Round rabbit

The description that follows is for brown rabbit on the right

Since I first made my totoroid breakfast companion, I've made quite a few more, ranging from conical, through cylindrical to round, as shown. Now I decided to redo the description in a somewhat more precise manner. I was writing things down as I went along, so that you can see the exact result.

Renaissance ruff collar

I keep thinking up and trying out various types of 3D-knitting where the volume is created by the tendency of stockinette stitch to curl in and the reverse stockinette stitch — not unexpectedly — out. My previous attempt to utilize this property of the basic knitting stitches can be seen here.

This time I decided to do something a bit more complicated. I find the result interesting and reminiscent of a Renaissance ruff, but I think I need to a) overcome my dislike of knitting samples next time and b) generally work more on the idea. As with the previous version, it is reversible. Explanations to follow.

Very chocolatey cookies

I have a strong suspicion that I already wrote this recipe up somewhere, but I can't find it, so here it is again. The proportions got gradually modified over the years and the result is now much more chocolatey, so it not completely the same anyway. The "original recipe" was found in one of the blogs under livejournal umbrella; there it said that it was copied (also modified, I think) from a book.

Anyway, here it is as I make them now.

Tray rolls with quark and strawberry jam

Much as I like cinnamon rolls, their sweetness is sometimes a bit too much for local temperatures. So, when I saw a video of "tray rolls" on skillshare (can't locate it just now), I decided that I have to have a go at various different fillings for the rolls; also to make them stuck together as they suggested. Two reasons: one, mentioned in the video, is that you hide most of the edges of the rolls as you stick them together, so they don't dry out in the oven.

Banana cake

For this banana cake it is best to take overripe bananas — even riper than on the pic

I never can quite understand if there is a banana season here on Canaries. Maybe not — bananas, mostly local ones, are available all year round. We can never guess how fast they will be eaten though, and often have to throw away some. This is a way to utilize some overripe bananas.

This cake is delicious. The recipe is based on this banana loaf, but I've changed the proportions somewhat, reducing sugar, adding lemon juice and generally adjusting to my taste and presence/absence of ingredients. Plus I've changed the process slightly (never could understand the need to cream the butter with sugar, so, none of that)

Ingredients:

• 140 g butter, softened to the point of melting
• 115 g sugar
• 2 eggs
• Pinch of salt
• Two (over)ripe bananas — this is, of course, somewhat vague measurement, and so are the eggs
• 1 table spoon lemon juice
• 150 g plain flour
• 1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

Process

Start the oven : 180 °C non fan-assisted
Line whatever baking form you have with baking parchment
Peel and mash the bananas
Beat the eggs with the pinch of salt till foaming
Mix butter and sugar well
Combine eggs and sugary butter, beat with mixer
Add mashed bananas and lemon juice, mix and beat
Add flour and soda, mix and beat till lumpless

The mixture will be not pour-able, you will have to scrape it into the tin and level the surface.

Cover with aluminium foil, to prevent the top from going completely black.

Bake for 30 min, take the foil off. The color will develop really fast; test the readiness with a toothpick (if it comes out dry, cake is ready). The original recipe say to bake for 30 minutes; in my case I say 40 minutes is closer to the truth.

Enjoy :)

Baked stuff pics on Shutterstock

Pancakes-2: Got it right :)

Last time I wrote about pancakes, I was complaining abut how I couldn't find kefir here. Since then I discovered the food court of El Corte Inglés. I don't know why I didn't check it out earlier, I guess I have a blind spot for basement departments.

Point is, they do have kefir. They have a good range of products from the Pastoret company and kefir is one of them.

So, here is another recipe and another set of pictures. As you can (hopefully) see, they are thick, fluffy, uniform in texture and have a very mild flavor, so can be used with both sweet and savory toppings. (Our older son prefers sweet, and the younger one savory).

Because of the way they rise and then keep their volume, the amount I end up making is always high, but they go really fast, there is so much air in them.

two-sided ribbed circular scarf

This is my second attempt to make a two-sided scarf using long-section dyed wool. First time I tried to make one, I bought just one 50 g skein, which was enough to make a collar, but it was not what I wanted.

Apple cake “sharlotka”

I might be completely wrong, but I think this cake, or variation on it, is known to pretty much everybody in Russia. It is simple to make and tasty to eat.

We call it “sharlotka” (шарлотка), but, curiously, it has almost nothing to do with the apple charlotte. Apart from the apples, that is.

It is one of these strange situations when recipe changes dramatically, sometimes beyond recognition, but the name stays. Like Spanish “Russian salad” with olives and tuna, both not-at-all most common ingredients in Russia.