A Savory Autumnal Pear, Pecan and Cheddar Pie

Who doesn't like pies? The buttery crust alone draws crowds from all over! The Foodies+ community on Google Plus dedicated a whole month for pies. Community members are challenged to concoct pies with seasonal ingredients using at least two  from a list prepared by the moderators that reflect the taste of autumn.

I rarely post savory recipes on my blog, but this time I wanted to go with something different, simple and savory.

The filling is made from a delicious trio of simple, yet complementary ingredients: pear, pecan and cheddar. Pears are known to complement the flavors of both nuts and cheese. Their mild sweetness softens the sharpness of cheese and brings out the nuttiness of pecans.

The cheese that you would use for this pie depends on your personal preference, but you do need to use one with character and depth of flavor. You can choose a blue cheese for example, if you appreciate their strong and sharp flavor. However, keep in mind that very strong cheeses do not suit the palate of many.

Though it was my first time trying this food trio in a pie, it certainly won't be the last one! The result was just perfect: nutty, buttery, and creamy with a touch of sweetness.

Let´s start baking (yields 4 servings; 18 cm pan):

For the crust you need:

• 175 g pastry flour
• 100 g cold butter, cut into small cubes
• 15 g sugar
• pinch of salt
• a dust of cinnamon (optional)
• 25 g grated cheddar 
• 20 ml cider vinegar
• 25 ml cold water

In a bowl, combine flour, salt, sugar, cinnamon, cheese and mix. Add the butter and work it quickly with the tip of your fingers or a dough blender. Add the vinegar and mix. Slowly start adding the water. Keep in mind that each flour absorbs water differently so don´t add all of your water at once. Drop the dough on your working surface and just gather it until it comes together. Don't overwork the dough as this would activate the gluten and it won't be crumbly. Wrap the dough in plastic and leave it in the fridge for at least an hour. You can do this step one day in advance. 

For the filling:

• 300 g pears, cored and cut into wedges (you need pears that withstand cooking and have a nice round flavor)
• 2 small shallots, cut into wedges
• 50 g chopped pecans
• 1 tbsp honey
• 50 g cheddar 
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 tsp Dijon mustard 
• sprinkle of cinnamon
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 15 g butter
• 1 tbsp of flour

Over a medium heat, add the butter and oil and wait a bit until the butter melts before adding the shallots. Cook until softened. Add the pecans and allow them to toast and soak in the flavors. Add the pears, salt, pepper, the mustard and cook for few minutes. Don't overcook the pears, you just want to sauté them. Add the honey and cinnamon, mix well and turn off the heat. 

Honey and cinnamon sauce:

• 40 g honey
• 20 g water
• 1 stick of cinnamon

Mix everything in a saucepan and then bring to a boil for few minutes. Leave to cool.

Assembly:

Roll the dough to about 5 mm thick,  arrange it over your tart pan, prick it and put it in the fridge again for 15 to 30 minutes.  

Mix the flour with the cooked pears then add the cheese and mix well with the filling. Now spread the filling over the dough.

You can decorate the pie with the leftover dough, it's not mandatory but it does add an extra touch. Brush the pie edges with cream and bake it in a preheated oven (175C) for about 35 to 40 min. Let the pie rest for about 10 minutes before serving.

Drizzle with the honey sauce and serve with a simple green salad and a good glass of wine.

Bon appetit.

Roscón de Reyes or "The Kings' Cake"

The holidays are over in many parts of the world but luckily here in Spain they linger till the 6th of January. Gift sharing is synonymous with Christmas across most of the world, however, for the Spanish, gifts are exchanged on the morning of the day awaited by children and adults alike: Día de los Reyes! This feast, which occurs on the 6th of January, is known elsewhere as the Epiphany and is celebrated much more modestly. However, in Spain and much of the Hispanic World the feast is celebrated widely.

On this special day, before unwrapping the gifts, the family gathers around a breakfast consisting of hot chocolate and the star of Christmas desserts in Spain and in many Hispanic countries: el Roscón de Reyes. The whole day and feast pays tribute to the Three Wise Men or Magi that foretold the arrival of Jesus Christ. Tradition has it that children receive gifts not from Santa Clause but from the Reyes or Wise Men themselves.

The roscon is a brioche like dough, though less buttery, that is usually decorated with candied fruits and can be filled with whipped cream. Small figurines are hidden in the cake and the one who finds it will be a king for a day and will supposedly have a better year!

I usually miss this celebration as I go home for Christmas and New Year celebration. This year, however, my family came to Madrid to spend the holidays. Even though I could have bought roscon from any pastry shop, supermarket or market fair, I decided that it is time to make it at home! It is always so much nicer when you share homemade desserts with your family. It is even better when you eat this delicious dessert with your favorite hot chocolate recipe.

To make the roscon you have to start with the start dough or poolish. The quantities listed are for 4 to 6 people.

You need:

• 75 g strong bread flour
• 75 g milk at 37 degrees C (98/99 F)
• 3 g fresh yeast

Mix all the ingredients together, cover and let the wet starter proof for 30 minutes. It should double in size and be full of bubbles.

For the final dough:

• 175 strong bread flour
• 40 g honey
• 1 large egg (50 g of it will go into the dough the rest will be used for the egg wash)
• zest of one medium orange and zest of half a lemon
• 2 tsp of bourbon
• 2 tsp of orange blossom water
• 1 tbsp orange juice
• 1/4 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 5 g fresh yeast
• the poolish made previously
• 50 g soft butter

In a big bowl combine all the ingredients but the butter, and with the hook  attachment knead the dough for 10 minutes. The dough should become smooth and shiny. Add the butter and knead again for another 10 minutes. After that time you will  have a smooth, elastic and shiny dough. Grease a bowl, put the dough inside of it, cover and let it rise until it doubles in size, which will take between 1 hour 30 min to 2 hours.

When the dough has risen, deflate it a bit by taking the sides of the dough and bringing them to the middle. Cover again and leave it the fridge for the next day.
If you don´t have time or you can´t wait, drop the dough on a lightly floured surface, shape it into a ball , make a hole in the middle and start stretching it carefully until you have a ring shaped roscón. I made a slight mistake while shaping mine as the hole should have been bigger so it won't close almost completely once baked. 

If you decide to leave the dough in the fridge overnight, you just need to make the same step mentioned above, 

Once the ring is formed, cover it and let it proof until it doubles in size, if the dough is cold it will take a bit longer! This step will take around 2 hours.

Preheat your oven at 200 C/392 F. Prepare the egg wash by mixing the rest of the egg with a teaspoon of milk and few drops of vanilla or cointreau.

Brush the dough with the egg wash and decorate it as you wish: candied fruits, pearled sugar, slivered almonds or whatever you like.

Bake for about 20 minutes or until golden brown.

Traditionally the cake is served as it is, but in recent years some fillings like whipped cream or chocolate cream were added to spice up the traditional cake. 

Have the cake with a cup of hot chocolate or coffee and enjoy a piece of Spanish tradition!

Melamakarona, a Special Greek Christmas Cookie

On my trips back home from Spain, I used to travel via Athens. During December, the meal served on Greek airlines would include a typical Christmas Greek dessert. I was never sure what the Greeks called this special cookie but I was always sure of its taste! After some fiddling around, I managed to know what this sweet cookie was: melamakarona, the Greek honey cookie.

These yummy cookies feature the best of warm and Christmas flavors: cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, oranges and honey.

The name of the dessert reminded me of a famous Levantine dessert: maakaroun. However, maakarouns are made on the feast of the Epiphany. Moreover, alhough they are shaped similarly, maakarouns are fried while melomakaronas are baked.

If you enjoy trying recipes from all over the world, then you should add this recipe to your book of baking. During December, I get a bit more active in trying out various recipes from all over the world and I will leave the links at the end of the post of some of what I tried.

Now let´s make some melomakaronas. For 25 to 28 pieces you need:

• 250 g flour
• 50 g fine semolina
• 50 g brown sugar
• 1/2 or 1 tsp cinnamon 
• 1/2 tsp ground cloves
• 1/8 tsp grated nutmeg
• 1/8 tsp of baking soda and 1/8 tsp of baking powder
• dash of salt
• zest of half an orange
• 100 g mild olive oil
• 100 g orange juice
• 5 to 10 g brandy

For the syrup:

• 150 g water
• 200 g sugar
• 100 g honey
• 2 to 3 cloves
• 1 stick of cinnamon
• one thick slice of orange

First, start by making the syrup. In a sauce pan, combine all the ingredients but the honey . Put on a gentle flame and simmer for about 5 minutes. When the sugar dissolves completely, add the honey and simmer again for 5 minutes. Set aside to cool.

To make the cookies, combine the wet ingredients: olive oil, orange juice and brandy and stir.In another bowl mix all the dry ingredients and mix well. Now add the wet ingredients, and stir with a wooden spoon until you have a soft and manageable dough.

Leave it to rest for 20 minutes.

Now take about 20 g of the dough, shape into a ball or sausage shape and gently pass it over a grater to create the shape of the melomakarona. Place the shaped cookies over a baking sheet covered with baking paper. Bake in a preheated oven (180C) for about 20 to 25 minutes or until the edges are golden brown.

As soon as you remove the cookies from the oven dip them in the cool syrup. Remove from the syrup and place them on a rack to let them drain. Once they cool sprinkle some chopped walnuts and  you are done!

The cookies can be served alone or with a warm cup of tea or dark coffee. They are deeply scented by all those wonderful spices, honey and oranges and go so well these hot comforting beverages.

With every bite I took into the melamakarona, I was transported to a different spot in Greece, a country that I love dearly and visited many times. Now it's up you to travel the world through sweets, and if you're short on ideas, why not travel to Greece like I did? I promise, you will enjoy every moment of it! 

To check other christmas recipes click on the following links: here, here, here, here and here

Super Easy Sweet Canapés!

Each month the Google plus community foodiesplus selects a special theme and for August canapés were featured. Canapés are ideal if you are entertaining a small group of friends or a large crowd during special occasions.
In addition to being elegant, they are extremely versatile and can be either savory or sweet. Canapés are fun to make and can be miniaturized versions of main dishes.
Personally, I decided to make sweet canapés featuring delicious summer fruits in addition to being a snap to make.

The ingredients I used are pretty common and easy to find. Additionally, the combinations you can make are quite flexible and you can alter ingredients according to your liking.

So to make these little beauties you need:

• mini toasts
• cream cheese
• strawberries, blackberries and flat peach
• honey and maple syrup
• rosemary, lavender and pecans for garnish
• chocolate spread

Prepare the fruits by cutting the peaches and the strawberries into thin slices; of course the blackberries are left whole.
The cream cheese should be removed a bit ahead of time from the fridge to make it more spreadable. You can mix the cheese with the maple syrup or honey or you can drizzle them later on the canapés. 

To assemble, spread the cream cheese or chocolate spread in reasonable amounts and layer the fruits on top. Drizzle the maple syrup or honey on top, if you haven't mixed them into the cream cheese.

I used the following combinations:

• Chocolate spread, strawberries and garnished with rosemary leaves
• Cream cheese, blackberries, maple syrup and garnished with a bit of crushed pecans.
• Cream cheese, peaches, honey and garnished with a bit of lavender flowers.

You can play with these combinations as you want, but I do feel these flavors work best together. 

Next time you have friends coming over and you're short on time, these canapés will be a life saver. Enjoy!

Torrijas, a Typical Spanish Dessert

Spain buzzes with so many recipes during Easter time, but if there is one that you will surely find everywhere it would be Torrijas or ¨Spanish French toast¨!

Although you may find the dessert in some places all year long, but it´s in the Lent season that you find it just about everywhere, either in cafés, restaurants or in bakeries.

In modern times, many chefs have been really creative with this traditional dessert, adding more flavors to the basic recipe or making up fancy sauces to go along with it. However, the traditional version is still the Spaniards' favorite.This is a really simple recipe that requires only a few basic ingredients; you can't go wrong with it!

Now let´s make some torrijas. For 6 to 8 servings you need:

• 1 baguette or torrija bread (it´s widely available in Spain but I'm not sure if it is easy to get by elsewhere)
• 500 ml milk
• 1 stick of cinnamon
• A piece of lemon rind
• 50 g sugar
• 1 xl large egg or 2 small ones
• A pinch of salt, dash of cinnamon and a bit of lemon zest for the egg
• Olive oil for frying

For the honey syrup you need:

• 3 tbsp of honey
• 1 tbsp of brown sugar
• 2 tbsp of water

First you need to cut the bread into 2 or 3 cm thick pieces. In a saucepan, combine milk, cinnamon stick, lemon rind and sugar. Let them simmer gently and once you can smell the cinnamon and lemon turn off the heat. Let the milk cool slightly and you´re ready to soak the bread pieces. While the bread is soaking, whisk the egg with the salt, cinnamon and lemon zest. You don't need to overbeat the eggs, you just wanted all the ingredients to be well combined.

When the bread has absorbed the milk, coat it in the egg mixture, fry the torrijas until golden on both sides!

Traditionally, the bread is fried in lots of oil, however, I didn't want the torrijas to be too greasy, so I used only two tablespoons of olive oil to cover the bottom of the pan. I wouldn't put less because you really need the oil to give the golden color that torrijas are known for.

Remove the golden pieces of bread from the oil and drain the excess on a paper towel.

Prepare in advance the syrup by simply combining all of its ingredients and letting them simmer over a gentle heat until all the sugar is dissolved into the honey. 

Serve the fried and drained torrijas with a healthy drizzle of the honey syrup. Adjust the amount of syrup to your liking!

Torrijas are great for breakfast, or a perfect companion for your afternoon coffee or tea! Do try this recipe and make it for your family or friends this Easter which I hope will be a very happy one for all of you.

Pear and Honey Cake.

I love fruits, but quite often I don't eat enough, so whenever I am baking something sweet, I often go for recipes that do well with fruits whether fresh or dried. Some fruits are best served fresh along with the baked sweets, but others really shine when baked. Fruits such as apples and pears are of this latter category.
This recipe incorporate pears which are excellent when baked. In fact, I think they taste even better when cooked properly and with respect.

This simple recipe features pears as the star ingredient spiced up with cinnamon and some citrus zest. It is quite simple, easily prepared in under 30 minutes, and is perfect served with tea or coffee.

For a 15 cm pan you need:

• 2 eggs, room temperature
• 80 g sugar
• 30 g honey
• 120 g flour, all purpose
• 100 g softened butter plus extra 10 g for the pan
• 3/4 tsp of baking powder
• dash of salt
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• zest of half a lemon and half an orange
• 2 tbsp of orange juice (or lemon)

For the pan bottom you need:

• 2 pears 
• 1 tbsp sugar
• 1 tbsp of chopped almonds
• a sprinkle of cinnamon and the extra butter

Start by generously buttering the bottom of the pan, and the sides too. Sprinkle the sugar, cinnamon, and the almonds and set aside.

Combine flour, baking powder and salt and set aside.

Add the cinnamon to the honey and heat a bit until it becomes rather runny.

Cream the butter with the sugar and the honey, using a whisk or a wooden spoon, (but save a tbsp of the honey to drizzle on the pears later). Add the eggs and mix well. Add the lemon and orange zest then fold in the flour. Finally add the orange juice and mix until combined.

Before adding the batter to the pan, slice the pears and arrange the pieces. Drizzle the remaining honey over the pear and pour in the batter.

Bake the cake for about 35 to 40 min in a preheated oven (180C). Let the cake cool about 5 minutes in the pan before removing it.

The cake is great with coffee, but you can also serve it with whipped cream, or Greek yogurt and honey. Rich and moist, it is perfect for breakfast, picnic or for a lazy and relaxed coffee break!