The strawberry season hasn’t yet ended and... I had only baked myself a small cake on my name day, so I told myself... ’Why not?’.

You will need the following ingredients, in addition to the tartlet moulds, for the 

CRUST

150g flour

70g (melted and cooled) butter /oil also goes – I used flaxseed oil/

1 egg yolk

10g vanilla sugar

1 tbsp vinegar

2 tbsp water

a pinch of salt

CREAM

1 egg

165ml milk

60g sugar

25g flour

a dash of vanilla extract

+butter/oil and flour -> baking moulds

+at least 15-16 large strawberries

All these make 8 tartlets. J

I made the dough based on this recipe and I split it into 8. I used flaxseed oil instead of butter. Bake the mini crusts for 20 minutes, in the preheated oven, at 160⁰C. To keep the crusts thin, I used baking beans.

To make the cream, beat the egg and the sugar. Add the flour and mix very well. Pour the mix into the milk boiling with the vanilla extract. Continue to mix until you see bubbles forming. Pour the cream into the mini crusts (I took them out of the moulds first).  

Let them cool a bit and place them in the fridge.

Marcel’s suggestion was to place the strawberries (cleaned and cut into slices) onto the tartlets right before serving. They were fresher this way.

There is so much versatility offered by the various crust and cream recipes, combined with nature’s gifts to us!

THE CRUST

150g flour

70g (melted and cooled) butter

1 yolk

1 sachet vanilla sugar

1 tbsp of vinegar

2 tbsp of water

a pinch of salt

+2 tbsp of semolina

+butter and flour -> your baking pan

THE FILLING

3 quinces

1 apple

100ml water

50g sugar

30g butter

cinnamon

Here’s a very quick and tasty pie for the end of fall/beginning of winter and for all those who still have quinces. J

Make the crust based on this recipe. Sprinkle the semolina onto the crust, to absorb the juice of the fruit pieces.

To make the filling, clean the quinces and the apple and cut them into cubes. Pour them into a pan, together with the water, sugar, and cinnamon, and place it on low-medium heat. Let the butter melt slowly on top of all the ingredients.

After the mix boils, the water level drops, and the fruit pieces are caramelised, you can transfer them to the crust.

Bake in the preheated oven, at 170ºC, for 15 minutes.  

One slice won’t be enough.

CRUST

150g flour

70g butter (melted and cooled)

1 egg yolk

1 vanilla sugar sachet

1 tbsp vinegar

2 tbsp water

a bit of salt

FILLING

250g mascarpone

50g whipping cream

10g sugar

40ml condensed milk

+butter and flour -> your baking pan

+14-15 fresh figs

Well, I am still baking classically, using many types of ingredients, especially as, at the end of August (summer), we drove to Sviniţa to buy fresh figs. The largest fig farm in Romania is located there. They may be small but they’re so flavourful!

You can bake the crust using the recipe found here.

I wished to prepare a creamy filling. In my opinion, mascarpone and figs go well together.

If you love whipped cream more, remove the condensed milk from the recipe, replacing it with some extra 100g of whipping cream. Use 35g of sugar for the entire amount of whipping cream.

For the initial filling, add the whipped cream to the mixed mascarpone and then the condensed milk.

Pour the filling over the crust after you let the crust cool a bit.

Place the washed figs cut in half over the tart. Let it sit in the fridge.

I served each slice cold, in a summer mood! ☼

Baking pan: 34 x 24 cm | 12-16 slices

2 yolks

2 tbsp sour cream

280g flour

140g (melted) butter

a pinch of salt

Filling:

5-6 apples

4 tbsp sugar

15g butter

cinnamon

+ flour -> rolling the dough out

+ flour + butter -> baking pan

+ (if needed) 3-4 tbsp milk

Yesterday was pretty rough and I couldn’t post, but today is a new day, a new beginning.

Similarly to the caraway soup, my Grandma wrote 2 lines in her notebook under this recipe. I baked mini-Pavlovas for Marcel (I had some blueberries from Argentina) and I was left with two yolks, so this recipe reminding me of my grandparents’ house was perfect for me.

For the sheets, mix the yolks, the sour cream, the flour, the melted butter, and the salt. Wrap the dough into a plastic film and let it sit in the fridge for 30 minutes.

Make the filling; chop the apples in the blender or grate them like in the old days. Mix the apples, sugar, and cinnamon on low heat; add the butter.

Cut the dough into two pieces. Roll out the two pieces of dough.

Place the first one in the buttered and floured baking pan, spread the filling, and place the second sheet on top.

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

Conclusion? It’s even tastier than it looks! J

P.S. If the dough is too crumbly, add 2 tablespoons of milk and as much flour as needed for it not to be soggy for each piece of dough. It will be easier to make the cake this way.

Makes 45

50ml milk

1 tbsp/5g fresh yeast

1 teaspoon sugar

300g flour

1 teaspoon salt

100g butter

1 egg

+ 1 tbsp caraway seeds

+ 15-20g hard cheese (shredded)

+ 1 egg yolk

I have been planning to try out this recipe for a long time (it’s my godmother Maria’s) and I gladly recall the childhood holidays that had mini-pretzels on the table. I thought it would be nice to inspire you with this recipe for Easter.  

This is how you bake them... and I’m still craving them even though I’ve munched too many today.

Heat the milk (but only a bit in order not to deactivate the yeast); add the fresh yeast and the sugar. After 5 minutes, add the flour, the salt, the melted butter, and the egg and knead well. Let the dough rest for 1 hour.

Divide the dough into two (it will be easier). Roll out the dough (thickness: 3-4mm), cut out mini-pretzels using a cutter, and place the mini-pretzels into a baking pan lined with parchment paper.  

When you’re done (the dough will be harder to work with after the first roll-out, so press firmly on the cutter), brush the yolk on the mini-pretzels. I decided to make 15 plain mini-pretzels, 15 with caraway seeds (my favourites), and 15 with cheddar (but you can use any other hard cheese).

Bake in the preheated oven at 180°C for 10-12 minutes (until the mini-pretzels turn brown).

I love the fact that these mini-pretzels are crunchy on the outside and soft on the inside. To keep them like that, store them in a dish with a lid.

20x20 cm baking pan

4 large slices

500g cottage cheese

½ sachet vanilla sugar

½ sachet baking powder

50g butter

1 yolk

3 tbsp semolina

50g raisins

+butter & flour -> baking pan

A new day, a new recipe. This was apparently brought into our family by one of my mother’s friends. The truth is that both my grandmothers and my mother used to bake this cottage cheese cake pretty often. Here’s how—

Mix the well-drained cottage cheese with the vanilla sugar and the baking powder and leave it rest in a bowl overnight.

The next day, boil on a steam bath (I have an item from Ikea which is of real help) on low-medium heat, stirring continuously. You will notice that the cottage cheese thins and then thickens (like vanilla custard – it took 10 minutes in my case). Mix in the butter, the yolk, and the semolina, stirring well.

After removing the mixture from the heat, add the raisins and bake in a buttered and floured baking pan, in the preheated oven, at 140°C, for 15 minutes.

The cake will be very moist (resembling the texture of pudding), but it is very tasty and filling! Even if you end up keeping a couple of slices in the fridge, warm them before savouring them. J