Sawdust

Sawdust is a traditional Portuguese dezert with creamy base covered in butter cookies dust. Once again, it is not the most heathy of foods, but you can't eat too much of it because it is a mouth full of reachness and it is so delitious it cures all ills. It is also very fast to prepare, though it takes a while for it to get firm in the fridge.

• Dust
• 1 box of Maria cookies (Maria cookies are used in the original recipy but Pettit beurre or dry butter cookies can be used instead)
• Filling
• 1 gelatin sheet
• 1/2 sugared condensed milk can
• 2 small cardboxes of fresh cream (250gr in total)
• 1 t. sp. sugar

It is that simple:

1. Put the gelatin sheet in water to soften.
2. Whippe the cream with teh sugar until firm (it is always a good idea to start with very cool cream because if it warms up while whipping it will become butter instead of getting us the gream chantilly we expect). The sugar is not required for taste but it is not trivial to get Chantilly without it.
3. Warm the condensed milk slightly above room temperature and disolve the gelatin in it.
4. Gently involve the whipped cream with the condensed milk to avoid breaking down the fluffyness.
5. Lay it down on a long tray and cover with film. Put on the firdge.

1. While the base is resting in the fridge beat the hell of the cookies until you have them reduced to dust. If you feel non-violent and prefer a cleaner way just mince the cookies until they are fine enough to fly if you sneeze close to them. 
2. Get the tray from the fridge and cover the white creamy filling with the sawdust.
3. This dezert should be served cold as vengence and takes about 5h to get the perfect consistency. Tastes just as good if you can't wait for it, but it will not hold on a plate and should be then be served on a bowl.

Suggestions:

1. Some people also like to introduce nuts to the sawdust, I wouldn't because I like the simple taste of cream. 
2. Another sugestion is to have coffie deppen cookies beneath the filling, this allows you to cut all the sweetness and gives you extra flavour but again, I think you lose the cream taste.  
3. You can also cut the sweetnes using a very tiny portion of a strong likor underneath the licor, something like rum, or tekila.
4. Simple condensed milk can be used instead if you want to keep a decent level of callories, it is still a great dezert, when you are not a teenager anymore your sensitivity to sugar increases making this a very strong flavored dezert. :-)

Avenge your body from all those diet-needing-comments you give yourself on the mirror, but promise to start diet tomorrow, because you will get addicted to this recipy and might get into true medical issues. You deserve love and there are few ways of love as condensed as this. 

Baltazar... so much chocolate

This is a cake for emergencies only. For when no amount of healthy food can conquer the moment and you need chocolate deepen in chocolate with chocolate icing.

• Icing
• 150g dark chocolate (start from the most relevant! Be ware you will need twice as much chocolate for the whole cake.)
• 2 t.sp. water
• 2 t. sp. of rum (ya, that is how much comfort you can expect from this cake)
• 30g of butter (unsalted and fresh so your conscience can pretend to take a sick day)
• Decoration
• 250g fresh cream
• 50g sugar
• Actual Cake 
• 150g dark chocolate (cause you can't have the perfect chocolate cake without perfect chocolate, chose wisely)
• 35g butter (unsalted again, because it is that deliciously buttery)
• 3 eggs
• 75g powder sugar (don't sniff it might get into the whole kitchen but won't be healthy on your lungs)
• 50g all purpose flour
• 1 t. sp. of rum (and the crysis is handled even more)
• 1c. sp. of yeast (to pretend the cake has less density than a chocolate bar)

Simply put:

1. Beat the egg gems with the sugar until they change into a lighter color. 
2. Join the flour and the yeast at the same time, to avoid you get the yeast in small lumps that will grow unevenly. Whisk until you have no lumps in the dough.
3. Separately, melt the chocolate with the butter to avoid burning it. Microwave can be unpredictable and might end up burning part of it before melting, be sure to stir often if you chose to use the microwave. It should, join the rum and whisk, it should become smooth and homogeneous.
4. Join the chocolate with the rest of the dough. 
5. Separately, beat the eggs whites until you can rotate the bowl upside down and no liquid falls. Then make sure the dough is at room temperature and with a whisker gently incorporate the whites with it. If you are not gentle enough your castle of whites will melt into a cry river and your cake will no longer be fluffy.
6. Put the dough in a form with a whole in the center (pudim like) and take it to the 200C pre-heated oven for 10 min, than lower the temperature to 180C and wait for 8min.
7. Make sure to use a toothpick to test if the dough is cooked before removing it.

The icing is easier to do than to resist until the cake is ready for it.

1.  Just melt the chocolate, using the butter to keep it from burning and join the water and rum to smooth the consistency. Careful that this icing will not stick easily while the cake is hot out of the oven, and it will stiffen very fast otherwise. It can be re-melt in case of the latter.
2. The decoration is Chantilly, or whipped cream to compensate for the power of the intensity of the dark chocolate in the cake and the icing. Usually use a pudding form and fill the inside cavity with the cream. It will look like an avalanche of richness after the first slice is taken. The Chantilly can be made in advance and make sure to only pore it when the cake is fully cool and the icing is tough.

Tip: If it is the season slices of fresh strawberies can be displayed around teh cake giving it an inchanted look and a devine twist in flavor.

I am currently in a one year diet without deserts, so the picture will have to wait, but trust me it is heavenly and to die for. Literaly you will abdicate of good health to try this piece and find it suites you just heavenly. This recipe was based on a Portuguese deserts book I shall find the name of and add here.

Confy food is about love and freshness

yummy is the whole point. But there is a time for frozen pizza and chips and there is a time for home made veggie lasagna with soy cream and parmesan... Everyone has their confort food, some you can buy, other you nurture into existence and delight and feast on their natural flavor and fresh ingredients. Looking into the fridge and getting inspired is only the first step to success in the latter. The next is heaven. 😉
The greatest thing is that you get the comfort from shaping food instead of only from eating, making it more efficient as a comforting hobby including the homy sent and handy experience, and healthier as nourishment.
As a full disclosure, I don't pretend to have invented these recipes. This is a compilation of food that I tried and loved, of what I felt were good ideas and changed until I loved and meals I eat and tried to figure out. My biggest inspiration is a Portuguese book of traditional food called Pantagruel and my personal hero Jamie Oliver. I hope these posts can in turn inspire you.