Crustless Spinach and Cheese Pie

Crustless Spinach and Cheese Pie is a forty minute, perfect for breakfast, lunch or dinner kind of healthy option for the days when you don’t know what to make.

I love pies but they take a considerable amount of time to prep. Even the ones you layer as uncomplicated as they are, still require a certain amount of care. So, when a pie with a soft, chewy consistency and not too much expert work involved came along, I jumped on the recipe so I could share it with you.
The closest I can describe it to is quiche. Smooth, soft, tender, tasty. You think you’ll eat the entire pan, and not even a quarter way in you find yourself completely satisfied.
But before we get into the pie itself, let me boast about this superfood called spinach. Not only is spinach a source of several vitamins and minerals (including great amounts of iron), but the fiber in spinach regulates blood sugar levels and helps eliminate toxins. I can’t say enough about it, but I do urge you to read this background article on spinach to see exactly which benefits you’re getting from consuming it.



Going back to the recipe, to make this crustless spinach and egg pie, you’ll mix some eggs with cheese and sour cream, add stripes of spinach that you previously cut (and this is the only “expert” thing required, to really chop down that spinach to the thinnest stripes you can), mix and bake. And that’s it!

The pie is great for breakfast, lunch or dinner. You can pair it with eggs, or chicken. A versatile option for those days when you just want to throw something together and have it magically come out well.
If you liked this recipe, you may also like sauteed spinach or spinach phyllo pie!

No Crust Spinach and Cheese Pie

• Prep Time: 10 mins
• Cook Time: 30 mins
• Total Time: 40 mins
• Yield: 4 1x
• Category: Main Course, Pies & Quiches, Vegetarian

Description

The pie is great for breakfast, lunch or dinner. You can pair it with eggs, or chicken. A versatile option for those days when you just want to throw something together and have it magically come out well.

Ingredients

• 2 –3 eggs
• 4 ounces milk
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• Salt to taste
• 8 ounces cottage cheese
• 5–6 ounces sour cream
• 1/2 cup white flour
• 10–12 ounces spinach
• Oil

Instructions

1. Beat eggs in a larger bowl. Add milk, salt and baking soda and continue whisking. Add cheese and sour cream, and flour, and stir until well integrated.
2. Heat oven to 390F. Wash spinach and cut into very thin strips. Add to the mixture and mix thoroughly.
3. Oil a pan (the one used here was 9 inches in diameter) lightly. Transfer the mixture into the pan, distributing it evenly. Place in oven and bake for a total of 30 minutes, turning it halfway.
4. Serve warm.

Notes

If you prefer a thinner, crispier pie, use a larger baking pan and add a few minutes to the baking time.

Chocolate Nutella Strudel

Chocolate Nutella strudel: chocolate infused flour caressed into dough, let to rise, smeared with huge chunks of Nutella, toped with egg yolk glaze, then baked. Tastes like heaven!

Nutella has become a beloved spread across the world. In the Balkans, Nutella and other chocolate spreads – strudels too – have for several decades been a staple in the home of smart homemakers who knew it was just the right combo to calm kids down.
Since bread, dough, batter and chocolate go so well together, Aleksandra thought about combining it for a special finish. What she came up with is a strudel in looks like any other, but with a heavy accent on chocolate in texture and taste. Photographs do not do justice to the final product.
Below is a reminiscing of a friend I often think of when I think of chocolate spreads. Gone too early.

Chocolate Nutella Strudel

• Prep Time: 40 mins
• Cook Time: 40 mins
• Total Time: 1 hour 20 mins
• Yield: 6 1x
• Category: Pastry

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon instant yeast (or baker’s yeast)
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1.3 cups milk
• 3 tablespoons butter
• 4 tablespoons warm water
• 3.5 cups flour
• 2 ounces dark chocolate (or baking chocolate, grated)
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1 egg yolk
• 8–9 ounces Nutella

Instructions

1. Combine yeast with sugar and warm water and leave fifteen minutes until it bubbles up.
2. In a small pan, heat up milk and butter until they combine, and then turn off and leave to cool down to lukewarm.
3. In a larger bowl, combine flour, chocolate, salt, and sugar. Add milk and butter and knead into a ball of dough as if you are making bread. Leave aside for hour to an hour and a half to rise.
4. Flour a working surface and transfer the dough onto it. Divide in two and work (knead) each ball a little more. With a rolling pin, roll one ball into a rectangle, the thickness of a small finger. Take 4 ounces of Nutella and spread over the dough equally. Roll the dough in until you have a loaf.
5. Repeat with the other dough ball and transfer into a baking pan.
6. Mix the egg yolk and paint the top of each strudel. Leave aside for 30-45 minutes until it rises again.
7. Heat oven to 390°F. Transfer the pan to the oven and bake for 10 minutes. Turn the pan, and cover with foil. Lower to 350°F, and bake 25 minutes. Turn the oven off and leave in another 5 minutes.
8. Cool for 15-20 minutes before eating.

Notes

Please note that the preparation time does not include the time for the dough to rise.

Nutella Rolls

Say HELLO to your new favorite pastry: Nutella rolls! Warm, soft and comforting on the outside, smooth and chocolaty on the inside. This is what dreams are made of. 

Nutella has taken the world by storm in the past few years. Nowadays, everywhere you look there is a recipe for Nutella this or that.
I’ll tell you a secret though… The idea behind Nutella isn’t new. As kids living in Europe, we’ve been eating our bread with chocolate for ages. In addition, seeing how crazy we were about the chocolate topping, our moms started coming up with different ways they could incorporate it into dishes.
One of these recipes are “buhtle sa eurokremom,” or Nutella rolls for short.
If you’ve made any type of rolls before, Nutella rolls won’t be new for you either. And if you haven’t, not to worry. As always I break it down below so you can follow the photos and make the exact same rolls. And the dough making process is the same for all dough-y things whether you’re making bread, or other types of pastries.
Nutella rolls are versatile.  They can comprise a (very sweet) small meal, or be a pastry to go along with your coffee. They’re best warm, right out of the oven, when you break one open and on one end is the hot air rushing out, and on the other side a very smooth chocolate is running down the bread.

Nutella Rolls (Buhtle Sa Eurokremom)

• Prep Time: 90 mins
• Cook Time: 30 mins
• Total Time: 2 hours
• Yield: 10 1x
• Category: Pastry

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon baker’s yeast
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 2.5 cups white flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 eggs plus 1 yolk
• 9 ounces warm milk
• 10 ounces Nutella or chocolate spread
• 4 ounces butter
• Oil
• (Optional) 1 tablespoon powdered sugar

Instructions

1. Combine yeast and sugar with a little bit of warm water and set aside for 10 minutes.
2. In a bowl combine flour, salt, 2 eggs, yeast mix, and milk. Work the ingredients with your hand (about 7-10 minutes) until you get a smooth and elastic ball of dough. Dab with oil and set aside for 45-60 minutes or until it doubles.
3. Sprinkle your working area with flour and take the dough ball out. Work it with your hands (about 5 minutes), and start spreading it out with a rolling pin. When the dough is about the thickness of your forefinger, cut into 4-5 inch squares. (An easy way to do this is to cut stripes in one direction first, and then cut across.) Put one tablespoon of Nutella in the middle of each dough square. Take one end of the square and “cover” Nutella with it. Then take the end and place on top of the first. This way you will get a little roll with Nutella on the inside. Repeat until you make rolls out of all squares.
4. Oil a 9×13 inch (or similar) baking pan and place rolls inside making sure the “connected” side of each roll is on the bottom so it doesn’t open during baking. Mix the egg yolk until it’s smooth then paint each roll with it. Leave rolls aside for 30 minutes.
5. Heat oven to 390F. Put one teaspoon of butter on each roll. Bake for 20-25 minutes, turning around the pan about halfway through. (Optional) Sprinkle with powdered sugar.

Notes

You’ll get about 18-20 rolls this way, and serving size is about 2 per person.