Zizi's Adventures - Real Food, Real Stories

Cinnamon Rolls

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Making these beautiful cinnamon rolls was the first time for me to work with yeast dough on my own. I baked cakes from yeast dough before but always with my mom together. My mom is very talented, her yeast cakes are always beautiful and yummie. She learnt the recipes from her mom. I was a bit afraid how these cinnamon rolls would turn out but I was ready to challenge myself.

Working with this flexible and not sticky dough was amazing. I loved it and enjoyed every moment. I started making it in the evening so by the time all the 32 rolls were ready it was 11 pm.
Ree’s recipe inspired me to make these rolls but I changed a few things.

Cinnamon Rolls

Ingredients
– 5 cups white spelt flour, sifted
– 1 package (7 g) dry yeast
– 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
– 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
– 500 ml milk
– 1/2 cup sunflower oil
– 1/4 cup cane sugar
– butter
– cinnamon
– cane sugar
Method

Pour the milk, sunflower oil and sugar in a large pan. Heat until just before the boiling point. Turn off the heat and leave to cool about 40 minutes. When the mixture is lukewarm, pour it into a big bowl then add the dry yeast. Let it sit for 5-8 minutes then add 4 cups flour. Stir mixture together, cover it with a tablecloth and let rise for at least an hour.

After rising for an hour, add 1 more cup of flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Stir mixture very well.

Sprinkle the rolling surface with flour. Divide the dough in half and start working with one of them. Roll the dough thin (0,5 cm) maintaining a rectangular shape. Spread it with melted butter and sprinkle with cane sugar and cinnamon (take as much as sweet you would like to be).

Starting at the opposite end, begin rolling the dough in a neat line toward you (keep it as tight as you can). Pinch the ends of the roll to seal it. Cut the rolls about 1-1,5 cm thick and lay them in a buttered pans. Let the rolls rise for 30 minutes then bake at 180-200C (350-375F) for 15-25 minutes.

Repeat this process with the other half of the dough.

Vegan Sugar Free Banana Coconut Pancake with Vanilla Coconut Cream

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After posting a sugar free chocolate cake here I am again with something yummie, vegan and also sugar free. The pancake is a simple vegan recipe (similar to the others I posted before) but the cream’s recipe comes from one of my favourite blogs, the Green Kitchen Stories. 
If you make this vanilla coconut cream your kitchen will smell heavenly. It is a real comfort, lazy breakfast on a Sunday morning.

Vegan Sugar Free Banana Coconut Pancake with Vanilla Coconut Cream

Ingredients (makes 8-12 pancakes)

For the pancake
– 1 cup white spelt flour
– 1/4 cup whole wheat spelt flour
– 1/2 cup shredded coconut (unsweetend)
– 2 tablespoons aluminium free baking powder
– 1 cup oat milk
– 1 ripe banana, mashed with a fork
– 1 vanilla pod, split and seeded
– pinch of salt
– coconut oil

For the vanilla coconut cream
– 400 ml (1 can) coconut milk
– 1 cinnamon stick
– 1 vanilla pod (you can use only the skin of the vanilla that was seeded for the pancake)
– 3 dates, pitted
– 1 small piece of ginger, peeled
– 2 tablespoons tapioca or corn starch

Method

In a bowl mix together the dry ingredients: flour, shredded coconut, baking powder and salt. In another bowl mash the banana then add oat milk, vanilla. Give each mixture a stir then add the wet to the dry combining just until mixed. Set aside for 10 minutes to allow the batter to rise.
Meanwhile make the coconut cream. Put coconut milk, cinnamon stick, ginger and vanilla in a pot. Let it boil on medium heat, while stirring, then turn down the temperature so that it simmers. In a small bowl mix the 2 tablespoons tapioca starch with 2 tablespoons water and add it to the coconut cream, cooking for another 20-25 minutes (occaisonally stirring). Drain the cream (removing the cinnamon stick, dates, ginger, vanilla pod) and set aside. 
Prepare a non-stick pan with 1/4 teaspoon coconut oil on medium heat. Spoon batter into pan, forming 2 small pancakes. Cook until lightly brown on the bottom. Turn and brown the other side. Serve the pancakes with the vanilla coconut cream.

Roasted Apricot with Lemony Mascarpone Cream

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Even if apricot is not in season in most countries now, it’s worth saving this recipe for next summer. The apricot with its vibrant, summery colour always cheers me up. If you can’t be bothered to make something extra for dessert, this easy-peasy recipe helps you out. 
Did you know that the apricot seed is a nut that is rich in protein and fat like any other nuts? It also has an extremely high content of vitamin B17 which is known as Laetrile.  Daily consumption of this seed is claimed to be highly effective in preventing cancer.

The recipe is adapted from one of my favourite baking blogs, Joy the baker. 

Roasted Apricot with Lemony Mascarpone Cream

Ingredients (serves 2)

– 6 apricots, halved and pits removed
– 1 and 1/2 tablespoon natural cane sugar
– 4 tablespoons mascarpone
– 2 teaspoon honey
– 1/2 lemon’s grated zest
– 2 teaspoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
– 6 mint leaves, chopped

Method

Preheat the oven to 180C (350F). Place apricots in an oven safe dish. Sprinkle 1/4 teaspoon cane sugar on each apricot and bake it for 10-15 minutes until apricots get golden brown and the sugar melts.
Meanwhile in a small bowl mix mascarpone with honey, lemon juice and lemon zest. Place the roasted apricots on a plate and top them with 1 or 2 teaspoons of mascarpone mixture. Sprinkle with mint and eat! 🙂

Cacao Nibs Buckwheat Cookies and Honeymoon Around the World

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Before the recipe I would like you to meet a Hungarian couple, Arpad and Zita. They are cycling fanatics. Many adventures are already behind them and more ahead in the future! They found a great new tool for this lifestyle, the recumbent bike. On their 214th date as an engaged couple they rode their recumbent bikes to Rome, Italy. 🙂 They got married on 4th June this year and they set off on their honeymoon a week later on a Saturday morning.  Around the world. With their recumbent bikes. This is what their website is about. Posts are written mostly in Hungarian, but there are more and more translated into English. On the Facebook page, Honeymoon around the world, they share their adventures in English too. Watch this video of the first part of their exciting journey from Budapest to Istanbul.

Before going to the farmers market on 11th June we went to say good-bye to Arpad and Zita. Family members and friends gathered together on Heroes Square early in the morning watching this brave couple to leave on the journey of their life. Isn’t it amazing?

Back to the recipe. These cookies are so yummie and easy to bake. I adapted the recipe from Heidi. She is a talented foodblogger, photographer and cookbook author. Unfortunatelly I still don’t have her latest book, Super Natural Everyday but I read many nice critiques of the book on other foodbloggers’ website. So I can’t wait to hold Heidi’s book in my hands.

Cacao Nibs Buckwheat Cookies

Ingredients

– 1 cup whole wheat spelt flour
– 1/4 cup white spelt flour
– 3/4 cup buckwheat flour
– 150 g unsalted butter, softened
– 1/2 cup natural cane sugar
– 1/3 cup cacao nibs
– 1/4 teaspoon salt
– 1 vanilla pod, split and seeded

Method

In a bowl mix together the flours. Set aside. In another bowl beat the butter with the cane sugar (I did it by hand and didn’t use an electric mixer! :)), then add salt. Mix until smooth and creamy. Mix in the vanilla and nibs. Add the flours to this mixture and mix until incorporated. If it is necessary, add more flour to the mixture.

Wrap the dough into clingfilm and place in the fridge at least 2 hours or for overnight.

Preheat the oven to 170C (325F) and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Unwrap the dough and roll out on a floured surface with a rolling pin and cut out shapes with cookie cutter. Place the cookies 3-4 centimeters apart on the baking sheets. Bake the cookies until golden brown on the edges and lighter in the centre (for about 12-15 minutes). The cookies will keep in an airtight container in a cool dry place for a week.

 Picnic on Margaret Island, Budapest – healthy food & buckwheat cookies

Vegan Vanilla Strawberry Bread and Another Trip to Börzsöny Mountain

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My friends, I plus three cute dogs went on a one day hiking trip to Börzsöny mountain in Hungary. Börzsöny is a beautiful place with gorgeous nature and great hiking opportunities, throughout the mountain is the right place for a day or a weekend getaway. Börzsöny is a mountain range in Northern Hungary and about 70 km away from Budapest, near the Slovakian border.
Artisan ice-cream: chestnut honey, strawberry and vanilla

Vintage board
Doggies

I had two of my vegan friends on this trip with us that’s why I wanted to bake something delicious vegan they could eat too. I love baking loaf cakes – they are so easy to make. 
This was the first time I used “flax egg” (ground flax + water) in my baking. If you are looking to adapt a baking recipe to suit a vegan, or if you simply are out of eggs and have flax seed on hand, this is how you can successfully replace eggs in some of your baking. Flax seed has a distinctive nutty taste, so it is a delicious subsitute in things like muffins, oatmeal cookies, loaf cakes and pancakes. To replace one egg, measure one tablespoon of flax seed and grind in a blender or coffee grinder. Add ground flax seed to a small bowl with 3 tablespoons of water, and whisk. That’s all!
If you want to make this bread really special, whip up some cream, add some basil to it and top this wonderful flavoured whipped cream on each slice of the strawberry cake.  Yummie!
Vegan Vanilla Strawberry Bread

Ingredients

– 2 cups white spelt flour
– 1/2 cup whole wheat spelt flour
– 1/3 cup natural cane sugar
– 1/2 cup coconut oil
– 3/4 cup oat milk
– 1 teaspoon baking soda
– 1 teaspoon baking powder
– 1 tablespoon ground flax
– 3 tablespoons water
– 20 pieces of strawberry, pureed with a blender
– 1 vanilla bean, split and seeded
– 200 ml cream (optional)
– 6-8 basil leaves, chopped (optional)

Method

Start by prepping the “flax egg” by combining 1 tablespoon flax with 3 tablespoons water in a small bowl. Side aside for 15-20 minutes and allow to thicken. Preheat the oven to 180C (350F).
In a bowl combine the dry ingredients: flours, baking soda and baking powder. In another bowl mix together the wet ingredients: first oat milk with cane sugar, then add coconut oil, vanilla and the flax egg mixture and combine. Mix wet ingredients into dry, and stir until everything has just combined. Add strawberry puree and stir again. You will get a beautiful light pink batter. 🙂 Pour batter into a silicone loaf pan (mine is 25 cm  – 9,75 inch long) and bake on 175-180C (350 F) for 40-50 minutes. It’s ready when the cake tester (or toothpick) comes out clean. Once the cake is done, remove it from the oven and allow to cool completely.
It’s time to make the whipped cream. Pour the cream into a bowl and mix until it forms stiff peaks or if you are lazy use an electric mixer. 🙂 Gently fold in the chopped basil. Spread the basil whipped cream on each strawberry cake slice. Topped with more strawberries and you are in heaven. 🙂