Tag: jam

Croatian Jam Pastry

Posted on by Jasmina Brozović

Don’t have a bakery nearby? No worries! These easy-to-make jam rolls will be part of your staple in no time 😉
They will make you drool with whatever filling you choose. I used plum jam for this batch and the flavor was exquisite!

Ingredients

  • 300 ml (1 1/4 cup) sunflower or canola oil
  • 150 ml (3/4 cup) boiling water
  • 10 g (1 tbsp) baking powder
  • 500 g (4 cups) all-purpose flour
  • 200 g (1 1/2 cup) powdered sugar for coating
  • 10 g (1 tbsp) vanilla sugar for coating
  • favorite jam or Nutella for the filling

Preparation

  1. Preheat the oven to 200 °C (395 °F).
  2. In a large mixing bowl combine oil and water.
  3. Add baking powder and mix well.
  4. Gradually add flour mixing with spatula until you form the dough. You can use a stand-up mixer or your hands as well.
  5. Divide the dough into same-sized balls – I got 16 balls from this dough.
  6. On the floured surface roll each ball (with the roller or with hands) until thin and put a tsp of jam on each one.
  7. Roll them and place them on a baking sheet covered with parchment paper.
  8. Bake until golden, for about 15-20 minutes.
  9. Hot rolls coat in the mixture of powdered and vanilla sugar.

Note: Cool them off before you eat, for more crunchiness.

What’s your favorite pastry filling?

London Bars

Posted on by Jasmina Brozović

London, such a great city with lots of delicious desserts.

Puddings, tarts, custards, pies and a lot of inns. But no bars!

So what is the origin of this cake and where did the name come from?

Our research showed traces of London Bars in Croatia as Londonerice or London štangice, in Hungary as Londoni szelet (just try reading all those names!) and many other places nearby. But no relation to London and British cuisine. 🤨

That’s no reason not to try them, is it?

Ingredients for the dough

  • 200 g (1 ½ cup) of all purpose flour
  • 140 g (1 ⅛ cup) of cold butter
  • 6 tbsp sugar
  • 4 egg yolk
  • a pinch of baking powder
  • zest of 1 lemon

Ingredients for the filling

  • 200 g (1 ½ cup) granulated sugar
  • 140 g (1 ⅛ cup) of ground walnuts
  • juice of 1 lemon
  • 4 egg whites

Plus:

  • 1 cup of chopped walnuts for sprinkling
  • a few tablespoons of apricot/plum jam for the spread

Preparation

  1. Make the dough by combining all the ingredients.
  2. Leave in the fridge for 30min.
  3. Preheat the oven at 180 °C (356 °F).
  4. Roll the dough and place it in the 9×13 inch baking sheet.
  5. Bake for 15 min.
  6. While the dough is baking, mix egg whites until firm, add sugar and lemon juice.
  7. At the end, with the spatula, gently mix in the ground walnuts.
  8. Remove the dough form the oven and reduce the temperature to 150 °C (300 °F).
  9. Spread the jam on the dough.
  10. Pour the filling on the jam.
  11. Sprinkle with finely chopped walnuts.
  12. Return to oven and bake for another 15-20 min.

Tip: You can sprinkle the cake with ground walnuts instead!

Do you know some other name for this cake?

Jam Pockets

Posted on by Jasmina Brozović

The dough for these jam pockets is flaky and soft, just like puff pastry. Unlike puff pastry, you can make this dough easily and fast, and you will get an amazing result 😀

Filling can be jam, Nutella or some other spread you enjoy! You can even do savory, why not?!

Jam Pockets

Ingredients

  • 250 g (1 1/3 cup) all purpose flour
  • 250 g (1 cup) butter, softened
  • 250 g (1 cup) cottage cheese
  • pinch of salt
  • favorite jam (I had homemade plum jam for these beauties)

Preparation

  1. Knead the dough from flour, butter and cottage cheese.
  2. Wrap it in a cling wrap and let it rest in the fridge for an hour.
  3. Roll the dough 4 mm thin and cut into squares.
  4. Fold the the square edges inside and fill the middle with your favorite jam.
  5. Bake for 20 minutes in the preheated oven on 200 °C (395 °F) until the pockets get golden brown.

What is your favorite type of dessert? Which dough do you like the best?

Christmas Tree Jam Cookies

Posted on by Jasmina Brozović

This week is all about Christmas cookies 🙂 This is one of many variations of classic Linzer cookies that are very popular in Croatia. Traditionally they come with a hole on one side, allowing jam some breathing room and an audience 😉

They originally came to our Christmas tables from Linz, Austria, which is where they got the name from. Interestingly, they originated as a small version of world’s oldest torte recipe: Linzer Torte. Torte was created in the 17th and the cookies took two more centuries to develop, seeing the first light of day in the 19th century.

Ingredients

  • 300 g (2 1/4 cup) all purpose flour
  • 60 g (1/3 cup) starch
  • 90 g (1/2 cup + 2 1/2 tbsp) of powdered sugar
  • 20 g (2 tbsp) vanilla sugar or vanilla extract
  • 210 g (3/4 cup + 2 tbsp) cold butter, cut into slices
  • 4 egg yolks

Preparation

  1. Knead the dough from all the ingredients.
  2. Let it rest in the refrigerator for about 1 hour.
  3. Preheat the oven to 200 °C (395 °F).
  4. Roll out thinly and make cookies in shapes of your choice with a variety of molds. I used Christmas tree mold because Christmas 😀
  5. Place on a baking sheet covered with parchment paper.
  6. Bake for 10 minutes.
  7. When cooled, spread them with the jam of your choice ( I used apricot), connect two by two and decorate according to your own inspiration.

For decoration mix egg whites with powered sugar to make the icing and sprinkle them with colorful decorations.

Tell us what’s your favorite Christmas cookie in the comments bellow!

Puff Pastry Hearts

Posted on by Jasmina Brozović

If you think you have no baking skills, but would like to surprise your loved one(s) on Valentine’s day, this may be a solution to your problem(s)! Well, some of them, anyway…

With little time and good will, you could make these and surprise even yourself 😉

Ingredients (love potion #9)

All you need is (time, will and a little bit of love):

  • 1 puff pastry sheet bought in the store (you want this quick, right?)
  • jam of your desire (as tunes to your heart’s rhythm)
  • 1 egg (that’s kind of a standard ingredient in cakes)
  • a bit of dark chocolate to sprinkle the hearts (because love is sometimes bitter-sweet)

Preparation (you’ll have to work for it)

Though not a lot. You need time to invest in other areas after all. 😉

Roll the puff pastry on a floured surface. Make hearts with the larger heart mould. Spread some jam on one heart, cover with another heart.
Press the edges with a fork to keep the hearts closed. Unless you want broken hearts…
Beat the egg and brush it on the hearts.
Place them on a baking pan covered with parchment paper. Bake in a preheated oven for 10-12 min.

If you desire, melt a bit of dark chocolate on steam and sprinkle with the spoon on the hearts. You can sprinkle them whit icing sugar as well. That’s that bitter-sweet element we mentioned before 😉

I hope you will try to surprise yourself and make some puffy hearts this Valentine’s day :))

Enjoy 🙂