ORANGE MERMELADE with cinnamon

More christmas gifts...

INGREDIENTS

- 1kg oranges
- 1750 ml water
- 1,5 kg sugar
- Cinnamon or chocolate chips

PROCEDURE

- Cut the oranges in slices of 1 cm and place them in a big bowl.Cover them with water and let it rest overnight.

- Put the oranges and the water you used in a pan and allow it to boil for 50 - 60 min  at low heat (or until the zest is soft).

- Add the sugar and increase the heat . The mixture will boil and it  should reach a temperature of 105 ºC (Use a termometre for liquids)

- You will notice that some froth appears on the surface. These are impurities of the oranges and  the sugar. Remove it with the help of a spoon.

- Remove the pan from the heat and add a couple of cinnamon sticks to aromatize the mermelade.

-Now take some water from the mixture and reserve it. Blend the oranges leaving  some slices without blend. Add some water (from the one you kept) until you get the desired thickness and blend again.  Pour the mermelade  into jars and allow it to cool at room temperature.

- Another version is to add some chocolate chips to the jars. The contrast is delicious!Enjoy!

LEMON CURD

This year I made some lemon curd and mermelade as a christmas gift. Very easy an so tasty!!

INGREDIENTS (It makes 1 litre)

- 6 lemons(zest and juice)
- 120g butter
- 450g sugar
- 4 eggs

PROCEDURE

- Zest the 6 lemons and afterwards juice them.

-Break the eggs into a bowl and beat. Keep it for later.

- In a thick pan (over a medium heat), put the zest and the juice of the 6 lemons. Add the butter and once melted add the sugar.Stir frequently to mix the ingredients and to dissolve the sugar.

- Remove the pan from the heat and add the eggs little by little while whisking energically after each addition (otherwise you will get an omelette into the pan)

- Once both mixtures have been fully incorporated return the pan to the heat and stir as the lemon curd heats over a medium heat.

- After 5 minuts the mixture will start to boil and you will notice that it is getting thicker. Let it bubble for another four minutes. Your lemon curd is now ready !

-  Boil some jars to sterilize them and  pour the lemon curd in. Close the jars and put them upside down on a cold surface. Allow to cool at room temperature before storing in the fridge. It will make an airtigh bottling.

Lemon curd lasts up to three month and taste deliciuos with bread or as a filling for cakes.

Complex butter cookies

Ingredientes
500 g de harina
250 g de mantequilla pomada (temperatura ambiente)
125 g de azúcar glas tamizado
10 cucharadas soperas de leche (75 ml)
Horno precalentado a 180ºC
Horneamos durante 15 minuto

Si queremos hacer las galletas de chocolate:
400 g de harina
75 g de cacao en polvo
1 cucharadita de canela
Mantequilla, azúcar glas y leche: ídem receta anterior

Sobre una superficie lisa y limpia, hacemos una montañita con la harina.

[Incorporamos el cacao en polvo puro sin azúcar]

Incorporamos el azúcar glas tamizado

 Hacemos un hueco en el centro formando un volcán

[Añadimos la canela]

Añadimos la mantequilla pomada (blandita) 

Incorporamos también la leche

Con una mano, uniremos todos estos ingredientes

Cuando la masa vaya redondeándose y no se pegue en las manos, significará que ya está lista para empezar a trabajar. Es importante no trabajarla demasiado.

Utilizamos papel de horno para que no se pegue la masa en el rodillo ni en la mesa. Cuando la masa esté estirada, es importante dejarla en la nevera al menos 30 minutos para que adquiera firmeza.

¡Ya está lista para cortar!  

Enjoy!

:)

Judith's style Panna Cotta with Strawberry sauce

When Judith came back from Italy she made us a very nice dinner to celebrate it. I really enjoyed everything: the homemade pesto, the different  types of pasta...but what I could not take out of my head since then is the Panna Cotta.  It is a very simple to prepare italian dessert but I had never taste it before.
Here I let you my version

INGREDIENTS

- 250 ml heavy cream (Crema de leche)
- 250 ml full cream milk
-  5 /6 flavorless gelatin sheets
-  1 vanilla pod *
- Fresh forest's fruits
- 150g icing sugar

PROCEDURE

1. Put the gelatin sheets in cold water to hydrate
2. In a saucepan slowly heat the milk and the heavy cream. When hot, add the vainilla pod and the sugar. Whisk gently until it starts to boil. Then take it out of the fire.
3. Add the gelatin sheets (previously drained) and whisk until incorporate
4. Divide the mixture into small bowls and let it cold down.
5. Once the temperature comes down a little bit, put the bowls in the fridge a few hours to harden the gelatin
6. Serve it with the forest fruits

-----------------
* It is not enough to put vanilla in boiling milk to get a nice flavor, to aromatize the milk with the vanilla you must prepare the pod in advance. With a sharp knife, cut the pod from up and down without making two pieces and open the pod with the fingers to show the seeds. Now you can add the opened pod to the milk

Simple Butter Cookies

Ingredientes:

300 g mantequilla
2 huevos
5 tazas harina
1 taza azúcar
1 cucharadita esencia vainilla

1. Con la ayuda de una batidora, trabajar la mantequilla hasta que quede cremosa.

2. Agregar el azúcar y seguir batiendo. 

3. Incorporar los huevos y la vainilla, removiendo constantemente.
4. Agregar la harina y seguir batiendo hasta obtener una masa espesa. 

5. Comenzar a amasar a mano y seguir añadiendo harina hasta que la masa sea fácil de manejar y no se pegue en los dedos.
6. Con un rollo extender la masa sobre una superficie harinada, formando una lámina de medio dedo de grosor. 

7.Con los moldes cortar las galletas y colocarlas en una bandeja con papel de horno.

8. Hornear las galletas a 180 grados durante 15 minutos o hasta que estén doradas.

Chocolate Salami

Chocolate salami

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Chocolate salami4.00 out of 50 based on 3 voters.

Hello! I just copy-pasted the recipe from the website I used to make it :) I didn´t use an electric mixer, and just mixed with my hands, which I think works fine too.
Here is the link if you prefer that too.
http://www.italyum.com/italian-recipes/dessert-recipes/chocolate-salami.html#.UJjwfmerHTo




Chocolate salami (a.k.a. Salame di cioccolato)
Preparation: 30 mins
No cooking required
Difficulty: Easy


This dessert is very popular amongst the Italian families and it is usually eaten with coffee, after lunch. It is sometimes served as dessert in trattorias, especially in those rural trattorias you can find along the Po river at the border between Lombardy and Emilia Romagna regions of Italy. There are many variations of the theme, of course, and this is down to the local culinary customs, as always happens in Italy. It's a rustic dessert that probably would never find a place in those fancy restaurants, but it is very good to eat and this is what really matters!
SERVES 8
Ingredients:

• 300 g (11 oz) Rich tea biscuits
• 150 g (5 oz) Butter (unsalted)
• 100 g (4 oz) Dark chocolate (I have used 85% cocoa)
• 100 g (4 oz) Sugar
• 2 Eggs (see note 1 below)
• 30 ml (1 fl oz) Dark rum
• OPTIONAL: see note 2 below

Note 1: this is a dessert containing raw eggs, so be sure you buy fresh, top quality eggs.
Note 2: as an option, try adding 40 g (1 ½ oz) of citrus peel and double the quantity of rum.

Directions:


Cut the butter into pieces and let it warm to room temperature.


Break the chocolate bar into pieces and put them into a small bowl. Melt the chocolate using the bain Marie method.


While melting the chocolate, stir with a spoon to be sure that there are no lumps. When the chocolate is completely melted, set the bowl aside and let the chocolate cool a little.


Put the biscuits into a large bowl.


Break the biscuits using the back of a spoon; make them into crumbs.


When the butter is soft, work it with an electric whisk for few seconds and then start adding the ingredients as shown next (you can add all these ingredients without stopping to whisk).


Add the sugar.


Add the eggs.


Whisk for few seconds.


Add the melted chocolate.


Whisk for few seconds.


Add the rum and whisk again for few seconds.


Pour the mixture into the large bowl containing the biscuit crumbs. If using citrus peel, add this now.


With a spoon, work the mixture until all the biscuit crumbs are completely coated with the chocolate mixture.


The result should be a chocolate dough.


Take the dough and make the shape of a salami. Put the chocolate salami onto a layer of cling film and then wrap it with the film.


When wrapping, press the chocolate salami to make it compact. Then seal the sides and put the chocolate salami in the fridge for a couple of hours.


After a couple of hours, you can slice your chocolate salami and serve it with coffee or tea.


Enjoy it!

HOME MADE ITALIAN WHITE BREAD (WITH A BREAD MACHINE )

Finally we got a bread machine! We chose a Bomann c594 and a few days ago we found a second hand one for  a very good price. After going to Trinitat Nova to pick it up we were ready to start experimenting with it.
At the beginning we were a little bit scared because we had read on the Internet that at the beginning it is hard to familiarise with the procedure and that the first 30 breads are uneatable whether because it does not rise, its underdone or because it taste of yeast...
I think we had read so much information about the possible problems and solutions that a bread may have that mysteriously we skip all the testing and error part and we were very surprised (and happy) with the result !!



INGREDIENTS
- 570 ml Water
-1 + 1/2 tsp salt
- 1+ 1/2 tbp olive oil
-1 + 1/2 tsp sugar
- 650 gr normal flour
-150g corn semolina (polenta)
- 1 packes fresh yeast

PROCEDURE

As simple as putting all the ingredient in following the order above.It is super important to put first the water and the yeast on the top because when they meet starts the rising.

We chose the Sandwich program, mid brown and big size. It takes around 2h.

TIPS WE HAVE LEARNED

- Remove a little bit of water or add more flour during the kneading (The dough should look like a ball and do not stick to much on the walls)
- Do not open the lid after the kneading, otherwise the dough will go down and may not rise again
- Spray the dough with water to get a darker brown
- If your bread does not grow enough try to substitute the normal flour for "Harina de fuerza"
- You can remove the spares to avoid the ugly hole on the bottom ( do it quickly before the baking)

We will report you on our progress :)

RASPBERRY CAKE WITH STREUSEL

Summer is over but before the wheather gets worse I want to share this reciepe that I found on holidays

Ingredients:

 

For the Cake:

 

• 1½ cups  flour
• 1½ tsp powder
• 10 tbp butter at room temperature (without salt)
• ⅔ cup sugar
• ½ tsp salt
• ½ tsp grated lemon zest
• 1½ tsp vanilla extract
• 2 eggs, room temperature
• 4 cups of  raspberries, blueberries or any other berry

For the Streusel:

• ½ cup  flour
• ⅓ cup brown sugar
• 2 tbp granulated sugar
• ¼ tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 4 tbp butter whitout salt cut into small pieces

PREPARATION

 

For the Cake: 

 

1. Preheat the oven to 175°C and prepare a round cake pan of 22 cm (use vegetable paper or grease it with butter and cover it with flour)

 

2. Sieve the flour and the baking powder together in bowl and keep it. 

 

3.With an electric hand mixer (or with patience), beat together the butter, sugar, salt, and zest on med-high speed until it looks light and bright (3' aprox.)

 

4.Add in the vanilla extract and beat for 30 seconds more. 

 

5. Put in the eggs, one at a time but do not stop beating the dought. It may look it has broken but its normal, do not worry :)

 

6. On low speed add the dry ingredients (flour and powder) in two times and  beat again until you get an homogeneous mix. You should have now a very heavy batter.

 

7. Finally add your berries and fold them in with an spatula to do not smash them too much.

 

8. Put the dough in the mold and level the surface with the spatul. Cover the cake with streusel.

For the streusel:

1. With the hand mixer, stir the flour, the brown sugar, the white sugar, the cinnamon and the salt at low speed (otherwhise it will go out of the bowl). 

 

2. Add the butter cut into small pieces and beat for 10min until you can not see the butter any more. The final result should look like wet sand.

3. Take a small amount of streuel and squeeze it between your hands to create thin layers. Cover the surface of the cake with portions of streusel. Although now it looks awful, after baking it, it will improve!

 

4. The last step is to bake the cake until it is golden or a stick comes out clean (around 55 minutes)

 

5. Let the cake rest 10 min in the tin and after that transfer it to a rack and letit cold

Your delicious cake is ready!!

Baileys Cupcakes for Alcoholics

Ingredientes:
200g harina especial para hacer pasteles (ya lleva levadura)
200g azúcar moreno
6 tbsp cacao sin azúcar
150ml aceite de girasol
100ml creme fraiche (la podéis encontrar en el carrefour)
2 huevos
Baileys

Para el frosting:
160g mantequilla
Baileys
500g sucre glace

1. Precalentar el horno a 170º.
2. Tamizar la harina y el cacao en un bol y añadir el azúcar. Mezclar bien todos los ingredientes.
3. Añadir el aceite, la creme fraiche y los huevos. Volver a mezclar hasta tener una masa uniforme.
4. Poner la mezcla en las cápsulas para muffins (solo tenéis que llenar un poquito más de la mitad de la cápsula).
5. Ponerlas en el horno durante 20 minutos. Pinchar con una aguja o tenedor para ver si están hechos.
6. Sacar los cupcakes del horno y dejarlos enfriar.
7. Pincharlos con el tenedor y tirar una cucharadita de baileys para que la absorban.
6. Para el frosting se mezcla la mantequilla y el azúcar glace y se añade un poco de baileys pero vigilando que no se aguade la mezcla.
7. Poner el frosting en una manga pastelera y cubrir el cupcake.