Italian Torta Margherita

Very easy and tasty cake. Last minute idea, when you have a craving for a cake ;)The only thing I needed to buy to prepare it was a greek yoghurt ;) So the cost of preparing it is automatically low too :) Recipe comes from all over the Internet, containing some Italian websites (for example: ricette.giallozafferano.it , emikodavies.com) :)

Ingredients:

• 300 g of greek yoghurt
• 300 g of sugar
• 3 eggs
• 150 g of oil
• 600 g of flour
• 2 teaspoons of baking powder
• 16 g of vanilla sugar
• 200-500 g of fruit - plums, apples, nectarine, pear (preffered harder ones, not very juicy)
• some butter
• powdered sugar or icing sugar

Optional ingredients:

• 2-3 teaspoons zest of a lemon (optional)
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

Preparation:

1. Wash, peel and chop the fruit into wedges.
2. Start heating the oven to 200C.
3. Take a big bowl.
4. Put yoghurt and sugar inside, add eggs and stir. Add oil and stir again.
5. Add flour, baking powder and optional ingredients (if desired). Stir everything.
6. Add fruit and stir again.
7. Take a springform cake tin (though I used fluted cake ring) grease it thoroughly.
8. Put the dough in a tin and bake for 30-40 minutes in 200C.*
9. Check, by using a toothpick if the cake is ready (put the toothpick as deep as possible, to get sure).
10. Take it out from the oven, cool down, then overturn the cake and by tapping, take it out from the form.
11. Sprinkle with powdered sugar or icing sugar.
12. Bon Appetit! :)

* The top of the cake may start getting burnt very fast because the oven is already preheated. To prevent your cake, when you notice it starts burning, put a piece of foil on the entire top of the cake. 

Italian Almond Cookies

 These cookies were an absolute, astonishing surprise to me. Right after taking them out of the oven, my first thought was 'my God, what a disaster, it's burnt and hard'. And that is what I told my friends. Even so, I didn't throw them away. My mum and my friends tasted it and with a delight claimed that the cookies were really delicious. How come...? 
Well, it appeared that these cookies need some time to get soft and tasty (a couple of hours, every next day they get better ;) ). 
Must try. Quick, easy, delicious.
Recipe comes from this website.

Ingredients (for 50-70 cookies):

• 3 egg whites
• 300g of grounded almonds (= almond flour)
• 300g of powdered sugar (+some, to sprinkle the cookies)
• 1 tablespoon of honey or golden syrup (I used it instead of honey)
• filling: caramel sauce*, lemon curd, whipped cream, creme patissiere, Nutella, honey, etc.

* I used it, matches perfectly

Preparation:

1. Mix all the ingredients using a food processor, till you get thick, malleable dough. It may be sticky. Cover it using a foil and put in the fridge for at least 30 minutes. 
2. During that time, prepare your baking sheet - put some baking paper on it and - optionally - put a foil under the baking paper.*
3. Take the dough out of the fridge. 
4. Start forming small balls (around walnut's size), sprinkle it precisely with powdered sugar, put on a baking sheet and using something small with a round, smooth ending - make a hollow in every cookie (so that after baking, you can put the filling in there).
5. Leave some space between the cookies on the baking sheet - they double their size during baking. 
6. Bake in 160C for around 15 minutes.** 
7. Cool them down and then add the filling.
8. Bon Appetit ! :)

* Foil is important, if your oven likes to burn the bottom of the food. 

** Again, it depends on the oven. It is crucial to keep looking at cookies for these 15 minutes - don't let them get too gold (even though it is a little bit hard, because they remain white because of the powdered sugar). You can easily open the oven during baking (nothing bad will happen) and check(using a toothpick) or even taste one cookie to check if it is ready or not. It is advisable to lift one cookie, using for instance a fork, to check whether the bottom is burnt or not.

If you are afraid that it is baking too fast - decrease the temperature.

Classical Panna Cotta

Ohh how much I love preparing those little desserts! Perfect with coffee, vanilla-flavoured jelly-like dessert, easy to prepare and without using the oven :) 

Panna Cotta might be prepared in dozen of different flavours(many different extracts might be used instead of vanilla - like almond, coconut, rum, citrus ones...) and in many different shapes(it is up to You what kind of receptacle or form You'll pour it into :) )

Original recipe from this website.

Ingredients: (for 4-7 portions)

• 3 teaspoons of powdered gelatin
• 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract
• 250 ml of 30-36% cream
• 250 ml of milk (2-3,2% of fat, not less)
• 80 g of sugar

optional ingredients:

• 1 tablespoon of rum 
• 1 tablespoon of white wine

Decoration:

Fresh fruit(for instance: strawberries, raspberries, wild strawberries, cherries), fruit mousse, caramel, chocolate, nuts

Preparation:

1. Put the gelatin in a tumbler and suffuse it with 2 tablespoons of water. Leave it for 5 minutes.
2. Take a pot and put the cream, milk, sugar and vanilla extract inside. Stir till the sugar is melted.
3. Add optional ingredients if you want to.
4. Boil and take it out quickly from your cooker. Add the gelatin and stir quickly for more or less 1 minute till the gelatin melts completely.
5. Pour the mixture into cups.
6. Cool it. Cover with (for example) aluminium foil and put in the fridge for at least 4 hours (entire night advisable)

• How to take Panna Cotta out of the cup?

To take it out easily you can put the cup for a few seconds in hot water. Then, keep the cup upside down and shake more or less gently till it comes unstuck from the cup's side. Be careful it may fall down!

Another way is just to put the knife inside the cup's edge and cut it inside near to the edges of the cup.