Browsing Category: Dessert

Biscuiți Șprițați {Sprinkled Cookies}

Biscuiți Șprițați (pronounced bee-s-choo-eats sh-preet-z-atz), also referred to as omidă (pronounced oh-mee-dah), which stands for caterpillar because of its shape, are buttery cookies that are just perfect for your holiday festivities, and can be decorated to your liking, like with a snowy dusting of powdered sugar, or dipped in fudgy chocolate!

Traditionally these cookies rely on a meat grinder and special attachment to form their funky shape (similar to the churro attachment that can be purchased here), however, these can also be cut by hand. The shape won’t affect how these taste (which is delicious, by the way).

↓ Recipe below ↓

Continue Reading
Comment Kitchen

Napolitane cu Caramel și Nuci {Wafers with Caramel and Nuts}

Welcome to the second recipe in my Cousin’s Cookies Collection (if you’re new to From Dill to Dracula, check out recipe number one of four: Heather’s Cookies)!

These were never called Napolitane cu Caramel și Nuci (pronounced nah-pole-e-tahn-eh coo car-a-mel she noo-chee), or Wafers and Cocoa. Instead, these were lovingly called Ashley’s Cookies. Yes, I had my very own cookies. And, of course, they were my favorite of the three.

(Again, this is more cake-like than cookie-like, but who am I to question my grandmother?

I’m not. And I won’t.)

But these cookies… man! Because wafers are such a delicate (and thin) carrier, they quite literally melt into your mouth. There’s also a graininess to the filling that’s so nostalgic and comforting—it’s very different from popular fillings which tend to be smooth. Not this one. Smooth disappears. Being able to feel the filling gives it prominence. And deliciousness.

So much deliciousness.
(And, yes, I know that’s not a word you’re supposed to use when describing a recipe, but I can’t help it!)

If you’re just tagging along, don’t forget to visit the rest of my Cousin Cookie Collection:

Tortul de Ciocolată din România {Romanian Chocolate Layer Cake}

↓ Recipe below ↓

Continue Reading
2 Comments Series

Pasta de Cartofi cu Pâine și Zahăr {Romanian Potato Pasta with Bread and Sugar}

Bună băieți. De mult timp, nici un chat!

Hey guys. Long time, no chat!

I know it’s been a while since I’ve blogged. I could say life got in the way (it did), or I haven’t been cooking Romanian foods as often (I haven’t), but really I just didn’t prioritize blogging as much as I should have. I know my blogging schedule was lax to begin with (every/other Monday), but it became really lax, more like every/other half year.

So sorry. I hope to make From Dill to Dracula more of a priority in my life, because this food—and this country—really do fill me with happiness, joy, and warmth, and I still want to share these feelings and recipes with the world.

Guys… I’m back!

This past weekend, my little—but not so little—sister came to visit this past weekend. I like her more and more as we get older. Here we are out for drinks one evening:

Good people 🙂

And she brought with her the request to make this recipe during her visit. As kids, we affectionately called it Noodlies (pronounced: nude-lees), though I can tell you with great confidence that this is not the authentic name, no matter how fun it is to say. Noodlies. Noo-oo-d-lee-ee-ss.

C’mon, you know what I’m talking about.

Continue Reading

Comment Kitchen

Tortul de Ciocolată din România {Romanian Chocolate Layer Cake}

Hi friends! *waves* This summer has been crazy and, for the majority of it, I haven’t even been home, so From Dill to Dracula has taken a hit. That being said, I have a lot of fun blog posts coming your way, and I’d like to kick it off with a series: My Cousin’s Cookie Collection.

Growing up, us four cousins on my dad’s side each had a cookie recipe named after each other. This recipe was always  called Heather’s Cookies, so named after my eldest cousin. Of course, the downside to this is that  I don’t have an official name for these cookies—lost in years and with age. And even though I’ve tried scouring the internet (and Pinterest) to find the proper name, I’ve come up empty handed.

Because this recipe uses biscuits, the only recipes that tended to come up were similar to my Salam de Biscuiti recipe, but this one is still… different. The addition of coffee (the instant variety) and a layering of cream to biscuit make it more of a cake than a cookie (even though that’s how we referred to them as kids).

Since I couldn’t very well title the recipe Heather’s Cookies, the best descriptor for this recipe I could come up with was Romanian Chocolate Layer Cake, or tortul de ciocolată din România (pronounced tour-tulle day ch-oh-k-oh-lah-tah dean Rome-ah-knee-ah).

This recipe is one of many I received from my grandmother in Romanian, and have since had my mom translate for me. Trying to translate recipes myself hasn’t gone so well in the past. Case in point:

(Shameless plug: If you don’t follow me on Twitter, please do!)

But I digress. It’s time for some food, right?

My husband likened this to a chocolate lasagna mixed with the texture of a tiramisu, and he’s pretty accurate on both counts. The layers of biscuit and cream are a lot like a traditional Italian lasagna, and because the biscuits are so porous, they absorb some of the cream and become soft, cakey bites. Yum! Enough talking. It’s time for some food, right?

Since there are four cousins, this will be the first of four recipes in my Cousin’s Cookies Collection. They’ll be posted in the order of the cousin’s age, so stay tuned for my very own cookies (“Ashley’s Cookies“) next!

↓ Recipe below ↓

—But first, some pretty pictures—

Continue Reading

Comment Series

Salam de Biscuiti {No-Bake Chocolate Salami Roll}

Salam de Biscuiti {No-Bake Chocolate Salami Roll} | From Dill To Dracula www.FromDillToDracula.com

I know what you’re thinking; chocolate salami?!? Ashley, there are some sweet and savory things that just aren’t meant to be mixed!

Yes and yes. You read that right: this is a chocolate salami dessert, formally called Salam de Biscuiti (and pronounced sah-lah-mm day bis-coo-eat-ee). And, you’re right that chocolate and cured meats stuffed into intestine casing shouldn’t be mixed. But that’s not what this is.

My favorite dessert growing up, only made for special occasions, since it isn’t the healthiest of Romanian recipes in my repertoire. I hope it becomes your favorite, too. I mean, how can it not? Butter, chocolate, rum. Captain Jack Sparrow would be proud, I can assure you. Bonus: it’s a no-bake recipe! Quick and easy to make, then try to forget about it while it’s in the refrigerator!

Yes please. Let’s do this.

↓ Recipe below ↓

—But first, some pretty pictures—

Continue Reading

Comment Kitchen

Gomboti / Găluște cu Prune {Plum Dumplings}

Găluște cu Prune {Plum Dumplings} | From Dill To Dracula www.FromDillToDracula.com

I’m back from an unexpected hiatus, where I spent almost all of September, and a bit of October, writing and revising one of my novels. It’s set in 1989 Romania, so I’m able to feature a lot of the dishes on From Dill To Dracula within the story, which is an exciting meld of my two hobbies.

And, well, I’m back! I’m ready to kick off the fall season with fall colors, warm drinks, and these delicious plum dumplings otherwise known as Gomboti (pronounced gom-boat-ee) or Găluște cu Prune (pronounced gah-lou-sh-tay coo proon-ay). To me, everything about these scream fall, and after Milwaukee teased us with a little Summer in October, we’re back in fall temperatures and I’m ready to embrace everything that comes with it.

To be honest, we didn’t have these dumplings very often. I remember my grandma making them a couple of times, but that was enough to hook me. It has to have been at least a decade and a half since I’ve been able to savor the flavor (thanks for the writing tip, Ariana Grande).

By the way, my husband calls these Plumplings, which I don’t have a Romanian translation for, but I’m okay if you call these that, too 🙃

↓ Recipe below ↓

—But first, some pretty pictures—

Continue Reading

4 Comments Kitchen

Placinta cu Mere {Romanian “Apple Pie” Cake}

Romanian Apple Pie | FromDillToDracula.com

Placinta cu mere (pronounced plah-chin-tah coo m-air) translates to pie with apple, but this dessert falls more in the cake family than one would expect from a traditional pie. I figured for my first real post and first recipe, it made sense to feature the Romanian equivalent of a food that screams America. Let’s face it, we love pie here in the good ol’ US of A, but we’re obviously not the only ones, and even though this is different, the Romanian’s have perfected the ability to get those same bright and warm flavors packaged neatly in a three-layered cake—cake, then apple, and more cake.

Now, to be honest, I’m not a big traditional cake fan. Usually, the cake itself is meh and I could do without frosting. That’s what makes this version of cake pie so appealing to me. It doesn’t need frosting, the apple is sweet enough, though I suppose you could always improvise with a glaze. And because there is a layer of apple smooshed between two layers of cake, it keeps the cake from being too dry or flavorless. Really, the pieces of this puzzle come together in perfect harmony, in a way that’ll keep you from missing your traditional apple pie. It reminds me of grandma’s house—she was always the one to make this for me—and who doesn’t like grandma’s house?

Just in time for Fourth of July celebrations, this cake pie is easy to transport, withstands the heat well, and can be cut into bite-sized squares, so you can have more than one with less guilt 😉

↓ Recipe below ↓

Continue Reading

4 Comments Kitchen