Must Have 10 Plants to Repel Mosquitoes Naturally

Moroccan Mint Tea

Moroccan Mint Tea is made by steeping green tea with spearmint leaves. In Morocco, this tea is served more than once a day. Most tea is served very sweet, so depending upon one's taste will determine how much sugar you will want to add. Moroccan Mint Tea is made and served in a special Moroccan teapot (shown below).


Ingredients:
1 tablespoon Green Tea leaves
1 large handful fresh spearmint leaves, washed
1/2 liter (about 2 cups) boiling water
1/4 cup sugar

Boil at least a liter of water. Rinse a small tea pot with about 1/4 cup of the water.
Add the tea leaves and another 1/4 cup boiling water. Swirl the pot to wash and rinse the leaves, and pour out the water. Add the mint leaves and the sugar, and fill the pot with 1/2 liter (about 2 cups) boiling water. Leave the tea to steep for five minutes or longer, or set the tea pot over medium-low heat and bring the tea to a simmer. Remove from the heat, and allow to steep several minutes more. Gently stir the tea, pour into small tea glasses and serve.

Kab El Ghazal (Horn of the Gazelle)

This is my favorite cookie from Morocco! My husbands parents brought numerous amounts of cookies over from Morocco on their visits to us. This was my first time making this cookie and I was really unsure how it would turn out. It took a couple times to actually get the shape of the cookie down. My husband said it tasted good, not to mention he almost ate the entire plate which says something about it!


Dough Ingredients:
4 cups flour
1 cup water
5 Tbsp butter (also equals 1/3 cup)
pinch of salt
1 egg
2 Tbsp blossom water (You cannot find this at a regular grocery store. Check online or around town for a middle eastern store that sells specialty foods and ingredients.)

Filling Ingredients:
2 1/2 cups blanched almonds (if not blanched boil regular raw almonds for 45 seconds)
3/4 cups sugar
1/4 tsp of cinnamon
3 Tbsp butter
2 Tbsp blossom water (also known as orange blossom water)

Dough:
Melt butter. Making the dough by hand requires you to knead the dough for about 20-30 minutes. Otherwise you can use a food processor. Add the flour to the food processor, then add the salt, then add butter, egg. Cover and turn on the food processor for a couple of seconds. Then add water through the top and turn on again for about 10 seconds. Open and add the blossom water. Turn on food processor for several minutes. Make sure dough is properly mixed. You may have to hold the food processor down. The final product should be a smooth elastic dough.
Filling:
Roast the almonds in a pan to enhance the flavor for a few minutes. Again in a food processor add your almonds, sugar, cinnamon, butter, and blossom water. Mix until the filling is paste like with no chunks.

Now its time to roll the Kab El Ghazal. Roll out the dough very thinly. Take a small handful of filling and place it on the dough. Cover the filling with the dough and shape the cookie into a crescent shape. Use a cookie cutter to cut the cookie out of the rest of the dough. Then reroll the dough thinly and continue until all the filling is used.
Use aluminum foil or parchment paper on a baking sheet. If you don't have either you can use nonstick cooking spray directly on the baking sheet. Place the Kab El Ghazal on the baking sheet. Use a fork to poke holes in the sides of the dough to allow heat to escape when baking. Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Cook for 15-20 minute. Serve.

Chocolate Eclairs

I love chocolate eclairs, not just because they are so delicious but because they are also one of the great pastries from France (I love France, can't wait to go there someday!).

Ingredients:
2 (3.4 oz) packages instant vanilla pudding mix
1 cup confectioners' sugar
3 cups milk
1 (8 oz) container frozen whipped topping, thawed
1 (16 oz) package Graham crackers
1 (16 oz) container chocolate frosting
1. In a large bowl, combine pudding mix and confectioners' sugar.
Whisk in milk until mixture is smooth, then gradually fold in whipped
topping.
2. Places layer of Graham crackers in the bottom of a 9x13 inch pan.
Spread 1/3 of pudding mixture over crackers. Cover pudding with
another layer of Graham crackers. Continue layering until pudding is
gone. Cover last pudding layer with another layer of Graham crackers.
3. Remove lid and seal from frosting and microwave at 20 second
intervals, stirring in between, until frosting is pourable ( about 1
minute). Spread frosting evenly over top layer of Graham crackers.
Refrigerate 24 hours before serving.

Apple Crumb Pie

Ingredients:
Crust: 1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
6 Tbsp chilled butter, cut in small pieces
5 Tbsp chilled solid vegetable shortening, cut into small pieces
2 Tbsp ice water
Filling: 3 3/4lb. granny smith apples (10 medium) peeled, cored,
thickly sliced
1 Tbspfresh lemon juice
2 1/2 Tbsp butter
1/3 cup sugar
1tsp ground cinnamon
2 Tbsp apple cider
1 Tbsp cornstarch
1/4 cup apple sauce
Topping: 3/4 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup (packed) brown sugar
3/4 cup chopped walnuts
6 Tbsp (3/4 sticks) butter, cut into small pieces
1/4 tsp salt

For Crust: Mix flour and salt indoor processor. Add butter and
shortening; until mixture resembles coarse meal. Drizzle 2 Tbsp ice
water over. Process until moist clumps form, adding additional tsp of
ice water when dry. Gather dough into one ball. Flatten into a disk.
Wrap in wax paper or plastic wrap. Chill 1 hour.
Roll out dough between 2 sheets of plastic wrap to 14 inch round.
Transfer dough to 10 inch glass pie dish. Fold overhang under. Crimp
edges decoratively. Pierce bottom of crust all over with fork. Freeze
crust 15 minutes.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line crust with aluminum foil. Fill with
pie weights. Bake 15 minutes and remove weights and foil. Bake until
golden brown (about 10 minutes), set and cool.
For Filling: Toss apples and lemon juice in medium bowl. Melt butter
in large skillet over medium/high heat. Stir in sugar and cinnamon.
Add apples, sauté until coated with cinnamon butter and crisp-tender
about 5 minutes. Whisk cider and cornstarch in small bowl. Add to
apples. Bring to boil, stirring constantly. Transfer apple mixture to
a large bowl. Mix in applesauce and cool completely.
For Topping: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Using finger tips to rub all
ingredients in bowl until moist clumps form. Place filling in crust.
Sprinkle topping over apples. Bake until topping is golden brown about
40 minutes.
Serves 8

Corn Blueberry Muffins

Ingredients:
1 cup cornmeal
3/4 cup flour
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup toasted wheat germ
1 1/4 tsp baking powder
3/4 cup evaporated milk
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup plain nonfat yogurt
1 egg
1 egg white
1 cup fresh blueberries
Preheat oven 400 degrees. Grease or paper line 12 muffin cups.
Combine cornmeal, flour, sugar, wheat germ, and baking powder in bowl.
Combine evaporated milk, vegetable oil, yogurt, egg and egg white in
bowl; stirring until moistened. Gently fold in blueberries. Spoon
batter into prepared muffin cups, filling 3/4 full.
Bake for 18-20 minutes. Cool in pan for 5 minutes; remove to wire rack
to cool slightly.
Serves: 12

Yule Log

I first learned about the Yule Log cake in my French class in high school around Christmas time. Its traditional for the French to make this cake. People decorate the cake to look like a real log. It is a hard cake to make but delicious to eat!

Ingredients:
3/4 cup flour
2/3 cup sugar
2 Tbsp of cognac or grand marnier
5 eggs
Ingredients for Chocolate Creme:
1/2 cup of sugar
4 eggs
2 oz of melted bitter sweet chocolate
4 oz melted butter
6 oz jam
Heat oven to 450 degrees. To make cake, mix 5 egg yolks with sugar
until the volume doubles and the preparation becomes almost white
(about 10 minutes).
Sift flour and add he egg mixture. Beat until smooth and add 1 Tbsp of
cognac or grand marnier. In a separate bowl, beat egg whites until
stiff but not dry. Carefully fold beaten egg whites into the mixture.
Prepare a large jelly roll pan by lining it with well greased aluminum
foil. Pour the mixture into the pan and bake for 10 minutes at 450
degrees.
When baked, immediately invert cake onto a humid towel that you lay on
your table and remove the foil. Let cool 20 minutes. Moisten the cake
with a mixture of one Tbsp of cognac and 3 Tbsp of water. To prepare
the creme, mix 4 egg yolks with sugar for 10 minutes. Add melted
butter and chocolate. Stir until smooth. Spread cake with marmalade
and roll it up slowly. Ice cake with chocolate creme. Refrigerate 6
hours before serving.
Serves 8