Sun-dried Tomato, Chives and Goat Cheese Scones # Baking Partner's Challenge

After a long time, this month the Baking partner's were challenged to bake something savory. Archana of  Mad Scientist in Kitchen chose Tomato, Thyme, Sage, Double Cheese Tart from BBC Good Food March 14 issue and Cheddar and Sage Scones from BBC Good Food as the bakes for the month.  I being me, of course chose the quicker option and baked a batch of scones. And since combining recipes and tweaking good ones have become second nature, I did that and mulled over the goodness of the combined flavors throughout dinner that night. 

Chocolate Walnut "Jammy" Bars # Baking Partner's Challenge

This month Suja Manoj of  Kitchen corner try it challenged the Baking Partners with two simple seasonal treats... Chocolate Walnut Bars from Faye Levy's Chocolate Sensations and Lemon Bars  from The Secrets of Baking, Sherry Yard and The Good Cookie by Tish Boyle. Both bars looked tempting... but in a house of chocolate lovers, baking two non-chocolatey treats in a row would be sacrilegious (remember these Blueberry Coconut Friands), so I decided to bake the Chocolate Walnut Bars or  Chocolate Walnut "Jammy" Bars today. 

Gourmet Soda Crackers # Baking Partner's Challenge

Wish you all happy Holi and happy St Patrick's Day. Oh ! the day is almost over.... nevertheless... Hope you all celebrated the holidays with family, friends and great food. As for us we celebrated both the holidays in our sweet way. We attended a St Patrick's Parade yesterday..

and played Holi today....

We also had soda bread for breakfast, green strata for dinner and finished the day with Gujiya, a sweet that North Indians often synonymize with Holi. So yes.. we celebrated both the holidays and our little one was beyond thrilled....  More on that soon.. right now let me tell you about the Gourmet Soda Crackers that I baked for Baking Partner's Challenge this month..



This month Arthy of Cook with Arthy Shama challenged the Baking Partner's with the following recipes:

• Gourmet Soda Crackers from Flourish
• Graham Crackers from the Smitten Kitchen

Until challenged I had no idea about yeast-risen crackers. I used to think that all crackers followed the same basic flour-fat-baking powder formula for the dough and differed only in their seasonings. Well I was clearly wrong. Another fact that I learnt from this challenge is that the tiny holes that characteristically dot all crackers aren't "designs." They are called docking holes and they serve a purpose. While baking, these tiny holes help release the air from the crackers thereby keeping them from getting all puffed up. (Forget to punch a few holes in your dough squares and you'll know what exactly I am talking about. )  

I had initially planned on trying both the crackers... but then life got on the way. Nevertheless I am happy that I tried the Soda Crackers first for they were really great. Accompanied by hummus, the first batch of crackers vanished within minutes of being baked. The second and final batch met the same destiny.. however I was a bit more careful the second time and snapped the crackers before offering them away for loot ;) 

Linzer Cookies # Baking Partner's Feb '14 Challenge

Linzer Torte is an Austrian torte named after the city of its origin,  Linz in Austria. It is believed to be one of the oldest cakes in the world and is regarded as a holiday classic in several parts of Europe. In North America, it is often made like small tarts or cookies and are called the Linzer Cookies. In imitation of the lattice design that is signature of Linzer torte, the cookie versions are made by sandwiching a layer of jam between two almond flavored cookies, one of which has a peekaboo- circle, heart or flower-cutout in the center..

With Valentine's day in mind, this month Swathi of Zesty South Indian Kitchen challenged the baking partners to bake either Linzer Cookies or Heart Shaped Crunchy Seed Cookies. She had tried and tested the recipes for both the cookies from the book Chewy Gooey Crispy Crunchy Melt-in-Your-Mouth Cookies by Alice Medrich and provided us with step-wise instructions for both. The Linzer Cookies  had been in my to-do list for a long time, so I chose to bake them for Valentine's day.

They were a big hit. On returning from work, husband was happy to be greeted with a plate of bright red cookies and the toddler, who had been helping me cut the cookies, felt both happy and proud for being part of the project...

Initially we did not think much of these cookies. But the more we ate the more we wanted.. The flavors are subtle and addictive and they go very well with both tea and coffee. I made only a few for V day and froze the remaining dough.. but it seems like I'll have to unfreeze the dough soon and bake the full batch on demand...

Koffiebroodjes (Dutch Sweet Rolls) # Baking Partner's Challenge

This month Kaveri of Palakkad Chamayal challenged the Baking Partners with two lovely Dutch recipes from The Dutch Table... a Dutch Apple Pie and these Dutch Sweet Rolls called Koffiebroodjes. While the spices of the Apple Pie were enticing, the sound of "Koffiebroodjes" was too sweet to pass up. So I decided on baking the later and glazing it with a jam that contained the flavors of the Dutch Apple Pie or Appletart.. The result was a delight and we really enjoyed them with our latte...

Translated literally, Koffiebroodjes means Coffee Buns. Apparently these old-fashioned glazed sweet rolls are available at local bakeries and supermarkets in Netherlands. They are usually eaten around 11:00 am during the coffee break or shared over a cup of coffee with the neighbours. Though the recipe here uses a jam glaze, these buns are also made with a sugar based sweet glaze. In some respect they are very similar to the classic cinnamon buns. They too are sticky from the glaze and have raisins in their folds. However these are not pull-apart buns and there is no brown sugar or cinnamon. These are baked as single units and a vanilla pudding replaces the cinnamon-brown sugar mixture in them, thereby making them quite different from their Siamese twins... the cinnamon rolls.

PÍO V (Nicaraguan Christmas Cake) # Baking Partners Dec '13 Challenge

With Christmas just a week away, it was only apt that Christmas cake be chosen as the theme for this month's Baking Partners Challenge. However when Swathi asked me to suggest few recipes I was at loss.. I am a newbie at the food scenario and have very little knowledge of  traditional recipes. I learn and cook from the books and websites that I find attractive and that explains why this blog does not have a specific direction. Anyhow a week later Swathi suggested that I look into Yule log recipes which led me to these ones... 

1. French Yule Log by Flore of Florilège Gourmand  from Use Real Butter
2. A Vegan version of Flore's French Yule Log from The Healthy Kitchen
3. Bûche de Noël (Williams-Sonoma Recipe)
4. Vegan Buche de Noel from Bon appetit

Besides the Yule Log Cakes, I also found this Nicaraguan Christmas Cake recipe that looked very appealing. So I included it in the list.. and decided to try this before I get started at the French Yule Log..

  

Pío V though called a Christmas Cake is really a gourmet dessert with a cake base and a custard topping that is typically served in Niacaragua during Christmas. It is made up of marquesote, sopa borracha, and manjar. Translated literally marquesote means cake, sopa borracha means drunken soup referring to the a rum-laced syrup that the cake is soaked in and manjar means custard. Apparently, this dessert is named after the 16th century Pope Pius V,  however there is no written evidence or verbal conjecture bearing proofs of it.

Pataquetas # Baking Partners November Challenge

With only a week to go most of you must have roughly decided on what to prepare for this Thanksgiving. Perhaps the family favorites and some exquisite recipes that you had pinned, tried and enjoyed. But just in case there is a place in the table for a delicious and handsome bread... try Pataqueta.

These traditional Spanish bread rolls from Valencia's Orchard, with crusty exterior and chewy crumb require very little work. Yet they taste awesome when served with chicken sausages and a dash of mayo and mustard sauce. Shaped into smaller crescents and stuffed appropriately, these rolls will make great appetizers for any dinner party...

This month, a fellow Baking Partner, Marisa of Thermofan suggested that we bake this crescent shaped traditional Spanish bread for our Baking Partner's November Challenge. Apparently this bread is known to have been baked since 17th century. The inhabitants of the Valencia’s Orchard used to eat this bread everyday when they went for work. Nowadays, however they are not as frequently baked. People book in advance to get one. Most of Valencia’s bakers usually bake these in March every year for their main regional festival, "Falles".

Like Ciabatta, these bread rolls are steam-baked and are prepared with a cold ferment. Hence texture-wise they are very similar to Ciabatta... chewy crumb, and extra-crispy crust . The dough is however much easier to handle and  so you really do not have to be a expert bread maker to get these right. Simply follow the recipe and you'll  be rewarded heartily.....

Pumpkin Yeast Bread # Baking Partners October Challenge

With the pumpkin season upon us, this month +Tamy Bollar of 3 Sides of Crazy challenged the Baking Partners to bake a pumpkin loaf. The suggested recipes were

• Ginger Pumpkin Bread with Maple Brown Butter Glaze from Simply Scratch Blog
• A yeasted version of pumpkin bread from King Arthur Flour.

As tempting as both the recipes were, I decided to bake the yeasted loaf first and then got stuck at trying few variations of the original recipe. While I am itching to tell you about my experiments and will eventually write about them over the week,  for this post I'll just stick to the version that is closest to the original.

It is a fairly simple bread to bake in case you are using a bread machine or a food processor to knead the dough... and it tastes wonderful. It is soft and moist and is great with both butter and jam. Though we ate most of this loaf with butter or jam for breakfast, recounting from my experience with the other variations, I can assure they'll be great in sandwiches too.

As always, I tweaked the original recipe and substituted half of the all-purpose flour with whole wheat flour and added an extra helping of ginger powder to the dough. Also, I made an eggless loaf since I had run out of eggs on that particular day. Using some of the bread recipes from Gayathri's Cook Spot as a reference, I used 1/4 cup yogurt plus a 1/16 tsp baking soda as a substitute for 1 egg. It worked really well. In fact I did not notice any difference in texture between this loaf and the other loaf that i baked with eggs. Though a topping or a glaze was not recommended, I decided to add both.... and I am actually quite happy with the way the loaf turned out.  The maple syrup lent the loaf a lovely hue and the pumpkin seeds added a nice crunch to the bread. So all in all this loaf was a winner at our table...

Now the recipe...

Pumpkin Yeast Bread (Bread Machine) Adapted from King Arthur Flour
Preparation Time : 2 hours                                Baking Time: 30 mins                                        Yeild: 9x5 inch loaf
Ingredients    for the dough 1/4 cup warm water 1/3 warm milk 1/4 cup yogurt +1/16tsp baking soda (as a substitute for 1 egg) 3/4 cup pureed pumpkin, fresh or canned(I used canned) 1 tbsp vegetable oil 1 1/2 cup all purpose flour 1 1/2 cup whole wheat flour 1/4 cup light brown sugar 1 tsp salt 1/2 tsp ground ginger 1/4 tsp ground cardamom 1 tbsp bread machine yeast 2-3 tbsps pepitas for topping for the glaze 1 tbsp maple syrup 1/2 tbsp vegetable oil -  Instructions Put all the dough ingredients in the bread machine pan in the order specified by the manufacturer and set it to the dough setting. I have listed the ingredients in the order that is specific to my bread machine. 10 minutes down the line check the consistency of the dough. The dough should be soft and smooth. If the dough feels too tough add a teaspoon or so of oil. If the dough isn't stiff enough add a tbsp of flour at a time until the dough attains the correct consistency. I have a Sunbeam bread machine and the measurements given above worked perfectly in it.  When the machine beeps at the end of the cycle, turn the dough into a lightly oiled surface. Shape it into a loaf and place it in a well greased 9x5 inch  loaf pan. Cover the loaf with a greased plastic wrap and let it rise until doubled 30 to 45 minutes. (I had kept the shaped out dough in the sun and it doubled in 30 minutes but it might take a little longer in  general.) Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F while the dough is rises the second time (I say second time since the first rising happens in the machine). Once the dough has doubled, mix the maple syrup and oil in a bowl, glaze the dough with half of the mixture, sprinkle the pepitas on top and then brush the surface lightly with the remaining syrup-oil mixture. Now transfer the pan to the preheated oven and bake for 30 minutes. Immediately remove the bread and cool it on a wire rack to prevent the crust from becoming soggy. Slice and enjoy after the loaf has cooled down completely.

This loaf stays fresh without refrigeration for up to three days and I believe it will stay good for a longer time if refrigerated.

More on my experiments soon. Stay warm and have a great week... Cheers !

Yeastspotting this loaf. Also sharing it at the following weekly parties..

Monday Food : Marvelous Mondays @ This Gal Cooks, Melt in your Mouth Mondays, Inspiration Monday Party, Sharing Monday, Inspire Me Monday, Clever Chicks Blog Hop, Maniac Monday Linky Party,Mix it up Monday, The Scoop,  Meatless Monday @Veggie Mama's,  Meatless Monday My Sweet and Savory, Just Another Meatless Monday @ Hey What's for Dinner Mom

Tuesday Food:  Totally Tasty Tuesday @ Mandy's Recipe Box, Tasteful Tuesday Party @ Nap Time Creations,  Show Me What You Got @ Our Delightful Home,  Hand Made Tuesday @ Ladybug Blessings, Share it Link Party @ Winthrop Chronicles, Tasty Tuesday, Hearth and Soul blog Hop

Wednesday Food : What's Cooking Wednesday @ Buns in my Oven, Cast Party Wednesday @ Lady Behind the Curtain , Show and Share @ Semi Homemade Mom, Wonderful Food Wednesdays at @ Home Take 2

Thursday Food: Link it Up Thursday @ Seven Alive, Creative Thursday @ Michelle's Tasty Creations, Fantastic Thursday @ Three Little Chiefs, Thriving on Thursdays @ Domesblissity, Freedom Friday @ My Turn, Full Plate Thursday @ Miz Helen's Country Cottage  

Friday Food: Foodie Friday @ Home Maid Simple, Friday Favorite (DYI too) @ Simple Sweet Home, Foodie Friday @ Not Your Ordinary Recipes,  Foodie Friday @ Rattlebridge Farm , Weekend Wonders @ The Thriftiness Miss, Friday Food Frenzy @ Mostly Food and Crafts , Weekend Potluck @ Sunflower Supper Club,  The Weekend re-Treat @The Best Blog  Recipes 

Bootleg Crouu....nuts # Baking Partners September Challenge

This month Swathi of Zesty South Indian Kitchen challenged the Baking Partners to make the latest sensation in the world of pastry ... the celebrated  'Cronut™'. Earlier this year Chef Dominique Ansel launched this unique pastry in Dominique Ansel Bakery, New York. Since then this pastry has accumulated a big fan following around the world. Though it is often described as a hybrid of croissant and doughnut, it appears that resurrecting a copy-cat recipe of the trademarked 'Cronut™' has  been quite a challenge for many accomplished pastry Chefs around the world. However some of them have cracked the code.. and brought the pastry to the doorsteps of the enthusiastic home bakers. Chef Jessica Yang is one of them and here is her recipe of BootLeg cronuts that we tried for this months baking challenge.

Though Crouu..nuts are deep fried pastries, Swathi chose to challenge the Baking Partners with this recipe as it incorporates the techniques of making puff pastry and yeasted doughnuts...  though i was initially very excited as the prospect of learning both the techniques, standing on the other side of the 3 day process I no longer feel the same way. the whole process is long, tedious, tiring and painful. it completely drained me off all the excitement and enthusiasm. admittedly these pastries taste good but I wouldn't dare making them at home again. I'll rather be crazy for a day ... sacrifice a few hours of sleep and take the early morning train to NYC .. and stand in a long queue outside Dominique Ansel Bakery along with hundreds of other crazies like me for a bite of awesomeness ....than toil myself to death hoping to create a magic that i know I'll never be able to create in my kitchen in LI... just 60 miles away from DABakery.....

anyway since i completed the challenge I thought i might as well share my experience with you... just to tell you what i have been up to lately..

BootLeg Crouu... nuts  Recipe Source : KitchenSurfing Blog

ingredients    for the dough 2 cups all purpose flour plus more for dusting the work table 3/4 tsp salt 1/3 cup sugar 1/3 cup + 4 tsp milk (I used fatfree milk ) 1 1/2 tsp active dry yeast 2 large eggs 2 1/3 tbsp unsalted butter for butter layer 14 tbsps (1 cup minus 2 tbsp) unsalted butter for frying 2-4 cups canola oil  water for brushing on top cinnamon and sugar (4 tbsp sugar + 1 tbsp ground cinnamon) for chocolate pastry cream (I followed this recipe) for the chocolate glaze 4 oz semisweet chocolate chips 1/2 tbsp unsalted butter -  the method  Phase 1 30 minutes before dough preparation take the butter and the eggs out of the refrigerator and allow them to reach room temperature. when ready to prepare the dough, combine all the dry ingredients, flour, salt, sugar and yeast in a bowl of your standing mixer. heat the milk until warm, about 20-30 seconds in the microwave and add it to the bowl of dry ingredients. now add the eggs and butter and mix on low speed until everything is well incorporated. then mix on high speed for another 8 minutes. (note that the dough gets tougher as you mix. though the recipe instructs to mix on low speed for 3 minutes and then on high speed for 8 minutes, I was not able to knead on high speed for 8 minutes as one of the paddles of my hand mixer broke in the process. so unless your mixer paddles are sturdy enough, take a break in between or towards the end, knead the dough with your hands.) remove the dough from the bowl, shape it into a ball and transfer the dough into a well greased bowl. to allow the dough to relax, cut a cross on its surface with a knife. then covering the dough with a plastic wrap, place the dough in a warm area and let it double itself. this takes about 30-60 minutes (in my case around 60 minutes.) after the dough has "poofed" transfer it to the refrigerator for at least 2 hours (or overnight).  Preparing the butter for lamination While the dough is chilling, prepare the butter for lamination. for this take 14 tbsps (2 sticks minus 2 tablespoons) of cold butter and cut the sticks lengthwise into half. now arrange the cut out pieces on a parchment paper in the form of a rectangle, cover the laid out butter rectangle with a second parchment paper and using a rolling pin even out the rectangle till it is approximately 4x6 inches. then wrapping the butter with a cling wrap, transfer it to the refrigerator and allow it to chill for at least 2 hours. Phase 2 : Note this phase consists of 4 major steps wherein the fourth step is a repetition of the first three. Including the minimum intermediate chilling time, this phase should ideally take 6-7 hours. but for non-experts like me it might require an extra couple of hours. so be prepared for this ! I had allowed the dough to chill for 8 hours before starting phase 2. I hadn't read the recipe completely so i took a long break after the second turn that is the second step of phase 2 and continued the lamination process next day. though it apparently did not effect the outcome, I think it is better to follow the recipe and complete the lamination process at a single go... remove the dough from the refrigerator and roll it out on a well floured surface so that a cross is formed with equal arms on all four sides. make sure that the center of the rolled out dough is big enough to envelop the slab of butter. place the butter in the center of the cross and cover the four flaps so that the butter cannot be seen. the opposite flaps should not overlap when folded but should seal the butter inside meeting at the edges.  1st turn.  flour the surface and the dough so that it does not stick to the rolling pin. before beginning to roll out, press the dough down in order to expand it. turn the dough so that the shorter end faces you. roll to expand the length of the dough. to ensure that the dough does not stick to the work table, add more flour whenever required. when you have a rectangle that is 16 x 7 inches, fold the top third of the rectangle down, then fold the bottom third to cover it. turn the dough 90 degrees so that the opening resembles a book. 2nd turn. (though you can do this step right away, I highly recommend that you wrap the dough in film and chill it for 30-60 minutes before doing the 2nd turn. ) like in 1st turn, roll to expand the length of the dough and repeat the subsequent steps, then turn the dough 90 degrees and gently press two fingers in the lower right corner to mark the number of turns. (marking the dough helps you to keep track of your progress and also ensures that the orientation of the dough is correct when you remove it from the refrigerator.) now wrap the dough and let it chill for atleast 1 hour. (this is the point where i took a break and decided to resume the lamination work the following day.) 3rd turn. at this point the dough is hard. so gently pound it to warm the butter. if it is too cold the butter will separate and not spread as well as it should. repeat the previous steps. then turning the dough as in 2nd turn, mark the corner with 3 fingerprints. once again wrap the dough and return it to the refrigerator for 1 hour. 4th turn. make the final turn, repeating the steps from 1-3 turns. then wrap the dough and chill it for at least 2 hours.   In the meantime prepare the chocolate pastry cream  for the chocolate pastry cream, I followed the recipe from Around the French Table. It is the same one that i used as a filling for my chocolate eclairs. you can find the recipe here. Phase 3 . from dough to crouu..nut lightly dust the work table with flour and roll out the dough to approximately 2/3 the size of a sheet pan and 1/2 inch thick. make sure the dough stays cold. in case the dough starts to stick, return it to the refrigerator for 20-30 minutes and roll again when it is cool. transfer to a sheet pan with parchment paper, cover it with a film and chill before using. line a sheet pan with parchment paper and grease it. once the dough is very cold, remove it from the refrigerator and using 2 ring molds, punch out the doughnuts and doughnut holes from the rolled out dough. (the recipe mentions that crouu..nuts do not fry straight unless the dough is very cold.)  transfer half of the punched crouu..nuts to the sheet pan, leaving enough room for them to "poof." brush the tops with water and stick the remaining halves on top. press lightly so that they stick together. place the crouu..nut holes on the same sheet tray leaving enough space for them to poof without sticking to each other. leave in a warm place until they have poofed, about 30-45 minutes. now place the "poofed" crouu..nuts and the holes in the refrigerator for 1 hour or in the freezer for 15 minutes. Phase 4 . frying the crouu.. nuts and adding the flavors.. when ready to fry, heat canola oil in pot around 3 inches high. test oil with a pinch of flour, if the flour foams it is ready for deep frying. Turn heat to low and place crouu..nuts in oil 1-2 at a time.avoid overcrowding the pot. turn and flip the crouu...nuts till they have evenly browned. once it turns golden brown and looks well cooked, remove the crouu..nuts from the oil and place it on a paper towel and proceed to prepare the chocolate glaze. for the chocolate glaze, melt 4 oz semisweet chocochips in the microwave and stir 1/2 tbsp of butter into it. when the  crouu..nuts are no longer shiny, that is the extra oil has been absorbed in the paper towel, transfer them to a container with sugar and cinnamon and toss. then dip the crouu..nuts in the chocolate glaze while it is still warm. once the crouu..nuts have cooled a little, poke several holes and fill with the chocolate pastry cream... serve and enjoy !!

Kourabiethes # Baking Partners August Challenge

This month's theme for Baking Partners Challenge was cookies from around the world. It was a rather tasty challenge. there were these four cookies that were suggested..

• Speculoos Cookie Sandwiches from Denmark ;
• Kourabiethes from Greece, both suggested by Sowmya of Nivedhanam blog ;
• Walnut Biscotti from Italy suggested by Sandhya of My Cooking Journey ;
• Chinese Almond Cookies suggested by Suja of Kitchencorner try it.

at first I had planned to bake a small batch of each. but as i mentioned in an earlier post things have not been going too well at my end. so i ended up baking only two of the cookies, Kourabiethes and Biscotti. i baked an eggless version of both these cookies using a cornflour solution in place of eggs. I'll tell you about the Biscotti soon. for now lets talk Greek...

Now these Kourabiethes turned out really well. Its a pity that i made a small batch.. because this was definitely our favorite cookie in a long time. it tasted like butter cookies had a pleasant orange fragrance. in fact it was that fragrance that made me fall for the cookie even before i had tasted it. the only thing that i wasn't too fond off was that sugar coating. it kept sticking to the fingers.. but husband  did not seem very bothered by that. he simply said... "this is good... really good," and baby boy was more happy to lick the sugar off the cookies.

Kourabiethes (9 cookies) Recipe source : taste.com.au

ingredients 3.5 tbsps unsalted butter, softened 1/2 cup icing sugar 1/2 tsp vanilla essence orange rind from 1/2 an orange 1 tbsp of solution made with 1 tbsp cornflour + 2 tbsp water* 1/2 cup + 1 tsp all-purpose flour 1/4 tsp baking powder 1 tbsp + 1.5 tsp almond meal (ground almond) * this is the substitute for 1/5 egg. -   to make these cookies... preheat oven to 335 degrees F. line a baking tray with parchment paper. using a electric mixer, beat butter, 3 1/2 tbsps of icing sugar, vanilla, orange rind until it turns creamy. then add 1 tbsp of the cornflour solution and mix till it is well combined.  now sift the flour and baking powder over the mixture, add almond meal and mix (i used my hands here) until the dough comes together. using 1 tbsp dough per biscuit, roll out 3 inch long cylinders; bend them to form crescent shape. then place them on the prepared baking tray 11/2 inch apart and bake for 20 minutes, until they turn light golden.  allow them to stand on the tray for the next 5 minutes till they become firm. then place the remaining icing sugar in a bowl/plate and coat 1 cookie at a time in the sugar. once the all the cookies are coated allow them to cool completely before sifting the remaining sugar over them.(i did not sift the sugar after the cookies cooled as some of them had already disappeared by then and knew that the rest would disappear too...)

So much for today. Wishing my family and friends a very Happy Independence Day.  Have some activities planned for tomorrow. Hope it turns out to be share-able....

and before you hop away check out what my Baking Partners have baked...

Will share this at the following parties... 

Monday Food : Marvelous Mondays @ This Gal Cooks, Meatless Monday @Veggie Mama's,  Meatless Monday My Sweet and Savory, Just Another Meatless Monday @ Hey What's for Dinner Mom, Melt in your Mouth Mondays, Mop It Up Monday, Mealtime Monday, Recipe Sharing Monday, Inspire Me Monday, Clever Chicks Blog Hop, Maniac Monday Linky Party Tuesday Food:  Totally Tasty Tuesday @ Mandy's Recipe Box, Tasteful Tuesday Party @ Nap Time Creations,  Show Me What You Got @ Our Delightful Home,  Hand Made Tuesday @ Ladybug Blessings, Share it Link Party @ Winthrop Chronicles,  Tasty Tuesday

Wednesday Food : What's Cooking Wednesday @ Confessions of Overworked Mom, Cast Party Wednesday @ Lady Behind the Curtain ,  Wednesday Whatsit @White Lights on , Show and Share @ Semi Homemade Mom, Wonderful Food Wednesdays at @ Home Take 2  Thursday Food: Link it Up Thursday @ Seven Alive, Creative Thursday @ Michelle's Tasty Creations, Fantastic Thursday @ Three Little Chiefs, Thriving on Thursdays @ Domesblissity, Freedom Friday @ My Turn, Full Plate Thursday @ Miz Helen's Country Cottage  Friday Food: Foodie Friday @ Home Maid Simple, Friday Favorite (DYI too) @ Simple Sweet Home, Foodie Friday @ Not Your Ordinary Recipes,  Foodie Friday @ Rattlebridge Farm , Weekend Wonders @ The Thriftiness Miss, Friday Food Frenzy @ Mostly Food and Crafts , Weekend Potluck @ Sunflower Supper Club,  The Weekend re-Treat @The Best Blog  Recipes

Medovik aka Russian Honey Cake # Baking Partners 1st Anniversary

This month the Baking Partners Group is celebrating their first anniversary and aptly enough we were challenged to bake a cake to mark the occasion. The recipes to choose from were

• the Russian Honey Cake called Medovik with sour cream filling from Coolnarika or Dulce de Leche filling from AZ cookbook , as suggested by Humi of Gheza-e-shiriin .
• Lemon Glow Chiffon Cake as suggested by Saraswathi of Sara’s kitchen. Saraswathi actually adapted her recipe from The Cake Bible and shared it with us. 

Both the cakes looked gorgeous and had it not been for my broadening waistline I probably would have baked both. anyway saving the Chiffon Cake recipe for later, i tried the Medovik this month and was delighted with the play of flavors in it !

The Medovik or Medovnik is a Slovakian honey-cookie-cake in which sour-cream or dulce de leche cream is sandwiched between layers of cookie-like cake sheets and stacked one on top of the other to resemble a layered cake. Apparently it is one of the oldest and most popular cakes in Northern, Central and Eastern Europe. While most of the nations minimally decorate the cake with seeds, nuts and simple icing decorations, Slovakians and Czechs are known for their elaborate and tasteful decoration of the layered-honey-cake decoration. true to myself, i stuck to minimal decorations and was quite pleased with my rustic layered honey cake.

I followed the recipe from AZ Cookbook. Just cut the measure of the ingredients to two-thirds. Since I wanted to make a tall cake, i kept the cookie-discs small. they were 6 inches in diameter. and the final cake had 9 cookie sheet layers. i had two more cookie sheets in hand but after a point the cream in between made it difficult to stack anymore layers. so i served the unused cookie sheets to the boys and they thought they tasted good even without the cream..

Medovik with Dulce de Leche   Recipe Source : AZ Cookbook

ingredients  for the filling  1 can sweetened condensed milk 3/4 cups, unsalted butter for the cookie-cake dough 2 eggs 2/3 cups sugar 2 tbsps honey 4.75 tbsps unsalted butter 2/3 baking soda 2-2.5 cups all-purpose flour (keep the 1/2 cup in reserve) sliced almonds, for garnish special utensils required double broiler or 2 regular/medium sized saucepan such that one can be fitted on top of the other. (i used the second arrangement)  -   what i did for the dulce de leche filling, i put the can of condensed milk in a medium saucepan, added enough water to cover the can completely,brought the water to boil and then let it simmer for the next two hours. i then removed the can from the water, left it on the counter for the next hour and let it cool down completely before opening the can and proceeding towards the next step. once the can had completely cooled down, i put the butter in a mixing bowl and beat it for about 2-3 minutes until it became fluffy. still beating, i added the condensed milk into the bowl and beat the two together till a smooth creamy mixture was obtained. then spooning the cream into a jar and refrigerated it until the next day, i.e., till my cookie-cake sheets were baked. for the cookie-cake dough, i filled up half of a medium sized saucepan with water, brought the water to a boil. in a separate saucepan i put the eggs and sugar, stirred to mix them well, then added the honey and butter to the egg-sugar mixture. i then placed the mixing bowl/saucepan on top of the saucepan with boiling water. at this point i adjusted the level of water in the saucepan so that it would not touch the base of the mixing saucepan. maintaining a gentle boil and stirring the mixture constantly with a balloon whisk i cooked the mixture until the ingredients were well blended and the batter in the saucepan looked smooth, about 4-5 minutes. i then added the baking soda to the mixture and stirring constantly cooked for another minute or so. with the addition of the soda the mixture became a little white-ish in colour and increased in volume.  then removing the mixture saucepan from the heat, i gradually added 2 cups of flour to the mixture. at this point the dough felt extremely sticky and was impossible to work with. i was tempted to add more flour to the mixture but the recipe had warned us against it. so i left the sticky dough untouched for the next one hour.  after an hour i preheated the oven to 375 degrees F, lined two baking trays with parchment paper and then started working on the cookie-dough. by then the dough had cooled down and had acquired some character, i.e., had become somewhat workable, i divided it into lime sized balls. of course to do so i had to flour my hands heavily and this is where i used some of  the reserved flour. the dough in hand yielded 11 lime-sized balls. placing the balls on a heavily floured surface, i rolled them into thin sheets. then using an inverted quarter plate, i cut out 6 inch diameter circles off the dough and transferred the rolled out circles into the prepared baking tray with the help of the rolling pin. i thought this was the most difficult part of the recipe, since the dough was sticky and the surface needed to be constantly floured.  next placing two dough circles on a single tray i baked them for 5 minutes until they looked golden on top. i repeated the process 5 more times until all the dough had been baked.  while still waiting for the remaining cookies to bake, i stacked the baked ones one on top of the other, separating them by 4-5 inch squares of parchment paper. once all the 11 cookies had been baked i began to assemble the cake. for assembling the cake,  i spread the dulce de leche cream generously on a cookie-sheet, then put a second one on top and spread the cream on that and repeated the process with another 7 baked cookies.  since stacking any more layers became difficult after that, i crushed one of the remaining cookies and spreading a thin layer of the cream on all side of the cake, dabbed the cookie crumbs all over the cream. though the recipe called for resting the assembled cake in room temperature, i  could not trust the heat and so i transferred the assembled cake into a tall box and refrigerated it until the next day.  and just before serving(taking the photographs), i garnished the cake with sliced almonds and voila ! a beautiful traditional cake was made !!

though i had been grumbling a lot while making the cake, at the end i was really glad that i tried it. we both thought the cake looked gorgeous even in its rustic form and it of course tasted G-R-E-A-T !  all along as we relished the cake, i kept on planning when to cook/bake it next. it is certainly a cake to impress and i can't wait to bake it for parents and my in-laws ;-) 

Thank you Humi for the suggestion. This recipe is a real find !

So that was the anniversary challenge for the Baking Partners. Happy 1st anniversary !! though I am only four challenges old in this group, i feel wonderful being a part of this group .  Hope we continue to learn and bake such wonderful goodies in the years to come and celebrate many such anniversaries together !

This cake was featured at the following parties !! Thank you so much for the feature !

Tasty Tuesdays #20

             

            Hearth and Soul Blog Hop 160: 7/15/2013     

                      Wednesday Whatsits (69)     

Sharing this with Marvelous Mondays @ This Gal Cooks, Meatless Monday @Veggie Mama's,  Meatless Monday My Sweet and Savory, Just Another Meatless Monday @ Hey What's for Dinner Mom, Melt in your Mouth Mondays, Mop It Up Monday, Mealtime Monday, Recipe Sharing Monday, Inspire Me Monday, Clever Chicks Blog Hop, Maniac Monday Linky Party
Tuesday Food:  Tempt my Tummy @Blessed with Grace, Totally Tasty Tuesday @ Mandy's Recipe Box, Tasteful Tuesday Party @ Nap Time Creations,  Show Me What You Got @ Our Delightful Home,  Hand Made Tuesday @ Ladybug Blessings, Share it Link Party @ Winthrop Chronicles, Hearth and Soul Blog Hop , tasty Tuesday

Wednesday Food : What's Cooking Wednesday @ Confessions of Overworked Mom, Cast Party Wednesday @ Lady Behind the Curtain ,  Wednesday Whatsit @White Lights on , Show and Share @ Semi Homemade Mom, Wonderful Food Wednesdays at @ Home Take 2, Seasonal Celebration @ Natural Mother's Network
Thursday Food:Link it Up Thursday @ Seven Alive, Creative Thursday @ Michelle's Tasty Creations, Fantastic Thursday @ Three Little Chiefs, Thriving on Thursdays @ Domesblissity, Freedom Friday @ My Turn, Full Plate Thursday @ Miz Helen's Country Cottage  
Friday Food: Foodie Friday @ Home Maid Simple, Friday Favorite (DYI too) @ Simple Sweet Home, Foodie Friday @ Not Your Ordinary Recipes,  Foodie Friday @ Rattlebridge Farm , Weekend Wonders @ The Thriftiness Miss, Friday Food Frenzy @ Mostly Food and Crafts , Weekend Potluck @ Sunflower Supper Club,  The Weekend re-Treat @The Best Blog  Recipes