New Year resolution

This year is going to be really challenging for me. Two important things are awaiting us: we are moving to a different country and travelling to Buenos Aires for 3 months with the focus on developing as a teacher and dancer. My mind's already very busy and that's why I decided not to challenge myself anymore with numerous New Year resolutions. I commited only to one - I decided to bake sweet things (cakes, pastries etc.) only once a week. Inspired (among others) by Patrycja's blog and her post on sugar I felt there's too much sugar in my diet and I didn't feel well with it. I'm far away from any extreme - I'm not going to resign from sugar, the goal is simply to cut back on the quantity. I cook daily with lots of vegetables and non-refined products, and in general, I think that our diet is very healthy apart from the sweets I'm baking. Some time ago I started to cut the amount of sugar in the recipes and it turned out that you usually need half the amount of sugar in the recipe to enjoy the sweetness and without any harm to the taste. Still, I'm a crazy baker and I could bake daily, so even with the lower amount of sugar it was still quite a lot in terms of frequency...

To sum up: In 2010, for the sake of my wellbeing I'm going to bake sweets only once a week.
Observation no 1: This makes choosing the recipe more exciting and baking the cake even more enjoyable...
Observation no 2:  I had to find a vent for my baking passion so instead I will bake bread and savoury tarts - planning to bake a tart with beetroots and Russian bread this weekend :)

Today I would like to share with you the triple-almond cheesecake that I baked last weekend. I barely managed to save this one piece to take a picture of it :)

Italian Baked Almond Cheesecake
Recipe comes from a special edition of "Delicious" magazine - "Wicked Desserts".

Serves 8. One 20cm non-stick springform cake tin.
Preparation: 15 minutes.
Baking: 45 - 50 minutes.
Chilling: over 1 hour.

Base:*
200g amaretti biscuits, crushed
50g unsalted butter, melted

Cheesecake:
500g ricotta
250g tub mascarpone
1 vanilla pod, split lengthways and seeds scraped or sugar with real vanilla
125g golden caster sugar
100g ground almonds
2 tablespoons cornflour
3 large free-range eggs
grated zest of one lemon

Decoration:
handful of flaked almonds
icing sugar for dusting
whipped cream

1. Preaheat the oven to 180°C/fan 160°C/ gas 4. Mix the crushed biscuits with the melted butter, tip into the base of a 20cm non-stick springform cake tin lined with baking paper. Press down firmly in an even layer with a spoon. Chill for 10 - 15 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, beat the ricotta, vanilla seeds, sugar, mascarpone, almonds, cornflour, eggs and lemon zest together in a bowl with an electric mixer until smooth. Pour into the prepared tin and scatter with the part of the flaked almonds.
3. Bake for 45 - 50 minutes until golden, set in the center but still a bit wobbly. Turn off the oven, open the door and leave the cheesecake inside to cool completely. Chill for a further hour or more. Remove from the tin and serve with icing sugar, remaining flaked almonds and some cream, if you like.

* In case you don't have amaretti biscuits you can do the base with these ingredients:
200g wholegrain Digestive biscuits
50g unsalted butter, melted
1 tablespoon Dutch cocoa
2 tablespoons amaretto liqueur or almond aroma

Rose, first snow and travelling

This post was meant to be published few days ago, yet, it comes to light right now, once I reached my destination, unpacked and I can sit down and finish writing it at a leisurely pace.
The days before my leaving Budapest for Poland (and Christmas) were pretty busy - we were teaching weekend workshops (so great atmosphere we had!), DJing Friday and Sunday, taking part in the amazing Global milonga, baking bread for my parents... At the same time I tried to pack myself which was more than a challenge, given that I wanted to take my new huge cookbook, one kg of fresh walnuts, a jar with sourdough* and other crazy things that you normally take with you for Christmas ;)
I don't know how I did, but I managed to bake a tart on the top of all those things. Again, I don't know how this happened but I had to choose an elaborate one ;) The reward for my effort was very high though - delicious vanilla cream mixed with cherries and a delicate walnut merengue top... Three different textures, three different flavours closed in the form of a tart.
When I went out to the balcony to photograph the tart, it just started snowing for the first time with big big snowflakes... Magical. I tried to capture the moment, but the snow was so elusive...** So I focused on the tart... It's beauty called for something more than just a white background so I photographed it with the red rose I got from P. A special rose that in the middle of winter kept its head upright for a whole week and when I was leaving it still looked gorgeous.
The cake is so rich and yet delicate, that I'm going to repeat it for Christmas. It's definitely not a typical Christmas cake, but it has something special in it, which definitely makes it a good festive idea.

Walnut Tart with Cherries 
(recipe by Stephan Franz from "The Cook's Book")

Makes a 26cm (10 1/2 inch) tart.

For pâte brisée:
188g butter, at room temperature, cut into pieces
250g plain white flour
1 scant teaspoon salt
1 egg yolk
1 scant teaspoon caster sugar
50ml full fat milk at room temperature

For the vanilla cream:
300ml milk
5 medium egg yolks (100g in total)
75g caster sugar
15g cornflour
100ml double cream
seeds of 1/2 vanilla pod or sugar with real vanilla

For the filling:
400g whole black cherries - stoned.***

For the walnut layer:
100g cake crumbs or toasted breadcrumbs, finely ground
90g walnuts, toasted and finely ground
pinch of ground cinnamon
100g unsalted butter, diced and softened
100g caster sugar
3 medium egg yolks (60g in total)
seeds of 1/2 vanilla pod or sugar with real vanilla
grated zest of 1/2 lemon
4 medium egg whites (120g in total)

1. Prepare pâte brisée. Check for detailed instructions here.
2. Preheat the oven to 200°C (400°F). Use a round cake tin with 4cm (1 1/2in) high sloping sides or springform cake tin, any of them 26cm (10 1/2in) in diameter. Lightly grease the tin with butter.
3. Roll out half the pastry to a 3mm (1/8in) thickness and cut out a circle to fit the bottom of the tin. Lay in the bottom of the tin and prick all over with a fork so that no air bubbles occurs during baking. Bake for 10 minutes. The pastry should be set and only very slightly coloured.
4. Let the pastry cool and lower the oven temperature to 175°C (350°F). Roll out the remaining pastry into two equal strips, around 4cm wide. Use them to line the sides of the tin.
5. Prepare vanilla cream:
Pour 90ml of the milk into a bowl, blend with the egg yolks, 45g of the sugar and the cornflour. Pour the rest of the milk into a pan and add the cream, remaining sugar and vanilla seeds/sugar. Bring to the boil and add the egg yolk mixture. Stir continously and bring to boil, then remove from the heat immediately.
6. Pass the vanilla cream through a fine sieve and spread evenly over the pastry base.
7. Arrange the cherries onto the vanilla cream surface.
8. Prepare the hazelnut layer:
Lightly mix together the cake or breadcrumbs, walnuts and cinnamon. In another bowl beat the butter and 30g of the sugar until pale and creamy. Beat in the egg yolks one at a time. Add the vanilla and lemon zest and combine well. In another bowl whisk the egg whites, remaining sugar and a pinch of salt to stiff peaks. Add one third to the butter mixture and stir to combine. Carefully fold in the remaining whites using a large spatula. Fold in the nut mixture in batches.
9. Fit a piping bag with a large plain nozzle, spoon in the nut mixture, and pipe in a spiral onto the cherries. Bake in the oven at 175°C (350°F) for 45 minutes. Let it cool down and dust with incing sugar before serving.

* Sourdough's first plane journey was successful :) I fed it straight away I got home and it appeared that it likes Polish flour pretty well ;)
** If you know how to photograph falling snow - let me know :)
*** I used pickled cherries in a light sugar syrup.

Who needs viruses...?!

The late autumn dullness has reached its apogee...
My thoughts are already in Poland, I'm looking for Christmas recipes, making difficult ;) decisions which cookies to bake this year. I've prepared our Christmas offer* (for the restaurant and cafe) and cannot wait days full of baking and baking.
And everything would be just perfect, if not a malicious virus, which came no one knows where from... I'd planned three types of cookies and two cakes, yet, I managed to bake only one type of cookies and gingerbread cake. I missed the energy for more, especially today, I spent half day in bed, half-awake... Not much energy left to write even on a blog...
Today's cookies area baked from  a recipe for short-pastry chocolate-orange Christmas trees by Bea** - thank you! The only change I made was cutting them with a star cutter and skipping the chocolate decoration as in my opinion, cookies were already rich enough with chocolate pieces and candied peel inside.

Orange Chocolate Stars

150g unsalted butter
100g sugar
pinch salt
2 egg yolks
zest from one orange
50g bitter or bittersweet good quality chocolate, chopped into fine pieces
25g candied orange peel
250g all-purpose flour

In a large bowl cream the butter, then add sugar, salt and egg yolk and continue creaming until they form a uniform almost white mixture. Add the zested orange, finely chopped chocolate and candied peel. Mix well, then start adding the flour. Form a ball out of the dough, wrap in clingfilm and put into the fridge for at least 10 minutes. I usually leave the dough to chill for the whole night and bake the cookies in the morning.
Preheat the oven to 180°C.
Roll out the dough until it's 7mm thick*** (you might want to flour your working surface a bit). Cut cookies using cookie cutter and place cookies on baking sheet lined with parchment paper.  Bake until they are just turning golden, about 11 minutes.  Transfer to racks to cool. When the cookies cooled down you can decorate them with melted chocolate. :)

*

**Bea took the recipe from from a book by Betty Bossi: ‘Noël et ses friandises’. 
***My stars were a bit thinner - 4 to 5mm. In order not to use additional flour for the working surface, I rolled the dough out between two pieces of baking parchment.

It's brownie time...

Do you know the story of brownie? Supposedly, a librarian - Miss Brown - from Maine (USA) forgot to use baking powder in her chocolate cake mixture which she was preparing for the visit of her friends. The cake came out of the oven totally flat. Despite that she served it and her friends loved it...
Brownie is a cake you either love or not. It's not too known in Poland and usually it's eaten with a bit of suspicion and questioning facial expresion: "was this cake really baked?". I love chocolate, I love dense and moist cake, I love walnuts... consequently, I couldn't not love brownie. The quality of chocolate is crucial for me - the one that we serve in Tango Cafe and the one I like most (from Nigella's recipe of course) is from Jedyna chocolate by Wedel. There has to be a dollop of whipped cream and preferably - some fresh fruit like strawberries or raspberries. The problem with serving brownie in a cafe is that cut into squares it doesn't look particularly appealing in a refrigerated display case no matter how delicious it is. Having this in mind, I was looking different chocolate cakes recipes that would taste equally good to brownie and present themselves well. And I found a great one on Joy of Baking - a bit modified brownie put into a tart pan with addition of ganache... The result: rich chocolaty indulgence!

Brownie Chocolate Tart

Makes one 28cm in diameter tart.

165g (1 1/2 cup) toasted and chopped walnuts*
300g unsalted butter, cut into pieces
90g semi-sweet / bittersweet chocolate, good quality
40g milk chocolate
65g unsweetened Dutch cocoa
375g granulated white sugar
4 large eggs or 5 medium/small eggs
3 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
130g regular cream cheese like Philadelfia or Turek (don't use low fat)
110g all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt

for ganache:
80g semisweet chocolate
100ml heavy whipping cream

1. Grease the tart pan with butter or oil. Preheat the oven to 165°C (325°F).
2. In a metal bowl, placed over a saucepan of simmering water, melt the butter & chocolate.
3. Using a hand mixer beat together the melted chocolate & butter with cocoa, then sugar. Then add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in the vanilla extract, cream cheese. Add the flour, salt and mix with a wooden spoon just until the flour is incorporated. Stir in the nuts.
4. Pour the batter into the tart pan and spread it evenly with an offset spatula. The batter will fill the pan almost to the top. Bake for 30 - 35 minutes until the batter has set. If you insert a toothpick about 3cm from the side of the pan, it should come out clean. Remove from the oven and let cool down on a rack for about 10 minutes.
5. In the meantime prepare the ganache: heat the cream in a small saucepan over medium heat. Bring just to boil. Place the chopped chocolate in a small heatproof bowl. Immediately pour the boiling cream over the chocolate and allow to stand for 5 minutes. Stir until smooth.
6. With the end of a wooden spoon (1,5cm in diameter) that is well greased with oil or butter, make holes, spacing them evenly, into a top of the brownie tart.** You can make from 10 to 20 small holes.  With a small spoon fill the holes with the ganache. The ganache will sink as it cools so add more ganache, as needed.
7.  Let the tart cool completely and then cover the refrigerate. It is best to make this tart the day before serving to allow all flavours to blend. You can decorate it with grated chocolate. Serve with a dollop of whipped cream.

* Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F) and toast nuts for 8 minutes until lightly brown and fragrant. Let cool and then chop into pieces.
** As you insert the end of wooden spoon into the tart, twist the spoon to prevent the tart from tearing. 

"C is for Cookie..."

Cookie Monster: "COOOKIES!!!!!! OM NOM NOM NOM" (Eats everything, including plate)

Grey (not white unfortunately) December days make me feel like a Cookie Monster. Seriously. Actually, a very picky cookie monster as I've been making numerous cookies and only few of them I find really yummy and deserving "Om nom nom nom...". One of them are these Banana Walnut Chocolate Chunks Cookies. I've found them in Martha Stewart's Cookies and I started mouthwatering already when I was reading the recipe with lots of walnuts, chocolate and chocolate. Oh, and bananas of course. I find this combination sort of irresistible, add a gallon of caramel or chocolate rooibos, new Dr House episode... Heaven is here :D At least for me :)

Banana-Walnut  Chocolate-Chunk Cookies

Makes around 30 cookies.*

130g (1 cup) all purpose flour
80g (1/2 cup) whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon coarse salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
170g (1 1/2 sticks, 3/4 cup) unsalted butter, room temperature
100g (1/2 cup) granulated sugar
100g (1/2 cup) light brown sugar
1 large egg
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 large or 2 small mashed bananas (the best are very ripe ones)
100g (1 cup) rolled oats
200g (around 8 ounces) semi-sweet chocolate, coarsely chopped into chunks
60g (1/2 cup) coarsely chopped walnuts, toasted

1. Preheat the oven to 190°C (375°F). Whisk together both flours, salt and baking soda in a bowl.
2. Put butter and both sugars into a bowl. Mix (with a mixer) until pale and fluffy. Reduce speed to low and add egg and vanilla; mix until well combined. Mix in the mashed bananas. Add flour mixture and mix only until just combined. Stir in the oats, chocolate chunks and walnuts.
3. Using a tablespoon or an ice cream scoop, drop dough onto baking sheets lined with parchment paper, spacing about 5cm apart. Bake cookies until golden brown and just set, 12 to 13 minutes. Let cook on sheets for 5 minutes. Then transfer cookies to wire rack and let cool completely.** (if your will power is strong enough... mine wasn't ;) )

* Believe me: 30 of these cookies it's not much... it's actually too little to last for the second day.
**Cookies can be stored at room temperature, in airtight containers up to 2 days.

Caramel Pumpkin Tartelettes

To be honest - I'm not a big fan of pumpkin pie, even though I'm a pumpkin addict. Caramel Pumpkin Tartelettes are not too far from the traditional pumpkin pie, but far enough for me to fall in love with their caramel delicately spiced taste.  The idea comes from Gourmet magazine, though I used Pierre Hermé's recipe for the shortcrust pastry (pâte brisée) and instead of preparing one big pie I went for small and cute tartelettes.
The tartelettes are rich with caramel, whose sweetness is contrasted with the spiciness of cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger added to the pumpkin. The pastry's texture is delicate and buttery... Just poetry :)
Bon appétit! :)

Caramel Pumpkin Tartelettes 

Makes 8 tartelettes - 11cm in diameter each or 1 big (26cm - 10 1/2 in)

For shortcrust pastry - pâte brisée by Pierre Hermé*:

188g butter, at room temperature, cut into pieces
250g plain white flour
1 scant teaspoon salt
1 egg yolk
1 scant teaspoon caster sugar
50ml full fat milk at room temperature

1. Place the butter in a bowl. Beat with a wooden spoon to soften. Stir in the salt and egg yolk. Stir the sugar into the milk in a bowl. Pour this onto the softened butter in a thin stream, stirring constantly.
2. Sift the flour into a shallow bowl and steadily stir it into the butter mixture. Mix by stirring with a wooden spoon or gently bring it together by hand in the bowl.
3. On a floured work surface and using the palm of your hand, lightly knead the pastry just until it forms a soft, moist dough. Ligthness of hand and speed are very important, and the whole process shouldn't take longer than 4-5minutes or the pastry will be tough.
4. Shape the dough into 8 equal balls, flatten slightly, and wrap in cling film. Leave in the fridge to rest for at least 2 hours. The resting time in the refrigerator gives the gluten in the flour a chance to relax. Effective chilling will prevent the dough from shrinking too much when it goes into the hot oven.
5. After the chilling time, roll the dough out between two large sheets of baking parchment. Make sure to lift the top sheet of parchment from time to time so that it doesn't crease into the dough. When it's 3-5mm thick, move each piece into the bottom of the pan. It should cover the bottom and the sides, cut off  the excess pastry.
6. Using your fingertips, press the pastry into and up the sides of the ring. If the dough splits or cracks as you work, then simply patch the split with small scraps of pastry using your fingers to glue them into place. Don't strech the pastry. Prick the base all over with a fork. Refrigerate for 30minutes.
7. In the meantime, cut out a circle of baking parchment slightly larger than the tart ring or tin. Fold the disc in half several times to make a triangular shape, then clip the outer edge with scissors. Clipping the edge ensures a close fit against the rim when the paper is placed in the tart ring.
8. Take the tart rings with the pastry out from the fridge. Cover the base and sides of the pastry with the prepared baking parchment, taking the paper above the sides of the ring. Fill with dried beans- the tarts will keep the form and won't rise during baking.
9. Preheat the oven to 180°C. Place the pans in the oven and bake for 18-20minutes. After that time it will be partially baked. Remove the beans and lining paper, then return the tart pans to oven and bake for 6-7 minutes longer. Cool the shells on a wire rack.

*recipe comes from "The Cook's Book"

For caramel-pumpkin filling:

200g (1 cup) sugar
1/3 cup water
500ml (2 cups) heavy cream (I used whipping cream, 30%)
420g (1 can 15-oz solid-pack pumpkin, not pie filling) pumpkin purée
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg (best if freshly grated)
pinch of ground cloves
pinch of salt
4 large eggs, lightly beaten

1. Bring sugar and water to a boil in a heavy saucepan. stirring until sugar is dissolved. Boil syrup, gently swirling pan (do not stir!), until mixture is a deep golden caramel, about 10 minutes.
2. Reduce heat to moderate and carefully add 1 cup cream (mixture will bubble vigorously, don't be intimidated by that ;) ), stirring until caramel is dissolved. Stir in the remaining cup cream and bring just to a simmer.
3. Whisk together pumpkin purée, spices and salt in a large bowl. Whisk in hot cream mixture, then add eggs whisking until combined well. Pour filling into cooled crusts and bake until puffed and center is just set, 55 to 60 minutes. Cool on a rack, about 2 hours at least before serving - tartelettes will continue to set as they cool. Enjoy with some whipped cream :)

NOTES:
- dough can be chilled up to 1 day or frozen, wrapped well in foil, 1 month.
- the shells can be baked 1 day ahead and kept wrapped in a plastic wrap (after cooling) at room temperature.

Foretaste of Christmas

Days started to grow shorter significantly and the autumn dimness and chill finally reached Budapest as well. I'm wandering around the stores looking for gingerbread cutters (I came up with the idea that I want an angel gingerbreat cutter). I'm working out a winter & Christmas menu for the cafe... In my favourite English bookstore I bury myself in reading the Christmas edition of Good Food magazine, looking through the cookbooks trying to decide which ones should be mentioned in a letter to the Santa Claus (my family tradition - impossible to skip).

Yesterday I received an amazing parcel - full of teas and Christmas accents, straight from my mum. Sweet Pear, Cinnamon Start Sencha (Japanese green tea), St. Claus Favourite, Banana Sencha, Chocolate Rooibos... smells like Christmas, doesn't it?

Beautiful scents of apples and cinnamon are floating in the air at home... I baked Swedish cinnamon buns (kanelbullar) and have started to test different recipes for "szarlotka" - Polish apple cake/pie - in search of the best one, one that I could call my favourite. The recipe for the buns comes from Liska's blog (thank you!). I modified it a bit because I didn't have cardamon and instead of it, I used gingerbread spices (which worked really well). Liska calls the buns 'cardamon', however, I know them under the name 'cinnamon' (in Swedish - 'kanel'). The buns are the best just out of the oven, still warm with a glass of milk (P.'s version) or Cinnamon Star Sencha (my version). On the following day, I made a bread & butter pudding with them and it was equally good to the one based on croissants. I have two more recipes: one for the cinnamon buns and one for the saffron ones - both straight from Sweden. Hope to try them out soon :)

Kanelbullar (Swedish cinnamon buns)

12 buns

1 tablespoon sugar
50ml warm water
2 1/4 teaspoon dry/ instant yeast
200 ml milk
1 teaspoon cream
100g butter
450g all-purpose flour
120g sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon gingerbread spices (or green freshly grated cardamon)

Filling:
2 tablespoons butter, melted and cooled down
3 tablespoons sugar + 2 teaspoons cinnamon - mixed together

Glaze:
1 egg beaten with one teaspoon water
almond flakes and brown sugar (I used demerara sugar)

1. In a bowl mix together 1 tablespoon sugar, warm water and yeast. Put aside for about 10 minutes until it starts to bubble a bit.

2.  In a pan mix together milk, cream and butter. Warm them up until butter melts. Put aside to cool down a bit and then mix with the yeast. In a seperate big bowl mix flour, sugar, salt and gingerbread spices together. Connect them with the wet ingredients and knead the dough (you can use the mixer). Let the dough rise in a warm place while covered (around 1h).

3. Preheat the oven to 200°C. Roll out the dough - you want to get a rectangle (40 x 45cm). Spread the butter on top, sprinkle with a cinnamon-sugar mixture.  Roll the dough the long way and the cut the roll into about 12 pieces 3,5cm thick. Place them with the cut edge upward onto a baking sheet. Spread the remaining butter on them. Let the buns rise in warm place while covered for about 30 - 60 minutes. (though they won't rise too much).

4. Brush the buns carefully with the mixture of egg & water, sprinkle with brown sugar and almond flakes. Bake for around 25 minutes, until the buns are golden.

Very Nutty Banana Bread

This simple, yet so rich and luscious bread is based on the recipe for Sophie Dahl's Banana Bread. I could call it my banana bread as it combines all my favourite qualities a cake should have: it's moist, full of natural flavours and has 'something crunchy' - in this case my favourite nuts. Honestly, I cannot resist it and never finish with only one or two pieces. I love it with a mug of rooibos tea or a glass of warm milk. Bon apétit!

Very Nutty Banana Bread

4 very ripe bananas
100g (1/2 cup) brown sugar
1 egg, beaten
75g butter, softened (1/3bar or 2/3stick)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon rum extract
50g raisins
50g walnuts
50g cashew nuts
25g hazelnuts
25g almonds (can be whole or cut)
170g all purpose flour (1 1/3cup)
a pinch of salt
1 teaspoon baking soda

Fits a rectangular loaf pan (30cm long, 11cm wide, 7cm deep).

Preheat the oven to 180°C. Cover the baking form with a baking paper. Mash the bananas with a fork or a hand blender/mixer. Add sugar, egg, butter, vanilla & rum extract. Chop the nuts and scald the raisins. If you want a stronger nut taste you can toast the nuts in the oven for 5 - 7 minutes (in 180°C). Add the nuts and raisins to the banana mix. In a seperate bowl mix the flour with baking soda and salt. Add the flour, mix only until everything is combined, the batter doesn't need to be perfectly smooth - don't overmix it though! Pour the batter into the baking pan and bake for 50 - 60minutes. (In my oven it was 50minutes). The batter is not rising in the begining, but it will later. Wait for 10minutes to cool down a bit and then enjoy! :)

Sophie Dahl's Banana Bread

Sophie Dahl:  I used to make banana bread in the fierce winters when I lived in New York and it was too freezing to do anything but bake. Eat it warm out of the oven with a lick of butter - it's unadulterated manna. 

For the first time I read about Sophie Dahl's Banana Bread on White Plate. I read it with interest, however, as it was already close 30°C in Budapest I was craving rather for salads and ice-cream than a warm banana bread.  The time flies and without any warning we're in November with constant rain and overcast sky. I've already baked 6 banana breads this month according to Sophie Dahl's recipe - a perfect warm breakfast with a glass of milk or cocoa. If Santa Claus is overhearing me - please, bring me "Miss Dahl's Voluptuous Delights" for Christmas. :)

Sophie Dahl's Banana Bread

3 or 4 very ripe bananas (around 360g of peeled bananas)
150g brown sugar (my bananas were very ripe and I added only 100g and it was just perfect. 150g =2/3cup)
1 egg, beaten
75g butter, softened (1/3bar or 2/3stick)
1 vanilla sugar (with real vanilla) and/or 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
170g all purpose flour (1 1/3cup)
a pinch of salt
a pinch of cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking soda
Fits a rectangular loaf pan (30cm long, 11cm wide, 7cm deep).

Preheat the oven to 180°C. Cover the baking form with a baking paper. Mash the bananas with a fork or a hand blender/mixer. Add sugar, egg, butter and vanilla. In a seperate bowl mix the flour with baking soda. Add the flour, mix only until everything is combined, the batter doesn't need to be perfectly smooth - don't overmix it though! Pour the batter into the baking pan and bake for 50 - 60minutes. (In my oven it was 50minutes). The batter is not rising in the begining, but it will later. The colour will be either warm brown as in the picture or deep darker brown - depending on the bananas and sugar. Wait for 10minutes to cool down a bit and then eat it warm with a glass of milk, caffee latte or your favourite tea. :)

Pumpkin obsession continued...

This time I would like to present something very different from the gingerbread-like Butternut Squash - Cottage Cheese Cake. It was the first pumpkin cake I've ever made and I've been baking it all over again as it's light, healthy (yeast and olive oil, no baking powder, no sodium!) and goes perfectly with a glass of milk for a quick breakfast or late supper. Pumpkin yeast cake is more like a bread than a cake which makes it so special for me. The recipe comes from one of my favourite cooking blogs which has been an inspiration and an example to follow since the very beginning: Kwestia Smaku written by Asia. For the Polish speakers - have a look at the original recipe. I haven't made any changes apart from adding more pumpkin seeds as the cake was simply perfect.

Ingredients:
2 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour (around 470g)
25g of fresh yeast
1/2 cup of white sugar (around 60g, you can use also brown demerara sugar, goes very well with pumpkins in general)
a pinch of salt
4 really full tablespoons of pumpkin puree (I used this butternut squash puree)
1 glass of milk (250ml)
90ml olive oil extra virgin
1/2 glass of pumpkin seeds

Fits a medium size bundt pan.

Preparation: 
Prepare the yeast leaven: crush the yeast into a mug, add 1 teaspoon of all-purpose flour, 1 teaspoon of white sugar and 2 tablespoons of warm (not hot!) milk. Mix everything together, cover with a clean cotton kitchen towel and put aside into a warm place (for example: near the radiator or the oven) for 15 minutes or a tiny bit longer (the yeast need to start growing).  In the meantime measure and prepare the rest of the ingredients.

Sift the flour through the sieve, add the yeast leaven, sugar, salt, pumpkin puree (at a room temperature) and warm milk. Use the dough arm attachment when using a vertical mixer or simply your hands to mix (knead) all the ingredients until you can see air bubbles in the dough. Then add warmed up olive oil (up to around 30°C) & pumpkin seeds. Knead the dough for at least 15 minutes.  It's necessary to equally distribute yeast and to give time to develop the gluten. If the dough is too liquid add some more flour - it will depend on how moist the pumpkin puree is. The dough shouldn't be too sticky, it should come off from your hand. Once ready, cover the surface with oil to prevent a crust from forming. (This may not be necessary if humidity is high.) Cover the bowl with a cotton kitchen towel and let the dough rise at a temperature of about 26 - 27°C. Fermentation is complete when the dough has doubled in volume which should take around an hour.  Punch the dough with your fist - it expels carbon dioxide, redistributes the yeast for further growth and relaxes the gluten.

Preaheat the oven to 175°C. Place the dough in the bundt form greased with olive oil, oil the surface and leave for a few more minutes to grow. The time varies from 10 to 30minutes, depending how much the dough has risen previously - if it more than doubled, then none of it might be necessary. Bake for around 60 minutes. Insert a toothpick into the cake - it should come out clean. If the crust is becoming to brown, cover it with the aluminium foil during the baking. (In my oven it's usually after 45minutes.) Remove the cake from the baking form and let it cool down - it will allow the excess moisture and alcohol formed during the fermentation to escape. The cake is supposedly the best the second day after baking.

Pumpkin obsession

It all started a year ago when P. coming back from work brought me a half of a beautiful giant butternut squash (at that time I had no idea what it is). With a dumb expression on my face I asked him "what the hell I'm going to do with it?". The poor butternut squash - so rejected by me in the beginning - was eventually baked in the oven and devoured in the blink of an eye. A few dozen pumpkin pancakes, cheesecakes, breads, muffins and soups later I've come to a stage when I can call myself pumpkin obsessed. Thankfully, I'm not alone - a few days ago I found out about the Pumpkin Festival (Festiwal Dyni) organized by Bea. I read with pleasure her pumpkin guide, reassuring myself that cooking and baking pumpkin daily is the perfect activity for dark and gloomy November days.

For a start - a short and simple recipe for butternut squash: cottage cheese cake. The core of the recipe is Pumpkin bread from The Joy of Baking. I modified both the proportions and the spices, cutting the amount of sugar, adding more cottage cheese layers and enhancing the bread with a tiny bit of orange aroma and peel. The cake is perfect with milk or with some Christmas tea mix as a light supper or for breakfast with a cinnamon latte.

Butternut Squash - Cottage Cheese Cake

Fits one rectangular loaf pan (29cm long, 11cm wide, 7cm deep) or one round springform pan with fluted base (23cm / 9inch).

batter:
60g walnuts
225g all purpose flour (type 550 in Poland)
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla sugar (with real vanilla)
3/4 teaspoon cinnamon
a pinch of ground nutmeg
a pinch of ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon of orange aroma or orange peel (I used powdered aroma for muffins and a bit of orange peel)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 large eggs (at room temp.)
150g white sugar
115g unsalted butter (melted and cooled down)
215g butternut squash puree*

cottage cheese filling:
225g cottage cheese (full fat content, at room temperature, turo in Hungary, twaróg in Poland. The best if it's already ground 3 times.)
75g white sugar
2 large eggs (at room temp.)
1 1/2 tablespoons of all purpose flour


Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C, place the rack in the middle and butter the pan. If you use the loaf pan, you can equally use baking paper.

Roast the walnuts: either in the oven by putting them on the baking paper and baking for about 10minutes until they're lightly brown or in the frying pan with a bit of butter, stirring frequently. Let them cool down and chop.

Using a blender (or food processor if you have one) blend the cottage cheese until it's smooth and creamy. Add sugar, process until it's smoothly incorporated. Add eggs, blending only for a short time and flour.

In a large bowl (bowl number 1) combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, vanilla sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, orange peel (or orange aroma if it's powdered, if it's liquid add it to the bowl together with the pumpkin). Mix all the ingredients together.
Take one more large bowl (bowl number 2) and whisk the eggs. Then add the sugar and melted butter, whisking until all are combined. Add the butternut squash puree, vanilla and orange extracts, walnuts. Mix well. Add the bowl number to the bowl number 2 and mix gently, just as little as it's needed so that the ingredients are combined.

Take a pan and cover the base with the batter. Then pour a layer of cottage cheese, then some more batter, cottage cheese later and on top the batter again. You can make one or two cottage cheese layers. Put the pan in the warmed up oven and bake from 50 min. to 65 min. depending on the oven. When a toothpick inserted into the cake is clean, it means your cake is good. Let the cake cool down in the pan for 15min., then take it out and enjoy! The cake is at its best the second day after baking.

*Butternut Squash Purée:
Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C. Rinse the butternut squash (or any other type of pumpkin) with water to get rid of the dirt. Dry it with the paper towel. Cut the pumpkin in half alongside. With an ice-cream scoop clean out the seeds and the fibres. Place the pumpkin - cut side down - on a flat pan covered with a baking paper. Bake in the oven until the flesh is easily pierced with fork. (from 60 to 90 minutes approximately, depending on the pumpkin size and the oven). Take out the pumpkin and let it cool down a little bit, then scoop out the pumpkin flesh. Puree the pumpkin with a blender until it's smooth and creamy. It can be kept for about a week in a fridge, or it can be frozen.

In the meantime, I'm off to the market hall to get more pumpkins :)