Baked Peaches with Chocolate and Ginger Stuffing

We bought a big box of peaches on our way back home from vacation in South Carolina ocean side. They were very ripe and sweet and most important they were a lot, much more than we can eat in 2, even for longer time.

Even after eating big portion of them fresh and handing some out, there were still some left. It was a time to cook peaches before they spoil.

I found this recipe for stuffed baked peaches, and must say that baked peaches become one of my favorite desserts - cooked peaches are very tender and flavorful.

I will definitely improvise more in this direction once my hands get ahold of more peaches to try various stuffings.

West Ukrainian Cheese Cake (Syrnyk)

This cake is similar to the cheese cakes so popular in west part of the globe. However this one is made from quark cheese (fresh farmers cheese), not from the cream cheese.

It is very popular dessert treat in West Ukraine. It is often being made with raisins, however I don’t like raisins, so I am doing it without any filling. Just add them if you like.

During the baking this cake will rise in the oven, and then it will fall down a bit while colling down. That i s ok, just important not to open oven while baking or cooling.

To make up for a bit uneven shape, you can cut uneven sides off before serving it.

Sweet Braided Bread

I am used to call this kind of braid sweet bread Hala (Хала in russian), however when I was preparing to write this recipe and did a bit of research to make sure I get name right in english, I discovered that real Challah (Hala) doesn’t contain dairy.

Considering this recipe have butter and milk and eggs in it, I didn’t risk to call in challah. After all it is a sweet braid yeast based sourdough bread.

It tastes good by itself and even better with a cup of yogurt or cultured milk (kefir or buttermilk).

Boiled Cauliflower with White Sauce

Adding a sauce will make almost any food more interesting, that is why sauces were invented after all, and they are good not only with meats. Vegetables may use some sauce help as well.

So here it goes: cook boiled (yes simply like this!) cauliflower and pour white sauce over it – you will get delicious dish, not a boring vegetables.

I came by this simple recipe while looking though old cook book released probably even before I was born (ironical enough its title translated from russian is “Modern homemade cuisine”) and I liked it. I think, you will find some more recipes adopted from this book later in this blog.

Khrustyky Pastry (Hvorost)

This pastry is very popular in countries of ex-USSR. The shape is what gave them their russian name – "hvorost" – which means “dry wood used to make a fire”. Ukrainian name - “khrustyky” - describes texture – which it very crisp.

I had troubles trying to figure out what english name to use for this dish. Even if there is an equivalent of it in cuisine of some english speaking country, I don't know about it.

So, feel free to let me know if you have some ideas in this regard :)

Homemade Egg Noodles

Homemade egg yolk noodles are not so hard to do as it may seem. Lapsha (in russian cuisine) or klusky (in ukrainian cuisine) are as easy to do as simple egg and flour dough.

It is also a good way to use leftover yolks if you needed egg whites for some other dish.

Boiled homemade egg noodles can be served as a side dish or added to meat or chicken broth or soup.

Sponge Cake with Apples

Autumn always comes with tastes of a harvest: for me autumn tastes like apples, even though you can get them at any grocery shop any time of the year.

Since I've got my apples, a big pack of them actually, my house keeps smelling like autumn. During last weeks we had a duck with apples for a dinner, baked apples for a snack and even kompot with apples and cranberries.

I've also prepared this sponge cake with apples and light hit of cinnamon last sunday and now I can share this easy recipe with you, so you can enjoy the taste of autumn with me.

How to Separate Egg White from Egg Yolk

Some deserts, cakes, custards as well as some other dishes require using either egg whites or yolks or even both, but separately. So in order to prepare those you will need to separate egg white from egg yolk.

Of course there are some egg separating tools, but in case you don't have one under your hands or if you just prefer to have some fun bouncing egg yolks, learn How to Separate Eggs into whites and yolks without using any kind of special tools from my step-by-step instructions with photos.