Sholezard has two main ingredients: rice & saffron. No Basmati rice for this recipe. Because it should release starch during long hours of cooking. The Thai rice can be a good option, it has perfume and a considerable amount of starch.

Ingredients | 4-5 servings

• 100g/3.5oz rice (i.e. Thai)
• 1.2 liter Water
• 250g/8.8oz Sugar
• 1/2 cups Rose water
• 1 tsp Saffron
• 3tbsp slivered Almonds or/and Pistachios
• Cinnamon for decoration

Preparations

– A night before wash the rice and soak it in the water.

Next day: add water and sugar to rice in a big pot.

– Simmer for ⏳ 4-5 hours. Stir occasionally to avoid the rice stick to the bottom.

➡️ While waiting, mix the rose water with saffron. Cover it and let it rest for an intenser taste.

– Back to rice pot: after long hours of cooking, rice has soften and we have a creamy, shiny and dense cream.

– Add the mix of saffron and rose water.

– Continue to simmer for last ⏳ 5 minutes until the consistency and color becomes like the following:

– Turn off the heat and add half of the almonds. We save the other half for decorations.

– Mix all together and Sholezard is ready. While it’s warm pour it on the serving bowl because it tends to solidify when cools down.

– Wait another 1 hour to cool down

Decorate with cinnamon, almonds, and pistachios and serve 🙂

Notes

• The rose water is a distilled liquid from rose flowers and it absorbs more than any other liquid the color of saffron.
• Usually, Sholezard is poured into small serving dishes or one big bowl. It’s served cold or at room temperature.
• Mix the rice and sugar during the cooking time, it’s very tricky if you add sugar at the end, even for “adjust” the sweetness you will risk the creamy consistency into runny liquid :-/ (it happened to me!)
• The cold Sholezard tends to feel less sweet, that’s why the amount of sugar for Sholezard seems excessive.

Noosh e jan (buon appetite)

The post Sholezard, Persian rice pudding with saffron appeared first on Foodcraftz.

Unfortunately, some, industrial dried fruits has other unwanted ingredients on them. Like many, sultana raisins has oil. Check the ingredients list. If it has something other than the dried fruit, better to wash them in advance and spread them on a clean kitchen cloth to dry them.

You can avoid using rum. Just soak the dried fruit on fresh orange juice.

Ingredients | mix of 500g/17oz

• 50g/1.7oz Dried apple
• 120g/4.2oz Dried apricot
• 120g/4.2oz Dried blueberries
• 50g/1.8oz Dried sour cherry
• 80g/2.8oz Sultana raisins
• 70g/2.4oz Candied orange
• 200g/7oz Rum of your choice
• 1/2 cup of Orange juice

Preparation

– Chop dried fruits into small pieces (except the raisins)

– In a big bowl: mix all ingredients, pour the liquor of your choice (I used Bacardi gold), and the orange juice.

– Put the mix in a big glass container, make sure 1/3 of its space is empty.

➡️ When the dried fruits absorb humidity they grow in size, so the container should have enough space

They will be ready after 1 day.

Notes

• Avoid using a plastic container because of the of alcohol which is corrosive.
• If you don’t want to use alcohol use any fruit juice you like.

These dried fruits are perfect for Christmas cake ☺️

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Ingredients

• 400g/14.1oz of Milk
• 4 egg Yolks
• 20g/0.7oz Cornstarch
• 100g/3.5oz Sugar
• pinch of Salt
• pinch of Vanilla
• Lemon Peel

Preparation

– Put lemon peel in milk and heat, just at the simmering point. (don’t boil)

In a bowl add:

– Egg yolks, cornstarch, salt, vanilla & sugar. whisk till you have a creamy consistency.

– Pour in 1 ladle of the warm milk and mix. Be careful the milk shouldn’t be very hot because it can cook the eggs.

➡️ Meanwhile, put a wide bowl in the freezer. (which we’ll put the cream later)

– Pour back the mixture into the milk pot and set the stove on the medium heat.

– Mix it continuously with a spatula.

➡️ When the cream starts to get dense, it’s time to remove it from the heat.

– Pour the hot cream in freezing bowl & whisk lively.

According to the Italian pastry master Iginio Massari: this technique helps you to have a shiny custard.

– When the cream isn’t hot anymore ⏳Cover it with a foil, and put it in the fridge (3 hours)

When it’s completely cold, the Italian custard is ready.

It can be used as filling for bignè, croissants, mille-feuille or simply with berries ☺️

Enjoy!

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This recipe can be done also with fresh lemon. So in case, you don’t have bitter orange marmalade, use lemon juice or even marmalade if you have, and its zests.

Ingredients | 4-5 servings

• 90g/3.1oz Digestive biscuits
• 3 tsp bitter Orange Marmalade (organic)
• 1 tbsp Honey
• 60g/2.1oz of Butter
• 150g/5.2oz Cream cheese
• 50g/1.7oz Mascarpone
• zest & juice of Lime (organic)
• zest of Orange (organic)
• 25g/1oz Fresh cream
• 2 tbsp Icing sugar
• a pinch of Vanilla

Preparation

– Crush the biscuits in the food processor.

– Pour half of the melted butter (30g/1oz) and a tbsp honey. Mix all ingredients.

– Press the crumb mixture in a cake pan/mold (mine was 16cm/7inch)

– Put in the fridge to solidify for⏳ 1 hour.

Meanwhile, in a big bowl

– Add: mascarpone, fresh cream, icing sugar, lime juice and zest + orange zest & melted butter (the other 30g/1oz) and mix.

– Add vanilla & bitter orange marmalade.

– When all the ingredients are combined: spread the cheese mix, evenly, on the biscuit base.

– Cover it with foil or put a flat dish on top, it should rest overnight (or at least 6-8 hours).

Remove it from the mold and it’s ready! For decoration, I’ve put four dollops of marmalade on top.

Notes

• Remove it from the fridge 20 minutes prior to serving, it will be still fresh but not so cold, especially if you serve it with coffee or tea.

Enjoy ☺️

The post Cheesecake with Bitter Orange Marmalade appeared first on Foodcraftz.

In this recipe the brownies are soft and fluffy just like a cake.

Ingredients | 5 servings

• 1Tbsp Cocoa Powder
• 170g/6oz Dark Chocolate
• 100g/3.5oz Flour
• 170g/6oz Butter
• 70g/2.5oz Brown Sugar / Muscovado sugar
• 3 Eggs
• 1/2 tsp Vanilla
• Pinch of Salt

Preparation

➡️ All the ingredients should be at room temperature, if eggs, for example, are cold the brownies will not rise properly in the oven.

– Mix: flour, salt, vanilla, and cocoa powder

– In another bowl whisk: butter & sugar until they become creamy, then add 3 eggs and whisk.

– Melt the dark chocolate on bain-marie, add it to the bowl.

– Combine all ingredients.

– Pour it in a baking mold (mine was 20cm/7.8inch square) covered with parchment paper.

– Place it in the middle rack of the oven ⏳ back for 18-20mins at ♨️180°C/350F°

Wait till it cools down, then cube-cut the brownies and serve them warm or at room temperature.

Enjoy! ☺️

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