My Mum's Celebratory Sponge Cake with Fresh Strawberries and Cream Recipe

A classic simple sponge made with eggs, sugar and flour with no use of butter, filled with fresh whipped cream and fresh seasonal strawberries, a true classic celebratory cake that is difficult to beat. It is perfect for spring/summer birthdays and for all other summer special occasions, it is a top favourite with all ages.

This cake is delicious in taste with the lightest and fluffiest sponge; beautiful and elegant in its appearance, it looks like it has just come from the patisserie shop and yet could not be simpler to make.

With a few ingredients and a few simple steps you will impress your family and friends, and they will ask you for the recipe before they leave!

This celebratory cake would accompany all my childhood and my adulthood birthdays, baked exclusively by my mother.

In Slovenian Istra this type of sponge, refereed by the locals in the dialect as”Pandišpanija” (Pan di Spagna, translates literally as Spanish Bread) was the first form of the most simple celebratory cake, it was simply dusted with the sugar on the top and baked for special occasions like weddings. It is believed to originate during Napoleon's reign (19th century), and was first used in Croatian side of Istra, and then to then spread into a Slovenian part. Only later this type of sponge was cut horizontally in half and filled with different types of cream which resembles more to a modern concept of celebratory cake.

She would bake this type of cake for every birthday in the family and for her special friends, changing the fruits a bit to reflect the seasons. Peaches work very well and, in the winter, when the selection of fresh fruit is limited, she would use different types of tinned fruit which works amazingly well, the syrup from the tin was used to spoon the disc of the sponge.

No one will ever get fed up with this celebratory cake, we never had to struggle with any leftovers, bake it and see for yourself!

I am sharing the recipe for this special cake to remember and to honour my mother who recently died, so her legacy for this celebratory cake can live on for years to come.

Recipe

Ingredients

For the Sponge

• 4 eggs (room temperature)

• 4 Tbsp cold water

• 200g icing sugar

• 1 Tsp vanilla extract or 1 sachet of vanillin powder (very widely used in continental Europe baking)

• 150g all purpose flour, sifted

• 8g baking powder, sifted

For the filling and topping

• 400g fresh strawberries, washed, pat dried and halved or quartered (reserve 100g fresh strawberries to decorate the top of the cake)

• 2 Tbsp caster sugar (can use less or more depending on the taste and the sweetness of the strawberries)

• 2 Tbsp water

• 300ml fresh double cream, cold

• 2 Tbsp caster sugar or to taste

Method

Preheat the oven to 180º static.

Lightly grease (I used butter) a 22cm (9in) loose-bottomed cake tin or spring form round cake tin and line the base with baking parchment.

Separate the egg whites and the yolks. Put the egg whites in a big clean bowl and the egg yolks in a small cereal type of bowl, whisk the egg yolks lightly with the fork.

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Add 4 table spoons of cold water into a bowl with egg whites and start whisking with the hand whisker.

During the whisking start gradually adding, one spoon at a time of icing sugar and keep whisking until the egg whites become stiff and firm but not dry.

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Add vanilla extract and egg yolks and mix well until fully incorporated.

Slowly and gradually start adding sifted flour together with baking powder.

Gently fold until thoroughly blended, do not mix with the hand mixer as you want to keep all the air inside the mixture which will make the cake incredibly soft and fluffy.

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Transfer the mixture into the prepared tin and bake in the pre-heated oven for about 25 minutes or until golden in colour, well risen and the top of the cake springs back when lightly pressed with a finger.

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While the cake is baking prepare the strawberries for the filling. Wash and pat dry 300g of strawberries, cut the smaller strawberries in half and the bigger ones in quarters. Place them in the bowl, add 2 table spoons of caster sugar (or to taste) and two table spoons of water.

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Mix well and leave the strawberries to macerate, put aside until needed.

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Filter the strawberries, put them in a sieve and collect the juices.

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Leave the sponge to cool in the tin for a few minutes, then remove from the tin and peel off the baking parchment.

Finish cooling on a wire rack.

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When the sponge is completely cool, take a sharp knife and cut the cake horizontally in half so you obtain two discs.

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Place the bottom disk of the sponge on a cake stand of your choice.

Take fresh double cream from the fridge and pour it into a mixing bowl. Start whisking with the hand whisker.

During the whisking start adding caster sugar and whisk until the cream becomes stiff enough to be able to spread it on the cake.

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Spoon strawberry juices over a bottom disk of the sponge.

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Spread roughly 1/3 of whipped cream.

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Then arrange the macerated strawberries over the disc to completely cover it.

Place the second disk of the sponge on the top.

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Spread the rest of the cream on the top and on the sides of the cake.

Decorate to your liking the top of the cake with fresh strawberries, sliced or left whole.

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Dust with a bit of icing sugar if desired and serve.

Just a thought

This cake must be eaten on the day of filling. You can prepare the sponge a day ahead, cool it completely and store it in an airtight container until the following day when is ready to be filled and decorated.

You can use tinned fruit of your choice instead of fresh strawberries. Make sure you reserve the syrup and use it to spoon over the bottom disc of the sponge as described in the recipe.

Oven Baked Ricotta (or curd cheese) Filled Crêpes Recipe

If you love your traditional pancakes but looking for a recipe that will elevate it a notch, look no further.

This recipe consists of frying thin pancakes (French style crêpe) and then filling them with sweetened ricotta, or curd cheese, flavoured with lemon and vanilla. The pancakes are then rolled up, placed in a greased baking tray, a custard-like mixture is then poured over them, and the whole dish gets baked in the oven for a bit.

The end result is truly divine, the steps to make this recipe are fairly simple and not at all complicated or lengthy, even though it may appear at first glance.

Usually these filled pancakes are served for breakfast or early dinner, or they make a great rustic style pudding, and can even be offered as a more formal type of dessert. Whichever way you decide to serve this sweet delight, they will most surely bring the smile to anyone having them.

This recipe, with slight variations, has been enjoyed around the world, and there is a very good reason – eating these pancakes hot or cold they are undeniably delicious.

This dish is sometimes refereed as Blintzes (or ricotta or curd cheese Blintzes). The recipe originated in Eastern Europe, and is part of Jewish cuisine, customarily eaten for the Jewish holiday of Shavuot.

The most common filling is curd or farmer's cheese but ricotta, mascarpone, cream cheese, cottage cheese or crème fraiche are also used. What you chose as a filling depends on your preference, but it will also depend on where you are in the world and types of ingredients available to you.

They are very popular and a much-loved dish in all the regions of Slovenia, as this land was ruled by the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

This sweet treat is prepared on a regular basis and is commonly offered in restaurants, and is called palačinke s skuto (word palačinka from German palatschinken).

This recipe is very special to me since it brings a lot of childhood memories that take me right back into my maternal grandmother's kitchen where she would make them quite often.

I am sharing here this much treasured family recipe where curd cheese is replaced by the use of ricotta cheese.

Recipe

Ingredients

Serves 6-8 people

For the crêpes (will make 10-12 crêpes if using 24cm, 9inch pan)

• 250g white all purpose (plain) flour

• 350 ml semi skimmed milk

• 150 ml cold sparkling mineral water (can use regular cold water instead, sparkling water makes very light crêpes)

• 2 medium eggs

• sea salt, a pinch

For the filling

• 500g ricotta cheese (or curd, farmer's cheese) If using curd cheese increase the amount of sugar to 100g or to your liking as more acidic in taste compared to ricotta.

• 100g raisins or sultanas soaked in lukewarm water or dark rum

• 1 medium egg

• grated lemon zest of one unwaxed lemon

• 1 Tsp vanilla bean extract

• 80g sugar

For the custard sauce to pour over the pancakes

• 250ml full fat milk or single cream (can use half milk and half cream)

• 1 medium egg

• 1 Tsp vanilla bean extract

• 2 Tbsp sugar

Method

Before you start with the recipe, place the raisins or sultanas in a small bowl and cover completely with lukewarm water or dark rum and let them soak, absorb the water, and become plump for at least 20 minutes, or until needed (you can leave them to soak longer).

To make the crêpes

First make the crêpes by putting all the wet ingredients, eggs, milk and mineral sparkling water into a mixing bowl and whisk well until combined.

Start adding the flour, a bit at a time, a pinch of sea salt and whisk thoroughly until the batter is smooth and free of lumps. You can use an electric hand whisker, a food processor or a blender.

Set aside and leave it to rest for at least 15 minutes, ideally 30 minutes.

In a large non-stick frying pan or crêpe pan melt the butter over a medium heat (you can use a drizzle of oil instead).

Tilt the pan so the melted butter (or oil) covers and coats the whole surface of the pan.

Pour or ladle enough batter into the pan, swirling quickly, to thinly cover the base.

Cook for 1-2 minutes, or until golden brown, completely set on the upper part, or until it starts to come away from the sides of the pan.

Check that the pancakes are golden in colour underneath, then flip the pancake over and cook for 1 more minute or until cooked through.

Remove and place on a large plate and cook the rest.

Set aside to cool.

While the crêpes are cooling start making the filling.

To make the filling

Place ricotta or curd cheese in a bowl and stir.

Add the egg, grated lemon zest, sugar and vanilla bean extract and mix well all the ingredients.

Drain the raisins or sultanas, remove excess liquid and add to the mixture.

Set aside.

Preheat the oven to 180°C static or equivalent. Place about two tablespoons of ricotta filling in the centre of each crêpe and spoon evenly.

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Fold in the side ends of the crêpe to prevent filling coming out during the rolling (if it does, it is not the end of the world).

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Roll filled crêpe and place it in a greased oven proof dish seam side down in a single layer.

Repeat the process until you use all crêpes and all the filling.

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To make custard sauce

Put the milk (or single cream if using), egg, sugar and vanilla bean extract in a jar and whisk well.

Pour the custard mixture over the filled crêpes until they are covered.Bake in the preheated oven for about 20 minutes.

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Serve hot, warm or cold with a light dusting of sifted vanilla flavoured or regular icing sugar.

Just a thought

Ricotta filled crêpes can be assembled several hours in advance and baked just before serving.

Austrian inspired Linzer Cookie Recipe

This incredibly delicious and very pretty in appearance biscuits are made with flour, butter, sugar, eggs and vanilla. Almond flour is very often used to give these irresistible cookies a delicate and light texture. They are jammed together with different types of preserves.

Quick and easy to make, this little works of art can be a perfect holiday gift for your foodie friends and family.

Linzer style cookies are very popular type of biscuits and are traditionally prepared around Christmas holidays in all regions of Slovenia but can be eaten any time of the year.

You can buy them in food stores or bakeries, and they are enjoyed all year round. They are often seen sandwiched together by chocolate spread.

These biscuits are Austrian in origin, and are linked to Linzer Cake, a recipe takes us back to 1653, and so it is often called the oldest recipe in the world. There are speculations, guesses and different legends and stories as to where the Linzer cookies come from. It is believed that Linzer biscuits originated in the Austrian city of Linzer by a pastry chef, who mixed the ingredients for the cake but rather than making a cake cut out the cookies instead.

This recipe, like many others, has variations and adaptations, one of which does not include almond flour as an ingredient.

I am sharing here the family top favourite recipe for the festive baking.

Recipe

Ingredients

• 125g soft butter (at room temperature)

• 1 egg, small or medium (at room temperature)

• 75g caster sugar

• 1 ½ Tbsp vanilla sugar or ¼ Tsp vanilla extract

• finely grated lemon zest of ½ lemon

• 250g plain white (all purpose) flour, plus more for rolling out

• 2 Tsp baking powder

• a pinch of fine sea salt

• icing sugar or vanilla icing sugar, to dust the biscuits

• a pinch of ground cinnamon, optional

• a pinch of ground nutmeg, optional

• smooth apricot jam (can use strawberry, raspberry or red currant jam, or any jam of your preference)

Method

Place softened butter and sugar in a mixing bowl and beat until pale and fluffy.

Add the egg, finely grated lemon zest, vanilla sugar (or vanilla extract), and mix until all the egg is fully incorporated (if you happen to get a bit of “curdled appearance” at this stage do not worry).

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Add sifted flour together with the baking powder and mix with the wooden spoon first until all the ingredients are incorporated and the dough comes together in large clumps.

Transfer to a lightly floured surface (or keep the mixture in the bowl) and with your hands gently knead the dough until it becomes soft and smooth (if the dough is too wet to handle add a bit of flour at the time until you get the dough that does not stick to your hands or to the working surface; the wetness of the dough will depend on the size of the egg you are using).

Shape the dough into a disc and wrap it tightly in cling film.

Put the dough in the fridge and let it rest and chill for at least 30 minutes.

Lay a baking tray with baking parchment.

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Take the disc of the dough out of the fridge and place it onto a lightly floured working surface.

Lightly flour the rolling pin and gently roll out the dough to the thickness of about 4mm.

Stamp out rounds (circles) using a smooth or crinkle-edged cookie cutter and place on a baking tray.

(I decided to make quite big biscuits and used 9cm, 3 ½ - inch, fluted round cookie cutter).

If the dough sticks to the cookie cutters, deep them into the flour first.

Lift away the excess dough, form a ball and roll it out again.

Cut out as many more biscuits as you can.

Use a small round or select your favourite mini festive cookie cutters (heart, star, Christmas tree, flower for example) to stamp a circle, or other shapes, from the centre of the biscuits.

Remember you need to end up with an even number.

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Place on a baking tray and bake in a preheated oven at 180°C static or equivalent for about 10 minutes or until light golden in colour (the baking time will depend on the size of the cookies).

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When baked, leave to cool just for a few minutes on the tray, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

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When the biscuits are completely cold, they are ready to be sandwiched together.

Turn the whole biscuits upside down.

Spoon on top a bit of jam and spread it over the biscuits.

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Dust with icing sugar or vanilla icing sugar the top part of the cookies you cut the shape out of.

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Sandwich the biscuits together, use the other half of the biscuits with icing sugar and gently place them on top of the other bottom half of the biscuits.

When freshly baked this Linzer style biscuits are nice and crunchy but will become softer the following day and just melt in your mouth.

Just a thought

You can keep the biscuits in the airtight container for about six days.

My Mother's Marble Chocolate and Vanilla Ring Cake Recipe

Perhaps, you know the old adage, which actually goes back to Tudor times, ‘You can’t have your cake and eat it (too)?’ Well, with this recipe – you can! All your baking dilemmas, should I go for a chocolate cake this time, or for a vanilla one, are solved with this one recipe – you can have both in one cake!

This chocolate and vanilla sponge cake is a classic childhood sweet treat. It is moist with a soft and fluffy texture, it looks pretty, and is still elegant, since the light and dark batter is blended lightly together giving it a marble appearance, and so, hence its name, marble cake, or it is sometimes called a zebra cake, due to its zebra-striped pattern (skunks are also striped, but I supposed that isn’t a very appealing name for a cake). It is also known as a ring cake or a Bundt cake, especially in the United States.

So, this cake delivers on appearance and flavour every single time, and if you want to impress your family and friends, this is the cake to go for. It is very easy to make and you can whizz it up in no time.

It originated in Germany, where it is still very popular, from a Kugelhopf, a two-coloured sweet yeast bread.

This impressive cake has been frequently baked in Austrian households and other European countries, including in Slovenia (Šarkelj) where it represents one of the most frequently baked weekend sweet treats and it is enjoyed for breakfast as well, there is no wrong time to eat it!

This was a regular bake in my house when I was a small girl, all you need is a few simple ingredients and a few simple steps to follow, I promise you, you will think twice before reaching out for the store-bought version, and here it is, my mother's recipe.

Recipe

Ingredients

• 4 medium eggs, room temperature

• 250g caster sugar

• 1 Tsp vanilla extract

• 100ml milk, room temperature

• 100ml sunflower oil, room temperature

• 250g all purpose white flour (plain flour), sifted

• 16g baking powder

• 2 Tbsp cocoa powder, sifted

• dusting sugar/vanilla powder sugar for dusting, optional

Method

Preheat the oven to 180°C static or equivalent.

Grease well with butter or oil a ring mould or a bundt cake tin. Make sure you cover every nook and cranny (alternatively you can use a 20cm cake tin or a 900g loaf tin, grease and line with baking parchment)

Dust with flour, shake off and tip out the excess.

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Put in the mixing bowl the eggs and the sugar, and beat well until the mixture becomes golden pale in colour.

Add the milk, oil and vanilla extract, mix well.

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Start adding, one spoonful at the time of sifted flour together with the baking powder.

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Divide the batter, spoon half of the batter in a separate bowl.

Add in one half of the batter sifted cocoa and mix well.

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Pour the white mixture into the base of the prepared ring mould first. Then pour the chocolate mixture on top.

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Gently swirl a little with the knife.

Bake for about 35 minutes or until the cake has shrunk from the sides of the tin and is well risen, the top of the cake should ‘spring back’ when lightly pressed with your fingertips.

Leave to cool in the tin for a few minutes.

Turn out the cake and finish cooling on a wire rack.

Dust with icing sugar or vanilla icing sugar and serve.

Sweet Dough Yeasted Rings (Busolai) Recipe

Busolai (also spelled Bussolai or Buzolai) are sweet treats that originate in the region of Veneto in north-east Italy. They are characteristic of Venice, and in particular on the fishermen island of Burano, hence these baked delights are also called Buranei (Burano buiscuits).

They are known as biscuits as they have the consistency of a biscuit, the dough does not contain the yeast, and it can be shaped into a ring or like the letter “S” (not a coincidence, since the S-shaped form of the biscuits makes it easier to dunk into milk or sweet wines).

They used to be only prepared and enjoyed during Easter festivities but nowadays almost every bakery on the island of Burano and in Venice sells them all year round.

Apparently, the letter from the Government of Venice, which still exists, has been found in the national archives of Italy, warning the nuns of the convent of St. Matthew on an island in the Venetian Lagoon that they should cut the number of Bussolai enjoyed during Easter festivities or otherwise they would encounter financial troubles.

The recipe for these biscuits, however, travelled further east, through the region of Friuli, and reached the city of Trieste (in Italy), and the land of Slovenian Istria across the “border”, where the recipe took a slightly different turn

The yeast was added to the dough making these baked goodies resemble more like soft doughnuts than the cookies, in fact, in the area they are described by the locals as sweet bread rings (obročki iz sladkega kruha).

As soon as they were freshly baked, it was a custom of some locals to spoon a bit of rum or grappa over them and sprinkle them with extra sugar.

Being like biscuits or doughnuts, they have one unmistakable characteristic in common, they have a hole in the centre, called “busa” in Venetian dialect”, hence their name, Busolai.

To make things more confusing in terms of naming this sweet treat, busolai are sometimes known as “kolach”, name originated from Old Slavonic word kolo meaning “wheel” or “circle”.

Once again, they were baked during festivities, especially during Easter since a great percentage of eggs are used in the recipe (egg representing the symbol of rebirth and resurrection).

These sweet baked rings were traditionally very popular during Confirmation (a rite in the Christian Church, at which baptized persons affirm their Christian belief, and are admitted as a full member of the Church).

Busolai were made into a garland with the use of a simple string and the godfather would gift these to his god child. This is described by a very well know and famous proverb in local dialect “Chi ga santoli ga buzzolai” (only the one who has a godfather will get busolai).

This tradition would be furthermore highlighted by another proverb in the local dialect “Bezi, basi e bussolai no i xe boni se no I xe assai,” which translates in standard Italian as (Soldi, baci e bussolai non sono buoni se non sono assai), and in English means that money, kisses and bussolai are no good if not given in abundance.

My husband’s uncle (known as zio Livio) with a garland of bussolai received on his Confirmation day by his godfather

This custom used to be very popular in Slovenian Istra, and almost each village would have a slightly different recipe for it. I am sharing with you my nona's recipe from the village of Marezige, a few kilometres from a coastal town of Koper where there used to be only one baker in town, at the time when my nona was a little girl, selling busolai, run by a family of Venetian origin.

Very sadly, there are no bakers selling busolai anymore, moreover, the custom of godfathers gifting the children with busolai has completely died out, and younger generations have never seen or heard of busolai.

Only a bunch of elderly people still alive today will tell you, with nostalgic voices and tearful eyes, with touching and emotional stories about their Confirmation Day, and they very much anticipated sugar coated busola, the only gift they received, if they were lucky enough.

Recipe

Ingredients

• 500g regular plain flour

• 1 cube of fresh (brewer's) yeast 42g or 14g of dry yeast

• 100g unsalted butter, melted

• 150g sugar

• 2 medium eggs, lightly beaten

• 2 egg yolks, lightly beaten

• 100ml tepid lukewarm milk (semi skimmed or full fat)

• 2 Tbsp dark rum or grappa (alcoholic, fragrant grape-based pomace brandy of Italian origin)

• finely grated lemon zest of 1 unwaxed lemon

• pinch of sea salt

• 1 small egg, lightly beaten, for glazing (can use lightly beaten egg whites, the busolai will result lighter in colour after baking)

Method

In a small bowl place dry or fresh yeast (if using fresh yeast slightly brake it down into smaller pieces with your fingers).

Add 100ml of lukewarm milk and ¼ tsp of caster sugar.

Gently stir and leave for about 20 minutes or until gentle bubbles form on the surface.

In a separate mixing bowl put the eggs, egg yolks and beat them gently.

Add melted butter, sugar, rum or grappa, grated lemon zest and a pinch of sea salt, and with the fork mix well all the ingredients.

In a large mixing bowl put the flour, add egg mixture and the yeast mixture.

Combine well all the ingredients with the wooden spoon or spatula to start with. When all the ingredients are well combined transfer the mixture onto a clean, floured surface.

Work with your hands and knead the dough for about 10-15 minutes, stretching it and folding it, adding a little flour at the time if the dough is too sticky.

Knead the dough until it becomes smooth, soft, shiny and elastic (the dough should not stick to the surface or your hands).

Shape the dough in a ball, place it back into a previously oiled mixing bowl.

Cover tightly with cling film, leave to rest and prove in a draft free space at a room temperature for 3 hours.

After this time your dough should be at least double in size.

Line 2 large flat baking trays with baking parchment.

Take the dough out of the mixing bowl, place it on a working surface, knock the air out of the dough and shape it into a log.

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Divide the dough into more or less equal parts (10-12 parts each weighting roughly 100g).

Shape each piece of the dough into a sausage and form a ring, pinching the ends together (make sure you are generous with the size of the ring, during the baking the busalai rise and stretch quite a bit, if the whole is too small, after the baking you will end up with busolai that have almost a non-existing hole, not that this is really a problem).

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Place your ring-shaped sweet dough onto a tray.

Cover with clean tea towel and leave to prove for the second time for about 30 minutes.

Gently brush the sweet dough rings with lightly beaten egg or egg whites and sprinkle the top of the rings with sugar.

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Preheat the oven to 180°C and bake for 20 to25 minutes or until well risen and deep golden brown (they will be slightly lighter in colour if you brush them with egg whites).

Remove from the oven and transfer the busolai to a wire rack to cool completely.

Busolai are best eaten within a few hours.

You can easily freeze them, just make sure you freeze them as soon as they are completely cool.

Wine suggestion

Vin Santo di Torgiano DOC 2010 - Lungarotti

Easter Sweet Plaited Bread (Tičice) Istrian Recipe

This celebratory sweet bread is similar to Jewish Challah, and is very flavoursome, soft and fluffy. It is made with yeasted enriched dough, and is shaped into a plait (or braid), and decorated with hard boiled eggs. It is very popular and traditionally baked during Easter festivities in Slovenian and Croatian Istra, Dalmatia (in Croatia) and in neighbouring Trieste in Italy and its surrounding areas.

It is best eaten fresh straight away, on its own with tea, coffee, or sweet wine, or paired with, as is traditionally the case, with cooked ham, and a selection of cheeses or cold dry cured meats. It is equally very delicious toasted the following day with some butter or jam.

This traditional recipe for sweet bread can be distinguished from other recipes for sweet bread across Europe by the addition of dark rum or grappa in the dough for extra flavour, and by the quantity of eggs used. This makes the bread have a heavier and slightly denser texture and richer taste, but this also means that it also requires a longer proofing time.

The eggs in the bread have symbolic significance in Christianity. Eggs represent new birth, new life, and are a reminder of the Passion and Resurrection of Christ. Traditionally, new converts to Christianity were baptised on Easter Sunday, representing their new birth in the faith, and new life in the Church. During the Middle Ages eggs were also a real treat to eat on Easter Sunday since they were forbidden during Lent, the 40 days of fasting before Easter.

Most of the time every household back home would bake two kinds of bread: the dough would be divided in half, and one kind is pinca bread, and is shaped like a regular round type of bread, but with cross-shaped incision on the top (representing Christ’s Crucifixion), and the other kind of bread, using the other half of the dough, is tičice, the braided variation with a hard boiled egg.

I am sharing here the recipe for this very traditional Easter sweet bread that has been made in my family for generations, it will make your holiday even more special!

Recipe

Method

This recipe will make 2 braided breads.

To make sweet bread plait, follow the recipe for basic sweet bread (pinca).

After the dough has risen and doubled in volume, remove it from the bowl.

Tip it onto a lightly floured surface and divide the dough in half.

Divide one half of the dough into 3 equal parts (cover the other half of the dough with the tea towel to prevent it from drying).

Roll each piece of the dough into 3 logs.

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Join and pinch the ends of all 3 logs together to start shaping them into a braid.

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Pinch the opposite end of the braided dough together.

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Place it on a baking tray previously lined with baking parchment.

Repeat the process with the other half of the dough.

Decorate the plait with hard boiled eggs (you can use the eggs previously decorated and dyed, see my recipe how to decorate and dye the eggs, Easter Eggs Dyed with Onion Skins Recipe). Place hard boiled eggs at the end part of the braid, pressing down a bit, almost creating a little nest where the egg can sit.

Brush both plaits with the egg whites.

Allow braided loaf to rise in warm, draft free, room for about 1 hour.

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Bake in the preheated oven at 180C for about 30 minutes, tent it with the aluminium foil halfway through if the top starts browning too much.

Once baked, take from the oven.

Transfer on a cooling rack and let it cool a bit.

Best served fresh still a bit warm.

Just a thought

Best eaten freshly baked on the same day.

Store leftover sweet bread in an airtight container for up to three-four days.

You can toast the slices and enjoy them with butter, jam, peanut or almond butter or use it to make French toast or bread and butter pudding, delicious!

Wine suggestion

Fior d'arancio Colli Euganei Spumante Dolce DOCG 2021 - Alla Costiera

Austrian Style Sweet Pull Apart Yeast Buns Recipe

These soft, fluffy and airy sweet yeast buns are filled with apricot jam and are simply irresistible. This baked treat is similar to a crown loaf, it breaks into 12 individual rolls which makes it perfect for sharing, and they transport very well to take on a picnic.

As soon as they are baked the outside is lightly golden and slightly crispy but the crust becomes soft when the buns cool down.

They can be enjoyed as a dessert and are perfect for breakfast, great with tea or coffee, and kids love them as a snack, any time of the day, with a glass of milk or hot chocolate.

They are Austrian in origin (Buchteln plural form and Buchtel singular) where they are very commonly served with the vanilla sauce. These sweet buns are unknown to many people, and because they are slightly off the beaten track, this makes them a bit of an undiscovered treasure. However, they are very popular in Slovenia which borders Austria, and was once part of Austro-Hungarian Empire.

I remember that these buns were baked in school for our mid morning snack, accompanied by a hot drink. The aroma of freshly baked buhteljni (this is what they are called in Slovenian) would travel through the corridors into the classrooms – disrupting at times our concentration! Indeed, just before the break we children would get so excited the teachers found it almost impossible to contain us.

Here I am sharing the recipe of my maternal grandmother, stara mama Iva, she baked them often on a regular basis, they went down as a real treat every single time, and she never seemed to bake enough of them...

Recipe

Ingredients

This recipe makes 12 buns

• 400g all purpose (plain) flour

• 40g butter, melted and slightly cooled

• pinch of sea salt

• finely grated lemon zest of one unwaxed lemon

• ½ Tsp vanilla extract

• 2 medium eggs, at room temperature

• 140ml semi-skimmed or full fat milk, lukewarm

• 60g caster sugar

• 5g (1 ½ Tsp) dry fast-action yeast

• apricot jam or a jam of your preference for the filling

For the glaze

• 40g melted unsalted butter for the brushing

For serving

• icing sugar or vanilla icing sugar for dusting

Method

Put the sifted flour in a large mixing bowl and add the sea salt to one side of the bowl.

Make a well, pour in lukewarm milk and add the yeast.

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In a separate smaller bowl, add the eggs and whisk them lightly. Add the sugar, melted and slightly cooled butter, and vanilla extract.

Pour the egg mixture to a big mixing bowl and add finely grated lemon zest.

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Stir the mixture with the fork first so all the ingredients come together, incorporate, and combine well to make a fairly sticky dough.

Tip the dough into a lightly floured working surface and knead by hand for about 10-15 minutes, adding a little extra flour if needed.

The dough should be very soft, shiny and elastic.

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Transfer the dough to a large lightly oiled container or bowl. Cover tightly with cling film and leave to rise in a warm place for about at least 1 hour, or until the dough has doubled in size.

Form into a sausage and divide into 12 equal pieces.

Flatten them to the thickness of about 1cm to obtain mini pizza shaped discs. You can do this by using floured rolling pin or stretch the dough with your hands.

Put one teaspoon of apricot jam in the centre, on top of each circle, and close the ends well. Do not try to be overgenerous with the jam, if the filling gets on the edges of the disc, it is almost impossible to seal them because the dough will stop sticking. Wrap the dough around the filling, pinching and sealing it tightly You should end up with 12 parcels.

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Lightly grease a 23cm round, deep springform cake tin. You can use other shapes of baking trays, just make sure they are greased to prevent the buns from sticking.

Place the parcels, one next to each other, so they are snug and touching with the seam side down in a non stick baking tray. Melt the butter and brush the top and all the sides.

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Leave to proof for a second time, for about 30min, by covering them with a clean kitchen cloth in a warm room with no draft until they are nicely risen and puffed up.

Bake at 180º static in the preheated oven, on the middle shelf, for about 30minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.

The buns should be lightly golden on top and well risen.

Leave in the tin for about 5 minutes, then release the sides of the tin.

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Remove and place the sweet buns to a wire rack to cool.

Dust the buns with regular or vanilla icing sugar and enjoy.

Ricotta or Curd Cheese Strudel Recipe

Ricotta cheese strudel is a variation of a traditional, well known and quintessentially Viennese Apple Strudel, it is a very scrumptious dessert, made with very thin, elastic pastry, and the filling contains ricotta or curd cheese, sugar, vanilla bean extract, eggs yolks, grated lemon zest and raisins soaked in dark rum, grappa or just lukewarm water.

Apple strudel was first mentioned in 1696, and later conquered all the countries that were once ruled by the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and curd cheese strudel is as popular and traditional in Austria as the famous Apple strudel.

All three types of strudels (apple, curd cheese and cherry) are very much loved in the North Adriatic, in Slovenian Istra, where I come from, and in the neighbouring city of Trieste, in Italy, and part of its province.

Ricotta strudel is regularly and traditionally baked with curd cheese (called skuta in Slovenian) in local households, and sometimes, if you are lucky enough, you might find it in more informal family run restaurants (skutin štrudelj or skutin zavitek).

This very delicious sweet treat really takes me back to my childhood, not only my mother frequently baked it, we also had it for school dinner as a pudding, and it did go down a treat.

I am sharing here my mother's recipe for ricotta strudel, this slightly off the beaten track recipe, made with home made pastry, but if you are too daunted by the idea of making your own dough, or simply do not have time to make it, you can still indulge yourself, and cut corners a bit by using store bought ready made pastry.

Recipe

Ingredients

Will make two separate strudels.

You can use store bought ready made puff pastry, shortcrust or filo pastry.

Ingredients for home-made strudel dough

• 250g all purpose flour

• 1 egg, lightly beaten

• 3 Tbsp neutral tasting vegetable oil (I used sunflower oil)

• 2 Tbsp white wine vinegar or lemon juice

• sea salt, a pinch

• 60ml lukewarm water, or as needed

Ingredients for ricotta or curd cheese filling

• 500g ricotta or curd cheese

• 100g raisins

• 2 egg yolks

• 80g caster sugar (I recommend 100g of sugar if using curd cheese as more acidic compared to ricotta)

• 1 ½ vanilla bean extract

• 1 unwaxed lemon, finely grated zest

• 3 Tbsp dark rum, grappa or lukewarm water (for soaking the raisins)

• generous knob of butter, melted (for brushing the strudels before baking them)

Method

Before starting with the recipe, place the raisins in a small bowl, pour dark rum, grappa or lukewarm water over them, and let them soak and plump up for about 30 minutes (you can leave them to soak for longer or overnight).

To make the dough

Sift the flour in a big mixing bowl and make a well.

In a separate, smaller bowl, mix slightly beaten egg, oil, vinegar or lemon juice, (the acidity will help to relax gluten in the flour making the dough more stretchy) a pinch of sea salt, and lukewarm water. Pour the mixture into a flour well.

With the fork, stir the mixture with the flour until well combined. Only if the mixture is very wet and sticky, add a little bit of flour at a time, until the dough comes nicely together, then work the dough with your hands.

Transfer the dough on a lightly floured working surface and knead the dough for about 10 minutes or until nice and smooth.

After this time, the dough should be moist and elastic and not sticky. Add a little more flour if the dough is too sticky to knead.

In order to further encourage the development of the gluten, resulting in a very elastic dough, slam the dough onto the working surface a few times.

Shape the dough into a smooth ball and place it in a clean bowl, previously brushed with oil.

Cover the bowl with cling film and let the dough rest for about 30-60 minutes at room temperature (strudel dough has no yeast, so do not expect the dough to rise or double in size, it needs to rest for gluten to relax).

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To make the filling

Place ricotta or curd cheese in a fairly large bowl and stir.

Add caster sugar, vanilla bean extract, egg yolks, grated lemon zest and mix well all the ingredients.

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Drain the raisins, remove excess liquid, add to the mixture.

Set aside for later use.

Preheat the oven to 190C static or equivalent.

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Divide the dough in half to make two separate strudels (easier to work with).

Place half of the dough on a clean and lightly floured table cloth. Flour the rolling pin and start rolling out the dough. While rolling, to prevent sticking, flour the dough and the surface every now and then.

When the dough reaches about 20 cm in diameter pick it up and keep stretching it. The best way to do so is to use the back of your hands, and in particular the knuckles, but make sure you remove any sharp jewellery first.

When the dough becomes difficult to handle as it becomes bigger and thinner, place it on a lightly floured tablecloth.

With your hands (tip of the fingers) keep stretching gently the dough on the tablecloth to paper thin consistency, from the inside to the outside working your way round the sheet of dough.Keep stretching until the sheet of dough starts to look almost translucent and you will be able to see a pattern of your tablecloth through it.You should end up with a thin sheet of dough stretched more or less into a rectangular shape with a diameter of approximately 40 cm which will fit into a standard 40 cm baking tray.

If you notice that the edges are still a bit thick, stretch them further very gently, or cut them off. If you leave the edges thick, when rolling the strudel, they will form quite a thick layer at the very centre of the strudel risking to remain slightly underbaked.

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Place and spoon evenly half of the ricotta mixture (you will use the other half of the mixture to make a second strudel) over ¾ of the dough sheet leaving about 2-3cm to the edge.

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Fold in the side ends of the sheet to prevent filling coming out during rolling.

Fold in the side ends of the sheet to prevent filling coming out during rolling.

Using the tablecloth to help you, roll the dough all the way and roll it directly onto a sheet of baking parchment, seam side down.Transfer very gently the baking parchment with the rolled strudel on a baking tray.

Repeat the process with the other half of the dough to make a second strudel.

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Brush both strudels with a bit of melted butter.

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Bake in the preheated oven on the middle shelf for about 40-45 minutes, or until the strudel crust turns nice golden in colour.

Take it out of the oven and let it cool a bit.

Serve it slightly warm or at room temperature.

Dust with regular icing sugar or vanilla icing sugar, cut into slices and serve it on its own or with custard.

Just a thought

You can make the strudel dough ahead and keep it refrigerated in an airtight container for up to two days. Before using the dough take it out of the fridge allowing it to come to a room temperature.

Ricotta strudel is best eaten the day is made. You can keep it in an airtight container in the fridge for 3-4 days or overnight on the counter.

You can make a less traditional version of this strudel and replace raisins for chocolate chips in the ricotta filling.

Wine suggestion

Colli Orientali del Friuli Verduzzo Sottozona Cialla DOC “Verduzzo di Cialla” 2017 - Ronchi di Cialla

Dried Fig and Walnut Bread Istrian Recipe

This rustic, rich and dense loaf filled with dried figs and walnuts, will be a fantastic addition to your cheese platter, it is delicious toasted and buttered for breakfast, makes a nice foodie gift, and it is a great snack. Dried figs give a light sweetness to the bread while the walnuts add a very pleasant crunchy texture. If you are intimidated by bread making, I can assure you, this a foolproof recipe, there is nothing complicated about it!

My 96 year old nona told me that in Slovenian Istra, when she was small, the children were given a slice of this bread as a snack for a special treat. The locals call it in the dialect Pan de Fighi, and it was bought in bakeries, and not usually baked in the household, as one might think. Ripe fresh figs, when in full season at the end of the summer were sold in the Farmer's market which provided an extra income for the family.

Nowadays in Slovenian Istra, this bread is not commonly found in bakeries and supermarkets.

I am sharing here my nona's recipe for this super delicious, enriched, special bread.

Recipe

Ingredients

• 500g white all purpose (plain) flour, plus extra for dusting and coating

• 30g caster sugar

• 10g (2Tsp) instant dried yeast

• 260ml lukewarm milk or water (or half and half)

• 60g unsalted butter, melted and slightly cooled

• 1 Tsp sea salt

• 150g dried figs, roughly chopped

• 100g walnut kernels, roughly chopped

Method

With the knife roughly chop the walnuts.

Remove the hard stem from the figs, if there are any, and chop into smaller pieces.

Place the flour, sugar, yeast, milk (water or half and half) and butter in a large bowl. Stir with a fork or a wooden spoon to combine the ingredients then bring together with your hands.

Tip onto a lightly floured work surface, add sea salt and knead for about 10 minutes, pulling and stretching the dough, until it becomes smooth, elastic, and no longer sticks to your fingers or the surface.

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Roll the dough, or press out to flatten slightly into a roughly rectangular or oval shape.

Top with chopped figs and walnuts.

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Knead back into the dough.

Place the dough in a slightly oiled big bowl, cover with cling film (I use plastic shower cap) and leave it to rest in a warm, draught-free room for about 1 hour, or until the dough doubles in size.

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Place the dough onto a lightly floured surface, knock the air out and shape it into a loaf, oval shape.

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Put the loaf onto a baking tray, previously lined with baking parchment, cover with clean tea towel and leave to rest and prove for further 30 minutes, or until risen slightly.

Preheat the oven to 180C static or equivalent.

Sprinkle the top with a little extra flour.

Using a very sharp knife, make a shallow cut along the length of the loaf.

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Bake for about 45 minutes, or until golden brown in colour.

If it browning too much tent the loaf with some aluminium foil.

When baked, the loaf should sound hollow when tapped on the base.

Vanillekipferl – Austrian Vanilla Crescent Biscuits Recipe

Vanillekipferl are one of the favourite, and by far the most famous Christmas shortbread biscuits that just melt in your mouth. They are delicately crumbly, buttery, generously and luxuriously coated in vanilla flavoured icing sugar which makes them seriously delicious and are a fantastic addition to any biscuit platter during the holiday season.

There is a reason why some recipes come into fashion and then go out of fashion, and why other ones get passed on through the generations. The recipe for Vannilkipfel most defiantly falls into a latter category, and that is why they have been baked in my family for generations, and this is also the reason I make them every Christmas, and not only then!

This biscuits have been popular in most of central and Eastern European countries, where they are also easily found in bigger supermarkets, but nothing can compare to when they are homemade. They originated in Vienna, Austria, and it is believed that they were created about 400 years ago, when the Austro-Hungarian Empire celebrated its victory over the Ottoman Turks. Apparently, the locals created this pastry in the shape of crescent moon (kipferl) as seen on the Turkish banner. Austrians have created quite a variety of crescent shaped goodies, being sweet or savoury, like potato gnocchi crescents.

For me, they bring back wonderful memories during the festive period. My maternal grandmother would make a seriously big amount of them. I very vividly remember her making them ahead for the Christmas season and storing them on the small kitchen table in a long hallway, that was not heated (which led to the toilet). Somehow, we children increased the frequency of needing the toilet, and the pile of the biscuits would slowly go down. My grandmother never said anything, in fact, she got great pleasure knowing that we loved her baking, and this is what baking and cooking for others can do. It can create pleasure and memories that sometimes stay with you forever. Well, this type of festive biscuits certainly did just this for me.

These days, in order to make these biscuits, you just go to the food store and buy already milled walnuts and almonds (the most frequently used nuts for this recipe) but this was not quite the case when I was little.

Making Vanillekipferl was a huge deal, my paternal grandparents had a very big walnut and almond tree in the front garden, they had to harvest the nuts in the Autumn, dry them, clean them, crack the shells and remove the kernels, then mill them with mouli grater - quite a job I would say, no wonder they were so special and appreciated!

I am sharing here my maternal grandmother Iva's recipe for these heavenly delicious festive biscuits. If you try to make them this festive season, I will not be surprised if you will continue to pull the recipe out every holiday or Christmas season from now on. I am baking them every year and making sure the traditions stays alive...

Recipe

Ingredients

• 250g plain white flour, sifted

• 200g unsalted butter, very cold or frozen

• 80g caster sugar

• 2 egg yolks, lightly beaten

• 120g ground walnuts (hazelnut or almonds or any combination you like)

• pinch of sea salt

• 1 ½ Tsp vanilla extract

• vanilla flavoured icing sugar

Method

Put the walnuts into a small food processor or mini food chopper and pulse until finely ground. (the texture is really up to your liking, you can pulse and mix the nuts to a finely ground consistency, or leave them to be more coarsely grounded, I prefer the latter). You can also use store bought already ground almond flour.

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Put the sifted flour into a food processor or a mixing bowl. Add cold butter cut into small pieces or coarsely grate it, if using frozen butter.

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If using a food processor, pulse and mix, until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs.

Alternatively, if not using a food processor, rub in the butter together with four fingertips.

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Add caster sugar, lightly beaten egg yolks, vanilla extract, ground walnuts and a pinch of sea salt. Stir with the fork first to combine all the ingredients and allow them to bind together.

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Knead lightly until the mixture forms a smooth dough. You can do this in a bowl or transfer onto a working surface.

Wrap the dough in a cling film, put it in a fridge and let it chill and rest for 30 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 180C static or equivalent.

Cut the chilled dough into quarters. Take one quarter and wrap the rest of the dough in cling film and put it back in the fridge, so the dough stays nice and cold.

Pinch a small piece of the dough, roughly the size of a small walnut (if you want to weight, 14g will give you biscuits that are not too small nor too big)

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Roll each piece of pastry into a small strip (sausage) and twist it into a crescent or horse shoe shape. Do not use any flour on the working surface when rolling and shaping the crescents (if the dough is quite wet and sticky use tiny amounts of flour).

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Arrange crescents on a baking sheet or tray previously lined with baking parchment (do not grease or flour the baking sheet) leaving some space apart, as they will rise a bit during the baking.

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Bake until lightly golden in colour, about 15 minutes.

Leave them on the tray for about a minute or so, and let them cool ever so slightly, but you want the biscuits to be still fairly warm for coating them with sugar (the sugar will stick best, when the biscuits are still warm at the moment of rolling them into vanilla flavoured icing sugar).

Put the vanilla floured icing sugar in shallow dish or bowl.

Put warm walnut crescents, one by one, into the icing sugar and coat them completely. Handle the biscuits very gently, they are fragile and break easily.

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Place the coated crescents onto a plate or a tray.

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Leave to cool and store in an airtight container or a cookie box.

Homemade Vanilla Icing Sugar Recipe

Vanilla icing sugar is widely used in a lot of European baking recipes. It is a very common and a staple baking ingredient. It is added to batters and dough, to whipped cream, sprinkled on top of fresh strawberries, used to dust the cakes, biscuits and other sweets treats. Could not be simpler to make at home, regular icing sugar gets infused with vanilla seeds from a vanilla bean.

On the continent, it is easily available in just about every supermarket, and is so popular that supermarkets sell their own brand of vanilla sugar. This commercially produced vanilla sugar uses vanillin, (primary substance of natural vanilla extract or bean, which is cheaper) rather than vanilla beans (vanilla bean seeds). However, here in the UK, where I currently live, this type of sugar is a bit of a struggle to find, you can almost exclusively buy it in continental food stores or speciality stores.

Vanilla extract, paste, and vanilla beans, in most cases, easily replace vanilla sugar when making custard or when baking cakes or biscuits, but there is one recipe that vanilla icing sugar simply cannot be replaced, and that is for the Austrian Vanilla Crescent Biscuits.

When making these biscuits you can easily add vanilla extract or vanilla paste or seeds from vanilla pod to the biscuit dough, but once the biscuits are baked, they need to be coated in vanilla icing sugar that simply cannot be replaced or substituted by anything else.

Preparing your own vanilla icing sugar offers a very practical solution if you cannot get hold of vanilla sugar, but also makes a lovely homemade gift for your foodie friends and family. It is very quick and easy to make, and you know exactly what goes in it.

Ingredients

• 400g icing sugar

• 2 vanilla pods

Method

Put icing sugar in a food processor (small food chopper or blender, coffee bean or spice grinder will work too). If you do not have any of the above, a bowl and a whisk will do just fine. Food processor helps to break up vanilla seeds that can stick together and clump up a bit.

Cut the vanilla pod in half lengthwise but try not to cut all the way through. Scrape the seeds out of the pod with a knife, keep and reserve the empty pods for later use.

Add the seeds to the sugar .

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Pulse and mix, (or whisk if using a bowl and a whisk).

Put the sugar into an airtight container or divide between the glass jars with airtight lids (size and shape of your choice).

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Cut the rest of the vanilla pod in pieces and add them to the sugar, this will add more flavour.

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You can use the sugar immediately or leave overnight. For optimal flavour leave about two weeks for the sugar to fully absorb the vanilla flour.

Store the vanilla sugar at room temperature in a dry and cool place and give a jar a little shake now and again as the sugar can possibly clump together a bit.

Use for anything you want to add vanilla flavour and particularly indicated for coating Vanilla Crescents Biscuits.

Rustic Apple Pie Squares Istrian Recipe

This quintessentially autumnal and rustic apple sweet treat is made with mouth-watering crumbly butter dough and apple pure filling,  it is baked in rectangular baking trays, and when completely cooled it is cut into squares. 

It is easy to prepare, inexpensive and becomes a delicious dessert when served warm with some cream or vanilla ice cream, goes very well with tea or coffee and makes an excellent snack. Apple bars, when placed in biscuit tin, can also make a lovely present or a pick-me-up gift for someone special. 

When apples are in season, apple pie squares are baked on a regular basis,  and it is one of the most commonly baked sweet treats in Autumn, not only along the Slovenian coast, where I come from, but in every corner of the country, and also very popular in neighbouring Croatia. 

This good old-fashioned bake from childhood is given to the children as an afternoon snack after school, and in Slovenian it is referred to as  Jabolčna pita. It is commonly baked in households, and is sometimes even offered in more informal family run restaurants, and comes with a few variations. 

For extra texture and taste you can add to the apple filling mixture some pine nuts, roughly chopped walnuts or some raisins and a bit of ground cinnamon and /or ground cloves, and adding an extra layer of curd cheese or ricotta is quite common too. 

My maternal grandmother would bake this pie almost on a weekly basis as my grandfather had an orchard with apple tress, like a lot of households have in the countryside, with abundant varieties of apples, which were often shared in the village or community. 

I am sharing here my mother's recipe for this slightly different, off the beaten track recipe, for Apple Pie Squares. No matter if you picked your own apples, or are given some, or you buy them in the food store, bake this delicious pie and you will come back to it, time and time again. You will see, smell, and taste why there is a reason this pie has been baked and loved for generations! 

Ingredients 

Dough 

• 400g plain flour 

• 150g butter 

• 1 Tsp baking powder 

• 100g caster sugar 

• 1 egg, slightly beaten 

• 1-2 Tbsp milk 

• lemon zest of 1 unwaxed lemon, finely grated 

• pinch of sea salt 

Filling 

• 1.5kg apples 

• 2 Tbsp caster sugar (quantity of the sugar depends on the sweetness of the apples) 

• lemon juice of 1 small lemon

• 1 Tsp of ground cinnamon or cloves (optional) 

• icing sugar, for dusting 

Method 

Very lightly grease a 30 x 23 cm (12 x 9 in) traybake or roasting tin. 

To make the pastry, measure the flour into a large bowl and add diced butter. 

Using your fingertips, rub the butter until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs.

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Make a well in the centre of the flour, then add baking powder, sea salt, caster sugar, beaten egg, finely grated lemon zest and the milk. First gently mix with the fork to combine all the ingredients, and for the mixture to come together. 

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Gently gather the dough with your hands and transfer it onto a lightly floured surface. 

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Gently press the dough, without kneading it, until it comes together to form a firm ball. 

If too wet add a bit of flour, if too dry wet your hand with cold water and gently knead. 

Press the dough into a roughly rectangular shape (this will help later to roll out the pastry).Wrap in cling film and leave to rest in the fridge for about 30 minutes.

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Preheat the oven to 180C static or equivalent and prepare the apple filling. 

To make the apple filling peel and coarsely grate the apples, place them in a bowl and add lemon juice.

Add caster sugar and spices, if using, and mix well. 

Transfer the apple mixture into a large frying pan and cook the apples on a gentle heat, stirring occasionally, until they become completely soft, mushy and have a consistency of apple puree.

Turn the heat off and set aside. Taste and adjust sweetness of the filling to your liking by adding more sugar. 

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 Take the dough out of the fridge and divide it in half. 

On a slightly floured surface, with the rolling pin, roll out each half into roughly the size and shape of four baking tray.

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Press one rectangle into the bottom of a baking dish. 

If the dough comes up the sides a bit, do not worry, just tuck it in a bit and press down. 

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Spoon the apple filling.

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Cover with the other half of the dough, tuck it in a bit, and prick the pie crust with a fork. 

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Put it in the oven and bake for about 45 minutes or until the top layer is pale golden in colour. 

Cool completely, dust with icing sugar and cut into squares. 

You can enjoy it warm with cream or vanilla ice cream but you will not be able to cut them into bars, as the apple pie, when still warm, is quite soft and crumbly. 

Traditional Istrian Fig Strudel made from sweet yeast dough Recipe

This rustic bake is one of the most traditional and authentic sweet treats in the cuisine of Slovenian Istra, it is called by the locals kvašen štrudelj s figami or kvašen štrukelj s figami, and it is made from soft, brioche like sweet yeast dough and fig filling. 

It is usually baked towards the end of summer and early autumn, when the figs are in abundance, and although fig filling is the most common and most traditional, other fruits can be used like apples, pears or plums, and different type of nuts can be added too.   

This sweet fig log is a bit of a “gastronomic hybrid”, it looks like a strudel in a way that is rolled into a log like a strudel, but it is made from yeast dough, resembling quite strongly, in terms of flavour, to the dough that is used to make a traditional Slovenian nut roll, Potica. 

This sweet bake used to be prepared and offered for special occasions as a dessert at the end of a big meal, and given to children as a snack and a special treat. Nowadays, it is also eaten for breakfast and offered with tea and coffee, but it is not commonly found in the restaurants and almost exclusively baked in the household. 

Istrian cuisine is a no waste cuisine, so juicy figs, with their delicately perfumed flavour, when fully ripen and plentiful, would get picked, chopped, cooked down in a frying pan with some butter to bring out their innate sweetness, cooled completely and then frozen to be used during late autumn and winter season, when fresh figs are no longer available. 

As a child, on the Slovenian coast, where I grew up, I would eat figs straight from the tree and the common sight of ripe figs slowly started to mark the end of summer and the start of cooler days, back to school days... 

I am sharing here this slightly off the beaten track, very special recipe, passed to me by my nona Nada and her dear friend Arnanda. It was truly touching listening to them, deep in  conversation about the recipe, and its different variations, even when the villages only a few kilometres apart from each another. 

Celebrate this wonderful fruit that marks the transition into autumn and try this delicious bake,. However, if you cannot get hold of fresh figs, you can just use fig jam, or any other jam of your preference for the filling. Your friends and family will be seriously impressed. 

Recipe 

Ingredients for the dough 

• 500g plain all purpose white flour 

• 7g fast-action dried yeast (also called instant yeast) or 20g fresh yeast 

• 100g unsalted butter, melted 

• 100g caster sugar 

• 250ml lukewarm milk or water or a combination of the two (125ml milk and 125ml water) 

• 2 eggs, room temperature, slightly beaten 

• grated lemon zest of 1 unwaxed lemon   

• 1 Tsp sea salt 

Ingredients for the filling 

The filling is made from fresh figs, you can use other fresh fruit like apples, pears, plums or fig jam instead, or any other jam of your preference. 

• 1kg, roughly, of fresh figs   

• 20g unsalted butter 

• grated lemon zest of 1 unwaxed lemon 

• 200ml single cream or ricotta

Method 

The dough 

In a fairly large bowl, sift the flour, make a little well in the centre and add lukewarm milk, instant yeast melted butter, sugar, lightly beaten eggs, grated lemon zest and a pinch of sea salt on the side of the bowl. 

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Mix and combine well all the ingredients with the fork or a wooden spoon. 

(If using fresh yeast, place it into a small bowl and slightly break it down into smaller pieces with your fingers. Add a few tablespoons of tepid milk, ¼ tea spoon of sugar, gently stir and leave for about 15-20 minutes or until gentle bubbles form on the surface). 

Transfer the mixture onto a well floured  working surface and start kneading, for about 10 minutes, adding a little flour at a time if the mixture is too wet and sticky (this will partially depend on the flour and the size of the eggs)

Alternatively, use a mixer fitted with a dough hook and leave running for about 5 minutes. 

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The dough is ready when it ends up being really smooth and elastic. It should not stick to your hands or working surface and should leave the bowl clean, if using a mixer. 

Transfer the dough back into a very lightly oiled bowl and cover with cling film (I use a shower cap, works really well). 

Put the bowl in a warm room free of drafts for at least one hour and leave the dough to rest and rise, the dough should increase in volume and double in size. 

While the dough is resting and rising start preparing the filling. 

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The filling 

Wash the figs and pat dry them. 

Transfer the figs onto a chopping board, half them, quarter them and then roughly chop them. 

In a fairly large frying pan melt the butter and add chopped figs. 

Cook them for a few minutes on a gentle heat, stirring occasionally, until they become completely soft and break down. (if the skin of the figs is still a bit hard, break it down with the help of a wooden spoon). 

Cool completely and set aside. 

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Transfer cooked figs into a bowl, add the cream and the lemon zest, stir and mix until all the ingredients are well combined. 

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Flour well your working surface and rolling pin. Put your dough onto a working surface and roll it out to a more or less rectangular shape (40cmx50cm) to the thickness of about or not more than 1cm. 

This will give you a one big loaf, this is how it is traditionally made, and this is the size I made for this recipe. 

Because of its size, it could be a bit tricky to handle if you are not familiar with the recipe. 

I suggest you might want to divide the dough and the filling in half and make two logs instead.  

Take the fig mixture and spread it evenly on the rolled dough but leave some space around the edge so the filling does not come out when rolling the dough. 

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Gently roll the filled dough quite tightly into a log and tuck well in the edges. 

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Place the log onto a baking tray, previously lined with baking parchment. 

Cover with a clean kitchen towel , place it in a warm, draft free room and leave to prove for the second time for about 30 minutes or until well risen, not necessarily doubling in size. 

Take a toothpick and make a little holes in the dough on the whole surface and brush with either some melted butter or beaten egg. 

Bake in the preheated oven at 180C static, or equivalent, for about 50-60 minutes. Halfway through baking, tent the roll with the aluminium foil to prevent it browning too much and starting to burn. 

Leave on a baking tray until completely cool. 

Transfer on a serving plate, dust with icing sugar and serve. 

Just a thought 

For a more modern version of this traditional fig based sweet treat you can use ricotta instead of the single cream for preparing fig mixture filling and adding a splash of vanilla extract to both the filling and the dough mixture. 

Fig roll tastes at its best the day after has been baked. 

You can store it in an airtight container for up to five days and is suitable for freezing. 

Wine suggestion

Alto Adige Moscato Rosa Passito DOC 2018 - Laimburg

My mum's easy Pear Traybake Recipe

This pear tray bake is made with simple, everyday, ingredients found in your pantry, it is moist, light, soft, super delicious, and incredibly easy and quick to prepare. You will want to make it over and over again, and it will become your number one recipe for a traybake.

This recipe covers it all when it comes to sweet treats, it is perfect for any occasion and it can be enjoyed any time of the day. You can serve it at room temperature or cold as a snack, it goes really well with tea and coffee, it can be made in advance and taken to the picnics; but, it also can be equally served warm as an elegant dessert when “dressed up” a bit and accompanied with cream, whipped cream, fromage frais, yoghurt, or a good quality vanilla ice cream or gelato.

This sumptuously moist pear traybake is incredibly popular back home on the Slovenian coast and baked in the households on a regular basis all year round. In fact, the idea behind this traybake is to use the same basic sponge recipe and add different fresh seasonal fruits or their combinations, so you always end up with a slightly different cake. And of course, using jarred or tinned fruit in this recipe is perfectly fine too.

In the autumn you can use for example pears, apples, plums and blackberries and add ground cinnamon and clove and orange zest to enhance that characteristic autumnal flavours, on the contrary, in the spring and summer months the use of peaches, cherries, nectarines and lemon zest will add freshness to the sponge base.

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I am sharing here my mum's recipe for a tray bake she used to make, and still does, it will become a staple in your sweet things repertoire to bake.

Ingredients

Serves 12

• 3-4 ripe pears (about 500g), tinned pears also work well in this recipe

• lemon zest and juice of ½ small unwaxed lemon

• 3 medium eggs (room temperature)

• 150g caster sugar

• 130g plain white all purpose flour

• 6g baking powder (1 Tsp)

• 5 Tsp neutral tasting oil (75ml)

• ½ Tsp vanilla extract

• ¼ Tsp ground cinnamon, optional

• ¼ Tsp ground cloves, optional

• icing sugar, for dusting

Method

Pre-heat the oven to 180C/Fan 160C/Gas 4.

Lightly grease a tray bake or roasting tin, approx 30 x 23cm (12 x 9), then line the base with baking parchment.

Peel, core and thinly slice the pears. Transfer into a bowl, add lemon zest and squeeze the lemon juice over them. This will help the pears from turning brown and discolouring but also adds a bit of of extra flavour.

Crack the eggs into a mixing bowl, add the sugar and beat with a free-standing or hand-held mixer for about 7 minutes or until the mixture has thickened, becomes slightly pale in colour and foamy.

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Add sifted flour and baking powder along with oil, vanilla extract, and ground cinnamon and clove, if using. Stir with a wooden spoon to incorporate well all the ingredients.

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Add pears to the mixture and stir with a wooden spoon or spatula.

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Transfer the mixture into the tray.

Bake in the pre-heated oven for about 40-45 minutes or until the cake is golden, firm to the touch and and when inserting the knife into the centre should come out clean.

Leave to cool then turn out, remove the parchment, dust with a bit of icing sugar and cut into 12 pieces.

You can also serve it warm as a dessert with cream, whipped cream, fromage frais or a good quality vanilla ice cream or gelato.

Just a thought

In this traybake you could use other fruit such as apples, peaches, nectarines, cherries or plums or a combination of the fruits that your prefer, and all of the fresh fruits can be replaced by jarred or tinned alternative.

You can freeze this tray bake for up to three month.

Wine suggestion

Moscato di Trani DOC Dolce Naturale "Dulcis in Fundo" 2019 - Torrevento

Cherry strudel Istrian Recipe

Cherry Strudel is a variation of a traditional and well known Viennese Apple Strudel, it is a very scrumptious dessert made with very thin elastic pastry, and the filling contains fresh cherries, a bit of sugar, lemon zest and breadcrumbs. If you are thinking that you cannot be bothered pitting the cherries and making your own dough, I can guarantee you an equal delicious results using store bought pastry and jarred, tinned or frozen cherries, no hassle involved!

Apple strudel dates back to1696, when it was first mentioned, and “conquered” all the countries that were once part of Austro-Hungarian Empire, but it is believed that strudel originated from baklava (a famous Turkish pastry based dessert) and travelled to Austria with Ottoman's Empire and through Hungarian cuisine.

Apple strudel has been a big hit in all the countries that were once ruled by Austro-Hungarian Empire, but it is in the North Adriatic that this new variation was created giving originality to a very unique and less known type of strudel. A cherry strudel, is a very much loved seasonal dessert in Slovenian Istra, (Češnjev štrudelj or Češnjev zavitek) where I come from, and neighbouring Trieste in Italy.

Cherry strudel has always been very popular, and when fresh cherries are in season, this dessert is regularly baked in the households, and if you are lucky enough, sometimes you can find it on the menus of informal family run restaurants.

This irresistible dessert really takes me back to my childhood. My mother frequently baked it with fresh cherries picked by ourselves in the garden, or were very generously given by our neighbours, it is the garden where I, as a child, spent a lot of time when my parent were working in the restaurant. Along with the girl next door, who was only a year older than me, we used to pick cherries from the tree that had the reddest and ripest cherries, climbed up it, found a comfortable branch to sit on and munch on cherries until we were completely full, chatting and giggling...

When we were called for lunch, there was little appetite left for it, no matter how delicious it was, and my mother would only looked at us and had the answer, our T-shirts were stained, our lips and mouths deep red in colour from the cherry juices...she never got cross with us, just smiled and shook her head...since my mother used to do exactly the same when she was small...

Looking back, it just made me realize how lucky I was, the first time I ever had the chance to buy fresh cherries was when as an adult I moved to England...

Cherry strudel is traditionally served warm and generously dusted (there is no sugar in pastry) with regular icing sugar or vanilla flavoured icing sugar.

You can turn this simple and rustic pudding into an elegant dessert and serve it with whipped cream, vanilla ice cream or vanilla sauce.

I am sharing here my mother's recipe, which is slightly off the beaten track, for cherry strudel made with home-made pastry and fresh cherries, however you can still indulge yourself and cut corners a bit by using a store bought ready made puff pastry and frozen, tinned or jarred cherries.

Ingredients

Serves 10-12

You can use store bought ready made puff pastry, shortcrust or filo pastry.

Ingredients for home-made strudel dough

• 250g all purpose flour

• 1 egg, lightly beaten

• 3 Tbsp neutral tasting vegetable oil (I used sunflower oil)

• 2 Tbsp white wine vinegar or lemon juice

• sea salt, a pinch

• 50ml-60ml lukewarm water, or as needed

Ingredients for cherry filling

• 700g fresh cherries, washed and pitted (can also use tinned or jarred cherries or store bought frozen cherries, defrost and drain well)

• 100g caster sugar

• 1 unwaxed lemon, grated zest

• 20g butter plus, some extra for brushing

• 80g dry fine breadcrumbs

• sea salt, a pinch

• icing sugar, for dusting

Method

To make the dough

Place the flour in a big mixing bowl and make a well.

In a separate, smaller bowl, mix slightly beaten egg, oil, vinegar or lemon juice, (the acidity will help to relax gluten in the flour making the dough more stretchy) a pinch of sea salt and lukewarm water. Pour the mixture into a flour well.

With the fork, stir the mixture with the flour until well combined. Add a little bit of flour at a time, until the dough comes nicely together, then work the dough with your hands.

Transfer the dough on a lightly floured working surface and knead the dough for about 10 minutes or until nice and smooth.

After this time, the dough should be moist and elastic and not sticky. Add a little more flour if the dough is too sticky to knead.

In order to further encourage the development of the gluten, resulting in a very elastic dough, slam the dough onto the working surface a few times.

Shape the dough into a smooth ball and place it in a clean bowl, previously brushed with oil.

Cover the bowl with cling film and let the dough rest for about 1 hour at room temperature (strudel dough has no yeast, so do not expect the dough to rise or double in size, it needs to rest for gluten to relax).

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To make the filling

In a small pan melt the butter over medium-low heat. When the butter is melted add breadcrumbs, toast them, stirring constantly until golden-brown in colour. Remove from the heat, cool and set aside.

Wash the cherries, dry them a bit, take the stalks off and pit them. Place them in a colander and leave them to drain until needed.

Preheat the oven to 200C static or equivalent.

Divide the dough in half to make two separate strudels as easier to work with.

Place half of the dough on a clean and lightly floured table cloth. Flour the rolling pin and start rolling out the dough. While rolling, to prevent sticking, flour the dough and the surface every now and then.

When the dough reaches about 20 cm in diameter pick it up and keep stretching it. The best way to do so is to use the back of your hands and in particular the knuckles but make sure you remove any sharp jewellery first.

When the dough becomes difficult to handle as it becomes bigger and thinner, place it on a lightly floured tablecloth.

With your hands (tip of the fingers) keep stretching gently the dough on the tablecloth to paper thin consistency, from the inside to the outside working your way round the sheet of dough.

Keep stretching until the sheet of dough starts to look almost translucent and you will be able to see a pattern of your tablecloth through it.

You should end up with a thin sheet of dough stretched more or less into a rectangular shape with a diameter of approximately 40 cm which will fit into a standard 40 cm baking tray.

If you notice that the edges are still a bit thick, stretch them further very gently or cut them off. If you leave the edges thick, when rolling the strudel, they will form quite a thick layer at the very centre of the strudel risking to remain slightly underbaked.

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Transfer the cherries into a bowl, add sugar, breadcrumbs mixture, lemon zest and mix well to incorporate all the ingredients.

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Place and spoon evenly the cherry mixture over one half of the dough sheet leaving about 2-3cm to the edge. Fold in the side ends of the sheet to prevent filling coming out during rolling.

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Using the tablecloth to help you, roll the dough all the way and roll it directly onto a sheet of baking parchment, seam side down.

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Transfer very gently the baking parchment with the rolled strudel on a baking tray.

Repeat the process with the other half of the dough.

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Brush it with a bit of melted butter.

Bake on the middle shelf for 40-45 minutes.

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Cherry Strudel is ready when the crust turns nice and golden.

Take it out of the oven and let it cool completely. Dust it with icing sugar, cut into slices and serve it on its own or with vanilla ice cream or cream.

Just a thought

You can make the strudel dough ahead and keep it refrigerated for up to two days. Before using the dough take it out of the fridge allowing it to come to a room temperature.

Cherry strudel is best eaten the day is made. You can keep cherry strudel in an airtight container in the fridge for 3-4 days or overnight on the counter.

Wine suggestion

Friuli Colli Orientali Verduzzo Sottozona Cialla DOC "Verduzzo di Cialla" 2016 - Ronchi di Cialla

Cooked ham in bread dough Recipe

Cooked ham in bread dough is a real show stopper and a crowd pleaser, this recipe goes back to medieval times when it was customary cooking various types of meats in bread dough.

This dish consists of a piece of ham being cooked first and then wrapped in bread dough and baked in the oven allowing the aroma and the flavours of the ham to travel into the dough during the baking process.

On the Slovenian coast, where I come from, there is no Easter without this dish. This baked delicacy is so deeply rooted in Slovenian gastronomic culture that it is traditionally cooked and eaten around Easter period (with freshly grated horseradish or horseradish cream and mustard) and served as part of Easter breakfast on actual Easter day, in just about every corner of the country, together with hard boiled eggs, Pinca (Easter sweet bread) and Potica (traditional Slovenian festive nut roll).

This dish is also typically found in Trieste, and province of Trieste in Italy, in local osterie (informal, usually family run eating places serving simple local specialities), on a daily basis and typically served with a a glass of wine or locally produced artisan beer.

I studied in Trieste and had this dish on my graduation day as part of the buffet.

This recipe is so popular and delicious that it is nowadays enjoyed all year round, it is also ideal for picnics, as it can be made ahead of time and travels well.

Ingredients

Serves

For the dough

• 500g strong white bread flour

• 7g (one sachet) fast-action dried yeast

• sea salt, a pinch

• 300ml lukewarm milk (full fat, semi skimmed or skimmed)

• 25g butter, unsalted or slightly salted, melted

You also need

• 1.4kg, roughly, unsmoked or smoked Gammon joint

• 1 carrot, optional

• 1 celery stick, optional

• ½ onion, optional

• 1egg, beaten

• a bit of extra milk (about 2 Tbsp)

Method

Place the ham in a big pot and add enough cold water to completely cover the ham.

Add a whole carrot, celery stick and half an onion for extra flavour, if desired.

Bring to boil, lower the heat, cover with the lid and gently boil for required time, this will depend on the size of the ham. (Weight your meat to calculate and work out your cooking times, allow 20 minutes per 450g)

While the ham is cooking, make the dough. (You can cook the ham in advance and wrap it in aluminium foil to keep it moist, and use when needed.

Drain cooked ham in a colander and let it cool completely.

Pat dry the ham well with the kitchen paper.

Put the flour in a large mixing bowl, add dried yeast on one side of the bowl and sea salt on the other. Add the milk, melted butter and mix to combine well all the ingredients.

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The dough at this point will be a bit sticky, but should not be soggy. The dough will become less sticky as you knead.

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Transfer the mixture on to a lightly floured (or lightly oiled) work surface and knead for about 10-15 minutes until the dough is nice and smooth and has an elastic texture. Your hands should not stick to the dough, if they do add a bit of flour at a time.

Put the dough in a lightly oiled large bowl and cover with a cling film. Stand in a warm place, free of drafts, and let it rise for at least 1-1 ½ hours until the dough has doubled or tripled in size.

Turn the dough on to lightly floured surface and knock back by hand for few minutes. Flour well the surface and with the rolling pin roll the dough to about 2cm thick. At this point you can pinch a bit of dough for decorating if you wish (I made a little dough plait, as it is done traditionally).

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Preheat the oven to 180C static or equivalent and line the baking tray with the non stick baking parchment.

In a small bowl mix the beaten egg with a bit of milk and brush the centre of the rolled dough.

Place the ham in the centre on the brushed area.

Brush the rest of the ham with egg and milk mixture.

Wrap the ham with the dough all around, a bit like a parcel. Seal well the edges to avoid the dough opening up during the baking.

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Place your ham and dough parcel on a baking tray with the junctions facing downwards.

Glaze the ham and dough parcel on all sides with the egg and milk mixture.

Prick the ham and dough parcel with a toothpick.

If you created a small Easter themed dough decoration, place it on top of the dough parcel and brush with egg and milk mixture.

Put the ham dough parcel in the preheated oven and bake for 60 minutes. Half way the baking time cover with aluminium foil and bake further until golden in colour.

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Take out of the oven, leave to cool on the baking tray for a few minutes, then remove from the baking tray and leave to cool on a wire rack.

Best served warm with horse radish sauce, freshly grated horse radish root or/and mustard.

Wine suggestion

Collio Pinot Bianco DOC 2020 - Doro Princic

Austrian style Curd Cheesecake Recipe

This Austrian style Curd Cheesecake is a sweet dessert, delicious in its simplicity, consisting of one main layer mixture of curd cheese or ricotta, flavoured with sugar, lemon zest, vanilla extract, eggs and the raisins that have been luxuriously soaked in dark rum.

This cake is quite moist, therefore refreshing and perfect for any occasion, it is very easy to make and a great recipe to keep in the repertoire for cakes that require minimum effort but deliver maximum satisfaction.

In Slovenia, where I come from, curd cheese, in Slovenian called skuta (also referred to as farmer's cheese or baker's cheese) has always been a very popular and commonly used ingredient in baking.

For this recipe, you can easily replace curd cheese for ricotta, which is what I used to do when I first arrived in England, and struggled to find curd cheese, but it is now available these days in most bigger supermarkets or Polish food stores.

Curd cheese

My mother and my maternal grandmother would make this cake very often, this is proper home made rustic baking, and I am sharing here this nostalgic and special family recipe.

Give it a go and try this wonderful cake, but please do remember, despite the temptation, it is really important to completely cool down the cake before cutting it into slices.

Ingredients

Serves 10

• 120g butter, softened

• 200g caster sugar

• 4 eggs, separated

• 1kg curd cheese or ricotta

• 100g semolina

• 3 Tsp vanilla bean extract or seeds of one vanilla pod

• finely grated lemon zest of 2 unwaxed lemons

• 120g raisins or sultanas

• 4 Tbsp dark rum or lukewarm water (for soaking the raisins)

• icing sugar for dusting

Curd Cheese

Method

Place the raisins in a small bowl, pour dark rum or lukewarm water over them and let them soak and plump up for about 30 min.

Preheat the oven to 200C static or equivalent. Lightly grease a 23cm springform tin or loose-bottomed tin and line the base with baking parchment.

Put the softened butter and sugar in a large bowl and mix well. Beat together until light and creamy.

Start adding to the sugar and butter mixture the egg yolks, one at a time, making sure the egg yolk is fully absorbed before adding the next one.

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Add grated lemon zest, curd cheese or ricotta, semolina and vanilla extract and mix well all the ingredients.

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Drain the raisins, remove excess liquid, and add them to the mixture.

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Put the egg whites in a separate large bowl, add a pinch of salt and whisk the egg whites until stiff but not dry.

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Fold very gently and lightly into the mixture.

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Turn the mixture into a prepared tin.

Bake the cake in a preheated oven for 30min on 200C then lower the temperature to 180C and bake further for another 30min. Cake should be golden in colour on the surface and firm to the touch.

If halfway through baking time the cake is browning too fast, cover the top of the cheesecake loosely with the aluminium foil, to prevent the top from becoming too brown.

When the cake is baked, turn off the oven but leave the cheesecake in the oven for about 1 hour allowing it to cool a bit.

Take the cake out of the oven and allow it to cool completely.

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Loosen the sides of the cake, using a palette knife if needed, and remove the tin.

Invert the cheesecake, then remove the base of the tin and the baking parchment.

Turn the cake back the right way up.

Dust with sifted icing sugar just before serving. This cake is very moist and the icing sugar will dissolve if you dust the cake too soon, no permanent damage though.

Wine suggestion

Montefalco Sagrantino Passito DOCG 2015 - Lungarotti