Classic bagels

Autumn is here and before we know it winter is on the doorstep. For some people this is the worst time of the year, for myself the short days just means more time to spend in front of the open fire. Lots of films to watch, hot ports to drink and citrus fruits in season is all great things that makes the darker time of the year more bearable to me.
Other things to kill some time is of course baking, that will never become boring and there will always be someone up for freshly baked goods. A couple of weeks ago I had another go at making bagels, they turned out really nice. A crusty outside sprinkled with sesame seeds, a chewy inside with a good, dense texture; everything a bagel is about. So with a few bagels in the freezer even the darkest mornings can become really enjoyable. Serve them toasted with cream cheese. Or do you prefer marmalade or jam? The topping is really up to yourself, I can only provide you with the recipe.

Cinnamon bun crisps

Just as pancakes has its own day here in Ireland, the cinnamon bus has its own day in Sweden. This day is the 4th of October and I sure did my duty as a Swede abroad and baked some buns. When buns are fresh they are such a delight to bite into, but after a day or two they loose their freshness and a lot of leftover buns end up in the bin. Then I read about what delicious things they can be turned into; bread and butter pudding, french toast, grilled into a sweet bruschetta topped with apples and mascarpone...the list is long but one idea really caught my interest.
The bun is sliced thinly and put on a baking tray or wire rack, toasted in the oven and then dried out on a low heat to create crisp, biscotti-like biscuits to serve on the side of tea or coffee. I tried and it worked a treat. The bun is so rich itself that even though it's dried out it tastes sweet and buttery.
So just get some old buns, slice them up and toast on 175C for 5min, turn down the heat to 120 and continue to cook until the buns are dry and crisp.

Whiskey and cardamom truffles

It has been so quiet here on hoglundshomemade, some of you might wonder what I have been up to. I have not forgotten about my blog, not at all. I have just been working so much lately that there has simply been no time for experimenting in the kitchen. But things are looking brighter and I am now ready to start cooking up some yummy stuff again.
October is coming to its end and that means Halloween. Not my favourite holiday I have to say, but any reason to eat chocolate is good enough for me. There is all sorts of chocolates and sweets around at this time of the year, big bags of them that can be bought very cheap in the supermarkets, but unfortunately this stuff is not very tasty at all. Most of it is full of unnecessary . "Since when do the put paprika extract in chocolate?" I asked myself one day when reading the label of a well known chocolate bar. It just does not seem right.
After the dry spell in my kitchen and a few too many of those not so tasty chocolate bars I decided to make some really tasty chocolates but without all those unnecessary ingredients. An old and well tried recipe for chocolate truffles became very handy as it is very easy and does not require a lot of ingredients; some good quality chocolate, cream, butter and which ever flavour you like. The day i made the truffles I was loking for something rich, heavy and a bit on the boozy side. A dark chocolate and cardamom truffle flavoured with whiskey is what I made and they were so delicious. We had them in the evening after dinner with a cup of green tea, but they go just as well with black tea or coffee for those who like that. This recipe makes about 12-15 truffles.

100 grams dark chocolate (70%)
100ml cream
20 grams butter
20ml whiskey
2 cardamom pods

100 grams dark chocolate(70%), cocoa powder

Crush the cardamom pods open so the little black seeds come out, crush the seeds lightly. Chop the chocolate into small pieces and place in a bowl. Bring the cream and cardamom to boil, pour through a fine sieve over the chocolate, stir until the chocolate is melted. Add butter and whiskey, stir until smooth and shiny. Chill for at least 4 ours, preferably over night.
Dust your hands lightly with cocoa powder and roll teaspoons of the truffle mix into little balls. Chill for 1 hours. Melt the chocolate and roll each truffle in the chocolate until the surface is covered, roll in cocoa powder and chill. Keep in the fridge in an air tight container.

Lemon custard hearts

In the kitchen there is a box full of the things I use when I bake, there is muffin cups, icing, cookie cutters, different tools and ingredients and then there is a load of little metal tins in different shapes, sizes and varieties that are very valuable to me. I got them from my mum, and she got them from her mum and I just love using them because of the history to them. When making these shortbread biscuits filled with custard, a very typical Swedish treat usually made in heart shaped tins, I felt quite lucky to come from a family with people who shared and shares my interest in cooking and baking. My grandmother was a very good home-cook and baker, she made the most amazing chocolate fudge and baked the yummiest buns with almond paste...
When I decided to use the heart shaped tins and make these pastries I made a small change to the recipe, not so surprising at this stage...do I ever follow a recipe completely I wonder? It was only a tiny change though; the vanilla flavoured custard, as the recipe called for, was swapped for a lemon flavoured custard because I like tangy things and I had no good vanilla at home. Simple like that!

Dough
120 grams plain flour
100 grams butter
30 grams cornflour
25 grams caster sugar

Beat butter and sugar until pale and fluffy. Add both types of flour gradually while stirring into a smooth dough. Let the dough chill in the fridge while making the custard.

Custard
1 egg yolk
100ml milk
1/2tbsp cornflour
1tsp caster sugar
zest of one lemon+2tbsp juice

Mix egg yolk and cornflour. Heat milk, sugar and lemon zest until it nearly starts to boil. Pour the liquid over the egg yolk while whisking. Put the mix back into the pot and on a medium heat bring the mix to 85C, or until it starts to thicken, while stirring constantly. When thick (but not scrambled!!) take off the heat and add the lemon juice. Let cool down before straining the lemon zest away.

Roll out half of the pastry and line 8 small pie tins or what ever moulds you are using. Fill with the custard and roll out the rest of the pastry to cover the top. Bake for 10-15min on 200C until golden.

Pear, chocolate and almond tart

A few years ago I lived in an area in Dublin with fabulous gourmet food shops. Unfortunately they tend to be quite expensive so for daily grocery shopping they're not ideal, but for the occasional treat they do fill their purpose. One of these shops is a vegetable and fruit shop that also stocks farm fresh eggs, hand made cheeses, pasta, jars of all sorts of condiments, grains and pulses...The list is nearly endless and I always seem to find things in there that I might have been looking for in several other shops without any luck.
The other day I did not really need anything from there, I just cycled by and decided to have a look and there they were; these amazingly pretty pears, they were red, green and shiny. To pretty not to buy so I got two of them not even knowing what to do with them. But then an idea took place in my head after finding both ground almonds and dark chocolate in my cup board. Think chocolate frangipan in a cocoa flavoured pie crust, on top of that these juicy pears baked until slightly caramelized. Success.

Pastry

25 grams caster sugar

50 grams butter,at room temperature

65 grams plain flour

10 grams cocoa powder
1 egg yolk

Almond filling

75 grams butter,at room temperature

50 grams caster sugar

50 grams dark chocolate, finely chopped or grated
75 grams ground almonds

1tbsp plain flour

1 egg+1egg yolk

1 pear

Mix flour, cocoa powder and sugar, rub in the butter until it forms crumbles. Add the egg yolk and quickly mix into a dough. Roll out between cling film and line the baking tin. Put in the fridge while making the almond filling.

Beat butter and sugar pale and fluffy. Add egg and egg yolk and continue to beat until smooth and well combined. Fold in almonds, flour and chocolate. Spread out in the pie crust. Peel the pear and cut into very thin slices. Arrange the pear slices on top of the almond filling and bake for 30-40min on 160C. Serve warm with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.

Chocolate and hazelnut muffins

I love to bake but find it terribly hard to control myself when I keep baked goods in the house, it is as if I cant walk by the kitchen without having another little sample. Lucky I have a job where I get to bake most days and that way get it all out of my system before I come home.
I do however still bake a lot at home, mainly before having guests, or if I am going to someone I can bring some fresh pastries. That way I can nearly pretend I am working and don't have to eat it all myself.
The other night though I just had a craving for something sweet to go with a cup of tea. After a look around in my cupboard I found some ground hazelnuts and decided to make some muffins. Hazelnuts are so delicious when toasted and added to cakes or muffins and goes really well with chocolate. So there it was; chocolate and hazelnut muffins. This make 8 normal sized muffins.

1 egg
75 grams butter
130 grams caster sugar
100 grams plain flour
30 grams ground hazelnuts
1.5tsp baking powder
75ml milk
1 1/2tsp cocoa powder

Melt butter and put aside to cool down. Combine flour, cocoa powder, hazelnuts and baking powder. Whisk egg and sugar until very fluffy and pale, add butter and stir until smooth. Add the dry ingredients through a sieve and fold in, last add milk and stir until all is well blended. Fill muffin cups to 2/3 and bake on 175C for 20min or until a skewer comes out dry. Let cool down.

Slow roast tomatoes

In the shops this time of the year the fruit and vegetable section is full of fantastic surprises; berries of all kind (locally sourced), green leafy vegetables, melons of all kinds and of course tomatoes. This really is the time for this humble fruit (yep, not a veggie) to shine and I eat tomatoes nearly every day in some form. The other day I got a packet of mixed baby tomatoes, some were round, others were yellow and another few were kind of oval shaped. They all got halved and put in the oven with some olive oil and garlic and were left to sit there for a few hours on a low heat. Out came the most delicious little dried up tomatoes, still a bit juicy but just all the good flavour capsuled in one tiny tomato half. Tonight I will put a few into a chickpea and chorizo stew, tomorrow I think they will be great on some bruschetta with mozzarella cheese...there is plenty of things to do with these tomatoes.

250 grams mixed baby tomatoes
3 cloves of garlic
olive oil, salt, black pepper and a sprinkle of caster sugar

Half the tomatoes and put on a baking tray with the flesh side up. Drizzle with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Sprinkle a little bit of caster sugar on top and place 3 crushed garlic cloves in the tray. Bake for 3-4 hours on 100C.

Raspberry and yogurt sorbet

Even though July has not been so very summery as one could wish for, the summer generally is a good reason enough to make sorbet. A week ago I made the most incredible lemon yogurt sorbet with a good splash of limoncello..it was creamy, tart and refreshing in the same time. Inspired by that lemony goodness I decided to make sorbet again, still with yogurt because it really takes this otherwise quite icy dessert to a different level, this time with raspberries though.
I use liquid glucose in my sorbets and ice creams, it stops it from freezing rock hard and makes it more smooth and creamy. The addition of some sort of alcohol will also prevent it from freezing too hard. Liquid glucose can be replaced with white corn syrup and of course you can leave the booze out if there will be children eating the dessert.
I have an ice cream maker at home but for this small amount of sorbet I just make it by hand with the help of a plastic container and a freezer.
This recipe will make 6 good sized portions.

200 grams raspberries (fresh or defrosted)
200ml water
140 grams caster sugar
40 grams glucose
200ml yogurt
20ml limoncello

Combine water, raspberries and sugar in a pot. Bring to boil and let simmer for 10min. Strain through a fine sieve and add glucose, stir until melted and let cool down. Stir in yogurt and limoncello to the raspberry mix and freeze in a plastic container. Keep stirring the mix every 20min or so until the mix is frozen but not solid.

About soufflé...

Usually I do not put up posts on my blog unless I have a picture to present with the recipe. This post is different though, this is just me not being able to help myself from going on about the most wonderful dessert I had last night. I want to tell everyone about my success in making a souffle. But no, there is no recipe, and no picture. That will all come when I decide to make this again.

It all started with Martin deciding to cook us dinner, a real treat for me since I do most of the cooking in this house. So there he was cooking up a lovely Vietnamese stir fry that has become his signature dish, it is really tasty but still quite light so after dinner we were both looking for a little sweet or something to round up our meal with. I was happy to come up with something yummy for dessert and I decided to go for something I have been wanting to make for a good while now.

Here is the part when I confess something I am not proud of; until yesterday I had never tasted a soufflé. Ok, more precise, I have cooked soufflés in places I worked in, I have had a tiny bite but no, I have not ever ordered this fluffy, light dessert in a restaurant or made it at home and actually savoured the whole delight. Yesterday it all happened, I made it from scratch, cooked it (lying on the floor looking into the oven to make sure it was rising the way it should), I even took it out and was able to leave it for a couple of minutes before digging straight into it and oh!! There it was, a perfectly, not sinking, light raspberry dream with tiny chocolate pieces coming through it.

I made them quite big and was worried we might not be able to finish them, I even told Martin he could leave some if he was not enjoying it. That was before we tasted it, because when we did the room went quiet and we scraped the dishes in the end to get the most out of it. It was unlike anything else we ever ate. It was just melting on the tongue and I kept wanting more and more after each bite.

Now some of you might think I'm crazy, because you all know how to make souffles with your hands tied back and just don't understand all the fuzz I have created around this subject. Some of you might just be terrified of the whole procedure of making something that involves buttering ramekins, folding egg whites and for gods sake no opening of the oven unless you know for sure the dessert is ready to take out! I feel for both parts here because I am a somewhat mix between both opinions, I used to feel it was a lot of hassle and too many moments to pay attention to. But I can also safely say that it is not rocket science, just a little bit of common sense and a lot of attention paid to the recipe.

So go on, find a flavour that you like, find a soufflé recipe with this flavour and go ahead and make them. You will get standing ovations, or at least very pleased and impressed guests.

Almond and cardamom biscotti

As a chef it is important to find basic recipes that always works. Once you have one you can play around a little and create all sorts of taste sensations. Remember not to move too far from the original recipe though when it comes to baking, there is a lot of chemistry involved in getting the right amounts of flour, sugar, eggs and butter to come together and turn out to be the perfect pastry, cake or biscuit.
This biscotti recipe is more or less foolproof, I have never failed when making them and I still return to the recipe on a regular basis. The only thing that changes is the flavour. One day I use hazelnuts and chocolate, like here. Another day I might not use nuts at all but throw in some dried fruit and spices. Another day I just keep it simple and use almonds like the original recipe calls for and then just spice it up a little with some freshly ground cardamom. Like here:

220 grams plain flour

220 grams sugar

110 grams almonds

2tsp baking powder

3 eggs
1tsp ground cardamom

Combine all dry ingredients in a bowl. Add the eggs and quickly bring together to a loose dough. Divide into 3 pieces and roll out to the length of the baking tray you are using. You need a good bit of flour on the surface you are working on to prevent the dough from sticking. Bake for 12-15min on 220C. Cut into biscuits about 2cm thick. Put back into the oven and turn the heat down to 50C and let dry out(takes roughly an hour). Keep the biscotti in an air tight jar. Serve with tea or coffee, great for dunking.

Spinach and feta cheese pasty

Despite being quite damp and rainy, Ireland still seems to be the perfect climate for growing some fruits and vegetables. Blackberries, strawberries, cabbage and potatoes are just a few to be mentioned. I can only call myself lucky for having a boyfriend who's dad grows all sorts of vegetables, fruits and berries in his garden. Last week I was given a big bag of Swiss chard, a green leafy vegetable similar to spinach. What to do with this one might wonder, but I already knew... a whole wheat flour dough, a piece of feta cheese, some garlic and nutmeg and there they were; Pasties. Basically it is like a savoury pastry that it perfect to eat for lunch with a side salad, or maybe have it for dinner together with a bowl of soup.
There are plenty of yummy fillings to choose from but I have to say that the spinach and feta cheese one is a really good combination. It is vegetarian but filled with iron, vitamins and protein. So go ahead, make some pasties, freeze them individually and you will always have a quick meal ready to just defrost and heat up.
This recipe makes 8 pasties.

Dough
250ml milk
7 grams dried yeast
25ml olive oil
1tsp salt
1tsp honey
200 grams plain flour
140 grams whole wheat flour.

Bring the milk to 45C in a pot. Dissolve the yeast in the milk and add honey, olive oil and salt. Stir in the whole wheat flour. Add most of the plain flour, you might not need all of it. Knead the dough for a few minutes until elastic and neither too wet or dry. Let rest for about and or or until it has doubled in size. Meanwhile make the filling.

Feta and spinach filling
500 grams spinach or Swiss chard
75-100 grams feta cheese
2 cloves of garlic
2tbsp olive oil
nutmeg, salt, pepper

Wash and rinse the spinach, remove any big stalks. Finely dice the garlic. Heat up olive oil in a frying pan, add the garlic and sweat for 30 seconds, add the spinach and cook until it is wilted. Drain in a sieve. Let cool down and chop roughly. Crumble the feta cheese and mix with the spinach, add a good sprinkle of nutmeg and season with salt and pepper.

Tip the dough onto a floured surface. Divide the dough into 8 pieces, roll each piece into a ball. Roll out the dough balls to flat rounds with a rolling pin, the rounds needs to be about 15cm across. Divide the filling onto the dough rounds, place it on one half of the dough, fold the other dough over the filling. Use a fork to seal the edges. Brush with a little milk or an egg yolk. Bake for 15-20min on 200C.

Strawberry, lemon and mascarpone tart

It has been quiet on the blog lately, apologies, but my time has been dedicated to put myself out of my non employed misery and get a job. Success; I am now the proud employee of a well known Italian/Irish company with a good few restaurants in Dublin. I can not explain the relief of getting back into a professional kitchen and do some hard work. Half time I will be working on pastry (yes I am one lucky girl with a job that also is my hobby) and the rest of the time will be spent cooking lovely Italian food.
It is stressful trying to get a job though, it takes a lot of time and energy. But I am still cooking and baking away at home. On Friday afternoon when I passed by a lovely fruit and vegetable shop in Rathmines on my way home from work the rain started pouring down. I took that as a sign to stop and seek shelter, also I wanted to see what this shop had to offer. Lucky me was in for a real treat, I left the shop with 3 punnets of Irish strawberries for only 5euro. They were absolutely amazing. I know, it was only strawberries but one can not wish for better strawberries than the ones I bought that day. They were small in size, glossy, juicy and perfectly sweet.
I decided to make the most of those strawberries and baked a pie crust with brown sugar and oat flakes (a crumbly and crusty melt-in-the-mouth story), filled it with lemon flavoured mascarpone and topped it with 2 punnets of strawberries and a lemon glaze. Oh I do not know where to start to try and describe this dessert, it was just delicious and a true pleasure to eat.
This recipe makes 8 portions.

Pie crust
75 grams butter
50 grams oat flakes
60 grams plain flour
20 grams brown sugar
2 squares dark chocolate

Combine all dry ingredients, rub the butter into the dry mix and bring together to a crumbly dough. Press the crumbles into a greased pie tin. Chill for an hour before pricking with fork and baking for 20min on 180C. Grate the chocolate on top of the pie crust when still warm. Let cool down.

Mascarpone filling
200 grams mascarpone cheese
20 grams caster sugar
zest of 1 lemon, juice of 1/2 lemon

Beat mascarpone, sugar, zest and juice together until smooth. Fill the pie crust with the mascarpone. Top with 400 grams of halved strawberries.

Lemon glaze
3 tbsp lemon marmalade
3 tbsp water

Melt the marmalade in the water on a low heat. Strain through a fine sieve, to remove any lemon peel, let cool down to room temperature before spreading over the strawberries on the tart.

Tzatziki

With the summer here there is always more things happening, week days and weekends. My favourite part of the summer must be the BBQ's, what a perfect way to cook food. A good quality piece of meat and some nice salads, dips and bread is all it takes to create the perfect summer meal. With all the fresh fruit and vegetables in season that is easy to achieve. Depending on what meat you decide to put on your BBQ there is plenty of options when it comes to the sides, but this Greek yogurt and cucumber dip seems to go well with pretty much anything. Personally I like it best with pork steak or chicken. In Greece they serve it with fresh, crusty bread and that is yummy too.

200 grams Greek yogurt
1/2 cucumber
1 clove of garlic
fresh herbs: oregano, mint or dill (I prefer oregano)
salt, pepper, olive oil

Cut the cucumber in half length ways and take the seeds out. Grate quite coarse and sprinkle with salt, let rest in a bowl for 30min,. Squeeze the juice out from the cucumber through a fine sieve. Chop garlic finely and add to the yogurt together with the cucumber and herbs. Season with salt and freshly ground black pepper, drizzle with olive oil.

Yogurt panna cotta on chocolate fudge brownie

In Italy I was once served panna cotta that was just out of this world. A display fridge full of desserts was placed next to the bar, the waiter took a panna cotta out of it's mould and poured a ladle full of chocolate sauce on top before bringing it to our table. The vanilla flavoured cream pudding melted in my mouth, feather light texture, and the warm chocolate sauce was perfectly rich and gooey.
Last week we had dinner guests and I decided to make dessert. I have wanted to make panna cotta ever since that evening in Italy and now was the perfect opportunity. Replacing some of the cream with Greek yogurt makes this dessert light and fresh. Serving it on top of chocolate brownie is indulging and of course optional. I also added cardamom to the recipe bit that is optional too and can be replaced with vanilla. This is a recipe for 4 small panna cotta so if you decide to serve without the brownie I'd double the recipe.
Panna cotta
75 ml cream
150 ml Greek yogurt
40 grams caster sugar
1 leaf of gelatin

Soak the gelatin leaf in cold water. Bring the cream and sugar (and cardamom if using) to boil. Stir in the Greek yogurt. Squeeze the water out of the gelatin and add to the cream mix. Stir until smooth. Pour into 4 cups or moulds, let set for 4 hours or over night before serving.

Chocolate brownie
75 grams butter
1 egg
100 grams caster sugar
40 grams flour
2 tbsp cocoa powder
pinch of salt

Melt the butter and let cool down. Add all other ingredients and stir until smooth and even. Bake for 15min on 160C.

To assemble the panna cotta and brownie; Cut out rounds of the brownie with a cup or mould the same size as the panna cotta. Dip the panna cotta in hot water and tip it out of its mould on top of the brownie. Serve with some fresh berries or a dusting of cocoa powder.

Italian meringue

If you ever think of making meringues, and you should, this is the recipe to use. Sugar and water is boiled to a thick syrup that is poured over beaten egg whites and whisked until cooled, this creates a very firm glossy mixture that can be used as an ingredient in mousses, parfaits and ice creams, or just piped into little bite sized meringues that will look very professional. You will need a hand held electric mixer and a kitchen thermometer. It might sound like a lot of work but once you take time to read the recipe and follow it you wont regret making Italian meringues. The recipe here will make a small batch, maybe a good idea to start small and just double it next time. I made my meringues very small and got about 15 out of this batch.

60 grams caster sugar
20 grams water
30 grams egg white
6 grams caster sugar

Bring the larger amount of sugar and the water to boil in a pot, turn down the heat and let simmer. When the mix comes to 115C start beating the egg white with the small amount of sugar, beat to quite firm peaks. When the sugar syrup reaches 120-124C start pouring over the egg whites while beating. Continue beating until the mix is completely cold. Pipe or spoon the mix into little meringues on a baking tray lined with baking paper. Bake for 3H on 80C.

Rye loaf for toasting

Having a passion for baking can sometimes be tricky when there is only two of us eating my baked goods, we simply can not eat everything while it is fresh and I don't know how many times I have ended up throwing away things. Personally I don't eat that much bread anymore and for breakfast I mostly eat cracker bread rather than toast. Martin on the other hand loves a couple of slices of toast with beans for breakfast. We all know that toast bread does not have to be fresh to be tasty. Brilliant I think because it allows me to bake loaves of bread, slice it and freeze. Toast bread like this does not even have to be defrosted but goes straight into the toaster from the freezer. Here is a version that is easy to make and it is quite healthy too, usually I put mixed seeds in it but if you like nuts or maybe dried fruit that work well too.

7 grams dried yeast
250ml water
50 grams rye flakes
50 grams rye flour
200-250 grams strong white flour
1tbsp honey
1tbsp salt
50 grams mixed seeds


Bring 200ml of the water to the boil, add rye flakes, rye flour and seeds and stir into a thick porridge. Let cool down to room temperature. Dissolve the yeast in the remaining 50ml water(luke warm) and add to the rye mix. Add honey, salt and half the flour. Work as much flour in to the dough so it it easy to knead and not too sticky, but be careful not to add too much flour, the dough will get to compact and have difficulties to rise properly. Knead the dough for 5 min and let prove until doubled in size. On a floured surface knead into a loaf, put in a loaf tin and let prove again until doubled in size. Bake for 30-40min on 220C.

Brown butter pecan shortbread

Back home there is a very old fashioned grinder we used when grinding nuts for certain pastries. It is attached to a table top and lets you by hand grind nuts or coffee in to fine powder. Nuts and coffee can of course be bought ground already but there is something special about making things on your own. At a recent trip to Stockholm I came across one on these grinders in a little old style hard ware shop. I bought it and brought it back to Ireland and was very eager to try it out. Having a bag of pecan nuts in my cup board i decided to grind them into fine powder, toast it and use in a brown butter short bread biscuit. The result; lovely crumbly biscuits with a rich flavour of nutty butter and sweet toasted pecans. Go on and try it.

100 grams butter
50 grams brown sugar
150 grams plain flour
50 grams pecans
1 large egg yolk

Melt butter in a pot, let it start to foam and smell nutty. When the colour in brown take of the heat and let cool down.
Grind pecan nuts and toast in a dry hot pan until golden in colour. Let cool down.
Beat sugar and butter until fluffy and pale, add egg yolk, pecans and flour. Knead quickly into a dough. Roll out to a square about 1cm thick. Prick with a fork and score little rectangular biscuits in the dough with a sharp knife. Bake for 30-35min on 160C. Sprinkle with caster sugar just after it comes out of the oven. Let cool down before cutting in to biscuits.

Banana pockets

I think you recognise the picture of half brown, sort of sweet smelling bananas in the fruit basket staring at you, begging you to use them. Banana cake is not an option, there has been way too many of them lately in my kitchen and even though I do like banana cake it can be a bit much sometimes....
Two years ago I worked in an Italian/Irish restaurant in Dublin, sort of modern European cuisine. As a pastry chef at the time I was, together with the head chef, working on the dessert menu. Banoffie Pie is a classic dessert here in Ireland and we wanted to use the flavours of it but take them to a new dimension, put a real twist on it. The result; a smooth toffee flavoured parfait served with a hot, crispy banana and almond pastry. That is a dessert I still dream about, it was just so perfect.
Someone asked me the other day to make something sweet suitable for diabetics, specially children suffering from not being able to eat the same yummy desserts/sweets like their friends. It is tricky with things that has to be sweet but without sugar, personally I do not use artificial sweeteners and even though honey is better than sugar I was on a mission to make something as natural as possible without any type of sweetener/sugar. Having over ripe bananas at home and thinking of that toffee and banana dessert an idea started to take place in my mind. And that is how it happened that I created a little snack or dessert without any sugar, but oh so tasty. Little spring roll pastry pockets filled with banana, served with crunchy almonds and maybe a drizzle of honey.

4 sheets of spring roll pastry
2 bananas
almonds, toasted
honey

Cut each sheet into 4 squares. Put 2 and two together and place on a dry, clean surface. Cut each banana into 4 pieces, slice each piece into 4 slices. Place 4 slices of banana on each pastry sheet. Roll together like spring rolls and seal with a little water. Place on a baking tray lined with baking paper. Bake on 200C for 15 min or until crisp and golden. Serve hot with honey and almonds.

Tabbouleh

My home town has a big population of people from the Middle East, and as a result of that there is a lot of small shops selling all sorts of, for us Europeans, new and different ingredients. One of those shops is located not far from my parents house and I recall going there as a child with my mum to buy the best feta cheese, pickled chillies, pistachio nuts and olives. The shop is tiny but sacks full of all types of nuts, seeds and grains are stacked on the floor, and the walls covered in shelves up to the ceiling filled with boxes, bags and containers of all sorts of ingredients. Most things are bought by weight and it makes so much more sense than buying pre-packed, boxed ingredients in the super market. The owner of the shop was called Jakob, an old man with a big heart. He always filled the bag with a little bit extra, but still only charged for the weight you had asked for.
Cous cous and Bulgur is becoming more and more popular here in Ireland but I have had it for more than ten years i think. Personally I eat it instead of rice or potatoes with meat, or even just with vegetables as a salad. One typical dish with bulgur is tabbouleh; finely chopped parsley, tomatoes and onion dressed with lemon juice and olive oil is a tangy side dish to any BBQ and must be tried!

60 grams bulgur
120ml vegetable stock
30 grams flat parsley
1 tomato
1/4 white onion
1 small clove of garlic
1/2 lemon, juice
olive oil, salt, pepper

Bring the vegetable stock to boil and add bulgur. Turn down heat to very low and let simmer under a lid for 15-20 min. Fluff up with a fork and let cool down.
Chop parsley very fine. Cut the tomato in to quarters, take the seeds out, chop into small cubes. Chop the onion and garlic finely. Combine bulgur, tomato, onion and garlic and lemon juice. Season to taste with salt and pepper, drizzle some olive oil on top.

Chcolate sponge with mocha frosting

I have blogged about this recipe before but that time as Mocha Muffins. Traditionally it is made in a large tray and then cut into squares/bars, but this time I still did not stick to that but made it as a cake. It is so tasty when fresh but it does keep pretty well for a couple of days since the frosting on top will protect the sponge cake from drying out. I made a small cake, still enough to feed 8 people, and used one sandwich tin to bake it in. If you double the recipe and use two sandwich tins you could fill it with layer of frosting in the middle and spread over the top as well, that would make a great birthday cake.

Cake
1 egg
75 grams butter
130 grams caster sugar
130 grams plain flour
1.5tsp baking powder
75ml milk
1 1/2tsp cocoa powder

Melt butter and put aside to cool down. Combine flour, cocoa powder and baking powder. Whisk egg and sugar until very fluffy and pale, add butter and stir until smooth. Add the dry ingredients through a sieve and fold in, last add milk and stir until all is well blended. Pour into a greased sandwich tin and bake for 30-40min. Let cool down while making the frosting.

Frosting
50 grams butter
1tbsp cocoa powder
3tbsp coffee
100 grams icing sugar

dessicated coconut or hundreds and thousands

Melt the butter and add coffee, sugar and cocoa powder. Stir until well combined and spread over the cake. Sprinkle with coconut or hundreds and thousands.