Easy Apple and Cherry Pie

So simple, so quick for every day and it is a pretty light recipe. Made with mainly fresh apples and some cherry jam, this pie can take other fruits such as strawberries, cherries, blueberries, raspberries, peaches, apricots, pears and nuts. I first made this in autumn when first fresh apples were on the market and I wanted to sweeten them with my home-made thick cherry jam, instead of using only sugar. With a very thin and crispy base, yummy-smelling cinnamony topping this easy pie will win your heart.

Ingredients:
4 small sweet apples
Juice of one orange
Juice of one lemon
1 teaspoon of cinnamon
Thick cherry jam

130 gr of flour
3 table spoons of butter
1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon
2 teaspoons of granulated sugar
1/4 teaspoon of salt

How to:
1. First squeeze the lemon and orange and pour the juice inside a bowl. Peel and chop the apples in small pieces, put them inside the orange and lemon juice. You can add the rind of either the orange or lemon if you like. Especially, the orange rind will give an amazing flavour. In this recipe I focused on cinnamon, so didn't add either of them.
2. Add the cinnamon and toss all of them together. Now add 3-4 tablespoons of thick cherry jam, with the cherries inside. Alternatively, you can add any other jam you like, but make sure it has little juice and big pieces of fruits. This is the only sweet the pie topping has, so try to adjust it to your taste.
3. Now mix all of the ingredients to make a pie pastry and chill for 15 minutes. Use this time to clean up your kitchen, heat your oven and prepare your pie tray. Once the pie crust is ready, roll it out on a clean counter. A small tip here: Instead of using a rolling pin, try rolling your dough with a cold bottle from the fridge. The coldness will help the dough to spread without crumbling.
4. Leave a small piece of the dough aside and take the rest and spread on your baking tray. Pour the apple mixture on top of the dough. Cut small shapes with the leftover pie pastry to decorate. Easy as that. :)
5. Next, the yummy pie goes into the 175 degrees oven for 35-45 minutes. Eat and enjoy!

Pirassopita / Leek Pie

Welcome to my Cretan table! =) I am absolutely in love with this cuisine. Everybody loves Mediterranean diet, however not many people know Cretan cuisine. Cretans have the longest span of life in the world and can we guess why? All the food they eat is fresh, right from their garden into their salad. They like to eat slow, drink slow, chat long, have fun, be friendly, enjoy their day and not stress about things. I feel very lucky because I got to know Cretan food from first hand experience. My husband is from this beautiful island and we spend every summer there. Each and every time I go, I always dream about the delicious food I am going to have there. So when we come back, we try to bring a piece of Crete on our plates. This recipe is one of the first dishes I had at a village taverna. My husband tried it when I made at home and says it is like the original one, so I can share it here. =) In Istanbul, sometimes I serve it at tea tables because we like savoury warm pies for tea time. You can have it as a main course for lunch or dinner as well.

Ingredients:
5-6 sticks of leek
400 gr of minced meat (preferably lamb, beef will also do)
3 table spoons of tomato purée
1 teaspoon of grated nutmeg
Olive oil
Salt and pepper
A pinch of red pepper

350 gr of flour
1/2 cups of olive oil
1/2 cups of milk
A pinch of salt
1 egg
Sesame seeds and black cumin seeds

How to:
1. Put two table spoons of olive oil onto a pan. When the oil is heated, add the mince meat and start cooking.
2. Meanwhile, wash the leek and chop finely. After the minced meat has changed colour, add the leeks and fry together. Add three table spoons of grated tomatoes and mix, then sprinkle the grated nutmeg. Nutmeg is essential to the Cretan dishes and it gives a very nice smell to the food you cook, especially with minced beef. Season with salt, pepper and a tiny bit of chilli pepper. Leave to simmer for a while on low heat.
3. On a clean counter, sieve 350 grams of flour, make a well and pour the olive oil and milk and start kneading it into a dough. If you feel like the dough is too sticky, you can add a little bit of flour; in the opposite way, if it is too solid add some olive oil or milk to soften it. It has to be a tough pie dough that doesn't stick to the hand.
4. Divide the dough into two. Roll one piece out with a rolling pin and carefully transfer to the oven dish or casserole dish (which you oiled beforehand). We need a deep tray for this recipe. It will have a thin layer at the bottom and on top. 
5. After the first layer of pastry is spread evenly (you can also do it by hand), pour in the leek and beef mixture. If your mixture is runny and you are worried that it will soften the dough and make it soggy, just sprinkle a handful of bulghur onto the bottom. This way the bulghur will take the excessive water and prevent your crispy pie dough from going soft.
6. Next, we roll out the second piece of dough in order to cover everything and make a nice cap on our pie. If you like puffy pastry, you can add a little bit of baking powder into this bit of dough before spreading it over the top.
7. The last step, lightly whisk one egg and brush it on the top dough. Sprinkle generous amount of sesame seeds and black cumin seeds. It is ready to go into 190 degrees hot oven and bake for 45 minutes, until the top crust is golden and crunchy.
8. Serve when warm. It can keep in the fridge for at least two days and it is very easy to warm in the microwave. Your guests will totally adore this recipe; even people who don't eat leek lick their fingers with this yummy pie. Bon apetit!

I like to serve it with fresh thyme on top and some old cheese, like cheddar cheese.

Three Chocolate Chip Cookies

I love it. My husband loves it. Our friends love it. Three types of chocolate and plenty of walnuts, little flour, some sugar and here you are a yummy, soft and crunchy at the same time, totally delicious American cookies. Really very easy to make, these cookies will make you feel like a real baker! After you taste these, you will never be able to buy those dry cookies from the supermarkets. You don't have to have any special equipment or ingredients, just use your regular eating chocolate, all it takes is 30 seconds to cut them into chunks. And the best part is it only takes 15 minutes to make, 12 minutes to bake, 2 minutes to devour! =) Come on, get into the kitchen.

Ingredients:
50 gr of milk chocolate
50 gr of white chocolate
50 gr of bitter chocolate
1/3 cup of walnuts
100 gr un (1 cup, give or take)
1 egg
1 glass or 1,5 cups of brown sugar
3 table spoons of butter

How to:
1. Start with heating your oven to 190 degrees. Prepare your baking sheet or thin-edged tray.
2. Chop the chocolates and walnuts all together on a big cutting board randomly, do not bother too much or try to make them in equal sizes. Some might be tiny crumbs and some can stay as big as hazelnuts. That's the whole point of this cookie recipe.
3. Add the flour, brown sugar, egg and room temperature butter on top and start kneading. In 2 or 3 minutes, your dough should start taking shape.
4. When you have a nice, soft and a little bit sticky dough, take out small pieces, maybe a size of a meatball, round it inside your palm, put on your tray and press with your thumb to make it flat, but they shouldn't be too thin. They will become flatter while baking in the oven, so your dough must be half a centimeter, almost one centimeter thick on the tray. Also, don't forget to leave 2 centimeters of space in between. Another tip here, try to use a tray with very thin edges, the more the cookies are in contact with the warm air inside the oven, the better. Deep trays cut the flow of heat.
5. Bake for exactly 12 minutes in 190 degrees. They should look golden but they should feel soft when you press with your fingers. They tend to toughen a little bit later on, so don't worry. We are trying to have crunchy cookies with a chewy feel on the inside. That's why, you can try baking them for 10 minutes first and if they are really soggy or the same colour, you can go on for a couple of more minutes. Whatever happens, don't leave your cookies inside the oven. Once you turn off the oven, take the tray out and let them rest for 10 minutes, if possible on a tin. Otherwise, they will go dry and very tough and unpleasant.
6. Now you are ready to have one with a cup of coffee. Make and share this happy recipe with your friends, it is a very nice home-made gift. Have joyful coffee breaks!
 

Savoury Leek Sponge

Today's star is leek. It is my favourite winter vegetable and since the season is changing, I wanted to share this savoury cake recipe because it is really so good. I have tried it many times and I can say that corn flour is the key. It makes the cake so crispy and crumbly and it works very well with leek. This cake is perfect for teatime or as a snack at any time of the day; it's got only olive oil and feta cheese inside, so I can say that it is pretty healthy. And easy to make as well.

Ingredients:
4-5 leeks
2 eggs
1 cup of corn flour (not corn starch)
3/4 cup of flour
1 cup of full fat Greek/Turkish  yoghurt
2 teaspoons of baking powder
1/2 up of extra virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon of salt
1 teaspoon of mahlab (if you can't find it you can skip it)
1 teaspoon of pepper
A small chunk of feta cheese
Sesame seeds and black cumin to sprinkle over the top


How to:
1. Start with washing the leeks carefully. I have learned that if you cut the edge of the leek a little bit, then the water can go in easily and any leftover soil will be removed. Chop them into very thin slices or you can use your blender for this. But I want to feel the leek pieces when I bite into the cake, so I prefer chopping them by hand.
2. Mix the eggs, flour, corn flour, baking powder, olive oil, yoghurt, salt, pepper, mahlab in a large bowl. Add the leeks into the mixture.
3. Take your baking tray or dish (I recommend using a two-three centimeter/1-2 inch deep dish), brush with some olive oil and pour the mixture into the pan. Try to spread it evenly by using a spatula or a spoon. Then, crumble some feta cheese on top, mix a little bit, not too much that the cheese will sit at the bottom.
5. Sprinkle with sesame seeds and black cumin and bake in the 200 degree hot oven for 35-40 minutes. Leave to cool before you slice it -if you can wait that is! Bon apetite.

 Cake batter is ready to go in the hot oven.

Yummy! Crispy top and soft and smooth inside.

Cheese and Spinach Filo Pie

Filo pastry with cheese and spinach is my all time favourite Turkish pastry. This saturday I wanted to make a pie but I couldn't be bothered with making a dough, chilling it, cooking it blind and so on. Instead I used the miraculous 'filo pastries'. By using these thin sheets I not only saved time, but also avoided using butter in the dough mixture. In this way we have a lighter -and equally tasty- savoury pie.You might argue that a 'pie' cannot be light, but believe me this is really not heavy on carbs because you can adjust the layer of filo. You can make the base thick or thin. This can be a vegetarian light dinner with some tomato salad on the side or you can toss some chicken breast with spices to complete your protein in your meal (as I did here). Serve when warm or directly out of the oven -my mouth is watering just thinking about the smell!

Ingredients:
2 sheets of filo pastry
3 eggs
3 soup spoons of yoghurt
1 handful of shallots
400 gr of spinach (one big bunch)
1 sausage (or if you are in Turkey, sucuk)
300 grams of feta cheese 
Salt, pepper
1 teaspoon of dried basil
1/2 teaspoon of nutmeg
Melting cheese to grate on top
Olive oil

How to:
1. I prepared this dish for two and my first preparation was to put some olive oil on a small round dish and turn the oven on 175 degrees Celsius.
2. After this I started to layer the sheets of filo pastry. The pastry I got from our 'yufka' shop were pretty big, so two of them made a 5 layer base and it was enough for us. You can decide how thick you like your pie base to be, just don't forget to lightly brush every layer with olive oil. It will make your pie filo yummy. Alternatively, you can add some milk, which will make the filo very soft. We do it inside some 'boreks' but I chose to put only olive oil for this recipe. 
3. Next, whisk your eggs in a bowl. Add the shallots inside; cut the shallots into two depending on their size. If you don't have any shallots, you can also use white onion but with shallots, the onion taste is subtler.
4. Add yoghurt, salt, pepper, basil, nutmeg and feta cheese and mix all of them carefully. Finally, add the washed and dried spinach and mix.
5. Before you add the mixture on top of the filo pastry, there is an important tip here. As spinach contains a lot of water inside, it can get juicy while baking in the oven and it might make your pie a bit soggy. In order to prevent this, you can pour a handful of bulghur on top of your filo base. You won't notice or taste bulghur while eating the pie. If you don't do it, still it won't affect the overall result so much.
6. If you're a vegetarian, you can skip this step but I wanted to make my quick pie tastier, so I cut a piece of 'sucuk' (you can use a spicy beef sausage or a thin choritzo instead) into tiny pieces and dumped them on top of the mixture. Alternatively, you can add dried tomatoes instead. :)
7. Once you cover everything with any grated cheese you fancy (in this dish I used traditional Turkish 'fresh kasar' cheese), your pie is ready to bake in the oven in 175 degrees for 45 minutes.
8. This is a very practical recipe that you can prepare for tea time, afternoon snacks, for brunch guests or for a light dinner as I did here. Since it would be our dinner, I wanted to add some sautéed chicken breasts to go with it. Chop the chicken breasts into chunks, cook in with some garlic, tomato paste, milk and olive oil in high heat. They are ready in 15 minutes. Bon apetite! 

 Step by step, filo pie in the making.

 My mouth starts to water...

The result and I wish I could add the amazing smell of melted cheese and spicy Turkish sausage. Yum!

Crunchy Caramel Cups

Very quick and practical, easy to make, this recipe will be a life saver for your dinner parties and kids' birthdays. This is my latest post from my Turkish blog, so I'll start with this one. It makes me feel like it's a nice beginning, the first recipe being a very easy, very yummy, light dessert. You can serve these cups with or without ice cream on top, it's up to you. Also, I specifically used caramel biscuits, the lightly burnt flavour, plus the crunchy texture of the biscuits work very well. You can choose to use ginger biscuits or crunchy cookies or any other type you fancy. That is the best thing about deserts in cups, you get the main formula and you can experiment with flavors and tastes. All you need is something creamy, something crunchy and something mellow. In this recipe I used delicious little local bananas with dried coconut because I think these two tastes go very well, both exotic, both warm and both leave a tingling sensation on your tongue. My other favourite combinations are chocolate and hazelnuts; caramel and milk; rose and pistachio (I'll write more about it soon, you can create amazing desserts especially by using rose flavored Turkish delights); or cocoa and gum mastic. I really like the fact that with a recipe like this, you are flexible. You can use bits and pieces from your kitchen cupboards. Instead of bananas, you can use strawberries, raspberries, pineapples; instead of decorating with chocolate chips, you can add hundreds and thousands or crushed peanuts, candies or you can try shaving chocolate, or add wafers. I think I've said too much, let's cut to the chase! Bon apetite.

Ingredients:
2,5 cups of milk
2 soup spoons of rice flour (or corn starch)
1 soup spoon flour
1 soup spoon margarine
4 soup spoons of granulated sugar (if you really have a sweet tooth, you can make it 5 or 6 spoonfuls)
1/2 a packet of Lotus caramel biscuits (byou can use ginger biscuits, digestives or any other type of crunchy biscuit or cookie you like)
2 soup spoons of dried and shredded coconuts
2 little bananas
1 packet of vanilla sugar or preferably, half a vanilla pod

How to:
1. Pour in the milk, rice flour, flour, sugar and margarine in a sauce pan and cook until it thickens. Generally, I don't tend to use margarine in my recipes, but with this one I thought a little goes a long way. So when you add only a spoon of margarine, it'll really transform the taste and make your pudding more creamy. Once it starts to boil and makes little bubbles in and aroun, turn off the heat.
2. Add the vanilla and bananas and mash all up with a hand blender. The bananas have to blend in the mixture smoothly, if you see some tiny bits, leave them as they are and they make your pudding rustic. Then add the dried coconuts and mix with a spoon.
3. Take out your cups or glasses and pour in two spoonfuls of pudding, top it with the crunched biscuits, then do this one more time to create another layer. In this step, I didn't mash the biscuits so much, I wanted to have big chunks at the same time. 
4. After you add two layers of pudding and biscuits top everything up with the rest of the pudding and decorate with chocolate chips. Don't forget to add your chocolate chips, when the pudding has cooled down, otherwise the chocolate chips will melt and look messy. In my picture above, I used two different glasses to show two different presentations. It's up to us to get creative! This recipe is very good with kids as well, it has fresh fruit and milk, so you can choose their favourite chocolate and candies. Bon apetite!