Mini Mulled Wine Cupcakes

And because the wintery season has even arrived in Suly, here the recipe for some seasonal cupcakes - mulled wine!

Ingredients (makes 24):
For the dough:
120g butter
120g caster sugar
1 pinch of salt
Zest of 2 clementines
120g flour
1 1/2 baking powder
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/8 tsp. groun nutmeg
1/4 tsp. ground cloves
2 medium eggs
8 tbsp. red wine
6 tbsp. clementine juice
30g sugar
1/2 cinnamon stick
3 cloves
1 star anise

For the frosting:
100g cream cheese
100g butter
250g icing sugar
Zest of 1/2 clementine

Preparation:

Preheat the oven to 175°C. Mix the (soft) butter, sugar, salt and zest in a bowl and mix until pale and fluffy. In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder and spices. In a third bowl, lightly beat the eggs, then add them to the butter mix while beating quickly. Then add the flour and lastly 2 tbsp. wine. Fill the mini cupcake forms with batter (2/3 full) and bake for 15-18 minutes (until the tops spring back to the touch and a toothpick comes out clean). 

In a small saucepan, mix together 6 tbsp. of wine and clementine juice and add the 30g sugar and spices. Bring to the boil, stir until the sugar has dissolved, then set aside to infuse. Brush the still warm cupcakes with the syrup and keep the rest for the frosting.

Meanwhile, prepare the frosting by placing the cream cheese in a bowl and beating it until smooth and creamy. In a separate bowl, mix the (soft) butter with 1/3 of icing sugar and cream until pale and fluffy. Continue adding the rest of the sugar, then add the cream cheese. At the end, mix in the zest and remaining syrup. Decorate the (cooled) cupcakes with the topping.

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Pumpkin & Goat's Cheese Ravioli

I found this very yummy-looking recipe of pumpkin-goat's cheese ravioli online and since pumpkin season is in full swing even in Northern Iraq, I spontaneously decided to try it out. The original recipe is with canned pumpkin, but since that doesn't exist here, I just used fresh pumpkin - probably better anyway! And to be honest, the result completely surprised me since I really did not expect to produce yummy pasta the first time I ever tried it. So the recipe is fool proof.

So let's get started!

Ingredients (for roughly 2 portions):
For the dough:
200g all purpose flour
1 egg
3 tbsp olive oil
60ml water
1/4 tsp salt

For the filling:
100g fresh pumpkin
75g goat's cheese
2 cloves of garlic
3 tsp white wine
Rosemary or sage (depending on your taste)
Salt and pepper
Olive oil
Water

For the sauce:
20g butter (yes!)
1 tsp lemon juice
Rosemary

Preparation:
Firstly, prepare the dough as it will need time to rest. Beat the egg in a bowl and add the water, oil and salt. Then add the flour while continuously combining the ingredients. Knead the dough until you obtain a soft mass. Place the dough back in the bowl and cover it with cling film. Let it chill for 1-2 hours.
In the meantime, cut up the pumpkin in cubes and press or chop the garlic. Heat some olive oil in a frying pan and add the garlic and pumpkin. Sauté the two until the garlic starts to brown, then deglaze with the white wine. Season with salt, pepper and rosemary (or sage). When the white wine is absorbed, place the pumpkin in a pyrex, drizzle with olive oil and bake it in the oven until it is soft, approximately 20 minutes at 200°C. Once the pumpkin is soft, put it in a bowl and add the goat's cheese. Purée with a food processor and season (if needed) with salt, peper and more rosemary. Then take the dough out of the fridge and roll it out. I have a pasta machine to help me make the dough evenly thin. If you do not, just roll it out (on a floured surface) until it is about 2-3mm thin. Avoid to make all the dough at once at it easily dries out. The cut the pasta in lengths, place 1tsp.-sized filling in regular intervals (estimate the size of your ravioli) onto the strips, moisten the edges and place a second strip on top. Then press around the filling heaps with your fingers, cut the parcels into ravioli and go around the edges with a fork to seal the pasta strips together. The pasta is ready to be cooked immediately. Otherwise, you can place it in plastic bags in the freezer (separated from each other so they don't stick). To cook them, bring water to the boil in a pan, add salt and cook the ravioli until they float on the surface. In a frying pan, heat the butter until it starts to brown. Add the rosemary and lemon juice and pour it over the fresh ravioli. Buon appetito!

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Homemade Torsade Bread

When living abroad, finding "good" bread is often one of the biggest challenges. Now, as good, I, Swiss and European, would define bread that is crunchy, but not necessarily a baguette. Sourdough is yummy. Not so much the toast bread other nations' people seem to prefer. In Kurdistan you can get the toast bread, the baguette, the flatbread and a bread which they call "samoun"- diamond shaped breads. I even found an article on them online.

I like samoun, but they're not the kind of bread I feel like eating all the time, hence the quest to find an easy recipe for a homemade version. And I might just have come across the easiest recipe on the planet: the no-knead bread as presented by the New York Times.

The first time I made it, my oven (I am in Iraq, remember) gave up on me and the hot temperatures. So I had to shuffle my bread between my own kitchen and the one in the office. And between an electric and not-so-well-functioning-gas oven. Result: the bread was ok, but not great. So since them, I am putting the temperature not at maximum, but just at 220°C (as is suggested in the article). And the result looks pretty neat:

I have slightly changed the measurements, also converting them into the metric system. This conversion business also reminds me to get cracking on my own conversion table. Not just for myself, but also for you people. Maybe you appreciate not having to google everything ;-).

Now, let's get started on the bread.

Ingredients (for two small loafs, roughly 20cm long):
350g all purpose (i.e. white) flour - you can change that according to your preference, or in my case, availability
1 tsp salt
1/3 tsp yeast (dry)
350ml water (room temperature)

Preparation:
Mix the dry ingredients in a bowl. Then add the water. Mix well, but stop when the water is absorbed. Do not knead (that's the whole purpose!). Cover the bowl with a kitchen towel and let the dough rest for at least 12 hours, but preferably more.

Once the dough is ready, pre-heat the oven to 220°C and place a pyrex (with cover) in it. Cut the dough into tow and put the first half on a surface covered with flour (the dough will be very sticky). Roll is, softly, in the flour and then twist it. Place it in the pyrex and put the cover back on. Bake for 30 minutes, then remove the lid and bake for an additional 20 minutes, until the crust is brown and crunchy. Et voilà! It really couldn't be easier.

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