Thursday, October 15, 2015

Scrumptious Spelt Apple Cake with Apricot Jam Glaze

I'd like to thank Jeffrey Nakamura for always finding some time to give me advice on how to take pictures etc. My pictures will never be as nice as yours...but I'm trying...:)

Each single time some friends had to drop by for a coffee, and each single time we were invited somewhere for either a lunch, coffee, or dinner, my brain started working full speed in order to figure out what to prepare and offer to my guests or bring to our friends' place, that everyone would have enjoyed. After racking my brain for many years, and after offering many different kinds of cakes and desserts, I got to the conclusion that if there's one thing almost everyone likes is any kind of dessert/cake made with apples. The recipe I'm sharing today is the one I make the most – along with the French Apple Pie – and each time I served it, it didn't take long for my guests to leave their plates empty and ask for more. :)

As in many of my other recipes, I use ingredients like spelt flour, brown sugar, and goat milk, but you feel free to use “normal” ingredients – as a friend of mine calls them – and you are sure that the result will be as good as mine.

If you don't have any particular intolerance or allergy, you can use the following ingredients in the same amount suggested in the recipe:

All-purpose flour instead of spelt flour;
Refined sugar instead of brown sugar;
Cow milk or any kind of milk ˗ water works, too ˗ instead of goat milk.


INGREDIENTS:

200 g (1 ½ cup) spelt flour (or all-purpose flour)
½ tsp (3 g) baking soda (or 2 teaspoons baking powder)
80 g (1/3 cup) low-fat butter with 50% raps oil
100 g (½ cup) brown sugar
½ tsp pure vanilla powder (or pure vanilla extract)
½ tsp natural pure lemon flavor
A pinch of salt
3 eggs
1 or 2 Tbsp goat milk (or cow milk)
3 apples, peeled and quartered

For the glaze:
2 Tbsp apricot jam
1 Tbsp water


DIRECTIONS:

Preheated oven: 180ºC/350ºF
Baking time: about 45 Minutes

In a medium bowl, mix the butter and the sugar with an electric mixer until well mixed and creamy. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing at least 1 minute each time you add an egg. Then, stir in the vanilla powder, the lemon extract, and a pinch of salt, and keep on mixing for another minute.

Combine the flour with the baking soda and fold half of this mixture into the wet ingredients. Mix gently and then add the remaining flour combined with the baking soda. Pour the milk into the batter and mix well for 2 or 3 minutes.

Butter and flour a round cake springform pan – mine is Ø 24 cm (about 10”), but also a bigger one will work just as fine – and pour the dough into it.

Wash, peel, and quarter the apples. Cut slits lengthwise in the external side of the apple quarters, but don't cut all the way through. Place the apple quarters with the sliced side up on the batter following the round shape of the cake pan and in the middle, too.

Place the cake pan in the preheated oven and bake about 45 minutes and remove it from the oven when a toothpick comes out clean. Then, in a small saucepan, mix the apricot jam and water over medium heat. Stir constantly until the jam and water form a nice syrup. Remove from heat and brush the top of the cake with the syrup.

Sunday, October 4, 2015

Delicious Spelt Pancakes


In the latest Faith No More album, Mike Patton sings “Sunny side up, sunny side up, such a lovely way to start the day”...and on Sunday morning I sing “ Flip the brown side of the pancake up, flip the brown side of the pancake up, such a lovely day to start the day”. :) I'm sure Mike Patton will never read this post, so I'll never get sued for changing his lyrics in such a terrible way. :D :D :D

Anyway, yes, this is normally the way I start my Sunday morning: cooking pancakes. :)

My recipe is surely very similar to many other pancake recipes and also very easy to make. Due to my husband's intolerance I use spelt flour and goat milk, but feel free to use all-purpose flour and cow milk (or any other kind of milk) in the same amount suggested in the recipe.


INGREDIENTS FOR ABOUT 10 (10 cm/4”) PANCAKES :

1 egg
1 cup (150 g) spelt flour (or all-purpose flour)
1 Tbsp (16 g) brown sugar
A pinch of salt
¾ goat milk (160 g) (or another kind of milk)
½ tsp (3 g) baking soda


DIRECTIONS:

In a medium bowl, whisk the egg with an electric mixer until fluffy. Stir in all the remaining ingredients and mix just until flour is moistened. Don't overmix the batter or you'll end up having chewy pancakes instead of soft ones. According to the type of flour you use and the size of the egg, you might need to adjust your batter either in flour (if too liquidy) or in milk (if too thick).

Heat a non-stick pan over medium-high heat. Brush it with some butter or vegetable oil and pour some batter onto the pan.

After more or less 2 or 3 minutes some bubbles will start forming on top and this means it's time to flip your pancake over. Cook the other side until golden brown.



Enjoy your pancakes and have a lovely day! :)

Sunday, September 27, 2015

Spelt Coconut Waffles


Good to enjoy with some apricot jam or maple syrup. Excellent with chocolate or vanilla ice cream.

In the original recipe taken from the cookbook "Waffeln, Crêpes und Pfannkuchen", published by NGV (a cookbook I suggest you to buy if you speak German. The cookbook has been translated in Italian, too, and the name is "Waffle, Crêpes e Pancakes" editore Giunti Demetra), they suggest to use 250 ml coconut milk, 125 g sugar, and 2 eggs. Since I'm not a big fan of eggs, I prefer to increase the coconut milk to 300 ml, use 1 egg, and add some water or milk if the dough appears to be too thick. Please, decide what recipe you prefer to follow according to your taste. :)

INGREDIENTS:

250 g spelt flour (or wheat flour)
300 ml coconut milk
1 large egg
100 g brown sugar (or normal sugar)
1 Tbsp lemon juice

DIRECTIONS:

With an electric mixer mix the flour, coconut milk, egg, and brown sugar in a bowl until all the ingredients are well combined. Add the lemon juice, and 1 or 2 tablespoons water (or more) if you see that the dough is too thick, and mix well for 10 minutes.
I normally don't use any cooking spray, but you can decide to use it or not according to your waffle maker or your cooking habits. In case you are going to use some cooking spray, spray the preheated waffle iron, then pour the dough onto it and cook until golden brown. :)

Tuesday, September 15, 2015

Bloglovin'...

From today this blog, along with another blog of mine, will be listed on Bloglovin' :) Maybe, you'd like to follow me there. :)

www.blogloving.com/evebluefoot

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The Secret Lives Of Princesses - Illustrated Childrens' Book

             English Title: The Secret Lives of Princesses
Author: Philippe Lechermeier
Illustration: Rébecca Dautremer 
Hardcover: 92 Pages
  Published in English by Sterling Publishing Co., Inc.

Have you ever heard of Princess Babbling-Brooke and her long speeches about everything and nothing? Or have you ever seen Princess Tanga-la perform one of her crazy dances? And what about the Faceless Princess who no one can see or recognize? Or did you know that the Princess of the Pea has a cousin called Princess Molly Coddle? Well, if this is the first time you've heard of them, it is definitely about time you discovered a completely new world full of quite unusual princesses.

When I first took this book in my hands, I was mainly interested in the beautiful illustrations and had no idea of what the book talked about, but it didn't take me long to start laughing like crazy while reading the short stories or descriptions of these odd princesses.

I was surely misled by the English translation of the title, which I don't find appropriate at all. As the original French title says, this book is about unknown or forgotten Princesses and it has little or nothing to do with the secret lives of princesses, but I'll never understand which criteria translators follow to translate books' titles. :/

Anyway...here you'll find tips on how to grow or shush a princess, what really happened to the Princess of the Pea, and by taking the test situated at the end of the book, you'll have the chance to find out what kind of Princess you are.

Of course, I took the test and I was impressed by the answer! According to the test, I'm a whimsical Princess and like Princess of the Disorient I'm a bit scatterbrained and everyone thinks I'm very funny. I mistake up for down, mix up salt and pepper, and confuse north with south. The slightest nonsense makes me laugh, and like Princess Babbling Brooke, I tell lots of silly stories..….This is 100% me. :)

Probably, the book is not very suitable for small kids whose sense of humor still has to “grow”, and I'm saying that because the 5-year-old daughter of a friend doesn't like this book at all and she doesn't even like the illustrations, which, on the contrary, I found incredibly nice.

So...absolutely suggested both for the hilarious stories and the wonderful illustrations.