Stale Bread and Fennel Seeds Brittle Biscuits / Biscotti al croccante di pane raffermo e semi di finocchio

A couple of months ago I was interviewed by a young local journalist, Ivan Campari, for a series of articles he is publishing on the newspaper LaRegione featuring young people from the Mendrisiotto area. For this I have to thank my friend Alan Alpenfelt, the mind behind the independent Radio Gwen and the acting company V XX Zweetz who was interviewed too and gave my name amongst others. To greet both the photographer and the journalist I decided to bake a batch of biscuits, which proved providential as the only good picture of me is one I am transferring them from the baking tray to the rack! I am such a terrible photography subject as I always feel very embarrassed and pull faces and eventually end up throw evil glances at the camera.

Maroggia’s Mill Cookbook: White Chocolate Sachertorte, or Gio’s cake / Il Ricettario del Mulino di Maroggia: Torta Sacher al cioccolato bianco, o anche detta torta della Gio’

It has been quite a while now since I last posted a cake recipe for Maroggia’s Mill Cookbook. As you know by now my diet unfortunately does not allow me to eat sweets, although on rare occasions I happen to cheat (better not mention the Christmas festivities, which have been a disaster as far as diet is concerned). But this cake is simply divine and I could not keep myself from posting the recipes. It’s a reinterpretation of the most famous Sachertorte, the original recipe I have worked on comes from a recipe which I have been baking for nearly 20 years ripped from an old issue of a magazine which I cannot tell anymore whether it was “A Tavola” rather than “Italian Cooking”. However, the recipe of the original Sacher is superb but this white version is not far behind. I used Maroggia’s Mill Nostrana flour and the result is soft and spongy to perfection, very moist and sweet without being sickening (to avoid it being to sweet I decided not to cover it with a white chocolate glaze, which is to my taste a bit too sugary). A bite leads to another bite, melting quickly in the mouth. The first person to test the recipe was my friend Gio’, which I found out loves white chocolate both reasons why I decided to rename this recipe “Gio’s cake”. I also tried to make a bigger cake using a classic 20 cm diameter mould ring and it was met with great enthusiasm, but keep in mind a bigger cake requires different temperatures and times for baking. What are you waiting for, why don’t you try it too?

From the book “Dolci Regali”: Estonian Kringel / Dal libro “Dolci Regali”: Estonian Kringel

My passion for MTChallenge’s monthly appointment is well known to all of you. Even macrobiotic diet hasn’t stopped me, even thought I had to drop the last challenge. There is no way to get me out of the most challenging and fun food bloggers’ challenge in the web. I just love that feeling of anticipation waiting for the announcement of the winning recipe and the following days, waiting to know what will be the next challenge. I learned so much, certainly not enough, and enjoy it very much. Needless to say when the book “Dolci Regali” came out I didn’t waste a minute and bought several copies of the book, one for me and the other for friends and family members. Anyone obsessed with home baking should get a copy. Each page is full of wonder, inspiration and valuable information.

For a special friend: Flavia Ingalls’ Custard Pie / Per un’amica speciale: Torta alla crema di Flavia Ingalls

This recipe is dedicated to a good friend and amazing photographer, Flavia. I have known her for almost a year now, having had the chance to team up with her for many of our works for Migros’ weekly paper, Azione, and get on very well. When we can we have dinners and movie projections at the studio she shares with some other very talented guys. On the 28th of August she celebrates her birthday and knowing of her unconditional love for “Little house on the prairie” I looked up many website in search of a themed present. Until we stumbled upon a book of Vivian Maier’s works while visiting an exhibition and suddenly changed plans. But something “Little prairie” themed had to be there for her birthday! So I looked on the web for a recipe instead and picked this custard pie. Why I am posting it so late? Well I admit that along the months I had to tweak a little the recipe until coming up with this one, which is simply perfect.

Daring Bakers: Sachertorte

The October Daring Bakers’ challenge was brought to us by Korena of Korena in the Kitchen. She took us to Austria and introduced us to the wonders of the Sachertorte.

It has been a while since I last took part to a Daring Bakers challenge, but this month I could not miss on the appointment, not with this cake, the Sachertorte. Korena challenged us with the cake I baked the most during my university years (as I already told you in my post of the chocolate and cinnamon cake). And I realised I hadn’t been baking it since then. A good opportunity to test my skills (oh the glaze, what a nightmare!) and taste, after so many years, one of the most balanced and soft dough in the world of cakes to my humble opinion.

Maroggia’s Mill Cookbook: Madeleines with licorice and orange zest / Il Ricettario del Mulino di Maroggia: Madeleines alla liquirizia e scorza d’arancia

I’m back with the bimonthly appointment with Maroggia‘s Mill Cookbook and with my licorice fixation as well. Yes, not only I am so looking forward to my dear friend Michela’s – aka Menta e Rosmarino – visit over to Switzerland as amongst other things she already announced me she will bring a bag of licorice powder, but I can’t stop thinking about recipes that contain this amazing ingredient.

My mother’s memories of a posh grocery and cheesecakes: Leicestershire curd tarts / I ricordi di mia madre, tortine al formaggio e un alimentari molto chic: Leicestershire curd tarts

This recipe has been “commissioned” to me by my mother so I am leaving the post to the words she e-mailed to me. The recipe she sent me can be found on this page which has some other Leicestershire recipes on it too. The pastry I chose is a quick “rough” one but proved to be very good, flaky and crisp. You can find it on British Larder, at this page.

Maroggia’s Mill Cookbook: Cream Biscuits with Saffron and Raisins / Il Ricettario del Mulino di Maroggia: Biscotti alla panna con zafferano e uvette

Maroggia’s Mill Cookbook is back, this time with some cookies which in reality are a little of a failed experiment from an aestethic point of view but then such a delightful for the tastebuds I decided to publish them anyway. Let’s call them ugly but tasty cookies!

Smithy Loaf, or about Twelve Loaves and the pleasure of unfussy baking / Smithy Loaf, o anche di Twelve Loaves e il piacere di una semplice infornata

Keep it simple. This is this month’s Twelve Loaves theme, as beautifully explained by the talented Rossella in her blog Ma che ti sei mangiato?. Simplicity can freeze. Always in search of the elaborated techniques, which require time and effort but reward with breathtaking results and oh so many compliments we forget about the joy of a simple, quick bake. Yes baking can be rewarding with little efforts, using basic ingredients and techniques you can obtain delicious results within one hour sharp.