sweets

Blueberry coconut pancakes

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blueberry

I never understood why would anyone put perfectly fresh and sweet blueberries in the pancake batter. That sounded completely irrational. Cooking fresh berries. Right.

I was probably really hungry the last time I went to the store. I came home with almost a kilo of blueberries. So, I decided to make some blueberry pancakes… OMG! When those blueberrues start popping in your mouth it’s like…

From now on I’m having my pancakes with blueberries!

Ingredients (makes aprox 11 – 12 flapjacks):

  • 1 big egg
  • 20 g rolled oats
  • 10 g coconut flour
  • 10 g coconut flakes
  • 1 Tbsp vanilla protein (optional)*
  • 1/2 Tbsp linseed
  • 2 Tbsp Perfect Fit (sweetener)*
  • 1/2 tsp baking powder
  • milk
  • 1 big handful fresh blueberries
  • coconut oil for baking
  • greek yogurt & fresh blueberries to garnish

* I make my own vanilla protein mix: ground vanilla & 50% rice – 50% pea protein
* I’m using Perfect Fit sweetener as I can’t eat sugar. It replaces 100% sugar and 50% fat (avaliable in Spar and VitaCare)

Preparation:

  1. Put rolled oats, coconut flour, coconut flakes and linseed in a cofee grinder and mix to get a flour like consistency.
  2. Transfer to a bowl, add Perfect Fit sweetener and baking powder and mix.
  3. Add an egg an mix altogether until smooth. Start gradually adding milk – the batter shouldn’t be too liquid. Add fresh blueberries.
  4. Set aside for 5 – 10 mins.
  5. Spread some coconut oil over the pan. Use 1 Tbsp of batter for each pancake.
  6. Serve with greek yogurt and fresh blueberries.

Babka understands…

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Processed with VSCOcam with f2 preset

When things go wrong, just stop and make a babka. She understands. She makes all the bad things go away. And even if it won’t turn out like the prettiest babka in the world, it will still be the best one you had in a million years.

Just go for it!

Dough

  • 100 g wholegrain spelt flour
  • 200 g wheat flour T400 + for dusting
  • 1 egg and 2 egg yolks
  • 15 g fresh yeast
  • 15 ml milk
  • 70 g softened butter
  • 40 g agave syrup or honey
  • ⅓ tsp salt
  • 1 Tbsp rum
  • ½ tsp vanilla extract
  • 1 egg for brushing

Filling

  • 4 Tbsp chia seeds
  • 100 g fresh blueberries
  • 100 g fresh raspberries
  • 150 g blueberry or strawberry jam (I used ISIS sugar free jams)*

* avaliable at Vita Care

Preparation:

  1. Prepare the yeast: mix 15 ml warm milk, tablespoon of agave or honey and fresh yeast. Let double in size.
  2. In a big bowl mix both flours and salt.
  3. In a seperate bowl mix softened butter using a hand mixer. Gradually add egg and yolks, agave syrup, vanilla and rum.
  4. Add the yeast and the egg mixture to flours and mix with wooden spatula. When the ingredients start to combine, dust te work surface, transfer the dough and start kneading. Knead for 10 – 15 mins. Starch needs some time to soak up. It will be a bit messy at the begining, but when it strats to come together, you should form a compact silky dough ball.
  5. Cover and let rise until doubled in volume (be careful not to overdo it).
  6. In the meantime mix chia, fresh berries and jam.
  7. Transfer the dough to work surface and roll to 0.5 com thick.
  8. Spread over the fruit mixture.
  9. Roll and cut lenghtwise. Twist the strands to form a plait.Transfer to a baking tin and let rise.
  10. Brush with egg wash and bake in preheated oven at 210 °C for 10 mins. Turn the tin around and bake for another 10 mins. After that, lower at 180°C and bake for 10 more minutes.
  11. Let cool. Or don’t let cool. Eat.

Chocolate pancakes and the best homemade nutella ever

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chocolate pancakes-7
Woop Woop! Happy new year people!

The end of the year’s been really busy. But the more the end is approaching, crazier it gets. And December has been mad. Studying, visiting Astoria vineyards and Italy (more on that soon with some great local recipes!!), sparkling festival in Portorož, Christmas with my family and NY’s with best people ever!
This year started crazy good 🙂

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And this year also started with snow… So my promise of making a december giveaway winner’s favourite chocolate recipe came in handy. Chocolate pancakes, coffee and white snowy mornings. Perfect.

 

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Chocolate pancakes

Homemade nutella + hazelnut butter

Ingredients:

Preparation:

  1. Heat the oven at 180°C vent. Put the hazelnuts on a baking tray and roast for couple of minutes, until the skins are cracked and darken.
  2. Take out of the oven. Rub the hazelnuts in between two kitchen cloths. The skins should get off easily. Transfer to a blender and pulse until smooth and liquid.
  3. Divide the hazelnut butter in two jars. Here you are: you’ve just made a jar of hazelnut butter. Proceed with the other jar to make nutella.
  4. Melt both chocolates, mix with cocoa powder and add to hazelnut butter. Mix well to combine all ingredients.

Pancakes (makes aprox. 5 – 6 pancakes)

Ingredients:

  • 15 g buckwheat flour
  • 30 g brown wholegrain rice
  • 20 g coconut flakes
  • 25 – 35 g of any milk
  • 9 g butter or coconut oil
  • 1 tsp sweetener of your choice (I used Perfect Fit)
  • 1 egg
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • pinch of salt

Preparation:

  1. Using a coffee grinder, grind wholegrain rice and coconut flakes. Mix all the dry ingredients. Whisk egg and milk, than mix in. Melt butter and add to the pancake mixture. Let rest in the fridge for 15 mins.
  2. Meanwhile,  take chocolate nutella. Place a sheetof baking paper on a cutting board. Make six nutella discs (1 tsp each) and put into the freezer.
  3. Take the pancake mixture out of the fridge. If it’s too thick, add some milk. Take the frozen nutella discs out of the freezer.
  4. Heat the pan to medium, grease with oil and add a tablespoon of pancake mixture. Immediately add a chocolate disc and cover with some more pancake mixture. Repeat with the others.
  5. Eat right away and if desired, add some hazelnut butter.

 

Sometimes all you need is a piece of pie. And not the best photo.

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chestnut pie

There are days when you’re just an emotional wreck and the only thing you wish is to stay in bed for the whole weekend. Well, this is what my weekend looked like. It was slept over. And in those rare moments of awakeness, all I was longing for was a good piece of pie. Chocolate pie. So I made the pie. And I didn’t care a bit about taking any proper photos. Sorry. Sometimes it’s just more important to get your hands on that pie.

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As I’m about to publish this, all my worries away, I’m guessing this chocolate therapy has really helped. I’m celebrating. Sipping a glass of chilled bubbles. Enjoying the last piece of pie. Smiling. I’m not done with my studies yet, but I just made a huge step forward. Cheers to that!

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CHOCOLATE CHESTNUT PIE WITH PEANUT BUTTER AND SPECULOOS CRUST

Ingredients*

for the crust:

for the filling

  • 4 Tbsp peanut butter
  • 300 g chestnut puree
  • almond milk
  • 1 Tbsp raw cocoa powder
  • 5 Tbsp cognac
  • 1 Tbsp sweetener (I used sucralose)
  • 100 g dark chocolate (60 % min)

for ganache

  • 65 g dark chocolate (60% min)
  • 50 g liquid cream or coconut milk
  • 1 big Tbsp raw cocoa powder

* By using any vegan cookies and replacing butter for coconut oil, and liquid cream for coconut milk you will get yourself a VEGAN version! 🙂
** You can also use speculoos cookies instead. I used Balance cookies because they are sugar free. And if you replace them with any gluten free cookies, you will have a GLUTEN FREE pie.

Preparation:

  1. Crumble the cookies in the food processor. Add butter or coconut oil for vegan version. Pulse until well combined then gradually add some almond milk (just to get the dough sticky enough to combine all the ingredients). Place in a pie mold and spread evenly. The best would be using a mold with removable bottom.
  2. Chestnut chocolate cream: mix chestnut puree or peeled cooked chestnuts, 1tablespoon of cocoa powder, 5 tablespoons of Cognac (at least!), sweetener of your choice and some almond milk into a smooth puree using a food processor. Add as much almond milk as needed to obtain a smooth and solid (not liquid!) cream.
  3. Melt chocolate over a double boiler and add to chestnut cream. Mix well using a food processor.
  4. Spread peanut butter over the pie crust. Add chestnut chocolate cream and spread evenly.
  5. Melt some chocolate and liquid cream or coconut milk plus one big tablespoon of cocoa powder over a double boiler. Add on top of the pie.
  6. Let cool and place the pie in a fridge overnight.

Rainy days and misty mornings…

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Autumn. It has really started now. You know it for sure, when there’s no sun in the morning. Just gray mist flowing above the city. And rain. Gray, misty, humid. And calm. No kids runing around and playing on the street. Nothing exciting, noting worth getting up actually. I could easily stay in my bed for the rest of the day. With a good book and a cup of tea, listening to the rain touching the ground…

But I have to get up… First thing: coffee. Second thing: breakfast. I always take time for my breakfast. And coffee. It’s a ritual and the most important meal of the day. It starts the engine so it really has to be something good for the body and the soul (I mean for my eyes).

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In the morning your body needs energy. Lots of it. So eating fruit in the morning is the right way to start the day. Fresh figs. They’ve been collecting the sun rays all the summer to rejoice with their sweetness in the fall.

There are bananas and there are frozen bananas. I’ve been going mad for banana ice-ceream this summer. It’s basically just mixing frozen bananas in food processor until they turn into a smooth and creamy ice-cream.  With a spoon of peanut butter and coconut you’ve got yourself a pure sugar free magic! But that’s for some other time…

And last but not the least, with this rainy and much colder days ahead, you need to boost your body and prepare it for the winter. A spoon of bee pollen a day makes miracles. And brings the sunshine to your day!

Be good people and start your day the right way!
xoxo

fig chia pudding
Chia pudding with coconut and frozen banana

Ingredients

chia pudding:

  • 500 ml plain yogurt
  • 2 frozen bananas
  • 4 Tbsp ground coconut
  • ½ vanilla pod
  • 8 Tbsp chia seeds

to garnish:

  • handful of frozen raspberries
  • 2 figs
  • 2 tsp bee pollen

Preparation:

  1. Finely grind coconut using a coffee grinder.
  2. Mix yogurt, vanilla, chia seeds and coconut. Let sit overnight in the fridge.
  3. Peel bananas and let freeze overnigh in the freezer.
  4. Next day, mix bananas and chia yogurt by using a food processor, blender or hand mixer.
  5. Divide in glasses, sprinkle with frozen raspberries, fresh figs and bee pollen.

Falling leaves and comfort food…

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falling leaves

In the morning I took a bike ride down to the city centre. Just like every other day. It was a beautiful day. As I was driving my face was bathing in the sun. But suddenly I could smell winter…  I passed exactly one year off, doing the things I like, focusing on myself, going to parties, meeting new extraordinary interesting people. And then, just before summer, the bubble I was living in, popped and I had to switch all that for a library lamp and a pile of books. I’ve passed them, my first two finals, but the saga continues… I have no idea what happened to this summer, it just went by too quickly. I woke up this sunday and realized that the leaves started falling off. Yellow leaves.

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Big granny’s sweater, warm socks, a cup of tea, more books and this asocial life I was forced into… I was desperately in need of something sweet, warm and comforting. Pies can’t really save the world, but this one did save me and my sunday. And luckily, I managed to save some of the last plums from my parent’s garden.

plum pie

Plum pie with walnut rye crust*

* this also works well with apples or pears

Crust:

  • 200 g rye flour
  • 100 g cold butter
  • 80 g ground walnuts or pecans
  • 2 eggs
  • pinch of salt
  • 1 Tbsp agave syrup or honey (or similar)

filling:

  • 750 g very ripe plums
  • cinnamon
  • ½ vanilla pod or 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 3 eggs
  • 50 ml liquid cream
  • 2 Tbsp cornstarch
  • 2 big Tbsp 100% apricot jam

Preparation:

  1. Dough: mix flour, ground walnuts or pecans and salt. Add cold butter cut in cubes and mix evenly with fingers. Mix 2 eggs and agave syrup or honey, then add to the flour mixture. Mix evenly and form a ball. Warp in plastic foil and let sit in the fridge for an hour.
  2. Take the dough out of the fridge and roll out between two sheets of baking paper. Place the dough in the greesed baking tin.
  3. Mix two eggs, add liquid cream, cornstarch and apricot jam.
  4. Pour the egg mixture on the dough, then add plums. Sprinkle with cinnamon.
  5. Bake in vent oven 30 – 35 min at 190°C.

 

Raspberry & greek yogurt cheesecake

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raspb cheesecake-12

Thinking of all the things that have happened in last two years since I got diabetes kinda makes my head spin. And it actually did turn my life upside down. I guess it was ment to be. As that happened I decided to only do things I enjoy doing. Life is too short to waste it on things that are not important. Since, I have never been happier.

If you want changes in your life, you have to get out of your comfort zone. Act differently as you normally would. And follow things you love. And basically this is how the idea for a new culinary magazine Radegunda started, according to Polona Klančnik.

I couldn’t be happier meeting people who have decided to take control over their life, leave all the burdens behind and start something new and exciting. Creative, happy and satisfied looking towards the new adventures.

Creating a new culinary magazine will most definitely be very interesting and exciting adventure. As thing are set, I am sure that the stories it will write and the people it will present, will get the readers hungry for more.

Polona, Mateja, Kristina, Tamara, Polona, of course, Radegunda, I wish you all the best!

Now get your magazine, where besides this recipe you will find all sorts of interesting and delicious stories!

xoxo

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Ingredients:

crust

  • 40 g pitted dates
  • juice of 2 oranges
  • 80 g ground rolled oats
  • 200 g almonds
  • 2 Tbsp ground chia
  • 2 Tspb coconut flour

filling

  • 1 kg greek yogurt
  • 150 g coconut butter
  • 300 g raspberries
  • grated dark chocolate
  • mint leaves
  • 6 tsp sucralose or stevia
  • peel of 3 organic lemons

Preparation:

  1. Drain greek yoghurt: put a cheesecloth into a strainer and place over a large bowl into which you will collect excess water from yoghurt. Pour in your greek yoghurt, put into the fridge overnight. The longer it drains the firmer it gets.
  2. Coconut butter: blend shreded coconut (at least 400g) until they turn into a liquid and smooth coconut butter. You can use coconut oil instead. For details check here.
  3. Using a cofee grinder, grind rolled oats and chia seeds into a flour consistency.
  4. In a food processor mix dates and almonds. Add rolled oata, chia coconut flour and juice of two oranges. Mix once more to combine all the ingredients.
  5. Line a 24cm cake ring with baking paper. Add the crust mixture and press well to form an even bottom.
  6. Mix drained greek yogurt, peel of three organic lemons and a sweetener of your choice. Than add liquid coconut butter or coconut oil while mixing.
  7. Spread two tablespoons of yogurt mixture over the cake crust. Evenly add a layer of raspberries and greated chocolate. Pour over the rest of the yogurt mixture
  8. Let set in the fridge for at least 6 – 7 h, the best overnight.
  9. Decorate with raspberries, chocolate chunks and mint leaves.

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Strawberry galette

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jagodna pita-9

It’s been three years since I’ve started my balcony garden. It had its ups and downs. Tomatoes, cucumbers, paprikas, herbs and spinach all worked well, but there were some serious fails with pumpkins and artichokes. And strawberries weren’t any success either so far. I wasn’t even planing to plant them this year but something was telling me I should…

jagodna pita

And it turned out to be a good decision, because this year I indeed have strawberries growing at my balcony! They are absolutely delicious, and to be honest, they went straight to my yoghurt in the morning. I would not dare to cook them. But they did inspire me to make this strawberry galette.

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Ingredients

crust:

  • 60 g rolled oats
  • 50 g wholegrain spelt flour
  • 80 g shredded coconut
  • 45 g cold butter
  • 1 Tbsp agave syrup or honey
  • 1 egg yolk
  • pinch of salt
  • 30 ml cold water (or more if needed)

filling:

  • 300 – 350 g strawberries
  • 3 Tbsp chia
  • 1 big Tbsp strawberry jam (I used 100% fruit content jam)
  • 1/2 of vanilla pod
  • 1 – 2 Tbsp stevia or sucralose

Preparation:

  1. Grind rolled oats and coconut in coffee grinder to obtain flour consistency.
  2. Mix all the flours and salt, than add cold butter and mix evenly. Add agave syrup or honey and egg yolk. Mix and add water as needed. Form a ball, wrap it in plastic foil and let sit in the fridge for 30 mins.
  3. Cut strawberries in half. Mix all the ingredients for filling.
  4. Take the dough out of the fridge. Roll it out in between two sheets of baking paper. Put all the filling in the middle and fold the ends inwards.
  5. Bake for 25 – 35 mins at 180ºc.
  6. Sprinkle with mint leaves. And yes… vanilla ice cream is always a good idea!

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Easter bread, spring and sunshine

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velikonočnapletenica

It’s funny how all my life people have been telling me I had no sense for writing. Today I write a blog. And blogging mostly is about writing. Or I might just be writing some nonsense that no one is reading… That’s fine too. At least I’m leaving traces behind me. One way or another, it’s true, the words don’t get here out of nowhere. Usually it’s the image that inspires me to write something down. A brief episode. A distant memory. A life worth living.

As I was looking at this photo it made me think of my grandparent’s Easter bread. My grandparents actually owned a bakery. And the most important thing for them was quality and good ingredients. You can’t make good bread out of nothing. True.

Flour has changed. Food has changed. Gluten is an issue, lactose is an issue, sugar is an issue. And probably, we have changed too.

I set off my blog as something to reinvent traditional recipes. But Easter time is special. And I’m saying this without any religious intentions. I don’t see all my family as often as I would like to, so I love it when we all gather at least for Christmas and Easter. I respect this family tradition and I recpect traditional recipes that go along it. It’s all about gathering, sharing and enjoing the moment. And so is bread.

My Easter braid variations:

Basic recipe for Easter braid

Ingredients:

  • 500 g wheat flour T400
  • 60 g sugar*
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 30 g fresh yeast
  • 80 g softened butter
  • 1,8 – 2,2 dl warm milk*
  • 1 egg + 3 egg yolks
  • 2 Tbsp rum
  • peel of 1 organic lemon
  • egg yolk + 2 Tbsp of milk for brushing

* I used 40 g of honey instead and it was sweet enough. The quantity of milk depends largley on the quality of the flour. Plus if using honey, you will need a bit less liquid. Add gradually! Also, you can replace flour with another one, like spelt or wholegrain, but do use at least one half of flour T400.

Preparation:

  1. Mix fresh yeast, 50 ml warm milk and one tablespoon of honey. Let double in volume.
  2. In a big bowl combine the two flours and salt.
  3. In a seperate bowl mix softened butter using a hand mixer. Gradually add eggs, rum and lemon peel.
  4. Mix the rest of the milk and the rest of the honey so it dissolves evenly.
  5. Add yeast and egg mixture to the flours. Add milk gradually, not all at once. Mix with wooden spatula. When the ingredients start to combine, start kneading. Flour the working surface. It takes something like 8 – 10 mins for gluten to activate, so you’ll be probably kneading for about 10 mins. The dough should be firm and silky.
  6. Let rise. When doubled in volume, divide in three equal parts and knead once more. Make three rolls and braid. Let rise once again.
  7. Before baking, brush with mixture of egg yolk and two tablespoons of milk.
  8. Preheat oven at 200°c and place in a baking tray filled with water to create steam. Bake for 10 mins, than lover the temperature to 180°c and bake for another 15 – 20 mins.

Tarragon, lemon and ricotta braid

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velikonočnapletenica-5

The sun right now is absolutely amazing. It actually made me clean up my balcony and this is what I found. A surviver. Tarragon that has successfully made it through another winter.

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One of my favourite Easter cakes is tarragon potica, a traditional rolled cake that is similar to gubana or in the end, to babka. It’s usually filled with fresh cheese like ricotta or sour cream, sweetened and mixed with tarragon. I added some homegrown lemons that I was offered at Šibav vinery on my  weekend trip to Goriška Brda. And they were just like pictured: bright, juicy, full of flavour.

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Ingredients:

  • 500 g wheat flour T400
  • 40 g honey*
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 30 g fresh yeast
  • 80 g softened butter
  • 1,8 – 2,2 dl warm milk*
  • 1 egg + 3 egg yolks
  • 2 Tbsp rum
  • peel of 1 organic lemon
  • egg yolk + 2 Tbsp of milk for brushing

filling:

  • 15 g finelly chopped tarragon
  • 2 Tbsp sugar (I used sucralose instead)
  • peel of 2 lemons
  • 1 small egg yolk
  • 3 Tbsp drained ricotta

* The original reipe has 60 g of sugar. The quantity of milk depends largley on the quality of the flour. Plus if using honey, you will need a bit less liquid. Add gradually!

Preparation:

  1. Mix fresh yeast, 50 ml warm milk and one tablespoon of honey. Let double in volume.
  2. In a big bowl combine the two flours and salt.
  3. In a seperate bowl mix softened butter using a hand mixer. Gradually add eggs, rum and lemon peel.
  4. Mix the rest of the milk and the rest of the honey so it dissolves evenly.
  5. Add yeast and egg mixture to the flours. Add milk gradually, not all at once. Mix with wooden spatula. When the ingredients start to combine, start kneading. Flour the working surface. It takes something like 8 – 10 mins for gluten to activate, so you’ll be probably kneading for about 10 mins. The dough should be firm and silky.
  6. Let rise. When doubled in volume, divide in three equal parts and knead once more. Make three rolls and roll them out lenghtwise. Than add some filling in the middle, close up and roll and braid. Let rise once again.
  7. Before baking, brush with mixture of egg yolk and two tablespoons of milk.
  8. Preheat oven at 200°c and place in a baking tray filled with water to create steam. Bake for 10 mins, than lover the temperature to 180°c and bake for another 15 – 20 mins.