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Sunday, May 13, 2012

Cherry Clafoutis

Ladies and Gentlemen, the summer season is officially opened!


Lucky us! Since two weeks we've been spoilt with beautiful weather! The sunny days are back, and Belgrade has come alive again. The terraces are crowded and the markets offer their tastiest fruits. You can't be but in a great mood walking around the city and smelling summer wherever you go. Even the "beaches" reopened and people gather at the Ada lake or at the shores of Sava and the Danube. 


During these days I've been walking around a lot, and wherever I was looking, people were enjoying fruit desserts. So I thought, time has really come to make some fruit dessert by myself. For my clafoutis I wanted some contrast. That's why I chose the sour cherries to make it. I didn't have sour cherries in a while, but not later than two weeks ago I re-tried this lovely ice cup at my favorite coffee shop here in Belgrade. This cup unites sweet vanilla ice-cream, chocolate pudding and sour cherries. I really enjoyed this cup, so I thought it might be a good idea to reproduce a sweet-sour combination. I can say, I'm satisfied with the outcome.


























This was the first time I actually ate clafoutis. I've lived in France for more than 4 years and never tried any clafoutis. (I guess this is due to my favorite french dessert : Moelleux au chocolat (Chocolate Lava Cake)). I will try to make some more clafoutis, most probably with strawberries or raspberries. I will comment on this post, letting you know if they can top the cherries!

I tried the recipe in two different kind of molds. One rectangular shaped tart form, and (to portion and bring to work) the muffin form. Personally I am more satisfied with the first option, but according to those who tried both, the difference is insignificant! So, for those who like even and smaller portions, I recommend you to use the muffin form. 



For 8 servings you need:

500g cherries
100g flour
2 large eggs
80g sugar
30cl milk
20cl liquid cream

Preheat the oven to 210°

Wash the cherries, remove the stems and pits and spread them on the bottom of your mold. In a large bowl whisk together the flour, the sugar and the eggs. Add the milk and the liquid cream and mix until you get an even dough. Pour the dough onto the cherries and bake for 30 minutes.

Enjoy!!!



Sunday, May 6, 2012

Apple Oatmeal Muffins with a Touch of Almonds


Mmmmh.... :)


I just realized it's been a while since my last blogpost! I've been quite busy over the last month, and actually wasn't that much in town. From Beirut to Skopje to Sarajevo and back. Unfortunately, spending much time in transportation, didn't really leave me much time for baking or cooking. However on this sunny morning I was preparing some food for the upcoming week and I thought would be great to have nice desserts to bring to work. And these lovely little apple muffins are the outcome. As you might notice, again, the oats made it into a new recipe. I think I have to face it, I'm about to become a huge fan of these tiny flakes!!! 




For 10 muffins:

1 medium apple
10 g crushed roasted almonds
30g oat flakes
60g brown sugar
1 package vanilla sugar
100g flour
1 ts baking powder
1 egg
6cl milk
50g melted butter



Preheat the oven to 180°

Cut the apple into small cubes.

In a small bowl mix the butter, the egg and the milk until you get an even mixture. In a large bowl whisk the flour, brown sugar, vanilla sugar, baking powder, crushed almonds and the oat flakes. Add the liquid mixture and mix until you get an even dough. Now add the apple cubes and mix again. Put the mix into muffin cups and put them into the oven.

Bake the muffins for 15-20 minutes

Enjoy!!!


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