Salted Carmelitas

You probably already know carmelitas which have been quite popular in the blogosphere recently. Now I know why! This is an amazing dessert, really. Imagine a chewy buttery oat bar filled with milk chocolate chips and salted caramel. You shouldn't eat more than two at once, even though it's hard to resist. 

Salted Carmelitas

120ml/1/2 cup half-and-half
30 caramels
1/3 tsp salt
150g unsalted butter, melted
125g/1 cup flour
125g/1 cup old fashioned oats
150g/3/4 cup light brown sugar
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
100g milk chocolate, chopped

1) In a small saucepan over low heat, combine together caramels, 1/3 tsp salt and half and half. Stir until completely smooth and set aside.

2) In a bowl, combine together the melted butter, brown sugar, flour, oats, 1/2 tsp salt and baking soda. Press down half of the mixture into the bottom of an 20x20cm baking pan. Bake at 180C for 5 minutes.

3) Remove the pan from the oven and sprinkle milk chocolate chips over the crust. Pour caramel sauce over chocolate chips. Crumble remaining oatmeal mixture over caramel. Return to oven and bake for additional 15-20 minutes or until the edges are golden brown. Remove from the oven and cool completely before cutting.

Recipe adapted from here.

Pan-Fried Spiced Chickpeas

Oven roasted chickpeas is one of my favourite healthy snacks. But unfortunately sometimes I am really lazy and impatient to preheat oven, line the tray with parchment paper etc. Okay, okay, this is really easy, but frying chickpeas in a pan is even easier. The result is crispy and spicy chickpeas. Just like from the oven, but five times quicker!

Pan-Fried Spiced Chickpeas

1 cup cooked chickpeas
1 tsp smoked paprika
1/4 tsp chili paprika
1/3 tsp salt
1 tbsp olive oil

1) Combine the spices with salt and sprinkle over chickpeas, tossing them to coat evenly. 

2) Heat oil in a pan over medium-high heat and add chickpeas. Fry them until nicely roasted, tossing frequently so they don't burn. 

Recipe by collecting memories

Rustic Banana Peach Crumb Tart

Rustic Banana Peach Crumb Tart

Crumb Topping:

50g flour

50g sugar

½ tsp cinnamon

Salt

40g butter

Filling:

2 peaches

1 tbsp flour

1 tbsp sugar

1 banana

Crust:

170g flour

3 tbsp sugar

Salt

100g butter

2-4 tbsp ice water

 

1 egg for egg wash

1) Preheat oven to 190C.

2) Make the crumb topping: Combine together flour, sugar, cinnamon and salt. Cut in butter, knead with your hands until you have all the dry ingredients incorporated in butter. Set the mixture aside. 

3) Make the Crust: Combine together flour, sugar and salt. Cut in butter until crumbly. Gradually add water, tossing with a fork until dough forms a ball. Use your hands if needed. Roll out to a circle. Transfer to a baking tray lined with parchment paper.

4) Make the filling: Slice peaches into wedges (you may peel them if you wish). Slice the banana. Sprinkle fruits with flour and sugar and mix so all the sides are evenly coated.

5) Arrange fruit pieces on the crust, leaving about 5cm space on the edges. Fold the edges over the fruits and sprinkle the crumb mixture on top. Brush the edges of the crust with egg wash. Bake for about 45 minutes or until the crust is golden brown and the fruits are cooked through. Serving suggestion: this is amazing with a dollop of vanilla ice ceam!

Recipe by collecting memories

Cinnamon Rolls

I found this recipe on Joy the Baker a long time ago and have made these rolls many times. They always come out the same: soft, fluffy, buttery and not at all dry or dense. The instructions on her site were very informative and clear so I almost did not change anything. I just increased the amount of cinnamon because 1/3 tsp seemed too little for me and also omitted some spices but you can definitely add them if you like. I also baked the rolls in a springform pan, not in the cupcake cups. I just find them more gooey and softer this way! I definitely prefer the center to the edge. So this may take longer to bake. Keep an eye on them. It's difficult to say when they are baked. It depends a lot on your oven and how well they rise before baking.

Recipe adapted from here.

Cinnamon Rolls

Sponge:
2 1/2 tsp instant yeast
63g/1/2 cup bread flour
160ml/2/3 cup milk, cold
4 tsp honey

Final dough:
125g/1 cup bread flour
188g/1 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 tsp salt
85g/6 tbsp butter, cold
1/3 tsp cardamom (omitted)
1 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp lemon zest
50g/1/4 cup brown sugar
2 eggs, room temperature

Cinnamon Sugar Filling:
75g/1/3 cup sugar
100g/1/2 cup brown sugar
2-3 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp freshly grated nutmeg (omitted)
2 tbsp butter, softened 

Icing:
2/3 cup powdered sugar
2 tsp milk (needed more)
1/8 tsp orange zest (omitted)
1/2 tsp lemon juice (omitted)

1) Mix the sponge: 

Combine all of the dry ingredients followed lastly by the milk and honey. Stir to combine, then cover with the flours and the salt from the final dough. Allow to ferment at room temperature for 20 minutes.

2) In a small bowl, combine all of the ingredients for the cinnamon sugar filling and set aside.  Butter 2 springform pans.

3) Begin the final dough:  

In a mixing bowl, cream the butter until smooth and pale.  Add the sugar, lemon zest and spices and continue creaming at medium speed for 5 minutes. Add the eggs and mix until combined. The mixture will look very wet, and curdled. 

4) Add the flour covered sponge to the butter mixture.  Mix on low speed until evenly combined. On medium speed, continue to mix for 2 minutes. Switch to the dough hook and mix on low speed until smooth and satiny. If the dough is sticking a lot to the sides of the bowl, add all purpose flour, 1 Tablespoon at a time. Mixing with the dough hook takes about 5 minutes. You can finish with a minute or two of hand kneading if you like.  

5) Place the dough in a lightly greased and floured bowl. Next, tuck greased plastic wrap around the dough so that no air can enter. Place a clean dish towel over the bowl. Bulk ferment at room temperature for 1 1/2 hours.

6) Flip the dough out of the bowl onto a lightly floured surface. With a floured hand, pat the dough roughly into a rectangle. Lift the left side of the dough and fold it over almost to the right side of the dough, leaving about 5cm of room. Lift the right side and fold it all the way over to the left. Lift the bottom of the dough, the side closest to you, and fold it almost to the top of the dough, leaving about 1cm. Lastly, fold the top of the dough all the way down towards you. Return the dough to the bowl and cover as before, leaving it for 30 minutes.  

7) On a lightly floured work surface, using a rolling pin, roll the dough out to a rectangle 40cm high and 30cm long.

8) Sprinkle with the cinnamon sugar filling. Beginning with the long edge, roll up the dough and cinnamon sugar filling. Brush the edge of the seam with water and pinch closed. Cover with plastic wrap and let rest for 5 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 190 degrees C.

9) Using a sharp knife, slice the dough into 2,5-3 cm rolls. Place cinnamon rolls into the round pan, leaving some space for them to expand while baking. Cover the sliced cinnamon rolls with plastic wrap and allow to rest and almost double in size, about 50 minutes. If the room is very warm from the oven, they will proof in as little as 35 minutes.

10)Bake for 10-15 minutes (or longer), keeping an eye on them after 10 minutes, until they are golden brown. Remove from the oven and cool in pan on rack for about 20 minutes. Remove form pan, and when completely cool, drizzle with glaze.  

Chocolate Chip Banana Muffins

 

Muffins have to be large. So I took my ramekins and poured the batter into them instead of using standard muffin cups. 

I healthified these a little bit. I used spelt flour and instead of all-purpose flour. Of course, these would be awesome with all-purpose flour too. Then I only added a small amount of butter and sugar. But banana added the moisture and sweetness to these little cakes. 

Chocolate Chip Banana Muffins
 

50g butter, softened
90g white sugar
1 egg
1 cup mashed ripe banana (about 2 medium)
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
125g/1 cup spelt flour (or use all-purpose)
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp cinnamon
90g dark chocolate chips or chunks

1) Preheat oven to 180°C.

2) Beat together butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs, banana and vanilla extract.  

3) In another bowl, combine together the flour, baking powder, salt and cinnamon.

4) Add the flour mixture into the butter mixture just until moistened. Fold in the chocolate.

5) Lightly grease 6 ramekins and fill them with batter. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool for 5 minutes before removing from the ramekins. You may serve these warm or cold. 

Recipe by collecting memories