Cannot Live without Sweets

Stollen in Japanese style

2012-01-16T18:50:00.000+09:00

As I made Kanroni of chestnuts (peeled and boiled with syrop), I decided to make Stollen in Japanese style, and delivered to The Matcha House where I was normally buying Matcha.

Photo：provided by The Matcha house

＜Recipe＞

Butter　        70g
Wasanbon*　30g
Yolk          　　1
Soya milk　　60g
Dry yeast     　8g
Strong flour　80g
Flour         　80g
Matcha　　     2 table spoons
Salt        　　　4g

Nutmeg　         1/3 tea spoon
Cinnamon 　     1/2 tea spoon
Ginger powder 1/2 tea spoon

Kanroni of chestnuts      　30g
Roasted walnuts　            50g
Rum steeped dried fruits 100g

Melted butter & Powder sugar

Please refer to the recipe of stollen to know how to make.
Stollen is German traditional sweet but Japanese version was also quite nice♪

Bon profit!!!

*Wasanbon is fine-grained Japanese sugar traditionally made in Shikoku. If you don't find any, you can use any sugar from sugarcane.

Matcha macaron

2012-01-14T00:12:00.000+09:00

It seemd that 2011 had started recently, but wow, already we has entered 2012! Time flies too quick to follow!!!

As our dog passed away and more over we lost dad suddenly, 2011 becomes so sad year for us. Also the terrible earthquake and tsunami made 2011 very tough and sad year for lots of people who had suffered and were still suffering.

I really hope 2012 will by happy year and will bring us only happiness.

Last time what I made was more less macaron, so I bought almond powder and decided to make proper one.

Our family was hooked on Matcha recently so I chose Matcha Macaron. As Matcha has lots of good effect, like antioxidant, anti-cancer, etc., we feel less guilty when we choose sweets with Matcha.

＜Recipe＞

Egg white　　　　 30g　

Sugar　　　　　 30g　

Almond powder　25g　

Matcha 　　　　　 5g　

Powder sugar 　 30g

Please refer Hazelnuts Macaron recipe to know how to make.

The combination of Matcha and Chocolate is so delicious♪

Bon profit!!!

Stollen

2012-01-11T18:55:00.001+09:00

Sweets with dried fruits are not my favorite but a Stollen is an exception!
The Stollen is a heavy german traditional bread like cake containing lots of dried fruit, and covered with powder sugar. We can keep it for a long time and the taste becomes better day by day, so normally we cut a small slice and eat it everyday. However, our stollen is disappearing too quick to know the taste altering with time!

Thinking the butter and powder sugar used for it we are worried about the calorie, but we cannot stop cutting...
One day I brought a stollen from Vienna and I found out our family also loved it. So this year I made several and gave them to each family♪

We cannot see Stollen in Spain a lot, but I suppose if we go to Germany, tons of them go on sale in every bread shop. I have to visit one day!

＜Recipe＞

Butter 　       70g
Sugar　　       30g
Yolk　　         1
Milk 　　       60g
Dry yeast　     8g
Strong flour　80g
Flour         　80g
Salt    　　　　 4g

Nutmeg　　1/3 tea spoon
Cinnamon　 1/2 tea spoon
Cardamom  1/2 tea spoon

Roasted almond      　30g
Roasted walnut 　      50g
Rum steeped fruits　100g

Melted butter＆Powder sugar

1.　Heat milk to 40℃, add yeast and leave it for a while so that yeast can be fermented.
2.　Place softened butter (room temperature) and sugar in a bowl, and beat them until become white.
3.　Add yolk into 2 and mix well.
4.　Add all flour into 3.
5.　Add 1 into 4 and knead them well until the dough becomes smooth.
6.　Add spices, almond, walnut and dried fruits into 5, knead them little bit more, roll it into a boll, and leave it to be fermented (around 2 hours).
7.　Remove the gas and shape the dough (roll into a oval and fold the left side over to right side but not to cover all, and once again fold the left side over to right side not to cover all.
8.　Second fermentation (around 1 hour).
9.　Bake it in a oven with 180℃ for 30 minutes.
10.　When it is done, spread the melted butter the whole surface (around 20-30g).
11.　When it is cooled, powder the powder sugar and wrap it in plastic wrap.
The taste becomes nicer as days go by, at least leave it for 2 days.
Before eating, powder the powder sugar once again.

Bon profit!!!

Cardinal Cake

2011-12-20T03:36:00.008+09:00

The cake one day our friends brought us was so nice and we found out it was Cardinal cake (Tarta de Cardenal in Spanish), made by two merengue type sponges and white cream filling between them. It should be served with chocolate sauce poured on top.

To hear the others, everyone seems love it. We can find a small individual one and a big whole cake for several people, and also you can buy chocolate sauce separately.

As I wanted to make it at home, I was searching for a recipe but I couldn't find any...

There is a cake also called Cardinal in Austria, made by striped sponge with merengue, and filled with whipped cream, it seems closest to what I am looking for.

Then one day I was watching a documentary on Mallorca's bakery and casually what they were making was Cardinal! I couldn't see exactly how and from what they were making but they were mixing whipped cream and merengue for the filling. The volume of the cream was of merengue

According to the information I got, I made a recipe by myself, which my Cardinal Lover friends recognize better than those we can buy. So I hope you will try this popular sweet in Spain (maybe just in Barcelona?)♪

Side view：I shouldn't use alminum foil, it does't look nice...

＜Recipe＞
Egg white                     5
Sugar　                      85g
Powder sugar            55g
Almond powder       65g
Flour    　　               65g

1.　Whip egg white adding sugar, and make merengue.

2.　Sife powder sugar, almond powder and flour, and add them into 2 and cut them in until they are mixed.

3.　Put this mixture into a piping bag and pipe it from center in order to make a 22cm diameter circle(x 2)
4.　Powder powder sugar on top, leave it for 10 minutes and do it once again, then bake in a oven for 25-30minutes (180℃)
5.　Once cooled, fill with whipped cream (if you like merengue, you can add merengue into the cream)

Just before eating, cut it into pieces and pour chocolate sauce on top.
As the sponge is sweet, I recommend you to use dark chocolate with more than 70% cacao for chocolate sauce.

Bon profit!!!

Macaron with Hazel nuts

2011-12-13T20:18:00.004+09:00

I had leftover egg white from making custard cream the other day and kept in freezer, so I decided to make Macaron and unfroze it. But I found no almond powder anywhere! The egg white has almost been unfrozen! What shall I do???

Then I made them with Hazel nuts.

We can see Hazel nuts (avellana) everywhere in Spain, but not Hazel nuts powder. Why???

Anyway, I don't grind them but buy the powder (Noisettes en Poudre) in France. It is so curious for me that these 2 countries are so different even they are neighbors.

As the pound cake with Hazel nuts with espresso from my friend was so delicious, I made Cafe Macaron.

My husband said it tasted Nutella. Nutella is Chocolate Cream with Hazel nuts and so popular here like Chocolate Cream=Nutella. So Macaron with Hazel nuts with chocolate can taste Nutella, but I worked hard to make them and the result is Nutella??? Little bit sad, no? Anyway if you want to try Nutella taste macaron, here is the recipe♪

＜Recipe＞

－Macaron－
Egg white　                        40g
Powder sugar                    40g
Hazel nuts powder          　40g
Powder sugar　　　　　　 40g
Instant coffee          　　　　 4g
Water 　　　　　　　　　　　 4g

－Filling－
Cream　　　　　　　　　100g
Chocolate 　　　　　　　　60g
Instant coffee       　　　　 5g

1. Sift Hazel nuts powder and powder sugar.
2. Mix instant coffee and water.
3. Beat egg white adding powder sugar and make stiff and glossy merengue.
4. Add 1 into 3 and mix roughly.
5. Once they are mixed, add 2 and mix them doing Macaronage.
(Macaronage is the process to crush foam of merengue, you have to mix the mixure passing flexible rubber spatula along the side of bowl, but if you do too much, the dough will be loosen, so you should be careful. Depending on the amount, but around 60 times is recommended).
6. The dough becomes glossy and if you spoon the dough, it should fall like ribbon, then put in a piping bag and pipe on a baking tray with baking sheet (for petit macaron, around 2cm diameter, for big macaron, around 4cm).
7. Leave them for around 1 hour so that the surface becomes dry.
8. Put them in the oven heated to 200℃ and around 5 minutes later lower the temperature to 160℃ and bake for 15minutes in total.
9. Heat cream in a pan until just before starts boiling and add chocolate and instant coffee and mix them.
10. Once macaron become cool, fill them with the cream.

They are more delicious the following day. I used 70% dark chocolate for the cream so they were not too sweet.

Bon profit!!!

Choux&Eclair

2011-12-07T23:36:00.000+09:00

If your friends invite us for lunch or dinner, we are supposed to bring some dessert or/and wine as a sign of politeness in Spain.
This time I decided to bring Eclair which I didn't get to eat in France.

I love Eclair, I don't know what is so special, but I cannot keep myself from buying. When I was child, we used to go Ginza Seigetsudo, which does not exist any more, for lunch, and I was asking my dad to buy all remaining eclairs in the shop. So when the restaurant was reopened as LINTARO, I and my dad were so disappointed and missed the old one.

In Spain I don't see them. Here there are petit choux, which they call Lionesa, normally filled with whipped cream or ganache, but leave something to be desired.
So, I made not only Eclairs but also Choux with Custard cream(Crème pâtissière) and with Whipped cream&strawberry, four each♪

＜Recipe＞

－Choux－

Water　　　　　　　80cc

Milk　　　　　　　100cc

Sugar　　　　　　　 5g

Salt　　　　　　　　　5g（If you use salty butter, do not add.)

Butter　　　　　　　70g

Flour　　　　　　 100g

Egg 　　　　　　　　3

1.　Put water, milk, sugar, salt and butter in a pan and heat until it comes to boil.
2.　Remove 1 from the heat, add sifted flour at once in it and mix them.
3.　Once mixed, place the pan over the heat again and keep mixing the dough.
4.　When the dough becomes like a ball and is taken off from the wall of the pan, remove it from the heat.
5.　Add egg one by one and mix them well, until becomes smooth. (When spoon the mixure, the dough should fall slowly)
6.　Put the dough in a piping bag and pipe small amount on a baking tray with baking sheet.
7.　Brush the top with beaten egg and bake them in a oven(200℃, for 20－25min)

8.　You should not take them out when they are done, but leave them in the oven for 10min to prevent choux from collapsing.
9.　Cut it into half and fill them with any cream you like.

－Custard cream(Crème pâtissière)－

Milk　　　　　　　　 350cc

Vanilla beans　　 1pod

Yolk　　　　　　　　　 4

Sugar　　　　　　　　　70g

Cornstarch　　　30g

Butter　　　　　　　　 30g

1.　Put yolk, sugar and the seeds taken from vanilla pod, and whisk them until becomes white.
2.　Add cornstarch and mix them roughly.

3.　Put milk and vanilla pod in a pan and heat it until just before starts boiling.
4.　Add the half of 3 into 2 and mix them. Once mixed, put the mixture back into 3, place it over the heat and stir.
5.　Once it comes to boil and the mixture becomes creamy, remove the pan from the heat, remove the pod from the cream and put the cream in a bowl.
6.　Put ice in another bowl and place the bowl with the cream in this with ice.
7.　When the cream becomes lukewarm, add the butter and mix them.

*If you want to have chocolate custard cream, break down 200g of chocolate into a small pieces and add into the hot custard cream(5) and mix them.

This time we visited a French-American couple. The favourite of french husband was eclair(he gave me a passing score♪), the american wife's one was ring choux with ganache and banana(there is no photo of this...), my spanish husband's one was custard cream choux, everyone has own taste!

Anyway
Bon Profit!!!

Choco Bread

2011-11-29T19:49:00.001+09:00

Whenever I go to Mitsukoshi Department, I cannot stop buying Choco Bread from Joahn.

It is so popular and always we see queues of people waiting for this bread coming out from the oven. And they are gone so quickly!

Therefore, if I find any, I must buy it! My family also loves it and it will disappear before we know it.

I missed this Choco Bread, so I looked some recipe on the internet and tried one.

The one I chose this time was the most popular Chocolat Bread resipe at COOKPAD by Minrin san.

Waiting for the dough to rise...

Better look than I expected♪

Cutaway.

It is nothing compared to Joahn's Choco Bread but enough to satisfy mi;-)

Thank you very much Minrin san to share this recipe!

(If you cannot read Japanese but want to try Minrin san's recipe, contact me)

Bon profit!!!

SHIRAKAMI KODAMA KOUBO(yeast)

2011-10-26T20:15:00.000+09:00

When I returned to Japan, I bought 「SHIROKAMI KODAMA KOUBO」 which I had been interested in.

「SHIRAKAMI KODAMA KOUBO」is wild yeast found in Shirakami-Sanchi (white god mountain area), a UNESCO World Heritage Site, staddling between Akita and Aomori, in northern Honshū Japan. And due to its strong leavening power and high trehalose content, it is said to make bread more tasty.

So, in accordance with the enclosed recipe, I made Petit Pain.

*in Japanese, we call small bread "PUCHI PAN" as more less in french.

＜Recipe＞

Hard flour 　　　250g

Sugar 　　　　　　　　　　6g

Salt　　　　　　　　　　　　3g

Yeast 　　　　　　　　　　5g

Lukewarm water(35℃)　 15g

Water 　　　　　　　　260-290g

1.　Mix yeast and lukewarm water and leave it for 5min.
2.　Mix flour, sugar and salt in a bowl.

3.　Add 1. and water to 2. and mix them.

4.　Put the dough on the board and knead it for 5 min. (The dough is supposed not to be slammed)

5.　Cover the dough with the bowl and leave it for 5 min.

6.　Start kneading once again for 7-10min, and once the surface becomes moist, roll it into a ball.

(Primary fermentation: depending on the temperature, around 1-2 hr. until the size becomes around 2.5 times).

7.　Punch the dough down, cut it into 8 pieces and leave them for 15 min.

8.　Roll each pieces into a ball, and place the rolled dough with smooth side top in the baking pan with cooking sheet.

(Secondary fermentation: depending on the temperature, around 1-2 hr. until doubled in size).

9.　Bake them in the oven for 10-15 min. (200℃)

The bread does not contain any butter but so tasty and elastic.
We can enjoy it as it is and also make nice sandwich!

Bon Profit!!!

Hot Chocolate&Melindro(finger biscuit)

2011-05-11T00:32:00.001+09:00

I went to the Cafeteria of Cacao Sampaka last week.
As many shops have been opened around the world including Japan, you may know, Cacao Sampaka is Chocolate Shop which Mr. Albert Adrià, patissier of El Bulli, Ferran Adrià's brother, started.

I had been to the shop several times to buy tablet or bombones but never been to the Cafeteria to have cafe(actually I didn't have cafe though) so finally I went!

It seemed popular to add spices to Chocolate in Spain, there were 2 types of Hot chocolate in Cacao Sampaka, one with cinnamon and another with spices.
This time I chose the standard one, with cinnamon. I could feel the cinnamon and nice strong cacao taste and it was delicious but thick(I should say RICH! instead of thick...)! I recommend that you should try it when you are a little bit hungry but not thirsty.
And I found Matcha Chocolate Tablet! I think they didn't have it before. It should be new. The tablet was made from Matcha and lemon, whose combination I think Japanese does't come up with. We can enjoy quite strong Matcha and fresh lemon taste, it was really nice!

Here you have the address of Cacao Sampaka's Cafeteria：C/ Consell de Cent, 292　08007 Barcelona

For this reason, our boom now is Hot Chocolate at home.
I make Melindro by myself and then Bon appetit!♪
Melindro is Spanish finger biscuit, here, in Spain, if we have Hot Chocolate, we should also have Churros or Melindro. As Churros is little bit oily, so I definately choose Melindro!
Even if you are Churros Lover and always have Hot Chocolate with Churros, please try Hot Chocolate and Melindro combination! It's also easier to make!

＜Recipe＞

2 Eggs

40g Sugar

50g Flour

Icing sugar

1.　Whip eggs in a bowl adding sugar until the mixture becomes fluffy but thick.
2.　Add flour and mix them roughly.

3.　Spoon the mixture in a pastry bag and squeeze it like a finger on a cooking paper.
4.　Put icing sugar through a sieve and sprinkle on the squeezed dough.(twice)
5.　Bake in the oven(180℃, 10-12minutes).

I normally buy Valor Hot Chocolate, but you can choose whichever you like.

This time we resisted the temptation to add whipped cream on the top...(I really love Suizo=Hot Chocolate with whipped cream)

Bon Profit!!!

Cafeteria in Madrid - 2nd recommendation -

2011-05-04T01:35:00.000+09:00

I will recommend another Cafeteria in Madrid, which is Le Pain Quotidien, my friend, who now is quite Madrileña, often visits to have a breakfast.
As the name, Le Pain Quotidien, means, they are offering the bread made from high quality organic ingredients, which has real bread taste and make us feel to eat everyday.
I thought the shop started in France, but actually it was Belgium and now they have 152 shops in 21 countries, then you may think that it is just one of chain shop, but the quality is much more than we expect from the chain shop.
The shop and all furnitures were made from woods material and very natural, and we really feel to go even everyday.
If you pass near by, please drop in!

There are 2 shops in Madrid, C/ Serrano 27 & C/ Fuencarral 95.

There is one in Japan, too!
Shibakouen 3-3-1, Minato ku, Tokyo
TEL 03-6430-4157
Open 7:30 - 22:00 (21:00 L.O.)

!!!Bon Profit!!!

Cafeteria in Madrid - first recommendation -

2011-04-28T21:46:00.000+09:00

During weekend I went to Madrid to see my friend, who now lives in Madrid.
The city which recieves more tourists in Spain is Barcelona, where we can enjoy sea, mediterranean food, gorgeous builidings, like of Gaudi, Montaner, and I understand why so many tourists visit and of course I love Barcelona, but Madrid has different charm and actually I also love Madrid!

Due to being capital of Spain, I feel Madrid has more sofisticated atmosphere, the way poeple dress, the design of shops, the beauty of parks in the middle of the city. There is more movement and all shops, cafeterias, restaurantes, tapas bars are full of people, Madrid has more energy and liveliness, it is after all capital!

And what I envy more is, there are lots of nice cafeterias! Maybe because of my taste, but I found several, which would have been dangerous for me if there had been in Barcelona or somewhere near my house. I would not be able to resist but drop in so often! And I can imagine the result easily... Maybe I have to be happy not to have them near by???

If you live in Madrid or visit Madrid, please drop in!

HARINA
La Plaza de la Independencia 10, Madrid

The shop is very bright, designed based on the country style on the white colour and offers wide range of tasty artisanal breads made from wild yeast, sandwishes, cakes etc. Buttery crunchy Croissants never let you down! Uhhhhhhhh I want some right now!

Bon Profit!!!

PS　Last night I was so happy to see Barça's victory after having suffered a lot during the last 2 matches. But Real Madrid trainer and playeres' comment on the news upset me a lot..

I think that Red Card was given not because the referees favored Barça but because Real Madrid lost the spirit of fair play. Especially Pepe is always playing dirty, I did not imagine the referee would give Red Card because it would be tough desicion to take and I expected Yellow, but thinking about all he did, it seemed fair to me. Of course I would prefer Barça's victory against Real Madrid with 12 players to 1 less. But TV was showing several images where they were hitting, kicking and stepping on Barça's players even when they had no ball. I did not see any fair play spirit on their play. And more sad to see is Ramos, he plays so well as a member of Spanish National Team, but changes and plays dirty when he plays as a member of Real Madrid... (At least it seems to me like that)
I would praise for their victory if Real Madrid played fair as before and won, even though I prefer Barça. I hope both team show the spirit of fair play during the next match...

Vegetable Sweets

2011-04-26T23:21:00.000+09:00

There is Vegetable Sweets Shop "Potager" in NAKAMEGURO, Tokyo in Japan.

Raising awareness of Health and Diet, Food, which are tasty and also good for the body, like Organic one, Microbiotic etc. attracts a lot of interest and these days we can find several sweets made from vegetables.
But I don't know any other shop apart from this Potager, which provides only vegetable sweets.

We ordered baked cakes, which were of course sweet but modelate and we could enjoy them as sweets but feeling also nice vegetalble taste and they were very popular among my family.
Moreover thinking that they are made from vegetables, we can eat without feeling any guilty, it's nice!

So I also ordered Recipe Book of Ms. Aya Kakizawa, Patissier of Potager, and tried to make some.

This time I chose Red Paprica Tart & Radish Cheese Cake.

The result of Red Paprika Tart was like lemon tart, fresh taste with delicate sweetness.
Actually the cream used to fill the tart was kind of lemon custard cream with red paprika.
But the color was like sobrassada(spanish fresh sausage made from mince meat with paprika pawder etc.), so when Spanish people see this tart, their brain gives the message that this tart is salty and when they taste it, the real taste, sweetness surprise them...（You can see Sobrassada in wikipedia;-)) and I was suggested to use Yellow Paprika or to put one more layer with cream or something to hide the colour.

About Radish Cheese Cake, we could smell fresh radish! even though I baked, so everyone could tell what vegetable I used. Maybe because I grated radish too roughly...
But the taste was quite normal no-bake cheese cake, and appearence also, and I think it is nice to serve it during Summer due to its fresh taste and fresh look. (I thought it would be difficult to find radish during summer but it looks like radish can be harvested several time!)

Currently children's obesity is very serious problem in Spain and there is a tendency to change eating habits. Even if we cannot avoid eating some sweets for break-time snacks, more ocation we can choose these kind of vegetable sweets, better would be for our body.

DORAYAKI

2011-04-22T20:13:00.000+09:00

If we have "ANKO", we can gratify the sudden desire to eat "WAGASHI" easily♪
So, among "WAGASHI", I made the most easiest one, DORAYAKI and had a happy time with Hot Milk...
(Of course it is nice to have DORAYAKI with Japanese Tea, but I love the combination with Hot Milk, please try!)

The combination of TSUBUAN＆Whipped Cream is very popular among Japanese people and also people in other countries. Some who does not love WAGASHI due to ANKO can enjoy if WAGASHI is served with Whipped Cream.

Photo provided by The Matcha House

If you have SHIROKOSHIAN, you can make MATCHA AN mixing with Matcha.

＜Recipe＞

Egg 　　　　　　　 2

Sugar 　70g

Honey 　　　12g
Mirin 　　　　　12g
Baking soda 　　4g
Water　　　　　 20g
Flour 　　　　 100g

1.　Mix eggs and sugar in a bowl roughly(just to be mixed, not necessary to be thick and creamy).
2.　Add honey and MIRIN and mix roughly(if you do not have MIRIN, you can add SAKE Spoon1＋Sugar tea spoon 1, if you do not SAKE, you can change to Sherry or White Wine...).
3.　Mix water and baking soda and add to 2.
4. Add flour to 3 and mix roughly.
5.　Leave the mixture for 30minutes
6.　Using Teflon coated pan, baking small pan cake(around 10cm in diameter) at low heat without any oil.

7. Small bubble appears on the surface and the surface becomes dried, flip it to bake other side(Side B) for 10 seconds.

8.　Once the pan cakes cool down, fill ANKO, Whipped Cream, Cream Cheese or whatever you like between 2 pan cakes(Side B without colour should be inside touching the filling and Side A which has brown color should be outside).

If you have Electric Hot Plate, you can make pan cake easily but if not, the point to have nice brown colour is not to use any oil on the pan, which means the pan should be Teflon coated. If you have to grease your pan, use as less oil as possible and wipe unnecessary oil with kitchen paper.

Bon profit!!!

PS　I am normally buying MATCHA from The Matcha House because they provide Organic Matcha, which we can enjoy not only the good taste but also the beautiful green colour, the result is so different! As a consequence, when I make some sweets with MATCHA, the staff from The Matcha House offers to take photos. The quality of photos is much better than mine! If you run out of MATCHA, I recommend you to try theirs!

Bitter Chocolate Cake for Adult

2011-04-20T01:53:00.000+09:00

Spanish people loves Chocolate!
The most common request I receive from them is cake with Chocolate.
This time I made a Bitter Chocolate Cake for adult using 2 types of garnache cream.

(Everytime I make cake, I feel to buy a flat plate...and always forget it...)

This bitter chocolate is very popular with guys.

If you want to prepare it for kids, I recommend you to use Chocolate with less cacao mass(60% or less) or sweet chocolate.

＜Recipe＞

Egg 　　　　　　　 3

Sugar 　80g

Flour 　　　120g

Cocoa 　　　20g

Ganache 1

Cream 　　 200ml

Choco（70％）　100g

Ganache 2

Cream 　　100ml

Choco（70％）　 50g　

1.　Wisk eggs adding sugar until the mixture becomes thick and creamy.

2.　Add flour and cocoa and mix with the egg mixture.

3.　Put the mixure in the mold and bake it in the oven for 15minutes(180℃)

4.　Take it out from the oven, remove the paper and leave it to be cool.

5.　Cut it into 2 pieces and apply syrup on the surface(Syrup: water 50ml+sugar 30g+liquor 15ml)

6.　Ganache 1: Whip cream, and add melted chocolate and mix.

7.　Ganache 2: Heat cream in a pan and remove it from the heat before starting boiling, and add chipped chocolate and mix until all chocolate is melted.

8.　Spread Ganache 1 on the half sponge and put the another half on the cream and cover the surface with Ganache 1.

9.　Leave it in the fridge for 1/2 hour and cover the cake with Ganache 2.

10. Leave it in the fridge for 1/2 hour or more and serve with cocoa powder on the top.

Bon profit!!!

Brazo de Gitano/Gypsy's Arm

2011-04-19T00:41:00.007+09:00

Now is the time for Strawberry.
Whichever shop we go, we can find lots of strawberries and I cannot help making cakes with strawberries because I love strawberries!!!
And normally I make Roll Cake, but this time I tried Brazo de Gitano/Gypsy's Arm, whose origin I do not know about.

Let's enjoy the spring taste!

＜Recipe＞

Egg 　　　　　　3

Sugar 60g

Flour 　　　 50g

Cocoa 15g

Milk 30g

Strawberry 10(more less)

Cream 150ml

1.　Wisk eggs adding sugar until the mixture becomes thick and creamy.

2.　Add flour and cocoa and mix with the egg mixture.

3.　Add milk and mix roughly until they are mixed.

4.　Put the mixure in the mold and bake it in the oven for 12minutes(200℃)

5.　Take it out from the oven, remove the paper and leave it to be cool.

6.　Whip cream, spread it on the cake and put sliced strawberries on it.
7.　Spread the rest of cream on the strawberries and roll up the cake.

8.　Leave it in the fridge at least for 1 hour before serving.

（You can put the syrup, like water 50ml+sugar 30g+some liquor 15ml(like kirsch), before spreading the cream, then cake will be moist and nicer)

Bon profit!!!

Banana Tart

2011-04-14T03:03:00.000+09:00

I love Banana and think "Banana+Chocolate" is the best combination!
But my husband is not interested in Banana at all, neither with chocolate nor without chocolate...
So I decided to prepare Banana Tart for Afternoon Tea I had during his business trip and of course everyone loved it!

So here is the recipe.

＜Recipe＞

Butter　　　　　　75ｇ(room temperature)

Sugar　　　　　　50ｇ

Egg 　　　　　　20g（Around Lsize 1/3）

Flour 　　　 120g

Banana　　　　　　2

Sugar　　　　 50g

Sour cream 　50g

Sugar　　　　　 30g

Cream 　　　　70ml

Egg　　　　　　100g（Around Lsize 1＋2/3）

Vanilla oil　　 2、3drops

－Tart－

1.　Mix butter and sugar in a bowl until becoming white

2.　Add egg and mix, then also add flour and keep mixing until the dough comes together
3.　Wrap the dough with the film and put in the fridge and leave it for 2 hours-1 night

4.　Take the dough out from the fridge and rolling it out and put it in the mold
5.　Puncturing the base of the dough with a fork and put it in the fridge for 30minutes
6.　Bake it in the oven for 15 minutes(180℃)

7.　Put sugar in a pan and simmer slowly and once becoming caramel, add sliced banana and mix them

8.　Mix sour cream, sugar, cream, egg and vanilla oil in a bowl

9.　Place half of the caramelized banana(7) in the baked tart and pour the cream(8) to cover them
10. Bake it in the oven for 30 minutes(180℃)

11. Once becomes cold, decolate it with whipped cream, the rest of the banana and melted chocolate

（In the photo, I decorated the tart with fresh banana. If you eat soon after making it, you can use fresh banana.)

Bon profit!!!

I would like to express sympathy for the people who suffered and are suffering damage from Touhoku Earth Quake and Tsunami.
From Spain, we keep doing something, like donation or whatever we can do, even it is so small, in order to help the reconstruction.
We hope the situation will be settled down, the nuclear power station problem will be solved, all resources can be engaged in the reconstruction and the people who are suffering can at least return to a normal life, without any shortage as soon as possible...

Matcha Daifuku with Strawberry

2011-03-01T00:07:00.000+09:00

WAGASHI(Japanese Sweets) is also something we want but cannot find easily in Spain.

If we get intense cravings for ANKO(red/white bean paste), we can go to a convenience store, grab KUSHIDANGO or DORAYAKI and satisfy it even in the middle of the night if we are in Japan, but not in Spain.
（Speaking which, one day it happened to me, so I called my brother who was on his way home and asked to buy something with ANKO, then what I received was... A CAN of TSUBUAN! TSUBUAN is ANKO itself, then if I say I want to eat ANKO, TSUBUAN can be the one but couldn't he find anything else, like, as I said, KUSHIDANGO or DORAYAKI??? Anyway I ate it...)

Last year a take out Japanese food shop opened in my neighborhood and I was informed that they were selling DAIFUKU, so I ran into the shop and bought one! But the one I got was something cheapie and flozen like those we would get at souvenir shop at country side.

So if we want, we have to make it!

Using SHIRATAMAKO(rice flour) I bought in JAPAN, I made Matcha Daifuku with Strawberry.

As I had SHIROAN(white bean paste), I added Matcha and made Matcha AN, which had beautiful colour and good smell.
I prepared Japanese tea and enjoyed a happy Tea Time♪

Photo provided by The Matcha House

＜Recipe＞

SHIRATAMAKO　 150ｇ
Water           　　　　 180ｇ
Sugar                　　　 70ｇ

SHIROAN     　　　   200ｇ
Matcha 　　　                   2 tea spoons（mix with 1 tea spoon of water）
Strawberry    　　　           8
Potato starch

1.　Mix SHIROAN and Matcha dissolved with water and cover each strawberry by this Matcha AN.
2.　Mix SHIRATAMAKO, sugar and water in the bowl.
3.　Cover the bowl with film and microwave 600W for 2 minutes and mix it well with wooden spatula. (Repeat 3 times)
4.　Once Mochi(rice cake) is transparent and done, take it out in the tray in which you place potato starch.
5.　Extend Mochi pushing with hand, cut it into 8 pieces, place a strawberry with AN and cover it with Mochi.

Bon profit!!!

Caramel Pan

2011-02-25T20:31:00.004+09:00

Melon Pan is quite popular in Japan, but we cannot find any pan covered with cookie dough in Spain.
So if we want, we have to make it!
This time, I use Caramel cookie dough to cover them.

<Recipe>

Strong flour　　　　　150ｇ
Sugar    　　　　　　　　　8ｇ
Soft yeast            　　　10ｇ
Salt    　　　　　　　　　　4ｇ
Milk       　　　　　　　100ｇ
Butter         　　　　　　　8ｇ(room temperature)

Caramel Sauce
　Cream           　　　　50ｇ
　Sugar 　　　　　　　　50ｇ
　Water　　　　　　　　　1 tablespoon

Caramel Cookie Dough
　Caramel Sauce which we made
　Butter   　　　　　　　40ｇ(room temperature)
　Yolk 　　　　　　　　20ｇ
　Milk 　　　　　　　　20ｇ
　Soft flour   　　　　　60ｇ　　　　　　　

1.　Mix flour, sugar, yeast, milk(40℃) and salt.
2.　Once mixed, add better and mix them.
3.　Knead it on the table.
4.　Leave it to be fermented(around 1hour until the volume is doubled)
　　During the fermentation, make Caramel Cookie Dough.
5.　Put water and sugar in the pan and simmer and then add the cream to be caramel sauce.
6.　Mix butter and yolk in the bowl and add the caramel sauce.
7.　Add milk and also flour and mix them.
8.　Remove the gas and devide the dough into 6 and form the each piece into a ball
9.　Leave it to be fermented. (Until doubled)
10.　Once fermented, squeeze cookie dough out on the pan dough and sprinkle them with sugar.
11.   Bake them in the oven(180℃ for 15minutes)

Bon profit!!!

The Best Croissant in Spain

2011-02-09T19:27:00.007+09:00

"The Best Croissant in Spain" in 2009 was badia roca.
I had been interested since I saw this news, wow, in Barcelona we would be able to eat the best croissant in Spain!
But... 2011 has started before trying...
And "The Best Croissant in Spain" in 2010 was also selected...
What am I waiting?

So I went to badia roca;-) The shop was designed with brown, simple but chic.

Finally I bought them. Uhhhhhhhh they look crispy.

Cutaway.

In Spain there are lots of Spanish type Croissant, like coated with apricot jam(so sweet) or made with lard instead of butter, but I feel I encounter real Croissant.

Here is the shop information：
Padua 91 　　　　　　　or　　　　Riera Blanca esq. Bassegoda
08006 Barcelona　　　　　　　　08028 Barcelona

I went to Padua, very near from Padua station(L7).
But I was wondering if the shop assistant could be more friendly?

For your information, "The Best Croissant in Spain" in 2010 was Hofmann.
I also bought the croissant but ate it before taking any photos... So
Please check Hofmann's croissant from here!

The shop is in Born：
Flassaders, 44
08003 Barcelona

The shop was so cute with pastel color.
The croissants were refined and light. But the taste was satisfying.
It is pity that there is no proper cafe space in the shop, but if you go to Born, it is worth trying!
Bon profit!!!

First Croissant

2011-02-08T22:36:00.003+09:00

What I was always checking the recipe of but never tried to make was Croissant.
One day I found Echire Butter which was much talked about in Japan, so now nothing would hinder me from making Echire Croissant which had customers lined up!
Having said that, I could not find real recipe for it, so what I made was "NANCHATTE" Croissant with Echire butter. (*NANCHATTE(Japanese)=pretend to be, we use this adjective for something similar but failed to be as good as original.)

I was told that less yeast and longer ferment would make bread better taste, so I reduced the volume then... did not rise enough...
But I could feel strong taste of butter, and outside was crunchy and inside was soft, so I was quite happy with the result♪

The recipe should be improved but just for reference.

＜Recipe＞
Strong flour　　　 250ｇ
Sugar       　　　　 25ｇ
Salt   　　　　　　　　5ｇ
Egg    　　　　　　 12.5ｇ
Dry yeast　               5ｇ（I put only 3g and it was not sufficient）
Milk       　　　　　 125ｇ
Butter       　　　　　 25ｇ(room temperature)

Butter to be fold　125ｇ(should be quadrated)

1.　Put flour, sugar and salt in the bowl.
2.　Mix milk and egg and warm up to 40℃, then add dry yeast.
3.　Add 2 into 1 and mix and later also add butter and knead it roughly. (It was recommended not to knead a lot)
4.　Leave it to be fermented. (Until doubled)
5.　Remove the gas and put it in the plastic bag and leave it in the fridge one night.
6.　Next day take out the dough and roll it into square and place the butter in the middle and wrap the butter up.
7.　Taking care not to let butter out roll the dough into a rectangle and fold the bottom up twice.
8.　Roll the dough into a rectangle and fold the bottom up twice then leave it in the freezer for 30minutes.（Repeat this process twice）
9.　Roll the dough out thinly(around 3mm) and cut into triangles and form into crescent rolling it.
10.　Leave it to be fermented. (Until doubled even mine did not...)
11.　Brush with egg and bake in the oven(210℃ for 15minutes)

Bon profit!!!

Tortell!

2011-02-08T02:10:00.005+09:00

The first sweet I made in 2011 was Tortell.
As you may know, Tortell(Roscón de reyes in Spanish) is the traditional sweet Spanish people have on 6th of January.
It is made with sweet bread dough like Brioche and decorated with fruit comfiture.
And the important point is that a King figure and a bean are hidden inside and the person who receives the piece with the King will be crowned and treated as King and the other who receives the bean has to pay the tortell.

Nowadays we can find Tortell filled with whipped cream, chocolate cream or custard cream, but I found an article which explained that Tortell with filling was strayed because the cream ruined the taste of Torell itself...

ANYWAY, I love Tortell with cream!
So this year I put custard cream.

Fruit comfiture is not popular at home, so I put a few of them, then... Looks sad, doesn't it?

＜Recipe＞
Strong flour　500g
Sugar        　　80g
Milk        　　100ml
Egg　　　       　2
Ron            　10ml
Salt      　　　　5g
Yeast　         25g（If you use dry yeast, put the QTY corresponding to 500g flour)
Butter       　100g(Room temperature)

1.　Mix milk and egg and warm up to 40℃.
2.   Put everything except butter in the bowl and mix them.
3.　Once mixed, add butter(softened) and mix them.
4.　Knead it on the table as making bread.
5.　Leave it to be fermented(around 1hour until the volume is doubled)
6.　Remove the gas and round it.
7.   Make a hole at centre and shape it into ring.
8.　Decorate with fruit comfiture and almond and leave it to be fermented once again.
9.　Brush it with egg and bake in the oven(200℃, 15-20min)

It tastes nice as it is but if you like, fill with cream.

Bon profit!!!