Teddy cookies

I get crazy when I see original cookies. Animal ones always catch my eye. These are extra cute.

I gave these as a gift to one of my friends, they're simple, but effective.

250 g flour

125 g butter, cold and cut into chunks

100 g sugar

1 egg

50 g almond, unpeeled

Put flour, sugar and butter in a food processor. Mix until you get a crumbly batter. Add the egg and mix.

Kneat the dough until smooth. Shape into a ball and put in the fridge for 30 minutes.

Roll out the dough and cut with a small Teddy cookie cutter.

Place the bears on a baking tray, put one almond each in the center of the bust, pressing gently. Fold the arms on the almond trying to secure it.

Bake at 160° for 10-12 minutes.

False Panna Cotta

This is my light version of panna cotta. I used to do this a lot  as a daily dessert. 

If you reach the right point of sweetness to cancel the yogurt acidity, it really taste like cream.

Vanilla bean scraped and heaten up into the milk will give a wonderful flavour, as well as a lovely dotty look. Sometimes I use Alpro soy milk to replace the bean and still have a vanilla-like taste.

170 g greek yogurt

150 ml milk

sugar to taste

3 gelatine leaves (6 g circa)

raspberries and rose water to garnish

Bring the milk to a slow boil, when bubbles appear turn off the heat and add the jelly. Let cool a bit.

Wisk the greek yogurt until smooth, add sugar to taste. Add the milk and wisk well. Put in the fridge until firm.

(Makes 2)

Lemon jam and strawberries tart

I'm starting to enjoy tarts, they always look cool.

I made this one with calm and patience, two things I never had around tarts.

Did it worth the effort?

for the pastry

200 g flour

75 g butter, room temperature

75 g icing sugar

2 egg yolks

2 Tbso warter

zest of 1/2 a lemon

for the filling:

100 g lemon jam

400 g 

2 Tbsp sugar

Prepare the pastry: in a food processor put butter, egg yolks and sugar. Mix and slowly add the water. Add the flour and the lemon zest. Bind the dough together and put in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.

Roll out the pastry and cover a 24 cm tart tin, make a few holes on the bottom using a fork. Put back in the fridge for 15 minutes.

Line with packment paper and cover the surface with beans or rise. Bake at 190° for 15 minutes.

Take off the beans/rise and cook for further 10 minutes.

Spread evenly the jam on the base.

Wash and cut the strawberries lenghtwise, sugar them and put them onto the jam.

Bake for 15 minutes.

Let cool completely.

Rose Butter Cookies

I love baking with flowers.

To me, roses and rosewater in desserts immediately recall Persia and Greece, then sun and warm weather.

Today it was like this.

Be prepared to see several other things-with-flowers recipes.

There will be many.

Starting from this.

Ingredients:

225 g butter

150 g sugar

300 g flour

1 tsp rose water

3 Tbsp dried rose petals

In the food processor mix 2 Tbsp dried petals with the sugar.

Add the butter, softened and beat until creamy, but not fluffy.

Add the flour, remaining rose petals and rose water.

Shape the batter into small balls, arrange them on a baking tray lined with packment paper, 4 cm far from one another, and press them a little with your fingers.

Refrigerate for 2 hours.

Bake a 180° for about 14 minutes, or until slightly golden on the surface.

Let cool completely.

Federico's Key Lime Pie

My friend Federico make this pie every time there's a party. 

So I asked him to teach me this big classic.

It is sour and sweet to perfection.

Ingredients:

for the base:

250 g digestives cookies

80 g butter

for the filling:

150 ml lime juice

397 g condensed milk

3 egg yolks

1 Tbsp lime zest

whipped cream for decoration*

How to:

Make the base reducing the cookies into fine crumbs. Melt the butter and add the digestives. Whisk with a fork. Cover the base of a 23 cm pie tin. Bake in the over at 180° for 10 minutes. Let cool in the freezer for 10-15 minutes.

For the filling mix the milk, juice, egg yolks and zest. Pour the mixture on the base and bake for 20 minutes.

Let cool in the fridge for several hours.

Decorate the surface with wipped cream.

Crêpe Cake

One of the more dramatic cake ever. It take quite a long time to do it, but it will worth every second.

I preferred to make the crêpes a little thicker, almost like pancakes, because they hold the custard better and they are more satisfying to taste.

Ingredients:

for the crêpes:

 1 1/2 cups flour, sifted

3 tsp baking powder

1/2 cup caster sugar

1 egg

2 cups milk

75 g butter, melted

for the custard:

2 cups milk

4 egg yolks

1/3 cup sugar

1/3 cup cornstarch

80 g dark chocolate

How to:

Prepare the custard heating milk and chocolate in a saucepan. Whisk the eggs with the sugar until pale. Add the cornstarch, sifted. Slowly pour the milk and melted chocolate over the egg mix, whisking continuosly. Pour the mixture back into the saucepan over medium-low heat and cook for 5 minutes or until thick. Let cool completely

For the crêpes place the flour, baking powder and sugar in a bowl. Place the egg, milk and butter in a separate bowl and whisk until combined. Add the milk mixture to the dry ingredients and whisk until smooth.

Heat a 20 cm non-stick frying pan over medium-low heat. 

Pour enough batter to cover the bottom of the pan, cook until bubbles appear on the surface. Turn the crêpe and cook for 1 minute until golden.

Let cool completely.

You will need around 20 crêpes. 

Spiced Pear and Banana Mini Loaf

I tested an unusual combination of pear and banana.

The result is a spicy really moist cake (banana) with crunchy pieces of pear.