Mexican Wedding, Russian Tea, or just ordinary Christmas Cookies..

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it doesn’t matter how you call them, they are simply delicious!

These cookies got my attention just because of their name. Or the name I saw them the first time, “wedding cookies”. I liked the idea of a certain type of cookies people always make in their country for a wedding. My husband just said “oh, that’s just ordinary Christmas cookies”. And by browsing the web some more, I found that their also called tea cookies.
So no matter, what name you give them, they are still a really good choice to make. They melt in your mouth, you take a bite and they just powder. If there wouldn’t be the sugar on the outside they almost wouldn’t be sweet. And the pecans…hmm…I bet they would be good with a glass of wine, too.

Mexican Wedding Cookies (adapted from here)

  • 2 1/4 cups (315 g) flour
  • 1/3 cup (45 g) powdered sugar
  • 8 oz butter or lactose free margarine, softened
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 1 tbsp water
  • 1 cup (~100 g) pecans, chopped fine
  • 1 cup extra powdered sugar for rolling/dusting

Preheat the oven to 325°F. Place the butter in a large bowl and beat for 30 seconds. Add half of the flour, powdered sugar, vanilla, and water. Beat until blended then beat in the rest of the flour. Stir in the nuts. Pinch off dough and form 1-inch diameter balls and place on an ungreased cookie sheet. Flatten the dough balls a little with the base of a glass. Bake 20-25 minutes until the bottoms are golden brown. Remove from baking sheet and cool on cooking rack. When cookies are cooled, roll in powdered sugar.


I already promised my sister in law to make these at her wedding…

Fall on a Plate…

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or a Cupcake takes a walk!

I have this amazing carrot cake recipe I always use and this year I tried a new version and added some pumpkin. The pumpkin made the cake very moist. You just have to lick your fingers (or the spoon) after eating!

Since I always shoot my pictures at the same place outside on my balcony, I had the idea to take one cupcake and my camera with me for a little afternoon walk with my family. So it happened that the cupcake ended up on a fence in our neighborhood. We also collected some pretty leaves and brought them home to make an autumn decoration on the plate for the cupcakes.

Carrot Cake (Cupcakes) with Pumpkin (adapted from Cynthia Barcomi’s Baking Book)

Dry ingredients

  • 1 1/2 cup (280g) flour
  • 1 1/4 cup (250g) sugar (I only use 1 cup, 200g)
  • 2 teaspoons baking soda
  • 1 tablespoon cinnamon

Liquid ingredients

  • 1 cup + 1 tablespoon (250 ml) vegetable oil
  • 3 eggs, lightly beaten

Other ingredients

  • 3/4 cup (175ml) canned pineapple, drained and puréed
  • 3/4 cup (110g) Walnuts, roughly chopped
  • 75g dried coconut flakes
  • 75g raisins
  • 200g fresh grated carrots or just 100g carrots and 100g mashed pumpkin

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit (190 Celsius). If you want to make a cake grease a 10 inch (26cm) round baking pan. Or prepare your cupcake forms.

In a big bowl, mix the eggs and oil and stir in the mashed pineapples. With a wooden spoon stir in the dry ingredients just until it’s combined. Add the nuts, coconut, raisins and carrots. Don’t over mix it.

Pour dough dough in your prepared baking pan or cupcakes forms.

If you’re making a cake, bake for 50 minutes. Cupcakes need about 20 minutes. Bake till golden brown and a toothpick comes out clean.

The frosting is my basic butter cream frosting you can find here spiced with cinnamon.

Fall is here and with that cake you can munch on it!

Where do you keep your Blondies?

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In a jar, in a box, in a house with a mouse, on a shelf, or hiding in a secret place?

The thing I love with Blondies is making them. The part were the melted butter sugar mixture is melting with the flour and you stir and stir and it feels and look like a whole bowl of caramel. It already looks so good before you bake it, that you get temped to just eat the dough. Plus I think the part with the nuts works better, then in a brownie. I sometimes feel like, nuts are just disturbing a brownie. They belong to Blondies and you can take whatever nuts you want. It’ll always taste right.

Blondies (adapted from Cynthia Barcomi’s Baking Book)

Ingredients

1 2/3 cup (200g) flour
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
a pinch of baking soda
a pinch of salt

1/2 cup plus 1 teaspoon (125g) butter or lactose free margarine
1 cup – 1 tablespoon sugar (190g) sugar
1 tablespoon maple syrup or molasses

1 lightly beaten egg
1/2 cup (70g) chopped Walnuts or Pecans and or 1/3 cup (50g) white chocolate (I used almonds)

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit (190 Celsius). Grease a 9*x 9 inch baking pan.

Melt the butter in a saucepan till it bubbles, then dump in the sugar and the syrup and stir till combined. Let cool in a big bowl.

Mix the flour with the baking powder, soda and salt and set aside.

When the butter mixture cooled down you stir in the egg and the flour, then the nuts and if you use it, the chocolate.

Bake for 25 Minutes until golden brown and a toothpick comes out clean.


Would you keep them on a boat, would you keep them on a train, or in the rain?

There was a sparkling Wine Happy! Birthday Party last night….

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and so were the Cupcakes!

I had a recipe for champagne cupcakes on my list for a long time. I was just waiting for the right moment and I was really curious how they would turn out.
They were fantastic! These cupcakes would get the category “royal” if I had to put them in one. The cake was sooo fluffy, moist and tender like I had never had before. The wine flavor came out really well and gave it a taste made for kings, queens and princesses!

The party host, my friend who turned 24 made a wonderful Buffet and it was a pleasure to be her guest. The drinks (at least for the women) were sparkling wine and a real good vanilla schnaps. We were all in culinary heaven!

Sparkling Wine Cupcakes with Sparkling Wine Butter Cream adapted from here

(Makes 20)

  • 2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
  • 3 tsp. baking powder
  • 1 tsp. salt
  • 2/3 cup butter or lactose free margarine
  • 1 1/2 cups white sugar
  • 3/4 cup sparkling wine
  • 6 egg whites

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Prepare a cupcake pan with paper forms.

In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until very light and fluffy. Sift flour, baking powder, and salt together, and then blend into creamed mixture alternately with sparkling wine.

In another large clean bowl, beat egg whites until stiff peaks form. Fold 1/3 of the whites into batter to lighten it, then fold in remaining egg whites. Fill the cupcake liners about 2/3 full.

Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean.

Sparkling Wine Butter Cream

  • 6 cups powdered sugar
  • 2 cup butter or lactose free margarine, at room temperature
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 4-6 tablespoons champagne, at room temperature

With an electric mixer, beat together sugar and butter (or margarine). Mix on low until well blended, and then on medium for another two minutes. Add vanilla and champagne, beating on medium for another minute.

Decorate with a piping bag.

I heard a couple “sights” by people who had their first bites of these…that makes me happy!

Hazelnut Friand with Apples and Cinnamon…

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fall here we come!

It’s been 2 weeks without posting anything. The reason is the lack of a (good) camera. Of course, I’ve been baking, but just once a week. I kind of needed a break from the first marathon I did here.

Fall is here and I bought my first pumpkin and made a spicy soup out of it. The wind blows really fresh outside so I am looking for something warming. I never made friands before and even after doing them I don’t exactly know what they are, or where they come from. All I know, the recipe always calls for almond meal and lot’s of egg whites. I used very fine ground hazelnuts, because I didn’t have almond meal at home. But the little “cake”, “muffin” turned out really fluffy and light and not to sweet.

The recipe is adapted from here

  • ½ cup + ½ tablespoon (75g) all purpose flour, sifted
  • 1 ½ cups (210g) icing sugar, sifted
  • 1 cup (100g) almond meal (ground almonds)
  • 4 egg whites
  • 180g unsalted butteror lactose free margarine, melted
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • one big apple, peeled and sliced in pieces, plus some cinnamon

Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F.

Butter ten 1/3 cup  capacity fluted pans (I used paper lines for muffins, next time I try without, the cakes stick to the paper too much).
Place the flour, icing sugar and almond meal in a bowl and stir to combine. Make a well in the center, add the egg whites, butter and vanilla and stir well to combine. Divide batter among prepared pans. Stick 3 apple slices in the dough of each and sprinkle the top with cinnamon. Bake for 10-20 minutes or until golden and cooked through. Allow to cool in the pans for 5 minutes then carefully transfer onto a wire rack. Dust with icing sugar before serving, if desired.
Makes about 16. I used 1/3 cup (80ml) capacity muffins pans.

(I am absolutely not happy with this presentation… I will hopefully have access to a good camera soon again….)

That was a good nutty, sweet apple bite.

Chocolate Espresso Cupcakes with a hint of Peanut Butter…

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boosts you up when you’re down!

After all these fruity recipes I tried, I was in the mood for creamy heavy stuff again.

I made chocolate cupcakes with peanut butter frosting a lot of times and I love them.
I always been curious about a coffee flavor in chocolate cupcakes. So, I just used my basic chocolate cupcakes with vanilla frosting recipe and added espresso powder to it and made a peanut butter filling.

Et Voila…

The espresso flavor was there, but not too strong, the taste of chocolate still came through .
I caramelized some shopped almond pieces to sprinkle on the espresso butter cream, that was really a highlight.

Chocolate Espresso Cupcakes

Ingredients

  • 1/2 cup (50g) unsweetened cocoa powder
  • 2 tablespoons instant espresso powder
  • 1 cup (240ml) hot boiling water
  • 1 1/2 cup (180g) flour
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • a pinch of salt
  • 1/2 cup (115g) butter or lactose free margarine
  • 1/2 cup (100g) sugar
  • 1/4 cup (50g) brown sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 2 teaspoons Vanilla extract or Vanilla Bean

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit (190 Celsius) and line a muffins pan with paper forms.

Pour the hot water over the cocoa powder stir well and add the espresso powder, set aside.
Mix the flour with the salt and the baking powder and set aside.

With an electric mixer, cream butter and sugar. Add the eggs and Vanilla mix until combined. Add the flour and beat on medium speed by adding the cocoa. Mix until you can’t see white spots in the batter.

If this batter seems to you very liquid, don’t worry , that’s the way it should be.

Fill the forms about 3/4 full with the batter and set them in the oven for about 12 minutes.

Now here comes the hint of peanut butter, if you want to, just get a teaspoon and your favorite peanut butter (it should be a “stiff” one, too liquid and oily wouldn’t work with that method) and put a “hazelnut sized” piece of the peanut butter in the center of the batter, before you bake them.

Never forget to test if they’re done by sticking a toothpick in the cupcake. The pick has to come out clean.

Espresso Butter Cream Frosting

  • 1 tablespoon instant espresso powder
  • 1/2 cup (115g) lactose free margarine or unsalted butter, room temperature
  • 3 to 4 cups (300-400g) confectioners’ sugar
  • 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract, or vanilla bean

Pour 2 tablespoons hot water over 1 tablespoon instant espresso powder and let cool.

With an electric mixer cream the butter and add the confectioner’s sugar, add the espresso and Vanilla and beat until light and fluffy for about 2 minutes. Use a piping bag with a big tip to decorate.

Chocolate always helps, doesn’t it?

Fig Bars

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gives you power and treats you right!

I was talking to my brother today about him working till late at night and getting up early again. First thing that came to my mind was, that I want to make him something that gives him energy during a long working day.

This fig bar is light, crisp and not too sweet. The chewing experience is like poppy seeds. The little seeds of the figs are cracking in your mouth with every bite. Figs are power fruits they are rich of carbohydrates, potassium, calcium, magnesium and iron.

Fig Bars (adapted from Cynthia Barcomie’s Baking Book)

Ingredients

Pastry

  • 1/2 cup (120 g) butter or lactose free margarine
  • 1/3 cup (65 g) sugar
  • 1 egg
  • 1/4 teaspoon vanilla sugar/vanilla extract
  • 1 3/4 cup (210 g) flour
  • 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon grounded nutmeg
  • a pinch of salt

Filling

  • 1/2 pound (250 g) dried figs
  • 1 ounce (30 g) almonds
  • 1/4 cup (60 ml) apricot jelly
  • 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
  • 1/2 tablespoon lemon zest
  • 1/4 tablespoon cinnamon

Mix all the ingredients for the pastry dough with an electric mixer together. Form a disk, wrap in foil and let chill in the fridge for at least 1 hour.

Mix all the ingredients for the filling in a food processor till you get a smooth paste.

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit (190 Celsius).

On a floured surface you roll out half of the dough to 0,2 inch (0.5 cm) thickness. Make sure there are no holes.
It should have a size 15* x 8*inch (40 x 20cm).
Make a horizontal stripe through the center of the dough to put half of the filling, leaving enough room at the top and the bottom, so you can fold the dough over on top of itself. Press both sides together.
Transfer gently with the edge to the bottom to the baking sheet.
Repeat the process with the other half of the dough.

Bake for 20 minutes, until golden brown. Let cool for five minutes and cut in desired pieces.

they are a little addictive like potato chips, you wouldn’t stop munching them down….

Nectarines and Honey

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if Cleopatra would call for Cupcakes, these would be my choice for her!

The last Cupcakes I made with the blackberry filling made me want to try Nectarines in a Cupcake. It works! No preparation, nothing, just cut it and place the pieces in the dough filled forms and you have a fresh fruity center.

The cupcake is a vanilla buttermilk cupcake adapted from here and the butter cream….. oh my goodness….the butter cream is flavored with honey and this is what makes it very unique and decadent in taste. Also very sweet, of course.

Vanilla Buttermilk Cupcakes

Ingredients

  • 2 whole eggs
  • 1 egg yolk
  • 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
  • 1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons buttermilk or soy milk (150ml) (room temperature)
  • 1 1/2 cups (180 g) flour
  • 1 cup (200 g) sugar ( I used a little less)
  • 2 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 cup (1 stick) (115 g) unsalted butter or lactose free margarine, cut into cubes (room temperature)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit (175 Celsius).

In a bowl, whisk together, the eggs, egg yolk, vanilla, and buttermilk and set aside.

Whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Cut in the butter cubes and mix with an electric mixer on low speed until you get little pea looking balls. Now add the wet ingredients. After that crank the speed up on medium and mix until the batter is fluffy.

Portion the batter in your prepared paper lined muffin forms and bake 20-25 minutes and a toothpick comes out clean. Transfer them to a a wire rack to cool.

The butter cream is again my Vanillla Butter Cream Recipe from here. I just added 3 tablespoons honey and a pinch of cinnamon. Decorate the butter cream with a piping bag.


…and don’t forget the golden plate for serving !

Vanilla Chai Cupcakes with Blackberry Filling…

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and you think you are in spice-berry heaven, or in Marie Antoinette’s society!

You need a break? You need something that completely blows away your daily routine?
I sometimes feel like drinking a chai tea when I feel the need to space out and relax and treat my soul with something warm, spicy, sweet and silky…
I found a recipe for Vanilla Chai Cupcakes the other day online and what made me want to try that recipe was, that it describes how to make your own Chai Spice Mix. Wonderfull!!! I knew which ingredients were in there, but I never dared to mix it myself by guessing the right combination of them. And after trying these delicious cupcakes, I can only say it was the first and the right one.

I added a Blackberry filling just by sticking the hole raw fruit in the middle of the dough filled form before baking, and that also turned out really well. Since they weren’t too ripe, it gives the center of the cupcakes a nice berry, little sour fruity note, which is very refreshing.

Ingredients

  • 1/3 cup + 2 1/2 tablespoon (100 g) butter or lactose free margarine
  • 1 cup (200 g) sugar
  • ½ tsp vanilla bean paste
  • 2 eggs
  • ½ quantity chai spice mix (recipe follows)
  • 1 ¼ cups (150 g) plain flour, sifted
  • ½ cup (120ml) buttermilk or soymilk
  • ½ tsp baking soda
  • ½ tsp white vinegar

Chai Spice Mix

  • 1 ½ tsp ground cardamom
  • 1 ½ tsp ground cinnamon
  • ½ tsp ground ginger
  • ¼ tsp ground cloves
  • ¼ tsp ground nutmeg

Mix spices together in a small bowl.

Preheat the oven to 320 degrees Fahrenheit (160 Celsius).

Cream together the butter and sugar. Add the vanilla and beat in one egg at a time. Stir in half the quantity of chai spice mix. Fold in the flour and buttermilk alternately and stir until combined, don’t over mix. Mix together the bicarb soda and vinegar and mix into the batter.

Spoon into prepared cupcake cases, if you want just put the fruit of your choice (I think even apple pieces would work) in the center of each cupcake, and bake 15-20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

I used my Vanilla Butter Cream recipe , you can find here , and added the other half of the chai spice mix to it.

Pipe the butter cream on the cooled cupcakes and decorate by your choice.

This is real love….

The Good Old Brownie

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also good for midnight “coming home from bowling” snack.

Did I mention that I love the recipes by Cynthia Barcomi ? They are usually so.. how can I describe that… so solid.
Her recipes remind me of my grandma’s baking. Like there’s no need to leave something out or cut in half because of calories. But there is also no need to do fancy adding of weird stuff, like pink pepper to chocolate cookies… for example. I like it, too, that a lot of her recipes are just to stir things together, or use your hands.

Her baking tastes “true”. That what it is!

The recipe is from her baking book which I would highly recommend for everybody who wants to learn basic stuff in baking.

Just try that recipe and you’ll know what I mean!

Ingredients

  • 14 ounces (400 g) semi sweet baking chocolate
  • 1/4 cup + 1 tablespoon (75 g) butter or lactose free margarine
  • 3/4 cup (150 g) sugar
  • 2 tablespoons instant coffee
  • 2 tablespoons espresso or coffee
  • 2 eggs, slightly beaten
  • 3/4 cup + 2 tablespoons (105 g) flour
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon baking soda (Natron)

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit (190 Celsius) and grease a 9* x 9* inch (23 x 23cm) baking pan.

Take 7 ounces (200 g) of the chocolate and melt it with the sugar, butter and coffee in a saucepan over medium heat, stirring occasionally. Let cool before you add the eggs.
Add the rest of the chocolate chips or chunks (if you use chocolate in one piece, cut little chunks) and the flour, salt and baking soda. Mix with a spoon only until it’s combined.

Pour the dough in the greased baking pan and bake for 25 Minutes.

I sprinkled some almond sticks on top of the dough before baking…that gives it some bite.