HOLIDAYSWEETS BAKED APPLES WITH LINGONBERRIES FROM YOUR NEIGHBORS

Fruit & berry dessert can be prepared according to a traditional Belarusian recipe or customized to your taste by adding cottage cheese, nuts, honey or dried fruits. By the way, baked apples are delicious both hot and cold, so feel free to make extra-you won’t go wrong.

Ingredients:

4 medium apples

120g of sugar

120g of lingonberries

20g of powdered sugar

Preparation:

Core the apples and remove some of the flesh from the apples. Mix the lingonberries with sugar and palace the mixture into the hollowed out apples. Bake in the oven at 180 degrees Celsius (355 degrees Fahrenheit) for 15-20 minutes depending on the size of the apples. Before serving, sprinkle with powdered sugar.

Semolina Cake In Syrup

This Turkish dessert is not overly sweet, but has a refreshing lemony flavor and one can add other flavors if they want to add a twist, including rose water, orange flower water, or zest of your favorite citrus fruit.

Ingredients:

Cake:

1 cup coarse semolina

1 cup sugar

3 tbspPlain flour

1 tsp. Baking powder

1 cup plain yogurt or whole milk

3 medium eggs

4 tbsp. Light olive oil

2 tsp. Vanilla extract zest of 1 lemon

Juice of ½ lemon

Preparation:

Syrup:

1 ½ cup sugar

1 ½ cup water juice of ½ lemon ground pistachio nuts and desiccated coconut

Make the syrup first, and preheating the oven to 180 degrees Celsius (350 degrees Fahrenheit). Combine the sugar and water in a medium saucepan on medium heat, stirring to a boil.

Reduce the heat to low and simmer for 10 minutes, and add the juice, simmering for 2-3 more minutes.Turn off the heat so the syrup can cool. Begin to make the cake, by greasing a square or rectangular baking dish of 8x10, with olive oil. Beat the eggs and sugar for a few minutes until the sugar dissolves, and add the remaining 2 tbsp. Of olive oil, yogurt, semolina, flour, baking powder, and then beat well again. Stir in the vanilla extract, lemon juice, zest and mix until the batter is smooth. Pour the batter into the baking dish for 25-30 minutes until golden brown. Immediately drizzle the cooled syrup all over the cake to absorb it and cool. Then, add the ground pistachio and desiccated coconut over the top, cut and serve.