Sweet Bread with Almond Filling

Recipe coming soon...... but be sure this will taste great with a nice hot cup of coffee from


https://www.1850coffee.com/

And here comes the recipe:

You will need the following for the dough:

300 g flour sifted
1/2 tsp salt
3 tbsp sugar

60 g butter, soft in small cubes

1 packet of dried yeast (I prefer Red Star)
100 ml milk, lukewarm

1 egg, beaten (keep a little aside to brush the bread before baking)

Sift the flour into a large bowl, add the salt and the sugar and combine well, add the soft butter. Dissolve the yeast in a little bit of milk and let proof for a few minutes. Add the mixture, the rest of the milk and the egg to the flour and stir the ingredients from the middle. Once it all starts coming together and knead the dough until it is very smooth and elastic.

Cover, set it at a warm spot and let rise until it is doubled in volume. Then roll it out into a rectangle to approximate 3 mm thickness.

Filling:

150 g almonds, ground
3 tbsp sugar
1 apple, grated
1/2 lemon, zest and juice
4 - 6 tbsp heavy cream or milk (half and half works too)

**Apricot Preserve

Combine the almond meal and the sugar in a bowl, add the finely grated apple, the lemon zest and lemon juice and combine well. Add the cream and stir until everything is well combined.

Spread the almond mixture evenly over the rolled out dough, leaving only a small edge. Then roll the dough from both sides toward the middle and place in a prepared 13 to 15 inch cake form. Brush with the reserved egg and sprinkle with some slivered almonds.

Let rise again, then bake in a pre-heated 425 F/ 220 C oven for about 35-40 minutes.

ENJOY!

** if you like the tart/sweet flavor of apricot preserve, spread the apricot preserve on the rolled out dough before you spread the filling.

Also if you like you can glaze the baked, still hot bread with a sugar glaze. You'll need 100 g powdered sugar, 1/2 tbsp lemon juice and 1 tbsp water. Mix and brush the baked bread with it.

Fat Free Orange Almond Cake

This is a very light, fluffy cake without any fat, well almost, the only fat in this cake is from the almonds, but we're not adding any butter or oil, so this one is really light! Obviously it will contain sugar and a little bit of flour but really this is one that you can easily serve to someone that's health conscious.

You will need:

150 grams of sugar
4 egg yolks

2 oranges,  zest only
2 - 3 drops of bitter almond extract

4 egg whites
1 pinch salt
1 knife tip of backing powder

2 tabelspoons of sugar

125 grams almond meal
5 tablespoons flour

Mix the sugar and the egg yolks until light yellow in color and very fluffy, add the orange zest and the almond flavor and mix in. Set aside.

In a clean bowl mix egg whites, salt and baking powder until peaks form, then add the 2 tablespoons of sugar and beat quickly for about another minute. Set aside

Mix the flour and almond meal evenly, then alternating with the egg whites fold gently into the egg yolk mixture with a rubber spatula. Fill in a prepared, well buttered and floured 8 inch/22 cm ring mold.

Bake on the lowest rack of a preheated 350 degree oven for about  35 - 45 minutes (depending on the mold).

Glaze:

150 ml Orange Juice
4 tablespoons of powdered sugar
if desired 2 tablespoons Grand Marnier or Cointreau

Mix well, then remove the cake from the pan, poke a couple of holes in it and drizzle with the glaze. Let cool and keep cool until ready to serve.

You can decorate the cake by peeling one of the oranges you zested.  Cut it in thin slices and layer on the cake evenly to make a nice pattern, then do the same with a banana. It looks nice and gives it an additional layer of flavor.

Serve and enjoy!