2012-12-06

wiseheart: (Macika)
2012-12-06 09:23 pm
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Baking season continues: Coconut Crescents

We baked these with the 6th-term kids yesterday, together with the cinnamon stars. Although I ususally hate the flavour of coconuts, this recipe somehow manages to neutralize its penetrant flavour and makes it enjoyable, even for me.

Ingredients: (for cca 30)
100 gr butter or margarine (room temperature)
60 gr icing sugar
2 eggyolks
grated peel of 1/2 lemon
140 gr white flour
120 gr desiccated coconuts
1 teaspoon if baking powder

For the decoration:
1 egg
desiccated coconuts

How to make it:
* pile all ingredients onto a working surface, mix them and knead them until you get a smooth, soft dough
* rest dough in the fridge for half an hour
* pre-heat oven for 180°C
* form a roll from the dough, cut walnut-sized pieces of it, make small rolls out of those pieces and form them to crescents
* paint them with egg and spread them with desiccated coconuts
* bake them for cca 25 minutes on a baking tin covered with baking paper
* when golden-brown, remove them from the baking tin and let them cool completely before storing them in a well-sealed tin box
wiseheart: (Macika)
2012-12-06 09:36 pm
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Baking season continues: Cinnamon Stars

This is a traditional German recipe and must not be missing from any festive coffee table in Germany, ever. I usually bake them together with the Coconut Crescent, because while for those I need only the eggyolks, the Cinnamon Stars require only the eggwhites, and this way I avoid wasting half the egg. Not only because eggs get frigging expensive every time a major holiday comes up - I refuse wasting food on principle.

Ingredients:
2 eggwhites
120 gr icing sugar
175-180 gr grated almonds
1 pinch of salt if you like it (I usually don't)
eventually some flour

For the decoration:
lemon flavoured icing (made of lemon juice and icing sugar)
crocant, pistachios, chopped nuts or whatever you like to put on your cookies ;)

How to make it:
* pre-heat oven to 180°C; cover baking tin with baking paper
* beat the eggwhites with the salt until they are really hard (the test is that they don't fall out when you turn the bowl upside down)
* stir in first the icing sugar, then the almonds very carefully, tablespoon by tablespoon
* knead the dough until it's smooth; you might generously sprinkle your working surface with flour because it tends to stick like whoa! A little flour in the dough doesn't make any harm
* roll out the dough 1/2 cm thick and cut out star-shapes of any size you want
* bake them between 15 and 20 minutes, depending on your oven; they need to be light brown
* remove them from the baking thin while still warm
* when they've cooled, cover them with lemon-flavoured icing and decorate them with whatever you find in the pantry ;)
wiseheart: (Macika)
2012-12-06 10:01 pm
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Baking season continues: Nougat Crescents

Having these written up, I've finally reached the current state of the baking orgy. There won't be more baking until next week, as we're out of town on Saturday and will probably be dead on Sunday after our day-long trip to the Schlosshof and Pressburg (Bratislava).

Ingredients:
210 gr nougat mass
90 gr butter or margarine
30 gr vanilla-flavoured sugar
1 pinch of salt
310 gr white flour
1 eggyolk

For the decoration:
chocolate covering

How to make it:
* mix all ingredients on a working surface
* knead a smooth dough, form a roll and let it rest in the fridge for at least two hours (rolled into tinfoil is the best)
* pre-heat oven to 180°C; cover baking tin with baking paper
* take dough out of the fridge, cut walnut-sized pieces, make rolls of the places and form crescents
* bake them 10-15 minutes until light brown
* let them cool on the baking tin (or don't; I usually remove them at once and let them cool on a flat surface)
* when cooled, dip both ends into fluid chocolate covering

In a well-sealed tin box the crescents remain fresh for 14 days.

Notes:

This is the official recipe; our family finds, however, that it could do with the addition of a little sugar, as we don't think it's quite sweet enough like this.

Also, the dough crumbles horribly, no matter what one does. I've baked it dozens of times, but it's always such a bother; I swear every year never to bake them again, but in the end I make them anyway. I have no idea what the reason is - suggestions are welcome.