Wholemeal rolls

Very easy, very tasty, very quick and healthy! :) And, what is a big advantage, it is possible to heat them up in a microwave before eating or freeze :) And they're absolutely mouthwatering after a short meeting with microwave... Recipe from: http://www.kwestiasmaku.com/domowa_piekarnia/buleczki_razowe/przepis.html

Ingredients:

• 2 boiled and smashed potatoes
• 420 g of wholemeal flour
• 1,5 teaspoon of salt
• 2 and 1/4 teaspoon of instant yeast (or 14 g of fresh yeast)
• 3 tablespoons of sugar
• 1/2 glass of milk
• 40 g of butter
• 3/4 glass of milk
• 1 egg - separately egg yolk and white

Additional ingredients:

• 4-6 tablespoons of favourite grains
• poppy - to sprinkle the tops

Preparation:

1. Peel and boil potatoes. Smash, take 3/4 glass of them, put aside.
2. Take a big bowl, put flour, salt, yeast, sugar and 1/2 of milk inside. Stir.
3. Take a pot, put 3/4 of milk and butter inside. Boil on a low heat till the butter melts (it needs to be warm, not hot, not 100C). 
4. Prepare a clean surface - sprinkle it with flour.
5. Make some empty space in the middle of the bowl, put milk with butter inside and add potatoes. Stir. Add egg yolk and grains. Knead the dough (it will be sticky).
6. Put the dough on a spinkled surface and knead for another 10 minutes (it is highly probable that some more flour will be needed) till the dough is smooth, flexible and not sticky. 
7. Put it in a bowl, cover with clean cloth and put aside for 1,5 hours.
8. Take a baking tray, grease it and put a baking paper all over it. 
9. Start preheating the oven to 175C.
10. Take the dough, start forming rolls in a desired size* and put on a baking tray.
11. Beat the egg white and put some of it on every roll. Sprinkle every roll (for example) with poppy.
12. Put the baking tray with rolls in the middle height of the oven, bake for 30 minutes.
13. Take out from the oven, wait for 5 minutes and separate the rolls. Cool down.
14. Bon appetit! :)

* They shouldn't grow much which is why I advice making 6-10 bigger rolls

Raspberry Lassi

This is sort of an idea for Mango Lassi leftovers or for something new, when you're bored with basic version. :) Worth trying, the taste is more intense thanks to raspberries. Recipe - my own idea, using what I have in my fridge :)

Ingredients (for 2 glasses):

• 1 mango
• 200-300 g of raspberries
• 1/2-1 greek yoghurt or natural yoghurt (around 150-300 ml)
• 1 tablespoon of Golden Syrup or honey
• 1 glass of cold/room temperature water (add only 1/2 glass of cold water if using ice cubes)

Optional ingredients:

• 1-2 teaspoons of sugar
• 1-2 pinch(es) of ground cardamom (definitely worth trying)
• 2-5 ice cubes
• mint leaves

Preparation:

1. Wash all the fruit and put on paper towels to dry.
2. If preparing it in a cold version - put the fruit in the freezer.
3. Take a blender and its cube cutter.
4. Wash and peel mango. Chop.
5. Put inside the cube cutter and mix till smooth.
6. Add raspberries, mix till smooth.
7. Add yoghurt, mix.
8. Add Golden Syrup/honey, sugar, water, ice cubes, cardamom. Mix again till smooth or even longer, to make a foam.
9. Decorate for instance with mint leaves.
10. Bon Appetit! :)

Home-made bread with thick, crunchy skin

A very tasty bread and a very good recipe. I guess it is impossible to fail... :) The only disadvantage is time, which is why it is good to prepare the dough in the evening and bake it the next day, in the afternoon/evening.

Recipe comes from this website.

Ingredients:

• 300 g of flour
• 100 g of wholemeal flour
• 1,5 teaspoon of salt
• 20 g of fresh yeast (or 1 teaspoon of instant yeast)
• 300 g of cold water

Optional ingredients:

• wholemeal flour or bran or poppy to sprinkle the top of the bread
• a handful of pumpkin or other seeds to 'upgrade' the bread :) 

Preparation:

1. Put the flour in a big bowl. Add salt, crumbled yeast and stir using a spoon. Add water and stir again(quickly, shortly, so that all the ingredients link).
2. Cover the bowl with foil and put aside for 12-14 hours in a room temperature (it grows).
3. Sprinkle the kitchen surface with flour, put the dough on it. Fold it 3-4 times, using your hands.
4. Take a clean cloth, sprinkle it with flour, put the dough on it. Cover the dough using the same cloth and put aside in a warm place for another 1-2 hours (it grows again).
5. After 1,5 from these 2 hours in point 4, put the oven's lattice on the lower part of the oven (1/3), take a clean casserole (with its lid) and put it in the oven. Start preheating the oven to 240-250C.
6. When these 2 hours end, take out the casserole from the oven (be careful it will be very very hot!) and put the dough inside it (sprinkle your hands with flour, it is easier to move the dough then).
7. Cover the casserole with its lid and bake for 30 minutes. 
8. After 30 minutes, take of the lid and bake for another 15-30 minutes. Advisably, after 5-10 minutes, cover the top of the bread with foil.
9. Take out from the oven, cool down.
10. Bon Appetit! :)

'Everyberry' crumble cake with custard foam

Why everyberry? Because it is possible to add many different fruit - strawberries, raspberries, blueberries... or event currants :) It is possible to make it from one kind of fruits or to mix some of them. It is absolutely a wonderful cake. During this year's summer holidays I made it a couple of times! I do recommend preparing it with double foam (I will write below how to bake it, because it differs from the basic version).
A must-do!

Recipe from: http://www.mojewypieki.com/przepis/kruche-ciasto-z-malinami-i-lekka-budyniowa-pianka

Ingredients for the dough:

• 2,5 glasses of flour
• 250 g of cold butter or margarine 
• 2 teaspoons of baking powder
• 3 tablespoons of powdered sugar
• 5 egg yolks (do not throw away the whites, they are necessary to make the foam! Put them aside.)

Ingredients for the foam:*

• 5 egg whites
• 1 glass of sugar
• 1 packaging of vanilla sugar (16g)
• 2 packagings (40 g each) of powdered vanilla/cream custard (budyń, budyń again!) 
• 1/2 glass of oil

* I do recommend making double foam - if so, just double every ingredient - 10 egg whites (but the bottom of the cake, the dough, takes only 5 yolks, it doesn't change!) 2 glasses of sugar, etc. Then, we bake the bottom as the basic recipe says, but the second baking will take around 30-40 minutes in 170-180C.

Additional ingredients - the top:

• 500-600 g of fruit (for example 200 g of raspberries, 200 g of blueberries, 200 g of currants)
• powdered sugar, to sprinkle the top

Preparation:

1. Take a big bowl. Put the flour, baking powder, powdered sugar and egg yolks inside. Chop the butter and add it to that bowl as well. Knead it quickly. Divide the dough into 2 spheres - one 60% of the dough and another 40%. Twist every piece around a cling film and put inside the freezer for an hour or 2. (It is possible to prepare the dough one day earlier).
2. Take a rectangular pan. Grease it and put baking paper all over the pan. 
3. Take the bigger sphere from the freezer and grate it on the entire bottom of the pan(the smaller one remains in the freezer). Bake it in 190C for around 20minutes (till it gets a light-gold colour). Cool down.
4. While the cake is cooling down, wash all the fruit and put them on paper towels, to let them dry.
5. When the bottom of the cake is cooled down, start preparing the foam.
6. Take a big bowl, put egg whites inside. Beat till stiff (around 7-9 minutes). One tablespoon after another, add sugar and vanilla sugar, still mixing. Without stopping the mixer, add powdered custard and slowly, the oil.
7. Put the foam on a cooled down bottom of the cake. 
8. Put all the fruit on the foam.
9. Take the second sphere and grate it on the top of the cake.
10. Bake in 190C for 30-40 minutes.
11. Cool down, sprinkle with powdered sugar.
12. Bon, bon Appetit! :)

Eton Mess

Without a hesitate I claim that this is a gourmet sensation vol.2 :) It also has plenty of advantages: it is easy to prepare, with every fruit you wish and can be a 'soft' dessert or it can contain some ingredients for adults... :)

Slightly changed, recipe comes from Nigella Lawson.

Ingredients:

• 1 packaging of ready-made meringue
• 300 ml of 36% cream
• 1/2-1 kg of fruit (strawberries, raspberries, cherries, blueberries...)
• 2-4 teaspoons of vanilla sugar

Optional ingredients:

• strawberry, pomegranate, raspberry, cherry syrup

Preparation:

1. Wash your fruit. Dry on a paper towel. Cut 3/4 of them into smaller pieces (not in the case of raspberries or cherries, they're small enough), put into a bowl.
2. Sprinkle your fruit with vanilla sugar, put aside.
3. Using a mixer, prepare the cream. Put the cream in a mixer's bowl, add 1-2 teaspoons of vanilla sugar and mix - it needs to be really stiff (it will take around 5-9 minutes of mixing).
4. Crumble the meringue.
5. Prepare some dessert bowls - start making tiers in every dessert bowl, starting from whichever ingredient you wish (for example: cream, meringue, (syrup), fruit...) the last tier belongs to fruit - either chopped ones or the remained 1/4.
6. Bon appetit! :)

About the Cherry Mess:

I simply used some cherries from my Cherry Liqueur (I didn't sprinkle them with anything) and instead of syrup I put 2-4 teaspoons of the liqueur. For adults - worth, worth trying!

Pistachio Frappe

Fantastic, refreshing, cruelly tasty. A perfect match of coffee + ice creams. Worth trying!

Recipe is my own idea.

Ingredients:

• 1-2 teaspoons of favourite instant coffee*
• 1-3 ice cream scoops of pistachio ice cream
• 1-2 drops of vanilla extract or 1-2 teaspoons of vanilla syrup

Optional ingredients:

• 1-2 teaspoons of sugar

Decoration:

• a few pistachios, grounded, to sprinkle the top
• another ice cream scoop of pistachio ice cream
• chocolate, vanilla or pistachio syrup/mousse

*This frappe can be prepared with ground coffee in a coffee maker, but then, it is necessary to take only the essence of the coffee - espresso. It is possible to use double espresso. 


Preparation:

1. Prepare blender and its cube cutter.
2. While using instant coffee, put it in the cube cutter with pistachio ice cream, vanilla and - optionally - sugar and mix till smooth or even till the natural foam appears.
3. Pour it into a latte glass.
4. Decorate.
5. Bon Appetit! :)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

1. While using ground coffee - prepare it, pour it (for instance) to a small coffee pot, cool down and put in the freezer for max. 20 minutes.
2. Keep checking - it cannot totally freeze. Take it out from the freezer, put in a cube cutter with other ingredients and blend till smooth or till the natural foam appears.
3. Decorate.
4. Bon Appetit! :)
   
   
   

Carrot Cake

The best carrot cake I've ever eaten. Even my family was surprised when they tried it. A definite must-do!

The recipe comes from my friend (greets!). She's got it that recipe from her friend who is a landlady, owning a hostel in Polish mountains(https://www.facebook.com/SchroniskoJaworzec), pampering her guests with that cake ;) 

Ingredients:

• 4 big eggs
• 1,5 glasses of sugar
• 2 glasses of flour
• 3/4 glass of oil
• 1 good teaspoon of gingerbread spice
• 1 good teaspoon of cinnamon spice
• 1 teaspoon of baking soda
• 1 teaspoon of baking powder
• 2-3 glasses of grated carrot

Optional ingredients - decoration:

• powdered sugar
• icing sugar (for example from that recipe, but lemon here, with carrot cake, is optional)
• chocolate glaze

Preparation: 

1. Take a mixer and its bowl. Put eggs inside the bowl and mix to get a fluffy, bright foam.
2. Without stopping the mixer, add sugar, flour, oil, gingerbread spice and cinnamon as well as baking powder and soda. Mix till all the ingredients link.
3. Add carrot, stir.
4. Start preheating the oven to 130C.
5. Take (preferably) a rectangular pan, grease it and put the baking paper inside.
6. Pour the dough to the pan.
7. Put the cake inside the oven, increase the temperature to 170C and bake for 35-45 minutes to the dry toothpick.
8. When finished, leave the cake in turned off, opened oven for a while.
9. Decorate the cake.
10. Bon Appetit! :)

Mango Lassi

 After a quite long holiday break, it is time for something new and refreshing as we are still in holiday mood :)

Mango Lassi, deriving from India, it is based on a Mango fruit with yoghurt and water. Easy to prepare, will pamper your palate :) 

I haven't taken the recipe from anywhere, I've just read on the Internet about this drink and created my own recipe. It is possible to prepare as a cold coctail, as a soft drink or with alcohol.

Ingredients (for 2-4 glasses - depending on the size of the glass):

• 2 mangos
• 1 greek yoghurt or natural yoghurt (around 300 ml)
• 1 tablespoon of Golden Syrup or honey
• 1 glass of cold/room temperature water (add only 1/2 glass of cold water if using ice cubes)

Optional ingredients:

• 1-2 teaspoons of sugar
• 1-2 pinch(es) of ground cardamom (definitely worth trying)
• 2-5 ice cubes
• 20-25 ml of Vanilla Vodka or Malibu
• mint leaves

Useful info:

• While using Golden Syrup it is advisable to heat it a little bit - for example by putting the right amount of it in a small bowl and then that bowl in another, with hot water.
• If the mango is really really ripe - then the sugar isn't that necessary, because the more ripe the fruit is the more sugar it contains.
• Trying things while preparing them is really a useful skill - you can decide on your own whether you want the taste of the fruit to be dominant or rather the yoghurt, etc. With coctails such as Mango Lassi, just add all the ingredients gratually, mix and taste it, using a clean spoon each time you try it, to make it suitable for you.

Preparation:

1. If preparing it in a cold version - put mangos in the freezer.
2. Take a blender and its cube cutter.
3. Wash and peel mangos. Chop.
4. Put inside the cube cutter and mix till smooth.
5. Add yoghurt, mix.
6. Add Golden Syrup/honey, sugar, water, ice cubes, cardamom. Mix again till smooth or even longer, to make a foam.
7. Decorate for instance with mint leaves.
8. Bon Appetit! :)