Churros con chocolate - fool-proof churros with chocolate and orange sauce (vegan, kosher)

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Sunday is no fun day without churros. With my fool-proof recipe you, too, will turn your kitchen into a churreria in less than half an hour!

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Sunday in Andalusia is not Sunday without freshly fried churros, dipped in thick and oh, so divinely rich chocolate. 

That seems to be the case in our household, too - these days people keep flocking over for weekend sleepovers just to gather around the steaming pile of churros which magically appears on the kitchen table every Sunday. 

Ok, magic might have less to do it that yours truly, but with this fool-proof recipe of mine you don't even need magic. In less than half an hour you, too, can turn your kitchen into a churreria!

While the process is easier than you would ever believe, you do need one of those professional, lined piping bags.

Usually churrerias only sell churros  in the morning and again in the afternoon, but luckily at home you can go crazy over them any time of the day. 

So, go on - spoil someone you love already this weekend!

For more flavour you can also add 1/2 tsp of cardamom, 1 tsp of finely grated lemon (or orange) zest or 1/4 tsp of cinnamon into the churro dough. 

In case you like your chocolate with an extra dose of pasión, you can infuse the milk with a half a red chilli instead of orange.  

¡ Aye caramba!

Depending on the size the recipe yields 10-14 churros

Churros con chocolate:

3,5 dl water

3 tbsp vegetable oil

250 g all purpose flour

1 tsp bicarb

1 tsp baking powder

2 tbsp sugar

½ tsp salt

For frying: ½ l neutral vegetable oil

For serving (optional): cinnamon sugar (0.75 dl sugar combined with 1 tbsp cinnamon)

Orange and chocolate sauce:

2 dl full-fat milk (or vegan substitute)

the peel of an orange, preferably in one strip

200 g chocolate (around 43% cocoa is good), vegan substitute if needed

Measure oil and water into a pot and bring to boil. Combine dry ingredients. 

Once the water boils, remove it from the heat and stir in the dry ingredients until you're left with a smooth dough. Leave to cool, covered for half an hour. In the meanwhile prepare the chocolate sauce. 

Pour milk into a small pot with the orange peel. Bring to boil and remove from the stove. Cover and leave to infuse for about w5 minutes. Then remove the orange peel and bring milk to boil. Add roughly chopped chocolate, stir until smooth and leave to cool. 

Spoon the churro dough into a sturdy piping bag equipped with 12-mm closed star piping tip. Pipe the dough into churros of desired length onto a lightly oiled parchment (this makes them easier to dip into the hot oil and also enables you to fold them into any shapes you want such as hearts or letters prior to frying).

The ideal thickness is about that of a finger as anything thicker than that tends to easily remain raw in the middle. 

Heat the oil in a heavy-bottomed pot (180°) and fry the churros in batches until golden and crunchy. Drain quickly on kitchen towels and, if desired, toss in a cimmanon sugar.

Serve with chocolate sauce and enjoy.

¡ Buenas dias mundo!

Have you ever made churros yourselves? What are your weekend breakfast treats?

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SHARING IS CARING!

Gingerbread filled with white chocolate and goat cheese

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White chocolate and goat cheese filling is a quick and easy way to pimp the gingrebread. And they make nice foodie gifts, too!

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Sure, making your own gingerbread dough from the scratch does make the best dough... but at least chez moi I've discovered it tends to magically disappear from the fridge as it's supposedly resting overnight and by the time the oven is hot there's hardly any left. Instead there is a cook with a seriously sore tummy... 

I blame them elves - around Christmas time they are the reason behind all the funny business, right?

But hey - sticking with this year's theme of stress-free Christmas, let's not stress. Take a deep breath and tell yourself it is perfectly ok to use  store-bought dough, too. It is. 

I even remember finding some in the corner shop around July once. Strangely enough my stomach was equally upset after wolfing down half a kilo package of that. Go figure - I could swear there were no elves anywhere.

For this purpose you should bake thicker and softer gingerbread (which to me is the only way to go anyway). If you want something even more decadent, you could add a jam layer too. Pear or blueberry for instance would work well. 

I was supposed to add a cranberry jelly, but after I got home, I realized I'd left the jar in the shop. But hey - let's not stress about that either!

White chocolate gives the filling sweetness and structure and goat cheese lends it lovely tartness and spreadability. If you're not a fan of it though you could just use regular cream cheese. 

You could also add some pureed berries to the filling. Or crushed hard, salty liquorice candy. Or substitute it with chocolate ganache. Entirely up to you so go on, go crazy!

Depending on the size of your gingerbread the filling is enough for 10-15 cookies

White chocolate and goat cheese filled gingerbread:

500 g gingerbread dough 

Roll out the dough to about 1/2 cm thickness. Using a circular cookie cutter (or a glass), cut it into discs. Using a tiny cookie cutter (or a sharp knife) cut a desired shape into half of them. 

Bake at 200° for 5-7 minutes until the edges start getting a little colour. Let cool, fill and assemble the cookies.

White chocolate and goat cheese filling:

1 (145 g) White chocolate bar

1 tsp vanilla essence

the finely grated zest of a lime 

the juice from 1/2 lime

1 box (140 g) spreadable goat cheese

Melt the chocolate in Bain Marie ( metal bowl placed over pot of simmering water). Add the rest of the ingredients and mix until smooth. Chill until ready to use. 

Turn the gingerbread cookies the lower side up. Spread the filling (easiest way is to use piping bag and a small round nozzle) onto one half and then press the top half (the one with the shae cut into it) on top of it. 

Serve! And be merry!

PS. In case youdo have the time (and self-restraint...) here you'll find my recipe for made-from-scratch-gingerbread dough.

PPS. And in case you're looking for a gluten-free recipe, check out Veera's version at  Queen of Delicious! 

So, have you already started your gingerbread season? How do you  pimp yours?

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SHARING IS CARING!

Chilli-chocolate panna cotta

Technology can, when in fully working order, be a marvellous thing. Take this blog post for one. Just like that it burst into the internet and onto your screens without me even needing to be at my computer! I'm currently actually not even in the same country as my computer - while she's enjoying some much-needed down time, we're enjoying Riga and everything they have to offer for a foodie!

So, in case you don't follow us on Instagram yet, do it now. Today's schedule includes a trip to a winery among other things!

Another equally marvellous thing is chocolate. Having recently made rather a triumphant entrance in our kitchen, panna cotta is something we've been feasting on quite a bit. Latest version was this Mexican-inspired chocolate pannacotta which gets some lovely heat from... yep, you guessed it: chilli! Aye caramba!

Serves 3-4

Chilli and chocolate panna cotta:

120 g milk chocolate

2,5 dl cream

0,75 dl milk

1 generous tbsp sugar

1 large red chilli, halved and seeds removed

1 gelatin leaf

For serving: chocolate shavings

Leave the gelatin to soak in cold water. Melt chocolate over simmering water. Measure rest of the ingredients (apart from the gelatin) into another pot and bring to boil. If you want some real kick to your pud, remove the pot from the heat, cover and let chilli infuse the cream mixture for 15 minutes. Then remove the chilli and re-heat.

Squeeze out excess liquid off the gelatin and dissolve into the hot cream mixture. Start adding the cream mixture into the chocolate, little bit at a time. Pour into ramekins and chill until set (a couple of hours).

Serve with chocolate shavings. Or those divine almond shards!

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White chocolate and lime panna cotta

Despite today's being April Fools' Day, I'm not going to treat you as one. Instead of, say, red herrings, the blog features a recipe for white chocolate and lime panna cotta. Perfect for Easter lunch! And since it's gluten-free, too, Passover too! Obviously in that case you'll want to use a kosher substitute for the gelatin...

Gelatin-set treats are something my kitchen (or this blog) has not seen. I absolutely abhor the jiggle of the jellies so loved by the English and practically without exception every single set cheesecake I've ever tasted has had that rubbery texture courtesy of overly generous use of gelatin.

Panna cotta is another thing I refuse to go anywhere near of. Crème brûlée (don't forget the blog also has a pie-version of that!) , baked and set using eggs, on on the other hand is always my most likely choice for dessert in any restaurant. Just imagine my disappointment when once, at a dinner in a local restaurant I ordered one and was served a bouncy panna cotta instead. In case you didn't know and especially in case planning on a career in the restaurant industry: not the same thing!

As the Instagram and Facebook followers already know, a  couple of weeks ago I attended Electrolux cooking school (what else would a food blogger do on her night off...?) where, guided by one of the chefs in Finland Culinary Team we prepared a three-course dinner. My team was in charge of the dessert. And the dessert? Milk chocolate panna cotta.

But what do you know! The recipe was so good I immediately adopted it and has been gorging on it like crazy ever since - more than making up for the lost time. This time I gave it a spring time makeover using white chocolate. Lime gives it brightness and the almond shards... well, make them even if that's the only thing you'll have time to make. Insanely good!

I picked up two professional tips for making most of your panna cotta: Add the cream mixture into the molten chocolate little bit at a time and using a spatula (results in a velvetier texture!) and after pouring the mixture into the ramekins, quickly torch the surface using one of those crème brûlée torches (this eliminates the air bubbles).

Depending on the size of your ramekins (and how much of the mixture magically disappears into the chef's mouth in the cooking phase...!) this yields 4-6 servings.

White chocolate and lime panna cotta:

130 g white chocolate

3 dl heavy cream

1 dl milk

1 tbsp sugar

a couple of drops of vanilla extract (or about 1/4 tsp vanilla sugar)

the juice and finely grated zest of 1 lime

1 gelatin leaf

Leave the gelatin to soak in cold water. Melt chocolate over simmering water. Measure rest of the ingredients (apart from the gelatin) into another pot and bring to boil.

Strain the cream mixture. Squeeze out excess liquid off the gelatin and dissolve into the hot cream mixture. Start adding the cream mixture into the chocolate, little bit at a time. Pour into ramekins and chill until set (a couple of hours).

Serve with raspberries and almond shards.

Almond shards:

50 g butter

50 g sugar

25 g almond flakes

a drop of vanilla extract 

pinch of ground ginger

pinch of salt

1,5 tsp almond flour

Measure the ingredients into a pot and melt the butter and sugar over medium heat. Once the sugar is completely dissolved, add almond flour and spoon the mixture into a thin layer on a tray lined with parchment.

Bake at 175° until golden, 5-7 minutes. Once it's cooled enough to be lifted off the parchment, leave to dry on a rack. Once dry break into shards of desired size.

Tip 1: once the sheet's come out of the oven, you can also cut it into ribbons using a pizza slicer. When cool enough, lift the strips to cool on the rack.

Tip 2: You can also bake this into biscuits by dropping about a teaspoonfuls of mixture onto the parchment (about 10 cm apart as they will spread in the oven). And if you're really quick with your hands, you could also roll the biscuits around the handle of a ladle into cannoli-like shapes. Beware - the biscuits cool really fast, so in this case you'll only want to bake about 2-3 at a time. 

Oh, panna cotta, mi amore. I'll be feasting on you a lot. What about you guys? Fans of panna cotta? Any tips for different variations?

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ANYONE FOR SECONDS?

       

Superfood truffles for a superhero of a man

"Well, then. That's another 10-hour-day you've just clocked in," The Boy Next Door informed me as I finally emerged from the kitchen after the day's cooking and shooting last Sunday; on a day that one Lord and several treaties have sanctioned as the day of rest. For some, anyway.

There's a chance that was just a friendly notification and a proof he can count all his fingers. But there is also a chance that was meant as a subtle hint, suggesting the tripod isn't the only three-legged creature in need of some attention. No, it's not always fun being Mr. Food Blogger.

His contribution to this blog is so crucial though that he deserves to be spoiled every now and then. And can you think of a better day for that than Valentine's Day?

Yeah, yeah, I know it's a bunch of well marketed madness mainly consisting of tacky crap made in China... but love! And chocolate! And love of chocolate! And love of man with a love of chocolate! Surely they deserve to be celebrated? He sure does, somehow managing to muster the patience to put up with me...

I found the recipe for these truffles with roasted white chocolate ganache on Food & Wine. In the original recipe the white chocolate gets slow-roasted in the oven for 3 hours, but I didn't have time for that as I had some pizzas to bake too (no, no starving to death happening in our house...!) and turned out that half an hour does the trick too!

White chocolate, rich in itself, acquires a fantastic toffee-like depth but it is so rich, it benefits from something refreshing, such as lemon or lime zest. Cardamom is another good pairing: always a hit with blueberries. If you're into herbs, you might want to try rosemary or thyme. Since The Boy Next Door is crazy about blueberries, I hid a blueberry inside each truffle too. And hey, they're superfood! Can you think of anything more fitting for a superhero like him?

The original recipe coats the chocolate-dipped truffles in cocoa powder, but I got giddy and bought a jar of powder made of dried blueberries though crikey - even cocaine would probably be cheaper! He is worth it though. And in the end the recipe only called for a couple of tablespoons of it.

makes 12 truffles

130 g white chocolate

0,625 dl heavy cream

1 tsp grated lemon zest and/ or 1/2 tsp ground cardamom

a pinch of salt

12 blueberries

100 g dark chocolate 

unsweetened cocoa powder or blueberry powder

Chop white chocolate into a steel bowl and roast at 130° for 25-35 minutes until golden. Heat cream over moderate heat until it barely simmers, add lemon zest and/ or cardamom. Let the cream infuse for 5 minutes and then pour into the chocolate through a sieve. Using an electric mixer beat until smooth. Pour into a shallow dish and cover with a cling film pressing it against the surface.Chill until firm, at least a couple of hours. 

Using a small scoop or a spoon, scoop out small balls (1 inch diameter). If using, sink a blueberry inside it and with hands, moistened with ice water smooth the surface into a ball. Line a tray with parchment and place the balls onto it. Cover and chill for an hour.

In a medium bowl set above a pot of simmering water, melt the dark chocolate. Using a fork or a skewer, dip the truffles into the chocolate and dust with cocoa or blueberry powder. Chill for at least 15 minutes to allow the shell to set. 

These can be made and chilled up to 3 day in advance.

Have a wonderful weekend and a joyous Valentine's Day, you all!

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ANYONE FOR SECONDS?

      

When life gives you lemons

Already hating this weekend - what with The Officially Most Romantic Day just around to corner with no-one to share it with? No-one to bicker with over an overpriced menu "specially designed for two" while witnessing 3 proposals (out of which none is to you?) Has Ryan Gosling still not called and asked you to be his Valentine? Have you been dumped? Jilted? Cheated on? Are you miserable? Alone? With a face like lemon? Don't worry - this post is for you. You're not alone.

Though every now and then I carelessly boast about the general loveliness of love, take my word for it: it isn't always easy either (though, obviously, nothing compared to your current misery). No matter what HBO series might lead you to believe, there are good men out there. And not all of them are gay, taken or mentally fucked up. 

Even this blog's merely 2-year-old history has gone through a bloody and messy break-up so I know what I'm talking about. Trust me, it does get better. But here's a time line you, too, might be looking at on your road to recovery.

Time it takes for your hair to start spontaneously turning into dreadlocks after you've lost interest in showering (and even picking up a hair brush seems like an superhuman effort): 3 days. Though, seeing how you're holed up in your home in the company of The Notebook and Celine Dion's "All by myself" and refuse to take any calls, you don't really have anyone criticizing you for it either. And your only contact with the outside world is that pizza delivery guy who never complains about the way you look (or smell). See, there is a man out there for whom you (and the PIN number of your VISA-card) are good - just the way you are!

Time it takes for your flat to turn into a maze consisting of empty pizza boxes, cigarette boxes and half-drunk wine bottles: a week. But jumping over them on your way to fetch more tissues (and open the door for that pizza delivery guy) qualifies as work-out. So hey, you've got yourself your very own gym! Another great reason to not leave the house and face other people (that and your hair...) ever again!

Time it takes for your unshaven legs to start resembling an Afghan rug: 2 weeks. Which is only convenient, should you have been dumped in the middle of the winter: no need for itchy thermal tights! Which means less laundry. Environment-friendly choice! Everybody wins!

Time it takes before you stop feeling like The Universe is using news headlines in order to send you secret messages convincing you that you two belong together after all. Oh come on, you know how it goes! A headline on how Iran has managed to build a copy of an American drone makes you think how a drone is an unmanned aerial vehicle and your life, too, is now unmanned after that emotional retard dumped you. But, if Iran can do that, maybe there's a chance for the two of you after all? (and that my friend, is one of the more rational examples...)

Time it takes before you stop dreaming about your ex dying a slow and painful death from gonorrhea that progressed to his brain, only to realize at his last lucid moment on his death bed (alone, of course) how you truly were the love of his life and decides to leave you all his vast fortunes? Well... I'll let you know when that happens. 

This, however, is the most important one: time when that next (and quite possibly the last) love of your life walks into your life asking for nothing more that being allowed to love you and take care of you (and maybe brush your hair and walk you into a shower)? When you least expect it. 

So, do yourself a favour and do not barricade into your home this Saturday. Celebrate the fact you've got such amazing friends and bag yourself an invite for a dinner at your food blogger BFF (you've got one, right? They are what gay BFF's were back in the 90's!)

But if you do decide to stay home and wait for Ryan to call you, celebrate yourself and feast on these. These lemony treats will do wonders to that face of yours (I think we all agree that Saturday is not the day to believe those memes according to which Ryan cries if you have carbs, right?) Hey girl, you're worth it ♥

Depending on their size this recipe makes 20- 24 tartlets. So, there'll be plenty to serve Ryan, too. And anyway, if he's too busy to turn up on the one day it really matters (making those box office hits, escorting old ladies across the street and saving kittens from trees), who cares! That just leaves more for you!

In case you have tartlet moulds, by all means use them. But of you don't (hey, even I don't!) a 12-hole muffin tin will do just fine. The tartlet shells can be made up to a week in advance - in that case store them in an airtight container. For lemon curd you'll find recipe over here, but the store-bought one is just fine. The frosting, too can be made well in advance.

Tartlet shells:

175 g butter
1 1/4 dl sugar
the juice of 1/2 lemon
finely grated zest of 1 lemon
3,5 dl all-purpose flour

Beat the butter (at room temperature) with sugar and then add lemon juice and zest. Then add flour until you have a crumbly mixture. Press it together to a smooth dough, cover in cling film and chill for an hour. Or until the next day.

Divide the dough into 4 portions and keep the rest covered while working on one. On a floured surface roll into a 1/2 - cm sheet and using a cutter (or a cocktail glass) cut into round discs. Place them into the muffin tin's bottom and sides, prick and chill for another hour before baking.

Bake at 180° until the shells have a little bit colour on them - depending on the oven 6-8 minutes. Let cool in their holes before removing them. If the bottom as puffed up and the sides sank, you can fix it using a pestle (or a shot glass - don't even try and tell me you wouldn't have that?)by pressing the bottom down and running it along the insides, smoothing the sides.

Let cool completely before filling.

The frosting:

400 g cream cheese
200 g white chocolate
4-6 tbsp lemon curd (depending on how lemony you want it)
(a couple of drops yellow food colouring)

2 jars of lemon curd

Melt the chocolate in Bain Marie and whisk in cream cheese and lemon curd. If you want a nice, yellow tint, add some food colouring. Let set in the fridge.

Spoon 1/2 tbsp of lemon curd into each shell and top with lemon frosting. Decorate with meringue crumbs. Or caramelized lemon zest strips. Or blueberries. What ever you feel like!

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ANYONE FOR SECONDS?



      

Happy Hanukkah!

We are currently living the eight merry days of Hanukkah - the brightest light in Jewish calendar. And fittingly, continue exploring of the Jewish cuisine. Though, for someone of North European descent, living in a country whose culinary traditions draw from the Eastern European traditions I must say they're hardly exotic treats. Pickled herring? Pickled... well, anyhing? Stuffed cabbage rolls? Been there, eaten that, went for seconds. 

Even bagels, that New York classic that has become a breakfast staple everywhere else in the world as well is nothing new to us - I inherited my own (since then sadly misplaced) recipe from my great aunts.

So, today's treat will hardly make you gasp in awe: it's blintzes. Or, stuffed pancakes.

These parcels, usually stuffed with cheese-filling are particularly popular during Hanukkah (what with all the frying in oil...) and Shavuot (when particularly Ashkenazi-traditions of Northern and Eastern European Jews feast on all sorts of dairy products). 

Etymologically more gifted ones probably already picked up on the similarity to blinis and sure enough, they are part of the same family alright.

The filling is very cheesecake-like - not too sweet then. At its simplest it consists of ricotta and cream cheese but in my version white chocolate gives it just a little bit more richness. Well, you know me by now: in my food philosophy less is never more! Much like in that rosemary and rhubarb-tart ricotta could also be substituted with soft goat cheese.

Instead of strawberries these could also be served with bluberries macerated in lemon zest, icing sugar and a pinch of cardamom. Cardamom also works wonders in the batter itself. 

It's crucial the pancakes be properly cooled before stuffing and frying as this way they hold their shape better so the pancakes themselves can be cooked already the day before. 

Blintze-batter:

2 eggs
3 dl milk
1 tsp vanilla essence/ vanilla sugar 
2,5 dl all-purpose flour
1 tbsp sugar
pinch (appr. 1/2 tsp) salt
50 g butter, melted 

Combine the dry ingredients in one bowl and beat eggs with milk (and vanilla) in another. Melt butter over moderate heat.

Combine the two by adding the wet ingredients into the dry ones (this way you'll avoid any lumps) and finally pour in the butter. Let rest for about an hour. 

Cook the pancakes on a skillet using either butter or oil - but only on the other side. Pour a ladleful into the skillet, swirl the pan so it spreads into an even, thin layer and once it starts to set, remove from the pan and place on a plate or parchment sheet to wait. In case you pile the cooked pancakes on top of each other, place a parchment sheet in between each layer to prevent them from sticking. Let cool before stuffing. 

Cheese filling:

1 tub ricotta 
1 tub cream cheese
100 g white chocolate, melted
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla essence/ vanilla sugar
3 tbsp (icing) sugar
the zest and juice of 1/2 lemon


Melt the chocolate in Bain Marie. Beat rest of the ingredients together and finally whick in the chocolate. Let rest (and set) in the fridge until ready to use. 

Fill the blintzes. Place the pancake in front of you the cooked side up and spread about 4 tbsp of filling onto the lower half of the pancake leaving a couple of cm border. Fold the lowed half towards the centre of the pancake, then fold the sides on top of it and roll (as tightly as you like) into a parcel. You know, like you would with burritos or summer rolls (see here). 

Fry a couple of blintzes at a time golden and crisp on both sides, first the seam side down. Turn over and fry on the other side too. Serve warm. Maybe with orange-infused strawberry compote?

Strawberry compote:

500 g strawberries
the juice of 1 orange (1 dl)
1 tbsp icing sugar

Hull the strawberries. The tiny ones can be left intact but halve (or cut into quarters ) the bigger ones. Squeeze the orange juice, combine with sugar (through a sieve) and whisk until sugar has dissolved. Let macerate for a couple of hours in the fridge.

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