Baked apples with crispy rye bread and lingonberries

Some desserts are so simple, that it's hard to call them recipes and it's difficult to decide whether to blog about them or not. But then you did seem to like my oven-baked toffee apples a lot, and that hardly qualifies as a difficult dish. So here's another one for you. The only difficult part can be sourcing the rye bread crumbs - but you can always take couple of slices of stale rye bread (caraway seeds and all), and blitz them into fine crumbs in your food processor. As for lingonberries - I bet cranberries, which are far more easily available, would work just as well.

Baked Apples with Rye Bread and Lingonberries
(Õuna-pohlaküpsetis)
Serves 4

For rye bread mixture:
200 ml (a scant cup) of fine and dry rye bread crumbs
50 g butter, melted
4 Tbsp caster sugar

For the fruit mixture:

4-5 cooking apples, (peeled and), cored and sliced
200 ml (a scant cup) lingonberries

For serving:
vanilla custard or ice cream or whipped cream

Butter a small oven dish (ca 24x30 cm)
Mix the melted butter, rye bread crumbs and sugar.
Layer the apple slices in the oven dish, scatter lingonberries on top.
Sprinkle generously with the rye bread mixture.
Bake at a preheated 200 C / 400 F oven for 20-30 minutes, until apples are softened.
Serve with vanilla custard, ice cream or whipped cream.

Silky pumpkin soup with nutmeg

Photo by Juta Kübarsepp, for the October issue of Kodu & Aed, 2012

As somebody aptly commented on my Flickr photo page, it's that time of the year :) When heading to the market these days, you'll see piles of beautifully bright orange pumpkins and winter squashes everywhere. I got one from my mum just over a week ago, and we enjoyed a number of different pumpkin dishes during the week. I made a pumpkin and ginger loaf, two types of pumpkin jam (one with ginger, one with flowering-quinces).

And this soup. There are two things with this soup that make it different from other pumpkin soups I've tried so far. Firstly, it's fat-free, making it perfect for those who are preparing for the Christmas or Thanksgiving feasts laying ahead of us (and if you're omit the cream drizzle, it's vegan, too). Secondly, it uses nutmeg as a seasoning - giving the soup a lovely and different twist.

Fat-free Pumpkin Soup with Nutmeg
(Kõrvitsasupp muskaadiga)
Serves 4

500 ml vegetable stock (2 cups)
800 grams cubed yellow pumpkin or winter squash (cleaned weight; just under 2 lbs)
2 medium-sized onions, chopped
2 garlic cloves, chopped
0.5 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
salt, if necessary
freshly ground black pepper

To serve:
4 Tbsp double cream (optional)

Bring the vegetable stock into boil.
Add the pumpkin, onion and garlic. Bring to a boil and simmer gently for 20 minutes, until the vegetables are soft.
Blend the soup into a fine purée (I used a handheld immersion blender).
Reheat the soup, season with grated nutmeg, salt and pepper.

Divide the soup into heated bowls, drizzle some cream on top and serve with crusty bread.

Other pumpkin/winter squash recipes @ Nami-nami:
Pickled pumpkin (Estonian Christmas recipe)
Pumpkin Risotto & Arancini Balls
Old-fashioned Pumpkin Soup with Semolina
Pumpkin Soup with Thyme
Johanna's Roasted Pumpkin and Blue Cheese Quiche

Rugelach, rugelach, rugelach

Few weeks ago a friend of mine from Toronto, Melissa, came to visit me. Melissa and I both did our postgraduate degrees in Edinburgh in year 2000, after which she left first to her native South Africa and then moved to Toronto to do her doctorate. She had promised to visit me on several occasions since she left Scotland, and we even managed to meet up at a conference in London at one point. Now, finally, she - and her beautiful 9-month old daughter Natali - came to Estonia for a brief, 8-day visit.

And this gave me an opportunity to try some Jewish recipes I had been wanting to try for a while. You see, Melissa is Jewish, who keeps kosher. And she's vegetarian. In this Land of Pork Chops Served with Cheese Sauce, it was easiest for us to eat at home. And one night, I baked us a batch of Rugelach. Rugelach - when said with a low, husky voice, and repeatedly, sounds sweet and funny (at least little Natali seemed to think so!), like something out a fairy tale, so I was thrilled to be finally making them.

And they sure were moreish - sweet, flakey, fragrant, and very, very tasty. I adapted a recipe from Clarissa Hyman's book The Jewish Kitchen: Recipes and Stories from Around the World. Note these are not parve/pareve or 'neutral', as they contain cream cheese, so don't serve them after a meat meal, if you're trying to keep kosher.

Hazelnut Rugelach
(Rugelach)
Makes 32 small pastries

For the pastry:
200 g butter, softened
200 g full-fat Philadelphia cream cheese, softened
2 tsp caster sugar
200 g all-purpose/plain flour, sifted
a pinch of salt

For the filling:
100 g finely ground hazelnuts or walnuts
50 g soft brown sugar
5 Tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
2 tsp cinnamon

For brushing:
25 g butter, melted

For glazing:
1 egg white, beaten with a little water

Cream the warm butter and cream cheese until well blender. Beat in the sugar, then stir in the flour and salt. Mix until the dough begins to hold together, press into a ball, wrap in clingfilm and chill overnight in the fridge.

Combine the ground nuts, brown sugar, cocoa powder and cinnamon.

Divide the dough ball into two and return the other half into the fridge. Roll out the pastry on a slightly floured surface into a thin circle about 25 cm /10 inches in diametre. Using a sharp knife or a pizza-wheel, cut into 16 equal wedges.

Brush the surface of the wedges with melted butter, then sprinkle half of the nut and cocoa mixture on top, spreading evenly as you go. Using your hand or a rolling pin, press the filling tightly down into the dough (there seems to be a lot of filling, but it'll make the pastries only nicer!).

Carefully roll up each wedge tightly, starting from the wider, outside end. You'll end up with 16 mini croissants. Brush with egg white wash.

Cover a baking tray with parchment paper and bake at the middle of a preheated 180 C/350 F oven for 20-30 minutes, until the rugelach are golden brown.

Leave to cool slightly, then transfer to a wire rack.

Repeat with the second half of the pastry - even straight away or on the following day.