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Spiced Almond Butter Chocolate Babka

December 19, 2019

This delicious almond butter chocolate babka is made of rich sweet dough and creamy filling. It’s so cozy and homey. A perfect Christmas treat that everyone will love.

With just a few days left until Christmas, we’re still deciding who’s going to host this year’s Christmas dinner. It’s usually us or my parents, but we haven’t decided yet this year. In any case, I’m making my favorite holiday dessert.

When it comes to Christmas desserts I’m all about sweet bread. My favorites include Italian panettone, walnut chocolate star bread, our traditional walnut roll called ‘potica’ and this year I found a new one – almond butter chocolate babka. Do you see a pattern here? Sweet dough, nuts, and chocolate.

And I’m sharing the recipe with you today.

This almond butter chocolate bread is a product of another amazing collab with my friend Tereza from Tereza’s Choice. We had so much fun during our day together creating this babka and taking photos. Although I erased all of the images in the middle of the shoot, I managed to get them all back with the help of my brother. Cheers to him! I think I need to bake him a babka just to say thanks 😀

Back to the recipe!

We used the same dough recipe as in my walnut chocolate star bread recipe. I honestly think this is the best egg-free sweet dough I have ever made.

For the filling, we used Tereza’s almond butter with cinnamon and vanilla. Yes, she has her own line of products and I love them. But don’t worry, you can use regular almond butter and add spices yourself in case you don’t have access to her spiced almond butter. It’s all in the recipe.

The filling is actually pretty simple. Melted chocolate (mix of semi-sweet and milk), almond butter and spices. That’s all. And I can honestly say, using nut butters as a filling for sweet breads is one of the best things there is.

We made a version with chopped almonds on top and dried cranberries inside and a plain one without the almonds and cranberries and they both turned out super delicious!

5 from 1 vote

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Spiced Almond Butter Chocolate Babka

Course Dessert

Keyword babka, Christmas bread, sweet bread

Prep Time 30 minutes

Cook Time 25 minutes

Rising time 1 hour 40 minutes

Total Time 2 hours 35 minutes

Author Anja Burgar & Tereza Poljanič

Ingredients

Sweet Dough

2 ½ cup all-purpose flour
3/4 cup + 2 TBSP milk
1/2 cup sugar
2 tsp dry yeast
1 tsp vanilla seeds or vanilla extract
1 tsp ground cardamom
2 TBSP unsalted butter melted

Almond Butter Chocolate filling

50 g milk chocolate
50 g semi-sweet chocolate
1/2 cup almond butter
1 tsp vanilla seeds
1 tsp ground cinnamon
OPTIONAL: dried cranberries (soaked in water for 15 minutes and drained)

Other

chopped almonds for topping
1 TBSP milk or butter or 1 egg whisked with 1 teaspoon water (for egg wash)

Instructions

Sweet Dough

In a small bowl mix 2 TBSP sugar, half of the milk and yeast. Cover and wait for it to activate and start foaming.
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook attachment, combine the flour, vanilla seeds (or extract), ground cardamom and sugar at low speed to combine all the ingredients. Add the rest of the milk and melted butter and mix until the dough comes together. Lastly, add activated yeast. Continue mixing until a soft smooth dough forms. You can do this by hand, as well. Transfer the dough to a greased bowl, cover, and let it rise at room temperature for 60 minutes or until double the size.

Almond Butter Chocolate filling

Melt both milk and semi-sweet chocolate in a bowl over a pot of simmering water.
Add almond butter, vanilla, and cinnamon and mix well.

Making Babka

Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F).
Roll out the dough to about 20x50cm (4x10inch) or 2-3 mm thick.
Spread over the filling. Sprinkle cranberries on top if you wish. Roll along the ling edge and cut in half to get two rolls of the same length.
Cut each roll in half lengthwise and swirl one half over the other (see photos above).
Place the two babkas into two bread tins lined with baking paper and lightly brush with milk (or butter or egg wash). Bake in the preheated oven until deeply golden and puffy, about 20 to 25 minutes.

Chocolate Hazelnut Bundt Cake

December 13, 2019

This simple but super rich chocolate hazelnut bundt cake recipe is guaranteed to impress at your Christmas dinner.

Omg guys, I can’t believe Christmas is less than two weeks away! I’ve already made a ton of cookies. Most of them are already gone, so there’s more baking ahead. One more thing I love to do at Christmas is a bundt cake. This year I’m making this chocolate hazelnut bundt cake again for sure.

It’s a super-rich dark chocolate cake as you can see from the dark almost black color 🙂 And I also added one of my favorite nuts – hazelnuts. You can use any other nuts, but let’s face it. Chocolate and hazelnuts are a classic for a reason.

This cake is very easy to prepare. I feel like I say this for every recipe I post, but I really love sharing easy recipes, what can I say. This bundt cake is guaranteed to impress. I especially love it with a cup of tea now that it’s so cold.

Yesterday, it was snowing for the first time this season. Yay for that! It’s been a strange year and I was almost sure we wouldn’t get to see the snow for a while. So today we go sleigh-riding! I’m keeping my son at home all throughout December and while I still work a bit, I decided to take it easy and make more time for my family, enjoying the stress-free time. I feel like holidays often put us in a lot of stress even though it should be the most wonderful time of the year.

So like I promised last week, I made some edible Christmas gifts yesterday and still have more to make. I made some flavored sugars inspired by the recipe from Linda Lomelino.

And right now it’s snowing again so I’m going to put my winter gear on and go out with the kiddo. And I’ll leave you with the recipe…

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Chocolate Hazelnut Bundt Cake

Course Dessert

Keyword bundt cake, cake, chocolate cake, Christmas

Prep Time 15 minutes

Cook Time 1 hour

Total Time 1 hour 15 minutes

Ingredients

2 1/2 cup all-purpose flour (300g)
1 1/2 cup ground hazelnuts (125g)
3 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (120g)
2 2/3 cups sugar (500g)
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/4 cup milk
1 cup melted butter
4 eggs
extra butter and cocoa (or flour) for the pan

Instructions

Preheat oven to 175°C (350°F).
Grease and dust a bundt cake pan with cocoa powder or flour.
Combine melted butter, milk and cocoa powder until smooth.
Beat eggs and sugar together until light and fluffy. About 2-3 minutes.
Add the cocoa mixture to eggs and beat until thoroughly combined.
In a separate bowl combine all dry ingredients. Add them to the chocolate mixture in thirds combining well before adding more. Use a low speed or mix by hand.
Pour the batter into the bundt cake mold and bake in a preheated oven for 50-60 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. If the bundt cake starts to get too black at the top, cover with some aluminum foil, to prevent burning the top.
Wait until the cake cools down completely before removing from the pan.

No-bake Chocolate Chestnut Pie

October 17, 2019

This no-bake chocolate chestnut pie is an indulgent autumn dessert that everyone likes. Surprise your guests with this recipe that is full of flavor.

Ever since I was a child, I remember loving to pick chestnuts and boy, I loved eating them even more. I still do!

I remember the whole family sitting in our dining room peeling a whole bunch of cooked chestnuts. It was a time of gathering when the whole family bonded over this amazing nuts. Actually, my preferred method of eating them is squeezing out the flesh with my teeth. I’m not very skilled with getting them out of their skins with a knife…

The inspiration

Although I love chestnuts, I never really liked chestnut desserts. They always seemed so heavy and not at all light and fluffy. But then I went hiking with my husband and they had the most delicious and fluffy homemade chestnut cake in the cabin on top of the mountain. So it left me inspired to try and make a light and creamy chestnut dessert. Somehow I ended up making a no-bake chestnut pie and it turned out better than I expected. Like seriously mouthwatering.

And from now on, I’m a fan of chestnut desserts. PERIOD!

How to make this creamy no-bake chocolate chestnut pie?

Easy peasy. Cuz it doesn’t involve any baking.

First, you wanna make the cookie crust. I used a mixture of Oreos and plain butter cookies, but you can go with whatever kind of cookies you prefer. Grind them finely and add melted butter and chocolate. Yes, I added chocolate in the cookie crust. Yum! After you press the cookie base in the pie tin, you need to let it cool in the fridge or the freezer.

What about the filling?

You start with cooking chestnuts as you would normally. Cooking them for about an hour after the water has boiled.

This is the hardest part – peeling. I’m not a fan, so I asked my mom to do it for me. I feel so spoiled right now 🙂 Did I mention I hate peeling chestnuts?

Okay, so you peel the chestnuts, but then you need to cook them again in heavy cream with some sugar. Just to thicken the whole thing and to cook those nuts some more. Done! Blend and pour over the cookie base and wait to set.

You can leave it here, or you can add chocolate icing on top. In that case, make it a day in advance, because it needs to chill in the fridge overnight. Recipe included below!

If you decide to make this no-bake chocolate chestnut pie, be sure to leave a comment and/or give this recipe a rating! If you do make this recipe, don’t forget to tag me on Instagram! I love hearing from you and seeing how you make my recipes!

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No-bake Chocolate Chestnut Pie

This recipe makes one 20cm (8 inch) pie. Double the recipe to make a 28cm (11 inch).

Course Dessert

Keyword chestnut pie, chocolate pie, no-bake pie

Prep Time 30 minutes

Cook Time 15 minutes

Total Time 45 minutes

Servings 8 servings

Author Anja Burgar

Ingredients

Cookie Base

100 g Oreo cookies
100 g butter cookies
50 g ground hazelnuts
80 g butter
70 g semi-sweet chocolate

Chestnut cream

180 ml heavy cream or whipping cream (¾ cup)
150 g cooked and peeled chestnuts
25 g sugar

Chocolate cream

25 g chocolate
50 ml whipping cream

Instructions

Chocolate cream

Cut chocolate into small cubes.
Add cream to a small pot and add chocolate. Over medium heat cook until chocolate has completely melted, about 5 minutes. Use a whisk to mix constantly.
Remove from heat and let cool to room temperature. Move to the fridge and leave to rest overnight.
After the mixture has chilled whip it using an electric mixer like you would whip cream. Transfer to a piping bag with the desired nozzle. If you whipped the chocolate cream before making the pie, leave it in the fridge to wait for decoration.

Cookie base

Use a food processor to finely grind the cookies.
Meld butter and chocolate in a small bowl over a pot with simmering water. Add to the ground cookies and mix well.
Transfer the cookie mixture to the pie tin and press to the bottom and the sides to form a firm pie crust.
Leave to set for at least two hours in the fridge or 30 minutes in the freezer.

Chestnut cream

Add cooked chestnuts, sugar and cream to a small pot and bring to a boil. Then immediately lower the heat and let simmer for 15 minutes.
Transfer to a blender and mix until smooth.
Pour onto the chilled cookie base and let cool for at least 3 hours.

Decoration

Pipe the chocolate cream around the edge of the pie.
Store the pie in the fridge. Leave it at room temperature for 30 minutes before serving.

Goat Cheese & Pear Chutney Burgers

September 12, 2019

The recipe for these goat cheese and pear chutney burgers are the true fall delights that are going to make every fall grill party a success!

I’m so happy to post this recipe. We’ve been making a ton of burgers this summer. We bought a badass extra mini grill that we can use on our tiny balcony and it doesn’t smoke. So we do lotsa grilling these days 🙂

I’m slowly accepting that the fall is actually here and it’s not going anywhere for a while. Hello, sweater weather! So with that in mind, our burgers have gone from summery fresh to delicious mouthwatering warming delights. Too poetic? Sorry ’bout that. I just love these so much!

One more thing! I’ve created this recipe in collaboration with Trauth Design Gastrowear. They provided me with the most beautiful apron, that you can see in the photos. I just love the sense of detail that they put into their aprons.

Anyhoo, wanna know what these burgers are all about?

If there are burgers that screams fall they’re these pear chutney burgers, for sure!

I mean homemade pear chutney and goat cheese? Paired with super simple avocado cream, pancetta, and arugula? Is there anything better?

And the good thing is that it’s a mixture of indulgence and healthy stuff. I don’t like burgers that are too heavy and overly greasy and just plain too much everything. So I’d like to think it’s well balanced and still super delicious. You should have seen our little guy nibbling on one of them 🙂

Do I need to make my own pear chutney?

Of course not! If you can get one somewhere, go for it. Nothing like that here, so I have to make my own. The recipe makes more than you need for four burgers, but you can easily store it for a week in a refrigerator or freeze it for later.

I won’t keep you away from the recipe for much longer. Let’s start cooking!

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Burger

Course Main Course

Keyword beef burger, burger, pear chutney

Servings 4 burgers

Author Anja Burgar

Ingredients

Brugers

4 burger buns
4 beef burger patties
1/2 cup goat cheese
4 pancetta slices
a handful arugula

Pear Chutney (makes more than needed for 4 burgers)

3 cups finely chopped pears (400g)
1/2 cup brown sugar (80g)
1 cup apple cider vinegar (200ml)
2 small onions finely chopped
2 cloves garlic minced
1/2 tsp crushed chipotle
1 tsp salt

Avocado Cream

2 avocados
3 TBSP lime juice
1-2 TBSP water
salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

Pear Chutney

Place all ingredients in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium and cook for 40-50 minutes stirring every now and then.
Let the chutney cool for a few hours before use.

Avocado Cream

Make avocado cream right before cooking the patties.
Place all ingredients in a food processor and mix until smooth and creamy.

Burgers

Cut buns in half and place them in a grill pan and cook until char marks appear.
Place the bacon slices into the same grill pan and cook on medium heat for a few minutes, until they get golden. Turn around halfway through.
Use the same pan to cook burgers. Increase the heat and cook the burgers to your desired doneness. Cooking them 3-4 minutes a side will give medium-rare burgers.
Cover the bottom halves of the buns with avocado cream. Add some arugula. Place the burger patty on and top with crumbled goat cheese, pear chutney, pancetta, and some more arugula. Cover the top halves of the buns with avocado cream and place on top of the burgers. Serve immediately.

No-bake Blackberry-Plum Pie (Two Ways)

September 1, 2019

Two variations of one delicious Blackberry-Plum Pie that doesn’t require any baking and had the most delicious no-bake oreo cookie crust.

Happy Sunday everyone! It’s very unusual for me to post on Sundays but today’s a special occasion. I’m sharing a recipe that was made in collaboration with my two fellow bloggers Kristina and Mateja from Story On A Plate blog. The recipe is by the talented Mateja, Kristina took care of this amazing styling and I was happily hiding behind the camera.

We shot the whole thing at Kristina’s house. She’s got a beautiful garden and the most amazing little studio in the basement. Check the photo below. Isn’t it cute 🙂 And the light is absolutely stunning. I’m secretly jealous of that place.

We started our day with coffee (tea for me) and delicious breakfast that Kristina prepared one her tiny balcony. And then we spent hours in the studio. It’s so much fun working with other creative people, especially since I don’t do it often. Kristina and Mateja are the nicest, so creative and talented. We’re planning on making more collaborations in the future and I’m super excited about that!

We’re enjoying our last days of Summer…

The heat is supposed to end tomorrow and then we’ll be ready for Autumn. I can’t wait for long Autumn forest walks and all the colors of that season. I probably said it too many times, but early Autumn is the favorite time of year. Still, I’m enjoying the last day of Summery heat and I can’t think of a better way to celebrate that than with this delicious blackberry-plum pie.

Two ways to make this blackberry-plum pie

The procedure of making it is basically the same. The only difference is how you make the purée. The two ways are:

Making purée with fresh fruits
Cooking the fruits and then making the purée

So what’s the difference?

Cooked purée has a deeper flavor while the non-cooked one is more light and fresh. There’s also a difference in color. Cooked purée gives a more reddish color while the non-cooked gives a more purple color.

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No-bake Blackberry-Plum Pie (Two Ways)

Course Dessert

Keyword blackberry pie, no-bake pie, plum pie

Prep Time 20 minutes

Resting Time 4 hours

Total Time 4 hours 20 minutes

Servings 8 slices

Author Mateja Delakorda

Ingredients

Oreo crust

250 g oreo cookies
70 g unsalted butter

Fruit Purée

200 g blackberries
200 g plums
80 g icing sugar
juice of ½ lemon (only use if you're making the cooked version of the purée)

Other ingredients

100 g cream cheese
100 g heavy cream
10-15 ml rose water
10 g gelatine

Instructions

Oreo Crust

Melt the butter.
Use a food processor to very finely grind the oreo cookies. Add butter and pulse a few times. Transfer the crust to a pie tin with removable bottom. Press the crust evenly to cover the bottom and the sides. A glass with a straight bottom is very helpful for forming even and straight bottom of the crust. Chill before filling.

Pie Filling (First Option)

Cook blackberries, sliced plums, lemon juice, and icing sugar until soft. Purée them in a bender. Pour the purée into a sieve and use a rubber spatula to press the purée through the sieve. Discard the solids that remained in the sieve.
Prepare the gelatine as per instructions.
Use a stand mixer to quickly (about 30s) whip cream cheese and heavy cream. Add 200g of fruit purée. Continue mixing with medium speed while adding prepared gelatine.
Pour onto the chilled crust and leave in the fridge to set overnight.

Pie Filling (Second Option)

Purée blackberries, plums, and icing sugar in a blender. Pour the purée into a sieve and use a rubber spatula to press the purée through the sieve. Discard the solids that remained in the sieve.
Prepare the gelatine as per instructions.
Use a stand mixer to quickly (about 30s) whip cream cheese and heavy cream. Add 200g of fruit purée. Continue mixing with medium speed while adding prepared gelatine.
Pour onto the chilled crust and leave in the fridge to set overnight.

Decorating

When the pie is chilled top with some more blackberries and plums.

Notes

Why do we add gelatine while mixing? It is to avoid chunks of gelatine in the mixture. If we added galetine in cold puree without mixing we would get chunks that would look and taste unappetizing.
For a more purple color use a higher blackberry to plum ratio and the non-cooke version of the purée.
You can use amaretto instead of rose water. Amaretto and plums are a very classical combination

No-bake Frozen Coconut Cakes

August 2, 2019

These no-bake frozen coconut cakes with sweet creamed coconut and Greek yogurt on top of a no-bake almond crust are the perfect summer desserts. Add some whipped cream and seasonal berries and you’re in it for a win!

Hi guys! We’re back from our summer vacations and I’m ready to go back to work. We went to the seaside, tried camping with our son for the first time, we went to a spa, hiking, biking and lots more. So pretty active as we like it. I must admit I missed cooking and shooting food a little bit, so I’m excited to start new projects next week.

But today, I’ll be sharing a recipe for these delicious mini no-bake frozen coconut cakes which many of you liked on Instagram. It wasn’t intended for the blog, but for the Eat Capture Share Summer challenge that was organized by Kimberly from The Little Plantation.

Lots of people have been asking me if I’ll share the recipe and it’s finally time. These really ended up not only beautiful but also very delicious and refreshing.

First, I wanted to use coconut yogurt, just try it out. I’ve never tried coconut yogurt, so I have no idea how it tastes. If I ever test it with this recipe, I’ll let you know and add that version if I find it tasty. All I had at home was Greek yogurt which I love and always have some in my fridge. I mixed it with some creamed coconut and icing sugar and… omg the taste! If you love coconut, you’re gonna love it.

I added some whipped cream and red currants on top, but you can add any seasonal fruits or something more exotic like mango or honey-roasted bananas.

What is creamed coconut?

Have you ever made anything with creamed coconut? It’s the solid version of ground-up coconut flesh. You’ve probably heard of coconut milk and coconut cream. Both of them are made using creamed coconut mixed with some amount of water. Coconut cream has lower water content than coconut milk. If you ever want to make something with coconut, but don’t want the liquid then creamed coconut is what you need.

It’s actually very simple to make at home as well. All you need is a good food processor or a coffee grinder and some desiccated coconut. By grinding the desiccated coconut as finely as possible, you’ll get a thick paste called creamed coconut. I assume that the bought version is somehow additionally dried or stripped of fat. I’m not sure. I assume since it’s harder and drier than the homemade version.

Both are delicious and both can be used in this recipe.

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No-bake Frozen Coconut Cakes

These no-bake frozen coconut cakes with sweet creamed coconut and greek yogurt on top of a no-bake almond crust are a perfect summer dessert. Add some whipped cream and seasonal berries and you're in it for a win!

Course Dessert, Snack

Keyword bundt cake, coconut cake, frozen cake, no-bake cake, yogurt cake

Prep Time 10 minutes

Freezing time 3 hours

Total Time 3 hours 10 minutes

Servings 6 mini cakes

Author Anja Burgar

Ingredients

No-bake Crust

60 g Medjool dates pitted (2-3 dates)
2 TBSP desiccated coconut
2 TBSP almond butter
1 TBSP coconut butter

Coconut Cream

2 cups Greek yogurt (about 400g)
1/4 cup creamed coconut
1/2 cup icing sugar

Toppings

1/2 cup whipping cream
seasonal berries for topping

Instructions

No-bake Crust

Add all ingredients to a food processor and mix until just sticking together.
Divide the mixture into 6 silicone muffin moulds and press down with your fingers to cover the bottom.

Coconut Cream

Add all ingredients to a food processor and mix until smooth.
Top the no-bake crust with the cream.
Place the cakes in the freezer for 2-3 hours or until frozen enough to take from the moulds. If you save them for later, take them from the freezer 30 minutes before serving.

Decoration

Right before serving whip the whipping cream until stiff and top the cakes. Decorate with seasonal berries.

Roasted Peach Coconut Slushie

July 25, 2019

This roasted peach coconut slushie is so fresh and easy! This icy blend of sweet peaches and coconut cream is perfect summer treat.

Oh, I love this Summer so much! It’s not as hot as last year but warm enough for it to feel like Summer. We’re chilling in the garden most a lot and we’re so lucky to have a lot of kids in the neighborhood so they all play together and all us parents have time to chat and refresh with cocktails and ice cream.

Today I’ll be sharing a recipe that’s sort of like a mix of a mocktail and ice cream. At least I think so 🙂

It’s a delicious roasted peach coconut slushie. A frozen drink is what it is! And if you’ve been reading my blog for some time, you know I love roasting fruit because roasting adds such a nice flavor and it caramelizes the sugar, therefore, it gets even sweeter. With this one I wanted to add a bit of creaminess and coconut cream seemed like the perfect food to complement sweet peaches.

Roasted peaches are seriously one of the best things there is. If you’ve ever tried my Roasted Peach And Strawberry Fizz you know what I’m talking about. This is the most popular recipe from my blog and I say it’s definitely amazingly delicious because the fruit is roasted.

So the recipe…

It’s very simple. All it takes is for you to roast some peach wedges, peel them and freeze them. Add some coconut milk, cane sugar, bee pollen and lastly some ice cubes to make it really icy.

Then you simply blend these and you get the most refreshing creamy summer slushie.

If you love slushies and you wanna try another really great one, here’s my Watermelon Slushie Recipe.

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Roasted Peach Coconut Slushie

Course Dessert

Keyword ice cream, slushie

Prep Time 10 minutes

Cook Time 25 minutes

Total Time 35 minutes

Servings 3 servings

Author Anja Burgar

Ingredients

3 peaches
1 cup coconut milk chilled
3 TBSP cane sugar
2 TBSP bee pollen optional
1/2 cup ice cubes

Instructions

Remove the pits from the peaches and cut them into eight wedges each.
Place on a baking tray lined with baking paper and bake in a preheated oven at 175°C (350°F) for 25 minutes.
Leave the peaches to cool for 10 minutes before peeling the skins off. Freeze the peaches without their skins overnight.
In a blender, mix frozen peaches, coconut milk, sugar, and ice cubes until you break the ice into very small grains.
Serve immediately.

Vegan Cherry Almond Ice Cream Sandwiches

June 27, 2019

Wrap your hands around something wonderful with this vegan cherry almond ice cream between two delicious almond chocolate cookies.

Can you imagine Summer without ice cream? Hmmm… I can’t, even though I wasn’t always a huge fan of ice cream. I think I talked about it in one of my old posts.

Now, I can’t imagine how I’d survive the Summer heat without ice cream at least once a week.

Since I don’t have an ice cream machine I always make a no-churn version and I even have a little trick to make a no-churn ice cream creamy with no lumps of ice.

How do I make my no-churn ice cream smooth?

I’ve come to the conclusion that the best way is to blend the mixture again after it has frozen halfway through. I mix with a spoon once after an hour. Then, after another hour I take the ice cream out and mix it again in my blender. This mixed the ice crystals that form at the edge of the container and make it nice and smooth again. Then I return it back to the freezer and leave to freeze until done. Honestly, I think the consistency is super similar to the machine made ice cream. I’m all about gadgets, but who’s got the place?!

I created this recipe in collaboration with Tereza from Teresamisu. If you missed the last recipe we created together, here is our delicious Vegan Pea And Asparagus Pie.

We decided to use sweet cherries as the base for the recipe and start from there. Tereza is known for creating healthy dishes and a lot of them are vegan. So I was totally on board with trying to make vegan ice cream but my first thought was NO COCONUT. I love coconut, don’t get me wrong, but I hate to see sooooo many vegan ice cream recipes based on coconut milk. I was thinking there’s a way to make delicious ice cream without it, for sure. So cherries got me thinking. Almonds are the first thing that came to mind and man I’m glad I went that way!

Oh and btw, I have a coconut ice cream recipe in store for one of the next posts 😉 but that one is meant to have a coconut flavor!

This is basically a marzipan ice cream. I like marzipan and if you love it too, you are going to love this cherry almond ice cream sandwiches!

Tereza created the recipe for the cookies and guess what? She also used almond butter without us even discussing the recipe. Talk about soul sisters 🤣

You know what, I’m not gonna blab for much longer. Let’s just get to the recipe. Happy beginning of the Summer, everyone!

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Vegan Cherry Almond Ice Cream Sandwiches

Course Dessert

Keyword ice cream

Servings 5 ice cream sandwiches

Author Anja Burgar & Tereza Poljanič

Ingredients

Cherry Almond Ice Cream

1 cup medjool dates (about 10 medjool dates), pitted
2 cups almond milk (500ml)
1 cup almond butter (250ml)
2 cups cherries (350g), pitted
2 1/2 TBSP cane sugar

Almond Cookie

1/2 cup maple syrup or honey for non-vegan version
1/4 cup almond butter, peanut butter or tahini (90ml)
3/4 cup walnuts (or any other nuts), blended into a flour (90g)
1 1/2 cup cup buckwheat flour (150g)
1/2 tsp baking soda
3 TBSP cocoa powder

Instructions

Almond Cookie

In a bowl, mix up maple syrup and almond butter until fully combined. Mix in ground walnuts until fully combined. In another bowl, combine flour, baking soda and raw cacao. Add it to the almond mixture. The mixture will be thick and sticky so it’s best to use your hands.
Roll out the dough and use a cookie cutter to get the desired shape. Make small dents on the surface of the formed cookies for decoration if you wish.
Place the tray in the fridge for 30 min while you pre-heat the oven to 175°C.
Bake for 10-12 mins. Remove the biscuits from the oven, transfer them to a cooling rack and let them cool down completely before assembling the sandwiches.

Cherry Almond Ice Cream

First, make the cherry jam. Place pitted cherries and cane sugar to a blender and mix until smooth. Pass the mixture through a sieve and discard the solids that remain on the sieve. Place the cherry juice in a small pot and bring to a simmer, then let simmer for 10 minutes. Let cool at room temperature.
Then prepare the ice cream base. Add dates and half of the almond milk to a blender and mix until smooth. Add the rest of the ingredients and mix until smooth.
Transfer the ice cream mixture to a loaf pan or small baking tray with high sides. Freeze for two hours, mixing once after an hour. After two hours scoop out the half-frozen mixture to a blender and mix until smooth. This way you get rid of big lumps of ice.
Transfer half of the mixture back to the same pan, then add half of the cherry jam and use the
backside of a spoon to make some swirls. Place the rest of the ice cream mixture on top and add the rest of the cherry jam. Repeat the swirling and freeze until scoopable.

Assembling The Sandwiches

When the ice cream is frozen enough to form scoops make large scoops and place them over cookies. Cover with another cookie. Place ice cream sandwiches on a tray and save in the freezer.
Leave them at room temperature for 15-20 minutes before serving.

Strawberry Rhubarb Galette With A Twist

June 20, 2019

This simple and classic strawberry rhubarb galette with a twist will sure to be your new summer favorite!

Here’s another pie second week in a row. Okay, it’s a galette, but technically that’s a pie, right? I’m obsessed with pies lately. The shortcrust pastry and fresh seasonal ingredients are a perfect combo. Plus there’s so little work with pies and galettes. Although they look like you put a ton of work into making it. Remember, I love this kind of recipes 🙂

It’s getting pretty hot in our neck of woods but I’m baking all the time anyway even though we don’t have air-conditioning. All of a sudden there’s a ton of fruit and we can’t eat it all raw. So making pie is a perfect way to fix it.

Btw, if you still don’t have my guide to eating seasonally, you can get one here. I also address the issue of using the abundance of a certain season to make foods for later when it’s not available.

So I took the classic combo of sweet red strawberries and juicy tart rhubarb and make it into a delicious strawberry rhubarb galette. But I added a little twist to it. DA DA DAM…

Here it goes…

It’s ELDERFLOWER. I added a few tablespoons of elderflower cordial to marinate the strawberries and rhubarb. It’s very subtle but adds a nice kick. If you like, you can also add some elderflower blossoms right into the filling! Or sprinkle some on top before serving. Gotta love elderflowers <3

As for the pastry, it’s a very simple sweet shortcrust pastry. It’s a prooved recipe, that I use almost every time I make a sweet pie. To find out how you can make the pastry extra flaky check my previous post. So how ’bout we start cookin’?

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Strawberry Rhubarb Galette With A Twist

Course Dessert

Keyword galette, pie, rhubarb pie, strawberry pie

Prep Time 20 minutes

Cook Time 40 minutes

Resting Time 45 minutes

Total Time 1 hour 45 minutes

Servings 8 slices

Author Anja Burgar

Ingredients

Sweet Shortcrust Pastry

280 g flour (1 1/3 cup)
140 g butter chilled and cubed, (1 1/4 stick)
3 TBSP cane sugar
5-6 TBSP ice cold water

Strawberry Rhubarb Filling

400 g strawberries greens removed and cut in quarters
300 g rhubarb stems cut into 1 cm (1/2 inch) chunks
1/4 cup cane sugar
3 TBSP elderflower cordial

Other

1 TBSP milk
1-2 TBSP cane sugar for dusting

Instructions

Sweet Shortcrust Pastry

Combine flour and sugar in a food processor. Pulse to mix. Add the butter and pulse a few more times. You should still be able to see some small chunks of butter no bigger than peas.
Sprinkle 1 tablespoon of ice water over flour mixture at a time. Pulse a couple of times. If you pinch some of the crumbly dough and it holds together, it's ready. If not, keep adding water onetablespoon at a time.
Strawberry Rhubarb Filling
In a large bowl, mix cut strawberries and rhubarb with sugar and elderflower cordial. Transfer to a large strainer and place over a bowl to catch the liquid. Leave for 30 minutes at room temperature.

Assembling the Galette

After the dough has chilled in the refrigerator for an hour, you can roll it out. If it is too stiff, let it sit for 5-10 minutes at room temperature before rolling.
Sprinkle a little flour on a flat, clean work surface and on top of the dough.
Place a clean baking sheet onto a work surface and sprinkle it with some flor. Using a rolling pin, roll it out from the center of the dough to about 3-4 mm (1/8 inch). Every once in a while you may need to gently lift under the dough and add a sprinkle of flour.
When the dough has reached the right size transfer the crust together with the baking paper onto a baking tray.
Place strained strawberry and rhubarb mixture over the pastry. Leave 2-3 cm edge and fold it over the fruit to form a galette.
Using a brush, cover the crust with milk and sprinkle with sugar.
Place the galette in the freezer while the oven is preheating to 200°C.
Bake the galette for 40 minutes and leave to cool before cutting.

Vegan Pea And Asparagus Quiche

June 12, 2019

This simple vegan pea and asparagus quiche recipe is so easy to make and a great way to treat your guests!

I can’t believe it’s already the middle of the year! I feel like the Winter has been way too long this year (although, I love it so much). Not even a month ago I was still wearing a winter coat and this past weekend I’ve been swimming in the sea. Crazy!

I’m so glad it’s summer already. Okay, late Spring, but it feels like Summer 🙂

If there’s one ingredient I love about this time of year it’s asparagus. I love it raw because it tastes kinda like peas and I love eating peas raw just as well. But both of those are also incredibly delicious cooked. So, today I’m sharing a recipe for a vegan pea and asparagus quiche that I created together with the lovely Tereza Poljanič from Teresamisu.

We were secretly admiring each other’s work for a long time, so we met a while ago and came up with the idea of creating a couple of recipes together. If you don’t know her yet, go check her out! Tereza is a multi-talented lady. She runs her blog, a TV cooking show, writes cookbooks and so much more. Such an inspiring lady!

Back to the recipe!

This was my first time trying out tofu filling. I don’t cook with tofu very often so I was pleasantly surprised by how flavorful the filling came out. It’s a very simple filling. All you need is some onions, garlic and some herbs like basil and mint. We used pumpkin seed tofu, but you can use any firm tofu. The almond milk makes it all very creamy and ties everything together.

Place some fresh asparagus and peas on top, bake and that’s it.

Oh yeah, and we included a delicious crust recipe. Here are some tips on how to make the crust flaky and how to prevent it from shrinking during baking.

How to make a flaky pie crust:

Use cold ingredients and use your hands as little as possible so you’re not warming up that dough.
Little chunks of butter (or coconut butter) should still be visible in the dough. The size of the chunks shouldn’t be larger than a pea.

How to prevent pie crust from shrinking?

Resting the pie crust is crucial. It should rest after making the dough and after you’ve rolled out the dough and placed it in the pie tin
Don’t overwork the dough. This way it gets too firm and shrinks.
Don’t stretch the dough when placing it in the tin.
Poke holes in the bottom.
Use pie weights or dry beans to weight down the crust while pre-baking.

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Vegan Pea And Asparagus Quiche

Course Main Course, Side Dish

Keyword vegan quiche

Prep Time 20 minutes

Cook Time 45 minutes

Resting Time 1 hour 30 minutes

Total Time 2 hours 35 minutes

Author Anja Burgar & Tereza Poljanič

Ingredients

Dough

280 g all-purpose flour (1 1/3 cup)
140 g coconut butter (or regular butter for a non-vegan quiche) chilled and cubed, (1 1/4 stick)
4-5 TBSP ice cold water
2 tsp salt

Filling

400 g Tereza’s Choice pumpkin tofu or any other firm tofu
100 ml almond milk (1/3 cup + 1 TBSP)
1 onion
2 cloves garlic
bunch of basil and mint chopped
handful of peas
handful asparagus

Instructions

Dough

Combine flour and salt, in a food processor. Pulse to mix. Add the butter and pulse a few times. You should still be able to see some small chunks of butter no bigger than peas.
Sprinkle 1 tablespoon of ice water over flour mixture at a time. Pulse a couple of times. If you pinch some of the crumbly dough and it holds together, it's ready. If not, keep adding water one
tablespoon at a time.
After the dough has chilled in the refrigerator for an hour, you can roll it out. If it is too stiff, let it sit for 5-10 minutes at room temperature before rolling.
Sprinkle a little flour on a flat, clean work surface and on top of the dough.
Using a rolling pin, roll it out from the center of the dough. Every once in a while you may need to gently lift under the dough and add a sprinkle of flour.
Using a rolling pin, roll it out from the center of the dough. Every once in a while you may need to gently lift under the dough and add a sprinkle of flour.
When the dough has reached the right size, gently roll it around the rolling pin and place it over the pie tin. Do not stretch the dough.
Use your hands to gently press the dough into the tin.
Use a rolling pin to roll over the edges to trim them.
Place the prepared crust into the refrigerator for another 30 minutes, then take it out and use a fork to create small holes on the bottom. Don't worry, once the dough is baked the wholes will disappear.
Place a piece of aluminum foil onto the crust and add dried beans or pie weights onto the crust and bake it for 15 minutes at 200 °C.
Take the baked pie out of the oven and leave to cool slightly.

Fillling

Meanwhile prepare the tofu filling. Caramelize the onion and add garlic at the end. Then blend the tofu in a food processor with 100 ml of almond milk and the caramelized onion and garlic, blend until smooth consistency.

Finishing the Quiche

Add the filling on top of the pie crust, lastly add peas and asparagus on top. Brush with a little olive oil and bake another 20-30 minutes at 200 degrees Celsius.

Grapefruit-Elderflower Mocktail

June 7, 2019

Relaxing in the summer heat with a cold grapefruit-elderflower mocktail can be one of the great pleasures in life. Flowery and citrusy – the best kind!

After the elderflower cordial recipe from yesterday, I just had to make a delicious summery mocktail. Nothing beats the summer heat like a super refreshing drink. I made a non-alcoholic recipe, but I added a hint on how to make it boozy in the notes if you like that 🙂

We’re spending so much time outside now, that it’s finally hot and feels like summer is just around the corner. You know, no more long sleeves and socks… Grrr, I hate them, I truly do! The greatest time of year is when I can move my socks to the back of the closet. So yeah, we’re thinking about buying some kind of transportable cooker or grill, so that we can prepare dinners outside.

During the Winter it’s become such a nice habit to cook the dinner together with hubby and son. We really wanna continue doing this through the Summer, but we also want to be outside as much as possible.

Back to the recipe, this is another very simple recipe and it literally takes minutes to make. And if that is not enough, it’s packed with flowery elderflower flavor and has the citrusy zing of grapefruit and lime. What else could you ask for?

What if I don’t have elderflower cordial on hand?

You can use fresh or dried elderflowers just the same. Pour half a cup of boiling water over 2 elderflowers and add 1/4 cup sugar. Let steep for 10 minutes. Let cool down. Use it as the syrup in the mocktail.

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Grapefruit-Elderflower Mocktail

Course Cocktail, Drinks

Keyword elderflower mocktail, grapefruit mocktail

Servings 4 drinks

Author Anja Burgar

Ingredients

1/3 cup elderflower cordial (link to the recipe in notes)
3/4 cup grapefruit pink grapefruit juice
2 TBSP lime juice
1 1/2 cup sparkling water

Instructions

Mix elderflower cordial, grapefruit juice and lime juice in a jar.
Place ice cubes in 4 glasses.
Pour over the mocktail mixture and add sparkling water.
Serve immediately.

Notes

ELDERFLOWER CORDIAL RECIPE HERE
COCKTAIL VERSION: Add a shot of gin to each glass and enjoy!

Walnut Chocolate Star Bread (Egg-free)

May 30, 2019

Walnut chocolate star bread is a eye-catching yet easy treat that will definitely make you look like a baking star!

While this gloomy weather continues, I’ll be sharing a new comfort recipe with you guys! All I want during these cold days is some sweet bread, but not just any sweet bread. I want one with nuts and chocolate – my favorite!

The idea for this walnut chocolate star bread recipe actually came from making a traditional Slovenian potica. If you’ve been following me for a while, you know my son’s allergic to eggs and he’s a kid and loves chocolate. That’s why I created this super soft and fluffy egg-free dough with a the most delicious lemony flavor. And I added some yummy chocolate to the traditional walnut filling. I baked this first during Easter and we all loved it, so I had to share it with you.

Since I never made star bread before, I decided to make it a little mor einteresting than the traditional roll. In fact, you can roll it however you like, but take into consideration that you might need to adjust the baking time if you change it’s shape.

Also, when it comes to the filling. I tested it with hazelnuts as well and it is just as delicios. Think nutella! The reason why I included wallnuts in this recipe is the traditional aspact of this dish, but basically you can try other nuts too 🙂

So, how do you make the walnut chocolate star bread?

The dough recipe is super easy. It consists of standard ingredients like flour, yeast, sugar, vanilla, lemon zest, butter and milk.

For the filling you need finelly grated walnuts (or some other nuts), sugar (a part can be replaced with honey), heavy cream, butter and chocolate.

To create the beautiful star shape you need to divide the dough into three equal parts and roll each one to 26 cm (10 inch) diameter.

Cover two layers with the filling in a thin layer and not all the way to the edge. Cover with the top dough layer that’s not covered in filling.

Place a small glas or cup in the center and cut the dough radially into 16 identical strips like shown in the photo below.

Then take two strips by the ends, twist twice in the opposite directions and pinch the ends together quite firmly.

Here are some ideas to customize this chocolate star bread recipe:

swap walnuts for hazelnuts or pecans
swap lemon zest with orange zest
add a teaspoon of cinnamon to the filling
add 1/4 cup cranberries that have been soaked in warm water (or better – rum) for 10 minutes
swap dark chocolate with milk chocolate or nutella

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Walnut Chocolate Star Bread

Course Dessert

Keyword star bread, sweet bread

Prep Time 30 minutes

Cook Time 25 minutes

Rising time 1 hour 40 minutes

Total Time 2 hours 35 minutes

Author Anja Burgar

Ingredients

Sweet Dough

2.5 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 cup + 2 TBSP milk
1/2 cup sugar
2 tsp dry yeast
1 tsp vanilla seeds or vanilla extract
2 TBSP unsalted butter melted

Walnut Chocolate Filling

1 cup finely ground walnuts
35 g dark chocolate
35 g milk chocolate
2 TBSP unsalted butter
2 TBSP sugar
3 TBSP heavy cream

Other

1 TBSP milk or 1 egg whisked with 1 teaspoon water (for egg wash)

Instructions

Sweet Dough

In a small bowl mix 2 TBSP sugar, half of the milk and yeast. Cover and wait for it to activate and start foaming.
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook attachment, combine the flour, vanilla seeds (or extract) and sugar at low speed to combine all the ingredients. Add the rest of the milk and melted butter and mix until the dough comes together. Lastly, add activated yeast. Continue mixing until a soft smooth dough forms. You can do this by hand, as well. Transfer the dough to a greased bowl, cover, and let it rise at room temperature for 60 minutes or until double the size.

Walnut filling

While the dough is rising, you can prepare the walnut chocolate filling. Melt butter and chocolate in heat proof bowl over the top of the saucepan with simmering water.
Add sugar to the butter and chocolate mixture and stir well.
In a small saucepan, bring heavy cream to a simmer (not to a boil!) and pour over ground walnuts. Add butter and chocolate mix to the walnuts and mix to get a uniform filling. Let cool to a room temperature.

Making the Walnut Chocolate Star Bread

Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°C).
On a clean and lightly floured working surface, divide the dough into three equal parts and shape into spheres. Roll each of them out on a piece of baking paper into roughly 26cm (10inch) circles.
Leaving the baking paper below, cover one layer with half of the filling leaving a cm (1/2inch) room at the edge. Cover with the second layer and add the rest of the filling. Cover with the last layer. Place a small glass or bowl in the center and cut 16 equally-sized slices, leaving the center connected. Twist the slices in pairs away from each other. Then pinch the ends of each pair together. Set the star aside to rise for 40 minutes at room temperature.
Lightly brush the star with milk (or egg wash). Bake in the oven until deeply golden and puffy, about 20 to 25 minutes.

Roasted Strawberry Rhubarb Crêpes

April 26, 2019

These roasted strawberry rhubarb crêpes with homemade chocolate and hazelnut spread are the perfect way to celebrate spring.

When it comes to breakfast, I can’t stay away from crêpes. I love how delicate they are, but also offer so many options to eat them. One thing I have yet to try with crêpes is a crêpe cake. Have you ever made one? How was it? I can imagine it being AMAZING!

This recipe is not a cake, but it is just as delicious.

It is already rhubarb season, how about that? I’m super excited and need to figure out new ways to use the rhubarb from the garden. I’m also anxiously waiting for the first strawberries to show up. It’s going to be a while for the ones in our garden to grow, but I expect some locally grown strawberries in the next couple of weeks. Can’t wait! I wanna make more of these strawberry rhubarb crêpes 🙂

My favorite crepe filling is definitely chocolate! I’m generally not a very chocolatey person, but I definitely become one when it comes to crêpes.

Because of that, I’m adding a very simple and super quick recipe for a hazelnut and chocolate spread, so basically homemade Nutella. YAY! You can easily substitute it with any chocolate spread you like or simply melted chocolate.

So why roasting rhubarb and strawberries? First, not a fan of raw rhubarb. I don’t mind the taste but I’m not a fan of the crunch. And also, I don’t like it in combination with chocolate. Second, have you ever tried roasted strawberries? Or roasted rhubarb for that matter? When they get roasted the sugars caramelize and give them a flavor kick! I also add a bit of honey before roasting, mostly because rhubarb needs some extra love.

So there you have it. Delicious tender vanilla crêpes, homemade chocolate and hazelnut spread and delicious caramelized roasted rhubarb and strawberries.

These vanilla crêpes with roasted strawberry rhubarb and homemade chocolate and hazelnut spread are the perfect way to celebrate spring.

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Roasted Strawberry Rhubarb Crêpes

Course Breakfast, Dessert, Snack

Cuisine French

Keyword crepes

Prep Time 10 minutes

Cook Time 30 minutes

Resting Time 30 minutes

Total Time 40 minutes

Author Anja Burgar

Ingredients

Vanilla Crêpes

1 cup all-purpose flour
2 large eggs
3 tsp sugar
1 1/4 cup milk
3 tbsp cooking oil
1 tsp vanilla seeds
extra cooking oil for greasing the pan

Chocolate and Hazelnut Spread

1/2 cup ground hazelnuts
50 g dark chocolate
3 TBSP cooking oil
1 TBSP honey
pinch of salt

Roasted Rhubarb and Strawberries

100 g rhubarb stems
100 g strawberries
2 TBSP honey
1/2 tsp vanilla seeds

Instructions

Roasted Rhubarb and Strawberries

Cut strawberries in quarters lengthwise. Cut rhubarb into chunks approx. the size of strawberry quarters. Drizzle with honey and sprinkle with vanilla seeds. Mix well and roast in a preheated oven at 180°C for 10 minutes.
Remove from the oven and let cool.

Chocolate and Hazelnut Spread

Place all ingredients in a food processor and mix to get a smooth spread.

Vanilla Crêpes

Mixing by hand: In a bowl, mix flour, sugar, salt, and vanilla. In another bowl mix milk, oil, and eggs. Add half of the liquid mixture and mix well to get a paste. Add the rest of the liquid and mix well. You will get a quite watery batter. Perfect for making thin crêpes.
Using a blender: Place all ingredients into a blender, adding the flour last. Mix until you get a smooth batter.
Leave the batter to rest for 30 minutes. You can store it in the fridge and use later.
After the batter has rested, heat a pan over medium-high heat. Once it is hot use a paper napkin or a brush to cover the pan with oil as thinly as possible.
Add the batter to the pan according to the pan size.
20 cm pan – about 3 tbsp of batter
25 cm pan – about 1/4 cup of batter
30 cm pan – about 1/3 cup of batter
The first crêpe is usually a tester to see how hot is the pan and how much batter you need for one crêpe.
Pour the batter in the middle of the pan and quickly rotate it to cover the whole surface. Almost immediately the edges will start to brown. That’s when you take a spatula and go around the edges to release the crêpe. After the crêpe surface has set (meaning there’s no glossy uncooked batter) turn it around with a wide spatula or by tossing it in the air. Cooking the first side should take about 30-40 seconds. Leave the crêpe to cook for an additional 10 seconds on the other side.
Repeat for the rest of the batter.
Stack the crêpes on a plate.
Serve warm with chocolate and hazelnut spread and roasted strawberries and rhubarb including the liquid from the roasting.

Pan-fried Brussels Sprout & Chicken Gyoza

April 4, 2019

These delicious Brussels Sprout & Chicken Gyoza with a dipping sauce are so delicious, you won’t be able to stop eating!

Happy Thursday guys! Hope you are all having a great week. It’s been wild here this week. I was a busy week for me. Besides being sick I have a ton of projects and my son is turning 2 tomorrow so I have to think of a delicious egg-free cake and make it tomorrow.

I’ll make just a teeny tiny cake for him and maybe a bigger cake for Sunday when all the family comes 🙂 Or maybe my mother-in-law will make one. She makes great cakes! So plans for the weekend. Birthday party, obviously, and a photoshoot with some amazing burlesque dancers on Saturday. It’s gonna be fun, I’m sure!

No matter how busy, I always like to make some dumplings. I love all kinds… veggie, meat, fish, you name it, I’ll eat it 🙂

So today I’m making a combo thta I love very much – pan-fried Brussels sprout and chicken gyoza dumplings with a yummy dipping sauce.

These delicious Brussels Sprout & Chicken Gyoza with a dipping sauce are so delicious, you won't be able to stop eating!

Okay, I’m always intrigued by the origins of the dish. Since I ate similar dumplings in a Chinese restaurnt before, I was wondering what’s the story behind gyoza. Here it goes…

Gyoza originated in China as dumplings called Jiaozi. Those became very popular in Japan after the WWII when soldiers brought back the story about Jiaozi and wanted to recreate it. Gyoza was born and it can be filled with all kinds of fillings.

In general there are three types of gyoza – pan-fried, cooked and deep-fried. My favorite – pan-fried called yaki-gyōza.

If you are wondering what’s in these wonderful satchets, let me explain. Besides chicken and Brussels sprouts, there’s also spring onion, garlic, ginger, cilantro and soy sauce. The filling is very easy to make and if you have no time you can always go and buy the wrappers.

But trust me when I say, the wrappers are not difficult to make at all. It does take some time, but you can take it as a meditation. For me working with dough is always a great way to relax and be alone with my thoughts.

Did I tell you about the dipping sauce. I love soy sauce based dipping sauces. The first time I ever tried it, was when I made some spring rolls a long time ago and wondered where I should dip them. They needed some sauce. And I love dipping sushi in soy sauce (probably too much) so the idea was born because of that. I added some lemon juice and freshly chopped chives and to this day I love the sauce so much! Of course, later, I found out that soy sauce based dipping sauces are very common. And for a good reason.

I’m pretty sure you’re all waiting to get to the recipe by now. So here it is!

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Pan-fried Brussels Sprout & Chicken Gyoza

Course Appetizer, Main Course, Side Dish, Snack

Cuisine Japanese

Keyword dumplings, gyoza, potstickers

Author Anja Burgar

Ingredients

Gyoza Wrappers

2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup water
1 tsp salt
potato or corn starch to prevent sticking

Gyoza filling

200 g ground chicken
100 g shredded Brussels sprouts
1 small onion chopped
1 spring onion chopped
2 cloves garlic chopped
1 thumb size ginger peeled and chopped
1 TBSP cilantro chopped
2 TBSP soy sauce
2 TBSP cooking oil

Dipping sauce

2 TBSP soy sauce
1 TBSP lemon juice
1 TBSP sesame oil

Extras for decoration

chopped cilantro
chopped spring onion greens
sesame seeds

Instructions

Gyoza Wrappers

Add salt to the water and mix until it has dissolved.
Sift the flour into a large bowl.
Add water to the flour and mix with a rubber spatula. If necessary, add a tablespoon of water.
Transfer the dough to the work surface and knead the dough for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes the dough will be much softer. When it is done, cut it in two.
Shape each half into a long log, about 3 cm in diameter. Wrap each log with plastic wrap. Let it sit for 30 minutes.
After the dough has rested, cut each log into 20 pieces and cover with a damp cloth. Roll out each piece so you can cut out a circle with an 8 cm cookie cutter. If the dough rolls back, wait a few seconds, then cut out the circle. Sprinkle with some starch to prevent the wrappers from sticking. Save the scraps under the damp cloth and use them to make more wrappers.

Gyoza filling

Heat up a skillet and add 1 TBSP cooking oil. Saute the onion until golden, then add garlic, ginger and the white part of the spring onion. Saute for a minute or two. Remove from the pan and let cool for a few minutes.
Add this mixture to ground meat, chopped green parts of the spring onion, cilantro and soy sauce. Mix to combine.

Making Gyoza

Run a wet finger around the edge of the gyoza wrappers. Place a teaspoon of filling in the center and Fold the wrapper in half and seal the edges by pressing with fingers. This will create a simple dumpling. If you want the edges to look more artistic, there are a lot of good youtube videos to show you how to do it.

Cooking Gyoza

Place dumplings in a heated skillet with 1 TBSP cooking oil. Fry for 2-3 minutes or until you get the nice deep brown sear on the bottom.
Add 1/3 cup water per 6 dumplings and cover. Cook for 7-8 minutes. If the water runs out, you can add more one TBSP at a time.

Dipping Sauce

Combine all ingredients to make the dipping sauce.
Sprinkle the dumplings with chopped cilantro, spring onion greens, and sesame seeds. Serve with the dipping sauce.

Kale and Radicchio Quinoa Salad

March 24, 2019

This healthy Kale and Radicchio Quinoa Salad is a Winter favorite at our house. With fresh kale and radicchio, quick spring onion pickles and feta cheese I’m sure it will be in yours too.

Today’s recipe is inspired by all the delicious Winter leafy produce that is still available although the long-awaited Spring has arrived. This salad is loaded with some of my favorites like kale and radicchio.

A lot of you have been asking me to share more quick lunch recipes. So here’s another one. And the great thing about it? It’s meant to be cold so it’s super easy to take with you to work! Yay 😀

Alight, so here’s the deal. I usually make quinoa warm and throw in some roasted veggies when I need to take lunch with me. So it occurred to me I should make it a dish that’s meant to be eaten cold in the first place. Like a salad. And whoa, was I right! You should see my husband’s reaction to this kale and radicchio quinoa salad. He was super excited. Who wouldn’t be, just look at these colors!

The best part of this salad is the quick spring onion pickle. It literally takes a few minutes and you can make a bigger batch so you can use it on other dishes as well. In this recipe, I use the pickling liquid as a vinaigrette. Since I cook chunks of beetroot with the spring onion the dressing has a beautiful vibrant pink color. And this salad is all about color.

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Kale and Radicchio Quino Salad

Author Anja Burgar

Ingredients

3 cups quinoa cooked
5 big kale leaves chopped finely
1/2 radicchio (I used Chioggia variety, but others can be used as well), chopped finely
50 g feta cheese crumbled
2 TBSP sunflower seeds
parsley for topping

Quick Pickled Spring Onions

2 spring onions white parts, sliced into 5mm strips
1/4 small beetroot chopped into 4 chuncks
4 TBSP apple cider
2 TBSP water
4 TBSP caster sugar
salt to taste

Instructions

Quick Pickled Spring Onions

Add all ingredients to a small saucepan and bring to a simmer. Let cook for about 5 minutes. Remove beet chunks and cool before using as a dressing.

Kale and Radicchio Quino Salad

Mix cooked quinoa, chopped kale, chopped radicchio, feta and pickled spring onions with the pickling liquid. Mix well.
Sprinkle sunflower seeds and chopped parsley on top.