Domino cookie truffles: no messy business for Valentine's

Last year it was loaded-with-sugar-and-ready-to-kill pink marshmallows, this year I'm probably going to please my friends at school with these Domino cookie truffles on Valentine's Day. I just can't go empty-handed:)

Fazer's Domino cookies are a dream come true for many cookie lovers (not really for me...er...I'm not that much of a chocolate lover...well I can pretend; but their taste does kick ass for sure). And the taste of Domino cookies in a truffle...I guess I'll have more friends on Thursday than I ever imagined:D

Domino truffles
(inspiration from Bakerella's Oreo truffles; makes about 50)

350 g Domino cookies (2 small boxes)
175 g cream cheese
about 200 g dark chocolate

1. Crush the cookies into a fine powder in a food processor.
2. Add the cream cheese and process until the mixture is very creamy.
3. Place the mixture into the fridge to harden.
4. Form balls (or other shapes) from the mixture and place them into the fridge to harden for some more time.
5. Melt chocolate over a water bath, dip all truffles into the chocolate and place them onto a plate/cutting board covered with foil. Place into the fridge to harden.

No kidding, these cookies have the distinctive Domino cookie taste that will hit you as a wonderful surprise. They're chocolate-y, very creamy. Very creamy. Sweet enough and silky when melting on your tongue. Very creamy. The chocolate coating will remain slightly softer than on a usual chocolate truffle and stick loyally onto it.

...and there's one more great thing. THE GREATEST, if you ask me. Usually forming truffles is a messy business, chocolate sticking to fingers when warming up and stuff and stuff like that. I hate it (I mean - I don't hate licking my fingers clean all the time, that's great, but, everything else there is to it - I hate).

This truffle mixture ISN'T ANNOYINGLY STICKY.
I'm amazed.

Spicy chocolate truffles, if you still miss Christmas

A part of my holiday gifts were these spicy chocolate truffles. They were a bit different from truffles I'd made before because the filling was softer, silkier. With 2007 and all the Christmas mumbojumbo gone, spicy desserts still make their appearances in our kitchen. All year round, actually, all year round...

So for me any time is right for writing about a truffle with a taste of Christmas.

Spiced chocolate truffles

125 g dark chocolate
125 g milk chocolate
1/2 dl light cream
juice of one orange
75 g sugar
50 g butter

flavouring options for 1/3 of the mixture
1/4 tsp ground aniseed
1/8 tsp ground allspice
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon + 1/8 tsp ground cardamom
1/2 tsp Cointreau

coating
about 250 g dark chocolate
50 g milk chocolate, powdered sugar, cocoa powder, cloves, aniseed, nuts...

1. Break chocolate to pieces
2. Bring cream, orange juice and sugar to a boil together and add to the chocolate, stirring until incorporated well.
3. Add butter and mix well.
4. Divide the mixture into 3 parts and choose a flavouring option for every one of them. Let the new mixtures stand in the fridge for some 30 minutes.
5. Make balls or other shapes (you might want to distinguish the different flavours) of the mixtures and let them harden in the fridge.
6. Melt dark chocolate over a waterbath and dip all the truffles into the chocolate, then let them harden on a non-stick surface like foil.
7. Decorate truffles with different flavour differently. You can roll them in powdered sugar or cocoa powder or decorate them with melted milk chocolate. Before hardening you can add cloves on top of clove truffles, aniseed on top of aniseed truffles or just different nuts.

I made truffles flavoured with aniseed, cloves and cardamom/cinnamon. Loved them all! The flavours came through very well and I just couldn't help but pick the aniseed ones.
I really liked the softer filling and it surprised me every time I bit into a truffle. All the superhigh gigaquality truffles that cost a lot of money are usually a lot harder to bite in, for whatever reason. Everyone needs a change, right?

But it was a bit hard to form the balls so I kept running between the stove and the freezer! I guess it's good to combine running with chocolate once in a while...

The darkest spicy tipsy apples

Or, at first glance, more like beets with stalks on.

There must be a heap of recipes for pears in wine on the Internet and everywhere and everywhere, especially around Christmas holidays and New Year's Eve. Yet I'm here. Hmmm... but probably just because my apples turned out very cool-looking.

I don't have exact measurements, unfortunately. I used little-ish homegrown apples and threw in...everything. Feel free to use pears instead.


Spicy apples in red wine and blackcurrant juice

Apples (I had 10 small ones)
About 1/2 l of blackcurrant juice
About 7 dl of red wine
1 vanilla bean
cloves, about 10
1 star anise
1 cinnamon stick

1. Take a pot large enough to fit all the apples onto the bottom of it.
2. Add all ingredients (but not the apples) to the pot and bring to a boil.
3. Meanwhile peel the apples, but leave their stalks on. Cut the core out from the bottom and also cut a slice off the bottom so that they stand better.
4. Add the apples to the pot and boil them at low heat for about 30 minutes, until tender. As the liquid probably doesn't cover all the apples, turn them around for some times to get an even colour.
5. Remove from heat and let the apples cool in the poaching liquid.
6. Serve with vanilla sauce.

Blackcurrant juice is a strong flavourer. The apples do look like beets, but taste a lot like a lighter version of spiced blackcurrants. Tender, juicy. Screaming for vanilla sauce. They're as dark as it gets.

I guess it was the perfect dessert for surprising my granny. She knows how to prepare stunning dishes out of nothing, but after so many years of eating and cooking apples... who could have thought to throw the apples into some juice?

Not another gingerbread cookie

This year it only took 8.5 hours. We're getting better!

Like I said last year, I have this tradition of baking gingerbreads with my good friend Marie. Usually we're not finished until early morning hours, because we take our time. And we mess with all kinds of stuff and ideas and stuff. Some day I will have the courage to speak about how pathetic amateurs we were at first...but I can't admit it just yet.

Now, trust me on this. YOU HAVE TO MAKE FILLED GINGERBREADS. We fill them with every possible thing we can find, but maybe it's safer to know what you're putting in your treats at first...


For sweet ones I recommend peanut butter and bananas, but also chocolate chunks, dried fruit, nuts, berries. Peanut butter is compulsory, by the way.
But be brave and try savoury ones too - liver pate is the best thing for savoury Christmasy snacks!
That's how we make them...


If you want to give some good candies as presents (or something small), you could try making these gift boxes.

Just bake 6 squares for each (and some spare ones too, we needed 4 spare squares for 5 boxes! amateurs!) and heat some sugar to a caramel on a skillet for 'glue'. Put together 5 of the squares, fill the box with desired treats and then 'glue' on the last one. Then it's time for the icing to make the boxes look real (this one here is quite ordinary, but you get the idea).

Gingerbread balls are still a favourite. These are the ones I nibble the most. Making them is like therapy and eating them is even more so. If you've bought or made dough that's too sticky or is difficult to handle by some other reason, just MAKE BALLS. Really. Save yourself from all that depression.

I don't think gingerbread baking is over for me just yet, we've still got plans on doing it at my granny's in the countryside. Perfect Christmas.

Pasha with custard - a variation of an Easter tradition

I've heard from different sources that every Estonian makes pasha (pashka) at Easter. What? Really? The first time ever I heard about this traditional dessert was some four years ago when I was accidentally watching a Russian TV show Subboteja on one of the Estonian TV channels. I asked my mom about it. Her description was rather like 'well...it's like...hmm...' than 'it's an Estonian tradition too, you know'.

So I have been associating pasha with the Russians, it's their tradition after all. But recently I've discovered how many people in Estonia actually make it and I mean among the Estonians. My family has been making it for three years now (we've gotten over this 'well...it's like...hmm...'). But still - to discuss it as a traditional Estonian Easter dessert? Don't mention it when I'm around. Nevertheless I like pasha as I love all things made from curd cheese and the recipe we chose this year was a true hit. Custard is not a very usual component in pasha, but it might turn into one at my household!


Pasha with custard
(from the April 2006 edition of Oma Maitse magazine)

100 g butter
3 dl double/single cream
4 eggs
2 1/2 dl sugar
1 tbsp vanilla sugar
1 dl raisins
1 dl candied citrus peel or marmalade
1 dl almonds
500 g curd cheese
+ extra raisins/almonds/candied peel for decorating

for draining:
a special pasha mold/large sieve/flowerpots with holes in the bottom
cheesecloth

1. Prepare the almonds. Peel them (you can do so by first 'scaring' them for about half a minute in boiling water, then cooling under cold water and gently pressing the peels off between two fingers), roast them on a dry pan or in the oven (about 5 minutes at 200C) until golden and chop.
2. Using an electric mixer, beat the eggs and sugar until fluffy. Melt butter in a saucepan, add cream. Then add the egg mixture into the saucepan and start heating it up, whisking constantly until the mixture thickens (don't let it reach the boiling point!). Add vanilla and let the custard cool.
3. Press the curd cheese through a sieve if it's not smooth and then add raisins, chopped almonds, candied peel or marmalade and custard to it.



4. Rinse the cheesecloth carefully with hot water and then use it to line the mold you've chosen. Pour the curd cheese mixture into the mold and cover it with cheesecloth. Place something heavy over the top to fasten the thickening process and let the dessert stand in the fridge for at least 8 hours.
5. For serving - turn the mold over and decorate with raisins, almonds, candied peel, marmalade or with whatever else you want.




Want a definition to rich food? I guess this is it, this is the one. But it's really good. Moderately firm, but silky on the tongue, with bits of roasted almonds that crunch between the teeth. The mild custard challenges the sourness of curd cheese and finally wins, but with the help of sugary marmalade that almost melts itself into one's bite when bitten.
But yes, it's rich. What if I discarded double cream and used milk instead? And what if I accidentally forgot to add that huge amount of butter? Would it still taste heavenly? I mean...everybody loves the taste of fat (even when they don't admit it), but I do think people wouldn't mind if I broke some rules. Even pasha might like the feeling of being slim:)

Saffron-hearted truffle eggs in white chocolate

Another Easter-spirited event? A fab excuse for my second try on a not-so-much-of-an-egg dessert. Only this time they're bite size - just like tiny quail eggs.

I think I've been afraid of saffron. Its reputation, all the fizz around it - just as if it was gold or a bag full of edible diamonds. So, for the first time, I bought a thin package full of these deep red threads. Oh and the fizz was there. And the slightly floral smell that filled the kitchen as I was crushing the threads in a mortar. It was something! And it was the moment when my fear left me. With the knowledge that kitchen is the last place for being afraid. Saffron's got a little something for everybody.


Saffron-hearted truffle eggs in white chocolate
(from Maria Öhrn's Godis)

1/4 g saffron
1/4 tsp cognac/rum
200 g + 175 g white chocolate
3/4 dl heavy cream
1 tsp honey

1. Crush saffron in a mortar, add cognac or rum to make it smoother (it will blend better with the chocolate)
2. Chop 200 g of chocolate. Bring cream and honey to a boil and pour the mixture over chocolate. Blend well until chocolate melts.
3. Pour 1/3 of the mixture into a smaller bowl and mix it well with saffron. Let both mixtures harden in the fridge.
4. Roll small yolks out of the yellow mixture and place them in the freezer so that they turn really hard.
5. Cover the yolks with a bit of white chocolate mixture and form an egg. Let the eggs harden in the fridge (You might want to do this in several batches in case it's warm in your kitchen. Or you will be licking and washing your hands...all the time).
6. Break the remaining chocolate into pieces and melt over a waterbath. Then dip the eggs into it and let them harden.
7. Keep the eggs in the fridge, but let them stand a while at room temperature before serving.




You can really taste the saffron in these. The truffles are tender, sweet and look fun. Forming eggs was quite a mess as both my hands and the kitchen were very warm, but it was worth the effort.A clean and honest flavour.


Weekend Cookbook Challenge #15, themed Easter/Spring is hosted by Marta from An Italian in the US this month.

Marshmallows for my Valentine

It's this time of the year again and this year there had to be something better than muffins with burnt bottoms. Something sweet. Something pink. Something...marshmallow. I did adore these sweets when I was little and bought them in those lovely plastic cornets whenever I had the money and chance to do so. Although food colourings are put far away at our house, Valentine's day means time for some red paint on luscious sugar candies. Because there has to be a time for that every year.



Marshmallows with a hint of rum

5 dl sugar
2 1/2 dl water
vanilla
1 dl water + 6 tsp gelatin
some liquid red food colouring
rum essence

for coating:
1 2/2 dl powdered sugar
4 tbsp starch

1. dissolve sugar in water
2. bring it slowly to a boil and boil, uncovered, for about 15 minutes
3. remove from heat and let cool a bit
4. soak gelatin in 1 dl water for some minutes and then warm it up (it's easiest to do it in the microwave, but you can use waterbath too). when the gelatin has dissolved let it cool a little.
5. mix together syrup, food coulouring, vanilla, rum essence and gelatin mixture. using an electric mixer, beat it up to form a thick mass (it took over 10 minutes for me).
6. pour the mixture into a baking dish (about 20 cm) that has been lined with film and let cool in the fridge.
7. when the mixture has jellied, cut it into pieces (put knife into hot water before cutting to make the process easier) and roll them in the mixture of powdered sugar and starch.

I'll take them to school with me along with Valentine's Day wishes. I would have never believed that marshmallows actually have almost nothing in them. Of course there is some really suspicious chemistry in the candies from these plastic scones, but...home-made...well-made. And marshmallows, especially home-made (and especially well-made) will hopefully catch smiles.

Christmas menu

I'm finally home after travelling about Estonia during the last week. Before it's time to celebrate the next fiesta, I'd share my family's this year's Christmas menu. There weren't so many of us sitting round the table - seven grown-ups and two children (as I do the talking here, I naturally consider myself a grown-up). We even had a real Santa, so the only thing missing from Christmas spirit was this really slowly falling perfect white snow... But as Christmas (fortunately or unfortunately) is a feasting holiday here in Estonia, I'll better talk about that side of the holiday.

Christmas menu
Glazed pork fillet
Creamy winter vegetables
Boiled potatoes
Cottage cheese-yoghurt sauce with dill
Sour cabbage
Gooseberry chutney
Salted salmon
Ham, cheese

Desserts
English christmas pudding with creamy vanilla sauce
Toscabuns
Fruits
Gingerbreads
Almond and coconut candies

No, we didn't have traditional blood sausage this year (I can still remember the spooky process of making it when I was little), but we did eat classical home-made marinated pumpkin, meat jelly (we actually found a whole shelf full of it, made by grandma, of course) and oven roast only the next day at my grandmother's. Oh, mystical...grannies and their cookery (I'm afraid I'll repeat this forever).

I'll share the recipe of creamy winter vegetables. I believe it could go with fish as well as with pork, it could also be eaten as a meal by itself. Light cream can be substituted with heavy cream to make the vegetables turn more silky and enjoyable.


Creamy winter vegetables

1 kg (in all) carrot, swede and onion
2 dl light cream
2 tbsp honey
2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
thyme

1. peel the vegetables. cut the carrots and swede into bigger pieces, onions into four sectors.
2. lay the vegetables into a baking dish, strew with thyme.
3. mix together cream, honey, salt and pepper, pour the mixture over the vegetables.
4. cover the dish with its lid or with foil and bake at 200 C for one and a half hours.

Gingerbread mania

The kitchen is smelling for spices, sugar is sizzling oh-so-mysteriously and a whole wash basin is filled with brownish dough, the family has gathered around a small table and everybody has a small batch of dough in front of them, to knead and to...taste, bit by bit.
I remember making gingerbread dough at my grandmother's. It was packed until the next evening when the family could come together once again. My brother probably had the same memory flash when he asked me to find some time for him to make the dough after granny's instructions. Although we added a teeny bit too much flour as we were kneading and were overwhelmed by nostalgia, the main purpose of making the dough was finally fulfilled - we were doing something together. However, my brother never stopped saying but granny did it like that... Oh, mystical...grannies and their cookery.


As it has become a tradition the last four years, I baked gingerbreads together with my friend Marie. For us gingerbreads aren't just gingerbreads. Oh no, there's a lot more. Filled gingerbreads (with banana filling on the picture) are already becoming a classic. To make these, you only have to put the filling between two dough circles and press the edges together, you can also shape the rounds afterwards. Why not try salty fillings? Gingerbreads filled with liver pate, flavoured cream cheese or blue cheese are a great snack on the christmas table. Sweet fillings could include berries (frozen ones should be dried after melting), fruit (especially bananas, onto which we added some chili), dried fruit, nuts, chocolate, peanut butter (I'm trying to track down the ones with PB, but they all look the same!)


Stained-glass gingerbreads look really nifty. To make them, all you have to do is to transfer dough rounds with holes onto the baking tray and put a broken caramel candy in the center of the hole. Could be eaten slowly as well as used for decorations.

The idea of making gingerbread balls originates from last year when we bought a whole batch of dough that was nastily sticky and unformable. Only later we saw the charm of the terrible incident. These actually make a lovely present or a hard-to-refuse sweet snack.


When talking about gingerbreads, one can't escape sugar-coating. This year we acted like traitors and used ready-to-use icing. Still, our level is far beyond the..usual level (also known as making whiskers to gingerbread cats). This time we decided to mess with the names of food products. Oh yes, the one on the picture actually says 'mustard':). I'd like to point out that it is a great idea to use paint-brushes while designing the gingerbreads. Although I didn't use the technique this year, I have used it before and it's possible to create neat pieces of food-art like that.

Merry christmas and may your lives be overwhelmed by new tastes and occasionally...nostalgia:)