Cook & Bake with Sara

my culinary journey

[saras-recipe-journal]

Regular Muffins

Ingredients:

300 g all-purpose flour

150 g granulated sugar

1 tbsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

100 g unsalted butter (melted)

2 large eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

250 mL milk

100 g baking chocolate

Instructions:

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

In a separate bowl, mix egg with the melted butter, then add in vanilla extract, and milk until well combined.

Gradually add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients, mixing until just combined.

Spoon the batter into the muffin cups, filling each about 2/3 full.

Gently fold in the chopped baking chocolate.

Bake at 200°C for 18–20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean.

Enjoy <3

[saras-recipe-journal]

Chocolate cake

Ingredients:

200 g all-purpose flour

200 g granulated sugar

50 g cocoa powder

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

120 g butter (unsalted)

200 mL baking chocolate

2 large eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

Instructions:

Melt the baking chocolate and butter together in a heatproof bowl over a pot of simmering water. Stir while it's melting to prevent clots and until smooth. Let it cool off slightly.

In a large bowl, whisk together all the dry ingredients: flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

In a separate bowl, whisk the eggs with vanilla extract, and buttermilk.

Slowly add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients, mixing until just combined. Be careful not to over mix them together.

Grease and flour a cake tin with butter and breadcrumbs and pour the batter into the tin. Bake at 180°C for 25–30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

Enjoy <3

[saras-recipe-journal]

Šišky with jam

Ingredients:

250 g all-purpose flour

1 egg

100 mL milk (warm)

1 tbsp granulated sugar

1 pinch of salt

1 tbsp unsalted butter (melted)

1 tsp baking powder

Your favorite jam (for serving)

Instructions:

In a large bowl, mix the flour, sugar, salt, and baking powder.

Add the egg, warm milk, and melted butter. Knead until you get a smooth, soft dough. If it’s too sticky, add a little more flour.

Divide the dough into small pieces and roll them into balls or oval shapes (about the size of a walnut).

Heat oil in a deep frying pan or pot to about 170°C (340°F). The oil should be deep enough to fully submerge the šišky.

Carefully place the šišky into the hot oil, frying in batches to avoid overcrowding.

Fry for about 3–4 minutes, turning occasionally, until they’re golden brown and crispy.

Lastly remove them with a slotted spoon and drain on paper towels to remove excess oil.

Enjoy <3

[saras-recipe-journal]

Strawberry cake

This was a fun cake to create with my dad during festive time. Making a corpus for the second time helped us to make it less sweet and make it into a softer dough that was perfectly smooth and was not too dry. Thus cake is a perfect combination of flavourful mascarpone and sweet strawberries and is a fresh addition to desserts that will be appreciated in any celebration.

Ingredients:

Filling:

250 g strawberries

230 g sugar

1,000 g mascarpone

2 packs vanilla sugar

200 ml heavy cream

For corpus:

200 g all-purpose flour

100 g butter (unsalted)

100 g granulated sugar

1 tbs baking powder

1 egg

pinch of salt

Instructions:

Corpus:

Combine all dry ingredients together, flour (200 g), sugar (100 g), baking powder (1 tbs) and the pinch of salt.

Add butter (100 g) and an egg and knead the dough together.

Press the dough into the cake tin and prick the center with a fork a few times. Bake at 180°C for 15-20 minutes or until golden. Let it cool on the side

Filling:

Whip the mascarpone with granulated sugar and vanilla sugar until smooth and in a separate bowl and whisk heavy cream until it forms stiff peaks and mix it into the mascarpone.

Slice up and fold in the strawberries.

All together:

Pour the mascarpone into the corpus and spread it evenly.

Use space sliced strawberries as a decoration and put into the mascarpone mixture on top.

Put the cake in the fridge to chill for 2-3 hours to set.

Optional - I used melted chocolate on top as additional decoration and let it cool off with it.

Enjoy <3

[saras-recipe-journal]

Cookies

This is a recipe I had to make many times to get it right. My first attempt got me too chewy and caramel tasting cookies, resulting from Browning butter and not letting it cool off before mixing in the sugar. However through my mistakes I learned the portions of ingredients to my liking.

Ingredients

220 g all-purpose flour

115 g butter (softened)

250 g granulated sugar

1 egg

100 g chocolate for baking

3 tbsp cocoa powder

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 tsp baking powder

Instructions:

In a large bowl, mix together softened butter with sugar granulated sugar until light and fluffy.

Mix in the egg and vanilla extract, mixing until well combined.

In a separate bowl mix together all the dry ingredients, such as all-purpose flour, cocoa powder and baking powder.

Gradually mix the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients. Fold in your chopped chocolate. And let the dough chill in the fridge or any cold space for around 5 hours or overnight.

Scoop spoonfuls of dough into a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, spacing them apart equally.

Bake at 175°C for 10-12 minutes or until they turn golden and edges are firm.

Enjoy <3

[saras-recipe-journal]

Rice cake

A little untraditional, however this is a good way to use up overcooked rice or a sweet sticky rice pudding. It always brings back memories of my kindergarten days where we had these as deserts

Ingredients :

350 g rice

90 g powdered sugar

1 pac vanilla sugar

1 l milk

25 g butter (unsalted)

3 eggs

70 ml peach compote

Instructions:

Firstly, wash the rice thoroughly. Then put the rice in a pot and cook in milk and put a pinch of salt in. The milk will start to gradually evaporate as we stir, make sure to add more milk through the cooking. Stir until the milk evaporates and you are left with a porridge texture. Put the pot from the heat and let it cool off on the side.

While the porridge is still warm mix in butter and egg yolks, powdered sugar and vanilla sugar.

Whip the egg whites into a fluffy cloud in a different bowl, by adding a pinch of salt. Slowly add this into the porridge and mix it together well.

Finally add the peach compote which we cut up first.

Pour the mixture into your baking dish and cover with bread breadcrumbs and chocolate pieces for taste.

Bake at 180°C for 40 minutes.

Enjoy <3

[saras-recipe-journal]

Oreo cheesecake

One of my favorite desserts to make for a birthday celebration that is sweet and tasty and will always be enough for many guests. My father and I were planning a cake to do for my first birthday and we came across cheesecakes and took the challenge to improve it slightly. In the picture is the final cheesecake and my dad, who doesn't like it too much sweet, enjoyed this a lot and you might as well.

Ingredients:

Corpus:

320 g ground oreo cookies (without cream)

100 g butter (softened)

85 ml milk

Cream:

500 g cream cheese

125 g powdered sugar

250 ml whipped cream (in liquid form)

1 tsp vanilla extract

3 tbsp Holland strong cocoa powder

10 oreos

Instructions:

Firstly we prepare a corpus base at the bottom of our baking dish, the one that worked for me the best was cake mold with the detachable bottom part. Prepare the corpus by grinding down Oreo cookies (320 g) and mixing them with softened butter (100 g) and creating a crumble. At the end add milk (70 ml) and mix it evenly into a thick dough, which through pressing will create the bottom layer of the cheesecake.

In a second bowl we create the cream part by mixing cream cheese (500 g), powdered sugar (125 g), 250 ml liquid whipped cream and one tablespoon of vanilla extract all together.

Take some off into a smaller bowl, around 5 tbsp and add Holland cocoa powder, or any high quality cocoa powder and mix it well.

Pour the creme into the mold on top of the corpus and spread it around evenly. Add some broken off Oreos (flavour of your choice) into the cream.

Spread the chocolate cream on top and spread it all around the top. Put the remaining Oreos on top for decoration. Put the cake in a mold in a fridge for at least 6 hours or for night and later take the cake out of the mould.

Enjoy <3

[saras-recipe-journal]

Gluten-Free & Lactose-Free Chocolate Muffins

Ingredients

240g rice flour

160g almond flour

200g granulated sugar

2 packets baking powder (about 20g)

2 packets vanilla sugar

2 eggs

240ml almond milk

120ml rapeseed oil

200g baking chocolate (chopped)

Instructions:

In a large bowl, combine rice flour, almond flour, sugar, baking powder, and vanilla sugar.

In a separate bowl, whisk together eggs, almond milk, and oil.

Gradually pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients, stirring until smooth.

Gently mix in the chopped baking chocolate.

Line a muffin tray with silicone or paper liners.

Pour batter into the liners, filling each about ¾ full.

Bake at 175° for 20–25 minutes.

Enjoy <3

[saras-recipe-journal]

Carrot muffins

I learned this recipe just because I really like carrot cake, but I'm the only person who enjoys it at home and I want to enjoy it even when I'm outside of home, for lunch even. So I thought of a way to make them smaller and came upon the carrot-cake muffins that combine the softness of muffins with carrot and cinnamon flavour of carrot-cake I enjoy. It was a perfect recipe and I didn't need any special ingredients.

Ingredients:

200g all-purpose flour

100g crystal sugar

1 packet vanilla sugar

1 baking powder (about 10g)

120ml milk

120ml rapeseed oil (vegetable oil)

4 shredded carrots

Instructions:

Firstly mix all the dry ingredients in a bowl; the flour, crystal sugar, vanilla sugar, and baking soda (or baking powder).

In a different bowl combine wet ingredients milk (120 ml) and oil (120 ml), then mix until smooth.

Grate 4 carrots and mix it into the batter until evenly distributed.

Pour the batter into the molds, filling them about ¾, optimally.

Bake at 185° for 20 minutes, or the batter rises and the muffins look fluffy at the top. You can test this by pricking a random muffin with a toothpick, it should come out clean.

Enjoy <3

[saras-recipe-journal]

Cinnamon Gingerbread Man

My sister and I have made big batches of gingerbread men during the past years and there is always enough to share with my family relatives and leave enough for the whole holiday. Bring comfort to your home as well.

Ingredients:

800 g all-purpose flour

500 g Hera butter (softened)

6 tbs honey

280 g powder sugar

2 tsp cinnamon

2 packs baking powder

5 eggs

Instructions:

You mix your soft butter (room temperature) and add cinnamon, honey and sugar (280 g). Combine it all together with 4 eggs and mix again with sifted all-purpose flour (800 g) and create a smooth dough. Let the dough rest 24 hours in the fridge to let all the ingredients mend together.

Sprinkle flour on your silicon mat and roll your dough into around 1 cm thickness evenly all throughout. You need to sprinkle the flour on top of the doughty and the rolling pin as well, since the honey in the dough will make it extra sticky.

Cut out your desired shapes with gingerbread molds (preferably from metal) and make sure to space them out. Put your cut out dough on a baking paper coverlet baking sheet and bake at 180°C for 7-10 minutes, watch the dough and only pull out when the dough doesn't stick to the tooth pick when you prick them.

At the end cover your gingerbread men with egg wash. Repeat the process until all of your dough turns into fresh and yummy gingerbread men.

Enjoy <3

[saras-recipe-journal]

Hazelnut Balls

These hazelnut balls are a beloved family tradition during festive times. My grandma used to make these every holiday season, and she lovingly taught me how to make them. The warm, nutty aroma of roasted hazelnuts and the sweetness of powdered sugar never fails to bring me back many fond memories of her kitchen. These are simple to make and taste absolutely delightful—perfect for sharing with loved ones or enjoying as a treat with your favorite cup of tea or coffee.

Ingredients:

250 g all-purpose flour

35 g vanilla sugar

170 g butter (softened)

1 yolk

1 pinch of salf

50 g hazelnuts

powder sugar

Instructions:

Sift the dry ingredients such as flour, sugar, salt into a bowl and mix it together evenly with butter until the pieces of butter melt together with all of the ingredients and until we have a crumble. Add one egg yolk and mix it evenly into the dough. Let the dough rest for at least an hour.

Put the hazelnuts on a baking sheet, cover it with baking paper and spread your hazelnuts over to roast them at 150°C for 8-10 minutes.

The next step is to cover the hazelnuts in the dough and trying to keep them similar in size. When all hazelnuts are covered bake in the oven at 170° for 10-12 minutes. While they are still warm we dust them with powdered sugar.

Enjoy <3

[saras-recipe-journal]

Pizza rolls

Crispy, golden layers of pastry wrap around a deliciously savory filling of tomato sauce, ham, olives, and melted Edam cheese. The oregano adds just the right hint of Italian-inspired aroma, making them irresistible. Whether you’re looking for a quick snack or a fun party treat, these rolls are guaranteed to disappear fast!

Ingredients:

puff pastry

tomato sauce

dried oregano

ham

olives

Edam graded cheese

Instructions:

Spread out your puff pastry on a silicone mat and coat our puff pastry with tomato sauce, adding dried oregano and sprinkling it on top can add a little bit of flavor.

Layer ham on top leaving spaces on the edges of the puff pastry, on top of the ham place cut up olives and lastly cover it all with grated Edam cheese, which is perfect as it melts easily.

We roll the dough carefully and tightly from one end to another and cut it into 1 cm slices and place them on a baking sheet covered in baking paper. Bake at 185°C for 20 - 25 minutes.

Enjoy <3

[saras-recipe-journal]

Tiramisu

There’s nothing quite like the sweet, creamy freshness of a homemade tiramisu. The rich mascarpone layers melt in your mouth, perfectly balanced by the bold bitterness of strong coffee soaked into ladyfingers. Each bite feels light and airy, yet indulgent, with just enough cocoa to leave a subtle, velvety finish. It’s a dessert that feels both comforting and elegant, leaving you craving more. And now I'll tell you how to make it.

Ingredients:

400 g mascarpone

80 g sugar

4 large eggs

1 and 1/2 pack of ladyfingers

4 tbsp Amaretto (almond flavoured liqueur)

3 cups cold and dark coffee

Holland strong cocoa powder

Instructions:

First, we prepare our coffee mixture by mixing 3 cups of brewed coffee with 4 tbsp of Amaretto (if used).

In a bowl whisk together 3 eggs yolks and sugar (80 g) until pale and creamy. Slowly mix in mascarpone until well combined.

In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites by adding a pinch of salt until stiff peaks form. Then gently fold the whipped eggs into the mascarpone mixture to make it light.

Now comes the layering. The best for this recipe is glass baking dish. Arrange a layer of ladyfingers dipped into the coffee mixture (around 5 seconds to not completely soak). Spread one third of the mascarpone evenly over the lady fingers. Repeat this process once or twice again until you finish with mascarpone on top.

Cover the glass dish with plastic foil and let it rest in the fridge for 5 hours or overnight. This allows the flavors and texture to set perfectly together. Before serving, sift a mixture of cocoa powder with cinnamon on top.

Enjoy <3

[saras-recipe-journal]

Best Chewy Brownies recipe

This quickly became my go-to whenever I wanted a chocolate pastry that's quick to make. This recipe should give you soft, chocolatey brownies with extra chocolate goodness from the pieces! Enjoy!

Ingredients:

400 ml vegetable oil

350 g crystallized sugar

4 tablespoons (40-48 g) vanilla sugar

6 large eggs

85 g Holland strong cocoa powder

260 g all-purpose flour (light or half light)

1 teaspoon (4-5 g) baking powder

1 teaspoon (3 g) salt

100 g baking chocolate (chopped or chips)

Instructions:

Preheat your oven on 175°C with both bottom and top heating. And lightly grease your metal baker with butter.

In a large bowl, whisk together the oil, crystallized sugar, and vanilla sugar. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing each one thoroughly.

In a second bowl, sift in the cocoa powder, flour, baking powder, and salt. Mix it into the wet ingredients and until evenly combined. Then gently fold in pieces of the baking chocolate.

Pour the batter into your greased metal baker and spread evenly. Bake for 25-30 minutes, checking with a toothpick at the end to evaluate if the brownies are done baking (it should come out with a few moist crumbs).

Enjoy <3

[saras-recipe-journal]

Biscotti Cantucci - Italian almond biscuits

This quickly became my favorite biscuit recipe. Biscotti are best combined with morning coffee or with milk and are delicious treats. Biscotti originates from the Latin word "biscoctus" meaning "twice-cooked", which we are going to perform in this recipe.

Ingredients:

175 g almonds (peeled)

260 g spelt flour

150 g cane sugar

1 tbs cinnamon

1 tbs baking powder

1/2 tbs salt

3 eggs

60 g butter

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 tsp coconut oil

Instructions:

Line the baking sheet with baking paper, put your peeled almonds on it to roast them at 150°C for 15 minutes. Turn them around once so they are evenly roasted and not burnt on one side. Take them out of the oven to cool down and chop them up into smaller pieces.

In one bowl combine spelt flour (260 g), cane sugar (150 g), baking powder, cinnamon and salt with butter (60 g) and with a hand(or wooden spoon) to create a crumble. Then add previously chopped almonds into the mix.

In the second bowl whisk together eggs, coconut oil (1 tsp) and vanilla extract (1 tsp). Followingly mix these ingredients into the first bowl and continuously fold it into the crumble until we create a dough. Put the dough in a plastic foil and let it rest in the refrigerator for around 30 minutes.

After that, remove the dough from the fridge, place it on a silicone mat, it needs to be properly floured. Divide the dough into two equal parts and with wet hands shape the dough into long rolls. Place the long rolls on a baking sheet lined with baking paper and bake at 180°C for 20 - 25 minutes.

After the first baking, let the rolls cool down. Then cut them into 1 cm thick slices, preferably with a sharp knife. Place the slices back on the baking paper horizontally and bake at 160°C for 15 minutes. Turn the slices over halfway for even crispiness. Repeat this process until all the slices are baked.

Enjoy <3

[saras-recipe-journal]

Braided milk bread

This recipe is ideal, for those who want soft and tasty milk bread. The essential base of the dough is tangzhong which keeps the pastry soft for days and can be made with all different kinds of filling, in this recipe I used salty filling.

Ingredients:

Tangzhong:

30 g all-purpose flour

200 ml milk

Dough:

650 g all-purpose flour

40 g sugar

8 g yeast

200 ml milk

2 eggs

15 g salt

40 g butter

Filling:

cottage cheese (I used ricotta)

parsley

pinch of salt

Instruction:

Firstly we make tangzhong out of all-purpose flour (30 g) and milk (200 ml) which we mix constantly in a pot over a medium heat, until we get pudding-like consistency. We are careful not to make lumps. When the consistency is right, we put the pot aside to cool down, we will need it later.

In a bowl we put all-purpose flour (650 g), sugar (40 g) and we create a pit in the flour and sugar and crumble the yeast into it. Afterwards we pour a warm milk (200 ml) over the yeast and start working until we get a smooth texture, for about 3 minutes, and we let it activate for about 5-10 minutes.

Afterwards we can add, tangzhong, 2 eggs, salt (15 g) and starting kneading the dough, this will take a long time so we make sure to sit comfortably where our arm can move freely.

When our dough starts to separate from our hand we add butter (40 g) and work it into the dough thoroughly. Lastly we cover the dough with a towel (clean dish-cloth) and let the dough rise for 1 and a half hour.

Meanwhile in a separate bowl we prepare the filling, mixing cottage cheese (or riccoto) with thinly chopped-up parsley.

After the dough had rose, we separate it into 10 equal balls, one after another we roll them thinly into 20×20 cm circle.

We use semi-coarse flour for sprinkling, my mom told me that way it doesn't absorb into the dough as easy. We sprinkle the flour on top of our thin dough and fold it in half. We cut up the folded part around 7 times vertically, trying to stay in the top-half part of the dough. Now we start braiding by taking the first link over the second, wrapping it around as the third one loops under the second one and over the fourth one, we continue this way until the end.

We open the dough and we add around 2 teaspoons of our filling inside the braided dough and we close it squeezing the two sides together.

We repeat this process with all 10 balls and we let them rest on the baking tray (and a baking paper on top) for around 20 minutes.

We coat the top with milk and then bake them at 180°C for 20 minutes until they turn golden brown on top.

Enjoy <3

[saras-recipe-journal]

Apple crumble pie

This is such a classical pie which can bring comfort to any home and is suitable to be eaten warm and cold. And it's only made of 3 parts: crust, apple filling and crumple on top.

Ingredients:

Crust :

310 g all-purpose flour

85 g butter (unsalted)

10 g granulated sugar

8 tbs water

Apple filling :

6 cut-up apples

5 tsp cinnamon

2 tbs brown sugar

Crumble :

100 g granulated sugar

95 g all-purpose flour

75 g butter (unsalted)

Instructions:

Crust:

Firstly, we make a pie crust mixing together butter (85 g) with sugar (10 g) until evenly combined. We then add all-purpose flour (310 g) and incorporate water,one tablespoon at the time, until smooth and lightly sweet dough is formed.

We put this dough in a buttered pie pan (ideally 30 cm wide and deep enough for future apple filling). We spread the dough evenly on the pie pan with a spoon pressing down and cresting a smooth surface. Finally, we prick the bottom of the pie crust multiple times with a fork.

We bake the crust at 190°C for 35-40 minutes until it's golden brown. We put it aside to cool down.

Apple filling

We cut up 6 apples into equal squares and roast them on a medium heat on a pan, mixing them from time to time.

After the apples are roasted we put them in a bowl and mix with 5 tbs of cinnamon and 2 tbs of brown sugar.

Crumble:

We mix together soft unsalted butter (75 g) with granulated sugar (100 g) and then we add all-purpose flour (95 g). The best way to mix this is with our hands.

All together:

We pour the apple filling into the crust, spread it evenly and cover the top with crumble.

We put it in the oven at 185°C for 20-25 minutes until the crumble is slightly crisp. Keep an eye for not overbaking.

Enjoy <3