Tag Archives: berries

Sunday Dairy Breakfast

 Do you remember I told you last Sunday that better not to skip breakfast? And I do hope you have eaten something every morning! Have you? 😉 Was it something tasty? Mmm May be pancakes.. I made onion-chilli cookies twice this week (the recipe here). Once with spring onion, another with leeks, both times they were so good! I love gentle hit from chillies, it helps me to stay awake for a long time!
 Yesterday I didn’t have a plenty time, and my choice was quick-but-healthful breakfast: Greek yogurt with raspberries and honey. But on the picture, you can see another delicious thing – Russian prostokvasha with colorful raspberries and blackberries. Prostokvasha is a dairy product, similar to thick yogurt, which is made from a fermented milk (milk prepared by bacterial fermentation). When it’s prepared from a regular milk it has a pale milky color, but prostokvasha can be also made from baked milk and thus it has beige color, similar to “coffee with cream” (as on the photo). Baked milk is called ‘toplenoe moloko’ in Russia, it’s traditional Russian dairy product. For this milk, regular milk is boiled, and then simmered for a long time to get a special color, taste and smell. Originally it was prepared in Russian pech, nowadays all milky produce can be bought in any Russian store. I do love toplenoe milk and prostokvasha for its unique taste, so I ate it every single day while I was on holiday.. Russian Prostokvasha
 Whether you chose an yogurt with berries or savory cookies for breakfast, I’m sure that better to consume something easy-to-make than nothing. Prostokvasha with colorful raspberries

Pear&Blackberry Tart

 Last weekend I wanted to make a cake, I was dreaming about a huge layered cake with delicious and sweet cream, topped with chocolate or strawberries, or blackberries.. At the end of the day I realized that I can’t decide which one to make and I don’t have all required ingredients. 😀 But I have always been a person that needs something sweet after dinner. I wanted a dessert to satisfy my sweet tooth, and better with cream! So I’ve come up with this beautiful and absolutely delicious ‘pear and blackberry tart’. Honestly speaking, I haven’t made this recipe a dozen or even a couple of times, it was perfect from the first attempt! Nutty shortbread base, tender whipped ricotta cream, pear slices and blackberries – all those things merged together into divine combination. I believe that you would find this dessert to be as delicious as it looks! You just need to go to the kitchen, cook it and enjoy! 🙂 I will make it again for sure!

Pear&Blackberry Tart

Pear and Blackberry Tart

  • Servings: 4-6
  • Difficulty: moderate
  • Print
You can use any favourite fruits and berries, like strawberry&blueberry, raspberry&nectarines.
Ingredients
Short pastry (base)
1 large egg, at room temperature
100g plain flour
75g butter, cubed and softened
35g fine sugar
30g ground almonds
Topping
100ml whipping cream (30-35%), cold
1+1 Tbsp icing sugar
1 tsp cognac or brandy, optional
100-120g ricotta
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp lemon zest
1 large pear, sliced
1 Tbsp lemon juice
8-10 blackberries
2-3 strawberries, sliced, optional
1 Tbsp white chocolate chips
  1. Whisk the egg and set aside a half (a bit less then half) for a glaze.
  2. To make the dough, in a large mixing bowl or food processor, mix flour, butter, sugar, half the egg and almonds until combined. Tip dough out onto a floured surface and bring together with hands.  Make a flat disk, cover with plastic wrap and chill for 30-40 minutes in a fridge.
  3. On a lightly floured table roll the dough into 21-22cm circle. Brush with remaining egg. Transfer to a paper-lined baking dish.
  4. Bake in preheated 180C oven for 25 minutes or until golden. Allow to cool completely.
  5. Meanwhile, in a bowl beat cream with 1 Tbsp icing sugar and cognac, if using, until soft peak begin to form. In another bowl, combine ricotta, vanilla, lemon zest and sugar. Add ricotta mixture into whipped cream and whip until smooth for a 1-2 minutes.
  6. Spread cream on the base. Sprinkle pear slices with lemon juice. Arrange pear slices, blackberries and strawberries, if using, on the cream, and sprinkle over chocolate chips. Dust with extra icing sugar, if desired. Enjoy!

PBB tar-2

Mascarpone dessert

  Summer is the time for berries! Choose any berries you like- raspberries, strawberries, blackberries and layer with creamy topping and the easiest dessert is done!

  So we need some berries fresh or frozen. Combine them with icing or fine sugar and zest of lemon, it helps to release their  juices, add a bit of wine or liqueur  for taste. Let stand for 20-30min. Don’t be upset a lot if you have no berries or may be it’s winter now and berries are quite expensive, use jam! 🙂
  In a bowl with whisk or an electric mixer beat together mascarpone, yogurt and honey until mixture holds stiff peaks. You’ll get velvety, delicately sweet mascarpone mixture!
  I’m not adding heavy cream/whipped cream to mascarpone – I put yogurt. In my opinion mascarpone cheese itself is so buttery-rich, thick and there is no need to add more heavy cream. But “Every man to his taste”.
And you can add sugar and vanilla instead of honey.
Take glasses and layer the berries with the whipped mascarpone. Garnish with almond/amaretto cookies.
Enjoy!
100-120gr (1/2 cup) mascarpone cheese (or any cream cheese)
80g (1/3 cup) plain yogurt/heavy cream/whipped cream
1-2 teaspoon honey (or sugar+vanilla)
3 cups assorted berries or jam
1 tbsp fine sugar
1-2 tsps zest of lemon
3-4 tbsps wine or liqueur
cookies