“I can't even say how many years I have dreamed of this book, the thickest of all my creations. I tried very hard to make it a book for all time. There are tons of recipes available for beginners and experienced chefs, students and experienced hostesses. I promise that the guests who come to your place for lunch will simply lose their heads ... "

What is the simplest baking you can imagine? I have already published a recipe for a simple one, but today we generally have the basis of all the basics. Probably 90% of the population of this planet start to try their hand at baking. That simple homemade sweet, the ingredients for which are always at home.

Have you already guessed what I mean? Of course you guessed it. And the point here is not in my prompts, but in the fact that before reading this text, you most likely read the title.

Recipe

Remove from the refrigerator an hour and a half before cooking. 250 g butter and leave outside until you start cooking.

If there is no time for this, you can send the oil for 5-10 minutes in the microwave for a minute. power. Be careful with the microwave, remember that the butter should be soft, but not melted.

Half an hour before cooking, turn on the oven to heat up to 150 degrees Celsius, top-bottom mode.

You can prepare the dough in different ways: beat the butter and sugar with a large spoon / fork, mixer or planetary mixer. You can choose any path, I chose the last one.

Mix 250 gr butter room temperature and 130 g Sahara in a large mixing bowl or mixer bowl.

Now whisk them into a fluffy light mass. If there is no mixer, of course you will have to strain your muscles a little. If there is, beat the mixture for about 2 minutes.

Sift into a bowl 250 g wheat flour first grade.

Add 130 g semolina... You can also use cornmeal or semolina instead of semolina.

Stir as much as possible in a bowl using a spatula or spoon, then place on a floured work surface and knead until smooth.

Next, you need a square shape with a side of +/- 22 cm. Roll out the dough to a thickness of 2 cm. Grease the mold with butter, transfer the dough into it and tamp it inside along the perimeter of the mold. Press the edges well.

If the shape of the required size does not appear (like mine) - take a baking sheet with high sides (although this is not critical) and putting the dough into it, form a square with sides of about 20 cm.In fact, I didn’t even roll out the dough, I sent the ball to the baking sheet and he tamped it down with his hands. As a result, you should have a layer of dough about 1-1.2 cm thick.

Place the baking sheet in the oven on a medium level for 55 minutes.

When you get it, sprinkle generously with sugar on top, and when it cools slightly (after 5-10 minutes), cut the cookies into portions.

Classic! Well, what could be better than the old proven recipes ...

Suitable for those who avoid gluten.

Ingredients 50 pcs.

unsalted butter for greasing a baking sheet
4 large eggs (whites)
350 g sugar
350 g ground almonds
30 ml Amaretto liqueur
powdered sugar

Master class Amarettini

1. Preheat oven to 170ºC.
2. Grease two baking sheets with oil.
3. In a bowl, beat the egg whites until peaks.
4. Gently add sugar, almonds and amaretto for a smooth dough.
5. Using a teaspoon or pastry cornet, squeeze the dough in portions onto baking sheets at a distance of 2 cm from each other.
6. Bake in the oven for 10-15 minutes or until slightly golden in color.
7. Transfer to a wire rack, let cool before sprinkling with powdered sugar.

Florentine biscuits with nuts

I typed the recipe in my magazine ... and said

Florentines are a welcome gift at any time of the year. Use this recipe to taste our favorite combinations of chocolate and fruit flavors - cherry and dark chocolate, orange and milk. Or create your own - with ginger, pistachios, white chocolate, cranberries - whatever!

Ingredients 24 cookies

40 g dried cherries or candied orange peel
70 g sugar
20 g unsalted butter
2 teaspoons flour
60 ml cream fresh (sour cream)
50 g almond petals
30g mixed seeds, such as sunflower, sesame, poppy seeds (or nuts for flavor)
150 g dark (70%) or milk chocolate

Jamie Oliver's Master Class Florentine Cookies

1. Preheat oven to 180ºC.
2. Line 2 baking trays with baking paper.
3. Chop dried cherries or zest finely.
4. Place a small saucepan over low heat and add

• - sugar,
• - butter
• - and flour,

1. stirring to combine everything.
2. Continue stirring until the sugar dissolves, then gradually add the crème fraîche.
3. Remove from heat and stir with almond petals, seeds and dried fruit / zest.
4. While the dough is still warm, using teaspoons, place small lumps on the baking sheets, leaving a few centimeters between them to spread.
5. Bake from 12 to 15 minutes , until golden brown. Leave to cool slightly on the sheet, then transfer to the wire rack.
6. Melt the chocolate in a bowl in a water bath, then, using a spoon, pour it over the Florentines.
7. Allow chocolate to cool completely before transferring cookies to boxes or bags.

Watch the video

How to make Florentine biscuits without baking!

Very simple!

Put in the pan

• - 50 g butter
• - 100 g sugar
• - 100 g brown sugar

and, stirring, cook caramel .

Add 1/4 tsp. baking soda and 50 g of cream fresh.

Pour into caramel

• - 100 g
• - 50 g dried cranberries
• - and 50 g of candied citrus zest.

To taste - a little grated ginger.

Mix.

Prepare baking trays - line them with paper or silicone mats.

Spoon out the lumps of the mixture.
Put the cookies in the refrigerator.

Tossett biscuits are delicious spiced biscuits native to Lancashire in the west of England. This delicacy appeared in the XIV century. It tastes sweet, buttery and spicy.

Its production ceased during World War II due to restrictions on the consumption of butter and sugar. But thankfully Jamie Oliver decided to revive the Tosset cookies. He did this during the filming of his joint project with Jimmy Doherty.

1 Preheat oven to 180 ° C / gas 4.

2 Sift flour and icing sugar into a large bowl.

3 Then mash the butter with your hands and add to the mixture, rubbing it into the flour and sugar until well combined.

4 Place the cumin and coriander in a mortar and crush them into small crumbs using a pestle. If you don't have a mortar, you can use a regular clean kitchen towel and rolling pin.

5 Add the resulting crumb to a bowl and stir until you have an even dough. Make a ball out of it, then wrap in plastic and refrigerate for about 1 hour. During this time, the dough will cool and become stronger.

6 Roll out the dough on a floured surface to about half a centimeter thick.

7 Using a cookie cutter, cut out 6 cm circles and place them on a floured baking sheet.

8 Sprinkle with powdered sugar and bake in the oven for 10 to 15 minutes. In the middle of this time, do not forget to turn our Tossett biscuits over so that they are baked on both sides. As a result, we should have products of a pleasant pale color, by no means golden, and slightly brown around the edges.

9 Leave to cool, then sprinkle with powdered sugar and serve.

Who is organizing this wonderful cookie cutter December marathon, kindly let me upload a few recipes at once. It was just very difficult for me to choose only one recipe, and since there were a lot of people who wanted to bake, I got one day, and there will be three recipes at once :) These are Jamie Oliver's gingerbread cookies, William Curley's Florentine cookies and white chocolate cookies according to the recipe of Pierre Herme.

Tradition requires another New Year or Christmas story from the participant. When I was little, my mother always involved me in preparing holiday desserts, I cut out cookies, decorated. Then we did not have any beautiful metal special molds, she made patterns from cardboard, and I had already cut cookies from the dough into them with a knife. Then at my relatives at the dacha I leafed through only the recently appeared magazines "Burda Moden". And there were wonderful photographs of Christmas decorations at home, gift decorations, recipes for magical sweets. For me at the time, many of the ingredients were completely unavailable, and most of the recipes read like good fiction. It was hard for me to imagine that after many years I will be able to buy a variety of molds, almonds, dyes, spices for gingerbread, candied ginger, sugar sprinkles, etc. Now I can safely choose any recipe, and I have everything I need at home :) Over the past year, the number of various forms, chocolate, nuts and other extremely important things in my kitchen has grown several times :) And now, as soon as even the slightest time window, with great pleasure I indulge in my beloved business - preparing sweet gifts for dear and beloved people for the New Year.

I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate everyone who celebrates Merry Christmas today!

And if suddenly someone has not yet decided what to bake for these holidays, then I complicate the task by adding more ...

Jamie Oliver's Divine Gingerbread Cookie

For shortbread cookies

• 130 g butter


• 70 g sugar


• 130 g flour


• 70 semolina or cornmeal

Beat butter with sugar, add both types of flour. Stir lightly and then knead with your hands until a homogeneous dough is obtained.

Place on a baking sheet in a frame in a layer 2 cm thick, level. prick with a fork and bake in an oven preheated to 150 degrees for about 50 minutes.

Cool, turn into crumbs with your hands.

For gingerbread cookies

• 400 g crumbs of shortbread cookies


• 170 g brown sugar


• 3 teaspoons flat spoons of ground ginger


• 40 g candied citrus fruits


• 40 g candied ginger


• 70 g flour


• pinch of baking powder


• 80 g honey (40 light and 40 dark)


• 70 g butter

Mix together the crumbs of shortbread cookies, 2 teaspoons of ground ginger and sugar. Set aside 100 g of the resulting mixture, and add 1 teaspoon of ground ginger, all candied fruits, flour and baking powder to the rest. To stir thoroughly.

Heat both honey and butter in a large saucepan, add the resulting ginger dough and stir. Put on a baking sheet in a frame 20 by 35 (I have 22 by 22), level and tamp.
Bake in an oven preheated to 170 degrees for 10 minutes.

Sprinkle still hot biscuits with the remaining crumbs, cut into strips and allow to cool on a baking sheet.

1. A very unusual gingerbread cookie, both in design and in taste. Apparently it's about candied orange fruits and sandy ginger crumbs on top. By the way, she crumbles very much in the process of eating the liver, so it's better to eat it over a plate :)

2. Very homemade biscuits for a cup of hot tea.

William Curley's Florentine Shortbread

For a chocolate-sand base

• 250 g flour


• 50 g cocoa powder


• 185 g butter at room temperature


• 140 g sugar


• 25 g egg (1/2)


• 20 g ground almonds

Beat butter with sugar, add egg, and then sifted flour with cocoa and almonds. Knead the dough, roll into a ball, wrap in plastic and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Roll out a rectangle 1 cm thick from the dough, put on a baking sheet on a silicone mat in a frame 11 by 35 (I have 22 by 22), prick with a fork to release steam. Leave in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes.

Bake in an oven preheated to 180 degrees for 20 minutes. At this time, prepare the top layer.

For the top layer

• 20 ml cream 35%


• 65 g butter


• 65 g icing sugar


• 65 g liquid glucose


• 80 g almond petals


• 50 g cocoa nibs

Combine butter, powder and glucose and bring to a boil. Cool and add cocoa nibs and almond petals, mix gently.

Put this mixture on top of the sand base that has been baked for 20 minutes, spread evenly and bake for 10 minutes at 240 degrees until golden brown.

Remove from the oven, allow to cool slightly, remove the frame and cut into squares with a side of about 5-6 cm.

3. I have already made various versions of the Florentine cookies several times, but so far this recipe is my favorite for the near future. Cocoa nibs add a special charm to these cookies and perfectly emphasize the delicate chocolate-shortbread base.

4. The cookies hold their shape perfectly, look smart and are ideal for sweet New Year's gifts.

Pierre Herme's White Chocolate Cookies

For cookies

• 260 g flour


• 5 g baking powder


• 3 g baking soda


• 170 g softened butter


• 190 g cane sugar


• 5 g salt


• 75 g eggs (1.5)


• 135 g peeled almonds


• 200 g white chocolate

Beat butter with sugar and salt, add eggs and beat for 3 minutes.

Coarsely chop the almonds, chop the chocolate into pieces. Add almonds and chocolate to the butter mixture together with sifted flour and baking soda and baking powder.

Roll a sausage with a diameter of 6 cm, wrap in plastic and refrigerate for at least 2 hours.

Remove the dough from the refrigerator and cut into slices 1 cm thick. Bake in an oven preheated to 170 degrees for 12 minutes, cool on a wire rack.

I made a sausage with a diameter of 5 cm, but next time I will do it even less, as the cookies grow a lot in size during baking. And even so, the cookies turned out to be too large in my opinion. On a 30 by 40 baking sheet, no more than 9 pieces should be placed, leaving large gaps between the dough circles.

5. Delicate crumbly shortbread cookies. And pieces of almond and sweet chocolate contrast nicely with the slightly salty dough.

6. For some reason, the recipe says that it must be kept in the refrigerator. But in my opinion, there are no perishable ingredients in it that need a mandatory refrigerator. So I'll just keep it in a tightly closed box so it doesn't dry out.

Cookie Club 2013

1. trampampulkanat Christmas house
2. lada_matushka "Arkhangelsk Kozuli" in a modern way
3. zykerka_zuki Springerle
4. karaidel Twisted cookies
umnicca Rye cookies
5. nelly_z Pecan Wood Pastry
6. tania_bondarets Peanut Butter Snowflakes
7. trampampulkanat Zimtsterne / Cinnamon Stars
8. karaidel Chocolate cinnamon cracks
aylo Cat paws
9. weaverine Tiles "Dream"
10. monka_i_eda Thimble biscuits
11. flamebelle Shtollenki
12. shomova Stained Glass Cookies
13. margeriten26 Currant tallers
14. raechka_sav Bethlehem men
15. karaidel Canestrelli
kinda_cook Swedish cognac wreaths
16.

Today I have two recipes at once and a review of two of my new books. One of them was brought for the new year, and the second one we managed to win with Olivka in the competition of Eksmo Publishing House on their page In contact with... Moreover, the photo was sent on the very last day of the drawing and it won, among a huge number of participants, it's just amazing! I'll show it at the very end of the post :)

I really shouldn't be writing reviews of these books, because I'm not objective at all when it comes to Jamie Oliver. I've loved him for years and Jamie's amazing ability to literally "contaminate" with cooking is very inspiring. I have many of his books, but, unfortunately, not all, although I really want to collect a complete collection.

The Jamie & Friends series are not really Jamie Oliver's recipes. These are recipes that were selected by him, prepared, and then filmed by his team. Knowing well the culinary creativity of Oliver, I would not have guessed right away that the recipes are not his, because they are completely in his style - with a sufficiently large number of ingredients (especially for a variety of spices), but at the same time, they are not difficult to prepare. There are seven books in the Jamie & Friends series, so I have five more to buy. A big plus of these books is a very affordable price with high print quality.

DIY Cranberry Cookies

In the book "Jamie's Choice. New Year's Recipes" given a completely different cookie, but I snatched the idea. It’s so amazing, and why I hadn’t figured it out before. It turns out an original and non-trivial gift for a loved one. You just need to beautifully lay the ingredients in layers (excluding perishable foods, such as eggs or butter), close the jar with a lid and attach the recipe. I give the recipe for cranberry cookies as an example, cookies can be oatmeal and chocolate and your favorite, family. Do not forget to include in the recipe description those products that are not included in the jar.

100-120 g flour (depending on the berries)
80 g almond flour
20 g cornstarch
60-100 g fresh cranberries (frozen must be thawed) or any other berries
100 g softened butter (do not add to the jar, but indicate in the recipe)
sprinkle poppy, optional
100 g granulated sugar

1. Beat well with a mixer all products, except for berries.

2. Chop the berries with a blender (you can quite coarsely) and transfer the mixture to the dough. Stir everything well and remove, roll a few "sausages". Place on a cutting board and refrigerate for half an hour.

3. Preheat oven to 180 degrees. Remove the dough from the refrigerator. If desired, the sausages can be rolled over the poppy seeds so that the cookies turn out to be sprinkled. Cut the sausages into round pieces and place them on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Bake for about 20 minutes, until lightly browned.

And here is the original recipe from the book

Now about the book itself "Jamie's Choice. New Year's Recipes".

It seems to me that already from the title it is clear that the recipes in the book are festive, such that you will not cook every day. Here and baking a three-kilogram pork leg, and cooking a festive pâté, and frying a five-kilogram turkey ... Although, it seems to me, the New Year is not limited, we also usually celebrate birthdays with a large company and here you can see interesting recipes for this.

I have already set myself a bookmark on this pate.

The section deserves special attention. Beverages, where recipes for spicy cider, negroni, mulled wine and lemonade are given ... I certainly wanted to try everything, until the winter is over, we will certainly cook something!

Alas, there are recipes that, due to the limitedness of products, are rather difficult to prepare. There are also those that are not typical of our country. For example, I cannot remember a single familiar family where gravy was prepared as a separate independent dish. And for England it is in the order of things. But I highly recommend Jamie fans not pass by and flip through this book in the store or on the website. For all the festiveness of the recipes, it has decently overgrown with bookmarks :)

Of the minuses, I found a mistake in one recipe (Cranberry sorbet, p. 79). Sugar is indicated in the composition, but it is not mentioned in the recipe, although it should. So be careful. Alas, this often happens in cookbooks, the human factor has not been canceled.

Persian lamb pie

And this is already a recipe from the book "Jamie's Choice. Pies and other baked goods." Delicious and satisfying pie with a rich spicy taste. I love lamb!

Composition:

Olive oil
4 garlic cloves, finely chopped
2 onions, chop finely
2 celery stalks, chopped thinly
1/2 tsp turmeric
a pinch of ground cinnamon
1 tsp cumin (cumin)
600 g lean minced lamb
100 g dried cranberries
300 g cauliflower, disassemble into inflorescences
250 g natural yoghurt
270 g filo dough
a pinch of cumin seeds (I also added black sesame seeds)
salt

1. Preheat the oven to 180C. Heat some olive oil in a large skillet or saucepan over low heat and sauté the garlic, onion, and celery with turmeric, cinnamon and cumin for 10-15 minutes, until the vegetables are soft and lightly browned. Transfer to a bowl and set aside.

2. Put the minced meat in a skillet, slightly increase the heat and fry for a few minutes until golden brown, kneading the lumps. Return the vegetable mixture to the pan, add the cranberries, cauliflower and 200 ml of water (I did not add). Simmer for 10-15 minutes, until the liquid has evaporated and the cauliflower is ready. Remove from it, salt and stir in yogurt. Let cool.

3. Take the filo out of the packaging, unfold one sheet and line the bottom of the 30 cm mold with it so that the dough hangs over the sides. Brush with olive oil. In this way, lay all the sheets on top of each other, leaving the edges to hang down.

4. Place the filling on top of the dough and cover with the edges of the dough. Lightly oil and sprinkle with cumin. Bake for 30-40 minutes until golden brown.

This book is definitely for me! Baking is what I love most about cooking. And it doesn't matter if they are sweet recipes or meat pies. The book is divided into four sections:

Pies and pies
- tarts and kishi
- Shares
- Cakes and rolls

Moreover, each section contains sweet and non-sweet dishes. Everything is very beautiful and delicious for sure. I already have a lot of bookmarks in this book. If I were asked to choose any one book from the entire series, then I would definitely choose it.

This handsome guy is next in line.

And as always in Jamie's books, the Ingredient Index is at the end of the book. Thank you very much for it!

Be sure to look through it, my advice to you! It's totally Jamie's style, the recipes are amazingly selected.

P.S. And here is the photo that won the book :))