Daring Bakers' May Challenge - Apple Strudel

The May Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Linda of make life sweeter! and Courtney of Coco Cooks. They chose Apple Strudel from the recipe book Kaffeehaus: Exquisite Desserts from the Classic Cafés of Vienna, Budapest and Prague by Rick Rodgers.

I loved this! I'll definitely try it again sometime.

The components - apple filling mixture, dough, butter and breadcrumbs:


The dough really wanted to stretch! I had trouble keeping track of it. :P But I managed to get it pretty thin with only a few holes:


Buttered, breadcrumbed and filling positioned:


Rooled, baked and drizzled with icing:



Yummy!



This was a great pre-birthday cake for me, hehe.

First Daring Cooks' Challenge - Ricotta Gnocchi

Woohoo, Daring Cooks is off and away!

I have a confession to make - I didn't even know what gnocchi were before this challenge! Neither had I used ricotta before. Interesting stuff!

I found a 250g tub of ricotta at the supermarket, which was just about the right amount to make half the recipe. I drained it overnight and then some, using an awful lot of kitchen roll.

Here's the gnocchi-ready ricotta:


Mixed up with eggs and other goodness (I added both lemon rind and nutmeg to the dough):


Formed into dumplings:


Lemon-thyme-butter-sauce'd:


Voila!


Thoughts: They were quite pleasant to eat, with a nice light texture, but I don't think I'd make them again. I don't know, perhaps it was because I tried to eat it all... halfway through, the realisation set in that I was pretty much eating cheese drenched in butter. :P