à la Julia » butter

St. Patrick Shamrock

Julia — Fri, 18 Mar 2011 00:45:52 +0000

preparation: 20min | difficulty: ★★★

dedicated to: Melissa Matta and Ralph Assouad

serving portion: 28 mini madeleines

ingredients

150g sifted flour
125g butter, softened
150g sugar
2 large eggs
2 tbsp milk
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp liqueur or coffee aroma

directions

To prepare the batter whisk the eggs and sugar until obtaining a white paste. Gradually add the sifted flour and baking powder; then add the butter and milk.

Add the coffee aroma or liqueur; mix thoroughly. Then refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 220°C . Spoon the batter into the molds. Bake 3 to 4 minutes, then lower the oven temperature to 180°C and keep baking 3 to 6 minutes or until the edges of the madeleines are golden brown.

reference

Mini Madeleines

maamoul

Julia — Sat, 03 Apr 2010 13:05:10 +0000

preparation: 2 hrs | baking: 10 min per tray | difficulty: ★★★

serving portion: 6 dozens (72 pieces)

ingredients

maamoul dough

1kg coarse semolina
1kg fine semolina (firkha flour)
400 gr butter
1 Tbsp yeast
200gr sugar
1 pinch salt
1 cup rose water
1 cup orange blossom water

walnut filling

1/2 kg walnut kernels
1 cup sugar
3 Tbsp all purpose flour
50 ml rose water
50 ml orange blossom water

pistachio filling

1/2 kg pistachio kernels
1 cup sugar
3 Tbsp all purpose flour
50 ml rose water
50 ml orange blossom water

dates filling

1 kg pitted soft date paste
200 gr butter

prepare walnut filling

Add walnut, sugar, flour, rose water and orange blossom water in a food processor and coarsely ground.

Roll the walnut paste into 2.5 cm sized balls.

prepare pistachio filling

Add pistachio, sugar, flour, rose water and orange blossom water in a food processor and coarsely ground.

Roll the pistachio paste into 2.5 cm sized balls.

prepare date filling

Bain marie the date paste and the butter until well combined and soften; let it cool.

Roll the date paste into 2.5 cm sized balls.

prepare maamoul dough

In a large bowl add both coarse and fine semolina, sugar, salt, rose water and orange blossom water; Mix well all the ingredients and let sit overnight.

The second day add the Tbsp of yeast and let sit for another 2 hours.

Roll the dough into 3 cm sized balls.

illustrations

balls preparation

maamoul preparation

baking the maamoul

Preheat the oven on 140°C.

Bake every tray for 10 min.

Sieve icing sugar over the pistachio and walnut maamoul.

reference

Ibtissam Tohmé (mamina)

galette des rois

Julia — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 21:32:50 +0000

preparation: 20min | cooking: 30min | difficulty: ★★

serving portion: 8 persons

ingredients

2 rolls of puff pastry (pâte feuilleté)
125g butter
125g powdered sugar
125g dark chocolate, cut in pieces
125g powdered almond
2 eggs
1 Tbsp rum
2 tsp of almond extract

directions

Melt chocolate and butter in a saucepan over low heat.

Meanwhile, beat eggs and sugar, whisk until mixture is smooth; Add it to the butter-chocolate mixture; When the mixture is cool, add the almond powder, rum and almond extract.

Put the 1st pastry roll in an oven tray, spread over it the marzipan chocolate mixture, making sure to leave a 1.5 cm of dough around the border.

Place the coin somewhere toward the edge of the marzipan mixture to decrease the possibility of finding it, then spread the 2nd roll pastry by welding the edges well.

Spread beaten egg yolk on the cake with a brush (to make the surface brownish when cooked) and draw the spirals (below illustration).

Sprinkle lightly with icing sugar to make the galette shine and bake for 30 minutes in a hot oven (180 °C).

tips

The person cutting the galettes should be the last one to choose his portion since he might know where the coin is.

The winner should put a carton crown on his/her head.

chocolate orange cheesecake

Julia — Sun, 27 Dec 2009 18:14:07 +0000

preparation: 30min | difficulty: ★★

serving portion: 8 persons / 21cm springform tin

ingredients

250g plain chocolate biscuits
125g butter, melted
250g packet cream cheese, softened
3/4 cup caster sugar
1 Tbsp lemon juice
3 tsp gelatine
1/2 cup water
300ml thickened cream.
250g bittersweet chocolate (orange flavored) bar
1 orange slice

directions

Process biscuits until fine. Add melted butter, mix until combined.

Press fine biscuits mixture evenly over base of 21cm springform tin.

Melt the 2/3 of the chocolate bar; Dip 1/2 of the orange in the melted chocolate, then keep aside; For the contour of the cheesecake spread the melted chocolate with a spatula on a tray covered with parchment paper; place in the fridge for 5min; once the chocolate starts to thicken score equal size strips of 2cm width and 4cm height; Decorate the outline of the cheesecake. Attach the strips together from the inside by using the melted chocolate as a glue.

Beat cheese, sugar and juice in large bowl with electric mixer until smooth and creamy; In a small sauce pan heat the water and sprinkle the gelatine; keep stirring until gelatine dissolves; cool 5 min. Whip cream until soft peaks form, fold into cheese mixture; fold in gelatine mixture.

Pour the cheesecake mixture.

Shave 1/3 of the orange chocolate on the top, place the orange you previously prepared.

Refrigerate 3 hours or overnight until set.

tips

I would go for mascarpone cream cheese it is buttery and creamy.

reference

cheesecakes/pavlovas&trifles (Women’s Weekly)

swiss mushroom burger

Julia — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 22:49:19 +0000

preparation: 10 min | cooking: 20 min | difficulty:★★

serving portion: 4 persons

ingredients

20g Butter
250g Fresh mushrooms (big chunks)
1 can Campbell’s Mushroom soup
salt and pepper
4 hamburger patties
4 slices emental swiss cheese
4 slices fresh tomato
4 onion rings
4 lettuce leaves

directions

Melt butter and fry the mushrooms.

Add Campbell’s soup put on low heat and let simmer.

Season the patties and grill until done. Add the cheese until it melts.

Prepare the bun; add patty with the cheese, sauce, tomato, onion, and finally the lettuce.

tips

Serve with crunchy french fries and coleslaw salad.

kibbé tray

Julia — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 21:59:20 +0000

preparation: 1 hr | cooking: 30 min | difficulty: ★★★

serving portion: 3 persons / small trays of 28cm

ingredients

kibbé dough

250g fine minced meat / kibbé meat
1 cup fine dark bulgur / cracked wheat
1 tsp salt
25g melted butter
1 small bowl iced water
1/2 tsp 7 spices

meat filling

2 Tbs vegetable oil
3 medium onions, finely chopped
250g minced meat
50 g pine nuts
1 tsp salt
1 tsp 7 spices

directions

Wash the bulgur and drain.

Blend the meat, salt and melted butter with the bulgur to obtain a sticky ball.

To prepare the stuffing, heat two Tbsp of vegetable oil in a large sauce pan and fry the onions until translucent.

Add the ground meat, salt and cook until meat is cooked through, remove from heat and blend in the spices and the pine nuts.

Divide the kibbeh ball into two equal portions.

Grease the bottom of the trays with oil.

Take half of the kibbé dough and press at the bottom of the tray to obtain a 1cm layer.

Dip your hands into water to flatten it’s surface.

Add the meat stuffing.

Put the second dough inside a sandwich bag that has an approximate size of the tray you are using.

Roll out the dough using the rolling pin (shawbak) to obtain a layer of 1 cm, cut out the bag and place the dough over the stuffing by cutting the excess.

Again dip your hands into water to flatten it’s surface; Dip the sharp knife in water and cut geometrical patterns on the surface of the kibbeh (refer to the below illustrations).

Drizzle with some oil and sprinkle 3-4 Tbs. of water on the top to maintain the softness of the kibbeh while baking.

Bake in a 180 °C preheated oven until the top is firm, 20-30 minutes approximately.

Serve with natural yogurt

illustrations

tips

The traditional recipe of the kibbé is made with lamb meat, but personally I prefer beef meat.

If you are living in Lebanon you can directly ask for kibbé meat (it is based of minced meat mixed with salt and water). If you are living abroad then ask from the butcher to pass the fine minced meat twice through the processing machine.

Make two trays and keep the second in the fridge.

For the meat filling, the more you add onions the more you enrich the taste.

reference

My Grandma and Anahid’s Gourmet Cookbook