Slovenian Recipes

August means holidays, seaside, picnics and being away from home. It also means very needed rest and time to do nothing except walk, read and sleep after such a stressing school year. This August wasn't very different with a getaway in between to check some exhibitions and see some dear friends . Petit fours make the perfect little treat for hot weather like we had this Summer, and I absolutely love brown butter pound cake! Thanks for choosing such a yummy theme, Elissa! The August 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Elissa of 17 and Baking. For the first time, The Daring Bakers partnered with Sugar High Fridays for a co-event and Elissa was the gracious hostess of both. Using the theme of beurre noisette, or browned butter, Elissa chose to challenge Daring Bakers to make a pound cake to be used in either a Baked Alaska or in Ice Cream Petit Fours. The sources for Elissa’s challenge were Gourmet magazine and David Lebovitz’s “The Perfect Scoop”. Brown Butter Pound Cake Ad...

I wished days could be longer when June comes by... Every year, this month arrives with tons of things to be done at work, short nights and very long hours. If only there could be more time for the good things of life. In between I've watched a few Wimbledon matches, cheered for Portugal at the World Cup and shared a lovely chocolate pavlova with dear friends. All in all, not a bad month! The June 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Dawn of Doable and Delicious . Dawn challenged the Daring Bakers’ to make Chocolate Pavlovas and Chocolate Mascarpone Mousse. The challenge recipe is based on a recipe from the book Chocolate Epiphany by Francois Payard Chocolate Pavlova Chocolate Meringue (for the chocolate Pavlova): 3 large egg whites ½ cup plus 1 tbsp (110 grams) white granulated sugar ¼ cup (30 grams) confectioner’s (icing) sugar 1/3 cup (30 grams) cocoa powder Place a rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 200º F (95º C) degrees. Line two baking sheets with silpat or...

I have a thing for cookbooks. You too? Good. I hate to be alone with my addictions. In my kitchen there are dozens of cookbooks with thousands of recipes (mainly in Portuguese, English and French) that I'm yet to read, not to mention try. Sometimes I grab one and pass my hand on the cover as if I could feel all the vibes... The shelves on top of my sink hold my Marabout collection of small books like this Trish Deseine ode to chocolate . The book features Nanaimo Bars on the cover . I couldn't tell how many times I've grabbed it, and felt compelled to look at those bars. Thanks Lauren for the challenge! The January 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Lauren of Celiac Teen . Lauren chose Gluten-Free Graham Wafers and Nanaimo Bars as the challenge for the month. The sources she based her recipe on are 101 Cookbooks and www.nanaimo.ca . Gluten-Free Graham Wafers 1 cup (138 g) Sweet rice flour (also known as glutinous rice flour) 3/4 cup (100 g) Tapioca Starch/Flour ...

We didn't have this cake for valentine's. In fact, we're not good at celebrating this date, which means that having been in Paris for St. Valentine's day in the last couple of years has been pure coincidence. But let me tell you that Paris has to be the most perfect place on Earth to be with your half! I've completed the Daring Bakers February's challenge last week, baking 8 beautiful heart-shaped cakes that were served with vanilla flavoured Quark and red-currants. Perfect combination indeed! The February 2009 challenge is hosted by Wendy of WMPE's blog and Dharm of Dad ~ Baker & Che f. We have chosen a Chocolate Valentino cake by Chef Wan; a Vanilla Ice Cream recipe from Dharm and a Vanilla Ice Cream recipe from Wendy as the challenge. Chocolate Valentino Adapted from Chef Wan Preparation Time: 20 minutes 16 ounces (1 pound) (454 grams) of semisweet chocolate, roughly chopped ½ cup (1 stick) plus 2 tablespoons (146 grams total) of unsalted butter 5 l...

Trapped by a thing called... tuile! It's funny how you see meaning in stuff that obviously has none. I've been craving for French food and dreaming of Parisian places for a few weeks now, so when I read the Daring Bakers challenge for January, it put a smile on my face. Tuiles! Buttery almond crisp cookies that melt in your mouth and make the perfect edible containers for ice cream, mousse ou whipped cream. Or savoury cornets with seeds and creamy fillings. Or chocolate. This month's challenge is brought to us by Karen of Bake My Day and Zorra of 1x umruehren bitte aka Kochtopf . They have chosen Tuiles from The Chocolate Book by Angélique Schmeink and Nougatine and Chocolate Tuiles from Michel Roux. I've meant to give it a try at all the recipes, specially the savoury one that looked really great to me, but life got in the way. This has been a crazy month with the usual fuss an end of a term always brings. I blame it on my bad schedule - just didn't manage to mak...

Bakery's open on weekends here at home. I often ask my husband (aka Mr. Taster ) what kind of cake he wants for the week. He always comes up with a couple of suggestions, depending on if we have extra fruits or any new recipe bookmarked. Last week I didn't even have to ask. Do you know you have 5... FIVE! different brands of chocolate bars in the pantry, plus 2 halved?? The remark was meant to express how he hates my (very) untidy pantry, and my messy shopping habits. Oh do I? I had no idea. (I can play the angel role with a fairly convincing voice when I want...) What do you think of a chocolate cake? I asked. Sure! All's well when it ends well. Except I wasn't in the mood to bake a layered, decadent, creamy chocolate cake. My gut feeling kept pushing me to the spice stand... Spices love chocolate. Cardamom loves dark bittersweet chocolate! I remembered Sue Lawrence's On Baking had a recipe featuring cardamom and chocolate. I did a few changes to suit our ta...