Baklava

It seems that I found something strong enough to heal a broken heart, which is almost magic. I only made baklava a couple of times and I'm not going to pretend I know everything about it. There are people who learn to make baklava throughout their lives and hopefully I'll once have good talk with one of them. But right now I can say for sure that you can make it very well from the very first attempt and enjoy both the making and the eating just extremely.

Blackcurrant cheese cookies

Today is the last day of the year. If I only knew how each of you is going to spend it I would perhaps get enough celebrating ideas for my whole life. As you can imagine I'm spending it at home, slowly preparing a New Year dinner, decorating a christmas tree, watching old movies and smiling to my lovely family.

If you are also in the mood for home cooking, let me show you these cookies. They are so simple and so tasty that it is hard to find a better fit for such a day. Have a bite and let a miracle happen to you. I believe they do happen if you let them do so. But whatever you believe, be happy tonight.

Cottage cheese and apricot cookie rolls

Did I say already that in Russia we do not celebrate anything on December 25-26th and all the important things happen on December 31st? The thing is that we actually keep baking Christmas cookies even longer - till January 10th or so because that's our favorite home activity on New Year's eve vacation. From all the cookies we bake these are the oldest. While some other cookies come and go these stay with us since (hard to believe...) 1991.

Ginger bread house making at Taste of Russia (Moscow)

Till the very last moment when I was holding the walls waiting for the icing to set I couldn't believe the house will materialize. It is like a little miracle. You do some casual baking, cutting and mixing et voila you end up with this beauty in front of you. More than that, you find yourself actually trying to look through the door and windows, as if you were really wondering what's in there. Coming back to earth, I finally visited Victoria Agabalyan at Taste of Russia cooking school in Moscow and I can't tell you how happy this makes me.

Florentine cookies

Last Monday was my mom's birthday. She went for a MacBook (yes, she does listen to me sometimes) but I still wanted to present something hand made. So on Sunday my little bro and I got together at the kitchen to make her favorite florentines. They are continuing the series on Christmas baking.

Lemon and caraway biscuits

Now when everybody is not as busy with halloween I can clearly see that it is not only me who is impatiently waiting for Christmas. My first Christmas cinnamon roll cookies this year were baked on October 1st and here comes the second batch. Every time I bake these lemon biscuits they surprise me once again with their depth and intensity. And almost everybody who tries them asks me for their recipe.

Cinnamon roll cookies

I'm one of those people who start impatiently waiting for Christmas as soon as the weather turns cold. In Moscow this happens in September so it's two weeks already that I'm thinking about all the Christmas magic. Candles, Christmas tree, mulled wine and baking Christmas cookies. This year there was no way I could make myself wait till December, so with the cinnamon roll cookies my Christmas started tonight.

Chewy oatmeal cookies (vegan version)

The crispy oatmeal cookies I got last time were fine, but I’ve always been much bigger on soft and chewy cookies. So since then I’ve been thinking about developing a chewy version. These chewy (almost gooey) cookies worked right from the first attempt. This must be because I finally got a good book on American baking.

Crispy oatmeal cookies (vegan version)

I'm getting more and more enthusiastic about vegan baking. After the banana upside down mini cakes worked I got these wonderful oatmeal cookies. My first attempt one them I'm embarrassed to describe. At the second one however they even surprised me. They came out deliciously light, crispy and airy. The combination of cinnamon, nutmeg and orange gave them a touch of heat and feast.

Petits sablés (French butter cookies)

I love making cookies since I was a little girl helping my mother in the kitchen. Every Christmas we would stock lots of nuts, butter, sugar and flour and start mixing the short pastry. Then we'd roll it, take out the little shapes and start cutting out the stars, hearts, rounds, rhombs and crescents.

Savoiardi biscuits (ladyfingers)

To complement the Sabayon I made last night I also made savoiardi biscuits (ladyfingers). Besides the fact that they are perfect with sabayon and as part of tiramisu, there is nothing better for a morning cup of espresso.

Soft brownies

Since my recent failure with brownies I just couldn't wait to give them a second go. This time I made really soft brownies with Dulce de Leche following David Lebovitz recipe. Yes, second time. Some things I only learn from my own mistakes.