Call it a holiday if you want!

Holidays come and go, what's left is the weight I put on in only three days and tiredness.
Call it a holiday if you want, but I felt more like Cinderella over the weekend. Well, maybe not, she was "always happy, smiling and singing" (she was sure her prince would come one day), I felt more like I was run over by a 3-tone truck (that's what you get for marrying a Prince Charming without a white horse - you actually never leave the kitchen). The good thing is there were no evil stepsisters. That's something, isn't it?
Ok, it wasn't really that black, you know, I actually did smile and laugh, but that was probably due to a couple glasses of Prosecco I had, ups!
The weather was not so nice either, so I improvised an indoor egg hunt for my daughters, and they were happy just the same.

What I had planned for Easter and what I actually cooked turned out to be completely different things, due to some facts I'm not going to bother you with.
The only thing I actually planned and made was this wonderful, creamy, delicious, divine crostata.
This is the second time I made it and everyone really loved it.

So, how was your Easter?



Chocolate Apple Crostata

*dough:
280 g flour
25 g bitter cocoa
130 g powdered sugar
3 egg yolks
1/2 egg white
180 g butter

*filling:
3 egg yolks
3 TBspoons sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 lemon (juice and zest)
500 g mascarpone cheese
40 g flour
3 TBspoons Calvados or rum
+
2 apples (Golden)
40 g melted butter
1-2 TBspoons powdered sugar

Sift together the flour, the cocoa powder and the powdered sugar adding a pinch of salt as well.
Rub in the chopped cold butter to form coarse crumbs. Add the yolks and half an egg white and bring everything together kneading quickly and shortly- to form smooth dough. Wrap and let cool in the fridge for ½ an hour.
For the filling, mix the egg yolks with the sugar using an electric mixer. Add the vanilla extract and the mascarpone cheese (add spoonful at a time). In the end, mix in the finely grated lemon zest, the flour and the Calvados or Rum.
Peel, core and slice the apples. Mix the sliced apples with the lemon juice and set aside.
Take the doug out of the fridge and roll it out between 2 sheets of baking paper to ½ cm thick.
Cover the bottom and the sides of a 30 cm crostata (pie) dish with the dough and cut off the excess dough.
Pour the mascarpone cream into a crostata shell and smooth with a spoon.

Place the apple slices over it, pushing them just lightly into the cream.

Brush the surface with the melted butter, sprinkle with a little powdered sugar and bake in an oven preheated to 180°C for 50-55 minutes.
Remove from the oven and let cool before serving.



Crostata al cioccolato e mele

*pasta:
280 g farina OO
25 g cacao amaro
130 g zucchero a velo
3 tuorli
1/2 albume
180 g burro

*crema:
3 tuorli
3 cucchiai di zucchero semolato
1 bustina di vaniglina o 1 cucchiaino di estratto di vaniglia
1 limone non trattato (succo e buccia)
500 g mascarpone
40 g farina
3 cucchiai di Calvados o rum
+
2 mele Golden
40 g di burro sciolto
1-2 cucchiai di zucchero a velo

Setacciate insieme la farina, il cacao e lo zucchero a velo con un pizzico di sale. Aggiungete il burro freddo a pezzetti e strofinate con le dita fino a ottenere delle briciole. Aggiungete il mezzo albume e i tuorli e impastate velocemente. Avvolgete la pasta con un pezzo di pellicola alimentare e lasciatela riposare 30 minuti nel frigo.
Per la crema, sbattete i tuorli con lo zucchero e la vaniglina (o l'estratto). Unite poco alla volta il mascarpone, sbattendo con le fruste, e poi la scorza di limone, la farina e il liquore.
Sbucciate le mele, privatele del torsolo e tagliatele a fettine. Irroratele con il succo di limone.
Stendete la pasta allo spessore di 1/2 cm (io uso due fogli di carta da forno, così non si attacca al tavolo) e rivestite uno stampo per crostate da 30 cm.
Versate la crema sulla pasta e livellatela con un cucchiaio.
Sistemate i spicchi di mela sulla crema disponendoli a raggiera affondandoli leggermente.
Spennellate la superficie con il burro e spolverizzate con un po’ di zucchero a velo.
Cuocete nel forno già caldo a 180°C per 50-55 minuti.
Togliete la torta dal forno e lasciatela raffreddare prima di servire.



Nadam se da ste svi proveli ugodan i veseo vikend u obilju dobre hrane, veselih boja i naravno u dobrom društvu, prijatelja i rodbine.
Ovo je bio naš desert, jedan i jedini, ali tako dobar da nije ni bilo potrebe za nečim drugim.

Čokoladna crostata s jabukama

*tijesto:
280 g brašna
25 g kakaa (gorkog)
130 g šećera u prahu
3 žumanjka
1/2 bjeljanjka
180 g maslaca

*krema:
3 žumanjka
3 žlice šećera
1 vrećica vanilije ili 1 žličica ekstrakta vanilije
1 neprskani limun (sok i naribana korica)
500 g sira mascarponea
40 g brašna
3 žlice Calvadosa ili ruma

+
2 jabuke Golden
40 g otopljenog maslaca
1-2 žlice šećera u prahu

Za tijesto, prosijte brašno i kakao, dodajte šećer i hladan maslac narezan na komadiće. Izmrvite sve skupa pa umiješajte žumanjke i pola bjeljanjka i brzo zamijesite tijesto. Oblikujte lopticu, omotajte je prozirnom folijom i stavite u hladnjak na pola sata.

Za kremu, umutite žumanjke sa šećerom, vanilijom i naribanom koricom limuna.
Dodajte malo po malo mascarpone i sve dobro umutite mikserom. Na kraju dodajte i Calvados ili rum.

Ogulite jabuke, izdubite sredinu i narežite na ploškice (1/2 – 1 cm debljine), namočite ih sokom od limuna da ne potamne.
Rastanjite valjkom tijesto (između dva komada papira za pečenje) na 1/2 cm debljine. Obložite time niski kalup promjera 30 cm (neka rub bude otprilike 2-2,5 cm, odrežite višak).
Ulijte kremu i poravnajte žlicom.
Poredajte kriške jabuke u krug u obliku cvijeta, lagano ih utiskujući u kremu.
Premažite površinu s malo rastopljenog maslaca i pospite šećerom u prahu.
Pecite u pećnici zagrijanoj na 180°C, 50-55 minuta.
Ostavite da se potpuno ohladi prije serviranja.

*Calvados je brandy od jabuka, nisam ga mogla naći za kupiti pa sam koristila prvi put rum, a drugi put liker od jabuka.
**Moj kalup je bio manji pa sam napravila jednu veliku i jednu malu crostatu. Tijekom pečenja krema se dosta digne i čak malo iscuri sa strane pa nije loše staviti pleh ispod kalupa, ukoliko vam je kalup plitak kao moj. Nakon što se ohladi, krema se međutim spusti.