Carrot and walnut cake

The week before Christmas, my older daughter saw in town some snowmen cakes. She loved the idea so she asked me to prepare something similar at home (they were not so easy to reproduce, as the cakes in town were decorated with chocolate and marzipan). 

I thought that a carrot and walnut cake would be the perfect solution for this challenge so I baked a very thin cake (the recipe is super quick, inspired from here), out of which I cut round shapes using a glass. I covered the small cakes with Greek yogurt and I decorated with red forest fruit (blueberry would have looked better but I couldn't find any).

I barely managed to take a few pictures, that the snowmen "melted" (in the bellies) :)))))

Ingredients for the cake:

- 300g grated carrots;

- 150g wheat flour;

- 150g ground walnut;

- a few raisins (optional);

- 1 tsp of cinnamon;

- 1/2 tsp nutmeg;

- 1 tsp orange zest powder (bio);

- 1 tsp baking powder;

- 3 large eggs;

- 50 ml oil;

- 50 ml milk.

Method:
In a bowl mix the dry ingredients (flour, spices, baking powder, ground nuts and raisins).
In another bowl or in the blender mix the eggs, milk and oil and, in the end, add the grated carrots and stir with a spoon. Add the moist mix to the dry one and stir until you get a thick batter.
You can bake the batter in a 20 cm cake tin if you want to get a normal, round cake. I wanted a larger, very thin cake, from which to cut round shapes. So, I used the big oven tray, I lined it with baking paper and I spread the mixture with a silicone spatula until I got the thickness I wanted (about 2 cm).
Bake in the preheated oven, at 180 degrees C, for 30-40 minutes if you make a thin cake or for up to 60 minutes if you use a smaller tray. The cake is ready when it passes the toothpick test.
You can decorate it with natural whipped cream or with cream cheese and fruit.
Enjoy!

Chişcă - Romanian traditional Christmas sausage (with pork and rice)

Every Christmas, although spent far away from home, gives us the opportunity to explore (in our own kitchen) some of our traditional meals that our grandparents used to prepare.
This year I am going to prepare (for the first time ever) a special kind of sausage, made of meat and rice. I tried yesterday a simple recipe (adapted to be baby friendly) and in the next days I am planning to make another version, just to see which one is closer to the taste I know from childhood (that one I will also prepare for Christmas).

Ingredients:
- 500g minced pork;
- 4-5 Tbsp short grain rice;
- one large onion;
- 3 Tbsp oil;
- 1/2 tsp ground pepper;
- 1/2 tsp sweet paprika;
- 4 bay leaves;
- 1/2 tsp coriander seeds;
- 1/2 tsp dry thyme;
- a few pepper corns;
- sausage skin (I used pork intestine, very well cleaned)
* if you are not cooking for babies, add 1tsp salt.

Method:
Finely chop the onion and place it in a pan, over medium heat, with 6 Tbsp of water and 3 Tbsp of oil. Stir continuously. Once the onion is soft add the rice (washed and drained) and 150 ml of water. Let ot boil until all the water evaporates (the rice should be partly boiled). Set aside and let cool.
Add the minced pork, ground pepper, thyme and paprika (and salt, if using) to the rice and onion mixture.
Using a sausage accesory or a funnel fill the sausage skin with the meat and rice mixture. Make tight knots at both ends of the intestine or sausage skin and form more sausages (at the preferred length).
Pierce the sausage skin a few times using a toothpick (so that they won't swell while boiling).
Place the sausages in a pot and cover them with cold water (plus 2cm above). Add the pepper corns, coriander seeds and bay leaves. Boil over low fire for 1/2h. Remove the sausages from the water and let them cool.
Before serving, fry the sausages for a few minutes in a pan (no oil) or on the grill. They go perfectly with fresh onion and polenta.
Enjoy!