Claudia&Julia's Blog

Today, September 13 is International Chocolate Day. I think we can agree that this food of the gods deserves a tribute, or at least this post: a roundup of chocolate recipes to bring a smile to your face.

We leave summer behind but there are still days when you feel like having cold desserts. I already have my Bundt pans ready to bake a lot this autumn but I’m also using them for other preparations like today’s: a panna cotta, which is a dessert with a texture similar to flan, very silky and truly delicious. There are different versions of panna cotta: from the simplest, with vanilla, to more sophisticated ones.

I've always loved finding a way to use leftovers and not waste anything in the kitchen. This coconut pudding recipe is precisely that: a recipe for using up stale bread. The bread, rolls or even croissants you have left over from a party that you don't want to waste.

With these temperatures you need a lot of nerve (or a pastry-baker's willpower that ignores thermometers) to face a hot oven. Even so, so as not to discourage those who refuse to give up a sumptuous dessert despite the summer heat, today I bring you this S'mores Cake, a recipe that doesn't require an oven, yet will hardly find a rival among those that do.

Do you like Nutella? And oatmeal cookies? I love both, and if we combine them I get the perfect dessert. Besides, now that it's summer, the best dessert takes the form of ice cream. Don't you agree with me?

So today I suggest a good homemade Nutella ice cream served in a homemade oatmeal and coconut cookie cup. How do you feel about that?

Please forgive me, I know there are countless wonderful frozen desserts today to beat the heat. A huge range of flavors, textures, colors... But I'm a romantic and, despite really enjoying all things new and novel, I can't do without the timeless sweets. That's why this summer we can't stop making this Whisky Ice Cream Cake and dusting off fond childhood memories.

Few things are more refreshing when the heat hits than a granita, and if it’s homemade and lemon, even better. The perfect way to start and keep going!
Sorbets and granitas differ from ice cream, in general, in that they contain no dairy (nor egg in the case of custard-style ice creams), so they are much less creamy and tend to produce a icier sensation. But for that very reason they’re perfect for hot weather.

The origin of this tart lies in Saint-Tropez where, in the 1950s, Polish pastry chef Alexandre Miccka prepared and sold a delicate brioche filled with cream. The invention was so delicious that even Brigitte Bardot fell for it. In fact, it was the actress who suggested the name “Tarte Tropézienne”, which today is both a recipe and a registered trademark and remains as popular as ever.

For years I had been chasing an ice cream maker like the one I used to make the recipe I'm bringing you today; at home I drove them crazy with my refrain of... I want an ice cream maker with a compressor!, they didn't pay much attention so I decided to solve the problem. Gelato Expert from Magimix arrived at home, that longed-for ice cream maker that helps me have delicious ice cream without much fuss.

Are you someone who eats yogurt frequently? If so, making yogurt at home is the best solution — not only because you choose the ingredients you use and can forget about flavorings, preservatives and the whole string of additives, but because it couldn’t be any simpler.

It's no secret that I like to cook. I love getting into the kitchen and spending hours at the stove and oven, but I also enjoy making easy recipes like this lime tart. Because I don't always have the time, the inclination, or it's unbearably hot and the last thing I consider is turning on the oven. For those moments it's perfect to have easy ideas up your sleeve and this is one of them.

Panna cotta (which is nothing more than "cooked cream" in Italian) is typical of the Italian Piedmont. It is one of those desserts that always work well and tend to be liked by everyone.

One of its advantages is that it doesn't need an oven; a saucepan and a little heat do wonders for this dessert that has a thousand and one variations. Its texture is similar to that of flan, but here we don't use eggs or an oven as I mentioned before, so the preparation process is much simpler.