Light Appetizer Inspired by a Book

I'm totally in love! With the book! To be more correct -with the author! The author who writes about cats!
I apologize for such an excitement. I know I need to explain what it is all about and do a little tribute to the author who inspired my cooking blog post. Last fall I was wondering around the Barnes&Noble book store. Suddenly, my eyes caught the book title The Cat Who Had 60 Whiskers. I was mesmerized by the idea that someone will write about cats. Unanswered question drove me into a quiet frenzy. So I took the book and read the book cover ads: "Lilian Jackson Braun is the author of twenty-seven Cat Who novels and three short story collections". You know my love and admiration of cats, and the book was on sale...The long story short - I bought it and...loved it immediately! Mrs. Braun's writing style completely won my heart from the first page. It is witty, smart, mysterious, very clever and intelligent story about two Siamese who live with their owner James Mackintosh Qwilleran, the local newspaper columnist. The book tells in gentle and very well-educated manner about literature and cats! What mix can be better! After I finished the first book, I was hungry for more and made my trip to the Draper Library where I discover the whole book shelve by L.J.Braun!!!

Now we are back to the food matter. Today I finished the second book, The Cat Who Went Bananas. In first few chapter the book tells you about the local theater that decided to stage the play The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde and Qwilleran had to write some explanation notes about Wilde's play in his column. So, here it goes, "There is the matter of cucumber sandwiches! A young gentleman sends out invitations to an afternoon tea and orders cucumber sandwiches as refreshment. They are so good that he eats the whole plateful before the guests arrive. I asked food writer Mrs. Riker what is so special about cucumber sandwiches. She said, "To make that classic sandwich, cut a round of bread, spread it with softened butter, layer it with crisp cucumbers sliced paper-thin, and top it with another round of buttered bread. They are delicious! You can't stop eating them!"

I questioned the author credentials about cooking part and I made me a couple of those sandwiches with some innovation - only one piece of bread, and bread is specifically rye. Expect the unexpected, but they are so tasty and good that I need to give Mrs. Braun a torrent of applause! It is really worth of trying it. It is easy and so delicious...and I'm starting my third book by my favorite cat-writer L.J.Braun!

Easy Dessert - Cream Puffs or Заварные Пирожные

I had cooked this dessert for the Baby Shower we had on Saturday. Some women at the Shower asked me if it is too hard and too complicated to cook at home. So, here I want to prove that it is NOT hard to do at all!
All you need is a good oven and a little bit of your time. For the food part you will need: 1 cup of water, 1 stick of margarine, 1 cup of flour and 4 eggs. It will make about 15-18 cream puffs.


Bring water to boil in a middle size saucepan. Add a pinch of salt and 1 stick of margarine. Wait until the margarine is melted. Now you have to act quickly. Add one cup of flour to the boiling mix. You have to mix it very quickly and don't let it burn. Take the saucepan off the heat and put it aside to cool down. When the batter is not hot anymore, add the eggs - one at the time and mix well.


Now you need to prepare the baking sheet. Use Parchment Paper for Baking or any white paper available in your house. Generously grease the paper with vegetable oil.


To place the batter on a baking sheet you can use plastic Pastry Bags or Dessert Decorator. Or just use a teaspoon to make it simple.


Make sure you place your batter about an inch apart (2-3 cm).


Pre-heat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Baking time is 30-40 minutes. Do not overcook you pastries, but you also don't want them to be raw inside. Your pastries will smell like a French Pastries Shop and they should be golden-brown in color when they are ready.


Let them cool down and fill them up with any filling of your choice. I used the same whipped cream with powdered sugar which I used for my previous recipe. Powdered sugar on the top and - Abracadabra! - it is ready. Pretty simple, huh?

Tasty Appetizer for Any Ocassion

Today I want to share with you the recipe of one of my favorite appetizers. This recipe has so many modifications and variations that I'm really puzzled which one to choose??? So, today I will give just one and when I will cook it differently, I will just add postscriptum (P.S) to the original recipe. Deal?

So, today I felt like using French bread or Italian Bread with Cheese. Cut the bread 1/2 inch wide (1-1.5 cm).

Use vegetable oil and slightly fry your croutons from one side. (Some people prefer to fry it from both sides...To my opinion, one fried side is more healthy because of less fat you use and it doesn't dry so fast because bread doesn't loose its moisture too quickly).
Let it cool down a little bit. While your croutons are cooling down, you can cat vegetables for the topping. My favorite set of vegetables is fresh tomatoes, bell pepper and green onions. Sometimes I feel like adding cucumbers too. Salt, pepper and a sprinkle of Parmesan if you wish to. Your topping is ready. Take a glove of garlic and rub all your croutons.

Carefully spread mixed topping on your croutons. I like to shred a little bit of cheese on the top. If you have fresh dill or parsley or basil at hand it will be helpful too. But it is tasty even without herbs. Your meal is ready!


The best is to eat this appetizer as soon as you prepare it. If you are planning ahead and want to prepare it before, just make sure you keep croutons and topping separate until the last minute. Bread gets soggy so quickly. So, when you are ready to consume it - just spread the veggies on the top of croutons and enjoy delicious appetizer any time of the day!

Complicated Russian Dessert

I didn't mean to make my posts seasonal on this blog. :) But somehow, it turned out to be once in a season! So, this is one of my new bakery recipe for Spring - Tartelettes with Fruit and Whipped Cream aka Песочные Корзиночки с Фруктами и Взбитыми Сливками.I went through both books - Russian Baking Cookbook and Julia Child's version and came up with the following updated recipe adjusted for American measurement and produce. Ready to start?First, you need to make sure that you have baking forms. I bought mines at Spoons'n Spice Store. They are about 40 cents a piece.

For 15 tartelettes you will need: 1 big egg, 1/2 cup of sugar, 150 gr (one and a half stick) of margarine or butter (softened) and 1 and a half of cup of flour. That is for dough!

Mix egg, sugar and softened margarine together. Then add flour and mix again.

Sprinkle some flour on the kitchen table and dust your rolling pin with flour as well. Are you ready to roll?
Gently roll your dough to about 1/4 of inch width. Then cut into 15-16 squares.

According to any cookbook baking forms don't need to greased since the dough itself has enough margarine for non-stick purposes. So, no baking spray is needed. Just carefully take the piece of dough and place it into your tartelettes form.

Then gently push the dough inside of the form and delete the rest with your fingers.

When you fill all your forms, place them on a baking sheet.

Baking temperature is the most important factor of this complicated Russian cooking. Your oven should be heated to 420 by Fahrenheit or 230 by Celsius. Baking time is no more then 15 minutes! Otherwise, you will end up with over-cooked Russian cookies! Your tartelettes are ready when they have slight-brown edges! Take them out! NOW!

Take hot patties and while they are still hot gently (AGAIN!) turn them out letting baked dough out of the form. Let them cool down.


Now we can prepare the filling aka whipped cream. You will need 1 cup of Heavy Whipping Cream and 2/3 of a cup of Powdered Sugar.


Use KitchenAid mixer or any other electrical mixer to whip them together until soft picks appear. I added a little bit of Yellow Food Coloring - just to make look more like spring.


Fill the confectionery bag with ready whipped cream and set it aside.

Now let's go back to your cool-down tartelettes. They are ready for decoration part. I used some canned fruits - pears in light syrup and canned mandarins. Plus some fresh strawberries.

Place a piece of fruit in the middle of you tartelette.

Then finish up decoration with whipped cream and some other pieces of fruit.

Also if desire you can use some cocoa powder for variety. Place Cocoa powder into a small shifting shaker and gently shake it over your pastries.

Who is ready for dessert?
Thank you for all your effort of reading such a long recipe! But in case you want to try to make it - here it is! With detailed instruction and even pictures following every step!!!