Mar 20, 2012

Fondant Au Chocolat

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Have you ever tried a Fondant Au Chocolat in a nice restaurant or coffee shop with a scoop of ice cream? The hot chocolate melting in your mouth, contrasting the cold of the ice cream and wished you can eat it any time you want at home? I did. I love the texture of this creamy chocolate and cannot stop myself from eating it even after a heavy dinner. I’ve tried so many recipes to find the perfect one that can satisfy my craving, until a few years back, I found a nice one in an old french magazine and I’ve tried it and I said “that’s the one I am looking for”!! It was perfectly delicious. My children also love it. I made it again today to share this lovely recipe with you. By the way you should be very careful about the cooking time, if you leave it one minute extra in the oven, you will not have the melting chocolate oozing out from inside the cake.

Ingredients:

  • 1/2 cup of flour minus 1 tablespoon
  • 2 eggs+2 egg yolks
  • 1 cup of icing sugar minus 1 tablespoon
  • 100 grams butter
  • 100 black chocolate
  • pinch of salt

Preparation:

  • Preheat the oven to 210C
  • In a saucepanPlace the chocolate with the butter and the pinch of salt and let it melt on water bath for 5 minutes stirring continuously
  • In a bowl whisk the eggs with egg yolks until pale yellow
  • Add the flour to the eggs and mix well
  • Add the icing sugar now
  • Pour the mixture of chocolate-butter over the eggs and flour
  • Grease 6 small molds ( the cup cake ones will be perfect) and divide the mixture into them
  • Bake in the oven for 9 minutes,( you now it is done when the top of the cake is  not soft anymore
  • Eat while it is still warm. Or you can reheat them on the microwave for few seconds only

ET VOILA..C’EST TOUT. BON APPETIT!

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Feb 27, 2012

Melon Jam

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Melon Jam is not very popular. For me however, eating it reminds me of fond memories from my childhood. When I was young, I used to go to my grand parents home often; one time, when I had arrived at their house, I could smell something very special cooking… but I couldn’t recognize it. Curious, I went to the kitchen and saw my grand mother peeling melon with the help of my mother and aunts, preparing sugar and other ingredients. That was the first time I saw anyone making Melon Jam.

Now, I make it for my own children and I feel the same way I felt when I saw how they made it for the first time. Today I am sharing this recipe with you. Trust me, you will love the nice aroma it makes.

A serving suggestion: Enjoy it with toast (as seen in the picture) or with croissant, crepes… Everything tastes better with this jam.

Ingredients:

  • 1 kg melon peeled and seeds removed
  • 700 gs granulated sugar
  • 100 ml red vinegar
  • 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1/2 vanilla pod
  • 1 teaspoon butter

Preparation:

  • Cut the melon into small cubes
  • In a casserole, mix the melon with sugar and vinegar and bring it to a boil, stirring constantly
  • Add the butter, the ground cinnamon and the half vanilla pod, cut lengthwise
  • Let it boil for 15 mins
  • Lower the heat and let the jam cook for about 25 mins, stirring often
  • Remove the vanilla pod
  • To check if the jam is ready, place a drop of jam in a cup of cold water; if it forms a ball then the jam is ready
  • Place the jam in jars, close them and place them upside down for 10 mins

ET VOILA.. CES’T TOUT! 🙂

Filed Under: Breakfast, Dessert, Jam, Lent · Tagged: , , , , ,
Feb 14, 2012

Strawberry Tart

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Happy Valentine’s day to all of you! I wish each and every one of you love that encompasses your hearts beyond only this obscurely invented holiday 🙂

Strawberry Tart

As you may have noticed in the gift stores in your neighborhoods, LOVE is highly associated with the color red, the color of fire, passion, and STRAWBERRIES! The delicious strawberry resembling the kiss of a loved one. My gift to you this valentine’s day is to share with you a recipe for a strawberry tart, which I hope will ignite your taste buds and will make your kisses with your loved ones sweeter.

Ingredients:

  • 200 gs of all purpose flour
  • 1 pinch of salt
  • 1/2 cup of water
  • 100 gs of butter
  • 1  coffee spoon of sugar
  • 500 gs of fresh strawberry

Preparation:

  • Mix the flour with salt and the sugar
  • Rub it with the soft butter until the flour becomes granulated
  • Put the water and knead the mixture with the fingers quickly, when the dough is soft wrap it in a plastic wrap and put it in the fridge to rest for about one hour
  • Preheat the oven on 200C
  • Roll the dough and put it in a greased  tart mold with loose buttom
  • Cover the top with waxing paper and put dried beans
  • Put in the oven and cook for about 20 minutes

In the meantime make the “creme patissiere”

Ingredients for the cream:

  • 1 liter of milk (about 4 cups)
  • 100 gs of sugar
  • 4egg yolk
  • 60 gs of corn starch (about 4 tablespoons)
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla

Preparation:

  • Boil the milk with the vanilla on low fire
  • In a bowl mix with the electric beater the egg yolk with the sugar until the sugar dissolve and the mixture becomes yellow pale color
  • Add the corn starch gradually to the egg mixture and whisk slowly, when  it becomes homogenous pour half of the boiled milk, mix slowly at the beginning, when the cream is soft mix faster
  • Put the cream mixture in the casserole of the milk on very low heat, always mixing, until the cream thickens
  • Put the fire off and don’t stop mixing to allow the cream to cool quickly
  • Put it in a plate and cover it with plastic wrap until needed
  • When the tart is cold remove it from the mold,cover it with the “creme patissiere”
  • Decorate with the strawberries
  • As a final touch, dissolve one bag of jello (strawberry flavor) with one cup of hot water and pour half of it over the strawberry

ET VOILA. C’EST TOUT:)

ENJOY VALENTINE’S ❤

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Feb 11, 2012

Madeleine with Pistachios

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I love to have always some desserts ready at home to have them with tea or coffee, especially when I receive friends. Of course, my favorites desserts are home made. The madeleines  are easy and quick to prepare, within half an hour they are ready; this is why I use to make them when I invite my friends over. One good  friend of mine who lives now in another country recently told that she misses the madeleines I made and asked me for the recipe. So I decided to make her happy, and to share this recipe with you today. I hope you will enjoy it as well.

It is recommended that you have the special mold for this shape of madeleine.

Ingredients: for about 14 pieces

  • 2 eggs
  • 70 gs of butter+ one tablespoon soft butter
  • 3/4cup of icing sugar
  • 1 cup of all purpose flour
  • 1and a half teaspoon of baking powder
  • 3 tablespoons of roughly chopped pistachios
  • a pinch of salt

Preparation:

  • Preheat the oven on 200C, and grease the madeleine’s mold with the soft butter
  • In a bowl mix the eggs with the sugar
  • Melt the butter in the microwave and add it to the mixture
  • Add the flour and the baking powder and mix well, and at the end put the pistachios
  • Fill each of the molds with some batter, and bake in the oven for 10 minutes. Don’t let the madeleines be over cooked
  • Remove  from the oven, and let it set for a few minutes in the molds, then remove it and let it cool on a wire rack.

ET VOILA.. C’EST TOUT:)

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