DOUBLE CHOCOLATE CHEESECAKE

Double chocolate cheesecake  is Anna Olson's cake, from Food network. yammy, easy to make and easy to eat!!!!
Brownie Layer
1 cup butter
1 cup cocoa powder
1 3/4 cups sugar
4 large eggs
2 ts vanilla
1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1 ts baking powder
1/2 cup white chocolate chips

Cheesecake Layer
6oz semi-sweet chocolate, chopped
2x8oz (250 g) packages of cream cheese at room temperature
1/2 cup sugar
1 ts vanilla
1 1/2 cups whipping cream
2oz white chocolate, melted

Brownie Layer
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 10-inch baking pan and line with parchment paper. Melt butter and pour into a larger bowl. Sift cocoa into butter and stir in sugar.

Add eggs to mixture, blending well after each addition.

Stir in vanilla. In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking powder and salt (do not sift). Add to cocoa mixture and blend.

Stir in white chocolate chips.

Pour into pan and bake for 35 minutes, until firm. Cool completely before filling.

Cheesecake Layer
For cheesecake layer, place chopped chocolate in a bowl of a pot of gently simmering water (be sure bowl does not touch the water) and stir to melt.

Remove from heat. Beat cream cheese until fluffy on high speed.

Slowly add sugar while mixing and beat in vanilla.

Pour in whipping cream and whip into cream cheese on high speed, until mixture becomes firm and holds a peak. Scrape chocolate into mixture and blend quickly.

Scrape filling onto brownie base and spread evenly. Chill cake for at lest 2 hours before slicing. To garnish, remove springform pan and drizzle top with white chocolate. (my plastic bag got broken, so, my white chocolate doesn't look like anna's, but the taste is the same, for sure).

Banana cookies

Banana cookies  is the recipe that i made here. wonderful cookies!!!

1/2 cup of unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup of sugar
1 egg, room temperature
1 cup of mashed bananas (about 2 ½ large bananas)
1 teaspoon of baking soda
2 cups of flour
 pinch of salt
1/2 teaspoon of ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon of ground mace or nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon of ground cloves
1 cup of pecans (walnuts and chocolate chips are fine alternatives)
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Add the egg and continue to beat until the mixture is light and fluffy. In a bowl, mix the mashed bananas and baking soda. Let sit for 2 minutes. The baking soda will react with the acid in the bananas which in turn will give the cookies their lift and rise. Mix the banana mixture into the butter mixture. Mix together the flour, salt, and spices and sift into the butter and banana mixture and mix until just combined. Fold into the batter the pecans or chocolate chips if using. Drop in dollops onto parchment paper-lined baking sheet. Bake for 11-13 minutes or until nicely golden brown. Let cool on wire racks.

Brownies

When i want something sweet, i go to the cooler and, according with what i find in there, i make up a recipe. This is how these brownies were born.
Brownies 1:
4 eggs
1 1/2 cup sugar
vanilla
1 cup milk
6oz chocolate
1 cup yoghurt
1 cup sour cream
1 envelope chocolate pudding powder
2ts baking powder
2 1/2 cup flour
glaze (only if you want it):
1 cup heavy cream
8oz chocolate
Whisk together flour, chocolate pudding powder and baking powder. Set aside.Into a bowl, beat eggs and sugar until light and fluffy. Warm up the milk, add the chocolate and stir well. Don't boil it. Take it aside and add yoghurt and sour cream. Add this to the eggs mixture. Add the flour in three parts, beat just until combined. Pour the batter into a 10-inch backing pan, for about 1 hour, at 350F. Test it with a toothpick. When the tester comes out clean, take it out from oven and allow to cool.
Heat up the heavy cream, add the chocolate and stir well. Don't boil it. Let it cool of a little bit and pour it over the brownie.

BROWNIE 2
7 medium size eggs
1 1/2 cup sugar
1 cup sour cream
1/2 cup milk
3.5oz unsweetened shredded coconut
2oz cocoa
2 1/2 cup flour
2ts baking powder
Combine flour and baking powder. Beat eggs and sugar with a mixer at the highest speed. Add sour cream and milk. With a spoon, mix in the coconut, cocoa and flour. Line a baking pan with parchment paper and pour in the batter. Bake it at 350F until a tester come out clean.

Rulade with whatever you want in

RULADE WITH WHATEVER YOU WANT IN

I have this recipe from Stella, a LADY that i met on a culinary romanian forum. Thank you, Stella!!!!
5oz salted butter (i used unsalted butter and i added some salt to the batter)
5oz flour
1 1/4cup cold milk (i used water when i had no milk)
4 big eggs or 5 smaller
filling:
10oz mushrooms
10oz leeks
1 cup fried chicken legs or breast (leftovers), but this is not a must
3-4tbs olive oil
salt, pepper
Prepare the filling first: clean up the mushrooms and cut slices. clean up the leeks and cut it thin rounds. Warm up the olive oil and sautee the mushrooms, add salt and pepper to taste. Take them out of the pan and sautee the leeks. Bring the mushrooms back in the pan, mix them with leeks and add fried chicken legs or breast cut in fine pieces, if you have. Taste for salt and pepper.
Melt the butter in a pan. Add the flour and stir well. Reduce head and add in the milk in 3 additions, stir well after each one. Take it away from heat and stir in the eggs, one at a time. It should have the heavy-cream consistency. Line up a pan with baking paper. Spread batter evenly in prepared baking pan. Bake it at 350F, until golden.

When it's cooked, flip it over a baking paper. Spread the filling

and roll it.

Keep it covered with that baking paper until you serve it.

If you don't eat it right away, you can wrap-it with aluminium foil and freeze it. When you need it, warm it up in the oven, after you spread some cheese in top of it.

As a filling you can use whatever you like:
- warm up some mushrooms, add a garlic clove, 1 tbs of flour, milk and sour cream and cook it 2-3 minutes, and mix it with gruyere cheese or whatever cheese you like
- spinach and feta cheese
- sauteed cabbage mixed with bacon
- sauerkraut etc

Flourless chocolate orange cake

Flourless chocolate orange cake  is a very yammy cake that Anna Olson was preparing on her tv show, "Sugar". I saw the show and i said i have to have that cake. Fortunately, i found the recipe on Food network.
So, here it is:

8 ounces bittersweet chocolate chopped (bittersweet only)
2 tablespoons unsalted butter (i used about 5 tbs)
5 large eggs at room temperature, separated
1 teaspoon finely grated orange zest (i used the zest of one orange)
1 cup ground almonds (i used walnuts)
3/4 cup + 2 tbsp superfine sugar (i used regular sugar)
2 tablespoons orange liqueur
1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar (i used a few drops of lemon juice)
icing sugar and/or cocoa powder for dusting
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. and grease a 10-inch springform pan. Melt chocolate and butter over a pot of barely simmering water until smooth.

Stir in egg yolks gently, one at a time, then fold in orange zest and ground almonds.

Whip egg whites until foamy,

then add sugar while whipping until whites hold a medium peak.

Fold whites into chocolate mixture in 2 additions and gently fold in orange liqueur and vinegar (the vinegar keeps the cake from cracking too much as it rises).

Pour batter into prepared pan

and bake for 35 to 45 minutes, until a tester inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean.

Let cake cool completely in pan. Remove cake from pan and dust with icing sugar and/or cocoa powder.

This is an amazing cake. Try it and enjoy it!!!!

Banana chocolate strudel

 Banana chocolate strudel  is a recipe from epicurious.com. i didn't make any changes in the recipe, so i'll post it as it is.

4 (17- by 12-inch) phyllo sheets
3tbs unsalted butter, melted
2 firm-ripe bananas
2oz fine-quality bittersweet chocolate (not unsweetened), finely chopped
1 large egg, beaten with 1 teaspoon water
Confectioners sugar for dusting
Preheat oven to 425°F.
Arrange 1 phyllo sheet on a work surface with a short side of phyllo nearest you, keeping remaining sheets covered, and brush with some butter. Top phyllo with 3 more sheets of phyllo, brushing each with butter. Arrange bananas one above the other, horizontally, on lower third of phyllo, leaving a 1-inch border on both sides (trim bananas if too long). Sprinkle chocolate over bananas, then fold sides of phyllo toward middle (over ends of bananas). Fold bottom edge of phyllo over bananas and roll up bananas in phyllo.
Transfer strudel, seam side down, to a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or to a buttered baking sheet, then brush strudel with beaten egg. Cut 4 (1/2-inch-long) steam vents diagonally along top of strudel with a sharp knife. Bake in middle of oven until golden, about 12 to 15 minutes. Cool slightly on a rack, then dust with confectioners sugar.

Figs gliko koutaliou

How do you handle with this weather? It pisses me off. It's cold. The spring looks still far away from us. I was checking my seeds envelopes and got itches to my fingers. But instead of planting vegetables, i'll post a few more recipes. so...

FIGS GLIKO KOUTALIOU
2lbs sugar
1cup water
12 big figs, not very ripen
1/2 lemon
1 cinamon stick
a few cloves
Put a plate in the freezer.
Choose figs that are not very ripen and peel them off.

Make a syrup by boiling the water and the sugar together until is thick like a honey. Add the figs, the lemon cut in very thin slices, the cinamon stick and the cloves and take the pot away from heat for about an hour.

Because the figs are floating in the syrup, flip them over for a few times. After one hour, the syrup it's not that thick anymore. Boil it again on low fire until it thickens like a honey.

To test the syrup to see if it's done, get the plate from freezer, and put a drop of syrup on the plate. If it's runny, the syrup it's not ready. Test it often. When the drop keeps it's round shape, the gliko koutaliou it's done. Put it right away on clean jars and turn the jars over the lead for 10 minutes. After that, you can store them.