ei Archives - Jenny is baking

Classic Spanish Tortilla

This classic Spanish tortilla or tortilla de patatas should not be confused with tortillas from Mexico. Whereas Spanish tortillas contain mainly eggs and potatoes, Mexican consist of cornflour. You will find Spanish tortilla everywhere, each café or pub offers some, I believe it is something like the secret national dish. There are many variations out there, some are made with onions, others prefer without and you can fill them and include add-ons. I am going to introduce the classic version here including onions. This means five ingredients: potatoes, eggs, onions, olive oil, and salt. If you don’t count the salt, it is just four ingredients.

16/08/2024

Quesillo Custard from Venezuela

Today I am introducing the Venezuelan dessert to you named “quesillo”. Quesillo is the Venezuelan name for a custard that is normally known as flan. Flan originates in Spain and is commonly consumed and enjoyed in Latin America as well. There is a reason I have several flan recipes on my blog, you may try the classic flan, flan with pineapple, flan with coconut, chocoflan with a chocolate cake and the cousin called leche asada, which does not require a watherbath. There are a lot of recipes out there, each family has their little secret. However, what they usually have in common is a) the caramel layer on top and b) milk or heavy cream and eggs. But that is about it, some recipes require only egg yolks, others use the full egg, some may ask just for milk and others only cream. Quesillo does use sweetened condensed milk and usually a dash of rum for extra flavor. Preparing this dish only requires around 10-15min, the rest will be taken care of by the oven and fridge. The word “quesillo” comes from the Spanish word “queso” as a slice may look a bit like a slice of queese with some holes in it.

02/08/2024

Chocolate Eggs with Royal Icing

Attention, if you want to make these chocolate eggs with royal icing, this will take time. You need to be willing to temper chocolate (it is not that hard, but you need to be patient and a thermometer is mandatory) and you will pipe flowers with royal icing (or other decoration) on parchment paper first, let it dry (overnight preferably) before you glue them onto the chocolate eggs. Yes, these are a labor of love, but you will be rewarded with a wonderful decoration, gift, and surprise. I intend on keeping the large egg until next year for Easter and will keep you posted how that goes. I made these eggs during several evenings after work and it was so much fun and just the right amount of relaxation for me.

The chocolate was tempered correctly, the chocolate has a clear shine and got very hard

22/03/2024

Pascualina, a Savory Pie from Uruguay with Egg and Spinach

Pascualina is a savory pie from Uruguay prepared with spinach and eggs. “Pascua” translates as Easter, thus this pie is usually eaten during the holy week or “semana santa”. As many Uruguayans have Italian ancestry, many Italian dishes were adapted to what was available in Uruguay. In Italy pascualina is normally prepared with ricotta and Parmesan cheese, however, Uruguayans like to infuse flavor with bacon and additional veggies such as bell peppers. Other dishes include milanesa, cutlets, which already tell you the origin. Another is the quince tart named pasta frola, which is very popular in Uruguay.

17/03/2023

Egg Macarons with the Italian Method

Ostereier-Macarons nach der italienischen Methode

Is it OK to say “Happy Easter”? I do believe so. To be “happy” also means to be relaxed and baking definitely relaxes me. Baking is my way of dealing with the crisis, it is a wonderful method to beat depression and sadness. Yes, I also know people who got fired or are now working part-time. But regardless, I do see Easter as the feast of hope despite all the horrible things currently happening. And for that reason I decided to make macarons according to the Italian method. I already have a few macarons recipes on my blog, my very first try, strawberry macarons with no food coloring as well as coffee macarons with dulce de leche filling. But all of the listed recipes follow the French method. This is the very first recipe according to the Italian method. I will explain below what this entails.

10/04/2020