Making Scones

Another recipe from the famous Rose Bakery in Paris! For quite a while I have fancied Rose's maple syrup scones. When my daughter and our friend Lenka felt like trying out some new recipes for a tea party I seized my opportunity and suggested the scones. Equipped with the BREAKFAST-LUNCH-TEA cookbook and all the necessary ingredients and tools, making scones for the first time went very smooth.

Rose Carrarini doesn't exaggerate saying that these scones smell like heaven when they just come out of the oven! They are soft and light and warm and taste great with any topping (even tomato paste, as I discovered the next day).

Maple syrup scones


260g (1 3/4 cups) plain flour
80g (1/2 cup) wholewheat flour
13g (1/2 cup) rolled oats
1 very heaped tablespoon baking powder
1 very heaped tablespoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
160g (3/4 cup) butter, cut into pieces, plus extra for greasing
4 tablespoons maple syrup
about 4 tablespoons milk
1 egg, beaten

Preheat oven to 200°C (400°F) and grease a baking tray with butter.

Sift the plain and wholewheat flours into a bowl and mix in the oats, baking powder, sugar and salt.

Add the butter and rub in wit your fingers until the mixture resembles fresh breadcrumbs.

In another bowl, mix together the syrup and 4 tablespoons milk.

Make a well in the middle of the flours and oats and pour in the syrup and milk mixture. Use a fork to work it into the dry ingredients. Finish by hand: just lightly bring everything together to form a firm but softish dough. It must not be sticky at all.

On a lightly floured surface, pat or roll the dough into a solid shape about 3 cm thick. Using a 5cm cutter (or a shot glass) cut the dough into rounds and place them on a greased baking tray.

Glaze the tops with the beaten egg, and bake for 20-25 minutes until lightly golden.

Enjoy!

Rose Carrarini's Rhubarb and Orange

Obviously I should give up the idea of a whole Menu in Pink and go instead for  easier things like photographing pink walls and pink glasses or simply a pink dessert..

Rose Carrarini's Rhubarb and Orange is prepared in a moment,  looks beautiful and has been so delicious that tomorrow I'll go and buy more of those lovely sticks. Why not give it a try with lemon as well?

Rose Carrarini's  Rhubarb and Orange
5 sticks rhubarb, trimmed and cut into 7cm pieces
grated zest of 1 orange
about 150g sugar

Preheat oven to 180°C/350°F

Place the rhubarb in a baking dish and mix in the orange zest and sugar according to taste. You will need to add a fair amount of sugar as this will lift the flavour of the fruit and provide a little syrup.

Cover with foil and bake in the oven between 15 and 25 minutes, depending on the quality of the rhubarb. As soon as  a knife slips easily into the fruit it is ready.

Chill.

The longer the rhubarb reposes in the syrup, the nicer the colour.  Enjoy!

Rose Carrarini's Pistachio Cakes

One of my most loved cookbooks at the moment is Breakfast, Lunch, Tea from Rose Bakery in Paris.
Rose Bakery offers a modern, simple and healthy cuisine, using first quality, organic ingredients from regional suppliers. Just what I'm  trying to do here in my everyday kitchen for my family and friends.

One of Rose's recipes I tried out lately is the pistachio cake. I was looking for a nut cake, because I had some leftover roasted ground almonds waiting to be used. Hm, only 60g... well , in the drawer I still stored some hazelnuts,  pistachios and pine nuts from my last Almwiesenmuesli. I ground them all in the little Zyliss drum grater (highly recommendable: my best kitchen tool!) and tadaaa:  the required 200g!

The original cake and the original recipe look like this:

 And here is my variation:

250g butter
200g sugar ( I took 25g less than in the original)
grated zest of one lemon
2 tablespoons rosewater (yes, it gives a very subtle and delicious flavour!)
4 eggs
200g ground almonds, pistachios, pine nuts and hazelnuts
50g flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 pinch of salt

Preheat the oven to 180° C.

Butter  a 25cm cake tin or the cake tins you decide to use.

Beat the butter and sugar until light and creamy. Mix in the lemon zest and the rosewater. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.

Now fold in the ground almonds, ground pistachios, flour, baking powder and salt.
Pout the mixture into the prepared tin and bake for about 40 minutes. 30 minutes if you take smaller baking tins.

I made no topping, because I liked the little Gugelhupfs just like that. Otherwise heat in a saucepan:

50g pistachios , whole or chopped
50g caster sugar
grated zest and juice of on lemon
and pour  the mixture over the cake.