Zucchini Bread | You've Got Meal!

The time of vegetable abundance is here. I don't know about you, but in this area the zucchinis are having a great year. After using them in lots of savoury main courses and pasta dishes, a great idea is to incorporate them in desserts as well. 

A classic zucchini bread, enriched with walnuts and cinnamon, this recipe turned out to be a great, extremely moist and flavorful dessert. You will get 2 bread pans or 12 muffins.

Ingredients:

• 375 g AP flour/ 3 Cups (You can replace half of the AP flour with whole wheat flour
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 3 tsp cinnamon
• 3 free range eggs
• 200 ml canola oil/ 1 cup
• 450 g sugar/ 2 1/4 cup
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• about 2 medium zucchinis/ 2 cups
• 100 g walnuts, roughly chopped/ 1 cup

Method:

1. Grease and flour your pans and preheat oven to 170 C (300)
2. Sift flour, cinnamon, baking powder and soda and salt and mix well.
3. In a separate bowl, beat the eggs, add the oil, sugar and vanilla,.
4. Incorporate the dry ingredients into the egg mixture.
5. At this point you might find the mixture really thick, but don't worry, once you add the zucchini it will give it enough moisture.
6. Stir in the grated zucchinis and the chopped nuts.
7. Pour the mixture in the pans and bake for 40-60 minutes.

Extra hint: I added some walnuts for decor on top of one of the breads, but given the long baking time they were burnt, so if you want them, just add them at halfway through.

Enjoy,

Mascarpone & Meringue Cake | You've Got Meal!

I started thinking about this recipe as a great one for the 8th of March, International Women's Day, but honestly it is a good one to keep for all special occasions. It is "absurdly" simple, so it is a nice choice for everyone who actually can't bake, but want to make a sweet surprise for the women in their life.

I chose to use a store-bought sponge cake because it is way easier, but you can find many recipes online if you want to bake it yourself. Actually, if you use a round  one, you get an awesome anniversary cake, but you can always go for a square or rectangular one and serve them as dessert squares.

As far as the cream goes, the cake had 3 cream layers plus the top. For such a simple recipe I just had to use a Mascarpone cream, because I love it the most and it makes any dessert so smooth and silky. You can't go wrong with Mascarpone. To mix things up, I added some apricot jam and some crushed meringues for fun and for a lovely, crunchy surprise. Of course you can make your own meringues also, but I saw some lovely colorful ones in a bakery and I figured they would look great on the top cream layer.

That being said you will need:

• 1 simple cake/ sponge or cake mix
• some jam of your choice (apricot worked perfectly, great would also be peach, fig or orange, cherry or strawberry might overshadow your cream)
• Mascarpone cream (see recipe below)
• some crushed meringues (preferably colored, so they can be spotted through the white cream)

For the Mascarpone cream:

• 250 g Mascarpone cheese
• 70 g sugar
• 2 eggs

1. Beat the egg yolks with the sugar until the mix is smooth and creamy. 
2. Add the Mascarpone to the egg yolks and fully incorporate the cheese. 
3. In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites until peaks form.
4. Add the egg whites to the cream mixture, fold it in fast but gently with a spatula.

1st layer: (jam + cream) Spread some apricot jam on the first sheet, then spread some cream over the jam.
2nd layer: (cream) Time to keep it simple, just spread some Mascarpone cream.
3rd layer: (jam + cream) The same as on the first layer.
4th layer, the top one: (cream and meringues) Crush some meringues, leaving some bigger bits and sprinkle them over the remaining cream. Fold the meringue bits gently and spread the mix on top of the cake.

Save some more meringues to sprinkle on top before serving. Store in the fridge for at least 4 hours before serving. If you have dense, hard cake you can pour a bit of simple syrup or fruit liquor on each layer before spreading the cream and you will get a softer, moist cake.

It is a dessert recipe worth trying, it is just sweet enough, it is super fun to make if you prepare ahead and there is no baking involved.

Enjoy,

Tiramisu Recipe: Amaretto Winter Special Edition | You've Got Meal!

Great no bake dessert, Tiramisu, perfect for any occasion. In this version, we spiced things up with some Amaretto and, for that winter touch, we garnished the Tiramisu cake with some fresh red currants.

Tiramisu is an Italian dessert made with lady fingers dipped in espresso, covered with a layer of cream made with Mascarpone cheese, egg yolks, egg whites and sugar and powdered with cocoa dust. Basically, all yumminess. For a no bake and no fuss dessert, is very delicious, moist, fluffy and full of flavor. And, with all that espresso and cocoa, I like to think of it as a great energizer too.

Usually, we don't add any alcohol to our Tiramisu, just pure coffee and cocoa goodness, although traditionally Marsala is used. You can even make it kid-friendly by dipping the biscuits in some hot chocolate or sweetened milk instead of espresso. You can even replace the cocoa on each layer with grated chocolate, it is going to be delicious, even though it won't be Tiramisu anymore.

In our small household of two, we are crazy about Tiramisu. Actually, Mr. G has some instant cravings of Tiramisu just by seeing or talking about Mascarpone. This kind of craving made this post possible. You can't blame him. Because it is so simple, but full of flavor, it can also be great for your Christmas dinner. Nobody will be dissapointed and you will save some room in the oven, it just requires some time in the fridge.

I am so pleased with the Amaretto addition, it goes so well with the coffee, I can honestly say it is the best and the most elegant choice I tasted so far. Although the currants were just for garnishing purposes in the beginning, if you place some on each slice when you serve it, it is pure perfection, just the hint of freshness it needed.

Ingredients for 8 servings:

• 400 g Savoiardi (ladyfingers)
• 500 g Mascarpone
• 500 ml coffee, cooled (espresso will be best)
• 120 g sugar
• 4 eggs, separated
• 50 ml Amaretto liquor
• some cocoa powder
• red currants or fresh cranberries

1. Prepare the coffee and let it cool completely.
2. Beat the egg yolks with the sugar until the mix is smooth and creamy. 
3. Add the Mascarpone to the egg yolks and fully incorporate the cheese. 
4. In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites until peaks form.
5. Add the egg whites to the cream mixture, fold it in fast but gently with a spatula.
6. Add the Amaretto to the cream.
7. Now you can layer the cake. A rectangular or square large deep dih or tin would be perfect. Dip each biscuit in coffee for 2 second on each side, arrange them on the bottom of the dish. Add a layer of cream and powder with cocoa. Repeat the layers until you are out of ingredients. For the top, I didn't use any more cocoa, I just added the fruits and dusted them with powder sugar, I figured it was more suitable for winter.
8. Let it set in the fridge for at least 4 hours before serving.

I got 2 layers, you can go with 3 if you want, just be careful that, because of the added liqour, the cream might be less firm.

By now, you know how easy it is, I just hope you will be as excited as we were by the taste. Anytime you want something sweet and impressive, but don't feel like baking, Tiramisu is here for you. :)

Happy Holidays,

Persimmon Pudding | You've Got Meal!

This dish is not a very common one for us, and that’s to say the least. The persimmon fruit has been introduced in local markets around here scarcely these past years, and because people liked it, the retailers have been bringing bigger quantities. A traditional fruit in Asia and America, in Europe is seems to be more popular in the Western part. When we first tasted the fruit (the Hachiya version can be found here) we liked the sweet, nectar like taste of the persimmon (the retailers call it kaki, which is a part of its Latin name). Maybe it was just a personal opinion, but it tasted a bit like honey comb, and that’s a plus for any fruit in my book.

I tried looking for uses for this fruit and the most oblivious one was to make a persimmon pudding – we’re heading for Christmas after all. I’m going to be honest and admit that we didn’t really went for the pudding like consistency and rather for more of a moist pie. Why? Because pudding mean something totally different in our kitchen and we LOVE pie. I mean, who doesn’t?

Let’s break down the ingredients:

• 400 grams of persimmon pulp, 
• 2 cups all purpose white flour, 
• 1 ½ tsp. baking powder, 
• half a tsp. of nutmeg, cinnamon, cardamom, 
• 1 ½ tsp. ginger (be it fresh or powder), 
• ¾ cups brown sugar, 
• 100 grams melted butter,
• 2 cups milk, 
• 2 eggs, 
• 25 ml orange blossom water, 
• 30 ml of pomegranate liqueur,
•  mascarpone, crème fraiche and powder sugar for garnishing. 

Making this traditional Christmas desert recipe is as easy as pie – pun intended. 

1. Remove the skin and the seeds and the skin of the fruits and blitz the pulp in a fruit processor or blender – this way works better especially when you can’t find really ripe fruits that can easily be mashed. 
2. Mix the fruit with the sugar. 
3. Next, sift the flour, spices and baking powder and mix them well. Add the fruit to the flour and combine them really well, making sure there are no lumps. 
4. To the flour and fruit add the milk, eggs, orange blossom water, pomegranate liqueur and butter and incorporate them all in. 
5. Use some butter to coat the inside of a baking tray (feel free to use some oven proof paper). 
6. Pour the persimmon mixture in the tray and pop that in the preheated oven (160 Celsius) for 45 minutes. 

The result will be a rather moist pie. And a big warning here: in the oven, the pudding will rise, but as you take it out, it will drop considerably – don’t worry, it’s a matter of taste not of size (a little “That’s what she said” joke). The last 3 ingredients on the list are for the topping. Mix them in your desired quantities in order to obtain a topping to your liking: more Mascarpone for a thicker, stronger mixture, or more cream for a runnier, more malleable outcome.

For the last step, to really make the pudding perfect we wanted to add a little crunch. We wanted nuts, we also wanted some toffee taste, so we went for some toffee nuts. J 

In a skillet, melt 50 g of butter, add 3 tbsp brown sugar and wait for the sugar to dissolve. Add the nuts, coat them in the mixture, and 2 tbsp of milk and wait for the sauce to thicken in order for the walnuts to be nicely coated in the toffee-like dressing.  Once you remove them from heat, the sauce will thicken pretty fast and the walnut pieces will have the tendency to stick to each other. You should try to separate them, you could remove them from the sauce, put them on a flat surface and separate them some more with a knife. Sprinkle them on top of the Mascarpone cream.

What can we say, in conclusion, for this dish (that we’ve cooked for the 1^st time )? I think that tradition plays a big role here and the way this pudding will look depends a lot on what you’ve been used to in your past experiences with the dish. For us, it means that we might want to experiment more with spices we throw in the mixture. The slightly spicy taste of this version pudding is a keeper for Christmas, but maybe things can get a turn for the French in a different take (Bourbon vanilla, more butter, some Creme de Cassis, who knows).   

In any case, enjoy this dish and, in advance, Merry Christmas!

M&M Cookies | You've Got Meal!

Everybody loves cookies. They are a great dessert, guilty and yummy snacks, great companions for tea or coffee and nice edible gifts. The good thing is that they are easy to make, don't require that much time and (almost) everytime look amazing.

You could say that M&M cookies are a fun way to make chocolate chip cookies. And it is so much fun because of the colors, the simplicity and the continuous snacking on M&Ms while baking.

Once you've tried them, you will look for excuses and reasons to bake a batch of these. What better occasion than Christmas Eve? I bet even Santa will love these with milk in exchange of gifts and even the kids can help you out, just be careful they don't eat all the M&Ms before.

Speaking of Santa, do you remember that M&Ms Christmas commercial when the M&Ms met Santa and Santa fainted? That is a classic, so funny, and it is amazing how they still air it and people still love it!

Getting on with the recipe, the ingredients you will need are:

• 1 cup butter
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tbsp cornstarch
• 1tsp salt
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 2 1/4 cups flour
• 1 1/2 to 2 cups M&Ms

Make sure you leave enough space between them as they have to tendency to "hug", as shown above

1. With a hand mixer cream the butter (it should be at room temperature), add the sugars and cream some more.
2. Add the aggs and the vanilla extract and mix well.
3. In a separate bowl mix the dry ingredients: cornstarch, salt, baking powder and flour.
4. Slowly incorporate the dry ingredients into the wet mixture, scrape the sides if neccesary.
5. With a spatula, slowly mix in the stars of the show, the M&Ms.

That is basically it, your batter is done.
Of course, you will need to bake the cookies.
Line a baking tray with parchment paper and either with a spoon or (even better) with an ice cream scoop form balls and bake them for 10 minutes, in a preheated oven, at medium-high temperature until they turn golden.
Be carefull especially with the late batches, not to burn them, because the tray is hot, the oven is super heated so they might not need 10 minutes.

Let them cool on a wire rack and store them in an airtight container or a pretty Christmas cookie box. I do like to try some warm ones because the candies are so "melty", but I like them best the next day with a huuuuuuge cup of cold milk. 'Tis the season for hot drinks too, so be free to dip them in some hot chocolate or enjoy them with tea.


Enjoy,

Christmas Cake Recipe: Buttery and Sticky Orange Cake | You've Got Meal!

Nice and simple recipe for buttery and moist cake with oranges and poppy seeds. Perfect Christmas or holiday cake with minimum effort.

This cake recipe is inspired by the classic Lemon Drizzle Cake. Oranges are great this time of the year and I wanted to take as much advantage as I could of their full flavor. It is as buttery as lemon drizzle cake, of course it uses oranges instead of lemons and, to take it to the next level, you add a delicious sticky orange syrup on top and some drunken orange slices.

For the cake/ sponge:

• 200 g butter
• 200 g powder sugar
• 3 eggs
• 300 g flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 50 g poppy seeds
• 200 ml milk
• 150 ml orange juice

Method:

1. In a bowl, beat the butter (at room temperature) with the powder sugar. I did it with a hand mixer.
2. Add the eggs and mix some more.
3. In a different bowl mix the dry ingredients: flour + baking powder + poppy seeds
4. Incorporate the flour mixture into the eggs and butter mixture.
5. Add the milk and the juice to the bowl and mix.
6. Line a round cake tin with detachable bottom with baking sheet (both the bottom and the sides).
7. Pour the batter into the cake tin and bake in a preheated oven, medium heat, for 30 minutes.

Syrup:

• 300 ml orange juice
• 200 g granulated sugar
• the zest from 1 orange
• 1 cinnamon stick

Method:

1. Put all the ingredients in a sauce pan.
2. Bring it to a simmer.
3. Let it simmer for at least 10 minutes, until it gets thicker. Beware that the syrup gets thicker when it gets cold.

For the oranges on top:

1. Heat up some rum (around 100 ml) in a sauce pan. No need for it to boil, just make it really hot.
2. Cut 2 oranges in slices. Try to remove as much white skin as you can while doing it.
3. Put the orange slices in the hot rum and let them soak and absorb the alcohol for 50-60 minutes.

To put the cake together:

1. While both the cake and syrup are warm, make tiny holes in the cake with a fork on all the surface and pour the syrup on top. 
2. The syrup will be absorbed and the cake will be soooo moist.
3. You can reserve some syrup for extra flavor for each slice. The syrup is also amazing cold, so don't worry.
4. When the cake is slightly colder and you have removed it from the tin, take the orange slices out of the rum and place them on top of the cake as desired.
5. Optional, sprinkle some powder sugar on top.

I hope you will find the result as rewarding as I did. I took some slices to work the next day and everybody loved it, they were surprised how much beautiful orange taste it had. I also want to mention that the cake is at its best when it is served after it had been refrigerated for 2-3 hours.

Happy December,