Zeppole

Hi again!

I love Italian food, especially the desserts! I found an easy recipe on how to make zeppole and wanted to share it with you. It's not hard to make and the end result is very yum-o! I made the dough from scratch and most people use fresh pizza dough to make zeppole. If you want to know how to make fresh pizza dough, I will post the recipe in another blog. If you are wondering what zeppole is, it is a sweet Italian type of timbit (Canadians know what that is or should, hehe) or small donut bites with granulated sugar, cinnamon sugar, or powdered sugar sprinkled on. It's a must try recipe and great for family gatherings too!

Zeppoles taste better when made fresh. Let me know what you think.

Makes About 2 Dozen

Ingredients:

1 Ball of Pizza Dough
Vegetable Oil, for frying

For topping:

Regular Granulated Sugar
Powdered Sugar
Cinnamon Sugar, (half a cup of sugar with 1 Tbsp of cinnamon and mix)

Directions:

1) Heat the oil in a deep fryer or large pot to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.

2) Cut the dough into strips and cut the strips into little squares.

3) Fry them in the hot oil until golden brown all around, about 2 to 3 minutes.

4) Drain on a paper towel lined plate and immediately dip into desired topping.

5) Serve right away for the best donuts you will ever have.

Dessert: Chocolate Blackberry Crumb Bar

Hi again!

I decided to make dessert along with having chicken adobo for dinner. Although this is not a Filipino dessert, it still taste good. Chocolate blackberry crumb bar isn't too hard to make, but it is a little bit time consuming when putting all the ingredients together. You can use any fruity preserves or jams your heart desires, such as blackberry, raspberry, strawberry, etc. that goes well with semisweet chocolate, as long as it is seedless. You don't want any seeds stuck in between your teeth. Also, I added some chopped hazelnuts to give it some added crunch to the texture. I saw this recipe and it looked so delicious that I had to try it. The taste is not too sweet nor too chocolatey, just perfect in my opinion. Even the hubs ate most of it as I've noticed most of the bars were missing this morning, plus he's not a chocolate lover.

Go ahead and try this recipe out. Let me know what you think. Happy baking!

Makes 3 Dozen Bars

Ingredients

1 Cup of Unsalted Butter, at room temperature
2 Cups of All Purpose Flour
½ Cup of Brown Sugar
¼ tsp of Salt
2 Cups of Semisweet Chocolate Chips
1 14oz Can of Sweetened Condensed Milk
1/3 Cup of Seedless Fruit Preserves / Jams

Process,

1) Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 13 by 9 inch baking pan and line the bottom with parchment paper and set aside.

2) In a large bowl cream together the butter and sugar, add the flour and salt and mix together until you have a crumbly mixture.

3) Press ¾ of the mixture into the bottom of the pan and bake for about 12 minutes.

4) In a microwave safe bowl, melt together the 1 cup of the chocolate chips and the condensed milk. Stir until the mixture has come together and the chocolate has melted.

5) Spread the chocolate mixture over the crust, dot the top with the remaining flour mixture. Sprinkle over the remaining chocolate chips and drop teaspoonfuls of the fruit preserves / jam all over the top.

6) Bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until the center looks set. Let cool for a few hours before cutting into bars. 

Caught!