Percoche Clafoutis

A few days ago while shopping, I saw these fuzzy peachy looking fruits with firm flesh. I had never noticed them before but they looked wonderful. So I bought a few and brought them home. The sign in the store read “Pfisich Aprikosen” (“peach apricots”), so I did a bit of research and discovered that they are actually called “percoches” and are indeed a cross between a peach and an apricot. They do look like giant apricots because of their color and because the peel of the fruit feels like an apricot but, at the same time, the fruits have the size of peaches. The flesh of the “percoches” is firm and less juicy than the flesh of regular peaches, they taste sweet and a bit tart at the same time.

For purposes of comparison, I put some apricots next to the “percoches”. A really interesting fruit and a nice choice if you are looking for something a bit different from the usual peaches, nectarines or apricots.

After the taste test, the next question was what to do with these fruits other than eating them raw, of course. The search proved to be a bit more time consuming than I had anticipated but I finally came across the inspiration for this dessert on an Italian blog. I guess somebody out there thought it was time for me to finally improve my Italian language skills again…it has been a while since I took these classes…In any event, it seems that these fruits grow in Italy and there are very few recipes that use “percoches” as a main ingredient. But this dessert is wonderful. It smells great, it tastes delicious, it has a rustic appeal and it is easy to prepare. So it will be a French recipe for some Italian fruits and I like it!

While by tradition, a clafoutis is a rustic French baked dessert with a custard-like batter similar to a pancake batter and specifically made with black cherries, you can create many clafoutis variations called “Flaungardes,” which include other fruits such as plums, prunes, blueberries, rhubarb or apples. But since the talented Italian baker that inspired this recipe called her dessert  " Clafoutis di Percoche", I decided to keep the title, and besides, I  believe that "Flaungardes" is not a commonly used expression.

Percoche Clafoutis
(as inspired by an Italian recipe from “cosacucino”)

Ingredients

1200 grams (about 2.5 pounds ) percoche, sliced but not peeled (about five fruits – you can also use peaches, nectarines or apricots in this recipe)
200 ml (7/8 cup = one cup minus 2 1/2 tbsp) whole milk, room temperature
400 ml (1.7 cups = two cups minus 5 tbsp ) half and half
6 eggs (L)
200 grams superfine sugar (7 ounces)
1 package of pure vanilla sugar or 2 tsp pure vanilla extract
1/8 tsp fine sea salt
40 grams (1.5 onces) of unsalted butter, melted and cooled and some more for greasing the ovenproof dish

For serving
powdered sugar (optional)

Preparation

1. Mix together the milk, the half and half, the eggs, the sugar, vanilla, the salt and the melted butter.
2. Butter an ovenproof baking dish or a cast iron pan (rather “lavishly”).
2. Pour the batter in the prepared 10 cup baking dish or pan (I used a large dish and doubled the original recipe) but you can use a smaller dish and half the recipe).
3. Place in the oven and bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit (180 degrees Celsius) for about 45 minutes to an hour.
6. The clafoutis is done when it is puffed and golden and a small knife plunged in the center comes out clean.

Serve while still warm with a dusting of powdered sugar if you wish and some lightly whipped cream, crème fraîche or vanilla ice cream.

"Uno non può pensare bene,

dormire bene,

se non ha mangiato bene."

(Virginia Wolf)

Styrian Potato Salad with Cucumbers - Steirischer Kartoffelsalat mit Gurken

Today I am posting a recipe for an Styrian potato salad. Styria (Steiermark) is a state (Bundesland), located in the southeast of Austria.

When I was a child, we used to spend our summer vacations in Austria - I loved the Austrian mountains, the lakes, the castles, the people and the food. Peolple used a lot of local produce in their recipes. They got cheese from the local cheese maker, fruits and veggies from the local farmers and honey from the neighbour. "Local" or "regional" was a way of life then, not a fad. Be that as it may, I remember the glorious food I ate in Austria vividly and nowadays I regularly prepare Austrian and Bavarian dishes for us. My family thinks they are delicious.

The recipe I chose for today´s post is a wonderful recipe and it is perfect for summer. It contains no heavy mayonnaise but, as is typical for Austrian or Bavarian potato salads, the cooked potatoes get coated with a warm dressing containing a homemade beef broth, onions, bacon and some other delicious ingredients.

As far as the Styrian aspect is concerned, I should add the following. Although the salad is wonderful without a “Styrian touch”, it does add another layer of flavor and makes it all the more special, so, just before serving, you can add a few drops of the famous Styrian pumpkin seed oil ("Kürbiskernöl"), toasted pumpkin seeds ("Kürbiskerne") and cress (or omit the cress and add flat leafed parsley).

Pumpkin seed oil is derived from cold-pressing roasted, hulled seeds of the certain varieties of pumpkins, most commonly the Styrian pumpkin. It is a specialty of Styria, a region that encompasses southeast Austria and nearby regions of Slovenia, Croatia and Hungary. Cultivation of the Styrian pumpkin began in the late 1600s. Pumpkin seed oil has a rich green color and a nutty flavor and makes an excellent addition to the traditional Styrian salad dressings.

You can pair the potato salad with rustic meatballs ("Fleischpflanzerl"), schnitzel, chicken cutlets or on its own with pretzel ("Bretzel") or a country style loaf of  bread ("Landbrot").



Recipe for Styrian Potato Salad with Cucumbers (Steirischer Kartoffel-Gurken-Salat)
(serves 4)

Ingredients for the Potato Salad

1.5 pounds medium boiling potatoes, scrubbed well
2 Kirby cucumbers (or one English cucumber)
fine sea salt
5 bacon slices (5 ounces), cut into 1/2-inch pieces
2 cup finely chopped onions
1 tbsp unsalted butter
6  tbsp white wine vinegar
½ cup beef broth (homemade if possible)
1 tbsp coarse-grained mustard (I used coarse-grained Dijon mustard)
3 tbsp sunflower oil (walnut oil is also wonderful particularly if you are not going to add the pumpkin seed oil “as a finishing touch” later on)
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 tsp sugar
flat leafed parsley, finely minced (optional)

To add the “Styrian touch” (optional)

Pumpkin seeds ("Kürbiskerne")
Pumpkin seed oil ("Kürbiskernöl")


Preparation

1. Boil potatoes in salted water until tender when pierced with a paring knife, 20 to 25 minutes (depending on the size of the potatoes). Transfer to a cutting board. Let cool. Peel and then slice thinly and set aside.
2. Peel cucumber(s), halve and seed with a small spoon. Then slice thinly, transfer to a medium bowl. Mix with two pinches of sea salt so that the salt can draw out the moisture from the cukes.
3. Roast the pumpkin seeds (if using) in a dry non-stick pan until they become fragrant. Set aside.
4. Cook the bacon in a heavy skillet over moderate heat, stirring occasionally, until golden and crisp, about 8 minutes. Add the chopped onions to the bacon and cook for three minutes more.
5. To the bacon mix, add the vinegar and the broth, then whisk in the mustard and cook for three minutes on moderately high heat.
6. Then add the sunflower oil to the pan, whisking constantly. You now have a hot dressing.
7. Immediately pour the hot dressing over the cooled and sliced potatoes and mix carefully but well.
8. Drain the cucumber slices and add them to the potato salad. Then add some freshly ground pepper and salt to the salad.
9. Put in the fridge for about two hours. After the two hours adjust seasoning if necessary and add some more pepper and salt to taste..
10. Just before serving, add a few drops of pumpkin seed oil, pumpkin seeds and cress (optional).

Guten Appetit! - Enjoy!

Radish Dip - The Colors of Summer and a Retro Feeling

Summertime, radish time. Radishes (“Radieschen”) are very popular around here. People love to eat them with their sandwiches, as a snack with some salt, at dinner time, at lunch time, all the time. And I had my share of them when I was growing up. I always liked their sharp taste and their crunchiness. We always ate them raw, never cooked.

People used to carve radish roses and put them on the dinner table or display them prominently on the buffet table. But how many different ways can you carve and cut up a radish. Nowadays, at our house, we eat them roasted, cooked or braised and I have even grilled some. I will put them on Asian inspired salads or make them part of an antipasti platter but, somehow, it had never occurred to me to use them in a dip, so when I saw the recipe for Radish Dip,  I just had to give it a try. I bought two bunches of the round red radishes for this dip.

There are so many radish varieties in the stores and markets these days. They are available in spring, summer and fall. There are white, red, or violet ones, long ones, round ones. They carry such fancy names as “White Iciles”, “Purple Plum”, “Spanish Black” or “China Rose”.

But the widely popular little red ones (also called “Cherry Belles”) seem to be best suited for this dip. The recipe for the Radish Dip is extremely easy and quickly prepared – I chose to use one of my favorite oils, extra virgin lemon olive oil, instead of the lemon zest and it was delicious. According to the owner of the local oil mill (yes, there is one in the City of Bonn), lemon olive oil was discovered in Italy “by chance”. After the olive oil was pressed, the owners of the mills used lemons “to clean” the millstones and when they carried on with the oil making process, the olive oil had a delicious, citrusy smell, hence, the lemon olive oil was born.

Radish Dip
(as adapted from Martha Stewart Living, May 2012)


Ingredients for the Radish Dip


Two bunches of red radishes (about 25), julienned, plus whole radishes, for serving
1 1/4 cups sour cream
3 ounces feta cheese, crumbled
1 tbsp extra virgin lemon olive oil (you can also use the zest of  one lemon and then skip the oil)
3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 1/2 teaspoons sea salt
1/3 cup finely chopped fresh dill


Preparation

1. Combine the julienned radishes, sour cream, feta, lemon olive oil (if using) and juice, salt, and dill.
2. Put in the fridge for about an hour while you prepare the Zucchini and Summer Squash Fritters
3. Serve with whole radishes and cucumbers and/or as a topping for the Fritters.








The Radish Dip is also nice as a topping/dip for some delicious Zucchini and Summer Squash Fritters – we loved them . A bit more time consuming to prepare than the Dip but well worth a little bit of effort. You can also prepare them for a crowd and keep them warm in the oven for a while.












Zucchini and Summer Squash Fritters 
(as adapted from Martha Stewart Living, March 1999)

Ingredients for the Zucchini Fritters

1 medium zucchini
1 medium summer squash
1 tsp sea salt
1 tbsp freshly grated lemon zest (from an organic lemon)
10 sprigs fresh flat-leaf parsley, stems removed and leaves finely chopped,
1 medium clove garlic, minced
1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper
2 eggs (L) lightly beaten (organic or free range if possible)
1/2 cup AP flour




Preparation

1. Using the large holes of a box grater, grate the zucchini and squash into a medium bowl.
2. Add the salt, lemon zest, chopped parsley, garlic, pepper, and eggs. Mix well to combine.
3. Slowly add flour, stirring so no lumps form.
4. Heat 2 tablespoons olive oil in a large saute pan over medium-high heat.
5. Carefully drop about 2 tablespoons zucchini/sqush mixture into pan; repeat.
6. Cook the fritters until they are golden, 2 to 3 minutes.
7. Reduce the heat to medium. Turn fritters, and continue cooking until golden, 2 to 3 minutes more.
8. Transfer the fritters to a plate and set aside in a warm place.
9. Cook the remaining zucchini mixture, adding more oil to the pan if necessary.
10. Serve with Radish Dip and vegetables. You can also serve them with lemon wedges.

We all thought that the Radish Dip together with the Fritters and some summer veggies made a wonderful and light summer dinner/lunch and besides I finally got to use my “retro” style of serving dish (with veggies décor) that I found at a flea market a few weeks ago! It reminds me of the those radish roses...

French Fridays with Dorie - Salmon with Basil Tapenade

This week´s recipe for the French Friday`s with Dorie group is Salmon with Basil Tapenade. The ingredients for this dish already sounded delicious to me. What is not to like about a recipe that requires you to use fresh salmon, homemade black olive tapenade, basil, lemon, pepper, salt and some olive oil.

My fishmonger had wonderful Norwegian salmon and he cut perfect fillets from the thick center portions (no filleting any flounder required for this recipe, and I was relieved). I ended up buying enough fish to feed eight people, it was easy to double the recipe. I prepared the black olive tapenade and added fresh basil, lemon juice, pepper and fine sea salt. Since I made the tapenade with extra virgin lemon olive oil, I did not add lemon zest to the mix. I cut two pockets in each piece of salmon, filled the incisions with the basil tapenade, gave each piece a “little massage” (that was Dorie´s idea, not mine!) and cooked the salmon exactly as specified in the recipe.

I served the salmon with miniature new potatoes, more of the lemon olive oil, extra tapenade and a small purslane salad. All of the taste testers were extremely pleased with the way the salmon tasted and loved the taste of the tapenade, mini potatoes and purslane salad together with the fish. This recipe is definitely a keeper and it scored extra points for ease of preparation. This is simply a wonderful recipe!


What a treat!

Purslane (“Portulak”) - since I love the taste and look of this unusual salad, here is a wonderful quote with respect to purslane that I found  while doing a bit of research on salad recipes: “ You might run across purslane, with its glossy, plump leaves, at a farmers market—and you might even find it growing in the cracks of your sidewalk or in your yard. Luckily, this incredibly nutritious and juicy green is a weed, which means it pops up wild nearly everywhere”. Ian Knauer, Gourmet, August 2008

To see how the other Doristas prepared the Salmon with Basil Tapenade, please click here.

Chunky Peanut, Chocolate, and Cinnamon Cookies. And "Blanche Dael". And, tadaa!, my 100th blog post.

One of my favorite cookies to bake are “Chunky Peanut, Chocolate, and Cinnamon Cookies”. They certainly are crowd pleasers. The cookies combine three wonderful flavors that remain recognizable in the baked cookies. They are ever so slightly crunchy on the outside, even more so,  if you choose not to chop the peanuts too finely and they are moist and chewy in the middle, not dry. Just the way we like our cookies.

As is the case with all recipes, the better quality ingredients that you use, the more flavorful the cookies will taste. Apart from a really good peanut butter and good quality chocolate, I love to use freshly roasted peanuts. The original recipe calls for salted peanuts but we prefer unsalted nuts in our cookies.

People enjoy eating nuts and love to snack on salted peanuts. It is a popular habit to nibble on this snack while watching television. The nuts can be found everywhere in vacuum sealed plastic or foil packages as well as in tins but not freshly roasted. There are not too many places around here that roast fresh peanuts right in the store in front of your eyes.
But we found a wonderful place while we were visiting Maasstricht, a city that I have mentioned a few times before in my blog and that we love to visit quite often. It is situated on both sides of the Meuse - Maas (Dutch) river in the south-eastern part of the Netherlands, on the Belgian border and near the German border.

The store is called “Maison Blanche Dael”, a Maastricht-based coffee roasting company (www.blanchedael.nl). As I mentioned in one of my previous posts ("Bookshop made in heaven"), this coffee roasting and tea packaging company was founded in 1878 and, to this day, is a purveyor to the Royal Dutch Household. In addition to selling coffee, tea, sweets, chocolate and whimsical teapotts and cups, Blanche Dael is also famous with the locals as well as tourists for roasting peanuts in their coffee roasting maschine.

Customers are always intrigued by the fact that the store roasts nuts as well as coffee beans and enjoy watching the roasting process and the smell when they enter the store. I always make sure to buy a few bags of the peanuts for munching on during the drive back home for baking and for gift giving. And I just love the way the store´s paper bags look like, kind of old-fashioned, in a good and familiar kind of way.

Once I bring the peanuts home, I make sure to shell and chop them the day after I bought them…

… I believe that they taste the best when used as soon as possible.

Chunky Peanut, Chocolate, and Cinnamon Cookies
(as adapted from Martha Stewart Living November 2005 and Martha Stewart´s Cookies, published March 11, 2008, page 179)


Ingredients for the Cookies

2 cups AP flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp fine sea salt
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon, preferably from Ceylon
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup smooth peanut butter (I used Calvé peanut butter, a Dutch brand – www.calve.nl)
1 cup packed light-brown sugar
1/2 cup superfine sugar
2 eggs (L), free range or organic
1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips (I did not use chocolate chips but chopped Lindt Excellence 70% )
2/3 cup roasted peanuts, coarsely chopped (I always use unsalted and freshly roasted nuts)
1 package pure vanilla sugar or 2 tsp pure vanilla extract


Preparation

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
2. Whisk together the flour, baking soda, sea salt, and ground cinnamon in a medium bowl.
3. Put the butter and peanut butter in the bowl of your electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and mix on medium speed until combined, about two minutes.
4. Add the light-brown and white sugars and mix for about two minutes.
5. Mix in the eggs.
6. Gradually add the flour mixture and mix until just combined.
7. Fold in the chocolate, peanuts, and vanilla until well distributed.
8. Refrigerate the dough until it is slightly firm, about 15 minutes.
9. Roll dough into 1-inch balls (I always use an ice cream scoop instead) and space the dough balls 2 to 3 inches apart on your baking sheets lined with unbleached parchment paper or silpat mats.  If you wish, flatten the dough slightly (I do not find that step necessary) and chill the remaining dough while baking one sheet at a time.
10. Bake until just golden, about 11 to 13 minutes,depending entirely upon your oven but do be careful not to overbake or the cookies will become too dry.
11. Transfer the baked cookies to wire racks to cool  - no need to let them cool completely, they taste delicious while they are still a bit warm.
12. Serve with milk or tea and enjoy.



I absolutely love this recipe. The cookies are delicious and have a great peanut flavor. The whole family enjoys them and they are easy to make. 

It is nice to be able to use freshly roasted peanuts from a place that you know but, of course, that is not absolutely necessary and you can play around with this recipe a bit too by using a different chocolate, for example, or you could choose to use salted peanuts and chop them as coarsely or finely as you wish.

And if you prefer peanut butter cookies without chocolate but with a twist, like a well-known hazelnut spread, you could also try the Peanut Butter and Nutella Cookies.

Serve these cookies with a tall glass of milk or some tea or with vanilla ice cream or just as a snack. Whichever way you choose to serve them, I am sure that these cookies will be a success!

Tuesdays with Dorie - Semolina Bread

Today`s recipe for the Tuesdays with Dorie group is „Semolina Bread“, a recipe that was contributed by author, teacher and baker extraordinaire Nick Malgieri.

The recipe itself is not long and seemed rather uncomplicated. Apart from yeast, all purpose flour, salt, and olive oil, the main ingredient of the bread is semolina flour, a flour often associated with Italian breads, it is a flour milled from durum wheat, it is yellow in color and the very flour used for pasta making. The obvious store to get this flour was my favorite Italian store. I have often bought semolina flour before (I use it for pasta making and for baking cakes) but for this bread, I needed to replenish my stock.

The preparation, although somewhat of a lengthy process, was easy enough. After you prepare the sponge and wait two hours for it to rise and double in volume, you add the remaining ingredients, mix everything together for a few minutes, put the dough into an oiled bowl and then you wait for about another two hours for it all to double in volume (first rise), then you deflate and shape, transfer to a baking sheet and wait another two hours until the dough doubles in bulk again (second rise). Then you slash lines on the sides of the loaf and then you finally get to bake the bread for about 35 minutes. Of course, I had to use a really sharp kitchen knife for the “slashing” since I was fresh out of razor blades. I must say that the bread did smell wonderful while baking.

All sounds not too complicated but somehow, without a picture, I really did not know how this bread was supposed to look like. Not that I had never seen semolina bread before but this particular one was a bit of a mystery to me. I should also add that semolina bread is not a bread readily available at the bakeries around here unless you can find one of the very few bakeries that specializes in Italian breads.

So, I ended up having to bake the bread twice. The second time the semolina bread just looked better that my first try, not as flat, more bread like and a little bit more, well, photogenic.

I served the bread with a wonderful light olive oil for dipping (the same one that I used for the dough, although only one tablespoon was required) and some delicious green and black olives. The taste testers loved nibbling on this bread and agreed that I should bake this again sometime. And I will bake it again because although I was not all that happy with the "looks" of this bread, I loved the way the bread tasted, fresh and toasted, the day after it was baked.

Our gracious hosts for today's recipe are Renee of The Way to My Family´s Heart and Anna of Keep it Luce - a big Thank You to both!

To see how the other Doristas prepared the Semolina Bread, please click here.

"Happy Bastille Day!" - "Joyeux Quatorze Juillet!"

Why don´t you celebrate this years “Bastille Day" -  "Quatorze Juillet " with a wonderful Coconut Cake with Berries and Cream, similar to a Tres Leches Cake but with a coconutty twist – it is a wonderful cake to celebrate the French National Holiday on the Fourteenth of July!

I found this recipe in the July 2012 edition of Martha Stewart Living. It was featured as part of the Fourth of July celebration menu but I thought it would be just as fitting for a French Fourteenth of July celebration menu. Whatever day you celebrate, this cake is an absolute winner!

Coconut Cake with Berries and Cream
(as adapted from Martha Stewart Living, July 2012)

Ingredients for the Cake

1 stick unsalted butter, melted and cooled, plus more for pans
6 eggs (L), separated (organic or free range, if possible)
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp fine sea salt
1 cup superfine sugar
1 package of pure vanilla sugar or 2 tsp of pure vanilla extract
1/3 cup flaked unsweetened coconut, toasted and finely ground
1 cup AP flour, divided
2 cups heavy cream, divided
1 can (13.75 ounces) unsweetened coconut milk
1 can (14 ounces) sweetened condensed milk
3 cups mixed fresh berries (I used blueberries, strawberries and raspberries but blackberries or other fruit would be just as delightful)

Preparation

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and generously butter a 9-by-13-inch glass baking pan.
2. Whisk together the egg whites, baking soda, and salt in a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment on medium speed, until soft peaks form, four to five minutes.
3. Add the egg yolks to the egg-white mixture, and whisk until completely combined.
4. Gradually add sugar, vanilla sugar (or extract) and whisk until combined.
5. Fold in the melted butter and the finely ground coconut with a large rubber spatula.
6. Sift 1/4 cup flour onto the mixture and fold to combine. Repeat with the remaining flour, folding in 1/4 cup at a time.
7. Pour the batter into the prepared glass baking pan and bake the cake until it is golden and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, 20 to 25 minutes.
8. Meanwhile, whisk together one cup of heavy cream, the coconut milk, and the condensed milk.
9. As soon as the cake is removed from the oven, pour the cream mixture over the cake.
10. Let the cake cool completely in pan on a wire rack.
11. Cover the cooled cake with some plastic wrap and refrigerate it for at least five hours and up to eight hours (I found five hours to be quite sufficient).

Serving

Just before serving, whisk the remaining cup of heavy cream until soft peaks form, and spread over the cake. Serve with mixed berries, some on top, the rest on the side.

"Happy Bastille Day!" -  "Joyeux Quatorze Juillet!"

French Fridays with Dorie: Blueberry-Mascarpone Roulade - And a morning spent blueberry picking

This week`s recipe for the French Fridays with Dorie group is Blueberry-Mascarpone Roulade. At first glance, the recipe seems rather long with a lot of different steps but after the second read, it becomes obvious that this is not a complicated recipe at all but a simple, summery recipe for a cake filled with blueberries and a cream.

Since this is a roulade filled with blueberries, the most important ingredient to get is, of course, the blueberries and what better activity for a summer´s day than to pick blueberries with all the kids involved in the action. So we packed up the car and drove to the one and only blueberry farm that I am aware of. It is about a thirty minute drive and we go there once a year to pick three huge baskets full of delicious, wonderful blueberries.

So this year we went blueberry picking a little earlier than in previous years but with that roulade in mind and all the other lovely blueberry dishes that will make an appearance at our house soon, nobody complained. Even the weather was perfect.

Back home, the roulade was quickly made, I usually bake a strawberry roulade and I do not find it particularly difficult or intimidating to bake this jelly roll style of cake. It was easy to follow the directions in Dorie´s recipe and the cake turned out wonderful and light, just the way we like it. While the cake was cooling, the blueberries had to be dropped in hot sugary syrup to soften and sweeten them ever so slightly. After cake and berries were cool enough, I folded the blueberries into the mascarpone and cream, spread the cream onto the cake, rolled the cake up and put it into the frigde to set for a while. All that was left to do before we devoured the cake, was to dust it with confectioner´s sugar. I then plated it and it was gone in about fifteen minutes.

We all adored this cake, it was wonderful with afternoon tea (I loved Earl Grey tea with this cake). It is just a marvelous cake, not too sweet and very pretty. It was fun reading through Dorie´s recipe and all of the “bonnes idées” and preparing the cake and the end result was just delicious. I followed the recipe to the letter and I would not hesitate to make this again, for a special occasion as well as an every day treat and it was well worth the extra effort of picking fresh blueberries!

Voilà! - Enjoy!

Biscoff Oatmeal Cookies - Wonderful with Summer Fruits

Those Biscoff Oatmeal Cookies are quite wonderful alongside the "flat" peaches, "sugar apricots" and "mini flat nectarines" that I found at the market a few days ago - I do not really know how they are all properly called in English, but these apricots, peaches (did you see these on the cover of the August issue of "Martha Stewart Living" Magazine?) and nectarines are not only sweeter that the "regular kinds" but are also much prettier.

And Biscoff Cookies, well, a lot of people are raving about the Biscoff Spread. A few months ago,  I also made the Bicscoff Oatmeal Cookies and already posted the recipe for these Cookies (see my post), so there is only pictures today.

When we are in the Netherlands, I always buy a few jars of the famous Biscoff Spread and I have since learned that a similar spread is also available from an American company as "Cookie Spread" or "Speculoos Cookie Butter".

 The European Biscoff Spread is now available in two kinds, regular and crunchy, with little pieces of Biscoff Cookies throughout the Spread, delicious! When I made them the first time, I added 3.5 ounces (100 g) Côte d´Or chocolate to the cookie dough and used the regular Biscoff Cookie Spread. This time,  I decided to leave out the chocolate and use the crunchy Biscoff Spread. My taste testers told me that the Biscoff Oatmeal Cookies turned out to be even a bit more wonderful with the crunchy Spread than with the regular Spread!

We liked the Cookies a lot when I made them the first time and we liked them even a bit more this time.

Serve the Biscoff Oatmeal Cookies alongside some fresh summer fruits and whether you will use the regular or crunchy Spread, add dark or white chocolate (as some bakers do) you will not regret having tried this easy and delicious cookie recipe! Just make sure not to use add ins that will overpower the distict taste of the Speculoos cookies that comes from adding the Spread and some additional cinnamon. And, again, as I often mentioned already,when using cinnamon in baked goods (or other fare) try to use good cinnamon, preferably from Ceylon.