Caffé Latte Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

Do you like a cup of coffee first thing in the morning? Moreover, do you like a sprinkling of cinnamon on your morning latté?* If yes, then these are the perfect cupcakes for you. A hint of coffee, a hint of cinnamon - and a generous slashing of cream cheese frosting on top of that all. Oh - and even if you cannot really taste the cream liqueur in the finished cupcakes, the fact that you know it's there, makes these especially tempting :)

* I do. 

Caffé Latte Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting
(Kohvimuffinid toorjuustuvõõbaga)
Makes 12 medium-sized cupcakes



2 large eggs
150 g caster sugar
100 g unsalted butter, melted and cooled
50 g sour cream or creme fraiche
150 ml milk
1 Tbsp instant coffee granules (I used Nescafé Gold)
2 Tbsp cream liqueur (Bailey's, Vana Tallinn or such like)
200 g plain/all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp ground cinnamon

Cream cheese frosting:
50 g butter, at room temperature
100 g plain cream cheese (I used Philly), at room temperature
80 g confectioner's sugar

Whisk eggs and sugar until thick and foamy. Fold in the melted butter, sour cream, milk, coffee granules and cream liqueur. Combine flour, baking powder and cinnamon in a separate bowl, then stir into the wet ingredients.
Spoon the batter into 12 muffin tins lines with paper muffin cups. Bake in a preheated 200 C/400 F oven for about 15 minutes, until the muffins are cooked through (test for doneness with a wooden toothpick - it shoud only have couple of moist crumbs on it, when inserted into a muffin).
Transfer onto a wire rack and cool completely. Remove the paper cups carefully.
To make the cream cheese frosting, stir the softened butter, cream cheese and icing sugar until thoroughly combines. Pipe or spread onto the muffins.
Decorate the cupcakes with chocolate coffee beans, instant coffee granules or a dusting of ground cinnamon.

Cheesy Oatcakes for your Picnic Basket

Planning a picnic soon? Or need something to nibble while working away at the desk? Try these savoury oatcakes with cheese. They're soft and slightly chewy, quite filling and very easy to make. The recipe is adapted from a Finnish magazine. I used an Emmenthaler-type cheese, but good old Cheddar or Monterey Jack would work just as well.

Cheesy Oatcakes
(Kaerahelbeküpsised juustuga)
Makes about 2 dozens

100 g old-fashioned oats
135 g plain/all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
75 g cheese, grated
250 ml / 1 cup milk
40 g butter, melted
0.5 tsp salt

Mix oats, flour and baking powder in a large bowl. Add the grated cheese, milk, melted butter and stir, until everything is combined. The batter with be rather soft.
Take spoonfuls of the batter and place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
Bake in a preheated 225 C/450 F oven for about 15 minutes, until the cookies are golden.
Transfer onto a wire rack to cool.

Spicy Chicken Couscous with Rose Harissa

Here's a lovely, and rather fiery, chicken couscous that I made on several occasions earlier this year. The chicken is first marinated in a yogurt-harissa mixture, then gently cooked in the same marinade, before mixed with couscous and some additional ingredients. It's got plenty of taste, good texture and it's definitely not dry - a problem I find with so many couscous dishes and couscous salads.

I used Belazu's Rose Harissa - a rather expensive, but very tasty British harissa paste available in deli shops. But I'm sure your regular harissa would work, too.

Spicy Chicken Cous-Cous with Rose Harissa
(Maitsev kanakuskuss harissaga)
Serves 6

500 g chicken breast or thigh fillets
200 g plain yogurt
1 heaped tsp Rose Harissa paste

CousCous:
300 ml water
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 tsp salt
250 g medium-grain couscous
2-3 Tbsp butter

In addition:
250 g cherry tomatoes
handful of spring onions (white and light green parts only)
handful of fresh coriander/cilantro

Cut the chicken pieces into small strips (about an inch long and 1 cm wide). Fold harissa into the yogurt, then throw in the chicken pieces, stirring, so all chicken pieces are covered with marinade. Cover and place in the fridge for an hour.

Prepare the couscous. Heat the water, salt and oil in a saucepan. Remove from the heat and whisk in the couscous. Cover the saucepan and leave for 2-3 minutes. Return to the heat, add the butter and heat for 2-3 minutes, stirring, until the butter is melted. Remove from the heat and keep covered.

Take a small frying pan, add a splash of oil, rinsed cherry tomatoes and season with salt and pepper. Sauté for 2-3 minutes, until the cherry tomatoes are hot. Add to the prepared couscous and cover again. /No need to stir at this point/.

Take a large frying pan and dip in the chicken strips with the marinade. Heat over a moderate heat for 7-8 minutes, until chicken pieces are cooked through and the marinade hot. Pour over the couscous.

Stir the whole lot gently with a large spoon, then scatter chopped spring onions and coriander leaves on top.

Serve.

Kefir or Buttermilk Pudding with Jam

Here's a delicious pudding I made last November. We use lots of dairy products in Estonia, and drink copious amounts of milk, buttermilk, kefir (and that includes adults). We also eat lots of dairy-based desserts. So it's not surprising that I think of thissimple pudding made with kefir or buttermilk as typically Estonian. For a moment I thought of blogging about it back in November - especially as I quite like the photo - but then I decided it's too humble, you see :) 

However, yesterday I saw a very similar recipe over at Elise's great Simply Recipes site - Buttermilk Pudding - so I thought I hop on the buttermilk pudding bandwagon and post my recipe as well (I actually used kefir to make this particular raspberry pudding, but buttermilk would work just as well). My version isn't as creamy and rich as the one over at Simply Recipes, but it is made with delicious (home-made) raspberry jam. Of course, you can use other type of jam, if you don't fancy the raspberry one.

Did you know that kefir is good for you? The friendly bacteria in kefir can aid in lactose digestion as a catalyst, making it more suitable than other dairy products for those who are lactose intolerant. It can also suppress an increase in blood pressure and reduce cholesterol levels.

Kefir or buttermilk pudding with raspberry jam
(Keefiritarretis maitsva moosiga)
Serves 4 to 6

500 ml (2 cups) kefir or buttermilk
300 g raspberry jam
6 gelatine leaves
4 Tbsp (1/4 cup) water, heated

Place gelatine leaves into a bowl of cold water and soak for 5 minutes. Heat the 4 Tbsp of water. Squeeze the soaked gelatine leaves lightly, then stir into and dissolve in the heated water.
Mix kefir/buttermilk and jam in a bowl. Pour in the gelatine mixture and stir thoroughly.
Divide the pudding between small dessert glasses or ramekins. 

Cover with clingfilm/plastic wrap and place into the refridgerator for at least 4 hours to set.

Rhubarb Fruit Soup aka Rhubarb Kissel Recipe

Rhubarb season is in full swing here in Estonia. Every rhubarb season means that I'm trying out a number of new recipes, but it also means I'm cooking old and traditional favourites. Rabarbrikissell aka rhubarb kissel or rhubarb fruit soup is definitely one of them. It's so easy and effortless to make (slice, heat, thicken), has such a delightful flavour, and it's cheap to make :) It's something my mum would make couple of times a week during late Spring and early Summer when we were kids, so it's firmly imprinted in my culinary memory :)

Note that rhubarb contains oxalic acid, which, if consumed in excess, is toxic (oxalic acid is also present in carambola, spinach, chard, sorrel, beans, cocoa, and most of the berries). As oxalic acid inhibits the absorption of Calcium by the human body, it's recommended to serve rhubarb with dairy. This fruit soup goes well with a dollop of whipped cream or some curd cheese dessert (see photo below), or even thick Greek yoghurt.

Other fruit soup recipes @ Nami-Nami:
Cranberry fruit soup
Raisin fruit soup

Rhubarb fruit soup
(Rabarbrikissell)
Serves six



500 grams of tender rhubarb stalks
1 litre of water
200 g sugar
2 Tbsp potato starch/potato flour (see Note below)

Rinse the rhubarb stalks and slice thinly (5 mm or 1/5 of an inch). If you're using tender rhubarb stalks, then there's absolutely no need to peel them first.
Place wter and rhubarb into a saucepan and bring to the boil. Simmer for 5-7 minutes, until rhubarb softens.
Add sugar, stir until dissolved.
Mix potato starch with some cold water until you've got a runny paste. Pour this into the fruit soup, stirring constantly. Bring back to the boil and remove IMMEDIATELY from the heat (if cooked for too long, the fruit soup becomes thin again).
Let cool and serve.

Note on the use of starch. It's more common to use potato starch in Estonia, but you can certainly use cornflour (UK)/cornstarch (US) instead. If doing so, cook the kissel for a few minutes after adding the starch, as cornflour/cornstarch needs to be heated properly in order to kick-start the thickening action.

Potato Mash with Wild Garlic

The wild garlic - also known as bear's garlic - is in season here in Estonia. The season is short, so I'm trying to eat as much as possible of this delicious and health-boosting spring green. Here's a simple way to incorporate wild garlic into your regular mash. Looks bright and pretty, doesn't it?

More wild garlic recipes @ Nami-Nami:
Wild garlic butter
Wild garlic pesto
Tomatoes stuffed with wild garlic

Potato Mash with Wild Garlic
(Kartulipuder karulauguga)
Serves 6

1 kg floury potatoes
200 ml (just under a cup) of milk, heated
50 g (2 Tbsp) butter
100 g fresh wild garlic, rinsed and finely chopped
1 tsp salt
0.25 tsp freshly ground black pepper

Peel the potatoes and cut into large chunks. Cover with fresh water, season with salt and bring to a boil. Boil for 15-20 minutes, until soft, then drain.
Return the saucepan to the hob and mash using whatever way you usually do it (I love to use my 'Spudnik' for that, which results in a rather coarse mash). Pour over the hot milk, add the butter and finely chopped wild garlic, and continue mashing and stirring, until you've got a bright green and fluffy potato mash.
Season with salt and pepper, stir thoroughly and serve.

Julia Child's Waterzooi Recipe - well, almost

Ruth Van Waerebeek describes this famous Belgian dish in her book Everybody Eats Well in Belgium Cookbook as "a confusion of a soup with a stew, chock-full of herbs and vegetables". Julia Child names this as 'the most interesting recipe she's clipped'. Originally made with fish (perch, preferrably), this dish from the Ghent area of Belgium is now more commonly made with chicken. The chicken is poached alongside julienne of vegetables in a mixture of stock and vermouth, and thickened at the end with heavy rcream and egg yolks. When researching the recipe, I did come across recipes for waterzooi using lemon juice instead of vermouth, but vermouth - as used by Julia Child - sounded so much better :) Eventually I settled for Julia Child's recipe (available here), but adapting it slightly. We thought it was really delicious and rather elegant, and wouldn't look out of place on a slightly more special dinner party.

Now, I wonder what the most famous Belgian of all times, Hercule Poirot, thought of Waterzooi. :D

I used a packet of chicken fillet strips, but sliced chicken fillets or boneless chicken thighs would work as well. You can obviously play around with vegetables, but leeks and carrots are a must here - one for the flavour, the other for the colour.

Belgian Chicken Stew Waterzooi
Serves 4



3 large carrots
1 large leek (white and tender green part only)
1 medium sized onion
4 celery ribs/sticks
1 tsp dried tarragon
50 g butter (2 Tbsp)
0.5 tsp salt
450-500 g chicken filet strips (1 pound)
250 ml (1 cup) extra dry vermouth (I used Italian Filipeti)
250 ml (1 cup) light chicken or veal broth
100 ml (just under 1/2 cup) heavy/whipping cream
2 large egg yolks
2 tsp cornstarch
salt and freshly ground black pepper
a large handful of finely chopped fresh parsley

Trim and wash the vegetables. Cut carrots, leek and celery ribs into 4-5 cm (2 inch) julienne matchsticks. Peel and halve the onion, then cut into thin slices.



Heat the butter in a heavy casserole dish, add the vegetables, half a teaspoonful of salt and dried tarragon. Sauté for about 5 minutes, without browning! Transfer 2/3 of the vegetables into a bowl.



Layer the sautéed vegetables and chicken strips into the casserole dish in this order, starting from the bottom: a third of vegetables, half of chicken strips, a third of vegetables, half of chicken strips, a third of vegetables. 



Pour over the vermouth and chicken or veal broth, so the chicken and vegetables are just covered (you may need a bit more broth). Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat, cover and simmer gently for about 30 minutes, until the vegetables are soft and chicken cooked through. 

Now strain the cooking liquid into a bowl. Whisk egg yolks, cream and cornflour until combined, then add the hot cooking liquid, spoonful at the time in the beginning ('to temper' the egg yolk mixture). Pour the sauce back into the casserole dish over the chicken and vegetables, stir in most of the parsley and heat until the first bubbles appear. Remove immediately (overheating will cause the egg yolks to curdle).

Divide into hot soup bowls and serve with boiled new potatoes, gnocchi, noodles or good French bread. 

Saturday morning pancakes

Small buttermilk pancakes, made using eggs from these free-roaming chicken and served with the last of wild strawberry jam and a cup of milky coffee. All made by my dear K.

One cannot ask for more...

Beetroot Salad with Cottage Cheese and Leeks

Well, it's been a while since I posted a recipe using beetroot. But no worries, your Beetroot Princess is back and here's a recipe for a simple salad. I don't usually cook with shop-bought pickled beetroot, but I've tried (successfully) couple of recipes recently. There was this delicious pickled beetroot and blue cheese quiche, and then this simple salad I made just a few days ago. So if you've got a jar of pickled beets lurking somewhere in your fridge, here's your chance to use it! It's a great side dish, or perhaps a filling for a jacket potato?

Beetroot, Cottage Cheese and Leek Salad
(Peedi-kodujuustusalat)
Serves 4

400 g pickled beets
1 leek, white part only
200 g cottage cheese
freshly ground black pepper

Drain the beets, and cut into matchsticks or small cubes, if necessary (I had ready-grated beets).
Halve the leek lengthwise, rinse to get rid of any grit, and cut into fine slices.
Mix beets, leek and cottage cheese in a bowl, season with black pepper and serve.

Zucchini Rolls with Herb-Marinated Mozzarella Balls

Given that so many of you were interested in my recipe for Zucchini Rolls with Goat's Cheese aka "Makis" au Chèvre that I served on the Easter table, I wanted to share a recipe for another kind of Zucchini Rolls that I served on my Birthday table. This time the courgette slices are blanched first, and the goat cheese has been replaced by herb-marinated mini mozzarella balls. The ones available here are aboiut the size of a large cherry tomato, so I used medium-sized courgettes/zucchinis. If you get hold of really small mozzarella balls, you may want to use smaller courgettes to wrap them in..

Zucchini Rolls with Herb-Marinated Mozzarella Balls
(Suvikõrvitsasse mähitud ürdised mozzarellapallid)
Adapted from Finnish food magazine Glorian Ruoka & Viini
Makes about 30



2 packets of mini mozzarella balls, drained
2 medium sized green courgettes/Zucchinis

Herb marinade:
4 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
2 Tbsp white balsamic or white wine vinegar
3 Tbsp of finely chopped fresh herbs (I used chervil and chives)
sea salt
freshly ground black pepper

In a medium-sized bowl, mix finely chopped herbs, olive oil and vinegar, season with salt and pepper. Add mozzarella balls and stir gently, until they're coated with the herb vinaigrette. Leave to stand for 30 minutes, stirring couple of times:



Wash the courgettes/zucchinis. Take a vegetable peeler and cut thin long strips of the courgette, first along the lenght of one side, when seeds appear, then another side. Blanch them in a salted water for 2 minutes, then drain and place in a bowl of cold water to cool.



Drain the zucchini slices. Take one slice at a time, and put a herb-marinated mozzarella ball at one end. Roll up, and place on a serving tray. Continue with the rest of the zucchini slices and mozzarella balls.

Sprinkle with some sea salt flakes, herbs and crushed black peppercorns and serve.

A Minimalist Banana Bread

My minimalist banana bread, with a handful of dark chocolate chips thrown in.
April 2011

Don't get me wrong. I still love Nigella Lawson-style lusciously rich full-of-rum-soaked-raisins banana bread. But sometimes I feel I don't deserve all that deliciousness. Or there's that feeling that perhaps, just perhaps, I don't need all that richness in a cake.

Well, this minimalist banana bread is just the cake for those occasion. Still lovely, still tasty. But it won't spend a moment on your lips, followed by a lifetime on your hips, as a famous saying goes.

Minimalist Banana Bread
(MInimalistlik banaanikeeks)
Serves 8



2 large eggs
100 g caster sugar (just under half a cup)
150 g plain/all-purpose flour (that's about 1 cup)
2 tsp baking powder
2 ripe medium-sized bananas (about 200 g peeled weight)
100 ml milk (about 7 Tbsp)

Whisk eggs and sugar until pale and frothy in a large bowl.
Mix flour and baking powder in a small bowl.
In another bowl, mash the peeled bananas with a fork, then mix in milk.
Fold the dlour mixture and banana-milk mixture into the egg and sugar mixture. Stir until just combined.
Pour the batter into a lined 2-litre loaf tin and bake in the middle of a pre-heated 175 C / 350 F oven for about 50 minutes, until a wooden toothpick pushed into the cake comes out clean.
Let cool in the tin for 10 minutes, then trasnfer onto a metal rack to cool completely.

A Swedish Classic: Almond Tosca Cake Recipe

Here's a recipe for a classic Swedish cake that I've been making for quite a few years. I'm sharing it with you, as I've got several Tosca-inspired recipes coming up, so I've got something to link to :) It's a simple sponge cake that's brought to another lever by a crispy and buttery almond topping. Here's a basic version that I love. But a friend of mine adds a large grated apple to the base, just to make it moister (though it's by no means a dry sponge cake to start with).

A true keeper and a star on any coffee table.

Have you tried a Tosca cake before? And which yummy variations on the theme can you think of?

Swedish Tosca Cake
(Toska kook)
Serves 8-10

3 large eggs
200 ml sugar
400 ml plain/all-purpose flour
1.5 tsp baking powder
100 ml milk
125 g butter, melted and cooled

Tosca topping:
75 g butter
100 g almond slices
150 ml sugar
4 Tbsp whipping/double cream
1 Tbsp plain flour

First make the sponge cake: whisk eggs and sugar until thick, pale and creamy. Mix dry ingredients, then fold gently with milk and melted butter to the egg mousse.
Pour the batter into a buttered and lined 25 cm springform tin. Bake in a pre-heated 200 C/400 F oven for 20 minutes.
Mix the tosca topping ingredients in a small saucepan and bring to the boil. Spoon onto the half-baked cake.
Bake in a 225 C oven for another 10 minutes, until the topping is lovely golden colour and cooked.

Read more about Tosca Cake:
Several variations on the Tosca theme on Anne's Food
Clivia's Tosca Cake
Evelin's Tosca cookies

Festive Menus: Spanish Royal Couple visits Estonia

Photo © Õhtuleht

Almost two years ago, President of Estonia went on a State Visit to Spain, where they were treated to a festive Spanish meal. This week, the King and Queen of Spain, Juan Carlos I & Sofia, are on a return visit to Estonia. The festive state dinner took place last night atthe Estonia Concert Hall. Eighty local dignitaries were treated to a meal designed by Jevgeni Jermoshkin. Here's what they ate:

Official dinner at Estonia Concert Hall
on May 4, 2009

Tallinn sprats with rye bread, quail's egg and tomato vinaigrette

Cream of beetroot soup with potato-barley ball and sour cream mousse

Halibut with basil and cauliflower risotto and sparkling wine jus

Warm rhubarb tart with chocolate-covered ice cream and Vana Tallinn liqueur sauce

Sounds all rather delicious, IMHO. Too bad I wasn't invited :D

PS Curious to know what the Queen of England or the Emperor of Japan and other foreign dignitaries were served on their official visits to Estonia? Click on the Festive Menus label on the right hand side to find out.

Ground-Elder and Vanilla Muffins

From the recipe archives, updated in May 2009, orignally posted in May 2008.

Ground-elder, you may wonder? Well, I wrote more about that healthy wild green a while ago (check out my It's a Wild Thing: Hortapita or Greek Pie with Wild Greens post). Here's a recipe for delicious and unusual ground-elder muffins, adapted from a recipe seen in a local food magazine in early 2008. I must admit I first thought 'ground-elder muffins' are savoury ones, so seeing sugar and vanilla in the list of ingredients suprised me a little. However, I did follow the list of ingredients, changing the proportions and instructions as I went along, and was extremely pleased with the end result. The muffins were sweet, very slightly green-tasting, and very pleasant indeed.

Should you come across young and bright green ground-elder leaves in your garden, you should really try this recipe.

Ground-Elder and Vanilla Muffins
(Kevadised naadimuffinid vaniljega)
Ready in 30 minutes
Makes 12


30 g young ground-elder leaves (just over a cup when lightly pressed)
3 large eggs
150 ml caster sugar
100 g unsalted butter, melted
50 g sour cream

300 ml plain flour
1.5 tsp baking powder
1 tsp vanilla extract

0.5 tsp salt

Pour some boiling water over ground elder leaves and leave to stand for a few minutes.
Whisk eggs with sugar until pale and fluffy. Add the cooled melted butter, vanilla. Mix flour, baking powder and salt, then fold into the batter.
Drain the ground-elder and squeeze dry. Chop finely, then stir into the batter.
Divide into prepared muffin cups* and bake in the middle of 220 C oven for 12-15 minutes, until muffins are lovely light golden brown.

* Either lined with paper muffin cases or generously buttered and dusted with flour. 

My favourite cheesecake recipe

Manhattan cheesecake with strawberry, mint and balsamic vinegar salsa

I just realised that I haven't shared my favourite cheesecake recipe with you. This needs to be corrected a.s.a.p., as I've told some of my Edinburgh friends that they'll find the recipe on the blog. The recipe is originally from a decade-old issue of BBC Good Food, but I've tweaked and changed both the ingredients and timings over the years. Lovers of oh-so-sweet cheesecakes out there - beware - this is a rather unsweet cheesecake. Just how I like it. It's also not as high/tall as some of the cheesecakes I saw in the US last summer - but again, I've never been a huge fan of tower-high cakes myself. 

What's your favourite cheesecake? Feel free to leave a link to the blog post/recipe in the comments.

Manhattan Cheesecake
(Manhattani toorjuustukook)
Serves 8

Base:
8 Digestive biscuits, crushed (I use LU brand, each cookie weighs ca 14 g)
2 Tbsp sugar
50 g unsalted butter, melted

Filling:
400 g full-fat Philadelphia cream cheese, at room temperature
75 g sugar caster 
2 large eggs
0.5 tsp vanilla extract

Top layer:
250 g sour cream
2 Tbsp caster sugar
0.5 tsp vanilla extract

Pre-heat the oven to 350 F/180 C. 

Line the base of a 20-23 cm springform tin with a baking paper. 

Crush the Digestive biscuits finely, mix with sugar and melted butter. Press the biscuit mixture onto the base of the cake tin. Place into the fridge for 10 minutes.

To make the filling, soften the cream cheese in a bowl, add other ingredients. Mix thoroughly with a wooden spoon, or blend for a few minutes, using an electric mixer (I like to do the latter, as it results in a lighter and creamier cheesecake filling). 

Pour over the biscuit base and bake in the middle of a preheated 350F/180C oven for 25-30 minutes, until the filling is more or less set (it shouldn't wobble too much, when you lightly shake the cake tin). 

Remove from the oven and cool for 20 minutes.

Turn the heat up to 230C/450F.

Mix sour cream, sugar and vanilla extract, then gently spoon onto the cooled cake. Return to the oven for 5-7 minutes, to 'dry out' the sour cream layer a little.

Remove from the oven and cool completely before serving. 

* The cheesecake on the photo is baked in a 20 cm cake tin, and is 3,5 cm high.