Dessert Recipes

Vasilipota - Βασιλόπιτα

Vasilopita 

You will need: 

3 cups flour

2 cups fine sugar

1 cup melted butter 

1/2 cup milk 

zest from one orange 

orange juice of one orange

4 eggs

4 tsp baking powder 

2tsp ground mahlab (mahlepi)

2tsp ground cardamom (kakule)

some vanilla powder

a pinch of salt

In a bowl mix the butter with the sugar. Beat for about 10 minutes and until the two have incorporated. Then add the eggs one by one. Then add the rest of the liquid ingredients i.e. the milk, the orange juice and the orange zest. Stop the blender and set aside. 

In a separate bowl mix all the dry ingredients together. Then mix the dry ingredients with a wooden spoon into the mixture with the liquids. Mix carefully until all the ingredients have incorporated. Set a side. 

Dry and liquid ingredients incorporated

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C. Grease and flour a large baking pan and place parchment paper at the bottom. 

Place the mixture in the baking pan and cook for about an hour. You can check with a toothpick if the cake is cooked. 

Remove the parchment paper after the cake has cooled down

Once done, leave the tray out to cool down. Once the cake has cooled, place it on a serving plate and take away the parchment paper. Leave until it is all cooled down and then add the coin (which has been wrapped in foil) inside the cake by pushing it into the cake from the bottom. Then decorate as you wish. One idea is to dust it with icing sugar and write the year i.e. 2017 with some decorating food gel. 

Enjoy! 

Tsourekia - Easter Bread

You will need: 

1Kg (+1Kg) shifted flour

80gr fresh yeast 

200gr softened butter 

400gr fine sugar 

4 eggs

1 cup of milk (room temperature)

2tsp ground mahlab (mahlepi)

2tsp ground cardamom 

pinch of salt 

pinch of vanilla powder 

For the baking: 

1 egg yolk (to brush the bread before baking)

2 Tbs water 

1 Tbs sugar 

some sliced almonds for decoration 

1 red colored Easter egg (optional)

In a bowl add the yeast with half a cup of water (about 40 degrees) and stir till yeast is dissolved. Then add 150gr of flour, stir and cover well with a towel. Then cover this with a warm fleece blanket and leave in a warm place until you prepare the next step. 

In a mixer bowl mix together the 100gr of butter with the sugar, eggs, milk, mahlab, cardamom, salt and vanilla till all ingredients have been well incorporated. 

To this mixture add the yeast mixture and then start adding the flour 100gr at a time. Lower the speed of the mixer and right at the end add the rest of the butter, so the remaining 100gr. 

Now continue knitting the dough with your hands and add flour till the dough is not sticking to the bowl. Keep adding a bit of shifted flour until the dough is not sticking on the hands or the bowl. Once ready place in a large deep metallic bowl and cover it with towels. The cover again with a fleece blanket and leave it in a warm place for one hour.

After one hour has passed, open the bowl, press the dough and knit it for another 5 minutes. Cover again and let it rest for another hour. 

Once ready, separate the dough in three big balls and then those three in three smaller ones. Knit each group of three into big plaits. 


Beat the 1 egg yolk and add the water and sugar. Brush the plaits with the mixture. Then sprinkle some almonds for decoration (add the red egg if you wish) and bake your plaits at 170 degrees for about 1 hour till the plaits are golden brown. If you have fan-assisted over, bake at 160 degrees for 45 minutes. 

Enjoy! 

Blueberry pie

You will need:

You can use ready made frozen shortcrust pastry or make it fresh (see below)

Base: 

100g margarine/butter

1,5dl sugar 

1 egg 

2dl  wheat flour (or 1dl wheat and 1dl graham flour) 

1tl baking powder 

Filling: 

1pack of cultured whole cream-milk (kermaviili)

3dl blueberries 

1 egg 

1.5dl sugar

1tl vanilla sugar 

Mix the margarine/butter with the sugar and stir in the egg. Mix the dry ingredients together and slowly integrate in the liquid mixture. Grease up a pie dish and press the pastry dough until you cover the bottom and sides well. Then place the berries and spread them all around the surface of the dish. 

In a separate bowl mix the cream, egg, sugar and vanilla sugar together. Once all ingredients have mixed well pour the liquid on top of the berries in the pie dish. 

Cook in the middle rack of the oven at 200 degrees Celsius for approx. 30 mins. Leave to cool at room temperature and serve cooled or chilled (lasts in the the fridge for about 3 days). 

Pancakes

You will need:

1 lt  milk 

4 dl flour

1 tsp salt

2 tsp sugar 

4 eggs

4 tbs vegetable oil 

(makes 16+)

liquid butter for frying 

Mix all the ingredients together and leave the mixture in the fridge for at least half an hour. Once ready fry the pancakes in medium head until golden brown on each side. Serve with sugar, strawberries, cream or jam. 

Enjoy!

Home-Made Hazelnut Chocolates

Recipe from 'Kotona Tehdyt Suklaat'

For the chocolate cup 

30 hazelnuts

400g dark chocolate (pref. 70%)

30 chocolate molds

For the ganache filling

250g dark chocolate (pref.70%)

250g cream 

Makes 30 chocolates

First you will need to prepare the chocolate cups with the help of the molds. Chop the 400g of chocolate in even pieces as shown in the picture below to allow it to melt evenly. Place in a see-through bowl and place over a pan filled with hot water. 

Chop evenly 

To start tempering with the chocolate you will need to first let it melt thoroughly. Take a kitchen thermometer and place it in the bowl with the chocolate. Once the chocolate reaches a max. of 50-55 degrees Celsius take the pan with the bowl off the heat and onto a towel. Leave the chocolate with the thermometer in it to cool down. Once it reaches 27 degrees Celsius place over the heat again and let it go up to no more than 33 degrees Celsius. Now you chocolate is ready.  

tempering with chocolate

creating the chocolate cups

 Take the pan with the bowl of hot chocolate off the heat and onto a towel. Start filling in two thirds of each mold. Once filled start rotating each mold so as to spread the chocolate on all parts of the mold. As you do that drop the excess chocolate back in the bowl. As soon as you have done this for every mold put in the fridge until you prepare the filling. 

Now prepare the ganache filling. Chop the 250g of chocolate in even pieces as done previously. Bring the cream to the point where it is about to boil. Remove from the heat and add  it to the bowl with the chopped chocolate. Fold the chocolate carefully with a plastic spoon or spatula until it is even. Let is rest for a while. 

Take the chocolate cups off the fridge and start filling them with the cooled ganache filling. I also used a whole hazelnut on top of the filling as shown below left. 

  

Once you have done that for all the molds start adding the remaining chocolate on top of the molds to create the 'lid' of your chocolate. I also used some chopped hazelnuts on top of the chocolate for extra decoration as seen above right. 

Place in the fridge to harden. Leave for a couple of hours and then remove the molds. Place again in the fridge. 

Enjoy!

Lemon Tart 

Lemon Tart 

Recipe adapted from 'Ruokamaailma (11/08)

For the base

100g      margarine or butter

1/2         dl sugar

1            egg 

1 dl        flour 

1 dl        potato flour 

1/2 tsp  baking powder

For the filling 

2 dl          water 

1 1/4 dl   sugar

2             egg yolks

2 tbs       corn flour

2 tbs       lemon juice from 1 lemon 

1 tsp       lemon zest 

25g         butter 

For the top (meringue) 

2             egg whites

a pinch   salt 

1 dl         icing sugar 

Instructions 

Beat the sugar/margarine and sugar until you have a nice foam. Fix the potato flour, flour and baking powder together. With the help of a sieve add the flours in the egg-sugar mixture and mix well. 

Grease a tart over dish well and press the mixture well to cover the whole dish and edges. Bake in the middle part of the over for about 20 minutes or until it is brown. 

Wash the lemon and grate it for the lemon zest on a plate. Squeeze the lemon juice and place it in a different bowl. In a pan mix the water, sugar, egg yolks, corn flour and lemon juice. Keep the heat to a medium and keep stirring until the mixture has turned translucent yellow. Once ready add the butter and the lemon zest. Mix well and take off the heat. 

On a cooled base poor the cooled lemon filling and spread well to cover the whole surface. Let the mixture cool a bit more. In the meanwhile turn the oven on at 225 degrees. 

In a bowl Beat the egg whites with the pinch of salt. When the mixture is coming together and hardening up add the icing sugar little by little. Keep beating until the mixture hardens up well. Spread the mixture on top of the tart with the lemon filling. 

Bake the tart in the oven for about 8 minutes or until the meringue gets some color. Once cooled place in the fridge to keep it fresh. 

Enjoy!     

Strawberry Cake 

Strawberry Cake

Recipe adapted from 'Ruokalehti' (6/06)
For the base
4                  eggs
1 1/2 dl        sugar
1 dl               flour
1 dl               potato flour
1 tsp             baking powder

For the vanilla-strawberry filling
2 dl              milk
2 tbs            sugar
1                  egg
2 tsp            potato flour
1 tbs           vanilla sugar


2 dl strawberries


Instructions

Beat the eggs and the sugar until it forms a white foam. On another bowl mix the flours and the baking powder together. Fold the mixture into the egg and sugar mixture little by little. Place the mixture in a greased and floured oven dish. Bake at 200 degrees C for 30 minutes. Once the base is cooked, let it cool down and slice it into three levels.


Let the base aside and prepare the filling. In a pan mix the milk, sugar, eggs, and potato flour. Heat up the mixture and keep stirring it until it thickens. Take the pan off the heat and let it cool. Add the vanilla sugar to the already cooled cream. Add thinly sliced strawberries.


To add moisture to the cake, sprinkle some milk mixed with vanilla extract on ever level of the cake slices. Then add the strawberry vanilla cream onto each slice and cover with the next one.


Decorate your cake with whipped cream and fresh strawberries.