Honey Lemon Biscotti with Pistachios

I seem to be really bad at writing a blog. Either that or it's the fact that my life has been pretty busy with starting a full-time job and little to no time left for cooking and baking that has kept me from posting. As you might guess, it’s the latter.

Lucikly, I have a month off at the moment in between two apprenticeships and it allowed me to get back on the wagon again.

I already introduced you to Cynthia Barcomi and her recipes a while ago. She published a new cookbook, called „Cookies“ earlier this year and I’ve been dying to get my hands on these recipes. One recipe that instantly intrigued me was this one for Honey Lemon Biscotti with Pitachios. Bicotti or Cantuccini as they’re often called as well, are easy to make and serve as great presents because they are great to pack and send and quite robust. Mine will be part of a gift to my boyfriend’s dad on his birthday.

Don't let the steps fool you. This recipe is super easy and fool-proof. You can't go wrong. 

Here it is:

100g (3.5 oz) pistachios, peeled

280g (9.8 oz; a little less than 2 cups) all-purpose flour

1 ½ teaspoons baking powder

½ teaspoon baking soda

¼ teaspoon salt

50ml (1/4 cup) mild olive oil (search for those labeled "mild", not "extra vergine")

85g (3 oz; good 1/3 cup) granulated sugar

1 tablespoon lemon zest, finely grated

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 tablespoons (60g; 2.1 oz) honey

1) Preheat the oven to 175°C (°F). Line a tray with a baking sheet. Roast the pistachios in the oven for 6 minutes, then set aside to cool.

2) In a bowl, mix the flour,  baking powder, baking soda and salt. Roughly chop the pistachios.

3) In a second bowl, using a hand mixer or kitchen machine, mix the sugar, olive oil  and lemon zest. Add the eggs, one at a time, until well combined. Add the vanilla extract and honey and mix again until combined.

4) Mix dry and wet ingredients until combined. Add the pistachios and stir until evenly distributed.

5) Divide the dough into three parts. Put them on the baking sheet horizontally and spread into a rectangular loaf of ca. 22 x 4 cm using your (wet) hands.

6) Bake for 22-25 minutes until golden. Leave to cool on the tray.

7) Reduce oven temperature to 160°C (°F). Once cooled so you can handle the loafs, cut them into 1cm (1/2 inch) slices. Put the slices cut-side up on the baking tray.

8) Bake for 8 minutes, then turn the biscotti and bake the other side for 8 more minutes until golden.

9) Leave on the tray to cool.

Yield: about 45 biscotti

Active preparation time: 20 minutes

total preparation time: 1 hour

And this is how mine turned out:

I had to try one biscotti straight from the oven – and some crumbs while cutting. These biscotti have a ton of bright lemon flavour, a hint of sweetness from the honey and added crunch from the pistachios. The flavour is really complex and surprising. I just love these. Imagine them with a cup of perfect foamy cappucino on the side for dunking while sunshine is shining through your windows – perfection.

Have fun trying and let these biscotti brighten your day!

Chocolate Hazelnut Scones

This weekend was quite funny. Saturday we had temperatures as in spring and sunday was back to winter. At least I found something consistent to do: baking. After baking all the Christmas cookies and tons of other sweets as gifts I had no desire whatsoever to bake during my holidays, but after a nice three-week-break I was back at it and wanted to try something new. You can always tempt me with a great scone and I am continuously on the search for a great recipe and deliciously crumbly scones. As last week's soup recipe from goop worked quite nicely, I decided to give the Scones recipe from Huckleberry bakery that is featured on the site a try. 
Here's the link: http://goop.com/recipes/chocolate-hazelnut-scones/

Here's my slightly adapted version of the recipe with metric and cup measures:

1 3/4 cups + two tablespoons (300g) all-purpose flour
1/2 cup (50g) ground hazelnuts
1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon baking powder
5 tablespoons (40g) sugar, plus a little extra for sprinkling
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup + 2 tablespoons (255g) cold unsalted butter
6 tablespoons (90ml) buttermilk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup (140g) dark chocolate
1 eggyolk
1 tablespoon cream

1) Toast the ground hazelnuts in a pan, stirring all the time until evenly browned. Chop the chocolate into small pieces.

2) Mix the flour, sugar, salt, baking powder and hazelnuts in a large bowl. 

3) Cut the butter into 1/2-inch (about 12mm) cubes. Work the butter with your fingertips until the pieces are about the size of peas. Add the buttermilk, vanilla and dark chocolate and lightly toss to distribute.

4) Dump everything on a lightly floured surface. Quickly flatten the dough. Gather the dough back in a mound and repeat. Don't overwork the dough, you should still be able to see some bits of butter. 

5) I used a 1/4 cup to measure the dough and formed balls from the dough which I slightly flattened before baking. Feel free to form a large disc and cut triangles if you like your scones better that way. 

6) Place the scones on a sheet of baking paper. Freeze for at least two hours before baking or up to 1 month, tightly wrapped in clingfilm.

7) Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C). Remove the scones from the freezer. Place them on a baking tray with plenty of breathing room. Whisk the egg yolk and cream. Brush the scones with the egg wash and sprinkle with granulated sugar before baking. Bake from frozen until cooked trough, nicely browned, and easily lifted off the tray, about 35 minutes.

Yield: 11 scones
Active preparation time: about 20 minutes
Total preparation time: about 55 minutes (plus at least 2 hours freezing time)

Here's what mine look like:  

Feel free to adapt the size as the scones are quite large. Freezing the scones before baking was new to me. I had never tried a recipe that advised you to. It does make perfect sense though, as cold butter will ensure your end up with fluffy yet flaky scones. These scones perfectly hit the spot - slightly warm and straight from the oven. I followed the recipe and used 1 teaspoon of salt, however, I find them a little bit on the salty side and would advise you to cut the teaspoon in half. You'll still have the hint of saltiness you're aiming for, but the sweetness will be the main component. 

Have fun trying!

Red Lentil Soup

It's official: the new year has started, it's back-to-work-week and the winter has finally reached Switzerland during the holidays as well. So I figured a soup would 1) be a great way to fight the chill after my way home and 2) help me get back to healthy yet satisfying eating habits. As you know, I am a reader of Gwyneth Paltrow's goop website. I don't follow her tips religiously, but I might take an idea here or there. And so I decided to try some of the recipes from this year's Detox newsletter instead of doing a whole cleanse. I simply don't have the time to get all that cooking in while working full-time. The first recipe I've tried is today's red lentil soup. I instantly liked the idea of brightening the earthy lentil flavour with lime juice and adding a spicy kick from ginger and curry. So here's the link to the recipe:
http://goop.com/recipes/red-lentil-soup/

And here's my step-by-step-guide.

1) Rinse 1 cup of red lentils and set aside. Cut 1 medium onion into fine slices. Mince 1 inch of ginger and slice two cloves of garlic. Mince 1 small handful cilantro stems. 

2) Heat two tablespoons of coconut oil (I substituted sunflower seed oil) in a saucepan over medium heat and sauté the onions for about 10 minutes until translucent and slightly brown.

3) Add the garlic, ginger, cilantro stems, 2 teaspoons ground cumin, 1/2 teaspoon ground coriander and 1/2 teaspoon curry powder and sauté for two more minutes until fragrant.

4) Add the rinsed lentils and 4 cups of water. Bring to the boil, reduce the heat to a simmer, cover and let cook for about 20 minutes, until the lentils are tender. Gwyneth advises to stir frequently as the lentils tend to stick to the pot. Mine however didn't stick at all. 

5) Blend the soup, add the juice of 1 lime and check the seasoning. If you like your soup a little thinner, thin with water for reaching your desired consistency.

Active preparation time: about 10 minutes
Total preparation time: about 35 minutes
Serves: 3-4 (depending on the people you feed)

Here's what my soup looked like:

I really love the different flavours. It's what makes this soup interesting. The lime adds a beautiful zing that nicely balances the rather earthy flavour from the lentils. The curry and ginger add a little spiciness. This soup is well balanced without being boring and the creaminess makes it even more comforting. I served mine along some bread (which of course you wouldn't be allowed to have during detox week). 

I hope you are starting your new year in great spirits and have fun trying this warming treat!

Fruit Mince Pies

I am really sorry I haven't been posting during christmas time, but I had to learn that everything is a lot harder to coordinate when you're working full-time. I had one free weekend and knew that I needed to get my baking as well as making my christmas wreaths. 

Today's recipe was my recipe for the office's christmas party. Everybody brought something and I volunteered on bringing something sweet. The recipe for these pies is from the Donna Hay app, the December/January 2013 issue. And the best thing is that you can prepare the pastry and filling ahead, keep them in your fridge until the next day, and assemble everything when you're ready. 

Here's the recipe:

For the filling:
1 Granny Smith (green) apple, peeled and grated
2/3 cup (110g) currants
3/4 cup (120g) sultanas
1/2 cup (70g) slivered almonds
2/3 cup (85g) mixed peel
1/3 cup (80ml) maple syrup
1/2 cup (90g) brown sugar
60g unsalted butter, chopped
1/3 cup (80ml) butterscotch schnapps or sherry
1 egg, lightly beaten
white sugar, for sprinkling
icing sugar, for dusting

For the spiced brown sugar pastry:
2 2/3 cups (400g) all-purpose flour
300g cold unsalted butter, chopped
1/2 cup (90g) brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1) Prepare the pastry first. Cut the butter (straight from the fridge) into small cubes. Place the flour, butter, sugar, ginger and cinnamon in a food processor or electric mixer and process in shorts bursts until the mixture resembles coarse breadcrumbs. 

2) Add the eggs and vanilla extract and process until the pastry comes together. Turn onto a generously floured bench and bring the dough together and divide in half. 

3) At this point, you can either roll the dough now or chill it first and roll it later. 

4) Grate the apples. Place them with the currants, sultanas, almonds, mixed peel, maple syrup, brown sugar, butter and alcohol in a medium saucepan over medium heat and cook for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally, or until the fruit is softened and the liquid is absorbed. Set aside to cool. 

When assembling the pies:

5) Preheat the oven to 160°C (320°F). Roll the dough between generously flour-dusted sheets of non-stick baking paper. Roll each piece of dough to 5mm thick. If you like a your crust a little thinner, especially when lining mini muffin tins, that'll work as well. 

6) Grease your tins (regular muffin tins, mini muffin tins or small pies tins each work well). For half of the dough, using a 7cm-round cookie cutter, cut 24 round from the dough to line 24x40ml-capacity patty tins. With the other half, using a fluted cookie cutter, cut out 24 round and, using a 1cm piping nozzle, make a hole through the middle of each fluted round. 

7) Line your tins of choice with the dough. Maybe you have to adjust the size of the rounds, depending on the size of your tins. For the mini muffin tins, I cut 6cm rounds, for example. 

8) Spoon the filling into the cases. Brush the edges with egg, top the fruit filling with the fluted rounds and press the edges to seal. Brush the tops with the remaining egg and sprinkle with a little white sugar. 

9) Bake for 25-30 minutes or until lightly golden. Allow to cool in the tins for 5 minutes before turning out to cool completely. Dust with the icing sugar to serve. 

Makes: 24 according to Donna. I ended up with 24 6-cm-rounds for the mini muffin tins and 12 8-cm-rounds for a regular muffin tin. The filling was enough for all.

Active preparation time: about 40 minutes
Total preparation time: about 2 hours

Here's how mine look:

I used dried cranberries, because I had no chance in getting currants in Switzerland in the winter. The cranberries added a beautiful hint of sourness and a slightly tangy note, that nicely balanced the sweetness of the filling and spices. I also couldn't find butterscotch schnapps, but sherry worked great. 

As I mentioned before, I used mini muffin tins and regular muffin tins as I don't yet have patty tins. Both worked well. You might want to adjust the size of the rounds you cut from the dough. 

Have fun trying and merry Christmas everyone!!

Quinoa with roasted beets and pear

Sooo, another monday has come around and it's been raining cats and dogs today. As soon as I got to the office, I boiled some tea and tried every little thing to stay warm. Today's recipe helped me do with keeping warm at lunch. I prepared it ahead yesterday, so I could have it all week. The recipe comes from Food52, a website where users can share their recipes. I love the site's construction, the pictures are just beautiful and their Twitter feed is the meanest thing, because it supplies you with endless pictures of the most beautiful looking dishes.
I loved the color from today's recipe and as I love beets and quinoa, trying this recipe was a no-brainer.

Here's the link:
http://food52.com/recipes/31742-quinoa-with-roasted-beets-and-pear

And this is how easy you'll get into quinoa heaven:

1) Preheat the oven to 200°C (400°F). Rub the beets with some olive oil, wrap into tin foil and let them roast in the oven for about 50 minutes. It really depends on the size. I apparently ended up with large beets, so mine took about 1 hour and 30 minutes. 

2) In the meantime, rinse 1 cup of uncooked quinoa. Bring the quinoa along with 1 3/4 cups of water to a boil. Once boiling, add a little salt, and cook over medium heat for 15 minutes. Drain any remaining liquid, then place back on the heat and press a paper towel between pot and lid. Let the quinoa rest for 5 more minutes.

3) Cube the pear and feta cheese and place into a bowl along with the quinoa. 

4) Once the beets are cooked, take them out of the oven. Let the beets cool a little bit. As soon as you can touch them, peel the skin under running water. 

5) Lower the oven temperature to 175°C (350°F) and roast the walnuts for 8 minutes. 

6) Cut the beets into small cubes and roughly chop the walnuts. 

7) Toss all the ingredients together, season with salt and pepper and drizzle with some olive oil and balsamic vinegar. I used 3 tablespoons of olive oil and 2 tablespoons of balsamic vinegar, but use however much you like.

Serves: 4 nicely
Active preparation time: about 20 minutes
Total preparation time: depending on the size of your beets, up to 1 hour and 50 minutes

This is how mine looks:

i like the sweetness of the beets and pear, the saltiness from the feta and the earthy flavor from the quinoa, punctuated by a little hint of acidity from the balsamic vinegar. I used red quinoa, as the beets will turn everything they touch into a soft pink color anyways. I also think the red quinoa holds its shape a little better than the white variety and its flavor is slightly nuttier. I served the quinoa warm as the mere thought of eating something cold left me shivering today, but it would probably be just as good served cold. 

Have fun trying!

 

Plum/Prune jam

Hi there!

Wow, this week has just been flying by! But I love the cooler weather we've had in Switzerland. There's nothing quite like enjoying a warm cup of tea and treating yourself to whatever it is that makes you feel great. For my part that is savoring all the produce fall has to offer and get the best of the fruit. For example with this simple recipe from my godmother. It is super simple and super low-effort, but tastes great. I don't use a gelling agent for this one as I like this jam to be very soft and a little runny.

Here's the recipe:

about 3 kg (105 oz) plums or prunes, both work equally well; you need 2,5 kg (88 oz) pitted fruit
600g (2 + 2/3 cups; 21 oz) granulated sugar
1 cinnamon stick
2-3 cloves
1 empty tea bag

1) Wash your fruit, then pit it and cut it into small pieces, about 0,5cm (1/4 inch) wide. 

2) Preheat the oven to 175°C (350°F). Place the fruit and sugar on a baking tray and stir carefully, but thoroughly to distribute the sugar evenly. 

3) Cut the cinnamon stick in 3 pieces, then put on top of the fruit at different ends of the tray. Put the cloves into a tea bag and place them on the tray as well. This way it'll be a lot easier to remove them once the fruit is cooked.

4) Put the tray in the oven and let the fruit cook with for 1 hour.

5) Remove from the oven, take away the cinnamon stick and cloves and, working quickly, fill the jam into glasses all the way up to the top. Let the glasses cool head first. This way, you'll generate a vacuum which will help the jam to keep longer. 

Yield: I ended up with 7 glasses of about 250ml (1 cup) capacity
Active preparation time: about 20 minutes
Total preparation time: 1 hour and 20 minutes + cooling time (about 2 hours)

Here's how it looks:

You can play around with the amount of sugar depending on the quality of fruit you can get your hands on. My plums were fairly ripe and sweet, so I didn't add a lot of sugar. Most jam recipes call for 1kg sugar for 1kg fruit or at least 500g sugar for 1kg fruit. If you don't like cloves, you can easily omit them.

This is one of my favorite ways, besides cake, to work with fruit. And you can enjoy it so much longer. You can have a piece of fall for breakfast for a few more weeks. 

Have fun trying! 

Pearl barley risotto with marinated feta

Hi guys!

I hope you had a lovely weekend. Mine was filled with baking and sunshine. The weather was breathtakingly beautiful and I enjoyed every second. Today's recipe plays with flavors that simply shout sunshine. Sunny tomatoes and tangy lemon help with making this recipe special and interesting. The recipe comes from Yotam Ottolenghi's book "Jerusalem". I accidentally discovered it in a magazine.

Here's the recipe:
200g (7 oz) pearl barley
30g (1 tablespoon) unsalted butter
90ml (1/3 cup + 1 dessert spoon) olive oil
2 small stalks of celery
2 echalots
4 cloves of garlic
4 thyme sprigs
1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika powder (pimenton)
1 bay leaf
4 strips lemon peel
1/4 teaspoon chili flakes
1 can (400g; 14 oz) canned tomatoes
300g (10.5 oz) sieved tomatoes
700ml (2 3/4 cups) vegetable broth
1 tablespoon cumin seeds
300g (10.5 oz) feta cheese
1 tablespoon fresh oregano leaves
salt and pepper, to season

1) Rinse the pearl barley thoroughly with cold water and set aside.

2) Cut the celery stalks, echalots and garlic cloves into small cubes (about 1/2cm; 1/4 inch).  

3) Heat 2 tablespoons of the olive oil and the butter over medium heat and cook the celery, echelons and garlic for 5 minutes until tender. Add the barley, thyme, pimenton, bay leaf, lemon peel, chili flakes, canned tomatoes, sieved tomatoes, vegetable broth and 1/2 teaspoon of salt and stir thoroughly.

4) Bring to the boil, turn the heat to medium-low and let cook for 45 minutes, stirring here and there, or until the barley is soft and has almost absorbed all liquid. You can add a little water if necessary.

5) In the meantime, roast the cumin seeds in a pan without oil for a few minutes. Afterwards pound the seeds using mortar and pestle. Add the feta and olive oil and mix to combine. 

6) At the end of cooking time, taste the barley risotto and season with salt and pepper. Serve the risotto with a little marinated feta on top. 

Yield: 4 as a main dish
Active preparation time: about 20 minutes
Total preparation time: 1 hour and 5 minutes

Here's how it looks:

This dish offers a ton of different flavors. Don't let the long ingredient list discourage you. All of the ingredients are easy to find at any grocery store. And the final product is worth using all the ingredients. 

The lemon peel adds a nice tang, the tomatoes brighten things and the feta adds creaminess once it is starting to soften and saltiness to the recipe. If you don't like feta, try substituting a little cottage cheese or omit the cheese altogether.

I hope you can enjoy the last days of summer and have fun trying!