Saturday, December 24, 2011

Merry Christmas

And suddenly it's Christmas again... what a year this has been!! A year full of cakes, cookies and brownies... And let's not forget about peanut butter ;-) All the things I'm baking - they come from the heart. And from the heart, I wish you all a merry Christmas and all the best for 2012. I'm looking forward to it.




Chai Cookies
(Source: Zimt & Sterne, 24 süsse Rezeptideen)

200g butter, soft
100g brown sugar
1 egg
6 bags of indian spice tea (I took vanilla roiboosh chai)
300g flour

Beat butter, sugar and the egg until you have a creamy batter. Cut up the tea bags and add the content to the batter. Fold in the flour and form the dough into a ball. Wrap in cling film and put in the refridgerator for at least an hour.

Preheat the oven to 190°C. Line a baking tray with parchment paper. Roll out your dough on a lightly floured surface (about 0.5cm thin). Cut out cookies in the shape you like and place them on the tray. Bake for about 8-10 minutes. Let cool on a wire rack.

I decorated them with store-bought chocolate glaze.


Thursday, December 22, 2011

Chocolate Pepper Cookies

That's what I call hot chocolate! These cookies are my favourite this year. I love the rich taste of chocolate. The addition of two kinds of pepper gives them a spicy twist.




Recipe
(Source: Trish Deseine - I love Cake)

350g icing sugar
350g butter, soft
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 teapsoon vanilla extract
380g flour
190g cocoa powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
2/3 teaspoon black pepper

Beat icing sugar and butter with an electric hand mixer until smooth. Add the eggs and vanilla extract while constantly beating. Beat until the batter is creamy. Sift in flour and cocoa powder and add the spices.

Form the dough into a flat cake, wrap in cling film and put in the refridgerator for at least an hour.

Preheat the oven to 180°C. Take the dough out of the refridgerator and let it take on room temperature. Roll out the dough on a lightly floured surface (about 0.5cm thin). Cut out cookies and put onto a baking tray lined with parchment paper.

Bake for about 6-8 minutes. The cookies look pretty raw still, but this has to be like that. Let cool on a wire rack. Store in an airtight container. The cookies keep for about 6 days.


Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Peanut Butter-Chocolate-Slices

Renate, a good friend of mine from the office, gave me a little advent calender as a present which contains a recipe for each day. When I flipped the page lately and saw this recipe , I could not resist. Of course there had to be something with peanut butter for this Christmas ;-)




Recipe
(Source: Zimt & Sterne, 24 süsse Rezeptideen)

75g dark chocolate
75g milk chocolate
200g butter
6 eggs
300g brown sugar
1 sachet of vanilla sugar
150g peanut butter
150g crème fraiche
200g flour
3 tablespoons cocoa powder
150g peeled almonds, coarsely chopped

Chop the chocolate and, together with the butter, put in a small saucepan and melt. Let cool. Preheat the oven to 180°C. Beat eggs, sugar and vanilla sugar until foamy. Add chocolate and peanut butter. Add crème fraiche and then, add flour, cocoa powder and almonds. Pour the dough onto a baking tray lined with parchment paper and spread out. Bake for about 25 minutes. Let cool.

For the glaze, melt 100g dark chocolate and 100g milk chocolate in a small saucepan. Mix with 100g peanut butter. Spread over your cooled peanut butter-chocolate-slices. Let cool and then cut into slices.

Keep the slices in an airtight container.


Sunday, December 18, 2011

STOP - Cookietime!

This weekend was all about cookies! And it even began to snow! It was perfect... My kitchen filled with all kinds of spicy smells, snowflakes outside and some good music.

Because of Matthias, though, I ended up baking with MC Hammer's U Can't Touch This as a soundtrack, but that's another story... Thanks Matthias, I can't get the tune out of my head anymore :-) Not even Wham's Last Christmas helps :-)

I have some fabulous cookie recipes for you... so stay tuned next week!




Chocolate and Almond Cookies with Maple Syrup
(Adapted from: Trish Deseine - I love Cake)

150g brown sugar
170g butter, soft
2 tablespoons maple syrup
1 egg, lightly beaten
280g flour
40g almonds, coarsly chopped
60g milk chocolate, chopped

In a bowl, combine sugar, butter and maple syrup with an electric hand mixer and beat until foamy. Keep beating and add the egg. Then, add flour, almonds and the chocolate chips with a wooden spoon. Form the dough into a roll and wrap in clingfilm. Put in the refridgerator for about 5-6 hours.

Preheat the oven to 190°C. Take the dough out of the refridgerator and cut the roll into slices of about 0.5cm thick. But them onto a baking tray lined with parchment paper. Bake for about 10 minutes, until the cookies are golden brown. Let cool an a rack.


Wednesday, December 14, 2011

Vanilla and Apricot Minicakes

This cake has been on my to-bake-list forever :-) I've looked at this recipe every Christmas ever since I have the book it's in. Time to give it a try this year. I'd say: Worth it. I like the slightly sour apricots together with the taste of vanilla and the smooth consistency of the cake. Like many cakes, it even tastes better after a day or so.




Recipe
(From: Betty Bossi - Backen in der Weihnachtszeit)

200g dried apricots, cut into little pieces
3 tablespoons orange liquor (I used orange juice)
150g butter, soft
a pinch of salt
3 eggs
250g curd cheese
1 vanilla pod, seeds scraped out
300g flour
2.5 teaspoons baking powder

Preheat the oven to 180°C.

Mix the apricot pieces and the liquor/orange juice in a small bowl and let soak for about 15 minutes. Meanwhile beat butter in a bowl. Then add sugar an salt. Add one egg after the other until you got a pale and smooth batter. Add curd cheese and vanilla seeds. Then add the apricot pieces with the juice and mix well.

If you decide to bake one big cake, fill the batter into your prepared 30cm cake tin and bake for about an hour. If you use the small minicake papermoulds, fill the batter into 12 of these and bake for about 30 minutes.


Saturday, December 10, 2011

Gingerbread Cantucci

It's time to let the Christmas-baking begin! Here comes the Christmas-version of an Italian cookie-classic.



Recipe
(adapted from Betty Bossi Magazin 10/11)

3 eggs
250g brown sugar
2 pinches of salt
1 tablespoon of gingerbread spice mixture (got mine from Migros)
350g flour
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
150g hazelnuts (lightly roasted, cooled)
100g unsalted, peeled pistachios (since I spontaneously decided to make these cookies and had no pistachios at home, I used cashews, I guess you can use all sorts of nuts)

Preheat the oven to 200°C. Beat eggs, sugar, salt and gingerbread spice with the electric hand mixer for about 3 minutes. Mix flour and baking powder and add to the mixture. Add the nuts and knead until you got a moist and firm dough. Form two half-round loafs out of the dough which are about 2.5cm thick. Put them onto a baking tray lined with parchment paper. Bake for about 20 minutes. Take them out of the oven and let cool slightly. Turn the heat of the oven to 150°C. Then, cut the loafs lengthwise into about 3mm thick slices and put onto the tray again. Put the tray back into the oven for about 20 minutes. Let the cantucci cool on a rack.

These cookies should keep, if stored in an airtight container, for about a month.


Sunday, December 04, 2011

Pumpkin Cake with Cranberries and Walnuts

I bought a big piece of pumpkin this weekend which I originally wanted to use to make risotto. On Sunday morning, I spontaneously changed my mind and made a cake instead!




Recipe:
(adapted from here)

120g soft butter
150g sugar
2 pinches of salt
4 eggs
200g flour
100g ground almonds
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 tablespoon cinnamon
600g grated pumpkin
I spontaneously added:
about 50g walnuts, chopped
about 50g dried cranberries

Preheat the oven to 180°C. The recipe calls for a 28cm cake tin. I used a 24cm diameter springform pan.

Put butter in a bowl and beat until it's smooth. Add sugar and salt. Beat well. Add the eggs one by one and beat well. Beat for about 5 minutes until you have a pale batter. Mix flour, almonds, baking powder and cinnamon. Add to the batter and mix well. Then add the grated pumpkin and mix well. At this point, I added the walnuts and the cranberries. Pour your batter into the prepared tin and bake for about 50-60 minutes.

I decorated the cake with store-bought chocolate-glaze.

Sunday, November 27, 2011

I love...

...cake. Well, nothing new. But there is a new book in my collection called "I love cake" and I intend to try every single recipe in that book! I thought, I'd start with brownies. Trish Deseine calls them "the best brownies"... they are so wonderfully sticky... and the roasted hazelnuts... I still can't get the smile off my face!




Recipe:
(Trish Deseine - I love Cake)

 90g butter
120g dark chocolate
2 eggs, beaten
225g sugar
90g flour
50g hazelnuts, roasted, in coarse pieces

Preheat the oven to 180°C and line a brownie tin of about 18x23cm with parchment paper.

Slowly melt the chocolate together with the butter. Let cool slightly. Then, add the eggs and then the sugar and the flour. Beat fast but carefully. Then, add the hazelnuts. Fill the batter into your prepared tin and bake for about 25 minutes. The top should be crunchy but inside the brownies should be soft and gooey. Let cool (you can also serve them warm together with ice cream for instance) and cut into squares. Enjoy!

Sunday, November 20, 2011

Sunday = Cakeday

I had some leftover apples and that's what I used them for today... The combination of apples, nuts and cinnamon just always works. This cake goes wonderfully with an extra helping of whipped cream... heart-warming... Perfect for such a lazy day in late autumn.




Apple Slices:
(Source: LE MENU 10/2010)

100g soft butter
125g mascarpone (I had none at hand so I used creme fraiche)
150g sugar
1 pinch of salt
1 tsp cinnamon
2 eggs
50g ground hazelnuts
125g flour
1 tsp baking powder
2 apples, peeled, cut into slices
2 tbsp cream
2 tbsp sugar crystals

Preheat oven to 200°C.

Beat butter until smooth. Add mascarpone, sugar, salt and cinnoman. Blend well. Add eggs and beat until you have a light batter. Mix hazelnuts, flour and baking powder and add to the other batter. Mix well. Pour the batter into a prepared caketin of 32cm length.

Stick the apple slices into the cake batter, brush with cream and sprinkle the sugar crystals over the cake. Bake in the middle of the oven for about 30 minutes. Serve warm or cold, with extra cream or vanilla icecream.

Sunday, November 13, 2011

Leek and Gorgonzola Tartelettes

Gorgonzola cheese is my newest discovery! I somehow always thought I didn't like it, but since I tried it again some weeks ago, it belongs to the must-haves in my fridge. I used it lately for these cute and yummy tartelettes.




Recipe
(Original recipe in German: here)

butter
1 stalk of leek
salt
black pepper
1 pinch of cayenne pepper
80g gorgonzola cheese
0.75dl cream
1 egg
1 roll of store bought puff pastry

Butter a muffin pan with 12 moulds and line them with parchment paper stripes, this way you get the tartelettes out of the moulds very easily after baking. Put the pan in the fridge. Preheat oven to 200°C.

Wash the leek and cut into thin pieces. Braise lightly with the butter in a frying pan for about 3-4 minutes. Season with salt, pepper and cayenne pepper. Set aside.

Mix gorgonzola cheese, cream and the egg with a blender and season with salt, pepper and cayenne pepper.

Roll out the puff pastry and cut out 12 round pieces that fit into your muffin moulds (I did that with a small glass bowl). Line your muffin moulds with the puff pastry. Fill in the leek and then the cheese-mixture. If possible, put in the fridge for another 20 minutes.

Bake the tartelettes on the lowest slot for about 20-25 minutes. Serve warm or cold.


Sunday, November 06, 2011

Comforting Brownies

I won't say much more about brownies for now... they speak for themselves.


Recipe
(slightly adapted from here)

200g dark chocolate
125g butter
2 eggs
125g light soft brown sugar
100g caster sugar
75ml milk
2 tsp vanilla extract
175g plain flour
1 tbsp cocoa
125g pecan nuts, roughly chopped

Preheeat the oven to 170°C. Line a 20cm square cake tin with parchment paper.

In a saucepan, melt the chocolate with the butter, then set aside somewhere warm on the stove-top. Beat the eggs with the sugars until the sugar has almost dissolved and the mixture turned creamy and a light beige colour. Next, beat in the chocolate and butter until evenly combined, then add the milk and vanilla. Sift the flour and cocoa twice, then beat this into the chocolate mixture. Finally, beat in the chopped pecans.

Scrape the mixture into the prepared cake tin and bake for 25 minutes, or until a toothpick poked through the sugary crust comes out barely clean - the hot chocolate will carry on cooking for at least five minutes after you've taken it out of the oven.

Sunday, October 30, 2011

Apple and Caramel Cake

I brought this cake along to the English Seminar for some friends of mine. Cyril, who usually is also already there in the early morning, always gets a piece of cake for breakfast :-) The others had it as a dessert after lunch. I liked the idea of putting caramel candy into a cake. The recipe is easy and the cake stays moist for up to 3 days. A winner if you ask me.




Recipe:
(Original version in German here)

150g soft butter
200g sugar
1 pinch of salt
4 eggs
250g flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 red apples, cut into slices
150g soft caramel candy, roughly chopped

Preheat the oven to 180°C:

Beat butter, sugar and salt until foamy. Add one egg after the other and beat for about 5 more minutes until you have a pale batter. Mix flour and baking powder and add to the batter, mix well. Fold in apples and caramels and mix well. Fill the dough into a prepared 28cm cake tin. Bake for about 70 minutes (in my oven, it took about an hour).


Tuesday, October 25, 2011

Fig and Apple Tart

This tart is perfect for autumn. It's got a really thick pastry base with a nutty taste that goes well with the fruit. Plus I liked the addition of the honey to the filling. This is delicious while it is still a bit warm - and with some extra cream of course ;-)




Recipe
(Original recipe in German: www.wildeisen.ch)

for the dough:
125g soft butter
125g sugar
1 pinch of salt
2 eggs
80g ground hazelnuts
175g flour
1 teaspoon baing powder

for the filling:
4 big figs
3 apples
150g crème fraiche
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 tablespoon runny honey
2 egg yolks

For the dough beat the butter until it is smooth. Add sugar and salt. Add one egg after the other and beat until you have a smooth and pale batter. Mix hazelnuts, flour and baking powder. Add to the batter. Smoothen out the dough on a 24cm diameter tart tin. Put in the refridgerator.

Preheat the oven to 180°C.

Wash the figs and the apples. Cut the figs into sixths and the apples into slices. Arrange the fruits on your dough. Combine crème fraiche, brown sugar, honey and egg yolks and pour onto the fruit.

Bake the tart for about 45 minutes. Serve warm or cold.


Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Pumpkin Chocolate Cake

This post is for my good friend Sarah who had her last exam today. I made this cake especially for her. Congratulations Sarah! We did it, can you believe it?!




Recipe:
(Original recipe in German: www.saison.ch)

4 eggs
200g brown sugar
1 pinch of salt
0.5 lemon
100g dark chocolate, coarsely chopped
1 teaspoon cinnamon
125g ground almonds
100g spelt flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
300g pumpkin

Preheat oven to 180°C. Line a 22cm (I took a 24cm) diameter springform pan with parchment paper.

Beat eggs, sugar and salt for about 5 minutes until you got a pale batter. Grate lemon zest and add lemon juice. Mix cinnamon, almonds, flour, baking powder and add. Combine well. Add the chocolate and mix well. Grate pumpkin and fold into the batter. Fill your batter into the prepared springform pan and bake in the middle of the oven for about 50 minutes. Let cool, sprinkle with icing sugar before serving.


Saturday, October 15, 2011

Lic. phil. and baking again...

The exams are over! It's time to celebrate... with cake of course ;-) Today, my kitchen smelled of chocolate and vanilla... How I missed that! There's a pile of recipes lying around that I would like to try... A huge THANK YOU goes out to all my friends for their support. You're the best... I'm going to bake a lot of cakes for you guys! This one is for my mum, though.




Pear Cake with Chocolate Crumbles:
(Original recipe in German: www.wildeisen.ch )

For the crumble:
20g flour
40g cocoa powder
50g icing sugar
50g butter

For the cake:
1 vanilla pod
150g butter
2 eggs
80g sugar
100g flour
50g corn flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
6 ripe pears or 12 canned pear halves (I used less)

Mix all the ingredients for the crumble and knead with your fingers until you got a smooth dough. Wrap in cling film and put into the refrigerator.

Line a 26cm diameter springform pan with parchment paper and preheat the oven to 170°C.

Scrape out the vanilla pod and put the seeds and the pod into a pan together with the butter. Melt the butter and then set aside for about 15 minutes.

Beat eggs and sugar with the hand mixer for about 10 minutes until you got a smooth, thick and pale batter. Mix flour, corn flour and baking powder. Combine flour and egg-batter (don't just add all the flour at once, add spoonfuls and combine well). Remove the vanilla pod from the melted butter and mix butter with the dough. Pour the dough into your prepared springform pan. Arrange the pear halves on the dough with the round side up.

Rub the prepared chocolate dough in your fingers and the spread the crumbles on the cake.

Bake for about 30 minutes. Let cool in the springform pan.




Monday, September 12, 2011

Peanut Butter and Honey Granola

The heat is on! My exams started. The written ones are over already. Oral exams start next week... four more to go! It is an intense time. I keep telling people that there are four things I couldn't live without at the moment: coffee, ovomaltine, chocolate and, of course, peanut butter ;-) Still having my daily peanut butter sandwich for breakfast and lately, I discovered something truly great: Peanut Butter Granola! Fellow addicts, here comes one for you! Enjoy!




Recipe:
(from: The Kitchn)

This is the original recipe. I changed the composition slightly since I did not have everything at home when I decided to try the recipe. Of course, you can also leave out certain seeds and substitute them with others. Just create your granola as you like it.

3 cups rolled oats
2 cups shelled roasted peanuts
1 cup pumpkin seeds
1 cup wheat germ
1 1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 cup honey
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 cup peanut butter, smooth or chunky
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
2/3 cup vegetable or olive oil
3/4 cup chopped dried dates

Heat the oven to 160°C. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper. In a large bowl, combine oats, peanuts, pumpkin seeds, wheat germ, salt, cinnamon, and ginger.

In a small saucepan, mix the honey and brown sugar. Bring to a simmer over medium heat, stirring constantly. Turn off the heat and stir in the peanut butter and vanilla until smooth. Pour over the oat mixture. Pour in the oil, and stir thoroughly. The mixture will be chunky and rough.

Spread the oat mixture evenly on the prepared baking sheet and bake for 40 minutes, stirring twice while baking. Transfer the granola to a large bowl and add the dates, tossing to combine.




Monday, August 29, 2011

Blueberry Muffins

I've had a craving for muffins lately. So I decided to make some. I went for the good old classic: Blueberry Muffins. I couldn't get enought of the crumbles... Had to stop myself from picking them off the muffin tops :-)




Recipe:
(from: Leila Lindholm - Piece of Cake)

100g butter
200ml milk
grated zest of 1 lemon
2 eggs
120g sugar
1tsp vanilla sugar
240g flour
2tsp baking powder
1 pinch of salt
350g fresh or frozen blueberries

crumbles:
75g cold butter
60g rolled oats
60g flour
80g sugar

Preheat the oven to 200°C. Line a muffin tray with paper cases.

Melt butter, add milk and lemon zest. Beat eggs, sugar and vanilla sugar until foamy. Mix egg batter with milk batter. Mix flour, baking powder and salt and mix with the liquid batter. Add blueberries. Fill your mixture into thepaper cases.

For the crumbles: Cut butter into pieces and combine with the rolled oats, flour and sugar. Spread the crumble onto the muffins.

Bake for about 20 minutes.



Wednesday, August 10, 2011

Pasta alla Norma

I haven't posted a savoury recipe for some time now. It's not that I don't cook, it's just that most of the time I don't have the patience to photograph my freshly cooked meals when I'm hungry :-) This is one of my all-time favourite pasta recipes! The sauce goes perfectly with a big helping of ricotta... and I love to serve it with grated pecorino cheese instead of parmesan.




Recipe:
(from: Jamie Oliver - Jamie's Italy, a German version for instance here)

2 big aubergines
1tblsp dried oregano
1tsp chili flakes
2 garlic cloves
1 big bunch of basil (stalks chopped for the sauce)
1tblsp white wine vinegar
400g tinned tomatoes
olive oil
salt
pepper
150g ricotta
spaghetti or other pasta

Divide aubergines lengthwise into 4 quarters and cut into slices (about 1cm thick, like fingers). Heat olive oil in a heavy frying pan and put about half the eggplant slices into it together with the oregano. Roast until golden brown, then let drain on kitchen paper. Do the same with the other half.
Roast the eggplant slices together with the garlic, chili and the chopped basil stalks. Pour in the white wine vinegar, then the tomatoes. Season your sauce with salt and pepper and let it simmer for about 15 minutes.
Cook the pasta in salt water.
Before serving, add the basil leaves to the sauce. Mix the sauce with the pasta. Spoon some ricotta onto each serving.


Monday, August 01, 2011

Poppy Seed and Cherry Cake

Finals are approaching and I'm spending most of my time in the library at my desk surrounded by piles of books - not cookbooks unfortunately ;-) I might not post as regularly as usual over the next two months, but keep checking my blog from time to time. There's got to be a little time for cake or cookies :-) Here comes an easy one... for all of you who like poppy seeds as much as I do.




Recipe:
(in German www.wildeisen.ch)

Butter and flour for the springform pan
500g fresh cherries or 350g drained canned cherries
100g soft butter
120g icing sugar
1 sachet vanilla sugar
4 eggs
50g ground almonds
1 teaspoon baking powder
150g flour
150g poppy seeds
2dl milk

Butter and flour a 26cm diameter springform pan and put in the refridgerator. Preheat the oven to 180°C.

Wash and pit the cherries (I used cherries from the glass). Beat butter, icing sugar and vanilla sugar. Add one egg after the other. Mix almonds, baking powder, flour and poppy seeds. Add tho the butter-egg mixture alternating with the milk. Fill your batter into the prepared springform pan. Scatter the cherries over your batter und put in the oven. Bake for about 35-40 minutes. Let cool and serve dusted with icing sugar.

(I halved the recipe above and baked the cake in a 18cm diameter springform pan, baking time remained the same, check with a wooden skewer if the cake is done)

Thursday, July 21, 2011

Saffron Biscotti

I'm still in a "cookie-mood". Be cautious! These saffron biscotti seem so harmless, but they are highly addictive!



Recipe:
(From: Leila Lindholm - Piece of Cake)

100g butter
1 sachet of saffron (0.1g)
2 eggs
120g sugar
300g flour
1.5tsp baking powder
100g peeled whole almonds

Preheat the oven to 175°C.

Melt butter in a pan together with the saffron. Then, in a bowl, beat together with the eggs. Mix the dry ingredients together with the almonds in another bowl. Combine the dry ingredients with the egg-butter-mixture. Form three half-round thin loafs and put on a tray lined with parchment paper. Bake in the middle of the oven for about 25 minutes. Then, take them out of the oven and reduce the temperature to 125°C. Cut each loaf into about 1cm thick slices and put those back onto the tray. Bake for another 15 minutes.

Monday, July 11, 2011

White Chocolate Chip and Lavender Cookies

I was in the mood for cookies last week. Those were a present for someone who's having a pretty stressful time at the moment. Lavender is supposed to have a relaxing effect. A glass of milk and some cookies always help, I thought...


Recipe:
(adapted from: Leila Lindholm - Piece of Cake)

125g soft butter
80g brown sugar
1 egg
90g flour
15g rolled oats
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
100g white chocolate
about 1 tbsp fresh or dried lavender buds

Beat butter and sugar. Then add the egg and beat until creamy. Mix flour, rolled oats, baking powder and salt and add to your batter. Roughly chop chocolate and, together with the lavender buds, add to the batter. Form a roll of about 5cm diameter out of your dough and put in the freezer for about 30 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 180°C and line a baking tray with parchment paper. Take the dough out of the freezer, cut into about 1cm thick slices and put onto the tray. Bake in the middle of the oven for about ten minutes.


Thursday, July 07, 2011

Chocolate Chip Cookies with Lime

I got another cookie recipe for you. No peanut butter included this time :-) But there is something about the combination of chocolate and lime. This cookie recipe can be variated in many ways. You could try orange or lemon zest, coconut flakes, white or milk chocolate... whatever you feel like! Also, the dough might be prepared well in advance. Just leave it in the freezer until you want to use it.




Recipe:
(from: Leila Lindholm - Piece of Cake)

125g soft butter
80g brown sugar
1 egg
90g flour
15g rolled oats
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
100g dark chocolate
grated zest of one lime

Beat butter and sugar. Then add the egg and beat until creamy. Mix flour, rolled oats, baking powder and salt and add to your batter. Roughly chop chocolate and, together with the lime zest, add to the batter. Form a roll of about 5cm diameter out of your dough and put in the freezer for about 30 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 180°C and line a baking tray with parchment paper. Take the dough out of the freezer, cut into about 1cm thick slices and put onto the tray. Bake in the middle of the oven for about ten minutes.

Monday, June 27, 2011

Peanut Butter Brownies

Brownies are just great... I love the smile on people's faces when I tell them that I brought along brownies. I made a batch this weekend for some friends from the English Seminar - it's a good thing most of the people there share my fondness for peanut butter... ;-) and since they have to listen to me raving about it all the time (because, as you know from this post, that's just what peanut butter addicts do), I thought I might as well bake them something with peanut butter in it.



Recipe:

100g dark chocolate
125g soft butter
250g sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract/1 sachet vanilla sugar
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
80g flour
2 tblsp cocoa powder
100g roasted and salted peanuts
50g chopped dark chocolate/chocolate chips
about 10 tsp peanut butter

Preheat the oven to 180°C. Line a brownie tin (about 18x23 cm) with parchment paper.

Break the chocolate into pieces and melt in a bowl over a hot water bath. Let cool slightly. Put butter in a large bowl and beat with the hand mixer until smooth and creamy. Add sugar and vanilla extract and beat until well combined. Slowly add eggs and chocolate and beat well. Sift flour and cocoa powder into this batter, mix well. Then add the peanuts and the chocolate chips. Fill the batter into your prepared tin. Spread the peanut butter onto the batter with a teaspoon and run a fork through this batter so that you get a bit of a marble effect.

Bake the brownies in the middle of the oven for about 25-30 minutes. Check whether they are done with a wooden skewer. Let the brownies cool down in the tin, then cut into pieces.


Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Ginger Chocolate Chip Pound Cake

I have a thing for ginger, also for glacé ginger, which I think adds the extra something to this cake. When I saw this recipe, I knew this must be my kind of cake. And it even exceeded my expectations it was so good! This cake immediately made it to my favourites-list. It's also delicious when it is still slightly warm... best eaten with some extra cream cheese... perfection...



Recipe:
(from here)

100g unsalted butter, melted
200g caster sugar
125g full-fat cream cheese
3 medium eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract/or vanilla sugar
50g ground almonds
1 tsp ground ginger
75g chopped glacé ginger
125g dark chocolate, chopped into small chunks
200g plain flour
2 tsp baking powder

Preheat oven to 180°C. Line the base and sides of a small, 17cm-long loaf tin or similar with nonstick baking paper, allowing the paper to pop up a few centimetres above the top of the tin.

Mix together the butter and caster sugar until smooth. While the butter mixture is still warm, beat in the cream cheese until any lumps vanish, then beat in the eggs one at a time, until light.

One by one, add the vanilla, almonds, ground and glacé ginger, beating well after each addition, then stir in the chocolate chips. Sift the flour and baking powder, then stir evenly though the cake mixture. Bake for 60-70 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the centre pulls out with only a few crumbs stuck to it.

Leave to cool for a few minutes, remove from the tin but leave in the paper, and place on a wire rack to cool.


Saturday, June 11, 2011

Light Cheesecake with Redcurrants

As promised - as a contrast to the last post ;-) - here comes the cake I made two weeks ago as a dessert for two good friends of mine. It is fairly light and makes a really nice summer dessert - you don't even have to turn on the oven. I was very pleased with this cake. It looks so pretty with the redcurrants on top.



Recipe:
(from Saisonküche, Juni 2011)

100g petits beurres
50g butter
6 sheets gelatine
2 eggs
1 lemon
350g low fat curd cheese
60g sugar
0.5dl water
125g redcurrants

Line a 18cm springform pan with parchment paper. Put the petits beurres in a plastic bag and beat them with a rolling pin until they are crumbled. Melt the butter. Mix butter and crumbles and press this onto the bottom of the springform pan. Put in the refridgerator. Soak gelatine in cold water.

Separate the eggs. Grate the lemon zest. Mix the zest and the lemon juice with curd, sugar and egg yolks. Take the gelatine out of the water and squeeze it well. Then, in a small saucepan, heat the gelatine in the water until it dissolves. Mix a little of the curd batter with the gelatine. Then, mix this well with the whole curd batter. Beat the egg whites until stiff and fold into the curd batter. Pour your batter into the springform pan and spread the redcurrants onto this. Put in the refridgerator for at least 3 hours for the cake to get firm.


Saturday, June 04, 2011

How to improve Cream Cheese Brownies...

Ok guys, here's the thing: today, I wanted to post the light and fruity cheesecake I made last weekend... (coming up next week, promise). However, what I'm going to present you now is a bit more decadent ;-) Such things happen spontaneously and before ten in the morning at my place - when I'm alone and no one can stop me from combining three of my favourite things: chocolate, cream cheese and peanut butter. Imagine the lovely smell of peanut butter and chocolate combined in my kitchen...

So, picture first and then comes the recipe...



Peanut Butter Cream Cheese Brownies
(adapted from: Myriam Zumbühl - Kochen mit Myriam)

125g dark chocolate
125g butter
2 eggs
200g sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract or one sachet of vanilla sugar
75g flour
1 pinch of salt

200g cream cheese (e.g. Philadelphia)
1 egg yolk
1 sachet vanilla sugar
3 heaped teaspoons of crunchy peanut butter

Preheat the oven to 220°C. Line a brownie tin (18x23cm) with parchment paper.

In a bowl, mix cream cheese, egg yolk, vanilla sugar and peanut butter.

Over low heat, melt butter and chocolate in a little pan and let cool a bit. Beat sugar and the eggs until pale and fluffy. Add vanilla sugar. Add the molten chocolate and mix well. Sieve in flour and salt and mix. Once the batter is smooth, pour into your prepared brownie tin.

Scatter cream cheese batter onto that with a spoon. With a fork, spread the batter a little and create swirls so that you get a marble effect.

Put into the oven and bake for about 20 - 25 minutes until the top is crispy and shiny but the inside is still moist. Let cool and then, cut into slices.


Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Mini Cheesecakes with Lime and Rosemary

I love special flavour combinations. Who would have thought that rosemary and lime are such a good match?! These little cheesecakes are quite something. They are light and not too sweet and although I am such a sweet tooth, I liked that. I think these mini cheesecakes would be a perfect addition for the buffet of a summer party.




Recipe:

(from Tanja Grandits - Aroma pur: Meine fröhliche Weltküche)

for the bottom:
75g butter
100g biscuits (for example petits beurres), crumbled
1 lime, grated zest

for the filling:
225g ricotta
30g icing sugar
1 lime, grated zest
1 tablespoon rosemary, finely chopped
1 egg
1 egg yolk
150ml cream

Preheat the oven to 150°C. Prepare a muffin tin with paper cases.

Melt the butter and mix with the crumbled biscuits and the lime zest. Press these into your prepared muffin forms and chill in the refridgerator.

For the filling mix ricotta with icing sugar, lime zest and rosemary until you got a smooth batter. Then, add the egg and the egg yolk. Beat the cream until stiff and fold into your batter.

Fill the batter into your prepared muffin forms and bake for about 30 minutes. Don't open the oven. When they are done, turn off the oven and let them cool in the oven.

Makes 12.

Monday, May 16, 2011

Lemon and Poppyseed Madeleines

This weekend, out of the blue, I got a present. Just like that. It is something I have been looking for again and again over a very long time, yet I have never been able to find one. Even greater was my joy when I got it as a surprise: a madeleine pan! I'm still over the moon!

I have, of course, already put it to good use. Initially, I wanted to bake muffins this Sunday, but I'd forgotten all about them... Here is my very first batch of madeleines. Look how cute they are!!!




Recipe:
(adapted from: Donna Hay - Modern Classics: Sweet)

4 eggs
170g sugar
170g plain flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
180g butter, melted and cooled
grated zest of half a lemon
2 teaspoons poppyseeds

Preheat the oven to 180°C. Beat the eggs and the sugar in a bowl with the hand mixer for abou 8 - 10 minutes until it is very fluffy. Add lemon zest and poppyseeds. Sift in flour and baking powder and beat with the mixer on low speed. Fold in butter.

Grease a madeleine pan with butter. Mine has moulds with the capacity of about one heaped teaspoon of dough. I baked each batch for about 10 minutes until they were risen and golden brown. I got 40 small madeleines.


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