Long time no see... Brioche parisienne/Sweet rolls

Long time no see... Although work has pretty much taken over everything this year, cooking and dinosaurs are still a big part of my life.

There is no better recipe than this recipe of Brioches Parisiennes (or kind of sweet rolls) to reconnect with my blog and my readers if there are any left! Give it a go and it will become you Sunday breakfast!

Originally those brioches do not contain chocolate chips but dinosaurs love them! If you opt for the roll version, pour some choc chips before rolling the dough. Raisin/sultana are a healthy alternative to chocolate.

Pistachio and berries friands (GF) - Financiers a la pistache et aux fruits rouges (GF)

I love making (and eating) friands! There are quick to make and very convenient to use unused white eggs after you made a custard or ice cream. Plus, it's very fancy: tiny, yummy, pretty and French! So easy to wow your guests with friands! At last but not least, there are super easy to turn into a gluten-free sweet treat!

Here is my latest favourite recipe: pistachio friands with berries. This is a GLUTEN-FREE recipe!

Gingerbread biscuits - An Alsatian tradition for Saint Nicolas

All right, I am late about that post...

Every year on the 6th of December, since I am a child, I enjoy this family tradition. Saint Nicolas, protectors of children, visit houses and reward well behaved girls and boys. It is cold and dark (in France). We - the children - are all excited about his coming but also a bit anxious that we may receive the visit of the Pere Fouettard - a nasty, scary, smelly guy who correct naughty children and may eventually take them in his bag. So this night, we would stay with our family sharing treats in a very special atmosphere: hot chocolate, ginger bread (i.e., pain d'epices in French), mandarin, walnuts and other treats. The little man, called Mannele in Alsatian, are made of brioche (a sort of a sweet bread) - these are also part of the tradition; I will write another post with this recipe - in the meantime, you could use my recipe for soft milk buns - here.

This is the recipe of a tasty-licious ginger bread that is originally coated in chocolate or cover with royal icing, on the top of what we put a picture of the majestic Saint Nicolas (see the picture). In order to involve No. 1, this year, we also used a ginger man cookie cutter. We made them for his daycare Christmas family party and especially for Santa.

At least, you can't say that you have not got time to practice this easy recipe for next year Saint Nicolas.

Easier and tastier than a sponge cake - The 'Wow' factor of the Gateau Lorrain

After a computer break down, lots of baking and parties, super busy work weeks and a teething crisis (4 teeth in 4 days nights, I am finally back... as a survivor... Poor baby though, that was terrible for him. No.2 is back to normal with a new and so unexpected routine of 4 hours sleep a day (twice 2-hours sleep). Who knows how long it will last? There is definitively a God! thanks to Him!

Given the usual workload and the obvious absence of any backup or granny (as an expat family), I chose a fairly easy cake that I filled with vanilla custard, decorated with whipped cream, tangelo jelly and and fresh fruits. I declined three version of this cake: one for the daycare party, one for our private family party and one for our friends party. Easy, beautiful but still pretty healthy - success guaranteed!

The base for the cake is from an original French recipe: the gateau Lorrain. Few years ago, this cake has been showcased on a French blog Les Ateliers d'Hys. It's been a hit and almost all cooking blogs showcased their own declination of the gateau Lorrain. I literally fell in love with this cake - it is moist, fluffy so delicate. I love it straight, with cream, custard, fruits, whatever I love it!

Three for One - Love, lots of love

My little fella, also known as No. 2, has now turned 1 (hear the nostalgia in my voice).
Three parties for just one, the Big One. As much as I loved making three cakes and other treats for celebrating your first year in our lives, it would never be enough tell you how much I love you, my little bubba.

There is so much ahead of us, but please darling don't grow too fast. It's been only few days since you turned one, but in few days so much happened: your very first steps, getting down the stairs (climbing up was never an issue), singing and dancing, babbling your own first name - so sweet -. Happy birthday happy little fella.

Love. Je t'aime.
Maman

Daycare party - a tiny bit worried my little boy

Family's after dinner party - a bit more relaxed

Friends' party - Easy!

Friends' party - no touch! :)

Where I can find the recipes? coming soon... keep in touch!

Creamy couscous pudding

Today I want to show No.2 my genuine gratitude for the extra 2 hours of sleep we are all getting since Sunday! MER-CI! Loving daylight savings!!!
I don't write often about my very little one. It's probably because somewhat we don't know each other as much - as compared to his big brother -, yet. But we make progress every day.

I now respond to two very familiar, but distinct and how charming, voices when they say 'Maman'.
My No.2 is very cheeky: he crawls away as soon as he sees me around the corner; and he knows that I can be quite impatient, when it has come to cuddle times!
My No.2 is so charming: since very little, he waved bye-bye at people; a bit more recently, he sent flying kisses to his close circle; he is now kissing maman in exclusivity! I am so in love with my almost one-year-old bubba that I have already forgotten the poor nights of last months and the grumpy week-ends... and all the rest!... not so far from feeling ready to take the next step in my mum-career, which might be the nightmare of another Big Dinosaur...

Let's focus on the present step, and the present has come to me feeding 4 dinosaurs, all at the same menu - very important detail! No. 2 is ready to eat by himself what's in our plates. So I decided to focus even more on healthy meals for the whole family - this doesn't mean no more treaty recipes here, we have some parties upcoming so I need to do a bit of testing/experimentations in the next few weeks -.
In order to thank my very little one (I did not write 'to fill him more and more and to get him asleep longer in the morning), I prepared a healty pudding special for him but also for the whole family! Jackpot!

This couscous pudding is inspired by some French couscous gateau, but creamier, egg-free, just slightly sweet thanks to the addition of sultana and dry apricots. It is smooth, full-filling and health. Not only it is yum, but it is looking great! Don't you think?

I prepared this kind of pudding for my children since they were around 8 months. I prepare 5 to 6 little jars for the whole week (can be kept in sterilised jars in the fridge for up to 5 days), when it has been devored before by some bigger dinosaurs.

Soft sweet milk buns - Pains au lait

My 4 years-old is missing tonight... he's got invited for a sleep over at his friend's place. I should be having a party but instead I feel a little bit lonely. I am so not used to the silence in my home. But that's not the topic of this post.
This morning, first thing after he woke up, he got his backpack and started getting ready for this very first time event: he chose his favourite pj - no need to say his dinosaur pj -, some spare clothes for tomorrow and all the first necessity things. It was 8am and he was already ready to leave maman and papa for a new adventure. So to keep him busy before the separation - around 4 pm, we decided to make soft sweet milk buns with chocolate filling for a shared breakfast with his little mate.

These soft sweet milk buns - called pains au lait in French - are half way through in between bread and brioche. They are fluffy, soft and moist, and only slightly sweet. They are a quite a healthy treaty snack for little ones, including my 11 months old bubba. For the older ones, they can be filled with chocolate or jam. In general, they are perfect for breakfast or school snack. For breakfast, you can spread chocolate, jam or butter over it. You can even half them and toast them slightly. Yum!

As a child, I used to love those milky buns, with or without filling they are a hit with kids! As a grown-up I still love them and made several attempts before I finally found the best recipe, the one that reminds me of the bakery of my childhood in my hometown in the countryside of France. That's the recipe I'm sharing with you today. This recipe makes 12 buns - I made 8 chocolate-filled buns and 4 nature for my No.2.

No. 1 and I had lots of fun together making those buns, although as you can imagine that wasn't necessarily easy to manage the impatience of a 4 years-old: 'Wash your hands first.' 'No I said wash your hands first, yes with soap... AND water!!!' 'Now dry out your hands honey.' 'No! don't touch the eggs, not yet... be careful you may break them...' 'so now we need to measure the flour, when you see a 5 and two zeros here (I write on the white board to help him - he's only 4!), it means we have enough flour, alright?... that's good (25 g)... you're doing well (80g)... yep, yep, keep going... (90 g)... (115 g)... we need more honey... well I mean flour... (150 g)... (200 g)... ... ... (300 g)... (400 g)... a bit more... (650 g)... Ooopsie that was just too much (target was 500 g)...' Anyway, that's how it goes when baking with little ones. Just don't expect too much from your kids and you'll make it. As say a French blogger I like very much: "Our kids are all perfect! We (mums) are so imperfect... so what?" But with a dose of humour and lots of patience we can make it.
Really to be honnest I sounded more like: 'NOoooooo!! not YET! Wait, WAit, WA-IT!' 'That's good, yep, yep... nah, no, gentle... gen-tle... don't leek your fingers! GENTLE!!!... Don't touch... no don't touch... do not touch!... AAAAAAAaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!!!'
But we did it! I am very proud of my little baker.  Don't they look gorgeous? - by the way my boy looked gorgeous, too, in his apron and with his chef's hat, but I don't feel ready to commit my kids' privacy, so sorry no pics.

Now the recipe...

Lemon confits / Preserved lemons

Thanks to my FB follower who spotted a inconsistency between my FB page and the blog! I had accidentally removed this post from the blog... I probably got distracted by something... or someone... wonder who this might be... Anyway lemon confits are back!

The winter has ended; it is a good time to finish harvesting the lemons (or to buy them at a fair price), but you don't know what to do with all these lemons!? Let's prepare some jars of lemon confits or preserved lemons for summer salads and tajines. This is a very simple preparation that will add the little plus to your, sweet and savoury dishes, cakes and cookies...

Ingredients

- 1 kg lemons (~ 8 lemons), preferably organic if not coming straight from your garden
- 200 g salt
- hot water
- 1 big jar

Instructions

1. Incise the lemons in four quarters - do not cut them, the quaters must keep together (see picture above).
2. Stuff with one tablespoon of salt.
3. Squeeze all the salted lemons in a steril jar.*
4. Add the remaining salt in the jar and cover with hot water.
5. Close the jar tightly and store for at least 3 weeks before use.

Tips

* To sterilise the jar, first clean it, then keep it in boiling water for 10-15 minutes.

Hazelnut moon crescents / Croissants de Lune Sablés

With this unstable weather, I suggest to step back into your kitchen to make these lovely, crumbly hazelnut sablés. These hazelnut moon crescent are the home-made version of a famous French biscuit brand (Les croissants de Lune de Bahlsen).

I have my very own way to eat them since I was a child: one moon segment at a time! I love them on their own or a cup of tea, but they would probably be fantastic served with a cup of coffee (If I'd like coffee!).

As per the original recipe, I shape them as little crescents. The dough is so easy to work that you can let your kids express their own creativity. My 4 years-old made caterpillar and mushrooms, unfortunately they've been eaten before I could make any pictures, so there you can see them before baking. Dinosaurs are back!

Home-made praline / praliné

I'm preparing some special hazelnut sablé biscuits for my son's daycare snacks. Those French biscuits needs some flavoursome praliné paste, which probably can't be bought from NZ supermarkets or groceries. The good news is that it is super easy to make your own praline and once you have tasted this delicious topping or paste, I bet you'll become addict straight away!

The recipe I'm sharing today comes from a world-renowned French pastry chef: Philippe Conticini, so it is a high standard recipe, but you'll be stroke how easy it is. You just need a good food processor and a little bit of patience.

But what's praline or praliné? It's a combination of hazelnuts and/or almonds, but could also contain pistachio or cashew. The nuts are roasted, then cooked in a slightly dark toffee and pulverised finely. After few seconds in the mill or blender, you'll obtain a powder - the praline -, if you keep grounding, then you'll obtain a paste - the praliné -.

The praline is a gourmet topping for ice-cream or custard, crumble and apple pies, and I bet it would be lovely on the top of a pavlova... I'm just saying...
The praliné paste is delicious spread on toasts, combined in crème chantilly for choux filling, or combined in cake, brioches, cookies and biscuits.

Vanilla ice-cream

Tuesday... only... And I wish we would already be Friday! Today was exhausting, taking the bus to the City with bubba in the sling... several meetings and finishing work near to 5 pm! Thanks man, you found something to re-heat for dinner tonight! It's just a shame men can't think forward, in particular of the next day and the lunch boxes of our little ones. So I ended up cooking something after dinner for my boys' lunches tomorrow. The good stuff is that everything is ready for tomorrow night! Yay!!!

Although my bed is insistently calling for me, I promised to share with you the recipes of my cooking week-end. Today, I continue with the dessert... remember my version of a mango crumble... - Yuuuummm, just thinking of it, I want a serve now! - requires vanilla ice-cream... yum yum! Unfortunately there is no more left, already! :/

Sorry I have no picture of the ice-cream on its own and I do not want to reveal my Mango crumble yet, be patient...

Ingredients (~15 scoops)

- 500 ml milk*
- 250 ml cream
- 130 g caster sugar
- 5 yolks
- 1 tbsp natural vanilla extract

Preparation

This ice-cream is based on a classic vanilla custard, which I recommend to make the day before to leave it the time to cool down and set before putting in the ice-cream maker.

1. Pour the milk and the cream in a pot, add the vanilla and heat until it starts boiling. Get the pot straight out of the heat when you see the first bubbling.
2. In the meantime, whisk together the sugar and the yolks until they whiten and double in volume.
3. When the milk and cream mix is hot, gradually mix into the sugar and yolk preparation with a wooden spoon.*
4. Pour back into the pot and put on gentle heat, while stirring gently until the custard coats the spoon.
5. Let cool down in the fridge. The custard will slightly thicken in the fridge.
6. When your custard is cold, the coldest possible, pour it in the ice-cream maker and churn for about 25-30 mins.* No worries if it is still a bit runny, the ice-cream will set in the freezer. Serve after an hour or more, but I definitively recommend to serve it the same day!

Tips

* I used trimmed milk for a healthier option but it works with light or full-fat milk, too.
* The secret to a successful custard is to not whisk briskly otherwise you may split the cream. Do not use a whisk. If the cream splits, no worries, there is a trick to save your custard: when you're happy with the consistence (after step 4), then mix it in a blender and rest.
* The churning time depends on the temperature of your custard as well as of the iced bowl. So feel free to adapt this timing to your particular context.

Butter cookies / Shortbread cookies

I cooked like crazy this week-end. It was so much fun and so much pleasure from the plate. I guess it will take me the whole week, if not more, to share with you all the new and old recipes I came up with!

With my No.1, we made Lebanese flat-bread and hummus - that was so fresh, so good as appetizer!
There was also a seven-hours lamb leg - this dish raised the bar very high and took us straight to heaven!
Then, I made vanilla ice-cream, salted caramel sauce and butter cookies to revisit a roasted mango crumble - that's was a pure pleasure to eat!
If this sounds like a nice meal, stay connected, I'll post all the recipes this week!

I'm starting with the butter cookies, sort of shortbread cookies, but sweeter - my son's favourites! He was so sad when after only few hours, he realised that there were only three left - daddy loved them, too! There were about 30 cookies freshly baked in the morning and only three left in mid-afternoon. I think that's a pretty sound indicator. But the best is for the mums: less than 10 mins preparation (yes in total!!!) + 7-8 mins baking! I bet you'll be baking those every second day. I prepare the cookie dough in the evening, rest it in the fridge over night. The next morning, it is ready for slicing and baking few minutes, just in time before morning snack or afternoon tea. These cookies are deliciously rich and crumbly. They suit very well with coffee or tea. I love them with ice-cream.

Quatre-quarts cake with a twist

I usually don't plan my cooking or baking to feed this blog, but to feed my family; sometimes to feed my friends or my son's little mates. I'm always cooking or baking to show someone my love or my appreciation. The recipe I am sharing today was meant to give my partner and I a little after-dinner treat: A French classic Quatre-Quarts cake with a twist.

This cake then became a special breakfast for a special day: a mum-at-home day. Another figure of speech, as we spent all day outside attending our playgroup, then a lunch date and a play and walk date in Western Springs - no doctor appointment for today (Yay!) but a beautiful spring day (Hooray!!!), just a wonderful day with my two boys.

The story of this yummy, fluffy cake does not stop there, though. After breakfast, this cake became a sort of a friendship cake as a shared dessert with one of my girlfriend and our children, and then as a shared afternoon snack with other friends. It's always nice to share some food with your beloved ones. 

For a first time home-made recipe, the verdict was unanimous: YUUuuuuuuuummm!

Happy end for this trip companion!

The Quatre-quart (i.e., four-quarters) cake is a French classic from Britany (Bretagne). It was named after the proportions of the core ingredients that make it: 1/4 flour, 1/4 sugar, 1/4 butter and 1/4 eggs. Originally, it does not contain anything else (apart the baking powder), but I had some pecan left and I like the marriage with choc chips, so I added some. I also added some milk; I'm not quite sure why but I think it makes the cake a bit lighter and moister. It's up to you to follow the original recipe or to customise it to your desires!

Chocolate cake and coconut chantilly

Last week-end, we invited our neighbours at home for a pudding. It took only 2 sec to the little girls to notice the chocolate cake sitting on the kitchen bench. I bet they could smell the chocolate from their place, so the cake was rich in chocolate. But because it's never enough for dinodad, I decided to glaze it with a chocolate ganache. And because, dinomum is only a chocoholic beginner... What??! How?... Yes I need to tell you that story.

I never really enjoyed chocolate, never ever. As a child, I would have never taken a chocolate ice cream, vanilla or strawberry instead! I had Easter or Christmas chocolates in horror for the greatest pleasure of my dad and brothers. I much preferred candy and nougat. I would make chocolate cakes only to please the ones I loved. I couldn't understand my partner's addiction for this bitter and quite hardcore treat. I was quite proud of this reluctance to chocolate; it made me feel different than the mass of all those chocolate fans. And last year, when I got introduced to chocolate Fridays at work, I even prided myself that they would be happy to know that I'd leave them my portion as I would never feel like chocolate. No one could believe me.
But short after this, I got pregnant and everything changed (again)! I started to join in chocolate Fridays. I started buying chocolate tabs (for the big enjoyment of dinodad of course!), one per week, then two... or more... I developed an embarrassing chocolate addiction. When dinodad implied that I behaved the same way toward chocolate during my first pregnancy, I couldn't believe. So I kept confident that straight after delivery, this chocolate thing would vanish!
Bubba just turned 9 months-old and I am still fighting the chocolate appeal. My last hope is in weaning my little one off the breast... To be followed later this year... Hopefully this works before I got completely crazy about chocolate!

Well, as I was saying a bit earlier... (after the chocolate cake and the chocolate ganache...) 'And because, dinomum is only a chocoholic beginner', I decided to serve the chocolate cake with a light coconut chantilly to balance a little bit the bitterness and heaviness of the chocolate.
We all enjoyed this pudding very much, although the kids were more keen on the cake than the chantilly cream, but mummy was happy! :)

Lemon and blueberry Financier cake

I was so excited to be off work, on annual leaves today. Figure of speech?

My day began around 5.50am, just as usual, with the first food request of the day - No.2's breastfeed! But lucky we both fell back to sleep until 7.30am! Yay! Until I can vaguely hear "Maman, I'm hungry" from somewhere like on another planet... No.1 is awake. The day can start.
9am: direction to the doctor to get - I took the 'working mom special plan': every day off, I have the pleasure to see our doctor for one of my two boys when it's not myself!
Followed by the pharmacy, the bank, the post and the mall.
11 am: the kid show started in the mall (cause holidays). No.1 was so happy to watch it I couldn't refuse. Time for No.2 second breastfeed of the day... I really enjoyed sitting on the floor in the centre of the mall, with a baby breastfeeding and a big boy watching the magician with little stars in the eyes, in spite of what he made several requests for all sorts of naughty food.
12 pm: we're all home and starving! Of course, it's lunch time already! Fortunately I had some delish leftover of Paella (still need to find the time to post you the recipe as this dish was just stunning!)
1.30pm: No.2 Plunket appointment. I think that at that time I did not get a chance go wee-wee. Don't laugh at me I'm sure you already experience that!
2 pm: Back to the mall to change a faulty item bought the same morning.
3 pm: we are finally back home! for good! Just on time for a little dino snack, but nothing is ready yet.

I looked in the fridge and find a bowl with egg whites left from the day before that I needed to use. Perfect to test this appealing recipe with egg whites only: Financiers myrtilles/citron created by Camille from Cakes in the city. Despite the English name, this is a French blog. But don't worry - I have tested and translated this easy and quick recipe for you ;-)

Stand up ovation! Caramel custard / Home-made Danette

There are many food products that we miss from France when we live here in New Zealand.
Remember, two days ago, I opened a can of evaporated milk for the first time of my life. And when I tasted it, it reminded me one of those missed French pudding: the famous Danette - and now all my French followers are singing 'On se lève tous pour Daaanette, Daaanette!...", from the famous TV ad where everybody stand up for this pudding, creating a stand up ovation for this humble custard.
After more than two years in NZ and one can of evaporated milk opened, I finally decided to give it a go and experiment my home-made Danette. I still wonder why I did not try earlier.
It is actually very easy, easier than I'd thought, and very quick to make. Today, I chose the caramel flavour and it was delightful! And it is gluten-free!!! I may go for another serve right now...

Ingredients (5 servings)

Caramel:

- 150g white sugar

- 1/2 tsp lemon juice

- 5 tbp evaporated milk

Celebrating Bastille Day with Crêpes

A promise is a promise: I made galettes (click for the recipe) and crêpes for all my workmates in the honour of Bastille Day - well the 2 days delay doesn't count; only the intention counts!

Dear workmates! if you're coming over here, please leave a comment to share your galette and crêpe tasting experience ;) And if you don't, never mind! we can all see there was only this left out of near 5 litters of batter! (see pic below).

For sweet crêpes, I am quite a classic girl: I like it filled with a little bit a sugar; it gives it a bit of crunch! But today I had one with raspberry jam, which is my second favourite. And you, what's yours?

Yoghurt Cake: A kid hit!

Easy start for my blog with a day off work - YAY!!! 

A nice winter day with my two boys at home. No. 1 is busy somewhere in his playroom. No. 2 is sleeping. All good. I make myself a cup of tea, sit in the kitchen and start thinking about what could be an interesting cooking challenge for my blog... 'I'd love to eat a Paris-Brest, or maybe a pasta challenge...' when No. 1, arched back, crooked fingers, knees bent, grinning and roaring - #dinomode - popped into my peaceful kitchen.

It might be time for another type of cooking or baking challenge... baking with No. 1. Actually, this would not be his first time; he's far from being a beginner. He loves helping me in the kitchen, but I can't always afford the time. Today is thus a perfect day for such a baking challenge: baking with No. 1! I love such activities with my son as it is a great opportunity for fun learning. 

Dressed up like a real little chef, he is ready to measure all the ingredients and mix them together. He even broke the eggs with no egg shell left in the batter - he just turned 4 and need to show that he is a big boy, so the next step was naturally breaking the eggs by himself - well done little dino. On my side, I was more interested in his counting skills as it still a bit difficult to get him counting up to 5 or 10. This baking challenge was a revelation in that he did not fail and the dino-yoghurt cakes were delicious!