Jagodzianki (Wild Blueberry Buns)

Soft, spongy, delicate with plenty of sweet and juicy blueberries inside; that’s jagodzianki, the wild blueberry buns my mother used to bake each July when I was going for my exams in Poland. I missed wild blueberry (or actually bilberry) season in Poland this year. Jagodzianki, however, have kept tempting me with their luscious look for the last three months, appearing one by one on almost all Polish food blogs. Since the season for wild blueberries starts much later in Québec than in Poland, I had to wait with baking them. Only now, when the wild blueberries are in season here, I finally made them too. They came out exactly as my mother's ones, golden outside, soft and delicate inside. Delicious!!!

If you want to make jagodzianki, make sure that the bread crumbs and vanilla sugar you use, do not contain corn or potato starch. The excess of starch would turn the blueberry filling into jelly and you want your blueberries to stay a little juicy. If bread crumbs without starch are not available, reduce the amount of them to one tablespoon, or if the blueberries you use are not very juicy (I find Canadian wild blueberries much less juicy than the Polish ones) omit them completely.

Jagodzianki (Wild Blueberry Buns)

Makes 18-20 buns

FOR THE DOUGH:
½ kg all purpose flour
2 eggs
½ cup sugar
2 tbsp butter
50 g fresh yeast, or 4 ½ teaspoon active dry yeast
1 cup (250 ml) milk
pinch of salt

FOR THE BLUEBERRY FILLING:
½ kg fresh wild blueberries
2 tbsp bread crumbs
3 tbsp sugar
2 packages (8 gr each) vanilla sugar

egg
1 tbsp milk
sugar

1. Heat the milk over low heat until slightly warm, but not hot.
2. Place the yeast in a bowl (if you use fresh yeast, crumble them). Add the heated milk, 1 tablespoon of the sugar and 1 tablespoon of the flour. Stir to combine and dissolve. Cover with plastic wrap or dishtowel and set aside for about 10 minutes in a warm place.
3. Beat the eggs and sugar together until thick and pale.
4. Melt the butter.
5. Sift the flour to a large bow, add pinch of salt, then pour in the yeast mixture. Stir to combine.
6. Add the egg mixture and melted butter. Stir until well combined.
7. Knead the dough until smooth and no longer sticks to your hands. Shape the dough into a ball. Transfer to a large bowl, cover with plastic wrap or dishtowel and leave to rise for about 1 hour.
8. Place the blueberries in a bowl. Combine with sugar, vanilla sugar and bread crumbs.
9. Divide the dough into 18-20 equal pieces. Form ball from each of the piece. Flatten on your hand. Spoon the filling into the center of each circle. Raise edges of dough and pinch together over filling, then roll between palms snowball fashion to form balls.
10. Place on greased baking sheet. Cover with a dishtowel and let rise for about 20 – 30 minutes.
11. Preheat the oven to 375°F (190°C). Just before baking whisk the egg with milk and brush on the buns, sprinkle with some sugar.
13. Bake for 20 minutes, or until buns are golden.

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Recipe in Polish:
Jagodzianki

Skubaniec Cake

Skubaniec is a delicious Polish crumb cake with fruit and meringue. The first time I've had Skubaniec, was in Weranda Caffe, which is one of my favorite cafés in Poznań, Poland. Served with strawberry sauce, sprinkled with nuts and decorated with fresh lemon balm leaves, the cake tasted absolutely awesome!!! A few weeks after my last visit to Weranda Caffe, I found my mother’s recipe book by chance and, surprisingly, a recipe for Skubaniec cake in it. Since that time, I’ve been baking the cake constantly experimenting with different kinds of fruit.

My favorite fruit combination so far has been raspberry and rhubarb, which I've made lately here, in Québec. In Poland, it was nearly impossible to buy fresh rhubarb and raspberries at the same time, so I've never tried such pairing before. I could have probably used frozen raspberries, but simply never thought about that. If like me, you've never had raspberry and rhubarb pairing before, try it, it's a delightful combination of flavors!!!

As I said, you can use any type of fruit you want in this recipe. Both fresh and frozen fruit will work well. The original skubaniec recipe calls for cocoa in one part of the dough, but depending on the fruit I use, I often skip on it. I think in case of some fruit, the cake simply tastes better without it. In Poland I usually use Kasia margarine in this recipe; here I made the cake with soy margarine, but butter will work fine too. Use what's more convenient for you.

If you ever happen to be in Poland, don't forget to try homemade Skubaniec cake in Weranda Caffe, here's the address:

Weranda Caffe
ul. Świętosławska 10
Poznań

Skubaniec (Raspberry Rhubarb Crumb Cake)

For the cake:
5 egg yolks
250 g margarine or butter, chilled and cut into small cubes
1 cup sugar
3 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder

For the fruit filling:
700 g rhubarb
300 g raspberries
½ cup sugar

For the meringue:
5 egg whites
pinch of salt
2 tbsp potato starch
3 tbsp sugar

1. Preheat the oven to 350 F (175 C).
2. Wash the rhubarb, then trim and cut into 1.5 cm pieces. Place in a bowl and cover with half a cup of sugar. Set aside.
3. Combine the flour, baking powder and sugar. Using your fingertips, rub the margarine into the flour until the mixture resembles coarse breadcrumbs. Add egg yolks and form a dough.
4. Tear 2/3 of the dough into small pieces, scatter evenly at the bottom of a 13 x 9 inch (22 x 32 cm) baking pan. Reserve the rest of the dough, preferably in the fridge.
5. Strain the rhubarb, then sprinkle together with raspberries over the dough in the pan.
6. Using an electric mixer, beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form, gradually add the sugar and potato starch and continue beating until glossy. Spread the meringue over the rhubarb and raspberry mixture, then scatter with pieces of the remaining dough.
7. Bake for about one hour.

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Recipe in Polish:
Skubaniec z malinami i rabarbarem

Sardinian Ricotta Cake

This is definitely the best plain cake I’ve ever tried, light and spongy with intense lemon flavor; the use of ricotta cheese in the batter provides a nice smooth texture and adds a little bit of richness to the cake. Delicious and so easy to make. The cake originates from Sardinia island in Italy, but I've found the recipe for it on Le Chou de bruxelles food blog in French here. Hope you’ll try it!!!

Sardinian Ricotta Cake
300 g flour
300 g sugar
300 g fresh ricotta cheese
3 eggs
1 lemon, zest and juice of
16 g (3.5 teaspoon )baking powder

1. Preheat the oven to 180 C (350 F)
2. Place ricotta and sugar in a large bowl. Crush with a fork until smooth and creamy.
3. Stir in egg yolks, lemon zest, flour and baking powder.
4. In a mixing bowl beat egg whites until stiff peak then gently fold them into the batter. (this might be a little difficult as the batter is rather thick if so add lemon juice)
5. Place the batter in 22 cm baking pan.
6. Bake for 40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Let cool completely.

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Recipe in Polish:

Sardyńska babka z ricottą

Anzac Biscuits

These are wonderful cookies, extremely crispy on the first day; they become softer with time; both ways they taste absolutely delicious!!! The name of the cookies Anzac stands for Australia and New Zealand Army Corps. Their origin is not clear, however, it is said that these long-keeping cookies were baked by Australian/New Zealand women during the WW I for the soldiers fighting overseas.

I made the cookies for Taste & Create food blog event hosted by Nicole from For the Love Of Food blog. The rules of the event are simple- Nicole pairs you with another food blogger and then you have to cook something using a recipe from your partner's blog. This month I’ve been paired with Allen from Eating Out Loud blog. Allen has lots of wonderful recipes on his blog from which I’ve chosen Anzac biscuits. I’d come across the recipe for these cookies on a few other food blogs before and really wanted to try them, and since there’s Anzac Day in Australian and New Zealand on 25^th April, it was a perfect timing.

I baked the cookies twice. First time I followed the recipe from Allen's blog almost exactly (the only change I made was replacing golden syrup with maple syrup as the first one is quite hard to find in Poland). Even though the cookies came out tasty, they had some soda aftertaste that I didn’t like. So, I baked the cookies once again adapting the recipe slightly. I reduced the amount of baking soda in the recipe, I used cane sugar in place of white sugar and added a little bit of sea salt. The cookies came out perfect, very crispy at the edges and a little chewy inside without the soda aftertaste. The addition of sea salt makes these cookies very similar to my favorite Polish oat cookies Złotoksłose sold in grocery stores here. Delicious!!!

Here’s my adapted version of the recipe, Allen's recipe can be found on his blog here. I used Demerara sugar in this recipe, but regular sugar or brown sugar will work well too. If like meyou have trouble finding golden syrup, maple syrup or honey will make a nice substitution. Enjoy!!!

Anzac Biscuits

makes about 36 cookies

1 cup old-fashioned rolled oats
3/4 cup desiccated coconut
3/4 cup flour
1 cup cane sugar
8 tbsp (115 g) unsalted butter
2 tbsp golden syrup
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1 tbsp boiling water
1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1. Preheat the oven to 160 C (320 F). Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.

2. In a large bowl, mix the flour, oats, coconut, and sea salt.

3. Combine the baking soda and boiling water in a small bowl to dissolve.

4. In a small pan over low heat combine the butter and golden (or maple) syrup or honey.

5. Remove from the heat and stir in baking soda and water mixture.

6. Pour into the bowl containing the dry ingredients and stir.

7. Roll into small bowls, place on parchment generously space apart.

8. Press down with the back of a spoon to flatten.

9. Bake for 8-12 minutes or until the cookies are deep golden brown on top.

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Recipe in Polish:
Ciasteczka Anzac

Lime, White Chocolate and Coconut Muffins

These muffins are really irresistible; they're fragrant and very refreshing with a subtle taste of coconut and intense sweetness of white chocolate cut by the tart flavor of lime. The coconut provides a nice contrasting structure to the melting white chocolate, while the lime flesh gives the muffins some extra moistness. All these together make a delightful combination of textures and flavors. The recipe for these has been adapted from Grab Your Fork food blog. The original version can be found here. Enjoy!!!

Notes to the recipe: Malibu can be substituted with another coconut liquour.

Lime, White Chocolate and Coconut Muffins

150g plain flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
40g caster sugar
100g white chocolate, chopped roughly
1/2 cup desiccated coconut

1 egg
100ml milk
2 tbsp Malibu
50g butter melted and cooled slightly
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 lime

1. Preheat the oven to 200 C (390 F).
2. Grease or line 12 muffin cups.
3. Grate the zest of the lime and set aside.
4. Cut the outer pith from the lime and then carefully slide the knife under one membrane and gently remove a segment of lime flesh. Continue until all lime flesh has been extracted into a bowl for later use.
5. Sift the flour, baking powder and salt into a large bowl. Stir in the sugar, coconut, and white chocolate. Make a well in the centre.
6. In a separate large mixing bowl, mix together the egg, milk, vanilla and Malibu. Stir in lime flesh and rind.
7. Pour the egg mixture and melted butter into the well. Mix quickly just until the ingredients are combined, taking no more than 15 seconds as over-mixing will prevent them rising.
8. Spoon into the muffin pan filling ¾ full.
9. Bake for 20 minutes .

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Recipe In Polish:
Muffinki limonkowo-kokosowe z białą czekoladą

White Truffle Cake

I made this cake first for my husband’s birthday two years ago when he wasn’t my husband yet. He loved it and asked for it again this year. This time I’ve decided to improve the recipe slightly by adding vanilla seeds to the truffle. The result was absolutely delightful!!! I’ll never make this cake without adding vanilla again. If you don’t have vanilla bean, use vanilla extract instead, but do not skip on it. This is sooooo much better with vanilla in it!!! Even though the main ingredient in this cake is white chocolate, the cake is not over-sweet. The sponge cake is fluffy and tender with a subtle taste of white chocolate, while the truffle resembles a cheesecake and combines two wonderful flavors –delicate sweetness of white chocolate and intense vanilla flavor.

White Truffle Cake
Recipe source: Bellefontaine, Jacqueline Chocolate, adapted

For the sponge cake:
2 eggs
4 tbsp caster sugar
5 ½ tbsp all purpose flour
50 g (1 3/4 ounces) white chocolate, melted

For the topping:
300 ml (1 1/4 cups) heavy cream
350 g (12 ounces) white chocolate, broken into pieces
250 g (1 1/4 cups) cream cheese or quark cheese
1 vanilla bean, split and scraped

To make the sponge cake:

1. Grease an 8 inch (20 cm) springform pan and flour the base.
   
2. In a bowl, beat the eggs and superfine sugar with an electric mixer for 10 minutes, or until the mixture is very light and foamy and the whisk leaves a trail that lasts a few seconds when lifted.
   
3. Sift the flour and carefully fold in with a metal spoon.
   
4. Fold in the melted white chocolate.
   
5. Pour the mixture into prepared pan and bake in a preheated oven at 350 F (180 C) for 25 minutes or until springy to the touch.
   
6. Cool slightly, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Return the cold cake to the pan.

To make the truffle:

1. Place the cream in a pan, stir in vanilla seeds
2. Bring to a boil, stirring to prevent it from sticking to the bottom of the pan.
3. Remove the pan from the heat, add the white chocolate pieces, and stir until melted and combined.
4. Allow to cool, then stir in the cream cheese.
5. Pour the mixture on the top of the cake and chill for about 3-4 hours.
6. Remove the cake from the pan and transfer to a serving plate. Decorate.

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Recipe in Polish:
Torcik z białą truflą

Coconut and Apricot Cake

This is a fabulously easy and quick cake to make; you just put all the ingredients to a bowl, mix them with an electric mixer, stir in the apricots and raisins, and the batter is ready to go to the oven. It all takes only about five minutes. The cake is long to bake, but this is actually a very pleasurable experience as, while in the oven, the cake perfumes the entire house with a wonderful coconut scent. It comes out from the oven extrememly moist, tender and very fragrant. The use of coconut milk adds a depth of coconut flavor which, I suspect, couldn’t be achieved by desiccated coconut alone. The recipe for this delicious cake comes from a Polish food blog (some posts also in English) White Plate written by Liska. The original recipe in Polish can be found on her blog here. Enjoy!!!

Coconut and Apricot Cake

200 g unsalted butter, softened

3 eggs

150 g caster sugar

100 g desiccated coconut

50 g all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

150 ml coconut milk

200 g dried apricots, roughly chopped

100 g raisins

1. Preheat the oven to 300 F (150 C)
2. Grease 20 cm springform pan.
3. Using an electric mixer, mix all the ingredients, except raisins and apricots until smooth.
4. Stir in dried apricots and raisins.
5. Pour into the pan. Bake for 1 ½ hour.
6. Let cool before removing from the pan.

Przepis po Polsku:
Ciasto kokosowo-morelowe

Nutella Madeleines

The recipe for these wonderful madeleines comes from a French food blog Tart'in & Chocolate. The cookies are incredibly tender and fluffy with a wonderful nutty flavor. The inclusion of Nutella to each of the cookies provides wonderful melting sensation in your mouth. They're certainly the best sponge cookies I've ever had.

Nutella Madeleines

Makes 1 pan

3 eggs
40 g caster sugar
50 g flour
40 g unsalted butter
1 tbsp baking powder
1 tbsp Nutella + a drop of Nutella for each madeleine

1. Melt the butter in a saucepan, then off the heat, stir in Nutella and caster sugar.
2. Using an electric mixer beat the eggs until pale and thick.
3. Sift the flour and baking powder over the eggs, and gently fold in.
4. Combine with the cooled butter, sugar and Nutella mixture.
5. Leave to rest in the fridge for at least 1 hour.
6. Preheat the oven to 370 F (190 C)
7. Grease madeleine molds. Fill the molds with the cake mixture.
   
8. With a tip of a knife place a drop of Nutella on each madeleine cookie.
9. Bake for 10-15 min.
10. Remove the madeleines from the molds and let cool on a rack.

Przepis po polsku:
Magdalenki z Nutellą

Lemon White Chocolate and Pistachio Cake

This is a wonderful cake, light, tender and very moist. The sweet taste of white chocolate is a perfect complement to the refreshing flavor of the lemon. Besides, white chocolate pairs incredibly well with pistachios; It makes just a perfect combination of textures and flavors, elegant and absolutely delicious!!!

The inspiration for the cake comes from Chatelaine magazine, the August 2007 issue. In the original recipe (which you can find here), it was actually called a loaf and was made without chocolate at all. Since I wanted to make a cake rather than a bread, I decided to add some white chocolate to the recipe. It adds extra sweetness and provides a little bit of richness to the cake.

Note's to the recipe: I like pistachios with white chocolate most. If you aren’t into white chocolate much, you can use milk chocolate instead. If you decide to omit the chocolate completely, add 1/2 cup of sugar more to the batter for the right sweetness. This cake will keep well at room temperature 1 day, refrigerated up to a week or frozen up to 2 months. Enjoy!!!

Lemon White Chocolate and Pistachio Cake

1 ¾ cups all-purpose flour, sifted
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 lemon
1 cup (250 ml) coarsely chopped shelled pistachios
1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup granulated sugar + 1/4 cup for the glaze
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
2/3 cup (150 ml) milk
100 g white chocolate, roughly chopped

1. Preheat oven to 350F (180C). Grease lightly a 9 x 5 inch loaf pan.
2. In a medium bowl stir flour with baking powder and salt. Grate peel from lemon, then stir in. Coarsely chop nuts.
3. In a large bowl, using an electric mixer, beat butter until smooth.
4. Gradually beat in 1 cup (250 ml) sugar until well mixed, 2 minutes.
5. Gradually add the eggs and beat well until light and fluffy.
6. Add the dry ingredients alternating with the milk.
7. Add chocolate and nuts and mix until ingredients are just combined. Do not overmix.
8. Pour batter into pan, bake until deep golden brown and a cake tester or skewer inserted into centre of loaf comes out clean, about 50 minutes.
9. Meanwhile, squeeze 3 tbsp (45 ml) juice from lemon into a small bowl. Stir in 1/4 cup (50 ml) sugar. It won't completely dissolve.
10. When loaf is baked, remove pan to a rack. Using a cake tester or skewer, immediately poke several holes in top of loaf. Brush or drizzle half of lemon glaze over hot loaf. Cool in pan 10 minutes, then remove the loaf. Carefully turn upside down. Evenly brush or drizzle remaining lemon glaze overtop.

Przepis po polsku:
Ciasto cytrynowe z białą czekoladą i pistacjami

Banana Cherry and White Chocolate Cupcakes

The recipe for these tasty banana cupcakes comes from Nigella Lawson's How to be a Domestic Goddess. As most of Nigella’s recipes, these are incredibly easy and quick to make. They’re best warm, either fresh from the oven or heated in the microwave. When they get cold, the only thing you can actually taste in them is banana. The other flavors are barely palpable even though I’ve increased the amount of dried cherries (the recipe below includes the change). Heating brings the subtle flavor of chocolate and cherries out of the cupcakes and makes them taste really delicious!!!

Banana, Dried Cherry and White Chocolate Cupcakes

Makes 12-14 cupcakes

125 g unsalted butter
200 g caster sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 ripe bananas
4 tbsp sour cream
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon baking powder
300 g plain flour
80 g dried cherries, roughly chopped
50 g white chocolate, roughly chopped

1. Preheat the oven to 180 C (350 F) / gas mark 4
2. Grease or line 12 muffin cups.
3. Melt the butter in a saucepan, then, off the heat add the sugar, vanilla and bananas, mashing them with a fork in the pan.
4. In a separate bowl, lightly beat eggs a fork, add the cream, then fold them into the melted butter, sugar, and banana mixture.
5. Add the baking soda and the baking powder and stir in.
6. Add the flour, cherries, and white chocolate. Mix gently with a spoon just until the ingredients are combined.
7. Spoon into the muffin pan filling ¾ full. Bake for 20 minutes or until golden on top.
8. Remove the cupcakes in their paper to wire rack and leave to cool lightly.

Przepis po polsku:
Bananowe babeczki z suszonymi wiśniami i białą czekoladą

Raspberry Streusel Muffins

The first time I made these delicious muffins was in Canada last summer. In Canada there are raspberry fields where you can go with your own basket and pick up as many raspberries as you want. Then the raspberries you've picked up are weighted and you pay for them. Picking up raspberries this way is much cheaper than buying them in a grocery store and so much more fun. Both I and my husband love raspberries, so we loved to go to pick up raspberries together and try new raspberry recipes after. Some of our favorite recipes were Grilled Salmon with Raspberry Sauce, Raspberry and White Chocolate Tart (delicious, but rather expensive if you buy raspberries in a grocery store), and these lovely muffins. I made them again last week with frozen raspberries and streusel topping with cardamom and the result was absolutely awesome!!! The sweet and spicy flavor of the streusel topping is just a perfect complement to the moist and fruity muffins. The idea of using cardamon in raspberry muffins comes from Dagmar from A Cat In the Kitchen food blog who also made raspberry and cardamon muffins with crumbles a few weeks ago. The recipe for my muffins comes from one of the cookbooks from Le cordon Bleu series published by Könemann. The only thing I’ve changed was the streusel topping; the original one was made without oat meal and spices.

Notes to the recipe: You can use either fresh or frozen raspberries in this recipe. If you use frozen raspberries, do not thaw them as they will color the batter pink. If you don't have raspberries, I suspect the muffins would also be delicious with bluberries, bilberries, or strawberries.

RASPBERRY STREUSEL MUFFINS

FOR THE MUFFINS:
375 g flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
pinch of salt
115 g brown sugar
150 g raspberries (fresh or frozen)
2 eggs
250 ml (2 cups) milk
125 g butter, melted

FOR THE STREUSEL TOPPING:
50 g butter, melted
50 g flour
50 g rolled oats
50 g brown sugar
½ teaspoon cinnamon
½ teaspoon cardamon

1. Heat the oven to 210 C (410 F). Grease or line 12 muffin cups.
2. Sift the flour, baking powder and salt into a large bowl. Add the sugar and raspberries and stir. Make a well in the centre.
3. In a small jug beat lightly eggs and milk.
4. Pour the egg mixture and melted butter into the well. Mix gently with a metal spoon just until the ingredients are combined. Do not overmix, the batter should be lumpy .
5. Spoon into the muffin pan filling ¾ full.
6. To make streusel topping, combine oat, brown sugar, flour, cinnamon, and cardamon in a small bowl. Pour in hot melted butter; stir to combine into crumbs. Sprinkle mixture evenly over top of each muffin.
7. Bake the muffins for 30 minutes or until a tooth pick comes out clean. Cool in pan 5 minutes before removing to a wire rack.

Przepis po polsku:

Malinowe mufinki z kruszonką

Traditional Polish doughnuts

One of my New Year’s resolutions this year was to cook something Polish once a month. Since yesterday was Fat Thursday in Poland, it was a perfect time to make Polish pączki. Let me explain. Fat Thursday is the last Thursday before the Lent, which is celebrated in Poland by eating enormous amounts of Polish doughnuts called pączki. Pączki are similar to American jelly-filled doughnuts, but unlike the American doughnuts, which are usually very sweet and filled with lots of jelly after frying, Polish doughnuts are filled with only a little of the filling which is placed inside the doughnut before it is fried. The most common filling is jam, but there are places in Poland where you can also buy pączki filled with advocaat custard. My grandmother, who makes delicious doughnuts, usually fills them with powidła, which is a common filling for homemade doughnuts. Pączki are usually covered with powdered sugar or icing and, sometimes, topped with candied orange peel.

Even though pączki are available in Poland all year-round, Fat Thursday is actually the only time in the year when I eat some. My favorite doughnuts are the ones filled with rose hip jam, which is the most popular Fat-Thursday filling. I usually buy the doughnuts in a bakery, but since Tartelette and Peabody have organized Time to Make the Doughnuts food blog event this year, I thought it’s a great opportunity to learn how to make Polish doughnuts myself. They’re probably longer to make and harder to fill than American doughnuts, but believe me that the effort is rewarding. My doughnuts came out wonderful, very light, tender and absolutely delicious!!!

A few notes to the recipe: The recipe calls for fresh yeast, if you have trouble finding them, I suspect active dry yeast might work well, (I haven’t tried it yet). While searching the Internet for Polish doughnuts recipe, I have found many simplified recipes which use less egg yolks and no alcohol. Do not reduce the amount of the egg yolks!!! The doughnuts which contain more yolks eggs absorb less oil. Also alcohol when incorporated into doughnut dough reduces the absorption of frying oil. Most of Polish doughnut recipes call for rectified spirit, feel free to use vodka or rum instead. Before frying, make sure the oil is hot enough. Test the temperature by frying a piece of dough; if it floats up immediately and turns golden quickly, you can start frying. To keep the oil temperature constant while frying, fry only a few doughnuts at a time. Crowding will lower the oil’s temperature and produce greasy doughnuts. I filled my doughnuts with rose hip jam, but feel free to use the filling of your choice.

Pączki (Traditional Polish doughnuts)
Makes 3 dozen medium doughnuts

FOR THE DOUGHNUTS:
1 kg flour
100 g fresh yeast (also known as compressed yeast or cake yeast)
75 g sugar
½ liter (2 cups) milk
8 yolk eggs
100 g unsalted butter, melted
16 g vanilla sugar
50 ml rectified spirit or vodka
orange rind, grated
pinch of salt
1 liter of vegetable oil for deep -frying

FOR THE FILLING:
350 g rose hip jam mixed with 2 tablespoons rum (optional)

FOR THE ICING:
350 g icing sugar
2 tbsp lemon juice
water
candied orange peel to decorate

1. Heat 250 ml (1 cup) of the milk over low heat until slightly warm, but not hot (too hot milk will kill the yeast).
2. Crumble the yeast in a large bowl. Add the heated milk, 1 tablespoon of the sugar and 5 tablespoons of the flour. Stir to combine and dissolve. Cover with dishtowel and set aside in a warm place. Let rise until spongy.
3. Place the egg yolks, sugar, vanilla sugar, salt and 2 tbsp of slightly warm (but not hot) water in the bowl of an electric mixer and beat until fluffy and pale.
4. Add the egg mixture, the remaining milk, the alcohol, and orange rind to the yeast mixture and stir until all the ingredients are well combined.
5. Pour the liquid into the sifted flour and stir with a wooden spoon until well combined. If the mixture is too dry add more milk.
6.Knead the dough by hand for at least 20 minutes or until smooth and soft. The softer the doughnut dough, the more tender the doughnuts will be.
7. Gradually add the melted butter and continue kneading until the dough incorporates it and is no longer sticky.
8. Shape the dough into a ball. Transfer to a large bowl, cover with a dishtowel and leave in a warm place until doubled (about 1 hour).
9. Place half of the dough on a lightly floured work surface. Sprinkle the dough lightly with flour and, using a rolling pin, roll to a thickness of 1/2-inch.
10. Using a drinking glass or round cookie cutter, cut circles (approximately 3 inches in diameter).
11. Spoon about 3/4 teaspoon of the filling into the center of each circle. Raise edges of dough and pinch together over filling, then roll between palms snowball fashion to form balls.
12. Transfer the doughnuts to a parchment lined baking sheet (do not flour the baking sheet). Cover with a dishtowel, and let rise in warm place until doubled.
13. Repeat until all the dough has been used.
14. Heat the oil over medium heat in a deep heavy frying pan. Use enough oil that doughnuts can float freely (about 2,5 inches). Test the temperature by frying a small piece of dough; it should bubble and float up immediately.
15. Fry 3 doughnuts at a time. Cook on each side until golden brown, about 2-3 minutes per side. Then remove to drain on paper towels.
16. To make the icing, sift icing sugar into a bowl. Mix through 2 tablespoon lemon juice, then gradually add enough water to obtaining a mixture with a suitable consistency to spread. Spread over the doughnuts with a brush. Top each of the doughnuts with candied orange peel.

Przepis po polsku:
Tradycyjne polskie pączki

For those who like almonds...

There was Grandmother’s Day in Poland last Monday, and I wanted to bake something for my grandmother for that occasion. I had spent hours looking through cookbooks and cooking magazines to choose the best recipe. Finally, I opted for friands recipe. I decided to make these little almond cakes as the recipe resembled pear and almond cake I had baked a week before. The cake was absolutely delicious, so I thought that another recipe with almonds would be a perfect choice. Well, it wasn’t. Not that the cakes were not good, they were delicious, both I and my husband absolutely loved them. They were soft, they were spongy, they were moist and… they did taste almonds…but when my grandmother tried one, you could see from her face she didn’t share my love for these cakes. At first, I couldn't understand why, but then it reminded me that my grandmother did not like almonds. She had mentioned it to me a few weeks before Christmas when we talked about almond flavor in poppy seeds cake, but I totally forgot about that. So, if you do not like almond flavor either, forget about these cakes, you wouldn’t like them. But if you’re (like me) a fan of almonds, I suspect you’ll love them. They’re simple, but absolutely delicious, perfect with a cup of coffee in the morning or any other time of the day.

The recipe was adapted from Donna Hay's Modern Classics Book 2. I altered the recipe slightly by adding vanilla sugar to the batter and reducing the amount of icing sugar. I also beat the egg whites slightly, even though the recipe didn’t ask for that. I didn’t have friands molds, so I baked my friands in muffin pans, I turned them upside down after baking as they looked nicer this way. I baked my friands plain, but you can top them with some fruit before baking. I suspect they would be delicious with raspberries, but feel free to use the fruit you like most. Also, if you don’t have almond meal, you can make your own by processing whole almonds until finely ground. Since my friands were meant to be a gift, I decorated them with icing and sugar flowers, but I think they would be better without the icing, served with a dash of whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.

Friands
(adapted from Donna Hay's Modern Classics Book 2)

125 g butter
1 cup almond meal
1 cup icing sugar
16 g vanilla sugar
¾ cup all-purpose flour, sifted
½ teaspoon baking powder
5 egg whites

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C (350° F)
2. Grease 12 friand molds or muffin pans.
3. Heat butter in a saucepan over low heat, whisking frequently, until golden brown.
4. Place the almond meal, icing sugar, vanilla sugar, flour, and baking powder in a bowl and stir to combine.
5. In a separate bowl, lightly beat egg whites with a fork, then fold them into dry ingredients.
6. Add the butter and stir to combine.
7. Spoon 2 tbsp of the mixture into each mold.
8. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until golden and springy to touch but moist in the centre.

Przepis po polsku:
Friands (Migdałowe babeczki)