cookbook pages 42-65

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Page | 42 ROMANIA Prajitura Cu Prune I got this recipe from Brenna Synnestvedt, who lived in Romania for a few years. This dessert is a plum cake because Romanians eat lots of plums. For this recipe it uses grams and oz so I used a scale for my measurements which worked great. I did not know I could use a scale to measure things like flour, now I can just use this instead of converting grams to cups for future recipes. It called for about 2 lbs of plums and I ended up using about nine plums. The recipe did not specify whether to cut the plums up or to just extract the seed and leave the fruit whole. I soon found however, that it is impossible to extract a plum seed without cutting up the plum. But it worked out perfectly with them sliced up. I put 100 grams of sugar in the plums by accident because I did not see that that sugar was supposed to go in the egg topping, so I ended up just putting 50 grams in the topping so it would not be too sweet. The dough was extremely crumbly and it was impossible to knead it so I just patted it into the pan and that worked well. I baked it at 350˚ which is medium heat, what it calls for. It did not say for how long to bake this for so I ended up baking it for about 45 minutes. The top had a nice golden brown color and when I stuck a tooth pick in it, it came out clean. I took it to my grandma’s for dinner and everyone loved it. When plums are cooked they do not taste at all like plums which I found interesting. In fact, it reminded me a lot of apple crisp. I certainly hope to make this dessert again.

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pages 42-65

Transcript of cookbook pages 42-65

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ROMANIA Prajitura Cu Prune

I got this recipe from Brenna Synnestvedt, who lived in Romania for a few years. This dessert is a plum cake because Romanians eat lots of plums. For this recipe it uses grams and oz so I used a scale for my measurements which worked great. I did not know I could use a scale to measure things like flour, now I can just use this instead of converting grams to cups for future recipes. It called for about 2 lbs of plums and I ended up using about nine plums. The recipe did not specify whether to cut the plums up or to just extract the seed and leave the fruit whole. I soon found however, that it is impossible to extract a plum seed without cutting up the plum. But it worked out perfectly with them sliced up. I put 100 grams of sugar in the plums by accident because I did not see that that sugar was supposed to go in the egg topping, so I ended up just putting 50 grams in the topping so it would not be too sweet. The dough was extremely crumbly and it was impossible to knead it so I just patted it into the pan and that worked well. I baked it at 350˚ which is medium heat, what it calls for. It did not say for how long to bake this for so I ended up baking it for about 45 minutes. The top had a nice golden brown color and when I stuck a tooth pick in it, it came out clean. I took it to my grandma’s for dinner and everyone loved it. When plums are cooked they do not taste at all like plums which I found interesting. In fact, it reminded me a lot of apple crisp. I certainly hope to make this dessert again.

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RUSSIA Vatroushkis (Cheese Pastries)

For these pastries I made the dough first and popped it in the fridge. Then I made the filling. The filling calls for the remainder of sour cream, and the second amount of sour cream is two table spoons while the first is a cup. In most recipes the first amount refers to the part made first while the second refers to the part made second. I had put two tablespoons of cream in the batter, but now it appeared as though the cup was supposed to go in the batter, while only the tablespoons were to go in the filling. So I ended up kneading in a cup of sour cream into the dough which was difficult because it was chilled. When I finally finished I realized that I had been right first because the instructions say to only put two table spoons in the dough and therefore the remaining cup was to go in the filling. Whoops! I decided to keep it as is though; there is no way I could get the sour cream out. The dough just ended up being moister. I cut out circles using a glass and then put a dollop of filling in the center. Then I pinched the edges together around the center, so that it looked a bit like a four pointed star with yellow cream in the middle. When they finished baking the edges had puffed outward a bit so that it looked more like a circle again rather than a star. The filling also became harder. This pastry was not very sweet at all and so it was more of a savory pastry, which was interesting. I took it up to contemporary church and everyone enjoyed them.

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SCOTLAND Shortbread

I made this simple sweet with my cousin Jency Boyce. The Scots often have this cookie during their tea time. There is a lot of butter and few other ingredients. The dough is extremely crumbly so the shortbread is quite flaky. Right after we took it from the oven we used a pizza cutter to cut wedges and then let it cool. If we waited for it to cool before we cut it, then it would have just cracked. Shortbread is delicious; it almost just melts in one’s mouth.

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SERBIA & MONTENEGRO

Nut Rolls I was surprised by the amount of dessert this recipe made. It called for a large amount of ingredients and I was worried that it would not be that good and I would end up with so much extra, but it was delicious. The recipe makes six loaves of this bread but I did not have enough filling so I only made five, which was still a huge amount. For the dough I was not sure whether it called for two containers that added up to 16 ounces or two 16 ounce containers of sour cream. I used two 16 ounce containers but the dough was too wet so I ended up adding about two and a half cups more of flour. Also for the yeast, it equals about six and a half teaspoons of dry active yeast, which I used instead of compressed yeast. For the filling, it is straightforward except it does not mention when to add the rum, so I assumed it went in with the egg and sugar and walnuts. It calls for a lot of walnuts too, 2 lbs! I do not know what pastry cloth is so I rolled out the dough on parchment paper which worked wonderfully only it occasionally crinkled which was a bit annoying. I do not know how it is supposed to be assembled so I just rolled out the dough in a rectangle shape and spread the filling over the dough. Then I started at one end and rolled it all up creating a spiral. When they finished baking they had grown much larger and some of the nut filling seeped out. They were incredibly delicious, almost similar to a sticky bun only not sticky, much drier. It also is practically the same as potica from Slovenia. I took it to school and my dad took some to work with him and everybody loved and ate it all. This will be a good dessert to make for the presentations because it makes a lot and is delicious.

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SLOVAKIA Bublanina

This was another simple dessert that was delicious. It was basically a light, fluffy, yellowish cake with cut up strawberries covering the top. I used a big rectangle baking pan, but really any pan would work. Also the amount of strawberries really does not matter, in fact, when I do make this again, I will probably put more strawberries on. After it finished baking, the strawberries sunk into the cake a little bit so just half a strawberry could be seen. It was so delicious. My family ate it with ice cream and some with whipped cream which added a nice touch. This was certainly one of my favorites, not only was it easy to make but was good. I picture this as a great summer dessert when the fresh strawberries are growing. That is when I will make this dessert again.

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SLOVENIA Potica

This dessert was recommended by a woman, Kathy Owen, whose family is from Slovenia. She has fond memories of her grandmother making this treat. It is dough rolled out flat and then slathered with butter, honey, raisins and nuts and then it is rolled up. I had to bend the two rolls so that they would fit in my tiny toaster oven, (can’t wait till the new oven gets put in!). They are quite tasty. They remind me a lot of cinnamon bread, they look and taste like it. I took it up to the girl’s dorm and they all loved it. I think I will probably make this dessert again.

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SPAIN Orange Flan

The first step of this dessert is to melt the sugar and evenly coated a pie pan with the syrup. It had a nice brandy color and was completely smooth, it looked awesome. Once it hardened and cooled it began to crack. It was tiny and quiet, but distinct splitting sounds. I do not think it was meant to crack but it ended up not being a problem. I mixed the other ingredients together and then baked them in the pie pan. Once it cooled off my family ate it for dessert. The custard texture was like a hotdog, or slightly stiffer than tofu, but tasted like egg and was a little bitter. This was because of the orange peels, so I would suggest boiling the orange peels in water three times before adding them in order to remove the bitterness. Otherwise it was good. Another frustrating thing was that I could not get any of the hardened sugar on the bottom of the pan which would have helped with the bitterness. Maybe if a lot more butter was used for buttering the pan or if I put it in the freezer it could possibly have separated from the glass pan.

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SWEDEN Svensk Appelkaka

(Apple Cake)

This dessert calls for limpa bread, which is traditional Swedish bread, but regular bread can be used instead. I chose to make limpa bread because I wanted to be as authentic as I could. For the bread it called for rye flour but in another recipe for this bread it said that whole wheat flour can be used instead. I used whole wheat flour because I could not find rye flour anywhere. A couple of days latter though, I was at Bethayres market and they had rye flour. Oh Well! The bread did not cook all the way through and was dense. My dad told me that I probably did not let the mixture cool down enough, so that when the yeast went in, it probably died. The crust was delicious though, it has a unique taste from the seeds, so I just ended up grinding up the crust. The actual cake recipe is extremely vague. It does not tell how much of the ingredients to put in. I ended up using about 6 and a half apples, I put a cup of water in the pot and I put in about 15 table spoons of sugar in. This was good because the apples turned into apple sauce basically and was the right texture and just sweet enough. For the grated bread, I actually grated 3 cups because any less was not enough. I put in about 8 table spoons of sugar and four teaspoons of cinnamon. I know that is a lot of cinnamon but the bread had a strong flavor so for the cinnamon to be tasted I had to put in a lot. The baking did not change anything too much; I think the top got a little browner though. It tasted fine, it was interesting because the apples were basically apple sauce while the bread crumbs (which look like the cereal “Grape-Nuts”) where hard and had a strong flavor. I think it would have been better if the apples were still a bit whole. I took this up to BATS which was having a bake sale.

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Limpa Bread

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SWITZERLAND Rehruecken

(Chocolate Almond Torte)

This was a cake/torte that includes lots of eggs, sugar, chocolate, almonds and citrus peel. Although it said to grate the almonds, I just placed them in a food processer which ground them up nicely and took much less time. Also with the citrus peel, after I chopped them all up, I placed them in a pot of water and let it boil for a bit to get some of the bitterness out of it which was a good idea. This was then baked in two round cake pans dusted with bread crumbs. This fact is the only gluten part of the dessert, so it could easily be substituted for rice flour. Then once done baking I took them out of the pans which was quite challenging. They stuck to the pan and tore a bit but in the end it was not noticeable. Even though I buttered the pans next time I will butter it more or use non-stick spray. Meanwhile I made the chocolate icing which I then smeared on one cake and placed the other on top thus, stacking the two. Next I poured the remaining chocolate over the top. Because it was a bit runny it dripped over the edges which looked quite appealing. Then I sprinkled the slivered almonds onto it which gave the torte a nice touch. I think that this might be the most beautiful dessert I have made for this project. It was so good. I did not really like eating the cake by itself but with the chocolate it was delicious. The chocolate tasted like fudge but was not nearly as dense. I could have eaten the chocolate all day if I had wanted to. It actually would make great icing for anything. So even if I do not make this cake again, which I am positive I will, I know that I will use this icing for other things.

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UKRAINE Lomanci Z Makom

(Poppy Seed and Honey Pastries)

This was a fairly simple dessert. When I rolled out the dough I placed it in a glass baking pan but it curved up on the edges so I should have just baked it on a cookie sheet. For grinding the poppy seeds I used a coffee grinder which took some time but did work. The poppy seeds made the honey mixture black, and murky. Therefore, the dessert does not look great. Apparently it should be possible to shape the honey mixture into balls around the pastry squares, but the honey mixture is not stiff enough. It tasted very much like poppy seeds with an underlying taste of honey. Because I do not like honey I did not like it, but even my dad who does like honey did not love it much either. I am pretty sure I will not make this again.

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WHALES Welsh Cakes

Alexandra Borders, from Whales, gave me this recipe. She grew up with her mother always making them and now she makes them for her family. It was measured out in grams so I had to do a lot of converting, which I am not at all sure I did right. I think I added too much flour because I had to add water, which the recipe does not even call for, and they still turned out dry. For the spices I added cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and allspice and I used raisins and cranberries for the fruit. It was interesting that they were cooked on a griddle instead of in the oven, but this was okay because I got to use the griddle on my new AWESOME stove. The one frustrating thing was that it was hard to determine when they were done cooking. The outsides cooked fairly quickly but the inside was never fully done. I think I ended up cooking each one for about ten minutes, besides the fact that they were dry they turned out fine. They were actually quite good if I put butter on them. Although they were not my favorite, with butter they were quite tasty.

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ASIA

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AUSTRALIA & NEW ZEALAND

Pavlova I asked Diana, a girl in the dorm, for an Australian dessert because she lived in this country for a few years. She told me to make pavlova. I soon found that it is also a traditional New Zealand dessert, so this one counts for both countries. It was created in honor of the great Russian ballerina, Anna Pavlova who toured through both countries. This dessert is meringue, cooked in the oven with a whipped cream topping. The meringue is supposed to be thick enough to mould and cook without being in a pan. However, as I placed it on the cookie sheet it began to slowly ooze outward. So I just put it in the oven and then a little later when it was stiffer, I pulled it out and molded it more to make it taller. It definitely made quite a mess. On top I placed the whipped cream which had no sugar (the meringue is sweet enough) but had yogurt in it. Then I cut up a kiwi and strawberries and arranged them on top. Unfortunately, I forgot to put the lemon curd on top. Oh well! It still tasted delicious. I took it to the girl’s dorm and they all loved it. I think I probably will make this one again.

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BANGLADESH Shandesh

(Fresh Cheese Dessert)

This dessert is made to welcome good news and for festivals. I learned from my research paper that even cheese is considered a dessert, so I figure it is good that I finally get to make a cheese dish. I never made cheese before so this was exciting. When I added the lemon juice to the boiling milk, it immediately began to curd. It was awesome to watch. All of a sudden there were clumps of white things in yellowish water. It looked nasty. Next I placed cheese cloth in a strainer and poured the cheese and whey into the strainer. Then I squeezed out the excess water which was difficult because it was hot. I ended up using a spoon to press the water out. When I first began to knead the cheese, it was crumbly but then got smoother as I continued to work with it. When I fried it in the frying pan nothing really changed, it only got a bit dryer. I poured it into a bowl and let it cool. It is a crumbly cheese similar to blue cheese only the clumps are smaller and all white. It tastes a bit sweet, has an interesting flavor and is a bit chewy. I still cannot tell if I actually like it or not.

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BURMA Thagu-Pyin (Palm Sugar Sago)

My father knows a woman from work whose family is from Burma and she sent me this recipe that she had made before. I could not find the palm sugar which is sugar from a coconut, so I used maple syrup instead. Also I could not find sago so I replaced it with tapioca. I boiled the tapioca and water together then added the maple syrup and poured it into a glass pan to let it gel. It came out to be the consistency of thicker than jelly but gooier than a jelly fish. I then rolled them in coconut shavings and let them sit. I tried one but could not finish it. The flavor was a bit bland tasting mostly like coconut which was not bad; I just could not handle the jell-o like texture of it. It just grossed me out too much. My dad took them into work where the Burmese woman said that they were better than the ones she had made. This was awesome. I know that despite my dislike, they turned out well. I personally will never make these again.

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CAMBODIA Trai Cay

(Mixed Fruits)

This was a nice and easy recipe to make, and I ended up making it on Christmas morning. I relearned how to scoop out grapefruit and orange. I cut it in half and then used a knife to slice the edge of each section and then used a grapefruit spoon to scoop them out. This was the most difficult part of this dessert (not very difficult). Instead of saving the syrup that the litchis were in, I accidentally poured it into the sink and so I had to cook down sugar and water over the stove to get syrup. Unfortunately, the only fruit I like of these are oranges and because grapefruit has such a strong flavor it made everything taste like it. I had never had litchi fruit before, once I got over the initial taste of grapefruit, I could tell that they were a bit sweet. They tasted fine the only thing was the texture. They were chewy and were a bit rubbery, it is hard to describe them, but they also looked like some sea creature/fish. Overall, in the future I will make fruit salads with fruit that I like. However, it was cool to try litchis, which I never would have even considered getting before.

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CHINA Apples or Bananas

Pulling Golden Threads

I made this dessert for pizza at my grandma’s, and for the girl’s dorm. Basically, it is cut up apples deep-fried twice and then tossed in a wok (Chinese frying pan) with oil and sugar so the apples acquire a caramel glaze. When completely coated they are placed in water. When they are in the water, oil starts to seep off of them and I believe that this is what the “golden threads” are. Then they are supposed to be quickly taken out of the water and placed on a platter. They were not bad but they were not my favorite. I think I might have also burned the sugar a little bit. They are better eaten right away because after a while they began to get a little soggy. The girls all thought they were interesting. One girl commented that they were “funky”. My mom really enjoyed them and kept eating them. They looked a lot like general tso’s chicken, and although they had sugar they were not too sweet. I do not know if I will make these again, but if I do I know that I will be able to make them better.

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FIJI

Vakalolo This traditional dessert is a type of pudding. One of the ingredients is cassava. The dessert from Liberia called for cassava but I had used tapioca instead. So I decided I should try to find out what exactly this ingredient is. Cassava is the root of the Yucca plant that grows in warm, tropical climates. Fortunately I was able to find it in Whole Foods. This store is the best, because it has all the rare ingredients. It had two of them in the refrigerated section with the fresh produce. A cassava has brown skin and they coat it in wax so it lasts longer. It is about a foot long and weighs about 3 pounds. The recipe says to grate it, so I took a knife and peeled/cut away the skin. The inside was extremely white and in some areas I could see fibers running through it. It was moist but it had a texture and taste similar to flour. The recipe calls for six cloves, which when ground measured about ½ a teaspoon. When I mixed everything together, I split them into four sections and wrapped each in parchment paper. I rolled them in it and then bent the sides of the paper up. I then placed then in a steamer basket and placed this in a sauce pan with a little bit of water in it, put a lid over them and steamed them. Because of the coconut, when they were finished they looked like hash browns, in the shape of potatoes. Also the cassava seemed to have gelled a bit. I did not particularly like them, they tasted weird.

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INDIA Sooji Ka Halva

This interesting dessert I made with Jency Boyce for dinner at my grandma’s. It can be eaten as a snack or dessert and is popular with Indian children. It is flour cooked in a frying pan with some oil. It is supposed to be semolina flour but I could not find it so I used regular flour. It is supposed to get golden but it still stayed white, probably because semolina flour is more yellow. It also stays extremely dry. Then water is added and it cooks longer but still remains dry and crumbly. I was surprised by this. Then almonds and raisins are added. We ate it by pinching up some of the substance with our fingers. Although crumbly there is enough moisture that it does stick together. I know in India that they eat a lot of food with their hands and this is something that you eat with your hands. This is the type of dessert where just little pinches are enough rather than getting a whole bowl of it. I enjoyed this dessert. No, it is not my favorite but it tastes pretty good. The taste almost reminds me of funnel cake. It has a mild but distinct flavor. Also it appears that everyone who tried it actually liked it too.

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INDONESIA Onde-onde

This was also a fairly simple dessert to make. It was sweet rice flour, salt and coconut milk mixed to make the dough. Sweet rice flour is also glutinous rich flour and I was able to get it at Wegmen’s grocery store. The dough actually was too dry so I ended up adding ¼ a cup more of the milk and it worked out perfectly. The dough is then rolled into balls and I used my thumb to poke a hole in it. This is where the brown sugar is then placed. Once the hole is pinched closed, the balls are poached in boiling water and then rolled in coconut flakes. These balls are very chewy because of the rice flour and they are bland tasting with not much flavor. I enjoyed the first bite but then it was too much. It is better if they are cut in half or half the size.