Traditional Christmas cakes

Italy

CUCCHIE

For the pastry you need : sifted flour, salt, ammonia, sugar, lard, lemon zest, cinnamon, eggs and marsala wine.

For the filling you need: dried figs, chocolate chips, pumpkin jam, chopped almonds and raisins.

Procedure

Filling:

- Toast and mince the almond

- Mix almond, raisin, jam and sugar

Dough:

- Mix eggs and sugar then add lard and flour gradually. At the end add yeast

- Roll  out the dough, put some filling and cover with other dough

- Cut with a mould and bake at 180°.

PANETTONE

Panettone comes from Milan. Ingredients: plain flour, butter, sugar, salt, eggs, raisins, candied, yeast, grated rind of lemon, water.

PANDORO

Pandoro comes from Verona. Ingredients: plain flour, butter, sugar, milk, yeast, vanilla bean.

"Rabanadas" - French toast in the oven

Ingredients:

1 baguette bread (from the previous day)

7 dl milk; 100 gr sugar; 1 cinnamon stick; lemon peel; 2 beaten eggs; vegetable

margarine; sugar and cinnamon

to top

cook a pan of milk, sugar, cinnamon and lemon; Stir, boil and turn of. cut 20 slices of bread, set oven 200º and grease tray with margarine. When milk is warm soak the bread slices, remove and let drain. Pass them to beaten egg and place on tray. bake until golden, remove and pass through sugar and cinnamon. Enjoy!

portugal-lisbon

Romanian Walnut Panetone * Cozonac cu nuca

Romanian Panetone dough: 2 lbs/1 kg flour, 10

oz/300 g sugar, 1 1/2 cups milk, 6 eggs, 2 oz/50 g yeast, 7 oz/200 g butter, 2 tablespoons oil, vanilla stick, salt, egg for washing the dough, grease for the pans.

Make a starter from yeast and a teaspoon of sugar. Mix until the consistency of sour cream, add 2-3 tablespoons tepid milk, a little flour and mix well; sprinkle some flour on top, cover and let sit in a warm place to rise. Boil the milk with the vanilla stick (cut in very small pieces) and leave it on the side of the range, covered, to keep warm.

Mix the yolks with the sugar and salt, then slowly pour the tepid milk, stirring continuously. Place the risen starter in a large bowl and pour, stirring continuously, the yolk-milk mixture and some flour, a little at a time. Then add 3 whipped egg whites. When you finish this step, start kneading. Knead, adding melted butter combined with oil, a little at a time, until the dough starts to easily come off your palms. Cover with a cloth and then something thicker (like a blanket). Leave in a warm place to triple in bulk. If during kneading the dough seems too hard, you may add a little milk. If, on the contrary, the dough seems too soft, you may add a little flour.

Filling: 10 oz/300 g ground walnuts, 1 cup milk, 3/4 cup sugar, 1/4 cup rum, vanilla

Melt the sugar in the warm milk with vanilla in a pot on the range. When the sugar is melted, add the walnuts and keep stirring. After a few minutes of boiling, and after the filling has thickened, remove from heat and add rum. When the filling is cold, roll a sheet of dough about one finger thick, uniformly spread the walnut filling on top and roll like a jelly roll.

Grease a bread pan, place the roll inside, let rise for a while. Wash with egg and bake at medium heat. Take out of the pan as soon as it is done, place on a cloth and let cool.

ENJOY!!!!

Traditional Greek recipes

Melomacarone

Ιngredients:

2 large glasses of oil, 1/2 glass of orange, 1 small cup of raki or brandy, orange zest,1 small spoonful with sodium,1 small spoonful with baking powder,cinnamon and cloves chopped

For the syrup

2 glasses of water, 2 glasses of sugar and 1 glass of hone

Add the oil and sugar and mix, add the raki Then we put the orange juice into which we put the soda αnd baking powder and finally, add the cinnamon, cloves and flour.

Wrap the melomakara and bake them in the oven. Let them cool.

Prepare the syrup          

Boil the water with sugar for 5-10 minutes and add 3 drops of lemon. Then put the honey to boil for 10 minutes on low heat. When ready, let cool  for 5-7  minutes.

Put the melomakaron for 1 to 2 minutes in the syrup and place on a plate.Go over melomakara  with sesame seeds and grated walnut

Bon appetit

Fogaças de Palmela

Ingredients:

- 500g bread dough; - 500g of yellow sugar;

- Between 1000 to 1200g of flour *;

- 125g of lard; - 2 eggs + 1 egg to paint;

- Juice of 2 oranges; - Scrape of 1 orange;

- 1 glass of brandy; - 30g of cinnamon **;

- 50g of fennel **.

* May take a little more flour depending on the size of the eggs and oranges.

** Fennel and cinnamon are to taste, however the amount of fennel should always be greater than cinnamon.

Cooking Mode:

The eggs are attached to the dough bread. Then the orange juice and zest, the lard, the sugar, the fennel, the brandy and finally the flour.

After all well connected and kneaded, let rise for 30 minutes.

Dolls are molded, decorated and painted with beaten egg.

TRADITIONAL CZECH RECIPIES

CHRISTMAS COOKIES

Medová linecká kolečka

HONEY COOKIES

Ingredients

• 200 gr butter (softened)
• 200 gr sugar
• 1 large egg
• 500 gr all-purpose flour+ baking powder
• 100 gr honey
• lemon zest
• jam (strawberry, blackcurrant)
• powdered sugar

Direction

  In a large bowl or stand mixer, beat together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.

Add the egg and mix until completely incorporated.

   Add the honey, lemon zest and flour and mix into a smooth dough.

   Put the dough into refrigerated for at least 2 hours (1 day is better)

·   Roll dough between 2 pieces of parchment paper to 3 or 5 mm thickness.

·  Remove top piece of parchment paper and cut dough into various shapes. Since the dough doesn't expand much when baking, a mere 5 mm space between cookies will be fine. If at any time the dough is getting too soft, refrigerate it for a few minutes and then continue.

Cut an even number of plain cookies and an even number of cookies of the same shape that have had a small "window" cut out with a thimble or piping tip so the jam can peek through.

Cool completely. Repeat with remainder of dough. Excess dough can be wrapped and refrigerated.

Bake for 7-10 min in preheated oven (170°C) (Check it- the dough contains honey so it is burned to coal in seconds)        

When cookies have gold colour put them in a cold place       

Prinkle powdered sugar over cookies with a "window." Spread jam or filling on "window-less" cookies. Place powdered sugar cookie on top of the jammed cookie.

Vanilkové rohličky

VANILLA CRESCENTS

Timing

Prep: 30 minutes

Rest: 1 hour

Hands On & Bake: 50 minutes

Bake: 170 °C 14 minutes

Coat with Sugar: 10 minutes

Total Time: 2 hours 30 minutes

INGREDIENCE:

Cookies

2 1/3 cups (330 g) all purpose flour, plus more for dusting

3/4 cup (90 g) powdered sugar

1 cup (100 g) walnuts

230 g unsalted butter, at room temperature

2 egg yolks

Topping

1 cup (120 g) powdered sugar

Gather the ingredients.

1.     Mix butter, sugar, salt, vanilla extract, egg s and nuts together

2.     Mix in the flour (1/2 cup at a time)

3.     Shape the dough into a ball, wrap it in wax paper and refrigerate for about 30 minutes

4.     Preheat the oven for 170°C

5.     Pinch off walnut-sized pieces of chilled dough and place them on a floured board

6.     Rolled each piece into a strip about 1 inch wide and 1/2inch thick; shape each piece into a crescent (semi-circle)

7.     Arrange the crescents at least 1/2 inch apart on the baking sheet

8.     Bake in oven for 12 to 15 minutes

9.     Transfer them onto a cake rack and coat them with powdered sugar while they are still warm

10.  Enjoy!                                         

7.Arrange the crescents atleast 1/2 inch apart on the baking sheet

8.     Bake in oven for 12 to 15 minutes

9.   Transfer them onto a cake rack and coat them with powdered sugar while they are still warm

10.    Enjoy!