So indulgent and moreish. Syrup soaked kataifi pastry with a creamy layer of mastica infused custard paired with light chantilly cream topped with crunchy nuts.

Whatever nuts you’d like to sprinkle over the top.

Begin by preparing the syrup. Add all the ingredients to a pot, stir well then allow it to simmer over medium high heat for approx 20 mins until it forms a syrup. Set aside.

Prepare the custard. Heat the milk over the stove until it just comes to the boil. Turn off heat. Vigourosly whisk the egg yolks & sugar till pale in colour then add the corn flour, vanilla & mastica whisking very well for 2 minutes. Slowly stream in half the milk mixture whisking at the same time to avoid cooking the egg. Transfer the egg and milk mixture back into the pot with the other half of milk & place it over the stove whisking constantly until a custard forms. Once the custard has thickened, whisk through the butter till melted. Transfer the custard to a bowl with cling wrap placed over the surface & set aside to cool.

Prepare the base. Preheat oven to 170C. Add the kataifi to the base of your baking tin. Melt the butter, add a pinch of salt & pour it evenly over the kataifi & bake until golden. Once baked pour the cool syrup over the hot pastry & sprinkle over the nuts.

Once the custard has cooled scoop it onto the pastry and use an offset spatula to spread I evenly over the kataifi.

Using a mixer whisk the cream & sugar until fluffy and spreadable. Spread this directly over the custard creating a nice flat layer, sprinkle with nuts of your choice & refrigerate for approximately 3 hours before serving.

 EKMEK KATAIFI. So indulgent and moreish. Syrup soaked

On the eve of August 27th and many Greek Orthodox homes are baking, Fanouropita. A cake commemorate the Holy Martyr, Saint Fanourios the Saint for “lost things”.

His name comes from the word “fanerono”, which means “I reveal” and worshipers ask Saint Fanourios to help find people or lost things. Fanouropita can be made all year round as an offering or thanks to Saint Fanourios to help you find what it is you’ve lost.

I’m still looking for a set of house keys I know a certain little someone has hidden in probably the most peculiar place I am yet to think of.

If you’re baking this simple, moist and crumbly vegan spiced orange cake, I hope you find what it is you’re looking for.

1/2 cup chopped raisins (I love crimson).

All you need for this recipe is a bowl and a whisk. Preheat your oven to 170C.

In your bowl, add the orange juice and bicarbonate soda and whisk until it froths and bubbles. Pour in the olive oil and sugar and stir to combine well. Add the flour and spices and stir to create the batter then fold in the walnuts and raisins.

If you’re using a Bundt tin, ensure you grease and flour it very well. If using a standard 8” (20cm) spring form cake tin, grease and line with baking paper. Pour in the batter and bake for approximately 30-40 minutes or until a skewers comes out clean.

Allow it to cool completely before sprinkling with icing sugar and enjoy.

 FANOUROPITA. On the eve of August 27th and many Greek

Hazelnut chocolate keki with cream cheese hazelnut frosting.

I apologise for the sweet sweet spam but it’s lockdown and it’s either bread or cake. I choose cake! Add this simple one bowl cake to the list of other easy cake recipes you can find here!

Note: this cake will also work great with almond meal.

Preheat oven to 170C. Combine eggs, sugar and melted butter in a bowl and whisk. Pour in the melted dark chocolate and whisk till full combined.

Add the hazelnut meal, baking powder and salt. The batter will be quite wet, this is normal (you can add an extra 1/2 cup of hazelnut if you wish).

Pour the batter in a lined 8” tin and bake for approximately 40 minute or until a wooden skewer comes out clean. Remove and allow it to cool completely.

For the frosting, allow the cream cheese to soften slightly. Using a stand or hand mixer whisk the cream cheese with the thickened cream until smooth. Add as much hazelnut spread you like then spread it on the surface of your cooled cake.

 Hazelnut chocolate keki with cream cheese hazelnut

Poppy and Liam having a lil morning story time. The cutest thing ever. Ed is the best stepdad a gal could ask for and he's the BEST grandpa ever...

 Poppy and Liam having a lil morning story time. The cutest

Birthday cake before dinner? Yes please. When it’s your day you can do whatever the hell ya please. One of the prettiest cakes I’ve ever had. Thank you

 Birthday cake before dinner? Yes please. When it’s your day

Happy Sunday! Starting your morning on a sweet note with some chocolate and halva pancakes. They’re soooo good you don’t even need syrup!

Hope you give them a try! This recipes makes approx 15 pancakes.

 Happy Sunday! Starting your morning on a sweet note with

Good morning! Kalimeraaa!! Some Galaktaboureko for your Saturday morning 🥧. Felt cute, so I thought I’d repost 🤤.

Still enjoying the holiday period with my family ☀️. I will be getting back into sharing lots of cooking very soon 👩🏻‍🍳.

Enjoy this extremely satisfying vid! You can find the recipe in my feed 📖 .

 Good morning! Kalimeraaa!! Some Galaktaboureko for your

It’s the season and the trees are fruiting bounties of beautiful citrus 🍊🍋 .

Every family has a member who makes the best of a particular dish or sweet.

I owe this delicious recipe to my two aunties, Thia Katina and Thia Maria, two very amazing cooks. Though I know it will never be as good as theirs, I think I’ve gotten pretty close.

1 cup fresh orange juice - (approx 3-4 oranges).

Preheat your oven to 180C fan forced. Grease and line your 8 or 9 inch cake tin and set aside.

Combine all wet ingredients including the sugar into a bowl and whisk until everything is incorporated.

Add in the dry ingredients and whisk until combined and the cake batter is smooth.

Pour the cake batter into your cake tin and bake for 45 mins or until a skewer comes out clean.

Allow it to cool and dust with icing sugar.

Pictured is my hand painted and designed Ble tea towel available on my website, maryskouzina.com.au .

 Orange cake. It’s the season and the trees are fruiting

Happy Saturday, insta fam! 🌞 How about some of Despina’s Galopita with your cafedaki ☕️🥤. In the past I’ve described it as just like eating the semolina custard in galaktaboureko except this is a little more dense and perfect to grab and go when you’re in need of something a little sweet!

In a pot over medium heat add milk, semolina, and sugar and stir frequently till warm. Now use a whisk as the semolina will begin to thicken, add the vanilla and continuously whisk. Once mixture has thickened significantly whisk in the butter until it dissolves then whisk in the eggs. The mixture should resemble a custard like consistency.

Transfer to a well greased tray 12 or 14” tray, sprinkle with cinnamon and bake for approximately 50 mins at 170 c (it will develop a thin crust). Remove from oven allow to cool then refrigerate (the galopita needs to set). Once cooled dust with more cinnamon and use a sharp knife to cut slices and enjoy with coffee.

 Happy Saturday, insta fam! 🌞 How about some of Despina’s

One of my favourite Greek sweets, Semolina Halva with almond, walnuts and cinnamon. Usually eaten during fasting periods, as it is a vegan dessert but I enjoy it all year round 🤤.

I have received the strictest orders from my Yiayia that I am not allowed to ever make halva! She considers it dangerous and something I should not attempt unless she’s around 🤣. Why? Because the sugar and semolina boil to a higher temperature to reach a thick consistency which causes it to spit and burn.

(But I know it’s because she really just enjoys making it for me 🥰🥰🥰).

 One of my favourite Greek sweets, Semolina Halva with

Home made sesame and honey bars. Probably the simplest Greek sweet you can make with zero difficulty.

I figured I’d be receiving monumental amounts of Greek sweets from my family for Christmas so I opted for something easy this year to give in return 👌👌.

Healthy and delicious, the recipe is so simple.

1:1 sesame seeds and good quality honey and a pinch of salt (you can also add other nuts into the mix).

Head over to my highlights to see the method for making these healthy sweets!

 Home made sesame and honey bars. Probably the simplest

Do you enjoy it warm or cold? I love it either way but let it be known, this amount of cinnamon is very light handed for me. I cover the entire surface of rizogalo with a thick layer of it 🤤. Anyone else?

I’ve finally gotten round to a recipe for this simple dessert and we absolutely love it.

1/4 or 1/2 cup caster sugar (depending on your sweet preference).

To make your rizogalo even more amazing, stir though a tablespoon on pistachio butter 🤤 right at the end and a pinch of salt.

In a saucepan combine milk, rice and lemon rind and stir frequently over medium heat. The constant stirring ensures the rice doesn’t stick to the pot and the starches release allowing the rizogalo to thicken though out the process.

After approximately 30 minutes of frequent stirring (be patient) the rice will have softened and cooked through and the liquid will have thickened.

Remove the lemon rind and stir through the sugar just before you turn off the heat (if you’re adding pistachio butter, stir it through now). Spoon your rizogalo into small individual serving bowls with a dusting of icing sugar. Enjoy hot or cold.

Pictured is my, Melissa (bee) 🐝🐝 hand painted design tea towel. Available from my website 💖 www.maryskouzina.com.au .

 Rizogalo. Rice Pudding. Do you enjoy it warm or cold? I

A little Ekmek kataifi to kickstart the weekend? Another moreish Greek dessert that delivers on taste, texture and indulgence 🤤.

You can find the full recipe on my IGTV and watch the full vid of me making it too 🎥 .

 A little Ekmek kataifi to kickstart the weekend? Another

Yesterday it was Spanakopita, today’s it Galopita!! 🤩 If you love galtaboureko, just imagine that you’re eating a piece of the slightly sweet semolina custard filling sprinkled with a generous amount of cinnamon. Pair this with a Freddo Cap and I’m one happy woman! 🥤.

This is my mums recipe, she doesn’t even use one actually. She just pours the ingredients into her pot like all our amazing mothers do! I may have to make this a few times to get the quantities right for you all 🙏❤️. Happy Sunday!

 Yesterday it was Spanakopita, today’s it Galopita!! 🤩 If

Kalimera! I can’t not share this beauty with you all today 🤩. A combination of baklava and galaktaboureko and oooohhh myyyy oh myyy! Is all I have to say.

I think I need to make this one more time before I share the exact recipe. I literally used ‘’mai to mati’ to create this yesterday and want to make sure it’s perfectly documented before I share it. So, yes. Enjoy some dessert eye candy this fine Sunday morning! Recipe coming soon 😘.

 Kalimera! I can’t not share this beauty with you all today

Yes, I had to make it again. It’s soooo delicious and has become our favourite dessert. My beautiful

 sprinkled with almonds, pistachios and rose petals 🌹. What to bring, when told not to bring a thing 🤣🙄❤️

 Yes, I had to make it again. It’s soooo delicious and has

Amygdalota Αμυγδαλωτά (almond cookies) with lots of pistachio.

Crunchy, soft and chewy. Perfect with cafe! ☕️ .

 Amygdalota Αμυγδαλωτά (almond cookies) with lots of

So freaking delicious, my cousin banned me from bringing it to her house 🤣

 layers of syrup soaked filo pastry, mastica custard and chantilly cream topped with rose petals and pistachios ✌️ .

 So freaking delicious, my cousin banned me from bringing it

Andrianna’s Orange cake 🍊. Oh my yum! If you’re after an quick and easy ‘combine all ingredients and bake’ cake, this is it! Perfect to prepare last minute with simple ingredients and big flavour 💥. You can find the recipe in Andrianna’s feed

 Andrianna’s Orange cake 🍊. Oh my yum! If you’re after an

You might need to double this batch because I guarantee you’ll be eating it by the spoonful before you even get the chance to fill your choux pastries. It’s that good! 🤤 Enjoy! Recipe for the choux can be found in my previous post.

To begin, in a bowl whisk together the egg yolk and sugar until well incorporated. Add the corn flour and whisk until combined. Set aside.

In a small sauce pan over medium heat, add the milk, pistachio butter, vanilla and salt and heat until almost boiling. Once it almost comes to the boil slowly pour half the milk mixture into the yolk mixture stirring quickly so the hot milk doesn’t cook to yolk.

Now return the yolk and milk mixture back into the saucepan to the remaining milk and place it back over medium heat, constantly whisking until a thick custard like consistency forms. Stir in the butter until it’s melts then transfer your pastry cream to a bowl and cover immediately with cling wrap to prevent a skin forming on the surface. Allow it to cool entirely and refrigerate before piping it into your choux pastry.

Or just enjoy on its own with a spoon cause it’s that good!

 Pistachio pastry cream. You might need to double this batch

It’s still all about citrus cakes me and easy “add to bowl” methods! My previous orange cake is still receiving lots of love, I hope you try and love this one too.

Preheat your oven to 175C fan forced. Grease and line an 8 or 9 inch cake tin.

Begin by combining the oil, eggs, orange juice, zest and sugar into a large bowl. Whisk all the ingredients well, then add the the dry ingredients mixing well once more. If you feel the cake batter is too wet add 1/4 cup more almond meal.

Pour the cake batter into your lined tin and scatter sliced almonds over the top.

Bake for approximately 1 hour or until a wooden skewer comes out clean. Dust with a little powdered sugar if you like and enjoy!

Pictured is my Ble hand painted and designed cotton tea towel, available on my website. Link in bio 💙.

 Chocolate and orange almond cake. It’s still all about

Definitely something to try and enjoy! But remember, practice makes perfect.

I’ll share the pistachio pastry cream recipe in another post as the caption does not fit here. Good luck, happy baking! 💙Please read the method carefully.

3 or 4 eggs. Read method carefully as to why.

To begin the Choux, combine water, butter sugar and salt into a small pot over medium heat. Once melted completely, turn the heat off and add the flour. Stir constantly to ensure no clumps form. Return to the heat and cook out as much of the water as possible whilst stirring and folding continuously.

An indication it’s ready to move on to the next step is when it pulls away from my sides of the pot.

Transfer the dough to a bowl and let it cool slightly for 5-10 minutes. Start of by whisking two eggs together and pour that onto the dough mixing it through vigorously until fully combined (it will come together).

At this stage you need to use your best judgement when adding the next egg or two. In my video I added almost 2.5 eggs, in the past I’ve added 3.5. It all depends on the size of the eggs you’re using and the consistency you reach as you go.

My best advice is to add two table spoons of whisked egg at time until you get the desired consistency (you can see what that looks like in my reel on the previous post).

The goal is to reach a pipe-able consistency. It can’t be too wet that it slides right through the piping bag and not to dry that it’s hard to squeeze through.

Preheat your oven to 160C. Transfer the dough into your piping bag and pipe the dough the size of a golf ball. Bake for approximately 40 mins until golden and puffed up. Remove from the oven and allow them to cool completely before pricking them at them bottom and pipe in your favourite filling. Dip in melted chocolate, allow it to set and enjoy.

Don’t be discouraged is this doesn’t the first time, practice makes perfect and it has taken me a few failed attempts to get it right too 💖.

 Pâte a choux! Definitely something to try and enjoy! But

Have you tired Cretan Lihnarakia? I could do with a few or twenty of them right about now 🤤.

Ricotta and goats cheese filled pastries with cinnamon of course! Though in Crete sweet goats cheese is the main ingredient, we don’t have this cheese in Australia 😭.

Check out my IGTV for the recipe. Sunday’s are for baking🤩.

 Have you tired Cretan Lihnarakia? I could do with a few or

Brown butter pistachio choc chip cookies.

It’s all about pistachio for me at the moment! One of all time my favourite flavours 😍. I’ve shared my healthier cookie, now here’s the naughty one. Next, ice cream!

3/4 chopped cooking chocolate or choc chips.

Optional: 1/2 cup roughly chopped pistachios.

Note: it’s very easy to overcook your cookies, this prevents it from having a chewy texture, resulting in an all round crispy cookie. It’s best to bake a test cookie first to understand how long they need in your oven. When removing them from the oven they should be very soft to touch but cool nice chewy in the centre with a crisp exterior.

Begin by placing the butter over medium heat in small pot. Boil it until it browns and is fragrant and nutty. Set aside to cool.

In a bowl combine all of the dry ingredients.

To the warm nut butter add the pistachio butter, vanilla and room temperature egg and whisk very well together.

Pour the mixture into the dry ingredients and combine well until you’re able to roll the dough into balls with a tablespoon amount of mixture.

Once you’ve rolled out the cookies refrigerate them for up to one hour before baking.

Set your oven to 175C and place the cookies on a lined tray keeping them quite separate.

Bake for up to 15 minutes, no longer (or the amount of time you felt suitable from your test cookie).

 Brown butter pistachio choc chip cookies. It’s all about

Something a little different than the usual baklava for Christmas? How about baklava cupcakes 🤩.

Baklava flavoured cupcakes baked in syrup soaked filo pastry patties, topped with salted cinnamon Swiss meringue butter cream. Oooooh yes! 🎄.

Melted Salted butter Butter for brushing between filo layers

 Something a little different than the usual baklava for

I know it’ll never measure up to the masters but I think I got pretty close!

 Orange Cake! 🍊. Thia Katina and Thia Maria style 🧡. I know

Galaktaboureko 🥧 Need I say more? Enjoy this Extremely satisfying vid! Stop drooling, I see you there 🤤😉😉.

 Galaktaboureko 🥧 Need I say more? Enjoy this Extremely

It’s my favourite baking time of the year. The smell of Easter is absolutely beautiful as our kitchens are perfumed with mastica and mahelpi.

I baked a few loaves of Tsoureki today which I have frozen to keep fresh for our Easter Sunday celebrations which we are hosting this year. You can find my full recipe and video how to in my IGTV (there is a little arrow in the top left corner when watching IGTV, tap it and the recipe and notes will drop down) or if you’d like to watch today’s bake along from my stories, you can re watch it in my Instagram highlights.

 TSOUREKI ❤️. It’s my favourite baking time of the year. The

A quick and simple combine all ingredients passion fruit cake 💜💛. We’re still getting through the passion fruits from my uncles vine so I decided to make a quick cake. We’ve still got lots more to get through so I think I’ll be making curd these next few days too 😆.

For the syrup, combine all ingredients in a small pot over medium high heat. Allow to boil for approximately 15-20 minutes or until the contents have reduced to half and the syrup has thickened. Allow to cool.

Combine all cake ingredients and stir till combined. Pour into a very well greased and floured Bundt tin and bake at 170C placed at the bottom on your oven till a skewer comes out clean, approx 40 minutes. Allow cake to cook slightly before removing it from the tin. Carefully remove the cake and spoon over the passion fruit syrup. Enjoy 💜💛.

 A quick and simple combine all ingredients passion fruit

What an honour it was to be asked to be apart of this family and companies special milestone. To celebrate I was commissioned to create my baklava cake, in cupcake form... and here she is.

Baklava cupcakes baked in fillo pastry patties with a touch of syrup topped with salted cinnamon Swiss meringue buttercream. Delicious, sweet and salty, full of texture and sooo moreish! 🤤.

Please share your creations of my recipe with me 📸 .

Melted Salted butter Butter for brushing between layers

 Celebrating 60 years with @antonioufillopastry  🎉. What an

Despina’s Galopita. I posted this photograph recently and it received lotsssss of recipe requests. As described, it’s just like eating  galaktaboureko custard except there’s no filo and is a little more dense.

Thank you for your recipe, Mum! 😘 And enjoy your galopita everyone!!! Best eaten with a nice cafedaki ☕️ 🥤.

In a pot over medium heat add milk, semolina, and sugar and stir frequently till warm. Now use a whisk as the semolina will begin to thicken add the vanilla and continuously whisk. Once mixture has thickened significantly whisk in the butter until it dissolves then whisk in the eggs. The mixture should resemble a custard like consistency.

Transfer to a well greased tray, sprinkle with cinnamon and bake for approximately 50 mins at 170 c (it will develop a thin crust). Remove from oven allow to cool then refrigerate (galopita needs to set). Once cooled dust with more cinnamon and use a sharp knife to cut slices and enjoy with coffee.

 Despina’s Galopita. I posted this photograph recently and

I would happily eat this for breakfast 🙄❤️ hehe. Good morning!  Monday’s never felt so good👌.