summer Archives - Page 3 of 5

Vegan Cherry Almond Ice Cream Sandwiches

June 27, 2019

Wrap your hands around something wonderful with this vegan cherry almond ice cream between two delicious almond chocolate cookies.

Can you imagine Summer without ice cream? Hmmm… I can’t, even though I wasn’t always a huge fan of ice cream. I think I talked about it in one of my old posts.

Now, I can’t imagine how I’d survive the Summer heat without ice cream at least once a week.

Since I don’t have an ice cream machine I always make a no-churn version and I even have a little trick to make a no-churn ice cream creamy with no lumps of ice.

How do I make my no-churn ice cream smooth?

I’ve come to the conclusion that the best way is to blend the mixture again after it has frozen halfway through. I mix with a spoon once after an hour. Then, after another hour I take the ice cream out and mix it again in my blender. This mixed the ice crystals that form at the edge of the container and make it nice and smooth again. Then I return it back to the freezer and leave to freeze until done. Honestly, I think the consistency is super similar to the machine made ice cream. I’m all about gadgets, but who’s got the place?!

I created this recipe in collaboration with Tereza from Teresamisu. If you missed the last recipe we created together, here is our delicious Vegan Pea And Asparagus Pie.

We decided to use sweet cherries as the base for the recipe and start from there. Tereza is known for creating healthy dishes and a lot of them are vegan. So I was totally on board with trying to make vegan ice cream but my first thought was NO COCONUT. I love coconut, don’t get me wrong, but I hate to see sooooo many vegan ice cream recipes based on coconut milk. I was thinking there’s a way to make delicious ice cream without it, for sure. So cherries got me thinking. Almonds are the first thing that came to mind and man I’m glad I went that way!

Oh and btw, I have a coconut ice cream recipe in store for one of the next posts 😉 but that one is meant to have a coconut flavor!

This is basically a marzipan ice cream. I like marzipan and if you love it too, you are going to love this cherry almond ice cream sandwiches!

Tereza created the recipe for the cookies and guess what? She also used almond butter without us even discussing the recipe. Talk about soul sisters 🤣

You know what, I’m not gonna blab for much longer. Let’s just get to the recipe. Happy beginning of the Summer, everyone!

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Vegan Cherry Almond Ice Cream Sandwiches

Course Dessert

Keyword ice cream

Servings 5 ice cream sandwiches

Author Anja Burgar & Tereza Poljanič

Ingredients

Cherry Almond Ice Cream

1 cup medjool dates (about 10 medjool dates), pitted
2 cups almond milk (500ml)
1 cup almond butter (250ml)
2 cups cherries (350g), pitted
2 1/2 TBSP cane sugar

Almond Cookie

1/2 cup maple syrup or honey for non-vegan version
1/4 cup almond butter, peanut butter or tahini (90ml)
3/4 cup walnuts (or any other nuts), blended into a flour (90g)
1 1/2 cup cup buckwheat flour (150g)
1/2 tsp baking soda
3 TBSP cocoa powder

Instructions

Almond Cookie

In a bowl, mix up maple syrup and almond butter until fully combined. Mix in ground walnuts until fully combined. In another bowl, combine flour, baking soda and raw cacao. Add it to the almond mixture. The mixture will be thick and sticky so it’s best to use your hands.
Roll out the dough and use a cookie cutter to get the desired shape. Make small dents on the surface of the formed cookies for decoration if you wish.
Place the tray in the fridge for 30 min while you pre-heat the oven to 175°C.
Bake for 10-12 mins. Remove the biscuits from the oven, transfer them to a cooling rack and let them cool down completely before assembling the sandwiches.

Cherry Almond Ice Cream

First, make the cherry jam. Place pitted cherries and cane sugar to a blender and mix until smooth. Pass the mixture through a sieve and discard the solids that remain on the sieve. Place the cherry juice in a small pot and bring to a simmer, then let simmer for 10 minutes. Let cool at room temperature.
Then prepare the ice cream base. Add dates and half of the almond milk to a blender and mix until smooth. Add the rest of the ingredients and mix until smooth.
Transfer the ice cream mixture to a loaf pan or small baking tray with high sides. Freeze for two hours, mixing once after an hour. After two hours scoop out the half-frozen mixture to a blender and mix until smooth. This way you get rid of big lumps of ice.
Transfer half of the mixture back to the same pan, then add half of the cherry jam and use the
backside of a spoon to make some swirls. Place the rest of the ice cream mixture on top and add the rest of the cherry jam. Repeat the swirling and freeze until scoopable.

Assembling The Sandwiches

When the ice cream is frozen enough to form scoops make large scoops and place them over cookies. Cover with another cookie. Place ice cream sandwiches on a tray and save in the freezer.
Leave them at room temperature for 15-20 minutes before serving.

Strawberry Rhubarb Galette With A Twist

June 20, 2019

This simple and classic strawberry rhubarb galette with a twist will sure to be your new summer favorite!

Here’s another pie second week in a row. Okay, it’s a galette, but technically that’s a pie, right? I’m obsessed with pies lately. The shortcrust pastry and fresh seasonal ingredients are a perfect combo. Plus there’s so little work with pies and galettes. Although they look like you put a ton of work into making it. Remember, I love this kind of recipes 🙂

It’s getting pretty hot in our neck of woods but I’m baking all the time anyway even though we don’t have air-conditioning. All of a sudden there’s a ton of fruit and we can’t eat it all raw. So making pie is a perfect way to fix it.

Btw, if you still don’t have my guide to eating seasonally, you can get one here. I also address the issue of using the abundance of a certain season to make foods for later when it’s not available.

So I took the classic combo of sweet red strawberries and juicy tart rhubarb and make it into a delicious strawberry rhubarb galette. But I added a little twist to it. DA DA DAM…

Here it goes…

It’s ELDERFLOWER. I added a few tablespoons of elderflower cordial to marinate the strawberries and rhubarb. It’s very subtle but adds a nice kick. If you like, you can also add some elderflower blossoms right into the filling! Or sprinkle some on top before serving. Gotta love elderflowers <3

As for the pastry, it’s a very simple sweet shortcrust pastry. It’s a prooved recipe, that I use almost every time I make a sweet pie. To find out how you can make the pastry extra flaky check my previous post. So how ’bout we start cookin’?

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Strawberry Rhubarb Galette With A Twist

Course Dessert

Keyword galette, pie, rhubarb pie, strawberry pie

Prep Time 20 minutes

Cook Time 40 minutes

Resting Time 45 minutes

Total Time 1 hour 45 minutes

Servings 8 slices

Author Anja Burgar

Ingredients

Sweet Shortcrust Pastry

280 g flour (1 1/3 cup)
140 g butter chilled and cubed, (1 1/4 stick)
3 TBSP cane sugar
5-6 TBSP ice cold water

Strawberry Rhubarb Filling

400 g strawberries greens removed and cut in quarters
300 g rhubarb stems cut into 1 cm (1/2 inch) chunks
1/4 cup cane sugar
3 TBSP elderflower cordial

Other

1 TBSP milk
1-2 TBSP cane sugar for dusting

Instructions

Sweet Shortcrust Pastry

Combine flour and sugar in a food processor. Pulse to mix. Add the butter and pulse a few more times. You should still be able to see some small chunks of butter no bigger than peas.
Sprinkle 1 tablespoon of ice water over flour mixture at a time. Pulse a couple of times. If you pinch some of the crumbly dough and it holds together, it's ready. If not, keep adding water onetablespoon at a time.
Strawberry Rhubarb Filling
In a large bowl, mix cut strawberries and rhubarb with sugar and elderflower cordial. Transfer to a large strainer and place over a bowl to catch the liquid. Leave for 30 minutes at room temperature.

Assembling the Galette

After the dough has chilled in the refrigerator for an hour, you can roll it out. If it is too stiff, let it sit for 5-10 minutes at room temperature before rolling.
Sprinkle a little flour on a flat, clean work surface and on top of the dough.
Place a clean baking sheet onto a work surface and sprinkle it with some flor. Using a rolling pin, roll it out from the center of the dough to about 3-4 mm (1/8 inch). Every once in a while you may need to gently lift under the dough and add a sprinkle of flour.
When the dough has reached the right size transfer the crust together with the baking paper onto a baking tray.
Place strained strawberry and rhubarb mixture over the pastry. Leave 2-3 cm edge and fold it over the fruit to form a galette.
Using a brush, cover the crust with milk and sprinkle with sugar.
Place the galette in the freezer while the oven is preheating to 200°C.
Bake the galette for 40 minutes and leave to cool before cutting.

Vegan Pea And Asparagus Quiche

June 12, 2019

This simple vegan pea and asparagus quiche recipe is so easy to make and a great way to treat your guests!

I can’t believe it’s already the middle of the year! I feel like the Winter has been way too long this year (although, I love it so much). Not even a month ago I was still wearing a winter coat and this past weekend I’ve been swimming in the sea. Crazy!

I’m so glad it’s summer already. Okay, late Spring, but it feels like Summer 🙂

If there’s one ingredient I love about this time of year it’s asparagus. I love it raw because it tastes kinda like peas and I love eating peas raw just as well. But both of those are also incredibly delicious cooked. So, today I’m sharing a recipe for a vegan pea and asparagus quiche that I created together with the lovely Tereza Poljanič from Teresamisu.

We were secretly admiring each other’s work for a long time, so we met a while ago and came up with the idea of creating a couple of recipes together. If you don’t know her yet, go check her out! Tereza is a multi-talented lady. She runs her blog, a TV cooking show, writes cookbooks and so much more. Such an inspiring lady!

Back to the recipe!

This was my first time trying out tofu filling. I don’t cook with tofu very often so I was pleasantly surprised by how flavorful the filling came out. It’s a very simple filling. All you need is some onions, garlic and some herbs like basil and mint. We used pumpkin seed tofu, but you can use any firm tofu. The almond milk makes it all very creamy and ties everything together.

Place some fresh asparagus and peas on top, bake and that’s it.

Oh yeah, and we included a delicious crust recipe. Here are some tips on how to make the crust flaky and how to prevent it from shrinking during baking.

How to make a flaky pie crust:

Use cold ingredients and use your hands as little as possible so you’re not warming up that dough.
Little chunks of butter (or coconut butter) should still be visible in the dough. The size of the chunks shouldn’t be larger than a pea.

How to prevent pie crust from shrinking?

Resting the pie crust is crucial. It should rest after making the dough and after you’ve rolled out the dough and placed it in the pie tin
Don’t overwork the dough. This way it gets too firm and shrinks.
Don’t stretch the dough when placing it in the tin.
Poke holes in the bottom.
Use pie weights or dry beans to weight down the crust while pre-baking.

5 from 1 vote

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Vegan Pea And Asparagus Quiche

Course Main Course, Side Dish

Keyword vegan quiche

Prep Time 20 minutes

Cook Time 45 minutes

Resting Time 1 hour 30 minutes

Total Time 2 hours 35 minutes

Author Anja Burgar & Tereza Poljanič

Ingredients

Dough

280 g all-purpose flour (1 1/3 cup)
140 g coconut butter (or regular butter for a non-vegan quiche) chilled and cubed, (1 1/4 stick)
4-5 TBSP ice cold water
2 tsp salt

Filling

400 g Tereza’s Choice pumpkin tofu or any other firm tofu
100 ml almond milk (1/3 cup + 1 TBSP)
1 onion
2 cloves garlic
bunch of basil and mint chopped
handful of peas
handful asparagus

Instructions

Dough

Combine flour and salt, in a food processor. Pulse to mix. Add the butter and pulse a few times. You should still be able to see some small chunks of butter no bigger than peas.
Sprinkle 1 tablespoon of ice water over flour mixture at a time. Pulse a couple of times. If you pinch some of the crumbly dough and it holds together, it's ready. If not, keep adding water one
tablespoon at a time.
After the dough has chilled in the refrigerator for an hour, you can roll it out. If it is too stiff, let it sit for 5-10 minutes at room temperature before rolling.
Sprinkle a little flour on a flat, clean work surface and on top of the dough.
Using a rolling pin, roll it out from the center of the dough. Every once in a while you may need to gently lift under the dough and add a sprinkle of flour.
Using a rolling pin, roll it out from the center of the dough. Every once in a while you may need to gently lift under the dough and add a sprinkle of flour.
When the dough has reached the right size, gently roll it around the rolling pin and place it over the pie tin. Do not stretch the dough.
Use your hands to gently press the dough into the tin.
Use a rolling pin to roll over the edges to trim them.
Place the prepared crust into the refrigerator for another 30 minutes, then take it out and use a fork to create small holes on the bottom. Don't worry, once the dough is baked the wholes will disappear.
Place a piece of aluminum foil onto the crust and add dried beans or pie weights onto the crust and bake it for 15 minutes at 200 °C.
Take the baked pie out of the oven and leave to cool slightly.

Fillling

Meanwhile prepare the tofu filling. Caramelize the onion and add garlic at the end. Then blend the tofu in a food processor with 100 ml of almond milk and the caramelized onion and garlic, blend until smooth consistency.

Finishing the Quiche

Add the filling on top of the pie crust, lastly add peas and asparagus on top. Brush with a little olive oil and bake another 20-30 minutes at 200 degrees Celsius.

Grapefruit-Elderflower Mocktail

June 7, 2019

Relaxing in the summer heat with a cold grapefruit-elderflower mocktail can be one of the great pleasures in life. Flowery and citrusy – the best kind!

After the elderflower cordial recipe from yesterday, I just had to make a delicious summery mocktail. Nothing beats the summer heat like a super refreshing drink. I made a non-alcoholic recipe, but I added a hint on how to make it boozy in the notes if you like that 🙂

We’re spending so much time outside now, that it’s finally hot and feels like summer is just around the corner. You know, no more long sleeves and socks… Grrr, I hate them, I truly do! The greatest time of year is when I can move my socks to the back of the closet. So yeah, we’re thinking about buying some kind of transportable cooker or grill, so that we can prepare dinners outside.

During the Winter it’s become such a nice habit to cook the dinner together with hubby and son. We really wanna continue doing this through the Summer, but we also want to be outside as much as possible.

Back to the recipe, this is another very simple recipe and it literally takes minutes to make. And if that is not enough, it’s packed with flowery elderflower flavor and has the citrusy zing of grapefruit and lime. What else could you ask for?

What if I don’t have elderflower cordial on hand?

You can use fresh or dried elderflowers just the same. Pour half a cup of boiling water over 2 elderflowers and add 1/4 cup sugar. Let steep for 10 minutes. Let cool down. Use it as the syrup in the mocktail.

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Grapefruit-Elderflower Mocktail

Course Cocktail, Drinks

Keyword elderflower mocktail, grapefruit mocktail

Servings 4 drinks

Author Anja Burgar

Ingredients

1/3 cup elderflower cordial (link to the recipe in notes)
3/4 cup grapefruit pink grapefruit juice
2 TBSP lime juice
1 1/2 cup sparkling water

Instructions

Mix elderflower cordial, grapefruit juice and lime juice in a jar.
Place ice cubes in 4 glasses.
Pour over the mocktail mixture and add sparkling water.
Serve immediately.

Notes

ELDERFLOWER CORDIAL RECIPE HERE
COCKTAIL VERSION: Add a shot of gin to each glass and enjoy!

Elderflower Coridal (Elderflower Syrup)

June 6, 2019

A recipe for homemade elderflower syrup or elderflower cordial: sweet and citrusy! Making elderflower syrup at home is super easy and requires so little work.

When I think of a refreshing Spring drink, the first thing that comes to mind is elderflower cordial. It is such an essential refreshment during this time of year.

I don’t make it often, though. My parents-in-law make a ton every year. They give another ton to us. Sorry for exaggeration but it’s really a huge amount! If I made more, I don’t think we’d drink anything else during the year.

If you’ve read my Guide to seasonal eating you know I’m all about preserving food that’s in abundance for other times of the year. If you haven’t picked the guide yet, you can get it here. Elderflowers are in full bloom over here in Slovenia. They are a bit late this year as most of the flowers and foods. If you have them too, go ahead and pick some and make some elderflower cordial. It’ll last you through Winter!

I was so excited to see the blossoms that I just had to go and make a batch of the cordial 🙂

So, what makes the elderflower syrup so special, you ask?

I say it’s the flowery flavor and the added citrus zing. And it is so versatile. You can drink it diluted with water or sparkling water or make a cocktail or mocktail. But here’s the thing, you can use it in baking. I love elderflower desserts. I put elderflower in cookies and cakes all the time!

Let me know in the comments below, what is your favorite way to use elderflowers?

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Elderflower Cordial

Author Anja Burgar

Ingredients

20 elderflower heads
1 l water (4 1/4 cups)
1 kg sugar (5 cups)
2 organic lemons cut in slices
1 tsp citric acid (optional)

Instructions

Remove any insects from the elderflower blossoms. Do not wash them!
Combine sugar and water in a saucepan over medium heat, stirring until the sugar has dissolved. Remove from heat and allow the syrup to cool to room temperature.
Place the elderflowers and lemon slices into a large container (or a pot) and pour the syrup over the lderflowers and lemons. Cover and let steep for 24 hours at room temperature or in the frige.
Strain the syrup through a fine-meshed sieve lined with a cheesecloth or a paper towel and add citric acid. Stir well then pour the syrup into sterilized bottles or jars.
Once opened store the bottle in the fridge.

Notes

The citric acid adds flavor and acts as a preservative to make the syrup keep longer. You can find it in any grocery store. You can also omit it and simply add some lemon juice instead.

Walnut Chocolate Star Bread (Egg-free)

May 30, 2019

Walnut chocolate star bread is a eye-catching yet easy treat that will definitely make you look like a baking star!

While this gloomy weather continues, I’ll be sharing a new comfort recipe with you guys! All I want during these cold days is some sweet bread, but not just any sweet bread. I want one with nuts and chocolate – my favorite!

The idea for this walnut chocolate star bread recipe actually came from making a traditional Slovenian potica. If you’ve been following me for a while, you know my son’s allergic to eggs and he’s a kid and loves chocolate. That’s why I created this super soft and fluffy egg-free dough with a the most delicious lemony flavor. And I added some yummy chocolate to the traditional walnut filling. I baked this first during Easter and we all loved it, so I had to share it with you.

Since I never made star bread before, I decided to make it a little mor einteresting than the traditional roll. In fact, you can roll it however you like, but take into consideration that you might need to adjust the baking time if you change it’s shape.

Also, when it comes to the filling. I tested it with hazelnuts as well and it is just as delicios. Think nutella! The reason why I included wallnuts in this recipe is the traditional aspact of this dish, but basically you can try other nuts too 🙂

So, how do you make the walnut chocolate star bread?

The dough recipe is super easy. It consists of standard ingredients like flour, yeast, sugar, vanilla, lemon zest, butter and milk.

For the filling you need finelly grated walnuts (or some other nuts), sugar (a part can be replaced with honey), heavy cream, butter and chocolate.

To create the beautiful star shape you need to divide the dough into three equal parts and roll each one to 26 cm (10 inch) diameter.

Cover two layers with the filling in a thin layer and not all the way to the edge. Cover with the top dough layer that’s not covered in filling.

Place a small glas or cup in the center and cut the dough radially into 16 identical strips like shown in the photo below.

Then take two strips by the ends, twist twice in the opposite directions and pinch the ends together quite firmly.

Here are some ideas to customize this chocolate star bread recipe:

swap walnuts for hazelnuts or pecans
swap lemon zest with orange zest
add a teaspoon of cinnamon to the filling
add 1/4 cup cranberries that have been soaked in warm water (or better – rum) for 10 minutes
swap dark chocolate with milk chocolate or nutella

5 from 1 vote

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Walnut Chocolate Star Bread

Course Dessert

Keyword star bread, sweet bread

Prep Time 30 minutes

Cook Time 25 minutes

Rising time 1 hour 40 minutes

Total Time 2 hours 35 minutes

Author Anja Burgar

Ingredients

Sweet Dough

2.5 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 cup + 2 TBSP milk
1/2 cup sugar
2 tsp dry yeast
1 tsp vanilla seeds or vanilla extract
2 TBSP unsalted butter melted

Walnut Chocolate Filling

1 cup finely ground walnuts
35 g dark chocolate
35 g milk chocolate
2 TBSP unsalted butter
2 TBSP sugar
3 TBSP heavy cream

Other

1 TBSP milk or 1 egg whisked with 1 teaspoon water (for egg wash)

Instructions

Sweet Dough

In a small bowl mix 2 TBSP sugar, half of the milk and yeast. Cover and wait for it to activate and start foaming.
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook attachment, combine the flour, vanilla seeds (or extract) and sugar at low speed to combine all the ingredients. Add the rest of the milk and melted butter and mix until the dough comes together. Lastly, add activated yeast. Continue mixing until a soft smooth dough forms. You can do this by hand, as well. Transfer the dough to a greased bowl, cover, and let it rise at room temperature for 60 minutes or until double the size.

Walnut filling

While the dough is rising, you can prepare the walnut chocolate filling. Melt butter and chocolate in heat proof bowl over the top of the saucepan with simmering water.
Add sugar to the butter and chocolate mixture and stir well.
In a small saucepan, bring heavy cream to a simmer (not to a boil!) and pour over ground walnuts. Add butter and chocolate mix to the walnuts and mix to get a uniform filling. Let cool to a room temperature.

Making the Walnut Chocolate Star Bread

Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°C).
On a clean and lightly floured working surface, divide the dough into three equal parts and shape into spheres. Roll each of them out on a piece of baking paper into roughly 26cm (10inch) circles.
Leaving the baking paper below, cover one layer with half of the filling leaving a cm (1/2inch) room at the edge. Cover with the second layer and add the rest of the filling. Cover with the last layer. Place a small glass or bowl in the center and cut 16 equally-sized slices, leaving the center connected. Twist the slices in pairs away from each other. Then pinch the ends of each pair together. Set the star aside to rise for 40 minutes at room temperature.
Lightly brush the star with milk (or egg wash). Bake in the oven until deeply golden and puffy, about 20 to 25 minutes.

Balsamic Strawberry Yogurt Cupcakes

May 10, 2019

Strawberry yogurt cupcakes with whipped cream frosting and balsamic strawberries. One bite of these and you will agree, these are the best!

Hey guys! I’m ready. For strawberry season!

Okay, I’ve been ready for months, but it’s finally a week or two away. Do you already have strawberries where you live?

The ones in our garden are just starting to grow the little green strawberries so we won’t have them for a while, but there’s a plantation right out of town where they grow the most delicious strawberries. I’m stalking their Facebook page so I can go there immediately. I know, crazy!

I’ve created this recipe a while ago for a magazine I was featured in and I’m so happy that I’m sharing it with you today. These are strawberry yogurt cupcakes with whipped cream and balsamic strawberries on top. They have a delicious little surprise in the middles also. A yummy dollop of strawberry jam.

When it comes to cupcakes, I don’t like heavy frostings like buttercream. Whipped cream or cream cheese is what I love most. To be honest, I usually make them without frosting anyway, but strawberries need cream. These are the two thing I think go oh so great together.

So, why did I choose yogurt. When it comes to dessert, I like them fresh and just a tiny bit acidic. I think it adds to the flavor and makes it a lighter dessert in general. Yogurt is in my opinion one of the best ingredients that adds such nice flavor and freshness to desserts.

If you’ve been following me, you know I love recipes that are easy but look like million dollars. I mean, just look at how elegant this looks. And trust me, it doesn’t take any special skill to make them. These strawberry yogurt cupcakes are so simple and I’m pretty sure you won’t be able to stop eating them. Guilty! I ate A LOT 😀

If you haven’t tried it yet, I have another delicious strawberry recipe. They are my favorite Roasted Strawberry Rhubarb Crêpes.

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Balsamic Strawberry Yogurt Cupcakes

Course Dessert, Snack

Keyword cake, cupcakes, strawberry cupcakes

Prep Time 30 minutes

Cook Time 25 minutes

Decorating Time 5 minutes

Total Time 1 hour

Servings 8 cupcakes

Author Anja Burgar

Ingredients

Cupcakes

1 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
2/3 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1/4 cup sunflower oil
2/3 cup plain yogurt
zest of 1/2 lemon
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp vanilla seeds
1 TBSP lemon juice

Balsamic Strawberries

4 strawberries greens removed and cut into quarters lengthwise
1/2 tsp white balsamic vinegar
1/2 tsp honey

Other Ingredients

1/2 cup whipping cream
1/2 tsp icing sugar
3 TBSP strawberry jam

Instructions

Balsamic Strawberries

Place strawberries in a small bowl. Drizzle with balsamic vinegar and honey. Mix well and leave to rest in the fridge for 30 minutes.

Cupcakes

Preheat the oven to 170°C (340°F) and prepare a muffin tin with liners
In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and vanilla seeds. Set aside.
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment beat the eggs and sugar until light and fluffy. Add yogurt, sunflower oil, lemon juice, and lemon zest and mix on medium speed to combine all ingredients. Reduce the speed to low and add the flour mixture one spoon at a time.
Fill the muffin tins to ¾ volume and bake for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
Once the cupcakes are cooled to room temperature, use a knife or a round piping tip to cut a 2-3 cm deep hole in the middle of the cupcakes. Drizzle some of the liquid from the balsamic strawberries into the holes, then fill them with strawberry jam.
In a bowl, whisk whipping cream and icing sugar until firm.
Frost the cupcakes with whipped cream. Top them with 2 strawberry quarters each and drizzle with the remaining liquid from strawberries.

Orange Dutch Baby

January 10, 2019

Orange Dutch baby. Light and airy topped with orange sauce, whipped honey and fresh oranges. It’s made in no time! My favorite Winter breakfast lately because it’s naturally sweet but also fresh at the same time.

One of my all time favorite dishes are crépes. Seriously, I used to make them at least once a week. Since little J has egg allergies we had to swith to egg-free. We usually make Amerikan-style pankakes made with banana and add all kinds of flavoring in the dough or on top of the pancakes. J’s favorite – CHOCOLATE 😀

You are wondering why am I blabbing about pancakes when this is a Dutch baby recipe. Dutch baby is also called a German pancake, so here’s where my thoughts come from. Also it basically uses the same ingredients.

I only recently tried dutch baby for the first time. I saw so many amazing photos of Dutch baby but never quite got to try them. And I must say I missed out BIG TIME. And they are sooo easy to make.

One of the reasons why I never tried them was because I didn’t have a cast iron pan. What?! I know, I know… I recently bought one so now I can try some new dishes, yay!!

Okay, back to the orange dutch baby. Oranges and Winter go hand in hand in my book. I couldn’t imagine cold days without some freshly squeezed orange juice or any dessert that includes oranges (or some other citrus). So making an orange Dutch baby is a no brainer. I think I’ll have to make them every Saturday morning. And some banana pancakes for my son 🙂 There’s no way he can watch me eat the Dutch baby and be okay with not having something just as delicious.

This orange Dutch baby has very little refined sugar. Actually, since it includes whipped honey even the light sprinkle of powdered sugar in not necessary. I love a tiny bit, though. The recipe also includes a super easy orange sauce that you can use in other desserts as well. It’s awesome on brownies 🙂

Have you ever heard of whipped honey? I love it! Whipped honey is nothing but… well, honey that is whipped. Nothing fancy or difficult but totally different to regular honey. Also, if you buy non-pasteurized honey (which I suggest you do) you know it crystalizes. Whipping it makes it runny again without heating it. Let me know if you try whipped honey or my orange Dutch baby in the comments below.

5 from 1 vote

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Orange Dutch Baby

Orange Dutch baby. Light and airy topped with orange sauce, whipped honey and fresh oranges. It’s made in no time! My favorite Winter breakfast lately because it’s naturally sweet but also fresh at the same time.

Course Appetizer, Breakfast, Dessert, Snack

Keyword dutch baby, easy recipe, german pancake

Prep Time 20 minutes

Cook Time 20 minutes

Total Time 40 minutes

Servings 4 people

Author Anja Burgar

Ingredients

Dutch Baby

3 eggs
2/3 cup milk
1/2 cup flour mix (approx. 1/3 wholewheat flour and 2/3 plain white flour)
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
pinch of salt
3 TBSP clariffied butter
1 orange cut in slices skin removed
powdered sugar to taste

Orange Sauce

1 cup freshly squeezed orange juice (approx. 3 oranges)

Whipped Honey

1 cup unpasteurized honey

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 220 °C (425 °F) placing a 25 cm (10 inch) iron pan in the oven to heat as well.

Orange Sauce

Pour freshly squeezed orange juice into a saucepan and bring it to a simmer. Let simmer until the volume is about 1/4 of the initial volume. Set aside.

Whipped Honey

Whip honey on medium-high speed for 10-15 minutes. The honey will become airy and pale white.

Dutch Baby

Mix eggs in a blender on high speed for a few seconds so they start to bubble.
Add flour mix, milk, cinnamon and salt and mix on medium-high speed for another few seconds or until the ingredients are well combined.
Take the pan out of the oven, place over high heat and add clarified butter. Wait until butter is bubbling then add the batter and return to the oven.
Bake for 13-15 minutes. Turn the oven off and leave sit in the oven for an additional 5 minutes. This will keep the Dutch baby bubbly structure.
Take out of the oven and sprinkle powdered sugar over (You can omit this step), top with orange sauce, 1 TBSP of whipped honey and fresh orange slices. Enjoy!

Shredded Chicken Enchiladas With Homemade Enchilada Sauce

December 24, 2018

These shredded chicken enchiladas are my absolutely favorite enciladas. The recipe is super easy and it even includes a homemade enchilada sauce that’s made with little effort in only 15 minutes.

I can’t believe tomorrow’s Christmas already. Hasn’t December just begun??

I had plans to do some thorough house cleaning plus some more baking and decorating, but my son’s been home all week long with a cold and an ear infection. Although I can do some cleaning with him around and helping, there’s just no way I can do it in detail. Still, it was fun having him at home, we haven’t had the whole day to ourselves since he started kindergarten.

We’re making plans what to eat during holidays. Me and my husband are huge fans of Mexican food. So I’ve made a recipe for chicken enchiladas with a homemade enchilada sauce. The recipe is very easy! We usually end up making too many so we eat them again next day for breakfast. Okay, I admit, maybe we make too many on purpose 😛

We have a favorite Mexican restaurant and we used to only order beef enchiladas there. We’re crazy about beef! Then one evening we decided to try chicken enchiladas. I guess we always order them with chicken ever since. They use cabbage in the filling and it just goes so well with chicken and the tomato sauce. So that was the inspiration behind this recipe.

For the filling you can use leftover chicken, because we all know big Christmas dinners leave us with a ton of leftovers. I hate throwing food away and love recipes that transform those into something very delicious.

I hope you are having wonderful holidays and I wish you peaceful and loving moments with the ones you love!

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Shredded Chicken Enchiladas With Homemade Enchilada Sauce

The BEST chicken enchiladas, hearty but full of veggies!

Course Main Course

Cuisine Mexican

Keyword chicken enchiladas

Prep Time 20 minutes

Cook Time 30 minutes

Total Time 50 minutes

Servings 4 people

Ingredients

Chicken enchiladas

8 corn tortillas (20cm/8inch)
1 cooked and chopped chicken breast (leftovers can be used)
1/4 cabbage head
1 carrot
1 red bell pepper
1 onion
2 cloves garlic
400 g mozzarella (shredded)
1/3 cup pomegranate arils
1 lime
1 avocado (cut into thin slices)
chopped coriander

Homemade Enchilada Sauce

800 g canned tomatoes
1/2 cup pomegranate juice (or cranberry juice)
juice of half a lime
1 TBSP peanut butter
2 cloves garlic
2 bay leaves
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp smoked paprika
1 fresh chilli
salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

Homemade Enchilada Sauce

Preheat the oven to 180°C.
Place all ingredients in a pot and bring to a boil. Let simmer for 10-15 minutes or until it thickens a bit.
Use a blender to make a smooth sauce.

Chicken enchiladas

Thinly slice cabbage and onions. Cut red bell pepper in small chunks and grate carrots.
In a skillet sauté onions, cabbage, carrots, and red bell peppers. When they soften add garlic and sauté for another minute.
Place the sauteed vegetables in a big bowl and add shredded chicken breast, half of the shredded mozzarella and 1/3 of enchilada sauce (or more if the mixture seems too dry). Mix well and divide into eight parts. Use each part to fill one tortilla and roll them o keep all ingredients inside.
Add 1/3 of enchilada sauce to the bottom of the baking pan. Place rolled tortillas on top and pour the remaining 1/3 of enchilada sauce over the tortillas. Add the other half of mozzarella on top and bake for 15 minutes or until the cheese is golden.
Use pomegranate arils, avocado, lime and coriander as garnish. Serve warm.

Mango Margarita Smoothie

February 22, 2018

Who doesn’t love a simple refreshing margarita smoothie with mangos? I sure do!

Hey, it’s been a LOOOOOONG time. Way to long.

I’ve missed posting here so much. I’ve kicked myself in the rear end this week and made a plan for a few future recipes. Hopefully, I can see them through! Baby Jernej is not so little anymore. He’s standing on his own now, crawling all around the place, exploring the world and filling our hearts with all kinds of joy. If you wanna see what’s going on in our personal life head on to my personal Instagram account.

And now to the recipe. Today is National Margarita Day and I made a non-alcoholic mango margarita smoothie.

I’d say cheers, but it’s long gone.

There’s something about mangos in smoothies. Puréed mangos give such a nice smooth texture to drinks. They are one of my favorite fruits to put in smoothies, besides avocados. All due to the texture. Okay, and flavor too 😀 What are yours?

Since becoming a mom, maintaining a healthy diet has been so hard. The biggest problem for me is forgetting to eat, which I find super weird and annoying. And that’s why recipes like this are super important… Simple, easy and done in no time. I’m planning on sharing a few other recipes suitable for mom’s with little time to prep and also for little kids to enjoy. Btw, baby J tried the mango margarita smoothie and he approves 😀

Who doesn't love a simple refreshing margarita smoothie with mangos. I sure do!

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Mango Margarita Smoothie

Total Time 5 minutes

Servings 2 servings

Author Anja Burgar

Ingredients

1/2 mango (chilled)
3 oranges (chilled)
2 limes (chilled)
salt for garnish

Instructions

Peel mango and juice oranges and limes and blend all until smooth.
Run a lime wedge around the outside of a glass and dip the rim in some salt for garnish and taste. Pour in the smoothie.

Double Chocolate Blackberry Ice Cream Sandwiches

August 31, 2017

Double chocolate blackberry ice cream sandwiches are a perfect ice cold refreshment for the hot late summer days!

Finally back to blogging. I took a little time of to go to the seaside and spend more quality time with the little one. He was sick a lot this past month and we’re all trying to beat a cold right now. A cold in the summer, that’s new! And awful :/

Since I’ve posted the last recipe my baby has started eating solids. I couldn’t stand looking at his big sad eyes watching us munch over whatever was on the table and the poor thing didn’t get anything. Well, turns out he’s a natural. He never once spits out food and although he doesn’t eat much, he likes everything we give him. Gotta love a good eater 🙂

I could talk baby stuff all day long. You know when people can’t shut up about what their baby has acomplished lately, what she’s eating, how she’s the best in every single way. Well, I’m one of those people right now. I get them now. My old self would hate me so much, but yeah once you’re a parent you can’t do differently 😛
I’m gonna shut up now and go to the good stuf – the blackberry ice cream sandwiches.

It was kindda hard to get some blackberries. Apparently it’s not a good season this year. But anyways I had this reciipe in my mind for a while now and I did find some, so I could try it. Actually the recipe would work with any berries for that matter. But blackberries are in season now and they are freakin’ delicious! And so are the blackberry ice cream sandwiches.

The cookies are chocolate shortbread, so they might seem too crumbly, but once they are chilled in the freezer, they absorb some moisture and they become softer. Just as I remember ice cream sandwiches from my childhood. I had them often, but they don’t seem to be very popular over here these days. Strange.

I’m gonna be quick today and finish while I still have some peace and quiet 🙂

If you want another simple ice cream recipe check out n o churn melon sorbet with basil, it’s one of my favorite summer refreshments!

Have a good one folks!

Double chocolate blackberry ice cream sandwiches are a perfect ice cold refreshment for the hot late summer days!

5 from 1 vote

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Double Chocolate Blackberry Ice Cream Sandwiches

Servings 20 sandwiches

Ingredients

Blackberry Ice Cream

600 g blackberries fresh or frozen
1 1/2 cup unrefined cane sugar
1 tsp vanilla seeds
2 eggs
1 cup whipping cream
pinch of salt

Chocolate Cookies

225 g unsalted butter
1/2 cup icing sugar
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1 tsp vanilla seeds
pinch of salt

Decoration

150 g semi-dark chocolate
bee pollen

Instructions

Blackberry Ice Cream

Heat blackberries, sugar, salt and vanilla seeds in a big sauce pan. Bring it to a gentle boil and cook until the volume has reduced to half. Pass the blackberry mixture through a fine mesh to remove the pits. Leave at room temperature to cool. Then transfer to the fridge until you do the rest of the recipe.
Place eggs in a heat proof bowl. Boil water in a sauce pan and place the bowl over it. The water should simmer and not touch the top bowl. Leave water to simmer on medium while whisking the eggs for 15-20 minutes or until it starts to thicken and get pale yellow. Place the eggs in the fridge for 15 minutes to cool.
Whip the cream to stiff peaks.
Once everything had cooled use a spatula to mix eggs into blackberry mixture. Carefully incorporate whipped cream. Place in an airtight container and freeze for about four hours or until the ice cream is firm, but not completely frozen.

Chocolate Cookies

Preheat the oven to 180°C and line a baking sheet with baking paper.
Whip butter and icing sugar until fluffy and pale yellow. Add flour, cocoa powder, vanilla seeds and salt and slowly incorporate it in the whipped butter.
Roll the dough 5mm thick and cut out 5cm circles. Move them to the baking sheet and bake for 10-12 minutes. Remove from the oven and transfer to a wire rack too cool.

Assembly

Once the cookies have cooled and the ice cream is firm enough to scoop. Use an ice cream scoop to fill ice cream between two cookies. Other option is to use the cookie cutter. This way place the cookie to the bottom of the cookie cutter then fill it with icecream and cover with another cookie. Plase in the freezer while melting the chocolate.
Place chocolate in a heat proof bowl. Boil water in a sauce pan and place the bowl over it. The water should simmer and not touch the top bowl.
Dip assembled ice cream sandwiches into chocolate and sprinkle with bee pollen.
Freeze until firm.

Sparkling Basil & Blueberry Float

July 27, 2017

A perfectly refreshing and comforting non-alcoholic summer drink – sparkling basil and blueberry float.

How’s summer been treating you so far?

So far, we’ve had increadible hot weather and we finaly managed to get some vacations. We love going to the lakeside. We spent a week at the amazing lake Bohinj. I dare say it’s one of the prettiest places in Slovenia. The lake lies right under the mountains in a national park. It’s amazing to see the slopes of the mountains end at the lake shore and see the most perfect sunset behind the peaks all while swimming in the cold (but no freezing) water.

Our friends with two kids joined us there. The kids had so much fun and us adults had a lot of beer. Omg, this sounds like we were neglecting our kids, but I asure you we weren’t. Beer was necesary to beat off the heat. And the uncountable wasp attacks. Anyway, it was a great vacation, minus wasps!

Coming back home, we stepped right into the blueberry season. Not the wild ones, those are gone for a while. But they would work just as well if not better in this recipe.

Anyway, the frost completely damaged our blueberry flowers and there are barely any blueberries. My parents-in-law have a lot, though. Luckily their blueberries survived the frost 🙂

I was thinking about making another drink recipe. I haven’t done one in a while and it’s about time to have one for the summer heat. I remember seing a ton of float recipes on Pinterest. I’ve never really tried one, but I was sure vanilla ice cream and blueberries would make an awesome summer float. So I made a simple recipe, that’s both a refreshing drink and an awesome dessert. Who wouldn’t like that?!

Again my obsession with basil. I swear it’s in all my food these days. There’s just so much of it. And I like how delicious it tastes in sweet recipes. Blueberries and basil – a spot on combination. My new favorite! No really, it’s that great. You need to try the recipe ASAP.

Combine all of that with lime juice and a creamy bourbon vanilla icecream and you get the tasteiest, most delicious blueberry float. I actually saved some from the shoot in the fridge and they were just ass good the next day. Vanilla icecream turned into a creammy fluff and kept the bubbles from sparkling water right in the drink. It was just as yum the next day. Who would have thought 😀

I feel like my posts are getting shorter and shorter, but I really need to get some sleep. I’m writing this while baby is two hours in his night sleep, so I only have a few more hours to get some proper rest. He usually wakes up at half past one or around two and after that it’s a gamble. He might sleep well, or he’ll move in his bed (sleeping or not). I can’t really sleep while I hear him moving, so I’m looking forward to him getting his own room in about two or three months. He’s actaully quite a good boy as far as sleeping goes, but I wouldn’t mind a full eight our sleep. Haven’t had one in four months.

We’ll I’ve kept my babbling way too long.

Off to bed now!

Good night folks and happy Friday in a couple of hours!

A perfectly refreshing and comforting non-alcoholic summer drink - sparkling basil and blueberry float.

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Sparkling Basil & Blueberry Float

Servings 4 people

Ingredients

Blueberry Purée

3 cups blueberries
3/4 cup cane sugar
3/4 cup water
juice of one lime
10 big basil leaves

Sparkling Basil & Blueberry Float

blueberry purée
400 ml sparkling water
juice of two limes
8 scoops bourbon vanilla ice cream
frozen blueberries or crushed ice

Instructions

Blueberry Purée

Place all ingredients into a skillet over medium heat and let simmer for 5 minutes.
Purée cooked blueberries and the liquid in a food processor and let cool at room temperature. Refrigerate before serving if preffered.

Sparkling Basil & Blueberry Float

Fill four small glasses with blueberry purée, place frozen blueberries or crushed ice over. Pour over lime juice and sparkling water and top each drink with two scoops of bourbon vanilla ice cream.

Spicy Goat Cheese Pesto Pizza

July 6, 2017

Italian flavors with a twist in one delicious spicy goat cheese pesto pizza loaded with fresh cherry tomatoes, mozzarella and black olives. I could eat this pizza every day!

Wow, the summer this year. I can’t complain. Sunny weather, nice breeze and Aperol spritz in the evenings – what else could I wish for? The baby is sleeping very well so far, during the night as well as the day and his playtimes are getting longer. Finally! I absolutely love singing to him with his curious eyes on me all the time 🙂

In a couple of days we’re heading for some much needed vacations beside a beautiful lake under the mountains. Even though we love the seaside, we’re more of a lake and river type of swimmers. We love the sunny beaches and the waves by the sea, but hate the salt. The place we’re going to is quite isolated with just a couple of vacation houses nearby. So hopefully we’ll get some peace and quiet.

Okay back to the recipe. I have a ton of basil in the garden. A couple of years ago I sowed an entire bag of seeds in one small pot and it turned out the best idea ever. Why? Because you can start picking basil as soon as it starts growing leaves. Of course it’s way too crowded and I pick the whole plants in the begining to decrowd the pot. I leave some to grow into big bushy plants.

Basil was the whole inspiration for this recipe. I love pesto esecially with basil. I tried making it with goat cheese and it is seriously delicious. Add some mozzarela, tomatoes and olives and put all of them on the best pizza dough and you’ve got a treat. I included an amazing and very easy pizza dough recipe, but you can use your own. My whole-grain spelt dough would work just as well.

This pizza dough rises slowly in the fridge for a day and it is the best pizza dough I’ve made to this date. In fact most pizza places will make the dough in advance as well. Slow rise at low temperatures makes the dough nice and elastic, so you can strech it out very thinly. I didn’t do this with this pizza, but I love making it super thin for my tomato sauce pizza only. Which reminds me… I should totally share the recipe.

Second thing with making your pizza dough perfect is high temperature. Although I sometimes bake it at 230°C only, to make it more bready. Again look at the photos, the dough turns out looking something like that. If you crank up the temperature you’ll get an even crunchier crust. One thing I always do is place the baking tray in the oven when I turn it on, so it heats uo nicely. A pizza stone would be an even better option, but I don’t have one (yet) 🙂

I’ll stop babbling and get to the recipe. Have a lovely day you guys!

Italian flavors with a twist in one delicious spicy goat cheese pesto pizza loaded with fresh cherry tomatoes, mozarella and black olives. I could eat this pizza every day!

5 from 1 vote

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Spicy Goat Cheese Pesto Pizza

Servings 4 people

Ingredients

Pizza Dough

4 cups bread flour
1 1/2 cup lukewarm water
1 sachet of yeast (7g)
1 tsp sugar
2 tsp salt

Goat Cheese Pesto

1 cup chopped basil
30 g mild goat cheese
20 g parmesan
3 TBSP pine nuts
2 cloves garlic
1 tsp chilli flakes
3 TBSP olive oil (or more if necessary)

Spicy Goat Cheese Pesto Pizza

pizza dough
goat cheese pesto
400 g mozzarella
500 g cherry tomatoes
100 g black olives
2 tsp chilli flakes
basil for decoration

Instructions

Pizza Dough

Mix all ingredients in a stand mixer or by hand. Knead for about 10 minutes or until the dough is smooth and soft, but not sticky.
Slightly oil a big bowl with at least double the volume of the dough. Leave the dough rest in the bowl covered with plastic wrap for about an hour or until double the size.
Knead again and return to the bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and save in the fridge for 24 hours. Be sure to use a large bowl, because the dough will continue rising in the fridge!
Remove from the fridge, divide the dough into four an knead again to for four balls. Cover with a cloth and leave at room temperature at least an hour before using the dough.

Goat Cheese Pesto

Place all ingredients except basil into a food processor and pulse until finely chopped. Add basil and pulse for a few more seconds.

Spicy Goat Cheese Pesto Pizza

Preheat the oven to 230°C or preferably as hugh as your oven goes leaving the baking tray or pizza stone in the oven. If using pizza stone make sure you leave it in the oven long enough to be extremely hot.
Uncover the dough, but don't knead again from this point on. Use a small amount of flour to spread the dough into a desired shape. In this recipe form a 20 cm circle with a thick edge.
Spread basil pesto over the thin center of the dough and cover with sliced or pulled-appart mozzarella. Top with cherry tomatoes, black olives and chilli flakes.
Bake in the preheated oven for 10-15 minutes depending on the thickness of the crust.
Decorate with more basil leaves before serving.

Mini Lemon Balm Rhubarb Bundt Cakes

June 22, 2017

Mini lemon balm rhubarb bundt cakes are amazing. No other words to describe them. They are delicious melt-in-your-mouth mini treats.

Folks, it’s officially summer! We’ve been having unbelievably sunny and hot weather for weeks so it feels like it’s already mid-summer. I’m keeping myself cool with loads of strawberry drinks like roasted peach and strawberry fizz and strawberry vanilla iced tea. Thank god for our garden, producing all those delicious fruits. And thank god for the mini rhubarb bundt cakes. They make these hot June days so much easier!

I’m spending so much time outside in the shade with my little baby. I love dressing him in the cute summer clothes and seing his bare feet. I could eat them up! He’s growing so fast, I can hardly keep up. He’s becoming more aware of the world and things around him, giving us the most precios smiles and giggles. I could watch those all day long.

Okay, back to the recipe.

I swear guys, these mini bundt cakes are incredibly tender and light. Rhubarb gives them such a nice sour note and the lemon balm makes them deliciously citrusy. I added a lemon drizzle to make those flavors stand out even more and make it super light and refreshing. They are my new summer crush. Sorry hubby, you’ll just have to deal 😛

The recipe is not a dense sponge recipe like for a regular bundt cake. It is more of a cupcake type of sponge. I should maybe call them cupcakes, but I love my new mini bundt cake molds which my mum gave me, that I just had to use those for the shoot. Call them cupcakes if you want 🙂

I feel like I’m being real brief these past few posts. I’m still ajusting to the fact that my free time is pretty scarce these days.

I hope you all have the best start of the summer!

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Mini Lemon Balm Rhubarb Bundt Cakes

Servings 12 cakes

Ingredients

Sponge

2 cups all-purpose flour (250g)
1 cup sugar (120g)
2 eggs
1/4 cup sunflour seed oil
200 ml plain yogurt
1 tsp vanilla seeds
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 sachet baking powder (12g)
1/2 cup lemon balm finely chopped
150 g rhubarb finely chopped

Lemon Drizzle

1 1/2 cup icing sugar
2 TBSP lemon juice
1/2 cup lemon balm roughly chopped

Instructions

Sponge

Preheat the oven to 170°C. Lightly grease mini bundt cake molds. I used 12 80ml bundt cake molds.
In a stand mixer beat together sugar, eggs and oil.
In a bowl mix flour, vanilla seeds, ground ginger, ground cinnamon and baking powder.
Add flour mix to the egg mixture spoon by spoon.
Add yogurt, chopped lemon balm and mix until the mixture is smooth and even.
Add rhubarb and use a spatula or a big spoon to mix it in.
Use an ice cream scoop to fill the molds to about 3/4 full.
Bake in the preheated oven for about 25 minutes, until the toothpick comes out clean. Let cool in the molds

Lemon Drizzle

In a mortar bash the lemon balm with 1 TBSP of lemon juice to get out as much lemon balm juice as you can. Use a fine sieve or gauze to squeeze out the liquid. Discard the solids.
Add 1 TBSP lemon juice and the lemon balm liquid to the icing sugar and whisk until smooth.

Decoration

When bundt cakes are cooled to room temperature, remove them from molds and decorate with lemon drizzle.

Cherry Braised Beef Brisket With Creamy Mashed Potatoes

June 1, 2017

This cherry braised beef brisket is incredibly tender and comforting. When served with some creamy mashed potatoes it makes a perfect dish for the rainy spring days.

We are actually having very hot days for days now. It almost feels like summer, so I’m only wishing for rainy days. Don’t get me wrong, I love summer and sunny days, but the heat came way too quickly, I’m not prepared! Well, at least I get to wear some nice summer dresses and I get to diss the socks, which I hate 🙂

Okay, our cherry tree is again full of cherries, we can’t eat them all, they ripe so fast. We’re making juice for the winter and save some in the freezer. Besides we eat tons of them every day and I’m not complainig. Who doesn’t love fresh cherries?

Even though I L.O.V.E. cherries in desserts and drinks, I’m also loving how wonderfully they complement savory dishes. Remember the Cherry, brie and bacon grilled quesadillas? So yummy!!

Me and my husband absolutely love braised beef and when we got hold of a nice piece of brisket with ribs we couldn’t resist but adding some cherries and some lovely herbs from the garden to some classical braising veggies, like carrots, onions and celery. Result… AMAZING!

Seriously. It’s not like you can tell there are cherries in the dish besides the pieces of cherries, obviously. But they add such a nice sweet flavour. I can’t get over it, I’m doing this dish again for the whole family this weekend.

Since this recipe takes 6 to 7 hours to make, we started cooking at five in the morning. Luckily we wake up at that time anyway to feed the baby 🙂 I’m guessing we’ll be braising more now that we’re waking up at night 😉

One more thing that’s completely unrelated. I’ve been on the best treasure hunt since I’ve started shooting food. My friend is cleaning her grandma’s old apartment so she invited me to go and take a look if there’s anything I’d need for my photography. Well, I found a huuuuge bag of goodies 🙂 I’ve even used some of them in this photoshoot. I know I’m bragging, but I can’t help it 😉

Have a great day you guys!

This cherry braised beef brisket is incredibly tender and comforting. When served with some creamy mashed potatoes it makes a perfect dish for the rainy spring days.

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Cherry Braised Beef Brisket With Creamy Mashed Potatoes

Prep Time 30 minutes

Cook Time 7 hours

Total Time 8 hours

Servings 4 people

Ingredients

Cherry Braised Beef Brisket

1 kg beef brisket
400 g cherries depitted
2 big carrots
2 onions
2 celery sticks
5 cloves garlic
3 rosemary springs
a handful of basil
5 thyme springs
1 l chicken stock
salt
black pepper
cayenne pepper

Creamy Mashed Potatoes

8 medium sized potatoes
200 g butter room temperature

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 140°C.

Cherry Braised Beef Brisket

Season the brisket generously with salt, black pepper and cayenne pepper.
Sear all sides of the brisket on a hot skillet with a splash of oil for about a minute or two.
Move the brisket to a plate.
Cut carrots, onions and cellery into 1 cm chunks.
In the same skillet sweat the carrots, onions and cellery for about 10 minutes.
Move the brisket and the vegetables to a baking tray and add cherries, garlic, rosemary, basil and thyme and add the stock.
Bake in the preheated oven for 6 to 7 hour or until the meat gets very tender and almost falls apart. when sliced.
Remove from the oven and move the meat to a plate. Cover it with tin foil. Meanwhile use a hand mixer to thicken the liquid. You can mix all of the liquid with vegetables, or you can keep some vegetables to be seen in the sauce.

Creamy Mashed Potatoes

Cook potatoes in salted water until tender. Start with cold water! Cooking time depends on the size of potatoes.
Remove the skins and add butter. Mash with a masher until creamy.

Tag Archive for: summer

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