Alsacian Biscuits

I spent Sunday baking some some alsacian biscuits from Suzanne Roth's book "les petits gateaux d'alsace". Here is the results:

Oatmeal macaroons:
200g oatmeal (I used porridge oat)
200g grounded almonds
225g sugar
3 egg whites
Beat the egg whites until fluffy and add the sugar while beating.
Mix almond and oatmeal and add to the egg white.
Roll the dough into 2.5cm balls and roll them in oatmeal.
Bake around 20 minutes at 120 C

Lemon stars:
100g butter
70g icing sugar
250g flour
1/2 tea spoon of baking powder
a pinch of salt
lemon zest
1 egg yolk
3 table spoon of cream
Mix the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and lemon zest. Add the egg yolk, cream and butter (soft) cut in small pieces and beat together. Put it in the fridge for 30min to rest.
Roll out the dough and cut star shapes.
Bake 10 minutes at 180 C.
Icing: mix an egg white with the same quantity of icing sugar and some lemon juice.
Cover the stars (once cool) and let it dry.


Linz:
125g almond powder
125g butter
125g sugar
125g flour
1 pinch of clove powder
1/2 tea spoon of cinnamon powder
1 pinch of baking powder
1 egg
jam (I used bramble)
Mix the flour, almond, sugar, baking powder and spices. Add the egg and the butter (soft) and beat together. Make a ball and leave it in the fridge to rest for 2-3 hours.
Roll the dough into 2cm balls and make an indentation in the center with a finger. Fill with some jam and spread some almond on top.
Bake for about 20 minutes at 180 C.


I've tried these biscuits on my colleagues at work today and I am happy to say that there isn't any casualties to report (so far), therefore, they are quite safe to eat :oD

They are delicious actually and they will keep for some time in a metal tin.

Bugnes

Today, Stephane wanted me to prepare some "bugnes" (it could be translated by fritters). It is a specialty from the Center-East of France and particularly the Lyon area that you traditionally eat for shrove Tuesday.
There are two kind of bugnes: the crunchy ones (for these, the dough, which doesn't contain yeast, is roll out finely, cut in small pieces that are tied once or twice prior to frying) and the soft ones.

This is the recipe for the soft version:
350g flour (it doesn't have to be bread flour)
30g sugar
1 pinch of salt
1 tea spoon of dried yeast (or the equivalent of fresh yeast)
3 eggs
80g butter
4 table spoons of milk
Flavour: 2 table spoons of either rum, orange blossom water, lemon juice+lemon zest, aniseed... whatever you fancy
If you've got a bread machine, just put everything in there and choose the dough program, otherwise, mix everything and leave it to rise for at least 2 hours (you can prepare the dough the day before and leave it in the fridge).
Then, roll out the dough, 3-4mm thick maximum and cut squares, lozenges or use your fancy cutters ;o)

Fry them in very hot oil (it takes let than a minute).

Let them cool a little bit on a few layers of kitchen roll, dust them with some sugar and eat them.

Eat them as you make them, but if you want to keep them for a few day, place them in an airtight container.
Bon appetit :o)

Lavender Brioche

As I told you earlier, I infused a handful of lavender flowers into some milk (simmer for a couple of minutes and let it cool, then filter the milk), in order to make a lavender flavoured brioche.
- It nicely perfumes the house at the same time -

Recipe:
130 ml of milk
1 egg
80g of melted butter
350g of flour (wholemeal:white, 1:2)
a pinch of salt
30g of sugar
1.5 table spoon of dried yeast
Use the brioche or wholemeal bread program on your breadmaker.

Result:
The lavender taste is very strong so I would recommend to use only a third or a fourth of the quantity of lavender flower to flavour the milk. Also, it would be nice if it was a little bit more sweet, so double the quantity of sugar in the recipe.
Overall, it is very unusual and I am sure some toasted slice of this brioche with a creme brulée (flavoured with lavender ;o)) would be delicious.

New toy

I bought a breadmaker :o)
It arrived last week and been well used for different sorts of loaves already.

I didn't do only bread...

I've tried brioche as well. I made one with orange blossom flower and yesterday I've made my favourite: praline brioche :o)

It raised so well, that it almost overflow the pan.

This is the recipe if you want to try:
260ml of milk
2 eggs
180g of melted butter
600g of flour (I used wholemeal:white, 1:2)
1/2 table spoon of salt
80g of sugar (demerara)
2.5 table spoon of dried yeast
200g of bits of pink pralines (I bought them in France, I don't know where to get them in the UK although you can find pastries with pink pralines, so I guess, it must be possible to buy some here)

I used the brioche program on the machine but if you don't have one, the one for wholemeal bread will do.

Now, I think I am going to try and make some lavender brioche. I've got some dried lavender flowers and if I infuse them into the milk, it should flavoured it... I'll let you know how it turned out ;o)

Jam and yarn

The bramble season is extremely good this year and I've been picking a lot.

My freezer is small so I have to do something with all these goodies nature gives us. I've made an apple and bramble crumble (and will make another one on Saturday) and jam (bramble and bramble/raspberry).

This summer I made jam, probably a bit more than usual, so I decided to count my stock so I know what's in my cupboard:

Flavour	Number of jars
Bramble	31
Raspberry	17
Strawberry	15
Blueberry	9
Yellow raspberry	7
Plum	5
Blueberry/Raspberry	11
Bramble/Raspberry	11
Yellow raspberry/Banana	4
Total	110

and this does not include all the jars I've already given, which is about 30 I think.
I can't eat all that in a year but I trade it against lift to/from work/knitting shop, barley flour, knitting pattern....etc... :o)

On the knitting front, things are a bit slow at the moment but my stash I've grown again! I bought some Katia linen (£2/Ball, a bargain!) to knit a nice summer cardigan (from Interweave) and some Freedom spirit yarn (it was to make it up to £40 so I wouldn't pay for shipping).

Sad

My dear beloved oven died on Monday evening. It's been really good, had a long, busy life (17 years) and followed me almost everywhere. I will now have to learn how to bake in a simple electric oven...
One of the last thing I've baked in my wonderful oven, is a blueberry amandine tart:

Recipe:

Shortcrust pastry
250g blueberries
80g sugar
60g grounded almond
2 eggs
1 spoon of corn flour
20 cl single cream

lay out the shortcrust pastry into a greased tart dish. Add the blueberries.
Mix the cream with the eggs, the corn flour, sugar and grounded almond. Pour this mixture on the blueberries.
Bake at 190˚C for 45 minutes.

It is a very good and easy recipe. Bon Appetit!!!

Berries

The blueberries season have started here in Scotland. It is going to be short (no more than a month, unfortunately) so we have to make the most of it!
Everyday, we stuff ourselves with berries, plain or with some cream, yum ;0).

As you know, I love making jam, so I couldn't resist...I made blueberry jam last week, and today, I made blueberry and raspberry jam (50/50, with a hint of vanilla extract).

Jam on its own is a bit boring, so I also made some bread (with oat)...

On the knitting front, I finished a baby blanket yesterday evening:

It is knitted in one piece, border included, so no sewing!

Yellow Raspberries

In Scotland, July is the berries season: raspberries, strawberries, tayberries, gooseberries... (Well, blueberries and blackberries are later, in September)
And, I am lucky enough to get a lot of free raspberries at work! Last week I got some yellow raspberries. This is an ancient variety that is not as tasty as the red one but it doesn't have the acidity. So, I made some jam with them (I also got red ones) and made a small batch with half a banana in it. Banana flavour is very strong so if you want only a hint of it, you have to be very careful and use only a little. For 1 kg of raspberries, I used half a medium size banana.

Jam recipe:
1.2kg of fruit
1 kg of sugar
a vanilla pod (optional)
lemon juice

Mix everything in a large pan (ideally, use a copper jam pan). Leave it to soak until the sugar is dissolved. Boil for 30-45 min (it depend on the water content of the fruit and how thick you want it). Pour into clean jars. Close the jars and place them upside down for at least 10 min. Store in a dark cool place. You can keep it for years!
Enjoy.


On the knitting side, I've finished some baby jackets:

On Saturday morning, I started this project: a sheep yoke cardigan (size 9-12 month, free pattern here, or as a pdf dowload on Ravelry), on Sunday afternoon, I only had the sleeves left to knit but I realized that I don't have 4mm dpn!!! So now I am stuck. I don't know when I will have time to go 4mm dpn hunting before the knitting group in Newburgh (August 9th)!
Well, I can still tidy up the back and embroider the sheep...
Otherwise, it is a great pattern, very easy, top down, so no sewing!

My lace project is growing fast, I am on the fifth ball of yarn (I have 6) and it is as tall as me so far! I am really pleased with it. I am hoping to have it finish just before starting my Ravelympics project.

Strawberry jam

Yesterday it was our monthly knitting group in Newburgh. Unfortunately, none of our regular chauffeurs were able to make it so I rented a car for the day and gave a lift to Andrea and Saskia. The knitting group was very quiet, just a handful of people were there (us included).
After 2 hours of knitting, we went to St Andrews for lunch and then we had dessert in the strawberry field at Cairnie.
So, today, I was making jam...

Hand made

We had a beautiful weekend (it was a bit windy and still quite fresh though). It did pass too quickly, as usual :0(
Were very busy but I managed to finish Lowie's sweater on Sunday morning.

In the evening, I wanted to start something quick and easy, so I made a pair of bootees (free pattern here). It took me 2h. I like them and I think I will have to knit more...

In between, I had to do some cooking for lunch: prawn curry, goat cheese flan, parmigiana,

creme brulee and madeleine (flavoured with orange blossom water).

I also made bread! I use the flour Louise gave me last week.

Delicious, Thank you Louise!

Twist on Tour

The BBQ we were supposed to have at Louise's turned out more like cake fest! The BBQ was light up but not much went on it. Everybody baked lovely stuff, it was great.

I didn't take pictures of the table covered with food, this one was taken just at the beginning...
Choux, lemon tart and rhubarb trifle from Louise (who made great salads as well), pear and chocolate tart from Diane (check her blog for more pictures and more details about this event), and a caramel flan from me.

Andrea made, amongst other things, some chocolate covered strawberries,

and I baked curry and onion cakes and pesto muffins (recipes below)


And of course, the reason for all this was that Laura and Peter, from Twist Fiber Craft, were coming to us instead of us having to go to Newburgh!


They bring all their lovely stuff and some new yarn as well: hand-dyed Shetland wool...yum yum, fabulous colors, I couldn't resist, of course!

I bought that one (250g, enough to knit a big cosy shawl to wrap myself in during winter)

and turned it into a ball in the evening:


Recipes

Pesto muffins
Mix 2 eggs with 4 table spoons of milk and 2 table spoons of olive oil. Add 4 table spoons of pesto and 3 table spoons of pine nuts. stir in quickly 150g of self rising flour.
Bake at 180˚C for 20-25 minutes (individual cakes).

Curry and onion cakes
Cook 2 sliced onions in a pan with some olive oil.
Mix 150g of self rising flour, 3 eggs, 13cl of milk, 8cl of sunflower oil, 1 spoon of curry powder and 100g of grated mozzarella. Add the onions.
Bake at 180˚C for 20 minutes (individual cakes).

Caramel Flan
Prepare a caramel with 6 table spoons of sugar, 2 table spoons of water and a tea spoon of vinegar. Pour it in a flan dish.
mix 6 eggs and 1 l of milk and pour it on top of the caramel.
Bake in a bain-marie at 180˚C for 50 minutes.

Perfect!

On Tuesday, I came back home at 4.30pm (I was at work at 7am) and I decided to try to make some bread again. Thanks to a lot of people who gave me advice, I mixed the flour 2/5-3/5 (white-wholemeal) and otherwise, I followed (more or less) the recipe on the yeast box:

200g strong white bread flour
300g strong stoneground wholemeal bread flour
1 tsp salt (it is far too much, I'll cut it by half)

1 sachet Hovis bread yeast

Mix all the ingredients together, add 300ml of warm water, knead well for 10 minutes.
Shape the dough.
Cover with a clean, damp towel, and leave in a warm place until it double in size (it was 24˚C in the flat so I left it at room temperature). It says 1h30 to 2 hours on the box, which is true.

After 1h30:

I preheated the oven to 180˚C, and baked it in the oven at 210˚C :

The result was great (a bit too salty though), light and smooth (not sure if it is the proper word but I am sure you see what I mean). So, I started at 4.35pm and took it out of the oven at 7.45pm, so , we had diner with warm bread....hhhhmmm............
I finished the last bit at lunch time today. This is the problem with good bread, the life span is not very good...

This week the weather have been gorgeous, so I took this afternoon off. I am not sure what I am going to do, it is still a bit chilly (my thermometer tells me it is 12˚C just now), so I might just put some good music on, open the french doors, enjoy the view, and relax....