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Chocolate & hazelnut biscotti

Occasionally, I like to have some sweet treats in my cupboard which are nice to dunk into tea, coffee, hot chocolate or maybe vin santo, well not the chocolate one for sure. Not that I need an excuse to bake, but this time I really had to convince myself to finally do something with the jar of hazelnuts that somehow just did not seem to get empty. Even after making chocolate-hazelnut spread twice, it seemed the jar has not bottom. I thought the quickest would be to whip up this biscotti. It's pretty easy to get it together and although it has to be backed twice, it is done in a flash. And what's not to love about them?! I guess it's time for espresso!

 
 

Ingredients

2 eggs
200 g sugar
200 g flour
100 g cocoa powder
200 g hazelnuts
1 teaspoon baking powder

1. Preaheat the oven to 160°C.
2. Beat eggs with sugar until pale and fluffy. Stir in the flour, cocoa, baking powder and the hazelnut. Using moistened hands, halve dough and form 2 loaves on a baking sheet. Bake around 20 minutes, then let them cool.
3. Cut loaves into 1,5 cm thick slices and bake for another 15 minutes.

 
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Hozzávalók:

2 tojás
200 g cukor
200 g liszt
100 g kakaópor
200 g mogyoró
1 teáskanál sütõpor

1. Melegítsük elő a sütőt 160 °C -ra.
2. Verjük a tojásokat a cukorral habosra. Adjuk hozzá a mogyorót, sütőport, kakaópor és a lisztet. Gyúrjuk nedves kezünkkel össze és formázzunk két kb. 4 cm széles lapos rudat. Süssük 20 percig 160°-on, majd hagyjuk kihűlni.
3. Ezután vágjuk kb 1,5 cm vastag szeletekre és süssük újabb 15 percig.

 
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Hungarian lángos

Lángos is a deep fried flat bread that is served warm and usually topped with sour cream and grated cheese or garlic butter (a fabulous combination, if you ask me!). Honestly, I have no clue why this treat that's pretty oily & heavy is so popular in summer?! However if you spend the whole day at the lake or swimming pool you sure get hungry and crave something like this, at least if you spent your childhood in Hungary. For sure Hungarian streetfood at its best! Traditonally, this dish was made from leftover bread dough and baked in a brick oven, that's where probably its name dervies from the word láng, which means flame. My lángos is stuffed with sheep milk cheese and herbs (in other words: perfection) - inspired by an old family recipe.

 

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Ingredients

(Yields 8 stuffed lángos)

For the dough:
4 2/3 cup flour plus extra for rolling out
3 medium potatoes
1 1/2 ounces fresh yeast
about 2 cups milk, lukewarm
1 teaspoon sugar
1 1/2 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 1/2 teaspoons salt

For the stuffing:
500 g sheep milk quark (for example bryndza) or ricotta
2 bunches of chives
bunch of dill
salt, if you used ricotta
pepper
vegetable oil for frying

1. Boil potatoes and let them cool completely.
2. Crumble yeast and add sugar to 1/2 cup of lukewarm milk and let it stand until the yeast swims on top.
3. Sift flour into a large bowl, add salt and mix well. Finely grate potatoes and add to the flour. Make a mould and pour yeast-milk into it and start to knead the dough together. As soon as the dough starts to get together gradually add more milk and oil and knead it until it all comes together into a ball and you have a soft, but not sticky dough. Dust the top with flour, cover with a cloth and let it stand for an hour or until it has doubled its size.
4. Finely chop herbs and mix it with the sheep milk quark or ricotta. Season with salt if using ricotta. If you use bryndza salt is not necessary as it's a salty fresh cheese.
5. Dust a working surface with flour, cut the dough into 8 equal pieces and shape into balls. Divide filling into 8 portions. Roll out the balls one by one, put filling into the middle, then flip the side of the dough to cover the filling and shape balls again. Carefully roll the stuffed balls out.
6. Fill a frying pan with 2 inches of oil an heat. Once it's hot, fry the stuffed flatbreads over medium heat until golden brown.

Serve with yoghurt or sour cream.

 
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Hozzávalók:
400 g liszt
30 g élesztő
2 közepes burgonya
1 ek napraforgóolaj
5 g só
300 ml langyos tej
csipet cukor
olaj a sütéshez
300 g juhtúró
egy csokor kapor
egy csokor újhagyma


1. A töltelékhez keverjük össze a juhtúrót a finomra vágott kaporral és a karikára vágott újhagymával.
2. Az élesztőt futassuk fel 100 ml langyos tejben egy csipet cukorral. A liszt közepébe csináljunk egy mélyedést és öntsük bele a tejet, a krumplinyomón átnyomott krumplit, az olajat és a sót és gyúrjunk puha tésztát. Hagyjuk kelni körülbelül egy órát.
3. Vágjuk a megkelt tésztát egyforma darabokra, nyújtsuk ki és halmozzuk a tölteléket a közepére, majd a széleket hajtsuk be, mintha egy batyut formáznánk. Nyújtsuk ki a lángost újra, majd süssük ki forró olajban.

 
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Caramelised banana panna cotta & blackberry granita

Banana bread is great, I let the fruits overripe on purpose just to bake my favourite banana bread with coffee and carob syrup. Yum! But hey it is warm and summer so here I come with an alternative idea for overripe bananas. Basically you can flavour panna cotta with anything that comes on your mind, so why not bananas? And the freshness comes right out of the freezer in form of a no-fuss blackberry granita. Either you serve it in glasses or create a plated dessert like I did and crumbled leftover shortbread on top with some sweet as honey fresh figs.

 
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Ingredients

For the panna cotta:

1 very ripe banana
1/2 teaspoon butter
15 g cane sugar
1 tablespoon rum
200 ml heavy cream
100 ml milk
2 tablepsoons sugar
2 gelatin sheets
vanilla essence as desired

For the blackberry granita:

150 g blackberry
50 g sugar
1 tablespoon crème de cassis
1 teaspoon lime juice
pinch of ground cinnamon
 

1. Peel and cut banana in 1 cm thick slices. Melt butter over medium heat and cane sugar and let it caramelise. Add sliced banana and cook for 1-2 minutes, then add rum and reduce. Remove banana and puree together with the milk.
2. Soak gelatine in cold water. In the meantime bring heavy cream with sugar and vanilla to the boil and stir in the gelatin. Remove it from the heat and whisk it together with the banana mixture.
3. For the granita puree all ingredients with a half cup of water and sieve. Pour mixture to a deep tray and put it to the freezer. Whisk it with a help of a fork every 20-30 minutes. The consistency should be ready in about an hour and a half. After that cover and leave it in the fridge for another hour.
4. Serve with some shortbread, figs & fresh blackberries.


Hozzávalók:

A panna cotta-hoz:

1 nagyon érett banán
1/2 teáskanál vaj
15 g nádcukor
1 evőkanál rum
200 ml tejszín
100 ml tej
2 evőkanál cukor
2 lap zselatin
ízlés szerint vaníliakivonat

A szeder granitához:

150 g szeder
50 g cukor
1 evőkanál crème de cassis
1 teáskanál zöldcitromlé
csipet őrölt fahéj

Valamint még:

shortbread és friss szeder és füge a tálaláshoz

1. Pucoljuk és szeleteljük fel a banánt kb. 1 cm vastag karikára. Olvasszuk meg a vajat és nádcukrot adjuk hozzá, keverjük, amíg a karamell formálódik. Ekkor adjuk hozzá a banánszeleteket és pároljuk meg. Amikor befedi jól a karamell, adjuk hozzá a rumot és főzzük addig, míg elfő és újra karamell fedi a banánt. 2. Pürésítsük a banánt a tejjel, közbenmelegítsük fel a tejszínt a cukorral és vaníliával. Amint forrni kezd, keverjük el benne a jól kinyomkodott zselatint. Húzzuk félre a tűzhelyről és keverjük össze a banános tejjel.

3. A granitához pürésítsünk minden hozzávalót egy fél csésze vízzel, majd szűrjük le. Ezután egy tálkába öntjük és a fagyasztóba tesszük. 20-30 perceként villával átkeverjük, kb. másfél óra alatt eléri a megfelelő állagot. Ezután letakarjuk és legalább még egy órát állni hagyjuk.