Author: Asli

Chocolate Éclair

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I continue my journey of baking by one pastry that looks really cute, again from French cuisine. I actually never ever liked to eat that pastry myself. It is also very common in Turkey, you can find it in many patisseries all around Istanbul and in other cities. Even the name is taken directly from French, in Turkish patisseries you can find the name written in Turkish form, but is just actually the French name itself.

Metaz (Dumplings from Circassian cuisine)

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The cultural and ethnic diversity in Turkey finds a reflection in my own family as well. My father, for instance, comes from an Ubykh family, related to Circassians. I’ve never known my grandparents who were both Ubykh and who unfortunately passed away before I was born, but my father always tells me how much I look like his mother. I am as white (rather pale), calm and quiet apparently.

Baba au Rhum (Rum Baba) with Raspberries

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Exactly 10 years ago, I was living in Paris. I was an exchange design student who could barely afford her monthly living expenses, but I was happy. Because there were bakeries and patisseries in every corner of the city, thousands of them, and they were so attractive with their colourful and ever delicious cakes, cookies, pastries, quiches…

Strawberry Shortcake

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I don’t normally like creamy cakes. Ever since my childhood, my brother, for instance, loved all those creamy cakes that my parents bought from the patisseries in Istanbul, whereas I thought they were heavy and artificial in taste.

Spanish Flan

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Before making this flan, I had never ever used condensed and/or evaporated milk in any recipe. I did not even really know what they were all about. It was also yet another challenge to find what they mean in Finnish and where I can find them in Helsinki. Luckily, my friend Minni used condensed milk a few weeks earlier for the first when she was baking something so she showed me where I could find it (in K-market Kamppi, in the section where there are all sorts of Russian food). And for evaporated milk, I just cried for help on Facebook and interesting enough, a Turkish friend living in Espoo helped me out. So in case you do not know, you can find it in the little shop called Behnford’s on Keskuskatu 6 (next to Tetuan clothes shop in City Center. You can also find condensed milk in this shop but it is cheaper in K-market.

Mosaic Cake

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Here is a recipe that will give you a nice sugar rush and which you can prepare in just a few minutes! And the amount of ingredients that I give here makes a good portion of cake so you can eat it actually for many days!

Puff Pastry with Salmon and Mushrooms

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As I was just learning how to properly and simply cook the Nordic fish in the oven, I decided to step up a bit further and try something bravely: what would happen if I put some salmon inside some pastry together with… mushrooms maybe? And which type of dough? which which hmm.. puff dough for sure.. Ok, I could do that.. And I could even find a friend that would be willing to taste it with me. So, I got into the business and I became intimate with salmon this time, with a very much hands-in experience!