Piano-keys

I’ve got very old book in my collection. It has got 30 years and it is textbook for trade schools titled „Making cookies”. I’s written by Czesław Dojutrek and Andrzej Pietrzyk. Besides some theoretical informations for beginning confectioners there are many great and very easy recipes – just like that one for those adorable little piano-keys. The taste of those cookies I remember from high school – they always were in nearby confectionery.

PIANO KEYS

340 g flour

185 g margarine

45 g icing sugar

2 egg yolks

few drops of vanilla essence

1 egg-white

icing sugar

Mix margarine with sugar until it’s homogeneous. Then add yolks, vanilla essention and flour. After mixing it all together it comes to loose crumbs. Lay crumbs on the table and knead quickly. Roll out into about 1 cm thick rectangle and then put it into the fridge for an hour.
Mix egg white with icing sugar until it’s like very thick icing. Take the knife and spread the icing on cooled douch with it. Now leave it for 30 minutes and let the icing get dry.
Cut the dough into 1cm x 4cm rectangles (it’s best to use knife for cutting pizza). Bake the cookies in oven preheated to 180 degrees – temperature can’t be higher because cookies have to be light and the icing can’t be burned. Bake it for 10-15 minutes – take a look to the oven from time to time to not let them get burned.

Challah basket

The Easter is coming so I’ve baked a basket from yeast-cake. I’ve made it from recipe for Challah. Well made and grown dough is elastic, not stick to hands and it’s perfect for making a basket.

CHALLAH

25 g fresh yeast

1/2 cup water

1/2 cup milk

1 egg

1/4 cup sugar

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 cup oil

4 cup flour

when the dough stick to your hands you can use more flour (but not more than 1/2 cup)

1 egg for greasing the dough

Mix milk with water. Pour two spoons of that mixture into a glass, add yeast and leave for a few minutes. Mix egg, water with milk, olive oil, salt and sugar in the bowl. Slowly add flour. After adding flour make the dough until it’s soft and elastic. Leave it until it doubles its size. After that make for a while and form rollers.

For making a basket you will need a bowl (glass and ovenproof). Oil or wrap with foil the outside of the bowl (when you use foil it comes off easier). Turn the bowl upside down and form the basket. Make it the same way the baskets are made.

After forming your basket grease it with egg yolk and bake until its gold. Leave it and let the basked get cold.

Now form the brim of your basket. Draw the bowl on a graseproof paper. Make three long rollers of the dough and make a plait. Lay the plait on the drawn circle, grease with egg yolk and bake until gold.

Now form three rollers more and make another plait. It’ll be the handle of your basket. Lay this plait over the diameter of your bowl, grease with yolk and bake like another pieces.

After baking stick it all together (I use pieces of toothpicks for better stability).

And now your basket is ready. Sounds complicated but the devil is not so black as he is painted.

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Aspirynki

ASPIRYNKI

2 cups flour

280 g butter

3 big egg yolks

2 tbs sour cream

icing:

3 egg whites

icing sugar

Sift the flour and pour it out on the table. Add cold butter to the flour and chop it with knife. Now add yolks and cream and quickly knead it, wrap it with foil and put it into the fridge for at least one hour. It’s best to do the batter in the evening, let it stay in the fridge for a night and then do cookies next day.

Before rolling batter make an icing by beating egg whites with as many icing sugar as we need it to make icing to decorate gingerbreads. Roll cold butter until it is 4 mm thick and cut out small circles – the smallest they are the cuter ;).

Lay cookies on the baking tray with graseproof paper, put the icing on them and remember to not let the icing flow down!

Bake it for about 15 minutes in the oven heated to 180 degrees. Time of baking can be different – it depends on the size of cookies.

Joe Froggers

JOE FROGGERS

3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for rolling

2 teaspoons ground ginger

1 teaspoon ground cloves

1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon ground allspice

1/2 cup solid vegetable shortening

1 cup sugar

1/4 cup dark rum

1/4 cup water

2 teaspoons coarse salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 cup dark molasses

Into a medium bowl, sift together the flour, ginger, cloves, nutmeg, and allspice; set aside.
In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the shortening and sugar until light and fluffy.
Meanwhile, in glass measuring cup, combine the rum, 1/4 cup water, and salt. Stir to dissolve; set aside. Stir the baking soda into the molasses; set aside. To the shortening mixture, add the liquid ingredients alternating with the dry ingredients scraping down the sides of the bowl as necessary. The dough will be sticky. Transfer to a baking sheet, and cover with plastic wrap. Chill overnight in the refrigerator.
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Line baking sheets with Silpats (French nonstick baking mats). Remove dough from refrigerator, and transfer half of the dough at a time to a floured work surface. Roll out dough 1/8-inch-thick. Using a 4-inch round cutter or a large glass, cut out dough rounds. Using a spatula, place cookies 2 inches apart on prepared baking sheets. Bake until the tops begin to crack, 10 to 12 minutes. Repeat with remaining dough. Transfer baking sheets to wire racks to cool completely.

Peanut-Almond Bars

PEANUT – ALMOND BARS

50 g butter

1 cup icing sugar

1 cup peanuts butter

1 cup cracker crumbs

1 cup almond flakes

1 bar chocolate (200g) (dark or milk)

Melt butter on low heat. Add sugar and peanut butter and stir until it’s dissolved. Add cracker crumbs and stir it until it’s creamy. At the end add almond flakes and gently, shortly stir. Be careful to not break the almond flakes!

Spread mixture into a 15cm x 15cm large pan, patting down evenly. Put into the fridge until is very cold. Melt the chocolate in mocrowave oven or in water bath (bain marie). Spread it on the cold peanut butter layer and put it into the fridge for about 30 minutes.

Cut into bars. Store peanut butter cup bars in refigerator.