What to use for two portions?

2 small and ripe bananas

60ml milk

30g butter

60g flour

3g baking powder

a pinch of salt

a fistful of raisins

How to bake it?

Mash the bananas using a fork. Then, add the milk, melted butter, flour, baking powder, salt, and raisins.

Pour half of the batter into one ramekin and the rest into another.

Bake in the preheated oven at 180°C for 25-30 minutes (depending on the fluffiness of the pudding).

I fell in love with this cake in Lebanon (I have a special relationship with ’ashta’, the cream used everywhere in Phoenicia, anyway). I baked it for the first time on my birthday in 2023, adapting it (it’s not easy to bake with semolina!); I kept preparing it. This is what happens when a result is tasty!

For the cream:

In a large baking pan, mix and boil (low heat)

530ml whipping cream

420ml milk

67g flour

5 tbsp of sugar + 135g sugar

Before removing it from the heat, add a drop of

orange blossom water

rose water

You’ve made ashta.

Continue with the dough. 

In a bowl, mix

330g semolina

100g coconut or date sugar

3g baking powder

a pinch of salt

4 tbsp of sour cream

150g (melted and slightly cooled) butter

Divide the (sticky) dough into two equal parts; place the first part on the baking parchment by pressing fragments of the dough into the 34x24cm baking pan. (Don’t worry; it will all get homogenous through baking.) 

Sprinkle as many crushed pistachios as you like. 

Pour the ashta. 

Add another layer of crushed pistachios. 

Then, spread pieces of the remaining layer on top of the cake.

Bake for 25 minutes in the preheated oven at 180°C.

Cool in the fridge for at least 3 hours.

Savour it. It is a creamy and delicious cake, one of my favourite desserts ever! ♥

It was, in fact, my birthday cake. I hope you like it! (I tried it in summer when the tiny Cancerians turned 1 – and I used berries to decorate it.)

(for the) CRUST

1 tbsp of psyllium seeds

2 tbsp of (hot) water

125g gluten-free oatmeal

25g tapioca flour

60g (melted and cooled) butter

1 tbsp of apple vinegar

a pinch of sea salt

(for the) FILLING

140g condensed milk

70g whipping cream

210ml milk

2 tbsp of tapioca flour

+1 large pear

3-4 strawberries

2-3 tamarind pods

Make the crust using the recipe here.

Let the crust cool.

Meanwhile, make the filling. Add all the ingredients to the pan and let the mixture boil.

Pour the filling into the crust; decorate with pear and strawberry slices and tamarind paste.

 Let it sit in the fridge for at least 2-3 hours. Then, savour it! ♥

40g brown sugar

salt

3 tbsp cocoa powder

3 tbsp cornstarch

420ml milk

80g sour cream

100g dark chocolate

Homemade puddings and pudding powder puddings are a million miles away. This one is the best version I’ve had. I hope that you agree!

Mix the brown sugar, salt, cocoa powder, and cornstarch in a deep pan. Then, add 120ml of milk and stir well until there are no more lumps. Pour the remaining milk and mix in the sour cream.

Start heating the mix on low heat. Stir from time to time. After boiling, add the chocolate (chips or cut into pieces); stir until it is incorporated.

Remove from heat and place the pudding into the serving dishes. Let the pudding cool; place the serving dishes into the fridge for at least 4 hours.

Enjoy it!

What to use for 7 waffles?

130g flour

3g baking powder

200ml milk

3g salt

30g (melted and cooled) butter

2 tbsp of pumpkin seed butter

How to make them?

Have your waffle-making device ready.

Mix all the ingredients. Transfer the batter to the waffle-making device by using a ladle. Be careful! The batter will be very elastic. You can place a ball of batter in the middle of the waffle mould – it will spread when heated.

These waffles are very filling. They can even be used as ’bread slices’ or eaten with vegetables and cheese. 

🧇 

130g flour

3g baking powder

150ml sparkling water

50g vegan sour cream

3g salt

30g (melted and cooled) butter or vegan butter

I wanted to try another version of the waffles because I was out of milk, so I used vegan sour cream and sparkling water; keep the remaining ingredients unchanged. Of course, you can use vegan butter instead of the butter.

I didn’t manage to wish ’Happy New Year!’ to you yesterday, but I am doing it now! Have sweetness in your life during the entire year! ♥

We all have many desserts in our homes during this time of the year. When they finish, if you have a waffle-making device – I received one from my Dad on my birthday – and you’re searching for a light dessert, here’s a great recipe. You won’t need too many ingredients—

(for 7 waffles)

130g flour

3g baking powder

200ml milk

5g vanilla sugar

2 tbsp of sugar

30g (melted and cooled) butter

+ 150g whipping cream

15g sugar

blueberries (or any other fruits preferred by you)

Mix all the ingredients.

Transfer parts of the batter to the waffle-making device by using a ladle.  

Mix the whipping cream and the sugar.

Serve the waffles with whipped cream and blueberries – you will be happy like a child! 

🧇 

For a lighter version of the waffles, here are the ingredients I came up with—

130g flour

3g baking powder

150ml sparkling water

50g vegan sour cream

5g vanilla sugar

30g (melted and cooled) butter or vegan butter

You can have your sweet waffles with a hazelnut spread and pear slices.

I know, I know, I’ve promised 2 recipes since last week. Something occurred, though. Two days ago, I was searching for a solution dealing with some soured whipping cream... and I ended up clicking the recipes on my blog.

So, I told myself ’Why not make a list of recipes to bake/cook when we’ve got ingredients about to spoil?’

I’d like to keep it updated, by categories!

Basic ingredients

cottage cheese: papanaşi, baked papanaşi, Dobrujan pie

egg whites: Pavlova, pricomigdale, walnut cookies

milk: supangle, muhallabieh, galatopita, trileqe, condensed milk

sour cream: ashta

whipping cream: savarine, molehill cake

yoghurt: Romanian donuts, lemon pound cake

1 yolk: tart crust

several yolks: crema catalana

Fruits

apples: apple pie, apple strudel

bananas: Banoffee Pie, vegan coconut and strawberry dessert, vegan banana cookies, vegan banana and peanut butter cookies, vegan banana pound cake, banana and oatmeal cake, banana muffins

blackberries: syrup

grapes: grape pizza, grape cake

quinces: upside-down quince cake

raspberries: smoothie

rhubarb: rhubarb and strawberry cake, rhubarb sauce

Vegetables and herbs

basil: pesto

eggplant: mirza ghasemi

spinach: spanakopita

Already-processed foods

condensed milk: colchão de noiva, Deliciu

preserves: negresă (Romanian brownie)

rice cakes: chocolate cake bars

♥

Homebaked. A different thing. J 

Here are the ingredients that you need—

500ml whipping cream

50g sugar

25g tapioca flour

vanilla extract

50g dark chocolate

for the filling

3 eggs

150g sugar

10g vanilla sugar

230g flour

4g baking powder

20g cocoa

120ml milk

70g butter

for the batter

+2 bananas

+butter and flour -> baking pan

First, make the filling.

Place the whipping cream, sugar, and tapioca flour (you can replace it with starch), mixed beforehand in a pan, on low heat. Stir from time to time, removing the pan from the heat after the cream has boiled. Then add the vanilla extract, then the chocolate pieces. Place the pan immediately in the fridge. This way, the chocolate will melt, but not completely, keeping its crunchiness.

Mix the eggs with the sugar well. Continue to incorporate, with the help of a wooden spoon, the vanilla sugar, flour, baking powder, cocoa, milk, and then the melted and cooled butter.

Pour the batter into a round mould that has been previously buttered and floured. Bake in the preheated oven at 180⁰C for 30 minutes.

Let the cake cool. Then, cut out a piece of the cake (leave approximately 2 cm from the edge). Scoop out pieces from the cut-out cake, crumble them and place them into a bowl.

Place the bananas cut into half on the bottom of the scooped-out cake.

Mix the cream and pour it on top of the bananas. Then, start making the molehill cake from the pieces scooped out from the cake. Let the cake sit in the fridge for at least one hour before cutting it and serving it.

500ml milk

100g sugar

1 cinnamon stick

50g butter 

100g semolina

3 eggs

+ cinnamon powder

6 years ago, when I shyly started to understand that I, too, could create desserts – on top of that, delicious ones! –, galatopita was one of the first cakes I made.

My fascination for Greek cuisine was the reason for trying this dessert out. It seemed easy and fast, with a spectacular result!

Pour the milk into a pan and place it on low heat, with the sugar and the cinnamon stick, until it starts boiling. At that point, remove the cinnamon stick by adding the butter and the semolina, mixing thoroughly. When bubbles form, remove the pan from the heat.

Add the whole eggs, one by one, mixing well.

When the final mix – a creamy one – is ready, pour it into a round mould. Mine is a silicone mould, so buttering and flouring it was not necessary.

Bake in the preheated oven for 35 minutes at 180⁰C. Then, open the oven door and let the cake cool for 10 minutes without removing it from the oven.

Cut triangular slices and serve them with cinnamon powder on top. That is if you like it. I am crazy about it!

I believe that each family has a recipe of delicious plain cookies that moms and grandmas would bake. My recipe’s in my Mom’s handwriting but has been adapted from my Godmother Maria.  

So, I baked these cookies last night. They turned out great and reminded me of the tranquil moments of my childhood!

Do you want to bake them?

For 18 cookies, you’ll need—

250g flour

100g sugar

4g baking powder

lemon zest from 1 organic lemon

2 tbsp milk

1 egg

50g butter

Mix all the ingredients in the above-specified order. Knead well. You’ll feel like you can’t incorporate all the flour, but you will.

The dough will be balanced, so you won’t need flour when you roll it out (its thickness should be 4-5mm).

Use the cutters of your liking and place the cookies in a baking pan lined with baking parchment.

Bake in the preheated oven at 180⁰C for 15 minutes.

So, how are they? J