Remember the pate a choux I’ve frozen last Saturday? Well, I used it today! My first intention was to make Napoleons using this quick puff pastry recipe that I have been wanting to try for a while. But, since there is not a habit of labeling the flours in our house, I accidentally used a low gluten, whole-wheat flour, and the puff pastry didn’t puff. And I had already prepared pastry cream to make Napoleons. So, I used my frozen pate a choux and made cream puffs!

And to make things more interesting, I topped the puffs with orange chocolate and sprinkled peppermint candy! The recipe was a success, seriously everybody loved these puffs! And because of that, I suggest you to always freeze half of every dough you prepare, just in case..

Chocolate Peppermint Cream Puffs

makes 40 cream puffs

For pate a choux:

- Use the recipe here. Omit sugar pearls.

Ingredients:

For pastry cream:

• 500 ml milk
• 2 eggs
• 150 gr sugar (5.3 oz.)
• 75 gr (2.65 oz.) cornstarch

For topping:

• 80 gr dark chocolate with orange, melted
• 3-4 peppermint candies, crushed
• 1-2 tablespoons milk, hot

Directions:

Heat the milk. In a separate bowl, mix all the other ingredients. When the milk is boiled, pour 3 tablespoons of it to the egg mixture and whisk quickly, so you don’t get cooked egg clumps in your cream! Then, pour this egg mixture to boiled milk and stir for one minute and take the cream off heat.

When the pastry cream and choux puffs are completely cooled, cut the puffs into half and fill them with pastry cream.

Mix the melted chocolate and milk. Pour this over the choux puffs. Sprinkle with crushed peppermint candies.

Oh, and don’t forget the Insatgram photos:

A couple of years ago, I had a chance to taste the best butter cookies in a hotel lobby. They were thin like leaves, and so crispy, buttery and spicy. After that, I tried to replicate those cookies, but I never really managed. This is by far the closest taste I could get.

I used mulberry molasses for extra spiciness, and that’s why my cookies were a bit chewy (but crispy too), but I’m sure if you omit molasses, your cookies will be very crispy. If you cannot find mulberry molasses, you can just use regular molasses.

Spice Butter Cookies with Mulberry Molasses

adapted from Martha

makes 60 thin cookies

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups whole-wheat flour
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup cold butter, cubed
• 2 egg yolks
• 1/4 cup mulberry molasses (see the note above)
• 1 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
• a pinch of salt

Directions:

Mix together butter, flour, sugar, and spices until fully incorporated.

In a separate bowl, whisk the egg yolks and mix in the molasses. Add this mixture to the dough and knead until it gets even.

Form a ball (or 3-4 balls, in order to take them out one by one, and not to let them warm up), and let it cool in the refrigerator for two hours. At this point, you can freeze the dough and use it later.

Preheat the oven to 175 degrees C (350 degrees F).

When the dough balls are cooled, take them out one by one and roll out to 0.25 cm (1/8 inch). If you trust yourself, go thinner! Cut the dough with desired cutters. Bake them in the oven for 13 minutes, or until the edges start to brown. Cool them on a rack and let them completely cool before eating.

And some Instagram photos to end this post:

This is the best cake I’ve made for a while! Seriously! And it is not even that impromptu! I planned it the day before, and except for the unsuccessful glaze, which was an epic fail and was overly sweet. This cake is so amazing itself that it does not need any glaze or topping. So, I’m not going to talk much today, but I advise you to get some non-GMO cornmeal, make your own shredded coconuts and try out this recipe immediately! Then, if you are sure not to fail like me, you can put some lemon whipped cream or lemon glaze on top.

Lemon Coconut Cornmeal Cake

makes 20 pieces

Ingredients:

• 3 eggs
• 1 1/2 cups sugar (or a little less)
• 2 cups cornmeal
• 1/2 cup whole-wheat flour
• 2 cups shredded coconuts (make your own)
• 1/2 cup lemon juice (from about 2 lemons)
• zest of two lemons
• 4 teaspoons baking salt
• a pinch of salt

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 175 degrees C (350 degrees F).

In a bowl, beat together eggs, sugar, salt, lemon juice and lemon zest.

Mix in flour. Then add baking powder. Finally, mix in shredded coconuts.

Pour the mixture into a greased pan and bake for 30-40 minutes, or until cooked.

I’ve been meaning to write  this post for a while, but as always, I was busy with other things going on in my life. I made this recipe back in summer for guests, and they were very pleased. Little they knew is that crumble is so easy to make, and also healthier than any other possible dessert choice (Remember, I live in Turkey, country of baklava, so we could have served them those too!). I took this recipe from one of my favorite books, Cooking Light Way to Cook. What I love about this book is that recipes are easy and quick to make. I love reading complicated recipes, but when it comes to cooking, I can sometimes become the world’s laziest person. So this book is great for me. I changed the recipe and replaced sugar with honey, as usual. Honey brings more flavor to this recipe, therefore it is really not necessary to use sugar, when there is a healthier alternative to it. So, go ahead and make crumble today! Possibilities are really endless with this recipe. For this season, apple & cinnamon, pumpkin & raisins, or quince & walnut can be just a few flavor combinations to use in your crumble! Enjoy!

Peach & Berry Crumble

adapted from Cooking Light Way to Cook

Ingredients:

For filling:

• 7 cups chopped fruit (I used half peach and half berries) (Remember that if you use berries, they will release some liquid)
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 2-3 tablespoons honey (depending on the sweetness of your fruits)

For topping:

• 1/2 cup oats
• 3/4 cup whole-wheat flour
• 1/4 cup nuts, chopped (I used almonds)
• 1/4 cup honey
• 3/4 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon cloves
• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons olive oil or coconut oil
• 1 egg yolk

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 190 degrees C (375 degrees F).

Mix the filling ingredients in a bowl. Lay them into a shallow baking pan.

Pulse the oats in a food processor. Add the other topping ingredients and process them until everything is well blended. Squeeze the topping in your hands and spread this evenly over the fruit mix.

Bake for 30-40 minutes. Serve with vanilla icecream.

Sorry for the late post. So, what is “Buddink”? It is my favorite indulgence for the past couple of months, and it is basically pudding, but not just your average one.Yes, the “Buddink”. That’s what my grandma pronounces “pudding”. The story is as follows:

So, two months ago, I made her this pudding. Then, she wanted to inform my grandpa about it:

Grandma: Hey, Ulya has just made us some “buddink”!

Grandpa: What?

Gm: Buddink, buddink!

Gp: What?

Me: It’s pudding, grandpa

Gp: Hahahahahaha!

But, I have to inform you beforehand that this is not your average chocolate pudding. This pudding has no sugar, it has mulberry molasses instead, which gives the pudding a unique flavor. And mulberry molasses is good for you. Better than white sugar, at least.

Mulberry molasses, along with grape molasses and carob molasses, is a traditional sweetener widely used in Turkey. The term molasses is actually not true for this sweetener. It’s not the molasses used in the US, Europe, or many other countries. Turkish molasses (or “pekmez”) is made by boiling the fruit. So in this post, whenever I say molasses, it means “our” kind of molasses.

Inspite of being a tahini-molasses lover (I especially like the tahini-molasses combination, and I used to consume enormous amounts of this combination on a slice of bread), I don’t like to use molasses in baked goods. In order to “healthify” my cakes, I attempted many times to use molasses instead of sugar, but it left my cakes with an unpleasant bitter taste.

So when my mum and her friend came up with the idea of “mollasses pudding” to make my sister gain weight (she was trying to gain weight by then), I immediately thought of this bitter taste and regarded it as a bas idea. How wrong I was!!!!

So ladies and gentlemen, this is the original recipe for the “Buddink”, as mum’s friend came up with. It may have too many calories inside, but it’s free of processed sugar and very nutritious, and also one of my favorite quick breakfast foods.

Actually, it was yesterday’s breakfast.

Because of my sister, we always have some “Buddink” in the refrigerator. So, it’s really easy to grab a bowl of buddink before leaving the house.

The “Buddink”

Ingredients:

• 1 lt milk
• 1 cup mulberry molasses
• 40 gr (1.4 oz) whole-wheat flour
• 30 gr (1 oz) rice flour
• 30 gr (1 oz) cocoa powder
• 1 egg yolk
• optional: 1-2 tablespoons butter

Directions:

Mix all the ingredients except butter. Stir until no lumps of flour and egg can be seen.

Cook in medium heat while stirring.

After the pudding is boiled, cook for 3 more minutes and remove from heat.

Add butter, and stir.

Pour the pudding into bowls and keep them in the refrigerator.

]]> http://kitchenimpromptu.com/phbc-day4-the-buddink-with-mulberry-molasses-pekmez/feed/ 0 http://kitchenimpromptu.com/granola-saves-the-day/ http://kitchenimpromptu.com/granola-saves-the-day/#comments Tue, 06 Sep 2011 09:33:13 +0000 ulya http://kitchenimpromptu.com/?p=1031

PHBC Day 2! Today was the granola day. I simply mixed 3 tablespoons of granola with some milk and called it breakfast.

Oh, and don’t forget the half peach I found in the refrigerator. It was super sweet!

Granola is sooooo easy to make, and has many uses. You can use it to enhance your oatmeal, eat it during the day as a snack, o simply consume with milk like I did this morning. And like veggie burger, it has a base recipe and you can make your own versions. So don’t be lazy about granola, just make it!

Granola

Ingredients:

• 3 cups oatmeal
• 3/4 cup desired nuts (hazelnuts, almonds, walnuts, cashews, pistachios, etc.), chopped roughly
• 1/3 cup liquid sweetener (I prefer honey)
• 1/4 cup oil (preferably extra-virgin olive oil or coconut oil)
• optional: 1 tablespoon flax seed
• optional: 2 tablespoons coconut flakes
• optional: 1 tablespoon cocoa nibs
• optional: 1/4 cup dried fruit (raisins, dates, etc.), chopped

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 150 degrees C (300 degrees F).

Mix the dry ingredients. Add the sweetener and oil, and mix well.

Put the mixture onto a pan with parchment paper.

Bake for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.

You can store granola in a jar for up to 1 month (or maybe more).

EDIT: Check this out! It looks amazing, I’m definitely going to try this!

It’s been a long time.. Sometimes I really don’t feel like posting anything to the blog, although I have a ton of recipes and photos that I took. Actually, I have  never been a good writer, and that makes it sometimes hard to write. But I can proudly say I’m a total blabbermouth, and I always have something to say. In fact, that was one of the reasons I started blogging. I didn’t want to irritate people with my unnecessary talking, and I also wanted to improve my writing. But I have never blabbered in this blog (at least, not too much). I just couldn’t decide if it’s the right place to talk, talk, and talk (or in this case write, write and write). But, hey, blogs are meant to be the places you express yourself, so from now on, I’m going to write about anything that comes to my mind. The problem is, should I open a new blog for that, or should I pollute my food blog with unnecessary talking? I’ve been thinking about that for sometime.Another thing that confuses my mind is, a lot of my friends who read the blog (they are my only readers I guess) suggested me to open the blog in Turkish, and that’s another problem. Writing a post in two languages would take a lot of time, and I really don’t want to repeat everything once more in Turkish. My idea is that I can open a Turkish blog in a different concept. It can be more focused on healthy eating and “maintaining weight”, which may help other people.

Thinking while writing, I am now coming to a conclusion. I think I will extend this blog a bit, and write about food, and any other thing that comes to my mind. And I’ll be soon opening a turkish blog about healthy living. Next comes the name of the new blog, and new designs for my blogs. Any ideas for a Turkish name?

But, today my purpose was to post a quince dessert recipe that I adored! Quince dessert is a traditional Turkish dessert, and it’s very much like poached apples, and very simple to make. You poach (simmer in low heat) the quinces in water with sugar, some spice and the quince seeds. After a couple of hours (in my case, two hours), the quinces become viscous (is that the right word?), like they are dipped in honey. The gelling agent in quince seed makes the dessert sticky and it also gives the dessert a reddish color. Finally, you eat your dessert with a spoonful of clotted cream (widely used in Turkey). The tartness of quince goes away when cooked, and you get an amazing taste. Sounds good, right? When I came by some delicious photos of quince dessert while googleing, I was thinking the same. But there was a problem.

A few weeks ago, I bought some m&m’s and put in a jar to decorate my office, which I thought was a good idea. WHAT A HUGE MISTAKE! After unwillingly eating 200 grams of them in a day, I decided to stop eating processed sugar for one week, because I literally felt disgusted of sugar. So, I was in my “no processed sugar challenge” when I saw the quince dessert photos.

But you know, I had to do something, because I really wanted to eat and I couldn’t break my rules. I was thinking about making the dessert with honey instead of sugar, but I wasn’t sure if it would to be as sticky and syrupy like the original one. But I gave it a try.

I admit that I cheated a bit. I used honey and some organic palm sugar, because I think that palm sugar was only semi-processed. It wasn’t bleached, and it has its molasses inside. And I also love palm sugar. If it was something easy to be found in Turkey, I wouldn’t use anything else for sugar. It has the most amazing smell, it smells like caramel but better! I may try to make its homemade version someday, seriously!

So, here’s the recipe. If you want to use the original recipe, go ahead, I think it results in a more stickier dessert, but I really loved the honey version. I think

there’s an unnoticeable difference between them.

Quince Dessert

makes 12

Ingredients:

• 6 quinces, peeled, cut into half and seeded
• seeds of 6 quinces
• 18 tablespoons of honey (1 .5 tablespoons for each quince half)
• 6 tablespoons of palm sugar (or cane sugar, or honey)
• 2 cinnamon sticks
• 6 cloves or 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
• dash of salt
• water
• clotted cream (you can use whipped cream if you can’t find clotted cream, but I don’t recommend that)

Directions:

In a large pan, place the quinces and pour water just to cover the quinces.

Put the spices and the seeds to a strainer bag (I used a tea strainer, and I ran out of cinnamon sticks, so I used ground cinnamon instead).

In low heat, simmer the quinces for half an hour, or when they start to change the colors and soften a bit. Add honey and palm sugar, and simmer for one and a half hours more, or until the quinces become very soft and sticky.

Serve the quinces with clotted cream. If you like warm, eat immediately, or eat after storing them in the refrigerator.

I made Katie’s Fudge Babies a couple of times, and they make an excellent snack. But those babies are packed with a lot of nuts and dates, which is healthy and at the same time, calorie-dense. Since I don’t have the luxury to eat as many babies as I wish (acne + belly), I decided to “lighten” up the recipe a little bit, and used leftover chocolate cake instead of half the amount of walnuts. What I came up has about 25% less calories than original fudge babies, but is as yummy as they are. To make them even more tastier (and to add more calories, unfortunately) I decorated my fudge hearts with some white chocolate, and it was literally heavenly! So, go ahead and use your leftover cake! And be sure to use white chocolate, if you don’t mind extra 10 calories per serving; because it really fires up the taste.

Fudge Hearts with Leftover Cake

20-25 servings

adapted from Chocolate-Covered Katie

Ingredients:

• 1 cup walnuts
• 1 cup mashed leftover chocolate cake (you don’t need to add any liquid)
• 2 cups pitted dates
• 4 tablespoons cocoa powder (6, if you use non-chocolate cake)
• zest of 1 orange
• melted white chocolate, for decorating

Directions:

Blend everything (except white chocolate) in a food processor.

Shape small balls. If you have chocolate molds, press the fudge into molds and leave them in the freezer for a couple of minutes. This will make the fudge easier to separate from the mold.

Decorate the hearts with some white chocolate.

]]> http://kitchenimpromptu.com/leftover-cake-fudge-heart/feed/ 2 http://kitchenimpromptu.com/healthiest-chocolate-chip-cookie/ http://kitchenimpromptu.com/healthiest-chocolate-chip-cookie/#comments Fri, 25 Feb 2011 10:45:11 +0000 ulya http://kitchenimpromptu.com/?p=963

This is it! This is the BEST chocolate-chip cookie recipe ever! And what’s better is that it’s way much healthier than your average chocolate-chip cookie. Impossible? Well, I don’t think so.

There’s usually a problem with “healthy” alternatives: they usually cannot replicate the “original” one. I’ve tried so many healthy chocolate-chip cookie alternatives, but the result was usually so bad that I didn’t even want to eat them. Now, I have to want you beforehand, if you are looking for low-fat or low-calorie chocolate-chip cookies, then this is not the place to look for. Besides, I don’t think there exists a chewy, delicious and full chocolate-chip cookie recipe that is also low in fat and calories. Well, you can use low-fat-vegan-margarine type artificial “things” (I don’t even call them food), but I don’t think they are healthy, and taste good. In fact, you immediately notice that something is wrong with those cookies. But my recipe is different! Despite being high in fats (healthy fats) and carbs (healthy carbs), if you eat in considerable amounts, I think these cookies make a great afternoon snack with a cup of tea. Mmmm!

Now you may be expecting a complex, fifteen ingredient, protein-powder boosted recipe, but no. This recipe originally uses Sinem’s chocolate-chip cookie recipe, which is already lower in sugar and fat, but not less delicious than regular chewy c-chip cookie recipes. But it has two ingrediential (is that a word?) problems that makes it a little unhealthy: butter and processed sugar. Now, I have to say that I’m not cursing butter. I think you should consume it now and then, but I would like to use my “butter quota” by spreading on a slice of bread, not in cookies. So, I don’t usually use butter in my recipes.

So first of all, I looked for something that can replace butter. I actually knew the answer for a while. It’s obviously coconut oil, which is solid in room temperature. That’s why you get real cookies when you make it with coconut oil (believe me, I tried some cookies with olive oil, and I don’t want to talk about the results). Coconut oil is also a healthier alternative to butter, since it has no cholesterol. Because of its high saturated fatty acid content, I wouldn’t want to use it everyday, but I have been wanting to try coconut oil in a recipe for a while. I like to use different things in my recipes. Remember my dark hummus? Or maybe purple carrot muffins?

But coconut oil is not something you can find everywhere, unless you live in the United States and have Whole Foods or a similar store nearby. So, I have been searching the web for quite a while to find coconut oil, among with some other things like Artisana Coconut Butter that everyone’s obsessed with, or raw cocoa nibs. But, unless you want to pay huge amount of money for shipping and customs, there’s no way you can supply these stuff in Turkey, even though there are lots of places that sell coconut oil as massage oil, which cannot be used as cooking oil.

Wait, there’s another way! Place an order to your friend who will visit the States! So, I ordered some coconut oil, coconut butter, raw cocoa nibs and some palm sugar from my friend. This may seem to be a temporary solution, but I won’t be using the coconut oil everyday, and I think I found a store in Turkish Ebay that sells edible coconut oil.

The second “ingrediential” problem was the processed sugar, and it was solved by Navitas Naturals’ palm sugar. Palm sugar is considered to be a healthier alternative to cane sugar (or, beet sugar for Turkey) since it’s lower in glycemic index and more nutritious. And it has a caramel-like taste, which I immediately liked. So, I decided to incorporate this to my recipe.

If you have access to coconut oil and palm sugar, I urge you to try this recipe. I stored a batch of cookies in the freezer. So, I just take them out in the morning and by the time I get to work, they are ready! And they usually become my afternoon snack with a cup of tea. So good!

Coconut Oil and Palm Sugar Chocolate Chip Cookies

adapted from Sinem’s recipe

makes 16 cookies

Ingredients:

• 1 egg
• 75 gr (2.6 oz.) coconut oil, in room temperature
• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• ½ cup palm sugar, or any other semi-processed alternative
• ¾ cup dark chocolate chips
• 1 tablespoon milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• pinch of salt
• cocoa nibs to sprinkle

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 175 degrees C (350 degrees F).

Mix together palm sugar and coconut butter until the mixture becomes creamy, then beat in the egg.

Add the other ingredients.

Drop 1 tablespoon of dough on a parchment paper. Be sure to have space between the cookies. Sprinkle with some cocoa nibs.

Bake the cookies for 13 minutes, or until the edges turn golden.

And what about the “famous” Artisana Coconut Butter I got? I made a batch of Katie’s chocolate fudge, and they were amazing!

I love chickpeas. Have I told you that before? I guess so, probably about hundred times.. Anyway, I bought some dark baby chickpeas, also known as “desi chickpeas” or “kala chana”. They are quite smaller than regular chickpeas, and they look like little chocolate drops when boiled. Wikipedia says they are higher in fiber and they have a very low glycemic index. So they are good for you!

Instead of cooking these chickpeas plainly, I decided to make the best chickpea product and one of my favorite dishes: hummus! I haven’t tasted dark chickpeas before, so I was curious about the results. My mum told me that it might not work, but I didn’t care that much, because chickpeas are chickpeas! They can be light or dark, big or small but they are chickpeas. And I wasn’t wrong!

I roasted the chickpeas with olive oil, garlic and some walnuts before blending in the food processor, because I wanted the garlic to cook a little bit, and give its nice flavor to chickpeas. Making hummus is really easy, and this recipe can be done with regular chickpeas too. I also like my hummus less lemony. You know, some people think hummus should be sour, but I don’t like it. So, you can double the lemon juice if you like your hummus that way. Enjoy!

Dark Hummus

Ingredients:

• 3 cups desi chickpeas (or regular chickpeas, if you can’t find), boiled
• 1 cup tahini
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• juice of one lemon
• 2 cloves garlic
• 4 walnuts, optional
• salt

Directions:

Spread the boiled chickpeas on a pan. Add the garlic, walnuts and pour the olive oil. Mix the chickpeas so the oil spreads evenly among them.

Roast the chickpeas in medium heat for about 15 minutes.

Blend the chickpea mixture, tahini and salt in the food processor. Pour the lemon juice until the consistency and sourness is enough.

Spread the hummus on a slice of bread or use it like a dip sauce. Or if you’re like me, just eat it directly!

So, the New Year has come, which means it’s Gingerbread Cookie Time! There’s a strange tradition in Turkey. As we’re not Christian, we don’t celebrate Christmas or Thanksgiving, but instead we celebrate the New Year’s Eve like it’s Christmas or Thanksgiving. We decorate our houses with Christmas trees, we bake Turkey, and as for me, I bake gingerbread cookies. I try different recipes each year, but until this yesterday, I couldn’t find the perfect one.

I mentioned about the old book I bought from Cuba. Well, it turned out that this book has the most amazing gingerbread cookie recipe ever. It’s originally a chocolate gingerbread men recipe, but you can’t tell it has chocolate in it. Chocolate just gives a concentrated flavor to the cookies and makes them tastier. I really can’t tell how good the cookies were. I don’t think I’ll ever change my recipe again. This is it.

I also wanted to do something little more this year, and made a gingerbread Christmas tree from star-shaped cookies. It’s really easy to make (not like making a gingerbread house) and it definitely impresses your friends!

And finally, I decorated the gingerbread tree with some truffles. I mentioned that before, but making truffles is really easy (but also messy), and you can be creative by adding different liquids. I used some homemade rose water in my truffles, and decorated them with some dried roses and homemade rose sugar. Everybody in the office liked them. Besides, you cannot hate something with rose. It just smells like heaven!

Also, you can use the homemade rosewater in any recipe you want. Just add a few tablespoons of rose water instead of milk or water. Its smell is barely noticeable, but that’s enough to increase the joy you get from your food. Happy New Year!

Chocolate Gingerbread Cookies & Tree

adapted from The Pocket Cookbook

makes one tree and a lot of cookies

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup butter, in room temperature
• 1/2 cup molasses (I used mulberry molasses)
• 60 gr (2.1 oz.) dark chocolate, melted
• 2 1/2 cups flour
• 2/3 cup brown sugar
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp ground ginger (or grated fresh ginger)
• 1/2 tsp ground cloves
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp salt
• confectioners’ sugar for dusting

for the confectioners’ sugar frosting:

• 1/2 cup butter, in room temperature
• 2 cups confectioners’ sugar
• 2-3 tablespoons rose water (or any other liquid)
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:

Cream butter and sugar. Add molasses and chocolate, mix well. Add all the dry ingredients and form four patties. Chill them for at least 3 hours. (To increase this chilling process, you can put the dough in freezer. But be careful, don’t let them freeze!)

Take the patties out one by one (because, if you take them all out once, they wait too long and become sticky with room temperature) and roll. You can use confectioners’ sugar if the dough is too sticky. Wİth the first patty, you can make the gingerbread tree. You have to have 5 types of star shaped cutters, which are in different sizes. Cut 3 stars with each cutter, and place them on the baking tray.

Roll the other three patties and cut in the desired shapes. Put them in a baking tray (I used 3 baking trays to make my cookies).

Preheat the oven to 190 degrees C (375 degrees F) and bake the cookies for 6 minutes.

For the frosting, cream butter and gradually add sugar and vanilla extract. Finally, add the rose water, and you should get a creamy mixture. Put this into a piping bag, and when the cookies are cooled, decorate the cookies with this frosting. Put the decorated cookies in the refrigerator overnight to harden the frosting.

To make the gingerbread tree, put the biggest stars on the bottom. Align them properly so that the stars don’t overlap each other. Stick the stars using the frosting you made. Then, put the next biggest stars using the same technique, and finish your tree with your smallest stars. Decorate your tree with frosting, some sugar pearls and confectioners’ sugar for a snow effect.

Rose Truffles

adapted from Making Artisan Chocolates

makes 16 truffles

Ingredients:

• 140 gr (5 oz.) 70% dark chocolate
• 112 gr (4 oz. or about 1/2 cups) cream
• 2 tablespoons rose water
• 1 tablespoon butter

for dipping:

• 70% dark chocolate, melted
• cocoa powder
• 1 tablespoon confectioners’ sugar
• dried roses or rose petals

for rose water:

• 1 cup fresh rose petals or dried roses
• 2 cups boiled water

Directions:

First, make the rose water at least three hours before making the truffles. Prepare it by pouring the boiled water over roses. Put the mixture into a jar and close the lid. After it’s cooled, store it in the refrigerator.

To make the truffles, heat the cream in a pan, and when it reaches its boiling point, add the chocolate and take the pan away from heat. Stir the mixture until all the chocolate is melted. Then, add the butter and two tablespoons of rose water and stir until the butter is melted. Chill the mixture in the refrigerator for three hours, or until it’s hard enough to work with.

When the mixture (or ganache) is cooled, take a spoonful, form a ball and dip it into melted chocolate and finally to cocoa powder. Make all the truffles this way. After that, chill them in the freezer for 5 minutes, and take them out. Dip into cocoa powder again to get smoother truffles.

To make rose sugar, blend confectioners’ sugar and dried rose petals using mortar and pestle. Continue until rose petals are all grounded. Sprinkle the rose sugar to truffles and decorate the truffles with some dried roses.

Hola! Where have I been this whole time? I was in Cuba people, in Cuba!! I had the time of my life there, met nice people, ate nice food (OK, some of them weren’t so nice), and listened to nice music. In fact, I was so pleased with this “happy country” that after two days, I started to make plans about moving there. Seriously.I didn’t really plan this vacation, but when my aunt said “Hey, I’m going to Cuba, do you wanna come?” (she’s a serious traveler, by the way), I had to go. And that was a clever decision.

Cuba can be only 100 kilometers away from Key West, Florida, but it doesn’t even have internet access, and some other so-called “necessary” things. So, before the vacation I was a little freaked out. Also, the 10-hour flight (and 5+3 hours more, to get to Paris) was not very pleasant at all. But by the time we stepped into our old, historical hotel and saw the four Cuban guys playing and singing together, I changed my mind. Staying at 60 year-old hotels, where even the curtains were also 60 years old; or eating rice-potato-fish trio everyday wasn’t so important anymore. I was stunned by the music, stunned by the happy people, who don’t have iPhones or even extra soap to clean, but who are happy, because they don’t have anything to lose. They don’t have such passions to make more money, because everybody gets the same money. No, I’m not a communist, but what I saw there was different than what we read about Cuba. Yes, they may be poor, but that depends on how you define “poverty”. The government ensures that they get their basic needs, and such needs are free. Also, healthcare and education system in Cuba are better than in many of the countries. Interesting..

Most of the people in our group didn’t like Cuban food that much. At first, I also felt the same. That’s because they don’t use spices or sauces in their food. And coming from a culinary culture, where using too much spice is like an obligation, the food tasted “boring” to us. But after few days, we got used to it. But for me, the problem was not with spices, but with variety. I don’t know if it’s about how they understand as “tourist food”, but in everywhere we ate and drank the same combination of things: fish(or lobster), rice, potato puree, ground beef with peas, rice pudding, pineapple, papaya, guava, moijto and pina colada. Not that I didn’t like them, I actually liked those high-carbohydrated food; but I was expecting to eat more variety of fruits. I think we were in the wrong season, because I saw a lot of mango trees, but I couldn’t eat it anywhere. Also, the pineapples were raw and not pleasant to eat. So, although I didn’t like papaya, I had to eat it, and after a week I found myself saying “Oh, they don’t have papaya here, what a shame!”.

There are a lot more things to say about Cuba. Actually, I can talk 5 hours non-stop about this trip, but I’m going to cut short. I’m writing this post, because I bought 3 old books about Cuban cuisine from the street sellers there, and even though it’s written in Spanish, I’m hoping to try some recipes. We have Google Translate, right? I also bought a book, which I suppose, belonged to an American who lived in Cuba before the revolution. It has 1300 recipes, and I liked the “pocket cookbook” idea. I’m also going to test the recipes, and see if they are really old-fashioned and grandma-style.

Also, the new year post will be coming soon! For now, hasta la vista!

]]> http://kitchenimpromptu.com/cuba/feed/ 0 http://kitchenimpromptu.com/swee-potato-meal/ http://kitchenimpromptu.com/swee-potato-meal/#comments Tue, 26 Oct 2010 15:19:02 +0000 ulya http://kitchenimpromptu.com/?p=876

I’ve never seen sweet potatoes in Turkey. Although potato is something widely consumed here, we only know the yellow ones. There are small and large varieties here, but always yellow, as far as I saw. Therefore, when I saw the sweet potato recipes in blogs (sweet potato soup, fried sweet potatoes, sweet potato pie, etc.), I could only imagine how they taste like. I was guessing it tastes like something between yellow potato and pumpkins. I wasn’t wrong, though. Last week, mum bought me one large sweet potato from the grocery store, which was, and therefore expensive.  After seeing that, I wondered why they’re not grown in Turkey, is there something about the weather conditions or the soil type, but they didn’t make sense at all, because we have yellow potatoes, and Turkey has some very productive lands and has many types of plants. So, I made some research, and I found that sweet potatoes originated from South America, and somehow never managed to come here. But, in Southern Turkey, they have started to grow sweet potatoes. So, we’re planning to buy some seeds and plant them in fall (that’s when they’re grown).

Actually, there are a lot more things that should grow in Turkey (because of the climate), but somehow don’t, or couldn’t manage to be discovered by the farmers. The first (and I think the most important) one is blueberries. We cannot buy blueberries in groceries (I don’t talk about the expensive, tasteless, imported ones). But they actually grow by themselves in Northern Turkey. My grandma is from Trabzon (a city in the northern region of Turkey), and they go to their plateau house in summers. When we visit them, we collect blueberries from the hills, which are naturally grown there. They grow in bushes, so they’re smaller, but they taste amazing.

That’s where my grandparents spend six months of the year:

And, that’s where they spend their summer:

The naturally-grown blueberries we picked two summers ago:

The second one is the purple-colored vegetables, like purple potatoes, purple corns or purple carrots. I have also never seen them in groceries, and but my grandma told me that some of the corns she plants come out purple. I’ll advise her to plant the purple ones and see what happens! These things surely grow somewhere in Turkey, but not massively grown or commercialized. So, here’s a shout out to all farmers, and groceries: we want varities OK? We want to see fancy colored vegetables!

But we’re lucky in some aspects, I’ll have to say that. For example, pomegranate is cheap here and you can find it everywhere. In winter time, there’s nothing better than a glass of freshly juiced orange and pomegranates and I fully use the advantage of the availability of pomegranate in Turkey!

Turning back to the story, when mum bought me the sweet potato, I knew I had to use it wisely. So to experiment its taste for the first time I decided to make my grandma’s potato meal with this potato.

Don’t be fooled by the name. Potato meal may seem to be a fancy food and require a lot of work, but it’s very simple. It’s very similar potato puree. It can actually be a type of potato puree, but I eat it as main dish! My grandma always makes some for me when she visits us, and it’s nice to eat it with some yogurt. It’s my favorite grandma recipe. And you know what, it turned out that it’s ten times better when made with sweet potatoes!

My next attempt will be making “kumpir” (Turkish style baked potato) from sweet potatoes. I cannot imagine how delish they will turn out. I really liked the sweetness of these potatoes. Yum!

Sweet Potato Meal

makes for 2

Ingredients:

• 1 large sweet potato
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 1 clove of garlic, chopped
• 1 tablespoon tomato paste (It’s widely used in Turkish meals, try to find it. It really makes a difference in this recipe.)
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• ½ tablespoon butter (I used clarified butter, that’s what my grandma uses.)
• salt
• pepper
• yogurt – for serving

Directions:

Peel the potato, and cut into small pieces (to make it cook faster).

Cook the potatoes in boiling water. Meanwhile sautee the onions and garlic with olive oil and butter. When the onions turn pink, add the tomato puree, salt and pepper.

When the potato is cooked, mash it coarsely. This is important. You shouldn’t get the consistency of purée; you should just coarsely mash them, but not that coarsely of course. There’s a thin line between them, just stay on that line!

Add the potatoes on onions and mix them. Cook this mixture for 3 more minutes.

Serve the meal with yogurt.

My homemade nutella was so successful that I ate some with a slice of whole wheat bread every morning. Yeah, every single morning! And now that I hit the bottom of the jar, I made some more. But this time, not just hazelnut butter. I’ve made 4 different nut butters, following the same process.

The darker one in the photos is walnut cocoa butter. It’s quite dark because I’ve put a lot of cocoa powder. The second dark one is the hazelnut cocoa spread.

The lighter ones don’t have cocoa butter in them. The darker one is the almond butter. It looks a bit dark though, because I didn’t peel off the skins. And the lighter one is peanut butter.

These things are so easy to make and have only three ingredients: nut + honey + cocoa (optional). Just process the nut until it becomes creamy and add honey and cocoa if you want.

I love my breakfasts!

I’m still trying to adapt my new life. In case you don’t know, I have recently graduated and started to work, which primarily means waking up early to me. What I do in the mornings is basically waking up at the latest time possible, and trying not to be late. It means also that I generally sacrifice my breakfasts in order to sleep five more minutes. In such cases, when I was late for school, I used to eat whole grain cereals with oatmeal and low-fat milk. But it’s always nice to invent new things, since I don’t like to eat the same thing every morning. One solution I found was the oatmeal energy bars. And this is the second solution. Homemade Nutella! Well, I have to warn you, it of course does not taste like original creamy yummy Nutella, but if you’re like me and do not want to always eat full-of-additive food, then this is the simplest and the most delicious solution. Yes, I told that it does not taste like Nutella, but it has a very rich and distinct taste (and of course a very rich hazelnut smell!!).

The process is very simple. You basically put some roasted hazelnuts into food processor and process, process and process (you have to be patient and watch the hazelnuts turn into dust and then cream) until you get your homemade hazelnut spread. Well, mine does not very creamy, that’s because I wasn’t patient enough to process my hazelnuts more than three minutes. The best thing is, like almond milk, you can make this spread with any nuts you can imagine: walnuts, pistachios, sunflower seeds or almonds.

After you get your spread, add some sweetener. I added some honey, and of course cocoa powder. And here’s my first homemade Nutella! Remember, for darker and creamier look, just process more and add more cocoa powder. Enjoy!

(And I said I will try to post twice a week… Well, I’ll try next time…)

The second best thing about summer for me is definitely ice cream (The first one is summer vacations, of course). And when we have a lot of fresh sour cherries the garden, it would be shame not to use them in a recipe. So, I decided to make some ice cream with them. But sour cherries, as you know, are a bit “sour”, and I didn’t want to use a lot of sugar to make them eatable, so instead, adding some peaches not only made me put less sugar in it, but also gave a distinct taste to the ice cream. I also drizzled some homemade sour cherry jam before serving.

This is a very easy recipe, and I don’t remember the exact measurements. But it was roughly as follows: I pitted a cup of cherries and mashed them along with two peaches. Then I pureed them using a strainer and chilled the puree in the freezer for two hours. At the same time, I heated 1 ½ cups of half-and-half with half cup of sugar and let it cool in the refrigerator. Then what I did was to put the puree and milky mixture in an ice-cream maker! Actually, what I should do was to mix the puree with ¼ cup of icing sugar at the beginning and after that mix it with half-and-half, but we have no icing sugar left in the country house, so instead I used half cup of regular sugar and since it hs big grains that cannot dissolve in fruit puree, I heated it with half-and-half.

OK, though I love only “real” ice cream (I don’t like frozen yogurt, milkshake, etc.), but there’s something that changed my mind. Now, I have a new favorite ice cream, which is not really ice cream at all. It is the recipe I found in Choosing Raw. It is “Banana Soft Serve”, but I call it “Fake Super Ice Cream”. It is simply made by putting frozen banana slices in a food processor (not in a blender, it won’t give the same results, as Gena says) and wait until you get a smooth cream, and that’s it. What you get is like banana ice cream, and I added a bit more taste by mixing it with some chocolate chips and honey. Try this, I swear it will be the healthiest and yummiest solution to your ice cream cravings!!

]]> http://kitchenimpromptu.com/sour-cherry-peach-ice-cream-and-my-new-favorite/feed/ 0 http://kitchenimpromptu.com/almond-milk-mini-fat-free-donuts/ http://kitchenimpromptu.com/almond-milk-mini-fat-free-donuts/#comments Fri, 16 Jul 2010 16:55:08 +0000 ulya http://kitchenimpromptu.com/?p=545

Wow, is that my blog? When’s the last time I posted here??

After my epic macaron fail, I’d been denying to post any recipes and that wasn’t the only reason. I was so busy with my finals (I graduated by the way!) and then my getaway to Bodrum -such a nice vacation!. Then I started to work and I’ve been trying to adapt this crazy lifestyle since then. I wake up at 7 am. YEAH 7!! Now you may say “What’s wrong about 7? We all wake up at 7.” But remember, for the past 4 years, I was a college student, and I was trying to schedule my classes no earlier than 10 am . If I had to take a class at 9:30 am, I was usually skipping it. Well, things have changed. Now I don’t have the excuse to “skip” the work, obviously. So, I wake up at 7, go to work and come back home at 7 pm, which means I have little time to eat my dinner, do some other things and finally cook for the blog. Actually, I don’t have time to cook. Then I decided to plan my days and I think I’ll cook for the blog 2 days a week, because I really want to improve this blog. The thing is, I don’t really plan the recipes (that’s why it is kitchen “impromptu”) and I don’t bother much about the photos. I just take them, without using any setting, which makes the photos, I think, poor. See, I’m quite lazy..

I’m planning to go on like this for now, but I definitely have some future plans about this blog. In the future (who knows when), the blog will surely remain “impromptu”, but not that much. At least, I will try to pay more attention to the photos.

Anyways, there are two recipes I made during the past couple of months, but I’ll post them soon because I can’t find their photos. But today I’ll give something different.

I’m lately obsessed with those “raw food” and “vegan” food blogs. Not that I’m a vegan (I love meat!!) or a raw food eater, but I like to (and try to) eat healthier. I try to use less sugar and fat in my recipes, avoid white flour, etc. Then I saw these beautiful fat-free vegan mini-donuts!!! Sounds like a dream, doesn’t it? But it requires soy milk as the dairy substitute, and I have to say that I HATE soy milk, tofu or other soy-related products. Also in Turkey, you cannot really find non-GMO soy products, and even they’re non-GMO, there’s a lot of controversy about soy out there. So, I decided to make the cutest little donuts with almond milk.

Nut milks are very good alternatives to soy milk, they are proven to be healthy (no controversial issues) and they also taste good. I decided to start with almond milk, and save some of them for the donuts.

You can find the recipe here, and the blog has really cool recipes. I added some of the raw food blogs in my “Links” bar, so you can check them out. I added almond milk instead of soy milk. Since these donuts are fat-free, they taste different than classic donuts, but in the photos they look like cupcakes, which is also not true, because they definitely don’t taste like cupcakes. Actually, they do have a really unique taste closer to donuts. Also, don’t mind my hole-less donuts, I just don’t have donut molds. Well, to be honest, nobody can say these are actually donuts by looking at the photos. Sorry :/

And the almond milk? It’s the easiest thing to make. Soak 1 cup of fresh almonds for a few hours or safely, overnight. Then, blend it in the food processor along with 3 cups of water  (2 for a thicker, creamy milk). By the way, you don’t need to peel off the skins. Finally, get rid of the almond particles using a fine mesh strainer and ta-ta! You have 3 cups of fresh almond milk! If you think it’s tasteless, you can add a tablespoon of honey. You can make this milk with any nuts, or make some mixed nut milks which is what I plan to do next.

Da-da-da-daaa! Here is a recipe that I made up. I was actually going to bake some vegetables, and decided to make the dish more fun by adding some cream in it. And then I told myself “Why don’t you add a little bit of mustard?”.  And guess what! It was super-delicious and it was really easy to prepare, so I think I’ll put this recipe to “Ulya’s favorites”.

Baked Zucchini & Eggplants with Mustard Cream

Ingredients:

• 3 eggplants
• 3 zucchinis
• 1 onion
• 1 cup cream
• 1 tablespoon dijon mustard
• 2 cloves of garlic
• extra-virgin olive oil
• pepper
• salt
• some cheese to sprinkle on top (like mozzarella)

Directions:

Slice the eggplants and zucchinis to thin stripes. Put them in a mid-sized tray, and sprinkle with sliced onions, and some mashed garlic. Add some salt and pepper.

In another bowl, mix cream and mustard. Pour this on the vegetables.

Bake the vegetables for about 20 minutes in the oven preheated to 200 degrees C (390 degrees F). After 20 minutes, sprinkle the tops with some grated cheese, and bake for another 10 minutes.

With the leftover vegetables, I made some pasta. I simply baked one diced eggplant and one diced zucchini along with some diced potatoes. Then I sautéed them with little oil and added to my pasta. Yum!

It’s been a long time since my last post, I know.. But I was very busy with my midterms, quizzes and projects, and I didn’t even have time to sleep and thought I was going to die because of headache. Anyway, I’m better now, and am here with an incredible recipe: apple meringue cake!

This apple cake was inspired by my French teacher’s mom’s cake. Well, a month ago I ate that apple cake, and it was crispy on the top, which was a very unusual thing for an apple cake. I did not ask what her mother used for the cake, but I kept thinking about this cake. And I concluded that the “thing” on the top of the cake can only be egg whites. So, I tried to reinvent the cake and came up with a slightly different than I imagined, but an ammmazing thing! (The crispy layer in the original cake was thinner than in my cake, and my cake was juicier than the original cake) Enjoy!!

Apple Meringue Cake

Merengue adapted from Joy of Baking

Ingredients:

• 4 apples (I used 2 red, 2 green apples), grated
• 1 egg + 3 egg yolks
• 1 ½ cups whole-wheat flour
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• ¼ cup olive oil
• ¼ cup yogurt
• 1 1/2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• pinch of salt

For the top:

• 3 egg whites
• 130 gr (4.6 oz.) powdered sugar
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 160 degrees C (320 degrees F).

In a bowl, mix together eggs, sugar olive oil and yogurt. Add flour, cinnamon, salt and baking soda, and mix well.

Add grated apples to the mixture and blend.

In another bowl, whisk the egg whites until “snowy”. Without mixing too much (don’t let the egg whites dry!), add the granulated sugar and cinnamon to egg whites.

In a mid-size pan, pour the cake mixture (it should be a thin layer, otherwise the cake won’t cook on the inside) and on the top of that, spread the meringue mixture.

Bake for 30-35 minutes, or until both layers are cooked.

These bars are like granola bars, but they’re also like fruit&nut bars. So I call them just “oatmeal bars”.

I don’t like those granola bars with a sharp honey taste and lots of oatmeal. And I wanted to make something for the late mornings, when I’m late for school and don’t have time for breakfast (Actually, I’m “always” late for school, but that’s another story). These bars are something that you can just take (and your tea mug) and leave home.

Nutty Oatmeal Energy Bars

makes 12 big, 20 small bars

Ingredients:

• 2 cups oatmeal
• 1 cup whole-wheat flour
• 1 egg
• 1/3 cup olive oil
• ½ cup honey
• ¼ cup pistachios
• ¼ cup hazelnuts
• ¼ cup almonds
• ¼ cup raisins
• ¼ cup chocolate-chips (use ½ cup for sweeter bars)
• 1/3 cup flaxseed
• 5 tablespoons coconut flakes
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• ¼ teaspoon baking powder or baking soda
• ground nutmeg
• pinch of salt

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 155 degrees C (310 degrees F).

Chop the nuts coarsely.

In a bowl, mix all the dry ingredients.

In another bowl, whisk together the egg, oil and honey.

While stirring the dry ingredients, pour the egg mixture onto them.

Pour the mixture into a mid-sized pan and press the tops by using a spatula to make it firm.

Bake for 30 minutes, or until cooked.

Cut into squares (or bigger rectangles), and store in an airtight container.

My artisan chocolate making attempts are continued! I really liked the Earl Grey taste in my previous hand-dipped chocolates, so I used tea again in these truffles. I also added orange zest to strengthen the orangey flavor. Unfortunately, I messed up the kitchen again, but I am happy now eating my truffles and drinking my holy Early Grey tea!

Truffles with Orange and Early Grey Tea

adapted from Making Artisan Chocolates

makes 20 truffles

Ingredients:

For ganache:

• 100 gr (3.5 oz.) 60-70% bittersweet chocolate, chopped
• 100 gr (3.5 oz.) heavy cream
• 2 tablespoons Earl Grey tea
• 1 orange’s zest

For dipping:

• 100 gr (3.5 oz) milk chocolate, melted
• cocoa powder

Directions:

In a saucepan, mix heavy cream and tea, and cook until it gets to medium-heat. Wait for 5 minutes to allow tea give its flavor.

Stir the mixture through a strainer into a bowl with chopped bittersweet chocolate and the orange zest, and mix until you get a smooth ganache.

Freeze the mixture for 30 minutes, or until hardened.

Using a spoon, take small pieces of ganache, and form 20 ganache-balls using your hands. Freeze for another 30 minutes.

By using a fork, dip each truffle in melted chocolate, then in cocoa and be sure all parts of the truffles are covered with cocoa. Place the truffles onto a parchment paper, and keep them in a cool place.

This is another impromptu cake I just made up and it didn’t disappoint me. I came by some ripe bananas in the kitchen the other day, and decided to use them in what I do best: muffins! I also added the chocolate chips I’ve recently bought from the coffee shop (I usually use chopped chocolate instead of chocolate-chips, but the girl in the coffee shop insisted me to buy them and I gave it a try). I didn’t want to add sugar to the cake, so I used honey. I don’t usually use honey in my cakes, but this time it really worked and the muffins were neither too sweet nor vapid. This has become one my favorite muffin recipes.

Chocolate-Chip Banana Muffins with Honey

makes 20-24 muffins

Ingredients:

• 3 eggs
• 2 cups whole-wheat flour
• 1/3 cup olive oil
• 3-4 tablespoons honey
• 4 tablespoons yogurt
• 3 (200 gr. – 7 oz.) bananas, mashed
• 50 gr (1.7 oz.) bittersweet chocolate, chopped (or chocolate chips)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 4 teaspoons baking soda
• pinch of salt

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 175 degrees C (350 degrees F).

Mix together eggs, honey, olive oil, yogurt and vanilla in a bowl.

Add flour, cinnamon, salt and baking soda, and mix well.

Finally add the bananas and chocolate chips, and mix until you have an even mixture.

Pour the mixture into muffin cups, and bake for about 30 minutes, or until cooked.

My homemade refrigerated pizza stock is over now, and I am too lazy to make new pizzas (Waiting for the dough to rise is nervecracking!) And yesterday, when I needed something that can satisfy my usual “pizza-cravings”, I made these bruchetta-pizzas, and they require bread instead of pizza dough. This quick dish is also my parents’ favorite for a Sunday brunch at home.

I didn’t use too much cheese for the topping, but for a more pizza-like taste, you can double the amount. Enjoy!

Bruschetta-Pizza with Thyme, Olive and Walnuts

2 servings

Ingredients:

• 4 slices of whole-wheat bread
• 1 large tomato
• 80 gr. (3 oz.) mozzarella (you can double it if you like your pizza cheesy)
• 1 tablespoon tomato paste* (optional)
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 tablespoon water
• handful of walnuts, coarsely chopped
• 1 clove of garlic
• 5 green olives
• fresh thyme
• pepper
• salt

* Tomato paste (“salca” in Turkish) is a commonly used ingredient in Turkish cuisine. It is basically concentrated tomato puree. Follow this link for more information, or order from Amazon.

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees C (390 degrees F).

Mix all the ingredients (except bread, mozarella and the olives) in a food processor. This will be the pizza sauce.

Place bread slices in a pan. Spread the pizza sauce on the slices evenly. Sprinkle the tops with mozzarella and sliced olives. Place a few pieces of fresh thyme for a better look & smell.

Cook for 10 minutes (or until the cheese is melted) in the oven.

It was only a year ago when we had our first onion soup in Paris with my mother. It was a traditional French onion soup with beef stock and large onion slices and was very delicious.

Back in Turkey, I ate some other onion soups, and tried to cook it using beef stock. I also added some vinegar according to an anonymous recipe I found on the internet. The result was horrible..

But, here I am, with my own onion soup recipe with heavy cream and milk, which is inspired by the soup I had in a pizzeria (I think they were using coconut milk, but I’m not sure- trade secrets!!). The idea of making creamy onion soup was nice, and I had to come up with my own recipe! This soup is not something traditional, but I like it more than the traditional one. It is also very easy to do, but don’t forget that this soup is delicious only with bread and cheese over the top!

Onion Soup with Cream and Milk

4-6 servings

Ingredients:

• 350 gr (12.3 oz.) onions*, sliced
• 4 tablespoons butter
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1 cup low-fat milk
• 2 cups water
• 2 tablespoons flour (I used whole-wheat flour)
• 1 tablespoon brown sugar
• a pinch of ground nutmeg
• pepper
• salt

• 1-2 slices of bread
• cheese for the top (you can use mozzarella, or any other cheese that melts. I used a Turkish string cheese called “dil”)

*Why 350 gr? Well, I don’t know. I had only 350 gr onions left in the kitchen.

Directions:

Put the butter into a heated pan, and add the onions. Cook them with in medium-heat until the onions have a pinky color.

Add the sugar, and cook for a minute or two, until the onions are caramelized (Don’t overcook!).

Add the cream, milk and water. Also add the spices, and mix well. Cook the soup in low-heat for 10 minutes.

Using a blender, process the soup until no onions can be seen. Cook for another 10 minutes.

Slice the bread into 3 cm (~1.5-inch) squares. Put cheese slices over the tops, and cook in the oven just until the cheese is melted.

Serve the soup with cheesy breads over the top. Bon appétit!

It was only three years ago when I first started cooking. I started with simple vegetable dishes, and moved to desserts as I gained some confidence. And the very first cake I made was from a carrot cake recipe I found in AllRecipes. However, my first carrot cake was very sweet, greasy and topped with an ugly cream cheese frosting  that I couldn’t make properly.

Gradually, I modified that carrot cake recipe (actually changed it totally), substituted some ingredients, decreased the amount of sugar and oil, and came up with a unique carrot cake recipe. It soon became the favorite dessert in the family because of its spongy texture and different taste.

This is my first post in this blog, so it would be a shame not to begin with my “famous” carrot cake. Enjoy!

Carrot Cake

makes 25 pieces

Ingredients:

• 4 eggs
• 2 cups whole-wheat flour
• 1 1/4 cups (use 1 ½ cups if you like it sweeter) brown sugar
• 1/3 cup olive oil
• 3 cups carrots, grated coarsely (look at the picture below)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
• a pinch of ground nutmeg
• a pinch of salt
• 2 teaspoons baking soda

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 175 degrees C (350 degrees F).

In a bowl, beat together eggs, oil and sugar.

Stir in vanilla, flour, and spices, and mix well. Finally, add the baking soda into the mixture and stir.

At this stage, don’t worry if the mixture is not so liquid. It should be something between cookie dough and cake batter.

Add the carrots and form an even mixture. Don’t worry again that the carrots are too much. They will dissolve after cooked.

Pour the mixture into a greased pan (you can also pour the mixture into muffin cups) and bake for 30 minutes, or until cooked.

Note: Instead of 3 cups of carrots, you can add 2 cups of carrots and 1 cup of blueberries, and you get a fantastic variation!