Dessert Crepes with cherries - Palacinke sa visnjama

A family favourite.

Ingredients:

2-3 cups of flour

2 eggs

Pinch of sugar

Warm water

1/4 cup of milk

Method:

In a large bowl combine all ingredients and beat with a mixer until well combined and there are no lumps in the texture. The texture should be fairly runny.

Heat oil in a crepe fry pan and using a ladle pour out some of the mixture into the pan. Make sure that your crepes are thin and that there are no lumps.

Filling:

Cherry/Strawberry Jam

Egg white (beaten with one spoon of sugar)

Pitted Compote Cherries

Spread the jam over the crepe. Then spread the beaten egg white creme and add cherries throughout. Fold into a triangle and sprinkle with icing sugar.

Enjoy! :)





Choc-Banana Muffins

Super easy to make - yet a delicious treat!

Ingredients:



2 ripe bananas

2 cups self raising flour

1/2 cup wholemeal self-raising flour

2/3 cup of sugar

1/2 cup of choc bits (chopped or bought)

2 eggs lightly beaten

2/3 cup of milk

1 table spoon vegetable oil

Method:

Preheat oven to 180C. In a large bowl mash the bananas with a fork. Sift flour into the bowl and combine with the banana with your finger tips until soft crumbs form. Add sugar, choc bits, eggs, milk and oil and combine. Stir with a fork until well mixed - the mixture should be fairly runny.

Spoon out into a muffin tin brushed with oil and place in oven. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown. Cool and serve.

Happy Baking :)

Corn Bread with Spinach and Cheese - Proja

Perfect for breakfast or with barbecues.

Ingredients:

2 cups of cornflour (from your delicatessen)

1 cup plain flour

2 eggs lightly beaten

3 tablespoons cottage cheese

Spinach (finely chopped)

Pinch of salt

Mineral water

Method:

In a large bowl, combine all ingredients and add mineral water. With a wooden spoon mix well until everything is combined well. The texture should be slightly runny.

Pour in a medium sized baking tray and bake on 185C for about 30-35 minutes or until set. You can also bake this in a muffin tray to get that cute muffin look.

Serve with mezze style meats or when making a barbecue.

Happy Baking!

Meat Burek

This is a traditional Serbian/Macedonian pastry dish with various types of fillings. My favourite is the meat burek, however the other fillings mainly consist of cheese and spinach. This recipe is as requested by a good friend of mine from Belgrade.

Ingredients:

For the Pastry:

4 cups of flour

Warm water

pinch of salt and pepper

For the filling:

3 Shallots (diced)

500g Mince beef

Pepper

Salt

2 medium sized potatoes diced into fine cubes

Method:

In a large bowl mix flour, salt and sugar and add water. Knead until you get a smooth soft texture and separate into 3-4 rounds (10cm by 10cm). Leave to stand while you prepare the filling.

In a pan add oil until it gets hot. Add the shallots and toss until they become translucent. Add meat, pepper and salt and mix until just brown. Dice potatoes and leave in a separate bowl.

With a rolling pin make each round of the pastry as wide as possible. Slowly stretch with your fingers (holding from underneath) until your pastry is as big as the dining table, it has to be very thin and almost see through with no holes. This will take practice until perfected.

Along the edge of the pastry add the mince meat mixture and the potato and then roll once or twice. Cut with a knife and roll it either in a circle or as shown above. Add the mixture alongside the edge of the remaining pastry and interchangeably keep on repeating this process.



Place the burek into a large oiled baking tray and bake on 200C for about 30 minutes or until the pastry is nice and golden. Once you take it out of the oven pour with a little bit of water and leave to stand for

10-15 minutes. Serve with a glass of buttermilk, or Greek style yogurt.

Happy Baking :)



Urmasice

Super sweet - crumbles away with a walnut crunch in the middle..

Ingredients:

500g plain flour

250g melted butter

2 eggs (whisked)

60g sugar

1/2 sachet baking powder

For the filling:

50g blended walnuts

50g finely chopped walnuts

1 1/2 spoons of sugar

3 drops of vanilla essence

1 vanilla sugar

50ml milk

For the Syrup:

500g sugar

700ml water

Lemon rounds

Method:

In a large bowl combine flour, sugar, eggs and baking powder. Add melter butter and mix well until you get a smooth and soft texture. Leave to cool in the fridge for about 45 minutes.

Meanwhile, place sugar and water in a medium sized saucepan, add lemon rounds and bring to boil. Leave to simmer for about 15 minutes and then cool.

For the filling, combine walnuts with sugar, vanilla sugar, add vanilla essence to milk in a separate small saucepan and bring to boil. Pour hot milk over walnut mixture and combine. Leave to cool.

Take the dough and divide into small circles, flatten into an oval shape. Spread a small amount of the walnut mixture down the centre with a spoon and then fold one side and then the other and shape. Place in a big baking tray and bake for 30-40 minute on 200C.

Pour the lemon syrup over, they should be floating in the syrup and place in fridge over night. To serve drizzle some extra syrup.

Happy Baking.

Lime Cheesecake topped with Lychee

Beautifully light and zesty - melts in your mouth..

Visit www.tothirtyandbeyond.blogspot.com for an entertaining review on the lime cheesecake and other great blogs!

Ingredients:

3 x 250 g packets cream cheese, softened ( I used two Philadelphia's and one Mascrapone cheese)

220g caster sugar

1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

zest and juice of 2 limes

3 eggs

125 ml thickened cream

fresh lime and compote lychees (you can find canned compote lychees in Asian groceries)

Cheesecake base

1 x 250g packet Pettit beurre buscuits

2 tablespoons brown sugar, firmly packed

125g unsalted butter, melted

Method:

1. To prepare the cheesecake base, process biscuits and sugar in a food processor until fine crumbs form. Add butter and process until combined. Press mixture into a round tin. Smooth the base with a spoon. Cool for 1 hour.

2. Preheat oven to 220°C.

3. Using an electric mixer, beat cream cheese, sugar, vanilla, lime zest and juice in a bowl until just smooth. Add eggs one at a time, beating until just combined. Add egg yolk and beat until just combined. Stir in cream. Pour mixture into tin over crumb base.

4. Bake on lowest shelf for 10 minutes. Reduce the temperature to 150°C and bake a further 25-30 minutes or until mixture is almost set.

5. Cool cheesecake. Cover and refrigerate overnight.


6. Cut into generous slices and serve with lime and lychee.

Enjoy!

Stuffed Peppers/Punjene Paprike

This is a Serbian dish with a punch of flavour. Absolutely love this, one of my all time favourites..

Ingredients:



8 light yellow peppers (medium size)

1kg minced meat (600g beef mince and 400g pork mince)

2 red onions

3 garlic cloves

1 tablespoon paprika

Pinch of salt and pepper

9 tablespoons of Jasmine rice

1 table spoon freshly chopped parsley

1 tablespoon Vegeta

2 tablespoons flour

100-150ml vegetable oil

1 celery stem and leaves

2-3 table spoons concentrated paprika

2-3 Roma tomatoes

Dollop of sour cream or Greek style yogurt

Method:

In a large bowl place mince meat and combine the two sorts. Add rice, salt and pepper, vegeta, parsley, chopped onion and garlic. Wash the peppers and take out the stem and seeds. Mix all ingredients well.

Fill the peppers with the meat mixture to the top, cut the tomatoes into slices and close off each pepper with the tomato round, so that the meat does not fall out while cooking.

In a large saucepan, add the oil. Mix in the flour until you get a thickened texture. Add the dry paprika and concentrated paprika and mix well. Add water until you get a desired texture of the broth - I usually like the sauce to be soupy. Add the celery stick. Add the stuffed peppers they should be covered in the broth. Add some more salt and Pepper to taste and leave to simmer on high for about 30 minutes. Reduce heat to medium and simmer for another 45 minutes.

Serve with a dollop of sour cream or yogurt.

Enjoy!