Rhubarb and strawberry crumble

Crumble is not exactly an estonian dessert, to be honest. But we have a similar cake, called Purukook, that has a crumbly top. Plus, strawberries and rhubarbs are the most common cake material during the summers here. This must be one of the last cakes I make from the rhubarbs of my garden this year. Strawberry season is still going on. I am planning to eat as much as I can until I don´t want to see them anymore :). For the crumble you need:

100 ml of oats

100 ml flour

100 ml brown sugar

30 ml almond flakes

pintch of salt

6 tbs butter

200 ml strawberries (quartered)

200 ml rhubarbs (cut in pieces)

150 ml sugar

1 tsp grated lemon peel

juice of 1/2 lemon

1 tbs flour

1/2 tsp ground cardamom

Mix together the oats, flour, almond flakes, brown sugar and salt. Add butter, rub it in the dry mix until small clumps form.

Fore the filling, mix all the ingrediences together and let it stay until juices start to form.

Preheat the oven to 190 degreees. Butter six ramekins. Divide rhubarbs and strawberries to ramekins. Cover every ramekin with crumb mixture. Bake until the crumble is golden and the filling is bubbling out, about 30-40 minutes. Serve with whipped cream!

The inspiration for this crumble came from Pittsburgh Hot Plate blog! Thank you!

Maasika-rabarberi krõbedik

100 ml kaerahelbeid
100 ml jahu
100 ml pruuni suhkrut
30 ml mandlilaaste
suts soola
6 spl võid

200 ml maasikaid
200 ml rabarbereid
150 ml suhkrut
1 tl sidrunikoort
1/2 sidruni mahl
1 spl jahu
1/2 tl jahvatatud kardemoni

Sega jahu, kaerahelbed, mandlilaastud ja pruun suhkur. Lisa või ja näpi ta kuivainete sisse.
Täidise tegemiseks sega kõik koostisained kokku, lase seista kuni tekib mahl.
Määri kuus ramekini võiga kokku ja jaga täidis nende vahel ära. Kata iga vorm puruga ja küpseta eelkuumutatud ahjus 190 kraadi juures, kuni pealt on kuldpruun ja täidis äärtest välja mullitab. See võtab umbes 30-40 minutit. Serveeri vahukoorega!

Kefir jelly with oh-so-sweet wild strawberries

2010 is an exceptional year, everything is ready too early. For example, the first autumn mushrooms came out already a few weeks ago. And some days ago we found ripe blueberries near our gate. The peas are a few weeks ahead of their time. Well, it is normal, that the wild strawberries are ready, but they are so abundant and this surprises me! And, of course, makes me really happy! My theory is, that the summer dishes shoul be really quick and easy, as you do not want to stay in the hot kitchen for a long time. You want to sit outside in the sun, drink a glass of cold wine and eat something light and tasty. This dessert is perfect in that sense, it is so easy that it´s hard to believe :). You need (for 4-5):

300 ml kefir

3 gelatine leaves

6 tsp of sugar

seeds of 1/2 vanillapod

1/2 tsp of grated lemon peel

150 gr of wild strawberries

Add sugar, vanilla seeds and lemon peel to kefir, mix through. Soak te gelatine leaves in cold water for a few minutes. Squeeze out the excess water and melt the gelatine, stirring continuously, on low heat. Pour in the kefir, still stirring until even. Add some wild strawberries to every ramekin you are going to use. Pour the kefir on top of them. Cover with cling film and put to fridge for a few hours. Serve with some more strawberries!

Keefiritarretid metsmaasikatega (4-5-le)

Vaja läheb:

300 ml keefiri

3 lehte želatiini

6 tl suhkrut

1/2 tl sidrunikoort

1/2 vanillikauna seemned

150 gr metsmaasikaid

Sega keefir, suhkur, vanilliseemned ja riivitud sidrunikoor. Lase želatiinil mõned minutid külmas vees seista, pigista üleliigne vesi välja. Kuumuta pidevalt segades, kuni kogu želatiin on sulanud. Vala keefir peene joana želatiini sisse, ise pidevalt segades. Pane igasse ramekinvormi mõned metsmaasikad ja vala peale keefirisegu. Kata toidukilega ja pane mõneks tunniks külmkappi. Serveerimisel lisa veel maasikaid!

Really rich knights

Remember the sweet eggy fried breads that are called "poor knoghts"? If we believe Wikipedia, then it is eaten in almost all the countries of the world, with slight variations and under different names. Well, we eat it here in estonia, too. But if you add a thick yoghurt with roasted strawberries and vanilla flavoured whipped cream and sprinkle over some chopped hazelnuts, then it would be very unfair to name them "poor". I would say, they are very rich, tasy and glamorous!

You need:

8 thick slices of good white bread

2 eggs

200 ml milk

2 tbs sugar

Mix the eggs, sugar and milk well. Dip the slices of bread in the mixture, hold for a few seconds and fry in hot butter on a pan until they are golden on both side.

200 ml thick natural yoghurt (or buy the usual natural yoghurt and drain it)

150 ml fresh strawberries

3 tbs brown sugar

a few drops of balsamico

1 ts grated lemon zest

Halve the strawberries, put them on a baking tray, sprinkle over with brown sugar, lemon zest and a few drops of balsamico. Cover with foil and bake in the oven of 180 degrees for about 20 minutes until they are soft. Strain away the liquid (makes a delicious drink with water and lemon). Push the strawbrries a bit with a fork and mix with the yoghurt.

150 ml whipping cream

2 tbs of sugar

seeds from one vanillapod

Mix the sugar, vanilla seeds and the cream. Whip until firm.

Serve the fried bread, putting a tablespoon of strawberry yoghurt and another of vanilla cream on them. Sprinkle over with a tablespoon of chopped hazelnuts. Makes a beautiful weekend breakfast for strawberry season!

Tõeliselt rikkad rüütlid

Vaja läheb:

8 lõiku head saia

2 muna

200 ml piima

2 spl suhkrut

Sega munad, piim ja suhkur. Kasta saiaviilud segusse ja hoia mõned sekundid. Prae kuumas võis mõlemalt poolt kuldseks.

200 ml paksemat maitsestamata jogurtit (või nõruta tavalisest liigne vedelik välja)

150 ml värskeid maasikaid

3 spl pruuni suhkrut

1 tl riivitud sidrunikoort

mõned tilgad balsamico äädikat

Poolita maasikad. Pane ahjupannile, raputa peale pruun suhkur, sidrunikoor ja mõned tilgad balsamicot.

Kata vorm fooliumiga ja küpseta 180 kraadi juures ca 20 minutit kuni maasikad on pehmed. Suru maasikaid kahvliga pisut puruks, nõruta välja vedelik ja sega maasikad jogurtisse.

150 ml vahukoort

2 spl suhkrut

vanilliseemned ühest vanillikaunast

Sega vahukoor suhkru ja vanilliseemnetega. Klopi korralikult vahule.

Serveeri praetud saiad, tõstes neile peale lusikatäis maasikajogurtit ja teine vanilli-vahukoort ning raputa peale veidi haitud metspähkleid. Suurepärane nädalalõpuhommikusöök suviseks maasikahooajaks!

Curd cheese bar with chocolate and raspberry sauce - children love it

There is a very typical estonian sweet snack, in estonian the name is Kohuke, in english it means something like chocolate glazed curd cheese bar (translation from Nami-Nami). The real thing looks like a little roll, covered everywhere with a thin layer of chocolate. This is something all the estonian children are craving for when they are away from here. And adults also, I have to admit. It is a good kind of snack, as it is not that unhealthy as the snacks usually are. I like the taste of a good kohuke - having a slightly sour curd cheese with a bit bittersweet chocolate, sometimes with just a few drops of berry jam inside. So I decided to turn this trio of tastes to a dessert and serve it after lunch. You need (for 4 servings):

For the bar:

200 gr of curd cheese

50 gr of unsalted butter

100 gr sugar

0,5 ts of grated lemon peel

seeds from one vanilla pod

For the coating:

100 gr od dark chocolate

50 gr of butter

For the rasperry sauce:

100 gr (frozen or fresh) raspberries

50 gr sugar

0,5 ts of grated lemon

Mix together the curd cheese and butter. You might need to soften the butter slightly in microwave or leave it out to room temperature for a while. Mix well, you don´t want to have pieces of butter in your dessert. Add the sugar, vanilla seeds and lemon peel. Mix through. Roll it to tin foil and keep in freezer for about half an hour (until it is firm). While the curd cheese roll is in freezer, melt the chocolate and butter on bain-marie. Remove the rolled curd cheese from freezer and cut to 4 nice pieces. Put the curd cheese bars to serving plates and let a big spoonful of melted chocolate to flow over the edges. Keep in cool place for a couple of more minutes and cover with sauce made of crushed raspberries, sugar and lemon peel.

Šokolaadi ja vaarikakastmega kaetud kohupiimadessert kohukese ainetel

Vaja läheb (4-le):

200 gr kohupiima

100 gr suhkrut

50 gr võid

vanilliseemned ühest vanillikaunast

0,5 tl riivitud sidrunikoort

Šokolaadikatte jaoks:

100 gr tumedat šokolaadi

50 gr võid

Kastme jaoks:

100 gr vaarikaid (külmunud või värskeid)

50 gr suhkrut

0,5 tl riivitud sidrunikoort

Sega kokku kohupiim ja pehme või. Sega hästi, et võitükke sisse ei jääks. Lisa suhkur, vanilliseemned ja sidrunikoor. Sega uuesti läbi, aseta foolimile ja rulli pikaks toruks. Pane pooleks tunniks sügavkülma. Samal ajal sulata veevannil šokolaadvõiga vedelaks. Tõsta kohupiimatoru välja ja lõika sellest 4 ühesuurust väikest toru. Aseta desserditaldrikutele ja vala igaühele peale suur lusikatäis sulašokolaadi. Pane veel paariks minutiks külmikusse tahenema ja vala enne serveerimist peale vaarikakaste purustatud vaarikatest, suhkrust ja sidrunikoorest.

Muffins for every season – red currant for summer, cherries and chocolate for winter

I think that the most wonderful time for baking fresh muffins is summer – you walk in your garden and pick what is ripe – currants, gooseberries, apples, raspberries and you bake. But it is also great to make some warm and sweet muffins during the cold winter, cherry and chocolate ones being my favourite. The main recipe is the very similar and easy to make.

For the Red currant and vanilla muffins you need:

2 eggs
1,5 dl sugar
2,5 dl wheat flour
1 ts baking powder
1/2 vanilla pod
150 gr thick sour cream
50 gr unsalted butter, melted
200-300 gr of red currants

Whip the eggs with sugar, scrape in the seeds of the vanilla pod. Mix all the dry ingredients together. Add sour cream, melted butter and dry ingredients. Mix until even. Mix in the currants carefully. Divide the batter to the muffin pan and bake in preheated oven with 225 degrees for 15 minutes.

Punase sõstra-vanilli muffineid:
2 muna
1.5 dl suhkrut
2.5 dl nisujahu
1 tl küpsetuspulbrit
½ vanillikauna
150 g paksemat hapukoort
50 g ehk 0.5 dl sulatatud võid
200-300 g punaseid sõstraid (lisasin ka veidi musti sõstraid)

Vahusta munad suhkruga kohevaks, kraabi sisse ka seemned vanillikaunast. Sega kuivained omavahel. Sega munavahu hulka vaheldumisi hapukoor, jahtunud sulavõi ja kuivained. Viimasena lisa sõstrad. Jaota tainas muffinivormidesse. Küpseta 225kraadises ahjus umbes 15 minutit.

For the Cherry-dark chocolate muffins you need:

2 eggs
1,5 dl sugar
3 dl wheat flour
2 ts baking powder
Pintch of salt
75 gr chopped dark chocolate
100-130 gr frozen cherries
2 tbs brown sugar
0,75 dl rapeseed oil

Mix the frozen cherries with brown sugar and put aside. Whip the eggs with sugar. Mix together dry ingredients, chopped chocolate, halfmelted cherries and at last the oil. Quickly mix the batter until even and divide into muffin pan (fill appr 2/3 of every muffin hole). Bake in preheated oven under 200 degrees for 20 to 25 minutes.

Kirsi-tumeda šokolaadi muffinid:
2 muna
1.5 dl suhkrut
3 dl nisujahu
2 tl küpsetuspulbrit
noaotsatäis soola
75 g hakitud tumedat šokolaadi
100-130 gr külmutatud kirsse
2 spl fariinsuhkrut
0.75 dl rapsiõli

Sega kirsid fariinsuhkruga ja pane sulama. Vahusta munad suhkruga. Lisa omavahel segatud kuivained, hakitud šokolaad, poolsulanud kirsid ja õli. Sega tainas kiiresti ühtlaseks ja jaota ettevalmistatud muffinivormidesse (täida vormid umbes 2/3 ulatuses). Küpseta 200-kraadises ahjus umbes 20-25 minutit.