Kitchen Sink Cookies

Hi guys!


I've been craving cookies lately, but wanted to bake some myself instead of buying ones. It's hard to find a cookie, especially if you're buying them, that is the perfect balance between crunchy and soft - I like them best that way. As I bought Cynthia Barcomi's cook book which is all about baking, I wanted to try one of her recipes and decided to go with a classic. Cynthia calls them "Kitchen Sink Cookies" as they are present at her house at any time. I love that she gives a basic recipe and lots of ingredients to mix and match.


Here's the recipe:


280g (9 1/4 oz; a little less than 2 cups) all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda


250g (2 sticks) unsalted butter
260g (1 1/8 cup) sugar
1 teaspoon sugar beet syrup
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract


1) Preheat the oven to 185°C (365°F). Line a baking tray with baking paper. Mix the flour, salt and bicarbonate of soda.


2) Beat the butter until soft and creamy using a blender or kitchen machine. Add the sugar and syrup and beat until the mixture has become light and fluffy. Add the eggs and the vanilla extract and beat for a couple more minutes. 


3) Using a wooden spoon or dough scraper, mix the flour in the butter-sugar-mixture until just combined. 


4) Place tablespoons of dough on the baking tray. Make sure you leave some room between them. Bake the cookies for 10-12 minutes or until they're golden. Let cool on a cooking rack.

The recipe above is the basic dough. Now let's get your creativity going. You can add up to six ingredients by combining:

2 of the following:

100g (about 1 cup) rolled oats

80g (1/2 cup, packed) wholemeal flour
80g (1 cup) coconut
150g (2 cups) granola (whatever kind you like best)


2 of the following:
50g (1 3/4 oz; 1/2 cup) walnuts, chopped
50g (1 3/4 oz; 1/2 cup) pecans, chooped
100g (3 1/2 oz; about 1 cup) raisins
100g (3 1/2 oz; about 1 cup) cranberries
100g (3 1/2 oz; about 1 cup) dried figs; chopped


2 of the following;
100g (3 1/2 oz) dark chocolate; chopped
100g (3 1/2 oz) white chocolate; chopped
100g (3 1/2 oz) milk chocolate; chopped
100g Daim chocolate bars; chopped


Simply add your chosen ingredients in step 3.
I used chopped pecans, white chocolate, milk chocolate and cranberries for my cookies, but it's really about your mood at the very moment. 


Here's how the cookies turned out:

Have fun trying and let me know what combinations you've come up with!

Cheat's goat-cheese soufflé

Hi guys!


I had some leftover goat cheese from this week's vegetarian recipe, so I thought I could use it to try a soufflé. This one is a savory version. It would be great to serve as a starter for a dinner party paired with bitter-leaf salad, but it is just as good served on its own for lunch or dinner. Plus: it pairs leftovers with things you keep in your fridge at any time.


Here's the recipe:


150g (4 3/4 oz) soft goat cheese 
375ml (1 1/2 cup) cream
sea salt
2 eggs, separated
140g (little less than 3 cups) fresh breadcrumbs


1) Preheat the oven to 200°C (392°F). Beat the goat cheese, cream, salt and egg yolks with a hand blender or kitchen machine until foamy. Fold in the breadcrumbs. 


2) Beat the egg whites until stiff. Carefully fold the egg whites through the cheese-cream-mixture. 


3) Grease 4 soufflé tins (12 fl. oz capacity). Equally divide the mixture between them. Bake for 20-25 minutes until they are golden brown and have risen. 
© Copyright: Donna Hay, "fast, fresh, simple", p. 81


Here's how mine turned out:

The soufflés have turned golden-brown and have risen nicely. My soufflé tins are smaller, they have a 185ml (6 fl.oz) capacity, so I only prepared half of the recipe but it worked just as good. 


Whether you like goat cheese or not, this recipe is definitely worth a try. I could imagine using feta cheese instead of the goat cheese, as well. Any cheese that has a distinct taste to it should work. 


Have fun trying!






   

Rocket and Tomato Pasta

Hi guys!


Monday again and time for another vegetarian recipe. It is easily prepared vegan as well. It is rocket & tomato pasta. I came across this recipe in Gwyneth Paltrow's book "Notes from my Kitchen table". I love her book whenever I am in search of vegetarian recipes. It's not an entirely vegetarian cook book, but there are a lot of vegetarian recipes or comments on how to make a recipe vegetarian or vegan. As I like to keep things simple every once in while, I love easy recipes that don't take hours of preparation. 


Here's the recipe:


2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
4 cloves garlic, peeled and thinly sliced
1/4 teaspoon crushed chillies
1 teaspoon fennel seeds, crushed with a mallet or pestle and mortar
3 400g cans whole peeled tomatoes with their juice
coarse salt
freshly ground black pepper
350g spaghetti, tagliatelle or fresh pasta
75g rocket (3 large handfuls)
grated Parmesan cheese, to serve


1) Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan over medium-low heat. Add the garlic, crushed chillies, and fennel, and cook, stirring for 3 minutes, or until very fragrant. 


2) Add the tomatoes and their juice, season with salt and pepper, turn the heat to high and bring to the boil. Turn the heat to medium-low and let the sauce cook on a low boil for 1 hour.


3) About 10 minutes before you're ready to eat, boil the spaghetti in salted boiling water. A minute before it's al dente, add the rocket to the pasta pan. 


4) Drain the pasta and rocket and toss them with the tomato sauce. Serve each portion with plenty of grated Parmesan.  


Serves: 4
Active preparation time: 15 minutes
Total preparation time: 1 hour and 15 minutes


Here's how mine turned out:

I put the rocket in the sauce just before serving instead of putting it in boiling water. This way, although it is wilted, they maintain a little bite which adds a great touch to the texture. The chillies and fennel seeds also add a nice twist to the tomato sauce. I am always adding a pinch of sugar to my tomato sauce, it's how I was taught. As I had dried home-made pasta, I wanted to use it instead of a store-bought kind. 


If you want to go vegan with the recipe: serve it without parmesan and cheese a pasta that is made without eggs. 


Have fun trying!

Tomato-Goat-Cheese-Tart

Hi guys!


It's Meat Free Monday and as summer is in full bloom, tomatoes are starting to become as sweet as they can be. Today's recipe is from Donna Hay's "fast, fresh, simple". You can either use store-bought shortcrust or make the dough yourself. If you use store-bought bases for the tarts, they are fast and simple. Baking shortcrust yourself is a little tricky at first, but once you've done it a few times, you should be fine. 


Here's the recipe:
400g (15oz) store-bought shortcrust
150g (4 3/4 oz) goat cheese, cut into slices
150g (4 3/4 oz) red and yellow cherry tomtatoes, halfed
olive oil for drizzling
sea salt and black pepper
30g (1 oz) rocket
2 tablespoons basil leafs, torn
1 tablespoon crema di balsamico


1) Preheat the oven to 180°C (356°F). Cut the dough in two circles of 18cm (7inch) width and put them on a baking tray lined with baking paper. 


2) Cut the goat cheese and half the cherry tomatoes. Arrange the cheese and the tomatoes on the shortcrust, drizzle with olive oil, season with salt and pepper. Bake for 25 minutes until golden. 


3) Mix the rocket and basil. Once the tart is baked, arrange the rocket and basil on top, drizzle with crema di balsamico and serve.


Serves: 2
© Copyright: Donna Hay, "fast, fresh, simple", p. 159.


Here's how mine turned out:  

The tarts are ready for the oven in 5-10 minutes and on the table in 30 minutes. I like the classic combination of summer ingredients like fresh tomatoes, basil and rocket in a new form. If you don't like goat cheese try buffalo mozzarella. I used a very mild goat cheese, because I prepared this for a dinner invitation and I wasn't sure if everybody was liking goat cheese. 


Have fun trying!

Home-made Pasta

Hi guys!


The weekend always lends itself to preparing dishes that take a little more time and require a little more work than the average weeknight dinner. I try taking this time whenever possible, because it makes me happy. It basically makes everyone happy as my family loves fresh, home-made pasta. I know it sounds like a tough thing to do, but it is pretty easy once you've worked up the guts to give it a try.

Here's the recipe per Person:


100g (2/3 cup) all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 egg


1) Place the flour and salt in a bowl. Using your kitchen machine or hand blender with dough hooks, combine the flour with the egg. If there is flour left, add 1/2 teaspoon of water to make sure all is combined. You can also combine it with your hands.


2) Take the dough out of the bowl and knead it for about 5 minutes until it is nice and smooth. Make sure it is not sticky. It shouldn't be dry, but not too wet, either. 

At this point, the dough should rest for at least 1 hour. You can also prepare it one day and leave it in the fridge over night. 


Now get your creativity going. There's endless ways to form pasta. I normally choose the form depending on what kind of sauce I have. I like classic spaghetti with tomato sauce or in pasta carbonara and wider forms like pappardelle with a chunkier sauce. 


As I paired my pasta with sun-dried tomatoes and prosciutto di parma, I have chosen to go with a broader type, the pasta is called lasagna ricce. We have a pasta machine and a few different attachments.

If you don't have a machine, you can roll out your dough until it is really thin, dust it with some flour so it doesn't stick, layer it in two or three layers and slice it to make spaghetti, linguine or pappardelle.


Here's how they turned out:

Lemon Yoghurt Cake

Hi guys!


Summer has really started to kick in so I wanted to bake something with a refreshing touch for the weekend. I skimmed through a few books and found this recipe for a lemon yoghurt cake in Donna Hay's "fast, fresh, simple". As it has been featured on the accompanying tv series, I turned to watch the video and instantly liked the simplicity. 


Here's the link to the recipe:
http://www.lifestylefood.com.au/recipes/15185/lemon-yoghurt-cake


And here's how mine turned out:

The cake is super easy to bake. All you have to do is:


1) Whisk together the vegetable oil, yoghurt, superfine sugar, lemon juice, lemon rind and eggs.


2) Sift in flour and baking powder (1 teaspoon) and stir until smooth and combined.


3) Grease a baking tin and dust with flour. Bake for 35 minutes (I needed 45 minutes until a skewer came out clean).


4) Prepare the icing and pour it over the warm cake. 


Active preparation time: 10 minutes; total preparation time: about 1 hour


A few tips and changes:
My german version of the book lists 1 teaspoon baking powder as an additional ingredient as we don't get self-raising flour. I always make sure my tins are greased and dusted with flour as I find that sometimes, even though I have greased the tin, it stays difficult to get the cake out and you risk ending up with a cake that tastes delicious but does not look like that anymore, because it wouldn't slip out of the tin. 
It is important you let the cake rest for about 10 minutes before turning it onto a cooling rack for icing. What would happen if you tried turning the cake straight from the oven is it might break, because the warmth adds instability. The cake is going to be warm enough for icing after 10 minutes, but you don't risk breaking it.


The recipe is special, because you have to pour the icing over the cake while it's still warm. The lemon juice soaks into the cake and the sugar stays nice and crunchy. Make sure you don't stir the icing too much, you should just combine the lemon juice and sugar, otherwise the sugar will dissolve in the lemon juice and you'll loose the crunch.


I love this recipe because the cake has a refreshing taste and the icing adds a special twist to it, because it differs from the usual icing sugar-lemon juice-mixture. 

Have fun trying and enjoy the sun!

Chocolate Gems

Hi guys!


Today I'll give you another idea how you can sweeten the beginning of the weekend. In Germany or Switzerland alike for that matter, we love sweet things for breakfast. We are not as familiar with pancakes or waffles as americans are, but we definitely cherish baps, buns, bread rolls - whatever you want to call them. I have chosen to bake a classic sweet yeast dough and spice it up with dark chocolate for an extra surprise. The recipe is meant to make individual buns, but as I didn't have a tin of the right size, I made a loaf. 


Here's the recipe:


For the sweet yeast dough:
2 teaspoons dry yeast
5 tablespoons sugar
180ml (3/4 cup) luke warm milk 
340g (2 1/3 cup) all-purpose flour
40g (1 1/2 oz) butter, melted
1 egg yolk


1) Mix the dry yeast with 2 teaspoons of sugar and the milk. Let the mixture sit undisturbed for 5 minutes or until bubbles form on the surface.


2) Mix the flour, butter, egg yolk and leftover sugar, add the yeast-mixture and whisk until well combined. Knead the dough on a lightly dusted surface for 5 minutes. If the dough is too sticky, add a little more flour.


For the chocolate gems:
1 portion yeast dough
80g (3 oz) dark chocolate, finely chopped
1 egg yolk
2 tablespoons cream
fine sugar for sprinkling


3) Preheat the oven to 160°C (320°F). Part the dough in 6 servings. Roll each portion into a small bowl, flatten it out to an oval. Put 1/6 of chopped chocolate in the center and fold the dough on top of it. Form into a bowl again.


4) Either place each bowl in separate, greased, loaf tins (9x4.5cm; 3.5x1.7inch) or place them next to each other in a big loaf tin. Cover with a cloth and let sit undisturbed for 1 hour so the bowls double in size. 


5) Whisk the egg yolk and the cream together. Brush the dough with the mixture and sprinkle with sugar. Bake for 20 minutes until they are golden. 


Yield: 6 pieces
© Copyright: Donna Hay, "Simple essentials- chocolate", p. 50


Here's how mine turned out:

The recipe takes about 15 minutes of active preparation time and 1 hour 40 minutes of total preparation time. 
   
Have fun trying!