Easy Tiramisu

Tiramisu, , literally "pick me up", is a popular Italian dessert. It is made of ladyfingers (Italian: savoiardi) dipped in coffee, layered with a whipped mixture of egg yolks and mascarpone, and flavored with liquor and cocoa. The recipe has been adapted into many varieties of puddings, cakes and other desserts.

But now lets go to what I am about to post - its an easy recipe, so, Easy Tiramisu? No raw egg? No Mascarpone? No zabaglione??

Yes! Super easy! This was my first time doing the dessert and it was a hit! I literally made this in like 10 minutes? YEAH!


Ingredients
250 gm of *WHIPPED* Cream Cheese
90 gm of Icing Sugar
450 ml of Thickened Cream/Heavy Cream
1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
Few teaspoon of Cocoa Powder
1 Cup of strong brewed coffee cooled


Method
1) Whisk thickened cream till it is thick and have stiff peaks ( 4 minutes by hand mixer )

2) Add in whipped cream cheese, icing sugar and vanilla into the whipped cream and mix till it is all well combined. Then let it sit in the fridge to set for about 45 minutes to an hour.

3) Line baking paper on a 8 x 8 square pan to ease transferring the tiramisu out of the pan.

4) Line the bottom pan with sponge fingers dipped into the strongly brewed coffee. Then, spread a layer of the pastry cream on top of the sponge fingers. Then another layer of coffee dipped sponge cakes then a final layer of pastry cream on top. The amount of pastry cream is up to you! ;) be extremely generous is my advise!

5) Sprinkle cocoa powder on top as the final touches, this is also up to you how much cocoa powder you want to sprinkle. Once done, place it in the fridge again to set for at least 1 hour but optimally over 4-5 hours to fully allow it to set.

Personal notes
1) If you can't find whipped cream cheese in your grocery store, just beat 250 gr block of cream cheese with 3-4 tablespoon of fresh cold milk till it is smooth and creamy. You may do this the night before and use it the next day when making the Tiramisu

2) Do not soak the sponge fingers or it will fall apart very easily when doing your layers. So just dipped it in very quickly.

ENJOY!

Brigadeiro - Brazilian Chocolate Truffles

These sweet treats are named for a Brazilian Air Force commander who was popular during the 1940′s, and they are a common Brazilian bon bon which is served at any type of celebration. They can be rolled in various types of awesome things, too: granulated sugar, nuts, coconut, chocolate sprinkles.

, these are ridiculously easy to make, by the way. All you need is a little whisking power, a few hours to chill the mixture, and you’ve got it made. If you need a quick fix for some sort of holiday get-together, these are it. They are really good, too.



Ingredients

1 Condensed milk can
3 to 5 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tbsp butter

Method

Pour ingredients in pan and put them to boil mixing all the time with a wooden spoon or spatula. Once it appears that it started to unglue from the pan, and it is thick, turn off and spread over a buttered or sprayed bowl. Wait till it cools and shape balls of 2.5cm diameter with buttered/oily hands, throw in chocolate sprinkles and rolls them over it. Place balls in paper liner. Keep them stored in a cool place.

I found below picture in a Brasilian website, and just added it to show you an idea how some also put the brigadeiro on the table, I LOVE IT! don't you?


ENJOY!

Shrimp Stuffed Avocado

Ingredients:

4-5 firm ripe avocados

1 lb medium sized cooked shrimp

½ medium red onion, diced finely

2 radishes, diced finely

½ red bell pepper, diced finely

2 celery stalks, diced finely

2 hardboiled eggs, diced

5 tbs cilantro aioli or regular mayonnaise

Lime juice from 1 lime

Salt/pepper to taste

Optional garnishes: chopped lettuce, sliced tomatoes and chopped cilantro

Preparation:

1. Chop shrimp in half, if desired keep a few to garnish.
2. Combine diced onions, radishes, bell pepper, celery, eggs, shrimp, ½ of the lime juice and aioli in a bowl, mix well.
3. Taste and salt/pepper if necessary.
4. Cut avocados in half, remove seed and peel carefully.
5. Drizzle remaining lime juice over avocados, this help keep them from darkening too quickly.
6. Use a spoon to stuff avocados with shrimp salad filling.
7. Add any garnishes and serve immediately.

Crème Caramel with Cake

Crème caramel, flan, custard, you can call it as you want it, it is this delicious cold jelly like sweet that is full of sweetness and milk. Delicious! My son loves it, and when he wants one he says 'I want patene' since he doesnt know how to spell it, LOL!

Now take a second and imagine having 2 delicious things in 1! Let's say, crème caramel and chocolate cake.. Wait! what?! yep, you can have them both in 1 plate... I will show you how..

Crème Caramel with Cake

Ingredients

For the cake:
1 Betty Crocker Chocolate Cake Mix (I used the Devil's Food Cake Mix)

For the crème caramel:
1 can of condensed milk
1 can of milk (put 1 measurement of milk using the same can as the condensed milk)
4 eggs
1 tsp of vanilla


Method

Heat oven at 200 celsius.

Prepare two bowls next to each other. In each bowl pour the ingredients needed for each. Beat the cake with the cake mixer, and the crème caramel with a blender - I used for this the Braun hand mixer which easier.

Get a Round cake form with whole in the middle topped with caramer. Pour on it around 1.5 cups of sugar and put it on heat to melt. Once melted pour around 1/4 water and mix - then spread the mix all around the form, even use a spoon to pass the sugar mix in the middle of the pan. After spreading it all around, pour the cake mixture slowly, and then even slower, you can use creme caramel mixture on it. You might think that 'OMG the creme caramel mixture is mixing with the cake mixture' but dont worry, dont think about it, its worthless! coz nothing has happened!

Note: you have to check how much cake mix you need to pour in the cake form - I didnt use all because my form wasnt going to fit in it.

Cover the form firmly with foil paper, and bake it at 200 degrees celsius on bain-marie.

Banana bread filled with Nutella

This is a twist on a previous recipe I posted here which is the Banana Bread recipe filled with Nutella chocolate!

Just do the same recipe, spread half of the mix and spread nutella, of course, depends on how much you want nutella in it, then swirl it in the mix, then pour the rest on it. I sprinkled the cake with almonds and turned out delicious!

Here are few pics of how it turned out

Atayef (Mini pancake with cream)

These small pancake are very famous in Lebanon. Specially in Ramadan. They are a unique type of pancake that is only cooked on one side! and it is so much fun to eat it too! It might sound difficult but believe me it is not!!

For Pancake

Ingredients

• 1 cup of AP flour
• 1 cup fine semolina
• 1 1/4 cup warm water
• 1 tsp of dry yeast
• 1 tbsp of dry milk powder
• 1/2 tsp of baking soda
• 1/2 tsp of baking powder
• 1 tbsp of sugar

Method:

1. Proof the yeast by combining it with 1/4 cup of warm water, a teaspoon of sugar; place in a warm place and let it foam.

2. In a small bowl, sift the flours, sugar, baking powder, baking soda; mix with a wire whisk.

3. Pour one cup of warm water into a bowl; add the powdered milk and stir to combine well.

4. Mix with the wire whisk; add the flour mixture and stir; the consistency should be a little thicker than a crêpe batter. If the batter is too thick, add a little water.

5. Heat a crêpe or pancake nonstick skillet till very hot; grease it with a half teaspoon of oil or spray it; place the equivalent of 1/4 cup of batter in the skillet to form a circle. Let it cook for a few minutes on one side; when it has formed little bubbles and it looks dry, take it out onto a plate. Do not flip it.

6. As soon as all the atayefs are cooked, fill them with some ashta (cream), a bit of cherry coulis, pinching on one end to form a spoon shape and place in a serving platter; serve right away or within one hour.

7. I sprinkled them with ground pistachio and cherry on the middle a piece of maraschino cherries.

For the filling (Ashta or Cream)

• 3 cups of milk powder
• 2 cups of water
• 1 tbsp of corn starch
• 1 tbsp of rose water

Method:
Mix all in a pan and bring to boil. Wait till it thickens, then turn off and move to a serving dish to be used when filling the pancakes.

For the syrup:

• 1 cup of sugar
• 1/2 cup of water
• 1 tsp lemon juice
• 1tsp of rose water
  

METHOD:

For the syrup:

Place the sugar and water in a saucepan; bring to a boil and add the lemon juice; boil the syrup for 8 minutes or until it gets a bit syrupy (test it on the back of a spoon and see if running your finger will leave a mark). Add the flavorings and simmer a few seconds more then turn off the heat and let the syrup cool. This can be done several weeks ahead and the syrup kept in a jar tightly closed in the fridge.

ENJOY!

Fish with Coconut Sauce

This recipe is from a site that I lovee! it has so many Ecuadorian recipes! Just like Colombian/Latin ones.. I have tried few and will post it later.. As for this recipe, its sooo unique! I never cooked fish with coconut milk so I was hesitant, but I trust Laylita and I was sure it was going to be a success..! It didn't take time at all and not many ingredients were involved. I added shrimps to it just because I love it!


Recipe from www.laylita.com

Ingredients:

1kg lbs fresh fish fillet, cut in medium size chunks
¼ cup lime juice, from about 2 limes
Juice from 2 oranges
4 garlic cloves, crushed
1 tsp cumin powder
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp ground coriander seeds
2 tbs canola oil
1 medium sized onion, diced
2 yellow bell peppers, diced
4 , peeled and chopped
1 can of coconut milk
3 tbs cilantro, finely chopped
Salt to taste
Side dishes – rice and fried ripe plantains

Method

1. Mix the lime juice, orange juice, crushed garlic, cumin, paprika, coriander powder and salt in a small bowl.
2. Marinate the fish chunks for 1 – 2 hours.
3. Heat the oil to prepare a refrito or base for the sauce, add the diced onions, tomatoes, bell peppers and salt, cook for about 5 minutes on medium heat.
4. Add the coconut milk to the refrito, mix it in well and cook for about 10 minutes, if you prefer a thicker sauce you can thicken the sauce by adding ½ tsp of corn starch.
5. Add the fish fillets, cover partially and let simmer for about 20-25 minutes.
6. Sprinkle with cilantro and serve with rice and fried ripe plantains (if you like to!).

ENJOY!!

Lemon Buttermilk Pound Cake

Adapted from Cooking Light

Ingredients

• 3 tablespoons grated lemon rind (about 2 lemons)
• 3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice (about 1 lemon)
• Cooking spray or butter for the cake form
  
• 1 1/2 cups plus 2 tablespoons granulated sugar, divided
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
  
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 3 large eggs
• 1 cup low-fat buttermilk (if you dont have substitute it with 1c of milk or low fat milk with 1tbsp of either lemon juice of white vinegar - let it sit for 5min)
  

Method

Preheat oven to 180 degrees C.

To prepare cake, combine rind and 3 tablespoons juice in a small bowl. Set aside.

Coat a pan with cooking spray; dust with 2 tablespoons granulated sugar. or butter it and sprinkle the sugar on it.

Lightly spoon the flour into dry measuring cups, and level with a knife. Combine flour, baking powder, salt, and baking soda in a large bowl, stirring well with a whisk.

Place butter in a large bowl; beat with a mixer at medium speed until light and fluffy. Gradually add remaining 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar, and rind mixture beating until well blended. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition.

Add flour mixture and 1 cup buttermilk alternately to sugar mixture, beating at low speed, beginning and ending with flour mixture.

Spoon batter into prepared pan.

Bake at 180 for 40 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pan 10 minutes.

ENJOY!

Mozzarella and Broccoli Salad

Hey everyone! Apologies for my lack of posts! I was on vacation for a month and now I am back home!

This recipe was done by my sister. Its super easy and delicious!

Mozzarella and Broccoli Salad


Ingredients
Iceberg Lettuce - washed/drained and cut
Broccoli - Steamed/Boiled
Can of Baby Corn
Canned Red Beans - washed
Can of Palm Hearts - washed and sliced
Fresh Mozarella

Dressing
Olive oil Balsamic Vinegar Salt and pepper

Method
In the serving plate, pour a layer of lettuce; In a separate bowl mix the corn, beans and sliced palm hearts along with the broccoli. Pour half the dressing on them and mix. Pour the mixed veggies on the lettuce spreading them along it. Put on top of them the mozzarella balls, if you want you can slice them or make them square as you like.. Then spread other half of the sauce on top of everything.

ENJOY!