Puff pastry weekend (2/3 - puff cookies with anything)

Continuation of puff pastry weekend - this post includes some suggestions for what to put on or inside the dough :)

Cookies topped with fresh fruits

Ingredients:

• Puff pastry dough
• Various fruits  (apples, bananas, peaches, mango, melons...)

Preparation:

1. Take the dough out of the fridge and roll out on the lightly floured counter to about 5mm thickness.
   

   

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2. Cut out desired forms, transfer to a baking sheet and refrigerate for half an hour.
   

   

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3. Cut the fruit into thick slices and arrange on puff dough.
   
   
4. Bake until golden in an oven preheated to 190-200 C, about 15 minutes.
   
   

Filled puff pastry cookies

Preparation:
You will also need some lightly beaten egg for spreading over the dough.

1. Take the dough out of the fridge and roll out on the lightly floured counter to about 5mm thickness. 
2. Cut out 5x10 cm rectangles.
   
   
3. Put the filling on one part of the dough.
4. Spread the egg on the edge of the dough and fold it over the filling. Press lightly.
   
   

   

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5. Transfer ready cookies on the baking sheet and refrigerate for half an hour.
   
   
6. Brush with eggwash.
   
   
7. Bake until golden in an oven preheated to 190-200 C, about 15 minutes.
   
   

Those can be sweet or savory, possibilities are endless.

Sweet suggestions:

• Chocolate
  
  
  
  
  
• Jam
• Fruits

Savory suggestions:

• Brie or camembert cheese
  
  
• Sausage with hoisin or barbecue sauce
  
  
• Minced meat
• Oriental vegetables

American classic - carrot cake

Here comes a traditional American recipe, almost as classic as apple pie. Thanks to the spices it's similar to gingerbread, but carrots give it a nice moist texture. 

Carrot cake

Ingredients:

• 1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/2 teaspoon grated or ground nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2/3 cup vegetable oil
• 3 large eggs
• 1 1/2 cups shredded carrots
• 1 cup chopped walnuts

The Recipe:

1. Mix first 9 ingredients thoroughly in a bowl.
2. Whisk oil with eggs and then, using rubber spatula, combine it with dry ingredients.
3. Stir in carrots and walnuts.
4. Scrape into pan and bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, 25-30 minutes at about 350°F.

Time to bake good cake!

Well... I'm sure that lots of you guys have moments like: "I must eat something sweet now!" and then you just check all your cupboards in the kitchen to find something that has a little sugar. But what will you do when you find that there is no candies and the only sweet thing is just one or two bags of sugar? If you have oven in your kitchen there is no problem with it - bake a cake!
Cheesecake is one of my favourite cakes. It's really simple and quick to prepare. I learned to bake this cake with a small, old book, where you can find a simple and very reliable recipes for the tastiest cakes in the world. And I'm not talking about those for which you need expensive ingredients, special decorations or something like that. Of course I don't assume that everyone has one kg quark in his fridge, but as you know, it's not a problem to go to the nearest store with dairy products and just buy what you need (at least in Poland :)). So here we go!

Exquisite Cheesecake

Ingredients:

• 1 kg quark (cheese)
• 8 eggs
• 400 g (about 2 cups) confectioners' sugar
• 250 g butter
• 40 g (2 tablespoon) farina
• 15 g (1 tablespoon) potato flour
• 300 g (2 teaspoon) baking powder
• 1 g (1/3 teaspoon) lemon oil
• 100 g raisins - if you want, but if not just don't add them

The Recipe:
1. Beat egg whites till stiff.
2. Cream quark, part of sugar and butter.
3. Add remaning sugar to egg yolks and whisk until white.
4. Mix farina, baking powder and flour. Combine quark, whisked egg yolks, farina and flour and mix well.
5. Add previously soaked and drained raisins and lemon oil. Mix well again briefly.
6. Finally add egg whites and fold delicately (it's really important!)
7. Pour into prepared baking pan and bake at 170°C, 50 minutes.
8. After baking wait until it cool down and then put it to fridge for a few hours. Then you can be sure that the cake won't fall apart while cutting.

The sweet beginning...

For the first recipe we picked something sweet and with lots of chocolate. We really love chocolate!

Chocolate Cake

Ingredients:

Streussel:

• 2/3 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 90g cold butter
• 3/4 cup chocolate chips 

Cake:

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup cake flour
• 2/3 cup cocoa powder
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 125g /4 oz butter
• 1 cup sugar
• 3 large eggs
• 1 1/4 cups sour cream
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

 The Recipe:

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F and prepare a baking pan.
2. Make streussel: combine all the ingredients except butter in a small bowl and mix well. Cut the butter into small pieces and then mix with other ingredients with your fingertips until you get coarse crumbs.
3. Mix all dry ingredients (but sugar) for the cake in a bowl.
4. Using electric mixer cream butter with sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one by one, until well combined. Add the dry ingredients in 2 or 3 increaments, alternating with the sour cream and vanilla. Beat until smooth.
5. Spoon the batter into prepared pan, spread evenly and cover with streussel.
6. Bake until golden brown, about 40-45 minutes.

Enjoy!