I’ve had many things on my mind. I feel bad I couldn’t go on earlier with my favourite ingredients. I will do it below, though! J

Today: cinnamon

What do I do knowing that not all people are cinnamon lovers? I use about half of what I’d use for a dessert made solely for me.

Where do I select cinnamon from? It is said that the best cinnamon in the world is from Sri Lanka. I don’t know why, but I’ve never tried it. I did test the cinnamon from Colombia, Ghana, and Iran (the one from Golestan Province is special). My favourite cinnamon, though, is the one from India.

Why do I love it? (I am crazy about it!) It is a perfect match for certain cheeses and fruits!

Ingredients:

60g butter

120g yoghurt

120g whole-wheat flour

5g baking powder

a pinch of salt

4 tbsp sugar

1 tbsp cinnamon powder

for 25 cookies

Method:

Melt the butter.

Meanwhile, mix the flour, baking powder, pinch of salt, sugar, and cinnamon.  

Add the melted butter and the yoghurt.  

In a large baking pan lined with baking parchment, shape the dough as cookies.

Then, bake in the (preheated) oven for 15 minutes at 180⁰C.

How are they? J

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!

4 baking pans

75g sugar

125ml water

125g brown sugar

1 egg

100g butter (at room temperature)

400g flour (+50g extra flour for kneading)

½ sachet baking powder

1 tbsp cinnamon

+flour for rolling out the dough

(options:

1 tbsp nutmeg powder

1 tbsp ginger powder/1 tbsp grated fresh ginger)

I have repeatedly said that I’d search for my Mom’s gingerbread recipe and my dear friend Corina came up with the idea to test it before St. Nicholas. Which we did, with the help of 3 cute boys and some 36-year-old handwritten instructions.

Leave the sugar caramelise on medium heat and pour water over it [you may reheat the mixture until the sugar melts if you get lumps].

Mix the brown sugar and the egg; add the butter, the syrup mentioned above, the flour, the baking powder, and the cinnamon. [By dividing the dough into 4 pieces, we added cinnamon to only 2 pieces and sprinkled cinnamon on top of the gingerbread baked out of one of the two pieces.] You may add nutmeg and ginger if you wish.

Wrap the dough into a plastic film and let it sit in the fridge for half an hour.

When the time is up, divide the dough into the 4 pieces mentioned above, add only a little bit of flour and roll one piece out (you should get a thickness of approx. 1-1.5 cm) and then cut out the gingerbread cookies and place them into a baking pan lined with baking parchment.

Bake the gingerbread in the preheated oven, at 160°C, for 10-12 minutes.

We didn’t want to decorate our gingerbread cookies, but they turned out great – much like our baking collaboration! ♥

They were even tastier the next day!

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.

 

My Dad loves dates, too, so I wanted to surprise him—

For the batter, you’ll need—

170g pitted dates

200ml (hot) water

a teaspoon of baking powder

*

2 eggs

100g sugar

150g flour

a pinch of salt

a teaspoon of (ground) cinnamon

a teaspoon of (ground) coffee

a teaspoon of baking powder

80g sour cream

70g (melted) butter

First off, place the dates in a bowl. Pour hot water over them. Mix in the baking powder and let it sit for 30 minutes.

Then, mix the eggs and the sugar until fluffy.

Add the flour, salt, plus the grounded cinnamon and coffee, and the baking powder.

After folding them in, add the date, baking powder, and water mixture and keep mixing. In the end, add the sour cream and the melted butter.

Pour the batter into a round mould (21 cm); mine is made of silicone, so I won’t butter and flour it. If necessary in your case, do it.

Bake the cake in the preheated oven, at 175⁰C, for 30 minutes.

When there are 10 minutes left, start making the caramel sauce, using half of the ingredients listed in this recipe, but with the same technique—

100g sugar

a pinch of salt

30ml water

40g sour cream  

2 tbsp butter

In the end, makes holes in the cake as soon as you take it out of the oven. Pour the caramel sauce over it.

Let it cool for 30 minutes at room temperature, then for 30 minutes more in the fridge.

You’ll be surprised by the taste and by... how easily you’ll finish one slice!