Saffron Easter Bunny Buns

Kids will love those cute bunnies. This is addaptation of "Lussekatter" or Swedish Lucia buns from Call Me Cupcake. I think that they are perfect for Easter breakfast with orange marmolade ;)

Ingerdients:

• 1 1/3 cups whole milk, 
• 0,1 g saffron, 
• 2 1/2 tsp. dry active yeast, 
• 4 Tbsp unsalted butter, cut in cubes, 
• 1 lb 2 oz all-purpose flour, 
• 1 tsp. grounded cardamom, 
• 1/8 tsp. chinese five spice, 
• 4 Tbsp fine sugar, 
• 1/2 tsp. salt, 
• 1 large egg,
• 1 egg yolk whisked with 2 Tbsp milk, for brushing,
• 1/4 cup cranberries; 

Method:

1. In small pot simmer whole milk and saffron. Add butter in cubes and suggar. Stir until ingredients disolve. Cool down to just above body temperature (105 F). 
2. In large bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the hook attachment mix flour, dry yeast, cardamom, chinese five spice and cranberries. Pour half of milk mixture.
3. Add whole egg and salt to the remained milk and stir until combined.
4. Pour rest of a milk into the dough and mix until smooth. Place the dough onto a work surface and knead for additional 3 minutes.
5. Place the dough in an oiled bowl, cover with plastic wrap and let rise until doubled in size, about 90 minutes. At this moment you can also place dough in the refrigerator for 12 to 18 hours and bake later.
6. Cut dough into 12 equal portions about 4 oz. Take one portion and cut into 3 parts: 1 small ball (bunny tail), 1 medium ball (create pear shape and cut thiner end to make bunny ears), rest of the dough roll out into a rope and swirl aroud (bunny's torso). Put together all pices and make bunny. Brush with egg wash. Cover the tray with plastic wrap and let the buns rise for about 35-40 minutes, until almost doubled in size. 
7. Preheat an oven to 350 F. Brush one more time with egg wash and bake for 25 minutes or until a rich golden brown.
8. Cool on the cooling rack. The buns are best served warm, but can be re-heated for 5 minutes in a 300 F oven.

Ultimate Cracow Style Cheesecake

I like all kinds of cheesecakes, but Cracow Style Cheesecake is my favourite one. This recipe is base on Pierre Herme, found on White Plate.

Ingredients:

For crust pie:

• 250 g all purpose flour, 
• 125 g confectioners sugar, 
• vanilla beans from 1 pod (or 1 tsp. vanilla paste) 
• 125 g cold butter, 
• 1 large egg, 
• 1 hard boiled yolk, grounded;

For cheese batter:

• 1 kg cottage cheese or quark cheese,
• 8 large eggs, yolks and eggs whites separated,
• 100 g unsalted butter, at room temperature 
• 100 g confectioners sugar, 
• 1 tsp. vanilla paste, 
• 3 Tbsp potato or corn starch, 
• 1 egg yolk whisked with 2 Tbsp milk, for brushing,
• 100 g seedless raisins;

Method: 

1. Place all the ingredients into a bowl, mix until they are combined. Don't overwork the dough otherwise will be hard after baking. Wrap dough in the plastic foil and put into the refrigerator for 30-40 minutes. 
2. Take ⅔ of the dough and roll out to a thickness of one-fourth inch. Place into prepared baking pan. 
3. Bake in the oven preheated to 350°F for 10 to 15 minutes or until golden brown. 
4. Beat butter with half of sugar until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Add yolks, waiting after each until previous completely incorporated. Then add cheese, slowly spoon by spoon until all ingredients will be well mixed. 
5. Beat eggs whites with remain sugar until stiff peaks. 
6. Add to the cheese batter raisins and starch. 
7. Put egg whites to the batter and gently fold. 
8. Roll out the second disk of pastry slightly thinner than the bottom crust, about one-eighth inch, but into more of a square shape. Use a knife or pastry wheel to cut long strips. Create lattice pattern on the top of cheesecake.
9. Brush lattice with egg wash. 
10. Bake in a bain marin (water bath-see in Cooking Techniques and Tips) for 60 minutes in the oven preheated to 325°F. 
11. When done turn off oven and leave a cheesecake additional one hour to cool down slowly.
12. Afert an hour take off from the oven and cool down to the temperature room. After that keep in the refrigerator until served. 

Dulce de leche cheescake

Easter is coming and I'm looking for a cheesecake inspiration. This time I've tried David Lebovitz recipe. Salty Philadelphia and sweet confiture de lait ;) for me perfect combination...

Ingredients:

For the crust:

• 1½ cups graham cracker crumbs,
• 1½ tablespoons sugar,
• 6 tablespoons butter, salted or unsalted, melte,
• ⅛ teaspoon ground cinnamon.

For the cheesecake:

• 2 pounds cream cheese,
• ¾ cup sugar,
• 4 large eggs, at room temperature,
• 1 cup dulce de leche,
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract,
• generous pinch of salt.

For the glaze:

• ⅔ cup dulce de leche,
• 2 tablespoons heavy cream or whole milk.

For the garnish:
 
Flaky sea salt, such as fleur de sel or Maldon

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F.
2. In a medium bowl, mix the graham cracker crumbs, sugar, melted butter and cinnamon, until the crumbs are evenly moistened. Press the buttered crumbs in the bottom of the springform pan and about one-third of the way up the sides
3. Bake the crust in 9" baking pan until it’s light brown, 10 to 12 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool. Reduce the oven temperature to 325°F.
4. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment beat the cream cheese and sugar until smooth. Add the eggs one at a time, stopping the mixer between each addition to scrape down the sides of the bowl. Mix in 1 cup of dulce de leche, vanilla, and salt. 
5. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake in a bain marie (instruction see here) for 60-70 minutes, until the cheesecake appears to be just set in the center. If you jiggle the pan, the outer part of the cake should not move but a small circle in the middle, about the side of a bracelet, should still quiver. 
6. Turn off the heat of the oven. Crack open the oven door 1-inch, and let the cake cool in the oven, as the oven cools, for another hour. This gentle cooling will help prevent the cheesecake surface from cracking.
7. Remove the cheesecake from the oven. Set on a cooling rack. Run a knife around the outside of the cake to loosen it from the pan, then let the cheesecake cool completely.
8. When the cake has cooled to room temperature, warm the dulce de leche and cream or milk is a small saucepan over very low heat, stirring until smooth. Remove the outside of the springform pan from around the cake. Spread the dulce de leche topping over the cheesecake, pushing it right to the edge of the cake. Just before serving, sprinkle the cake with flaky sea salt, just enough so that everyone gets a flake or two in each bite.

Note: The cheesecake can be made up to four days ahead, glazed, and refrigerated. The unglazed cheesecake can also be frozen, if well wrapped, for up to 2 weeks.

Raspberry Jelly Doughnuts

Fat Tuesday is tomrrow, time for some sweets. Fluffy, melt in yours mouth, irresistible... Do you need more?

Ingredients:

• 600 g all-purpose flour,
• 3 large eggs
• 100 g unsalted butter, melted and cooled down.
• 70 g sugar,
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract,
• ½ tsp. salt,
• 2 Tbls. rum,
• 250 ml warm whole milk,
• 10 g active yeast,
• lard or vegetable oil, for frying,
• ½ cup raspberry jam.

Method:

1. Sift dry ingredients: flour, yeast, salt and sugar to a bowl and blend slightly.
2. Stir milk, vanilla extract, rum and add to the flour mixture all at once.
3. Blend in a mixer fitted with the hook attachment.
4. Start adding the eggs one at a time and continue to mix until the dough comes together. Continue to knead the dough until smooth and elastic, about 5 minutes. Dough will be loose and sticky a bit. And it's supposed to be. Do not add extra flour!
5. Place the dough into a lightly oiled bowl, cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let rise for at least 1.5-2 hours.
6. Turn the risen dough out onto a lightly floured surface and roll it out to 1/2 –inch thickness. Use 3-inch cookie cutter to cut out 18 doughnuts. Place the doughnuts onto a parchment-lined baking tray, cover the tray with plastic wrap and let the doughnuts rise for 45 minutes, if using room temperature dough or for an hour if using a cold dough. 
7. Heat the oil to 350 F (use a candy thermometer if cooking doughnuts in a pot).  Fit in as many doughnuts as you can, but with enough room that they have at least an inch between them. Fry the doughnuts for about 2-3 minutes, then flip over the fry for another 2-3 minutes. Use slotted spoon to remove the doughnuts onto the cooling rack to drain. 
8. To fill the doughnuts, spoon the raspberry jam into a piping bag fitted with a doughnut tip. Insert the tip into the doughnut and fill with about a 2 tsp of the jam. 
9. Optional: you can dip warm dougnuts in icing glaze (stir 1 cup confectioners sugar with 3 Tbls. hot water) or drizzle confectioners sugar when cool completely.

The doughnuts are best enjoyed the day they're are made.

Mocha torte à la Agnes Bernauer

Delicious and not to sweet. Name "Agnes Bernauer" can only be used by Kroenner Cafe in Bavaria. This torte has macaroon layers interleaved with mocha buttercream.








Ingredients for macaroon layers:

• 270 g egg whites,
• 225 g fine sugar,
• 200 g grounded almonds,
• 2 Tbsp corn starch,
• 1,5 Tbsp cocoa powder,
• 70 g confectioners sugar,
• 1 tsp cinnamon,
• 50 g sliced almonds.

1. Sift almond flour three times. Discard any large pieces that do not pass through a sieve. Make sure that at the end you have desired weight. Add confectioners sugar, cocoa powder, cinnamon and sift one more time almond mixture into a clean bowl. 
2. Brush the bowl of a stand mixer with a lemon juice to make sure it's not greasy. Beat egg whites until foamy with a whisk attachment. Add slowly fine sugar spoon by spoon and beat on medium speed for 5-10 minutes, or until stiff peaks form. The beaten egg whites should stick to the whisk when you remove it.
3. Pour dry ingedients into the bowl with egg whites. Using a spatula, fold dry ingredients into egg whites, until the batter is thick and lava-like. This should take about 70-80 folds. Do not overmix. The batter should slowly fall off your spatula when you pick it up and any peaks in the batter should settle down within 20 seconds. 
4. Transfer batter to a piping bag fitted with large tip. Line baking sheet with parchment paper. Pipe 5 circles 7" diameter onto parchment paper. Once all layers are piped out, slam the baking sheet against a flat stable surface, then rotate, and slam again. This is done to force any large air bubbles to the surface. 
5. Sprinkle each layer with 10 g of sliced almonds.
6. Preheat oven to 340°F. Bake all 5 circles at once on the middle rack for 20-30 minutes. Oven temperature varies, so keep an eye on them. That should be crispy, flat and light brown. Do not over bake them. Let cool on baking sheet for 20 minutes and transfer to the wire rack.

Ingredients mocha buttercream:

• 6 large egg yolks,
• 100 g + 30g fine sugar,
• 3 Tbsp corn starch,
• 3 Tbsp all purpose,
• 600 ml whole milk,
• 3 Tbsp instant espresso coffee,
• 250 unsalted butter, room temperature,
• 3-5 Tbsp coffee liquor

1. In the medium size of pot boil 500 ml milk with sugar (110g) and instant espresso coffee.
2. Whisk egg yolks with remaining milk (100 ml) and both kinds of flour.
3. Pour yolks mixture into boiling milk and whisk until getting thick, pudding consistency. Cover with plastic wrap making sure that it touch to the pudding surface.
4. Beat butter with 30 g sugar until pale and fluffy. Add coffee pudding slowly beating each time until smooth and creamy. Be careful, do not overbeat butter.

Assembling the cake:

• ½ cup sliced almonds,
• 2 Tbsp confectioners sugar.

1. Divide buttercream into 5 portions. 
2. Spread or pipe the buttercream on top of the first cake layer and stop 1/4 inch away from the edge. Place the next round of cake on top, press down starting from the center and moving out towards the edges. Repeat with each cake layer until all the layers have been stacked. 
3. Frost a side using remaining buttercream and sprinkle with sliced almonds. Drizzle top of the cake with confectioners sugar. Cake can be prepared day ahead. Store in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.

Enjoy!

*Note: for this recipe I'm using metric system of measurement. In case of this cake it's very important to be specific with weight of the ingredients.

Inspiration: Moje Wypieki and Oetker website

Orange cardamon cookies

 Merry Christmas everyone!

• 2 cups all purpose flour,
• 1½tsp. baking powder,
• ¼ tsp. salt,
• ¾ stick unsalted butter, softened,
• ⅓ cup shortening,
• ¾ cup confectionery sugar,
• ½ cup custard powder (see below),
• 1 large egg,
• 1 Tbsp. orange juice,
• Zest of 1 orange,
• 1 tsp. cardamom, grounded.

Method:

1. In large bowl, sift together flour, crusted powder, salt and cardamom. Set aside.
2. In an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream butter and sugar until fluffy and pale, about 3-5 minutes. Add egg and beat for about 2 minutes.
3. Add flour mixture and mix on low speed until thoroughly combined. Add orange juice and orange zest and blend.
4. Remove dough from bowl, make a ball, and place on a large piece of plastic wrap on counter. Wrap the sides of wrap over the ball, then press down with the palm of your hand and make a disc about 2" thick. Finish wrapping the disc with the plastic wrap. Chill dough for about 1-2 hours.
5. Remove disc and remove plastic wrap. Roll out onto a piece of parchment to about 1/4″ thickness. Slide your parchment paper and dough onto a board, then place in refrigerator for about 15 minutes.
6. Preheat your oven to 325°F. Remove from fridge, and cut your shapes using the cutters of your choice, placing them on a baker sheet lined with a silicone baking mat (or parchment).
7. Place sheet with cookies into freezer for 15 minutes before baking. Bake 12-14 minutes, or until edges are golden brown depending on size and shape. Cool sheets on wire racks for 10 minutes, then gently remove cookies and place on wire racks to finish cooling. 

Custard powder
  For one cup of custard powder combine together:

• 1 cup sugar,
• ¼ cup corn starch,
• ¼ cup nonfat dry milk
• 1 tsp. salt.

*Cookies recipe was adapted from Julia Usher's cutout cookies

Marzipan Christmas cookies

Perfect for Christmas. Enjoy!

Ingredients:

• 2 cup all-propose flour,
• 1. 76 oz confectioners sugar,
• 3.6 oz almond paste,
• 1.3 sticks cold butter,
• 1 egg yolk,
• ½ tsp. almond extract.

Method:

1. Place all the ingredients into a bowl, mix until they are combined. Shape the dough into a flat disk, wrap in cling film. Refrigerate for 1 hour (or up to 3 days).
2. Roll the dough into walnut size balls. Stamp and flatten to desired thickness with cookie stamp. Place the cookies on a baking tray lined with baking paper.
3. Bake at 350°F for 12 - 15 minutes until slightly golden and until the edges begin to brown. Cool down on a wire rack.
4. Store in airtight container for max. 7 days.

From: Moje Wypieki