Mad Tea Party

Ever since someone told me about pumpkin tea, I became thrilled to make my own tea blend. The tea used for the original blend was black tea, but I opted for rooibos, cause it is less strong and can be enjoyed even before sleep.

I chopped pumpkin, dried the slices in the oven, added spices, made a cup of tea...and was disappointed how faint the taste was. So I added much more tea and spices...I do know why tea blends always smell stronger than they taste ;)

After having tried the pumpkin tea, I really felt like creating other personal blends as well, so I dried apples and peeled oranges, mixed tea with different spices.

Maybe I should apply for a patent. Vail's Original Tea Blends. No artificial flavours!

In this sense, have a nice, cosy evening with your favourite tea blend!

~Vail~

Cinnamon Apple Pear Crumble

Ho~ It's time for a (heart-)warming experience. This dessert is a wonderful treat when you get home after a rainy October day, change into comfortable clothes and light a candle.

The idea for this came to me while I was browsing through a baking site and found this.
But tonight I didn't feel like following a recipe (...or rather, do I ever really follow instructions while cooking? I guess the answer would clearly be NO) Therefore I simply grabbed a few things from my fridge and cupboard and got started.

So, what about the result? Well, read more...

What you need:

* 2 sour apples (Boskoop)
* 1 pear
* butter
* cinnamon
* 1 tsp honey
* 100ml cream (if you like, take the low-fat substitute, it works fine)
* 2-3 tsbp flour
* 2 tbsp sugar
* 2 tbsp oat flakes
* walnuts

Peel, core and slice the pear and the apples. Heat a bit of butter in a frying pan, then add the slices and season with cinnamon. Fry until they have soften a bit. (about 5 minutes)
Preheat oven to 180°C.
Transfer the fruits into a baking pan.
In the same frying pan, pour the cream and add the honey and more cinnamon. Wait until honey and cinnamon have dissolved, then pour the mixture over the apples and pear.
In a bowl, mix the flour, sugar and oat flakes with about 1 tbsp of soft (but not melted!) butter until its crumbly. Add the topping to the fruits. Chop a few walnuts, and put them on top.
Bake it in the oven for about 30 minutes and serve hot.
About 3-4 servings.

Enjoy!

~Vail~

Apple Pie

It's apple pie time! (Alright, right, I know I sound like I'm doing nothing else beside cooking and baking XD) but hey! I do what I do best ;)

Now that autumn is right behind my door, I enjoy buying seasonal vegetables and fruits even more! This recipe is from my mom and since I haven't eaten it for a long while, I was longing for it. I only made half of the recipe and still I got 2 tarts!
The dough is awesome; it's coming a little close to puff pastry while at the same time being something completely different. (Now that sounds confusing but I guess you must taste first to understand what I mean - haha ^^;)
It is made of flour, butter and something I know does not exist in several countries: Quark. (therefore I dunno about English translation...)
The amount is the same for every ingredient; I took 125g of everything (and as you can see you will get a lot!)

What you need:

* 125g flour
* 125g butter
* 125g quark
* 2 eggs
* 2 tablespoons of sugar
* 150ml cream (low-fat cream is fine too)
* 3 sour apples

Cut the butter into cubes and make sure it is soft, but not melted. Add it to the flour and mix it with a fork. Add the quark and knead it well, add more flour if necessary. Put it away in the fridge for 2 hours.
Roll out the dough and put it into a flat, buttered baking mould. (You should use one that's designed for tarts!)
Peel the apples, remove the insides (bwaha, that sounds bloody!) and cut it into thin slices. Fill the still empty tart logically! with all the slices.
With a whisk, blend the eggs, the sugar and the cream, then pour it over the apples.
Bake 40-50 minutes. The oven should be hot (200°C).

















You better worship my mom's recipe! 8D


~Vail~

Potato Blinis With Creamy Apples

Today's recipe is a mixture of spicy and sweet, a wonderful combination in my opinion.

Until today, I never tried making blinis with potatoes, so this was new for me as well. But since I enjoyed this combination so much, I would like to share.

You should buy sour apples for the sauce, or it will turn out too sweet. I avoid using sugar and add crème frâiche instead, but if you feel that it's too sour for you, you can still add a bit of sugar.


What you need:

* 4-5 potatoes
* milk
* 2 eggs
* flour
* 1-2 chili
* crème frâiche
* 2-3 sour apples
* salt
* pepper
* butter




In a pot, heat 1 table spoon of butter but make sure to watch it so that it doesn't get burned. Peel the apples and cut them into small pieces. Remove the pits of the chili and cut it into pieces. As soon as the butter has melted, add the chili and apples and let them fry a little. Add a little water so that it covers the apples. Reduce heat.

Peel the potatoes, cut them into pieces and cook them in salty water until they're soft. Mash them in a bowl, add salt, pepper, the two eggs, some milk, 2 table spoons of crème frâiche and the flour until you have a nice batter, which shouldn't be too thin neither too thick.

Get back to the apples and check if they're soft, then mash them in the pot after having removed some of the water, or the sauce will be too thin. Add a little pepper and 2 table spoons of crème frâiche into the apple mixture and reduce heat to the minimum. Cover the pot.

Heat a little butter in a pan, then put 1 table spoon of the batter for each blini in the pan. Let them fry on each side until they're brown.

Serve the blinis with the apple sauce and enjoy. :)


~Vail~