Crusty Cyan and Olive Oil Baked Potatoes

I was looking for a simple baked potato recipe when I came across this one on Food Wishes and adapted it slightly. From the first time I made it this recipe became my favourite way of baking potatoes and our families favourite way of eating them. These Cyan Baked Potatoes are crusty on the outside and soft on the inside. They are easy to cook and difficult to go wrong with.

Ingredients

• 2 pounds potatoes
• 3 sprigs rosemary (optional)
• 3 cloves garlic, whole, peeled, bruised
• 2 bay leaves (optional)
• 2 tablespoon salt
• 2 tablespoon olive oil
• pinch of cayenne (I use a few more.)

Instructions

1. Cut the potatoes into half (or quarters if desired), put them in a pot, and cover with water.
2. Pound 3 sprigs rosemary with a knife, and put the in the pot.
3. Add 3 cloves garlic, 2 bay leaves, and 2 tablespoon salt in the pot. Give it a stir.
4. Bring it to a boil. Then boil for 5 minutes.
5. After that, drain them.
6. Once the potatoes are dried,(I lay them out in a single layer on a baking tray so they dry faster.) put them in the dry pot.
7. Add 2 tablespoon olive oil, a pinch of cayenne and salt into a pot. Give it a stir.
8. Then transfer the potatoes to a mat on a baking pan.
9. Put them in an oven, and cook at 375F (165 degrees C)  for 35 minutes (or till golden brown.)
10. Eat hot!!

We enjoy eating these Crusty Cyan Potatoes with a scrumptious lemon chicken recipe with a lemon gravy. I may add that recipe some time soon.

Crispy Baked or Fried Doughnuts

I made 2 batches of these Crispy Doughnuts to save time and experiment – one baked and one fried. I have always been an advocate for baked doughnuts but when I couldn’t find the recipe I had “always” used I went on the look out for a new one. I found this one in allrecipes and changed it to my liking.

Since my daughter and I were making the doughnuts for a family get-together she really wanted to fry them so we went for a compromise. We fried the ones we would take out with us and since there were so many we baked the ones we would save for breakfast the next day. We also used all the holes as mini doughnuts – these were very popular with the children.

I have to say the fried ones were unbelievable! My daughter and I had to taste them right after they were made and they were so crunchy on the outside and totally spongy on the inside – the way a “real” doughnut should be.

We made a 2 batches of colored glaze – pink and green and one batch of melted chocolate glaze.

Crispy Doughnuts

Ingredients

• 2 (.25 ounce) envelopes active dry yeast (42 g fresh yeast)
• 1/4 cup warm water (105 to 115 degrees)
• 1 1/2 cups (348 ml) lukewarm milk
• 1/2 cup (115 g) white sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 eggs
• 1/3 cup (75 g) shortening (I used margarine)
• 5 cups all-purpose flour (I used 7 ½ cups – 770 grams)
• 1 quart vegetable oil for frying (or oven at 175 degrees C)

Directions

1. Sprinkle the yeast over the warm water, and let stand for 5 minutes, or until foamy.
2. (If using fresh yeast: warm milk then add shortening. When margarine is melted add fresh yeast to warm milk mixture. Mix till dissolved.)
3. In a large bowl, mix together the yeast mixture, milk, sugar, salt, eggs, shortening, and 2 cups of the flour.
4. Mix for a few minutes at low speed, or stir with a wooden spoon.
5. Beat in remaining flour 1/2 cup at a time, until the dough no longer sticks to the bowl. (This took me 7 cups of flour to happen.)
6. Knead for about 5 minutes, or until smooth and elastic.
7. Place the dough into a greased bowl, and cover. Set in a warm place to rise until double. Dough is ready if you touch it, and the indention remains. (You can let it rise in warmed oven with the door open for 30 or 40 mins)
8. Turn the dough out onto a floured surface (use plenty of flour!) and gently roll out to 1/2 inch thickness.
9. Cut with a floured doughnut cutter. (Place on baking tray to rise if you are going to bake them.)
10. Let doughnuts sit out to rise again until double, covered loosely with a cloth.
11. Prepare your choice of glaze or topping.
12. Heat oil in a deep-fryer or large heavy skillet to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Slide doughnuts into the hot oil using a wide spatula. Turn doughnuts over as they rise to the surface. Fry doughnuts on each side until golden brown.
13. Remove from hot oil to drain on a wire rack.
14. Dip doughnuts into the glaze while still hot, and set onto wire racks to drain off excess.Keep a cookie sheet or tray under racks for easier clean up.

Glaze ideas

Vanilla butter glaze

• 1/3 cup butter
• 2 cups confectioners’ sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
• 4 tablespoons hot water or as needed

Melt butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Stir in confectioners’ sugar and vanilla until smooth. Remove from heat, and stir in hot water one tablespoon at a time until the icing is somewhat thin, but not watery. Set aside.

Cocoa glaze

To make this a cocoa glaze just add 1/4 cup (30 grams) cocoa powder when you add the sugar.

Melted Chocolate glaze

• 8 (1 ounce = 28 grams) squares semi-sweet chocolate (Multiply depending on how much you want to make)
• 1 tablespoon shortening (I use margarine)

1. Cut semi-sweet chocolate into small pieces and place in top of double boiler with shortening.
2. Melt over medium heat, stirring frequently until smooth. Keep warm.

These doughnuts were delicate to work with when moving them onto a tray and  into the oil. Make sure they are thoroughly floured and only move them when necessary.

They were the best home made doughnuts I have ever eaten. I think you should try frying these to make them real Crispy Doughnuts.

Zucchini-Chocolate Chip Muffins

Zucchini Chocolate Chip Muffins have became one of my favourites. They are moist, crunchy from the walnuts, chocolaty from the choco-chips and filled with healthy vegetable – so slightly green.

What a great Mother’s Day treat. Healthy and tasty!! – and a breeze to make.

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups (180 grams) all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup (170 grams) sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1/4 cup (65 ml) milk
• 1 tablespoon (15 ml) lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup (half a medium zucchini about 300 grams) shredded zucchini, drained
• 1/4 cup (35-40 grams) miniature semisweet chocolate chips
• 1/4 cup (30 grams)chopped walnuts

Directions

1. In a bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking soda, cinnamon and salt.
2.  Combine the egg, oil, milk, lemon juice and vanilla; mix well.
3. Stir into dry ingredients just until moistened.
4. Fold in zucchini, chocolate chips and walnuts.
5. Fill greased or paper-lined muffin cups two-thirds full.
6. Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 20-25 minutes or until muffins poked in the centre test done.

I’m sold on vegetable muffins… what a great way to get your kids to eat their veggies.

These Zucchini Chocolate Chip Muffins could take a little chocolate icing made of melted milk or dark chocolate if you want to add a little decoration.

Coconut Macaroon Brownies

This Coconut Macaroon Brownie is soft and cakelike. It has a wonderfully appetizing look as the white coconut and dark brown brownie is a great color contrast. We all enjoyed it! We were a gathering of 14 people and there was plenty for every one. I found this recipe on allrecipes.com – which is one of my favourite recipe sights due to all the comments, reviews and suggestions.

Some said the combination of light chocolate and coconut were perfect and others of us would have preferred a stronger richer chocolate flavour. I am one of the later.

Perhaps making a chocolate icing will increase the flavour or one could increase the brownie amount by 1 1/2 times. When I make it again I think I’ll use a chewy or fudgy brownie recipe to emphasize the chocolate taste.

Ingredients

• 1 cup butter, softened (I melted 200 grams margarine and then mixed in the sugar.)
• 2 cups (240 grams) white sugar
• 4 eggs
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 cups (250 grams) all-purpose flour
• 3/4 teaspoon cream of tartar (I used 1 teaspoon baking powder.)
• 1/2 cup (60 grams) unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts (I didn’t use any)

• 4 cups (300 grams) unsweetened flaked coconut
• 1 (14 ounce – 414 ml) can sweetened condensed milk
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract

Another option – which is my own invention for the coconut filling is:

• 250 grams dessicated coconut
• 110 grams raw sugar
• 414 ml 3 % fat milk
• 1 tablespoon vanilla sugar

I did this because it is difficult to find shredded coconut and condensed milk here. If you use my coconut recipe – mix the coconut, milk and sugar and let it sit for al least half and hour before adding to the brownie. The top layer of brownie detached from the coconut layer easily so it would probably be better to use condensed milk as that would make the coconut layer more sticky.

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour (or cover with baking paper) a 9×13 inch baking pan.
2. In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar.
3. Beat in the eggs, one at a time. Stir in 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla.
4. Combine the flour, cream of tartar and cocoa; stir into the egg mixture until well blended.
5. Fold in walnuts.
6. Spread half of this mixture into the bottom of the prepared pan.
7. In a medium bowl, stir together the coconut, sweetened condensed milk and 1 tablespoon vanilla. Carefully layer this over the chocolate layer in the pan.
8. Top with the remaining chocolate batter. Spread to cover evenly. (this is a little difficult to do as the batter sticks to the spoon. I used my fingers for the finishing touch.)
9. Bake for 45 to 50 minutes in the preheated oven(After 40 minutes, the brownie was completely ready. I think I would even cook it 5 minutes less the next time around.), until top is no longer shiny.
10. Cool in the pan before cutting into bars.

It was really a lot of coconut compared to the brownie, so next time I think I will try 1 1/2 times the brownie recipe.

This Coconut Macaroon Brownie was

Danish Sausage Rolls – pølsehorn

I’ve made Sausage Rolls a few times using different recipes – these turned out the best. They are a child friendly food, good for a light meal or snack. We usually eat it with a combination of sauces – each of us has our own favourite – any thing from ketchup, mustard, mayonaise to garlic dressing.

Sausage Rolls – Pølsehorn

Ingredients:

Dough:

• 25 grams butter
• 250 ml milk
• 25 grams yeast
• 2 teaspoons (10 grams) sugar
• ¾ teaspoon (5 grams) coarse salt
• 400 grams flour
• 16 4 inch sausages

1. Pre-heat the oven to 200 degrees.
2. Melt the butter in a saucepan and add the milk.
3. Pour the mixture into a bowl and stir the yeast into it.
4. Add the remaining ingredients and mix thoroughly. The dough will still be very sticky…but don’t worry.
5. Cover the bowl with a cloth and let it rise in a warm place for 45 minutes to 1 hour – until doubled.
6. Place dough on a floured surface and knead it well.
7. Divide the dough into 16 pieces and roll each piece of dough into a long sausage. Wrap the dough around the sausages.
8. Place the sausage rolls on a baking tray covered with baking paper. Cover rolls with a cloth and let rise 15 minutes.
9. Brush the rolls with a little water. Then bake sausage rolls for 20 minutes or until golden.

These Sausage Rolls are very traditional snack in Denmark. You can by them everywhere.

Fresh Fruit Pizza

This Fresh Fruit Pizza is a combination of sweet cookie base, cream cheese filling and a layer of fresh tart fruit. The combination of fruit is really up to you but I would advise using soft types such as strawberries, kiwi, banana, orange, grapes, plums, pineapple and so on. I just used what I could find easily and tried to have a variety of color.

You will be amazed at the reactions you get when you bring this pizza out… it is awe inspiring to look at. Cut the base before adding the fruit to make it easier for yourself to serve and to save the fabulous pattern you make with the fruit. If serving it to children you could even let them decorate their own piece.

I actually doubled the recipe for the base – but not the cheeses filling – since I was making it for 12 people. The only problem I came across was the baking time. After 12 minutes it still wasn’t crisp. The base tasted fine but was very soft so I think 17 to 20 minutes would have been better when doubling the recipe.

• 1/2 cup butter, softened (113 gram)
• 3/4 cup white sugar (170 gram)
• 1 egg
• 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour (130 gram)
• 1 teaspoon cream of tartar
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

Cream cheese filling

• 1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese
• 1/2 cup white sugar (115)
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. In a large bowl, cream together the butter and 3/4 cup sugar until smooth.
3. Mix in egg.
4. Combine the flour, cream of tartar, baking soda and salt; stir into the creamed mixture until just blended.
5. Press dough into an ungreased pizza pan.
6. Bake in preheated oven for 8 to 10 minutes, or until lightly browned. Cool.
7. In a large bowl, beat cream cheese with 1/2 cup sugar and vanilla until light.
8. Spread on cooled crust not more than an hour before serving, to avoid making the crust soft.
9. Arrange desired fruit on top of filling, and chill. (I kept the fruit and cheese filling in the fridge and then made the pizza just 15 minutes before serving it.)

Due to the sweetness of the base you need a good amount of fruit on top. The layer I made was too thin so I served slices of fruit along with the pizza for those who wanted to add more.

This Fresh Fruit Pizza is worth making again but I might try it with a little less sugar or a lot more fruit next time. Any fruit lover’s birthday coming up? Try something new!

 

Chocolate Crinkle Cookies

These Chocolate Crinkle Cookies are chewy, slightly nutty and melt in your mouth. This recipe makes about 70 cookies – it’s enough for a party and look nice without having to decorate them.

I changed a few things in the recipe and the cookies were great. If you try the original recipe please tell me how they turn out.

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup (112 ml) vegetable oil
• 4 chocolate squares, (106 grams) – unsweetened and melted (I used 225 grams 50 % cocoa chocolate)
• 2 cups (450 grams) sugar (I only used 400 grams because I used extra chocolate)
• 4 eggs
• 2 teaspoons (10 ml) vanilla extract
• 2 cups (220 grams) sifted flour (sift before measuring)
• 2 teaspoons  (8 grams)baking powder
• 1/2 (3 grams) teaspoon salt
• 1 cup crushed nuts (I used 100 grams finely chopped walnuts)
• 1 cup confectioners’ sugar, for coating

Directions

1. Melt chocolate on low heat stirring constantly. Remove from heat before completely melted and mix till smooth.
2.  Mix oil and  sugar into the chocolate.
3. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.
4. Add vanilla.
5. Combine flour, baking powder and salt and then mix into the chocolate mixture.
6. Stir in nuts.
7. Chill for several hours. (I didn’t have several hours so I put it in the freezer for 45 minutes.)
8. Roll dough into balls by teaspoonfuls. Roll in confectioners’ sugar immediately.
9. Place 2 inches apart on greased baking sheet. (They more than double in size.)
10. Bake in a 350-degree F (175 degrees C) oven for 10 to 12 minutes. Don’t over bake.

I baked them for 10 minutes and they were perfect. I ended up making 4 batches because their were so many cookies. There was only a hint of walnut flavour in them so you might try adding more nuts.

This is a real easy recipe. I had my 4 year old niece over and she along with my own kids did some of the rolling into balls. Of course, their hands got a bit messy since the longer you roll the balls for the more they melt, but the kids enjoyed every moment.

These Chocolate Crinkle Cookies are great for a crowd. I have enough left over for a few days to come even after sending some home with everyone that came over for dinner.