morellos in chocolate cake
… and now another soft cake with fruit … I started with the well-tried chocolate cake – and added morellos. The mix of chocolate flavor & morellos is just great. Enjoy!
sweet delights
travelling
majorcan beaches in winter
Last March my better half & I went to Majorca for the whole month. We enjoyed an easy stay enjoying daily life, occasional trips across the island … and we also liked to visit beaches. To be honest it was rather cold and rainy sometimes, we didn’t walk or even dash into the water even if there was some blue sky … In general the beaches were empty – almost no people, nearly no tourists,…
savoury delights
conchiglioni – a first attempt
I’ve seen conchiglioni bakes every now and then … Conchiglioni are a type of pasta you won’t stumble about in any supermarket, but then I found a packet of these “big” pasta shells. So I pondered how to start … a pasta bake. I decided to start simply with a Bolognese style filling, lots of sauce and on top lots of cheese. To be honest cooking the conchiglioni was easy, filling the soft shells (only…
sweet delights
pears in chocolate cake
Another change: I started with the basic fluffy & moist batter for another square cake. Instead of apples or morello cherries I worked with pears. The pears were on top & a 2nd layer of slices was inside covered with batter. Pears are fine with chocolate – so I added some cocoa to the batter. Well, it worked fine … I got a delicious chocolate flavor – and the pears were soft, but didn’t melt…
savoury delights
beef & wine
I read about Boeuf Bourguignon in Julia Child’s cooking bible & started thinking how to do it – a modest version of course. Instead of a dutch oven I decided to do it in my slow cooker meaning that I prepare the ingredients, put everything in my slow cooker & start the high temp program. Afterwards the slow cooker will sit in a corner on my kitchen counter daydreaming … no need for any stirring…
sweet delights
sunken morellos in lemon flavored cake
I’ve changed some ingredients, but the result … I started with a very soft apple cake: now there are morellos replacing the apples. Also the cream was substituted in order to create a lemon flavor. There was an unexpected result: the morellos sank to the bottom because of the soft cake batter … So I created a cake with a solid layer of fruit on the bottom slightly covered by batter. … and I turned…
sweet delights
a quick & dirty makeshift lemon tiramisu
Out of a moment I had the idea for a simple dessert – a lemon tiramisu. Well, behind was a bottle of Limoncello (almost empty) and a glass of lemon curd (also only half-full). So I grabbed a small container, a package of sponge fingers and started mixing some Greek yoghurt with Limoncello and lemon curd. The mess was in the fridge for about 2 h – and it was fine. The sponge fingers will…
travelling
walking naples
In February we went to Naples as you may know by now because of the posts about Pompeii and Capri. Most of the week we were in Naples … walking Naples. The impressive horse’s head is part of an equestrian statue, Il Statue di Fernando I di Borbone, in front of the royal palace. We first went there on a Sunday morning, but long queues of visitors made us looking for a bar where to…
sweet delights
soft and juicy apple muffins
I started with some fluffy cake and slices of apples inside and on top … My next step was to change the square baking tin for a muffin tin, however, stay with the basic batter mix. For the apples: instead of apples slices I cut the apples into small pieces … In short: it was too much batter for the muffin tin, so I reduced the ingredients roughly by about 15% … and there were…
travelling
capri in winter
Last February when my better half & I made a trip to Naples for about a week we also went to Capri. In the morning we climbed on a ferry to Capri and about 1 hour later we arrived in the harbour. When leaving the ferry we thought about what to do next … and there was an answer straight ahead. A small tourist boat waited offering a tour around Capri. So we started our…
sweet delights
square apple cake
Autumn has started with blue skies and blazing sun … resp. clouds, dark clouds, rain, storm … It’s time to think of apple cake which is best – as far as I think – in autumn or winter. I like these fresh apples which get soft in the cake without vanishing as a melted mess. So it’s especially Boskoop apples I prefer for any cakes. The recipe is simple, but delicious. There is a soft…
savoury delights
vegetables & meatballs
I like vegetables roasted on a baking tray in my oven with just some herbs and olive oil. However, when I realized that there wasn’t enough stuff in my fridge for a standard oven session I decided to throw together all the rests in a casserole and to add some canned Italian tomatoes as well as some meatballs. The mix went into the oven and … a delicious dinner dish was ready rather soon. A…
sweet delights
a simple plum galette
On the spur of the moment I decided to create a plum galette – after having watched all the plum cakes appearing in the food blog universe last week. It’s a simple affair: you’ll need not more than an hour to prepare this juicy delicacy. If still warm it’s absolutely soft and crumbly calling for some whipped cream or vanilla ice cream … Next day after a night in the fridge the galette is crispy…
travelling
empty pompeii
It was in February when my better half & I decided to travel to Naples and staying there for about a week. Of course Pompeii was one of the spots we wanted to go … and in February Pompeii is empty. When according to reports during spring/summer/autumn there are ten thousands of tourists visiting ancient Pompeii daily, in winter it’s only few people you’ll find around you when roaming the ruins. The weather … there…
sweet delights
vanilla plum jam w/ cinnamon
Jam production … I’m in for creating small batches of jam. Starting w/ about 1000 g fruit and 500 g preserving sugar (2:1 method – it’s more fruit than sugar …) I get about 5 jam jars of 250 g or 4 jam jars of 340 g – and a little more for instantaneous delight. Concerning the jars I always use jam jars once filled with ready-to-eat jam I bought in my trusted food store.…