» Helen’s Cooking. Easy cooking in 1-2-3! | Blog about healthy and easy to cook food http://helenscooking.info Mon, 28 Nov 2011 20:25:13 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 Apple, cinnamon and walnut rolls + cream cheese crispy rolls! http://helenscooking.info/2011/10/17/apple-cinnamon-walnut-rolls-cream/ http://helenscooking.info/2011/10/17/apple-cinnamon-walnut-rolls-cream/#comments Mon, 17 Oct 2011 19:43:29 +0000 helenscooking http://helenscooking.info/?p=1463

This is the simplest recipe of rolls in the world. The dough is very easy to cook and it’s very tender, almost melting in the mouth. This is also a very good dough for cookies.

For the dough:

1 stick of butter

1 cup of sugar

1.5 cups of flour (sifted, self-rising)

1 teaspoon of baking powder 

1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

1 egg

1 tablespoon of sour cream

2 tablespoons of water

 

For the filling:

3-4 apples

1 teaspoon cinnamon powder

1 tablespoon of sugar

½ cup of chopped walnuts

 

The dough:

Cut 1 stick of butter (or shred), mix it with 1 cup of sugar and  mash the butter with a fork or knife until it will turn into butter crumbs.

Add 1.5 cup of flour, mix very well with butter and sugar.

In a cup mix: 1 egg, 2 tablespoons of water +1 tablespoon of sour cream. Pour into the butter-sugar-flour mixture and knead the dough. The dough will be very tender and fragile. Form out of the dough two balls and put the dough into the freezer for 10 minutes.

Filling:

Wash, peel and chop the apples into the midsized chunks, add sugar, cinnamon and walnuts.

Set aside.

Forming the rolls:

Take out the dough. Take one ball and gently (!) roll it out with the dough roller. Don’t press too hard this dough is fragile. Cut the dough layer into two halves. (This will be your two big rolls that you will cut into the small bite size rolls) on one half of the dough put the apple filling. Put not too much of the filling and put it in a row. Then roll the layer with filling in and cut into the small bite size rolls crosswise.

Put the small rolls roses on a baking dish 4-5 inches away from each other as they will become bigger while baking.

Repeat the same procedure with the second half of your rolled out dough and with the second ball of dough.

 ***Tip from Helen*** I used for the second dough ball cream cheese filling. The filling is very simple to make ¾ of a cream cheese pack and 2-3 tablespoons of sugar mixed. When you mux the cream cheese and sugar spread it on each dough layer and roll it in as I wrote before. The rest of the procedure is the same.***

Baking:

Bake at 350 F for 20 minutes or until golden brown.

Which version to choose?

I honestly can’t decide which rolls are more delicious: with apples and cinnamon and walnuts or with cream cheese. So bake the two versions usually.

It’s very delicious, simple and warm fall dessert.

Enjoy!

]]>
http://helenscooking.info/2011/10/17/apple-cinnamon-walnut-rolls-cream/feed/ 6
Homemade hot pockets with apples. (healthy breakfast in 10 minutes) http://helenscooking.info/2011/10/08/homemade-hot-pockets-apples/ http://helenscooking.info/2011/10/08/homemade-hot-pockets-apples/#comments Sat, 08 Oct 2011 13:00:50 +0000 helenscooking http://helenscooking.info/?p=1411

This is a great weekday breakfast. It’s very easy to cook, it’s healthy and very delicious autumn treat.

If you like the cinnamon, you can add it as well, walnuts will also taste amazing in this simple dish.

When I cook it , sometimes, they don’t “live”  till morning family members hunt for them in the evening and at night.

(please note that the pockets in the picture are made of the homemade flour tortillas, so these are a little bit different looking)

For the recipe you will need:

4 medium apples;

4 tortillas;

2 tablespoons of sugar;

2 tablespoons of vegetable oil;

Wash the apples, peel them, then chop into mid sized chunks (take out the apple seeds ptip to chopping the apples).

Mix the chopped apples with sugar( add walnuts, cinnamon at this stage if you want to).

Preheat your oven at 375 F.

Take the baking dish, grease it with 1 tablespoon of oil.

Take your tortilla, put the apple mix on one half of it, cover with the second half and press firmly (BUT DON’T SQUEEZE TOO HARD).

Put your hot pockets on a baking dish, brush tortillas with the vegetable oil (optional), and set to bake for 10 minutes.

Your dish is ready in 10 minutes. (the tortillas will be crispy and light golden).

Enjoy!

]]>
http://helenscooking.info/2011/10/08/homemade-hot-pockets-apples/feed/ 4
Puff pastry dough made easy! http://helenscooking.info/2011/09/29/puff-pastry-made-easy/ http://helenscooking.info/2011/09/29/puff-pastry-made-easy/#comments Thu, 29 Sep 2011 16:41:18 +0000 helenscooking http://helenscooking.info/?p=1332

I love puff pastry, do you? You can create literally hundreds of recipes with it and it’s ready in 15 minutes: Apple strudel, croissants, puff pastry baskets and puff pastry fish pie and much more. The recipe of this dough will help you create a lot of awesomely delicious dishes in minutes.

For the dough you’ll need:

2 sticks of frozen butter (unsalted), no margarine.

 1 cup of water

3 cups of flour

1 teaspoon vanilla sugar

For the filling:

2-3 apples

½ cup of sugar

1 teaspoon of cinnamon (optional)

½ cup of finely chopped walnuts (optional)

The batter prep takes some time and effort, but then you’ll be able to freeze it and use for 2-3 weeks easy.

So, Take your butter, cut the sticks in halves and put in the freezer for 15 min.

Mix: water, flour and vanilla sugar.

Put the batter in a freezer for 10 min.

Take out of the freezer ½ stick of butter and the batter.

Put the clear wrap on the surface you are gonna work on, using the dough roller roll the dough out until 1 inch thick. Shred the butter on the rolled out dough and fold in triangle. Put in a freezer for 10-15 minutes (cover it with clear wrap when putting in the freezer). In 15 minutes take another ½ stick of butter, take out the dough, and put the clear wrap on the working surface (the same you used before or new one). Roll out the dough until 1 inch thick; shred the butter, fold in triangle, put for 15 min in the freezer (cover with clear wrap). Repeat the same procedure with the rest 2 halves of the butter sticks. This dough takes some time and effort, but it really is delicious and the best. But, if you don’t have no time for messing with this dough, just buy the ready puff pastry dough. I normally cook this dough over the weekend, because then I can relax roll out my dough go watch TV then repeat, you know… just enjoy this dough preparation procedure…:-))

croissanthelenscooking doughtrianglehelenscooking doughtrianglehelenscooking2 doughtrianglehelenscooking3 doughtrianglehelenscooking4

The dough is ready, when you shred the last 1/2 stick of butter and put it for 15 minutes in the fridge: take it out cut in 3-4 pieces. Use one piece to roll out your dough for the strudel , the other two you can use for the croissants:-) Keep the other parts of the dough in a freeser for as long as you ned. It’s a great dough to fix quick dessert or pie, or cakes, or roll…

But strudel is my favorite. Ususally it doesn’t live for more than 3 hours in my house, croissants may last for 24 h the most.

Enjoy and share with me your ways of using this recipe of dough.

]]>
http://helenscooking.info/2011/09/29/puff-pastry-made-easy/feed/ 10