Happy Easter to all the foodies all over the world! Although today is Catholic Easter, we still have one week until Ukrainian (Orthodox) Easter, which also called Pascha, and that means the whole week to decide what to cook for this great holiday. In my family, like in many Ukrainian families, we have a tradition to cook a lot for Easter: crepes, salad, veggies, fish, poultry, meat and of course Kulich (or Paska) for dessert, we have all these goodies in one day. Mostly because historically our religious ancestors had a very strict Lent eight weeks before the holiday, which ended only on Resurrection Sunday. For 56 days, they lived with total abstention from meat, fats, eggs and dairy products. Instead they used cereals, veggies and another type of food devoid of fats, almost like vegans. However, not a lot of modern people can endure such a strict Lent, and honestly they don’t want to do that anymore. Even though Ukrainian refused to fast, they continued to feast on Easter.

Usually, for our festive Sunday we start cooking a couple days in advance, just because the number of dishes is always crazy, and we need to spend a lot of extra time in the kitchen. Every family has their own signature dishes. Ours are Beer Roasted Pork Knuckle with Honey Glaze and my signature Kulich, which is similar to Italian Panettone. This year I decided to make Kulich a little bit more interesting. Instead of traditional white topping I used shiny apricot glaze and dried fruits and nuts, in my opinion because of this Kulich became much more sophisticated. I will gladly share the recipe of this wonderful Easter dessert with you, hope you will enjoy it as much as my family and friends do.

Easter Kulich (Paska)

By voloshyna, April 5, 2015

• Total Time: 03h 10min
• Prep Time: 02h 30min
• Cook time: 40-45 minutes

Ingredients:

• For the dough: -
• active dry yeast - 4 tsps
• whole milk - 1/2 cup
• heavy cream - 1 cup
• saffron threads - 1 pinch
• sifted all-purpose flour - 6 cups, or more if needed
• sugar - 1 1/4 cup
• big organic eggs - 5
• butter - 1/2 stick, melted
• salt - 1/2 teaspoon
• candied fruits - 3/4 cup, cubbed
• rum - 1/2 cup
• vanilla extract - 1 teaspoon
• For decoration: -
• apricot jam - 1/2 cup
• water - 1/4 cup
• dried fruit and nut mix - 2 cups

Instructions:

Dissolve the yeast in 1/2 cup of lukewarm milk. Add 2 tablespoons of flour and 1 tablespoon of sugar; mix well. Let this mixture stand until it is frothy, for about 20 minutes. Yeast need this time to start working. Heat the heavy cream in a saucepan over medium-low heat until very warm but not simmering. Stir in saffron threads and remove from heat, and let the cream mixture stand until lukewarm. Transfer yeast mixture into a large mixing bowl. Beat egg yolks with remaining sugar until light. Add melted butter to yeast mixture, and then egg yolks with sugar. Stir in saffron heavy cream. Gradually add the remaining flour. The dough will be soft, elastic, and should not stick to hands. Cover the bowl with a kitchen towel and allow to rise in a warm place for 2 hour or longer. Place candied fruits into a bowl, drizzle with rum, and allow them to soften for 1-2 hours. Then drain the fruits and place them on a paper towel to dry just a little bit. After the dough has risen and doubled in size, you need to punch it for a few times to release the air. Then add softened candied fruits, vanilla extract and knead the dough until smooth, for about 5-10 minutes.  Place the dough in greased and floured kulich tins or paper molds. Be sure not to fill the tin or can more than 1/2 full. Allow the Kulich to rise another hour. Bake for about 40-45 minutes at 325 F until puffed and golden. Let cool to room temp or just warm. Once they are at room temperature, get your glaze ready. In a medium saucepan mix water and apricot jam. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Lower the heat and let the mixture boil for a few minutes until it became slightly syrupy. Remove from the heat and let to cool. Cover each Kulich with a thin layer of the apricot glaze. Then top with the dried fruits and nuts. Gradually cover with the remaining glaze. Let them stand undisturbed until the glaze is set.

I wanted to post this recipe before Christmas, but had some other nice dishes that I really wanted to share with you guys and just completely forgot about this amazing almond cookies. But I will fix my mistake.

I’ve baked a dozens of those for my friends, packed them in a cute small boxes and gave as a little New Year presents. Everybody loved them sooo much! With this recipe the holiday cookie season is officially over for me, I have a whole year to come up with new, even better cookie ideas!

Almond Thumbprint Cookies

By voloshyna, January 16, 2014

• Total Time: 60 minutes
• Prep Time: 40 minutes
• Cook time: 20 minutes

Ingredients:

• For the dough: -
• unsalted butter - 2 sticks, room temperature
• confectioners sugar - 3/4 cup
• egg yolks - 2
• almond extract - 1 teaspoon
• all-purpose flour - 1 3/4 cup
• almond meal - 1/2 cup
• kosher salt - 1/2 teaspoon
• For decoration: -
• skinless almonds - 1/2 cup, optional
• jam - 1/4 cup, optional

Instructions:

Using a stand or hand mixer, cream the butter and confectioners sugar until light and fluffy, 4-5 minutes. Scrape down the bowl with a spatula. Beat in the yolks and almond extract, until smooth. In a medium bowl mix all-purpose flour, almond meal and salt, combine with the butter mixture, mix well. Form the dough into a disk, wrap in a plastic and transfer into refrigerator for 1 hour. Preheat oven to 350 F. Lay cookie sheet with a parchment paper. Form 1 tablespoon of dough into a small balls; place on a cookie sheet. Chill 10-15 minutes. Press in the skinless almonds into the center of the cookies, or use your thumb to create an imprint, you could fill them with your favorite jam later. Bake the cookies at 350 F for 17-20 minutes. Cool cookies on racks, dust with a confectioners sugar (optional), then fill with jam.

This recipe is for cinnamon addictive people like me. I’m sure you will love this super easy and incredibly smelling cinnamon bread! When I made it for the first time it was gone in a minute and this is the best compliment for a chef =)

Fill your kitchen with a smell of fresh bakery!

Serve!

Cinnamon wreath

By voloshyna, January 30, 2013

Ingredients:

• For the dough: -
• lukewarm milk - 1/2 cup
• active dry yeast - 1 envelop
• sugar - 1 tbsp
• all purpose flour - 2 cups
• salt - 1/2 tsp
• melted unsalted butter - 2 tbsp
• For the filling: -
• brown sugar - 5 tbsp
• cinnamon - 3 tsp
• melted unsalted butter - 1/4 cup

Instructions:

Mix the yeast and sugar with the lukewarm milk, stir with a plastic spoon and let it sit for 10 minutes.   In a bowl, mix flour, salt, egg, melted butter and yeast mixture. Kneading until you get smooth and elastic dough, shape it into a ball. Place in a greased bowl. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1 to 1 1/2 hours. When the dough has doubled, take it out and punch down to release all the bubble. Then let it rest for 5 min. Preheat oven to 390 F. In a small bowl mix together melted butter, cinnamon and sugar.  On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough to a thickness of 1/2 inch. Spread the cinnamon filling across all of the dough. Reserve a small amount of filling for the top of the wreath. Roll up the dough, and using a knife, cut the log in half length-wise. Twist the two halves together, keeping the open layers exposed. Give a round shape, then transfer to a baking tray covered with a parchment paper. Brush reserved cinnamon mixture on top. Bake for about 20 min, or until golden brown. Transfer on a wire rack to cool. Sprinkle with a confectioners sugar before serving.

This dish might be new for you, but I’m sure you will like it! It’s a traditional meal in my native country – Ukraine, we cook it with a freshly picked dark cherries and serve with a sour cream. But this time I decided to serve dumplings with a berry compote, in my opinion it’s a wonderful combination of sweet and sour! I want you to cook this dish in winter, because it will remind you of warm summer days =)

P.S. In Ukraine we do not use the word dumplings, we called this dish vareniki.

Dumplings with dark cherries and berry compote

By voloshyna, January 11, 2013

Ingredients:

• For the dough: -
• all purpose flour - 3 cups + more for dusting
• eggs - 2
• cold water - 1/2 cup
• milk - 1/4 cup
• salt - 1/2 tsp
• For the filling: -
• fresh or frozen dark cherries (sour cherries) - 1 1/2 lb.
• For the compote: -
• frozen berries - 1 1/2 cup
• lemon juice - 1 tbsp
• sugar - 4-5 tbsp
• For serving: -
• butter - 2-3 tbsp
• confectioners sugar -

Instructions:

If you use frozen dark cherries - you need to defrost them. Mine was already sweetened, so I didn't add any sugar. But if you bought the fresh ones, you need to sprinkle them with 1 cup of cane sugar, let stand for 1 hour and drain the juice. Probably you would also like to make a berry compote in advance. In a small sauce pan mix all the ingredients and bring to a boil over medium-high heat, stirring often until the sugar dissolves. Let berries boil 1-2 minutes and remove from the heat. Set aside to cool. Then you'll need to make a dough. Lightly beat the eggs with a salt and milk. In a large bowl mix flour, egg mixture and water, add more water if needed. Stir with a wooden spoon (you can make the dough in a stand mixer, or with your hands). When it becomes hard to stir,  pour sticky dough on a flour surface and continue to knead until it becomes smooth and elastic. Divide the dough into 3-4 parts. Roll each part 1/4 inch thin. Using a 2.5 inch diameter glass cut as much rounds as you can. Fill each round with 3-4 cherries, pull the sides together and seal them with your fingers to form a semicircle. You can decorate your vareniki (dumplings), just press the fork's tines on the edges of vareniki. Place them on a lightly floured board and cover with a kitchen towel. You can also freeze remaining dumplings and store in freezer in ziploc bag for later use. In a large pan bring the water to a boil, add pinch of salt. Add vareniki (not all at one time) and stir with a wooden or plastic spoon to prevent from sticking to the bottom of the pan. Cook over the medium heat until they come to the surface, cook for extra 2-3 minutes and take out into a medium bowl. Add 1 tbsp of butter (left the rest butter for another portion of dumplings) and gently mix. Serve immediately with a berry compote or sour cream. Don't forget to sprinkle with a confectioners sugar!

I would like to say thank you for this tasty recipe to my friend and amazing chef Hannah, she inspires me for new cooking adventures! By the way, recently I’ve got a very special present from my husband – a KitchenAid Stand Mixer. I dreamed about this gadget for a long time and finally I have it on my kitchen! So, this garlic buns was a first try to make a dough with my brand new mixer and the job was done perfectly. With this super powerful tool cooking became 100 times easier and I’m absolutely happy with it. Now I’ll bake something yummy more often, so wait for the new bread and pizza recipes.

Garlic buns

By voloshyna, December 4, 2012

Ingredients:

• For the dough: -
• bread flour - 3 cups
• warm milk - 3/4 cup
• warm water - 1/4 cup
• salt - 1 tsp
• granulated sugar - 2 tbsp
• butter - 2 tbsp
• instant yeast - 1 tbsp
• For the garlic butter: -
• soft unsalted butter (room temperature) - 1/4 cup
• minced garlic - 5 cloves
• dried parsley or dried oregano - 1 tbsp

Instructions:

This video http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=74Z_1U7T2A4# will be useful for you, watch it before you start to cook! First of all dissolve sugar in the mixture of warm milk and water. Then add instant yeast and  lightly stir with a plastic spoon, let stand for about 10 min.  In a bowl, mix flour, salt, butter and yeast mixture. Kneading until you get smooth and elastic dough. Add water/flour if necessary. Place dough in a lightly oiled bowl. Cover with towel and let rise in a warm place for 1 hour or until doubled in size. When the dough has doubled, take it out and punch down to release all the bubble. Then let it rest for 5 min. Dividing the dough into 7 equal pieces. Let them rest for 2 min. Use a roller to flatten each piece of dough into oval shape. Roll it up into a long log shape. Cover all the shaped dough, put in warm place and let rest for another 15 min. In a small bowl mix together all the ingredients for the garlic butter. Using a very sharp knife, make a long cut on the surface, along the dough and about 0.2 inches in depth. Pipe the butter topping into the cut line. Bake at 375F in 15-20 min.

I know, this is a very unusual dish, but give it a try. It’s a tradition Ukrainian dish and it’s so easy to cook. Lazy dumplings just a perfect meal when you want to be lazy =)

Lazy dumplings with blueberry sauce

By voloshyna, July 27, 2012

• Total Time: 30 minutes
• Prep Time: 15-20 minutes
• Cook time: 15 minutes

Ingredients:

• For the dough: -
• drained cottage cheese - 8 oz
• all-purpose flour - 8 tbs. + 2 tbs. for kneading
• sugar - 2 tbs.
• eggs - 1
• butter - 1 tbs.
• For blueberry sauce: -
• blueberries - 1 cup
• sugar - 2 tbs.
• lemon juice - 2 tsp.

Instructions:

In a bowl mix all the ingredients for the dough except for the butter. Knead the dough on floured surface, until the dough is no longer sticky. Roll the dough in a long sausage, 2 inches in diameter. Cut it into small portions. Bring the water to a boil, add salt. Put your dumplings in a boiling water. Carefully draw a spoon on the bottom of the pan to be sure that dumplings is not stuck. When the dumplings float, cook them for another 2 minutes. Drain and add a bit of butter. For the sauce, pour the blueberries in a small saucepan, add sugar and lemon juice. Cook over medium heat stirring occasionally, until berries will not let the juice. Serve dumplings immediately, with a blueberry sauce on top.

You will love this buns. The secret is in an incredibly delicious lemon curd. By the way, you can use it not only in this recipe. Try replacing the usual vanilla custard in your recipes by lemon, and you will be surprised with new flavors of traditional desserts. Just warning you, the cream should be cooked at least for 3-4 hours before you begin to bake buns. It is better to cook it in the evening, and let stand overnight in refrigerator.

Buns with lemon custard

By voloshyna, July 22, 2012

Ingredients:

• For the dough: -
• all-purpose flour - 2 cups
• dry yeast - 1 tsp
• sugar - 1/3 cup
• dry milk - 1 1/2 tbs
• lemon zest - 1 tsp (finely grated)
• eggs - 2
• milk - 3/4 cup
• softened butter - 1.5 oz
• For the lemon custard: -
• eggs - 1
• yolks - 3
• sugar - 3/4 cup
• lemon juice - 1/2 cup
• unsalted butter - 4 tabs
• zest of 2 lemons - finely grated

Instructions:

To make a custard whisk the egg, yolks and sugar in a medium saucepan. Add the lemon juice, zest and whisk until the mixture is smooth and uniform. Set the saucepan on the stove over medium heat, cook stirring constantly, until thick - 8-10 min. If you have a cooking thermometer - use it. Simmer the cream until it reaches a temperature of 175 F, then immediately remove from heat and let cool slightly. Pour into a jar or bowl and leave for several hours in the refrigerator. When the cream is cool - it will be much thicker. To prepare the dough, you need to warm milk, add in 1 tsp. sugar and yeast, and set aside 10 minutes to let the yeast come alive. In a bowl mix all dry ingredients and finely grated zest. Make a recess in the center, pour in there a lightly beaten egg and melted butter. Gradually add the milk with the yeast, knead the dough. The dough should be slightly sticky. Cover the bowl with the dough with a clean towel, and leave for 1.5 - 2 hours. Press down the dough and divide into 15-17 pieces. Roll out each piece on floured surface. You should get a thick oval of about 5x2,2  inches. Put a tablespoon of cream and fold once. So, you will get piece folded less than half. The rest, not folded part, cut into 1 inch strips and roll up to the end. Repeat with remaining portions of dough. Put the buns on the baking sheet, covered with a parchment paper, leave to "rest", about 30 minutes. Preheat the oven to 350 F. Cover your buns with beaten egg, bake for about 20-25 minutes, until golden brown. Let to cool on a wire rack, covered with a towel. Then sprinkle with powdered sugar - and you're done.