Algerian cakes Mkhabez

Posted on June 27, 2024 by TiKi

Mkhabez algerien 22 682x1024 Algerian cakes Mkhabez

Algerian cakes Mkhabez
Based on my French friend Audrey’s recipe

Ingredients for 20-24 cakes:

300 g of almond powder
150 g of icing sugar
1 sachet of vanilla sugar
Grated lemon zest
1 egg
1 egg yolk

For the icing:

2 egg whites
1 tablespoon of lemon juice
1 tablespoon of oil
2 tablespoons of milk
2 tablespoons of orange blossom water
Icing sugar, more than 500 g
Sugar figurines for decoration (my children made marzipan roses)

 Mkhabez algerien2 682x1024 Algerian cakes Mkhabez

Preparation:

In a bowl, mix all the dry ingredients from the 1st group above (including the lemon zest). Make a dough by adding the egg and, if necessary, the egg yolk. Almonds contain fat and the more we knead, the more fat is released which helps to obtain a compact mass.

Roll out the dough with a rolling pin on baking paper aiming for a thickness of 1.5 cm (I have made it thinner, around 1 cm). Using a cookie cutter, cut out biscuits with a diameter of about 5-6 cm. Place the biscuits on a baking tray lined with parchment paper and bake at 160°C until lightly golden. Let cool on rack.

Meanwhile, prepare the icing. Mix all the liquid ingredients from the second group. Whisk by hand. Gradually add the sifted icing sugar and mix well after each portion. The icing is of the required texture, when lifting a little with a spatula, the dripping down quantity is interrupted.

Dip the cooled cakes one by one in the icing, top side down (without covering the bottom) and place them on a rack to drain. Decorate the cakes to taste (they are usually decorated with sugar paste flowers) and let the icing dry.

Store the Mkhabez in a cookie jar. If eaten immediately after preparation, they are crunchy, and when they come out of the jar, they are soft.

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Puff pastry appetizer

Posted on April 22, 2024 by TiKi

Парти хапки с бутер тесто 2 rz2 682x1024 Puff pastry appetizer

Puff pastry appetizer

Ingredients:

Puff pastry or shortcrust pastry, pure butter
Smoked sausages (sodium nitrate free, if possible)
Emmental cheese or portions of Laughing Cow (Vache qui rit)

Парти хапки с бутер тесто rz2 1024x682 Puff pastry appetizer

Preparation:

Spread the puff pastry on the work surface keeping its parchment paper. Divide the dough into 3 parallel strips approximately 10 centimeters wide. Place 2 sausages along a pastry strip or pieces of cheese (block shaped).

Then, roll up each strip making a sort of long sausage. Cut into bites of 15 to 20 mm. Transfer each roll to a baking sheet, lined with parchment paper. Place the bites vertically.

Bake the appetizer bites in the oven at 200°C until they are nicely golden. About 15 to 20 minutes, depending on the oven. Serve hot.

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Pasta cake

Posted on April 19, 2024 by TiKi

Макарони на фурна2 1024x682 Pasta cake

Pasta cake
A Bulgarian recipe called Oven baked macaroni

Ingredients:

500 ml of milk
4 eggs
3-4 tablespoons of sugar
140 g of pasta (fusilli, shells, penne, etc.)
30-40 g butter
Vanilla

Макарони на фурна 22 1024x682 Pasta cake

Preparation:

Cook the pasta in salted water and a sip of oil, according to the time instructions on the package. Once well cooked through, shower the pasta with cold water (to stop the cooking process) and drain well.

In another bowl, whisk together the eggs, sugar and milk. Flavor with vanilla.

Pour the pasta into an oiled baking dish. Top with the egg mixture. Sprinkle cubes of butter on all over the pasta.

Bake the pasta cake at 180°C until golden brown or around 40 to 50 minutes.

Serve the pasta cake at room temperature or cold. It is possible and even quite delicious to bottom to baking dish with caramel before pouring over the eggs and pasta. But the original Bulgarian recipe didn’t have such layer.

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Ladies’ caprice cake

Posted on April 12, 2024 by TiKi

Дамски каприз 2 rz2 682x1024 Ladies caprice cake

Ladies’ caprice cake
Based on my grandmother’s recipe

Ingredients:

5 egg yolks
2/3 cup sugar
125 g butter
1 dose of vanilla
250 g of plain yogurt
1 sachet of baking powder
2 cups of flour

 5 egg whites
6-8 tablespoons of sugar
1 dose of vanilla
½ cup jam or marmalade
50 g of walnuts

Preparation:

Cream the egg yolks and sugar using an electric mixer. Then stir in the butter, vanilla and yogurt. While whisking, gradually add the flour and baking powder (both sifted).

Pour the mixture into a large baking dish and smooth out (my mold measured 32 by 20 cm).

Bake at 180°C until the cake is golden brown and a toothpick, inserted in the middle, comes out dry (30 to 40 minites).

Whisk the egg whites until stiff peaks with a pinch of salt. Gradually add the sugar, without interrupting the mixer. Flavor with vanilla (my grandmother didn’t put any).

While the cake is still warm, spread the jam of your choice on top (I had green fig jam), sprinkle evenly with chopped walnuts and cover with a thick, even layer of beaten egg whites. Make waves with the back of a tablespoon.

Return the Ladies’s caprice cake in the oven and continue baking until the top of the egg whites is golden brown (10-15 minutes).

Let cool completely before serving.

Дамски каприз rz2 682x1024 Ladies caprice cake

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Wine kebab

Posted on April 10, 2024 by TiKi

Винен кебаб2 681x1024 Wine kebab

Wine kebab

 Ingredients:

600 g of meat (pork, beef, chicken)
2 onions
¼ tea mug of oil
1 tablespoon of flour
1 teaspoon sweet paprika
1 tablespoon of tomato paste or 1 tomato
150 ml of red wine
1-2 bay leaves
Black pepper, salt and parsley

 Preparation:

Chop the meat into bite-sized pieces, mince the onion. Heat the oil in a saucepan and simmer the meat and onion. When the meat turns white and the onion becomes transparent, add the sweet paprika, stir vigorously and without delay add the tomato paste (diluted in a little water) and the flour.

Cover everything with boiling water, stir well to dilute the flour and avoid lumps. Then pour in the red wine and season with salt, black pepper and bay leaf and let simmer over low heat. When the dish is ready (chicken meat takes about 30 minutes, pork and beef – 40-50 minutes), sprinkle with finely chopped parsley.

Serve with a scoop of boiled rice or on a canape of mashed potatoes.

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Beef stew with green peas

Posted on September 19, 2021 by TiKi

Телешко с грах 26 Beef stew with green peas

Beef stew with green peas
Traditional Bulgarian recipe

Ingredients:

400 g of beef or veal for stew
1 large can of green peas (or fresh/frozen peas)
1 tomato
1 onion
1 teaspoon of paprika
1 teaspoon of tomato paste
1 tablespoon of flour
Oil
Salt to taste
10 g butter
Fresh dill

Preparation:

In a deep saucepan, heat 4-5 tablespoons of oil. Chop the meat into small chunks and brown them on all sides. Add the chopped onion and sauté until transparent. Salt to taste and sprinkle with paprika. Stir for 10 seconds (no more, as paprika burns quickly).

Then incorporate the minced tomato and the tomato paste (the latter diluted with a little water). Pour over enough boiling water to cover the meat and let simmer on low heat with the lid on.

When the meat is well cooked through (it takes over an hour), add the canned peas (drained from the water). If you are using fresh or frozen peas, dip them in halfway through cooking.

Dilute the flour with a little cold water (crush or filter the lumps) and pour this preparation into the dish while stirring. Let simmer for a further 10 minutes.

Off the heat, season the beef and pea stew with a little chopped dill, ground black pepper and the knob of butter. Let rest for 10 to 20 minutes before serving.

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Biscuit cake for kids

Posted on September 7, 2021 by TiKi

Бисквитена торта по детски 682x1024 Biscuit cake for kids

Biscuit cake for kids

Ingredients:

90 g flour
3-4 tablespoons of coconut sugar (or honey)
800 ml of milk
½ Tonka bean
1 teaspoon of natural vanilla extract / 1 vanilla pod
20 g butter

10-12 baby biscuits or petit-beurre
10 dried dates, pitted

Preparation:

Whisk the flour and coconut sugar in the saucepan you will be using to cook the cream. If you prefer honey to coconut sugar, stir it in only after removing the already cooked cream from heat.

Then, gradually whisk in the cold milk and pop in the vanilla and grated Tonka bean.

Bring the batter to a boil, stirring constantly with a whisk or with a wooden spatula. I’m more comfortable on medium heat. Cook the cream until thick and smooth. Dip in the knob of butter and aerate the cream with a hand blender for 2-3 minutes (even if it is perfectly smooth, without any lumps).

Grease an appropriately sized ceramic dish. Mine was 18 cm by 20 cm (inside). Spread 1/3 of the cream on the bottom of the dish. Place 5 or 6 baby cookies on top and sprinkle with date slices.

Then cover with the second third of cream and garnish again with biscuits and dates. Finish with the last third of cream. You can put more biscuits, I only had 12. But the cake was to our liking, with a lot of cream.

Let cool completely before decorating and serving the cake. Ours had a frame of crushed baby biscuits and date slices.

Бисквитена торта по детски3 Biscuit cake for kids

TiKi:

As we do not have an active social life, we create our own holidays and reasons to smile at home. An occasion like this are the moons of our 2 little ones. Every month, on their date of birth, I give them a little party with decoration, birthday-like cake, “birthday” candle (to blow out 10 times each) and a small gift such as a book, a small plastic animal, a game, etc. And we feel good.

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Chickpea flour crackers

Posted on September 3, 2021 by TiKi

Солени нахутени бисквити1 1024x685 Chickpea flour crackers

Chickpea flour crackers

With this chickpea flour, the humidity is very important to have crispy crackers. As soon as the liquid is a little overdosed, the crackers become hard to chew. For this reason, I measure all the ingredients on the kitchen scale. Thus, even liquids are in grams.

Ingredients:

320 g chickpea flour
35 g almond or hazelnut powder
25 g sesame seeds
50 g raw sunflower seeds
70 g chopped raw nuts (walnuts, hazelnuts, almonds) or raw pumpkin seeds
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
90-95 g oil (or 8 heaped teaspoons)
90-95 g warm water
1 teaspoon apple vinegar

Corn semolina to knead and roll out the dough

Preparation:

Mix together all dry ingredients and nuts in a bowl. Stir with a fork to aerate and make a hole in the middle. Then pour in the oil, vinegar and water. Knead until you get a smooth and firm dough. Sprinkle with semolina, if too sticky. Let rest.

Roll out the dough on a baking sheet to 3-4 mm thickness (sprinkle with semolina all the way through). Stamp out crackers with a cookie cutter or just make squares with a pizza cutter. Prick each cracker with a fork and transfer it on an ovenproof tray lined with baking paper.

Bake the chickpea crackers at 175°C for 20-21 minutes until golden brown. If they feel soft to the touch, let them cool completely in the oven (turn off the heat and leave the oven slightly open).

Store in an airtight container to keep them crisp for a week (otherwise, they soften and lose their flavor).

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Nectarine clafouti

Posted on June 17, 2021 by TiKi

Клафути с нектарини 22 Nectarine clafouti

Nectarine clafouti
Based on an old French recipe

Ingredients:

4 eggs
125 g sugar
1 sachet of vanilla sugar
25 g of melted butter
250 ml of milk
1 pinch of salt
1 packet of baking powder
100 g of flour

5 nectarines (or 750 g cherries, plums, sour cherries, apricots)

Клафути с нектарини 32 Nectarine clafouti

Preparation:

Rinse the nectarines, then pit and cut them into cubes (in making a cherry clafouti, keeping the pits, would give more flavor). Then distribute the fruit at the bottom of a buttered ceramic dish, mine was 24 by 24 cm.

Whisk the eggs with the sugars in a deep bowl. Work with an electric mixer for about 3 minutes or by hand for about 5 minutes. Then pour in the butter and milk and add the pinch of salt. Finish by stirring in the flour and baking powder (sifted together). Pour the batter over the fruit.

Bake the nectarine clafouti at 180°C for 45 minutes. Serve lukewarm.

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French potato pie

Posted on June 13, 2021 by TiKi

Френски пай с картофи и сметана2 French potato pie

French potato pie

Ingredients:

2 packets of puff pastry (pure butter)
1 kg of potatoes
250 g sour cream
Salt and pepper to taste
Parsley to taste

1 onion (optional)*
Oil (optional)
1 handful of grated Parmesan (my touch)
1 egg yolk and a teaspoon of milk

* This French pâté has several versions. Some claim that the old recipe also contains onions and a lot of parsley (1 whole bunch), others that it is without onions and just a touch of parsley. My beloved one prefers the first version, I prefer the second. My parents-in-law often takebring such a pâté made by the baker in their village. The garnish is dark green (a lot of parsley therefore), has a strong onion taste and is even spicy, because their baker is quite generous in black pepper.

 Френски пай с картофи и сметана 22 French potato pie

Preparation:

Peel the potatoes and slice them 3-4 mm thick (if you are adding the onion, chop it). The classic recipe uses raw potatoes. Since I’m not sure they will have time to cook in my oven, I prefer to pre-cook them (no onions for me).

Boil the potatoes in salted water for 20 minutes. Then drain and sprinkle with oil. Leave to rest for about twenty minutes.

Butter a pie dish (mine is ceramic with a diameter of 22 cm) and line it with the first puff pastry. Prick here and there with a fork. Spread the potatoes on top in 2-3 layers. Season with salt and pepper and sprinkle with chopped parsley.

Place the second puff pastry on top, slightly cut (if necessary) and pinch the edges to shape a pie.

To make a beautiful finish, brush the surface with egg yolk, slightly diluted with water or milk. Drill a small hole in the middle (to let the steam go out) and decorate the pâté with a knife.

To avoid the shiny look after baking, I like to sprinkle the pie with grated parmesan or powdered almonds.

Bake at 180°C until golden brown or about 45 minutes. Out of the oven (or 20 minutes later, if you want the cream to stay more compact), cut out the entire roof of the pie and transfer it to a plate. Spread the sour cream in an even layer over the potatoes and top with the lid again.

Serve the potato pie while still hot, but not straight out of the oven.

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