Daring Baker Challenge Caramel Cake (l'italiano a seguire)

Thursday was Andrea's Birthday and we had Caramel Cake with Brown Butter Frosting
From Shuna Fish Lydon of Eggbeater as seen on Bay Area Bites

and Alice Medrich’s Golden Vanilla Bean Caramels. The hosts were: Dolores(http://culinarycuriosity.blogspot.com/), host this month are Alex (http://blondieandbrownie.blogspot.com/) and Jenny (http://forayintofood.blogspot.com/).And Natalie (http://glutenagogo.blogspot.com/) helped with the gluten free recipes.
I was skeptical about the recipe because I usually find this type of cake too sweet (mostly due to the frosting) so I was surprised to find such a nice caramel cake moist and with a nice caramel perfume ! (I used only one cup sugar) The brown butter frosting was..... way too sweet for me ! Luckily I had made half the recipe (as for the caramel) and made a Biancomangiare di mandorle tostate (sort of toasted almond's pudding) to put in the cake as a filling.

I'm so stupid that had prepared a slice to show my biancomangiare and....ate it !

Torta al caramello con glassa al burro nocciola

Giovedi è stato il compleanno di Andrea e abbiamo festeggiato con questa torta creata da Shuna Fish Lydon of Eggbeater vista su Bay Area Bites . Questo mese le nostre ospiti sono state : Dolores ( http://culinarycuriosity.blogspot.com/ ), Alex (http:// blondieandbrownie.blogspot.com/ ) e Jenny ( http://forayintofood.blogspot.com/ ). E Natalie ( http://glutenagogo.blogspot.com/ ) ha aiutato per i celiaci.

Ero scettica sulla ricetta perché io di solito trovo questo tipo di torta troppo dolce (in gran parte a causa della glassa), comunque sono stata sorpresa da una torta con un piacevole profumo di caramello! (Ho usato meno zucchero) La glassa era troppo dolce per me come temevo per fortuna ne avevo fatta metà... e ho farcito la torta con un Biancomangiare alle mandorle tostate.
Sono stata così stupida che avevo preparato una fetta per far vedere la farcitura e ...l'ho mangiata!

Bread Baking Day #14 Coloured Breads

BBD #14 is hosted by Boaz from Grain Power and he chose a different point of view ! I think it was fun to decide what colour my bread was going to be; in the beginning I was going to go PINK in honour of Anita but then, as tomorrow is Andrea's birthday and he loved a similar bread (that came from Sigrid of Cavoletto di Bruxelles), I went dark green !
Now... I don't know if the kind of cabbage I used is known abroad, we call it cavolo nero( I just found out it is called Tuscan Kale) and of course, it is typical of Tuscany ( it's used in the famous Ribollita soup)


I've uset it along with walnuts and roasted garlic paste (whole garlic roasted in the oven and squeezed) I must say that the colour isn't fantastic but the flavor is ..trust me !

Pane con cavolo nero, crema di aglio al forno e noci

200 gr Tuscan Kale shredded and stir fried
2 tsp salt
250 gr water
250 gr durum wheat flour (fine semolina)
250 gr bread flour (I used type 0 and high gluten )
1 envelope of dry yeast
1 tsp sugar
2 tbsp olive oil
2 roasted garlic's heads
150 gr walnuts

I must confess I made it in the bread machine and this is the order I put the ingredients in.
Buon Appetito !

Awards !!!!

And now I'll start to be vane !!
I've received three more awards (unbelievable !)
This first one is from Nancy from The Dogs eat the Crumbs



The second one from Mandorla e Pistacchio : it's a greedy hamster !


And the third one is from Marthe of Culinary Delights



I like very much their blogs and I'm honored they gave me these awards: Thank you !

Bread Baking Buddies Rosendal's Knackebrod

This time the BBB challenge was chosen by Gorel of Grain Doe who managed (finally)to have me cope with a sourdough ! Now (if it will survive ) I will try many different things I always wanted
to make !


Aside from making the starter the recipe was easy and fun I suggest you to try it but before go and check what all the BBB have done !

I like to cook (Sara), Living on Bread and Water (Monique), Notitie Van Lien (Lien), My Kitchen In Half-Cups (Tanna), Cookie Baker Lynn (Lynn), Bake my Day (Karen), A Fridge Full of Food (Glenna)

TWD Thanksgiving Twofer Pie

We are getting into holydays and the first to be baked is Twofer Pie ! The recipe was chosen by Vibi of La Casserole Carree and what could be more appropriate than this one! Few weeks ago getting ready for it I asked my dear husband to buy some pecans (and dried cranberries, you never know!) in a special drugstore near his work. I didn't have problems with the recipe, maybe I didn't have enough crust to make some decorations but I had read on the Q&A section of Tuesdays with Dorie that more than one of us had to much filling so I decided to roll what was supposed to become a 9 inch crust in an 11 inch pan and that was it (I made more neighbours happy). Please check the wonderful results on TWD blogroll and don't worry if you don't see them on tuesday as we are allowed a late (for Thanksgiving) posting.

Penne con broccoli alla cappuccina

Few years ago I was vegetarian but already a cookbook addict and found a very interesting book by Paola Gavin called "Italian vegetarian cooking" one of my favorite recipes from it is this pasta that should be made with cauliflower but I used what we call broccolo romanesco (it's green and pointy) .
350 gr cauliflowerbroken into florets
2 Tbs extra virgin olive oil
1 small onion chopped
1 envelope saffron powder dissolved in 50 ml hot water
1/8 teaspoon cumin
40 gr pine nuts ( I like to toast them )
40 gr raisins (soaked)
350 gr short pasta
100 gr grated pecorino
red pepper to taste

Steam (I blanched it in the pasta to be water) the cauliflower until tender.
Heat the oil in a large pan and gently fry the onion (and pepper) add the cauliflower and cook until golden. Add saffron, cumin and raisins. Drain the pasta a bit early and sautee it in the cauliflower with some of its water. Out of the fire add pecorino and pine nuts.This should be a dish from Sicily .Buon Appetito !

My first prize

Ten days ago, just before my computer broke, Peggy from Pantry Revisited awarded me with my first award ever . I was shocked because I certainly don't think my blog earns it, but I took it as a commitment to grow (and right away my coworker broke !). I would like to thank Peggy very much for thinking of me and all of you that not only read my blog but even read my akward english ! GRAZIE !

TWD Arborio Rice Pudding

Dear friends, finally I'm back, thanks to Paolo who helped me so much I'm able to post my puddings... as you can see at home rice pudding is a hit



Actually I couln't check the Q & A so I ended up with too much milk, maybe next time I'll try with the new directions. This pudding gave me the desire to make a pastry I loved when I was a kid : it's a pudding enriched with eggs and encased ( ? ) in a pastry shell. I'll let you know about the results. This week we have to thank Isabelle from Les gourmandises d’Isa check all the other 's puddings on Tuesdays with Dorie

My dearest cat

My dearest cat Calvin died last week. He has been a very special cat for all of us and when the sun gets on my bed I still can't belive he is not there.

TWD Kugelhopf

Well, I finally got to use my mold for an appropriate use !!!!





AIUTO !!! My computer broke and I didn't know what to do so I came to visit my dear friends Paolo and Cristina (bringing some homemade supplì and crocchette) and asked for five minutes on their pc ! I loved the kugelhopf because I like to make and eat yeasted things I'd love to use lievito madre (sourdough ?) but I don't own it yet I 'll write more when Polo will take care of my computer ! thanks to Yolanda of All purpose girl for chosing the recipe and visit all the other tuesdays with Dorie's addicts !

TWD Rugelach

Ciao ! I should have called this post "The Vanished Rugelach" because I couldn't find one left a few hours after they came out of the oven ! Even the kids liked them (I trusted bittersweet chocolate but it didn't work !), maybe even my cats ate them ... they've disappeared !
I made mine with a mixerd berries jam, dark sugar and cinnamon, sultanas, pine nuts and bittersweet chocolate, and eggwash and dark sugar on top.
The recipe was chosen from "Baking from my home to yours" by Dorie Greenspan by Piggy of Piggy's Cooking Journal and it certainly was a good choice ! I never tasted Rugelach before, it is not in the Roman Jewish tradition at all !!! (Roman Jews arrived in Rome from 63 B.C. so we say they are the real romans and of course their cooking isn't either sepharditic nor askenazitic (?) but their own).
To see more wonders please visit any of Tuesdays with Dorie 's blogroll !

Voglia di Kitchen Aid ?

Volevo avvertire tutti gli interessati all'acquisto di un KA che si è formato un gruppo di acquisto, se volete potete contattarli a gruppoka@gmail.com

SSB Spooktacular - Halloween Cupcakes

Here comes a vessel full of spooky ghosts (and a princess) !!!
This month we had lots of fun with the Sweet and Simple Bakes ! We started from a simple and delicious recipe for cupcakes ( I added some chocolate chips) you can find the recipe and then freely decorated them. We made the decorations with sugarpaste and marshmellow paste, I'm very curious to go and check all the others creations ! Happy baking !