Category: Desserts

No churn cherry ice cream with chocolate chunks

~ miakouppa ~ 6 Comments
No churn cherry ice cream with chocolate chunks is a great summertime treat, no ice cream maker needed!

No churn cherry ice cream with chocolate chunks is a great summertime treat, no ice cream maker needed!

For the longest time we thought that the fanciest ice cream flavour which existed was Neopolitan. This was the ice cream that our parents always brought home from the grocery store, and we loved it. We loved the many options which existed in that one container. Simply strawberry? No problem. A bit of vanilla and chocolate? You bet! Lots of vanilla and a small taste of the chocolate and strawberry? Totally doable. We also loved that the carton held many secrets. Taking the ice cream from the freezer and realizing that almost all the strawberry ice cream was gone meant that our dad had enjoyed quite a few scoops – strawberry is his favourite flavour.

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Saragli or Baklava cigars

~ miakouppa ~ 3 Comments
Saragli or Baklava cigars are a traditional Greek syrup soaked dessert make with phyllo dough and nuts

Saragli or Baklava cigars are a traditional Greek syrup soaked dessert make with phyllo dough and nuts

Σαραγλί. Do you know what is arguably better than baklava, the king of Greek syrup-soaked desserts? Saragli ! Saragli (pronounced with the accent on the last syllable) are basically baklava rolled into cigar shapes, making them easy to eat with your fingers, which then requires you to lick your fingers clean of the sweet, sticky syrup the saragli are soaked in. Of course, you can always be civilized and use a fork, or a napkin. We won’t judge.

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Grilled peaches with feta and honey

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Grilled peaches with feta and honey is a simple and delicious summer dessert or brunch idea

Grilled peaches with feta and honey is a simple and delicious summer dessert or brunch idea

The idea of pairing fruit with feta cheese is certainly not a new one. Think of all the beautiful cheese platters you have seen; most have at least a small bundle of grapes nestled between the bries, goudas and aged cheddars. When it comes to Greek cheeses, many have discovered that the salty, sharp flavour of feta pairs deliciously with the sweetness of fruit.

A very popular fruit and feta combo is watermelon with feta, and there’s a good reason for that – it’s delicious! We have already shared two lovely watermelon and feta recipes; one which is served as small bites, perfect as passed appetizers, and the other which showcases the beauty of grilled watermelon.

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Raspberry lemon jelly roll cake

~ miakouppa ~ 8 Comments
A light, sweet, and slightly tart jelly roll cake perfect for summer.

A light, sweet, and slightly tart jelly roll cake perfect for summer.

Years ago one of us purchased a beautiful jelly roll pan that we found on sale. It’s a beauty of a pan. Sturdy, perfectly sized, and you can see it here in case you’re inspired to purchase the same one, or something similar like this one. The jelly roll pan came with dreams. We imagined homemade bûche de Noël at Christmas and fresh tasting delights like this raspberry lemon jelly roll cake.

Our imagination ran wild, for years. We used our jelly roll pan for all sorts of things; baking spanakopitakia, bougatsa and the pita bread we use for our Greek-style nachos. But a jelly roll cake, that didn’t happen until very recently; it seems we were a little intimidated by these cakes.

Fortunately, after a bit of trial and error, and a lot of baking research, we’ve got this recipe to offer you. A raspberry lemon jelly roll cake that tastes a little like raspberry lemonade – and it’s perfect! Light, delicious and easy to prepare, we think that this is a cake you will be excited to impress your friends and family with. We think that you’re even going to impress yourselves!

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Rainbow Jell-O mould dessert

~ miakouppa ~ 2 Comments
A colourful dessert made with a variety of Jell-O flavours

A colourful dessert made with a variety of Jell-O flavours

This, dear friends, is a dessert you can be proud of, and we think that it is the perfect recipe to help kick off Pride Month. What better way to celebrate diversity in harmony than with this multi-coloured, multi-layered, multi-flavoured dessert? The fact that this rainbow Jell-O mould dessert is shiny and flashy is a bonus.

The first time that we made this dessert was for a Father’s Day family gathering years ago, and Pride was the furthest thing from our minds. Our main motivation for putting this together was because our dad is a huge Jell-O fan, and we wanted to Wow him. It was only later, when we revealed our Jell-O mould (or mold to our American friends) by placing it next to the baklava and bougatsa that the link was made. As it was June, the youngest grandchild, 10 or 11 at the time, beamed with pride believing that we purposefully chose to show support for the LGBTQ+ community while also celebrating Papou. She was quite impressed, but we had to come clean and admit that this was simply a coincidence. Every June since then however we laugh at that story, usually while making our rainbow Jell-O mould to mark Pride Month.

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Tsoureki Paximadia or Tsoureki Biscotti

~ miakouppa ~ 6 Comments
Greek biscotti, or paximadia, made with tsoureki bread and dipped in chocolate and sprinkles

Greek biscotti, or paximadia, made with tsoureki bread and dipped in chocolate and sprinkles

Παξιμάδια τσουρεκιού. The common adage “if life gives you lemons, make lemonade” (or avgolemono soup) is pretty good advice. The sentiment can be extended to so many things, including tsoureki. If you have read the post that accompanies our tsoureki recipe you’ll know that although our recipe is now fail-proof and delicious, it wasn’t always so. We have survived many disappointing tsourekia, with some being too dense, undercooked, or simply blah. Having been raised in a household where “waste nothing” was a very important mantra, we could never just dump our tsourekia in the trash (except for the one we called “The Tsourocki”….read more about that disaster in the tsoureki post).

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Vegan apple cake

~ miakouppa ~ 6 Comments
A wholesome apple cake which is vegan, fat-free, and sweetened with maple syrup.

A wholesome apple cake which is vegan, fat-free, and sweetened with maple syrup.

Νηστίσιμη μηλόπιτα. A classic Greek dessert is milopita, a cake loaded with apples that is perfect with a nice Greek coffee, or a tall glass of cold milk. We could have milopita every day of the week, it’s that good! Although our original recipe is great, we do like to have options and so we have come up with an apple cake that can be enjoyed anytime, by almost anyone!

During periods of Orthodox lent, or when we are baking for vegans we love, this vegan apple cake is a sure winner. And its got even more going for it! This vegan cake is full of apples, uses both regular all-purpose and whole wheat flour, it’s sweetened with pure maple syrup and it contains no fat. We often joke that some desserts are healthy because they contain a vegetable (carrot cake anyone?) or a fruit (strawberry shortcake friends?) , but in this case, it’s actually true!

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Vegan shortbread cookies

~ miakouppa ~ 4 Comments
Very simple shortbread cookies that are perfect for Orthodox lent.

Very simple shortbread cookies that are perfect for Orthodox lent.

With these vegan shortbread cookies, what you see is what you get! We have lived the disappointment of using cookie cutters to shape cookies just the way we want them only to find that they have flattened, spread, or risen while baking. Cut out flowers, kittens and firetrucks end up looking like blobs. Still delicious, but blobs. Not these cookies! These cookies come out of the oven looking pretty much the way that they went in. No surprises!

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Chocolate and orange cake

~ miakouppa ~ 4 Comments
A vegan chocolate and orange cake served with an orange glaze

A vegan chocolate and orange cake served with an orange glaze

Νηστίσιμο κέικ σοκολάτας με πορτοκάλι. Do you sometimes feel that baking is for weekends, when you have more time to scoop, measure, mix and bake? That’s probably true if you’re thinking about making a samali which has a significant resting time. It may also be true if you’re planning to make bougatsa, given the phyllo folding that’s involved. But if you’re craving something sweet mid-week (which is frankly when we need it most) then pull out your apron, because we’ve got the cake for you.

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Chocolate and blueberry cake

~ miakouppa ~ 6 Comments
A vegan cake rich with chocolate flavour, blueberries and a chocolate glaze

A vegan cake rich with chocolate flavour, blueberries and a chocolate glaze

Κέικ σοκολάτας με μύρτιλα. If you were raised in a traditional Greek home then there are a few things that you know to be true. Family is more important than anything. Family is also a term used generously; obviously your parents, your siblings and your grandparents are family, but so is your cousin’s cousin on their father’s side to whom you have no blood relation. You also know that food is almost as important as family – what you eat, how you eat it, and who you eat it with are questions which inform who you are as a person, and they are full of meaning and significance.

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