a rice cuddle

this is such a sweet cuddle.. rice pudding is an awesome thing :)
i'm still in full flu, so tonight i felt like eating something nice and cuddling myself a bit.

i use slightly salted butter because i like the taste better than unsalted butter in this recipe.. i also dont like it too sweet, if it's too sugary it tires me soon.

sweet milk&rice

100g rice
40g demi-sel butter
600ml milk
40g sugar
vanilla flavor
cinnamon, nutmeg
50g dark chocolate

cook rice with butter, milk, sugar and vanilla stirring often. let simmer for about 30min, adding ground cinnamon and nutmeg.
pour in a bowl (or single portion cups) placing a bit of chocolate in the middle. grate some chocolate on top.
you can eat it still hot, warm or let it cool in the fridge till the chocolate on top solidifies.

apple delight

yea i know i'm posting kinda twice today.. but this post i wrote it down yesterday then didnt publish it because i was busy doing and just saved the draft. here it goes then :)

i like apples.. i started to like cinnamon because i loved the match apple/cinnamon, but till a while ago i couldnt really stand cinnamon alone. i still dont like too spiced sweet food, like some nordic christmas breads and cookies.
i dont mind finnish piparkakut though, because they're so thin it's not really a cookie to me.. more like a cute sheet of sweet matter eheh

my fridge is filled with apples.. i usually eat an apple a day, after dinner, because it's such an versatile yet simple fruit.. it's fresh, can be tasty, if you peel it texture and taste are a little different, you can chop it, munch it, bake it, grate it, juice it.. you can store kilos of apples and they wont get spoiled (i bought some green bananas the other day and today they're already soft and brownish.. got to eat them quick like a monkey)
i'm not so much into apple juice though.. it's a bit strange to me, i'm never sure if i dig it or not eheh

apple clafoutis cups

2apples chopped
4tbsp plain flour
2tbsp sugar
1tsp cinnamon
1tbsp butter, melted
150ml milk

mix the dry ingredients together, stir in milk and butter. add some extra milk if the batter is not smooth enough, whisk it well.
put the chopped apple in 4 single portion baking tins and pour the milk mixture all over them.
bake for about 18min in preheated oven at 200°C.

one good merenda

i recall pretty well this merenda.. it was on suomenlinna island, finland :)

the place was a very nice small cafè, my mom and sister went there in the winter too and told me it moved to a bit bigger place.. i like old finnish wooden buildings, with so weird pastel colors and nice claddings.

that was probably the best cappuccino i've ever had in finland, a real cappuccino eheh but i really loved that sort of big fried soft and yummy thing, filled with blackberry jam.. mmh so good. i must find a good recipe of it, though i'm really a culinary disaster about fried food :P

i enjoy very much merenda time, that nice break around mid afternoon to have some treat and a cup of tea or coffee.. that's the italian name of it but i guess you can call it teatime if you will :)

it's a nice interval during the day, something that can cheer you up or just accompany your activities.. i prefer some real break like these above, but even nibbling at some cookies with a glass of milk will do perfectly.

every year when everything starts off i tend to skip merenda and, in the rush between the gym and the school or the bus, i just eat some cereals bar quickly and just because my body screams for food ehehe
so now that i'm settled and i begin to really organize my time, i'll think of some way to have a good merenda even in the middle of such activities. a few years ago i used to make pain au chocolat on sundays so my sis and i would have a nice homemade snack.
last year instead i started to make some awesome puff pastry stuff.. and that's where i mean to go back to :D

a swirl of peanuts

i love peanut butter.. it's one of those things i should never buy because i'll start using it insanely till the jar is completely empty eheh
i make brownies and cookies, but also an awesome sauce for pasta and chicken.. i like the salty-sweet taste of it very much.

when i was in finland i tried many different kinds and i really liked the bio peanut cream made by some swedish company or something.. (un)fortunately in italy it's not very common to find, so i had to content myself with a small jar of skippy the smooth. they tell me there's 772peanuts in a jar.. i see. well not that i trust them so much after the diatribe about their "natural" version which does contain trans fat even if the label screams it doesnt LOL

but i like peanut butter so much that i'm gonna try to make it myself soon.. i found some good recipe, it's pretty easy but i didnt have the right doses :) so first thing i made with my jar is this peanut butter and chocolate heaven.. it's a brownie recipe but i make it also in small single serving tins, they just need to bake a little less.

chocolate and peanut butter brownies

150g dark chocolate
150g butter
3eggs
200g brown sugar
120g flour
2tbsp cocoa powder
1tsp vanilla flavor
1pinch of salt

150g peanut butter
6tbsp milk
1tbsp flour
some peanuts, chopped

melt chocolate and butter, set aside. beat eggs with sugar and vanilla flavor till fluffy. stir in the chocolate, then the flour sifted with salt and cocoa. mix well and pour into the baking tin.
mix the remaining ingredients to make a soft peanut butter mixture, then drop it over the chocolate batter. stir slightly to swirl the mixtures together. sprinkle some peanuts to top.
bake for 25min in preheated oven at 180°C.

i love clafoutis

so.. after the veggie clafoutis recipe, another clafoutis variation i like quite :D it has a crusty surface, a bit more than usual clafoutis (which recipe i'll manage to post asap, it's been a while since the last time i made my yellow plums clafoutis and i'm looking forward) i made it with a mix of strawberries and peaches because, although i like cherries a lot, i dont like to make chocolate clafoutis with those.
useless to say it came out delicious! i like clafoutis also because it's such an easy recipe to make.. once you get the mixture in the proportions you like the best and the right balance between sweet and fruit, it's almost impossible to make a bad clafoutis ^^

peach strawberry chocolate clafoutis

200g straberries
250g peaches
2eggs
40g cornstarch
40g flour
40g sugar (+2tbsp)
2tsp baking powder
75g dark chocolate
50g butter
50ml milk
lemon juice

clean the fruit and chop it, squeeze some lemon juice on it and set aside.
melt butter and chocolate in a bain marie, let it cool. beat eggs with sugar till fluffy, gradually stir in sifted flour, baking powder and cornstarch. beat in milk and melted chocolate.
place the fruit at the bottom of a greased baking tin, pour the mixture to cover it. bake in preheated oven at 180°C for about 25min. spread some sugar and a bit of butter all over the surface and bake for 10min still

tiramisù

i just love this dessert :) usually i make it in a big tin, but sometimes when i have just wish of a bit, i make it in small amount and in glasses.

wherever i go, if there's tiramisù i will taste it.. sometimes that's a huge mistake though, if it's not well done this dessert can be just awful eheheh i still recall with pleasure a tiramisù i ate in apulia (south of italy) some years ago.. it was just 3 savoiardi, slightly soaked in a citrus flavored syrup and topped with a liquid mascarpone sauce.. totally different from usual tiramisù, yet it was amazing.
though the recipe is always more or less the same, every cook has one's own recipe.. this is mine, i tried and tried till i've found the best mix to make a thick and delicious tiramisù ^^
i use orange blossom flavor for its fine subtle perfume that suits well this cream, but a good vanilla flavor works good too :) i'm a big fan of orange blossom flavor, so delicate and particular, just beautiful with chocolate or ricotta.. it's surely one of my fav scents to smell and i've always liked the italian words for orange blossoms (fiori d'arancio or zagare)

tiramisù

350g savoiardi (kind of biscuits)
85g sugar
200g ricotta (kind of cottage cheese)
200g mascarpone
dark chocolate drops
dark cocoa powder
5egg whites
4egg yolks
orange blossom flavor
dark coffee (6 to 9 espresso cups)

Beat egg whites till thicken. Whip together sugar and egg yolks, then blend mascarpone and ricotta. Add egg whites and mix carefully.
Pour some coffee in a dish and soak savoiardi in it. In a rectangular tin make a thin layer of cream, spread chocolate drops on it and place a layer of savoiardi.
Make layers till ingredients finish topping with a layer of cream (i use to make 3layers of savoiardi). Pour sifted cocoa powder and then some grated chocolate on the top layer. Serve tiramisù well cooled.

died and went to heaven cake

This cake is simply wonderful.. soft, chocolatous, luscious ^^ i love the match coffee-chocolate and this is a good recipe for that

died and went to heaven cake

410ml wheat flour
230ml sugar
180ml cocoa powder
baking powder
a pinch of salt
350ml milk
230ml brown sugar
2beaten eggs
60ml olive oil
vanilla extract
230ml hot and strong coffee

Icing:
230ml icing sugar
orange blossom flavor
50ml milk

Whip together flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt. Add milk, brown sugar, eggs, olive oil and vanilla extract, mix very well. ncorporate hot coffee and whisk. Pour the batter in a baking tin.
Bake in preheated oven at 180°C for 35minutes.

Prepare the icing: whisk together icing ingredients carefully. Spread on the cake when it's cooled.

apfelstrudel

this afternoon i made also some apple strudel. when i was a kid i despised this dessert, then lately i found myself just loving it.. apart from the fact that i still hate raisins, so i'm used to make some little "corrections" to the original recipe ^^

Apfelstrudel (serves 4-5)

lukewarm water
2 big apples
50g melted butter
200g wheat flour
2tbsp oil
1pinch of salt
3tbsp confectioner sugar
1/2tbsp cardamom
1/2tbsp cinnamon
2tbsp hazelnut flour
mix of roughly ground pine seeds, walnuts, hazelnuts

mix the flour with salt, oil and cardamom, then start pouring as much water as needed kneading energetically to make a compact and elastic dough. make a ball, oil it slightly and let it rest in a fresh place for about half an hour.
in the meanwhile, chop the apple into small pieces (i even use a mixer) and mix it well to the ground nuts, cinnamon and 2tbsp confectioner sugar. set aside. mix the melted butter with the remaining sugar and the hazelnut flour.
flatten the dough with a rolling pin in a thin rectangle and spread it with a half of the melted butter. distribute the apple and nuts filling onto the dough and make a roll. spread the remaining butter on the surface of the strudel.
bake in preheated oven at 200°C for 35-45min.