Scones with hazelnuts

 It was maybe 3rd time in my life when I made scones. Not sure why I'm not doing it more often as they are so delicious. Maybe because I prefer to sleep long in the morning and then to have quick egg scramble or thin pancakes.
But as today is 1st day of holidays (not real - for studies, so it's just 50/50 holidays) I decided I need to pamper myself a little and have tasty and amazing breakfast and these scones just popped up in my "blogs you're following" list. In original recipe they called for berries, but as I didn't have them, I used hazelnuts. And they turned out beautifully and so tasty. I hope I'll bake them again soon as recipe is easy to make (I think every scones are easy to make). To make them more fragrant I topped hot scones with piece of coconut butter. Ant it really made a difference - my kitchen smelled like heaven.

For the Scones:
1/3 cup / 80 g sugar
zest of 1 medium lemon
2 cups / 500 ml all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
8 tbs / 115 g unsalted butter, cold
1/2 cup / 125 ml sour cream (30% fat)
1 large egg
50 g crushed hazelnuts

1-2 tsp coconut oil (solid)

For the Glaze
8 tbs confectioners’ sugar; sifted
2 tbs freshly squeezed lemon juice

Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position and preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
In a medium bowl, combine sugar and lemon zest; mix with your fingertips until the sugar is moistened and fragrant. Add in the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt and mix until combined.
Chop butter to pieces and add into flour mixture; use your fingers to work in the butter until the mixture resembles coarse meal.
In a small bowl, whisk the sour cream and egg until smooth.
Using a fork, stir sour cream mixture into flour mixture until large dough clumps form. Add in hazelnuts. Use your hands to press the dough against the bowl into a ball. The dough will be sticky first, but as you press, the dough will come together.
Place on a lightly floured surface and pat into a 7-inch / 18 cm circle about 3/4-inch / 1,5-2 cm thick. Use a sharp knife to cut into 8 triangles; place on prepared baking sheet, about 1 inch apart. Bake until golden, about 15 to 17 minutes. Add small pieces on top of scones.
Cool for 10 minutes and prepare the glaze.
In a medium bowl, prepare the glaze by mixing together confectioners’ sugar and lemon juice. Whisk until smooth. Top with spoon.
Serve with tea.

Enjoy!

Recipe adapted from My baking addiction

Cashew Nut Chicken

 Sometimes you see recipe and you know you can't live until you cook it. Sounds familiar? This chicken recipe with rice and cashew nuts was that situation. I saw this recipe on amazing Munaty Cooking blog and the same minute wrote to my BF to go shopping. And it was the most amazing Chinese dinner we had at home. It's was so quick - while rice are cooking, you can done meat. I know this one is going to be our home favorite - can't wait to tell this recipe to all my friends who loves Chinese food, but are afraid to cook it at home.

2-3 portions
2-3 tbs sunflower oil
1/4 cup cashews
1 red chili
300 g boneless, skinless chicken breast
pinch of black pepper
2-3 tbs white flour
1 medium onion
2 garlic cloves
few spring onions

Sauce:
1 tbs soy sauce (I used dark)
1 tbs oyster sauce
1 tsp sunflower oil
pinch of black pepper
1/4 teaspoon sugar
5 tbs warm water


Heat in a wok 1 tbs of oil.
Cut chili lengthwise, take of seeds. Chop to your preferred size.
Fry cashews and chili in hot oil until golden. Set aside.
Chop chicken breast to bite size chunks. Season with black peppers. Mix with flour until well covered. Fry chicken in the same wok. Add 1 tbs of oil if needed. It'll be don in 3-5 minutes, when all sides are golden. Set aside and cover.
Prepare sauce - mix all ingredients and set aside.
Chop onion in to thin strips, garlic cloves to thin slices. Add them to the same wok, add extra spoon of oil if needed and fry for 1 minute.
Add then chicken, cook for 1 minute, then add cashew-chili mix.
Add sauce to the pan, stir well and cook for 30 s.
Serve while hot with rice. Chop spring onions and sprinkle on top.

Enjoy :)

Inspired by Munaty Cooking blog.

Coconut macaroons - only 2 ingredients!

When I first saw these macaroons on Hip Foodie Mom - I immediately knew I'm going to bake them. They are just gorgeous and so easy to make. Why I never thought about this before?? But better now than never ;)

 So no none of my friends can't tell they are unable to cook :D to all of them I'm going to print this "so difficult" recipe so they'll have lifesaving recipe when you crave for something sweet.
Original recipe proposed to dip them in melted choco and then freeze it, but it was sweet enough for me without it.

2 baking trays
400 g/1 can sweetened full fat condensed milk
3 cups/~250 g desiccated coconut

Heat your oven to 175 C/350 F.
In a bowl mix condensed milk and coconut. Batter must be quite thick so it hold its form. If not - add few extra spoons of coconut (it depends what kind of condensed milk you use).
With a spoon make small balls on top of lined baking tray.
Bake for 10-12 until golden.
Let them cool on the grating and then remove from baking paper.

Enjoy :)