Greek Christmas Filled Cookies

Cookies/Finikia/Melomakarona, a recipe from the East full of aromas and memories of lost homelands! Stuffed, traditional, Lenten and syrupy cookies.
The syruping is done in a saucepan and while the syrup is kept warm on a very low heat.
We prepare Finikia, which are consumed during the Lenten days before Christmas but also as a sweet delicacy for Christmas and New Year's Day along with the other Christmas desserts of the Twelve Days, such as Melomakarona, Kourabiedes, hills of fried honeyed Diples fragrant and fluffy Vasilopites! And even Isli, Christmas Bread, Kouloures, New Year's Loukoumades, Pancakes and other local sweets, festive, symbolic and ritual, that are prepared in every corner of Greece.
Yours!

Merry Christmas 2024! 🎄
Happy Holidays!

work: 1h:00′

time: 1h:30′

easy:

Happy New Year 2019!

Happy New Year 2019!

Health, Love, Happiness to Everyone!

Zambia Sifaki

Tahini Cookies

Mini cookies of a mouthful, fasting, but without the exclusion of the pleasure of their delicacy and the rest of the year, the non-fasting.
These are the perfect snack for those who are watching their diet. They are dairy-free, egg-free, butter-free but with tahini, orange juice and zest, amber brandy & aromatic spices, which give them their dark color!
Enjoy them with your favorite drink or wrap them on soft, nice wrapping paper & fill gift boxes with them. A remarkable gift for loved ones, friends, associates, neighbors… will be duly appreciated.
Yours!

work: 45′

time: 2h:00′

easy:

Leek Pie with Country Style Phyllo Sheet

Favorite pies of Greek Cuisine, favorite and the ingredients, which are added each time between the phyllo -different dough phyllo- to create a rich, tasty, ingredients and aroma, pie. There are also excellent traditional pies, which are made without any dough phyllo.
The proposal here is a pie with crispy, rusty leaves in the middle, which give it a large but distinctive taste. Its predominant ingredient is leeks and pork mince. In a regional role, but equally important is cheese, eggs, sweet or sour thyme, carrot to lighten the composition, olive oil and onions, many onions.
A versatile pie in flavors and the amount of ingredients we prefer, without omitting the leek most to justify the title.
Yours!

work: 1h:00′

time: 2h:00′

easy:

Kourabiedes: Greek Christmas Butter Cookies

The Kourabiethes are the best known, loved and popular sweets in various forms and names in all Central Europe, Austria, Germany, and in some Eastern European countries such as the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary.
In Greece is the most favorite Christmas dessert and although at first glance the sugared biscuit, crescent, circular or a mouthful, seems to be a rather unspectacular goody -only a little powdered sugar sprinkled upon a biscuit- between all the colorful Christmas buttered sweet cookies, truffles or chocolate treats is a clear favorite. The flavor and texture to win: It is a unique combination of butter and nuts and there is also the fact that melt in your mouth and have lovely crisp texture with roasted almond inside.
Follow the steps of the recipe and enjoy the tastiest kourabiedes ever!
Yours!

work: 1h:00′

time: 2h:00′

middle:

Turkish Delight & Walnuts Cookies

Biscuit Dough crumbles into a thousand crumbs, contrasting with the very tender inside of the Turkish Delights accompanying the crunchy walnut. They are always made in our house with Turkish Delight & Walnuts; we worshiped them as children or adults.
In some areas of Crete, these Skaltsounia are named Patoutha (Τα Πατούδα), with various fillings, and besides dusting with icing sugar, they are also made with syrup. A mouthful delight for the palate and a sweet lenten for every season.
The Lenten «Skaltsounia» are traditional in many parts of Greece with various fillings but also in the Balkan Countries. And also the neighbors Italians make something similar with nuts and dried fruit or jam or chocolate. «They are named «Ravioli Dolci».
Yours!

work: 30′

time: 1h:15′

easy:

Syrupy Cake with Chocolate Sprinkles

Syrupy Cake with Chocolate Sprinkles is a familiar, classic in our «neighborhood» and across the Atlantic since the chocolate sprinkles were named in Boston New England «chocolate jimmies» and sprinkled with it their ice creams. This name referred directly to black Americans. Over the years the word has lost its meaning for them and preferred not to continue to use this racist expression!
It reminds us of old tastes and favorites. The «ant» cake is a delicious syrupy chocolate cake coated with cocoa cream and black chocolate sprinkles everywhere, inside and out. It is a cumbersome recipe, but this cake's flavors and aromas will delight you.
Yours!

work: 2h:00′

time: 4h:00′

medium:

Almond Tart

Almond Tart with orange aromas. With grated base dough -Pâte Sablée- kneaded with poppy seeds. The aromatic stuffing of the tart has two layers. A first, thin, with apricot jam and a second with almond cream, made with blanched ground almonds, butter, orange zest, cherry brandy, eggs and sprinkled in the surface with almond slivers.
Refined, delicate, light, almost ethereal flavors, that only almonds can give us.
Yours!

work: 1h:30′

time: 2h:30′

medium:

Rusks, Vanilla Pudding & Jelly Dessert

A light dessert straight from the kitchen of mama, with flavors almost baby and that many will remind a dessert of older years.
As simple as it is, however, parallel preparations will have to wait at the refrigerator to cool each layer separately.
Syrupy rusks, sprinkled with roasted almond filet, vanilla cream, crisp peach compote & a beautiful crimson plum jelly with flavored berries.
You will love the process but even more you will love the taste and aroma of this dessert with the first bite! Yours!

work: 1h:00′

time: 8h:00′

easy:

Mulled Wine

Aromatic mulled wine with European origin.
Hot Wine, Mulled Wine or Glühwein, as it is called in German-speaking countries. It is a traditional drink which warms people for centuries and is offered during Christmas or Carnival. The Mulled Wine is a very popular traditional drink in the UK for Christmas, and less often during the winter.
Typically made with red wine, cider, and many spices. It is a delicious drink for cold winter evenings and very suitable for friends and family gatherings on festive winter days.
Cheers!

work: 10′

time: 30′

very easy:

Vasilopita the Greek New Year's Cake 2016

Brandy flavors, star anise, cloves, roasted almond, chocolate, Chios Mastic, essential oils of orange and velvety sweet chestnut cream emerge from this Vasilopita-St. Nicholas Cake and place it in another dimension. With the first bite an incredible blend of flavors and aromas explodes on the palate and the apotheosis of enjoyment is assured.
Yours!
※※※※※※※※※※
Happy New Year 2016!

work: 1h:45′

time: 2h:45′

difficult:

Kourabiedes of New Karvali

Kourabiedes delicious, aromatic and with a lot of almonds. A tweaked version of the famous kourabiedes of N.Karvali. The process is simple and the essential ingredients of the recipe is good butter, minced & roasted almonds in bulk, and good sprinkle with plenty of icing sugar.
Take care not to overcook because they harden.
Yours!

work: 40′

time: 2h:00′

medium:

Fig Pistachio & Date Truffles

Raw Food Diet sweet truffles, sugar free, fat free ingredients, full of protein, vitamins and trace elements, made from dried fruits & nuts, and fasting. Coated with a chocolate hat from cocoa and honey. It is very special truffles, easy to make and the view but also the taste do not leave many untouched.
Do not rush eat them, okay I let one to try, keep them for the next day or make the day before (!?), so as to mix the flavors and aromas of the ingredients together.
Yours!

work: 30′

time: 30′

very easy:

Semolina & Yogurt Cake

The Semolina and Yogurt Cake is a dessert with dominant component the pure sheep's yoghurt, the one with the crust on top, which gives it a distinctive flavor. The coarse semolina, used for the preparation of, makes it fluffy and gives it a grainy texture. The ingredients are what remind us similar desserts like Ravani or Samali.
It is tasty and aromatic with a light syrupy texture without being flooded in the syrup. You can combine it with ice cream.
Yours!

work: 20′

time: 1h:00′

easy:

Kourabiedes Easy & Delicious

Crushable, plump, crisp and very delicious Kourabiedes –Greek Christmas Butter Cookies– and the bonus the ease with which they are made.
Demystification version kourabiedes, so because we like sometimes things done more easily and passable even for beginners kitchen… as if simply we make biscuits, biscuits/ hearts, sprinkled with a white cloud of powdered sugar to resemble our snowy, festive scenery!
Good butter, powdered sugar, brandy & roasted almonds, to let the aroma of roasting and their taste in cookies dough.
That's all the essential ingredients all combined together give us a super tasty flavor. What a pity that you do not make them more often!
Yours!

work: 30′

time: 1h:10′

easy:

Autumn Apple Cake with Stroopwafel

Apple cake coated with crushed waffle, Stroopwafels (syrup waffles).
A very tasty caramel flavor, thin, soft and chewy cookie, which alone can be a full dessert to accompany the steaming coffee, our chocolate or hot tea. Cover the cup with a Stroopwafel for a while and the warm vapor penetrates and softens the caramel, which is imprisoned within.
At the apple cake is used stroopwafels as a coating to provide a crisp crust, caramel flavor & aroma. The caramel combines perfectly with delicious, autumnal, crunchy apples.
Taste experts or not it is worth the try!

work: 15′

time: 1h:15′

easy:

Strawberry Jam

Easy, fast and light strawberry jam, enhanced with a shot of brandy and lemon juice, which helps to maintain the bright color. Its sugar content is low, which makes it particularly dietary and with more fruit in its composition. Almost 80%! Ten minutes of boiling is enough for strawberries to retain all their vitamins and trace elements. With longer boiling, all of this is lost.
Try it!

work: 15′

time: 1h:15′

very easy:

Beef Stew

Delicious, classic, veal stew with caramelized onions and a rich fragrance composition. We've all enjoyed from the hands of Mom with minimal subtractions, but always with the same touch of love and care.
If these flavors have something to tell you, it is time to create your Sunday family tradition that will be transferred to your children and their continuity.
Yours!

work: 30′

time: 1h:30′

medium:

Chocolate Roll with Chestnuts

So delicious Chocolate Cake Roll (Swiss Roll) for special festive occasions, filled with fluffy whipped cream, sweet chestnut cream, chestnuts and crunchy biscuits. All are bathed in fluid chocolate, sensual coating!
Without exaggeration it is, perhaps, the most delicious stuffing, you've tried.
Yours!

work: 1h:00′

time: 3h:00′

hard:

French Onion Soup

French Onion soup (Soupe à l'oignon). An eminently French dish -dish of the poor- at times onions were plentiful and easy to obtain for the poor rural population. A dish quite popular since Roman times.
The modern version of this soup is made with caramelized onions, plenty of broth and toasted croutons with melted delicious gruyere cheese on them!
It is eaten hot, with cheese to melt into threads, and the toasted bread dipped in soup.

work: 30′

time: 1h:10′

medium: