Panbrioche

It's a long while I can't post anything. Sorry! I hope you'll forgive me after this sumptuous recipe, my first salty one on this blog.
Imagine a party with friends, in front of TV watching, for example, the last episode of Lost, with a slice of this panbrioche and a good red Italian wine. Primitivo of Puglia is my favorite one.
What do you think about?

Ingredients: 500 gr flour - 200 gr butter - 3 eggs - 25 gr fresh yeast - 1 glass of milk - a pinch of salt

Mix flour, salt and eggs (yolks plus whites) together. Melt fresh yeast into warm (not hot, or you kill the yeast!) milk, then add to flour mixture and stir. Stiring all the ingredients, add melted (not fried!) butter and stir, of course. A wooden spoon is useful. A Cooking robot is better!
Your mixture have to be soft but not very wet (in that case add a bit of flour). It'll smell of butter... a good smell not very good to your health. So if you like, you can reduce butter quantity... Panbrioche will be good enough and your health will thank you! You can also replace butter with ricotta: dough will be lighter.
Grease a pan (you can choise your favorite shape), spread half dough, stuff with cooked ham and mozzarella or tuna and mozzarella (buffalo one is delicious) or anything you like. Coat with the rest of dough and leave it rise 2 or 3 hours.
When your panbrioche is swollen and fluffy, brush the top with yolk, prick with a fork random and bake for 45-50 minutes at 200°C (preheated oven).
Cut and eat and... don't forget your guests!

Chocolate cake

It's almost X'mas and I've a lot of projects in my kitchen!
Here you are a very special chocolate cake, perfect for kids and boyfriends. It's very soft and wet: a lustful dessert. Serve with a glass of Italian dry spumante.
It's my X'mas present for you: Merry X'mas to everyone!


Ingredients:
200 gr. butter
200 gr. dark chocolate (70%)
150 gr. sugar
150 gr flour
4 eggs
1 teaspoon rhum
a pinch of backing powder (optional)
1 teaspoon cinnamon or red pepper (optional)
icing sugar (optional)

Mix yolks and sugar into a light cream. Then add flour a little at a time, avoiding lumps.
I suggest to mix a pinch of baking powder to flour: your cake will be fluffier.
Melt in a double saucepan butter with chocolate, add a teaspoon of rhum (or other liquor). If you like spicy flavours, add a teaspoon of cinnamon or red pepper (be careful: it's really hot!).
Stir this chocolate mixture together with the rest of ingredients, by using a wooden spoon.
Beat whites to stiff peaks and pour them gently into the mixture.
Grease a round pan (26cm - 10inch of diameter), spread the mixture evenly into it, then bake for 30 minutes at 170° C (325°F). The cake have to remain a bit wet.
Make the cake cool, remove it from the pan and, if you like, dust icing sugar on the top.

At last, buckwheat cake

Serve this cake with whipped cream. A rooibos tea or a green tea exalts its sweet taste. A cup of karkadè is an excellent choise.
Moreover, this cake is perfect for celiac people, since buckwheat flour is without gluten.

Ingredients: 250gr (8,8oz) buckwheat flour - 250gr (8,8oz) butter - 250gr (8,8oz) sugar - 250gr (8,8oz) almonds -6 eggs - 400gr (14oz) soft fruit jam - icing sugar

Mix softened butter and sugar into a light and fluffy cream, then add yolks, one at a time.
Grind almonds in a mixer (with a part of your buckwheat flour, so almonds don't stick to your mixer faces) and add them with the rest of buckwheat flour. Stir all the ingredients with a wooden spoon.
Beat whites to stiff peaks and pour them gently into the mixture.
Grease a round pan (26cm - 10inch of diameter), spread the mixture evenly into it, then bake for 45-50 minutes at 170° C (325°F).
Make the cake cool, remove it from the pan and, using a bread knife, cut it into two slices lengthways. Spread one slice with the soft fruit jam and reassemble your cake.
Sprinkle icing sugar on the top and enjoy your first bite!
Crocuslicious to you!

Magic almonds

I wrote yesterday almonds are one of the ingredients of a crocuslicious (excellent) buckwheat cake. Almonds are an important ingredient in Mediterranean cooking. Cookies, pastries, cakes, drinks and even salty dishes. Almonds can be everywhere! And almonds can help your health and your beauty: there's a pinch of magic into them. Perhaps this is why Italian women are so beautiful... Almonds contain proteins, precious vitamins (E, B1, B2) and minerals (magnesium, iron, calcium). The vitamin E, called the beauty vitamin, it's a powerful antioxidant. Our skin knows that! For example, spreading body with almond oil we can stay young longer. But almonds contain also fats (monounsaturated fatty acids, the good ones) in a large part: this helps our cardiovascular system. Remember. It's a very caloric food and we have to eat sparingly if we are on a diet, of course. Moreover, magnesium takes part in many processes of our organism and it's a necessary component of a healthy diet. A nice effect is on mood: it puts people in high spirits. If it's not magic that!

An introduction to my buckwheat cake

To make something in kitchen, you must be patient...
On next days I'll bake a delicious cake with you all.
It's an old recipe that my old granny brought with her from a trip to Alps (in my family we all are great travellers!). It's the buckwheat cake recipe.
But pay attention, your soul and spirits must be pure, clean from any distress and pain to bake this cake. It's a gathering cake, so share a slice with your family or best friends. Don't eat alone!
The ingredients are: almonds, buckwheat flour, butter, eggs, sugar and soft fruit jam.
Now I go and provide the ingredients. Especially buckwheat flour. I'm going to a mill here in the surrounding, but I'm sure you'll find this flour in any supermarket.
See you soon.

First... of all

Hello everyone, I'm Annabella from Italy.
My Grandma used to say "food is magic" and in my family we women take care of magic and mistery in cooking from a long time.
From today on I'm going to give you my family secret recipes to live a good and happy life.