Mandarin Orange and Cinnamon Marmalade

When a new season arrives the fruit should be sized, don´t you think? With fruit, jam jars and enthusiasm. 

And to make a jam or a marmalade you need this three. Without fruit, nothing happens. If you are reluctantly, all goes wrong. Without jars, it won´t preserve well.

This jam can be done at any time of year, we always have mandarins, at least here, in Argentina. But also it can be done with oranges.

Passion Fruit Cookies

I had plenty passion fruit pulp, or maracuya as we say in Argentina, in my freezer. And I wanted to use it for something never seen.
I checked for cookies with this, and nothing satisfied me. So I made the recipe.

Candied Orange Wedges

This recipe is a must, like a wildcard. Can be with just a coffee after a fullfilling dinner, cut in pieces for a pound cake, can be added to a simple ice cream, covered with chocolate, with a smelly cheese. Or just this and a fork, and nothing else, for those snack momemts

Mango and Ginger Cake

The story of this recipe begun with a comment from a reader. He commented about a mango cake he usually makes when the mangos are still green.

And like the phrase, curiosity killed the cat, I had to make my mango cake.

Passion Fruit and Orange Muffins... with surprise

Have a little of something and don´t know where to use it?
I had a small size cup of passion fruit pulp, and wanted to use it but it needed to be a good thing, not just something.

This muffins are great, fast and full of flavour. But if you don´t have passion fruit, never mind, use any other pulp or juice from the pantry or fridge. It needs to be something with a lot of flavour. I wouldn´t use pear juice for example.

Orange Financiers

An edible gift. That was what my mama received for her birthday. Not that I´m cheap gifter, she likes this kind of gift. Handmade.

Originally the financiers were prepared in shapes of bite size ingots. And are name because of that. Or perhaps they were sold in the financial district of Paris. Who knows the truth.

But the truth about the smell and flavour is that they are so good that one is nothing. 
They have almound flour and noisette butter, this is the distinctive smell of these. I added orange, just to play with the flavours a bit more.

Very Chocolatly Almond Cookies

The first time I´ve tried this cookies was when I was working in famous porteño bakery. After the first bite, I understood why they were so famous and acclaimed. 

Crunchy, buttery. With lots of chocolate and almond bites. Because of the cooking method, they became light and airy, not that they´re low fat and low sugar.

You have to try this.

Caribbean Eclairs: Homemade Vanilla Mascarpone, Passion Fruit Curd and Mango

In the fruit salad I have at work occasionally appears a bit of mango. And it's like a party in a boring salad.
Thinking about it, I bought a mango. I always liked it, but resent the fibers.

Inspired by Paris (I´ll be visiting for the first time in October!!!), Pierre Hermé dessert and homemade mascarpone, I saw the opportunity to show how to prepare it .

The homemade mascarpone was on my pending list for the blog, and I wanted to show how easy it is to prepare, but did not want to incorporate it into the typical tiramisu, of which there are many recipes around. You can do many things, is like a basic cream.

Chocolate and Prune Cookie Sandwich, a great alfajor

An alfajor, in Argentina, is a cookie sandwich with dulce de leche inside. Is the most common snack for children and adults. You can find them at any kiosk, or vending machine. We are the largest consummer, and the one that wins is the chocolate cookie, with dulce de leche and covered in chocolate.

I made another version, a grown up. I don´t think that there are many kids that enjoy eating dried fruit. Not in my country, unless we cheat them and hid some inside a preparation.

I accept that this wasn´t my choice a few years ago. I din´t eat any dried fruit. I don´t know when I started or why.

Brownie Chocotorta (or Dulce de Leche Cheesecake Brownie)

This is not just one more brownie recipe. But as a dessert. Or a cake. I don´t know well.
It's just a bite and that the mind is lost in all the flavours and textures. I do not exaggerate.

Prune Bittersweet Chocolate Brownie

There are many recipes for brownies, but this is excellent, moist, chocolaty, it melts in the mouth.
And I added prunes. The plum adds a touch of sugar and acidity so perfectly for the chocolate, and some texture to the soft brownie.

Chocolate and Oatmeal Soft Cookie

These are my favorite cookies, I think they are the first I learned to do as a kid. These cookies, recently renamed "avenitas" (avena is oatmeal in spanish) are so good that they do not last very long when out of the oven. Delicious when warm, with the melted chocolate chips.It´s not a crunchy cookie, but comes apart easily in the mouth. And there are excellent to sink into a chocolate milk.

Hazelnut, Cocoa Nibs and Salty Peanut Buttercrunch

There are a few timers when I go to my bookcase and found out that there´s a book about caramel, sugar and candy that it´s unused.
Every time that I open it, I check it and think about the recipes I can make from there. But it remains closed.

But the idea of doing something with it remains in the back of my brain. And the other ideas came by, salt,  peanuts and winter, and here we are.

Pear, Rooibos Tea and Chocolate Cake

Some weeks ago I returned to have tea at Chez Pauline. Its a beautiful, very french, place. Then, after leaving the place, bought a super spiced tea. Actually it´s an infusion, it don´t contain tea leaves, but rooibos, an African bush, and lots of spices, like cinnamon, ginger, black pepper, cardamom, and others I don´t remember. I love rooibos, because of it´s lack in caffeine and the other beneficial characteristics. 

Chouquettes, a French treat

As always, I'm always looking for something new around here.
The chouquettes (shukets) are mini balls of "pâte à choux" or pastry puff, covered by coarse sugar.
Little crunchy semisweet balls. Start with one and won´t stop easily.

I had this recipe on my list for some time, but I was waiting for this sugar, "granela". Here we use this type of sugar for Easter thread cake, on top of the pastry cream. 

Super (Extra) Moist 2 Apple Pound Cake, almost like a Fruitcake

This recipe has a story, a small, about how it was done, and is as follows.

There were two apples, only two. And there was a girl, who liked to cook, That´s me. That didn´t know what to do with the apples. Thinking, thinking, thinking, an apple pound cake came up. But what about the other apple? Eating as it comes wasn´t an option. And as I checking the recipe, butter was out and the apple was in.

This is the brief summary of how I replaced butter, (110 g), for a red apple. The apple gives the same characteristics of butter without the fat content.

Ricotta Mousse Cake

I always think simple desserts that are good, simple in flavours and every one would like it.

And then I like to give a twist to make them attractive, and interesting for me to do it.

This is a simple uncooked cheesecake, with just the flavours, good ones. Ricotta, orange and chocolate. 

Simple, but doesn´t it look nice? And also, it´s fresh and airy. Great for the summer.

Summer Dessert: Rice Pudding, Jasmine Sauce and Speculoos Cookie

Rice pudding, sweet rice, arroz con leche, arroz doce, including dam niao Khao from Thailand: this all refers to the same preparation: cooking rice + milk = creamy rice that can be flavored with spices, egg and/or sweeteners.
It can be very simple, but the variations are many, here´s one.

I transformed a simple dessert in a flavourful one. It has the soft creaminest of the rice , plus a cardamom fragance, with a silky jasmine tea sauce, and the crunchiness of the multi spiced cookie.

Chocolate and Beet Dessert Cake

I'm always searching for recipes strange, peculiar ... rare, I would say. And when I find a recipe that has those items I keep it until the opportunity arises, or have the ingredient, or feel like doing it.

Yesterday, walking around a large supermarket, away from home, I found the ingredient. Steamed beets, vacuum-sealed. And I remembered the recipe. I grabbed a package and figured when I could do the recipe.
All planned!

Spicy Jam Cookies

The opportunity to make these cookies can be none, or that I just want to eat some cookies with something else, something moist and tasteful.

Or perhaps, to celebrate an occasion, that can be no occasion for you, but valuable to me, which is my 4 years* in the same company. Of course, these weren´t  years of relaxation, I changed area and position with bigger responsibilities, in an excellent team and I didn´t loose the desire to improve. That's something, right?

Changes

Did I tell you long ago that I studied Graphic Design? I was about to end. But I knew it wasn´t my thing.
I realized that I liked cooking. But it left me pretty things. And to my dad a pain in the heart and the pocket.

C'est la vie.

And that why I couldn´t stand the old logo. It was outdated.
While I've been making changes to the page, I changed the buttons that were below the logo, where you can access each page, and are now on the right side, for if you hadn´t noticed.

Testing some things, the logo was chosen. Do I like? Is it the best? I don´t know, but I prefer this than the previous ... 

May last or not. I have the little problem of perfectionism.

I know that this change can affect identity and blah, blah, blah ... but the other was not me. If anything my design teachers told me is that my thing is the minimalism. And that's what I searched and still looking for.

Chau old, hello new!

Mixed Berries and Nibs Crumble Cake

Memory is something that sometimes does not help me, I realize that the 30´s are starting to show details of factory.

I don´t know how it started but, somehow I felt like eating mixed berries in a cake for breakfast or maybe as snack.And I guess one thing led to another and here we are.
With a cake to honor a friend or yourself, to enjoy, and feel like you need another portion. It's a cake you won´t forget by the tasty mixed berries, the aromatic spices, the moistness and crunchiness (yes, both at the same time).

Pink Grapefruit and Chocolate Tart

I don`t know if you know it, but I can repeat it anyway: I like desserts that are made in 2'
Well, you can not do all within 2 minutes, but half an hour works great for me.

Went to bed at night thinking about a dessert to take to a lunch, a fast, with whatever is in the fridge/pantry, not gourmet flavors, and good, of course.

Parisian Pastries in Pictures

Dear all, I must pass a data from a site, but prepare to be amazed and mouth-watered.
It has spectacular photos of the best Parisian patisseries. RAIDS PÂTISSERIES

The site is in the official language, oui, en français, but Google Translator does wonders for this.

Tonka Bean Cream Pie

Years ago I heard about the famous cream pie that the Welsh settlers still, because they arrived in 1865!, make at the tea-houses in Gaiman, in a Chubut valley, a place is in my list of places to go (among others!).
And the cream pie waited a years in my mind to be made.

Recently, I do not know where I read about the Sugar cream pie, presumably originating in the U.S. southern colonies, the Amish or Quakers, in 1850s (or before they, it is uncertain), and seemed familiar with the Welsh one. And there was no other choice but to do it.

Happy to see you comment!!!

(Happy "Thank you, mom, for today´s dessert")

Thanks to all who pass by this blog, that share being sweet tooth, who like to cook, do not like to cook but love the food, who are drooling when see a food photo, the ones who comment, those who do not like, those who understand what I write, those who do not understand me because I write backwards - as Master Yoda of Star Wars - those who make my recipes, those seeking answers in pastry ... all

Thank you!

Easter egg lollipops

Easter day is coming and we´re used to receive a big chocolate Easter egg (because I´m still a kid), with sorted candys and a small toy inside
Thinking about this, I wanted to make something for the kids, different from the chocolate egg you can buy in every store. Also it had to be easier to make than the big egg, with lots of chocolate and work.
Here are chocolate egg lollipops!

The Best Homemade Chocolate Ice cream

 The summer has just finished in Argentina and I don´t have happy face, a sad smiley :(


But seeing the glass half full, there are still some warm days to come and can be sized.
Such as preparing an ice cream, the best homemade ice cream, chocolate. What can beat that? That is very creamy and intense chocolate flavor.
Is there more to improve? Yes, it is easy to prepare, does not need much cooking. 

Chai tea and pear tea cake

A few post ago I made the chai tea concentrate with spices to flavor the tea, and as I said at that time, I like spices. And to be redundant, now come with chai tea cake.

The idea came thanks to the pears leftover from the cinnamon Baba. Ideas go, ideas come, the tea is added to the pears and then came the spices ... Ready! Have a chai tea cake with pears in syrup.

I´m not going to lie, was delicious! As tea cake was spectacular, and for dessert, with ice cream on top? Chocolate ice cream? Awesome!

Black and White dessert: condensed milk mousse and bittersweet ganache

Long ago I made a cake for a rare mousse, like dulce de leche, but white. And I lost the recipe. It was my recipe, because at that time had not found anything like it.

I remembered a few days ago, and after years and changing location, I didn´t make an effort to find it. Again, searched the Internet with no result. How strange, but well, an opportunity to make my recipe.

Then again, this is my invention. The Argentinean classic: chocolate and dulce de leche. But black and white.
This is the dessert of differences, contrasts, sweet and bitter, creamy and airy.

Chai concentrate for a spiced tea

If you are reading this blog regularly may have noticed that I like spices. I confess, I love them. All the majority. I learned that all serve in their measure to improve a dish, give it as an added value. 
Some I didn´t like them before, like cloves, but if used sparingly gives a refreshing taste.

Homemade sweet condensed milk

Did ever happened to you that wanted to do a recipe and say, "condensed milk" and it wasn´t available or a little expensive?

This is the solution to that: do it at home.
It is a complete solution, equal to the original.

Ginger, raisin and oat cookies

The problem I have with the cookie dough is that I'm lazy to make tem with a spoon. Really lazy. 
So, normally, I don´t make it.
I had seen on other blogs that they use an ice cream scoop to make cookies.

Chocolate and prune crescent cookies

These are unlikely to be Valentine's cookies, but for mine, they are. When, my boyfriend and I, weren´t living together, I usually gave him a container of cookies, and he ate them, happily, on his way back home.
Now, he still is my boyfriend, but we live under the same roof, he always claims the container with cookies.

Cinnamon baba with spiced pears (or Le Savarin)

Can you imagine a dessert when eaten it magically explodes in the mouth with cinnamon flavor, the sweetness and freshness of the cool syrup?

Creme brulee tart

Once upon a time a boy bought a torch, and a girl thought about burning a cream.

The girl is me, the one who´s always thinking about desserts. It can be worse, I´m warning you. A torch, a mini sized one, arrived home a few months ago. And then, I forgot.
Until I opened a drawer and there it was.And that's how the creme brulee came in my list of things to do.

Chocotella Cake: Brownie and Hazelnut Mousse (Nutella)

This cake is dedicated to all the sweet tooths out there.

Like my boyfriend, who says he gained weight when he met me. So not true.

And for the No.1 sweet tooth in the family, I made this cake. He always asks me to make brownies, and as his birthday was coming I wanted to make something like a Brownie Cake, brownie with dulce de leche and Italian meringue on top.

But since I am not a lover of that kind of meringue I thought making dry meringue, with cocoa.

About the filling, I was not convinced with dulce de leche, too dry together with the brownie, hard to swallow. Another possibility was whipped cream.

But, again, not convinced.
Suddenly I remembered the famous hazelnut and chocolate spread. Nutella.So good! Totally addictive.

Three Seasons Dessert: Yogurt panna cotta, marmalade and cocoa meringue

If you read the post title, you might think I'm a cheesy person. Part of this modern cook group who wants to be modern and puts funny names to dishes. Am I?
And the truth is I don´t know, but I´m careless

The Citric: lemongrass pannacotta, cornmeal and orange cake

How did this dessert came up? Thinking of citrus. I bought the lemongrass and yuzu powder, at China town, without knowing what I was going to do with them, but in my head was the idea of some citrus dessert.

Holidays in Villa General Belgrano and La Cumbrecita, in Cordoba province

A years ago we spent a week in Villa General Belgrano, a quiet village at the foot of the Cordoba´s sierrras, ground roads and asphalt, German-style homes, friendly people, with a view to the mountains and the sound of birds.

There are many stories about the villagers that I don´t want to explore, but the only one I know is about the people I´ve met, that they´re very friendly, warm and they work with the tourists, by that I mean that many of them love what they do and some doesn´t seem to show it.

We met a brewer, that produces very good artisanal beer, and I can tell you that he loves to make it only using traditional methods. He explained many things to us, part of the process, the ingredients of each beer and we returned with a box full of the varieties he performs.Waffe Bier it is


We stayed at Posada Shemak´s, an inn runned by the owners, that were warm people and very helpful. I would recommend this place to anyone who wants to spend a few days there.


The photos are from La cumbrecita, a beautiful place, surrounded by mountains, forests, waterfalls and pools of natural water, with many hiking paths.

The last day I discovered THE BAKERY, in capital letters, with lots of smelling loaves of bread, home-style cakes and simple but goood cookies. The bakery is Risen Rein (as Aline told me) and is in the center of town. They are bakers from the beginning of the past century, that came from Germany during 2nd World War and the bread is made old style way, in a wood-fired oven, with grains and wheat .

 

What we tried there was the black cake, what we know as Welsh cake, dried fruit, moist and very aromatic cake.
And, also, the best cookies I had in a long time, the Pfeffer Kuchen, with flavored honey, spices, almonds, very soft and sweet. Amazing cookies, that I decided to do when we return home. 

Cornmeal and orange cake

Let me say that I love polenta. In winter it is one of my favorite dishes. A bowl of creamy polenta with tomato sauce and grated cheese on a cold night, it´s really tempting.

But this blog is about sweets things, which is what I know, so I will not put the recipe for polenta.
But the cornmeal was turning round my head.

Malvon, for the modernized porteño

After having heard so much about this place, I went there last Friday, despite reading that attention could be regular. And I was surprised.

I sat in what was perhaps the winter garden of an old porteño house. I could imagine the housewife cleaning the patio on a hot afternoon, or  a family by the fireplace on a cold sunday.
 

It seems that Malvón (geranium) wishes to mantain the porteño feeling of the ´50s, with the furniture, tableware, photos, but adapting the food to a globalized cuisine, as we can find American, French or Italian dishes. This has nothing wrong, we are a mixture of cultures.

When going insede we can see the breads, pies, cookies and more, for us to choose. We can seat in one of the three rooms or outside in the front or at the patio, they all have comfortable sits, and outdoors we can enjoy the plants and the sun.

The menu is big enough for lunch, tea time, brunch or breakfast, and you can see it at the website.

In this hot summer, I asked a smoothie passion, a milkshake of ice cream, passion fruit, ginger and lemon, if I remember well. And also a banana, chocolate and walnut muffin. Very good both of them.
  

After that I had planned to have tea with my mother at his house, and thinking of that asked a lemon tart and a portion of carrot cake to take out. It was an exaggeration for an evening meal, but Iwa
s tempted.

And in my defense I have to say we did not eat everything in the same afternoon.

The tart, which I don´t keep photographic records was very good, acid as it should be, creamy and also crunchy for the brulee layer on top.  

The carrot cake, also delicious with raisins, and made in layers, with butter cream between the layers. I never saw it done that way, and I was a little overwhelmed by the amount of butter.

About the comments of the regular attention, it didn´t happen to me, in addition to that the two waiters were very cordially.

At Malvon, I felt at home.

Before leaving, I was thinking when could I return.

Malvón
Serrano 789, Villa Crespo,
Buenos Aires,
Argentina
tel. +54 11 4774 2563
http://malvonba.com.ar/