2016!

Holiday Baking : A dessert named "Lonci"

We first tasted this "cake" at my sister-in-law, and my husband loves it. So, he asked for the recipe from his sister. Nobody knows why the name "Lonci". We tried searching online with no result. For me, the looks is exactly like a Gerbeau slice, except for the fillings, of course.  I would say that the filling is too mild and the chocolate taste takes over. However, I do like the result of the pastry and this method of making butter cream intrigues me. Perhaps I'll test out the pastry and buttercream separately in other bakes in the future.

Lonci (Creamy Gerbeau Slice)

Ingredients

For pastry

400gm flour

1/2 sachet baking powder

120gm shortening (used goose fat)

120gm sugar (reduced to taste)

1 egg

sour cream , as needed (less than a cup)

For filling

200gm butter, softened

250gm powdered sugar (reduced according to my taste)

500ml milk

2 Tbsp sugar

4 heap Tbsp flour

flavourings :-

Rum

cocoa

1 tsp vanilla extract or 1 sachet vanilla sugarFor cocoa glazing

4 Tbsp water

8 Tbsp sugar

3 Tbsp cocoa powder

120gm butter

Method

For Pastry

1. Mix together all ingredients in a bowl except for sour cream. Add sour cream gradually and knead until you have a smooth dough
2. Divide dough into 3. Roll each dough out into a rectagular sheet and blind bake each sheet until golden brown in a meadium heat oven
3. 
   

For filling

1. Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy set aside.
2. Cook milk, sugar and flour in sauce pan until it thickens. Place the thicken mixture onto cold water to cool. Stir the mixture continuously until cooled.
3. Mix together buttercream (1) and milk mixture (2) . Divide this into 2 portions.
4. One portion flavour with cocoa and rum ; while another portion add in vanilla extract or a sachet of vanilla sugar

For cocoa glazing

1. Bring water and sugar into a boil and mix in cocoa powder. Remove from heat and add in butter and mix until well combine

Assembly

1. Place 1 sheet of baked pastry onto serving dish, spread with all of cocoa flavour filling. Then place seconc sheet of baked pastry over it. Next spread vanilla flavoured filling over the pastry and place final baked pastry sheet on top.
2. Finish off by pouring cocoa glazing while glazing is still warm . Let cake rest for at least a day before serving.

Holiday Baking : Chocolate coins

With the left over melted chocolate from Ischler cookies, I've decided make these chocolate coins. The inspiration came from Jamie Oliver's edible gifts for Christmas.

What I did.
1) Put a thin layer of melted chocolate (no less than 60% cocoa content) in cupcake cases. Mine was a bit too thick.
2) Sprinkle some finely chopped candied citrus fruit and toasted nuts onto chocolate.
3) Let it set in room temperature.
4) Once set, peel away the cupcake cases and store in jar. I keep the jar in the fridge.

Holiday baking : Ischler cookies

Ischler cookies , a repeat from 2012.

Holiday Baking : Buttermilk scones { kefires pogácsa }

Savoury scones are popular during family gatherings and parties over here. I'm glad that I finally tried my hand at making Hungarian scones which has more process than the English one.

Buttermilk Scones
Makes : 40 pcs mini-scones
via Arany Tepsi

Ingredients
50gm Flour
1 tsp salt
25ml milk
15gm yeast
1/2 tsp sugar
1 small egg yolk
125gm margarine
75ml kefir (buttermilk)

For glazing
1 egg yolk

Preparation :-
1) Heat up milk in sauce pan until warm NOT hot. Once milk warm to touch, switch off the heat and pour our milk in a jar, put in the sugar and crumbled yeast. Let this mixture sit for 10 mins. to a activate the yeast.
2) Once yeast has been activated, place flour in a mixing bowl, sprinkle in the salt. Cut in the margarine, mix it until crumbly texture. Then make a well in the centre, pour in the yeast, egg yolk and kefir. Knead until just everything come together, do not over work it.
3) Place dough on a slightly bigger tray as the dough will grow as it rest. Let it rest in the fridge for 1 hour.
4) 30 mins. into resting time, start pre-heating the oven at 180°c.
5) After 1 hour, halved the dough and place the other half back in the fridge. Roll out dough on floured surface until 1.5cm thickness. Score the top of the dough in a criss-cross patent. Use a round cutter, cut out dough, place on lined baking tin. Give some space between each cut dough. Glaze with egg yolk.
6) Repeat rolling and cutting process again until dough is finish.
7) Bake in pre-heated oven for 20-25 mins.

Holiday Baking : Hungarian poppy seeds / walnuts rolls { Bejgli II }

Two thumbs up for this recipe! which by the way , will replace the one archived here before.  What I like about this version is the fluffy bread texture as you see below.

With the exorbitant price of walnuts, I've opted to only make the poppy seeds fillings. That being said, both fillings are equally good. For us and especially my mother-in-law, she prefers the poppy seeds type.

The recipe linked below makes 6 rolls; but the quantity I stated below have been adjusted to only 2 rolls. In fact, I could have made into 3 shorter rolls instead of 2 long ones.

Bejgli
source : Receptneked

makes 2 rolls

Ingredients
For the dough
130ml sour cream (20% fat)
83g goose fat
1 medium-size egg
2 Tbsp sugar
pinch salt
30gm fresh yeast
400gm flour

For the filling

200gm ground Poppy seeds
100gm Honey
100gm water
vanilla extract
bunch of raisins, soaked and drained
1 zest of lemon
2 Tbsp of apricot jam
sugar, to taste


For glazing
1 egg, seperated

Preparation
For the dough
1) In a bowl, mix together sour cream, goose fat, egg, sugar and salt.
2) In another bowl, put in the flour and crumble in the yeast. Then create a well in the centre, and pour in the sour cream mixture (1). Mix until all ingredients are combine.
3) On a floured surface, pour out the flour mixture and knead until you get a smooth dough.
4) Let the dough rest in covered bowl , in room temperature for 1 hour.

For the filling
1) Heat water until hot. Combine it with honey and mix well.
2) In a bowl, put the ground poppy seeds, lemon zest, apricot jam, vanilla extract , soaked and drain raisins. The pour in the honey-water mixture. Combine well. Check for sweetness, if needed add sugar to taste. I needed to add sugar in consideration of my MIL taste buds.
3) Divide filling into 2 portions. Set aside until assembly.

To finish
1) 30 mins. into proofing the dough, start pre-heating the oven at 180°c
2) Once dough is fully proof, pour out on floured work surface, and punch out the air from the dough.
3) Divide dough into 2 equal size.
4) Take the first dough, roll out into a rectangle shape. Size according to your preference.
5) Spread a portion of the filling onto the dough , leaving some space on the sides to prevent leakage.
6) Roll up the dough just like Swiss roll, but not too tight to leave room for the dough to grow and not burst.
7) Repeat the same for the next roll. Glaze each roll with only egg yolk. Then let it dry for about 15 mins. After 15 mins. glaze with egg white.  Use a knife or fork to prick the roll all the way to let out the steam during baking.
8) Bake in the pre-heated oven for 30-35 mins. until golden brown.

Serving
It is better to let the roll sit for a day or two to enhance the taste even more. Just wrap the rolls in cling film and keep in a cool place.

Jamie Oliver Roasted Pork Belly {燒肉}

The last time and also the first time I roasted Chinese-style pork belly was in 2007! Although nothing wrong with the recipe and the taste, I failed in achieving the crackling skin. So, when this week the pork belly goes on sale, I thought why not try a different recipe and see how it goes. 
The verdict : I did it, I  achieved the crispy crackling! Also, seasoning with just salt and pepper were the perfect way to eat this. I'll definitely be using this recipe again!

I've since made this recipe several time and will be my go-to roasted pork belly going forward.

Jamie Oliver Roasted Pork Belly
adapted from Jules Food 

for 2-3 pax

Ingredients
600gm pork belly
Sea / kosher salt
fresh ground pepper

Method
1) Pre-heat oven 220°c / Gas 7
2) Clean pork belly and pat dry with kitchen towel. 3) Start by scoring pork rind, in a criss cross manner, 1cm apart. *Do not score to deep, just until the fat not meat*
4) Rub salt all over the scored skin well. Get rid of excess salt.
5) Season the underside of the meat with salt and ground pepper.
6) Place pork belly, skin side up on baking dish. Bake in the oven for 1/2 hour until the skin of the pork has started to puff up and you can see it turning into crackling.
7) After 1/2 hour, remove pork belly from oven and reduce temperature to 180°c/Gas 4. Put pork belly back into oven and cook for another 1/2 hour. *At this point, you may add onion, garlic, any vegetables and herbs to roast*  8) After the second 1/2 hour, remove pork belly again, baste the drippings on pork belly and put it back in the oven to cook for final 15-20 mins. or until meat falling apart.
9) Let it rest before serving.