Happy Birthday!

I could not let February 1st pass by without a little bit of fanfare. Today marks one year since I decided to start Sundays in the Kitchen and it has been an amazing experience.  I've challenged myself in the kitchen and tried new recipes.  This is something that I always strive to do, but I have enjoyed taking other people on the ride with me.

To commemorate this occasion, we are having cake!  However, this is not any cake.  When I was living in Moldova my host family would make blini, the Russian name for crêpes that are popular in Eastern Europe. On special occasions they would make them, rolling them into tubes with sour cherries inside and then layering with whipped cream. 

Full disclosure - my crêpe recipe is not the same as a traditional blin or blinchik recipe. But it works perfectly and I definitely enjoyed the mental escape, imagining myself back in my host family's kitchen watching everyone prep for a party.

Sour Cherry Blini

 

Ingredients:

 

6 eggs - beaten

1 1/2 c. water

1 1/2 c. flour

1 tsp. salt

1 jar pitted sour cherries - drained

1 c. heavy whipping cream

1 Tbsp sugar

 

Directions:

 

Beat together the eggs, water, flour, and salt.  Let stand for 5 minutes (you can preheat your cast iron skillet during this time).  In your greased 6 1/2 inch skillet, make crêpes.  Pour just enough batter into the skillet to cover it.  Flip as soon as the batter is set and cook the second size only for a few additional seconds.  Continue until the batter is gone.  You should be able to make about 40.

 

Assembly time!  Line up your crêpes, the sour cherries, and your serving dish.  In a large bowl, whip together the cream and sugar just until soft peaks begin to form.  Add to the assembly line.

 

Take a crêpe, place a few cherries on it, fold into a tube, and place onto the serving dish. 

 

 

 

Repeat until you have your first layer. 

 

 

 

Cover with a bit of whipped cream. 

 

 

Repeat until you have your cake.

 

 

Who's hungry?



Easter Creations

While my last post had a bit more originality, this post features the results of dessert ideas I snaked, in their entirety, from the wonderful world that is Pinterest.

A few years ago I decided I wanted to make a dessert for Easter dinner.  Now, this was actually a pretty big deal for me.  When it is holiday time I still head to my mom's for multiple days.  So, in my mind, this relieves me from the responsibility of bringing my own dish - I am arriving with my mom, therefore whatever she makes counts for me as well.  This is a total copout.  I'm 34 years old perfectly capable of bringing something even if I am staying at my mother's the night before.  However, no one in the family has called me out so I just go with it.  The last few Easters have been the sole deviation.

The first Easter was a Bunny Butt Cake.

It definitely took hours to prepare but, it was too cute to resist.  Plus, I liked doing something crafty and cooking with my mom.

The second years we did Lemon Meringue Nests.

Why on earth I selected this I will never know.  I hate meringue.  We used to have lemon meringue pie at Poppy's every once in a while.  I would push the meringue right off the pie.  I remember being yelled at for being wasteful.  I did not care.  I refused to eat it.  I do however, remember fully enjoying these nests.  What was really helpful was tracing out the circles for the nests.  Free handing that would have just been ugly.  We used green colored sugar paper as our grass to complete the look.

Last year was cupcakes.

So simple, yet still so fantastic.  I dyed some shredded coconut to make a nest for the jelly beans. For the cupcakes with the peeps, I spread a thin layer of frosting to hold the peep in place and then piped more frosting around it to create the next look.