Apple tart

I first tried this tart at my neighbour’s and I found it delicious. I think it's a recipe from one of the Thermomix’s books, but you do not need to have one to make it. The most laborious part is to prepare the apples and this must be done by hand.

This tart is bound to be a success!

APPLE TART

6 (or more) Golden or Pippin apples

2 egg yolks

1 egg

150 g of white sugar

130 g unsalted butter

1 Tbsp. of brandy

170 g flour

1 sachet of baking powder

1 pinch of salt

1 lemon

Ground cinnamon and brown sugar (for topping)

Peel, remove the core and cut the apples into quarters. Finely slice the outside of each quarter without separating them. Sprinkle some lemon juice to prevent browning.

Mix the eggs, sugar, butter and brandy. Then add to this mixture the flour with the baking powder and salt.

Put the mixture in a baking mould. It should be large enough so that it spreads into a not too thick layer. Cover as much as possible with the apple quarters, exposing the slices. Sprinkle generously with a mixture of brown sugar and cinnamon.

Bake at 180 degrees C for 45 minutes or until the cake is completely done.

Strawberry Jam

I love making jam. It seems magical to be able to put in a jar that spare fruit to enjoy it during the coming months. Even more comforting if you've grown the fruit yourself. Unfortunately, that is not the case this time. I bought the strawberries at the market, taking advantage of the price.

Normally, jam recipes state the same weight of sugar as of fruit, but with half the sugar it is sweet enough and healthier.

STRAWBERRY JAM

1 kg of strawberries

½ kg sugar

1 lemon

Wash thoroughly and cut the strawberries into slices. Place them in a bowl alternating layers of strawberries and sugar. Sprinkle with lemon juice and leave in the fridge overnight.

After this time, put them to cook in a pot, stirring occasionally to prevent sticking. After about 20-30 minutes, the jam should be ready. To check this, you can drop a teaspoon of jam on a plate that will have been in the fridge for a while. This way you can see the consistency that reaches the jam when cooled.

To store, distribute it while still hot (hey, not boiling!) in previously sterilized glass jars (I use a baby bottle sterilizer). You must completely fill the jars, place lids and put them upside down. This way we get the jars vacuum sealed and the jam will keep longer.

Chocolate chip cookies

Last Friday my sister came to visit me. We took the opportunity to make cookies. She gave me this recipe years ago. She got it from an American girl she met when she was studying at university, and although I guess I can not compete with Americans at making cookies, the result was great. If anything, next time I will take them out of the oven a little bit earlier because when they cooled completely they were a little bit too crispy.

CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES

112 g unsalted butter

110 g brown sugar

55 g white sugar

1 egg

½ teaspoon vanilla extract

205 g flour

½ teaspoon of baking soda

¼ teaspoon of salt

180 g of chocolate chips (I put 130g of black chocolate and 50 g of milk chocolate)

Mix well butter at room temperature with the two sugars. Add the egg and vanilla extract and re-mix.

Aside mix the flour, baking soda, salt and chocolate chips and add to other mixture.

Place the mixture in the freezer for a while until it gets a bit solid so that you can roll little balls with it. Put them on parchment paper, leaving enough separation between them, and bake at 190 degrees C until they begin to brown at the edges.

With these quantities I got two trays full of cookies.

Marble cake

Definitely, last week was the “cake week” at home. Yesterday I baked the third one! I guess we will not eat any more cakes for a while, to forget the binge.

The new thing was the marble cake I made using the recipe for yogurt cake (for me, a basic recipe in baking). Normally, I always do the lemon-flavored yogurt cake, but this time I changed the lemon zest for vanilla extract, and I added two tablespoons of cocoa in the mix. The result is great and very colorful.

I would have liked to put a picture of the whole cake but there was always someone who couldn’t wait to get his teeth into it!

MARBLE CAKE

1 natural yogurt (I'm using Greek yogurt lately)

1 measure of oil

2 measures of sugar

3 measures of flour

3 eggs

1 sachet of baking powder

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 tablespoons cocoa powder

In a bowl put the yogurt and using the yogurt pot as a measure add the oil, sugar, eggs and vanilla extract. Mix all very well using a whisk. Next, add the flour mixed with the baking powder. I like to pass it through a strainer to remove any lumps. Again, mix everything thoroughly.

Pour 2/3 of this mix into a greased mold. Add the cocoa powder to the remaining mixture. Mix well and pour into the mold over the non-cocoa mixture. Using a knife and making up and down circular movements slightly mix the two mixtures.

Bake at 180 degrees C until ready (when inserting a toothpick, it comes out clean).

Coconut caramel cream (flan)

Another recipe I had not made for some time. Sometimes I just keep cooking the same things and forget about others ...

I made this flan to use the rest of condensed milk left after I made the coconut balls (using also coconut in this recipe is a coincidence, haha). It was a success, especially because my elder son tried it and liked it very much. He does not like commercial flans, but this is more consistent.

The preparation couldn’t be simpler...

COCONUT CARAMEL CREAM (FLAN)

1 small can of condensed milk (397 g)

1 can of milk (measured with the can of condensed milk)

4 eggs

60 g of grated coconut

Sugar (for caramel)

In a bowl, mix the condensed milk, milk, eggs and coconut.

Caramelize the mold where you will make the flan. To do this heat the sugar with a bit of water until it gets the desired color. Pour immediately over the bottom of the mold.

Pour the mixture into the mold and cover with tin foil to prevent excessive drying of the top. Cook in the oven to 180 degrees C by putting the mold in a container with some water (bain marie). To check if the flan is ready insert a toothpick into the flan and see if it comes out clean.

You will note that the coconut is not distributed throughout the flan; instead it goes all to the surface and forms a nice layer of coconut.

Cold lemon cheese cake

I have made this cake for many years. I used to make it with flavourless gelatin, but one day I was served a similar one on a plane (yes of course, I was traveling in business class) with lemon flavor and I thought it was much better. Since then, I always make it with lemon flavor gelatin.

The preparation is very simple, and if you think you can not consume it all in a few days you can freeze it in portions. It is even better half thawed...

COLD LEMON CHEESE CAKE

200 g of biscuits

75 g unsalted butter

400 ml of cream

300 g of cream cheese (Philadelphia type)

100 g of sugar

1 packet of lemon gelatin

1 cup of water

Blueberry jam

Pulverize the cookies using a food processor or manually by putting them in a bag and smashing them with a rolling pin. Mix with the melted butter and extend this mix over the base of a baking mold (better if you use one with a detachable base). Firmly press the biscuit mix to form a firm layer at the base of the mold. Put in the fridge to harden.

In a bowl, mix the soft cheese with the sugar and the cream. Separately, dissolve the gelatin in a cup of boiling water. Add the gelatin to the bowl. Mix all thoroughly to remove any lump. You can use a blender if it is hard by hand.

Pour the mixture over the biscuit base. To avoid crumbling the biscuit base, pour it gently over a spoon to distribute the drop of the mixture.

Put the cake in the fridge until the next day. Then take out of the mold and cover with blueberry jam or any other jam that you like.

Coconut balls

Oh, my God! Christmas is here and I have had no time to publish anything…

Before everything is over, here are some coconut balls that I made for Christmas Eve. They are really good and very easy to make.

I take this opportunity to wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

COCONUT BALLS

200 g of condensed milk

125 g of grated coconut

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Chocolate cover

Mix the coconut, condensed milk and vanilla. Put the mixture to cool in the fridge. When the mixture has more consistency form little balls and cover them with melted chocolate. Leave to cool until the chocolate hardens.