Apple & Pear Cinnamon Turnovers

Imagine biting into a crispy exterior with soft, sweet and hot filling inside accompanied with vanilla ice cream and chocolate sauce. Almost too good to be so simple!

I love baked apples and pears. There is something that makes them so delicious when they have been fried or baked and they makes great company to ice cream or any creamy thing at all. These apple turnovers are usually made with apples only, but I wanted to twist them a little and combined apple and pear which goes great together with a dash of cinnamon. Cinnamon is a lovely spice with a unique taste that goes perfectly with apples and almost anything if you ask me.  

These apple & pear turovers are almost as delicious as the one you get in Mc Donalds and are served in 1 hour only if you are using freezed pastry dough. 15 minutes cooking, 20 minutes baking and ready to serve fresh from the oven!

Makes about 10 pastries

Ingredients


250 g puff pastry


1. Roll out and divide the pastry dough in 10 rectangular or triangle equal sized peices


Filling


1 apple
1 pear
1 tbsp butter
45 g sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tbsp lemon juice

1. Peel and core the fruits and cut them into small cubes

2. Melt the butter in a medium sized sauce pan

3. Add the diced apples, pears, sugar, cinnamon and lemon juice

4. Let cook over medium heat for about 15 minutes

5. Set aside and allow to cool for 10 minutes

6. Have a spoonful of filling on each pastry rectangular or triangle

2. Turn over the dough so that it covers the filling and seal the edges by pressing a fork all aorund

3. Have the pastries on a baking sheet and brush with beaten egg

Bake in a hot oven at 220C for about 20 minutes or until golden brown in color

Oreo Cheesecake

If you love oreo cookies and cheese cake, you would not get enough of this cake which is a four layered pure  pleasure for your palate. Oreo cookies bottom, followed by a layer of cheese cake and chocolate mousse topped with whipped cream and chocolate sauce.

I have for long been wanting to make this popular oreo cheese cake that has been loved and hated by a numerous of people. The love hate relation is based on the love for oreo cookies and chocolate, while the hate is for the cake being too mighty. For some people one piece is more than enough, while for other sweet lovers like me, we would eat till we will get sick up to the neck (this is actually what happened to me after a over-eating of this cake yesterday).

First time I had this cake was at my sisters house, and I loved it. Ever since then I have noted it down in my mind that sooner ot later I must make this cake. I had stored some packets of oreo cookies in the cabinet for a while now and decided to make it on saturday so I could bring it along to my sisters house were we all were invited for dinner. This cake was literally loved by both young and older ones, and I am definitely going to make this again.

PS! If you want this cake a bit more "down to earth", you may use half recipe of chocolate mousse in the cake which will give a thinner layer of mousse and result in a less mighty cake which can be enjoyed by everyone.

Makes about 10 pieces

You will need:

A spring form, about 24 cm


I n g r e d i e n t s


Bottom

450 g oreo cookies
100 g butter, melted

1. Crush 3/4 parts of the oreo cookies to fine crumbs (set aside the remaining 1/4 part oreo cookies)

2. Melt the butter and add to the oreo crumbs and mix until combined

3. Press the crumbs evenly in the spring form

Cheese Cake Layer


200 g cream cheese, natural
2,5 dl icing sugar
2,5 tbsp sugar
3,5 dl cream, whipped


8 oreo cookies

1. Beat the cream cheese and icing sugar until light and creamy

2. Add sugar

3. Fold in half of the wipped cream (1,75 dl)

4. Mix until you get a smooth and creamy batter

5. Spread the cheese cake layer over the oreo cookies bottom and sprinkle with roughly chopped oreo cookies

Let cool in fridge for about 1 hour


Chocolate Mousse Layer


150 g chocolate, dark (high quality)
1,5 tbsp icing sugar
1 egg yolk
2 dl cream, whipped

1. Melt the chocolate in a bowl over hot water bath (preferabely over a pan)

2. Add the icing sugar and egg yolk

3. Beat heavily (still over the heat) using a whisk or electic mixer until creamy and fluffy

4. Let cool a little, and fold in the whipped cream

5. Spread the chocolate mousse layer on top of the cream cheese layer

Top Cream Layer


1, 75 dl cream, whipped


chocolate sauce
oreo cookies

1. Use the half remaining whipped cream from cheese cake layer and spread it evenly on top

2. Drizzle any good quality chocolate topping / sauce over the cream layer and garnish with some half cut oreo cookies

Let cool in fridge, preferabely overnight or atleast for 2 hours

A bite of oreo cheesecake.. so yummylicious!

KFC Zinger Burger

KFC Zinger - Kentucky Fried Chicken, a crispy shell followed by a creamy layer and tender perfectly spiced chicken.


Today I am being very generous and sharing my two secret recipes; KFC Zinger and garlic sauce. Yes, this recipe is as close as you can come to KFC Zinger. I can even go so far as to say that you might even not be able to tell a difference. I found this amazing recipe on a google search while I was searching for "KFC copycat" recipe a long time ago (I do not remember what website). The secret is the creamy batter and the corn flakes to make it really delicious and crispy. I have been making it a couple of times since then and have been loved by both old and young eaters.
The spices just comes out so perfectly combined and the crispiness of the shell is amazingly crunchy. And the recipe is quite easy, done in three steps only.


NB! If you want to make the KFC Zinger burgers that are put in between a burger bread, you need to use boneless chicken fillets. If you just want to have KFC with some pommes frites or other sides, you may use any piece of chicken, boneless or with bones.


Makes 4 - 6 servings


I n g r e d i e n t s


4 - 6 chicken breast fillets or
4 - 6 chicken pieces, any kind


Marinade


1 ts salt
1 ts black pepper
1/2 ts mustard, ground
1 ts vinegar

1. Combine salt, pepper, mustard and vinegar and rub on the chicken

Let marinate at for least 1 hour or preferabely over-night (chicken will absorb the spices better and result in more flavorful taste)


Batter


3 tbsp flour
1 ss cornstarch
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 egg
3 tbsp milk
1/2 tsp mustard, ground


1. Whisk all the ingredients together to a medium-thick batter (add more flour if the batter is too runny)

Breading


2,5 - 3 dl corn flakes
2,5 - 3 dl bread crumbs

1. Crush the corn flakes finely

2. Make the bread into fine crumbs in a food processor

3. Combine the corn flakes and bread crumbs

Preparing

1. Add the marinated chicken pieces to the batter and thickly coat the chicken pieces on all sides

2. Have some of the bead and corn flakes mix on a plate and carefully have the coated chicken on it, while you sprinkle crumbs on the upper side and then turns it around to coat all sides (do not have all at same time, because they tend to mix up with the batter to big, sticky crumbs that will not stick to the chickens)

3. Have the coated and breaded chickens on a clean plate

4. Fry in medium heated oil in a fryer for about 10 minutes or until golden brown in color

Serve immediately in burger buns (or with pommes frites), salad and garlic sauce!

Garlic Sauce


Now this is another amazing recipe which I also found a long time ago. This was supposed to be a copycat recipe of some Mc Donalds burger. I have been making this garlic sauce to every kind of food, burgers, chicken, pommes frites, you name it. My younger sister demands this sauce to almost everything she eats.


1,5 dl turkish or greek yoghurt / creme fraiche / sour cream
3 tsp mayonnaise
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
2 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp mustard, ground
1 dash of salt
1 tsp lake of pickles (pickles brine) or 1/2 tsp vinegar


1. Combine yoghurt and mayonnaise in a bowl
2. Add rest of the ingredients and mix until combined
3. Keep in fridge for atleast 1 hour, preferabely 4 hours for development of flavors

How to assemble KFC Zinger Burgers


4 hamburger buns
4 KFC Zinger fillets
4 burger cheese (optional)
4 tbsp garlic sauce
4 tbsp salsa sauce (optional)
4 iceberg lettuce or other lettuce flakes
pickles


1. Divide the burger buns in half and toast them lightly
2. Have cheese on the bottom, warm for a few seconds in the microwave until cheese just starts to melt
2. Add the zinger fillet on the bun topping it with garlic sauce and salsa sauce
3. Add pickles and lettuce and press down the burger bun top


Serve with pommes frites or just as they are!

Chocolate Chip Walnut Brownies - Recipe Test

Chocolate Chip Walnut Brownies. I think the name tells it all. These brownies are described as creamy and moist by the baker, a new recipe I am testing out.

This is a brownies recipe from Leila Lindholm's new baking book "A piece of cake". I was so happy to see a new baking book by this swedish baker at the library, so I borrowed it right away. There were a lot of interesting recipes, but my eye caught the chocolate chip walnut brownies recipe which looked inviting. Even though I am more than satisfied with my old brownies recipe (which I will stick to from now on), I decided to give these a try. The difference between these and my recipe were not the ingredients, but the procedure. While my brownies starts by whisking sugar and eggs, this recipe asked to beat sugar and butter until light and creamy. The procedure of these brownies were just like the procedure of a cake, only the baking powder was missing.
These brownies were also topped with a fudge icing which I omitted.


I ended up with a cake-like texture on the brownies and I had my doubts to have let them in oven for too long. Freshly hot from the oven they did not really impress me, they were lacking the fudginess and stickiness of the typical brownies. To be honest they were also tasting like a cake and feedback from brownies lovers at home told me the same. Anyways, I had them in fridge overnight and the next day I could see they had become more chewy and they actually made good company to ice cream.

I am sharing the recipe for those who want to give these brownies a try. I would like feedback on your results.


Makes 12 brownies pieces


I n g r e d i e n t s


350 g butter, softened
6 dl sugar
3 dl cocoa powder
1/2 dl dark syrup *
6 egg, beaten
3 dl allpurpose flour
(400 g) white chocolate, roughly chopped
250 g walnuts, roughly chopped


* If you do not have light syrup available, you can make your own by adding 1,5 tbsp water and 1 tbsp brown sugar to 1 dl of light syrup


Preheat oven to 175C and cover a baking pan 30 x 30 cm with baking paper

1. Beat butter and sugar until pale and creamy

2. Whisk in cocoa powder and syrup (I added the cocoa powder at the end, because I was going to take out a little batch of batter for blondies, since my dad is not a huge fan of chocolate)

3. Beat in the eggs, one at a time

4. Fold in the flour

5. Add roughly chopped chocolate and walnuts in the batter

5. Pour the batter in prepared baking pan

Bake in the middle of oven for about 15 - 25 minutes, or till you stick in a baking pin and it comes out a bit sticky


Let the brownies cool while you prepare the fudge icing or just sprinkle some icing sugar and serve!


Fudge Icing


3 dl cream
1 dl milk
1 dl light syrup
1 ts ginger, ground
400 g dark chocolate, finely chopped


1. Let the cream, milk, syrup and ginger come to boil and remove from heat
2. Add the finely chopped chocolate in the hot mixture and stir till the chocolate melts in
3. Spread the icing on the brownies cake and garnish with some walnuts


Let the brownies cool in the fridge


Blondies..

.. and Chocolate Chip Walnut Brownies served with ice cream and chocolate sauce