Nida Degutienė - cookbook author, food blogger, passionate traveler. Nida is well known to those who are interested in creative cooking at home, and her recipes inspire to try the flavors of other cuisines of the world and to experiment boldly. Her latest cookbook "Nida's Recipes: 10 years of friendship" is a collection of the best recipes of the decade, which we present to you not by chance, because Nida is a real coffee connoisseur. She not only enjoys quality coffee herself, but also creates perfectly tasting desserts with coffee.

Do you remember the very first cup of coffee you drank?

The mysterious aroma of coffee just drove me crazy when my mother brewed a cup of the black drink and sat down to chat with a friend. However, after tasting the coffee a few times, its taste was nowhere near as enticing as the aroma. Why not - then I was barely ten... I ordered my first cup of real coffee in a cafe much later, in the last class of school, along with a double portion of vanilla ice cream.

Since then, my friendship with coffee began. Once I bought coffee by the liter and didn't pay much attention to its quality, today I usually enjoy a single cup of coffee a day. But the coffee in that cup must be PERFECT. Moderately roasted, freshly ground, with the right strength and thickness. Exactly the kind I like the most. After all, drinking that single cup of coffee is my greatest moments of bliss that day. The minutes I dedicate only to myself and her - Coffee.

I am currently temporarily living in Australia, a country where immigrants from Italy brought a special coffee drinking culture. And when in the morning the aroma of freshly roasted coffee spreads in every street of the city, when every passer-by I meet sips their latte, machiato or flat white on their way to work, when the menu of coffee drinks in restaurants is often longer than the food, I fall in love with coffee anew every day. I taste new varieties, try different coffee drinks, and of course, I make coffee desserts that are extremely hard to resist.

Therefore, it is no coincidence that I present my new book "Nida's Recipes: 10 years friend" together with probably the best coffee experts in Lithuania - Vero Cafe. Agree, a good book and good coffee are a duo created for bliss.

250 ml of milk
250 ml cream (36% fat)
250 ml espresso (or freshly brewed coffee)
2 eggs
4 egg yolks
150 g of sugar
Serve: whipped cream and cocoa

Heat the oven to 150C. Heat the milk and cream in a small pot. Just before boiling, remove from heat and stir espresso .

In a separate bowl, whisk the eggs, egg yolks and sugar well. Slowly pour about half of the hot milk and cream mixture into the egg mixture, whisking constantly, warming it up. While whisking, add the remaining milk and cream mixture and after mixing everything well, pour the mixture into 8 small glass or ceramic jars.

Place these containers in a deeper baking dish, and add enough boiling water to that dish to create about 2.5 cm from the bottom. Cover everything tightly with aluminum foil and place in the oven. Bake slowly for about 70-90 minutes, or until the dessert is firm on the edges but still soft in the middle.
Remove the dessert dish from the oven, carefully remove the jars and leave them to cool. Then put it in the refrigerator to cool completely. Before serving, top each with a spoonful of whipped cream and sprinkle with cocoa.