fab bag and the moving crisis

Our moving date is only few days away and things are getting slightly frantic. While packing is slowly progressing, we still have plenty driving around to do. Somehow million things always crop up in this kind of moments!

And speaking of packing… for more than a week I was just nibbling at few things here and there. Only yesterday I took out the big guns (aka boxes) and turned our flat upside down. Furniture are standing in odd places, boxes are stack in piles creating a labyrinth and a total mess.

In this less then glamorous circumstances, taking few minutes to peruse latest fab bag, was exactly what I needed. Not only the content is great (as always), but the bag got fancier too.

 

With that said, I'm leaving fragrant world of cosmetics for the dusty reality of boxes and bubble wraps.

Say cheese...

There is something about Italian cheese that makes even the simplest dessert seem rich and oh so decadent! And, in the same time, light as a cloud…

With my oven barely functioning, I’m painfully limited to baking things that don’t really require much, well… baking. I reached the ultimate low while making biscotti loaf, which I had to flip like a pancake (my oven heats up only from the top – the bottom is stone cold) to make it uniformly baked.

All sorts of tarts came as a rescue, and I’m compensating the monotony of crust with variety of fillings. Now, yet another cream cheese filling isn’t too exciting day after day, but when you whip some mascarpone… it makes all the difference in the world. Suddenly even the most generic dessert turns fancy and I have 5 minutes of glamorous Italian holidays in between all the cardboard boxes…

Lemon mascarpone tart:

(Inspired by this recipe) 

Base:

150 g flour

100g butter (cold)

Pinch of salt

20 g sugar

2 egg yolks (I often use 1 whole egg instead)

Mix flour, sugar and salt. Quickly cut butter into flour mix. Kneed it with the egg quickly and wrap in foil. Keep in the fridge for 30 minutes. Roll it until thin (about 5mm) and bake until golden brown (20-30minutes) in 180 degrees. Cool down.

Filling:

1 mascarpone cheese (200-250 g)

2 eggs (separated)

2-3 spoons of powdered sugar

Pinch of salt

½ cup of lemon curd

Fruits to decorate

Beat the egg yolks with sugar until thick. Add mascarpone and beat until mass is creamy and uniform, stir in the curd. Beat the egg whites until stiff peaks adding pinch of salt. Whisk into the mascarpone mass. Fill the crust and decorate with fruits.

(I used strawberries, slightly cooked with a spoon of sugar)

Chocolate ricotta cheesecake

 

1cup biscuit crumbs

5 spoons butter

1 cup ricotta cheese

2 eggs separated

2 spoons of sugar

½ cup ground chocolate

Pinch of salt

2 tablespoons flour

1 tablespoon corn flour

Vanilla extract

Mix biscuit crumbs with butter, fill the baking form and press. Beat the egg whites with salt until stiff, set aside. Beat ricotta with egg yolks, sugar and vanilla until creamy, add the flour and chocolate and mix together. Whisk in the egg whites. Bake 25-35 minutes in 180 degrees. Cool down and refrigerate for an hour.

I used sliced almonds for decoration (and stacked them with Nutella).

Mango tart

[Lighter on the calories, especially when you minus the whipped cream ;)]

Prepare base – as in the first recipe, bake for 10 minutes, set aside.

Mango filling:

2 medium mangoes

1 egg – separated

1 spoon of corn flour

4 spoons of sugar

Vanilla extract

4-5 spoons of Greek yogurt

Mix mangoes with egg yolk and yogurt in a blender until smooth and fluffy (don’t over-mix). Stir in vanilla extract and flour. Beat the egg white until stiff slowly adding sugar, whisk into mango mix.

Fill the crust and bake for 20-30 minutes – until set. Cool down then refrigerate for 30 minutes. Decorate with whipped cream.