Scones with Plum Compote

Scones are an element sine qua non for a brunch, at least if you ask me! They are salty and sweet at the same time, so you can eat them either with butter and cheese or with honey, marmalade - or with this easy plum compote with a hint of cinnamon. They can be baked with any flour of your liking - I prefer a mixture of rolled oats and spelt. I’ve tried a vegan version of scones as well - I just left the egg out and replaced butter with margarine and milk with spelt milk (a bit more than in the original recipe, to compensate for the egg). The structure was great, but the taste was a bit compromised. Maybe you’d want to add some dried fruit - raisins, cranberries, sour cherries - to make them tastier!

For about 10 scones, you need

• 100g butter (or margarine)


• 300g flour (rolled oats, spelt, wheat..)


• 50g sugar (or more, if you like it sweeter)


• 50ml milk (or soy milk)


• 1 egg (for a vegan version, leave out)


• 1,5 tsp baking powder


• 0,5 tsp salt

First, preheat your oven to 225 degrees Celsius. Cut butter into small cubes and place in a baking bowl. Measure all dry ingredients together and pour onto the butter. Work with your fingertips until fine and crumbly, then add egg and milk and work into a dough. It’s a bit on the liquid side, but don’t add too much flour, or they’ll get dry! Divide the dough into 10 pieces (about 40g each) and, with your hands, form round cakes. Use some extra flour in doing this if the dough is too liquid. Bake in the oven for some 15 minutes, or until nicely brown. Let the cool a bit before serving as a part of brunch - or for afternoon tea.

For the plum compote, cut 400g ripe plums into small cubes, set in a pan with 100g sugar and one cinnamon stick and cook until plums are thoroughly cooked. Take the cinnamon stick out and serve either warm or cold.

Chocolate Ice Cream

As most Finns, I eat a lot of ice cream. Or I used to, until I was diagnosed with lactose intolerance. That meant no milk, yoghurt, cream - or ice cream for a long, long time. Then some eight years ago I got an ice cream machine as birthday present! Cool! I could do all kinds of sorbets and soy-based ice creams myself. But when the first lactose free ice creams appeared on the supermarket shelves, I didn’t feel motivated to continue my own production - until I moved to Germany where even most of the sorbets have added lactose in them! Good news for my abandoned Krups Sorbetière - now she’s got something to do again.

I’ve tried a lot of different recipes so far, and this very creamy, very chocolatey one here is among my absolute favourites.

For a portion that fits into my sorbetière, I need:

• 200g dark chocolate


• 500ml double cream, divided


• 200ml milk (I use 3,8% fat)


• some sugar, depending on how bitter your chocolate is and how sweet you like your ice-cream


• optional: 2 Tbsp of any liquor of your liking (Amaretto, Cointreau..)

Bring 300ml cream to a boil in a pan. Set aside and put in the chocolate and sugar. Let melt, then add the milk. Pour into a recipient with a lid, then set in your fridge for a couple of hours. About 30 minutes before serving, whip the rest of the cream into chantilly, add liquor (if using), mix with the chocolate-cream mixture, and prepare the ice-cream according to the instructions of your ice-cream maker. Serve as a dessert - or as part of your Sunday brunch!

Bright Day Banana Muffins

These are THE muffins for me. I've been baking them for so long I could probably make them with my eyes closed! And yet, every time I make them, it comes as a surprise how good they taste. It's a bit like bread with butter - you just don't get tired of it! I got the recipe from a kitchen-wizard cousin of mine some years ago. I ended up losing the original recipe (a long story...), but this is how I make them:

Dry ingredients:

• 230g flour


• 75g sugar


• 1,5 tsp baking powder


• a pinch of salt


• a bit of cinnamon


• a hint of nutmeg (be careful, too much will ruin the muffins)

Liquid ingredients:

• 100g melted butter


• 1 egg


• 100ml milk


• 2 bananas, mashed with a fork

+ some extra butter (melted, 20g or so), cinnamon, and sugar

Combine the liquid ingredients with the dry ones and stir well. Pour the batter into a muffin pan (this dough makes 6 muffins). Bake 20 minutes or so, the move the muffins on a plate. When they are still hot, brush them with melted butter and sprinkle some cinnamon and sugar on top. Serve as a part of brunch - or on any other occasion!

P.S. This morning I tried them with whole-grain spelt flour - and started wondering why I didn't start using whole-grain years ago...

Sunday's a Brunch Day

Today was Parliamentary elections day here in Germany. As foreigners, we were not allowed to vote, but why not use this special day as an excuse for having a bit fancier brunch? So this morning we enjoyed freshly baked bread and scones, sweet whole-grain pancakes, cheeses, veggies, fruit, coffee, and Mimosas. Brunch is by far my favourite meal - you can serve it practically any time, and there’s nothing you couldn’t serve as a part of it - it’s a total carte blanche! I love having a lot of variety - warm stuff, cold stuff, something sweet, something salty, something crunchy, something fresh.. And of course, great coffee!

During the following week, I’ll be posting my best brunch recipes - maybe next Sunday, you’ll be serving some of them yourself! So stay tuned…

I like to start my brunch with a fresh drink, so today I’m sharing the recipes of my two preferred brunch drinks with you: the classic Mimosa, and pineapple juice with fresh mint.

For the Mimosa, you’ll need

• the juice of ½ orange per serving


• about 6cl of your favourite champagne or bubbling wine per serving

For the pineapple mint juice, you’ll need (for about 6 servings)

• 1 pineapple


• 20g fresh mint


• 300ml water


• possibly some sugar or agave syrup

The night before, remember to put all ingredients in the fridge and to fill your ice-cube maker! For the Mimosa, squeeze oranges, divide the juice into glasses, and fill the rest with champagne. Serve immediately!

For the pineapple mint juice, peel the pineapple and cut it into cubes. Wash the mint. Combine pineapple cubes, mint, water - and sugar or agave syrup if you prefer it a bit sweeter - in your mixer and pulse. (It will be a bit foamy, that’s ok!) Serve with ice cubes.

Pizza with Smoked Tofu and Pineapple

I’ve eaten a couple of times in a vegan restaurant in Stuttgart, called Coox&Candy. Once I happened to eat there on a Tuesday, pizza day. We just couldn’t get enough of their vegan pizza with smoked tofu and pineapple! Since they are a vegan restaurant, their pizza includes a special type of cheese, which they also sell to take away. I immediately bought a package of No-Muh-Cheese (the spicy one) and was ready to try my first vegan pizza. It was a success! Unfortunately, we live in a small town where there are no vegan cheeses available (yes, one could buy it on the internet, but somehow I’m not that deep in the world of internet shopping just yet), so today I used a local cheese from our organic farm instead. This time, I wanted to try whole-grain spelt flour in the dough, and it was really tasty (according to my hubby, it was the best pizza ever, but he was so hungry I’m not sure if he can be trusted ;) ) - in the future, anyway, I’ll be using only whole-grain flour in my pizza dough.

This recipe yields 2 big pizzas - that’s usually more than enough for us 5.

Dough:

• 250ml water


• 12,5g fresh yeast or half a package instant yeast (that would be about 5g)


• 1 tsp salt


• 2 Tbsp olive oil


• 1 Tbsp sugar


• about 450g flour

Tomato sauce:

• 1-2 onions, peeled and chopped


• 600g tomatoes, peeled and cut into cubes


• 2-4 garlic cloves, peeled and chopped


• olive oil


• salt, pepper, and oregano to taste

On top:

• 200g smoked tofu in thin slices


• 5 Tbsp chopped pineapple


• grated cheese of your choice

Preparing the sauce

Begin with the tomato sauce: sauté onions in olive oil, add garlic, continue frying for 2 minutes or so, then add tomatoes, salt, pepper, and oregano. Bring to a boil and let simmer over medium heat for about 30 minutes, reduce heat and let simmer over a low heat for about one hour. (If you’re in a hurry, feel free to reduce cooking time - and if really in a hurry, just take one can of tomatoes, and purée it with salt, pepper, oregano, garlic, and olive oil.)

Preparing the dough

To prepare the dough: measure the water in a baking bowl, throw in yeast and stir until dissolved, then add salt, oil, and sugar, stir again, and then add as much flour as you need to get a good dough. Then knead for a couple of minutes, cover the bowl with a cloth, and let ferment for an hour or so.

Depending how quick you were, you now have some time to do other stuff - go for a walk, read a book, call a friend.. But if your memory is as good as mine, it’s better to set an alarm, though!

Once your dough and sauce are ready to go, set your oven to 250 degrees Celsius. Knead your dough so you get the air bubbles out, divide into 2 pieces, and roll them both into a square a bit smaller than the oven pan you’re using. Transfer onto the pan, bake in the oven for 5 minutes or so, take out, and then cover each pizza with a layer of tomato sauce, tofu, pineapple, and finally cheese. Put back in the oven for some 15-20 minutes more, or until nicely brown and crispy.

Serve with a side salad - und ein kaltes Bier!

Potato and Celeriac Gratin with Porcini Mushrooms

It was love at first sight. As soon as I opened the New Vegetarian Kitchen by Nicola Graimes at a shop in Frankfurt Airport, I knew I couldn’t walk away without buying it. And it was the right decision, although it meant an even heavier bag to carry around. (Will I ever learn to travel light?!) Every single recipe I've tried has worked perfectly! One of my favourite recipes to try on one of these cold and windy autumn days is a gratin with potatoes, celeriac, porcini mushrooms, and lots and lots of cream.

For 3 hungry people you'll need

• 20g dried porcini mushrooms


• 30g butter (or vegan margarine)


• 1 tbsp olive oil


• 3 garlic cloves, sliced


• 300ml heavy cream (or any vegan cream - soy, rice, oats.. just make sure it isn’t sweetened!)


• 4 tbsp milk (or soy/rice/oats milk)


• 300g celeriac, peeled and cut into small cubes


• 550g unpeeled potatoes, sliced


• salt and black pepper to taste

First, set mushrooms in a small bowl and pour 100ml boiling water to cover them. Let them simmer for some 10 minutes, drain, but reserve the water for later use. Chop the mushrooms (I use scissors). Heat the butter and oil in a large skillet and fry the garlic slices for about one minute, then add mushrooms, potatoes, and celeriac, and fry for a couple of minutes more. Then add all liquids (including soaking water from mushrooms), and salt and pepper. Let simmer over a low heat for some 20 minutes, then transfer into a baking dish, and cook in a preheated oven (200 Celsius) until the top is golden brown - this takes about 20 minutes as well. Serve hot with with a green salad and a glass of red wine! You also might want a slice of bread to wipe all that delicious sauce from your plate. With vegetarian dishes like this, who needs meat, anyway?

The only downside is that it’s very difficult to take a picture of this dish that would do it any justice!

Easy Whole-grain Cookies

Yesterday I had afternoon tea at a friend’s place. She a great baker, and this time she had made some pear muffins. I realized that all of those delicious things she bakes have something nicely rustic about them - and I found out why: she only uses whole-grain spelt flour she’s milled herself! (It seems to be very common here in Germany for people to have a small grain mill at home.)

Now I was curious - would it really work with something I’d normally never bake with whole-grain? So I took a basic cookie recipe, you know the one with butter, sugar, salt, and flour, and started baking, with 100% whole-grain wheat. And it did work -  so well that I ended up eating half of the batch in one go.. I'll definitely try more whole-grain baking in the future, and maybe even get one of those grain mills so I could always bake with fresh flour!

For 10 cookies, you’ll need:

• 100g butter (for a vegan version, use vegan margarine)


• 150g whole-grain wheat (or spelt) flour


• 40g muscovado sugar (if you want it sweet, feel free to use more)


• a pinch of salt


• 2 Tbsp cold water


• + some extra sugar/cinnamon and sugar/vanilla sugar

Make the dough: In a baking bowl, cut the butter/margarine in small cubes. In another bowl, combine flour, sugar, and salt, then pour over butter cubes. Work with your fingertips until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. Then add the water, stir, and let the dough rest for some 20 minutes in your fridge - unless you’re in a hurry.

Work the dough into a long, round “log”, about 9cm long and 5cm wide. Using a good knife, cut the log into 9 round cookies. Take an apple corer and cut a small hole in each cookie - the “holes” can be used to make one more cookie! (Goes without saying -  you can also skip the whole hole part, and just have 9 hole-less cookies instead.) Sprinkle some sugar (or cinnamon and sugar, or vanilla sugar) on top, and bake in 200 Celsius for some 15 minutes. I like mine really well done, but they get bitter if they burn even the tiniest bit, so I need to spend the last couple of minutes glued to my oven to get it perfect!

Let your cookies cool on a rack and serve with your favourite warm drink. I prefer to eat them when they’re still a bit warm - what about you?

P.S. My next post will be something salty again.. so stay tuned!