Easter Celebration

Happy Easter everyone!!

It is a Greek tradition to say "Hristos anesti" for 40 days following Easter. This Easter was a busy one since I had two events to attend the same day, so I had to double-book. Which meant double-eat! Nevertheless, here are some sweets I prepared for this year:

Tsoureki is a Greek sweet bread prepared for Easter (but sometimes also during the year). My grandma usually makes it but this year I decided to give it a try using this recipe from Greek Gourmand. I was very pleased with the result and would keep this recipe for next year!

Cannolis were a spontaneous thing I decided to make with my sister and her boyfriend. We had a bit of trouble making the shells, but then got the hang of it and I must say, they turned out pretty good! You definitely need to use a thermometer to get the oil not more than 350-375 degrees F. Also, we strained the ricotta overnight to get it a thicker texture for the filling, but I think a few hours would had been enough.

Mastic Ice Cream

The only producer of mastic, also called masticha, is the island Chios in Greece, but it is used in many other countries (Egypt, Turkey, Lebanon, Morocco) for sweets and pastries as well as liqueurs and chewing gums.

I tried mastic ice cream for the first time last summer on my trip to Greece. There's this really good ice cream shop called To Pagoto in Glyfada (Athens) where they have very unique flavors, like Tsoureki, a Greek Easter bread! And now, since I've been making quite a lot of ice cream and stumbled upon some mastic resin crystals (ok... really I looked for them in every gourmet market), I simply had to give it a try!

But there was no mastic ice cream in The Perfect Scoop! No problem: I just used David Lebovitz's method of making vanilla bean ice cream (French-Style), left out the vanilla bean and substituted it for ground mastic! I found that Kevin from Closet Cooking had also made this ice cream and decided to use some vanilla sugar just like he did.

The result was a creamy ice cream, with a slightly gummy texture (which I liked) and a hint of mastic flavor. I liked that the mastic taste wasn't too overpowering and would definitely place this ice cream in my top 5. I did have a hard time getting all the mastic off my pot, mortar and pestle and spoons though... I think I could have prevented this by grinding the mastic with some of the sugar...

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Mastic Ice Cream
Adapted and modified David Lebovitz's Vanilla Bean Ice Cream
Makes about 1/2 Liter (1/2 Quart)

1/2 cup whole milk
3/8 cup (75 g) vanilla sugar
1 cup heavy cream
pinch of salt
1/2 tsp mastic resin crystals
3 large egg yolks

Use a mortar and pestle to grind the mastic resin crystals. Warm the milk, sugar, ½ cup of the cream and salt in a medium saucepan. Add the ground mastic to the warm milk and stir. Remove from the heat and cover for about 30 minutes. There might be pieces of mastic that will have formed. (No worries, we will strain them out later!)

Pour the remaining ½ cup cream in a bowl and set a mesh strainer on top. In another medium bowl, whisk the egg yolks and slowly pour in the warm mixture (to temper eggs), whisking constantly. Scrape the warmed egg yolks back into the saucepan and constantly stir the mixture over low heat with a spatula, until mixture thickens and coats the spatula. Pour the custard through the strainer and into the cream. Stir until cool over an ice bath.

Chill the mixture thoroughly (even overnight) in the refrigerator. Freeze the mixture in an ice cream maker according to manufacturer’s instructions.

Amygdalota - Greek Almond Cookies

I always look forward to receiving these cookies when guests come over. I mean pastries and baklava are always welcome, but amygdalota... they're perfect with a cup of coffee, tea or a frappe!

I wondered how they made these cookies in bakeries. I mean I knew they contained ground almonds, but what else? Flour? Eggs? It never occurred to me to look for a recipe online because I didn't think they were so popular. Apparently I was wrong! I came across a recipe posted by the Greek Gourmand and they look exactly like the ones from the bakery! Everything on that blog looks so delicious! Many of the foods we make at home or I've had in restaurants (pan-fried feta cheese... yum!!).

The cookies turned out exactly like the bakery's when they came out of the oven, but as they cooled, they hardened a bit. Usually the outside is a bit hard and crunchy and the inside stays chewy. A bit like a macaron shell, but less delicate and more dense. The cookies are easy to make but quite hard to pipe out... The Greek Gourmand suggests an easier way for shaping the dough but I chose the harder because I wanted them to look pretty! I also added an extra beaten egg white to the dough because it was impossible for me to pipe it out otherwise (maybe that's why they turned out a bit harder?).

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Amygdalota - Greek Almond Cookies

Adapted from Greek Gourmand

Makes about 24 cookies

1/2 kg blanched almonds (or ground almonds)

1 1/2 cups sugar

2 eggs

1 tbsp fine semolina

1 tbsp orange blossom water

About 25 whole blanched almonds

Add the blanched almonds and the semolina to a food processor and grind until very fine. (I used already ground almonds but still processed them with the semolina to make them finer.)

Beat the two egg yolks and one egg white very well with a mixer in a large bowl, then add the sugar, the almond mixture and the orange blossom water and mix well with either a wooden spoon or a dough-hook on a stand-mixer. (I mixed with the paddle attachment until dough was too firm to continue, then with a wooden spoon.)

In another bowl, whip the egg white (I used 2) until stiff with peaks and then incorporate it into the almond puree mixture.

Coat the inside of a large piping bag with melted butter to help piping since the almond mixture is pretty dry. Place a large tip (I used a star tip) to the end of the piping bag and pipe out small rosettes onto a sheet of parchment paper placed on a baking tray. Lightly press a whole blanched almond into the center of each rosette.

Bake at 350 degrees F for approximately 20-30 minutes (it took me 25 min) or until the cookies turn lightly golden. The aim is too dry out the outer layer and bottom of the biscuit while retaining whatever little moisture is left inside. Cool for at least an hour and store in an air-tight container to maintain inner chewiness.