Eggs In Dressing

A nice, light starter, which looks (and tastes) surprisingly wonderful. It is also an interesting variation for casual, well-known boiled eggs. This is the kind of recipe that could be described as 'you wouldn't come up with such idea even though it is so easy and seems so obvious' ;) Everyone enjoyed it a lot :) It disappeared quite quickly from the table, if that will persuade you to try it ;)

The idea derives from this website.

Ingredients:

• 4 tablespoons of mayo
• 1-2 bunches of dill, chopped
• salt, pepper
• boiled eggs, cut into halves
• 5-7 radishes, cut into slices
• a bunch of chive, chopped

Preparation:

1. Take a blender with its cube cutter, put the dill inside, mix. Add mayo, mix again till smooth.
2. Season with salt and pepper.
3. Put aside for a while (it will change its taste a little). Season again, if necessary.
4. Put egg halves on an oval plate, pour the mayo dressing on the plate. Sprinkle with radishes and chive. 
5. Bon Appetit ;)

(Easter) Peach Muffins

Very nice ones, might serve Easter occasion easily :) I like the taste - sweet, thanks to soft, delicate whipped cream, moist cake with delicious fruit and to make a nice contrast to that sweetness -sour lemon curd. Mmmm!
These might be filled with different ingredients. The original recipe is with advocaat, though for the sake of children and family members who needed to drive a car, I made them with peaches :) The dough is actually weird - it is very thick and sticky, but after baking turns out very nice - soft and moist (that's probably thanks to peaches ;)). I know you might be tempted to make a swiss buttercream for the top, but I'd recommend stiff whipped cream, as buttercream would make them very heavy.

To prepare these cute cupcakes I mixed recipes from here and here and added a little bit of my own creativity ;)

Ingredients:

Muffin dough:

• 120g of butter
• 110g of sugar
• 2 big eggs (or 3 smaller ones)
• 200g of flour
• 2 teaspoons of baking powder
• 3 teaspoons of advocaat (for the dough, not for the filling, but this is optional, I skipped it)

Filling - ideas:

• 1 tin of peaches cut into smaller pieces (and a little bit dried on a paper towel)
• advocaat
• vanilla custard (previously prepared, for example from this recipe)
• lemon curd 
• apricot

Lemon curd:

Ingredients:

• 3 eggs
• lemon zest and lemon juice from 3 lemons
• 100g of powdered sugar
• 100g of cool butter

Topping:

• 250ml of 36% cream
• 1-2 tablespoons of powdered sugar
• something to stiffen it - either so-called 'smietan-fix' or for example 'fake-powdered-whipped cream' (a powder you mix with milk to get a whipped cream ;) it stiffens the cream as well) or 1 teaspoon of gelatin - though here be careful not to make lumps

Preparation - muffin dough:

1. All the ingredients should be in room temperature.
   During that time you can prepare your muffin tins, greasing them with butter or just simply putting paper muffin cases into every hole. If you decided to use peaches - open the tin, take everything out of it as it isn't healthy to keep food in an open tin, separate the syrup from the fruit. Using a paper towel, dry the fruit and chop into smaller pieces.
2. Sieve the flour with baking powder and put aside.
3. Take a mixer and its bowl. Chop the butter into smaller pieces, add sugar and mix till you get a bright, fluffy mixture.
4. Add eggs, one after another, mixing precisely after adding one.
5. Add flour with baking powder, mix on a low rotation till everything links. 
6. Here you can add advocaat to the dough and mix till it links or you can skip that step.
7. Using a teaspoon, put some dough (+ - 1 teaspoon) to every paper case. Then add the filling and cover with another teaspoon. Don't be afraid while adding the filling - it is really fine to put quite a lot of it (I added 4 peach pieces into every muffin and they seem to get lost in the dough anyway ;))
8. Put the muffins in the oven for around 15-20 minutes, on 180C, till they get gold and the toothpick is dry.
9. Cool down.

Preparation - lemon curd:

Lemon curd requires a 'bath' so it is necessary to have a suitable pot and a bowl, that can be put one on another.

1. Chop the butter into smaller pieces.
2. Take a pot, put some water inside, start boiling it.
3. Take a bowl that matches the pot, put eggs inside, beat.
4. Add lemon juice, lemon zest, powdered sugar and stir till everything links and there are no lumps.
5. Now put the bowl on the top of your pot (make sure the bowl stands out from the pot so that you don't get burn) and slowly keep heating up the mixture (don't boil it). 
6. Keep adding the butter, one piece after another, stiring after adding.
7. When all the butter is melted in the mixture, turn off the heat and put the bowl with lemon curd somewhere aside, to let it cool down.
8. Then put your lemon curd in the fridge so that it stiffens more.

Preparation - topping:

1. Before preparing the whipped cream be sure your cream is really, really cool (I always put it in the freezer before beating, for around 10-15 minutes).
2. Take a mixer and its bowl, put cream inside, start mixing. After a while add powdered sugar and something to stiffen it.
3. Beat for around 10 minutes (depending on the power of a mixer it might take more or less time, keep paying attention not to make butter).

Finishing - cupcakes:

1. When everything is cooled down and ready, using a teaspoon, take some of the whipped cream and start distributing it all over the top of your muffin. In the middle top, make a small hole for lemon curd.
2. When all the whipped cream is distributed, put your muffins in the fridge, so that the cream stiffens a little before adding lemon curd.
3. Then, using a syringe or a teaspoon, put some lemon curd into previously prepared holes in whipped cream. 
4. Keep in the fridge.
5. Bon Appetit ;)
   
   
   
   

Pasta with basil pesto

Ohhh my! this is the very best meal I've recently eaten! And it might be prepared in many different variations as there are a few types of pesto :) Another advantage, for those of You, who has little time - some of the ingredients - like pesto - might be bought, ready-made, no need to prepare home-made pesto :) though I do encourage You to try ;)

Recipe for a good basil pesto.

Just one important thing about basil pesto - home-made or ready-made: do not heat it up, as it may change its taste, into bitter, because of the basil, so that you may not like it anymore.

Ingredients:

• 1 packaging of lovage-flavoured pasta
• 1 jar/packaging of ready-made pesto (or see the pesto ingredients&recipe below)
• 500g of chicken breasts
• salt, pepper, oregano (optionally something else to make it more spicy, like cayenne pepper)
• grated cheese
• chopped parsley leaves

Home-made pesto:

Ingredients:

• 25g of fresh basil leaves
• 1/3 small clove of garlic
• 25g of pine nuts or pumpkin seeds or cashew or walnuts
• 10g of 'hard' cheese, (like permigiano, grana padano, pecorino)
• 70ml of olive oil
• sea salt, freshly ground black pepper

Pesto preparation:

1. Take a blender, put all the ingredients inside and crush them all into very small pieces. In the end, season with spices.

Preparation:

1. Take a pot, put water inside, add a little salt, boil. When boiling, add pasta and boil for around 10 minutes, stiring from time to time (basic pasta preparation).
2. Take the chicken, chop into small pieces and put in a bowl. Season with salt, pepper, oregano (and optionally cayenne) and stir/shake, so that it covers all the pieces.
3. Take a frying pan, add oil, start heating. Add chicken and fry till gold.
4. Strain the pasta, put some on your plate, add some chicken, put pesto on it. Sprinkle with grated cheese*, some freshly ground pepper and parsley leaves.
5. Bon Appetit! :)

*If the meal isn't hot enough anymore to melt the cheese, it is ok to add cheese before pesto and put it for a few seconds in a microwave.

Cinnamon Buns

Slightly changed, the recipe comes from this website.

Ingredients (for around 20 buns, depending on size):

• 20g of fresh yeast
• 3 tablespoons of sugar
• 2 glasses of flour
• 1/2 glass of milk
• 1 egg
• 63g of melted, cooled down butter
• pinch of salt

Filling:

• 70-80g of melted butter
• 1/3-1/2 glass of brown sugar
• few teaspoons of ground cinnamon

Optional filling ingredients:

• raisins

Preparation:

1. Take a bowl, put yest, 1 tablespoon of sugar, 1 tablespoon of flour and half of the milk, stir, to prepare a leaven and put aside in a warm place, for around 15 minutes (it needs to double its size).
2. During that time, melt 63g of butter and cool down a little.
3. Take another bowl, put remaining flour, salt, egg and the rest of milk and sugar inside. Add the leaven. Knead for around 10 minutes, till smooth. 
4. Add milk and knead again till it stops sticking to a hand. Put aside in a warm place, so that it doubles its size again (it may take more time than previously).
5. During that time, melt the butter for the filling.
6. Take a baking tray, put baking paper on it. Put aside.
7. Divide the dough into 3 parts. Take a rolling pin and roll out (using only a little flour) the first piece. Distibute the butter all over, sprinkle with sugar, cinnamon and opitionally raisins.
8. Roll up (tight, tube shape) and cut into 3-4 cm pieces.
9. Put every piece gently on previously prepared baking tray, leaving some space between every bun, cause they will grow up.
10. Bake for 10-15 minutes in 180C.
11. Bon appetit! ;)

Pumpkin muffins

During such cruelly cold weather there is nothing better than a comfortable chair, mug with steaming tea(or cocoa ;) ) and.... something sweet and tasty, for the pleasure... like these muffins ;) These are one of my naphew's favourites :) Not really difficult to prepare, aaand the feeling of guilt because of eating something sweet, especially in the evening is smaller, because it's made of pumpkins... and pumpkins are healthy, aren't they? ;)

Also, with no regret or sadness that the pumpkin season is over - you can easily use tinned pumpkin :)
The recipe comes from this website.

Ingredients:

• 50g of butter
• 1/3 glass of brown sugar
• 1/3 glass if white sugar
• 1,5 glass of flour
• 3/4 teaspoon of baking powder
• 3/4 teaspoon of baking soda
• 1 teaspoon of cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon if nutmeg
• A pinch if salt
• 1/4 glass if oil
• 2 eggs
• 200g of tinned pumpkin pieces
• 1 jar of plum jam

Top(optional):

• plum jam
• powdered sugar
• whipped cream
• caramel

Preparation:

1. Take the tinned pumpkin. Drain it off and smash, using for example a blender.
2. Take a mixer's bowl. Put chopped butter, brown and white sugar inside. Put aside.
3. Take a bowl, put flour, baking powder and baking soda inside. Add cinnamonn, nutmeg and salt. Mix precisely.
4. Mix butter and sugars for around 2-3 minutes. After that time, gradually start adding oil, mixing all the time. 
5. Continue mixing, add one egg, when it links, add another. 
6. Add pumpkin puree, mix till smooth.
7. Add bowl with flour and spices, mix till everything links.
8. Put in the fridge for at least 1 hour.
9. At the end of that 1 hour's time, start preheating the oven to 180C.
10. Take a muffin tin, grease it or put paper muffin cases inside.
11. Put some of the dough inside every paper case (preferably not more than 3/4 of the paper case).
12. Put in the oven and bake for 10-15 minutes, till muffins grow and turn gold.
13. Cool down... or not, but be careful not to burn yourself ;)
14. Bon Appetit! :)

Mascarpone Pancakes

That's a very tasty idea, for instance for those of you who don't eat meat on friday or enjoy eating something cruelly sweet while drinking coffee ;)

Ingredients:

Pancakes:

• 160g of flour
• 300ml of 3,2% milk
• 2 eggs
• 2 tablespoon of sugar
• 16g of vanilla sugar
• pinch of salt
• 30g of melted, cooled down butter

Filling (optional):

• 250g of mascarpone cheese + 2 tablespoons of powdered sugar
• chocolate and caramel sauces
• almonds
• fruit

Preparation:

1. Take a mixer and its bowl. 
2. Put flour, milk, eggs, sugars and salt inside, mix till smooth.
3. Add melted butter, mix till smooth again. Put aside.
4. Take another bowl. Put mascarpone cheese and powdered sugar inside. Mix with a fork or spoon, gently, a little.
5. Take a quite big frying pan(flat one, preferably), grease it with oil, and using a paper towel, distribute the oil on the entire frying pan.
6. Turn on the heat so that it heats up.
7. Put some dough on the pan and distribute it immidiately on the entire frying pan, to make a thin pancake.
8. Fry for few minutes on both sides.
9. Put the pancake on a plate.
10. Distribute mascarpone mixture on the entire pancake surface. Add caramel sauce.
11. Fold the sides of the pancake, then its bottom and at the end the top.
12. Overturn. Decorate with chocolate sauce, almonds, fruit.
13. Bon Appetit!

Bajadera

Bajadera. What is it? Well - that's a fantastic, last second idea which always works, always tastes delicious as it is chocolate sweet, soft and moist. 

I do recommend, especially when you have no time and your oven is tired as it is a non-baking recipe ;)
But - if You have time and enjoy baking, decorating, creating sweet wonders - see also Bajadera Reindeers.

Quite changed recipe comes from this website.

Ingredients:

• 400g of dried pound cake (preferably lemon or vanilla flavoured)
• 120g of mascarpone cheese
• 80g of nutella
• 350g of milk chocolate
• favourite mincemeat (including for example nuts, almonds; or  baking cocoa)
• some plastic small sticks
• sprinkles for decoratation

Optional ingredients:

• 10-25ml of Rum
• dried fruit - but in very small pieces

Preparation:

1. If your pound cake isn't dried enough, it is a good idea to crumble it into very small pieces and put it in the preheated oven(over 180C) for a couple of minutes.
2. Take a mixer and it's bowl. Put mascarpone cheese and nutella inside. Mix till smooth.
3. Put dried pound cake to the bowl and mix everything till smooth. 
4. Here is the time to add and mix optional ingredients if desired.
5. Cover with foil and cool down in the freezer for 45 minutes.
6. During that time, prepare a rectangular bakewell pan or loaf tin or - something that you can put in your freezer. Put some baking paper on its bottom.
7. Take the dough out from the freezer and start making small balls, put each of them in previously prepared pan/tin.
8. Put back in the freezer for another 30 minutes.
9. During that time prepare small paper muffin cases and sprinkles around you.
10. Also, take a pot, put chocolate (in small pieces) inside and melt on a very low heat.
11. Take one ball from the freezer, dip 1/3 of a stick inside a ball and dip in the chocolate, so that it covers the entire ball, take out from the chocolate, wait till the excess of chocolate falls down.
12. As the ball is very cold, the chocolate will stiffen on it very fast, so as soon as you take it out from the chocolate pot, take out the stick, put it on a muffin case and decorate.
13. Store finished bajaderas in the fridge.
14. Bon Appetit! ;)