by Marcela M. | Jun 25, 2012 | Blog, Cakes, Mousses and ice cream, Recipe Box, Recipes, Sweets, Uncategorized
Good morning dear friends! I hope you had a lovely weekend.
Summer arrived in Nicosia all of a sudden and, in a way took me by surprise. We had had a relatively mild Spring until a couple of weeks ago and, as the end of June started to approach, temperatures began to rise and rise and we are now averaging 35 C every day, with peaks of 41C. These are the usual Summer temperatures around here, so we have developed a few strategies for coping with the heat. These involve light clothing, frequent showers, lots of lemonade and -you guessed it- avoiding to turn the oven on as much as possible.
This is why, when Circulo Whole Kitchen proposed to its members to prepare a charlotte for the June challenge, I was thrilled: here was a dessert I had never attempted to make, relatively easy, and that required no baking! Perfect!
Charlotte is a very simple dessert, which knows different variations: the cake mold lining can be made with ladyfingers, swiss roll or sponge cake, and the fillings may include fruit purée, mousses or custard. The recipe I chose to prepare in this occasion (inspired by this one) uses ladyfingers, and is filled with a combination of red fruits mousse ( made with fruit purée, whipped cream and gelatin) and white chocolate mousse (made with melted white chocolate, whipped cream and gelatin). Its preparation takes approximately 15 minutes and needs to be chilled for about 5 hours before serving.
Since this was my first time making it, my charlotte doesn’t look as perfect as I would have liked it to. This is because of two reasons: 1)I over-dipped the cookies in syrup, which made them too soft, and it was therefore difficult for them to keep their shape. 2) I lined the bottom before the sides, so the bottom of the side cookies was too wet and the cookies tended to open when removed from the mold. So now I know better! The next time I will barely dip the cookies and I will make sure that the sides are line first. I hope that with these tips your own charlottes will come out perfect!
Despite these setbacks, I am quite happy with these charlottes because they passed the taste test (which, I believe, is the most important one when it comes to food!). They are a simple, delicious dessert, that looks pretty and is ideal for summer entertaining.
Here is the recipe;
Red fruits and white chocolate charlotte
Ingredients:
– 1 pack of ladyfingers (or enough to completely cover sides and bottom of a 6 inch cake pan or 6 ramequins)
– sugar syrup, made with 100 grs of sugar, covered with water and put to boil for a few minutes. You may flavour the syrup with dessert wine, like oporto or marsala, or even with coffee or orange juice and zest (depending of the flavour of the charlotte itself).
– 150 grs white chocolate, melted and cooled to room temperature
-150 grs red fruits (I used a frozen berry mix, that I defrosted in the refrigerator)
– 1 envelope of unflavoured gelatin
– 100 ml of heavy cream
– 4 tablespoons of icing sugar
Preparation:
1) Prepare the sugar syrup. Slightly dip enough ladyfingers and line a mold of the desired size with them.
2) Dissolve the gelatin in half a cup of warm water. Add 1/4 cup of cold water to cool it down. Divide in half. Set aside.
3) Melt the white chocolate and let it cool.
4) Wash the red fruits (I used a mixture of cranberries, blueberries, raspberries and strawberries) and process them (you may use a blender for this purpose). Pass the resulting purée through a sieve and set aside the pieces that were too big.
5) Whip the heavy cream together with the icing sugar, until firm (“en chantilly”). Divide in two and set aside.
6) Mix the red fruits pulp with half the whipped cream, with circular movements. Add half the gelatin and mix it in, slowly. Set aside.
7) Mix the melted and cooled white chocolate with the remaining half whippedcream. Add the gelatin and mix it in, slowly. Set aside
8) At this point you will have two mousses, and you can do two things: 1) Fill the lined pan with the red fruits mousse, let it cool for a few minutes in the refrigerator, add a layer of ladyfingers and then add the white chocolate mousse, or 2) Fill the lined pan with the red fruits mousse and, then, add the white chocolate mousse in the middle and draw designs with a skewer to marble it.
9) Leave in the refrigerator for 4 to 5 hours, unmold and serve with red fruits on top ( don’t worry, it comes out of the pan easily!)
Con sabor latino
Buenos días queridos amigos! Espero que hayan pasado un hermoso fin de semana!
El verano llegó a Nicosia de repente y me tomó por sorpresa. Hasta ahora veníamos teniendo una primavera con temperaturas moderadas pero,a medida que junio comenzó a llegar a su fin, éstas comenzaron a ir en aumento y ahora estamos con un promedio de 35C diarios, con picos de 41C. Estas son temperaturas comunes durante el verano chipriota, asi que a estas alturas ya hemos desarrollado algunas estrategias para hacer frente a tremendo calor, que incluyen ropa liviana, ducharnos varias veces por día y-como se imaginarán- evitar a toda costa encender el horno.
Por este motivo, me alegré cuando ví que Circulo Whole Kitchen proponía como receta dulce para el mes de junio una charlotte, postre que nunca había preparado antes, relativamente sencillo y que no requería cocción! Perfecto!
La Charlotte es un postre sencillo, del cual existen muchas variantes, que van desde el tipo de galletas con el que se cubre el molde en el que se lo realiza (vainillas, pionono, o torta esponjosa), hasta el relleno (que puede consistir en puré de frutas, mousses diversas o crema. La receta que yo elegí en esta ocasión (inspirada en esta) utiliza vainillas y un relleno compuesto de dos mousses: una de frutos rojos (yo utilicé arandanos, frambuesas, grosellas y frutillas, procesados, y mezclados con crema chantilly y gelatina sin sabor) y otra de chocolate blanco (hecha a base de chocolate derretido, crema chantilly y gelatina sin sabor, para darle consistencia). La preparación lleva tan sólo 15 minutos, pero requiere reposo en la heladera/refrigerador por aproximadamente 5 horas.
Como ésta era mi primera vez haciendo este postre, mis charlottes no lucen todo lo perfectas que me hubiera gustado. Esto se debe a dos motivos: 1) Exageré al remojar las vainillas en almibar y quedaron demasiado blandas, lo que complicó que mantuvieran la forma y 2) Recubrí con vainillas el fondo del molde, antes que los lados, entonces las vainillas que se encontraban a los lados se humedecieron demasiado con las mousses en la parte de abajo y tendieron a abrirse al desmoldarlas. Lo bueno es que ya aprendí que para la próxima tengo que mojar apenas las galletas y poner primero las galletitas de los costados. Espero que estos datos les sirvan a ustedes para poder alcanzar la perfección de entrada!
Igualmente, a pesar de estos errores, estoy muy conforme con el resultado de este postre porque de gusto estaban riquísimas (y, en definitiva, eso es lo que importa cuando se trata de comida, verdad?) Ademas son sencillas, deliciosas y lucen bonitas y son ideales para eventos de verano.
Así que sin más, esta es la receta. Espero que les guste!10
Charlotte de chocolate blanco y frutos rojos
Ingredientes:
-1 paquete de vainillas (o las que sean suficientes para recubrir el o los moldes que vayan a usar. El relleno es suficiente para un molde de 15. 4 cms, o 6 ramequins)
– almibar, hecho con 100 grs de azucar, recubierta con agua y llevada a fuego por unos minutos (que no se pase, que no quieres hacer caramelo!)
– 150 grs de chocolate blanco derretido y enfriado (tiene que estar a temperatura ambiente)
– 150 grs de frutos rojos
– 1 sobre de gelatina sin sabor
– 100 cm3 de crema de leche
– 4 cucharadas de azucar impalpable
Preparación:
1) Prepare el almibar. Coloque el azucar en un jarro, recubra con agua y lleve a fuego por unos minutos, hasta que la mezcla espese ligeramente. Remoje las vainillas en el almibar y recubra con las mismas el molde a utilizar.
2) Derrita el chocolate a baño maría (o en el microondas, si tiene uno). Deje enfriar hasta que quede a temperatura ambiente.
3) Procese los frutos rojos en la procesadora o licuadora. Pase el puré por un tamiz hasta obtener la pulpa.
4) Bata la crema de leche a punto chantilly con el azucar impalplable. Divida en dos partes iguales y reserve.
5) Disuelva la gelatina sin sabor en media taza de agua caliente. Agregue 1/4 taza de agua fria para bajar la temperatura. Divida en dos y reserve.
6) Mezcle la pulpa de frutos rojos con la mitad de la crema chantilly y, una vez bien incorporado, agregue la mitad de la gelatina sin sabor. Reserve
7) Mezcle el chocolate blanco con la mitad de chantilly restante, e incorpore luego la gelatina sin sabor que había reservado.
8) Rellene el/los moldes con mousse de frutos rojos. A continuación, tiene dos opciones; 1) Colocar el molde en la heladera unos minutos (hasta que tome un poco de consistencia) y a continuacion, agregar una capa de vainillas y luego la mousse de chocolate blanco o 2) Una vez rellenado el molde con la mousse de frutos rojos, agregar la mousse de chocolate blanco inmediatamente en el centro y luego hacer dibujos con un palito de brochette, para marmolarla.
9) Coloque el/los moldes en la heladera/refrigerador por 4 a 5 horas. Desmolde y sirva con frutos rojos (no se preocupe, se desmolda super facilmente!)
I hope you’ll like it!
See you later this week!
by Marcela M. | Jun 4, 2012 | Blog, Cakes, Recipe Box, Recipes, Sweets
Good evening dear friends!
Today it was a holiday in Cyprus, Kataklismos, the flood festival, which is why I am posting this recipe late. My children were at home, so we took them to a nearby park early in the morning and then we stayed home, playing and just enjoying the day together. The weather is beginning to get hot and at 8:00 am the sun is already up in the sky, shinning strong, which is why we go to the park so early that we are generally the only ones there!
We are lucky to live very close to a very beautiful park, with a nice playground, a basketball court, and a beautiful lawn with palm trees, pine trees and tile trees, as well as a pond and a water fountain where birds and butterflies fly around, and stray cats look for someone to pet them for a while. Luka and Zoe love and look forward to our mornings there, playing ball, walking around, chasing birds and sitting by the pond, and we are happy to take them out of the apartment, to enjoy nature.
Now let’s get to the recipe you have been waiting for!
I have been doing this cheesecake for about 15 years and, every time, it is a huge success. I don’t remember exactly how I came up with it because I have it scribbled in my old recipe notebook, but I believe it was written on the foil cover of a pack of ricotta cheese from a famous Argentinian brand (Mendicrim). I do remember that I had been looking for a good cheesecake recipe for a while, and for some strange reason I tried this one first, instead of one the 101 that my mother had in a specific recipe book! I also remember that most recipes I had seen before called for a cookie-based crust, and that many specifically mentioned digestive cookies (which do not exist in Argentina), which had put me off trying them. I have tried many cheesecakes since then and I always go back to this one. It is, in my opinion, just perfect. I hope you will find it perfect too.
The beauty of this recipe is that it is very simple to make (no special appliances needed), and that you can find all ingredients in almost any country, in the Western world at least. It is a cooked cheesecake, with a barely sweet crust made from scratch, and a filling that is soft, not overly sweet and extremely delicious. I particularly like how the crust’s flavour doesn’t overpower the filling, which is the recipe’s true hero. I normally top it by brushing a little strawberry jam and decorate it with sliced strawberries, but this time I decided to change and use fruits of the forest instead. I had a pack of frozen fruits of the forest, which I slowly defrosted overnight in the refrigerator before adding them to the cake, right before serving. It was delicious.
The quantities are enough for a 9 inch/20 cms cake pan, but you can also make individual mini cheesecakes, or a taller, narrower cake. Beware, though, that the cake does rise a little in the oven and if you fill the pan to the very top, the filling may overflow. So, whichever pan you choose, remember to leave some space between filling and top of the pan!
Now, without further ado, here is the recipe for my favourite cheesecake ever:
Ingredients:
For the crust: 200 grs of flour, 1 teaspoon baking powder, 2 tablespoons sugar, 75 grs soft butter or margarine, 100 cc milk. (Note: If the butter is too soft, you may need to reduce the quantity of milk or the dough will be too sticky)
For the filling: 250 grs cream cheese (I use philadelphia in Cyprus, and queso blanco in Argentina. The original recipe called for ricotta but I don’t like it that way), 2 egg yolks, 3 tablespoons cornstarch, 1 small can of sweetened condensed milk (397ml/14 oz), 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract, 2 egg whites, beaten until stiff.
Preparation:
Prepare the crust: Put flour, baking powder and sugar in a bowl and mix with a whisk. Cut butter in small pieces and add to the flour mixture, mixing it in using your hands. Start adding milk slowly, until you can form a ball with the dough. Cover with foil and bring to the refrigerator for 15 minutes.
Prepare the filling: Put cream cheese, egg yolks and cornstarch in a bowl and mix well. Add sweetened condensed milk slowly and mix thoroughly, until no lumps are visible (using a hand or stand mixer can be handy if you have one, but it is in no way a requisite. It will just take a little bit longer to get rid of the lumps without it, that’s all). Add vanilla extract and mix in well. Add the beaten egg whites, and incorporate using a spatula, in circular motion.
Assemble the cheesecake: Pre- heat the oven at 175 C. Oil and flour a cake pan. Take the dough out of the refrigerator and roll it about 1/2 cm thick. Wrap the dough in the rolling pin and lift it to cover the pan, attaching it well to the sides (it has a tendency to fall over the filling if you don’t press it well). Pinch sides and bottom with a fork. Pour the filling inside the pan and pat it on the counter to make sure it is even. Cook for about 50 minutes, or until the filling stops feeling wobbly when slowly shaking the pan back and forth (in order to check for readyness, take the pan with both hands while still in the oven and move it back and forth. If the filling moves, it is not ready). Note: using cooking times as a guideline onky, because they vary greatly from oven to oven. The most accurate method for guaranteeing that the filling will be firm when you cut it is the simple one of giving it a little shake. Once the cake is ready, turn the oven off and let it rest inside for 15 minutes (or the filling will swamp, as it happened to me because I forgot!). After this time, remove from the oven and let cool.
Decorate: Once the cake is completely cool, brush it with jam and add the fruits of your choice on top right before serving. Note: As you can see in the pictures above, I added generous amounts of jam. I don’t normally do that, but I had forgotten to leave it in the oven after finishing the baking process and it swamped in the middle, so I covered the hole with jam and added extra fruits.
Con sabor latino:
¡Buenas noches queridos amigos!
Hoy fue feriado en Nicosia, Kataklismos o el Festival de la Inundación, motivo por el cual publico esta receta tan tarde. Mis hijos estuvieron en casa todo el día, y aprovechamos para llevarlos al parque cercano temprano por la mañana y, luego, nos quedamos en casa jugando y disfrutando del día juntos. El clima ya comienza a tornarse muy caluroso y a las 8:00 am ya el sol está alto en el cielo, brillando fuerte, motivo por el cual vamos al parque tan temprano que frecuentemente somos los únicos allí!
Afortunadamente, vivimos cerca de un parque hermoso, con un area de juegos, una cancha de basket, y una bellísima explanada con palmeras, pinos y tilos que dan sombra, y una fuente de agua alrededor de la cual vuelan pájaros y mariposas, y donde gatos callejeros buscan alguien que les haga un mimo. Luka y Zoe adoran ir y esperan con ansias nuestras mañanas allí, jugando a la pelota, caminando, persiguiendo pajaritos y sentandonos a la orilla de la fuente, y a nosotros nos hace felices sacarlos por un rato fuera del departamento, para que disfruten de la naturaleza.
Pero basta de prolegómanos, y pasemos directo a la receta que estaban esperando!
Esta es una receta que hago desde hace alrededor de 15 años y, cada vez, es un exito tremendo. No recuerdo exactamente de donde la saqué, pero creería que la encontré en la tapa de aluminio de un pote de ricotta Mendicrim. Recuerdo, sí, que para ese entonces ya hacía bastante que yo venía buscando una buena receta de cheesecake y, por alguna extraña razón, me decidí a probar esta primero, antes que las 101 que tenía mi mamá en un libro especialmente dedicado a este tipo de tortas. Recuerdo también que la mayor parte de las recetas que había encontrado hasta ese momento tenían una base de galletitas, y que muchas de ellas requerían un tipo específico que no se encuentra en Argentina (las galletitas digestivas), lo que me había hechado atrás para probarlas. He probado muchas cheesecakes desde entonces, y siempre he preferido la de esta receta. Es, en mi opinión, simplemente perfecta. Espero que a ustedes les parezca igual!
La belleza de esta receta es que es muy sencilla de hacer (no se requieren instrumentos especiales), y que pueden encontrarse los ingredientes en la mayor parte de los paises del mundo occidental, al menos. Es una cheesecake cocida, con una base casera levemente dulce, y un relleno suave, no demasiado dulce e increiblemente delicioso. Una de las cosas que más me gusta es que el sabor de la base no opaca el relleno, sino que lo deja brillar, ser el heroe de la receta. Generalmente la termino pincelándola con mermelada de frutilla y decorandola con frutillas fileteadas ubicadas en circulos concentricos, pero esta vez decidí utilizar frutos del bosque en lugar de mi decoración tradicional. Había comprado hace ya un tiempo una caja de frutas congeladas, que dejé en la heladera toda la noche, en un bowl, y agregué a la torta justo antes de servir. Quedó exquisita.
Las cantidades son suficientes para un molde de 9 pulgadas/20 cms de diametro, pero tambien pueden prepararlas en versión mini, o bien en un molde ligeramente más pequeño y alto, pero tengan cuidado en este caso porque si el relleno llega al borde, es muy posible que el mismo rebalse durante la cocción ya que la torta crece un poco en el horno. Cualquier sea el molde que elijan, entonces, cuiden de no llenarlo hasta el tope. Y les recomiendo, asimismo, que sea de aquellos que se retira el costado, porque será más facil de desmoldar.
Ahora sí, sin más introducciones, he aquí la receta:
Ingredientes:
Para la masa: 200 grs de harina, 1 cucharada de té de polvo de hornear, 3 cucharadas soperas de azucar, 75 grs de manteca, 100 cc de leche. Nota: Si la manteca está demasiado blanda, será necesario agregar menor cantidad de leche or la masa estará demasiado pegajosa y no se podrá armar un bollo con ella.
Para el relleno: 250 grs de queso blanco o queso philadelphia (en Argentina usaba mendicrim o casancrem, pero usen el que más les guste!. La receta original pedía ricotta pero no la hago así porque no me gusta). 2 yemas, 2 cucharadas de fecula de maiz (maizena), 1 lata chica de leche condensada azucarada (397 grs), 2 cucharaditas de té de esencia de vainilla, 2 claras batidas a nieve.
Preparación:
Prepare la masa: Coloque harina, polvo de hornear y azucar en un bowl y mezcle todo con un batidor de alambre. Agregue la manteca cortada en trozos, desmenuzandola con los dedos e integrándola con los ingredientes secos. Agregue la leche de a poco, hasta que se pueda formar un bollo de masa. Cubra con papel film y lleve a la heladera por 15 minutos.
Prepare el relleno: Coloque yemas, fécula y queso crema en un bowl y mezcle hasta que esté todo bien incorporado. Agregue la leche condensada poco a poco, integrando bien y batiendo para que no queden grumos ( Si tiene batidor electrico, aproveche y usela porque será mas facil librarse de los grumos, pero sepa que si no cuenta con una, no hay problema). Agregue la vainilla e incorpore. Agregue las claras batidas a nieve al batido de queso, incorporandolas con movimientos envolventes.
Arme la cheesecake: Precaliente el horno a 175 grados. Retire la masa de la heladera, y estirela sobre la mesa o mesada hasta que tenga aproximadamente 1/2 cm. Envuelvala en el palote para levantarla y cubra el molde deseado, previamente enmantecado y enharinado. Presione la masa con los dedos para que se adhiera bien al molde y pinchela con un tenedor (para que no se levante mucho en el horno). Vierta el relleno sobre la masa, y empareje dando golpes contra la mesada. Lleve a horno durante aproximadamente 50 minutos, o hasta que el relleno deje de moverse al sacudir ligeramente el molde. Nota: Le aconsejo que se guíen ligeramente por los tiempos de cocción porque pueden variar mucho de un horno a otro, el mejor método para saber si está lista y si no se desarmará al cortar es, simplemente, tomar el molde con ambas manos cuando aún está en el horno, y moverlo apenas. Si la torta “se mueve”, no está lista. Una vez lista, apague el horno y deje la cheesecake dentro durante 15 minutos ( si no lo hacen y la retiran inmediatamente se hundirá como me ocurrió a mí por olvidadiza!0. Transcurrido este tiempo, retirela del horno y deje enfriar.
Decore: Una vez que la torta esté totalmente fría, pincele con mermelada y cubra con frutas de su preferencia justo antes de servir. Nota: Como pueden ver en las fotos anteriores, yo no pincelé sino que cubrí con cantidades generosas de mermelada. La razón es que mi cheesecake se habia hundido al medio, así que rellené el hueco con mermelada y frutas!
I hope you like this recipe! It is one of my favourites!
Have a wonderful week, and see you on Thursday!
by Marcela M. | May 25, 2012 | Blog, Cakes, Recipe Box, Recipes, Sweets, Uncategorized
Good morning dear friends!
Today I bring you another recipe from Circulo Whole Kitchen. As I mentioned in my post from last week, this month I started participating in the culinary challenges proposed by Whole Kitchen Magazine, and their sweet suggestion for May 2012 was the ultra popular zebra cake.
The zebra cake is, basically, a vanilla and chocolate cake, marbled to resemble the stripes of a zebra. This is achieved by putting the batter in the pan one or two spoons at a time, alternating colours. When looked from the top, the cake looks like a succession of circles, but when cut in slices, the zebra stripes appear, making it an instant hit with children- and with adults!
In this occasion, I used the recipe provided to us by Whole Kitchen and followed the directions exactly, because I am always happy to try ones, but know that since the effect is mainly visual, you can simply use your favourite vanilla cake recipe, divide the batter in two, add two tablespoons of cocoa (I prefer dark cocoa) to one half, and go ahead with the method for placing the batter in the pan, as you would with this one. And you could even use a boxed cake or change flavours and colours!
This recipe is a very nice one, though, and I encourage you to try it. It is a simple cake, with a spongy texture (because the eggs are beaten with the sugar until white, which makes them fluffy) and not overly sweet. It makes a nice everyday coffee cake, but if you are making it for a child’s party, you could also cover it in chocolate ganache, or cover the sides with peanuts (as Kim did here, for example, and then the zebra stripes could come out as a surprise! The cake’s pattern would be perfect for birthday themes such as Safari, Young Explorers, Animals, Madagascar (the movie) or Africa.
The only variation I introduced to the original one, was the size of the pan: instead of baking my zebra cake in a normal sized pan, i did it in small ramequins. I like to bake cakes in small containers so that I can freeze those that will not be eaten immediately without losing freshness. This batter is enough for a 9 inch pan, or for 6 ramequins (mine are from Ikea). I do have to point out, though, that the effect of the zebra stripes is less noticeable when baked in small pans, as you can see from my pictures. So, if you want the full wow effect of the zebra stripes, it is probably better to stick to the traditional size.
Here is the recipe I used:
Ingredients
4 large eggs
250 grs sugar
250 ml milk
250 ml sunflower oil
300 grs all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
2 tablespoons cocoa powder
Preparation
Oil and flour a cake pan and pre-heat the oven to 180C.
Beat sugar and eggs until white and fluffy. Add oil and beat until well-integrated, and then add milk slowly, beating all the time.
In a different container, mix flour and baking powder. Whisk to integrate.
Add dry to wet ingredients in three times, integrating well before each new addition.
Separate the batter in two and add cocoa powder to one half.
Assemble the cake by pouring the batter in the center of the pan, using an ice cream scoop, alternating colours ( two scoops of vanilla batter, one scoop of cocoa batter, two scoops of vanilla batter, and so on).
Bake for 40 minutes at 180 C.
Note: If you change the size of the pan, remember that the oven times change as well! My mini cakes only took 18 minutes to be ready!
I hope that you like it! Have you ever made a zebra cake before?
Have a nice weekend!
by Marcela M. | May 10, 2012 | Blog, cookies, Recipe Box, Recipes, South America, Sweets, Travel, Uncategorized
Good evening dear friends! I hope you had a lovely week.
This week, we continue with our introduction to typical Argentinian sweets, the ones we, Argentinians, love and miss when we are abroad. Today, I bring you some of my favourite bite-sized sweets. All of them, except branch chocolate and nuts confit, can be found in any kiosk, so they are great for an almost guilt-free sugar rush moment. Also, all of them, except for “bocadito maroc” include dulce de leche, because most of my fellow country-men would agree that “a desert without dulce de leche is not desert”. I have changed quite a bit in this regard since living abroad, but try baking a birthday cake with buttercream, jam or lemon curd for an Argentinian child (or adult!) and you will be met with a face of sheer disappointment!
Let’s begin with Bocaditos Maroc, which are the bi-colour squares portrayed in the pictures above. They are made with a combination of peanut cream, milk and white chocolate. They are soft and truly melt in your mouth and, best of all, they are really easy to make at home so, if you want to give them a try, here’s how: Cover a square pan with foil. Process 100 grs of peeled roasted peanuts with 1 tablespoons of corn or canola oil until it reaches a pancake batter consistency. Melt 100 grs of milk chocolate and add 1/3 of the peanut cream to it. Mix well and place it in the pan, making sure it covers the pan evenly and smoothly. Bring to the fridge for about 15 minutes, so that the chocolate hardens. Melt 80 grs white chocolate and add another 1/3 of the peanut cream, mix well and pour it on top of the milk chocolate and peanut mixture. Put it in the fridge for another 15 minutes and, in the meantime, melt the remaining 100 grs of milk chocolate. Mix with the last 1/3 of peanut cream, and add it to the pan. Smooth the top with a spatula and place it in the fridge until hard. Once ready, remove from the pan, peel off the foil and cut into squares with a sharp knife (If you wet the knife in hot water, it will be easier to get a nice, clean-cut). And that’s all it takes!
The following treat is perhaps the most common of them all: Dulce de leche cones, or “Pinitos de dulce de leche”. They are simply, as you can see from the picture below, a truly decadent treat made of cookie, lots of dulce de leche disposed in a cone shape and covered in either dark or white chocolate.
If you live outside of Argentina and you are familiar with regular dulce de leche, you may be wondering how it is possible for the cones to keep their shape. The answer is this: the cones are not made with regular dulce de leche, but with dulce de leche repostero, or “baking dulce de leche”, which is firmer and thicker than the regular one (which has a jam-like consistency).
Dulce de leche repostero, unlike regular dulce de leche, is not made solely of milk, sugar and vanilla. Now, be warned, here comes a big surprise: Dulce de leche repostero has bean pulp (pulpa de frijoles) and cornstarch to give it its consistency. Argentinian friends, if you don’t believe me, go check the ingredients listed in a can…I did it back in November and couldn’t believe my eyes!
If you want to make it at home, you should know that the proportions are different from the ones for regular dulce de leche: apart from adding the above ingredients, it takes three times more sugar. So, for every 5 litres of milk (as I did in the original recipe), you will need 3 kg of sugar, 2 1/2 cups of bean pulp (made soaking the beans overnight, then boiling them until very soft and finally passing them through a sieve), 10 tablespoons of cornstarch, 1 vanilla bean and 1 tablespoon of cornstarch. The procedure is pretty much the same as for regular dulce de leche, except for the addition of the beans which has to be done after the milk and sugar mixture starts to thicken (see the first stage of browning of my earlier post on dulce de leche). Right after adding the bean pulp and mixing everything very well with a wooden spoon, you should also add the cornstarch previously diluted in half a cup of cold milk. Then let time run its course and after a few hours you should be able to enjoy wonderful baking dulce de leche!
Another special treat that I look forward to eating when I go home are nueces confitadas, or “nuts confit”:
There are many recipes and ways to make them, but most of them involve three ingredients: dulce de leche repostero (see why you should know how to make it? 😉 , walnuts and poured fondant. The most traditional way consists of surrounding a full walnut in a spoon of dulce de leche and covering it all with poured fondant. Some, however, do it in a different way (as the ones that you can see in the picture above), which consists in making a paste with dulce de leche repostero and processed walnuts, giving it a ball shape and covering each ball in either poured fondant or dark chocolate.
The following picture shows another personal favourite, called Bocadito cabsha:
They are made with host capsules (yes, like the host of catholic mass. In Argentina they can be bought at baking supplies stores), dulce de leche, glucose, rum, and chocolate. The procedure is very simple: you need to heat the glucose in a pan, together with the dulce de leche, remove the pan from heat and add the rum, and fill the capsules with this preparation being careful not to overflow them. Finally, cover the capsules in chocolate, let them cool down for it to harden and enjoy!
Finally, chocolate en rama, or branch chocolate:
If you are curious about how it is made, check this video where you can see a real maitre chocolatier at work.
See you next week, with the last post on Argentinian sweets and a few recipes!
Have a wonderful weekend!
by Marcela M. | May 3, 2012 | Blog, cookies, Recipe Box, Recipes, South America, Sweets, Travel, Uncategorized
Good morning friends! Let’s finish the week on a sweet note, shall we?
Last year, during our stay in Córdoba, I started preparing a few posts about Argentina’s sweet food culture. I could not finish writing these posts at the time, but I did take the pictures with the aim of showing you what we, Argentinians, think about when we think about sweets, what we love, what we miss when we are abroad. So here is the first of these posts, three in total, showcasing a small selection of my favourite treats. I need to give you one warning, though: there are many more sweets that I could not find in Córdoba (because they are typical of other provinces) or didn’t have the time to photograph. I also owe you a post on the candies and cookies from my childhood, which I meant to prepare, but my children kept eating the items to be photographed 😉
So, let’s begin! Today’s post is about the most popular of Argentina’s sweet treats: alfajores. But what are alfajores? And why are they called this way?
Alfajores are basically two cookies sandwiched together by some kind of sweet filling, be it fruit jam, dulce de leche, mousse or even ice cream. Their name comes from the arabic word “alajú”, and it is, in fact, an arabic confection that entered Spain during the Moorish era (during the period of Al-Andalus) and was then adopted -and modified- by the Spanish colonies. The shape and the recipes for the cookie itself and its fillings vary greatly from one country to the other, and even from one region to the other. According to wikipedia, the original confection (which can still be found in Spain) contained flour honey, spices and nuts and had a cilinder form (like a crêpe), while in Latinamerica alfajores are round and are normally filled with jams and mousses.Also, while in Spain they constitute a treat to be enjoyed mainly on special occasions (such as Christmas), except in the Medina Sidonia (where one can buy them all year long), in countries such as Argentina they are an everyday snack and can be bought in any kiosk.
Alfajores are different from a regular sandwich cookie, such as an oreo. The texture of the cookie itself is different: alfajores are moist and soft, and lack the crispiness of a traditional sandwich cookie. The filling is different as well, and more abundant. Whoopie pies, on the other side, look like an alfajor, and that is probably what we would call them back home in Argentina.
Argentina has different kinds of traditional alfajores, which differ from province to province. There are, of course, those that are available in kiosks nation-wide, produced by big candy companies, such as Arcor, Bagley or Terrabusi (owned by Kraft foods), but what is really interesting, and what I recommend you to do if you travel to Argentina one day, is to taste the regional versions, and compare them. In the following pictures I will show you some of these alfajores for you to get a glimpse at the variety you can find, and once I have tested and tweaked the recipes I brought from home, I will share them with you here as well.
The first type of alfajores I am showing you is perhaps the most famous one: Alfajor “Marplatense”, the alfajor from Mar del Plata, a seaside city in Buenos Aires province, which is also a traditional vacation spot.
Mar del Plata has many alfajor factories and, one of them, Havanna, has opened cafés and stores in several other countries, such as Israel, Spain, Mexico and the US. Havanna alfajores can also normally be found in shops that sell Latin-american products, as well as in Argentinian restaurants.
There are several types of alfajores from Mar del Plata: vanilla cookie with dulce de leche filling, covered in chocolate, vanilla cookie with dulce de leche filling covered in sugar glaze, vanilla and coffee cookie with dulce de leche filling and dark chocolate glaze, and vanilla and walnut cookie, with dulce de leche filling and covered in white chocolate glaze. They are all delicious, and their dulce de leche filling has the characteristic subtly smoky flavour that just burst in your mouth with the first bite and leaves you wanting more.
Alfajores from Córdoba are quite different, in two main aspects: the cookie is quite simple and light, the traditional filling is fruit jam instead of dulce de leche (normally, apple, pear or quince jam) and they are covered with a very simple sugar glaze made with only icing sugar and water that does not cover the cookie completely. Due to the popular love for dulce de leche, however, alfajores cordobeses with dulce de leche also exist, but they are not the traditional ones.
The cordobese confection that traditionally carries dulce de leche are colaciones, which are characterized by the crispy, curved nature of the cookie (that contains many egg yolks and a little bit of alcohol in the dough).
Alfajores from Santa Fé are also very popular. They are made of three layers of crispy, rather dry cookie (characterized because the dough has to be rolled and turned on itself 20 times, such as in the procedure for making puff pastry) , filled with dulce de leche (lots of dulce de leche, since the cookie itself is not overly sweet!) and covered with a sugar glaze made with icing sugar, water, lemon and egg whites.
Another very famous alfajor, which I couldn’t find in Córdoba to photograph, is the Alfajor Norteño (from Argentina’s North-West region), which is filled either with layers of dulce de leche and turrón, or only with turrón paste made with honey, egg-whites, sugar and walnuts.
I hope you liked this small introduction to our sweets and, worry not!, recipes will come soon!
And in case you are wondering who ate all those sweets that were photographed, it was a little blonde elf that helps me style food whenever he can…
Have a wonderful weekend!
by Marcela M. | Mar 13, 2012 | Blog, cookies, Recipe Box, Sweets, Uncategorized
Good morning dear friends!
How are you today? I hope you had a wonderful start of the week. Is the weather getting nice, warmer where you live or is winter still looming? Or are you in the southern hemisphere, anxiously awaiting the first yellow leaves of automn, and the relief of rain after a hot summer?
Here in Cyprus the weather has started to get warmer, but one last cold wave (with snow in the Troodos Mountains) has been announced before we can definitely say hello to Spring, so we are not putting our sweaters away yet. The streets, however, are already lined with yellow flowers, the orange and lemon trees are full of fruits, and the grass has turned a beautiful shade of green. The sun is starting to shine brighter, but the wind still blows colder than it will next month, once Spring will be in full bloom. This is such a nice time of the year to be here, and it is definitely the best time to come visit, in my opinion.
Even though we are not yet in Spring, I have already started getting into a Springy mood…hence these cookies! My husband had to travel to London for a few days, where he was planning to visit a dear friend who has two adorable girls aged 8 and 2 1/2, so I thought that I could add to the presents he was taking them a small box of decorated cookies. I looked into my cookie-cutter box and found a couple of sets I hadn’t used before and set myself to work. I made tulips, daisies and butterflies in different sizes and color combinations, and I played with sanding sugar and sugar pearls in some of them. Decorating is a form of meditation to me, because it allows me to focus completely in what I’m doing, and I love that.
I also made a few other cookies, from a princess set: a crown (which my daughter tried to put on her head on several occasions) a high-heeled shoe, and a pink and white castle:
And to top it all off, I added a few cupcake cookies, with red M&Ms as cherries.
My husband took some of these cookies to his friend’s daughters and the rest were enjoyed by our own children, who were very happy with them! If you have never decorated sugar cookies before, I highly encourage you to do so, it is such a fun activity!
Now about the news I announced: This blog is going to undergo a makeover! 😀
When I started blogging, almost a year ago, I didn’t have the money nor the necessary skills to make it look as pretty as I wanted to, so I simply designed a basic header using a tutorial from Makin’ cute Blogs and a background using a free background generator that I found online. It was ok for a start but it was not what I wanted and, ever since then, I have been looking for ways to beautify my little corner on the internet.
A few weeks ago, I read about a design makeover giveaway being offered by Jessica Sims Design, so I entered it…and I won! I had never won anything in my life before this, so you can imagine how happy I was! I have now sent Jessica my ideas and she will soon get to work on them. I am also working on a few pages I want to add, in order to make this place a little bit more practical and user friendly, and once it is all ready, it will come live. I am very excited about this and I hope you will like the end-result!
I will be back later this week with a few travel related posts about our family trip to Argentina.
See you soon and have a great day!
