Maroggia’s Mill Cookbook: Cinnamon and Almond Croissants / Il Ricettario del Mulino di Maroggia: Croissants alla cannella e mandorle

As previously mentioned in the post about madeleines for Maroggia’s Mill Cookbook I haven’t been posting sweet recipes anymore, given my macrobiotic diet. Here I indulge with another sweet recipe which calls for a lot of butter too. We’re not born to suffer, are we? Croissants is one difficult recipe I finally managed to bake properly last year, but as you know one never stops learning or experimenting. This time I tried substituting cow’s milk with oat milk and used margarine in the dough instead of butte, just for a change. The result is very good, although I’ll never stop experimenting until I will achieve the perfect layers! I added cinnamon to both the dough and filling but nothing prevents you to experiment and create your own personal recipe, even a savoury version. I recommend you take your time and above all be patient. Read throughout the tips below and watch the videos i linked, especially the one by Envie de bien manger. They will help you get good results.

Semolina Flour Tozzetti / Tozzetti di semola rimacinata fine

Bread sticks, bread sticks…an endless love. Grissini have always been my favourite snack (as a child when we went out for a pizza I would steal grissini bags to all diners at our table, then grissini became the staple snack I would nibble during trips on trains when I went at the university), I never get tired of trying new recipes and mix of ingredients. This time I tried to put together one of my favourite flour (the friscello or fine semolina) with some farina bianca nostrana, equivalent of a strong bread flour. From the fridge I removed a tiny jar of shortening which was left from making pies, mainly out of curiosity (shortening is often amongst the ingredients of artisanal bread sticks that can be found in shops and supermarkets) as it seemed the right amount for this recipe and waste not want not, right? I used some refreshed and very active liquid sourdough and voilà the perfect recipe is served, more out of luck than anything else. I’m not sure whether the flour, lard or simply the mix of all these ingredients made the trick, but this recipe is among the best I’ve created so far. These tozzetti (meaning stocky, as I named them for their flat, short and thick shape) are the apotheosis of crunchiness.

Maroggia’s Mill Cookbook: Black Sesame Seeds, Lemon and Black Pepper Madeleines / Il Ricettario del Mulino di Maroggia: Madeleines al sesamo nero, limone e pepe nero

From the beginning of the year, ie since I started following more or less religiously a macrobiotic diet, I was forced to cut out on all that is sweet or contains sugars and most of the sweeteners on the market. I had to adapt, and started juggling myself between bread sticks, buns, loaves and pizzas recipes to add to Maroggia’s Mill Cookbook trying to keep up both quality and variety. Detox, health, balance of body and mind. All of this is fair, but sometimes a little indulgence is necessary, isn’t it? So I looked back to a recipe for madeleines which I posted long time ago for Maroggia’s Mill Cookbook. As I child I remember my mother buying those sweet treats from time to time, a very much appreciated concession for our mid day snack. She would buy the classic lemon scented ones which I ate usually in a series of three (I’ve always had a soft spot for odd numbers), religiously dunking them in a large cup of cold milk until they were next to falling apart.

Brown rice curry with chickpeas and oat milk / Riso al curry con ceci e latte di avena

Recently I realized that concentrating efforts on my macrobiotic diet, recipes for Maroggia’s Mill Cookbook  and MTChallenge participations a this blog features almost exclusively bread recipes. Of course it makes total sense, considering the name of the blog itself is quite exhaustive about my main passion in the kitchen, but still I do believe it would be a good thing just to post some recipes not related to bread every now and then. So I thought about going back to one of my old loves, curry. I will never grow tired of saying curry it is not a powder that one can buy in the supermarket, but a blend of spices that you can easily do at home by varying amounts and types of ingredients. Seen the limitations the macrobiotic diet imposes I came up with a recipe which does not employ coconut milk, but uses oat milk instead. The result is great. If you make oat milk yourself (here you can find the recipe you will see how the sauce thickens with no addition of ingredients such as corn starch. Great, right? This creamy curry is very tasty and not spicy at all and gets even better if allowed to stand twenty four hours. Are you ready to bring some Indian flavour in your kitchen?