Posts Tagged ‘cinnamon’

Last week we invited Avi’s Grandma over to dinner. It was also the first time she came to our new home. Avi’s Grandma appreciates food very much. Not so much eating it, as making sure that all her loved ones are being well fed. For instance when Avi and I told her that we were about to move in together, she looked at me, a bit worried, and asked “But, can you cook?”. Before meeting her I was never aware of the fact that people can serve a 6 course dinner - all of them containing meat! Imagine the challenge of making a dinner for her! On the other hand, she is such a wonderful person, one of those who instantly when you meet them you want to call them “Grandma”, that it was worth all the thought I’ve put into it.

It was great having her over, and I think the best thing was that for the first time ever I saw her sitting at the table and enjoying the meal for the whole evening (usually she goes back and forth from the kitchen to the dining table and vice versa). Even when she came to visit us before, she insisted on bringing some food with her, just in case

I made only a 3 course meal, but everyone, including her, were so full after it. I asked Avi if he thought that from now on she’ll make less courses in her dinners, understanding that 6 courses in one meal can kill even a horse. He looked at me amused and said “No, you impressed her so much with your dinner, that now she’ll make even more”…

This cake was the dessert for that evening’s dinner. It had to be a non-dairy dessert, and I also wanted a non-sophisticated but yet flavorful dessert. This cake is truly divine, so moist and comforting! Definitely a cake to keep straightening and straightening until it’s gone.

Some notes and tips about this cake:

* When using bananas in pound cakes, it’s recommended to use the ripest bananas you can get. I like to choose ripe bananas, but ones that didn’t turn all black. I find the black ones a bit too sweet.

* If you don’t have self-raising flour, use all-purpose flour and add 1 tsp of baking powder for each cup of flour.

* Walnuts and/or pecan nuts can be a great addition here. If you want to add them, add 1 cup of them, roughly chopped.

* Dark raisins could also blend well here, place 1/2 cup of them in a bowl, cover with water and let stand for half an hour before preparing the cake. Then drain the water and add the raisins to the batter after mixing the rest of the ingredients. Mix until uniformly blended. If you prefer them alcoholic - you can cover them with brandy instead of water.

Banana, carrot and spices cake / Adapted from Nira Russo’s recipe
For a 24 cm Gugelhupf mold

Ingredients:
3 eggs
2/3 cup vegetable oil
1 1 /3 cups sugar
2 medium sized carrots
1 banana, ripe
1 3 /4 cups self-raising flour
1 tsp cinnamon
a pinch of ground ginger
a pinch of ground cloves
a pinch of ground nutmeg
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 Tbsp orange juice

Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 356F (180C).
2. In a large bowl, mash the banana using a fork. Finely grate the carrots into the same bowl as the banana.
3. Add the rest of the ingredients but the flour into the bowl, mix well.
4. Add the flour, and mix just until the mixture is uniform.
5. Pour the mixture into the mold, and bake for about 40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the middle of the cake comes out with moist crumbles on it.

Apple pies and cakes are a great weakness of mine since I was a little girl. Back in Romania, my grandma, who was a great cook and baker, would make the perfect apple cake. Or was it a pie? It’s something in between, actually.  In one of my next posts, I’ll prepare and write about that Romanian apple cake.
Anyway, I’m constantly in a search for the best apple pie. It’s something you gotta have, right? This one is my current favorite.
Before even finding its recipe, I’ve read great recommendations of it in various food forums, they all talked about Amira’s apple pie as the best you’ve ever made. So I found the recipe and obviously tried it. The results stood up to the high expectations I’ve built around this pie. The crust is crispy, and the apple filling doesn’t make it moist, due to the biscuits crumbs that you need to place onto the pie dough before adding the filling to it. The filling was great, with a beautiful cinammon aroma in it.
This was the first time I’ve made a double crusted pie. The shape of the top crust was made using a stencil.

Amira’s Apple Pie
Makes one 24cm (9-inch) pie

Ingredients:
For the dough:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
4 Tbsp sugar
150 gr cold butter, cut into squares
1 pinch of salt
4-6 Tbsp ice-cold water

For the filling:
5 granny smith apples, peeled, cored and thinly sliced
1 Tbsp lemon juice
3/4 cups sugar
1 Tbsp all-purpose flour
1 tsp ground cinnamon
25 gr butter, cut into small squares
1/2 cup biscuit crumbs

For the topping:
25 gr butter, melted

Prepare the dough:
1. Process flour, baking powder, salt, sugar and butter in food processor.
Process using short pulses, just until a crumbly mixture is formed.
2. Add the cold water spoon by spoon, and continue processing in pulses
until the dough is formed (you may not need all the water).
3. Divide the dough into 2 halves, wrap with plastic, and refrigerate both
parts for at least an hour and max. 24 hours. The dough can also be freezed for a month or two for further use.

Prepare the filling:
1. In a large bowl, mix all the ingredients except the butter and biscuit crumbs.
2. Grease a 24 cm (9 inch) pie pan. Preheat the oven to 180 celsius degrees (356 Fahrenheit).
3. Take out one part of the dough from the refrigerator, roll it out and line the pie pan with it.
4. Scatter the biscuit crumbs upon the dough. These will absorb the apples’ liquids and prevent the dough from being all too moist.
5. Arrange the apples upon the biscuit crumbs, and scatter the small butter squares evenly upon the apples.
6. Roll out the second part of the dough.
7. Use a stencil to create the grilled shape with the dough. If you don’t have a stencil, you can use a small cookie cutter to form shapes in a uniform manner, or you can place all of it as is on top of the pie, and form a single hole in its middle.
8. Place the dough on top of the apples and butter, and gently press it onto the pan, to seal it as much as possible.
9. Brush the top lightly with the melted butter.
10. Bake for about 45 mins, or until the top crust is golden brown, rotating the pan as necessary for even baking.
11. Remove the pie from the oven and cool on a wire rack. Let rest for at least 20 mins before slicing. Serve warm or at room temperature.

 פאי תפוחים / אמירה, אחד מפורומי האוכל השונים

לבצק:
2 כוסות קמח רגיל
1 כפית אבקת אפיה
4 כפות סוכר
150 גרם חמאה קרה קרה חתוכה לקוביות
קורט מלח
4-6 כפות מי קרח

למלית:
5 תפוחי גרני סמית (ירוקים חמצמצים) קלופים ופרוסים לפרוסות דקות
1 כף מיץ לימון
3/4 כוס סוכר
1 כף קמח
1 כפית קינמון טחון
25 גרם חמאה בקוביות קטנות
1/2 כוס פירורי ביסקויט

לציפוי:
25 גרם חמאה מומסת

אופן ההכנה:
לבצק:
במעבד מזון לעבד בפולסים קצרים קמח, אבקת אפיה, מלח, סוכר.
להוסיף את החמאה ולעבד מספר שניות.
להוסיף כף אחר כף את מי הקרח עד שמתחיל להתגבש בצק.
ככל שמעבדים פחות הבצק יותר מוצלח.
מחלקים הבצק ל-2 חלקים, משטחים לדיסקה עגולה ועבה, עוטפים כל אחד בנילון נצמד ומניחים במקרר לפחות לשעה(כשחם..אפילו יותר)

למלית:
בקערה גדולה מערבבים היטב את כל המצרכים, חוץ מפירורי הביסקויטים וקוביות החמאה.
משמנים בחמאה תבנית פאי בקוטר 24 ס”מ.
מחממים תנור ל-180 מעלות.
מוציאים חלק אחד של הבצק מהמקרר, מרדדים (הכי נוח בין 2 יריעות נילון נצמד) לעיגול גדול במעט מקוטר התבנית.
מניחים הבצק בתבנית, מצמידים ומסירים עודפים מהשוליים.
מפזרים על הבצק את פירורי הביסקויט.
מעליהם בערימה את התפוחים, ומפזרים את קוביות החמאה.
מרדדים את החלק השני של הבצק באותו אופן.
יוצרים את צורת הרשת מעל העוגה בעזרת שבלונה. למי שאין שבלונה, ניתן ליצור חורים בבצק עם חותכן קטן, או פקק של בקבוק, ליצירת דוגמא של רשת מהבצק.
מניחים את הבצק בזהירות על התפוחים ומצמידים היטב אל שולי התבנית.
מורחים את הבצק בחמאה המומסת, מדביקים עליו לקישוט את הצורות שהוצאנו ומורחים גם אותן בחמאה. מכניסים לתנור ואופים כ-45 דקות עד שהפאי מזהיב.
רצוי לא לחתוך כשחם…להגיש פושר או קר עם כדור גלידת וניל…שילוב מצוין…