Hazelnut rum balls

Chocolate-y rum balls made with cookie and cake crumbs are quite a classical favourite treat for me. I think I've tried almost every kind they sell in Estonia, I've chosen my favourites and over time I've eaten a ton. A big ton, not a small one. A ton of rum balls.

Although I've never succeeded in making the perfect rum ball at home, I've now succeeded in making quite a perfect variation of it. Hazelnuts have always seemed like good company for a decent rum ball and condensed milk is probably good company for anyone interested in the very quintessence of company.


Pardon for the blurry pictures. I had a bunch of wide-smiled compliment-throwing hungry friends over and they didn't like the idea of leaving any truffles alone.

Hazelnut rum balls

2 dl ground hazelnuts (if you have time - from about 200g hazelnuts, dry-roasted on a skillet and rubbed while warm in a cloth to remove peels)
1 dl cookie or cake crumbs
1 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
2 tbsp butter
1 dl sweet condensed milk
vanilla
rum essence
dark chocolate and hazelnuts for decorating

1. Mix ground hazelnuts, cookie crumbs and cocoa powder well.
2. Melt butter and mix well with condensed milk. Add rum essence and vanilla, then pour the mixture over the dry ingredients and mix very well.
3. Place the mixture into the fridge for a half an hour, make small balls from it and then let them harden in the fridge again.
4. Melt dark chocolate over a water bath, dip the balls into the chocolate and place them onto foil or parchment paper. Before they harden, decorate each ball with a hazelnut. Store in the fridge.

Although the taste differs according to the crumbs you use, the flavour of hazelnuts is still nicely obvious. Teasingly flirtatious with the rum flavour in the truffles, it really creates a good mild combination that goes together really well with chocolate.

The balls are best eaten when they've spent a day in the fridge. The taste is smoother, the texture is harder, the delight is grander.

The rum balls will also be taking part of this month's Waiter, there's something in my... event, themed Dried fruit and nuts which is hosted by Andrew of Spittoon Extra.

And in the Monthly Mingle event, hosted by Mansi of Fun and Food, themed Appetizers and Hors'Doeuvres.

I really have to make these rum balls when no guests will be coming around;)

A healthy onion tart, three ways

A bag of onions makes me happier than a bag of candy.

Like...really. As I'd managed to somehow eat all our onions, I was happy as hell to eye a bunch of them when I went to the kitchen, looking for food. I knew exactly what I'd make - and it's not just that the recipe is called 'healthy onion tart' (it wouldn't be healthy if I ate half of it anyway).

I've made it several times and been really happy with it, although I've always been annoyed with the crazy salt amount the recipe calls for. How is it that cookbook authors sometimes really mess up? How is it that they sometimes manage to leave some parts of the recipes out? Or some ingredients? Don't they like...read their work over again and again?
Whatever. But that's lame. Let's just stop whining and stuff our mouths full.

Healthy onion tart on an oat flake and carrot crust (adapted from '100 pirukat', serves 8) Crust: 1 dl oat flakes 1 dl flour 1 dl grated carrots 100 g baking margarine (or butter) at room temperature 1 tsp baking powder 1/4 tsp salt Filling: 3-4- onions 1 tbsp butter 2 dl milk 2 eggs 3/4 tsp salt Mix grated carrot, oat flakes and margarine. Mix flour with salt and baking powder, add to the mixture. Take a 24cm round baking pan and press the dough onto the bottom and sides of the pan (it's easier to do so when you've chilled the dough in the fridge for some time). Place the pan into the fridge for a half an hour. Meanwhile slice the onions and cook them with the butter until they're golden. Mix eggs with milk, add salt. Bake the crust in the middle of a preheated 200C oven for 15 minutes. Spread the onion slices onto the baked crust and pour the milk-egg mixture over them. Bake at 180C for 20 more minutes.

Feel free to add herbs to the onions (thyme, maybe? rosemary? sage? or oregano?) or cheese on top of the tart when it has been baking for some time already (I allow you to keep the name 'healthy' even when you add cheese;))
I'd definitely go for some green salad on the side for serving, be the tart warm or cold. I love to warm up the cold tart in the microwave, too. The onions are so mild, the crust is sweetly speckled from grated carrot. It's not very crisp - the crust - only the bottom and the sides are, the filling kind of melts into its upper layer.

Long long time ago - in the summer - I used the very same recipe for onion tartelettes.



I think I pre-baked the crust for some 5 minutes and added 1-2 tbsp of both onions and milk-egg mixture to each tartelette, also adding cheese in the middle of baking. They were marvellous snacks to eat with fingers! As this method used up all the crust dough, there was left-over filling and I baked it in bread slices that I placed in a muffin pan. For bread and onion tartelettes I added cheese right away.



Talking about 'marvellous'? These were perfect when eaten warm and definitely on a green salad! I don't think there's a need for a more accurate recipe. Just...look!

This post will also be taking part of the 11th WTSIM event Topless tarts, hosted by Jeanne from Cook sister. Fortunately being underage can't stop one from participating...:D

Fruit stuffed fruit

...stuffed marzipan stuffed chocolate.
Ooh. Today I'm proud of myself. Just like for the first time in my life I had prepared something...elegant. If that's the word. I wasn't sure what I was going to make or how I was going to make it, but I took out a can of apricot halves, some chocolate, marzipan and dried apricots. And then I stared at them, just stared at them for a little while before my mind cleared up.
Ding!
And that's what I got.


Chocolate balls filled with apricots and marzipan
(yields six balls)

12 canned apricot halves
6 dried apricots
120 g marzipan
100 g dark chocolate

1. Drain the apricot halves on paper towels so that they're quite dry.
2. Place dried apricots between two apricot halves.


3. Roll marzipan into a thin sheet and divide it into 6, then wrap each 'apricot' into marzipan. Be sure there are no holes in it.
4. Melt chocolate over a waterbath and dip the marzipan covered apricots into it to be wholly covered with chocolate (I found the best way to do so was to use a tablespoon to roll them around in chocolate). Place them onto baking paper or foil and then into the freezer at first so that the chocolate would quickly harden.
5. After about 5 minutes you can put them into the fridge to keep them there.



The inside of the treats is flavoured by marzipan that has turned soft due to apricot juice. When broken, marzipan flavoured juice flows out just like a sweet sauce. And chocolate melting into marzipan when bitten...could it get any better? I believe it's possible to add even more twists to the dessert. What about adding a bit apricot jam between the dried apricots and apricot halves? Or what about adding almond slices instead? Adding them would enrich the treat with yet another different texture.

With this post I'm also joining the fabulous event Waiter, there's something in my... stuffed fruit/vegetables! hosted by Jeanne of Cook Sister

Head isu!

A pinch of Estonia plus a pinch of onions

When I decided to bake something for the Waiter there's something in my...bread event hosted by Spittoon Extra, I immediately thought about onions. I've eaten some great onion bread (rye bread, of course - it's Estonia after all) while in South-Estonia and unfortunately they don't sell it here in the north (like the country was so big!)

But my rye bread adventures still lie ahead of me. Nevertheless I wanted to stay traditional and decided for barley flour and curd cheese. With a personal favourite of course - onions. Onions-onions-onions. What luck that someone had bought them, cause I remember eating them all:)


Onioned barley and curd cheese soda bread
(adapted from Estonian National Cuisine)

125 g curd cheese
2 1/2 dl milk
1 egg
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp sugar/honey
2 tbsp butter
2 1/2 dl barley flour
1 1/2 dl wheat flour
1/2 tsp soda
200 g chopped onion

1. Melt butter in a saucepan or a skillet and cook onions at low heat until transparent. Then puree until smooth.
2. Grease a loaf pan with butter and add some flour or semolina, shaking to cover the bottom and sides evenly.
3. Beat the egg and add curd cheese, milk, salt, sugar.
4. Mix flour with soda and add.
5. Pour the batter into the mold and bake at 180C for 30-40 minutes.



My bread turned out nicely moist. It was pure pleasure eating it warm from the oven with only some butter on it. In fact it's almost the only thing I've eaten the whole day. The taste of onion is rather on the background, but it's there. Barley flour gives the bread a somehow rougher taste, it's also slightly sweet.

The orginal recipe had no onions, so I decided to add an additional 1/2 dl of wheat flour too (that might just be the mind of a beginner, but hey - it worked!). For more oniony taste I'd add more of them. Not pureed, but as tiny bits, so the taste would be in tthe foreground too. This time I decided not to add herbs to get a pure taste, but thyme or parsley would fit well. Pumpkin seeds are another idea - inside or on the top.
Anyway - a thank you to my ancestors.