Daring Bakers Challenge Tuiles

When I read this month's challenge I relaxed..... too much: I thought it was due on the 30th but this morning I realized the final date was today !!
The recipe in itself it's an easy recipe my problem was understanding how thin the dough should have been and in the beginning I went too thick.
I'm sure I'll try it again I want to try the salted one too and most of all I wuold like to make fortune cookies too !!!
The fruit part is a spiced apple butter I made with cinnamon and cloves.

This month's challenge is brought to us by Karen of Bake My Day and Zorra of 1x umruehren bitte aka Kochtopf. They have chosen Tuiles from The Chocolate Book by Angélique Schmeink and Nougatine and Chocolate Tuiles from Michel Roux.

W.I.P. A project started long ago !

I don't even remember when exactly I started this needlepoint ! I'm afraid it was in the prekids era but I took it back last summer in Sicily ! I 'm afraid I'll be able to finish it when we'll be again on holiday !!!The needlepoint comes from this book which is available only second hand but it is very beautiful and rich of wonderful ideas !
Please check Shel site to view more crafter's works.

Let’s write a Cookbook … because we can help!!! (in italiano a seguire)

Val of More Than Burnt Toast, Giz of Equal Opportunity Kitchen and Ivy of Kopiaste, unveiled an ambitious project for the Social Network Bloggeraid to launch a cookbook. Food is our medium and taking a role in alleviating world famine is our mission. Their wish is that you will share our excitement and help make a difference to our world by joining us on this journey.

We have announced our largest fundraiser to date ever!!!! With the help of Gloria Chadwick from Cookbook Cuisine , a member of Bloggeraid, we will be publishing a cookbook with 100% of the profit from sales being directed to our chosen agency. The funds we raise will be directed to specific programs of The World Food Programme (WFP), the United Nations frontline agency. The needs are great and choosing a specific effort is currently being negotiated.

Who will contribute to this cookbook?
YOU!!!!

The cookbook is targeted for sale on Amazon by November/December 2009. There is a great deal of work involved in delivering this project and we will rely on you to help in any way you can. We will keep you informed every step of the way on Bloggeraid !!!!

1) Submit ONLY ONE recipe in English. The recipe must be written in the format given. You will find the Recipe Style Format to be used in the forum page of Bloggeraid. You MUST use this format to make it easier for us to edit and itemize each recipe for the cookbook. Send your submission to bloggeraid AT gmail DOT com with your e-mail, subject being one of the categories below. Please include your URL to your recipe, a photo of your dish, your e-mail and your country of origin. (Only your Name, Blog Title and country will appear in the cookbook)

Choose one category:

• Breakfast and Brunch
• Main: Eggs, Meat, Poultry & Seafood
• Vegetarian Dishes
• Soups & Stews
• Sides
• Salads & Dressings
• Appetizers & Hors d’oeuvres
• Beverages
• Desserts
• Cakes & Pies
• Candy & Cookies
• Jam & Preserves

2) It’s also very important to write your recipe as a plain text Word document, with no codes or formatting and to submit your recipe as an attachment to our e-mail address bloggeraid AT gmail DOT com. (The person who will typeset the recipes will thank you from the bottom of his/her heart for this). One little wayward code can throw the whole thing out of whack.

3) It MUST be an ORIGINAL recipe to avoid any copyright issues. The cookbook will have an international flair so represent your country if you so wish. We are a group of bloggers from almost every country of the world!!!!

4) In one or two months you agree to receive a recipe chosen randomly to TASTE TEST for the cookbook. We will of course take in mind any allergy, product availability and vegetarian issues. To taste test a recipe would mean to verify that all measurements and instructions are accurate and that the recipe works without glitches.

5) This is critical!!!!! Do NOT post your recipe on your blog. The recipes will be unveiled in the final product where the cookbook itself will be considered the roundup. You can post a photo of your dish to create visual appeal on your own blog with a description of the final dish. The photo submitted must be clear and in living colour!!!! The deadline for submitting the recipes is the 12th February, 2009.

6) Please mention this event with a link back to this post on your site as well as a link to Bloggeraid so more people will be aware of what we are trying to accomplish.

7) You DO NOT have to be a member of Bloggeraid to submit a recipe and join in.

By submitting a recipe, I give BloggerAid permission to publish the enclosed recipe for its cookbook project, understanding that the proceeds of the cookbook will support the programs of the World Food Program. I further understand that no royalties will be awarded to me for my recipe submission. I also understand that all recipes and photos submitted will be considered but may not be published in the cookbook and I undertake that I will not publish the recipe anywhere else (blog, forum, social network, magazine, newspaper etc.), before the publication of the cookbook.

All submitted recipes become the temporary property of BloggerAid and will not be returned.

Submit your recipes and let’s get this party started!!!!

Our vision is a world which provides for and protects the welfare and human dignity of all of its people. A world in which all children can grow, learn and flourish, developing into healthy, active, caring members of society.

“Because we can help”: BloggerAid

BloggerAid è un Social Network nato il 6 dicembre 2008 dalla volontà esplicita di tre food blogger:

Val di More than Burnt Toast

Ivy di Kopiaste to Greek Hospitality

Giz di Equal Opportunity Kitchen

che si sono unite per dare vita a questa comunità virtuale unita e determinata nella sensibilizzazione di una grande piaga che ancora affligge gran parte del mondo: la fame.
Proprio l'amore per il cibo che tanto unisce nella grande comunità blogghista può essere la spinta per farci uscire dal nostro mondo ed aiutare quelli meno fortunati di noi: queste le parole testuali nella homepage di Val, Ivy e Giz.
Chiunque può iscriversi liberamente, la comunità è in continua crescita, e dare così il suo piccolo grande contributo con idee, suggerimenti, proposte e iniziative.

La prima grande iniziativa in corso per raccolta fondi è la pubblicazione di una grand libro di ricette. Questo libro verrà pubblicato in autunno e messo in vendita su Amazon. La raccolta di ricette è a partecipazione libera, senza la necessità di essere iscritti a BloggerAid.
E' una grande opportunità offerta a tuttiper tutti per poter vedere una delle proprie ricette pubblicata e finalizzata per una giusta causa.
L'intero ricavato sarà devoluto al World Food Programme (agenzia umanitaria di spicco delle Nazioni Unite) che lo indirizzerà verso i bisogni più urgenti.
Le regole per partecipare sono qui, e la ricetta deve pervenire entro il 12 febbraio. La cosa più importante è partecipare con una ricetta nuova che non andrà pubblicata sul blog fino all'uscita del libro, anche se se ne potrà parlare e postarne la foto, senza però rivelarne ingredienti e procedimento.

Un altro evento in corso è il "Culinary Tour Around the World" di Joan, che settimanalmente ci porta a visitare località diverse attraverso la loro storia e la loro cucina. Le regole per partecipare qui.

Bread Baking Day # 16 Bread with Cheese

This month the Bread baking day theme is bread with cheese hosted by High on the Hog
In these days I came across a nice book about a famous restaurant in Milano Il Luogo di Aimo e Nadia and found in it this nice recipe using a starter (with which I'm lately in love) along with Aceto Balsamico and Parmigiano Reggiano. I hope you will enjoy this tangy recipe !!!



Pane all'Aceto Balsamico e Parmigiano Reggiano.

500 gr. starter
500 gr. durum wheat semolina (finely ground)
150 ml. balsamic vinegar
100 gr. grated parmigiano reggiano
10 gr. extra virgin olive oil
salt

On a moderate heat reduce the balsamic vinegar to half quantity.
Mix the flour, the starter, the reduced vinegar and a little salt, knead it and cover and let rise until doubled around 3 hours.
Knead again for about 10 minutes and roll in a rectangle about 1 cm thick spread with parmigiano and roll. Cut the roll in three shorter rolls and put them on a baking sheet covered with oiled cling paper and let rise three more hours until doubled.
Bake in a preheated oven at 300 for 40 min then raise the temp to 375 and bake 15 more minutes.
Let cool on a rack.

TWD Fresh Ginger and Chocolate Gingerbread

This week it was Heather of Sherry Trifle who chose Fresh Ginger and Chocolate Gingerbread. Check out her blog for the recipe! Thanks Heather! And check Tuesdays with Dorie to see what the other bakers came up with for this week's challenge.

I didn't expect to enjoy this gingerbread this much but it really was very tasty ! I didn't add the candied ginger but still, the ginger was there !

W.I.P. A Knitted Doll Finished !!

Finally we made it ! 'Thanks' to a new little illness of Anita I could finish our Madonna doll ! Now the problem is hiding it from Cagliostro that loves it too.



Here you can appreciate her guepiere !! Please check Shel blog to find out more craft going around !

TWD Berry Surprise Cake

This week I really thought I wouldn't make it ! Anita got sick again and request me at her side all the time so I waited and missed the chance to make the cake for a lunch on Sunday and a dinner on Monday and finally it was five o'clock this afternoon and I went for it !!
The genoise really scared me but I got fine to the egg ribbon....the problems were the flour and the butter puddle !!



I don't own an 8 by 3 springform so I prepared a long strip of parchement paper (luckily I put it between two round layers so it was very easy to pull it out !) and the cake rose just above the metal ring !



Luckily I had an helper to make the box...



..even if she didn't do it for free !



In Italy this cake, called Mimosa, is filled with pinapple pieces and whipped cream, the inner cake is then crumbled and used to decorate so I tried to make a similar decoration (avoiding some cream from my diet !)



I thank Mary Ann of Meet Me in the Kitchen who chose the recipe for this week and will post the recipe. To see how the rest of the TWD group coped with this week's recipe, click here .

W.I.P. A Knitted Doll

Wednesday In Progress is the idea Shel had to share different craft making with other bloggers, here is where to check for more informations . And here is my late wednesday project !




And someone who's too interested in it !!



The idea came from Knitted Icons and Anita chose Madonna Ciccone so we'll see how it will end up !!

TWD Corn and Pepper Muffins and wonderful embroideries

Dear friends, I spent all day trying to figure out an estimate for a group of liturgical vestments and the muffins really were forgotten somewhere !
But they where certainly enjoied..maybe to much (!)
This week I thank Rebecca of Ezra Pound Cake who chose the recipe for this week and will post the recipe.
I realized that I never shared any of the 'fili' (threads) with you and I loved so much these embroideries that here is one !

OK OK when I wrote this post I was very tired and didn't explain myself well...: this is some wonderful work of art of neapolitan nuns ( Clarisse ) made in the beginning of the 1800 that maybe I'll have the chance to restore for an exibition that will be in July. I think that if I was able to embroider so well ....I'll put you some more photographs so you will see why they need me !





This is a Dalmatica (I forgot the name in English)



And this is a detail of its sleeve if you look closely you notice that the textile is very fragile and has been roughly sawn together with an horrible cross stitch !

Appello per la pace

NON SI PUO' RIMANERE A GUARDARE

C'è un modo per evitare il massacro di civili. C'è un modo per salvare il popolo palestinese. C'è un modo per garantire la sicurezza di Israele e del suo popolo. C'è un modo per dare una possibilità alla pace in Medio Oriente. C'è un modo per non arrendersi alla legge del più forte e affermare il diritto internazionale:

> CESSATE IL FUOCO IN TUTTA L'AREA
> RITIRO IMMEDIATO DELLE TRUPPE ISRAELIANE
> FINE DELL'ASSEDIO DI GAZA
> PROTEZIONE UMANITARIA INTERNAZIONALE

Facciamo appello a chi ha responsabilità politiche e a chi sente il dovere civile perché sia rotto il silenzio e si agisca. Le Nazioni Unite e l'Unione Europea escano dall'immobilismo e si attivino per imporre il pieno rispetto del diritto internazionale.
L'Italia democratica faccia la sua parte.

Per aderire puoi firmare on line www.firmiamo.it/appellopergaza

TWD French Pear Tart (italiano a seguire)

This is a special week for us TWDes because Laurie started the group a year ago . Thank you Laurie ! It is such fun to bake with all the others ! Thank you to other TWD members who make baking an occasion of sharing and meeting friends !This special Tuesday the recipe has been chosen by Dorie , thank you for the Pear Tart and much more for writing this cookbook. Thank you all !!
I used cinnamon with the lemon in the poaching syrup and I substituted hazelnuts for almonds. I brought the tart at my mum's because my brother's family came to visit from Perugia and everybody loved it very much !!

Questa settimana è l'anniversario di Tuesday with Dorie e così è stata proprio la mitica Dorie scegliere la ricetta. La torta di pere con crema frangipane è squisita e domani (le scuole ricominciano !!!) vi metterò la ricetta per bene !

We are ready !! (Siamo pronti !!)

We are ready for the Befana, and you ??
La Befana is a really old and ugly woman that visits our homes on the nigth between the 5th and the 6th bringing lots of sweets and little presents and some charcoal to the bad ones (until now I've only received the sugar one !!). As you can see usually we leave her a little snack.....Happy befana to all of you !!!

Buona befana a tutti !!!

SSB Christmas Morning Muffins (italiano a seguire)

This is the December project for Sweet and Simple Bakes and as always the recipe is simple and very tasty enriched with the wonderful clementine rind !
Please check the roundup to see all the others muffins !
Thanks to Rosie and Marie !

Christmas Morning Muffins ~ adapted from Nigella Christmas Book

Makes 12

Ingredients
250g (9 oz) plain (all-purpose) flour
2½ tsp baking powder
½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
100g (4 oz) caster (super fine) sugar
1 tsp ground cinnamon
Good grating of fresh nutmeg (or ¼ tsp ground nutmeg)
2 Clementine’s or Satsuma’s *see notes*
Approx 125ml (4 fl oz) full-fat milk
75g 3 oz) vegetable oil (or melted butter, left to cool slightly)
1 egg
175g (6 oz) dried cranberries
For The Topping
3 tsp Demerara sugar *see notes*

Method

Preheat the oven to 200°C/fan oven 180°C/400°F/Gas mark 6. Line a 12-bun muffin tin with muffin paper cases.

Measure the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, caster sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg into a large bowl; grate the zest of the Clementine’s/Satsuma’s over and combine.
Squeeze the juice of the Clementine’s/Satsuma’s into a measuring jug, and pour in the milk until it comes up to the 200ml (7 fl oz) mark.

Add the oil (or slightly cooled, melted butter) and egg, and lightly beat until just combined.

Pour this liquid mixture into the bowl of dried ingredients and stir until everything is more or less combined, remembering that a well-beaten mixture makes for heavy muffins; a lumpy batter is a good here.

Fold in the cranberries, then spoon the batter into the muffin cases and sprinkle the Demerara sugar on top.

Bake in the oven for 20 minutes until golden brown and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. The muffins are ready to eat now either plain or broken up and smeared with butter and marmalade.

Ciao ! Questi muffins sono veramente semplicissimi da fare e molto profumati grazie alla scorza e al succo di clementine

Bread Baking Day #15 Festive Breads :Panettone Vegan (italiano a seguire)

This month the hostess of Bread Baking Day is Annarasa who chose the theme : Festive Bread.
I wanted to bake Panettone since I was growing my sourdough and one day some friends called me to ask if I could bake a vegan panettone for their daudhter's family who was visiting from England. "Of course !" I love challenges ! I looked up the recipe on google and found this recipe (if someone is interested in the translation please let me know) that sounded good to me and so here is the result :




Checking the inner temp...



Letting it cool upside down held on knitting needles !!!

Da quando ho il cucciolo di lm sogno di fare il panettone e quando degli amici mi hanno chiesto di farne uno vegan sono stata felicissima di provarci . La ricetta l'ho trovata qui e l'ho seguita alla lettera non ho assaggiato il risultato ma i vegani ne sono stati entusiasti (purtroppo quando ho provato il panettone "normale" con la ricetta consigliata da bice è stato un fallimento, ma ha promesso che ne verremo a capo..).