Fruit and yogurt Sunday smoothie

It's been a long time! I know! But I'm fine, cooking as always and enjoying life. In fact, probably enjoying life too much, that's why there was no posting for such a long time!

I felt a bit guilty but since I am in a hurry I will post a very simple breakfast recipe that I made for my sister when she was visiting in January. I call it Sunday smoothie! You can go the easy way and mix all the ingredients in a blender or you can do it the pretty way, in colorful layers. There is not much of cooking to be honest, I know it is cheating but I just really like it!

INGREDIENTS:

(for 4 glasses)

2 cups plain yogurt

2 tbsp honey

2 large, ripe mangoes

1 cup red berries

2 ripe kiwis

extra berries for garnishing

1. Mix yogurt and honey in a bowl and divide the mix between 4 glasses.

2. Place the mangoes in a blender and process until smooth. Divide between the glasses.

3. Continues with the rest of the fruits, each one separately, making colorful layers, one on top of the other.

4. Garnish with extra honey and berries and serve. Mix well before drinking, otherwise you will end up with plain yogurt on the bottom of your glass! :P

Very simple, yet so beautiful and yummy! Other variations include bananas, pineapples, mellon, pears or any other soft fruit.

Chocolate and walnut muffins

Last year I got a baking book as a birthday present for Zoe. She really loves all the "evil" cakes so it was an easy decision. Unfortunately, I forgot to ask the lady at the book store to wrap the book for me. So when I came home I went through the pages a bit and I got really jealous! The book was amazing, with great pictures, tips about decoration of the cakes and very clear directions for baking even very challenging cakes. So what do you think I did? The next morning I went back to the store and bought the same book for myself!

Due to my everlasting diet plans I didn't bake many things from it though. So when last weekend I saw the book standing on the shelf, and having given up on the diet, I thought I would give it a go. After some "reasonable" pressure from Stratis' side I had to choose between chocolate cake or chocolate muffins. Somehow I decided in favor of the second one and we both really enjoyed it! I changed some of the proportions slightly to make it more chocolaty and brownie-like. Here it comes:

INGREDIENTS:

170gr butter

200gr plain chocolate (I used Toblerone and ... OH! MY! GOD!)

200gr caster sugar

60gr brown sugar

4 eggs

1 tsp vanilla essence

150 gr self-rising flour

3 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder

150 gr walnuts, chopped

1/3 tsp baking soda

2 tbsp white wine vinegar

12-15 muffin paper cases

1. Place the butter and the chocolate in a small bowl on bain-marie and let it melt. Transfer to a large mixing bowl.

2. Stir in the caster and the brown sugar, the eggs and the vanilla essence and mix with a mixer until smooth.

3. Sift over the flour and cocoa powder. Add the baking soda and vinegar and mix, capturing the air bubbles inside the dough.

4. Stir in the walnuts.

5. Pour the mixture into the paper cases, filling them to 3/4. Bake in a preheated oven at 180°C for about 30 minutes or until an inserted in the center match comes out clean. Dust with some caster sugar and serve with coffee, tea or even better hot chocolate with cream!

Syrniki - Russian quark pancakes

- I'm hungry!

- ... (waiting)

- ... (sweet eyes)

- Do you want me to make you something for breakfast?

- Will you make me a toast? (sweet eyes)

- A toast? Sure! What do you want inside?

- Oh well, something not too difficult... Ham and mozarella?

- Hmmm, ok. (Pause) What if I make you syrniki?

- What?

- You'll see!

Syrniki. (plural from syrnik)... How do I explain this? Well it's something very Russian (I already hear a voice of G. saying "BACK to Russia!") and very breakfasty. They look like american pancakes but are made of "tvorog", which is the Russian word for quark, and very little flour. This combination makes them crunchy outside and soft and creamy inside. The taste is something between sweet, salty an sour. It might not sound very tasty, but you have to try in order to understand!

You could also make them with cottage cheese instead of quark. In this case you should first drain the liquid, then put the cheese in a blender and process until it is almost smooth.

INGREDIENTS:

500 gr fresh, thick quark or processed cottage cheese (it is important to use thick quark, otherwise your mix will be too liquid an it will require more flour)

1 egg

5 tbsp white flour

2 tbsp sugar + 1 tbsp vanilla sugar

1 pinch salt

some extra flour for dusting

vegetable oil for frying

1. Place all the ingredients except for sugar in a bowl and mix well. You should have a very thick dough, that doesn't stick to your hands. If it is too liquid add some more flour, just no too much.

2. In a large, non-stick pan heat the oil. Once it starts "smoking" add the sugar and vanilla sugar to the dough an mix well.

3. Take once table spoon of dough, shape in a cake, dust with some flour and place on a pan. Continue with the next syrnik. Depending on the size of the pan, fry about 5-7 syrniki at a time.

4. Fry for a couple of minutes on both sides, turning carefully with a fork, until they are golden brown. Place on kitchen paper towel to absorb the extra oil.

Serve either plain or with jam, honey or caramel syrup! Amazing for breakfast or just a snack with your coffee or tea. You could also add some dried berries to the dough for a little twist and some extra taste! Wonderful!

On the other hand, if your dough is too liquid even with the extra four you could do the following trick. Instead of shaping the syrniki and dusting them with extra flour you could just take some dough with a wet table spoon and place it directly on the hot pan. They will be a bit more flat but still very very tasty! Plus you avoid the extra calories from the flour :P

Belgian Chocolate Mousse

World's best chocolate? Swiss! Second best? Definitely Belgian! Living just next door from the country famous for it's chocolate and beer it is very easy to get carried away! The variety is amazing and the quality... oh well, nothing to comment about the obvious!

Few weeks ago a friend of mine got me a birthday present. A cooking book about Dutch and Belgian cousin. Knowing how good Belgians are when it comes to desserts, I opened directly the relevant section and... oh dear God! Chocolate based desserts, waffels, pies and much much more! So my first option was a chocolate mousse. I only hesitated for a second, when I noticed the amount of calories per portion (no, no I'm not gonna reveal it!), but then again... who cares! We all deserve a little piece of heaven for a change!

INGREDIENTS:

150g semisweet Belgian chocolate, cut into small pieces (I used half butterscotch and half bitter chocolate. Yam!)

200ml double cream

75 gr caster sugar

2 eggs, separated, at room temperature

cocoa powder for dusting

1. Put the chocolate in a small bowl on bain-marie and let it melt. Remove the bowl with the chocolate and let it cool.

2. In a separate bowl whip the cream with 15gr of sugar until it stands in soft peaks. Set aside.

3. In another bowl, whisk the egg whites and gradually add 50gr of sugar, until the mix is white and stiff. Be careful, when adding the sugar. If you add it all at once the egg whites may separate.

4. Finally in a small bowl whisk the egg yolks with the remaining sugar until the mix is foamy. Fold the yolks into the melted chocolate and mix until uniform.

5. Next, mix in the cream and after that the egg whites.

6. Spoon the mousse into serving cups, dust with some cocoa powder and place in the fridge for at least one hour I know it is very hard to wait but it is really worth it! When cooled the mouse becomes more foamy and it tastes and feels amazing!

PS: This post is dedicated to a great lover of chocolate in all it forms! Zoaki this one is for you!

Chocolate fondue

I wrote already about our new fondue set that we loved. Since we tried the cheese fondue, the next obvious option was the chocolate one. It's really catastrophic for your silhouette but boy was it delicious!!! A thick, chocolaty sauce with just a touch of vanilla and cherry liqueur. If this does not wet your mouth, then what does?!

PS: Avoid low fat or soy chocolate. It won't melt properly and the result will be only frustration. Generally when making a fondue, either chocolate or cheese, it is essential to use good quality base ingredients (chocolate and cheese).

INGREDIENTS:

150 gr milk chocolate, in small pieces (you could substitute it with any flavored chocolate, like hazelnut, amaretto, cappuccino or whatever you like)
150 gr bitter chocolate, in small pieces
1 cup heavy cream
1 pinch vanilla powder or 1 tsp vanilla extract
1 pinch salt
1/2 cup cherry liqueur (you could use any alcohol you want, like amaretto, vodka, brandy, kirsch or even Kahlua.

1. In a heavy pan simmer half of the cream. Once it starts boiling, lower the heat and add chocolate pieces.
2. Let the chocolate soften and then mix it well with a spoon until you get a uniform sauce.
3. Keep constantly stirring and mix in salt,vanilla and alcohol.
4. Transfer the mixture to the fondue pot and keep it war and liquid but not intensively boiling. If the sauce thickens, mix in some of the rest of the cream.
5. Serve the fondue with bite size bananas, strawberries, pineapples, mangoes, vanilla cake, butter cookies, biscotti, brownies etc. You could also place on the table small bowls with finely chopped nuts, cookie crumbles or flaked coconut to coat your chocolaty bites! Mmmm, wonderful!

Apple pie

Apple pie was the first thing I ever baked all by myself. I was something around 11 I think. Before that I helped my mom bake many cookies and pies and cakes and...

My mom has this "cooking book" which is pretty much an agenda which my grandma filled with her recipes when my mom got married. Horrible, doctor's handwriting, sometimes impossible to understand, sometimes you guess. But one thing I know for sure. Whatever is in there, is tested and is SUPER good! So when we were baking the apple pie together with my mom I remembered on which "date" of the agenda it was and few weeks later decided to surprise her when she would come back from work. Once I was home after school I started it. I accidentally doubled the amount of the baking powder that I was supposed to add and that affected the taste a bit, but it was still eatable. Also it was a bit of a struggle to turn on the soviet oven. But finally it turned out fine. Not great, but for the first attempt not bad at all.

Since then I've made many different apple pies but this one always remains my all time favorite. Now I remember all the ingredients and amounts by heart and it really takes no more than 15 minutes to prepare it (plus baking of course).

INGREDIENTS:

4 eggs
300gr white sugar
350-370gr white flour
2 pinches baking powder
2 tbsp white vinegar
3-4 apples, preferably sour
2 handfuls black raisins (optional)
2 tbsp brown sugar (optional)
1 tsp ground cinnamon (optional)

1. Beat the eggs with the sugar, until light and creamy and the sugar has dissolved.
2. Mix in the flour and half of the cinnamon.
3. Add the baking powder and the vinegar. Mixing them causes a chemical reaction, which releases air bubbles. Try to mix the pastry in such a way, so that you capture those bubbles inside. They will make the pastry grow in the oven. Set the mixture aside for about 5 minutes. 4. Lay a deep baking tray with foil or oiled baking paper. Slice the apples (don't remove the skin) and lay them at the bottom of the tray. Sprinkle with the brown sugar and cinnamon. Throw the raisins on top.
5. Preheat the oven. Bake the pie for about 30-40 minutes or until you can stick a match in it and it comes out clean.
6. Let the pie cool and serve it with some sliced apples and whipped cream.

It's amazing and it's also a good solution when sudden guests are coming over. ;)

Croissant with Banana and Chocolate

Last Friday we went out with an Italian friend of ours. After watching a movie, topped with a couple of beers and while the time was already past midnight I suddenly figured that I was a bit hungry. The fact that beer is a liquid bread didn't really help, and my thoughts were jumping from one nice food to the other. At some point I realized that I was already thinking about the great breakfast that I would cook the next morning. Banana and chocolate croissants! I have to admit that the idea of mixing bananas with Nutella is not mine. Back in Thessaloniki (my home city), while being a student, this was one of my most favorite sweet crepes from Valentino. Ok, maybe second favorite after Nutella with cookies' crumples. So I figured: "What's better than crepe with Nutella + banana? A croissant with Nutella + banana!!!". And here I was, in the middle of the night, slightly drunk and thinking about my breakfast!

INGREDIENTS:
1 pack of croissant dough, that makes 6 croissants
1 banana
6 tsp Nutella
1 egg lightly beaten (optional)

1. Preheat the oven at 200°C.
2. With a sharp knife cut the dough along the marked lines, so that you obtain 6 triangles.
3. Spread 1 tsp of Nutella over the surface of each triangle avoiding the top.
4. Cut the banana in half and slice each half in 3 pieces. Place one piece on each dough triangle, along it's short side.
5. Holding the banana inside, roll the croissant in a nice roll, starting from the short side of the triangle. Don't press to much. There should be some space between the layers for the croissants to "grow". Otherwise the croissants won't be puffy.
6. Brush the croissants with the beaten egg.
7. Place the croissants on a buttered baking tray and bake in the oven for about 15 minutes, or until they are nicely golden and crispy.
8. Let them cool a bit and serve with some custard sugar.

Cinnamon and Raisins Cake with Chocolate Sauce

I love having people coming over! Yesterday Carsten came over and brought a new board game which despite all the complicated rules was very good. Something about 45 minutes before he came I decided to make a nice cake. However, the one that I was initially aiming for required half a kilo of almonds, which I didn't have so I switched to my second best option: raisins and cinnamon. And since Stratis would kill me if I would not add at least SOME chocolate I also made a chocolate sauce which I later drizzled over the top of the cake.

We were playing (or at least trying to understand the rules) and without noticing we almost finished it all. At the beginning I was worried about the consequences of eating so much cake at 11 in the evening (I usually try not to eat after 7-8p.m.) But I think I will cite Carsten's saying: "This is an advantage of being an adult. You could eat anything you want, whenever you want it. You could even eat ice cream for breakfast!". Actually, earlier that day I ate ice cream for breakfast, and I was going to exploit my advantage as adult twice that day.

At the end, I actually used my advantage again today, when I ate the leftover cake for breakfast and it was goooood!!!

INGREDIENTS:

150 gr butter, softened
1 1/2 cup white sugar
2 eggs
2 cups water
1 cup black raising
5-10 cloves
2 tsp baking powder
2 tbsp white vinegar
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg
2 1/2 cups flour

For the chocolate sauce:

2 1/2 cups water or milk (depending whether you want the sauce to be bitter or milky)
1 cup sugar (you may use half white and half brown sugar)
3/4 cup cocoa powder

1. In a small pan add the raisins, cloves and water and cook over a medium heat for about 15 minutes. Remove the cloves and drain the raising reserving 1 cup of the liquid.
2. In a large bowl beat the butter with a mixer until it is white, light and creamy.
3. Constantly beating, add the sugar to the butter.
4. Add the eggs and beat until the liquid is uniform.
5. Add the salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, juice from the raisins and flour. Mix well.
6. Add the baking powder and vinegar and as soon as you see bubbles try to mix the dough in a way that the bubbles stay inside. At the end the mixture should be thick but still "runny". Something like this:


7. Pour the mixture in a buttered cake form and bake in the over for about 40 minutes at 220°C. The cake is ready when you stick a match in it and the match comes back without any liquid dough on it. Remove and put on a serving plate.
8. Prepare the chocolate sauce. In a heavy non-stick pan put all the ingredients and cook stirring constantly until all the sugar dissolves and the sauce becomes thick.
9. Let the cake cool, drizzle it with the chocolate sauce and serve.

Home-made Rum and Raisins ice cream

Since I was little I remember myself trying to recreate an ice cream. It is one of the things that I always considered impossible. The first time, I saw at some old cartoon a robot-nanny mixing in a special device incorporated into her chest, milk, butter and sugar and turning all that into vanilla ice cream cones. I took that for granted and tried it myself! I mixed all those in a glass and put it in the freezer. The result was (obviously) disappointing! But please, give me a break! I was something like 5 or 6 :P

Through the years I tried freezing fruit juices, mashed water melon and even juice mixed with milk. Nothing ever worked! In best case scenario I would get frozen fruit cubes. So with the time I gave up on my dream to make my own ice cream. Of course that was before the Internet-era (omg, am I that old?!).

Once I was googling for summer desserts and I accidentally found a recipe for a Rum and Raisin ice cream. Given that this is one of my all time favorite flavors, of course I had to try it right away. And God it was amazing!!!

INGREDIENTS:

2 tbsp rum or rum essence (well if you use a bit more there is no harm!)
125 gr raisins (again if you are raisin - fan feel free to add a bit more)
75 gr sugar
125 ml water
3 egg yolks
1 tsp vanilla essence or 2tbsp vanilla sugar
450 ml double cream (it is important that you use a thick heavy cream (at least 30% fat), otherwise the ice cream won't be creamy enough)

1. In a small bowl mix the raisins with rum or rum essence and set aside ti marinade.
2. In a heavy sauce pan add water and sugar and and stir over a low heat until the sugar has dissolved. Increase the heat and boil for few minutes.
3. In a bowl whip the egg yolks with vanilla essence or vanilla sugar until creamy. Keep beating the mixture and pour the hot syrup.
4. Let the mixture cool for some minutes and then add the raising with all the liquid.
5. In a separate bowl whip the cream until just stiff (you could use a mixer but don't beat too much, otherwise you'll get butter) and then add it to the eggs and raisins mixture.
6. Pour the mixture in a shallow container and place in the freezer. After about 1 hour, or when the ice cream is partially frozen return the ice cream to a bowl and beat well. Return to the container and freeze for 1 more hour. Repeat this step one more time and it's ready to eat.

This ice cream is sooo easy to prepare (well maybe just a bit messy) and it is sooo good that it's impossible to maintain it in your freezer and not to eat it for breakfast, lunch and dinner. With all the consequences of course. Again, don't try to count the calories, I think it's better when you don't know!

PS: The picture is not really mine, because it's been some time since I haven't made this ice cream. I borrowed the picture from Comemberu blog, which uses sort of similar recipe for this ice cream.

Black Forest Cake

I've always loved chocolate. And if I have to choose between chocolate and more chocolate... Well I think the outcome is pretty obvious!

Few days ago, me and some friends had 2 reasons to party: our graduation and my birthday. Of course the first one requires a lot of alcohol. On the other hand, I was actually planning to get a cake. However, "someone" figured out that if we eat anything between the drinks it would irreversibly disturb our path towards a bad hangover next morning. So... no cake!

Next day, and after having a huge cup of coffee, I decided that even if my birthday was already over it was still nice to have a delicious birthday cake, my all time favorite Black Forest. And since in Amsterdam finding a good Black Forest is probably much harder than doing a Master's degree I headed towards the supermarket for ingredients. I have to warn you that this cake is pure evil and is not appropriate for people who diet. I think it would be better for my feeling of guilt not to attempt to count the calories! The recipe seems insanely long but in fact it's really easy to make and takes no more than 1.5 hour.

INGREDIENTS:

For the dough:

5 eggs
150gr sugar
125gr flour
40gr cocoa powder
1/2 tsp baking powder
2 tbsp white vinegar

For the syrup:

150gr white sugar (you could also use brown sugar to make the syrup taste more intense)
100ml water
3 tbsp black rum or rum essence (you could of course use any other flavoring syrup but personally I find this combination the best)

For the filling:

800ml double cream
80gr caster sugar
350gr canned cherries, pitted
100gr cherry jam (you could as well use strawberry jam, just make sure it's thick enough)
Some choco flakes for decoration

1. Beat the eggs and the sugar with a mixer until the sugar dissolves completely and the mixture is white and puffy.
2. Add flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and vinegar and mix with a spoon until until the dough is smooth. The mix of baking powder and vinegar produces a chemical reaction, creating bubbles that will make the dough soft and spongy. While mixing try to capture the air inside the dough.
3. Cover a deep round baking tray (diameter 20-25cm) with foil and transfer all the mixture inside
4. Bake in a warmed up over at 220°C for about 40 minutes or until the cake is cooked through. To see if it is ready stick a match inside it. If it comes up clean, with no raw dough on it, the cake is baked. Set aside to cool.
5. In a small sauce pan mix water and sugar and cook it until the sugar dissolves and the mixture is boiling intensively. Let it cool and then add the rum. The syrup is ready.
6. With a mixer beat the cream with the caster sugar until it forms a whipped cream. Be careful not to overdo it, otherwise you risk turning your cream into sweet butter. Alternatively, you could use 800ml of already prepared whipped cream.
7. Once the cake is cold, slice it with a sharp knife into 3 "disks" of same thickness. Place the first disk on a plate and pour a generous amount of syrup over it. The cake should be soaked.
8. Spread half of the jam on the surface and cover with 1/3 of the whipped cream.
9. Place half of the cherries randomly over the cream and cover with the next "cake disk". Repeat steps 7-9 once again. Save some cherries for the decoration.
10. Soak the last cake disk in syrup and place it on top.
11. Spread the remaining cream all over the cake and sprinkle with choco flakes. Place some cherries on top and Voilà.