Everyone is crazy about pumpkin-flavoured stuff right now and I decided I would not make it that much worse, if I joined the movement. This strudel is my grandmother’s work, we made it in Bulgaria.
Bulgarian pumpkin strudel is originally called ‘Tikvenik’, because ‘tikva’ means ‘pumpkin’. To keep at least a bit of the tradition when I prepare it here in Germany, I use bulgarian phyllo dough, which I take with me when I visit my granny.
I do not have exact measurements for this recipe but I hope you can get along with the pictures showing the process step by step. Let’s just start.
You’ll need:
about 100 g (3 1/2 oz.) ground walnuts or pecans
white sugar (have about 150 g/5 oz. prepared)
1 small butternut, grated
125 g (4 oz.) butter, melted
400 g (14 oz.) phyllo dough
cinammon, powdered
Prepare your ingredients, place nuts, butter and sugar in bowls so you have them on hand.
Divide the grated pumpkin into 6 portions, about this size. Preheat the oven to 175°C (350°C) and line a rectangular pan with a sheet of baking paper.
Roll out two pieces of dough. Butter one of them with a silicon brush, place the other on top and butter it as well, using very little fat.
Spread one portion of pumpkin across the buttered sheet.
Now spread nuts, sugar and cinammon on top. I use about 2 tbsp sugar, 1/2 tsp cinammon and 2 tbsp nuts, and the result is really not very sweet, but that’s how I like it. Use more sugar if you like.
Now roll the phyllo sheet carefully and place it in the pan. Repeat with the rest of the sheets.
If you have some butter left, you can pour it on top. Now bake for about 20 minutes or until the cake is slightly browned. Dust with powdered sugar and enjoy warm or cold.
I had something to celebrate last week. And because turning 18 can be very sweet, I needed to celebrate it with cake. I love oreos, I love cake pops, I love chocolate, everybody is freaking out about sprinkles.
Conclusion: Combine ’em. I made a cake pop batter with the cake and cream cheese, mixed it with cream cheese buttercream and sandwiched it between the two halves of an oreo cookie.
No critics.
A post about other treats around this fabulous birthday may follow this week. Remain interested :)
Oreo Cake Bites
(makes about 16)
cake:
125 g (1 stick) butter, room temperature
100g (1/2 cup) sugar
2 eggs
150 g (1 1/4 cups) all purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 pinch salt
frosting:
100g (7 oz) cream cheese
30 g (2 oz) butter
40 g (¾ cup) powdered sugar
½ tsp. Vanilla extract
2 tbsp small chocolate chips
16 oreo cookies
100 g chocolate
sprinkles
Whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt in a medium-sized bowl. Set aside. Preheat oven to 180° C (350° F).
Cream the butter and sugar in a large bowl, until the mixture becomes light and fluffy. Add one egg at a time and stir until fully incorporated. Now add the dry ingredients and stir until the dough is smooth.
Transfer the mixture into an oiled pan and bake about 20 minutes until a toothpicker comes out clean.
Let the cake cool completely, then remove the hard edges. Now crumble the cake into a large bowl. This you can do easily with the help of a grater.
Prepare the frosting. For this, place the butter into a microwave-safe bowl and microwave for 25 seconds. Add the cream cheese, powdered sugar and vanilla extract and stir until the frosting is smooth.
Combine the crumbles and the frosting and stir until you get a dough-like mixture by using your hands. Add the chocolate chips and mix until evenly spread.
Divide the oreo halves with a knife. Place about 1 tbsp of the cake batter on one half, top with the other and press them gently together. You can form the mass with your wingers so the egde is even.
Place in the freezer for about 15 minutes or in the fridge for 2 hours.
Melt the chocolate and roll the edge of the oreo sandwich in the coating, then dip in a bowl of sprinkles. Let the chocolate harden and enjoy people’s exited faces when they have the first bite.
First things first: Please excuse the loooong name of this sweet delight. I thought of leaving out one or two toppings but each of them is an important component charecterizing the experience of eating this toffee. Yeas, I just called it an ‘experience’ and I will tell you why.
The basic mass here is the caramel toffee you can see in the images, which has a not too strong caramel flavoure and breaks down in your mouth, cracking slightly before meting on your tongue. After you have made the first bite, you taste the rich white chocolate which makes everything more creamy and sweet. Then you might bite into a soft marshmallow which is a huge contrast to the chunky toffee and the toasted coconut. The coconut tastes a bit more intense because it has been toasted in a dry pan until slightly browned.
I hadn’t made toffee for a long time since trying this recipe from Bake at 350 which turned our great the first time I tried, but turned out to be a complete failure on my second try. I supposed it was because I don’t have a candy thermometer and did not want to experience the fiasco again, but this time it turned out great. I will give you some advice how to succeed without measuring the temperature.
If you are a real lover of sweets – take a piece (or two or five) and give the rest to someone else to eat it – it is addicting. I gave it to a friend as a present and hope he enjoyed it.
White Chocolate Coconut Marshmallow Toffee
source
1 TBSP water
250 (2 sticks or 1 cup) unsalted butter, cut into cubes
60 ml (1/4) cup heavy cream
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
50 g white chocolate (I had white crisp on hand)
30 g ground coconut. toasted in a dry pan or in the oven until slightly browned
2 hands full of mini marshmallows (should be about 1 cup)
Prepare a baking sheet by placing it in a baking dish.
Chop the chocolate and set aside.
Place butter, sugar, cream, water, salt and vanilla in a saucepan. Combine the ingredients over medium heat. Stir with a silicone spatula. Bring the mixture to a boil and go on stirring, watching its colour carefully. You know the toffee is done when it turns a light amber brown and turns into a first gooey, then solid substance when you place a drop of it on a cold plate or the baking sheet. The recipe says the syrup is done when it has reached 150°C (300°F) which is very handy, if you use a candy thermometer.
Now wpread the mass onto the baking sheet and flaten with the spatula. Immediately spread the toppings all over – first the chocolate, then marshmallows and finally the coconut flakes. Let it cool, then break down into pieces with a knife.