Vanilla flan

Easy summer recipe discovered through my Spanish neighbor (thnx!) Really fast to prepare but needs to be prepared a day ahead!

My first book !

Happy birthday to me!!!

You won't believe what I got as a birthday gift (which was yesterday btw :) ...
my blog printed as a book !!!
If that is not a cooool gift ever ...
It's been a long time that I wanted to do such a thing but it takes so much time editing a book that I was always postponing it.
And my dear hubby did it for me!!!

You cannot imagine my emotions ....

My dear, it's a precious gift, those five years of my (our !) life through cooking and baking in a stylish book. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for taking all those long hours to do such a thing for me that you kept top secret with kids ...

Have a look at it... isn't it gorgeous??? and it's even better in real :P

Moist coconut cake

I really love coconut and one of my favorite greek cakes is the coconut Ravani.
Given that it has a syrup, it makes it quite heavy in calories though. So, I was looking for a cake with coconut that is close to ravani but lighter.
Find today this version that I tried and I really liked a lot...

the moist coconut cake ! 

(In french we could call it "gateau moelleux au noix de coco")
If you like coconut, you have to try this easy but tasty version!

I cannot cook without them !

It's been a long time that I wanted to write an article about it... my favourite cookware!

Today is the day to start...
Here there are my favourite cooking cookware and other tools will follow soon:

• the enamed roaster BEKA, 42cm, for cooking in the oven
• it keeps the oven clean, food is delicious, meat is kept soft, it's easily cleaned
• the pressure cooker Fissler Vitavit, 10lt, 26cm, induction
• for fast, design, high-tech, healthy cooking
• the TEFAL ingenio wok pan, 26 cm, induction
• non-stick, easily cleaned, keeps moisture
• (more to come soon)   

How about yours?

St. Valentine's day

Want to find an excuse to try this
triple chocolate mousse cake?

How about St. Valentine's day ? (Indeed, it is today, 14 of February :)

Otherwise, anything with nutella will do!

February 2 the day of crepes in France!

In France, February 2 (yesterday) is the day of crepes.
They call this day "Chandeleur" (Candlemas in english) and it is linked to religion (commemorate the purification of Virgin Mary and the presentation of baby Jesus)
but practically, people are making and consuming lots of crepes. 
You won't believe the amount of Nutella, and rest of ingerdients that are consumed those days.
As this is the weekend the closest to the Chandeleur, here's a recipe reminder to succeed your crepes and here is one for pancakes if you are too lazy for crepes :)

Happy Chandeleur!!!

Nutellotti, the nutella cookies!

Who doesn't like Nutella? So, imagine a recipe full of Nutella in a form of cookies and only 3 ingredients... Nutellotti... Yummy! A popular recipe, that had to be in my blog too.
Thanks to my dear daughter, crazy in love with Nutella, we made together those marvelous cookies and ate them all in once!

Ingredients (only 3!)
180gr of Nutella
1 egg
150gr of flour for cakes

Kürtőskalács: Authentic Hungarian Chimney Cakes Recipe

Homemade Kurtos Kalacs (Chimney Cakes)

This Romanian pastry, called Kürtőskalács, is often known in English as chimney cakes. It’s a fluffy, sweet yeast dough (similar to brioche) rolled in a sugar and cinnamon mix, sometimes with ground walnuts. Traditionally, it was served at weddings, and today you can find them at street kiosks baked over coal grills.

My husband first tried them in Prague during a work trip and came back raving about how soft and delicious they were — saying I would surely love them! I found recipes online but never tried making them myself… until tasting them in Budapest, where I ate at least two a day 😄. Eventually, one busy evening, my husband surprised me by making them at home!

So here’s our homemade version, inspired by these two recipes (thank you!):

• Honest Cooking

• Pearls of Baking

Tip: you’ll need several paper towel rolls to make the moulds before starting.

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INGREDIENTS

Dough:

• 240 g all-purpose flour (high quality)
• 7 g active dry yeast
• 30 g sugar
• A pinch of salt
• 1 egg
• 45 g melted butter
• 120 ml lukewarm milk

Topping:

• Melted butter
• Sugar
• Cinnamon

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INSTRUCTIONS

1. Prepare the moulds: Use paper towel rolls or similar. Cover completely with aluminum foil and brush with melted butter.

2. Activate the yeast: In a small bowl, mix milk, a little sugar, and yeast. Let it sit 10 min until foamy.

3. Make the dough: In a mixing bowl, combine all ingredients with the milk-yeast mixture. Knead for about 5 min. The dough will be sticky — do not add more flour.

4. First rise: Cover and let rise in a warm place for 1 hour (I like to cover mine with a blanket).

5. Shape ribbons: On a floured surface, roll dough into thick sheets. Use a pizza cutter to cut 1.5 cm wide ribbons.

6. Wrap the moulds: Wrap ribbons around the buttered moulds, brush with butter, and roll in the sugar-cinnamon mix.

7. Bake: Place on a tray and bake at 190°C (375°F) for about 20 min or until golden brown.

8. Cool and serve: Tap the cakes to release them from the moulds and let rest for a few minutes (if you can resist!).

Share these only with your loved ones! 💖

Love this recipe? Get 44 authentic Greek recipes in my eBook – Discover here!

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French orangettes

Orangettes is a traditional french food gift during Xmas. It is actually candied orange peel stripes dipped in dark chocolate that if you like the combination of orange and chocolate you will get addicted to it!
I would like to thank the teacher of a school that I am a volunteer that proposed me to help with doing them this year in order to finance the school trip of their class by selling them to a Christmas market.

I have never done them before, so it was a challenge for me but also a heavy responsibility. So I had to make them first at home to be sure that I am well trained.
End of year period is very busy so I did not have enough time to get nice photos but I did my best given the circumstances. 

The result though was delicious !!!  but be prepared... it takes time too !!!

I can share the recipe with you and here it is the original recipe that we were based on.

Happy 2018 !

Happy New Year to all !
Cook more, less war in this world ...

How about starting the year by making this delicious french Epiphany cake (Galette des rois)?
I think that my 2018 version is the best that I have ever done :)

My french baby!

And suddenly, I felt an urge to make a new blog.
It's been a year that I am thinking about it. I was working it in my mind and here it is: 
Discover my brand new french baby-blog

"Instants (extra)ordinaires" 

= (Extra)ordinary moments in english.

Enjoy!
 

Happy Halloween!

What best to have fun ending of October than celebrating Halloween ?
Cooking, activities, decoration, colors... lots of ideas in the web! Just to keep track of what is in my blog let's recapitulate...


Have fun cooking butternut soups, halloween cookies, mini apple pies, Halloween fingers or just apple pie like this one, this one or this one.

Decorate your house entrance with jack-o-lanterns, following my son's short tutorial in the numbered photos (no1 is missing as it is about choosing your pumkin's face :)

Here's some fun finger food for Halloween: the Halloween fingers!

Or, make fake injuries with makeup and scare your friends (not my favorite though!) like this homemade one from my kids...

Whatever you prefer, just try to get with friends and/or family and have fun and enjoy life!

Jam roll

Old time classic recipe coming straight from our youth... jam rolls!
Here's a fast & easy recipe to keep track in my blog. Thanks Vilma for reminding it to me!
I use strawberry jam here, but my dear friend Vilma brought one in our place for a bbq, a tasty one filled with Nutella ... hmmmm just gorgeous!!!
The result here is a fast prototyping, as I am busy and do not have the luxury for better photos or decoration... the essential is here though :)