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Chocolate buns
Hello,
In Spain there are a very popular chocolate buns called bollycao, specially popular on the youngest population, and on this recipe I emulate these popular chocolate buns. They taste truly amazing but there is a lot of work behind, having some robot to perform the kneading will be great to save a lot of time.
Ingredients (to obtain about 8 buns):
- 500 gr flour
- 400 gr milk
- 175 gr sugar
- 100 gr butter
- 300 gr chocolate
Let’s start preparing a preferment with 100 gr of flour, 5 gr of dry baker’s yeast (and if you have fresh baker’s yeast use about 15 gr dissolved in milk) and 100 gr of milk. Mix well and let rest all night cover with transparent film.
Next day add 400 gr of flour, 300 gr of milk, 175 gr of sugar and one tea spoon of salt. First mix everything in the bowl and then you should start to knead this dough, as you can see in the video this dough is like processed baby food really difficult to work due it’s high percentage of liquids. You can knead using the technique of lifting the dough, turn 90 degrees bash it to the table drag to you and fold over itself, after time and time it will become more handleable.
When the dough is quite handleable add 100 gr of butter, which must be some hours out of fridge. Integrate the butter in the dough and again it starts a knightmare in your kitchen, you will believe Gordon Ramsay will enter through your door and blame you for quite long. I took about 2 hours kneading, it is good to make some pauses like kneading 5 minutes, resting 5 minutes and knead again, these pauses help the dough to be more handleable. Of course if you have a food processor able to knead, it will save you lots of time. As a tip, to clean your hands, instead of water get some flour and rub your hands, this way the rests of dough in your hands will dry and will be easier to wash, avoiding also obstruct your pipes.
When you feel the dough is handleable enough, let rest covered with transparent film for at least 4 hours.
After resting knead again the dough, but just about one minute. Spread some flour over the surface, cut a bit of dough and extend it over the surface with flour, place over the dough pieces of chocolate and then wrap the cocholate with the dough and roll it to get the chocolate sealed. You can fill them with dark or white chocolate, even with frozen custard or a mix of them.
Finally bake in the oven at 430 F (220º C) for 12 minutes.
Music played in the video (Airport Lounge) was composed by Kevin MacLeod (http://incompetech.com), also he is the owner of song’s rights which are released under a CC-BY license.
St John’s coca
Hello,
This dessert very typical in Catalonia on St John’s day, you can find them on each bakery, pastry shop, take away food store, supermarkets. And you can also find a wide range of them, but my favorite one is this one I show you on this recipe, with custard on top. It’s completely amazing, and it’s not me saying it, the same said my family and my colleagues in work (who also had the choice to taste it). The only con, it takes some time to cook it, but no pain no gain 🙂
Ingredients (to cook 2 of them):
- 500 gr flour
- 50 gr butter
- Corn flour
- 1 litre of milk
- 250 gr sugar
- 4 eggs
- Cinnamon
- Lemon zest
- Baker’s yeast (5gr dry, 15 gr if it’s fresh)
- Vanilla extract
- Pine seeds
- Laminated almonds
- Candied cherries
- Anise
Let’s start heating 400 gr of milk, with a stick of cinnamon and lemon (or orange) zest. Simmer until the milk boils, then maintain in the fire for 2 minutes and let cold. When milk is warm, add 100 gr of flour in a bowl, 5 gr of dry baker’s yeast (if it’s fresh use 15 gr dissolved in milk) mix well and add 100 gr of previously heated milk passing it through a colander. Mix well with a spatula or a wooden spoon, cover with transparent film and let rest all night. Prepare also mix of 2 tablespoons of sugar, a bit of anise and water, if the mix seems too wet add some extra sugar.
Next day add 400 gr of flour in the bowl, 100 gr of sugar, 200 grams of the milk heated the day before and half teaspoon of salt. Mix well everything first in the bowl and then knead it to obtain a soft and silky dough. To knead it I lift it with my hands, turn 90 degrees, dash to the table, drag a bit to me and then with a wrist move fold over itself, you need to repeat these movement for quite a long time, perhaps 8 to 15 minutes until the dough looks silky. Now spread the dough and add over 50 gr of butter in small pieces, the butter should be for some hours out of fridge so it will be easier to integrate in the dough. Once the butter is well integrated in the dough we need to knead again in the same way as before, and again for some quite long time. Once you finished kneading keep the dough on the bowl covered with a transparent film and let rest about 4-5 hours.
You can do the custard now, to prepare it add on a bowl half litre of milk, 100 gr of sugar and 3 egg yolks. To keep away the egg yolks, crash the egg and move the egg yolk from each half part of the egg shell. Add also a tablespoon of corn flour and whisk it with energy. You can also add some ground cinnamon and vanilla extract to make it more tasty. Put this mix on a pot and simmer while stiring with a wooden spoon. Take patience as you will need to stir until it reduces and gets consistent, and this could take about 20 minutes. Cover and let cold.
After resting the dough it’s time to take it out of the bowl and knead it a bit, like a minute, divide the dough in 2 pieces and spread it over a baking paper, with your hand or with a rolling pin. And let rest for 3 hours. Don’t worry if you see the dough too thick and fragile, it will grow again.
Last steps! Paint the surface with a whisked egg and then cover with custard, well in the video I did upside down, as it is easier to paint first. Spread over also the sugar mixed with anise and water, pine seeds, laminated almonds and some candied cherries. Bake them at 400ºF 15 minutes and let cold before eating.
If you try it, you will love this recipe!
Music played in the video (Airport Lounge) was composed by Kevin MacLeod (http://incompetech.com), also he is the owner of song’s rights which are released under a CC-BY license.
Chocolate and walnuts cookies
Hi,
It was a long time ago I did my first cookies, but for some reasons or other never end with a record session so I can upload the video. Sometimes there was a problem with the ingredients proportions, specially with the butter which (with that formula at least) to be added in a very exact measure: if not enough was added it did not melt enough in the oven so you get a spherical cookie, it too much was added then they melted too much until join all them in a super big cookie (of the size of the oven tray). With the recipe I present to you this time the result is pretty good and don’t need to worry about being so precise with the butter.
Ingredients (for about 25 – 30 cookies):
- 500 gr flour
- 1 lemon (for lemon zest)
- 100 gr sugar
- 80-120 gr chocolate
- 8-12 walnuts
- 4 eggs
- 100 gr butter
Before preparing the cookies dough we will chop 80-120 gr of chocolate and 8-12 walnuts. Chop both without chopping to the point they became dust. Regarding the walnuts I prefer to use nuts with shell, because I find some of the nuts without shell I bought had rancid flavor.
Now let’s prepare the dough adding on a bowl 500 gr of flour, 100 gr of sugar, 4 eggs (you can whisk them before adding), 100 gr of butter cut in small pieces and out of fridge for some hours so it will be integrated easier in the dough, add lemon zest to add extra flavor, you can replace or add also ground cinnamon, orange zest, vanilla extract (or even rum or Baileys). Finally add the already chopped chocolate and walnuts.
Mix well until everything is well integrated. When you have all the ingredients well integrated, give it a rectangular shape, cover with transparent film and let rest in the fridge for at least one hour. After resting cut the dough in small portions and give them spherical shape working them with your hands. Finally cover the oven tray with oven paper, smash all spherical portions to get a round cookie shape and place on the tray, probably you will need to bake them in several batches. Bake in the oven at 350ºF (180ºC) for 18-20 minutes, and don’t eat them until some hours.
Music played in the video (Airport Lounge) was composed by Kevin MacLeod (http://incompetech.com), also he is the owner of song’s rights which are released under a CC-BY license.
Lemon pasta
Hi,
Some days ago taking a look on my old bedroom on my parent’s house I’ve found a book by Giuliano Hazan, The classic pasta cookbook, truly an amazing book teaching you how to make fresh pasta yourself, as well as most popular italian sauces and a lot of recipes with pasta. And this catch my eye for unknown reasons, maybe because I like to cook with lemon, who knows? The result is really amazing and straightforward to cook, unfortunately it’s not a good idea to eat it every day because it has a considerable amount of fat.
Ingredients:
- Pasta
- 1 lemon
- 50 gr butter
- 100 ml milk cream
- Parmeggiano cheese
- Optionally fresh basil and ground pepper
So let’s start adding about 50 gr of butter on pan, better cut in small cubes. When butter is melt add the juice of one lemon as well as lemon zest, cook the butter with lemon for about half minute. Then add about 100 ml of cream milk and cook until the sauce reduces to less than half of it’s initial volume stirring some times.
Reserve the sauce and cook the pasta in boiling water with a bunch of salt. When pasta is cooked drain it and add to the pan back to fire stirring to mix all well. Finally add some grated parmeggiano cheese and optionally fresh chopped basil and ground pepper.
Music played in the video (Airport Lounge) was composed by Kevin MacLeod (http://incompetech.com), also he is the owner of song’s rights which are released under a CC-BY license.
Bandullo
Hello,
This recipe it’s a kind of sponge cake replacing flour with bread (with some days), the result is an hybrid between a cake and torrijas, very interesting:
Ingredients:
- Bread (some days old)
- Lemon zest
- 50 gr butter
- 3 eggs
- 70 gr sugar
- ½ litre of milk
- Ground cinnamon
- Baking powder (aprox 16 gr)
On a blender cup add the bread and half litre of milk. Add also baking powder, 50 gr of butter, 70 grams of sugar, 3 eggs, some lemon zest and a bit of ground cinnamon. Mix well.
Add a bit of vegetable oil in the mold and paint all the mold with a brush. Add the mix on the mold and bake in the oven at 350ºF (180ºC) for 40-45 minutes.
Music played in the video (Airport Lounge) was composed by Kevin MacLeod (http://incompetech.com), also he is the owner of song’s rights which are released under a CC-BY license.
King Cake (Roscón de Reyes)
Hi,
Someweeks ago Ibán Yarza, which is a bread enthusiast and translator into spanish of Dan Lepard’s books about bread, give a training session about Christmas breads, focusing on panettone and King Cake (Roscón de Reyes in Spanish); cooking a panettone is a way complicated but the King Cake is more affordable, even it has a considerable amount of work behind. You need patience and time to prepare it, and on this recipe I will show you how to cook 2 King Cakes.
This cake is very typical in Spain on Epiphany day. Sometime some surprises are hidden in the dough: a king and a bean, the one finding the king is crowned and the one finding the bean must pay the cake 🙂
Ingredients (for 2 king bakes):
- 250 ml milk
- Skin of a lemon and an orage
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 440 gr flour
- 80 gr sugar
- 5 gr dry baker’s yeast (or 15-20 if it is fresh)
- 3 eggs
- 60 g unsalted butter
- 2 teaspoons of orange blossom water
- 4 teaspoons of rum
- Candied fruit (for decoration)
- Sliced almonds (for decoration)
First day we will prepare a preferment, to prepare it add about 250 ml of milk in a pot, adding also the skin of a lemon and an orange and a cinnamon stick. Let the milk boil for 2 or 3 minutes taking care it does not overflood the pot. Wait for the milk to reach ambient temperature and add on a bowl 100gr of flour, half teaspoon of dry baker’s yeast and 60 gr of previously boiled milk, knead it in the same bowl, form a ball and cover with transparent film, let rest for at least a night.
Next day remove the film and add 340gr of flour, 80 gr of sugar, about 4 gr of dry baker’s yeast, half teaspoon of salt, 2 teaspoons of orange blossom water, 4 teaspoons of rum, 2 eggs and 120 gr of milk boiled the day before. Mix well all ingredients helping you first with a spoon or spatula and then use your hands. When everything is well mixed it’s time to knead on the table, so put the content of bowl in the table and help you with a spatula to get the most part of dough which will be stick to the walls of the bowl.
And now it’s time to knead, use your hands as showels with all your 4 fingers stuck on each other (the less surface you offer to the dough the less will get stuck to your hands), pass your hands under the dough touching your fingers, hold (without pressing) the dough with your thumbs in the middle of dough, lift the dough, drop it to the table, drag it to you and with a wrist move fold the dough and separate your hands, now you need to repeat the move placing your hands on 90 degrees. Hope it is more clear watching the video 🙂
It will take you some time to knead it, about 10 to 15 minutes, you can take some rests collecting the dough stuck on the table with the help of a spatula, let the dough rest for 2-3 minutes and it will be more easy to handle. No stress no hurry up, just take your time, and take as rests as you need. After kneading, kneading and kneading the dough will be less sticky, and each time you lift it there will be almost no dough on the table, when the dough is in this state help you with a spatula to give the dough a round form as you can see in the video. Cover with a dishcloth and let ferment for about 1 hour.
You will see how the dough increased it’s volume, this is always amazing to see. Extend with your hands the dough and place over it 60 gr of unsalted butter, take the butter out of fridge some hours before. Integrate the butter on the dough and knead again as before, until you get a shiny and soft silky dough, again give it a round form with a spatula and cover with a dishcloth and let ferment for about an hour.
Divide the dough in 2 parts. With each part we will knead it for just one minute or two and help again with the spatula to give int a round form. Insert a finger in the middle and then with some skill form a kind of bagel. When formed put each part over an oven paper and brush them with a whisked egg, taking care to brush all the dough. Let rest for some hours.
After resting we can brush it again the the whisked egg, and decorate them with candied fruit (I used oranges and cherries) sliced almods, even you can place bands of sugar.
Cook in the oven at 400ºF (200º C) for 14-17 minutes, until it gets a nice colour. Let cold and enjoy! You can also cut it in half and stuff with cream, custard, chocolate …
Here you can take a look on how it is cooked in the oven on a high speed camera 🙂
Music played in the video (Airport Lounge) was composed by Kevin MacLeod (http://incompetech.com), also he is the owner of song’s rights which are released under a CC-BY license.
Croquettes
Hello,
Croquettes are very typical in Spain as a tapa in bars or as an appetizer. There are several ways to prepare them around the world, but my approach will be a very spanish one 🙂
Ingredients ( ~ 16 croquettes)
- 2 eggs
- 100 gr breadcrumbs
- 200 gr flour
- 200 gr ham
- Ground nutmeg
- 100 gr unsalted butter
- ½ litre of milk
Start cutting ham in very small pieces. I used about 200 gr of ham, but you have to use less amount if your ham is too salty. Also you can add other ingredients as for example chicken or tuna.
On a pot add 100 gr of unsalted butter, when butter is almost molten add cut ham, stir it until butter is totally molten. Then add 100 gr of flour, stir while cooking it for about 1 minute until flour is cooked. Then add ½ litre of milk at ambient temperature and a bit of ground nutmeg. Move constantly with a wooden spoon to avoid lumps and it will be ready in a couple of minutes when you can see the bottom of your pot when moving with the spoon.
Empty the pot in a recipient and level the surface. Cover with a transparent film stick to the surface to avoid crust in the surface. Let cold and maintain in the fridge until next day.
Next day with a spoon take portions of the dough and give them a cylindrical shape with your hands. Try to get always a similar amount of dough so each croquettes result in a very similar size. Once you have all your croquettes shaped, pass each of them first in flour, then in whisked egg and finally in breadcrumbs.
In a pot heat oil, adding enough to immerse the croquettes. When you insert a wooden spoon in the oil and bubbles appear the temperature of oil is right to fry. Now immerse the croquettes in small batches cooking them about 40 to 50 seconds. Retire them over a paper towel to absorb the excess of oil, and let the oil heat again between each batches of croquettes.
Music played in the video (Airport Lounge) was composed by Kevin MacLeod (http://incompetech.com), also he is the owner of song’s rights which are released under a CC-BY license.
Quesada pasiega
Hello,
Quesada pasiega is a very typical dessert in Cantabria, a region in North Spain, it’s quite similar to a cheesecake but this recipe does not use cheese at all, instead it uses Cuajada, if you cannot find cuajada, perhaps you can replace it with ricotta. This dessert is really easy to prepare and it’s really nice, I bring it to work so colleagues could taste it, and it was really a success.
Ingredients:
Add 3 eggs in a bowl, 200 gr of sugar, grate the skin of one lemon, 80 gr of butter (melted or out of fridge for some hours) and a bit of ground cinnamon. Whisk well. Then add 150 gr of flour and whisk well again. Finally add 1 kg of cuajada and give it a last good whisk.
Finally fill molds with the mix, with a maximum height of 3-4 centimeters and cook in the oven at 350ºF (180º F) for 50 minutes, or perhaps more, until the surface gets slightly toasted. Don’t worry if you see it grow too much in the oven, it will reduce its size while cooling.
As you can see a really easy recipe, perhaps the only non easy part could be find the cuajada 🙂
Music played in the video (Airport Lounge) was composed by Kevin MacLeod (http://incompetech.com), also he is the owner of song’s rights which are released under a CC-BY license.
Stuffed bread (with ham and cheese)
Hello,
This is a polyvalent recipe, you can use it for breakfast, at launch time, on a picnic … It takes its time to prepare mostly because you need the yeast to do its work, and it works at its own rythm, just be patient 🙂
Ingredients:
- ½ kg flour
- 250 ml milk
- 70 gr butter
- 70 gr sugar
- 1 egg
- Baker’s yeast (about 5 gr, dry)
- 250 gr ham
- 200 gr brie cheese
Heat 250 ml of milk and 70 gr of butter until butter is dissolved and let cool until a warm temperature. Then add ½ kg of flour in a bowl through a colander, add also 70 gr of sugar, baker’s yeast, a coffee spoon of salt and the milk with butter. Mix well first with a spatula or wooden spoon and then with your hands. Once well mixed you need to knead it on a table, keep kneading it for about 10 minutes. If it is still sticky just let rest for about 20 minutes and then will be non sticky.
Let the dough rest in a bowl cover with a cloth and let rest for at least one hour.
After that time the dough will double in volume now you have to smash it with your hands and then with the help of a rolling pin. Just stretch the dough without hesitating too much about the shape.
Once strechted cover with 2 or 3 layers of ham. Over the ham place some sticks of brie cheese.
Fold the dough and try to cover the ends. Let rest for about 1 hour. Finally paint the bread with a whisked egg and cook in the oven at 350º F (180º C ) for 20 minutes.
Music included in the video (Airport Lounge) is composed and their rights belong to Kevin MacLeod (http://incompetech.com), the music is distributed with a CC-by license.
Swedish cinnamon buns (kanelbullar)
Hello,
Some days ago I tried the swedish cinnamon buns for the first time, but I was fully satisfied with the result, so I tried to fix the mistakes done in the first try and end up with a really nice recipe. Well being honest even in the first round I did some mistakes my brother and my colleagues in work were very happy with the result, but they went even happier with this one.
Ingredients:
- ½ litre milk
- 1 Kg flour
- 250 gr sugar
- Ground cinnamon
- Ground cardamom
- 200 gr butter
- 1 egg
- Baker’s yeast (5gr dry)
Hi this recipe is a nice one to start your day full of energy or to offer to friends or family.
Start heating ½ litre of milk and 100 gr of butter until butter is dissolved. Wait for the milk to be warm and add to a bowl. In the bowl add also 1 kg of flour, 1 envelope of baker’s yeast (5 gr), 150 gr of sugar, 1 tablespoon of ground cardamom and a pinch of salt. Mix well with a spoon or spatula, then mix with your hands for a while.
Put the dough over a clean surface and knead it. You will need to kneed the dough for at least 6 minutes until it becomes non sticky and with a smooth surface. Put the dough back in the bowl, cover with a cloth ant let rest for at least 1 and ½ hour, so the yeast do its work and the dough raises.
For the filling we will need 100 gr of melted butter, 100 grams of sugar and 2 tablespoons of ground cinnamon. Mix them until well combined.
Spread some flour on the surface and start smashing the dough with your hands, and then work it with a rolling pin to get a rectangular shape. In order to get the rectangular shape, fold the dough and continue working with the rolling pin. Spread the filling over the dough, and carefully distribute over all the surface. Roll the dough and cut in pieces about 3-4 centimetres. Let rest those pieces for about 1 hour.
Paint the pieces with whisked egg using a brush, sprinkle some sugar above or like I did grated coconut. Cook in the oven at 430ºF (220º C) with fan on if you have for about 6 minutes until they are gold.
Song included in the video (Airport lounge) is composed and its rights are owned by Kevin MacLeod (http://incompetech.com)
Recipes from Spain 