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.

Almond/Nutella Macarons - Gluten Free

Finally.... I took the time and made Macarons.... and I think they turned out great and they are easy to make. Just look at these gorgeous and tasty little things!

Finished Almond Nutella Macarons!

You don't need a lot of fancy tools and crazy ingredients... A mixer, parchment paper, a spatula and a pastry bag with different size tips is all you need. Oh and of course the ingredients and a bit of time.

Almond Nutella Macarons

Here is what you need:

2 egg whites

100 g sugar (superfine)

100 g almond flour

2 sprinkles salt

Nutella for filling

Prepare two baking sheets, by covering them with parchment paper. You can either use a shot glass or any other small round object to mark small circles on the paper or you can just pipe the mixture as you go, keeping them as close to the same size as possible.

Unbaked Macarons

Start by placing you egg white in a mixing bowl and beat them with the salt until they are super stiff and peaks form (you should be able to turn the bowl upside down and nothing will drop out), then beat in half of the sugar, beat until the egg white is very shiny.

Once you have done that, take your spatula and slowly fold in the remaining sugar and the almond flour (to get rid of any clumps in the almond flour, sift it), add in the almond flour a little at a time so you don't get any lumps in it. Fill in a pastry bag and pipe on the prepared baking sheets.

Then let the macarons dry for about 15 minutes, while they dry, preheat your oven to 325F. Once your oven has reached the correct temperature, bake the macarons for about 12 minutes, after the first 5 minutes open the oven door to let out steam.

Macaron Assembly

Take your macarons out of the oven and let them cool, while they cool down, fit your pastry bag with a small tip, or you can just use a plastic zip-loc bag and cut off a tiny bit of the tip, fill it with Nutella and then pipe some Nutella on one macaron, taking another one and twisting it on to make a little sandwich.

Repeat until you've filled them all...... then serve on a nice platter or package and give them to your favorite people. I'm sure they'll love them! Who can resist something that's made with LOVE!

I shall try and make Gluten Free Cinnamon Rolls....

These are just regular Cinnamon Rolls, but I think tonight's the night to try and make them Gluten-Free!

Gluten Free Lime'n'Blackberry Cake / Recipe

Like I promised, I made my Lime'n'Blackberry Cake again to make sure the recipe works. And boy did it work, the second time around the cake came out just as nice as the first time and I even left out the Xanthan Gum. I read up on the "Gums" and apparently they make a lot of people feel sick.

So no gums in cakes for me!


Here is what you need for this deliciously moist cake:

2 Limes or 1 big Lemon, finely grated zest and juice
200 g soft unsalted Butter (or unsalted margarine)
200 g fine Sugar
4 large Eggs
200 g Flour Mixture (50 g Oat, 50 g Quinoa, 100 g Rice)
1 Tsp Baking Powder
1 container Blackberries (any berries really)
3 Tbsp powdered Sugar
Lemon/Lime juice


In a mixing bowl cream the soft butter until you see it forming little peaks, mix in the sugar, add the lime/lemon zest and juice and then mix in the eggs one by one.

Combine the baking powder with the flour mixture and using a rubber spatula fold it into the butter/egg mixture. Do NOT use a mixer for this, your cake will come out rubbery.

Then place half of the batter into a buttered loaf pan, take the blackberries and add about half of them to the batter. Cover with the remaining batter and then add the rest of the blackberries pushing them into the batter a little.

Place in a pre-heated 350 F oven and bake for 75 minutes or until wooden pick comes out clean. Cover the cake with Foil after about 60 minutes so it doesn't get too dark.

Let cake cool slightly. In the meantime, make a glaze with some powdered sugar and lemon/lime juice (it should have a thick syrupy consistency). Poke little holes in the cake and brush with the glaze while still warm. This way, the cake will absorb some of the syrup and that will add to the nice lemony aroma.

Cool completely and ENJOY!

Tip: you can make this cake with any berries you like, or any other small fruit like cherries!

Gluten Free Lime'n'blackberry Cake

Gluten Free ChocolateChilliCake.... tastes great!

I made this Chocolate Chilli Cake today.... it needs more Chilli and I will leave out the Xanthan Gum, I think it doesn't need it!

Just a Pink Rose

Gluten Free Lime'n'Blackberry Cake

I made this  Gluten Free Lime'n'Blackberry cake the other day and tested it out in the office. Everyone loved it and said they couldn't even tell it was Gluten Free.

I've got to bake it one more time, to be sure it wasn't a shot in the dark. It's nice and moist, made with fresh limes from my friends tree and a mixture of oat, quinoa and white rice flours.

Lime'n'Blackberry Cake

Recipe coming soon!

Get your Mackenzie Ltd Gift Certificates today at Mackenzieltd.com!

Happy 2011 and to more great recipes and fabulous eating in 2011!

Wow, I can't believe the first year of having my blog is over and I had so many of you visiting it. Almost 3700 in one year....... I like it! This year I'll try to give you another round of diverse recipes, main dishes, and deserts, cookies and cakes. Sweet and sour, salty and spicy!

To all of you:

Thank YOU for passing by and hopefully you'll come see me in 2011!

Lemon Drops (Lemon Meringue Bites) - Naturally Gluten Free

This recipe is super easy and these delicious light and airy Lemon Drops are made really really quickly. You only need 3 ingredients and you can use the same recipe for chocolate meringues.

You will need:

2 egg whites, beaten very stiff
100 g / 3 oz sugar, divided
1 lemon, zest and a little juice only

Beat the egg whites super stiff, then mix in half of the sugar until smooth and shiny. Mix in the remaining sugar and lemon zest/juice slowly with a spatula.

Fill the mass into a pastry bag with a star tip and spritz little mounds on cookie sheets that have been lined with parchment paper. If you do not have a pastry bag, you can just form little mounds with two teaspoons.

Bake in a oven with the temperature set at about 100 C / 200 F for about 70 to 100 minutes. The oven door needs to be open just a little bit. The cookies dry more than they bake.

Tip: You can make these in many variations, for a chocolate version, just leave out the lemon zest and switch it out for 1 oz of cocoa powder,  for coffee flavor use instant coffee powder, or switch out the lemon zest for orange zest and orange aroma. You could even take two of them and then join them by sticking them together with nutella, jelly or butter cream. Color them with food color or a couple drops of beet juice.. The possibilities are endless!

Gluten Free Almond Cinnamon Cookies

Another Cookie very typical for Switzerland, you can buy them in any grocery store during Xmas time, and mostly throughout the year as well.  But you really have to have them around Xmas time. They are known back home as Cinnamon Stars, as traditionally they are cut out in star shapes.

I made these early this morning  and apparently they smelled so good I woke up my hubby with the smell wafting from the kitchen


Here is what you need:

3 egg whites, beat very stiff
300 g / 9 oz of powdered sugar, mix in with the sugar and keep about 1 dl / 3 oz for the glaze

1. 5 tbsp cinnamon
1 tbsp cherry schnapps or 1/2 tbs lemon juice (as you like it)
350 g / 10.5 oz of ground almonds

mix the cinnamon, schnapps and almonds well, then mix with the egg white/sugar mixture and form into a ball.

On a sugared surface, roll out the dough about 5mm / 1/4 inch and cut out stars, and then coat the stars with the egg white mixture you set aside. Cool in the fridge for about 30 minutes, then bake in the middle of the pre-heated 250 C / 450 F oven for about 4 minutes.

ENJOY!

Tip: If you don't feel like cutting out stars, you can just roll out the dough into a square, coat with the egg white mixture, cut in squares, diamonds or strips and bake.

Easy and delicious Coconut Macroons

Another gluten-free and very easy to make cookie, that everyone loves, well everyone that loves coconut at least. It's easy to make and naturally gluten-free because you don't need any flour at all.

Here is what you need:

3 egg whites
3 sprinkles of salt
150 g / 5 oz fine sugar
250 g / 7.5 oz shredded coconut
1 Lemon, zest only

Chocolate for drizzling (optional)

Start by whipping the egg whites and the salt until stiff, add half the sugar and keep whipping, then fold in the remaining sugar.


Prepare two baking sheets and line them with parchment paper. Then start folding in the shredded coconut and the lemon zest until everything is well combined.

Take two tablespoons and make little mounds of the batter and drop them on the prepared baking sheets. Let them dry on the baking sheets for a few hours or best over night, before baking them at medium heat for about 12 minutes. Remove from the baking sheets immediately.

Let them cool and drizzle or dip in chocolate if you like. And now Happy Baking!

For all of you that weigh in ounces......... 1 oz  equals 33.3 g

Do you have a lot of contacts like me?

and do you always have multiple lens cases lying around? Well then you need an EYEBOX!

My friend Sharena came up with this great idea on how you can keep all your contacts in one place and keep the prescription right with it. No more searching for the right lens case or the matching prescription. It's all right there in your Eyebox!

Go ahead, order one! I'm glad I did! 

Oh and they make a great gift too!