packed for easter, which is weird if you think about it, but that seems to be the national day in which the entire nation decides to start working on the garden again! If the sun is shining I guess I would be no different. I do not like to work in the garden when it is raining though, so all the weeds will have to wait a little bit before being removed. I am sure they will not mind!

So enough about the weather now! For lunch today I finally, finally made the blinis that were on the menu for a while now. Just hadn’t gotten around to it or when I wanted to I didn’t feel like making them. But now I have. I did make blinis before as you can read here but that recipe was slightly different. I am not sure if this was a very traditional recipe either and I am sure Olga will tell me differently, but it was funny that, as soon as we decided that blinis would be the next thing to make, I kept getting new foodmagazines which featured blinis! And all look sort of the same. Olga told me that they are traditionally more like crepes in appearance and not at all like the thick little pancakes we see everywhere that are called blinis.Maybe they are different across varies part of Russia. I really do not know. But whatever they are called or whatever their origin; they are – for sure – very versatile. Because the taste is so neutral, you can combine them with both savoury things, as in the salmon and sourcream above or sweet as with the raspberry and honey below.

Blinis with raspberry and icing sugar

I loved them with the salmon and it is a great lunch. Quick too, if you do not count the rising time of the batter, but it literally takes seconds to make them. I whipped some of the sourcream with dill, pepper and salt and voila, nice little treat. In addition to that I also made a couple with raspberries, which to be honest is my personal favorite. I just love raspberries and for some reason, pancakes, to me are all about sweet stuff. I’ve never really liked the “pizza” pancakes you can get at any pancake house around here these days. Sure I like pancakes with bacon and cheese, but in general pancakes need to be sweet. But that is just my twisted mind speaking. And technically these are not really pancakes ofcourse.

But… they are part of the “pancakes-around-the-world” theme that Nurit from FamilyFriendlyFood and Trissa from Trissalicious and I have going on at the moment. Sofar we have managed to make the Dutch treat “poffertjes“, the Danish Aebleskiver and now the Russian Blinis.

Normally we all post together for a new recipes but due to a small misunderstanding our posts will be all over the place when it comes to the blinis. You can Trissa’s gorgeous chocolate blinis here and I will soon let you know where you can find Nurit’s too!

The recipe for these blinis is pretty simple:

INGREDIENTS

150 gr all purpose flour

2 eggs

150 ml lukewarm milk

3,5 gr of dry yeast

pinch of salt

For the sourcream; combine sourcream with some chopped dill and add salt and pepper to taste

Add flour, yeast, milk and the eggs together in a bowl and mix with a handmixer until smooth. Leave to rest and rise for about an hour at normal roomtemperature. To make the blinis heat a non-stick frying pan on medium heat and drop a tablespoon of batter in a pan. You can bake about four in one go as they are small.

This recipe makes 20 blinis.

Obviously for the topping you can use whatever takes your fancy. I kept it more traditional but check out Trissa’s for a more fancy approach!

In addition to making them with salmon and making them also with raspberries I also made a few with apple and gorgonzola and dressed these with maple syrup. Oooo golden goodness… So really you can combine these with just about anything that takes your fancy. You can eat them warm or you can eat them cold. Reheating them in the microwave literally takes seconds if you want them warm after all. They would also make quite a good starter or dessert!

Blinis with apple, gorgonzola and maple syrup

Bigger and better...

Today I had a revelation; I have loved poffertjes all my life but as of today it is official; the Dutch have been defeated in the making of these treats by the Danish… It’s sad but true. Well, ok in the defense of the Dutch nation; it is not really the same recipe and there are some noticeable differences between the two, so maybe I shouldn’t even be compairing them. You know what? Let’s not.. I might offend half the Dutch population in the process of proclaiming the Danish ones better so let’s not go there…lol… But seriously… these little darlings are sooooo good and I didn’t expect them to be so it was a delightful surprise when I was making them this afternoon. Being all alone in the house I could not share them with anyone unfortunately so I had to send Tom and text message saying that he missed something really really good and a promise that I will make them for him tomorrow. Yes, they are that good!

Look at that banana filling

How did we get to making these little gems? As you might remember if you read this blog more often Nurit of FamilyFriendlyFood and I had a ‘virtual cooking together’ session last month in which we made our national treat of Dutch poffertjes. You can read all about it here and here. We liked it so much that we have decided to try out more variations of the pancake/poffertje theme trying out various recipes around the world. This month we are going to be joined by Trissa from Trissalicious so I cannot wait to see what they have come up with! We initially had planned to make these earlier but due to all sorts of reason it got pushed out a bit further but here we are; I have made them!

So what does make these so much better then the Dutch ones? For one; they are somewhat bigger, so that gives you the opportunity to fill them with lots of good things. That also gives them a unique quality in my eyes above the regular poffertjes as I do think that the filling makes a big big difference. That plus the fluffy and airy texture of them. I think it is the beaten eggwhites that go into the batter that gives the Aebleskiver there airiness and the slight crunch of the outside. Combine that with fruity or chocolaty insides and you have real winner. I made only two batches since I was on my own. The first batch I baked with banana slices inside and the second one with a teaspoon of apple compote inside, but really you could fill it with just about anything you like; cherries, pineapple, jam, chocolate and fact I would not be surprised if they go really well with cheese inside of them too… Ooo, now that I am writing that down; I am sooo gonna try that next! Blue melty cheese on the inside… How good can it get?

I have to confess that I ate both of the portions and felt that I should still eat more of them. Which would not have been a good decision at this point. Good thing I didn’t plan on having anything special for dinner as I am kind of full after eating these, so I think I will just settle for some leftover macaroni from yesterday if I end up feeling like eating again…

And now; the moment you have all been waiting for; the recipe…. I got the recipe from Nurit actually. This was the recipe that was attached to the pan when she bought it. You have to know that in order to make these you need a special pan, which I took a photo of a little further down below. It typically has 7 large dents in it to put the batter in and is made of castiron. At least mine is. Keep in mind also that mine is weird in the sense that you cannot use it on the stove without putting something underneath. Not sure why that is really but I used a baking tray rack to put on top of the stove so I could put the pan on it. It did mean that it got heated slightly uneven so I had to keep that in mind while baking them but other then that; it all went fine. I could even get them out of the pan quite easily. Just make sure you use enough butter here… Not a low calorie treat for sure!

Aebleskiver pan with batter inside; see the rack I placed it on?

Aebleskiver (makes about 20 pancakes)

1 cup all purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 tablespoon sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 eggs, separated

250 ml milk (1 cup)

2 tablespoons of butter, melted, plus more for cooking

For filling use; jam, bananas, chocolate, apple, apple sauce, pineapple, blueberries, raspberries… o well, anything…

Maple syrup and/or powdered sugar for serving

In a big bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, sugar and salt.

In a small bowl, lightly whisk the egg yolks, then add the milk and the melted butter.

Whisk the yolk mixture into the flour mixture until the batter is well combined. In a third bowl, using an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, whisk the egg whites on high speed until stiff but not dry peaks form, 2 to 3 minutes. Using a rubber spatula, gently fold the whites into the batter in 2-3 additions.

Put 1/4 teaspoon butter in each well of the pancake pan. Place over medium heat and heat until the butter begins to sizzle. Using a pastry/silicon brush, coat surface of wells entirely with the butter. Pour 1 tbsp batter into each well, then add some of the filling in the center of each pancake and top with another 1 tablespoon of batter. Cook until the bottoms are golden brown, crispy, and slightly pulls away around the edge, 3 to 5 minutes. Using 2 wooden skwers, flip the pancakes over and cook until golden and crispy on the other side, about 3 minutes more. Transfer to a plate.

Check out Nurit’s post here and Trissa’s post here

Amaretto tiramisu

I was quite excited when I read what the Daring Bakers challenge for this month was gonna be… Tiramisu…  And it would be hosted by two of my favorite blogs! Tiramisu is an old time favorite in this household and in fact something I make almost every year for New Years when we go and visit friends. It’s become one of those things where people are really disappointed when you do not bring a bowl full of the creamy goodness. My recipe for tiramisu is quick and simple and I might share it some other time, but for now let’s focus on the DB tiramisu!

The February 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Aparna of My Diverse Kitchen and Deeba of Passionate About Baking. They chose Tiramisu as the challenge for the month. Their challenge recipe is based on recipes from The Washington Post, Cordon Bleu at Home and Baking Obsession.

For this challenge the mandatory things to do where to make our own ladyfingers and… to make our own mascarpone! It’s one of those where you seriously have no idea how things are made. Ok I realize that mascarpone is dairy but that doesn’t mean anything. Little did I know that it would be straightforward to make (I did not think it was that straightforward while making it but trust me things turned out to be different then expected!) I started making all the various parts of the challenge on the sunday so I would have enough time for the tiramisu to be assembled and then photographed as well. I started by making the pastry cream and the zabaglione, which were both very easy to make. Next was the ladyfinger batter which was also not difficult to do except for the fact that I felt that they became soft rather quickly even though I kept them in an airtight container only for one night. It didn’t really matter ofcourse since they were gonna be soggy anyway but still. It did suprise me and on second thought I might have had to keep them in the oven a tiny bit longer to get rid of that issue. But then who knows? I also didn’t make enough of the cookies. I didn’t count them and figured I would have enough for what I wanted to do so I didn’t finish all the batter. Mistake…!

Ladyfingers

Not a major disaster and I managed with what I had but just barely and would I have had more cookies it would have been easier to divide.

When the cookies where in the oven I started on the mascarpone making, which is essentially cream that needs to be cooked till 190 degrees F. I used a double boiler as per the recipe but the warming up took for-ev-er and once bubbles tried to break through the surface I added the lemon juice as per the instructions and that is where the cream should have started to curdle. Now…. that is one of those words that I think I know what it means but it might actually be something else; in which case I was waiting for something that would never happen…lol… In any case it was supposed to get thicker and that it did not do. No matter how long I waited and no matter that I turned the heat up a bit, adding more lemon juice.. All to no avail. After what felt like a century but what was in fact something like 45 minutes I gave up and figured I just dump the stuff into the sieve and see what would happen the next day. I didn’t have cheesecloth so I used a cotton teatowel instead. I read on the DB forum that I was not the only one having issues with the mascarpone, so I dreaded the moment the next day where I would find only a little bit of cheesy goodness left and a major amount of fluid under the sieve.

So guess my total surprise when I peeked into the fridge the next morning to find a perfect batch of creamy and delicious mascarpone! Magic… pure magic… It had the right consistency and if anything, was even slightly firmer then the storebought varieties and the taste was good too.! I had honestly already agreed with myself that I would use storebought if it was a total drab, but this was ofcourse even better!!

So with the mascarpone successfully behind my back there was really nothing holding me back from assembling the tiramisu. O I have to tell you that I do not like rum or marsala so whereever the recipe called for something alcoholic I used amaretto instead. Ever since I started making tiramisu I have used amaretto instead of the regular rum. And believe me when I say it is irresistable. Really, really good. It gives it a slight almond flavor too. But then I love amaretto so you might not like it so much if you don’t like amaretto.

Perfect mascarpone

I wish I actually had a before and after picture of the mascarpone but I didn’t feel like taking a photo of the cream as it really did not look any different from when I started, but as you can see on the ‘after’ photo; it is looking good!!

For the dipping of the ladyfingers I used again amaretto and not so much sugar as the recipe said either. I am used to not using any sugar at all for the dip, so I just added a tiny bit in and diluted the coffee with about a tablespoon of amaretto.

I could really not dip both sides of the tiramisu since that was just too much liquid, plus I don’t like those soggy tiramisu’ that you buy in the supermarket… Yuck…! I wanted to try a variety of forms, but I actually like the glasses the best. Not only because it stays together but I love to peak through the glass and see the ladyfingers there; hiding. I did the glasses, one round form and one square… The ring of the round one should have been a little wider as you will see in the picture somewhere below; because the ladyfingers got wet so quickly they also got quite limp so it was difficult to keep them up as I wanted to have a ring of ladyfingers around the outer edge on the round form. Right now it looks kind of weird and wobbly (but hey, definitely homemade!)

Square form

And then for the most important part; the taste… O the taste… I can’t find much wrong with the taste. In fact I absolutely love it. It has a very slight lemon flavor which I love and overall this is a really really good tiramisu. Truth be told; I will probably stick to my regular tried and tested recipe as it is a zillion times quicker and tastes just as good. I did love making my own mascarpone and after that fear of failure it turned out to be pretty straightforward as I promised you!

Now for all who want to try this; here is the recipe(s)!

TIRAMISU

(Recipe source: Carminantonio’s Tiramisu from The Washington Post, July 11 2007 )
This recipe makes 6 servings

Ingredients:
For the zabaglione:
2 large egg yolks
3 tablespoons sugar/50gms
1/4 cup/60ml Marsala wine (or port or coffee)
1/4 teaspoon/ 1.25ml vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest

For the vanilla pastry cream:
1/4 cup/55gms sugar
1 tablespoon/8gms all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest
1/2 teaspoon/ 2.5ml vanilla extract
1 large egg yolk
3/4 cup/175ml whole milk

For the whipped cream:
1 cup/235ml chilled heavy cream (we used 25%)
1/4 cup/55gms sugar
1/2 teaspoon/ 2.5ml vanilla extract

To assemble the tiramisu:
2 cups/470ml brewed espresso, warmed
1 teaspoon/5ml rum extract (optional)
1/2 cup/110gms sugar
1/3 cup/75gms mascarpone cheese
36 savoiardi/ ladyfinger biscuits (you may use less)
2 tablespoons/30gms unsweetened cocoa powder

Method:
For the zabaglione:
Heat water in a double boiler. If you don’t have a double boiler, place a pot with about an inch of water in it on the stove. Place a heat-proof bowl in the pot making sure the bottom does not touch the water.
In a large mixing bowl (or stainless steel mixing bowl), mix together the egg yolks, sugar, the Marsala (or espresso/ coffee), vanilla extract and lemon zest. Whisk together until the yolks are fully blended and the mixture looks smooth.
Transfer the mixture to the top of a double boiler or place your bowl over the pan/ pot with simmering water. Cook the egg mixture over low heat, stirring constantly, for about 8 minutes or until it resembles thick custard. It may bubble a bit as it reaches that consistency.
Let cool to room temperature and transfer the zabaglione to a bowl. Cover and refrigerate at least 4 hours or overnight, until thoroughly chilled.

For the pastry cream:
Mix together the sugar, flour, lemon zest and vanilla extract in a medium heavy-bottomed saucepan. To this add the egg yolk and half the milk. Whisk until smooth.
Now place the saucepan over low heat and cook, stirring constantly to prevent the mixture from curdling.
Add the remaining milk a little at a time, still stirring constantly. After about 12 minutes the mixture will be thick, free of lumps and beginning to bubble. (If you have a few lumps, don’t worry. You can push the cream through a fine-mesh strainer.)
Transfer the pastry cream to a bowl and cool to room temperature. Cover with plastic film and refrigerate at least 4 hours or overnight, until thoroughly chilled.

For the whipped cream:
Combine the cream, sugar and vanilla extract in a mixing bowl. Beat with an electric hand mixer or immersion blender until the mixture holds stiff peaks. Set aside.

The somewhat crooked round version

To assemble the tiramisu:
Have ready a rectangular serving dish (about 8″ by 8″ should do) or one of your choice.
Mix together the warm espresso, rum extract and sugar in a shallow dish, whisking to mix well. Set aside to cool.
In a large bowl, beat the mascarpone cheese with a spoon to break down the lumps and make it smooth. This will make it easier to fold. Add the prepared and chilled zabaglione and pastry cream, blending until just combined. Gently fold in the whipped cream. Set this cream mixture aside.

Now to start assembling the tiramisu.
Workings quickly, dip 12 of the ladyfingers in the sweetened espresso, about 1 second per side. They should be moist but not soggy. Immediately transfer each ladyfinger to the platter, placing them side by side in a single row. You may break a lady finger into two, if necessary, to ensure the base of your dish is completely covered.
Spoon one-third of the cream mixture on top of the ladyfingers, then use a rubber spatula or spreading knife to cover the top evenly, all the way to the edges.
Repeat to create 2 more layers, using 12 ladyfingers and the cream mixture for each layer. Clean any spilled cream mixture; cover carefully with plastic wrap and refrigerate the tiramisu overnight.
To serve, carefully remove the plastic wrap and sprinkle the tiramisu with cocoa powder using a fine-mesh strainer or decorate as you please. Cut into individual portions and serve.

MASCARPONE CHEESE

(Source: Vera’s Recipe for Homemade Mascarpone Cheese)
This recipe makes 12oz/ 340gm of mascarpone cheese

Ingredients:
474ml (approx. 500ml)/ 2 cups whipping (36 %) pasteurized (not ultra-pasteurized), preferably organic cream (between 25% to 36% cream will do)
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

Method:

Bring 1 inch of water to a boil in a wide skillet. Reduce the heat to medium-low so the water is barely simmering. Pour the cream into a medium heat-resistant bowl, then place the bowl into the skillet. Heat the cream, stirring often, to 190 F. If you do not have a thermometer, wait until small bubbles keep trying to push up to the surface.
It will take about 15 minutes of delicate heating. Add the lemon juice and continue heating the mixture, stirring gently, until the cream curdles. Do not expect the same action as you see during ricotta cheese making. All that the whipping cream will do is become thicker, like a well-done crème anglaise. It will cover a back of your wooden spoon thickly. You will see just a few clear whey streaks when you stir. Remove the bowl from the water and let cool for about 20 minutes. Meanwhile, line a sieve with four layers of dampened cheesecloth and set it over a bowl. Transfer the mixture into the lined sieve. Do not squeeze the cheese in the cheesecloth or press on its surface (be patient, it will firm up after refrigeration time). Once cooled completely, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate (in the sieve) overnight or up to 24 hours.
Vera’s notes: The first time I made mascarpone I had all doubts if it’d been cooked enough, because of its custard-like texture. Have no fear, it will firm up beautifully in the fridge, and will yet remain lusciously creamy.
Keep refrigerated and use within 3 to 4 days.

LADYFINGERS/ SAVOIARDI BISCUITS
(Source: Recipe from Cordon Bleu At Home)
This recipe makes approximately 24 big ladyfingers or 45 small (2 1/2″ to 3″ long) ladyfingers.

Ingredients:
3 eggs, separated
6 tablespoons /75gms granulated sugar
3/4 cup/95gms cake flour, sifted (or 3/4 cup all purpose flour + 2 tbsp corn starch)
6 tablespoons /50gms confectioner’s sugar,

Method:

Preheat your oven to 350 F (175 C) degrees, then lightly brush 2 baking sheets with oil or softened butter and line with parchment paper.
Beat the egg whites using a hand held electric mixer until stiff peaks form. Gradually add granulate sugar and continue beating until the egg whites become stiff again, glossy and smooth.
In a small bowl, beat the egg yolks lightly with a fork and fold them into the meringue, using a wooden spoon. Sift the flour over this mixture and fold gently until just mixed. It is important to fold very gently and not overdo the folding. Otherwise the batter would deflate and lose volume resulting in ladyfingers which are flat and not spongy.
Fit a pastry bag with a plain tip (or just snip the end off; you could also use a Ziploc bag) and fill with the batter. Pipe the batter into 5″ long and 3/4″ wide strips leaving about 1″ space in between the strips.
Sprinkle half the confectioner’s sugar over the ladyfingers and wait for 5 minutes. The sugar will pearl or look wet and glisten. Now sprinkle the remaining sugar. This helps to give the ladyfingers their characteristic crispness.
Hold the parchment paper in place with your thumb and lift one side of the baking sheet and gently tap it on the work surface to remove excess sprinkled sugar.
Bake the ladyfingers for 10 minutes, then rotate the sheets and bake for another 5 minutes or so until the puff up, turn lightly golden brown and are still soft.
Allow them to cool slightly on the sheets for about 5 minutes and then remove the ladyfingers from the baking sheet with a metal spatula while still hot, and cool on a rack.
Store them in an airtight container till required. They should keep for 2 to 3 weeks.

Coconut pineapple bundt cake

I have been working on the Daring Baker challenge for the last two days and all that time Tom has been anxiously watching the process and suggesting I finish it all for tuesday so he can take it to work and share with his coworkers… Unfortunately for him that is not gonna happen! It needs to be chilled for at least overnight (no, no I will not share the secret!! Check back on the 27th!!) so that means it will be ready tomorrowmorning. But obviously I still need to take pictures of it plus it is not really enough to feed 9 hungry mouths. So… instead I figure I would make him and his team happy by baking something else.

I had never made a Bundt cake up until today. I don’t know why; it’s one of those things that my grandma used to make and funny enough so does Tom’s grandma. Is it a grandma thing? I had asked Santa for a bundt caketin which I got so it was time to put it to good use. Only two days earlier I received a package from Amazon with a couple new cookbooks… (I have a serious cookbook addiction, as I know many of you have too) and among them was a small book with 100 lovely cake recipe.Cake Keeper Cakes by Lauren Chattman. It had an entire chapter on Bundt cakes although some I did not think would be suitable for trying out on poor non-suspecting colleagues of Tom as it included pepper and other spices, which I thought sounded intriguing but ok, for my first bundt cake I wanted to play it a little safer and I picked the coconut/pineapple cake. Well, ok… Tom did..

Adding the icing

He was sitting next to me in bed when we were discussing all of the above and was watching over my shoulder when I was going through the book and he thought that this particular cake would be good. And what can I say? It is really good. We did ofcourse have to pretaste the cake before it is going to it’s final destination and let’s face it; this cake is too much even for 9 people, so they won’t mind if two small pieces are missing right?

PINEAPPLE AND TOASTED COCONUT CAKE (from Cake Keeper Cakes by Lauren Chattman)

1,5 cups sweetened flaked coconut

2 large eggs

1 cup sour cream

1 tsp pure vanilla extract

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

1/4 tsp baking soda

1,5 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 cup or 113 gr of butter, softened

3/4 cup sugar

1 can (500 gr) pineapple chunks in juice, drained well and patted dry

For the glaze; 1/2 cup of confectioners sugar, 1 tbsp of fresh lime juice

Preheat the oven to 350F (or 200C). Grease a 12-cup Bundtpan and dust with flour. Spread the coconut on a baking sheet and toast until just golden, stirring frequently, about 5 minutes. Take care not to burn the coconut. Set aside to cool completely.

Combine the eggs, sour cream and vanilla in a large measuring cup and lightly beat. Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a medium bowl.

Combine the butter and sugar in a large mixing bowl and cream with an electric mixer on medium high speed until fluffy, about 3 minutes, scraping down the sides of the bowl once or twice if necessary.

With the mixer on medium-low speed, pour 1/3 of the egg mixture into the bowl in a slow stream. Add 1/3 of the flour mixture. Add another 1/3 of the egg mixture  and another 1/3 of the flour mixture. Add the remaining egg mixture and then the remaining flour mixture. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and beat on medium speed for 1 minute. Stir in the toasted coconut and the pineapple chunks.

Scrape the batter into the prepared pan. Bake the cake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, 1 hour to 10 hour and 10 minutes. Let the cake cool in the pan for 15 minutes, then invert onto a wire rack to cool completely.

Make the glaze; Whisk together the confectioners sugar and lime juice in a medium bowl. Place the cake on a wire rack set over a baking sheet. Drizzle the glaze over the cake, allowing it to run down the sides of the cake. Let the glaze set for 30 minutes before slicing and serving

Notes: I found the given time in the oven quite long so I checked at 45 minutes and found that the cake was already done at that point so I took it out of the oven. And it was perfectly done, so make sure to check from time to time to prevent overcooking the cake. It’s lovely and if you make sure you pat the pineapple dry well enough it will not be too moist (something I was afraid of at first) The taste of coconut was subtle but overal the cake is rather sweet but delicious!

Chocolate apple cake

There’s is something so utterly satisfying about good chocolate that I immediately said a wholeheartedly YES when Kate from Serendipity asked me if I would like to participate in a valentine chocolate cooking. Kate was kind enough to supply the chocolate for this and it was within days that I had a package of really fabulous chocolate from Christof…. (effe checken). It contained 1 large dark chocolate bar, two cooking chocolate bars and one bar which Kate mentioned would be fabulous for making chocolate milk. We couldn’t resist the chocolate so we ate the large bar just as it was with a good cup of coffee and it was absolutely wonderful. Not too sweet and great chocolate flavor.

But then I had to think about what to do with the rest of the chocolate. I mean; let’s face it, the possibilities are almost endless. Would I make an old time favorite; the Italian chocolate mousse or would I go for something new? When going through a Donna Hay book the decision was easily made. It featured a delicious chocolate cake and having never made one (i know, I know..) before I figured that would be perfect. The idea was to bake this in a heartshape but when you put baking paper in the heart it… eh… becomes a little bit strangely shaped heart, but who cares..? Take it from me that the shape IS a heart (of sorts) to keep with the Valentine theme. The original recipe called for making this with raspberries, but the raspberries that we have here right now are really not the best in terms of flavor plus I was having some apples that really needed to be eaten so I substituted the raspberries of the original with apple and I think that was a great choice. I actually think the apple worked better then the raspberries would have as it also gives it a little bit of crunch of sorts and the taste together is just lovely. I have to confess that the reason I used this recipe is also partially because I did not want to leave the house.

The temperatures are roughly between -13 and -4 C (8 to 20 Fahrenheit) at the moment and I didn’t feel like going outdoors at all, as I was having a lazy day at home. As luck would have it I had all the ingredients for this gorgeous chocolate cake so it was also the perfect excuse to get rid of some leftover flours. If you’re like me; you have multiple packs of flour around the house. I always think I have run out so I buy a new pack only to discover that I have some leftover in the cupboard. I finished most of the half-packs today! The recipe is very simple with wonderful results so try it out! You won’t regret it… And ofcourse perfect to share for Valentine. Thanks Kate for sending the chocolate!! Check out Kate’s blog for more of the Valentine cooking!!

CHOCOLATE APPLE CAKE

185 gr butter

185 gr dark chocolate, broken in pieces

3 eggs

1 vanillabean

1,5 cup sugar

1 cup flour

2/3 cup selfraising flour

1/2 cup almondflour

2 apples, cut into small chunks

In a double boiler heat the chocolate and the butter on low heat and slowly let them melt together. Once melted let them cool slightly.

Stir eggs, vanillaseeds and sugar in a large bowl to a light, creamy mass. Add flour, almondflour, selfraising flour , chocolate butter mix and the apple and mix well. If you like you can coat the apple-chunks with cinnamon before adding to the batter.

Depending a bit on which forms you use line them with baking paper and put the batter in. I used a larger heart, a smaller heart and one small cake tin. I lined them all with baking paper (parchment paper) which made it incredibly easy to remove from the tins but also kind of gives them funny shapes… Fill them for roughtly 3/4th. It will rise some but because it’s heavy batter it will not rise extremely high.  Bake them in a preheated oven at around 180 C for about 35 minutes or until the top of the cake feels firm. You can check with a wooden pin but keep in mind that it has to be moist still on the inside. Otherwise it will be too dry.

Leave the cake to cool before you cut it and serve with whipped cream, extra apple or – if you can’t get enough of the chocolate – chocolate milk…!

Chocolate cake

Nanaimo bars

Ok, don’t you all dare to laugh at me… Yes I forgot to make the challenge but I think I came back pretty quickly didn’t I? I was lucky that an appointment for today was cancelled so I all of a sudden had time to make these lovely bars.

I first started with making the Graham wafers, which were very simple to make really. I did not make them glutenfree. I wanted to but to find glutenfree flour here is simply impossible. At least not in any store nearby so I figured I might as well do the wheat version. I did use part riceflour since I still had that from when I went to Amsterdam and saw it. I had no idea what tapioca was, so didn’t bother finding that and just went with wheatflour.

I didn’t have vanilla essence either, so I substituted this with cinnamon essence and I actually think that was a brilliant choice as I loved the slight cinnamon flavour of the cookies. I kept eating little bits of the dough. It was so good!

I had never had Graham crackers before so I wouldn’t be able to tell you what they are supposed to be like but I quite liked mine. I think I did roll them out a little too thickly. I mean 1/8 inch doesn’t mean anything to me except that it is roughy 1/8 of roughly 2,5 cm… I was a bit too lazy to actually calculate it so I just guessed a bit what would be the right thickness. And then again, I don’t know if mine were wrong or not as I have nothing to compair them with. They did bake longer then the 25 minutes that Lauren had given, but considering the fact that we have a terrible oven in need of replacement; that is probably the reason. O let me first get one thing out of the way:

The January 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Lauren of Celiac Teen. Lauren chose Gluten-Free Graham Wafers and Nanaimo Bars as the challenge for the month. The sources she based her recipe on are 101 Cookbooks and www.nanaimo.ca.

Once they were baked I got on with making the middle layer which consists of looooots of sugar, butter, cream and custard. I thought it was very very sweet so to counterbalance that a bit I added about 2-3 tablespoons of lemon curd and that did the trick for me. The sourness got rid of a bit of the sweetness and I love the subtle lemon flavor. But then I am a true lemonlover so anything lemon is good in my mind. But I think it went well together with the rest.

I did think that the qty of the middle layer was not really enough compaired to the other layers. I think my form was about the right size but I felt I had to spread the yellow layer too thin resulting in just a very small layer in the middle. So I actually didn’t spread it through the entire tin but left about a quarter open. So I will have only the bottom on that part…

Making the graham crackers was really the biggest part of the work and the rest was pretty easy. I made the photos while the top layer of chocolate had not really been long enough in the fridge so it is a bit too moist still, but I totally loved the taste. As I said I am glad I added the lemon in there as that gave it a little bit of freshness with all the heavy chocolate in there. It is VERY filling and since I just had lunch I really only tasted a tiny bit. Tom did eat an entire ‘bar’ (the one in the photo) and he thought it was extremely good too.

Thankfully as we have quite some of it left…

So there you have it; the Daring Bakers January challenge; behind schedule but not too bad! I am happy that I still got to make them as I hate missing a challenge!!

For the full recipe have a look here and to see what the other amazing Daring Bakers have made you can check here

If you want to keep with my changes then substitute the vanilla essence in the graham wafers for 2 tbsp of cinnamon essence and add to the middle layer about 2 large tablespoons of lemon curd. (BTW; I love lemon curd! I can still remember seeing it somewhere for the first time and buying a jar, not really knowing what I was gonna use it for, but I use it for soooo many things! Love it!)

So apologies for posting late. Will do better next time!