Ricotta fritters with rosemary-orange syrup

Okay folks, I am finished! I quit the sugar and white flour free month, I just had enough! I am not keen to eat sweets, it is not the point but I miss baking extremly! I can't help it. My mind is full with ideas, combinations and I gotta let myself go and bake! Yeah, sure I could bake and give it as a gift to a friend or something, I normally anyway give away half of the cakes or cookies or anything I bake. But I must try it if I experiment around! So today I am here with ricotta fritters, that I actually made using Hungarian túró. The recipe is pretty popular at the moment among a couple of fellow Hungarian foodies, so I had to give these ago. I had the idea to serve it with rosemary-orange syrup, let's enjoy the last days of the citrus season!

Ingredients:
for the ricotta fritters:
original recipe of the fritters here
500 g ricotta or Hungarian túró
100 g vanilla sugar
3 eggs
250 g flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
zest of 1 lemon
peanut oil for deep frying
for the syrup:
100 g sugar
100 g water
1 orange
1 twig rosemary

For the fritters whisk together ricotta (use real ricotta, not the creamy stuff!) with vanilla sugar, eggs and lemon zest. Finally fold in flour and baking powder. Form small balls out of the batter with wet hands and fry them in 180°C hot oil. Serve with the syrup or sprinkle with icing sugar.
Bring sugar with water to the boil and cook for 5 minutes, then remove from the heat. Peel orange and add it to the syrup among the rosemary and let it infuse for an hour. Drain and fill into a bottle.

Cinnamon-cocoa sugar coated beignets

This is a quite old childhood favourite and strangely it has never been prepared at home. I remember, I was 8 or 9 years old when I had these for the very last time. In the small town where we used to live there was a big factory that of course had a canteen. These beignets come from that canteen and I was lucky to get the recipe from them. Nothing special, but it brings back some beautiful memories from those days. It is best served with cinnamon-cocoa sugar, but it is also a treat with apricot jam.

Ingredients:
500 g flour
500 ml milk
50 g butter
6 eggs
1 teaspoon baking powder
pinch of salt
vegetable oil for frying
icing sugar, icing sugar-cocoa powder or cinnamon-cocoa sugar for coating

Bring milk with butter and salt to the boil, then pour in all the flour at once and whisk together. Transfer batter into a bowl and when it is lukewarm stir in the eggs one by one and the baking powder. Heat oil and with a help of an ice cream scooper add portions of batter to the hot oil and bake for 10-13 minutes or until golden. Coat the lukewarm beignets in cinnamon-cocoa sugar.

Fasnachtschüechli

The carnival season here in Switzerland wouldn't be the same without the so called Fastnachtschüechli which you find in every shop throughout the country during this time of the year. I think the store bought chüechli is crispier and also thinner, but the home made one is tastier. Not to mention that you are free to boost the flavours with anything you can think of. I decided to add some lemon zest and vanilla, but orange zest with a few pinches of ground anise might work well too!

Hozzávalók:
based on a recipy by Saisonküche
25 g butter
3 eggs
75 ml heavy cream
2 tablespoons vanilla sugar
zest of 1 lemon
pinch of salt
320 g flour
oil for deep frying

Melt butter over low heat, in the meantime whisk together heavy cream with the eggs, vanilla sugar, lemon zest and salt. Stir in molten butter and sift flour on top. Knead a dough, it shouldn't be stick, so if that's the case and more flour. Let the dough rest on room temperature for 1 hour. Cut dough in 15 equal pieces and roll each as thin as possible with a rolling pin. Deep fry in hot oil and serve it sprinkled with icing sugar.

Tahini Cruller with Pomegranate-Cardamom Glaze

When I discovered those gorgeous crullers in Jen's blog, I immediately felt I must make them. I just did not seem to find the right moment, until yesterday. By the way it is funny, because she tried my beet doughnuts, so it kind of a doughnut ping-pong. However, you know me, I just had to make a little change here, a little change there. So inspired from yesterday's lunch I decided to use only half of the butter and replaced the other half with tahini. I thought why not, after all it might work. They say that curiosity killed the cat, however this time not. To bring an oriental touch I flavoured the glaze with pomegranate syrup, cardamom and rose water. Good about these cute circles that they are prepared pretty fast and you are ready to jump on the flying rug!

Ingredients:
(based on a recipe by Lara Ferroni)
300 ml water
3 tablespoons tahini
3 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons powder sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
135 g flour
3 eggs

Brint water with butter, tahini, sugar and salt to the boil.  Add all the flour at once and whisk until well mixed and keep on whisking over medium heat until a thin white film forms on the bottom of the pot. Now transfer batter into a mixing bowl and whisk in the eggs one by one. Fill batter into a piping bag and pipe circles onto baking sheet that has been cut into squares. Heat oil to 190°C and bake the doughnuts for about 2 minutes or until golden brown, then turn and bake for another 2 minutes. For the glaze whisk together 80 g powder sugar with 2 tablespoons pomegranate syrup and as much cardamom and rose water like you desire. If needed and a 1-2 tablespoons water as well and glaze the baked doughtnuts. Decorate with black sesame seeds.

Sunchoke Beignets

Well, honestly I do not often make doughnuts or beignets or other deep fried treats. In fact, I only do it once in a year, simply because of the scaring calories, however I decided to break this habit. Therefore here I am with the second batch of beignets this year. After the beetroot, I've chosen another seasonal favourite of mine, the sunchoke, that I boosted with some nutmeg. Though this wouldn't been enough, so I sprinkled it with ginger-lemon flavoured icing sugar. Well, my neighbour, who received a medium sized paper bag full with beignets just ate it all within a few minutes, while we still were chatting. I think that was quite a compliment! By the way, what I especially love about these, among the taste and the light and fluffy texture, is that they  pretty much resemble to the sunchoke bulbs, agree?

Ingredients:
180 g sunchoke
60 g butter
200 ml water
150 g flour
2 eggs
nutmeg
pinch of salt
icing sugar
ground ginger
zest of 1 lemon

Cook sunchoke until soft, peel and puree. Bring water with butter, salt and freshly grated nutmeg to the boil. As soon as it is boiling add flour, the whole amount at once. Whisk it together with a wooden spoon, and as soon as a thin white layer is visible on the bottom remove it from the heat. Pour batter into another bowl and stir in 150 g of sunchoke puree, then stir in the eggs one by one. With a help of a spoon form small balls and bake in hot oil for 3-4 minutes. Roll baked beignets in ginger-lemon flavoured icing sugar.

Beetroot Doughnuts

Hmm, I have just realised that I haven't posted a single recipe with beetroot this year yet! Today it is just the right time to change that, thanks to a sudden idea. I believe that beetroots and blood oranges are made for each other, so there was no question that I am going to serve these cute little beet dougnuts with blood orange curd. It turns into a real treat if you sprinkle it with some cardamom flavoured icing sugar! A real delight!

Ingredients:

500 g flour
20 g fresh yeast
50 g powder sugar
50 g butter
1 egg yolk
50 g beetroot
juice of 2 oranges
3 cardamom pods
2 tablespoons orange liqueur
1 pinch of salt
150 ml milk
150 ml beet juice
500 ml oil for frying

Peel and dice beetroot and cook until soft in orange juice together with the cardamom pods. Heat milk and beet juice until lukewarm nad set about 2-3 tablespoons aside. Pour the rest of the milk-beet juice mixture over the yeast, 3 tablespoons flour and 1 tablespoon powder sugar and let it stand until the yeast swims on top. Meanwhile puree cooked beetroot with the rest of the milk-beet juice mixture. Add the rest of the flour, powder sugar, egg yolk, beet puree, liqueur and lukewarm melted butter to the yeast mixture. The dough is pretty soft, so take a wooden spoon and beat it for about 20 minutes until it is smooth, or leave the work for a machine. Let the dough rest until it doubles its size. Flour a working surface and flatten it with your hand, cut out any shape you like and let it stand for another 30 minutes, then deep fry in oil.


100 g butter
100 g sugar
juice and zest of 1 lemon
juice and zest of 2 blood oranges
2 egg yolks

Over a bain-marie melt butter with sugar, fruit juices and zest. As soon as the butter has melted whisk it together, add the egg yolks and whisk on the highest level for about 10 minutes until it thickens. Pour into jars and chill.

Cinnamon Doughnuts

No carnival holiday may pass by without baking doughnuts. Actually, I am not a carnival fan at all, but doughnuts are a must, besides that is the only time in the year when I make them. This time I decided to try another recipe, and picked the one by Pierre Hermé's father. In the book it is called Berliner, though a classic Berliner looks just like those Hungarian carnival doughnuts I made last year. These here are round balls filled with chocolate ganache and rolled in cinnamon sugar. They were just perfect for such a cinnamon fanatic like me.


Ingredients:
5 g fresh yeast
180 ml water
275 g flour

Crumble yeast into a bowl, add lukewarm milk and wait until it is dissolved. Stir in the flour, mix well and let is stand for 1 1/2 - 2 hours.


250 g flour
10 g salt
65 g sugar
5 egg yolks
60 g fresh yeast
60 ml milk
65 g butter

Add the ingredeints to the poolish and knead until the dough separetes from the sides of the bowl. Cover and let is stand until it has doubled its size. Cut the dough in 25 pieces and form balls and let it stand until they have doubled their size. Heat oil to 160°C and bake the doughnuts for 10-12 minutes. Fill it with chocolate ganache or marmalade and roll in cinnamon sugar.

Banana - Chocolate Beignets

Today afternoon, while I was spending my time reading my favourite cookbooks, searching for a bread recipe to try, I found these beignets. As I had some already pretty brown bananas on my kitchen counter, I decided to prepare them.


Actually I am not so much a fan of the banana-chocolate combination but these cute round balls convinced me!


Ingredients:
90 g banana
10 g sugar ( i used a bit of honey instead)
100 g milk
100 g butter
100 g flour
3 eggs
a big bunch of chocolate drops

Peel banana and mince in a mixer together with the sugar. Heat a saucepan with milk and butter and bring it to boil. Add banana puree and bring it to boil again. Stir in flour and cook for 1 minute. Remove it from the heat and stir in eggs one after the other. With a help of an icing bag pipe dough in a flexible ice cube form until half. Add chocolate drops on top and cover with more pastry. To flatten them wet your finger a bit.


Place it to the freezer and leave it there for some hours or over night. Deep fry beignets in oil (170°C) for 5 minutes.

Hungarian Carnival Doughnuts

When I was a child I did not only enjoy carnival because I was allowed to dress up but mostly because of the carnival doughnuts. No carnival ball is imaginable without these pastries! Yesterday afternoon I was pretty eager to eat some, but the store bought doughnuts are too sweet and simply can not keep up with the home made ones. I decided to prepare some myself, but when I read the recipe I thought that these are so complicated and take such a long time. However the lust was stronger, so I went to the kitchen and started. It was not that complicated at all and the result is totally yummy! The main thing you have to consider is that all ingredients must have room temperature.


Ingredients:
500 g flour
20 g fresh yeast
50 g powder sugar
50 g butter
2 egg yolks
2 tablespoon rum
1 pinch of salt
about 300 ml milk
about 1 liter oil for frying


Heat 300 ml milk until lukewarm and pour it over the yeast, 3 tablespoons flour and 1 tablespoon powder sugar. Let it stand until yeast swims on top. Whisk egg yolks with the rest of the sugar and add it to the yeast mixture. Add the rest of the flour and the lukewarm melted butter to it and knead until you get a soft dough. Now take a wooden spoon and beat the dough for 20 minutes, or let your kitchen machine do the job. Leave dough on a warm place until it doubles its size. Flour a working surface and spread dough with your hands so that it is about 1 finger thick and cut circles with a help of a glass. Cover and let it stand for 30 minutes. Heat oil and fry doughnuts from both sides until light brown. Serve with powder sugar and apricot jam.

Chocolate Bugnes

It is a recepie from O. Buisson. Bugnets are a culinary speciality from central-eastern France, including Lyon and Saint-Étienne, closely related to beignets. It is a traditional carnival speciality.

Ingredients:
330 g flour
40 g cocoa
4 eggs
50 g honey
25 g yeast
7 g salt
250 g butter
70 ml milk
oil for frying
chocolate for coating
powder sugar

A day before prepare dough.
Add flour, cocoa, eggs, honey, yeast and salt. Knead a dough.
Stear butter in another bowl and after knead it into the dough.
Add milk and knead it together.
Leave over night in the fridge.

Dough before cooling:

Dough the next day:


Roll out dough about 4 mm and cut 8 cm wide rhombus out of them and cut a 2 cm long hole in the middle, and take one edge through it.


Leave it for 30 minutes on a cold place.
Fry in oil about 3-4 minutes.
After they are cool, coat on one half chocolate on the other powder sugar and serve.