Featured Recipe
Whole Spelt Fruitcake
Sunday, November 15, 2020 |
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This sensational winter loaf cake contains a wonderful mix of dried fruits and nuts and simply perfect for the holidays. Feel free to substitute your own favorites; you'll need about 350 g dried fruit and 150 g nuts total. Date syrup can be replace with honey or maple syrup too. Brush the cake with Port or Brandy or leave it out. Either way, it's very delicious and addictive with all the nuts, dried fruits and spices.
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- Preheat the oven to 150C/300F, fan forced. Sift the flour into a mixing bowl together with baking powder and spices. Set aside. Grease a 20cm loaf pan generously with butter.
- Beat the eggs until combined. Slowly drizzle in date syrup and beat until well combined and fluffy. Stir in flour-spice mixture until well combined.
- Add in chopped dried apricots, rainsin and Port wine. Stir until well combined. Spread the mixture into prepared pan. Level top with a spatula.
- Bake for 1 hour or until a skewer inserted in centre comes out clean. If cake is browning too much, cover with foil after 45 minutes. Brush the hot cake with 1 extra tablespoon Port wine. Cool the fruit cake in the pan for 5 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack to cool completely. Slice and enjoy!
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Hazelnut Lace Cookies
Friday, December 27, 2019 |
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Lace Cookies are thin, crisp, delicate and buttery cookies with a deliciously sweet taste and a toffee-like flavour. They are made with just a few ingredients and the batter comes together in just minutes. As they bake, they spread out to form a lace pattern, hence the name. Enjoy them as they are or sandwich two cookies with a layer of chocolate. If you prefer a less brittle consistency, use up to 35 grams flour.
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- Preheat oven to 180C/350F. Line 2-3 baking trays with baking paper.
- Melt butter and raw sugar in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Cook, stirring frequently, until the sugar dissolves and butter melts. Stir in spelt flour, ground hazelnut, salt and cream until incorporated and slightly thickened.
- Remove from the heat and stir in vanilla extract and orange zest. Drop the batter by the teaspoon onto the baking sheet, leaving about 2-3 inches of space between each one.
- Bake for 8-10 minutes or until the edges of the cookies start to turn dark golden brown, rotating the baking sheets halfway through. Remove from the oven and as soon as they are firm, use a wide spatula to transfer them to the rack to cool completely.
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Panettone with Poolish Sponge
Sunday, December 22, 2019 |
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Panettone is a typical bread of Milan, usually prepared and enjoyed for Christmas and New Year around Italy, and one of the symbols of the city. This cake-like bread is typically baked into a tall, cylindrical shape (empty fruit cans work great as baking pans). Traditionally, panettone is made with raisins and candied orange and lemon peel. But you can choose the dried fruits you prefer. The bread is delicious eaten fresh and keeps well in an airtight container for about a week. It also freezes well for up to two months.
Poolish is a fairly wet sponge with baker's yeast, typically made with a 1:1 ratio of flour and water by weight, that means 100% hydration.
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- To make the sponge, dissolve the yeast in 60 ml warm water in a bowl. Add 60 g flour and stir to make a very loose dough. Cover the bowl with a plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place for at least 6 hours, or overnight.
- In the bowl of your mixer, combine the butter, eggs, yolks, sugar, milk, and vanilla seeds. Add in the starter dough. Gradually add the flour, beat on low speed just until dough begins to leave the sides of the bowl and pull together. Increase speed to medium, and beat until the dough becomes smooth and elastic, about 5 minutes.
- Place the dough in a greased bowl and turn it once to coat both sides. Cover bowl of dough with plastic wrap, and let rise on the kitchen counter until doubled in size (mine took about 5 hours). Or leave it in the fridge overnight. With your hands, flatten the dough on a lightly floured surface into a rectangle. Evenly distribute the lemon zest, raisins, apricots, and almond over the dough. Fold the dough to seal the fruit and knead to distribute the fruit throughout the dough.
- Line a 8-inch mousse ring or baking pan (or panettone paper case) with parchment paper that has been well buttered on both sides and set it on a baking tray. Place the dough in the mould, cover with a towel, and let rise for 1-2 hours in a warm place. The key here is to have the rise above the rim of the pan or case.
- Preheat the oven to 200C/400F. Make a cross on the top of the bread with a sharp knife and insert a cube of butter. Sprinkle some extra almond flakes if you desired. Bake the bread on the middle rack of the oven for 10 minutes. Reduce the heat to 180C/350F. Continue to bake for 30-35 minutes until the surface is golden and crispy. The panettone is ready when a skewer comes out clean.
- Place the bread on a rack to cool for 10 minutes before removing it from the mold. Dust the bread with icing sugar if desired. Be sure the bread has cooled completely before wrapping for storage.
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May your holidays be filled with lots of LOVE, HAPPINESS and PEACE!
Sourdough Challah with Grape Sourdough Starter
Sunday, October 06, 2019Challah, usually braided and typically eaten on Jewish holidays. The dough is enriched with eggs and oil, while using sugar or honey for some sweetness. The fun and exciting part comes from the braiding the dough. A simple 3-stranded braid would be gorgeous enough as the centerpiece for your dinner table. But a 4, or 6 stranded challah would really impress your guests. You can also coil the long braided loaf into a circle.
Grape Sourdough Starter | Dough |
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- Start with the starter. Stem grapes into a medium mixing bowl. Crush with hands and cover with a plastic wrap. Use a fork or wooden toothpick to gently poke some holes along the top and set aside for 3-4 days at room temperature. After 3-4 days there should be bubbles in the grape juice/must, indicating fermentation has begun.
- Measure 240 grams of strained grape juice and pour in a 1-quart glass jar. Stir in 120 grams of rye flour to make a thick, porridge like mixture. Set aside for 24 hours at room temperature.
- Measure 1 cup starter, discard any extra. Add in 110 grams of filtered water and 110 grams of rye flour. Let stand at room temperature for 24 hours.
- Repeat the following day. Some activity should be noticeable: the mixture should be starting to bubble. Repeat twice more. You will need to discard some of the mixture each day.
- The starter is full of bubbles and ready for use to make bread. If you won't be using the starter for several days, put the jar, with the lid covered loosely, into the refrigerator until you're ready to use it. If you are going to use the starter in the next day or two, just leave it out and feed it every 12 hours or so.
- Prepare the dough by mixing the starter, eggs, egg yolk, honey, oil, water, and the salt. Stir. Add flour 1 cup at a time, mixing thoroughly after each addition. Turn out the dough onto a lightly floured surface. Knead the dough, adding more flour sparingly, until the dough is smooth, satiny, has lost most of it's stickiness, and is fairly firm. Cover and allow it to rise until tripled in volume.
- Punch down the dough, knead briefly and cut into 4 equal pieces. Divide one piece into 3 equal portions. Form each of them into strands of about 30-cm in length, tapered so the center of each piece is thicker than the ends. You should now have three thick and three thin strands.
- Braid the three thick strands into a loaf and set aside. Braid the three smaller strands into a smaller loaf. Lightly indent the top center of the larger loaf down its length. Wet it slightly with water. Put the smaller loaf on top of the indention. Beat egg white with a tablespoon of water. Brush this egg wash all over the loaf and allow them to rise until doubled.
- Preheat oven to 180C/350F. Brush the loaf with the egg wash again and sprinkle the top with oatmeal bran. Place it into the oven, bake about 35 minutes.
Einkorn Almond Linzer Cookies
Wednesday, December 21, 2016 |
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These jam-filled Linzer cookies satisfy the sweet craving and just happen to be healthy because of the use of wholegrain einkorn flour and stevia-sweetened jam. The Linzer cookie, originated in the city of Linz, is based on the Linzertorte, one of the most famous and beloved holiday classics in Austria.
Einkorn Almond Linzer Cookies
adapted from Küchen Götter
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- Whisk together the ground almonds, einkorn flour, cinnamon, clove and salt in a bowl.
- Beat butter and powdered sugar until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Beat in the vanilla powder and egg. Finally beat in flour mixture on low speed until the dough starts to come together. Place onto a work surface lightly dusted with flour and shape into a flat disk. Wrap in a plastic and chill for 2 hours.
- Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Roll the dough between 2 sheets of baking paper to 3-mm thick and cut out cookies with a 5-cm heart-shaped cutter. Place them on the prepared baking sheets. Use a smaller round cookie cutter to cut out the centers of half of the cookies on the baking sheet. Reroll any scraps and cut out the remaining cookies. You will have 70 cookies. Chill for 15 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 150C/300F. Bake cookies, one sheet at time, until edges are golden, 10 minutes. Let cookies cool on sheet 2 minutes. Transfer cookies to a rack to cool completely. Spread jam on the flat side of each solid cookie. Dust the top of the cut-out cookies with powdered sugar and press the flat sides together.
Wishing you and your family all the warmth this Holiday Season has to offer. Have a very merry Christmas and a New Year filled with peace, love and happiness!
Coconut Mincemeat Filo Snails
Wednesday, December 07, 2016 |
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These Christmas filo snails with homemade boozy mincemeat are simple, straight-forward, vegan-friendly, and, best of all, taste amazing!
Mincemeat is a mixture of chopped dried fruit, booze, and spices that is popular in the UK and traditionally served around Christmas. Originally, mincemeat always contained meat ((hence the name) while modern recipes contain beef suet (fat around the kidney of the animal), which I have replaced with coconut oil. This mincemeat can be used straight away, but it improves with age and it will store well for up to 6 months in a cool place.
Coconut Mincemeat Filo Snails
Inspired by thisMincemeat | |
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- Place everything, except brandy, in your slow cooker and cook for 3-4 hours on low. Or mix all the ingredients, except brandy, together in a large oven proof dish with a lid. Cover and place in the preheated oven and cook gently for 3 hours, stirring every half hour or so.
- When done, allow it to cool, stirring briefly every half hour until cold. Finally, stir the brandy into the cold mixture before sealing in clean, dry jars. You need half of batch for this filo recipe. Save the rest for other recipes, for example, mincemeat pies.
- Lay 1 sheet of filo on the workbench, brush with a little melted coconut oil and place another sheet on top, then brush with coconut oil again. Place 200 grams of the mincemeat along the longest side. Roll pastry to enclose filling, then coil into a snail shape. Place on a baking paper-lined baking tray and brush with a little more coconut oil. Repeat with remaining filo, coconut oil and mincemeat to make 3 snails. Sprinkle with sesame seeds and bake for 20 minutes until crisp and golden.