Apples in uniform

What's in an apple? C-Vitamin? Seeds?

Sometimes when you just incidentally happen to eat a whole bowlful, there's also stomach ache in apples. Well...yeah.

But with these apples it's certain - no seeds, no ache (I solemnly swear..), enough C-Vitamin to keep you going and on top of all that there are...apples:)

The first time I tucked fruit into uniform was when I had leftover dough from a pie shell and - I tell you - it's the best way in the universe for using up that leftover dough you'd otherwise end up eating bit by bit, cursing yourself more and more and in the end - having less uniformed fruit to eat;)

Apples in uniform
(serves four)

4 small apples
about 170 g sweet patee brisee
3 tbsp sugar
¾ tsp cinnamon

1. Peel the apples and cut the bottom parts a bit flatter so they stand up better. Core them, but don't cut through the bottom.
2. Divide the dough into four and roll each part into quite a thin circle; leave a bit of dough for decorating.
3. Fill the apples (as much as you can) with a mixture of sugar and cinnamon.
4. Place the apples onto the dough circles and then wrap them up. Make sure the dough is of the same thickness everywhere and that it's as smooth as possible - you get four nice balls.
5. Make (2) leaves for each "apple" from the leftover dough and press them onto the "apples". Use a knife to make the leaf pattern.
6. Bake the apples in a buttered oven dish at 175C for about 30 minutes until they look golden.
   
7. Eat while still warm, serve with vanilla sauce or -ice cream.
   

How sad that I don't have a photo of the finished dessert! Cause the apples are just so nicely golden and round that they make you want to juggle, roll them in your hands or just eat up at once. Below the crisp surface there's a soft apple and the filling has turned into a sweet dark sauce, that complements the slightly more sour apple very well.

A bit of ice cream or vanilla sauce and this dessert should do the trick:)

Parsnip soup with smoked cheese and soy sauce

Call it spring stress, call it searching for my muse, call it a stupid gap, but here I am - back after two months without a single post about food. I am terribly sorry, for I must be to be polite, but fortunately (so you can cheer and forgive me right away) I can say that I've found the muse and have some great stuff to show you.

Only that...I have to make most of them again to make pictures. Silly silly me.

This soup stayed a dream for quite some time, until one day I got it all right and I literally went 'mmmmmmmm' till my bowl was empty. I couldn't believe it! There was actually competition to my all-time-favourite carrot soup with coriander and aniseed.

Keep the stock light and your heart open for the best experience.

Parsnip soup with smoked cheese
(serves 4)

300 g parsnip, diced
1 onion, diced
4 garlic cloves, diced
2 dl chicken broth
4 dl milk
100 g smoked cheese, diced
1 tbsp butter
salt, sugar
soy sauce

1. Melt butter in a soup pot, add diced parsnip, onion and garlic, cover with lid and sautee about 10 minutes, until the onion is transparent.
2. Add broth and boil for 30 minutes, until parsnip is tender.
3. Puree the potful, then add the smoked cheese and puree until very smooth.
4. Pour everything back to the pot, add milk, stirring and flavour with salt and a bit of sugar. Heat up.
5. When serving, sprinkle with soy sauce.

The soup is full of taste. It has got this sweet flick to it, from the natural sweetness of the parsnip (which, much like the carrot, can cheer up any savoury dish) and also from the essential dash of sugar. The smoked cheese makes it creamier, gives it an attitude, intensifies the taste.

The soy sauce, as the final key to the taste combination, gives the soup the sparkle of life. I wanted to taste a bit with every mouthful, so I just added some more when I'd done with half of the soup. Don't mix it, enjoy it as a contrast, a treat. I'm not a fan of soy sauce, but I love it with red fish and I adore it on this soup.

Blogging By Mail: Little things

I was excited enough to even forget posting about my BBM package from Glenna of A Fridge Full of Food when I got it last week. And although we now have REAL REAL spring weather, there were big heaps of snow outside at that time.

It was like Christmas. It was the first proper snow of the winter. It was the biggest present I was carrying, climbing over the heaps of snow in our local park-forest. Magic, I tell you.

The moment I got home I RIPPED THE PACKAGE OPEN.
Wonderful! She nailed it!

I've been wanting to try cake decorating and Glenna totally saw it happening. She sent me a package of decorating bags together with a bunch of different tips and four bottles of icing colours.

PLUS a package of Gourmet Jelly Candy. I've been taking these candies to school with me, as a little dessert, one every day. The lollipops are still waiting for me...

Thanks, Glenna, you're sweet!
Oh, I hope my package will reach its recipient in one piece too. Wouldn't want to see all that sweet stuff shaped like one big pancake... Thank you, Stephanie, for organizing the swap!

A cheesecake for the minority: Licorice!

Although I'm ill as in really ill right now and almost can't taste a thing, here's a treat I made a month ago. So I TOO could remember what good food tastes like:)

Ohh, licorice.

There's just too little variety in Estonia. Whenever I go to Finland, I know exactly what I'm going to buy. Always the same licorice candy mix from the ship's Tax Free. Then definitely a package of licorice chewing gum. And if I'm lucky - some licorice ice cream, a tube of licorice sauce to bring home or even a licorice flavoured Tupla chocolate.

Nevertheless I've come upon very few recipes using licorice (candies) as an ingredient. I made a licorice cheesecake with gelatin for a friend mad about the candy two years ago, but at last I made my first baked licorice cheesecake that had been developing itself in my head for too long a time.


I didn't tell my parents of the origin of the cake before they had eaten their first bites. The funny thing...they both liked it. Although neither of them belongs to the licorice-loving minority...very very weird indeed. But positively surprising.

Licorice cheesecake with chocolate and lingonberry jam

180 g chocolate cookies
50 g melted butter
100 g licorice candies (regular)
1 dl heavy cream
500 g cream cheese
3 eggs
1/2 dl sugar
vanilla
1 1/2 dl lingonberry jam
50 g grated dark chocolate

1. Crush the cookies into a fine powder and add the butter to make the crust. Grease a springform pan (mine was 27 cm), press the crust onto the bottom and up the sides. Bake at 175C for 10 minutes.
2. Chop the licorice candies into little pieces and combine with the heavy cream in a saucepan. Boil on low until the cream is quite dark (the candies don't have to be dissolved completely).
3. Pour the mixture into a food processor and process until quite smooth.
4. Add cream cheese, eggs, vanilla and sugar. Process until smooth and incorporated well.
5. Warm up the jam (on the stove/in a microwave) and spread on the pre-cooked crust.
6. Pour the filling over the jam and sprinkle the grated chocolate on top.
7. Bake for about 40 minutes more.

The overall impression of the cake is quite chocolate-y (I already hear you shouting 'haha chocolate again - and you said you weren't a chocoholic!'). The flavours of chocolate and licorice suit each other very well and a plus side of the melting-in-your-mouth chocolate coating is also that it covers the grey-ish cheesecake (you see? there's a reason for the chocolate!).

The licorice taste isn't overpowering or anything in the final result, but moderatlely present - that explains why my parents didn't spit their mouthfuls out, but rather asked for more.
I hoped the lingonberry jam would be seen more between the layers, but it kind of melted into the crust. Nevertheless it gives it's slightly bitter accent to the cake.


When in search for licorice recipes on the web, I did notice some of them: Licorice pudding from The Well-Seasoned Cook, Licorice ice cream published in the Courier Mail and Martha Stewart's Black Licorice Creme Brulee Tarts.

Maybe you've got your own to share?
Oh, well, I'm off to tea and napkins...

A thought: Coca Cola 'sorbet'

I don't drink Coca Cola. The sugar almost hurts in my throat if I do so and I don't stand it.

After all, I'm well aware that there's more acid in Coke than in acid rains;)

And when I heard a lecture held by the head of Coca Cola Baltic in autumn (that was supposed to be about business, but in fact was p.u.b.l.i.c.i.t.y.), he said that 'all our products is healthy' and that he himself gave it even to his tiny daughter. Felt sorry for the girl. The worst lecture I've ever attended. Not trying to impress - really.

But, hehe, what's this health anyway, right?

I made Coca Cola 'sorbet'. It's rather just an idea - incredibly easy to execute, but definitely an interesting finish to some desserts or a way to enjoy the perhaps favourite taste - consuming less, but experiencing more. Can this even be called a recipe?
And I'm not playing hypocrite here - I liked it.


Coca Cola 'sorbet'

Process Coca Cola in an ice cream machine if you've got one. Or freeze it, processing it in a food processor/blender or with an immersion blender (have the drink in a suitable bowl for that) every 30-60 minutes until it has reached suitable consistency.

As a sorbet, Coca Cola doesn't seem so sweet and that's probably why I liked it that way. It's better to concentrate on the actual citrusy flavour. Good just by itself, but even better with some berries or poached fruit.

Enjoy!;)