La petite biscotte

Easy Strawberry Pie

Helena — Sat, 19 May 2012 00:38:09 +0000

Strawberry season is really quite amazing. I think there is no fruit (at least here in Germany) which gets that much attention while it’s being harvested. Little cute booths appear out of nowhere in the streets of Berlin and next to railway stations (some actually look like giant strawberries!) selling these little gems. When I saw – or actually smelled – them a few days ago on the way home I decided that I simply had to make some easy strawberry pie.

I love this recipe because it’s extremely simple and when I come home after work with my sweet tooth telling me that it’s high time to chomp some homemade pie, this is the perfect go-to-recipe. You can make it with any other fruit, especially berries and the steps couldn’t be easier: Make some shortcrust pastry and bake it, cut up strawberries and make quick vanilla custard, assemble & glaze – and voilà - easy strawberry pie is ready to be demolished!

The thing that makes this easy strawberry pie taste so awesome is the vanilla custard that is used as a base. Vanilla & Strawberies = killer combo! In Germany we have premade pudding mixes which actually yield a perfect kind of custard for this recipe. But you don’t have to live in Germany to make this stuff. The powder they sell in little convenient bags can actually be replicated quite easily at home with very simple ingredients everyone probably has in their pantry.

The glaze is something where you can actually experiment a little with what you like. You can simply heat up some raspberry or strawberry juice and thicken it with some potato starch. Or you can heat up some marmelade with juice or a few drops of water. For this pie I mixed some leftover strawberries with apricot jam (for extra tartness) and sugar, cooked it a few minutes, strained the juice and brushed my easy strawberry pie with it. Depending on the strawberries you use (e.g. if they aren’t sweet enough yet) you might need to sweeten your glaze a little more.

As you can see, my pie was a mini-pie (because I can’t eat a whole strawberry pie by myself – although maybe I could but I definitely shouldn’t ). Of course I’ll include the recipe for the regular-size pie – I just halved the recipe for this one. I hope you like it just as much as I did – enjoy!

Easy Strawberry Pie

Recipe type: Dessert

Author: Helena Kresovic

Prep time: 30 mins

Cook time: 30 mins

Total time: 1 hour

Serves: 12

A really simple, easy strawberry pie with vanilla custard and a lovely strawberry glaze.

Ingredients

250g (2 cups) all-purpose flour
125g (½ cup + 1 Tbsp) butter, cold
60g (¼ cup) sugar
1 egg yolk
3 Tbsps water
1 pinch salt
500g (1 lb) fresh strawberries
500ml (2 cups) milk (at least 1.5% fat)
1 tsp vanilla extract
3-4 Tbsp sugar
2 Tbsp cornstarch
250 ml (1 cup) strawberry juice (or raspberry)
1 Tbsp potato starch

Instructions

Preheat the oven at 180°C / 350°F and grease a pie or tart pan with oil and dust it a little with flour.
Combine flour, butter (diced), sugar, the egg yolk, water as well as a generous pinch of salt in a bowl. Knead with your hands until everything comes together to a smooth dough.
Either press the dough into your pie/tart pan directly with your fingers or roll it out on a surface dusted with flour first. Make sure to press it in every corner of the pan.
Cover the dough’s surface with some parchment paper and fill the pie with some rice or dried lentils/beans.
Blind bake the pie shell for about 30 minutes or until golden brown. Remove the beans towards the end (last 5 minutes).
Meanwhile: In a small saucepan heat 2/3 of the milk over medium heat while mixing the remaining third with the vanilla extract, 3-4 Tbsp sugar (depending on how sweet you want the custard) and 2 Tbsp cornstarch until there are no lumps.
Combine the vanilla mixture with the rest of the milk and whisk while it keeps heating up (constant whisking is really important so the custard doesn’t burn). As soon as the texture becomes like mayonnaise you can remove the custard from the heat. Cover with clingfilm and set aside.
Remove the pie shell from the oven and let cool for about 5 minutes. Fill it with as much custard as possible and let cool completely.
In the meantime, wash the strawberries and cut them in a half or in slices.
As soon as the pie shell with the custard has cooled down, decorate it with the strawberries.
Mix some of the juice with 1 Tbsp potato starch. Bring the rest of the juice to a boil. Remove it from the heat and add the starch-mix. Heat it up while whisking until it boils again (it should have thickened by now). Remove from the stove and glaze the easy strawberry pie with it immediately.
Alternatively you can also heat about 2 Tbsp of apricot jam with a few strawberries and 1-2 Tbsp sugar. Let simmer for about 5 minutes, strain trough a fine mesh sieve and glaze your pie with it.
Let cool completely before serving.

Rhubarb Compote

Helena — Thu, 10 May 2012 19:13:18 +0000

This is going to be a quick and simple recipe because sometimes you don’t need all that fancy yadda yadda. Sometimes you just need a clean and simple recipe like this rhubarb compote, which is about the easiest dessert you can make and one of the quickest.

If you don’t like Rhubarb then I’ll bet you dollars to doughnuts your first experience felt like biting into a nice and juicy lemon. Rhubarb is indeed very sour, which is why you need to balance it with plenty of sugar. Sugar has the nice ability to counter acid. It also counters bad mood but I bet you knew that already.

“But, but… what can I eat a rhubarb compote with?!”. Plenty of stuff actually! Here are a few examples:

Yogurt
Vanilla ice cream
Rice pudding
Vanilla custard
Bread pudding

The list goes on… rhubarb compote has many friends – have fun discovering them

Rhubarb Compote

Recipe type: Dessert

Author: Helena Kresovic

Prep time: 5 mins

Cook time: 10 mins

Total time: 15 mins

Serves: 6

This rhubarb compote can be made in a few minutes and you can store it in jars like marmelade.

Ingredients

750g (26.5 ounces) rhubarb
150ml (1/2 cup + 2 Tbsp) orange juice (or cherry juice)
150g (3/4 cup) brown sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Instructions

Wash, peel and chop the rhubarb in small pieces (about 1/2 inch or 1 cm).
Combine rhubarb, juice, sugar and vanilla extract in a saucepan and bring to a boil.
Cover the saucepan and reduce the temperature to LOW. Simmer for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Remove the lid and continue simmering for approximately 3 minutes.
Taste the compote and if it is too sour, add some more sugar until the taste is to your liking.
Remove the finished rhubarb compote and either serve warm or let cool completely first.

Orange Poppy Seed Cake

Helena — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 12:11:58 +0000

Tasting new flavors or flavor combinations is always exciting and it’s quite funny that sometimes you don’t think about putting together some of the simplest ingredients which you encounter on a daily or weekly basis. When I first read the recipe for this orange poppy seed cake I was intrigued right away: I had tasted lemon and poppy seeds together countless times and liked the combination but what about orange and poppy seeds?

I simply had to try this recipe. There is one big problem concerning recipes with poppy seeds though. Many people who work with them don’t actually know how to use poppy seeds properly. Poppy seeds are very similar to sesame seeds. Meaning that the distinctive poppy seed aroma you are looking for is not going to be there unless you toast or grind the poppy seeds. You can try it out yourself – buy a bag of black poppy seeds, open it and smell the contents, you won’t even be able to tell that you’re smelling poppy seeds.

Bag of black poppy seeds

Black poppy seeds are actually called blue poppy seeds in Germany, which is somewhat more accurate: Before you extract the fragrant oil from inside the seeds (by toasting or grinding) they are of a pale blue color. The seeds are also rather crunchy so if you want to use them in baking recipes, you need to soften them up. In some supermarkets you can buy ready-made poppy seed paste which is made by grinding poppy seeds and cooking them with water and sugar. But since that paste is rather expensive and contains way too much sugar, I made the paste myself and used milk instead of water to improve the flavor.

Poppy seed paste

The paste itself is very fragrant – full of flavor – and is absolutely perfect for this orange poppy seed cake because it adds a lot of moisture and texture to the cake which is similar to recipes using apple sauce (actually a little better even).

Finished cake batter

The finished cake batter for the orange poppy seed cake already looked delicious – fluffy and airy with little specks of orange zest and poppy seeds everywhere, emitting an absolutely exotic and wonderful smell.

The absolute killer finish for this cake is the wonderful orange glaze which is made by reducing fresh orange juice and sugar to obtain a syrupy consistency. Little holes are pierced into the cake and the syrup-glaze is almost completely absorbed – making this cake even more moist and full of yummieness. If you make this cake yourself you can reduce the syrup to a thicker consistency so it will actually leave a shiny glaze.

What can I say – the cake didn’t survive very long. I sincerely mourn its loss for it was an exceptionally good orange poppy seed cake, about which my grandchildren will one day hear many yummie tales! Seriously… make one right now, you won’t regret it

Orange Poppy Seed Cake

Recipe type: Dessert

Author: Helena Kresovic

Prep time: 30 mins

Cook time: 60 mins

Total time: 1 hour 30 mins

Serves: 14

This orange poppy seed cake is incredibly moist and flavorful – it is finished with a delicious orange glaze, which makes this a truly special recipe.

Ingredients

125g (4.4 oz) poppy seeds (black)
80ml (1/4 cup + 1 tbsp) milk
1 tbsp butter, softened
80g (1/3 cup) sugar
250g (1 cup + 2 tbsps) butter, softened
350g (1 1/2 cups) sugar
4 eggs
400g (3 1/3 cups) flour, all-purpose
2 tsp baking powder
1 pinch salt
200 ml (7 fl.oz) milk
1 tsp of vanilla extract
zest of 2 oranges
200ml (3/4 cup) orange juice
140g (2/3 cup) sugar

Instructions

Bring 80 ml (1/4 cup + 1 tbsp) of milk to a boil.
Meanwhile grind the poppy seeds in a kitchen mixer until they are black and fragrant (takes about 5 minutes, depending on your mixer) – works with a coffee grinder as well.
Combine ground poppy seeds with hot milk, 1 tbsp of butter and 80g (1/3 cup) sugar. Stir well and let cool to room temperature.
Preheat the oven to 175°C (345 °F) and grease a large cake pan with oil or butter. Lightly dust it with flour.
In a large mixing bowl beat butter and 350g (1 1/2 cups) sugar until light and fluffy. Separate the eggs and beat in the egg yolks one at a time.
Sift flour, baking powder and salt into a separate bowl and stir to combine. Combine milk, vanilla extract and orange zest in a separate container (like a measuring cup).
Now alternately add dry ingredients and milk to the butter-egg-mixture and incorporate well. Add the poppy seed paste and stir to combine.
Whip egg whites into stiff peaks and fold it into the cake batter. Fill the prepared cake pan with the batter and bake for (approx) 40 Minutes or until a toothpick – inserted in the middle – comes out clean.
Once the cake is done remove from the oven and let cool for about 10 minutes.
Meanwhile cook the orange juice with the remaining sugar in a small sauce pan until the consistency is syrup-like.
Remove the orange poppy seed cake from the pan, pierce little holes into the surface and glaze it with the orange-syrup.
Enjoy!

Wild Garlic Pesto

Helena — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 14:20:05 +0000

Wild garlic or ramsons is a wild relative of chives which is found in many parts of Europe. They mainly grow in forest areas where they are often eaten by bears and wild boars – in fact, bears seem to like the stuff so much that in French wild garlic is called “l’ail des ours” (bear garlic) and in German it is called “Bärlauch” (bear leek). So I guess, my wild garlic pesto is the perfect stuff for attracting bears, if one day you should feel like meeting one in person.

A bunch of wild garlic leaves

Wild garlic develops white little flowers which are edible too but mostly the leaves are harvested and eaten in the form of soups, salads or sauces. The flavor can be described as a mix of garlic, chives and onions. Unlike chives though, wild garlic has a very intense and characteristic taste/smell which almost entirely vanishes if you heat it up. That’s why wild garlic pesto (as a cold pasta sauce) is a perfect way of conserving the amazingly fragrant nature of this wonderful vegetable/herb.

Wild Garlic Flower

It should also be noted that wild garlic can sometimes be very hot on the palate, especially if it has been harvested at an early stage. So it is best to taste the leaves first and make sure not to use too many of them, although, if you can stand the level of heat go for it – apparently wild garlic is very healthy and makes you as strong as a bear if you eat enough of it. Popeye would approve.

Not sure if Popeye would also approve of my wild garlic pesto but I sure did. I wouldn’t eat a whole can of it, as it’s so fragrant and tasty that you only need small amounts to flavor pasta dishes or soups. But that’s so great about it – you make a batch of wild garlic into pesto and it goes a long long way. You can store it in the fridge (covered with a layer of olive oil) and use it quickly whenever you need a great pasta sauce or a little bit of extraordinary flavor here and there!

Now don’t wonder about the texture of my pesto… Unfortunately I had to hand chop mine (reminded me of this adventure a bit) so after half an hour of intense chopping work I was so exhausted that I decided “Why not make it a little chunkier!”. Clearly I need to eat more wild garlic pesto to become stronger but actually I liked my chunky pesto so much that I might remake it exactly this way the next time.

Wild Garlic Pesto

Recipe type: Condiment

Author: Helena Kresovic

Prep time: 5 mins

Cook time: 5 mins

Total time: 10 mins

Serves: 8

This wild garlic pesto can be made in minutes and you can use it for several weeks to flavor pasta, soups or salads. Absolutely delicious!

Ingredients

100g (3.5 ounces) pine nuts
150g (5.3 ounces) wild garlic (ramsons)
300ml (10.1 ounces) olive oil (best quality)
50g (1/2 cup) parmesan (grated)
salt
pepper

Instructions

Heat a small non-stick pan over medium heat and toast the pine nuts until golden brown.
In the meantime wash the wild garlic and remove the stems (only the leaves will be used).
Combine pine nuts, wild garlic and half of the olive oil in a blender. Blend until the consistency is very chunky but a paste starts to form.
While leaving the blender on gradually add more olive oil until the wild garlic pesto reaches the desired texture.
Fold in the parmesan cheese and add salt and pepper to taste.
If you are going to store the wild garlic pesto in the fridge add the grated parmesan cheese shortly before using the pesto. Also cover the pesto with a thin layer of olive oil.

Chai Tea Concentrate

Helena — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 01:03:14 +0000

After reading the headline of this post – chai tea concentrate – you might think that I’m one of those coffee shop addicts that can’t go anywhere without carrying a paper cup “to go” with me. Well, actually quite the opposite is the case. Usually I don’t drink coffee or tea – for some reason I don’t really care for it…

Now don’t get me wrong, I actually enjoy the ritual of sitting down with family or friends and sharing a cup of whatever. I also love the smell of freshly brewed coffee (especially the Turkish coffee my mum used to make). But I never chose to make tea or coffee part of my daily routine. I guess the fact that even a gallon of coffee couldn’t keep me awake when I’m tired, might have something to do with it too.

Actually I used to work at a coffee shop about 10 years ago where I learned to make all sort of fancy coffee or tea creations (which – by the way – sometimes were gulped down in huge quantities by some customers – made me shudder). We also had chai tea on the menu which was made by letting black tea and spices steep in hot water and then serving it with some milk.

Although I liked the smell of the tea (particularly because of the spices), the taste of the drink itself was bland and boring. So a few years later I stumbled on a link for chai tea concentrate from Starbucks which is nothing else than black tea and spice syrup meant to be used with hot milk or water. And that’s where I had an idea.

Cooking a chai tea concentrate myself would give me the possibility of adding all the spices I love, in the quantities I choose, drawing all the good flavor out of them. As you let the syrup simmer, the flavor becomes stronger and intensifies to a point where you can’t help but continue to sniff the wonderful smell that escapes the pot.

So after a few experiments I finally found a good combination of flavors for my chai tea concentrate. And the preparation of the chai latte itself doesn’t get any easier: Just put a few tea spoons (3-4) of the chai tea concentrate in a cup and fill it with hot milk or a mix of water and milk. Done!

And finally I, too, found a delicious hot beverage I wouldn’t want to miss anymore…

Chai Tea Concentrate

Recipe type: Beverage

Author: Helena Kresovic

Prep time: 5 mins

Cook time: 20 mins

Total time: 25 mins

Serves: 1

Chai tea concentrate is a spice infused black tea syrup which let’s you make an amazing chai latte in about 2 minutes. Fill a bottle with the concentrate and take it with you; you’ll be able to enjoy a chai latte anywhere you go.

Ingredients

230 ml (1 cup) water
3 cardamom pods
4 cloves
1 cinnamon stick
1 pinch of ground cinnamon (optional)
2 tsp chopped fresh ginger
1/2 Tbsp anise seeds
6 bags of black tea (I used earl grey)
220 (1 cup + 1 Tbsp) sugar

Instructions

Fill a small saucepan with the indicated amount of water as well as the cardamom pods, cloves, cinnamon stick, ginger and anise seeds.
Bring the water to a boil, then remove it from the stove. Add the tea bags and let everything infuse for about 10 minutes.
Remove all the tea bags and squeeze them to remove the maximum amount of liquid from them.
Drain the liquid through a fine mesh sieve lined with a coffee filter (the liquid shouldn’t contain any tea particles any more).
Put the liquid back into the saucepan and add the sugar. Stir over medium heat until the sugar dissolves and the mixture reduces down to a syrupy consistency. If you really like the taste of cinnamon (I do) stir in a little pinch of cinnamon at this point.
Remove the finished chai tea concentrate from the stove and let cool completely before storing it in an air tight container (like a bottle).
To make chai latte: Combine 3-4 teaspoons of concentrate with hot milk or hot milk and water.

Cheddar Bay Biscuits

Helena — Fri, 30 Mar 2012 00:24:03 +0000

Before I start my post, I need to show you another picture of these wonderful cheddar bay biscuits:

Can you see how the surface cracked open, giving way to lots and lots of golden, delicious, melted cheese? Yes, I thought the same. If they taste the way they look, I’m going to be in heaven. And yep, they were THAT good!

Actually I’ve never even been to Red Lobster (unfortunately) so I never got to taste the original cheddar bay biscuits this recipe originated from. I discovered them inside a great thread on reddit where redditors exchanged secret restaurant recipes. Ah, what a gold mine that thread was (you’re welcome ) – I will be cooking my way through it soon!

Now back to the red lobster biscuits. Inside the thread I found a rage comic which describes the recipe step by step and the final picture had me sold immediately. I even found a blog, describing the recipe for cheddar cheese biscuits in a more detailed way.

However there was one big problem. The recipe calls for BISQUICK and apparently Berlin is Bisquick-free-zone. That means I had to find a way to substitute the baking mix or make my own! I researched online, tried out a few combinations and after the third batch – finally – I had perfectly fluffy, buttery, yummie cheddar bay biscuits, just like the ones on the picture! So without further ado, here is the red lobster biscuit recipe without any baking mixes – 100% natural!

Cheddar Bay Biscuits

Recipe type: Appetiser, Side

Author: Helena Kresovic

Prep time: 15 mins

Cook time: 20 mins

Total time: 35 mins

Serves: 13

These cheddar bay biscuits taste absolutely delicious – the flavors of cheese, butter and garlic mix together to create a fluffy piece of heaven!

Ingredients

250g (2 1/4 ccup) all-purpose flour
6 Tbsp cold butter
1/2 Tbsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 cup cheddar cheese (or any aged, hard cheese)
3/4 cup milk
1/4 tsp garlic powder
2 Tbsp butter, melted
1/4 tsp garlic powder
3/4 tsp dried parsley flakes

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 200°C or 400°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Combine the flour, salt and baking powder in a large bowl and mix with a spoon. Add the cold butter and knead with your fingers until the butter-flour mixture separates into many little dough-crumbs.
Add cheddar cheese, milk and garlic powder and continue mixing with your hands until a ball of sticky dough forms with the cheddar cheese being spread through evenly.
Drop 1/4 cup of dough at a time on the baking sheet and form little biscuit shaped balls. Continue this way until the dough is used up.
Bake the cheddar bay biscuits in the oven until they are golden brown (they color very quickly, so be careful), approximately 15-17 minutes.
Meanwhile melt the 2 Tbsp of butter. Stir in the remaining garlic powder and the parsley flakes and mix well.
As soon as you remove the biscuits from the oven brush them with the garlic butter and sprinkle with some sea salt. Let them cool down a little before serving.

Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

Helena — Tue, 20 Mar 2012 18:58:23 +0000

A few years ago I started a series on Petite Biscotte called “The Quest For The Perfect Cookie (TQFTPC)“. Whenever I found a (supposedly) great recipe for cookies – especially chewy chocolate chip cookies as those are my favorite – I immediately tried it out and posted about it on PB. Looking back, nowadays I’m a bit disappointed with the results.

The reason is simple: Cookies are a very subjective matter (no really, they are!). Baking cookies can be compared to visiting Starbucks. At first you’ll have whatever your friend is having. Even though you might like what you taste, you’ll start to make changes and try out new items on the menu eventually. Your preferences are going to change over time too (you’ll get pickier) and 2-3 years later your favorite drink is probably going to differ greatly from what you first tasted.

For me it was similar with cookies. The first chocolate chip cookie I tasted was actually thin and crisp and it was made with tons of chocolate chips (too much for my taste) as well as a strong vanilla flavor. It took me some time to find out that I actually like chewy chocolate chip cookies better, which have a moderate amount of chocolate in them and a subtle vanilla flavor. Yeah, I know I’m complicated!

Generally these are the questions you need to answer when embarking on your very own quest for the perfect cookie:

Do you prefer chewy and thick cookies or crispy and thin cookies?
How much chocolate chips are too much?
Do you like nuts in your chocolate chip cookie?
Which size should your chocolate chip cookies be?
Chocolate chips: Dark chocolate, milk chocolate, white chocolate or a mix?
How strong should the vanilla flavor be?

So after a lot of testing I present to you my perfect recipe for chewy chocolate chip cookies which differs quite a bit from the results in earlier posts. I hope you enjoy them and may your quest for the perfect cookie lead you to your very own delicious result!

Oh and here is a great post on common cookie problems, which helps greatly when trying to resolve issues with the dough.

Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

Recipe type: Dessert

Author: Helena Kresovic

Prep time: 15 mins

Cook time: 40 mins

Total time: 55 mins

Serves: 18

This is a recipe for perfect chewy chocolate chip cookies which was adapted from CI The New Best Recipe.

Ingredients

225g (8 oz) all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
170g (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter
200g (1 cup) brown sugar
100g (1/2 cup) granulated sugar
1 large egg
1 egg yolk
1 tsp vanilla extract
150g (1 cup) semisweet chocolate chips

Instructions

Mix flour, baking powder and salt and sift everything into a bowl.
Heat the oven at 165°C / 325 °F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Melt the butter in a medium sized saucepan over medium heat until it is half melted. Remove from the stove and stir with a spoon until the rest of the butter melts as well. That way the mixture should be fully melted but warm, not hot.
Add both the brown sugar and the granulated sugar to the saucepan with the melted butter and stir with a spoon until everything is combined.
Add the egg, egg yolk and vanilla extract to the butter-sugar-mixture and beat manually until combined.
Stir the liquid mixture into the dry ingredients and combine everything with a wooden spoon until dough is smooth and firm. Fold in the chocolate chips.
Take about 1/4 cup of dough at a time and form a ball with both hands. Place on the parchment paper and flatten it a little with your fingers. Form a total of 9 cookies this way and space them out equally on the baking sheet. Bake for 15-18 minutes in the oven, rotating the baking sheet once half way through.
Remove the chewy chocolate chip cookies from the oven and wait about 2 minutes before transferring them to a cake rack to cool completely.
Place 9 more cookies on the already used parchment paper and proceed the same way described before.

Raspberry Cheesecake Brownies

Helena — Thu, 08 Mar 2012 19:19:59 +0000

Do you know the feeling when you decide to take a look at Pinterest quickly and all you see is amazing pictures of food which make you hungry? You literally get stuck behind the screen looking at pictures of waaaay too unhealthy, yummie things that scream “Bake me! Eat me! I am delicus for realz!”. I mean come on, dulce de lece cheesecake bars, salted caramel chocolate chip cookie bars, raspberry cheesecake brownies?!

Well, that’s exactly what happened to me this week and I thought “Oh well, next week I can still think about losing a few pounds – hello raspberry cheesecake brownies!”. So I went ahead and made a batch of these with a few alterations, thinking they won’t taste as good as I imagine anyway. I was wrong. They taste even better. I can’t stop eating. Help.

They are every bit as decadent and gorgeous tasting as they look on the picture. The light cheesecake part is flavored with vanilla and goes extremely well with the fudgy and rich taste of the chocolate brownie part. The richness is cut by the acidity and freshness of the raspberries, making this a perfect combination of flavors. The great thing about these raspberry cheesecake brownies is that they are incredibly easy to make – it took me about 20 minutes to pop them into the oven.

Raspberry Cheesecake Brownies

Recipe type: Dessert

Author: Helena Kresovic

Prep time: 20 mins

Cook time: 70 mins

Total time: 1 hour 30 mins

Serves: 10

These raspberry cheesecake brownies are quickly made and taste delicious with a glass of cold milk or a dollop of whipped cream!

Ingredients

200g (7 oz) dark chocolate (high quality)
200g (7 oz) unsalted butter
400g (14 oz) + 1 Tbsp sugar
100g (3.5 oz) all-purpose flour
5 eggs
2 Tbsp cocoa powder
3/4 cup raspberries (frozen or fresh)
400g (14 oz) cream cheese
1 tsp vanilla extract

Instructions

Break the dark chocolate into pieces and put it into a small saucepan. Add the butter in pieces and melt everything over LOW heat. Stir from time to time.
Preheat the oven to 175°C / 340 °F. Grease and line a square baking dish (I used a gratin dish).
As soon as the chocolate and butter are melted, stir in the sugar (250g / 9 oz) and set aside to cool a few minutes. In the meantime heat the raspberries with 1 Tbsp of sugar in a small saucepan until the berries start to break apart and the mixture becomes half liquid. Set aside to cool.
Sift the flour and cocoa powder and mix with the chocolate-butter-sugar mixture. While stirring, add 3 eggs (1 at a time) and keep mixing until everything is incorporated well. Pour the batter into the prepared baking dish and spread evenly.
Beat the remaining eggs with the cream cheese, the vanilla extract and the remaining sugar until the mixture is smooth. Cover the layer of chocolate batter with dollops of the cheesecake mixture as well as the raspberries. Use a fork to swirl everything.
Bake the raspberry cheesecake brownies in the oven for 70 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.

Lemon Meringue Tart

Helena — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 03:49:56 +0000

During life you forget many things. You don’t forget your first lemon meringue dessert though! For me, it was when I studied in France. They sold slices of lemon meringue tart (tarte au citron meringuée) for about 1€ at the students’ cafeteria. Now let me tell you – cafeteria food in France is not like cafeteria food elsewhere. There is no mystery meat in brown sauce or magic leftover bake. While the food could still be improved, I was surprised at the quality of the ingredients and the high standards they tried to maintain.

So I decided to go for a dessert there as well and tried a lemon meringue tart for the first time. And wow, I was blown away. When I took the first bite, I couldn’t believe how sour and intense the flavor of the lemon curd was. It is actually so strong that at first, I thought, someone must have messed up the tart! But no, it is actually meant to be this way. The sour taste is meant to be softened by the delicate and sweet meringue topping as well as the buttery crunch of the shortcrust pastry.

Back then I thought: “Who would buy this stuff over good old apple pie? Crazy French people…”. But I started to like the taste and I went for it again. Eventually it became my favorite tart. And now that I live in Germany – with the cafeteria from back then being hundreds of miles away – I needed to learn how to make my own lemon meringue tart…

Lemon Meringue Tart

Recipe type: Dessert

Author: Helena Kresovic

Prep time: 1 hour 10 mins

Cook time: 60 mins

Total time: 2 hours 10 mins

Serves: 8

This lemon meringue tart takes a little time to make, but the wonderful flavor is well worth it. Increase the amount of lemon juice at your own risk!

Ingredients

250g (2 cups) all-purpose flour
125g (½ cup + 1 Tbsp) butter, cold
60g (¼ cup) sugar
2 egg yolks
3 Tbsps water
1 pinch salt
3 lemons (add a 4th one if you’re brave!)
150g (2/3 cup) sugar
3 eggs
1 Tbsp corn starch
2 egg whites
100g (½ cup) sugar (super fine, if you have it)

Instructions

Combine flour, butter in little dices, 60g sugar, egg yolks, water and the pinch of salt in a medium sized bowl and knead with your hands until the dough is smooth. Don’t overwork it though – as soon as it starts to stick, stop kneading it. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for about an hour.
Remove the dough from the fridge and preheat the oven at 180°C/350°F. Grease a tart pan and lightly dust it with flour. Roll out the shortcrust pastry and line the tart pan with it – make sure to push the dough well in every corner of the pan. Cut off excess dough using a knife. Cover the surface with a baking sheet and fill the tart with dried beans or lentils (about 500g). Now blind bake the tart shell for about 30 minutes.
To make the lemon curd: Grate the zest from two of the lemons and juice all three. Put the lemon juice, zest, sugar (150g / 2/3 cup) and corn starch into a small saucepan. Heat the mixture at low temperature while occasionally stirring. Beat the 3 eggs in a separate bowl and add them to the liquid. Now stir constantly using a whisk until the mixture thickens. The consistency needs to be as thick as freshly cooked pudding. Remove from heat.
Remove the tart shell from the oven and separate it from the baking sheet with the beans. Fill the tart shell with the prepared lemon curd and spread it evenly.
In a small bowl whisk the two egg whites with a small pinch of salt. When they are half way stiff, start adding sugar (100g / 1/2 cup) gradually while whisking. Continue to whisk until the egg whites are very stiff, with peaks forming. Actually turn the bowl upside down and if the egg whites stay firmly inside the bowl, you’re good to go.
Cover the tart with the white meringue topping and spread it evenly (don’t cover the very edges though). Continue baking the tart at 150°C/300°F until the meringue topping starts to get golden brown (about 20-30 mins).
Remove the lemon meringue tart from the oven and let it cool completely inside the tart pan before slicing and serving.

Apple Cinnamon Muffins

Helena — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 22:39:40 +0000

Sometimes simple comfort food is all you need to get through a hard and cold winter! I actually craved these apple cinnamon muffins for several days until I finally got around to making them. And when it’s -15°C (5°F) there is nothing better than warm apple cinnamon muffins with a hot cup of tea.

The secret to making good apple muffins is to incorporate some apple sauce into the batter. Apple sauce pretty much makes any cake moist and tender but in this case the mild apple taste fits very well too. Also it is really important to use the right kind of apples. Here in Europe we like to use a variety called “Elstar” which to me is the best apple in the history of all apples. Usually it doesn’t look very pretty but the apple has a perfectly balanced taste with just the right amount of acidity and sweetness. Moreover it has a perfect texture for cooking as it isn’t too juicy and doesn’t fall apart even after an hour of baking.

I added a few walnuts to my apple cinnamon muffins because I had some left in the pantry but you can just as well omit them if you are allergic or if you don’t like the taste. One thing you should really not omit (trust me!) is the gorgeous cinnamon glaze which makes these muffins so special and helps keep them moist for days.

Apple Cinnamon Muffins

Recipe type: Dessert

Author: Helena Kresovic

Prep time: 15 mins

Cook time: 20 mins

Total time: 35 mins

Serves: 18

These apple cinnamon muffins are quickly put together and taste absolutely amazing. They are topped with a nice cinnamon glaze.

Ingredients

1 cup (110g) all-purpose flour
1 cup (120g) whole-wheat flour
1/2 cup (100g) brown sugar, packed, divided
1/2 cup (100g) granulated sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 (110ml) cup buttermilk
1/2 cup (110ml) apple sauce
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 egg
4 ounces (115g) butter
2 apples
2 Tbsp walnuts, chopped
2 tsp ground cinnamon, peeled, cored and chopped or diced
1 cup (100g) confectioner’s sugar
water

Instructions

Preheat the oven at 375°F. Line a muffin pan (18 pieces) with paper muffin cups and set aside.
In a middle-sized bowl mix flour, baking powder, salt, 1 tsp cinnamon and set aside.
In a large bowl beat the butter until creamy (best do this with a mixer). Gradually add the sugar and beat until you get an even more creamy mixture. Beat in the egg and vanilla and continue to mix until incorporated. Now very gently mix in the buttermilk and the apple sauce with a spoon (don’t go too fast or the mixture will curdle).
Add the dry ingredients and mix everything with a large spoon. After you add the dry ingredients you should not mix longer than 15 seconds as overmixing the batter will make the muffins tough after baking. Fold in apples and walnuts.
Fill the prepared muffin cups with the batter while trying to divide it evenly. Bake in the preheated oven for about 20 minutes or until golden brown (a toothpick should come out clean when they are ready).
Let the apple cinnamon muffins cool inside the muffin pan for 10 minutes before turning them out onto a wire rack to cool completely.
Once they are cool, mix 1 tsp cinnamon with the confectioner’s sugar and keep adding drops of water until you get a thick sugar glaze. Spread it on top of the muffins and let the glaze dry for about 1-2 hours before serving. Or just chomp those apple cinnamon muffins right away, like I do