Merry Xmas and Happy New Year

Delicious Brownies

I love reading. I read a lot. I read everything, but in the last months I get addicted to chick-lit/ romance/ romance fiction... I mean girls stuff ;-)

Brit chick lit are very good, but reading and reading and reading I found also some American good writers. It means US environment and obviously food!

When you still read about chocolate cookies, blueberry muffins, brownies and so on what would you like to do?

Check the web for the best recipe and go for them!

That's my adapted brownies recipe.

Ingredients:

150 gr chocolate 

15 gr cocoa powder

100 gr butter

3 eggs

100 gr brown sugar

100 gr white sugar

100 gr  fluor

1 prise salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (180 degrees C) and place the rack in the center of the oven. Butter (or spray with a nonstick cooking spray) an 8 inch (20 cm) square pan, and line the bottom of the pan with parchment or wax paper.
Melt the chocolate and butter in a large stainless steel bowl placed over a saucepan of simmering water. Remove from heat and stir in the cocoa powder and sugar . Next, whisk in the vanilla extract and eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Finally, stir in the flour, salt and chocolate chips (if using).
Pour into the prepared pan and bake for about 25-30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with a little batter and a few moist clumps clinging to it. Do not over bake. Remove from oven and let cool on a wire rack. Serve at room temperature or chilled. These freeze very well.


Read more: http://www.joyofbaking.com/brownies.html?fb_action_ids=10200211920246060&fb_action_types=og.likes&fb_source=aggregation&fb_aggregation_id=246965925417366#ixzz2DjoiqFtA

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (180 degrees C) and place the rack in the center of the oven. Butter (or spray with a nonstick cooking spray) an 8 inch (20 cm) square pan, and line the bottom of the pan with parchment or wax paper.
Melt the chocolate and butter in a large stainless steel bowl placed over a saucepan of simmering water. Remove from heat and stir in the cocoa powder and sugar . Next, whisk in the vanilla extract and eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Finally, stir in the flour, salt and chocolate chips (if using).
Pour into the prepared pan and bake for about 25-30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with a little batter and a few moist clumps clinging to it. Do not over bake. Remove from oven and let cool on a wire rack. Serve at room temperature or chilled. These freeze very well.


Read more: http://www.joyofbaking.com/brownies.html?fb_action_ids=10200211920246060&fb_action_types=og.likes&fb_source=aggregation&fb_aggregation_id=246965925417366#ixzz2DjoiqFtA

 Preheat oven to 180°C.

Melt the chocolate and butter in a large stainless steel bowl placed over a saucepan of simmering water. Remove from heat and stir in the cocoa powder and sugar . Next, whisk in the vanilla extract and eggs, one at a time, beating well after each additio

Read more: http://www.joyofbaking.com/brownies.html?fb_action_ids=10200211920246060&fb_action_types=og.likes&fb_source=aggregation&fb_aggregation_id=246965925417366#ixzz2DjpXYdzG

 Melt chocolate and butter in a large bowl placed over a saucepan of simmering water. Remove from heat and stir in the cocoa powder and sugars. Next add eggs one at time and beat well after each addition. Finally stir flour and salt.

Pour the mix in a squared pan (20cmX20cm) covered with oven paper. Bake for about 25-30 minutes.

Suggestions:

Do not over bake! 

Remove the brownies from the pan and cool on a wire rack.

Serve a room temperature

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (180 degrees C) and place the rack in the center of the oven. Butter (or spray with a nonstick cooking spray) an 8 inch (20 cm) square pan, and line the bottom of the pan with parchment or wax paper.

Melt the chocolate and butter in a large stainless steel bowl placed over a saucepan of simmering water. Remove from heat and stir in the cocoa powder and sugar . Next, whisk in the vanilla extract and eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Finally, stir in the flour, salt and chocolate chips (if using).

Pour into the prepared pan and bake for about 25-30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with a little batter and a few moist clumps clinging to it. Do not over bake. Remove from oven and let cool on a wire rack. Serve at room temperature or chilled. These freeze very well.

Read more: http://www.joyofbaking.com/brownies.html?fb_action_ids=10200211920246060&fb_action_types=og.likes&fb_source=aggregation&fb_aggregation_id=246965925417366#ixzz2DjoiqFtA

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (180 degrees C) and place the rack in the center of the oven. Butter (or spray with a nonstick cooking spray) an 8 inch (20 cm) square pan, and line the bottom of the pan with parchment or wax paper.

Melt the chocolate and butter in a large stainless steel bowl placed over a saucepan of simmering water. Remove from heat and stir in the cocoa powder and sugar . Next, whisk in the vanilla extract and eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Finally, stir in the flour, salt and chocolate chips (if using).

Pour into the prepared pan and bake for about 25-30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with a little batter and a few moist clumps clinging to it. Do not over bake. Remove from oven and let cool on a wire rack. Serve at room temperature or chilled. These freeze very well.

Read more: http://www.joyofbaking.com/brownies.html?fb_action_ids=10200211920246060&fb_action_types=og.likes&fb_source=aggregation&fb_aggregation_id=246965925417366#ixzz2DjoiqFtA

 

Chocolate Chunk Cookie

I tried several times this CCC recipe from JoyOfBaking. It's a very good recipe, but the result didn't satisfy me completely. Today I modified it quite a bit and the result was different in taste and consistency, less sweet and more crunchy.

I used the same procedure illustrated by JOB, but changed the ingredient in :

375 gr all purpose Flour

1 teaspoon backing soda

1 pinch salt

2 eggs (Medium size)

100 gr White sugar

200 gr Brown sugar

185 gr unsalted butter

250 gr chocolate chunks

 

  

Memories of a gourmet traveler...

Years ago during one of our trip to Strasbourg we bought this postcard

 Yesterday I was looking  at three sad apples, when I remembered this recipe. So. this is how my sad apples looked like  after the sweet treatment :D

Dinner for everyone, also our toddler

Kid2 is now 1 year old and has only 3 teeth, but very hard gums. So I'm trying to prepare a dinner that doesn't need to be blended and tastes good for the whole family. 

Yesterday I prepared Meatloaf and sweet peas, very successful :-P 

Meatloaf:
500 gr ground Beef
60 gr ground Parmigiano
1 large egg
1 dried Roll
1/4 cup milk
Salt

Cut the dried roll in pieces and dip it with milk.  After 15 minutes add all the other ingredients and mix very well.  Take a big Alu-foil and model the loaf in the centre. Close it as a candy wrap and put in a pot with a cup of broth.
Cook it gently for 20 minutes, than remove the Alu-foil and le the loaf form a soft crust.

Sweet peas:
400 gr frozen sweet peas
100 gr chopped Prosciutto
1/4  chopped Onion
1 cup Broth
3 tbs Olive Oil

In a medium pan add oil and onion, than cook it gently for a couple of minutes. Add the chopped prosciutto and stir it well for one other minute. Add the frozen peas and the broth, cover and let the peas stew gently (lower flame) until they are cooked (at least 30-40 minutes) 

   

Stubborn Toddlers and Popsicles

You know, you can say or do whatever you want, but Stubborn Toddles will ALWAYS achieve their goals. Sadly it could happen they hurt themselves during the process. So this post is just an advice: keep some Popsicles in your freezer even in January, it's the best way to cure a swollen lip without additional tears.

I've never  been able to put ice on my Kids' bruises, but a popsicle in their mouth in order to cure  a swollen lip, YES! That's works ;-P

Green Bday Cake :-)

Kid1 loves the Green colour, so for his Bday last month asked for a Green Cake. He personally designed the cake, he choose the layers (green sponge cake, chocolate cream and fresh strawberries in the middle) and the decoration (Sparkling stars and a car. Of course!) the result was very Green, but he was satisfied and that's the matter ;-)

 

Hot Hot Hot!

A couple of weeks ago the Weather forecast promised rain and temperature drop, all we had is an unbearable humidity. Not really the best day for baking, however I did what I planned: some pizza, olive's bread and Melanzane alla Parmigiana

Brioche and Playground

I decided to prepare some Brioche following a classic recipe. Messing around with my agenda I prepared the dough too early... In fact after the moulding phase I went out with my Kids at the playground where we'd  met some friends.

The consequence of the baking delay was superb :D Coming back from our journey I found  incredible fluffy raised Brioche that I would like to reproduce someday. How to?! Let the dough rise for 6 hours (3+3) at 28°C (Kitchen temperature)

Peaches Tart

I fancied the idea to make a Peach tart, but I had only three peaches and no cream. So, no Peach Clafutis... Looking better in the back of the fridge I found half a bottle of Peach jam, that's the result:

For the tart follow the crostata 's recipe

Borlotti beans' dip

Yesterday I had some boiled Borlotti beans, they weren't enough to make a salad or something else. I had a look at my fridge and found some Ricotta, remembering a dip my Aunt uses to prepare as antipasto I tried the mix and it was pretty good! 

In a mixer add beans, ricotta and olive oil in this proportion 3 tbsp : 1 tbsp : 1 tbsp. Adjust with salt and pepper and add some more olive oil if you want.

Baked Chicken Nuggets ;P

Kid1 likes burgers and chicken nuggets, but he never asks for BigM or similar fast food restaurants (He tried a couple of time the Happy Meal and that was enough) he looks for mum's dishes, because they taste better :P

My personal Chicken Nuggets' recipe (BAKED not FRIED!!!):

300 gr sliced Chicken breast 

1 egg

5 tbsp Breadcrumbs

2 tbsp grated Parmigiano Reggiano

1/2 tsp salt

2 tbsp olive oil

Cut the chicken breast in small pieces. Beat the egg in a little bowl and adjust with salt. In a plate mix crumbles and cheese, than prepare the crust. Dip the chicken pieces in the egg, roll the pieces in the crumbles-cheese mix, than put them on a baking plate covered with a sheet of baking paper. When all pieces have their crust sprinkle the olive oil on top. Cook the chicken in the oven at 180°C for 30 minutes. 

Kid1 love them dipped in Ketchup ;P

Pan y Jamon

Bueno, this is just home made bread and one of the most fabulous Spanish Jamon...
But my husband assured me he can live eating nothing else ;P

Many thanks to my In-laws for bringing us this delicatessen :D

Go Reds!

This afternoon we'll meet with Kid1's schoolmates (The Reds) at a playground. It's an after-school party, so we'll bring snacks and cookies to eat in the meantime...

Kid1 this morning was looking for Chocolate Chunk Cookies to bring

But I was oriented to something funnier like Sugar Cookies. So, at the end I prepared both :P

Flowers

I'm not on a diet, I 've just been busy ;P
I've to post a couple of recipes, so I'll be back in a sec... In the meantime enjoy my mother's flowers :D

Apple Pie... One of the infinite version ;D

Looking for something comforting? Reassuring? 

Does exist a better baking version of a caress than an home made Apple Pie?!

 This is the easiest recipe I have:

250 gr Flour

100 gr Sugar

2 eggs

250 gr Yogurt

75 gr Vegetable oil (I'm using peanut oil)

1 pkg baking powder

2 Golden Apples

Peal and slice the two apples. Mix all liquid ingredients briefly with a stand alone mixer. Add gradually the flour and the baking powder. Pour the cream in a  buttered 24 cm pan, decorate with the apple slices, spread some sugar on top than bake the cake at 180°C for 40 minutes.

Spring Rolls

I simply adore Spring Rolls, than I decide to go for this recipe by GialloZafferano

They were quite a mess, because I did them in less than an hour :/ Next time I'll take more time to compose them in a beautiful form. However, they tasted good :D 

I did little change in the filling, using veal, soy springs, leach and carrots ...

Optical cookies @_@

Few days ago I entered a bakery with my kids and Kid1 fell in love with those cookies...

 We bought a bounce of them and as all Tea Pastries they were hard and dry. The bought ones were good to deep them in a hot cup of tea, but Kid1 wanted to munch biscuits easily so decided to bake them :P I opted for this recipe right for crumbly cookies:

350 gr Flour

125 gr Powder sugar

200 gr Butter

1 Egg and 1 Yolk

1  1/2 tsp Baking powder

1 pinch Salt

20 gr dark Cocoa powder

Mix all ingredients, except Cocoa powder, as fast as possible (Same procedure for short pastry) than divide the dough in two parts. With the first part form a ball and let it rest in the fridge, than take the remaining and add Cocoa powder. Form a second ball an put it in the fridge as well. After one hour the smooth past will be hard enough to roll the dough in two square (one black and one white :P).

Carefully roll one square on a rolling pin and set it over the other, now roll the two layers forming a log. Press lightly, than slice the log into 5mm large wheels. Cook the biscuits on a baking pan using paper foil.  180°C for 10 minutes.

My Bday Cake ;-)

Nothing better than share moments and cakes with the family :D

The inside view ;P

Flour tortillas

Today is my Birthday and for the occasion I prepared a Mexican meal :-P

Remembering this post  An end to my quest: flour tortillas I tried them, actually they are very good! A recipe to print and store for the future :D  

Experiment

Spring is finally coming. After three week of grey sky, clouds and rain yesterday we finally saw the sun! So my mood abruptly change and I decided to come out of my cave (=kitchen!).

In the last few days I cooked and baked as usual, but I also started experimenting with Sugarpaste. No need to say that my first results are unappealing :/

Modelling sugarpaste is working good. The big issue consist in covering a cake with a smooth and uniform sugarpaste layer. I need exercise, indeed...

Last Friday I finished my little stock of sugarpaste, but I had a lot of cake and filling, so I decided to make some deconstructured cakes to eat at supper. At the end they were prettier than the decorated cake :-)

Sponge cake soaked in strawberry syrup, with fresh strawberries and dark chocolate ganaché.

Delusional Sunday

When a day starts in the wrong way it's difficult to make it good.
The sky was grey and rainy, so we decided to comfort ourselves experimenting a dessert we had days ago in a restaurant: Tortini al cioccolato dal cuore tenero.

I decide to go for this recipe Tortini di Anna Moroni, but it was delusional. We expected to savour a dark, creamy, luxurious dessert and we had Chocolate Sufflé

(From right to left: before cooking, after 8 minutes in the oven and after Kid1 first bite ;P)

I mean, they aren't so bad. It's only that we wanted something different... So  now I'm searching in the www the perfect match with our dreamy Tortino.

I'll keep you informed of my new results :P 

Granny's Baking Ammonia Cookies

We woke up this morning hearing howling wind and falling rain. We're supposed to be in the middle of Springtime, but the impression is that we switched Earth's side and we are in the middle of a regular Autumn.

In order to improve our mood, I decide to bake something that can taste good with a cup of hot chocolate, or a mug of fresh coffee, or a fluffy cappuccino: my granny's Ammonia cookies :-)

They are spongy and delicate, with a light sugar taste that makes them a perfect match for every hot drink.

Ingredients:

500 gr Flour

200 gr Sugar

2 Eggs

80 ml Oil (Peanut, sunflowers, ecc...)

100 ml Milk

10 gr Baking Ammonia

Decorating sugar

Warm the milk and mix the Baking ammonia in it. Beat the eggs with sugar until they form a light cream, add oil and milk gradually. When all ingredients are well mixed you can start to add the flour.

The dough will be quite sticky, so oil your hands before forming cookies. This kind of cookie rises three time the original size, so be careful to let enough place in between. The classic size is the elongated, you can obtain it forming a cookie 8cm long and 2cm wide.     

Cook the cookies 10-15 minutes at 180°C

Once the cookies have a golden color open the oven and CLOSE YOUR EYES! The vapor that is coming out contains ammonia, so if you are invested by this smelly cloud your eyes will burn as if you've been swimming in the sea :P

Recycling

Recycling is a wonderful thing, but doing that in the kitchen is a pleasure ;P

As usual Easter brings a lot of chocolate eggs, some of them are difficult to consume in the short period so here we go with a chocolate "recycling" recipe :D

Kinder Muffins (12 units)

250 gr Flour

100 gr Sugar

2 Eggs

250 ml Yogurt 

70 ml Peanut oil (Sunflower oil is good as well)

1 pkg backing powder

100 gr Chocolate

In a big bowl mix all dried ingredients, in an other mix the remaining things. Mix the liquid with the dry ingredients and stir energetically but briefly the compound, divide it in 12 Muffin cups and bake at 180°C for 20 minutes.

Panino HotDog

Last weeek Kid1 was watching with me a cooking program and he fell in love with this recipe Cuscinetti di wurstel dai Menu di Benedetta.

Today I finally backed them, but I used my recipe for the Milkrolls:

500 gr all purpose Flour
250 ml milk
30 gr butter
1 pkg dried Yeast
2 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt

As usual I put all ingredients in my KitchenAid mixer until the dough is uniform. Than I formed a ball and let it raise until it doubled its size. Than I formed four HotDog and with the rest I prepared simple rolls. I let them raise an other couple of hours, than I backed them at 200°C

Il Pane Naturale alle Olive

100 gr Sourdough
200 gr all purpose Flour
100 gr fine Flour
100 gr Manitoba Flour
80 gr Sliced Olives (I had only black olives at home... Choose your favorites)
150ml water
1 teaspoon salt

It's the same procedure for normal bread, the only new thing I did was to oil the loaf surface in order to have a different crust. I would like to have something like Ciabatta's crust, but it was only a little bit glossier as usual. 

Pan Cioc di Pasta Madre

Since I'm backing breads and cakes prepared with sourdough today I decided to use it for my Pan Cioc.

The little change to my recipe is 130 gr sourdough instead of dried yeast and less milk, 170 ml for me was enough.
I also backed littler balls than last time (50gr instead of  75gr)
The results are:
A longer rising time
A crispier crust
A different dough's flavor, more like bread than cake

I've to say that they are good as the originals, however if you don't have an entire day to bake them go with the first ;P

Tigelle express

Did you have an happy Ester meal? 

Actually we had a lot of fun eating traditional lamb in an original way. I thought that maybe kid1 could appreciate better the meat, if  served in an informal way. I had the idea to prepare something like mini kebab bread, that he could stuff with whatever he likes.

I remembered to have seen on a tv program how to make light and fast Tigelle.

So I looked for my notes and here they are:

Ingredients for express Tigelle:
- 430g all purpose Flour
- 1 pack instant backing powder
- 250g natural yogurt
- 40ml water
- 1 teaspoon salt

Remember to prepare those little breads just before your meal, they taste better when are still warm.

Start putting in a big bowl: flour, instant backing powder, water, yogurt and salt. mix well all ingredients until the dough is uniform. Form a ball and let it rest 10 minutes, more or less. Form 20 little balls (35-40 gr) and roll them out forming discs 5 mm thick.

Warm a large nonstick pan and cook the discs three minutes each side.

Roscón de Pascua

This is my husband time to wish a typical Easter meal and he opted for Roscón de Pascua. 

This is quite the same version of the most known Roscón de Reyes, but there is no surprise inside! :D In my husband's hometown in fact they eat this delicious cake also as Easter dessert.

I followed the recipe for Roscón de Reyes posted in WebosFritos's blog, but at the end I decorated my Roscón only with candied cherries and sugar, because my guys  hates candied lemon and orange peel :/

Let's start eating it and: Happy Easter to everyone will read this post :-*

Il pane naturale: Pane ai Sette Cereali

This time I've chosen a wholemeal flour (Farina PANE NERO Molino Spadoni) for my bread, the procedure is always the same even if the ingredients changed:

300 gr Sourdough
500 gr wholemeal flour
250 ml water
1 teaspoon salt

This brown bread tasted delicious with Wildflower honey

Pizza di Formaggio

Do you have a special food that shouldn't be missing on a Feast meal? 

For me Easter without Pizza di Formaggio isn't fine. This is a typical receipt in the Center of Italy. In general you can buy it some weeks before Easter in every Bakery, but since I'm now living in an other region (NW) I had to bake my own Pizza di Formaggio, because here they don't know it.

I had a receipt in a cuisine magazine that was pretty good, even if really poor in cheese! So, I modified it adding more cheese types. The result satisfied me, even if in my favorite Bakery they make them more cheesy and spicy.

My Pizza di Formaggio:

300 gr Bread dough (obtained by fresh Sourdough)

50 gr grated Emmenthal

50 gr grated strong Provolone

80 gr grated Parmigiano Reggiano

150 gr chopped Caciotta or fresh Pecorino 

6 eggs
Flour as you need (more or less 250 gr)
50 gr Olive oil
Salt and Pepper

In a large bowl beat the eggs with all grated cheeses, 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon Pepper. When the mix is ready put it in the stand mixer bowl with the dough, stir well for some minutes until the dough has adsorbed the cream. Than start to add slowly the flour. I suggest you to stop when the dough consistency allows you to form a ball.

Oil a large bowl and let the dough's ball rest for an hour in a warm ambient (your oven, for example). When the ball doubles its size you can put it in a paper mold for Panettone, it has to be filled for 3/4 its volume. Let it rise for three hours than bake it at 200°C until the upper crust has a golden brown color.

My dough was too much for my paper mold, so I did three little Pizza di Formaggio using Muffin's paper molds. They looked pretty, I think it could be a really good solution for a party. You can serve them like cupcakes or use them as a support for place cards at your table, can't you?

Il pane naturale: i panini :D

Fragrant home made bread in different shapes :P

Crostata alla marmellata

Last week I was baking bread, trying to stabilize my process and in the meantime I took advantage of the hot oven baking something more. One of my classic tart and also one  of my husband's favorite is Crostata alla marmellata. 

You will find a lot of recipe for this cake, I think every family has the own one, but I can assure you that my Crostata is really good.

How to make a good Crostata? The secret is a good Shortcrust. The crust has to be crumbly and soft. So, which is the secret? Make the dough as fast as possible. When you see the ingredients well blended, form a ball and let it rest in the fridge for half an hour.

My recipe for shortcrust is:
300 gr Flour
2 Eggs 1 Yolk
150 gr Butter
120 gr Sugar
1/2 teaspoon baking powder

 On top you can use your favorite jam (Peach, strawberry, raspberry,...), or marmelade, or custard, or Nutella, in other words whatever you want ;P

Wild flowers

 Last week I spent some days in my hometown. During a little walk in the country I was attracted by a bunch of wild anemones, then nearby I found something more...




I always called them "Wild Iris", but I'm not sure it's its real name. They are so little (20 -25 cm) and their aspect is so mimetic, that is not easy to see them from a distance. However their smell is so good and intense like wooden Sowbreads. Beautiful, isn't it? 

    PS: I found it's name Hermodactylus tuberosa (Widow Iris)

Il Pane naturale 2

This is my second tentative of home made bread.
I used:
200 gr sourdough
250 gr all purpose flour
120 gr Manitoba flour
130 gr super fine flour
250 ml water
1 teaspoon salt

After 4 hours I obtained this! :D
 

This bread tested wonderfully with my Sister-in-law's Patè (Direct from France ;P)

Il Pane naturale

I decided to bake bread using sourdough instead of yeast, so I started to read blogs, posts and recipes all around the web. The universal suggestion is: once you have your sourdough try different solution in order to find your favorite bread.
Here you can find the method for the Sourdough
For my first loaf I used simple all purpose flour...

Primo tentativo - First tentative

L'interno - Inside