It’s cherry season here in Australia and we love to go cherry picking with the family. Adults and children alike can indulge in this summer treat.
And what better way to make use of this delicious summer fruit than by making it the star of an afternoon treat. This Easy Fluffy Cherry Teacake will be gone as soon as you take it out of the oven. It’s fluffy and filled with juicy cherries making it perfect for a summer picnic outdoors or an entertainer platter for your friends and family alongside a nice cuppa and chat.
So here it goes:
Delicious Syrupy Romanian ‘Mucenici’ (Little Saints)
This recipe brings back lots of childhood memories. I grew up in Moldova and I remember grandma cooking up these fluffy, syrupy and simply irresistible Mucenici to celebrate this special Romanian tradition which coincided with the arrival of spring.
Ingredients
For the dough
- 450ml dairy milk
- 200g Greek Yoghurt
- 125g sugar
- 50ml vegetable oil
- 1 tsp rum and vanilla essence
- 3 eggs
- 20g butter (softened)
- 1 packet dry yeast
- 1kg plain flour (plus extra for dusting)
- lemon or orange zest
- 1 tsp salt
For the syrup
- 800ml water
- 300g sugar
- 1 tsp rum and vanilla essence
- lemon or orange zest
For the topping
- drizzle of honey
- 150g crushed walnuts
Instructions
For the dough
- In a bowl add the dry yeast and mix it with 3 tbsp of warm dairy milk, 1 tsp of sugar and 3 tbsps of plain flour. We mix it all together we cover it with a tea towel and let it rise for 15 minutes in a warm spot.
- In a large bowl, we add the remaining flour, the salt, and the eggs. We then add the starter dough we made earlier, the rum and vanilla essence, the lemon or orange zest, the softened butter and the Greek yoghurt and we mix them all together using a mixer. We then add the remaining milk and the oil.
- We cover the dough with a clean tea towel and let it rise for 1-2 hours.
For the syrup
- While the dough is rising, we make the syrup by mixing the water and the sugar in a saucepan over low-medium heat for 10 minutes until the sugar is melted and the sauce thickens slightly. We then add the essences and zest and let it cool completely.
How to Cook
- On 2 lined baking trays, we shape the Mucenici in a figure 8 shape. Here you can add a little more flour and knead the dough slightly if it’s too runny. We bake them at 180 degrees fan forced for 20-25 minutes or until nice and golden.
- The recipe makes 40 smaller mucenici which I was able to fit in 4 trays. Once the first lot had finished baking, I placed them on a plate covered them generously in syrup, drizzle of honey and crushed walnuts. Then I repeated the process with the other half.
- And there you have it, a recipe of my childhood that is sure to delight all your family members.
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