My sweet Easter failure!

Happy Easter to everyone!

Late post, but it is better late than never:)

As I am Romanian, well, you guessed right, we have just celebrated the Easter.

I have colored the eggs for the first time using the russet color.You just boil them together, it is simple.

Oh well, I have found out from my dad that the red onions have a pretty toxic pigment(he even knows the name!), so it would be more recommendable for health to use beetroot.

If you want to have money for the rest of the year, put a red egg in the water and a coin and then wash your face.;)

I  usually get ambitious during Easter, so I decided to make the traditional Sweet Easter Bread called Cozonac, a pretty difficult kind of sweet, if you ask my true opinion;)

Ingredients:

1 kilo of flour

500ml of milk

50g of yeast

100g of butter

3 drops of vanilla

a bit of rum

3/4 cup superfine sugar

100g of sunflower oil

5 egg yolks

3 egg whites

2 pinches of salt

the peel of an orange and of a lemon

200g of walnuts

3 spoons of cacao

 Above you have the image of the prepared yeast. You need to heat a half cup of milk(it must be warm, but do not boil it) and mix it with the yeast. Afterwards you put it over the flour and leave it covered in a warm place(like the heater)for around 20 minutes until you will see some cracks.  Meanwhile, heat the remaning milk(again, do not boil it). In a bowl mix the egg yolks, the peel of the orange and of the lemon and the vanilla and rum.

Pour all this mixture  over the flour and yeast. Add the milk.

 Looking proud before seeing the result…always a bad calculation;)  Do you have enough muscles? Not really?(mine are pretty weak, must admit it).

Now it is time to make good use of them: you need to knead all this mixture for about 30 minutes!

You will sweat, I can gurantee you! Your hands need to be buttered in oil and heated butter. And you keep on adding oil on your hands and you keep on kneading(Gosh, it drove me crazy!) and that for 30 minutes…or even more if you have those so needed muscles for this complicated Sweet Easter Bread.

Faux pas: do not add oil and butter in the mixture like in the picture, just butter your hands(pfff, I told you I was too sure of my own forces and forgot to look up the recipe).

It should become a sort of non sticky, pliable ball of dough….it was not the case of mine:(

Now that the 30 minutes of kneading are over, you may put the dough to “rest” in  avery warm place for another 90 minutes. It actually has to double the initial volume.

For the filling I have mixed the egg whites, the sugar, the peel of a lemon, walnuts, cacao, dry red cherries and dry papaya and mango.

Now it is time for the baking: 50 minutes or an hour at 180degrees.

Here is the result!

It looks bad, I know…but the good news was that it tasted great!:)

I will end on a positive note: the looks matter less when the spirit inside is of high quality.;)

   

Hope you enjoyed your Easter in family and keep on the tradition no matter where you are and no matter how the result of your cozonac will be!

Make Up Cookies!

Today I have woken up with a wish: to eat “cornulete”! When I was a child I was imagining that I was the boss of a pastry shop and that when I would enter the shop, all my employees would honour me with different sweets: “Madam, you need to try our latest invention, some cookies that you have never eaten before, the best in the world!”. I have grown up and my wishes have changed, no pastry shop attracts me anymore, but yes, I still like cookies;)

Here is the simple recipe of cornulete, a Turkish invention that all the Eastern European countries have borrowed.

(Me smelling the vanilla essence…)

Ingredients:

3 cups of flour
1 cup of butter
half of cup of sugar
vanilla essence, rum and some lemon juice
1 cup of sour cream
nuts
plum or strawberry jam
nutella choko
or be creative and make up your own filling.

Sugar powder   

You start mixing all the ingredients…let’s be honest, it does sound simple!

Well, it is the first time that I am trying to make them, so I have no idea what will be the result. It is good to take some risks in life.;)


A friend of mine from Romania sent me an encouraging message: “go ahead, I am sure they’ll turn out great.” Are you sure?

The dough has to be put in the fridge for lets say one hour!

Looking meany with the dough between my hands… like a witch;)

I mixed the nuts with the jam or with the nutella.

Oups, the lonely dough…

Spread out the dear dough( see, I am already talking to it in a nice way…so it doesn’t get upset and mess my recipe up). Cut it in slices.

 Roll them as they would be some croissants(the best explanation I could give you).

Don’t frown, the dough might feel your mood!;)

I think the cookies are ideal as a gift for grouchy people who get upset easily!

Time to get them in the oven… Byeeeee, see you in 25 minutes or so…until you find that they look baked(how “precise” I am:))

Are you curious how they turned out? Coz I am!!! Let’s see them!!

Tadaa! They look great! Everything that I touch it turns into gold(so modest!);)

And they taste great! Come with a bottle of Romanian wine, Grasa de Cotnari or Busuioaca de Bohotin and lets eat them all!


Have an awesome Sunday and don’t be that upset, it doesn’t suit you!:)

A Romanian old song for parties and pictures of the old Bucharest.

“Take me back home…”

The Guilty Tiramisu!

Thinking about Tiramisu and the feeling of guilt! When people hear about tiramisu, they all exclaim(especially girls!): “Oh, it’s so good, but it’s so fattening!”…Baaam, the feeling of guilt! How about assuming the food that we like and let aside the feeling of guilt for some other time or for somebody else?:)

Here’s a classic and simple recipe of tiramisu that we made one evening with some friends.

Ingredients for 8 serves(if you want more, then double the quantities):

• 500g mascarpone cheese
• 6 eggs, separated
• 30 lady fingers
• 350ml espresso coffee, cooled
• 3 tablespoons sugar
• 4 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
• 50ml cognac or sambuca or any other liqueur(I used a Triple Sec liqueur that was still left from the cocktail party) 

Get yourself some assistants when you get into a job like that;)) It’s also funnier to cook with friends! Make them work for the sake of tiramisu!;))

My sister concentrated on the mixture…

Okay, enough with the talking, let’s get back to our business!

* Add the sugar to the egg yolks. Beat well until the mixture is light and creamy. Beat in another bowl the egg whites.Hold on! The Master Chef  puts her magic hands in the mixture and creates even more trouble!;)

 *Add the mascarpone and half of the cognac or brandy or liqueur, and beat well.

You’re already getting concerned of the result while I’m not!;)

*With clean utensils(or almost!), beat the egg whites until stiff.

*  Fold the beaten egg whites into the mascarpone mixture.

*Pour the espresso(you cool it down before in the fridge!) into a shallow dish along with the remaining liqueur and 1 teaspoon of the cocoa powder. Stir well. Quickly dip each lady finger in the espresso mixture, working one at a time, and line the bottom of a glass dish, approximately 20cm round or square.

*Once the bottom of the dish is covered in an even layer of espresso-soaked lady fingers, top with 1/2 of the mascarpone mixture. Dust with 1/2 of the cocoa. Repeat with another lady finger layer, then finally the remaining mascarpone and a final dusting of cocoa powder.* Chill in the fridge for about 4-6 hours, then serve!

And that’s it! Yay!!!We made it like heroes!

As the tiramisu takes a few hours in the fridge, we decided to make some pasta!;)

 

Fresh spinach pasta from the Italian shop of the neighborhood. Boil the water and add the pasta. Leave it just a few minutes and then serve them(they’re fresh, so they don’t need to boil much).

Getting the Italian Momma’s enthusiasm!;)The sauce was simple, nothing fancy, but it turned out very good. Stir the onions in a pan with heated olive oil. Add the sliced tomatoes, the fresh cream, the salt, the pepper and the handful of fresh basil.

Yum!

Serve the pasta with the famous parmesan cheese and a glass of good Italian wine!

Bon appétit!

Cheers!

 

 

The power of muffins!

Whether it’s for tea time or for breakfast or for late evenings, the power of fast and easy muffins be with you!

Here’s a delicious recipe of muffins(I used the same recipe for the muffins and the simple cake, just the shape differed!;)).

Ingredients:

8 spoons of flour
8 spoons of oil
8 spoons of sugar
1 tea bag of vanilla
a pinch of salt
1 spoon of cocoa powder
4 eggs
2 spoons of lemon juice
1 and a half tea spoon of baking powder
mixed berries or cherries

Preheat the oven to 350°. First, whisk the egg whites in a bowl and add the pinch of salt. Then add the sugar and continue to whisk it. In this order add the eggs yolks, the oil, the vanilla and the flour. The composition needs to be a bit thicker than the composition of European pancakes. In the end, add the baking powder and the lemon juice. Oh and add the the spoon of cocoa powder in a quarter of the mixture.
I also put a mix of berries and it turned out delicious!

Grease the tube pan or the muffin moulds with butter or use wax paper(it’s what I do).

After letting it for 10 minutes to cool down in the pan, turn it on a rack in order to finish cooling.

Enjoy your muffins and cakes and their power to make you happier!:)