French countryside – Page 19 – Myfrenchkitchen

Posted on 15/12/201315/12/2013 by Myfrenchkitchen

Joyeux Noël 2013!

This year we have only but un petit Noël. We are in the process of moving home and want to be finished by end of December. Typical. Waiting until the last minute to get a lot of things done. And so Noël will have to stand over to next year when I will make up for it in our new home here at Coin Perdu(hopefully restored and liveable by that time..)

To have at least some Christmas spirit in our current barn/home, I put up a branch with some decorations which weren’t packed away too deep. The result is a very rustic tree…and what do you know..without planning it, it turned into a story tree! I am now very chuffed with our impromptu story tree!

“One day…in a forest far, far in the cold North, was a large forest where the animals roamed gay and free. It was a magical world, undisturbed and quiet, with soft snowflakes sifting gently to the ground and covering the landscape in a coat of white glitter. There were three quaint little houses with strawberry red walls. Birds were visiting freely, dropping letters through the windows of the three strawberry houses, where Pére Noël and his elves would sort and read them; while laughing, singing and dancing and working. Then one silent night , the reindeer broke through the darkness with bells and glitter and song, a hearty laugh echoed through the forest as Pére Noël waved his hand to his family, on his way through a sky of shooting stars to deliver happiness and joy to an outside world.”

..the forest was filled with birds and ice and mosss and lichens..

…and the elves worked while they danced and sung merry songs..

..the reindeer were ready, waiting…

Three quaint houses with strawberry red walls..

..and the skies were bright with shooting stars..

May you all, on that dark night when the stars will be extra bright and you hear a hearty laugh, receive countless gifts of happiness and joy!!

Joyeux Noël

Ronelle

Posted on 13/11/201313/11/2013 by Myfrenchkitchen

Paris coffee-sandcookies( petits sablés de Paris au café)

Since childhood I have loved my mother’s coffee cookies. We always baked them for Christmas. These little sablés are good too and much less work than the real old coffee cookie Maman used to make. And..they come with a Parisian flavour! What could be better? Come Noël, we will revert back to Maman’s old fashioned Christmas coffee cookie.

La recette:

Pincée de fleur de sel:

Keep some sablés single, without being sandwiched together. They will be crispier and perfect for dipping into some coffee or tea.
Replace the ground almonds with plain flour if you so prefer.
Instead of the TBSP of strong coffee, add a TBSP of instant coffee powder if you have it available.
Replace the coffee in the icing sugar with some milk and flavour with vanilla essence for a contrast in flavours, or add cacao to taste for a mocca cookie.
The icing sugar can be added to a cookie simply with a knife but a piping bag makes for a neat filling.

The dough on the pastry mat. Be sure to always work with flour under your pastry to prevent sticking.

Using a piping bag makes for neat cookies, but still with a home made feel..and of course taste!

Une Parisienne

My Parisian umbrella always goes with me to Paris. A little bit of a cliché it is, but I love it. It depicts a typical Parisian street scene in winter(of course). a year or so back, I had my beautiful friend pose for me with the umbrella. She is the epitome of Parisian elegance, even though she doesn’t live there anymore.

So, with these petits sablés and une ravissante Parisienne, peeking from behind her umbrella, I hope I could give you just a little taste of Paris for today.

..à la prochaine fois..

Ronelle