Crescent Rolls of Saint Martin

Here we have a pastry that is traditionally prepared in the Czech Republic during November when we celebrate the day of Saint Martin. His feats is on 11th November, the day when 80 years old Christian was buried. Crescent rolls of Saint Martin are usually prepared from yeast dough but I have chosen different recipe that uses curd cheese (or ricotta). They are equally soft and smooth and preparation takes less time. You can choose the filling that you prefer more – from plum jam, minced walnuts and hazel nut or poppy seeds.

dough:
440 g flour
1 raising powder
250 g curd cheese or ricotta or czech tvaroh
1 egg
7 spoons of water
7 spoons of melted butter
1 egg white
powdered sugar

poppy seed filling:
300 g ground poppy seeds
100 g sugar
250 ml milk
2 spoons of butter
1 spoon of honey

First prepare the filling. In the small casserole combine ground oily poppy seeds, milk and butter. Heat it up and cook on mild fire for about 5 minutes. Then add honey and sugar. Mix well and let it cool down.
In a large bowl mix flour and raising powder. Add curd cheese (ricotta or tvaroh), 1 egg, water and tepid melted butter. Knead well to have a compact smooth dough. Divide the dough into 8 equal parts. On floured surface roll each small part into flat circle and divide it further into 4 quarters that would have shape of triangles. With a spoon put the poppy seed filling on the wide edge of the triangle and then carefully roll the dough from its wider part toward sharp end. Move the crescent rolls on the tray lined with baking paper. Cover the rolls with clean kitchen cloth and leave for 30 minutes to grow. After that remove the cloth and grease the rolls with whisk egg white. Bake tin preheat oven at 170°C until the edges start to turn golden brown. When the crescent rolls get cold dust them with powdered sugar. Bon appétit!

Breakfast of greek champions

There is nothing like the taste of natural rich Greek yogurt. Internet says that traditional Greek yogurt is made from sheep’s milk and during its production strained in a cloth or paper bag, filter or even muslin to remove its whey. This results in a relatively thick consistency while preserving yogurt’s distinctive, sour taste. Combination with honey and fresh figs is delicious and can be served as desert, breakfast or brunch.

150 ml Greek yogurt
2 teaspoons of honey
1-2 fresh figs

Tarta de Santiago

Every pilgrim or tourist who visited Galicia region in northern Spain knows this traditional galician pastry offered in every cafe. The cake is traditionally made from almonds sugar and eggs and on its surface it is marked with cross of the knights of Order of Santiago and its real origin is not clear but I have learned from someone that it was brought to Spain by Jews in 16th century. Legend holds that remains of apostle Saint James were carried by boat from Jerusalem to northern Spain where he was buried on the site of what is now the city of Santiago de Compostela. During the Middle Ages, the pilgrimage to Santiago was the most important pilgrimage of the Christian world. Nowadays pilgrims from all over the world take the trek to spectacular Cathedral of Santiago not only for religious reasons but in search of more spiritual answers in their own life or just as a time of travel and exercise. Many consider this experience a spiritual adventure to remove themselves from the bustle of modern life. Tarta de Santiago serves as sweet reward after long walk. Apart of that, if you complete at least 100 km long pilgrimage, you obtain official certificate and with that all your sins from the past and the future will be forgiven.
In 2010 the EU gave Tarta de Santiago the PGI status (protected geographical indication that promotes and protects names of quality agricultural products and foodstuffs within Europe). To qualify, the cake must be made in the Autonomous Community of Galicia and must contain at least 33% almonds. Anyway, here is the traditional recipe. Its preparation is simple and its moist, honey and almond fragrance are so delicious, definitely it is worth to try it.

250 g peeled almonds
150 g sugar
5 big eggs
grated zest of 1 lemon and one 1 small orange
1 teaspoon of cinnamon
4 drops of almond extract
icing sugar for dusting

In the food processor finely grind the almonds to powder. In a bowl combine almonds with cinnamon. Using a mixer whisk sugar and eggs. Add grated zest of lemon and orange and few drops of almond extract. Combine almond mixture with batter made from eggs and sugar and mix well. Then preheat the oven to 170°C and line round baking pan (diameter 22 cm) with baking paper. Pour batter into cake pan and bake for about 40-45 min. Cake is done if a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. After the cake has cooled, place the cross cut from paper in the center of the cake and dust the top with powdered sugar. Enjoy!

French salmon quiche

pastry:
350 g flour
1 teaspoon of salt
150 g butter
20 ml water

filling:
200 g smoked salmon
4 eggs
250 ml double cream
150 g grated emental cheese
100 g cream cheese
spring onion
thyme
1 pinch of salt
ground black pepper
goat cheese on the top

To prepare the pastry put the flour and butter into the bowl of a food processor. Add a pinch of salt and blitz until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. Add enough water to bring the dough together into a firm ball. The less water you add the better, as too much will cause your pastry case to shrink in the oven. Then wrap the pastry well into cling film and chill in the fridge for 10-15 mins. Meanwhile line the tin (diameter 22 cm) with baking paper and preheat the oven at 200°C. Roll out the pastry over a surface of the tin until it is enough thin but don’t trim off the excess pastry just yet though, as it will shrink a little when it cooks. Line the pastry case with kitchen foil and fill with baking beans. Bake for 15 minutes, then remove from the oven, carefully lift the beans and foil out and continue baking for about 10 min more until pale golden. Turn the oven temperature down to 180°C.
For the filling, combine and whisk eggs, double cream, cream cheese, emental cheese with salt, pepper and spring onion cut on thin circles. Arrange pieces of salmon in the bottom of pastry case. Pour the filling over the salmon, again sprinkle with pepper and thyme and arrange slices of goat cheese on the top. Bake for about 30 mins, or until set with a slight wobble in the centre. Serve warm, or at room temperature. Bon appétit!

Chocolate muffins with blackberries

220 g flour
1 packet of baking powder
100 g caster sugar
120 ml vegetable oil
170 ml kefir
2 whole eggs
2 spoon of cocoa powder
100 g of good quality dark chocolate
1 spoon of blackberries per muffin
almonds for decoration

Preheat the oven to 170°C, set aside the muffin pan lined with paper cups. All ingredients except chocolate, blackberries and almonds mix in robot and prepare smooth dough. Grate dark chocolate and add the chocolate sprinkles in the dough. Pour the batter into paper lined muffin pan cups, filling each cup two-thirds full. Sprinkle each muffin with 1 spoon full of blackberries and with grated almonds. Bake for 30 minutes or until muffins turn golden brown, and a toothpick inserted into center of muffin comes out clean.

Poppy seed cake (makovec)

In the Czech Republic, compared to many western European countries, you can buy poppy seeds in any supermarket and they are often used as an ingredient in many tasty foods. Poppy seed are highly nutritious and contain oil with delicious aroma, therefore they have culinary use as decorative garnish, spice or thickener especially in baked goods and deserts. Poppy seeds have long been used as a folk remedy to aid sleeping, promote fertility and wealth, and even to provide supposed magical powers of invisibility. Well, the magical powers of poppy are not used in cuisine but it has been proved that poppy seeds can really help with diarrhea, abdominal pain, cough, and insomnia. My Slovakian grannie used to warm up a cup of milk with little bit of honey and poppy seeds to help when somebody could not fall asleep. Moreover, in central Europe we have lot of recipes for delicious cakes and breads containing poppy seeds. In countries of former Austro-Hungarian Empire it is very popular to serve sweet nut roll filled with poppy seed paste. It is called makovec in Czech, makovnik in Slovak, makowiec in Polish or Mohnstollen in German and you can try to prepare it according to following recipe 🙂

Dough
300 g flour
150 ml milk
1 egg
4 soupspoons of icing sugar
50 g unsalted butter
20 g fresh yeast
pitch of salt

Filing
200 g ground poppy seeds
150 g icing sugar
130 ml milk

yolk of 1 egg for brushing the surface of the roll

First warm up the milk, so it does not get too hot and you can still touch it, dissolve 2 spoons of sugar, 2 spoons of flour and all the yeast in it. Let it stay until the volume of yeast mixture doubles. Meanwhile in a large bowl combine the rest of the sugar and flour with one egg and melted but not hot butter, then add yeast mixture and knead well to have sticky thick dough. Form a ball from it, sprinkle with little bit of flour and cover the bowl with clear dish towel. Keep the dough in a warm place to let it grow for approximately 1 hour. Then move the dough onto well floured work surface and roll it into thin rectangle shape layer. In the separate bowl mix ground poppy seeds, icing sugar and milk. Then spread this mixture on the surface of the rolled dough and carefully roll it up. Move the whole roll on the baking tin with baking paper. Grease the surface of the roll with whisked egg, that gives it a nice shine. Then perforate the roll on few places with a fork to avoid cracks during baking. Finally put in the pre-heated oven on 170°C, bake for about 20 min and then lower the temperature to 120°C and continue baking for 10 more minutes until the surface start to turn golden brown. When the cake is ready and cold sprinkle it with icing sugar for decoration. Bon appetite!

Peach and ricotta tart

Here is another recipe for fruit cake that can be prepared anytime during the year. Not too sweet, not too fat and common in many Czech families.

Sweet pastry

4 yolks
1 glass of icing sugar
1/2 glass of vegetable oil
2 glasses of flour
1 baking powder
½ glass of milk
meringue from 4 egg whites
zest from one lemon
canned peaches cut to slices

Ricotta filling

In a bowl simply mix well 500 g of ricotta (czech tvaroh) with 2 yolks, 100 g of vanilla sugar, 1 glass of milk and mix well until sugar gets dissolved. The slowly add meringue from 2 egg whites.

As usual start the preparation of dough by mixing egg yolks with sugar and slowly add oil. Add sieved flour, baking powder and milk. To make the dough smoother and sponge softer, prepare meringue from yolk eggs and mix it gently into dough. Then pour the dough onto baking tray that has been greased with butter and sprinkled by flour. Decorate the surface of the cake with ricotta filling and on the top put slices of peaches. Bake for about 20 min at 170oC in a pre-heated oven, then decrease the temperature to 140oC and continue baking for 20 more minutes. Let it cool down and serve. Bon appétit!

Italian lemon ricotta tart

My favorite desserts, apart the czech ones, come from sunny and dulce Italia. I could not have this blog without at least one proper italian dessert. Ricotta tarts are a staple at bakeries throughout Italy. They vary from region to region, usually they are dense but smooth and creamy. The recipe I show you here is one of the best of all dessert recipes I have. I love the mixture of flavors of honey, port wine, vanilla and lemon. Hope you enjoy it too!

sweet pastry:
225 g butter
150 g icing sugar
2 eggs
450 g flour

ricotta filling:
350 g fresh ricotta cheese
2 whole eggs + 2 egg yolks
60 g honey
3 g cinnamon
20 g Marsala (I use 0,5 dl port wine)
35 g vanilla sugar
250 g lemon confits
meringue from: 2 egg whites + 35 g caster sugar

To make the pastry, mix the butter and sugar with electric beaters until you get a nice cream. Add the eggs and continue mixing until incorporated. Add the flour and beat just until combined. The dough should be sticky. Form a ball, cover it in plastic wrap and refrigerate for about 30 minutes.
Meanwhile you can prepare the filling by simply mixing ricotta with eggs, honey, sugar, cinnamon, sweet wine and lemon confits in a large bowl. Stir everything as smooth as possible. Make sure that the sugar and honey get well dissolved, then slowly little by little add meringue that you can prepare the the mixer.
Preheat the oven to 170°C. Butter a 26 cm springform cake tin. Briefly knead the chilled dough to soften it and with your fingers push the pastry into the base and on the sides of the tin. Cover the surface of the pastry with baking paper and with dried peas that will avoid that the dough will grown in height during baking. Bake the pastry for approximately 7 minutes, then remove peas and baking paper and fill the tart with ricotta cream. Return to oven and continue baking 15-20 minutes more, until golden. Allow the pastry to cool before serving.

Cheesy bites for champagne toast

Just before New Year’s Eve I would like to present you one exception between all the sweet deserts on this website. This savoury recipe is perfect to accompany champagne, beer, good dry wine during long night out with your friends. And it is so easy to prepare!

250 g margarine
250 g plain flour
250 g blue cheese
1 whole egg

For decoration:
Mixture of one yolk and 2 tea spoon of milk
Whole cumin, sweet paprika, walnuts, almonds

Combine all ingredients in good powerful food processor and mix well until you get smooth dough and you cannot feel big pieces of blue cheese or margarine. It is not necessary to leave the dough to rest in the fridge. As far as the dough has good consistency, you can directly start to roll it out and cut your favourite shapes. Place them on the baking tray lined with baking paper. In the small bowl whip egg yolk with small volume of milk, smear surface of all biscuits and decorate them with walnuts, with whole cumin, sweet paprika or almond. Bake in preheated oven at 160oC for about 10 min. Happy New Year and cheers!

Auntie’s luxury tart

This is desert is little bit more laborious but surely it is worth the effort. So far everybody fell in love into this smooth tart. It makes every occasion litlle more special…Thanks to my aut for such a great recipe!

Dough:
4 yolks
150 g icing sugar
3/4 glass of water
1/2 glass of vegetable oil
200 g baking flour
2 small spoons of dark cocoa powder
thick meringue from 4 egg whites

Cream:
500 ml milk
2 x vanilla pudding powder
100 g caster sugar
250 g margarine
100 g crushed hazelnuts

Topping:
250 ml of cream for whipping
50 g vanilla sugar
100 g of dark chocolate for decoration

Using an electric blender whip egg yolks and icing sugar into a cream. Continue mixing and little by little add oil. Add sieved flour, cocoa powder and water and prepare nice homogenous dough. To make the dough smoother, prepare thick meringue from yolk eggs and gently mix it into dough. Pour the mixture onto baking tray that has been greased with butter and sprinkled by flour. Bake about 20-30 min at 180oC in preheated oven. Try not to open the oven during baking and then let the pastry to cool down slowly, so it does not shrink.

 Next step is vanilla cream with hazelnuts. You simply follow the instructions for preparation of vanilla pudding only with one exception – use half of volume of milk. In the pot you warm up milk and mix it with pudding powder and sugar. Continue mixing until the boiling pudding gets thick. Then turn off the fire, add margarine by small pieces and continue mixing until it gets dissolved in the warm pudding. At the end you add crushed hazelnuts. When the cream gets cold you may spread it on the top of the pastry.

The top layer of the tart forms whipped cream and sprinkles of the dark chocolate. I highly recommend to avoid pre-prepare whipped creams in the spray. Homemade whipped cream is usually much thicker and you better use less sugar (just one vanilla sugar is enough) because we have already sweet cream on the tart. Decorate the surface of the tart with grated dark sugar. Keep the tart in the cold place and leave the flavours to mix at least few hours before serving it. Bon appétit!