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Whirls with poached figs, nuts and spices

The arrival of autumn brings with it the longing to bake more pies, cook rich and hearty dishes, like stews and endless cakes. Spices are an ideal way to add extra aroma to everyday dishes. Add a depth of flavour to your favorite bake and spice up cookies with sweet cinnamon, aromatic nutmeg or mildly-sweet allspice!

The aroma of these gorgeous cookies tells you that autumn season is in the air! Fill your home and heart with wonderful fragrance and warmth!

First, I poached dried figs in cognac and sugar, and only then I chopped them and add to the cookie dough. You can substitute alcohol with water. Store figs with liquid in the fridge. You can serve such figs over the yogurt or cereal, alongside cakes and pancakes, or even add to the roasted chicken or pork.

Whirls with poached figs, nuts and spices

Ingredients

Poached dried figs

150g dried figs, remove stems

100ml water

1 Tbsp brown sugar (or more, depends on your taste)

100ml cognac or brendy

Whirls/Cookies dough. Yield 8 pieces approx.

4 medium poached figs, finely chopped

20g mix of walnuts and hazelnuts, chopped

75g butter, room temperature

3Tbsp brown sugar

1 egg, at room temperature

3 Tbsp sour cream

180g plain flour

3/4 tsp baking powder

2 all spice berries, finely ground

1/3 tsp ground cinnamon

a good pinch of freshly grated nutmeg or 1/4 tsp powder

a pinch of salt

Instruction

Poached dried figs

In a small saucepan add water and figs, bring to boil on medium-high heat. Add sugar and cognac. Figs should be lightly covered in a liquid, if it’s not enough add more hot water.
Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer for 15-20 minutes or until figs are tender. Turn figs once or twice so each side is poached evenly. Let it cool, then transfer to a small jar. Keep in the fridge until ready to use.

Whirls/Cookies dough

In a mixing bowl beat butter with sugar until pale. Add egg and gently mix. Then add sour cream and combine.
Combine flour with baking powder, salt and spices. Add it along with nuts and figs to the cookie dough.
Mix a soft dough. Cover, let rest in the fridge for 10 minutes.
Tear 2 small balls from the dough. On a lightly floured surface roll out each piece into rope-shape (I made the length 25cm each), spin around each other and join the ends.
Line the baking tray with baking paper. Bake in preheated 200C/400F oven for 20 minutes. Let it cool a bit for 5-10 minutes.
Sprinkle with icing sugar, if desired. Serve warm or cold with a glass of milk.

Enjoy!

milkandbun.com

I’m bringing these delicious and beautiful cookies to all lovely guests at Fiesta Friday party! Let’s eat, drink and have fun!

Midweek Raspberry Dessert

I made this dessert less than for 15 minutes! Needless to say, it’s a perfect treat for busy days. Don’t know about you, but I need something sweet after the main course! 😀 I really miss pies or danishes, if I don’t eat them at least once a week. Exactly the same situation was yesterday – the pantry was full of my fav dark chocolate, but I wanted a pie or cake!

I’m a huge fan of Jamie Oliver and even consider him as my virtual mentor! 🙂 Might you’ve seen food-videos with him and another young guy – Donal Skehan; they both provide inspirational ideas and recipes. I love raspberries! So, I chose this recipe, but adapted it, and made chocolate crust. And wow! Tartlets tasted soooo good! Reach chocolate crust along with tender berry filling gave the brilliant result! Yum!

Ingredients for two 11cm/4inch baking tins

85g plain flour

30g cocoa powder

30g fine sugar

60g butter, cold and cubed

1/2 tsp baking powder

2 Tbsp ice cold water

120g raspberries

50-60g strawberries, cut

130-150ml creme fraiche

1 tsp icing sugar

Method

In a bowl or food processor combine the flour, cocoa and baking powder, sugar and butter until it forms a dough.
Press the dough with your fingertips into baking tins. Put in a fridge for 30 minutes.
Mix together berries, creme fraiche and icing sugar; then spread over the dough.
Bake in preheated 210C/410F oven for 15 minutes. Then lower the heat to 150C/300F and bake for 20 minutes more.

Enjoy!

Autumn Pumpkin Roll

October is a pumpkin harvesting month, and also a time for making delicious amber-color pumpkin dishes, like cream-soups and pies. And the Halloween is coming very soon! I love this time of the year, I believe autumn is the most beautiful season. Well, Emirati autumn is different, but let me pretend that it’s autumn here. 😀 It’s raining outside, and golden, brown and flame-colored laves are falling down from trees..

In real the heat is becoming less intense and nature is waiting for the cool season to come.

And only one thing is on my mind – baking! This is one of quickest recipes, I swear! 😀 Especially, if you already have puff pastry in your fridge. So, you need cut pumpkin and apples, and saute it in butter, then mix with couscous and roll into puff pastry. That’s it! Since I prefer not very sugary bakes, I make the roll almost not sweet, the sweetness of pumpkin and apples is more than enough here. I slice the ready roll and serve warm with hot tea. 🙂 In case if you want sweeter, add more raisins and brown sugar! Anyway, the roll will be so delicious and comforting!

It doesn’t matter what’s the weather outside, when your home is filled with amazing scent of dark brown sugar, cinnamon and baked veggies!

Autumn Pumpkin Roll

I suggest to make own puff pastry, you can keep it in the freezer for several weeks, or if it’s store-bought, be sure that it made from butter not palm oil or margarine!

You may vary the quantity of pumpkin and couscous to suit your taste.

Ingredients

250g butter puff pastry

150-200g pumpkin

1 small apple

1 Tbsp lemon juice

1/2 Tbsp butter

50-60g couscous, cooked

30g raisins (black or golden)

1 Tbsp dark brown sugar (or increase for sweeter option)

1/3 tsp cinnamon

a pinch of salt

1 egg yolk

Method

Cut apple and pumpkin into small cubes, add to the pan with butter, drizzle with lemon juice and saute on medium-high heat for 5-6 minutes. Let the mixture cool.
Soak raisins in warm water or cognac for 10 minutes, then drain.
In a medium bowl combine pumpkin, apple, raisins with couscous. Add salt, sugar, cinnamon and give it a good stir.
Arrange the mixture on the puff pastry sheet. Make the roll, brush it with egg yolk.
Bake in preheated 180C/360F oven for 25 minutes.

Serve warm with tea in your favorite tea cup! 🙂

Happy autumn! ❤

German Cheesecake – Käsekuchen

October 9, 2014
milkandbun
49 comments
baking, cheesecake, dessert, food, food blogger, food photography, food styling, fromage fraise, German cheesecake, photo, photography, quark, recipes, sweet

Last weekend I went shopping to the local supermarket and found a dairy product which was new to me – fromage fraise (quark). So, I bought the quark in the hope of finding a recipe and use it somehow. I was browsing the net, when stumble upon the info that Germans making their cheesecake version and using quark; even though I use Jamie Oliver’ cheesecake recipe most of the time, I decided to try new recipe without hesitation. And what do you think! The cheesecake turned out golden and very fluffy, but after setting in the fridge it fell down.. The texture was creamy and tender, and it reminded me the bake with cottage cheese from my childhood. So, if you are not fun of heavy and over-sugary cheesecakes, it’s your option! I will make it again for sure.

German Cheesecake - Käsekuchen

Ingredients for 22cm baking pan

Crust

170g all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

a pinch of salt

1 tsp vanilla extract or vanilla sugar

1 Tbsp granulated sugar

70g butter

1 egg

Filling

600g quark

3 eggs, separated yolks and whites

150g granulated sugar

80g butter, at room temperature

1/2 lemon, grated zest, optional

180ml heavy cream

vanilla bean, seeds

1 tbsp cornstarch

1 tsp lemon juice

a pinch of salt

Method

Crust. Sift the flour in a big mixing bowl, add baking powder, salt, vanilla, sugar and mix. Add butter and egg, knead until smooth. Cover the dough and keep in the fridge for 30 minutes.
Filling. Beat egg yolks with sugar and vanilla until pale. Add butter, lemon zest and beat again. Add heavy cream and quark and stir to combine. Beat egg whites with salt and lemon juice until stiff; then gently fold into the quark batter along with cornstarch, adding a little at a time.
Line the baking pan with paper. Roll out the dough into 30cm circle, or simply place it in the baking pan and press it, pushing it up the sides to make a rim.
Pour the filling over crust and smooth with spatula.
Bake in preheated 160C oven for 45-55 minutes until the top is golden and the filling set. If the top browning too much, cover with a piece of foil.
Cool the cheesecake at the room temperature, then cover and refrigerate for 3-6 hours or overnight.

Enjoy!

Prune Cookies

It’s autumn somewhere.. and time to harvest or buy beautiful apples, plums and pumpkins, make tasty preserves, and bake! Perhaps you will be surprised but I wish tomorrow (or even a whole month) would be grey and cheerless here! We I mean myself and some of my friends got a bit tired from burning sun this summer, and few days back a little miracle happened here – it was raining! Yay! But only for an hour or so. 😀 To be honest, when I lived in my hometown I didn’t like the beginning of autumn; rains were too often, boots and trousers caked with mud was a normal thing!

Autumn here is a totally different season! October is the beginning of a large influx of tourists amazing weather in Dubai, temperature goes down and days become cooler, people become happier; it’s a season of barbecue in parks, outdoor cafes and long walks. Not to mention the fact that I’m going to bake more cakes and pies, and fill my home and blog with quintessential autumn flavours. 🙂
This cookies recipe is super easy, tasty and suits autumn mood! The main secret ingredient is prunes (dried plums) soaked in a cognac, and I can easily say that these cookies become my favourite!

Prune Cookies

You can use dark chocolate with hazelnuts or plain milk chocolate, or even omit it.

Ingredients

8-9 prunes

50ml cognac

50-60ml water

1 Tbsp brown or muscovado sugar

50g butter, room temperature

2 Tbsp brown or dark muscovado sugar

1 egg

100g flour

1/3 tsp salt

1/2 tsp baking powder

40g dark chocolate (70-80% cacao), roughly chopped

40g roasted walnuts, finely chopped, optional

Method

Into small pan add prunes, sugar and water. Bring to boil, add cognac and boil for 5-7 minutes more. Remove from the hob and let cool. Roughly chop prunes.
In a mixing bowl, beat butter with sugar, then mix in egg. Add 2 tsp syrup from prunes.
Combine flour, baking powder and salt together. Add the mixture into batter and combine.
Carefully fold into batter dark chocolate, nuts and chopped prunes (without syrup).
Bake in preheated 180C oven for 15 minutes.

Enjoy!