Mazurek. Traditional Easter pie.

Mazureks came to Poland from Turkey and made an astonishing career here. These are tin, flat shortcrust pies topped with candied fruit and icing. Many different recipes for mazureks have been invited, but the main principle has always remained the same: a lot of topping over a thin waffle or shortcrust.
Decorating mazureks with colourful views and figures is old Polish tradition. For centuries, these very sweet cakes have been the pride of the Easter feast.

My mazurek is a little different than the original one. I made filling with prunes and almond, topping with dark chocolate and shortcrust pastry with wholemeal flour , because I am a big fan of this flour!
To be honest I am not good at decorating, that’s why I used only white chocolate on the top :) but the taste it’s still the same!
Mazurek is better day after day! I recommend refrigerate this cake for at least 24h before serving.

Mazurek. Traditional Easter pie.

Makes 12 *

Ingredients:
Short crust
200g ( 2 cups) wholemeal flour (stone-ground, coarse)
90g cold butter, cut into pieces
2 egg yolks
30g (1/4 cup) icing sugar

Filling350g seeded prunes
6 tablespoon Rum
80g almonds, blanched and chopped coarsely

Topping
100g dark chocolate (used Lindt 85% )
50g milk chocolate (used milk Lindt)
100ml double cream
100g white chocolate + 10g butter, extra for decorating

*12 pieces (squares 7x6cm), I used 28x18cm tin

Method:

1. Make pastry. Blend or process wholemeal flour, icing sugar and butter until mixture is crumbly. Add egg yolks; process until ingredients just come together. Enclose in plastic wrap, refrigerate 30 minutes.
2. Preheat oven, 180C. Grease 28x21 tin. Roll pastry between sheets of baking paper until large enough to line tin. Lift pastry into tin. Prick base all over with fork. Refrigerate 10 minutes. Bake for 25 minutes until browns lightly.
3. Blend or process prunes with Rum until smooth, add chopped almonds.
4. Spread prunes jam into cooled shortcrust pastry.
5. Make topping. Combine chocolate and double cream in saucepan; stir over very low heat until mixture is smooth. Spread topping over prunes jam.
6. Store in a refrigerator.

Decorating: Melt white chocolate with butter, stir over very low heat until mixture is smooth


Enjoy :)

Sand Cake (Polish Sand Baba).

This is very typical Easter cake. Everybody knows 'sand baba' in Poland. This cake is different, than all cakes you know because contains potato starch (potato flour)! This flour gives rare, original taste.

I love sand cake! This cake seems to be very dry but actually it isn’t. It’s something between dry and moist consistency and for me it’s perfect!
Unfortunately – potato starch is the most important ingredients and you might have problems with finding this if you don’t live in Poland. However, I think you can find potato starch in the good healthy food store. If you can’t – the alternative solution is using corn starch, It won’t be exactly the same taste but very similar to the original!

I prepared traditional sand cake with an extra ingredient –Greek honey halva. I wanted more than traditional sand cake! This combination is also delicious!

If you don’t like halva follow only the basic recipe.

Remember! All ingredients should be in the room temperature! (3-4 hours before you start take out butter and eggs from a fridge)


Sand cake (Sand Baba)
Makes 1 loaf pan*

Basic recipe: 180g (1 ¼ cups) plain flour 100g ( ¾ cup) potato starch 150g butter, softened 2 eggs, separate egg whites from yolks 100g (¾ cup) icing sugar 1 teaspoon baking powder

Enriched recipe: 150g ( 1 cup) plain flour 100g (¾ cup) potato starch 150g butter, softened 2 eggs, separate egg whites from yolks 100g (¾ cup) icing sugar 100g halva 1 teaspoon baking powder

*Loaf pan (22x11 cm), I used round pan (18cm in diameter)

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 140C. Grease loaf pan.
2. Place the butter and icing sugar in a bowl and beat together until light and fluffy (about 10 minutes).
3. If you want cake with halva - beat halva now, before adding yolks (about 5 minutes)4. Beat in the egg yolks (remember! add the egg yolks one at a time and beat 5 minutes each)
5. Sift the plain flour, potato starch and baking powder into the mixture, and stir well. Mixture will be very thick.
6. Beat the egg whites (until stiff) in a separately bowl, then fold gently into the cake butter.
7. Pour into prepared loaf pan and bake for 50 minutes in 140C. After that time increase the temperature to 160C and bake for 15 minutes.
8. Cake is ready when a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean.
9. Cool the cake in the tin for 10 minutes, then turn onto wire rack to cool completely.


Enjoy :)

Cod with sun dried tomatoes and basil pesto.

I discovered amazing combination. Sun dried tomatoes and basil pesto! All, what we need to do now, is to add a cod and mozzarella cheese. We get aromatic, simply dinner!

I prefer baking fish to frying. It’s healthier and we can taste fish not only a breadcrumb and oil.
I think you can use any fish you like. Basil always comes together perfectly with fish.
In this recipe I used ready-made green basil pesto, if you don’t have pesto at home, fresh basil leaves could be a good alternative.

Cod with sun dried tomatoes and basil pesto

Serves 2

Ingredients:

100g sun dried tomatoes, chopped coarsely
2 tablespoons basil pesto
600g cod fillets
200g mozzarella cheese
Salt and pepper

Method:

1. Sprinkle cod filets on both side with salt and pepper.
2. Rub the cod filets with basil pesto and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
3. Preheat oven to 200C.
4. Lay the cod filets in a greased ceramic baking dish.
5. Bake for 20-30 minutes or until fish flakes.
6. Then place sun dried tomatoes and slices of mozzarella on the top of the cod fillets, and roast for 5-8 minutes until mozzarella melted.
7. Take out from oven and serve with salad or rice if desired.

Enjoy :)

Wholemeal fruity almond cookies.

Imagine cookies – healthy and no calories...Yeah life will be so beautiful. But the truth is that all sweets are less or more calories.
But what if we use healthy ingredients, a lot of fruits and reduce sugar and fat? I think we can create ‘almost’ healthy cookies!
So why not to try?.

This is my own favourite recipe and I must say these cookies are one of the best I have done. They are crunchy* outside, moist inside and have a lot of fruits. I also use wholemeal stone-ground flour and nobody suspected that actually this kind of flour is inside.
You can choose different fruits and nuts if you like. In my recipe I choose my favourite one but it doesn’t mean we can’t change a litter what we put inside.
Cookies smell wonderfully and remind me of my joyful childhood :) .

Wholemeal fruity almond cookies
Makes 20 cookies**
Ingredients:

80g butter, softened
100g (1 cup) jumbo oat flakes
180g (1 1/2 cups) wholemeal flour (stone-ground, coarse)
75g (1/3 cup) brown sugar
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
2 egg yolks
50ml milk, approximately

Fruits and nuts:70g (1/3 cup) seeded prunes, chopped coarsely
40g (1/4 cup) dried dates, chopped coarsely
40g (1/4 cup) dried currants
80g (1/2 cup) almonds, blanched
25g (2 tablespoons) raisins

* First day Cookies are crunchy, day after day they are getting moister outside.
** Cookies 6cm in diameter
Method:

1. Preheat oven, 180C. Prepared 2-3 greased baking sheets or lightly grease baking trays.
2. Combine all ingredients: butter, wholemeal flour, jumbo oat flakes, sugar, egg yolks, fruits and almonds(chopped coarsley). Mix with your fingers until the dough binds together. Add enough milk to give a moist but still firm consistency. Knead for 1 minute.
3. Using 2 tablespoons of mix, roll into ball and place on tray. Repeat with remaining mix. Leave a 5cm gap between cookies as these spread quite a bit. Gently flatten top of balls with fingers.
4. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until light golden and crisp outside
5. Leave on trays 2 minutes and remove to cooling racks to cool completely


Enjoy :)

Coconut-chocolate muffins. The simpliest birthday cake.

If you don’t want to spend all day in the kitchen during your birthday day why not to prepare something simple and delicious?! Why not to prepare divine coconut-chocolate muffins?

These little muffins are as gourmet as birthday cake except you spend less time for baking and decorating.
Yes, It’s so nice to bake a BIG birthday cake but I do this only for my family and friends. For my own birthday I want something fast, tasty and different than traditional cakes.
If you have 35 minutes, love coconut, chocolate, muffins and want to prepare something special I would love to share with you my own recipe :).

Coconut-chocolate muffins as a birthday cake

Makes 4 birthday cakes*
Ingredients:Dry ingredients:
110g (3/4 cup) plain flour
100g (1/2 cup) brown sugar
30g (1/3 cup) desiccated coconut
3 tablespoons cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

Wet ingredients100ml milk
100ml coconut milk**
6 tablespoons sunflower oil
1 egg, lightly beaten

Filling:100g mascarpone cheese
200ml double cream
4 teaspoons icing sugar
8 tablespoons rum with coconut (I used Malibu)***
3 tablespoons coffee liqueur or Baileys liqueur (I used Sheridan liqueur)***
3 teaspoons cocoa powder

* I used 4 ramekins (8cm in diameter) but you can also use traditional muffins cases (5cm in diameter, makes 6)
** do not shake can prior opening and use only liquid coconut milk (in this recipe we don’t use coconut cream)
*** adding some liqueur and rum makes filling less insipid
Method:
To make muffins:1. Preheat oven, 180C. Grease a 6-hole muffin pan (do not use muffin paper cases) or grease 4 ramekins.
2. Put flour, sugar, desiccated coconut, cocoa powder, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda in a bowl and stir together.
3. Combine milk, coconut milk, sunflower oil and egg together in a separate bowl.
4. Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients and stir in the wet ingredients. Stir until just combined; do not over-mix.
5. Divide the mixture between the muffin pan/ramekins, filling each no more than three-quarters full.
6. Bake in a preheated oven for 20-25 minutes (muffin pan), 30-35(ramekins) or until well risen and firm to the touch.
7. Remove muffins from the oven. Stand in the muffin pan/ramekins 5 minutes before turning onto wire rack to cool.

To make filling:1. Place double cream in a bowl and whip until it holds soft peaks. Add the mascarpone cheese and the icing sugar and beat together until smooth.
2. (Coconut filling).Put two-third of the filling in a separate bowl and gradually add the coconut rum. Stir until just combined.
3. (Chocolate filling). Rest of the filling stir gently with cocoa powder and liqueur.

To assemble birthday cake:1. Cut each muffin horizontally into three even layers.
2. Place base layer on serving plate. Spread base with the coconut filling.
3. Top with second layer of cake and repeat layering with coconut filling.
4. Top with last layer of cake. Spread top with chocolate filling.
5. Decorate with flaked coconut. Store in the refrigerator.

Enjoy :)