The Secret World of Arriety and the Raspberry Cake

Arrietty is one of our favourite characters. If you like animated fantasy films, particularly by Hayao Miyazaki, this film might be just for you. Arrietty which is classified under the titles The Borrower Arrietty in Japan and The Secret World of Arrietty in North America is based on The Borrowers by Mary Norton, an English author of children's books. It's about a family of tiny people who live secretly in the walls and floors of a typical household, borrowing items from humans to survive. 

Well, we've been watching it for the last week and every time I watched it the main character Arrietty inspired me to bake something colourful with a special flavour and I ended up with this raspberry cake. Blow-minding!

Ingredients
250 g flour, add more if the batter is too runny
2 medium eggs 
140 cup caster sugar
140 cup vegetable oil
140 cup milk
1 bag of baking powder (13g)
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon rum aroma  
200 g fresh or frozen raspberries
powdered sugar, to serve
 

Directions
1. Heat oven to 180-190C and grease a 22 cm cake tin. 
2. Using an electric mixer, mix eggs and oil until creamy and then add milk, flour, baking powder, rum aroma, lemon juice until well combined.
3. Spread the mix over the cake tin and smooth over the top. Scatter the raspberries over. 
4. Bake for 25-30 minutes until golden. 
5. Cool on a wire rack until completely cold. Remove from the tin and and dust with powdered sugar to serve. 

   

Crescent Cookies with Apple-Cinnamon Filling

 

Here comes the second recipe for the same type of crescent cookies in my previous post. This time I made apple-cinnamon filling which definitely gave them far better taste. Delicious!

For the Dough 

Ingredients

500g plain flour 200g butter, softened
200 ml sour cream 3 tablespoons caster sugar

2 small eggs
7g baking powder
lemon zest
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
powdered sugar and ground cinnamon to garnish
Apple-cinnamon filling

Directions:
1. Preheat your oven to 180°C.  
2. Combine the butter, sugar, vanilla, zest and sour cream using an electric mixer.  
3. Add the flour and baking powder. Mix until it is well combined.
4. Divide the dough into five balls, cover with cling wrap or baking paper and put into the fridge to chill for 20 minutes.
5. Roll each ball into a thin (2mm) circle. Cut out smaller circles using a glass or cup.
6. Dot a small amount of filling at the bottom of each circle.
7. Cut stripes on the other side of the circles using a knife.
8. Roll each into a mini croissant shape.
9. Place onto a baking paper lined tray and into the oven for 15-20 minutes, until lightly golden. 
10. Cool on a wire rack and sprinkle with cinnamon and powdered sugar.

For the filling

Ingredients

1/2 cup unsalted margarine, softened
1 1/2 cups grated apples

3 tablespoons brown sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

Directions:

1. Heat margarine in a large sauté pan over medium heat.
2.When bubbling, add the fruit and sauté 4 to 6 minutes until softened.
3. Stir in all remaining ingredients and put set aside to cool on the counter or in the refrigerator.
4. When cool, fill crescents with desired amount.

 

Crescent Cookies with Plum Jam

 

It is quite satisfying to find ways of producing things which have a feeling of both your own cuisine and the cuisine where you chose to live. One of the main reasons is that it makes you realise how successfully you have become part of that place and also how cleverly you managed to integrate your cultural elements with the new ones. Sometimes you end up having to divert from the original recipe just because you have run out of one the ingredients - necessity is the mother of invention! At other times, you feel there is something missing in the recipe - usually the spices people use in Turkey. Thinking so, or realising that I've been doing so since I first came to Sarajevo, I found four 'kiflice' recipes which are slightly different from each other. They were all tested by one of my colleague's mother. Kiflice, by the way, is a traditional treat in the Balkans. If you google it, you may come across several recipes under different names such Serbian rolls, Croatian rolls, Serbian crescents or Croatian crescent cookies. Whatever the name is, it's almost the same thing. Well, I chose two recipes and made those fantastic treats immediately. They came out just perfect! Here you will find the first recipe I tried which uses milk. So now, you might wonder what is it now that I added to this recipe. It's the way I shaped them. When the dough is ready to roll, the recipe tells you to divide the discs into triangles, just as pizza slices and then roll them over. That's it. It lacks the elegance that their mind-blowing taste would make you associate with. That was what I thought, at least, and so I cut a few stripes on one side of each disc which gives each crescent a finer look. Graceful and delicious!

Ingredients:
500g plain flour
250g butter, softened
200 ml milk 
2 tablespoons caster sugar
14g baking powder
lemon zest
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
powdered sugar and ground cinnamon to garnish
Plum jam for filling

Directions:
1. Preheat your oven to 180°C.

2. Combine the butter, sugar, vanilla, zest and milk using an electric mixer.
3. Add the flour and baking powder. Mix until it is well combined.

4. Divide the dough into four disks, cover with cling wrap or baking paper and put into the fridge to chill for 20 minutes.
5. Roll each disc into a thin (2mm) circle. Cut out smaller circles using a glass or cup.
6. Dot a small amount of jam at the bottom of each circle.
7. Cut stripes on the other side of the circles using a knife. 
 
 
























8. Roll each into a mini croissant shape.
9. Place onto a baking paper lined tray and into the oven for 15-20 minutes, until lightly golden. 
10. Cool on a wire rack and sprinkle with cinnamon and powdered sugar. 
 

Caramelized Pears with Walnuts, Honey and Yogurt

When you have more than enough fruits at home, what do you do usually do with them? I usually give them a quick stir in a skillet with honey and then enjoy every bit of them with a sprinkle of crumbled walnuts and ground cinnamon. Mind-blowing! We had caramelized pears to the accompaniment of some low-fat yogurt this time. Once you try it and see how quick it is to get such an amazing dessert in such a short time, you become an addict of fresh fruit desserts. What makes them so appealing is that they are both low in calories and rich in vitamins and minerals. If you are one of those who crave something sweet late at night, this type of desserts might be the right choice and solution for you. You can serve them with whatever you have on hand such as hazelnuts, raisins, walnuts, pistachios, almonds, ice-cream, and even cereals. 

Ingredients
2 pears, sliced thinly, discard core
1/4 cup unsalted butter
1/4 cup crushed walnuts 
2 tablespoons dark brown sugar
 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1/3 cup water
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon (optional)
1/2 cup vanilla yogurt
honey, for drizzling over top 
 

Directions

1. Preheat skillet over medium-low heat.
2. Add butter and melt.
3. Stir in sugars (and optional cinnamon) to incorporate. Once mixture begins to bubble, slowly and carefully add water and stir together.
4. Add pears. Use wood spoon and fork to flip and coat evenly.
5. Allow mixture to thicken flipping pears.  Let pears cook for about 3 to 4 minutes on each side.The pears will soften at different times depending on their ripeness. The edges of the pears will brown a bit and appear slightly translucent when done.
6. Remove from heat and leave in skillet while prepping plates.
7. Place a dollop of yogurt in a bowl and place the slices of pear on the yogurt. 
8. Top with a few walnuts and drizzle with honey.

Spicy Muffins with Feta and Vegetables

I am a big fan of cheese. Cheese is never enough or it is never too late to have some cheese. If I can ever add some cheese to any food, I do. I do it with a great pleasure. Whenever I have some spare time, I find myself on websites with lots of cheese photos. Well, here is a link to such a site where you can enjoy those awesome photos of mouth-watering sandwiches with Wisconsin cheese: http://grilledcheeseacademy.com/

After a joyful visit to this website, I craved cheese and headed to the kitchen right away and I ended up with muffins with feta and vegetables. You should definitely give it a try! Please remember to smell it before the first bite!

• 
  
• Ingredients
•  
•  1 cup butter, melted
•  
• 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
•  
• 2 large eggs
•  
• 1 cup milk
•  
• 2 ½ cups all-purpose flour
•  
• 1 cup crumbled feta 
•  
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 
  
• 3 green onions, finely chopped
• 
  
• 1 teaspoon fresh ginger, grated
• 
  1 teaspoon ground dry mint 
• 
  
• 3 teaspoons baking powder
•  
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 
  
• Directions
• 
  
1. Preheat the oven to 200 °C and lightly grease or line with paper baking cups muffin cups. 
2. In a large bowl, blend together the flour, baking powder, and salt. 
3. In a medium bowl, beat the egg, milk, butter and sugar until smooth. Fold in the ginger, garlic, green onions, mint,  and feta.
4. Combine the two mixtures, blending until the dry ingredients are moistened. 
5. Fill the muffin cups about three-quarters full. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes or until a wooden toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean. 
6. Cool on a wire rack and serve warm.

Handmade Candies in Bosnia and Herzegovina

Here are the photos of the candies I bought at Nazmi's candy parlor in Visoko yesterday. 

     These ones are pepper-mint flavoured candy squares.

I was a fan of sesame and caramel candies when I was a kid. Have you noticed the pattern on the red  lollipops?

Candy Makers in Visoko, BiH

This is Nazmi's candy parlor where he, with his wife, makes old-fashioned candies in Visoko which is a small town nearby Sarajevo. He owns and runs perhaps one of those rare shops where they still use generations-old equipment. Their products are old-fashioned and all hand-packed. They don’t make or sell zillions of products, just a few including the sesame and caramel candy I used to enjoy when I was a kid. All of them emphasize the handmade feel.

I wasn’t lured to the fairy-tale charm of the old shop, however, when I stepped into the shop, I felt as if I entered a world where nothing was rushed. Nothing seemed more important than the making of candies. An old man was rolling at least a twenty-kilo-piece of candy on the cooling table and a woman of his age was helping him holding the melted red candy. Their method seemed a bit too old-fashioned, but it was what gives the whole process and the products their charm. They make candy in small batches and nothing else mattered. I fell in love with the old roll cutter they have. 

I bought whatever they had ready on the shelves, but we couldn’t wait until they had finished the striped candy squares. We left. We headed for Sarajevo leaving the old couple in their shop behind. 

I don’t know how much candy they make or sell every year, I don't know whether they teach anybody else how to make candy using their own recipe, or I don't know who buys their products. However, I want to be of some help to the old couple. I wish I could help them make candy while they can. It’s a pity I don’t live in that town. I wish I did…

Banana Bread

 

It was almost midnight and I was dead tired after a fantastic trip to Visoko, a small town nearby Sarajevo. I had seen a lot and I wanted to crown the day by something special. I noticed the ripe bananas on the counter and I remembered how much I had wanted to try the banana bread for the last few weeks. I used John Barrowman's recipe on BBC Food and the bread came out exactly the same as it was shown in the photograph on the website. The recipe was easy and gave a perfect result. My contribution to this wonderful bread was two teaspoons of ground cinnamon. Early in the morning, the inspirational smell of cinnamon and bananas filled the whole house while the others were fast asleep. The taste? My colleagues in the office devoured their slices with an expression of pleasure on their faces this morning. The banana bread made my day.

Ingredients

285 g plain flour

1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

110 g butter, plus extra for greasing

225 g caster sugar

2 free-range eggs

4 ripe bananas, mashed

85 ml buttermilk (or normal milk mixed with 1 1/2 teaspoon lemon juice or vinegar)

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 180C.

2. Sift the flour, bicarbonate of soda and salt into a large mixing bowl.

3. In a separate bowl, cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.

4. Add the eggs, mashed bananas, buttermilk and vanilla extract to the butter and sugar mixture and mix well. Fold in the flour mixture.

5. Grease 20cmX12.5cm loaf tin and pour the cake mixture into the tin.

6. Transfer to the oven and bake for an hour, or until well-risen and golden-brown.

7. Remove from the oven and cool in the tin for a few minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely before servings.