Jam Sandwich Cookies

These delicate cookies are perfect for tea or coffee time. I didn’t have fancy cookie cutters, so I used a plain round cutter for the bottoms and a donuts cutter to make the tops. You can use a 2.5-3 inch (6.5-7.5 cm) and a 1 inch (2.5 cm) cutter to cut out the centres of half of the round ones.
For a prettier presentation you can use decorative cutters. 
As for the jam, use any jam you like. I made most of the cookies with homemade quince jam, and the rest with store bought fig jam.
Another tip: dust the tops generously with powdered sugar before placing them on top of the bottoms covered with jam to avoid covering the jam with sugar.
The recipe makes up around 20 cookies.

Ingredients
½ cup butter (softened)
1 tablespoon margarine
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
½ cup (packed) icing sugar
2  1/4 cups all purpose flour

2 tablespoons cornstarch

½  teaspoon baking powder

More icing sugar for dusting
Jam of your choice (around 1.5 cups or 450 g)

2.5 inch (6.5 cm) and 1 inch round cookie cutters 

Directions

1. Beat the sugar, butter, shortening and vanilla to obtain a creamy mixture. Add the egg and beat to combine.
2. Combine the flours and the baking powder and add to the previous mixture. Mix until all the ingredients come together to form a soft dough.
3. Form a ball, wrap in plastic and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
4. Pre-heat the oven to 325F (160 C), with the rack in the middle position.
5. Sprinkle work surface with flour. Roll out and flatten the dough to 1/8 inch (3 mm) thick. I like them very thin but you can make them up to a 1/4 inch (5 mm) thick.
6. Cut the same number of cookies with the round cookie cutter and the donut cookie cutter. If you don't use a donut cookie cuter, cut all the dough with the big cookie cutter, then cut holes in the center of half the cookies with the small cookie cutter. Gather all the scraps, re-roll and cut.
7. Transfer to a baking sheet covered with parchment paper spacing them 1/2 inch (1.5 cm) apart.
8. Bake the cookies for 12 minutes. Wait around 10 mns before transferring them to a cooling rack. They can break easily when hot.
9. Spread 1 teaspoon (or more) of jam on the bottoms (without a hole).
10. Dust generously the tops (with a hole) with icing sugar then place on top to form a sandwich.

Japanese Milk Bread

I made these rolls for breakfast served with chestnut cream and jam, but they can be served as dinner rolls as well.
In the past I shied away of this recipe because of the Tangzhong, but there was absolument no reason for that, it's just a paste made out of milk (or water) and flour. So please don't hesitate to try it.
As you can see I topped some with sesame seeds. 

Ingredients

Tangzhong (Starter)

3 tablespoons (30 g) all purpose flour 

½ cup (125 ml) whole milk

Dough

2 2/3 cups (350 g) all purpose flour

2 tablespoons sugar

2 teaspoons (7 g) instant yeast

½ cup (125 ml) whole milk + a little bit for brushing

1 large egg slightly beaten

3 tablespoons (30 g) softened butter cut in small pieces

1 teaspoon salt

Oil

Directions

Tangzhong (Starter)

1. Combine flour and milk in a small saucepan. Whisk on medium heat around 3 minutes until it thickens and forms a paste.
2. Transfer to bowl, cover with plastic and let cool. 

The dough

1. Combine the tangzhong and all the ingredients of the dough except the butter then knead 3-4 minutes in a stand up mixer (or by hand).
2. Let the dough rest 15 minutes, then knead again adding the butter a little at a time. It may look messy at the beginning, but when all the butter is absorbed, i twill turn into a nice smooth dough. This should take around 10  minutes.
3. Shape the dough into a ball, place it in a greased bowl, cover with plastic wrap and let it rise for 60 to 90 minutes, until doubled in volume.
4. Turn it out on a slightly floured surface, gently deflate and divide in 8 equal pieces. Shape each piece into a ball.
5. Place the rolls in a pan lined with parchemin paper (or a lightly greased pan), cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rise again 40 to 50 minutes.
6. Preheat the oven to 375°F (190°C). Brush the rolls with milk and bake for 20-25 minutes, until until golden brown on top.

Serving ideas

1) Brush them with plain butter while they are still hot

2) Brush with a mix of butter, honey and cinnamon

Notes
Every oven is different and convection-ovens are even more different. The baking time provided here is for my conventional oven (not convection), which maybe longer or shorter than it would take in yours, so you will have to watch.

Almond Clementine Cake

This is another gluten free cake. Very easy to make and sooo delicious! You have to try it and let me know.
During citrus fruit season, I like to make citrus cakes. I am particularly fond of clementines. They are seedless, sweeter and have softer membranes than mandarins. For these reasons I prefer to use them to bake.

Ingredients
7 clementines (or mandarins)- Around 1 lb (500g)
4 large eggs
3/4 cup (150 g) coconut sugar (or granulated sugar)
2 cups (200 g) almond flour
1 teaspoon baking powder 

8-inch cake pan (20 cm)

Directions

1. Wash the clementines thoroughly. Cook them in a pot, covered with water for 1 hour or until tender. Keep an eye on the pan, and add more water as necessary. 
2. Drain the clementines in a bowl, let cool, then remove the seeds, if any. 
3. Puree the flesh and half of the skins using a food processor or a hand mixer. Add the juice collected in the bowl. You show obtain around 10 oz (300 g).
4. Pre-heat the oven to 375 degF (190degC).
5. Line the bottom of the pan with parchment paper and grease lightly.
6. In a separate bowl, beat the eggs with the sugar until thick.
7. Add almond flour, baking powder and clementine pulp, and mix well.
8. Pour the batter in the prepared pan and bake the cake for 45-50 minutes.

The cake should be slightly moist. Let the cake cool a little bit before unmolding.
Decorate with suprêmes of clementines or just icing sugar.

Lime Pie with Coconut Milk

I wanted to try out something different from the traditional lemon meringue pie. Well, actually I was craving a lemon pie, but I didn't have lemons, only limes and I didn't have enough eggs, didn't feel like going to the store! So I changed my recipe: substituted limes for lemons, coconut milk for regular milk, and I used 3 eggs instead of 4. It turned out absolutely to die for: not very tangy, not too sweet , the meringue very thin and crisp. I don't like the thick meringue which tastes a bit like raw egg whites. I must admit the meringue is not as beautiful as it should be though. I have not whisked enough while on the simmer. Nonetheless, the taste was there.

Ingredients
Dough :
2 cups flour
½ cup butter (softened)
3 tablespoons margarine
2 tablespoons sugar
3-4 tablespoons water

Filling:
½ cup lime juice
1 Tablespoon lime zest
1 can coconut milk
2 Tablespoons starch
2/3 cup sugar
3 egg yolks
2/3 cup granulated sugar

Meringue:
3 egg whites
3 Tablespoons confectioners' sugar
pinch of salt

11 in (27 cm) pie pan with a removable bottom, if possible.

Directions
Crust

1. Combine the flour, sugar, butter and shortening to obtain something like a coarse cornmeal. Sprinkle the water, one tablespoon at a time and mix just enough for the mixture to hold together and turn into a smooth dough.  Add more water if needed.
2. Form a ball, wrap in plastic and refrigerate for 15-20 minutes.
3. Pre-heat the oven to 400F (200 C), with the rack in the middle position.
4. Sprinkle work surface with flour. Roll out and transfer to the pan pressing up the sides.
5. Bake the shell for 20 minutes

Filling

1. Combine lime juice, zest and starch in a medium saucepan. Add the coconut milk and whisk until smooth. Bring gently to a boil, stirring frequently.
2. In a separate bowl, whisk together the egg yolks and the sugar until the mixture turns almost white.
3. Gradually pour the warm mixture into the eggs, whisking constantly.
4. Return everything to the saucepan and stir constantly over medium-low heat until it thickens. You should not let it boil otherwise you may end up with lumps.
5. Pour lemon filling into cooled crust.

Meringue

1. Combine together the egg whites, sugar and salt in a bowl over a pan of simmering water. 
2. Whisk to obtain firm peaks. 
3. Cover edges of the pie crust with strips of aluminum foil to prevent burning. Spoon the meringue over the pie filling. Return the pie to a 300 deg oven for 30-40 minutes or until the meringue gets slightly brown.

Sprinkle with sugar for decoration.

Coconut Flour Birthday Cake

Since my daughter started her Paleo diet a year ago, I have been making her delicious microwave coconut mug cakes every time she comes over. So I figured why not make a layered cake using a similar recipe for her birthday, but this time baked in the oven! It turned out to be this splendid birthday cake.
It was so delicious, moist and light.  Everybody loved it!  You don't have to be on any specific diet to enjoy it.

I had tried it before the big day just to make sure it would make a nice birthday cake, and used half the ingredients below to make only one cake, no filling and no frosting. It worked out perfectly. I served the cake topped with leftover cooked strawberries in light syrup. My husband and I loved it!
To make it a birthday cake, I simply made two layers, added lemon curd and some delicious coconut whipped cream topped with fresh berries. I have to admit I cheated a little bit to have a nice white cake: instead of using coconut sugar for the whipped cream, I used organic granulated sugar. But I made some whipped cream with coconut sugar on the side so she could scrape the white one and add the brown one.

Of course, this cake is also gluten free, grain free and dairy free!

Ingredients
Cake :
1 cup coconut flour
1/2  teaspoon baking soda, 1/2 teaspoon vinegar
6 egg yolks, 8 egg whites  (large)
2/3 cup maple syrup (or other sweetener of your choice)
1 Tablespoon lemon zest
½ cup ghee melted (or coconut oil)
1/2 cup coconut cream

Filling:

2 egg yolks

1/4 cup coconut sugar

1/3 cup lemon juice (I used 2 meyer lemons)
1/3 cup water
1 teaspoon lemon zest

2 teaspoons arrow root

1/2 cup strawberry compote (or any other fruit compote of your choice)
1/2 cup blueberry compote

Topping:
1 can 560ml (19oz) coconut cream (refrigerated for at least 24 hours)
3 Tablespoons coconut sugar
1/4 teaspoon vanilla
12 strawberries
1 cup blueberries

2 cake pans 8 inches diameter

Directions
Cake

1. Pre-heat the oven to 375 degF (190degC)
2. Line the bottom of the pans with parchemin paper and grease lightly.
3. Separate the egg whites and yolks. Keep 2 egg yolks aside for the filling cream
4. In a bowl, beat the 6 egg yolks until fluffy, add the liquid ingredients and the lemon zest
5. Sift coconut flour and baking soda and add to the liquid ingredients stirring with a spatula until well combined.
6. Beat the egg whites until very firm and fold in delicately in the flour mixture, a small quantity at a time.
7. Pour 1/2 the batter in each pan.
8. Bake the cakes for 25 minutes

Note: let the cakes cool a little bit before unmolding. They are very delicate and break easily, so be careful.

Filling

1. In a saucepan, whisk together the egg yolks and the sugar until the mixture turns almost white. 
2. Add the lemon juice, water, zest and arrow root
3. Bring gently to a boil over medium-low heat, stirring constantly until it thickens.
4. Remove from the heat.
5. Pour lemon filling into cooled crust.

Topping

1. Open the coconut can and scoop only the thickened part into a cold mixing bowl. Add the sugar and vanilla.
2. Whisk to obtain firm peaks.

Assembling the cake
Spread the first cake with the lemon cream using a spatula, cover with a layer of strawberry compote, a layer of blueberry compote, cover with the second layer. Evenly cover the whole cake with the coconut whipped cream using a spatula. Decorate with  fresh strawberries and blueberries.

Ciabatta

 

I love this bread. It goes well with everything. I particularly love it freshly baked dipped in olive oil and balsamic vinegar or dipped in soups. I will ask for nothing else. This is my first Ciabatta trial and I can say it’s a success. The recipe makes wonderful bread with a crisp, thin crust and a soft, delicious crumb with just the right size of holes. Next time I will use a starter dough to give it that typical sourness flavor. The dough is sticky and wet, so i twas a bit challenging to transfer it from the working surface to the baking sheet. You may want to half it to make your life easier.

Ingredients
4 cup all purpose flour
1.5 tsp salt
1 Tbsp active dry yeast
1 Tbsp maple syrup (you may use honey)
1.5 cup luke warm water
4 Tbsp Olive oil

Directions

1. In a stand mixer (or bowl), combine the flour, and salt .
2. Add the yeast, syrup, oil, water and mix on low speed for 3-4 minutes until combined and the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl.
3. Cover and let it rest 15 minutes.
4. Knead dough on medium speed for 5 minutes (if you are not using a stand mixer, do it on a floured surface for 10 minutes)
5. Place it in a lightly oiled bowl. Cover and let rise in a warm place for 1-1.5 hour until doubled or until your finger leaves an impression when you poke the bread gently.
6. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
7. Transfer the dough into lightly floured surface and press it gently to form a rectangle around 12 x 8 inches or a flattened loaf.
8. Transfer to the bake sheet, dust with flour, cover and let it rise for 1 hour.
9. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F (230 DegC).
10. Bake 10 minutes on the middle rack of the oven then turn down the temperature down to 400 degrees F (200 DegC) and allow to bake another 30 minutes, or until the crust is golden and the bottom of the loaf sounds hollow when tapped. Cool on a wire rack.

Notes
Every oven is different and convection-ovens are even more different. The baking time provided here is for my conventional oven (not convection), which maybe longer or shorter than it would take in yours, so you will have to watch.

Gâteau Saint-Honoré

This is a challenging pastry and I hesitated a lot before diving into it. Challenging not because it’s very complicated but because it is composed of multiple smaller pastry challenges. It consists of a base of pâte feuilletée (puff pastry) topped with a ring of choux a la creme (cream puffs) that are dipped in a caramel coating prior to being placed on the base. The caramel is also used at the bottom of the puffs to glue them to the base. The center of the ring is then filled with crème pâtissière (pastry cream) lightened with beaten egg whites or whipped cream (I chose the whipped cream version).

It all started when I was deciding on a cake to make for my daughter’s birthday. I pre-selected 4 sophisticated cakes and I asked my husband which one he thought I should make. He looked at all of them and said « I am so ashamed, how can you make a simple cake when she made you an exquisite Black Forest and a Mille Feuilles using home made puff pastry! »

So I needed a bigger challenge, not that I wanted to compete with my daughter, but I suspect my husband had a secret agenda behind his comment (I mean, who else would benefit from a baking challenge between me and my daughter!)… So why is this cake challenging? It’s made of multiple elements each requiring a certain level of mastering in its own way :1) puff pastry for the cake base, 2) choux pastry, 3) pastry cream, 4) caramel, 5) wipped cream.

Above all, it requires a lot of time and, therefore, a flawless plan. I think I spent more time than I should have during the assembly and decoration. I am planning to make it again soon to improve on the steps that I haven’t done well. By the way, I bought a frozen pastry one day before and kept it in the fridge to slowly thaw. 

So here is how I planned and made this recipe:

In the morning: 2 hours

1. Make the choux pastry 
2. Bake the puff pastry and the choux 
3. Make the pastry cream 
4. Let everything cool

In the afternoon : 2 hours

1. Make the whipped cream 
2. Fill the choux 
3. Make the caramel 
4. Assemble and decorate

Ingredients

1 sheet frozen puff pastry (1/2 Lb), thawed
1 whole egg mixed with 1 teaspoon water (for the egg wash)

Choux pastry

1 cup water

1 cup sifted flour

½ cup unsalted butter cut into pieces

1 tablespoon sugar

1 pinch of salt

4 eggs

Crème pâtissière (pastry cream)

2 cups whole milk

¼ cup sugar

4 egg yolks

2 tablespoons flour

2 tablespoons cornstarch

1 vanilla pod

2 tablespoons rum

1 teaspoon instant coffee powder dissolved in 1 tablespoon water

Crème Chantilly (Chantilly cream)

1 cup heavy cream

2 tablespoon sugar

½ teaspoon vanilla extract

  

Caramel 

1 cup sugar

1/3 cup water

1 teaspoon lemon juice

Tools :

A piping bag, stand mixer or hand mixer.

Directions

Making and baking the Cake base and Choux pastry

1. Puff Pastry base- Roll out the puff pastry to a ¼ in thick and cut a 9-10 in diameter circle using a pan or tart pan bottom. Prick the dough with a fork. Place on a parchment lined baking sheet, cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour. This will prevent the dough from shrinking too much during cooking.
2. Choux pastry- bring to a boil the milk, water, salt and butter in a saucepan.
3. Remove from heat and add 1 cup flour. Stir vigorously until a thin film forms on bottom and the dough leaves the sides of pan, about 2-3 minutes. It should form a ball.
4. Transfer to a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment and turn it on to cool down the dough. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing well before each addition. The pastry should be smooth, shiny and firm, so before adding the last egg check it out, you may need to add only ½ egg. Note: this step can be done by hand. Just transfer the dough from the saucepan to a clean cold bowl and follow the same instructions.
5. Preheat the oven to 350F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper
6. Remove the puff pastry from the fridge.
7. Scoop the choux pastry into a piping bag fitted with a plain nozzle 1/2" tip or a plastic bag with 1/2" cut diagonally from 1 corner. I used Ziploc bags, it worked well for me and I didn’t have any cleaning to do.
8. Pipe a string of choux pastry on the edge of the puff pastry circle, about 1/8 in from the edge (the choux ring will puff and expand).
9. With remaining choux pastry, pipe 1 1/2" diameter buns onto the parchment-lined sheet.
10. Lightly brush the pastry base and each choux bun with egg wash and bake in the middle shelf until puffy and golden for about 30-35 minutes. Turn the oven off and let them dry in the oven for another 10 minutes. Leave to cool.

Making the crème pâtissière (pastry cream)

1. Bring to a boil the milk and the vanilla pod cut lengthwise. I did it in the microwave but you can do it on the stove in a saucepan.
2. In a bowl whisk the egg yolks and the sugar until pale yellow and fluffy. Add the flour and cornstarch and stir until well blended.
3. Gradually pour in the hot milk. Return to the saucepan over medium heat and cook, whisking constantly until thick, about 2-3 minutes. Do not let the cream stick to the bottom of the saucepan. Remove from heat. Add the rum and whisk.
4. Stir in the coffee mixture in one bowl.
5. Cover both bowl with plastic wrap and press against the surface to prevent a skin from forming. Transfer to the fridge to chill.

Filling the choux buns

1. Freeze the heavy cream 15 minutes.
2. Cut a small hole at the bottom of the choux buns with a small knife. Set aside.
3. Make Chantilly cream : whisk the cream with sugar and vanilla in an electric mixer to stiff peaks.
4. Fold in 1/4 of the Chantilly cream to the coffee pastry cream and 1/4 to the vanilla and rum pastry cream. Refrigerate the remaining cream.
5. Scoop the vanilla and rum cream in to a piping bag with a small diameter nozzle and fill half the choux buns and place on the baking sheet line with parchment paper. Fill the remaining choux buns with the coffee cream.
6. Make the caramel: Heat the water and sugar in a heavy-based pan until slightly golden (the temperature reaches 340°F). Dip base of pan into iced water for a couple of seconds to stop caramel from cooking.
7. Quickly and carefully, dip top of each choux into the caramel, and place coated side down on the parchement paper to flatten the surface. Note: if the caramel starts to set, place the pan over a bain-marie (hot water bath) to soften it.
8. Use remaining caramel to make decoration (heat it a little to soften if you need to)- put a pan line with parchment paper next to the caramel saucepan. Scoop up some caramel with a spoon or fork and drizzle on the pan in whatever shape you like and can do. I tried to make spirals, but ended up having lots of puddles glued to each others.

Assembling the cake

1. Dip the base of one bun into the hot caramel and place it on the choux paste ring. The caramel is used as glue.
2. Repeat the step above alternating between vanilla and rum cream choux and coffee choux.
3. Fill the centre of the cake with the remaining pastry cream.
4. Add more choux buns in the middle of the cake.
5. Pipe whipped cream rosettes between choux buns, and decorate with strawberries (or any colorful fruits) and the caramel decorations.

Quick and Easy Almond Cookies

These lemon flavoured cookies are to die for. Quick, easy and sooo delicious! And did I forget to say they're gluten-free and dairy-free? 

My mother used to be well known for her exquisite baking. In her time there were very few caterers, so family and friends would ask her to bake for them for various occasions,  particularly for weddings. She would always do it gladly and for free of course. I am talking about making hundreds of pieces, which would take hours to make, something I will never be able to do!
I combined 2 of her recipes to create this simple and quick one. It took me literally 1/2 hour to come up with 24 pieces.

They are just perfect for that late night cookie craving!

Makes 22-24 cookies.

Ingredients
2 cups almond meal
1 1/2 cups icing sugar
2 egg whites
Zest of 1 lemon

Decoration
1/3 cup icing sugar
1/2 cup almond slivers

Tools: food processor or hand mixer

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350F.
2. Mix the almond meal, sugar, egg whites and lemon zest in a food processor or using a hand mixer. The dough should be sticky.
3. Using 2 teaspoons, form small balls.
4. Roll them in the almond slivers then in the icing sugar.
5. Place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
6. Bake around 15 minutes until slightly golden on the edges.
7. Try not to eat all of them at once!

Swiss Chard Bourek

This is the North-African version of spanakopita with swiss chard, in which I substituted Emmental cheese with feta cheese. I find it is creamier and goes best with the earthy flavour of the swiss chard.
I already posted a bourek (meat filled) recipe with filo pastry and meat filling.

For 20 boureks
Ingredients
1 bunch swiss chard (stems removed) washed, chopped and blanched
4 tablespoons olive oil
4 tablespoons butter
1 small onion chopped
3-4 garlic cloves crushed (or less to taste)
3 eggs
Salt, pepper
Pinch nutmeg
1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley (optional)
1.5 cup feta, crumbled
10 (17- by 12-inch) phyllo pastry sheets, thawed if frozen.
Lemon wedges for serving

Directions

The filling

1. Sauté the onion with 2 Tbs olive oil in a saucepan over medium heat until translucent, around 10 minutes.
2. Add the crushed garlic , salt and spices and saute for another minute. Be careful not to let the garlic burn.
3. Add the 2 Tbs olive oil. Squeeze the swiss chard from excess of water and chop. Add to the pan. Season with the nutmeg, salt and pepper and continue cooking around 10 minutes until all the liquid is absorbed, stirring from time to time.
4. Combine the eggs,  parsley and cheese and add to the pan.  Mix and cook until just set.
5. Remove from heat and let cool. This step is very important.

Assembling

1. Preheat oven to 375°F.
2. Melt the butter in a small bowl in the microwave.
3. Before you start : the Phyllo sheets need to be kept covered at all times with a damp towel. Have it ready for use. 
4. Take 10 phyllo pastry sheets from the pack and arrange in front of you with a long side nearest you. Cut the sheets in two, crosswise. We we will use ½ phyllo sheet per bourek/triangle. Cover with a damp kitchen towel. 
5. Take one piece and brush it lightly with the melted butter. Put a tablespoon of filling in the center, about 1-inch from the edge of the sheet near you; wrap the filling by folding the two phyllo edges over. You obtain a rectangle. Brush with butter. Fold one corner diagonally over  to form a triangle; continue folding to the left then to the right, like a flag, keeping the triangle shape. Moisten the edge to seal it.
6. Brush the top with butter and set on a baking sheet, seam side down. Repeat step 5 with the remaining filling.
7. Bake triangles in middle of oven until golden brown, 20 to 25 minutes.
8. Serve hot with lemon wedges.

 

Note:You can make the filling ahead of time and keep it in the fridge.

Vegetarian Stuffed Red Peppers

These peppers are stuffed with rice, grated potatoes and cheese, and topped with a seasoned tomato sauce.

This is my mother's recipe, which is my husband's favorite since he loves potatoes and doesn't like meat too much. Usually I make it in the oven, mostly in summer time, but I wanted to try my new slowcooker (this is my third recipe using it). I prepared them in the morning and let them cook for 6.5 hours. It was torture all day: the aroma of the potatoes and cheese and tomato filled the whole house. It was very difficult to wait until they were done.

I had only 4 peppers in my fridge so I added 2 potatoes. The ingredients are simple: you can use both rice and potatoes or just one or the other.

I like to char the peppers to give them that smoky flavour, but you can skip this step, if you wish.

Ingredients
4 large red peppers (tops and seeds removed)
2 tablespoons + 2 teaspoons butter
Olive oil to drizzle

Stuffing:
2 medium grated potatoes
1 ½ cup cooked rice
1 egg
2 garlic cloves
Salt & pepper
2 cups tomato sauce
1 tablespoon chopped parsley if available
1 cup grated cheese (emmenthal or Jarlsberg)

Directions

1. Char the peppers on the BBQ or in the oven broiler just enough to give them a smoky flavour, turning them once or twice during roasting. The whole process should take no more than 10 minutes. The longer they roast the softer they get: you do not want that to happen. The peppers should stay firm. Set aside
   
2. In a big bowl, mix 1 tbsp of butter with the rice still warm. Add the grated potatoes, crushed garlic cloves, egg, parsley and cheese. Add salt and pepper to taste. Blend well.
3. Generously butter the bottom and side of the slow cooker.
4. Divide the filling among the peppers
5. Place the peppers in the slow cooker. Add a round 1/2 tsp butter on top of each pepper.
6. Pour tomato sauce around the peppers. Drizzle a little bit of olive oil.
7. Cover and cook on low for 6.5 hours.

See how beautiful it is when it's cooking!




Bon Appetit!