·       2 cups (320 g) of wheat flour

·       2 tablespoons of honey

·       2/3 cup of sugar

·       1.5 teaspoons of baking soda

·       20 g (1 bag) gingerbread spice (preferably homemade – recipe below)

·       2 tablespoons of butter

·       1 egg (+ additional 1 egg for brushing)

·       approx. 4 tablespoons of warm milk

Gingerbread spice

·       40 g of cinnamon

·       15 g of ground ginger

·       10 g nutmeg

·       10 g of cloves

·       10 g of cardamom

·       5 g of anise

·       5 g of allspice

·       5 g pepper

Grind all ingredients finely and put everything into a small jar.

1.       Sift the flour onto the pastry board, pour in the warm honey and mix (preferably with a knife). While chopping, add sugar, baking soda and spices, then butter and one egg.

2.       Gradually add milk (1 tablespoon at a time) and combine the dough ingredients into a uniform, soft ball (add enough milk to make the dough easy to knead, you do not have to use all the milk or add a little more if needed). Then knead by hands for about 10 minutes.

3.       Roll out the dough on a floured board to a thickness of approx. 1/2 cm. Cut out gingerbread cookies with cookie cutters. Place on a baking tray lined with baking paper.

4.       Bake in an oven preheated to 180 degrees (top and bottom) for about 10 minutes.

6 eggs

6 spoons of flour

6 spoons of sugar

6 spoons of oil

1 packet of baking powder

3 spoons of cocoa powder

Separate the eggwhites from the eggyolks. Mix the eggwhites with a pinch of salt then add the sugar until the merigue forms.

Mix the eggyolks with the oil.

Mix the flour with the baking powder.

Add the eggyolks and the flour into the meringue, mixing carefully.

Mix the cocoa powder with a half from the cake composition.

Put the first cake composition in a baking tray then add on top the composition with the cocoa powder.

Cook for 40 min. at 180 C

(Mercimek Köftesi)

Ingredients

1 cup red lentils

1 and a half cups water

1 tablespoon tomato paste

1 teaspoon pepper paste

Half bunch parsley

Half bunch green onion

Half bunch dill (optional)

Göz karı salt

Göz karı red pepper, black pepper

Half tea glass of oil

A few leaves of curly or lettuce

1 medium onion

1 teaspoon cumin

Recipe Preparation

First, let's wash the lentils, drain them, add the water and let it cook, let it cook well, turn off the heat and pour it into a basin, let's fry the onion with half tea glass of oil in a pan. Let it cook well, add the tomato paste, stir it a few times and turn off the heat, pour the onion mixture into the cooled lentils, chop the greens and add them, add the spices, knead it with our hands, squeeze it as we like and arrange it in lettuce or in a serving plate with curly cuts.

Ingredients:

For the syrup:

500 g water

800 g granulated sugar

150 g honey

3 cinnamon sticks

3 whole cloves

1 orange, cut in half

For the dough:

400 g fresh orange juice

400 g sunflower oil

180 g olive oil

50 g powdered sugar

½ teaspoon ground cloves

2-3 teaspoons ground cinnamon

¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg

1 teaspoon baking soda

Zest of 2 oranges

1 kg all-purpose flour

200 g fine semolina

For serving:

Honey

Chopped walnuts

Instructions:

Prepare the syrup:

In a pot, combine water, sugar, cinnamon sticks, cloves, and the halved orange. Bring to a boil.

Once boiling, remove from heat and add the honey, stirring until dissolved.

Let the syrup cool completely.

Make the dough:

Preheat the oven to 190°C (375°F).

In a large bowl, mix together the orange juice, sunflower oil, olive oil, powdered sugar, ground cloves, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking soda, and orange zest until well combined.

In another bowl, combine the flour and semolina.

Gradually add the wet mixture to the dry ingredients, mixing gently until a soft dough forms.

Shape the cookies:

Take small portions of dough and shape them into oval cookies, approximately 3-4 cm in length.

Place them on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.

Bake:

Bake in the preheated oven for 20-25 minutes, until they are golden brown and crisp.

Soak in syrup:

While the cookies are still hot, dip them into the cooled syrup for about 10-15 seconds.

Remove them with a slotted spoon and place them on a wire rack to drain excess syrup.

Serve:

Arrange the melomakarona on a serving platter.

Drizzle with additional honey and sprinkle generously with chopped walnuts.

akispetretzikis.com

Ingredients:

1. 1500g of Flour (That's a LOT!)

2. 2250ml of Milk (Like, a whole carton and a bit!)

3. 20g of Fresh Yeast OR 7-10g of Dry Yeast (Yeast is weird…)

4. 100g of Sugar (Sweet!)

5. A pinch of salt (Just a little, don't go crazy)

6. 2 tablespoons of oil (The slippery stuff)

7. 50g of Poppy Seeds (They look like tiny bugs!)

Let's DO THIS:

1. Sift the flour. (It's like making it rain flour!)

2. Warm up the milk a little, so it's not cold, but not hot either. Like, body temperature, I guess. If you're using the fresh yeast, grind it up with a pinch of sugar and a spoonful of milk. If you're using the dry, quick-acting stuff, just mix it with all the milk. (Yeast is confusing…)

3. Mix the rest of the milk with the salt, sugar, and oil. Then, add the yeast mixture and stir it all up.

4. Pour in a little less than half of the flour and mix it all together. It'll be kinda thick, but not like play-dough yet. Cover the bowl with a clean towel and put it somewhere warm for half an hour. (This is where the magic happens!)

5. Now, dump in the rest of the flour and all those poppy seeds. Mix it up good! The dough should start to come together. If it's super sticky, add a little more flour, but don't add too much or it'll be dry. Knead the dough for at least 5 minutes. It should get all soft and shiny and not stick to your hands. Then, cover it again, keep it warm, and let it sit for 1-1.5 hours. It should get like, double the size!

6. Punch the dough! (It’s fun!) That gets all the air out. Grab a small piece of dough and roll it into a long, thin snake. Then, cut it into small pieces and put them in a pan that you’ve greased with oil or butter.

7. Bake them in the oven at 190°C. How long they bake depends on how big you made them, but it should be around 10 minutes. They should be golden brown.

8. Let the baked roll things cool down. Then put them in a cloth bag. (So they don't get all soggy, I guess.)

Important Note: If you mess up, it's okay! Just try again. Baking is cool!

Cake "TĂVĂLITĂ"

INGREDIENTS

Counter top

350 g of flour

200 ml of milk

200 g of sugar

200 g of butter

10 g of baking powder

3 eggs

1 vanilla essence

Some salt

GLAZE

250ml of milk

200 g of dark chocolate

200of coconut

2 ts of sugar

We mix the ingredients for counter top, then we put in the over for 50 minutes. We cut it in small pieces and then put it through the glaze and coconut.

Poftă bună!

Popular Variation: Sweet placinte with pumpkin or sour cherries.

Placinte (Cheese Pastries)

Ingredients:

• 500g flour

• 200ml warm water

• 2 tbsp oil

• 300g feta cheese (or ricotta)

• 2 eggs

• Salt to taste

Instructions:

1. Mix flour, water, and oil into a soft dough. Let it rest for 30 minutes.

2. Combine cheese, eggs, and a pinch of salt for the filling.

3. Roll out the dough into thin circles, place filling in the center, and fold into desired shapes.

4. Fry in hot oil or bake at 200°C until golden.

Ingredients:

1 liter of milk

600 g sugar

200 g cooking chocolate (darker is better)

250 g butter

a pinch of salt

1 package of wafers (5 sheets)

Pour the milk into a large bowl, add the sugar and bring to a boil, stirring constantly.

When the milk boils, reduce the heat to low and simmer for 2.5 hours, stirring occasionally, every half hour is enough. This is a long process during which the milk and sugar will slowly change color and turn into caramel. After about 30 minutes of continuous cooking, the liquid will become a light cream color, after another half hour it will become even darker, while the final result will be the color of real dark caramel. I took a few photos during cooking so you can see the difference. Keep in mind that the caramel will only thicken completely when it cools down. Also, make sure to stir slowly because the caramel can foam up suddenly when you put a spoon in the pot. This process is actually identical to making “dulce de leche” so you can pour the mixture into a jar, seal, cool and use it later in any way you like.

After 2.5 hours, add the chopped chocolate to the hot caramel, stir until it melts, then add the sliced ​​butter and stir until it melts too. Continue cooking over low heat for another 2-3 minutes, stirring constantly.

Place the wafers in a larger container, I recommend using a baking sheet or some kind of baking dish that matches the size of the wafer sheet.

Place 6-7 tablespoons of sauce on the first wafer sheet, spread evenly and cover with the second wafer. Repeat the process until you have used up all the cream and all the wafers. When you have finished with all four layers of chocolate caramel, place a few books on top or something else heavy enough to ensure that the filling “takes” the wafers and does not separate after cooling and drying.

Once cooled, slice the wafers and store them in a container with a lid so they don't absorb moisture. This is a great cake that will go great with coffee or tea, and it can also keep for quite a while, so don't worry about making too much.

Enjoy!

• 1 kilo flour

• 14 g dry yeast or 40g fresh yeast

• 10 egg yolks

• Zest from 1 lemon and 1 orange

• 250-300 g sugar

• 400 ml warm milk

• 150 g soft butter

• 50 ml oil

• Vanilla essence or 1 vanilla pod

• A bit of salt

• Raisins, cocoa, walnut, dried fruit or sweet delight

• 1 egg for brushing the cake

  
  

  Cooking instructions:

• Whisk the egg yolks together with a dash of salt and set them aside.

• In a bowl mix the flour with the warm milk (~100ml). Set them aside to cool.

• Now mix the yolks with the sugar until the sugar is fully melted (you should have a nice egg and sugar mixture).

• In a mixer’s bowl we put the egg and sugar mixture with the sourdough, the lemon&orange zest and the flour. We mix the dough for 10 minutes; then, we gradually add the butter.

  We oil our hands and then we take the dough out of the bowl; we set aside the dough, in a warm place, for half an hour (for the dough to rise).

• After half an hour, we put the dough on an oiled surface and we start folding it. After this, we set aside for another 30 minutes.

• For the nut and cocoa filling we mix the sugar with the crushed walnuts and cocoa. We gradually add some egg whites. The filling shouldn’t be very thin. We put some oil on the table and divide the dough into 2 balls.

• We roll one of the ball into a sheet and put some filling on it; then we put the other sheet on top and braid it together.

• We whisk one egg and mix it with some milk and brush the dough; alternatively, we can sprinkle some poppy seeds.

• We put it in the oven for 1 hour at 160-170 Celsius degrees.

  Enjoy!