Halloween Chocolate Marshmallows

Happy Halloween everyone!

Nothing easier than melted chocolate and some marshmallows. Take a toothpick and go crazy. The result: cute little monsters. I love them on my hot chocolate. It makes my day :-)

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Semolina Dumplings - Griz Galuska

One of my readers, Andrea asked me to put this recipe on the blog. This is how I make semolina flour dumplings for hungarian chicken soup. They are super fluffy and easy to make. This is the "formula":  make sure you use 4 tablespoon of semolina per 1 large egg (not medium or jumbo). You can cook them in the soup, my mother cooks the dumplings in simmering water and when they are done she transfer them to the soup. It's up to you. Good luck

Ingredients:

1 large egg

4 tablespoons semolina flour

a pinch of salt

 

Directions:

Bring water to a boil in a large pot.

 

Beat egg with salt in a bowl.

 

Add the semolina flour all at once and mix well. The mixture should be thick (like sour cream).

Let it rest for about 15 minutes. The semolina flour will absorb the egg.

 

Turn the heat to low. Using a teaspoon form dumplings and put them in the simmering water.

Don’t overcrowd. Cover with lid and cook dumplings on medium heat for about 5 minutes, flip them on the other side, put the lid back and cook for another 5-10 minutes, depending on the size of the dumplings.

Turn off heat and let them stay in the hot water for 10 more minutes.

 

Add cooked dumplings to the soup.

 

 

 

Note:

I don’t like to cook the dumplings in the soup because they will absorb the soup.

Some recipes call for butter, or oil, or you have to beat egg whites and then add the rest of the ingredients.

Use 1 large + 4 tablespoon of semolina to achieve the right consistency. Use measuring spoon.

You can measure the eggs and the semolina flour, so for a 70-75 g egg add about 50 g semolina.


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White Chocolate Strawberry Ghosts

Is this creepy or sweet? I don't know but they put a smile on my face. First of all they are easy to make, they are pretty healthy and super cute. No trick here, just treat :-) Happy Halloween everyone!

Ingredients:

6 oz white chocolate chips

1 oz semisweet chocolate chips

1 pound strawberries with stems (about 20), washed and dried very well

Directions:

Line a sheet pan with parchment of wax paper.

Melt white chocolate chips in the microwave according to package directions in a small, deep microwave resistant mug or bowl. Stir until smooth.

Make sure the strawberries are dry.

Holding the strawberry by the stem, dip it into the melted white chocolate, lift and twist slightly, letting any excess chocolate fall back into the bowl. Place on wax paper to dry.

Repeat with the rest of the strawberries.

Set the strawberries aside until the chocolate sets, about 30 minutes.

Once dry, warm dark chocolate in the microwave and pour it in a ziploc bag. Close bag and cut off the bottom corner off the bag and pipe on ghost eyes and mouths. Set on wax paper until dry.

Cut off stem and arrange on a platter.

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Diplomat Cake

Ingredients:

For the cake:

8 large eggs at room temperature

8 tablespoon fine granulated sugar

8 tablespoon flour

1/8 teaspoon baking powder

 

For the filling:

6 eggs

6 tablespoons sugar

250 ml milk

30 g gelatin

500 ml heavy cream

1 can pineapple chunks (like Dole), drained – reserve juice

1 can peach halves in syrup (like Del Monte)

100 g raisins soaked in rum

To decorate:

whipped cream

2-3 Kiwis, thinly sliced

Peaches, thinly sliced

Pineapple, chopped

Raspberries

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350°.

Grease a round baking pan, line sides and base with paper. Grease the paper.

In a bowl, mix the egg yolks with the sugar. Beat on high speed until pale, thick and fluffy, about 5-7 minutes. Sift the flour over the egg mixture.

In a large bowl, beat egg whites with an electric mixer until thick and creamy.

Using a rubber spatula, fold the whites into the yolk mixture, add the flour and the baking powder and mix gently until no streaks remain.

Spread the mixture into the prepared pan.

Bake for 20 to 25 minutes until just golden brown (when cooked a toothpick inserted in the center will come out clean).

Remove the cake from the oven and turn immediately on to wax paper or a towel. Pull off the parchment paper gently.

Let the cake cool in the pan for about 10 minutes, take it out and let it cool completely on a cooling rack. When cool, cut it in 2 layers.

The filling:

In a bowl, mix the egg yolks with the sugar until light yellow, fluffy and the sugar is dissolved. Add the milk to the egg yolk mixture slowly and mix well. Put it in a double boiler and cook until becomes thick, whisking constantly for about 5 minutes.

Dissolve gelatin in cold water or pineapple juice and whisk the gelatin into the warm pastry cream. Let it cool.

If you are using heavy cream, beat the cream in a bowl until stiff, then add it to the pastry cream. If you have whipped cream from the store just fold it in the pastry cream, adding it gradually.

Whip egg whites. Add the egg whites, raisins and drained pineapple chunks, peaches to the cream and mix it gently.

Assembling:

Line the baking pan with parchment paper on the bottom and on the side.

Drizzle the cake with pineapple juice.

Place the first half of the cake on the bottom of a spring form pan, cut side up.

Pour the pastry cream over the cake.

Place the second half of the cake on top of the cream, cut side down.

The cake has to stay for at least 4 hours in the refrigerator, or overnight, then the cream will be set.

After about 4 hours (or in the morning), remove the side of the spring pan, take the cake out, place it on a platter, and decorate it with whipped cream and fruits.

Note:

You can buy a vanilla cake and make just the filling if you want to save time.

You can make it with ladyfingers also. Sprinkle them with pineapple juice and place them on the side of the spring pan and on the bottom. Pour half of the cream on the first layer of ladyfingers, place another layer of ladyfingers on the cream and pour the remaining cream on top. Refrigerate for at least 4 hours.

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Baked Jalapeno Peppers with Mozzarella Cheese

Ingredients:

jalapeno peppers

mozzarella cheese

salt

black pepper

 

Directions:

Preheat oven at 350F.
Place a cooling rack in a baking tray and lay a piece of aluminum foil on top of the cooling rack (for easy cleaning). I use the cooling rack to keep the jalapeno peppers from moving.
Cut each jalapeno lengthwise, and remove seeds and membranes. Wear rubber disposable gloves when you clean the jalapeno chiles.
Cut Mozzarella in long pieces and fill the jalapeno halves with cheese.

Season with salt and black pepper.

Bake in preheated oven for about 25-30 minutes.
Serve hot.

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Baked Acorn Squash with Maple Syrup

Quick and easy recipe for fall.

You might serve this as a side dish, but for me this is dessert :-)

I made it with butter and maple syrup, but you can use cinnamon, or brown sugar, thyme, salt, black pepper the sky is the limit. Super easy and super delicious.

Ingredients:

1 acorn squash

2 teaspoon good quality Maple Syrup

2 teaspoon unsalted butter, melted

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400ºF.

Melt the butter in the microwave and allow it to cool slightly. Add the maple syrup to the butter mixture and stir it together well. Set aside.

Cut the squash in half. Using a spoon, scoop out the seeds and stringy inside in the center of the squash.

Score each half several times with a knife. Place the 2 halves in a baking dish on aluminum foil.

Evenly divide the butter mixture amongst each squash half.

Using a brush rub the inside of the squash cavity and the entire cut side.

Roast in a baking dish for about 1 hour, or until squash is easily pierced with a fork. Brush the butery maple syrup on the squash 2 or 3 times while baking.

Remove from oven. Cool and serve.

Enjoy it!

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French Bread

Today is World Bread Day. This is the 5th Annual World Bread Day. Click here to read more about this event.

I invite you to talk about bread, to bake a bread, to eat a slice of bread.

If you baked a loaf of bread today, october 16, please leave a comment and put a link with your bread recipe on my blog. Let's show the world how much we love bread.

I bought a nonstick baguette pan and I decided to bake French Bread. I used my bread machine to knead the dough and I baked the baguettes in the oven. Here is the recipe I used from the instruction manual of my Welbilt bread machine. It was so good with a crunchy crust, soft inside..... and it was gone within minutes of being pulled from the oven.

Ingredients:

Dough:

1 cup + 2 tablespoon water

1 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons sugar

3 cups bread flour

2 teaspoons active dry yeast

Glaze:

1 egg white

2 teaspoons sesame seeds, toasted (optional)

Place ingredients in bread machine in the order listed. All ingredients must be at room temperature.

Start machine on dough setting.

When dough cycle is complete, remove it with floured hands and place it on floured surface.

Let it rest for 5 minutes and then cut in half.

Take each half of dough and roll to make a loaf about 12 inches long in the shape of French bread.

Place on greased baking sheet and glaze each baguette with egg white.
Slash 5 times diagonally with a very sharp knife or a pair of scissors.

Place in a warm place and let rise until doubled in size, about 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 400°.

Glaze uslashed portions again with egg white.

Bake on the middle rack for 20 to 25 minutes or until golden brown.

Remove baked loaves to wire racks to cool.

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Chocolate Whipped Cream in Chocolate Cups

For the chocolate whipped cream:

500 g heavy whipping cream

100 g semisweet chocolate, broken in small pieces

2 tbsp dark rum

Combine the cream and chocolate in a heavy saucepan and stir over medium heat until the chocolate melts. Then reduce the heat to very low and simmer, stirring constantly until the mixture thickens. Pour it into a bowl and refrigerate for at least 1 hour. When the mixture is very cold beat with an electric mixer until the filling is smooth and creamy and forms soft peaks when the beater is lifted from the bowl. Do not overbeat or the cream will turn to butter.

Chestnut puree choco cups

For the chocolate cups:

1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Melt Chocolate Chips in a microwave safe bowl in a microwave for around 1 ½ minutes or till the chips are almost melted. Follow the instructions on the package.

With a food grade brush, paint the inner part of the cup cake liners and place them in a Muffin pan to keep their shape. You can do this with the back of a teaspoon if you don’t have a brush.

Repeat this with all the liners and keep in the fridge for 20 minutes. 

Use the leftover Chocolate to coat the Chocolate cups once more to ensure the strength of the cups. If the reserved Chocolate hardens, do melt it in the microwave for a few seconds.

Peel the cup cake liner off and fill the Chocolate cups with the mousse.

Pour the chocolate whipped cream into a piping bag or a ziploc bag and fill the chocolate cups with it. Sprinkle with chocolate shaving.

Enjoy it.

Note: You can fill the cups with chestnut puree and then top it with the chocolate whipped cream.... yummmmm

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Crispy Bacon Strips

Why does everybody love bacon? Because everything is better with bacon. :-)

After all, what would breakfast be without crispy bacon strips? Eggs with bacon, French toast with bacon, pancakes with bacon, great on a sandwich or salad.... I love it.

You can even buy chocolate bars with bacon.

There are many ways to cook bacon, one of my favorites and a very easy way to cook it is in the oven. No mess in the kitchen with all the bacon fat.

So let's see how we bake it.

Ingredients:

bacon

black pepper

Directions:

Line a baking sheet with foil for an easy cleanup.

Preheat oven to 400°F.

Place bacon slices on the foil or on cooling rack used for cookies.

Season with black pepper and place the baking sheet on the center rack in the oven.

Bake 15 minutes or until golden brown. The exact time will depend on the thickness of the bacon slices. Bacon gets crisper as it cools. 

Remove from the oven.

Arrange bacon slices on a plate lined with paper towel to absorb the fat.

 Serve on a sandwich or salad, with french toast, or on soup... the sky is the limit.

Enjoy it!

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Baked Salmon Fillet with Dijon and Panko

With just a few ingredients and maybe 2-3 minutes of preparation you can have a great dinner. You can't go wrong with this recipe.

Ingredients:

2 salmon fillets

2 teaspoon Dijon mustard

1/4 cup Panko

2 teaspoon butter

garlic powder

salt

black pepper

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Oil a baking sheet or line it with aluminum foil.

Place salmon skin-side down on foil. Season it with salt, pepper and garlic powder.

Cover the fillets with a thin layer of mustard.

Melt butter. Mix Panko with melted butter and spread the mixture on the fillets.

Bake in a preheated oven for 15 minutes, or until salmon flakes easily with a fork.

Note:
If you don't want to melt the butter, just top the Panko with cold pieces of butter. It will melt in the oven.
If you want to save some calories, skip the butter.
If you turn on the broiler at the end for about 1 minute you will have a super crunchy crust and more color.
You can use a spicy mustard for more flavor.

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Spekulatius S'Mores

Every year before Christmas I receive Spekulatius biscuits from my brother. They are really special for me :-)
For those who didn't hear about them, Spekulatius is a Dutch/German Christmas cookie. Delicious crunchy biscuits, they are very thin, with different flavors, like cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger and super cute shapes, like St. Nicholas, windmill, elephant, sheep...

We all love s'mores. I wanted to make them with Spekulatius biscuits this time - for my brother :-)

Ingredients: (for 5 s'mores)

10 Spekulatius biscuits

10 medium marshmallows

chocolate (I used Lindt bittersweet)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 300°F.

Line a cookie sheet with aluminum foil, shiny side up.
Place 5 cookies/biscuits on the lined cookie sheet.

Top each cookie with 2 marshmallows.

Bake for about 4 minutes.

Remove from the oven.

Place the chocolate pieces on top of the marshmallows (3 squares) and cover with the rest of the Spekulatius cookies.

They are to die for :-)

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