Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Bread with sun-dried tomatoes

One of the italian savoury breads. MY mom really loves these breads! And after making this one, I have to say I couldn't really stop eating it myself either. With a bit of cheese on it, it makes a wonderful lunch! Of course you can also use it when you barbecue, eat italian or just random or for any other occasion when you feel like eating this bread.
I can't really comment much on this recipe or the way it went. It was nice to eat. It was a bread-machine recipe, which makes it so much easier and everything all went fine just in the first go!

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Ingredients:
1/3 cup sun-dried tomatoes (25 gram)
1/2 cup + 1 tablespoon water (130 ml)
1/4 cup + 1 tablespoon milk (70 ml)
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil (or any other)
3 cups white bread flour (325 gram)
1/2 cup whole-wheat bread flour (50 gram)
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese (40 gram) (or a bit more xP)
1 tablespoon salt
1 tablespoon sugar
3/4 tablespoon dried yeast


1. Put the dun-dried tomatoes in a small bowl and add some water. Leave them to well for about 15 minutes.
2. Chop the tomatoes finely and put them aside. Use the water in the bowl to make the 1/2 cup + 1 tablespoon water you need. Add more water if needed.
3. Pour the water with the milkd and pol in the bread pan.
4. Sift the flour over the breadpan until all the flour is gone and the water is completely covered. Sprinkle over the Parmesan and then the salt and sugar.
5. Make a small well in the middle of the flour and add the yeast. Do not let the yeast touch the water yet.
6. Start the breadmachine in normal setting, small bread, medium crust. If your bread machine makes a sound when you can add anything, then add the sun-dried tomatoes. Otherwise just add the tomatoes during the last 5 minutes of kneading, or when you're unsure, when the dough has already formed a ball and the machine is still kneading.
7. Wait for the bread cycle to end and take the bread out of the pan and put it on a rack to cool.

Tip: Check the dough a few times during the first kneading cycle. You might want to add some more water or flour according to how wet or dry the dough is.

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And oh I hate my pictures! I couldnt get the lighting right for this one! It was a bit late in the evening already and the sun was going down and I simply cant wait until the next day to make some pictures of a bread. I want to eat it then! You'll have to bear with me for now! As soon as I have the money and time I want to take a little course on how to make pictures right. But it takes time. It might also take some time finding a place that can teach me that as well actually...

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Coconut Delight

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You know when you really like to eat or snack something and you suddenly find the recipe and you just HAVE TO make it? That's what I had with these. I found a recipe of fudge too, all in a recipe book that my grandmother gave me. I haven't been able to make fudge yet. I'm simply too lazy to buy the ingredients, and I actually forgot to buy them when I was doing the groceries as wel!
But make to the delicious coconut delights! Yes, I made that name up myself. In dutch they are called 'kokos makronen', but I simply couldn't find a translation anywhere. They're kind of small like pralines, but these have a fresh coconut taste and they're sweet at the same time! It exited me that I could actually make something like this too! It turned out to be a real succes for me ^^
The recipe was very simple and you simple cant go wrong on this one! But if you only have a handmixer, you're going to get a very sore arm of this! I know I did with my electric mixer!
I can't wait to try more little pralines or bonbons and maybe make my own little high tea tower with all these little delights! But that will take some more time, for now, just the coconut recipe it is!

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Ingredients:
3 eggwhites
210 gram confectioners/powdered sugar
zest and 1 tablespoon juice from 1 lemon
250 gram desiccated coconut
100 gram chocolate


1. With an electric mixer mix the eggwhites until very stiff (or just until they don't get any stiffer).
2. Add the confectioners sugar spoon by spoon and mix well after each addition. Do NOT add all the confectioners sugar in one go, cuz this will cause the stiffy egg to collapse under the weight and the result won't be very pleasing anymore.
3. Add the lemon juice and mix again. Then add the lemon zest and mix AGAIN.
4. Now add the coconut, bit by bit, and mix well every time. You can do more than a spoon at a time this time though!
5. Preheat the oven at 150 degrees Celsius or 300 degrees Fahrenheit. Line an oventray with a baking sheet or silicone sheets and form little balls of the mixture and put them on the tray. Using two spoons is the handiest; the mixture really sticks to your fingers. (Then again, it gives you a good reason to lick it off! ^^)
6. Leave the coconut delight in the oven for about 15-20 minutes or until the top becomes a bit golden brown.
7. Melt the chocolate au bain marie (double boil). Take it off the fire and use a pastry bag, fork or anything you can think of to trace thin lines across the coconut delights. Leave to cool and done!

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They're ready for eating now! It does really well with christmas or as a little sweet at a party! People will love them! :)

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Friday, September 4, 2009

Cranberry brownies with a lemon twist

I love brownies and I'm not the only one. Everyone in my family loves brownies and I don't actually know anyone that doesn't! Apart from brownies I like everything that has cranberries in it too, so when I was the recipe I had to try it out. I had to change it a bit because I didn't have all the ingredients which eventually gave it a lemon twist to it. Nevertheless they were very nice and I loved eating them for lunch every time!

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Ingredients:
200 gram dark chocolate
200 gram (unsalted) butter
3 big eggs
175 grams sugar
Grated peel of one lemon
200 gram flour
100 gram cranberries


1. Mix the butter into the chocolate (break into smaller pieces if needed) in a small pan. Double-boil them and stir occasionaly until the mixture is fully melted and well blend.
2. Take the pan off the pan filled with water and leave it to cool.
3. With an electric mixer or whisk beat the eggs until creamy. Add the sugar and lemon peel and mix again until the mixture becomes thick.
4. Add the chocolate-mixture in three additions, mixing well after each one.
5. Sift the flour above the bowl and mix in with an electric mixer or spoon. Do this in a few additions as well.
6. When everything is mixed in properly add the cranberries and mix again.
7. Grease a brownie-tin (or other tin) or line it with grease-proof (/baking) paper. Poor the mixture into the tin. You can also poor the mixture into little cupcake shapes.
8. Bake in a pre-heated oven at about 175 degrees Celsius or 350 degrees Fahrenheit for about 20 minutes or until a food pin or fork comes out almost dry. Leave the brownies to cool before removing from the tray.

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There you have yourself some brownies to last a while (or perhaps not). I really enjoyed these brownies and the recipe was very simple and easy to follow. It didn't take much time in the kitchen and I still had something very nice. The family loved it as well!
I had a bit of mixture left when I filled my tin so I made a few brownie-cupcakes. Those turned out very good as well! though the inside started off a bit wet, after leaving them for about a day they were no different from the "normal" brownies.
All in all another recipe to add to the list! ;)

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If you don't like them all too much or you just like playing with food, you can always turn them into a brownie-tower! xP

Vanilla pan

It's my own version to the melon pan! :D I really want to make melon pan some time, or taste it, but they just don't sell it here and they don't sell melon extract (one of the main ingredients of the melon pan) either.. So, for that part, I'm screwed, but that doesnt mean I can adjust it to something that requires ingredients they do sell around here.. So, I came up with vanilla pan! It's a small sweet bun (very delicious!!) that consists out of two layers. It was a bit awkward to make, but the result was stunning! Next time, I promised myself, we're not only going to make something delicious, we're going to make it look nice as well! I really want to turn them into little turtles!! x3

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Ingredients:
Bread dough:
300 gram (white) bread flour
1 1/4 tablespoon instant dry yeast (6 grams)
36 gram caster sugar
1 teaspoon salt (5 grams)
1 1/4 teaspoon milk powder (6 grams) (I used powdered coffeemilk for this)
250 ml warm water
30 gram (unsalted) butter (room temperature)

Top layer:
80 gram (unsalted) butter (room temperature)
90 gram caster sugar
80 gram egg
200 gram cake flour
2 gram baking powder
vanilla extract (or any other extract for a different taste)


Bread dough:
1. Sift the flour and add the sugar, salt and milk powder into a large mixing bowl. Add the yeast as last and mix the mixture until everything is well blend in.
2. To let the water adjust to the texture, add the warm water a little at a time, in about 4 to 5 times (or more). Don't add it all in one time!
3. Mix the ingredients with a spoon or fork, until it is too firm to continue. Take the dough out and continue kneeding on a lightly floured surface.
4. Kneed the dough for about 5 minutes or until it no longer sticks to the surface. Add more water if the dough is too dry, or more flour if it is too wet.
5. Flatten the dough and butter in the middle. Fold the edges of the dough around the butter, to trap it inside. Start kneeding again. This will be a bit awkward (it was for me), but after a while the butter will be absorbed into the dough. This could take about 10 minutes.
6. Place the dough in a slightly butter-greased bowl and cover it with a damp towel or cling wrap. Leave it in a warm place for about an hour or until doubled in size. In the meanwhile start making the top layer.

Top layer:
1. Add the sugar and butter into a bowl. Mix these using an electric mixer until the mixture becomes creamy and pale.
2. Add a little bit of the vanilla extract and mix again.
3. Put the eggs in a different bowl and lightly beat them with a whisk or electric mixer.
4. Add the eggs into the butter-mixture, little bit at a time (about 3-5 additions). Mix well after each addition.
5. In a different bowl sift the cake flour and baking powder.
6. Add this mixture to the butter mixture in about 3-5 additions. With the electric mixer, or a spoon, mix everything well. Devide the mixture into 12 portions (this isn't neccisary). Leave the mixture in the fridge until you need it (or for half an hour).

Bread dough:
1. Kneed and punch the dough again while making sure to press all the trapped air out.
2. Devide the dough into 12 portions and shape them into little balls. Place the balls onto a lightly greased or grease-proof paper-lined oven tray. Cover with a damp cloth or cling wrap again and leave to proof for about 10 minutes.

Finishing touch:
1. Remove the top layer from the fridge and devide it into 12 portions if you have not already.
2. Take two pieces of cling wrap or plastic bags and on one put a little dough ball. Flatten it a bit and put a flattened ball of pastry layer on top.

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3. Cover it with the second cling wrap or platic bag and roll the bags with dough between your hands into a ball. Make sure the two mixtures "attach" to eachother.
4. Remove the cling wrap or plastic bags and put the ball back onto the oven tray. Make sure the top layer doesn't cover the bread dough all the way down to the tray. Leave about a centimeter/inch left for the dough to be able to rise in the oven.
5. Repeat the past steps 11 times, until all the buns are done.

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6. When all balls are on the baking sheet you can start decorating them. Using knives, forks, cookie cutters or anything you can find to decorate the balls as you want.
7. Leave the buns for 50 minutes to an hour. Preferably in a warm place. It's not needed to cover them this time.
8. Bake the buns in a pre-heated oven at about 170 degrees Celsius or 340 degrees Fahrenheit for about 10 minutes or until they turn goldbrown and a food pin or fork comes out dry.

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There you have your delicious Vanilla pan! I really loved these breads and didn't add anything to them, but you could put sugar or jam inside or cover them with powdered sugar. I'm defenitely going to make this one again and this time make little turtles!