Vanilla bean cupcakes with speculoos-mascarpone frosting

If you follow me on instagram you may have seen that Saturday was baking day; in the morning it was cupcakes and in the afternoon bread. Being tucked away in my little kitchen making sweet and savory things on the weekends makes me happy.

I made a bread loaf entirely with buckwheat flour for the first time ever, and it was a good start. It was dense, due to the lack of gluten in the flour, a bit crumbly, but held together very well, and we ate it mostly with some strong aged Gouda and fig jam. The recipe needs some tweaking so I’m not going to post it just yet, but what was a complete success was these cupcakes.

Saturday was not the first time I made these; they are my go-to cupcakes whenever there is a craving for speculoos biscuit paste, which doesn’t happen often, admittedly, but when it does, these cupcakes are the thing to make. I don’t enjoy speculoos paste on its own or on pancakes/bread etc. as I find it a bit too sweet, but incorporated in a mascarpone frosting for cupcakes, it is alarmingly good.

When I was in Belgium recently, I bought a speculoos paste whose flavor I really enjoy over those I find in the Netherlands, and Saturday was my chance to use it. Vanilla cupcakes are the best vessel to carry the flavor of the frosting, making an excellent combination, and I also had some speculoos cookies on hand, which I crumbled and sprinkled on top to accentuate that biscuit flavor.

The cupcake is fluffy and intensely aromatic from the fresh vanilla seeds whereas the frosting is creamy and airy with that spicy speculoos biscuit flavor. Overall, the flavors are not overly sweet, which is always a good thing when it comes to cupcakes in my book.

Give them a try! And if you can’t find speculoos where you live, how about substituting the biscuit paste for gianduia? Different flavor of course, but oh so incredibly good.
That’s what I did yesterday when I made another batch of these cupcakes.

Vanilla bean cupcakes with speculoos-mascarpone frosting

Speculoos paste is a paste made from the classic Belgian speculoos biscuits (similar to Dutch speculaas). Not all speculoos pastes are the same, so make sure to use one whose flavor you really like. Oh, and if you can’t find speculoos paste or gianduia (as mentioned above), then use nutella or another hazelnut-chocolate paste of your liking.

Yield: 12 cupcakes

Ingredients

for the cupcakes
110 g unsalted butter, at room temperature
120 g caster sugar
3 large eggs
1 vanilla bean, cut in half lengthwise and seeds scraped out (or 1 tsp pure vanilla extract)
200 g all-purpose flour
1½ tsp baking powder
¼ tsp salt
60 ml fresh whole milk

for the frosting
220 g mascarpone
200 g speculoos paste
70 g icing sugar, sieved
½ tsp pure vanilla extract

Speculoos biscuits, crushed, for sprinkling on top

Special equipment: stand or hand-held mixer, fine sieve, 12-cupcake pan, 12-cup cupcake pan, paper liners


Preparation

for the cupcakes
Line your cupcake pan with paper liners.
Preheat you oven to 175°C.

In the bowl of your stand mixer (or in a large bowl) add the butter and sugar and beat with the paddle attachment (or with a hand-held mixer) on medium-high speed until you have a creamy and light mixture. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition to incorporate them fully. Beat in the vanilla seeds (or vanilla extract) and then sieve the flour, the baking powder and the salt directly into the bowl. Add the milk and beat on medium speed until the ingredients have just incorporated. Be careful not to overbeat the mixture or the cupcakes will be tough.

Empty the batter into the lined cupcake pan, filling each cup halfway up.
Bake the cupcakes on the middle rack of the preheated oven for 16-17 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Check them after 15 minutes because all ovens are different and it is best to be on the safe side and make sure that they don’t over-bake and become dry.

Remove the pan from the oven and place it on a wire rack. Once the cupcakes have slightly cooled, remove them carefully from the pan and onto the wire rack.

The cupcakes need to be completely cool before you frost them, otherwise the frosting will melt.

You can cut the pointy tops of the cupcakes off if you want a flat cupcake but I rarely do that.

for the frosting
In the bowl of your stand mixer (or in a large bowl) add all the ingredients for the frosting and beat with the whisk attachment (or with a hand-held mixer) on medium-high until you have a creamy, smooth and fluffy mixture. Give it a taste and if you can feel the sugar on your tongue or teeth, it means that the sugar hasn’t dissolved so beat a little more until it does.

Frost the cupcakes using a piping bag and nozzle of your choice (I used a star tip), or using an offset spatula.
The frosting will soften after a while but it should not be runny. You may put the frosting in the fridge to firm up a bit before you use it if you wish. If you leave it in the fridge for too long it will stiffen up, so before using it, leave it out of the fridge for 10 minutes and then beat it again.

In order to crush the speculoos biscuits, put them in a plastic freezer bag, seal it and beat the cookies with a rolling pin.

Sprinkle on top of the cupcakes and enjoy!

You can keep the cupcakes for a couple of days at room temperature, lightly covered, or if you make them during the summer, keep them in a paper box in the fridge for a couple of days.

P.S. If you’re using gianduia/nutella etc., make the frosting in the exact same manner. Sprinkle the cupcakes with dark chocolate shavings (very bitter preferably) instead of crushed speculoos biscuits.

Watermelon radish, fennel and avocado salad with whipped feta dressing

Winter can be monochromatic, especially in northwestern Europe. There are days when it seems like a dark veil is covering the whole sky, allowing only a few rays of sun to pierce through; the continuous rain makes it even worse. It can be romantic—at least that’s how I viewed it when I first moved to Holland from Greece, and it still feels like that sometimes—but mostly, these gloomy winters can be quite tiring, affecting both body and soul.

Seeing bursts of color in the form of fruits and vegetables is invigorating. Citrus, beetroots (more on those later), radishes, cauliflowers, carrots and cabbages are the saving grace of winter.

With the glorious reds, greens, pinks, yellows, golden of the citrus, with the purple of the cauliflowers and cabbages and, of course, the unexpected and thrilling fuchsia-pink color of the watermelon radishes; that psychedelic color that only nature could have dreamed up.

With the green and off-white surrounding it, it looks like a tiny watermelon waiting to be savored. If only I had some black sesame seeds to artfully place on one slice, it would be magical, right?

Being an extremely visual person, I get turned on by color and hues and tones, and making this colorful salad was exciting. Even though pink is not my color by any stretch of the imagination, this one was rather cute and against the bright green of the avocado and the ivory of the fennel, it was really a color-fest if there ever was one.

The flavor of the salad was vibrant, refreshing and light with the crunchy, slightly peppery and bitter radish, the creamy, sweet avocado and crisp fennel, and the whipped feta dressing tying everything together, because this dressing, let me tell you, is key. It’s the secret of this salad and one of the most delicious dressings this feta-obsessed Greek has tasted. The salty tang of the feta is smoothed over by the (real) Greek yoghurt and Greek olive oil and the sprinkling of sumac is the proverbial cherry on top, adding a touch of acidity and a faint spiciness that balances the flavors of the salad.

Paired with a piece of grilled or oven-baked salmon and fresh bread, it is a perfect meal.

I leave you with this song. See you here again soon.

Watermelon radish, fennel and avocado salad with whipped feta dressing and sumac

The watermelon radish is an heirloom Asian Daikon radish. It is mildly peppery with a crisp texture and belongs to the same family as rocket, broccolo and turnips.
If you can’t find it, substitute with daikon or another type of mild-flavored radish.

Yield: 4 salad servings or 2 main-course servings / 400 ml feta dressing

Ingredients

for the whipped feta dressing
200 g feta (Greek of course!)
120 g (real) Greek yoghurt, full-fat
3 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
½ tsp white balsamic vinegar (or white-wine vinegar)
Freshly ground white pepper, 4-5 grind of the pepper mill

for the salad
3 medium-sized watermelon radishes, peeled and sliced very thinly (preferably with a mandoline)
1-2 avocados, sliced thinly
½ large fennel bulb, sliced
Lemon juice
Olive oil

Fennel fronds (from the fennel bulb), for garnishing
Ground sumac, for sprinkling over the salad

Special equipment: food processor, mandoline (optional)


Preparation

for the whipped feta dressing
If your feta is too salty, soak it in cold water for 15 minutes (in one piece). Drain and use in the recipe.
Cut the feta in small cubes and place it along with the rest of the ingredients for the dressing in a food processor. Process until you have a smooth and creamy mixture.
Empty it in a bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Place in the fridge until ready to use. It will firm up a bit in the fridge.
You can make it 4 days ahead and keep it covered in the fridge.

to make the salad
Arrange the watermelon radishes on a large, shallow plate. Brush with a little olive oil.
Toss the sliced fennel with a little lemon juice (1 tsp) and olive oil in a bowl.
Brush the sliced avocado with a little lemon juice and olive oil to keep it from turning brown too quickly.

Top the radishes with the fennel and avocado and scatter the fennel fronds over the top.
Drizzle with a generous amount of the feta dressing and sprinkle with sumac. Keep extra dressing handy in a bowl at the table for extra helpings.
Enjoy!

The easiest and quickest tyropitakia (Greek individual cheese pies)

Sometimes recipes can be quite simple, as simple as they can get really. That doesn’t mean they are less delicious or that they lack in flavor or panache. A recipe doesn’t have to be difficult, laborious or extravagant to be worthwhile. There are times when efficiency, swiftness and simplicity of ingredients, is key.

Greek cuisine is like that many times, especially when it comes to mezedes. Mezedes are small, simple dishes made to accompany or prelude the main dish, or to accompany a glass of beer, ouzo or wine. This one is such a mezes and yet another version of tyropita, cheese pie.

In Greece, tyropites can be made with all sorts of dough. Sfoliata (puff pastry), kourou (yoghurt pastry) and of course phyllo. Phyllo is the most widely used dough in Greece for pies (phyllo / φύλλο is a Greek word which means leaf). There are many types of phyllo in Greece; the paper thin type which is normally used to make sweets like saragli, baklava or galaktoboureko, the slightly thicker but still very thin phyllo (called kroustas in Greek) used both for savory and sweet pies, and then there’s the thicker phyllo (horiatiko/rustic phyllo) which is mainly used for more hearty savory pies like tyropites, spanakopites, hortopites (wild greens pies) or kreatopites (meat pies).

I make my own hand-rolled phyllo when I have time and I’m in the mood, which is by far the best, but most of the times, let’s not kid ourselves, I buy it ready made. This time, I used horiatiko phyllo, the thick one, to make these shallow-fried tyropitakia, possibly the most simple, easy pies that you can make. With a feta, egg and dried mint filling, they are fried in sunflower oil—although you can fry them in olive oil but they will be heavier— and they are incredibly delicious.

Rolled into a pipe-like shape (the musical instrument that is) called flogera in Greek, they are ultra crispy with the feta filling oozing out in all its exquisite saltiness, while the scent of mint tickles your nose. With a glass of ouzo or a beer, you have a perfect little Greek meze.

More Greek cheese pies:
Tyropita (cheese pie) with puff pastry
Tyropitakia with Greek yoghurt dough/kourou





Tyropitakia with horiatiko phyllo (Greek individual cheese pies with thick phyllo)

Try not to use the regular phyllo but search for the thick one. Regular phyllo will absorb more oil while frying and will be less crispy.

The way I roll the dough makes the tyropitakia even crispier, with many edges. Don’t worry about not being sealed at the ends. Rest assured there’s no danger of the filling spilling out, as long as you follow the instructions, or just look at the photos below.

Yield: 48 tyropitakia

Ingredients
12 sheets of phyllo (preferably the thick type)
500 g Greek feta, grated
2 medium-sized eggs
½ tsp dried mint
Freshly ground white pepper, 4-5 turns of the pepper mill
Sunflower oil for frying

Special equipment: wide frying pan, absorbent kitchen paper


Preparation
In a medium-sized bowl mix well feta, eggs, mint and pepper with a spoon.

Open up the package of phyllo and roll out the sheets. Cut them all at once in half lengthwise and then cut them in half crosswise to create 48 pieces about 20x17cm each.

Take each piece of dough and place 1 tsp of filling near one corner. Roll the phyllo like in the photos below. Brush the end corner with a little water so it sticks together and doesn’t open up while frying.

Fill the bottom of a wide frying pan with oil by 1-2 cm and place over medium-high heat. When it’s hot, fry the tyropitakia in one layer, 1 minute per side, until crispy and golden brown, being careful not to burn them.

Transfer them to a plate lined with kitchen paper to absorb the extra oil. Fry the rest of the tyropitakia.
Serve while warm.

Flourless dark chocolate and demerara sugar cake with pomegranate seeds (GF)

Happy New Year, friends. May 2015 be a healthy, joyous and lucky year for all, with lots of fun times and of course, delicious food.

I wanted to start off 2015 with a dessert that combined chocolate, my eternal love, and the pomegranate, a fruit that symbolizes luck, prosperity and good fortune in Greek culture; this one proved to be the ideal one.

It is a flourless cake with the rich, deep flavor of dark chocolate, some bitterness coming from the addition of freshly brewed espresso coffee, a hint of vanilla and the caramel-y flavor of demerara sugar that makes it particularly delicious.

Being not overly sweet, it welcomes the generous sprinkling of icing sugar that transforms its crackly top into a snowy landscape. The addition of the small, burgundy, sparkly jewels in the form of pomegranate seeds that decorate the top, adds another level of sweetness as well as an acidic undertone.

It is dense but not stodgy, almost like a fudgy brownie but much lighter, softer and far tastier, very moist with crackly, crispy top and edges, and with the plump pomegranate seeds giving extra crunchiness. Served with a generous dollop of freshly whipped cream sweetened with a little icing sugar, it is utterly scrumptious.

Chocolate and pomegranate is a beautiful combination and starting the New Year with these flavors was a choice that proved to be absolutely brilliant.

Let’s make this year a good one by being kind, generous and loving to ourselves and others. Let this be the year that all of our dreams come true.

Flourless dark chocolate and demerara sugar cake with pomegranate seeds (Gluten-free)

Demerara sugar is raw, cane sugar that gives desserts and cakes a special flavor and it is also healthier than white, refined sugar.

Use chocolate whose flavor you enjoy because the cake will taste very much like that chocolate. Make sure it is of good quality and I would suggest you don’t use a chocolate that has less than 70% cocoa solids.

If you don’t have an espresso machine, you can use a one-serving packet of espresso powder dissolved in 100ml boiling water.

I would strongly suggest you make the cake a day before you want to serve it as it is most delicious the next day.

Yield: 1 cake / 8-10 pieces

Ingredients
250 g unsalted butter, at room temperature, cut into pieces, plus extra for greasing the pan
250 g good quality dark chocolate (70% cocoa solids), cut into pieces
100 ml freshly brewed strong espresso coffee
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1/8 tsp salt
180 g demerara sugar (raw cane sugar)
4 large eggs

Icing sugar, for dusting the cake
The seeds of 1 pomegranate

for the chantilly cream (to serve with the cake)
250 ml cream, full-fat (35%)
1 Tbsp icing sugar

Special equipment: stand mixer or hand-held mixer, springform round pan 22-23 cm, baking paper, baking tray


Preparation
Place the butter and chocolate in a heatproof bowl set over a pan of barely simmering water (bain-marie) and melt, stirring often with a spatula. The bottom of the bowl must not come in contact with the simmering water otherwise the chocolate will burn.
Remove the bowl from the top of the pan and add the espresso coffee, the vanilla and the salt and mix using a spatula. Set aside.

In the bowl of your stand mixer (or in a large bowl), add the sugar and eggs and beat using the whisk attachment (or with a hand-held electric mixer) on high speed, for 4-5 minutes, until the mixture reaches the ribbon stage (when you lift up the beater and let the mixture drip inside the bowl, you can see a ribbon forming on the surface and it stays for a few seconds before it disappears inside the rest of the mixture). The mixture should triple in volume and should be very light and fluffy.

In the meantime, preheat your oven to 175°C.
Butter the bottom and sides of the springform pan very well and line the base with a piece of baking paper (click here to see how to make a baking paper circle).

Pour slowly the chocolate mixture in the egg mixture and fold it in using a spatula, being careful not to deflate the eggs.
Empty the batter gently into the prepared baking pan. Place the pan inside a square baking tray to prevent any liquid (or butter) spilling out into your oven (you may want to line the baking tray with a piece of aluminum foil) and place on the low rack of the preheated oven.

Bake cake for 30 minutes, and then transfer it to the middle rack of the oven and bake for a further 10-15 minutes or until a wooden skewer or toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.
You will notice that during baking the cake will puff up and once you take it out of the oven it will sink and crack on top. That is perfectly okay, that’s how it should be.

Remove it from the oven and transfer the baking pan on a wire rack so that the cake cools completely. Don’t remove the sides of the pan while the cake is still hot, otherwise the sides will collapse. Run a knife around the edges of the cake to ensure that the cake is not stuck and then remove the sides of the pan carefully. You may serve the cake on the base of the pan or remove it. Be careful though because it may break.

Prepare the chantilly cream by whipping the cream and the icing sugar with a hand-held mixer or in a stand mixer until stiff peaks form. You can keep it in the fridge for 2 days, covered with plastic wrap.

When you want to serve the cake, dust it with icing sugar and decorate with the pomegranate seeds. Serve cut into pieces with a dollop of chantilly cream.

In case you have leftover cake, remove the pomegranate seeds from the top because they will make it soggy. Place seeds in a bowl and refrigerate them.
You can keep the cake covered, at room temperature, for 3 days.