20 bars | Mould: 34 x 24 cm

500g powdered milk

40g cocoa powder

170ml water

400g sugar

125g butter

a drop of rum essence

Here is my Mom’s homemade chocolate recipe. On the other hand, this is a more recent one, which is almost always faultless.

Mix the powdered sugar and cocoa powder in a big bowl.

Add the water and the sugar to a pot and leave it on low heat (to dissolve the sugar) without mixing.

3 minutes after you note bubbles form on the sides of the pot, add the butter and leave the pot on the heat for 3 minutes more.

Then, remove the pot from heat and add a drop of rum essence.

As a last step, transfer the powdered milk and cocoa powder mix to the sugar syrup, mixing well.

When the dry ingredients have been incorporated, pour the chocolate into a mould lined with baking parchment.

Let it sit in the fridge for at least 2-3 hours before cutting the chocolate into bars (you don’t want it to harden excessively). It will keep in the fridge for a few days (though I am not sure it will last that long). J

This year, in the Danube Delta, I serendipitously met Vero. I had been looking for a classic Romanian brownie recipe for a while. I found that, too. J I tasted this cake made by her and then she gently gave me the recipe.

I cut the ingredient amounts in half, I used butter instead of oil and I added less preserves than in the original recipe (my cherry preserves was sweet enough).

Baking pan: 34 x 24 cm | 12 slices

[I like my slices as flat as possible]

260g flour

120g sugar

1/2 teaspoon of baking powder with vinegar poured over it

20g cocoa powder

60g butter (room temperature) or oil

1 drop of rum essence

250ml water

55g walnuts

1/3 jar of preserves [here is a possible recipe]

Mix the flour, the sugar, the baking powder with vinegar poured over it, the cocoa powder [and I’m officially left without any cocoa powder brought from Brazil!], the butter, the rum essence, and the water. Then, grind the walnuts and add them into the batter and then pour the latter into the buttered and floured baking pan.

Lastly, add tablespoons of preserves from place to place and cover the preserves with batter.   

As I like my Romanian brownie slices moist, I only baked the cake for 20 minutes, in the preheated oven at 180°C.

Thank you, dear Vero! The cake was a success and more people can bake it and enjoy it from now on! ♥

/makes 2/

40g fresh yeast

330ml milk

2 eggs

130g sugar

650g flour (+50g flour)

100g butter (melted)

a drop of vanilla extract

zest from 2 organic lemons

Walnut filling:

200g ground walnuts

40g sugar

20g cocoa

a few drops of rum essence

a few drops of milk (optional)

+1 egg

Because some of my girlfriends told me that they found it difficult to bake cozonac and that they failed at it, I told myself that an old family recipe would help them. Especially as Easter approaches. J

It is so easy to make and I guarantee its success.

In a bowl, pour warm milk over the fresh yeast and let it sit for 5 minutes.

Add the whole eggs and the sugar and stir well. Then, mix in the flour, the melted butter, the vanilla extract, and the lemon zest. Knead only a bit (for 2-3 minutes); it will be an easy process, anyway. The dough should be moist but not sticky. Add up to 50g of flour to reach optimal consistency. Cover the bowl and let the dough rise for 2 hours in a warm place.

When the dough doubles, cover the bowl with a plastic film and let it sit in the fridge overnight. Remove the bowl from the fridge one hour before your start baking the cozonac.

Divide the dough into two equal pieces and each of these pieces – into two more. If you have two cozonac baking pans lined with baking parchment, the plain cozonac is very easy to make: roll the two mini-pieces of dough and then twist them and place the cozonac into the baking pan.

In the case of the walnut cozonac, mix the walnut, sugar, cocoa, rum essence, and milk (optional, to keep the filling together). Roll out each mini-piece of dough, spread half of the filling on each sheet and roll, sticking the ends together and the roll with egg. When you finish the second ‘roll’, twist them, place the cozonac in the baking pan and let it rise 10-15 minutes more.

Then, brush each cozonac with egg and place the baking pans inside the preheated oven, at 160°C, for 40-45 minutes. After it cools, slice it and enjoy the fluffiness!

Happy Easter! ♥