Gerbeaud (Zserbó)

Gerbeaud Slice is a signature pastry from the famous Gerbeaud Cafe in Budapest. I've been looking for a recipe for it online, but none of them was quite right. Finally I found a cookbook titled Koffeehaus - by Rick Rodgers - that solved my problem.

Ingredients

DOUGH
1 oz cake yeast or 3/4 tsp (ca 1 3/4 envelopes) active dry yeast
1/2 cup warm milk
3 egg yolks
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 1/2 cups unbleached flour
1 cup sugar
pinch of salt
14 tbs (1 3/4 sticks or 7 oz) unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes, chilled

FILLING
1 cup ground walnuts
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup apricot preserves, warmed

CHOCOLATE ICING
3 1/2 oz bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
1/3 cup sugar
1/4 cup water
1 tbs unsalted butter

Crumble yeast into the milk, let stand for 3 minutes, then stir. Add egg yolks and vanilla and mix.
Mix flour sugar, salt, add butter and mix till its texture is like coarse cornmeal. This can be done with food processor, or old school, by hand. Add the yeast mixture and work it together, adding more milk if necessary. Move to lightly floured surface and knead for 2-3 minutes. Consistency should be like cookie dough. Wrap in plastic and put in fridge for an hour.

Mix the walnuts and sugar together, set aside.

Butter and flour a 13x9-inch baking pan. Divide the dough into 3 equal parts. Roll out the first portion and use it to line the pan with. Spread half of the apricot preserves on it and sprinkle half the walnut mix on top of that. Roll out the second part of the dough and repeat the steps. Top with the third portion of rolled-out dough. Cover with clean kitchen towel and let it stand at a warm place for one hour. The dough will not rise noticeably, so don't be alarmed.

Preheat oven to 350˚F. Pierce the top layer of dough well with fork. Bake till top is golden brown, 30-35 minutes. Cool for 15 minutes before turning it out. Run and knife along the edges to loosen it. Put a large board or rack over the pan and turn them together upside down. The cake should slip out smoothly. Remove pan and cool the cake completely.

Make the icing: bring chocolate, sugar, water to a boil over medium heat, stirring consistently, for 3-4 minutes. Remove from heat, add butter, and stir till it melts. Cool it till it thickens, but is still pourable. This happens pretty fast, so don't set it asided, just keep stirring till it's ready. Pour it over the top of the cake and smooth it with a spatula. Do not bother working the chocolate down the edges. Refrigerate till icing sets. Using sharp knife dipped in hot water trim the edges off and cut the cake to long rectangular slices.

Of course my cuts were all crooked and messy, not at all like they are in the cookbooks, but they taste just right.

Banana Bread

All Around the World Cookbook by Sheila Lukins is the only cookbook that I own and use that has no pretty color photographs. I have a bad habit of buying cookbooks just for the pictures and then never using them. My New Year's resolution is to try out more new recipes.

Banana bread is an old favorite, it's very easy to make and it goes great with jam or coffee.

Ingredients
2 sticks (8 oz) unsalted butter at room temprature
1 cup (packed) light brown sugar*
6 large eggs
2 cups of flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
pinch of salt
3 ripe bananas, smashed
1 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat over to 350˚F. Butter a 9x5" loaf pan and lightly coat it with flour.
Mix the butter and brown sugar till smooth. (*This bread is not very sweet. If you like yours sweeter, add more sugar.) Add eggs one by one, mixing completely after each. This part is easiest if done with electric mixer.
Combine flour, baking powder, nutmeg, salt in a bowl and add to butter mixture little by little. Need to switch back to a wooden spatula for this part.
Add bananas and vanilla, mix well.
Pour batter into the baking pan. Bake till skewer inserted in middle comes out clean, ca 1.5 hours.
Cool in the pan for about 10 minutes before turning it out.