Walnut filled crescent rolls

Now, that I finally have some free time, I can start baking more complicated pastries too, and these crescent rolls are always a huge hit around Christmas time. I saw a very good recipe on a blog for this lovely cake but I wanted to make a sugar free version so I modified it a little. I substituted sugar with xylitol and liquid sweetener. Just a note: they can be made with poppy seed filling as well.

Ingredients for the pastry:

• 40 dkgs of sifted plain flour 
• 16 dks of cold butter 
• 6 dkgs of xylitol
• half a coffee spoon of baking soda
• half a coffee spoon of dried yeast
• two big tablespoons of sour cream
• 2 egg yolks
• 1 pinch of salt
• 2 tablespoons of milk

Ingredients for the walnut filling:

• 50 dkgs of ground walnut
• 10 dkgs of xylitol 
• liquid sweetener according to taste
• zest of one lemon
• 2 packs of vanilin sugar
• rum flavour

For the eggwash:

• 2 egg yolks
• 1 egg white

The first step of making the pastry is mixing the flour with the baking soda and the xylitol. Separately, mix the milk with the yeast. Cut the cold butter in pieces and crumble it with the flour, then pour the milk into the bowl, add the egg yolks, the salt and the sour cream. Start kneading the dough. At first it will fall apart but if you keep kneading, in the end it surrenders and sticks together. Let it rest for half an hour in the fridge, wrapped into kitchen foil. 

For the filling you have to grate the walnuts. Mix the milk with the xylitol, the vanilin sugar and lemon zest,s start heating it up and when it comes to a boil, add the walnuts. With a wooden spoon keep stirring it until it becomes a thick filling. While stirring, you can add more sweetener and the rum flavour.  I advise you to make it two grades sweeter than you want it to be in the end because it looses its sweetness when cools down.

Divide the pastry into 24 equal pieces and form little balls from the pieces. One of the biggest advantages of this pastry is that it can be rolled out very well and thin. Place a portion of the filling in the middle of the rolled out pastry and just wrap it up so that it has a crescent roll shape. When all of them are done, give them an egg wash, first with the yolks. Let it dry and then give the rolls a wash again but now with the egg whites. Again, let the egg dry and then put the rolls into the oven, at 190 degrees until they become golden brown.

Chocolate macaroons with walnut and orange

This recipe is not my own creation this time, it's from a very famous hungarian chef named Judit Stahl. I picked this recipe because I wanted to bake something small but delicious to have something to snack when I'm watching Lost in the evening. I doubled the amount of ingredients in the recipe because I was sure one batch wouldn't be enough. Turns out I was right...:) 

Ingredients for approx. 30 pieces

• 2 egg whites
• 2 big tablespoons of brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon of whole wheat flour
• 10 dkgs of walnuts
• 16 dkgs of dark chocolate
•  zest of 1 bigger orange

First I roasted the walnuts in a dry pan for a while because I took them out of the freezer and if you don't roast them they will keep this freezer taste that I don't really like. Then melt the chocolate over hot water. Add the sugar to the egg whites and beat them up until it's hard enough. Chop the walnuts fine and add it to the flour along with the zest of the orange. When it's done, add the flour mixture to the eggs, then the chocolate and stir it gently. Line baking paper into an oven pan and put teaspoon sized amounts of dough onto the pan. It needs 10 minutes at most at 175 deg Celsius. When you take it out from the oven it needs to be soft because when it cools down it will become crunchy on the outside and soft and creamy on the inside.

Whole grain, sugarfree and still delicious

I have been thinking about baking a whole grain sponge cake, I wasn't even sure that it was possible, but I gathered confidence and finally made it. The outcome was shocking; whole grain flour behaves the same as plain flour. It didn't collapse and it didn't become heavy, it didn't even have such different taste. According to my sources at home, it was "top notch".

Ingredients for approx. 12 pieces:

• 18 dkgs of whole grain flour
• 6-7 cold eggs according to size
• 10 dkgs of sugar

• 1 can of plain greek yoghurt
• 1 can of plain yoghurt, normal
• 10 gr of gelatine
• zest of 1 lemon and some of its juice
• sweetener according to taste
• a bit of grated cinnamon
• a bit of vanilla aroma or extract
• one can of peaches or any other fruit

Separate the cold eggs and beat the whites up along with the sugar. Stir the yolks and gently mix them into the beaten whites. Add the flour in smaller portions, and stir it gently after every portion of flour. Line some baking paper into an oven pan and pour the mixture into it. It needs at least 25 minutes at 160 deg Celsius, you can check if it's done with a needle or a knife. When it's done take it out and let it cool down, then cut it in half horizontally, and put the lower part back into the oven pan (this time you have to line it with kitchen film). 

For the cream, mix the two types of yoghurts together and grate the lemon zest into it, add the vanilla and the cinnamon too and stir it well. You can adjust the taste with sweetener and lemon juice until it's sweet and sour enough. Then dissolve the gelatine in some cold water and put it on the heat until it starts boiling. Take it off the heat, wait a couple of seconds and then add some of the yoghurt mixture to the gelatine. Stir it and then pour it back to the rest of the yoghurt, and mix it well. Slice the peaches and lay them on the lower part of the sponge cake, then pour the cream onto it and put the whole thing into the fridge until the cream becomes solid. Then you can cut it up :)

Turkey leg roast with garlic and red lentil casserole

I haven't posted in the blog for quite a long time, I didn't reallly cook anything new either, but today I managed to go to the farmer's market and buy a really nice turkey leg. Since today isn't that hot, I thought it was time to bring out the more substantial ingredients. I forgot to soak the lentils yesterday, I made this dish with red lentils, but I think this recipe might even work better with them. It's not a very complicated thing to do, although you want to start roasting the turkey because it needs at least 2 hours in the oven to be completely soft. Those of you who like chili con carne, but want to cook something lighter with the same spices, I recommend this recipe.

Ingredients for the turkey: 

• 1 turkey leg, the upper part, without bone
• mustard accodring to taste
•  2 cloves of garlic
• salt

Ingredients for the red lentil casserole:

• a big cup of red lentils
• 2 corns on the cob or 1 can of corn
• 1 carrot
• 2 onions
• 3 cloves of garlic
• 4 tomatoes
• 1 can of creamed tomato
• salt, pepper
• 1 coffee spoon of chili powder or cayenne pepper
• 1 teaspoon of grated cumin
• 3 bay leaves
• water

Take the bone out of the turkey leg and put it into a fireproof dish with the skin on the bottom. Cut match sized pieces of the garlic and cut little wholes into the meat and push the garlic into the wholes. Sprinkle salt on the turkey and spread the mustard on it. Cover it with tin foil and roast it at 200 deg Celsius at least for 2 hours. Pour some water under it from time to time to avoid burning the bottom half of the meat (this will become the gravy for the meat in the end). 

For the casserole, chop the onion fine and start cooking it with the cover on because we want to cook it, not to fry it. Chop the tomatoes fine and add them to the onions after 15 minutes. Add the bay leaves too and cover the dish. Cook it until the tomato becomes totally soft. Meanwhile dice the carrot and chop the garlic fine. Cook the corn on the cob for 10 minutes in boiling water and then cut the grains off the cob. When the tomatoes are cooked, add the carrot and cook it until it's half done. Pour some water in it, and then add the corn and the seasoning. Pour approx. 1/2 litre of water into the dish and finally, add the lentils. Keep stiring because the lentils can stick to the bottom of the dish. The lentils will soak most of the water so you will have to pour some more into it in the end. Add the creamed tomato and some more salt and seasoning if neccessary.

Chocolate chip cake with zucchini

Lately I have seen so many zucchini cake recipes on the net and I had heard of it before but until now I haven't had the opportunity to give it a try. Now that's changed and I proudly present to you the first zucchini cake of my life. To be honest I haven't got the foggiest idea why the zucchini is needed in the dough, or how does it make a difference but it doesn't really matter in the long run. It gives you an extremely flexible and soft cake with lots of cocoa and chocolate. I couldn't tell what difference the zucchini makes but honestly I don't really want to...:)

Ingredients:

• 20 dkgs of grated zucchini (approx. one and a half pieces)
• 10 dkgs of butter
• 370 g of plain flour
• 3 tbl spoons of cocoa powder
• 10 dkgs of dark chocolate
• 15 dkgs of icing sugar
• 3 eggs
• 1.5 teaspoons of baking soda
• 1 teaspoon of rum flavour

Wash the zucchinis, cut the ends off and grate them. It's important to grate them as fine as possible, we don't want big pieces of zucchini in the cake. It still needs to be in pieces though, don't mush them. When it's done, squeeze the juice out of it and put the zucchini aside. Mix the flour with the baking soda, the cocoa and the finely chopped chocolate. Add the zucchini too. In another bowl stir the eggs with the sugar and the butter and the rum flavour. Put the two parts of the dough together and if it's too thick (as it wa for me) then you can add a tablespoon of plain yoghurt in the end. It needs at least half an hour or 40 minutes in the oven at 180 deg Celsius. 

Pangasius and potatoes roasted in beer

We have this old recipe for pangasius fish cooked in beer with bacon, so now I upgraded it a little into a one course dish. In this new version the fish fillet is cut into little pieces and the bacon is also minced. I have to admit the result was quite delicious :)

Ingredients for 4

• 1 kg of potatoes
• 2 big pieces of pangasius fillet
• 10 leaves of rosemary
• 2 onions 
• 10 dkgs of sliced bacon
• 2,5 dl of lager
• salt and pepper

Cut the potatoes in quarters and put them into a pan. Add some salt and pepper. Get the onions and the bacon into a frood processor and grind them. Stir the mixture in the pan with the potatoes. Chop the rosemary fine and sprinkle it onto the potatoes. Cover the pan with tin foil and cook it in the oven at 200 deg Celsius until the potato is done. Then put the cut up fish fillet on top and pour the beer too. Cover it again and put it back in the oven for another 15 minutes. After that remove the cover and let the fluids disappear and the top of the potatoes become golden. 

Beetroot with balsamic vinegar and walnuts

Ingredients

• beetroot
• a bit of oil
• walnuts, roughly chopped
• dark balsamic vinegar
• salt and pepper

Cook the beetroot in water and peel them wearing plastic gloves. Cut them in equally sized circles with a plane and put the circles in a pan, formerly oiled. Sprinkle some salt and pepper on it, and cook them in the oven at 200 deg Celsius. At half time give them a good stir and sprinkle the walnut. Cook it until the vingear becomes gluey.