Hello everybody.
Here are photos of my different trials making biscotti.
Anise, ginger, chocolate and nuts,coconut and jam and dates.
Really can’t decide which one is the yummiest, personally i loved the chocolate and ginger most.
Biscottis.
Hello everybody.
Been trying different types of biscottis lately , all results were excellent by means of taste and texture.
not so sweet and not too hard, the right thing to have with your morning coffee.
Base of dough is almost the same but I used different flavors, anise seeds, coconut and blackberry jam and today’s amazing ones were chocolate with nuts.
Ingredients and method:
Coconut jam biscotti:
- 3 medium sized eggs or 2 large .
- 1 cup sugar.
- 1/2 cup butter
- 1/2 cup vegetable oil.
- 1 cup coconut
- 3 tablespoons blackberry jam
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1 tsp baking powder.
- 2 cups flour ( might need a bit more to make dough easy to handle)
Chocolate Nuts Biscotti:
- substitute coconut and jam with 3 tablespoons cocoa and half a cup of crushed nuts ( walnuts ,almonds and hazelnuts)
*Beat eggs, vanilla and sugar well till creamy.
*Add butter and oil.
*Add all other ingredients subsequently till you get a a dough , you can add extra flour to make it easy to form.
*Shape dough to a cylinder then cut with a sharp knife to slices.
*Bake in a medium heated oven for 10-15 minutes or till bottom is firm .
*Leave to cool then store in a cookie jar or tin.
Enjoy them with coffee or tea , taste is magical believe me.
Floral Cakes.
Hello everybody.
Made these two lemon velvet cakes last week with cherry cream cheese frosting.
Used fresh flowers for decorating with different shades of colors in frosting, result was elegant fresh lovely cakes.
Layali Lebanon (ليالي لبنان)
Hello everybody.
Just realized that I don’t have this recipe on the blog, though maybe it’s one of oldest ones in my cookbook.
I remember back in the eighties when it was a real hit, you’d find it in every occasion, lunch or dinner along with the upside down Pineapple cake and trifle.
Well it’s a simple easy recipe,specially if you can find fresh local cream. Today I made it from scratch turned out really good.
Ingredients and method :
For the first layer :
* 4 cups milk
* 3/4 cup fine semolina.
* 1/2 cup sugar.
* 1/4 tsp crushed mistaka.
* 1 tablespoon rose water.
Mix all ingredients then heat till it boils then thickens.
Spread in a wide dish or small ones as you prefer.
For the cream :
* 1 litre of fresh whole milk (skimmed won’t work)
* 5-6 tablespoons vinegar.
* heat milk then add vinegar before it boils. Milk will break to water and cream.
* sieve well to remove all water.
Then add this mixture
* 2 cups milk
* 2 tablespoons cornstarch.
* 1/2 cup sugar.
* 1/4 tablespoon crushed mistaka.
* one tablespoon rose water.
Mix milk, sugar and cornstarch then heat till it boils and thickens.
add mistaka and rosewater.
When this pudding cools add the curd cheese to it and mix well.
* Spread over semolina mixture and leave to cool several hours.
* Garnish with crushed pistachios and add sugar syrup as preferable.
Mini Qatayef With A Twist.
Hello everybody.
Ramadan Kareem.
Tried these cute mini qatayef today, they’re similar to the ones served with cream or Nutella but in a different way.
You’ll need mini sized qatayef , fresh cream, crushed pistachios and sugar syrup or honey.
Spray a mini cupcake pan with vegetable oil then put qatayef in it , bake for 15-20 minutes or till edges are golden.
Cool then fill with fresh cream or ricotta with a one tablespoon rosewater and few crushed mistika
Decorate with pistachios, add honey upon serving.
Simple,easy and delicious
Ramadan Kareem.
Hello everybody.
Full week before Ramadan full of birthdays,meaning lots of different cakes.
Started with a coconut jam cake topped with cement like frosting and violet roses
Followed by lemon velvet with beach color cream cheese frosting and roses.
Then I made this beautiful cake for my sister’s twins, topped with cereal and wrapped with white Kit Kat.
The other day we celebrated a dear friend’s birthday with a lovely elegant pistachio cake.
And finally today I made this simple vanilla cake with chocolate icing and strawberries on top for a handsome young boy.
Now we’re all ready for the holy month of Ramadan, may it be filled with love and peace.
Latest Banan Cooking Orders.
Hello everybody.
Sorry for the delay in posting new stuff, lots of work and events.
I’d like to show you my latest orders, many cakes, trays and cookies.
Made two lovely Lemon Velvet cakes with berries on top, really loved them
and these two all fruits tart and mini baked cheesecakes.
with some with chocolate, recipe same as knafeh cheesecake but different toppings.
Another lemon velvet with shivered almonds and berries
A selection of cookies for a charity bazaar in my hometown including rock cookies,oatmeal and cranberries, ginger raisin, aniseed and brownies.
and last thing was a colorful healthy cheese platter and sandwiches for a breakfast.
Happy Palm Sunday.
Hello everybody.
Did this Easter inspired cake today for a friend and I may say it turned out very nice, though i took the idea from Pinterest but of course colors and final look weren’t exactly the same.
Cake is chocolate with cream cheese filling and Oreo , brown spots on cake are done from a paste of cocoa and water then dripped with a brush and nest effect done with knafeh pastry .
Hope you’re all enjoying your holy holidays.
Decorating With Russian Nozzles.
Hello everybody, hope you’re enjoying Spring.
Couple of days ago I tried decorating my lemon poppy seed cupcakes with cream cheese icing using the Russian nozzles for the first time.
Outcome was nice considering that I didn’t practice before and surprisingly cream cheese frosting was good enough, cause everybody says that these tools only work with butter cream .
Well now that I’m happy with those I guess I should buy all shapes 🙂
Happy Mother’s Day.
Hello everybody.
Long full day, full of cakes flowers and presents.
Grand finale were two beautiful cakes for my mother in-law and mom، though I assembled them in a hurry but they turned out real beauties, covered with colored cream to match the macaroons and meringues on top.
First layer was lemon velvet filled with strawberries and top layer chocolate filled with ganache. So yummy.
Happy Mother’s Day to all lovely moms.