Makes 16

500g cottage cheese

a few drops of vanilla extract

zest from one organic orange

2 eggs

2 tbsp of coconut sugar

1/2 sachet of baking powder

330g flour

+sour cream, blueberry preserves

Fried, boiled, and even baked, papanaşi are always tasty!

However, there are times when – even with all the ingredients at hand –, I’m not in the mood to fry them. This recipe is precisely for those times!

They are easy to put together. Mix the cottage cheese, the vanilla extract, the orange zest, and the eggs. Add the coconut sugar, the baking powder, and the flour. Knead until the dough is firm and not sticky. Optional: keep it in the fridge for 45 minutes to turn it even firmer.

Then, divide it into 4. Each piece of dough will make 4 papanaşi. You’ll work with dough balls. Flatten each and make a hole in their centre.

Shape them well before getting them into the oven. They’ll bake for 20 minutes at 180⁰C, in a baking pan lined with baking parchment.

They turned golden and I served them with lots of local sour cream and blueberry preserves.

175g rhubarb

130ml water

75g sugar

orange zest

a drop of vanilla extract

As I am crazy about rhubarb, I couldn’t fail to use it in my recipes this year.

Clean about 3 rhubarb stalks and cut them into small pieces; then, boil them in the water mixed with the sugar and the orange zest (must be organic!), on medium heat.

When the rhubarb starts disintegrating, remove the mix from the heat and add the vanilla extract.

The rhubarb sauce keeps well in the fridge and can be served with other desserts, like this homemade vanilla pudding.

...and I’m craving it now! J

Makes 20 cookies

330g ricotta

140g sugar

zest from 2 organic oranges

260g flour

a pinch of salt

1/2 sachet of baking powder

85g butter (melted)

3 tbsp orange juice

1 egg

20g dark chocolate

+7-8 tbsp flour

It all started like a game. ’I have some delicious ricotta. It will go bad. What should I do?’

This is how these cookies were born. They are soft, fluffy, and tasty. Marcel loved them (and he is very critical).

I baked them again.

It is easy. First, mix the ricotta, the sugar, and the orange zest and let the bowl sit in the fridge for half an hour.

In a separate bowl, mix the flour, the salt, the baking powder, the melted butter, the orange juice, and the egg. Add the ricotta, sugar, and orange zest mix that sat in the fridge. Start kneading and add flour until you get a non-sticky dough.

Divide the dough into two pieces. Roll out one of them on a baking mat and, by using a cutter, cut out 8 cm circles (thickness: 50mm). Place them in a baking pan lined with parchment paper. Follow the same steps with the second piece of dough. I added 4 chocolate chips to half of the cookies. Bake them for 15 minutes in the preheated oven, at 180°C.

The cookies keep well in casseroles with a lid and are perfect for the road. Wherever it takes you.

It’s still summer in the southern hemisphere and we’ve had some springish days, so what about some no-bake mini-cheesecakes?

What did I use (made 2)? [multiply the amounts if you’re making this dessert for more people]

35g Oreo crumbs + 2 tbsp melted butter for the base

200g urdă or cottage cheese mixed with            

25g powdered sugar

65g double cream

a generous amount of organic orange zest

a drop of vanilla extract

15g dark chocolate chips [or 2 tbsp Nutella]

Let everything set in round 8cm shapes; freeze the mini-cheesecake for 1 hour, take it out, let it warm, and decorate it with Nutella or melt the chocolate on a steam bath and pour it over it.

It's a fabulous dessert!

Makes 10

Crust

150g flour

80g (ground) walnut

50g sugar

1 sachet vanilla sugar

a dash of cinnamon

a dash of nutmeg

a dash of orange zest

70g (room temperature) butter

1 (small) egg

Filling

1 (medium ~ 150g) parsnip

100g sour cream, 25% fat content

1 egg

vanilla extract

60g sugar

1 tbsp flour

+flour & butter -> moulds

+cinnamon to decorate

About two years ago, when I really started baking, I was telling myself ‘if I nail this parsnip tart, I’ll open a sweet shop’. I nailed it then (I love parsnip – both in sweet dishes and savoury ones and I believe it’s underrated), I nailed the parsnip tartlets earlier today (although I did change the recipe a bit). Do you want to try them out?  

Start with the parsnip; clean it and cut it into 4 and start boiling it (it will take 30-40’). [You may meanwhile go through all the other steps. J]

Mix the flour, walnut, sugar, vanilla sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and the orange zest. Rub in the butter; knead well. Add the egg and knead some more. Shape into a ball, wrap it in plastic film and let it sit in the fridge for 15 minutes. 

When the parsnip is tender, blend it and let it cool. Mix the sour cream with the egg; add the vanilla extract, the sugar, the flour, and the blended parsnip.

 

Butter and flour the moulds and then split the dough and shape it onto the moulds (I used 6 x 8 cm moulds and 4 x 10 cm moulds). Add the filling.

Bake the tartlets in the preheated oven, at 150°C, for 20 minutes. When they have cooled, remove them from the moulds.

I sprinkle cinnamon on top of the tartlets and I savour them. The taste reminds me of how I usually eat pastéis de Belém.