Muffins with dried prunes

Round two.

It is not my life's mission to eat healthy. It's more like "eat tasty" :) But when you can have both, why the hell not? Here is one recipe that I found recently (here I should mention that I found it in another blog, https://chefmanolova.wordpress.com, and she used a recipe form here: http://fitnesinstruktor.com/ by changing it a bit) for extremely delicious and tasty muffins with dried prunes that are gluten free, sugar free and flour free.

To be honest, I was not very optimistic at first, I wasn't pessimistic, but I din't have very high hopes. I was so pleasantly surprised by the result that now I can't stop making them and I can't stop eating them :) Which is not at all a bad thing, because, amongst all the things I cannot eat due to the regime I am under right now, this is one that I can! YAY! So, here's what you'll need:

80g raw sunflower seeds (peeled)
80g raw pumpkin seeds (peeled)
3 table spoons linseed
200gr dried prunes
12 dried prunes for the filling
4 big eggs
1 tea spoon baking powder
3-4 table spoons honey

First you're gonna need a blender or a food processor. We're gonna use the seeds to make flour. I have a standard blender that works just fine for me, so you don't need anything specific for that. Put all three types of seeds in it and let it do its thing until you get the flour as you prefer it - if you prefer fine milled, leave it for a little while, if you like the small crumbs of seeds, take them out earlier. In a bowl, combine the "flour" with the baking powder. Now you'll use the blender one more time for the prunes an eggs. The batter that comes out is fluffy and airy. Add the honey an the dry ingredients and stir until they are well mixed.

Now baking preparation. I use a standard size muffin form for 12 muffins. To save me the time when washing it, I also use paper paper liners. If you don't like the paper liners just don't forget to grease the form before adding the batter to it. Fill all 12 form to the half, then put the 12 dried prunes we've set aside earlier and then fill the form to the top. They are now ready to be baked.

You don't have to preheat the oven. Turn it on right before you put the muffins in. Turn it to 160 C and bake for 25-30 minutes with ventilator. I check them regularly to see if they are ready (you know, if a tooth pick comes out clean, they are ready) so sometimes it takes 20 minutes, other times - 30. But that's just my oven :) If you trust yours, you don't have to open it every 10 minutes. Once they are ready let them cool off for a little, because the whole prune inside is very delicious, but also extremely hot. There you have it!

Hope you try them and you like them, just as much as I do! Good night! :)

My mom's katmas (or katmi, as it is in Bulgarian) - something very traditional

So to start it off, I chose something very Bulgarian and very traditional - katmi.

This is a type of pastry that originally has no filling, but you can pretty much put everything on it. Anything and everything that you like. It is neither sweet, nor salty, so you can add whatever you please and go both ways. My boyfriend loves them with jam and white cheese(here, in Bulgaria, we mostly use one type of white cheese that is typical for our country. Not sure how easy it would be to find it elsewhere, but you can substitute with Feta - it's close enough). It is often mistaken for pancakes. You might actually get sold a pancake for a katma. And here I need to clarify one more thing - our pancakes are quite different than the well known Americans - the batter that is used is different, they are wider and bigger and are very thin.

Usually they are served and offered as breakfast, but trust me when I tell you - you can eat them anytime you like - breakfast, brunch, lunch, supper, dinner or as a midnight snack. Yeah, that's right.

Here's what you're going to need for the batter:
3 large eggs
1/2 tea spoon salt
300ml milk
300ml water
2/3 of a cube of fresh compressed yeast
~450gr white flour

This is what I do:
First I crush the yeast into small crumbs. In a small bowl I add to it a teaspoon of sugar and 1 or 2 teaspoons of flour. Add warm water to it, mix it until well blended and no crumbs and then set it aside for 5 to 10 minutes. You will see that it will increase its volume several times and it will acquire one more... bubbly... and porous texture. It's ready.

While I wait for the yeast to leaven, I mix all the other ingredients. Starting with the eggs. First I beat the eggs well in a bowl, then I add the milk, water and salt ( stir so that all liquids are mixed well). Then I add the already leavened yeast mixture. Again, stir well and then I slowly start adding the flour while, of course, stirring vigorously. Now, we finally have the batter ready. It should have a thicker texture, but still be in a liquid-ish state. Again, it rests for 30-40 minutes until the yeast, again does its magic, this time to the whole thing.

Remember how the yeast looked after 10 minutes? Well you should have pretty much the same picture. The batter should be bubbly, airy and porous. Now we can bake.

I use a mid-size pancake pan, 23cm wide and 2cm deep - it is pretty shallow but that's what makes it so good for pancakes. And katmi. With this size of the pan and that amount of the batter you will get 8 perfect, round, airy, soft, 0,5cm-high golden katmi. Yum-yum.  Do not grease the pan - pour the batter into the dry pan. Set the hot plate on a medium high temperature (for example, my hot plate has 3 levels, I use the second one) - this way you won't burn them on the outside until they bake on the inside. Naturally, you have to flip on both side until you get that so-craved golden-brown colour. After you take every katma off the pan grease it with butter on both sides - this will make it soft and easy to roll. Only 7 more to go and you are ready to eat!

Well, that's it! I'm afraid you're gonna need to make some more, because they disappear with the speed of light and they are oh-so-delicious... As I said, you can have them salty - with some ham or salami and cheese and some mustard on top, or you can have them sweet with your favourite jam or maple syrup or, even better, with honey. And some powdered sugar. Ok, I have to stop now because I am drooling all over my keyboard. If you've had the patience to read everything to the end, thank you very much, I hope you try my mom's katmi, I hope you like them and I really hope they become a regular guest on your table. Some spoiler pictures, just to get the image :) Good night!

So I decided to become a blogger...

Hello you who, for some reason, intentionally or by accident, decided to stop by and read my first-ever article. Thank you for giving me a bit of your time. 

On several occasions I have thought about starting a blog but I just never did it. I don't know why. But now, I guess I got inspired, and here it is. Truth be told, not long ago I watched the "Julie & Julia" and this is what really got me here :) I guess Mrs. Child still is one quite inspirational woman. 

I wouldn't say I am the best cook but I do love spending time around the kitchen and I love sharing the results so I said "Why not?" I guess this passion for food comes with the territory, or in my case - with my zodiac sign :) I am a cancer and we love good food, we love eating and, boy, do we love a fully stocked fridge.

So, yeah, that's it - I love cooking. I don't do it every day but when I do - I'll try to share the results. I love traditional Bulgarian food so I'm gonna be making probably a lot of it. Hopefully you will try it and like it as well. 

That's all from me. For now :)