How many elegant savory and sweet tart recipes have you seen with puff pastry? It produces a cloud-like, buttery, puffy crust used in tarts, strudels, pies, and the list goes on. Puff pastry is incredibly versatile. The traditional, very-time consuming method of making a regular puff pastry requires at least 73 layers (says Julia Child)Continue reading “Easy & Incredible Tasting Buttery, Flaky Puff Pastry”
Category Archives: Traditional Foods in Europe
Scottish Black Bun: Hogmanay New Year’s Cake Wrapped in Pastry
The Scottish Hogmanay Black Bun is a satiating sweet treat of dried fruit mixed with an abundance of spices, a bit of flour, and sweetened with brown sugar and molasses. It’s enveloped in a lightly sweetened buttery, flaky pastry resembling a present. It truly is an edible gift of joy and hope. The traditional ScottishContinue reading “Scottish Black Bun: Hogmanay New Year’s Cake Wrapped in Pastry”
Elegant Czech Vánočka: Beautiful Bread for the Holidays
Countries all over the world indulge in fruited holiday breads and cakes like the Italian Panettone, German Stollen, and American Fruitcake. The Czech Republic’s version called Vánočka is no exception. While called a cake, this simple Czech Christmas delight is a lightly sweetened, buttery, enriched, brioche-style yeast bread scented with nutmeg and dotted with driedContinue reading “Elegant Czech Vánočka: Beautiful Bread for the Holidays”
Addicting Finnish Pinwheels: Elegant but Simple Fruit-Filled Sugar Cookies
Cookies or mini tarts? Finnish fruit-filled pinwheels are tasty, sweet treats, perfect for the holidays. This version made with a tender shortbread artistic cookie dough and dollops of sweet homemade dried fruit filling is a must try. While prune filling is traditional, you can use your favorite dried fruit instead like cranberries, cherries, blueberries, dates,Continue reading “Addicting Finnish Pinwheels: Elegant but Simple Fruit-Filled Sugar Cookies”
Holiday Rolled Baklava: Wonderful Spices, Pistachios, Pomegranate, & Orange
The smell, taste, and look of the holidays rolled into a sticky, crunchy, sweet confection does more than tickle your senses. My holiday rolled baklava recipe focuses on holiday flavors to include pistachios, pomegranate seeds, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, brown sugar, and orange zest rolled in layers of buttered phyllo dough and coated in a honey-orangeContinue reading “Holiday Rolled Baklava: Wonderful Spices, Pistachios, Pomegranate, & Orange”
Herbaceous Greek Spanakopita: Tempting Savory Spinach & Cheese Pie
Greek Spanakopita is a savory spinach and cheese pie with layers of flaky phyllo crust. This recipe includes spinach, feta, eggs, leek, parsley, dill, nutmeg surrounded by a hearty, flaky commercial or homemade phyllo dough brushed with olive oil for a completely satisfying dish. This tasty pie makes a great snack, a main course withContinue reading “Herbaceous Greek Spanakopita: Tempting Savory Spinach & Cheese Pie”
How to Make Phyllo Dough: Lots of Tips & Troubleshooting Remedies
Thin sheets of dough layered to create flaky crusts for sweet and savory pies or pastries is the ultimate indulgence. Brushed with butter or olive oil, each layer yields a light and crispy crust adding texture and flavor to dishes like Greek Spanakopita and baklava. While homemade phyllo dough is not the easiest dough toContinue reading “How to Make Phyllo Dough: Lots of Tips & Troubleshooting Remedies”
Traditional Polish Bagels: 4 Simple Ingredients, Twists, & Baked 2 Ways
The New York style bagel is what many Americans think of as a bagel. It’s round and thick with a small hole in the center perfect to split and add desirable toppings. However, these types of bagels originated in Jewish communities in Poland. We can thank Jewish bakers that immigrated to the US in theContinue reading “Traditional Polish Bagels: 4 Simple Ingredients, Twists, & Baked 2 Ways”
Czech Palačinky: Simple, Versatile Pancake like a French Crêpe
One of the most popular afternoon sweet treats all over Europe is a simple, thin pancake made primarily of flour, eggs, and milk. It’s commonly filled with jam or Nutella, rolled or folded, and topped with powdered sugar, cream, and fruit. These satisfying sweet delights have different names and slightly different recipes depending on theContinue reading “Czech Palačinky: Simple, Versatile Pancake like a French Crêpe”
Italian White Bean Hummus: Fantastic Roasted Garlic Bean Dip
Many of us love hummus. These days, there are so many different varieties and flavors. In fact, chocolate hummus is even a thing, go figure! I have multiple hummus recipes I’ve developed over the years simply because we LOVE hummus and eat it almost daily. Today, I’m excited to share my Italian White Bean HummusContinue reading “Italian White Bean Hummus: Fantastic Roasted Garlic Bean Dip”