Filipino Coconut Macaroons
Friday, February 04, 2022These Filipino-style macaroons are so easy to make and so delicious. they are golden crisp on the odges and soft, chewy and moist on the inside, they’re super addictive. If you prefer, coat them in chocolate to give it a even richer flavour. The addition of small amount of white spelt flour in the batter makes them taste more like cakes rather than standard coconut macaroon, but they are just equally delicious. They make a great midday pick or after-meal dessert or even as a lunch box filler. Don't confuse coconut macaroons with chewy, yet crisp airy French macarons. Macarons and macaroons differ in their main ingredient, which for macarons is almond meal, and macaroons is shredded coconut.
A macaron (pronounced "mack-ah-ROHN") , which has roots in Paris, is a meringue-based cookie. Its batter is composed of almond flour, egg whites, and confectioners’ sugar. Parisian macarons come in a variety of colours and flavours and usually filled with buttercream, ganache, jam, or fruit curd. The main ingredient of a macaroon (pronounced "mack-ah-ROON") is shredded coconut and its original recipe does not require sweetened condensed milk. As the recipe suggests, this is a Filipino-style macaroon, which is composed of butter, sugar, sweetened condensed milk and coconut of course.
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- Line one 24-vavity mini muffin pan with paper cups and place 9 standard-sized reusable silicone baking cups in a baking tray. Set aside. Use two mini muffin pans or 20 silicone muffin cups if you have them.
- In a bowl, beat softened unsalted butter using a hand mixer on low speed until creamy. Add in sugar and beat together until well blended and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.
- Add in sweetened condensed milk and vanilla extract and continue to beat until blended. In a medium bowl, combine white spelt flour and desiccated coconut. Add to the butter-egg mixture and beat until combined.
- Preheat the oven to 180C/350F. Divide the thick batter into the prepared muffin cups.
- Bake the mini muffins for about 15-18 minutes and 25-28 minutes for standard-size muffins until golden and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Remove from baking pan and let cool on a wire rack for about 5 minutes.
Pumpkin Cinnamon Raisin Rolls
Tuesday, February 01, 2022Pillowy soft and pleasantly sweet, these light and tender pumpkin spelt rolls are filled with cinnamon sugar and raisins and glazed with a simple but very tasty vanilla icing. If you want to make them ahead, cover the baking pan with assembled rolls with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight. Remove the plastic wrap and bake the next morning for a wonderful breakfast and the leftover would be fantastic as an afternoon snack.
Dough | Filling&Icing |
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- In a medium saucepan, whisk pumpkin purée, milk, butter, coconut sugar and salt over low heat until combined. Remove from heat and add vanilla. Let it cool until very warm to the touch.
- In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with a dough hook, add in pumpkin mixture, egg and yeast until combined. Add in spelt flour and stir on low speed for 5 minutes until the dough comes together. Increase the speed and knead for 2-3 more minutes until the dough is pull away from the sides of the bowl.
- Turn out the dough on a work surface and shape into a ball. Grease the inside of the bowl with a small amout of butter or oil, then return the dough back to the bowl and rotate the ball of dough, so that it is completely covered with oil. This will prevent the dough from sticking to the bowl as it rises.
- Cover the bowl with a clean kitchen towel or with a piece of plastic wrap and put the bowl in a warm, draft-free area of your kitchen. Let it sit until it has doubled in volume, about 1 hour.
- Remove the kitchen towel and punch down the dough. Take the dough out and put it on a floured surface, cover with the kitchen towel, and let rest for about 10 minutes.
- Line a 26-cm/10-inch springform pan with a piece of baking paper or simply grease the pan with butter. Combine coconut sugar, cinnamon and ginger if using, in a small bowl and set aside.
- Roll the dough out on a lightly floured surface into approximately a 10×14 inch/26x 35 cm rectangle. Brush the softened butter over the entire surface of the dough. Sprinkle the coconut sugar mixture evenly over the surface of the dough. Scatter the raisins on top of the sugar mixture.
- With the long end toward you, roll the dough up evenly into a log. With the seam side down, use a sharp knife to cut the log into 8 pieces. Place them into the prepared pan. Cover the rolls with a clean towel and let rise for 30 minutes to one hour.
- Once the cinnamon rolls have risen, preheat the oven to 190C/375F. Bake for 25 minutes in the middle of the hot oven until lightly browned on top.
- Stir together the powdered sugar and orange juice until smooth. Drizzle the icing over the rolls. Serve warm or at room temperature.
same dough, but with date filling
After a challanging year of OX, here we are in the Year of the Tiger. I would like to wish you to be as brave and powerful as a tiger. I hope you find health, achievement, laughter, but also love, wisdom, and optimism. Have a safe and fun Chinese New Year!
Xin Nian Kuai Le, Gong Xi Fa Chai!
Keto Spinach Omelette Roulade with Goat Cheese and Herbs
Saturday, January 29, 2022A green omelette in roulade form filled with rich creamy goat cheese, herbs and bell pepper. If you don't want to keep it vegetarian, use smoked salmon instead. Either way, it's really tasty, and looks fun and very festive. Not only it makes an inviting brunch, but also perfect to serve as a delicious party appetizer.
Omelette Roll | Cheese Filling |
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- Bring about 2 liters of water and 1 teaspoon of salt to a boil in a large pot. Prepare a large bowl with ice cubes and cold water.
- When your water is boiling, add in spinach and blanch for 30 seconds until it turns bright green. Remove the spinach using a slotted spoon and immediately dunk the spinach into the ice water and leave it for a minute. The ice water stops the cooking process so the spinach stays green, tender and retains its nutrients.
- Remove and squeeze spinach with your hands to remove excess water. Puree the spinach and eggs in a hand blender until smooth. Season well with salt and pepper.
- Preheat the oven to 170C/340F. Line a 22x30cm baking pan with a parchment paper. Pour in the prepared omelette mixture. Bake the omelette for about 20 minutes.
- Remove the omelette and set aside for 3-5 minutes to cool. You can directly roll up the omelette or turn the omelette on a clean parchment paper and peel the used baking paper away. Gently roll up the omelette with parchment and set aside for 15 minutes.
- Whip the goat cheese until smooth and creamy. Mix in chopped herbs and season with more salt and pepper if needed. Unroll the omelette roulade and spread the prepared filling over. Sprinkle the diced red bell pepper over. Roll up the omelette again with a plastic film and chill for 1-2 hours until set.
- To serve, slice the omelette and place them in plates. Rub some freshly grated lemon peel over and some lemon slices and fresh herbs aside. Enjoy!
Cajun Ribeye Steak with Cucumber Salsa
Tuesday, January 25, 2022Bread Machine Pumpkin Spelt Bread
Thursday, January 20, 2022Let the bread machine do all the mixing and kneading work for you! This easy-to-follow spelt bread recipe requires minimal work with a bread machine. All you have to do is shape the dough into a loaf and bake. It's fuss-free, quick, and so delicious. You can enjoy having fresh homemade bread any time of the year and it makes a perfect alternative to everyday white bread. Store completely cool bread well-wrapped, at room temperature, for several days and freeze for longer storage. If you don't want to include gingerbread spice, then leave it out or use cinnamon instead. Liquid whey is the liquid of strained yoghurt. You can either make it yourself or get it from the store or simply use water, milk or buttermilk instead for the recipe.
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- Have all the ingredients at room temperature. Place kneading blade in bread machine pan. Add the ingredients to the machine’s pan as suggested by the manufacturer. Usually liquid first, then dry ingredients. Select the DOUGH cycle.
- After 5 minutes, open the machine and touch the dough to check its consistency. The dough should form a soft ball around the kneading blade. If it is too dry, add ½ to 1 tablespoon liquid whey or water at a time. If dough is too wet, add 1 tablespoon flour at a time until the right dough consistency is reached. When the cycle is done, turn out the dough and shape into a loaf. (You can also make this in your stand mixer. Add whey, pumpkin puree and melted ghee in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook. Stir together until mixed. Add in the rest of dough ingredients. Mix on low for 3-5 minutes until a dough comes together. Increase the speed and knead for 8 minutes until the dough has become elastic and smooth. Transfer dough to a lightly greased bowl, turning once to coat. Cover, and let rise until doubled, about 1 hour. Gently deflate dough, and transfer to a lightly floured work surface to shape the dough.)
- Place in a standard-size loaf pan and cover with lightly sprayed plastic wrap and allow to rise 40-50 minutes. Near the end of the rise, preheat oven to 180C/350F. Whisk the small egg until combined and brush the top of the dough. Sprinkle the sesame seeds over.
- Bake 35 to 40 minutes. Tent with aluminum foil after 25 minutes to prevent over-browning. Remove the bread from oven and cool in the pan for 5 minutes before turning out onto a rack to cool.
Brussels Sprout Salad with Carrots and Macadamia Nuts
Monday, January 17, 2022Making a Brussels sprouts salad doesn't actually require much preparation. You can use a food processor to chop the sprouts and grate the carrots, which will require just 5 minutes. The longer you let it chill in the fridge, the more tender the sprouts will be. Toss with tender carrot tops or other herbs (cilantro, parsley, spring onions are all good) and toasted nuts before serving.
Salad | Dressing |
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- Place all the ingredients for the dressing in a bowl. Whisk everything together until well combined.
- Place Brussels sprouts, and grated carrots in a large bowl. Toss with dressing. Refrigerate, covered, at least 1 hour. Stir in chopped carrot tops and chopped macadamia nuts just before serving.