Spanakopita

I had left over phyllo pastry from the last time I make Baklava which is in my previous blog. I did not want to make another sweet dessert with it so I decided on a savoury pie instead. Spanakopita is a greek pie of feta and ricotta cheese and spinach, it's a great vegetarian dish even my hubby who is a ardent carnivorous enjoyed the pie.

Ingredients:

1 bunch spinach 

300 gm feta

100 gm ricotta

40 gm grated parmesan

5 eggs

2 tbsp dry breadcrumbs

1/4 tsp ground nutmeg

1/2 tsp ground black pepper

60 ml olive oil

2 dill sprigs

4 spring onions

375 gm filo pastry

125 gm melted butter

Method:

Preheat the oven to 180°C.

Trim the roots from the spinach or if using silverbeet, cut out the stems. Wash leaves and drain well. Coarsely shred and set aside (see Note).

Place the feta in a large bowl and roughly mash with a fork. Add the ricotta, hard cheese, eggs, breadcrumbs, nutmeg, pepper, oil, dill and spring onions. Mix with the fork to combine. Place the spinach or silverbeet on top and mix lightly with your hands.

Lightly oil or butter a 20 cm x 30 cm x 5 cm baking dish. Lay the filo out on a work surface. Line the dish with a sheet of filo and brush it with butter. Top with another sheet of filo brushed with butter and continue until about half the filo is used. When not using the filo, cover it with a dry tea towel and then a damp one to keep it from drying out.

Use your hand or a large metal spoon to gently mix the spinach filling until thoroughly combined. Tip into the filo base and spread out evenly. Layer with the remaining sheets of filo brushed with butter, ensuring the final sheet is well buttered. Trim off any overhanging pastry and tuck in the sides.

Use a sharp knife to score the pastry into diamonds. Pierce the pastry once or twice to allow air to escape during baking. Sprinkle lightly with water and bake in the oven for 45–60 minutes or until well browned. Gently shake the baking dish; the spanakopita should slide easily when it is cooked. Cover with foil if it is over-browning. Cool on a rack for 15 minutes before serving.

(Note: The spinach can be prepared a day ahead it has to be as dry as possible as we do not want the pie to be soggy.)

This like the baklava recipe was relatively easy to make, except for the assembly where you need to work really quickly with the filo pastry so that it does not dry out. The end result was a lovely cheesy pie with the healthy goodness of the spinach. I have some greek colleagues at work and I brought a few pieces of pie for them and they say it was as authentic as it could be and offered me another challenge to make another famous greek dessert, Galaktoboureko which I gladly accepted. Guess there must be some greek in me.

Billie's Italian Cream Cake

This recipe found me I did not exactly go out to look for it as a matter of fact I was researching other baking recipes to try when I chance upon this blog from Pioneer Woman and as I read thru her blog I felt compelled to try it she just make it sound so compelling. If the cake did not turn out well I was going to message her and get my money back for the ingredients I wasted. No just joking I was'nt going to, but lucky for her this recipe was a winner.

Cake batter

Egg white mixture

Ingredients:

Cake Recipe

• 1 stick Butter
• 1 cup Vegetable Oil
• 1 cup Sugar
• 5 whole Eggs, Separated
• 3 teaspoons Vanilla
• 1 cup Coconut
• 2 cups All-purpose Flour
• 1 teaspoon Baking Soda
• 1 teaspoon Baking Powder
• 1 cup Buttermilk

Cream Cheese Frosting

• 2 packages (8 Oz) Cream Cheese
• 1 stick Butter
• 2 teaspoons Vanilla
• 1 package 2 Lb Powdered Sugar
• 1 cup Chopped Walnuts
• 1 cup Sweetened, Flaked Coconut

 Method:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour three 9-inch round cake pans.
2. Beat egg whites until stiff. Set aside.
3. Cake: In a large bowl, cream together butter, oil, and sugar until light and fluffy. Mix in the egg yolks, vanilla, and coconut.
4. In a separate bowl, mix flour, baking soda, and baking powder.
5. Alternate adding buttermilk and dry ingredients to wet ingredients. Mix until just combined, then fold in egg whites.
6. Pour evenly into the three prepared pans, then sprinkle the top of each pan with 1 (at least) tablespoon sugar.
7. Bake in preheated oven for 20 to 25 minutes, or until toothpick comes out clean. Remove from oven and allow to cool for 15 minutes, then turn the cakes out onto cooling racks and allow to cool completely.

Frosting:

1. In a medium bowl, combine cream cheese, butter, vanilla, and powdered sugar. Beat until light and fluffy.
2. Stir in chopped walnuts and sugared coconut. Spread between layers and serve.

Hmm I have to improve on my cake slicing skills as it does not look the best but the taste was something else it was really moist and the coconut gave it another depth of flavour. I usually bring some cake to work to share the calories with my colleagues but in this particular instant my hubby told me that I'm not taking any to work as it was too good to share.

Pandan Cheese Roll

I use to love this cake when I was growing up in Singapore I would have it least once a week from the local bakery. But ever since moving to Australia most of the local delicacies I can't get I end up googling for recipes and making them on my own. Recently I had cravings for this particular cake and went about to search for a recipe I could try. I found one on Zakia's blog and decided to give it a try. Note that this recipe uses a lot of eggs mainly the yolks so you would have a lot of whites left over. I usually save them to use for breakfast as a egg white omelette or for other baking recipes.

Ingredients:

10 egg yolks
1 egg white
100 gr Castor sugar
75 gr all purpose flour
1/4 tsp vanilla powder
100 gr butter (cream until fluffy)
300 gr cheddar cheese (grated)
1/2 tsp pandan paste

Cream Cheese Frosting
150 gr butter
250 gr cream cheese
50 gr icing sugar

Instruction :

1. Preheat oven to 200 Celsius degrees .Butter 26x26x2 square baking pan, line pan with parchment paper 
2. In the bowl of electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat egg white, egg yolks, & sugar on high speed until thick and pale.
3. Put flour mixture with vanilla, then fold together with wooden spoon or rubber spoon until blend. Then add creamy butter & pandan paste, fold until well blend.
4. Transfer the batter to prepared pan. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until a cake tester inserted in to middle comes out clean and the cake surface become dry enough.
5. Turn out cake, then put on the baking paper. Turn out the used parchment paper, then roll it when it still hot. Set a side.
6. Cream butter & cream cheese until creamy and fluffy with electric mixer. Add icing sugar then mix again until the batter look pale.
7. Open the cake roll. Spread the cream cheese frosting at the surface and smooth with offset spatula. Sprinkle with grated cheese then roll again. 
8. Rub the surface with the remaining cream cheese and  sprinkle it with grated cheese.

This was a relatively easy recipe except that you had to have patience for the mixture to reach a thick and pale consistency do not rush the process. I gave it a good 10 mins for the mixture to reach that consistency and the end result was a light fluffy sponge. The next time I do make this again though I will cut the cream cheese frosting by half as I thought it was a bit too much sugar hit.

Sticky Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookie

Since moving into a new home I decided that in my new neighborhood that I was going to make an effort to know my neighbors and be friendly. So I succeeded and I got to know a few neighbors from my street and one of them decided to host a party for all the neighbors to come together for a meet and greet. The demographics of the neighborhood I'm in are couples with young or school going kids which is ideal since I have a 8 year old. So we were all told to bring a plate of something to contribute and since the host was taking care of the mains, she told us to bring dessert. I know there were going to be lots of kids and I wanted to make something they would enjoy and which kid does not like cookies.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup coconut oil
• 2 eggs
• 1 and half cup brown sugar
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 1 tbsp vanilla 
• 1 and 3/4 cup plain flour 
• 8 oz mini chocolate chip
• 8 oz regular chocolate chip 
• 8 oz chopped hazelnuts

Method:

• Preheat oven to 180 degrees
• In a large bowl beat the coconut oil, eggs and sugar by hand or with a mixer
• Add salt, baking powder, baking soda, vanilla and flour and mix well.
• Mix in chocolate chips and hazelnuts
• Let dough rest in the fridge for a few hours or overnight
• Roll dough into large balls and place on baking tray line with parchment paper
• Bake for 8 to 10 minutes until cookie browns on the edges
• Remove from tray and let cool 

This is such a easy recipe but it was a real hit with the kids. As soon as I brought the tray full of cookies over the kids were eyeing them with intensity although they were not allowed any until after dinner. So like good obedient kids they gobbled up their dinner and headed straight to the cookie tray where the cookies were and they were gone in minutes. I left the party with a big cheshire cat smile smack across my face.