Elderberry - Apple Jam

How much I adore elder, both the flower and the berry! The smell of elderflower is so unique and look at those deep purple colour of the berries! Irresistible! I have already decided last autumn, that this year I am going to make some elderberry jam, no matter what! I decided to combine it with apple, not only because they go well together, but also because I had no agar-agar or pectin at home, so I had to do something in order to achieve the right consistency. I confess that I do not like fruit pieces in a jam, so usually I puree it. However as far as blueberries and elderberry is concerned, I just can't get enough of them! So therefore I cooked the apple in the cider and pureed it, and only after that I added the elder, sugar and lemon juice. The lemon juice is a must, because that is what gives the jam a zesty note.

Ingredients: 

for the jam:
350 g apple
150 ml apple cider

400 g elderberry

400 g sugar

juice of 1 lemon

for the pancake:
100 g flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 egg

140 g kefir or yoghurt

1 tablespoon melted butter

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

For the jam remove the core of the apple and dice with the peel on. Bring apple with the cider to the boil and cook until soft, then puree. If you do not want to waste time with this extra step, just cook everything together from the begining. I did it that way, because I wanted no apple chunks in the jam. So now it is time to add the elderberries to the apple pure among the sugar and the lemon juice and cook for 35-40 minutes. If you want a less runny consistency add about 5 grams of agar agar or pectin. Pour the hot jam into jars and let it cool covered under a bunch of blankets.

For the pancakes mix the ingredients together until smooth. Heat a frying pan and pour a ladle of the batter into the pan. Cook for 2-3 minutes or until bubbles appear on the surface, then turn and cook for a further 1-2 minutes or until golden. The batter makes 3-6 pieces depending on its size. I usually do not add any sugar to the batter, because we eat it with loads of syrup, but feel free to add some.

Cream puffs with elderberry filling

Again, it's been a while since my last post. Well, I've been busy with a lot of food related things. One of them was the Dining Guide Street Food Show in Budapest, where I was invited as a guest blogger. I was in the same team with Robert from myBites, with whom I already had the pleasure to be part of a cooking competiton in Berlin last summer. Both of us decided to serve a Hungarian dish: his was the so called letscho, that he prepared in a a very unusual, yet totally fantastic way: in a form of a sushi. I decided to take a twist on the classic dessert: the Rákóczi túrós - kind of a quark cake. I served my version in glass and preapred its elements seperately. The bottom is a short crust pastry, above a layer of curd cheese, some apricot jam topped with meringue. My version plays with the temperatures: I served the home made apricot jam warm, then comes a layer of cold curd cheese mousse, some kind of sablée crumbs and finally meringue. I recieved a lot of feedback from the visitors of the food show and all in all it was an amazing day!  Anyway, now all back to normal and therefore enjoy these little cream puffs!

 

Ingredients: 

for the cream puffs:
15 pieces
75 g flour
60 g water
60 g milk
50 g butter
2 eggs
pinch of salt

for the elderberry filling:
4 tablespoons elderberry
4 tablespoons vanilla sugar
2 tablespoons port wine
1 teaspoon water

1/2 teaspoon corn starch
150 ml creamPreheat the oven to 180°C. Bring the milk, butter and salt to the boil. Add the flour and use a wooden spoon to beat until well combined. Put it back to the heat and stir until it begins to come away from the side of the saucepan and you see a light white film on the bottom of the saucepan. Take it again away from the heat and stir in the eggs one by one. Pour batter into a piping bag and pipe cream puffs onto a baking paper covered sheet and bake for 15-20 minutes. For the filling bring elderberries with vanilla sugar, port wine and water to the boil anad cook for 2 minutes over low heat. Now mix some of the juice in a small bowl with the corn starch and stir it to the rest of the berries. Cook for another 3-4 minutes over high heat. Let it cool. Beat cream and fold in the elderberry sauce. Fill the cream puffs with elderberry cream and serve immediately.

Double dark chocolate cookies with cocoa nibs

Last weekend we made a short trip to France and on the way home I felt so dizzy that I just needed to eat something. So I grabbed a pack of chocolate cookies in a fuel store. When I started to feel better I checked the package and found out that it didn't have a single ingredient that shouldn't be in a cookie. A real wonder! As I liked them a lot, I decided to bake them at home. Well, these cookies here are not quite the one I had, but totally addictive! Now it is clear, why I actually do not bake cookies often: I can't stop eating them! It would be fine to have one or maybe two with some coffee or milk, but these double chocolate cookies are just too tempting! A real indulgence!

Ingredients: 

150 g dark chocolate
130 g butter
130 g cane sugar
1 egg

100 g half brown spelt flour with groat

50 g oat flakes
50 g cocoa nibs

40 g cocoa powder

1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon baking powder

Preheat the oven to 170°C. Melt 100 g of the chocolate over steam, and set aside the rest coarsly chopped. Cream butter with sugar until fluffy, stir in the egg and the vanilla extract and finally stir in molten chocolate. Add cocoa nibs, chocolate chunks, flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, oat flakes and cocoa nibs. With the help of a ice cream scooper scoop the batter onto a baking paper covered baking sheet and bake for 15-18 minutes.

Honey roasted fig baked in frangipane with thyme-lemon sheep's milk yoghurt granita

Figs, oh how much I love figs! Just heavenly with goat's milk cheese, honey and a glass of cold white wine. But I must say, that marsala was made to be paired with figs, a match made in heaven! I was lucky to get some gorgeous purple figs, however they are so expensive this season! If you find some that are cheaper you can be sure that the quality is horrible. Anyway, less is more! Oh yes! Therefore I wanted to prepare those figs in a somewhat special way. Imagine a warm roasted figs that smells like honey and cinnamon sitting on top of a fragant frangipane with a touch of marsala. What's missing? Of course something cold! For example a goat's or sheep's milk yoghurt with honey, thyme and lemon zest! That's it!

Ingredients: 

for 5 figs

honey

ground cinnamon
for the frangipane:

45g butter

45 g icing sugar

45 g ground almonds

1 egg

1 tablespoon marsala

for the granita:

125 g sheep's milk yoghurt

50 g faisselle

1 twig thyme

zest of 1 lemon

1 tablespoon honey

Cut the top of the figs, then cut the top like a cross, almost down to the base. Preheat the oven to 170°C. For the frangipane whisk soft butter with icing sugar until fluffy, then whisk in the egg and the marsala. Finally stir in ground almond. Butter 5 oven proof forms that are about 1-2 cm bigger than the figs and put one tablespoon frangipane into each. Put the figs into the middle and sprinkle with ground cinnamon and honey. Turn down the heat to 160°C-ra and bake for 7-10 minutes.For the granita whisk together all ingredients (if you like add more honey, personally i think that it shouldn't be too sweet, because than it goes prefectly well with the fig-frangipane combination) and put it to the freezer. Whisk it up every 30 minutes until it gets ice, then break it up with a help of a fork.

Raspberry mousse on pistachio sponge with faisselle and raspberries

Well, this dessert is not about raspberries, but pistachio. Raspberries are only background actors. I could write an ode to this pistachio sponge, but instead please bake it! Sometimes words are just not enough! It is a real pistachio explosion and surly something that I am going to bake soon again. Of yes, that is for sure! Because you can boost this and lift it up to pistachio heaven! By the way that faisselle cream on top really makes it! I am totally in love with it and it is just so inspiring! I have already imagined it on top of a rich chocolate cake or even as ice cream. But now back to this little thing here. It is really refreshing and thanks to the almost obligatory rose water it is indeed intriguing!

Ingredients: 

for the pistachio sponge:

60 g pistachio
100 g butter

60 g flour

100 g sugar

2 eggs

for the pistachio joconde:

40 g ground almond
40 g ground pistachio
35 g sugar
18 g flour
2 eggs
50 g egg white
40 g sugar

for the raspberry mousse:

25 g sugar
1 tablespoon water
30 g egg white

200 g raspberry

1 gelatine sheet
1 teaspoon rose water

100 ml cream

faiselle-heavy cream topping:

50 g faiselle
25 g heavy cream

1 teaspoon sugar

1/4 teaspoon vanilla paste

other:

coarsly chopped pistachio and raspberries for decoration

Preheat the oven to 160°C. Ground pistachio with 25 g of sugar. Whisk soft butter with 50 g of sugar, then whisk in the egg yolks one by one and stir in flour. Beat egg whites with 25 g of sugar until stiff and fold it into the basic batter. Pour it to a round cake pan (18cm) and bake for 35-40 minutes and let it cool on a wrack. Cut out 4 6 cm rounds and put them into a same sized dessert ring.
For the joconde whisk together the flour, ground almond and pistachio with 35 g of sugar and the eggs. Beat egg whites with the rest of the sugar until it forms stiff peaks. Fold beaten egg white to the egg yolk mixture and spread it on a baking paper covered sheet. Bake for 10-13 minutes on 170°C. Cut out for 6 cm diameter circles and freeze the rest, you never know when you'll need it!

For the mousse bring sugar with water to the boil and cook until it has reached 120°C. In the meantime beat egg white until half stiff then add syrup in a thin strain while beating constantly and keep on beating until it has cooled down. Heat raspberries and as soon as it starts to fall apart press it through a strainer and season with rose water. If you want the mousse to be real sweet now it is time to adjust it and add some sugar to the puree. Then heat about 2 tablespoons and stir in the previously soaked gelatine. Now fold in the beaten egg white and the beaten heavy cream. Pour mousse onto the pistachio base and chill for 3-4 hours. After that cover with the joconde biscuit.
For topping mix together the faisselle (or sour cream) with sugar and vanilla, then fold in the beaten cream. 

Lime parfait with baked blueberries

The idea of this sweet treat came on my mind already a month ago, inspired by these tartelettes. While I took the photos of the parfait I had the idea that some meringue would go pretty well with it. So in case you feel like trying my recipe, I really suggest that you make some! I must confess that I am addicted to blueberries with lime and christmas cookie spice mixture. These three go perfectly well together, if you haven't tried it yet, go for it! One thing is sure, a parfait is not made to be served like ice cream, but I just hoped that this shape won't melt fast and I do not have to take the photos in a hurry. By the way the colour comes from that very small amount of blueberry juice that appeared during the baking process. Amazing, isn't it?

Ingredients: 

150 g blueberry

1/2 teaspoon christmas cookie spice mixture
150 ml lime juice (about 4-5 limes)

4 eggs

80 g sugar + 1 tablespoon
250 ml cream

Preheat the oven to 150°C. Mix blueberries with a tablespoon sugar and the spice mixture and put it into an oven-proof dish, then bake for 7-8 minutes. Wash limes and grate zest into a bowl. Half them and press out the juice. Add egg yolks, 40 g of sugar to the grated zest among 150 ml of juice and mix it together. Beat over steam until it thickens. In the meantime cook a syrup using the rest of the sugar with 15 ml of water. Beat 2 egg whites with a pinch of salt (take the rest of them and bake some meringue, it goes will with the parfrait). As soon as the syrup has reached 117°C add it to the egg whites in small portions and beat until shiny and stiff. Fold the egg whites into the egg yolk cream, then stir in the blueberry juice and the baked berries. Finally fold in the beaten cream and freeze for at least 5 hours.

Chocolate-coconut milk scone with garam masala and chili served for breakfast with reine-claude & cucumber jam

Well, that was a pretty busy week! I had almost no time to cook and we lived on scarmbled eggs, potato salad with cervelat and so on. It is okay once in a while, but I was more than happy that I could finally get back to the kitchen! I checked the fridges, yeah we have two of them, and found some green gages and bunch of cucumber. I thought why not get them together and that's how this jam was born. When I tasted it warm I was totally thrilled! Wow! The cucumber brings something like a cold kiss and then the green gage and lime is there with its tart flavour. At the end the vanilla kicks in! I could hardly wait for the breakfast this morning. If cucumber, I just had to think of coconut milk and there I've been making these scones with chili and garam masala. I like the combination very much, but the butter is definitely a must because it holds everything together. It is not sweet at all and it is even refreshing.

Ingredients: 

300 g flour
2 teaspoons baking powder

50 g cold butter

50 g sugar

60 g dark chocolate (at least 60% cocoa)

1 egg

120 ml coconut milk

1/4 teaspoon garam masala

chili powder

for the jam:
250 g cucumber (peeled)

250 g green gage (peeled and without core)

250 g sugar

10 g agar-agar

1 lime

1 vanilla pod

Sift flour and baking powder into a bowl and make a mold. Add egg, sugar and diced cold butter into the mold. Warm 50 ml of coconut milk over low heat and once it is hot stir in the coarsly chopped chocolate and stir until it is well mixed. Pour the rest of the coconut milk and the chocolate-coconut milk mixture to the rest of the ingredients and knead a dough. Roll it out on a floured surface about 1,5 cm thick and cut out scones with a cookie cutter. Bake for 8-9 minutes over 200°C.
For the jam ground 50 of the sugar with the diced whole vanilla pod. In the meantime grate cucumber and bring it to the boil together with the decored and peeled green gage and sugar. Add vanilla sugar and cook for about 10 minutes, then puree. Stir in lime juice and agar-agar and once it is boiling cook for 3 minutes. Fill into jars. If you want the consistency to be more runny, I sugges to use only 5 g of agar-agar.