Shortbread Cookies

Today I will give you the Shortbread Cookies recipe. They are delicious and really easy to prepare.

Ingredients (for around 45 cookies):

• 375 grams of all-purpose Flour
• 250 grams of unsalted Butter at room temperature (I used the salted one and it was really good anyway)
• 90 grams of powdered (confectioners or icing) Sugar
• A pinch of Salt (around 2 grams)

Preparation:

1. Mix in a bowl the flour, the sugar and the salt.
2. Mix the butter, with the electric mixer or by hand until it's smooth and creamy.
3. Add the flour mixture to the butter gradually until it's completely well incorporated.
4. Then, make a ball with the dough and put wrap it in clingfilm. Here there are two ways of do it depending of how you are going to make the biscuits shape.
• If you are using a cookie cutter:
  5. Wrap the dough in the ball shape and chill it for at least 30 minutes in the fridge.
  6. Then, using a rolling pin, flattened it until it is 5mm thick.
  7. Using the cookie cutter cut the cookies and place them on the prepared baking sheet, with parchment paper.
• If you are cutting "slices" of the dough with a knife:
  5. Wrap the dough in a cylinder shape and chill it for at least 30 minutes in the fridge.
  6. Then unwrap it and cut slices of around 5mm thick.
  7. Take each "cookie" and make the round shape with your fingers if you want as it's going to have one flat side (where it has being resting). Place them on the prepared, with parchment paper, baking sheet.

8. Preheat the oven to 170ºC.
9. Bake the cookies for 15 minutes approximately, or until cookies are lightly browned.
10. Cool on a wire rack.

Decoration:

• Something very simple to make your cookies look more professional in mark a fork en them (you should do this before they are cold, as soon as you can after taking them from the oven).
• You also can do Chocolate Dipped Shortbreads. To do that, place finely chopped chocolate in a heatproof bowl and place it over a saucepan of simmering eater. Once the chocolate is melted, remove from the heat and stir with a wooden spoon until it has completely melted and is smooth and glossy. Taking one cookie at a time, dip one end of each cookie in the melted chocolate and place it on a parchment lined baking sheet.  Then leave it to cool in the fridge until the chocolate has hardened.
• Before baking them, make a hollow in the middle of the cookie and add a bit of strawberry jam, for example. Then bake as explained above.

As you can see, apart from the usual shortbread I've prepared some chocolate cookies as well.

OBSERVATIONS:
I recommend you to put the biscuits, once baked and cold, in some kitchen paper so they are not that greasy when eating them.

Torrijas (Spanish French Toast)

This is a typical Spanish sweet made during Lent but also in Christmas time. They are really easy to prepare even though, it takes some time and are delicious so, prepare yourselves to this wonderful treat.

Ingredients:

• 1 French Loaf (better from the previous day)
• 1 liter of Milk (more or less, depending on the type of bread it would absorb a different amount of liquid)
• 1 Cinnamon Stick
• 1 Lemon Rind (only the yellow part)
• 120gr of Sugar
• 2 Eggs
• Olive or Sunflower Oil, for frying
• Cinnamon powder
• Sugar for decorate or Honey with water

Preparation Instructions:

1. Put the milk to boil with the cinnamon stick and the lemon rind in medium heat for 10 minutes. It's possible that it needs more time, until the milk tastes lemon and cinnamon.
2. Add the sugar and let it dissolve completely. Try the milk. It should be very sweet, nearly sickly, so the bread gets enough sweet. Add more sugar if necessary.
3. Leave to cool and strain to take out the lemon rind and the cinnamon stick.
4. Meanwhile, cut the bread in thick slices, around 3cm, and put them in a deep dish.
5. Cover them with the milk until is completely soaked (this is very important and if not they will be dry). It would be enough soaked  when you take the slice of bread and it looks like an sponge.
6. Beat the eggs and coat the bread slices in them. Be careful as the bread will be very soft and it could break. Use the hands or a spoon to help you.
7. Add a lot of oil in a deep pan and when it's very hot, fry the bread slices. Be careful when turning them around (using a spoon and a slotted spoon) so they don't fall to pieces. When golden brown, put them in a dish covered with kitchen paper.
8. Turn around a couple times in kitchen paper to leave it drain all the oil possible.
9. Once they are cold enough to touch them with your hands, there are different ways to finish them:
   • Mix in a plate sugar with cinnamon powder, coat the fried bread in the mixture.
   • In a small saucepan add honey and a spoon of water in low heat and mix. It would be done when the honey is not stick to the spoon. Coat the fried bread in the honey and add cinnamon powder.
   • Make a syrup with sugar and water and coat each fried slice. Add a bit of cinnamon powder.
10. Put the bread in a dish, trying to separate them enough so they don't mash each other.

I made two, sugar and cinnamon and honey, as each person likes something different. Now you can also start preparing your own French toast in the Spanish way, not only for Easter as they are amazing for breakfast around the different seasons.

Above is a photo of how they should look inside. The inside doesn't look like bread but as a cream.

Farmhouse Apple Cake

Today I'm giving you a wonderful recipe where the main ingredient is the apples. It is really easy and you don't need special instruments or ingredients. Here it goes:

Ingredients:

• 7 tablespoons Butter - recipe said unsalted but I used it with salt and was delicious
• 1/2 cup Whole Milk
• 2 large Eggs
• 5 Golden Delicious Apples
• Juice of 1 Lemon (to avoid the apples getting brown once peeled and cut)
• 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
• 2 teaspoons Baking powder
• 1 cup of white Sugar
• 1/2 cup Flour

Preparation Instructions:

1. Put the milk into a cup and add the 7 tablespoons of butter into pieces. Microwave for a minute or two, until the butter is just melted. Set aside to cool.
2. Peel, core and quarter the apples. Slice them into thin slices, 0’5cm thick. Put them in a bowl with lemon juice to avoid them getting brown. Later we will need the apples, but not the lemon juice. Reserve it.
3. Preheat your oven to 200ºC. Butter a spring-form pan. You can also wrap the bottom of the pan with tin foil so it doesn’t leak (depends how liquid it’s the mixture it’s possible that it leaks a little.
4. Beat the eggs and sugar in a large bowl with a wire whisk (I used a fork) until the sugar is dissolved. Stir in the flour, baking powder and vanilla extract and blend thoroughly. Then add the milk-butter mixture and mix it with the rest.
5. Fold in the sliced apples and pour the mixture into the spring-form pan.
6. Place the pan directly on the floor of the oven for 10 minutes and then decrease the oven temperature to 180ºC for about an 40 minutes more. Check it every ten minutes to see if it’s golden brown. When it is, cover it with kitchen foil so it doesn’t “burn”. It should be in the oven a total of 50-55 minutes.
7. When done, place the cake on a cooling rack and leave there to cool enough to handle.
8. After a while run a thin knife around the cake and remove the spring-form ring. Leave some more time to cool as if you cut it when very warm it could “break” and look a bit messy.

When serving you can also add it some vanilla ice-cream and/or cream plus some caramel, to decorate.

Everybody loved it so I highly recommend it if you are looking for some easy and different cake to prepare.

Mascarpone Cake

The Mascarpone Cake is something that we like to have, not as a dessert but as breakfast or snack, but you can also decorate it with some whipped cream and fruits and have it as dessert for a great meal.

We should also say that, apart from Mascarpone Cheese it has apples and some lemon so it is not as tasteless as you can think in a first impression.

Here goes the recipe:

Ingredients for one cake:

• 250 grams Mascarpone Cheese
• 200 grams Icing Sugar
• 150 grams all-purpose Flour
• 4 Eggs (separated)
• 2 Apples (I use golden apples as are the ones I like the most but you choose)
• 1 Lemon (rind grated for the cake and juice to avoid the apples getting brown once peeled and cut)
• 1 teaspoon Baking powder
• 1 teaspoon Butter

Preparation Instructions:

1. Wash the lemon and grated the rind. Reserve it. (I use only half of the lemon's rind).
2. Make the juice with the lemon and put it in a bowl.
3. Then peel and chop the apples in small pieces so then get soft after baking the cake.
4. Put them in the bowl with the lemon juice trying to cover the apples with the liquid to avoid them getting brown. Later we will need the apples, but not the lemon juice. Reserve it.
5. Separate the yolks from the whites.
6. Mix the yolks perfectly and add the sugar.
7. Once it is completely mixed add the mascarpone cheese, the chopped apples, le lemon rind, the baking powder and the flour and mix until it is an smooth mixture.
8. In a different bowl whip egg whites until they form stiff peaks.
9. Preheat the oven to 180ºC.
10. Once done, we add the stiffed egg whites gradually into mascarpone mixture. Mix only enough to blend. Over mixing will deflate the egg whites.
11. We butter or spray a 23 cm round springform pan and add the mixture.
12. Bake until cooked. In my oven this took around 40 minutes.

As every oven is different you should check every 10 minutes inserting a toothrbick in the center. When you take it out it should be clean, not with a little batter clinging to it so it is possible that the cake is golden brown but not cooked enough. In my case after 30 minutes I put kitchen foil above it to avoid the cake getting burnt but leaving it to cook in the inside.

The result is a grat Mascarpone Cake with Apples and a lightly lemon taste. If you prefer it without the lemon taste, do not use the rind.

Apple Crumble

This is another easy recipe that can be prepare with whatever fruit you choose. In this case I chose apple but it could have been pear and chocolate, strawberries, raspberries, etc.

Ingredients (for 4 people):

• 6 Apples, I chose Golden but put the ones you prefer
• 200 grams Flour
• 80 grams Soft Light Brown Sugar (up to 100 grams, depending on your taste)
• 90 grams Butter (diced and chilled)
• Lemon juice.
• Cinnamon, to taste
• 1/2 glass Water

Preparation Instructions:

1. Peel the apples and cut them in small square pieces.
2. Add some lemon juice above them, to avoid them getting brown.
3. Put in a pot half a glass of water and add the diced apples. Let them cook until they are a bit soft.
4. Add some cinammon, to taste,  and stir until mixed.
5. Put the apples in a 23 cm square, ovenproof dish that is also suitable for serving..
6. Preheat the oven to 200ºC.
7. Meanwhile, make the crumble. Sift the flour and sugar together into a bowl and mix.
8. Rub in the butter with your fingertips until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs.
9. Stir evenly over the fruit and press down lightly with a fork.
10. Bake in the centre of the preheated oven for around 25 minutes until the crumble is golden brown. Control the time as each oven is different.
11. Serve warm with cream, yogurt or custard.

If you decided to use another fruits, instead of the cinnamon I recomend using vanilla essence, or even a bit of ground ginger.

If the chosen fruits are softer thatn the apples, for exmple pears, berries, etc., you can start in step 7 after wasing them properly, cutting them in small pieces, adding the vanilla extract and/or ground ginger, putting them in the ovenproof dish and baking them in the preheated oven for around 15 minutes.