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tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-90983886380919474522016-10-29T02:23:54.738+11:00Milly bakescooking adventures (read: stress relief) of a 19 year old medical student down underMillynoreply@blogger.comBlogger26125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9098388638091947452.post-81013476862247862015-10-21T15:00:00.000+11:002015-10-21T15:00:14.238+11:00Mini Lemon Layer Cakes with Lemon Buttercream Hi friends! It's been a while since I've posted anything, sorry about that! My hiatus has not been due to any particular lack of baking - rather just lack of time, and not having a camera around (although I did only use my phone for these too...). Anyway, this recipe I will share with you now is just so simple to make. It's quicker than a normal cake, and you end up with separate bite sized portions at the end. Ingredients:   2 cups plain flour 1 teaspoon baking powder 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/4 teaspoon baking soda 120 grams salted butter, softened 1 and 1/4 cups sugar 1/2 cup of lemon juice 1 tablespoon of lemon zest 3 large eggs 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract 1/3 cup buttermilk (can also substitute with 1/3 cup of milk and 1/3 tablespoon of lemon)   Lemon buttercream  60 grams salted butter, softened 1 and 1/2 cups icing sugar 2 teaspoons fresh lemon zest 1/8 cup fresh lemon juice Yellow paste food coloring (gel is best) (I actually used double this recipe, but found that I ended up with too much icing...)    Method:      Preheat oven to 180° C. Line a large baking tray with parchment paper, and/or spray with nonstick cooking spray. Set aside. This is what you will use to make the cake. In a medium bowl, sift the flour, baking powder, salt and baking soda together. Whisk together and set aside. In a large bowl, combine the butter and sugar. Beat with an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating to combine each time. Then add the lemon juice and vanilla and mix. Finally, alternate between adding the flour mixture and buttermilk to the large bowl. Beat with your mixer until combined. Pour batter into prepared pan, and spread evenly. Tap pan several times on countertop to reduce air bubbles in batter. Bake on middle rack of oven for 15 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted near centre comes out clean. Cool completely and place in the freezer. In the meantime, make your lemon icing. Using an electric mixer, beat the salted butter, icing sugar, lemon zest and lemon juice together until light and fluffy. The colour of the icing should become lighter in colour too. Add yellow food colouring as desired. Take the cake out of the freezer and cut rounds from the cake. I used a 5cm diameter cutter, or for smaller portions, use a 3 cm diameter cutter. Note, the cake can be pre-cut and the rounds stored in an airtight container for a week in the freezer. If doing this, place baking paper between each layer of cake. Place lemon buttercream in a piping bag fitted with a large open-star tip (Wilton #1M). Pipe a rosette of buttercream onto each round. Depending on how firm the buttercream is, you can either place one cake and rosette round on top of another immediately, or refrigerate, and then layer. (P.S. Use the left over cake to make cake pops!) Best enjoyed with a cup of tea, within a few days of baking! Millynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9098388638091947452.post-87071316134166600382015-05-16T10:32:00.002+10:002015-05-16T10:35:21.020+10:00Lemon Melting Moments (with raspberries) I love lemon, and I love biscuits that just melt in your mouth, so putting the two together in these lemon melting moments is amazing. I've haven't posted as much here recently, as I've been focusing my attention lately on this  photography blog , as well as a myriad of committee projects I'm a part of, study, and planning my next travel escape. To update though: I moved out of my parents house again, and am now living in the suburb where my placement this year is located. It's a fantastic house, I love the lady I live with, and I love being able to spend time cooking, baking and of course, not having to travel as much. I've baked quite a few things there actually, but this will be the first that I post. The gardeners keep bringing around lots of lemons, so most of the coming recipes will probably involve these in some way! Back to the biscuits - they are crumbly and sweet and tangy from the lemon filling, with a nice tangy break in the middle (if you choose to use raspberries)! They are quite simple to make and an easy project if you have a spare hour! Ingredients:    175g unsalted butter, softened 1/4 cup icing (confectioner's) sugar, sifted 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 1 cup plain flour, sifted 1/4 cup cornflour, sifted   lemon filling  75g unsalted butter, softened 1 cup icing sugar, sifted 3 teaspoons lemon juice 2 teaspoons finely grated lemon rind Optional: 6-12 raspberries (fresh or frozen)    Method:      Preheat the oven to 180°C. Line a baking tray with baking paper. Mix the butter, icing sugar and vanilla extract with an electric mixer, until the butter is pale and fluffy. Add the sifted flour and cornflour to the butter mixture, and beat with a mixer until a smooth dough has formed. Using the palms of your hands, roll teaspoons of the dough into rounds and place onto the baking tray. The biscuits will spread as they cook, so leave about 2 cm between each biscuit round. This recipe roughly makes 12 melting moments, but try to make an even number of biscuits. Flatten each round slightly using a lightly floured fork. Bake for 7-8 minutes or until lightly golden around the edges. Transfer to wire racks to cool completely. For quicker cooling, place wire racks into the fridge. To make the lemon filling, place the butter, icing sugar, lemon juice and rind into a bowl and beat with an electric mixer until the mixture is light and fluffy. Spread the filling onto the underside of cooled biscuits. You may also like to put a whole or half raspberry in the middle of the lemon icing. Sandwich the other biscuit half on top. (You can also choose to pipe the filling on with a star piping tip! I recommend Wilton 1M)              Millynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9098388638091947452.post-48116584172225150582014-12-23T22:36:00.000+11:002014-12-23T22:36:31.127+11:00Sickle cell biscuits  Excuse the hiatus - I have recently been travelling (photos and so on  here soon!! - yes shameless promotion, I know) and unfortunately am still unable to bake at home. Instead I will continue to share my university project. These biscuits were the first thing I actually made when I had planned out my assignment, and personally it's one of my favourites. I initially made them as normal vanillekipferl biscuits dyed with food dye, however since so many people were deceived by the colour and thought they were going to be strawberry flavoured, I changed the recipe to flavour them slightly strawberry. The result is this recipe - it's possibly posted a little late for Christmas baking, but if you have some time, vanilla kipferl biscuits  are  traditionally made for Christmas. So why not try this variation today? (maybe without the food dye!) Millynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9098388638091947452.post-57266996172246426932014-11-16T17:20:00.000+11:002014-12-23T22:36:12.050+11:00Skin Slice (Lemon Slice) This recipe is actually just a simple lemon slice recipe - literally the most basic one that you can make, but one that is a classic and no doubt loved by many generations. Only the other day, I mentioned the recipe book to an older colleague at work, which prompted an extensive discussion about cooking and recipes. He tried to share his trusted 'slice' recipe with me - and I pretty immediately recognised it as being quite similar to the one below. This recipe is no bake, however the final page is a suggestion of a baked lemon slice base recipe, and a recipe for lemon curd with rolled oat crumble topping. Unfortunately moving back home around the time I was planning on doing this meant that I was unable to actually try the recipe I had devised - but if anyone is feeling particularly adventurous, I'd love to see if you try it! Millynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9098388638091947452.post-56149383776210757382014-10-31T17:11:00.001+11:002014-12-23T22:36:24.197+11:00Eyeball Cake Pops Eyeball cake pops - the perfect treat to make this Halloween! These are very easy and very tasty, too. Millynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9098388638091947452.post-85820169517227144562014-10-29T21:37:00.001+11:002014-10-29T22:28:29.208+11:00Beautiful things I think that this may be the longest absence I have had from my blog. The reason is simple - I moved back home, and I can't bake. It breaks my heart a little bit because every so often someone I know will ask me what I have been baking recently. I smile a bit funnily and say that I haven't. It's easier to reply than  "I can't"  - especially when the people asking know that I'm back at home and separately also know that I can't bake at home. It's a bit tiring telling people the same thing over and over. It also meant that it was quite difficult for me to finish off my university assignment that I mentioned last post. Taking it in to uni to be handed in, I didn't want to show anyone because I didn't think that many people would appreciate the hours spent putting it together, but not only that, the struggle I had finishing given I could not even bake at home. Anyway, it's done now. I'll be putting up the pages as img files in their own blog posts. I think the thing I am happiest with is the cleanness of the design, and  how freaking awesome the images look. Believe me, they are even better in print. Here's the cover for you guys to look at. Nope, this isn't the cover, but you won't know what the cover is otherwise. :)                   The colours of the icing are not super distinct, but there is one quadrant of yellow, one including the ducts. Removed my student number hence the awkward placement of my name, sorry guys! Millynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9098388638091947452.post-2213730950609345102014-09-04T21:40:00.005+10:002014-09-04T21:50:08.390+10:00Cranberry and Vanilla Cupcakes  Life suddenly got very busy recently as it does, so I haven't had the time to update this blog. Of course, there's always time for baking - even in the busiest of periods! I have been working on a number of recipes BUT since it's for an uni assignment, I'm probably not going to post the photos or recipes as yet. Trust me, it'll be worth the wait! That being said, I felt like I just had to share these cupcakes in particular, they were so good! The cranberry is in the icing. Its flavour is quite subtle and I'm not sure if it's just me, but it may come out a little more if you give these babies some time to cool and sit. It also gives the icing that gorgeous fleshy-pink colour - if you want it a little darker, I would probably recommend mixing more juice with thickened cream instead of icing powder. Then, add that to creamed butter and icing sugar. Just a suggestion though - I'm not 100% sure that would work...             If the recipe looks familiar, that's because it is! I unashamedly modified the cupcake and icing recipe from  this post . I think I should move onto testing other cupcake recipes at some point, but for the moment, these are come out perfectly every time - fragrant, fluffy, and so divine. I did, however, change the method which I used to make the cupcake - more specifically the order that the ingredients went in. My goal is to make the process of baking these as simple and fuss-free as possible so that instead of picking up that easy cupcake mix next time you're in the supermarket (although you really gotta love the convenience...!!), you can check yourself and remember that this recipe is simple, uses heaps of ingredients you probably have stocked in your pantry and is delicious too. Hopefully I'll succeed in one of these aspects! P.S. Sorry about the lumpiness of the icing in photos, I made these the day before an exam (arguably my spiel about simple and fuss-free is more like an excuse for being in a rush!), and I didn't quite do everything I outlined in the steps. If you want beautiful icing, sift, sift, sift! Ingredients:          Vanilla cupcake      120 grams of butter, at room temperature  1 cup of caster sugar   1 cup of self-raising flour  1 cup of flour  120 mL of milk   1 teaspoon of vanilla essence   2 eggs  (Optional: dried cranberries)     Butter Icing     1 1/2 cup of sifted icing sugar   1/4 cup of cranberry juice   100 grams of butter  1 1/2 cups of sifted icing sugar      Method:       Line a 12-cup cupcake tin with liners, and preheat the oven to 160 degrees C.   Cream the butter and sugar together in a large bowl. Lately, I have been beating the softened butter with a mixer (or otherwise) first, until it softens more and appears creamy and paler in colour. At this point, alternately add caster sugar and whip the mixture until the sugar is completely incorporated and there is only a slight grainyness to the mixture. Add both flours, the milk, and the vanilla essence. Mix. I found it easiest (and less messy) to use a spoon to start mixing everything together, and then a mixer to speed up the process once some of the flour had been incorporated into the mixture. Continue until it has come together in a nice batter. Finally, add the eggs one at a time and mix until they are completely incorporated. Spoon into lined cupcake tin, filling to about 1/2-2/3rds full. Bake for 20-25 minutes (baking time will vary depending on how filled your cupcakes are!) To make the icing, add the cranberry juice to the sifted icing sugar. Do this slowly, and mix in the juice at the same time. In a separate bowl, cream the butter, and then slowly add sifted icing sugar. You will get a nicer result (than I did at least) if you add the icing sugar in batches and sift it. Add the cranberry juice to the icing sugar and butter. Mix until the colour is evenly distributed and the icing looks fluffy but firm. Once the cupcakes have been turned out onto a cooling rack, and cooled, ice as desired! There's something incredibly calming about being at home and measuring out ingredients, whisking batter, kneading dough or whatever else it is. It's methodical, and allows for me to get completely lost in my own thoughts. It's the thing that I can do without other people - and I probably prefer it when it's just me. When I started out, my housemate would sometimes help me... but now I know where everything is and just go about my merry business whether or not she's around. The past couple days had a few down moments. Just small things suddenly causing frustration, people and events suddenly getting on my nerves in a way that they never have before. Honestly the world seemed to hate me and my short patience really compounded that. On Wednesday, with only lectures including a massive three hour gap in between the ones in the morning, I decided to head home early and do some baking! (Edit: this actually made my day but two of my uni friends actually made two recipes off this blog - namely the  Chocolate Magic Custard Cake  and  Mandarin and Apple Cake Loaf ...!!! The pictures look amazing and honestly this made my week!!!!) I've actually made lemon lime tarts/tartlets a number of times before - although usually I make curd with cream. Since I didn't actually have any cream this time around, I had to play around with the recipe to find something else that worked. The pastry in this is firm, but crumbly with a surprising hint of sweetness. Be careful not to leave the pastry in the oven for too long as you definitely don't want it to get dry. For me, the lemon lime curd has just the right amount of tanginess. For anyone who doesn't know me, I should add this: I love my lemons and love my lemon tarts exactly that - tart. At any rate, obviously that's my personal taste, so if you're not as big a fan of that sour lemon-y flavour, feel free to add a little more sugar to the filling. I am personally very happy with its flavour... either way, however you make it I'm sure the recipe's simplicity and deliciousness will win you over! Ingredients:   (tart base adapted from Julie Goodwin's  Lemon Lime Tart  [and yes, this is what I normally use...!], and the curd was adapted from David Lebovitz's  Lemon Tart Recipe )    1 cup of plain flour  1/8 cup of self raising flour   Pinch of salt  1/2 cup of icing mixture   100 grams of butter  1 egg   3/8 cup of lemon juice   1/8 cup of lime juice   grated lemon zest  grated lime zest  3/8 cup of sugar   80 grams of butter  2 eggs   1 egg yolk          Method:      Grease a flan tin. Sift the plain flour, self raising flour, salt and icing mixture into a large bowl. Cut the butter into small cubes, and put these into the bowl. Wash your hands with cold water, and then using your fingertips, rub the butter in with the flour. Our goal is to make this into a breadcrumb-like mixture without the butter melting. I like to lift my hands up slightly as I do this, both to aerate the mixture and to ensure that the butter doesn't warm up too much. Once the mixture looks like breadcrumbs, crack one egg into the bowl and mix. It may not actually look like the mixture will come together, but keep mixing until a dough forms. If the dough is sticky, pour a little flour into the bowl and knead into the dough. Wrap the dough in gladwrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes. Preheat your oven to 160 degrees C at some point during this period (depending on how fast it takes to heat up!) Roll out the dough onto a slightly floured surface, until it is about 4-5mm thick. Line the flan tin with it. Fill the pastry with baking weights, and then blind bake for 10 minutes. Take the pastry out of the oven after this. In the meantime, juice and zest the lemons and limes. Put both the juice and zest into a saucepan, along with the sugar and butter. Heat the saucepan over a low-medium heat until the butter melts. In the meantime, whisk the eggs and egg yolk together in a small bowl. Turn the saucepan to medium and slowly pour this into the saucepan. Before you do this, ensure the saucepan contents aren't too hot, as we don't want to cook the egg!! The mixture will start to thicken. Stir occasionally, and when you see the mixture bubbling, take off the heat. It should be quite thick. Strain the warm curd straight into the pastry case. Once this is done, pop the tart back into the oven for another 10 minutes. You can top this with whipped cream, meringue, various fruits, or serve as is! Millynoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9098388638091947452.post-66341152313758923492014-08-06T17:53:00.000+10:002014-08-06T21:28:17.331+10:00Vegan Carrot Cake with Lemon Glaze Icing        I actually made this cake over a week ago and never got around to writing a post on it - uni started, and other stuff was busy... you know how it is. However, it would be such a shame not to post it at all, particularly since the reviews I got from this cake were all super positive! Honestly this was not difficult at all to make. There is no heavy mixing, or anything that might remotely need an electric mixer. Seriously, too easy! To top it off, it's vegan, too! Ingredients :   1 1/2 cup flour   1 teaspoon of baking powder  2 teaspoons of ground cinnamon  A pinch of salt  120ml or 1/2 a cup of canola oil   40ml of water  1/2 cup maple syrup  2 teaspoons of vanilla extract  3 carrots, grated (equaling about 3 cups full)  2 cups of icing mix   2 tablespoons of lemon juice   Optional: 1/4 cup of lemon zest    Method :   Preheat the oven to 170 degrees C. I made this cake in a loaf tin (and then about 10 in mini muffin tins) but feel free to use this mixture to make a proper cake! In a large bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, and add the cinnamon and salt. In another bowl, combine the canola oil, water, maple syrup and vanilla until mixed. Slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients. Once mixed into a batter, fold in the grated carrot. Pour/scrape the batter into the loaf tin and/or muffin tins (or whatever you're using!) Bake for 25-30 minutes - until a toothpick inserted into the centre comes out clean. Turn your cake and muffins onto a cooling rack and allow to cool fully before adding the frosting. To make the frosting, sift the icing mix and add the lemon juice and zest. It may not seem like it will all come together initially but keep stirring, and eventually you will end up with quite a thick glaze. If you want it runnier, add a little more lemon juice. If you need it thicker, add a 1/4 cup more of icing sugar at a time until you reach the desired thickness. To ice, use a knife or spatula to spread the glaze on the cake. Millynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9098388638091947452.post-2041816941645784452014-07-23T12:19:00.002+10:002014-10-31T17:21:39.837+11:00Salted Caramel Tartlets        These  salted caramel tarts  were from Billy Law's blog  A Table For Two (ATFT) . They are amazing - the salted caramel almost melting in your mouth. I pretty much followed the recipe from Billy's blog, however instead of glucose, I had a 1:1 ratio of sugar and water. In spite of that, the salted caramel is actually quite salty. I was surprised at this after I had made it, and thought that somewhere along the way I must have added in too much salt. However the day after, I went out to and had some salted caramel containing cake from Koko Black and realised it was actually spot on. Seriously though, these are the perfect little bite-sized treat with just even sweetness and saltiness from the pastry and the salted caramel to balance out the palate nicely! In other news, chocolate is hard to work with. There, I said it. I can deal with ganache, but I can't work with pure chocolate. Heating it up results in this mess of burnt chocolate around the edges and hard, unmelted chocolate in the middle. Hardly appetising. Add that to the fact that I had intended on sweetening the chocolate and couldn't even work with it to save my life... well... let's just say that was a bit of a nightmare, which turned into a grainy mess. At any rate, these were still delicious and definitely worth making! Millynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9098388638091947452.post-2901117762507159522014-07-19T14:04:00.003+10:002014-07-19T14:04:50.893+10:00Chocolate Baileys Cupcakes                         I made these with some friends while we were over at C's house marathoning an anime. No recipes this time around, but honestly you could whip this together quite easily - just make a batch of chocolate cupcakes using your favourite recipe with some added Baileys. For the icing, make your normal buttercream recipe, but instead of milk, add some more Baileys (also depending on how much alcohol you want in these! The chocolate drizzled on top is chocolate ganache (which we also flavoured with Baileys... You can reduce some of the cream and substitute Baileys), which we also filled the cupcake with. You can use either of the two methods described  here  and  here  to do this, or another method altogether. Of course, you don't need to do either! If you want, you can add a finishing touch with some decorations such as the hearts above, or you can just enjoy without those! Millynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9098388638091947452.post-22528099230108858732014-07-15T19:24:00.000+10:002014-07-15T19:29:03.936+10:00Sugar cookies with royal icing          These sugar cookies are amazing. The original recipe was from  QueenUnderTheMtn , from the  /r/baking subreddit . There's no other way to describe them. I've never had so many people tell me how awesome a bunch of cookies were, not even when I filled a bunch of chocolate chip cookies with nutella. These ones were buttery and ranged from being a little soft to crisp, depending on how long you baked them for. I'm going to say now though that I wasn't super creative with my shapes - I did a couple heart shapes ones, and teddy shaped ones, but the first batch I did, I placed the cookies far too close together, so it merged into one giant cookie. So of course, I had to eat that batch - to taste test them, of course ;)          Otherwise for the most part, I just stuck to circles. Not very creative, but certainly delicious anyway! Perfect with a cup of tea, or coffee or hot chocolate (whatever your drink of choice is!). Ingredients:      200 grams butter, softened  1 1/4 cups of icing sugar  1 egg  3 teaspoons of pure vanilla extract  1 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder  2 1/2 cups of flour   1/4 teaspoon of salt     Method:     Preheat the oven to 200 degrees C.   Using an electric mixer or otherwise, beat the softened butter and slowly add the icing sugar until the mixture is paler in colour and looks quite fluffy. It helps to do this by adding the icing sugar in batches. Beat in the egg and vanilla extract. Sift the flour, salt and baking powder together in a separate bowl. Slowly add this to the mixture, one cup and then half cups at a time. Continue to add until the mixture is less soft and sticky. Let dough sit in the bowl for 5-10 minutes   Roll a portion onto a floured surface until it is about 5 mm thick. Cut shapes out and place them on some baking paper on a large cookie sheet. Try to leave about 2-3 cm between each cookie, as they do spread a little. Bake for 6-7 minutes or until you see the edges start to brown. The cookie will still be quite soft at this point, so let it cool on the cookie sheet for 3-5 minutes before moving to a rack to cool. Millynoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9098388638091947452.post-11764478266303629652014-07-11T17:45:00.001+10:002014-07-15T19:09:19.187+10:00Mini chocolate caramel layer cake ... with chocolate caramel ganache buttercream and drizzled with dark chocolate ganache. I recently bought two small cake tins with removable bottoms, measuring about 10cm in diameter (I think - honestly I can't remember the exact size). I figured, I really really want to make cakes, however making a full size 20cm diameter cake every time is probably a little infeasible. I mean, what am I going to do with so much cake?! I realised though, that unfortunately using smaller tins meant that the amount of ingredients had to change. In fact, I pretty much quartered everything, which proved to be quite annoying. Who wants to quarter 1/8 of a teaspoon of salt? Is that even a thing? That's like almost no salt at all! Recipe aside, I ran into some other trouble with baking times as I wasn't sure how to adjust the individual cake baking times for the smaller size. Unfortunately this did mean that I took the chocolate half out too soon, resulting in the middle collapsing... Nothing a little buttercream couldn't hide, though! The caramel front was arguably more disastrous, with a fair amount of the caramel batter leaking through the tin... x_x I haven't really baked cakes that often so this has definitely not happened to me before... I'm guessing it has something to do with the batter itself, as it was much runnier than the chocolate batter (which had no issues)?? Thankfully I rescued this one and popped the cake tin onto a baking tray... It did still leak, but it was much more contained. The cake still tasted divine though, with my brother eating pretty much a good half of the cake once he'd had the first tasting! For this post I won't be putting up the cake recipes, as they were pretty much taken straight from  Pastry girl 's  Darkness to Light cake  minus the white layer. For the chocolate ganache, I only used dark chocolate with 45% cocoa solids with effectively a 1:1 ratio of chocolate and cream. Chocolate caramel ganache buttercream   Note: This made enough to top two 10cm cakes. If you're using to top two 20cm cakes, multiply all the ingredients by 4. Ingredients:      1/8 cup of caster sugar  1/8 cup of water + additional 1/8 cup of boiling water  1/4 cup of heavy cream   1/4 cup of dark chocolate   50g of butter    Method:     Prepare the caramel syrup by heating the 1/8 cup of caster sugar and 1/8 cup of water in a small saucepan, over a medium heat. Stir until all of the sugar dissolves. In the meantime, boil some water. Carefully watch the saucepan as the syrup will change colour quite rapidly. When you notice it becoming a golden brown colour, remove the saucepan from the heat and add the additional 1/8 cup of boiling water. Let the syrup cool. In a different saucepan, heat the heavy cream over a low-medium heat until bubbles appear. Take the saucepan off the heat. Place chocolate in a heat resistant bowl and pour cream over the chocolate. Stir until all of the chocolate has melted and has combined with the cream to create a smooth mixture. Add the caramel syrup and mix until combined. In a mixing bowl, start beating the butter. Slowly add the chocolate caramel ganache until the two combine. Millynoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9098388638091947452.post-61824734852621512012014-07-04T22:48:00.000+10:002014-07-04T22:48:36.858+10:00Mocha cupcakes topped with butter roux (ermine frosting) and oreos        I'm going to preface this recipe by saying that I probably should have done my research better before I started attempting to substitute ingredients into the  Brown Eyed Baker’s chocolate cupcake recipe . Having said that, these cupcakes still turned out ridiculously fluffy, soft and moist. The milky creaminess of the ermine frosting (traditionally used for red velvet cakes) really complemented the chocolate/coffee taste of the cupcake, without overpowering the cupcake with sweetness, while the Oreo crumbs and pieces on top provided a beautiful, chocolate flavoured crunchy top. Admittedly, I wasn't expecting it to taste as much of coffee as it did, but I think it worked out well! I'm almost too ashamed to tell you guys what I substituted in this recipe – I'm not sure that the great end result necessarily makes up for what was an obvious rookie mistake. I'm going to take it as a learning curve though! Since we don't bake at home, I had a couple ingredients that I decided to take to my housemate Y’s house in order to use – it would have been such a waste otherwise! On the way there, I dropped by the supermarket and noticed that chocolate (to eat, not specific baking chocolate) was being sold at a reduced price, so being the poor uni student that I am, I decided I would just buy some blocks of this chocolate instead of baking chocolate. Seriously though, they were glaring at me under their big yellow and red sign, begging to be picked up…! The chocolate I used was some Cadbury Old Gold Original - admittedly more 'research' now tells me that it has the same percentage of cocoa solids as dark baking chocolate (45%). In fact, I'm not even sure what the difference between the two is any more as the Cadbury website lists both the  baking block  and the  old gold block  as having the same ingredients?! When I got home, I realised that of the three ingredients I had brought over, two – the self-raising flour and the chocolate chips – were past their best before date by about a month. Not wanting to waste either, I did a quick google search which told me I could still use the self-raising flour, but it would probably act more as plain flour as the leavening agents in the flour would definitely not work. Similarly, the chocolate chips could still be used. As I mentioned earlier, the basis for these cupcakes was Brown Eyed Baker’s chocolate cupcake recipe, which called for baking soda. I was in the middle of making the batter when I realised that we’d almost run out of baking soda. On this front, I do actually know that while you can make baking powder from baking soda and other ingredients, you can’t make baking soda itself. With no laptop to properly browse the internet, I didn't realise that it was possible to use baking powder instead of soda – but if you did then 2-4 times the amount was required! Thus I only substituted at a 1:1 ratio which no doubt accounts for the inability of my cupcake batter to form nice domes (they did actually rise, just not that much). (I also used vinegar which I now realise was not necessary as it is used to activate the baking soda... I did use 2 teaspoons in the batch I made but I have removed it from the recipe below)  In retrospect, the latter point is not actually a bad thing. When I finally got home home and had laptop access again, googling showed me that often people actually cut off that dome before they ice the cupcakes. My immediate objection was purely because I am so used to seeing domed cupcakes that it never occurred to me flat tops could be a thing, much less something that bakers actually want…! Any way, enough dwelling on my silliness. Honestly my friends and my family loved these, so I hope that you attempt the recipe and enjoy them too! (don't worry, I may have to 'test' the recipe properly again and will let you know how I go!) Ingredients : (makes about 24 short [as per the pictures] cupcakes or 12 normal cupcakes)     Mocha cupcakes:    75g dark chocolate   1/4 cup of milk chocolate chips   1/4 cup of cocoa powder   3/4 cup of hot coffee (I used 1 teaspoon instant coffee mixed with 1 cup of boiling water)   5 tablespoons vegetable oil   2 eggs  1 teaspoon of vanilla extract  3/4 cup of plain flour   3/4 caster sugar  1/2 teaspoon salt  1/2 baking powder   Optional: oreos to top     Butter roux or ermine frosting      220 grams of butter  1 cup of caster sugar   250 mL of milk  3 tablespoons of plain flour  Small pinch salt  1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract     Method:       Preheat the oven to 170 degrees C. Line a regular cupcake or muffin tray. Place the dark chocolate, milk chocolate chips and cocoa powder in a large bowl. Add the hot coffee and stir until all the chocolate has melted. Set aside to cool. Mix the vegetable oil, eggs and vanilla extract into the cooled chocolate/coffee mixture, until the mixture is smooth. In a separate bowl, sift the plain flour, caster sugar, salt and baking powder. Whisk this into the first bowl. Spoon the mixture into the cupcake liners so that each is about 2/3s full. Bake in the oven for 18-20 minutes. Any longer will dry out the cupcakes too much. Turn out onto a rack to cool. To make the frosting:  heat the milk and plain flour in a saucepan over medium heat. Stir occasionally. When the mixture feels thicker and/or you can see lumps, continue stirring the mixture until the mixture becomes quite thick and paste like. Set aside to cool (note, it should still be slightly warm when you add it to the butter and sugar). While the milk and flour mixture is cooling, beat together the butter and caster sugar with an electric mixer. Continue to do so until it is lighter in colour and fluffy. Add a spoonful of milk and flour mixture at a time to the creamed butter. The finished frosting should be very light and look like whipped cream! Ice the cooled cupcakes as desired. I found the icing to be a little soft but it did still manage to hold the overall shape from the piping. Optional: Crush/chop the oreos or use a food processor to crumb (depending on how large or small you want the pieces to be). To ensure crunchiness, sprinkle on top right before eating. Millynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9098388638091947452.post-43198479600627297082014-06-28T14:56:00.000+10:002014-07-04T21:33:53.841+10:00Blueberry muffins topped with chopped walnuts and sugar        I debated whether or not I should actually post these, as I'm sure there are heaps of blueberry muffin recipes out there that are super delicious and so on. That being said, whenever people ask me about my blog I tend to say that I use it to document my baking 'adventures' or generally the things that I bake, so I'm going to go ahead and post this along with my thoughts for the recipe. I went to my housemate's house a couple days ago because I was sort of in the area (when by sort of I mean, about half an hour away so really not that close at all! Kinda shows you how desperate I am to do something with my time...) and I wanted to try my hand at baking bread or pizza or bagels or something along those lines. I did actually end up making both pizza and bagels - someone please correct me if I'm wrong, but do they use the same dough? I didn't get many photos of those though, and I think I want to try them again before I post them up. ;)  The day I went, I stocked up on heaps of baking supplies - but since I had gone out right before, I didn't buy eggs or milk, only to realise when I got to my housemate's place that we didn't have much of either! I decided to only make a half-batch of muffins. The recipe I played around with was Donna Hay's " Too-Easy Blueberry Muffins ", but instead of vegetable oil I used butter. Call me lazy, but I didn't want to halve an egg... so I used the whole thing and tried to compensate (or disguise) for a potentially very eggy muffin by adding the normal amount of vanilla extract. I'm not sure if it was necessary to do but the muffins tasted pretty good (I think!). They were super easy to make too, which is always a plus. Ingredients:      1/2 cup of caster sugar   60 grams of butter   1 1/4 cups of self-raising flour   1/2 teaspoon baking powder   1 egg   60mL of milk   1 teaspoon vanilla extract   Fresh or frozen blueberries   Chopped walnuts   White sugar (or other granulated sugar)     Method   :       Preheat oven to 160 degrees C. Line cupcake or muffin tray with patty liners (recipe makes about 6). Using an electric mixer, mix the butter and caster sugar together until pale and fluffy. Sift the self-raising flour and baking powder into the same bowl and mix until incorporated. Add the egg, milk and vanilla extract, and mix. The batter will end up being quite thick. Using a wooden spoon or spatula, mix in the blueberries so that they are evenly distributed. Spoon the mixture into the patty liners. As the mixture was quite thick and sat unevenly in the cases, I put the tray into the oven for 2-3 minutes until their tops had levelled out a little more. Following this, I took the tray out of the oven and sprinkled walnuts and sugar to top, before placing the tray back in the oven for 25-30 minutes. (Actually, I'm not sure if taking it out is necessary... does anyone know??) The muffins are done when a skewer inserted into their centre comes out clean. The tops should also be a golden brown. Turn out onto a cooling rack and enjoy! Millynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9098388638091947452.post-45138851402439014712014-06-20T15:09:00.000+10:002014-06-20T15:58:15.008+10:00Mandarin and Apple Cake Loaf       Since my break started, I've been getting pretty bored and restless, which generally means I really need to find something to do with my time. I'm looking into getting my oven at home fixed, or buying a benchtop oven (any recommendations?) but in the meantime baking posts may be sporadic and may be replaced by cooking. Not that that's a bad thing, mind you - I think I should definitely get into that too. I was back at my housemate's on Wednesday, so I decided to try my hand at this  peach and strawberry yogurt loaf recipe by Baking Bright  which I've had my eye on for a while. The only fruit which we had was apples and mandarins, and half a lemon from the pad thai I made the same night, so I decided to adapt the recipe. I'll admit now that I was really sceptical about this one - I've never tasted anything mandarin flavoured that I can remember and I definitely wasn't sure if apple and mandarin would even go together! Since I infused the batter with mandarin and lemon juice, as well as mandarin rind, you could distinctly taste the mandarin within the loaf. It was surprisingly good - a little dense, but that's not a bad thing in itself. If you wanted something lighter, I'd probably add a little more baking powder, or go half-half with plain and self-raising flour. As for the apple - well, I'm not entirely sold on that one... I may just have to make it again to make up my mind ;) Also please excuse the messiness of the apples on top haha, I put them on after I had already put the loaf in the oven (woops). Nothing that a dusting of icing sugar can't hide, though! I had some of the loaf while it was still warm, but I definitely found that the flavour was much stronger after it had cooled, so I highly recommend you wait before digging in! Ingredients:     2 cups of plain flour  1 teaspoon of baking powder  1/4 teaspoon of salt  150 grams of butter  1/3 cup of caster sugar  1/3 cup of light brown sugar  2 medium eggs  45mL of milk  1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract  1 tablespoon of mandarin juice  1 teaspoon of lemon juice  1 teaspoon of mandarin rind  1 small apple, diced  Segments of one mandarin, halved  Sliced apple segments to top  (Optional: 1 teaspoon of cinnamon)    Method:      Grease a loaf tin. Preheat the oven to 160 degrees C.   In one bowl, sift the flour, baking powder and salt together. In a separate bowl, whisk together the butter and sugars, and then the eggs one at a time until evenly mixed. Add the milk, vanilla extract, mandarin and lemon juices, and mandarin rind and combine. Fold the first bowl (containing flour, baking powder and salt) into the second bowl. The mixture will be quite thick. Add the diced apple and halved mandarin segments to the mixture and evenly mix through with a spatula. Spoon the mixture into the loaf tin. Then arrange a layer of apple slices on top. Place in the oven 50-60 mins. The loaf is done when a toothpick or skewer insert into the centre of the loaf comes out clean. Remove from the oven and turn the loaf from the tin onto a wire rack to cool completely. Dust with icing sugar. Millynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9098388638091947452.post-31944600351922468152014-06-17T21:12:00.000+10:002014-06-20T16:07:01.507+10:00No bake Peanut Butter Cheesecake with Tim Tam crust       This is going to be one of those super approximate recipes because I made this from home home (as opposed to my housemate's house ;)) and kinda made it up as I went along. It was my first time making cheesecake but I got super excited at the thought of potentially mixing Tim Tams and peanut butter, so I put those together. Since our oven hasn't worked in so long, I no longer know where all of our measuring cups and what not are... in fact, I was pretty lacking in utensils all round, so I was a little worried that this wouldn't work out at all. I honestly couldn't find anything to mix the cheesecake with (no electric mixer or even a whisk!), let alone a food processor. You'll laugh, but I literally just used cutlery! It seemed to do the job well enough, though. My mum isn't the biggest fan of things which are really sweet, so she really loved the not-too-sweet creaminess of the peanut filling, and the contrast of this with the crunchy bottom. I hope you'll like it just as much as she did! Ingredients :   200 grams of Tim Tams (1 packet)   3-40 grams of butter   500 grams of cream cheese  3/4 cup of peanut butter (or to taste)   1/4 cup of sugar (I used white since that's what we had lying around but caster is fine too)   1 table spoon of milk     Method :     Using a food processor or otherwise, crush the Tim Tams. Personally I thought the old-fashioned method of beating the heck out of the Tim Tams is more fun, but if you're short of time, go for the food processor ;)   Melt the butter and pour it through the Tim Tam mix. Using your hands or a wooden spoon, stir, ensuring that the butter goes through all of the mixture. Press into a springform pan. Use the back of the spoon to smooth the crust, and then place in the freezer for 10-15 minutes. In the meantime, use an electric mixer to beat the cream cheese, peanut butter, sugar and milk together until it is smooth. Spoon this on top of the crust. Refrigerate for 3-4 hours. Millynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9098388638091947452.post-312685966145633842014-06-13T17:58:00.001+10:002014-10-31T17:20:51.029+11:00Peanut Butter and Oreo Chocolate Brownies My end of semester was on Wednesday, and so now I'm finally free to do some baking. We have formative OSCEs (clinical exams) next week, but I decided I didn't want to sit them. They are for practice and the mark doesn't count towards our grades, and I just don’t think I could deal with the stress of it. Nonetheless, I've been doing some study towards it and today a group of us went into uni to do some practice together (after all, you can’t practice a clinical examination on yourself!). With no impending assessment, it wasn't particularly urgent for me to practice. I decided I would head first to my housemate's house and do some baking. Oreo layer featuring Oreo packet in the corner, butter, and peanut butter    I’m a little uninspired lately, and my sleeping pattern has been quite out of whack. It normally is, but the stress leading up to our end of semester exam meant that I was wide awake every couple hours (those cortisol levels…), and I essentially slept through most of Thursday which has set a bad precedent for the next few days. My friends suggested that I make brownies though, based on something which they had seen posted on Facebook. Notice that the oreos are sitting on top of a layer of brownie mix :)     But these aren't just any brownies – they have oreos inside them, and to top it off, also have a layer of peanut butter goodness. This is not a difficult recipe by any means – in fact it was so quick and easy to throw together I'm not sure you would really believe me! After ages of googling, I settled on using ' Inspired Taste'’s cocoa brownie recipe found here  as the base. This recipe is actually quite decadent – I haven’t used it before, but I will definitely try it again in the future on its own as it was amazing! There’s very minimal flour used, and it doesn't rise very much as there isn't a leavening agent, so this is the perfect recipe if you enjoy your brownies dense and fudgy. The rest of the recipe was honestly just buttering the oreos and putting it together. Conveniently, 16 oreos fit into the brownie pan perfectly – I think it was really meant to be! ;)  Unfortunately I didn't take many photos of these (and most of what I took was not very good anyway!), as I was in a rush to get to uni to feed my hungry friends. I'll make up for it in future posts, though, I'm sure! Ingredients:      150 grams of unsalted butter   1 cup of caster sugar   1/2 cup of cocoa powder   1/4 teaspoon of salt   1 teaspoon of vanilla extract   2 large eggs  1/2 cup of flour   About a cup of peanut butter   16 oreos      Method:     Preheat the oven to 160 degrees C. I like to line my 20cm by 20cm brownie tray with baking paper since it makes for relatively mess-free baking. Specifically I cut a strip of baking paper to match the inside width of the baking tray. It doesn’t matter too much if there is excess paper that hangs over the sides. Then rotate the tray by 90 degrees and cut the baking paper as above, again. There might be bits of the tray which aren’t covered by the paper in the corners, but this shouldn’t be too much of an issue. This also makes the brownie really easy to remove at the end. Melt the butter (I microwaved it, but you can also melt in a saucepan over low heat or use the method in the original recipe) and then add the caster sugar, cocoa powder, salt and vanilla extract. Mix together. When the mixture is a little cooler, add the eggs one at a time. Ensure that the eggs are fully mixed into the mixture. The mixture will look glossy, but you shouldn’t be able to see any egg yolk or white on its own. Add the flour, and mix until it is fully incorporated. Spread the peanut butter over the oreos. Normally I use peanut butter liberally, but since I had read that the brownie recipe was itself very rich, I kept the peanut butter to a thin, even spread (about 1-2mm). Don’t worry if this is messy, as the brownie mixture will be going over the top anyway! Spoon about a ¼ of the brownie mixture into the lined baking tray. The mixture is quite thick, and you may need to spread it around the tray. Once this was done, place the oreos into the tray. You should be able to fit 4 in each column and row. Spoon another half of the brownie mixture into the baking tray. I placed a large mound of mixture in the middle, and then using a spatula, spread the mixture outwards until it was even. You don’t need to cover everything with the mixture – you don’t want to spread the brownie batter so thinly that you end up pulling away the peanut butter. Try to ensure a decent thickness of brownie mixture in the areas you have covered. Using the remaining ¼ of the brownie mixture, spoon into areas which are yet to be covered, or which look a little thin and spread until the mixture is even. Bake in the oven for 25-30 minutes. Millynoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9098388638091947452.post-19564733701723490572014-05-30T12:17:00.000+10:002014-06-18T19:39:30.272+10:00Earl Grey Cupcakes with Lemon Icing  Today is our last day of Semester 1 for this year, and to celebrate, last night I made another batch of Earl Grey Cupcakes, which I also made about a week ago for  my friend's birthday . I ended up making two batches, using two different cupcake recipes as I realised that I was going to run out of butter after the first batch. I also used a little less lemon juice for the icing, as the birthday cupcakes had quite a strong lemon flavour. The first batch of cupcakes were adapted from the vanilla cupcake recipe in " Cupcakes from the Primrose Bakery ", which can also be found  here . Instead of vanilla essence, I added 3-4 earl grey teabags to the milk to soak overnight. The second batch of cupcakes was an adaptation of Martha Stewart's  Buttermilk Vanilla Cupcakes . Instead of buttermilk though, I used normal milk, again infused with earl grey. The recipe below is my (approximate...) adaptation. Ingredients :   Butterless vanilla cupcakes    Note: alternate cupcake recipe (with butter!) can be found  here . Remember: instead of vanilla essence, add 3-4 earl grey teabags to the milk to soak overnight. 2 cups of all-purpose flour  1 1/4 cups of sugar  1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder  3/4 teaspoon salt  2 eggs  3/4 cups of milk   1/4 cup of vegetable oil (canola oil is fine)   3 earl grey teabags    Lemon icing  (this is very approximate, sorry!!) 3 1/2 cups of icing sugar   120 grams of butter  1 1/2 tablespoons of lemon juice   (Optional: lemon zest)   Method :      Vanilla cupcake     Preheat the oven to 160°C. Line two cupcake tins with cupcake liners. I was able to make 18 cupcakes from this recipe. Leave the earl grey teabags to infuse with the milk overnight. I didn't have leftover from the previous batch, so I heated the milk over a stove with the teabags left in the milk. After a few minutes, take the milk and teabags off the stove, and leave to cool. Sift the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt into a bowl. Add the eggs, cooled earl grey milk infusion and vegetable oil. Beat until the mixture is smooth - there should be no lumps and all the ingredients should be uniformly mixed. Spoon into the lined cupcake tin, so that each is about 2/3s full. Bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes. Turn out onto a cooling rack. Lemon icing        Using an electric beater, mix the icing sugar, butter and lemon juice (and zest!) together. Beat until light and fluffy, and then beat for a minute or two longer. The consistency we're looking for is soft - not runny or liquidy, and easily spreadable. If the icing is too runny, add icing sugar (about 1/4 cup at a time) and continue to beat until you reach the consistency you want. Putting it all together      When the cupcakes have cooled, ice the cupcakes as desired! I would suggest using minimal icing - as too much means that the earl grey flavour is lost underneath the lemon. I made a few with rosettes piped on top (before I realised the former point!), and then the rest I used a spatula to smooth some icing over. Millynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9098388638091947452.post-23036137218647041752014-05-28T22:05:00.000+10:002014-10-31T17:20:36.843+11:00Almond Covered Chocolate Truffles I stayed at home today to work on an assignment. In one of the (many) breaks I took, I found myself staring absentmindedly at the chocolate truffles my housemate's mum had bought the other day. They were beautifully soft chocolate balls that just melted in your mouth, and I couldn't resist looking them up to see if they were hard to make. At its most basic, truffles are so simple to make (and so yummy), I was surprised that I had never tried (or even tasted them) before! Conveniently, I still had some cream left over from last week, so making these really was killing two birds with one stone. It was quite quick to make (if you don't count the time waiting for the ganache) and I managed to use the rest of the cream and make awesome bite-sized study snacks! Ingredients :   100 mL of thickened cream   100 g of dark chocolate   2 tablespoons of cocoa powder   1 tablespoon of icing sugar   (Optional: chopped almonds)     Method:       Make chocolate ganache - begin by heating the cream over a low or medium heat in a small pot. In the meantime, break up the chocolate and place in a heat-resistant bowl. When bubbles appear in the pot, take it off the heat, and pour the cream over the chocolate. Stir until all of the chocolate has melted and combined with the cream to create a smooth mixture. Leave to cool and firm. When the ganache is firm but still soft enough to handle (1-2 hours, or you can put it in the fridge to cool quicker), mix the cocoa powder and icing sugar together in a small bowl. (Note: you can exclude the icing sugar - I used it because the chocolate I used for the ganache was quite dark, and I wanted something to sweeten the truffle a little)  Using a spoon or otherwise, scoop balls of the chocolate ganache and roll in a ball between your hands (ensure your hands are cold or the ganache will start to melt in your hands). Place into the ball and roll around in the cocoa powder and icing mix. Place on a plate and leave to rest (or place in fridge to cool quicker). If you are using the almonds: immerse in boiling water for a few minutes. Drain, and you should be able to peel the skin right off. Chop into small pieces and then roll the ganache ball in the almonds to coat. Millynoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9098388638091947452.post-5980629511767076122014-05-21T23:40:00.000+10:002014-05-26T12:22:53.447+10:00Matcha Latte Trying to find a balance between life and study, and figuring out where everything else fits in between. Lately I've been talking to my brother a lot about this kind of stuff. I miss that kid. I feel like I missed out on him growing up, and now I don't always live at home, I miss him even more. But it's the little comforts for now, right? It's technically almost the start of winter, but only now have the streets started filling with golden leaves, covering the sidewalks with their bright carpet. The days are still warm - and the skies lit up a brilliant blue under the setting sun. I went into uni but I didn't go to any lectures, and walking home under the setting sun casting its glow over the growing autumn colours was surprisingly ... calming. Flowers blossomed vibrant pink on the sidewalk, and the world had a depth of colour that I couldn't feel. Unfortunately, as much as I feel that way, I do have to study, and thus time would definitely not permit for me to do some therapeutic baking. I opted instead to make this matcha latte, with the powder which I recently bought. The sun set as I was making it, providing a lovely backdrop to my photos. Standing in the otherwise quiet house, bathed in a golden glow, it was hard not to feel a little more at ease, and a little more at peace. Ingredients :     1 teaspoon of matcha powder  1/4 cup of boiling water  3/4 cup of milk   Sweetener of your choice (sugar, honey, etc.) Method :     Mix the matcha powder with the boiling water and whisk until all of the powder has dissolved. The first batch I made, the powder didn't fully dissolve and there were some lumps which ended up floating in the drink. To avoid this, I added a little extra water the second time round just to make sure everything dissolved. Heat the milk over a low heat - I used a small saucepan, but you can microwave it if you like. Heat the milk until it starts to bubble around the edges. Add milk to matcha and water mix. If you want, you can add a sweetener to taste. Millynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9098388638091947452.post-67727333966193691072014-05-20T11:05:00.002+10:002014-05-20T11:10:43.999+10:00Vanilla Cupcakes with Chocolate Ganache Filling and Matcha Butter Icing  Last Monday, we started classes again and I was a little afraid that I wouldn't have the time to bake, let alone update this blog. Luckily, Sunday was a friend's birthday and coincidentally World Baking Day, so in light of the former, I decided to make birthday cupcakes again. I actually ended up making several kinds, but for today, I'll just talk about the matcha ones. The recipe itself was fairly straight forward - a basic vanilla cupcake recipe, normal chocolate ganache recipe and then of course, the icing. I seem to have been having a number of culinary hiccups lately though. The recipe I was following for the vanilla cupcakes was from a copy of " Cupcakes From the Primrose Bakery " by Lisa Thomas and Martha Swift, which I found in my housemate's bookshelf. Unfortunately we don't actually own a set of scales, and the measurements given in the book were in grams... I did look online, but somehow I ended up finding that 225 grams of caster sugar was about 1 and 3/4 cups! Luckily, combining butter and sugar is the first step, and I quickly realised that I had far too much sugar - in fact, almost double what I was supposed to have! Again quite fortunately, I had intended on making two batches of different flavoured cupcakes, and (after checking the ingredient amounts ) I simply added in more butter. I mixed those two ingredients together, and then divided the batter and set one half aside to use for the other recipe. On to the recipe itself - honestly, I thought it would be a good idea to use chocolate ganache and matcha icing together because supposedly the two are a good combination... My housemate said that she really liked both individually but not together, and personally I'm not too sure. I think I quite liked it, but I'm not sure if I would do it again. I got quite excited about the icing because I wasn't sure if it would work at all. I started off creating a beautiful matcha paste, but when I started trying to mix it into the butter and sugar, after several minutes I was horrified to find this mix of little green matcha bits and separate buttery bits. I couldn't see it coming together at all! I persisted though, and the next thing I knew, it had turned into a beautiful green icing! Please excuse the presentation of the icing by the way - I used quite a small piping tip, and it was my first time icing and I found keeping the consistency the same quite difficult. Ingredients :       Vanilla cupcake      1 cup of caster sugar   110 grams of butter, at room temperature  2 eggs  1 cup of self-raising flour, sifted  1 cup of flour, sifted  120 mL of milk   1 teaspoon of vanilla essence      Chocolate ganache     100 mL of thickened cream  100 g of dark chocolate    Butter Icing       2 tablespoons of thickened cream   1 tablespoon of matcha powder   100 grams of butter  3 cups of sifted icing sugar    Method :        Vanilla cupcake     Preheat the oven to 160°C. Line a 12-cup cupcake tins with cupcake liners. Using an electric mixer, mix the butter and sugar together until the mixture is pale and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time to the mixture, beating until combined each time. Combine the two flours - add a third of the flours to the mixture and mix. Add the vanilla essence to the milk and stir well. Add a third of this to the batter. Alternate adding flour and milk until all have been combined. Spoon into the lined cupcake tin, so that each is about 2/3s full. Bake in oven for 20-25 minutes. Chocolate ganache     Heat the cream in a small pot, over a low or medium-low heat. When bubbles appear in the pot, take pot off the heat. Place chocolate in a heat resistant bowl and pour cream over the chocolate. Stir until all of the chocolate has melted and combined with the cream to create a smooth mixture. Leave ganache to cool and firm a little, or place in fridge. Occasionally stir the mixture. The mixture is ready to use when it is cooled, and feels firm but soft. Matcha icing        Mix the cream and matcha powder together. This will create a paste. Using an electric mixer, mix the butter, icing and matcha together. Putting it all together      Once the cupcakes have cooled, fill a piping bag with ganache. I decided not to  cut holes in the cupcakes this time , and instead I put the piping tip into the cupcake, and filled it in that way. Ice the cupcakes in whatever fashion you like! Millynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9098388638091947452.post-84106499904656727362014-05-12T10:31:00.000+10:002014-05-12T10:31:54.109+10:00Peanut Butter and Nutella Brownies         Last week was a week filled with baking - these   chocolate cupcakes   on Tuesday, dessert and a sleepover on Wednesday, and then on Thursday, peanut butter and Nutella brownies. The recipe for this was adapted from   Betty Crocker's Peanut Butter Swirl Brownies   - however instead of splitting the peanut butter and brownie mixes, my friend J and I decided to mix them together. The result was a wonderful   sweetness of chocolate alongside the savoury peanut butter taste   in every bite. Since I personally adore both peanut butter and nutella, this brownie definitely gets a double thumbs up from me! Some of the 'outer pieces' - note the colour difference is due (I think) to different lighting (the sun was setting!) The brownie itself is turned out quite soft and fudgy, particularly around the middle. The outer pieces were a teeny bit more cake-y, but still had the same moistness the inner pieces had. There was also a beautiful thin layer of crust on top, although unfortunately this didn't really hold together after moving the brownie from the baking tin to plate. Hopefully you will enjoy these as much as I did - these slices of chocolate and peanut buttery goodness didn't last us very long! Ingredients:        2/3 cup of caster sugar    1/2 cup of packed brown sugar    1/2   cup of softened butter (or margarine)    2   tablespoons of milk    2   eggs    3/4   cup of plain flour    1/2   teaspoon of baking powder    1/4   teaspoon of salt    1/4   cup of peanut butter    1/4 cup of nutella     1/3   cup baking cocoa      Method:        Preheat oven to 180°C. Grease a square pan (I used 20 cm x 20 cm) or line with baking paper. Mix the sugars, butter, milk and eggs in a bowl, until well combined. Stir in flour, baking powder and salt. Mix well. Add peanut butter, nutella and cocoa, and stir through the batter. The batter will be a little thick at this point, so ensure that you mix until the cocoa powder is gone, and until the peanut butter and nutella has been folded through the whole mixture. Spoon the batter into the pan. It may not spread nicely on its own, so use a spoon or spatula to spread the mixture evenly in the pan. Bake 25 to 30 minutes or until skewer inserted halfway between the centre and the sides comes out clean. Wait until the brownie is cool to serve! Millynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9098388638091947452.post-49957991974953559122014-05-08T11:34:00.001+10:002014-05-08T11:37:59.965+10:00Chocolate Cupcakes with Strawberry Ganache and Butter Icing           My friends from high school and I catch up every month for dinner, and in light of the fact that it had been two of their birthdays over the past month, I decided to do some baking. I think I spent days trying to figure out what I wanted to make exactly, and finally settled on cupcakes. I didn’t want them to be just ordinary cupcakes, though - I wanted them to be really exciting and different - something you couldn’t just buy at a store. Whilst making pancakes at E’s house, we had uncovered a bottle of strawberry essence which we had used the last time we had baked together. E doesn’t bake much, and so I offered to take the bottle off her hands, and to use it in the next thing I made. The flourless chocolate cake, filled with strawberry chocolate ganache and topped with icing and fresh strawberries which E and I baked earlier this year     We had used the essence to flavour a chocolate ganache and this had turned out really well, so I put two and two together and decided to make another strawberry chocolate ganache to fill the cupcakes. Instead of using the ganache in place of the icing, I decided that the ganache would be the surprise filling - providing a smooth unexpected fruity flavour in the midst of a chocolate cupcake, and underneath butter icing. Cutting holes in the cupcakes for the ganache filling     My oven at home hasn’t worked for a couple years, and since we don’t bake often in my family, we have never bothered to get it fixed. However, I was staying at home over the weekend so I needed to find someone with a functioning oven to make these cupcakes! The catch-up was on Tuesday night, and when my friend A mentioned to me that he wouldn’t be coming into uni on Tuesday, a light-bulb went off in my head and I made the strange request of going over to his place for the sole reason of baking! Luckily for me, his family was very accommodating and were more than happy for me to come over. Cupcake filled with ganache - note, if you do this while the cupcake is warm, the ganache will melt! I was in a bit of a rush to make these, as I had somewhere to be, so these are far from perfect (especially the icing!). I’ve eaten them both warm, and after the cupcake has cooled and both are amazing! When warm, the ganache is more liquid-y, and biting into the cupcake results in this self-saucing strawberry chocolate sauce, whilst the cooled cupcake has a firmer, smooth strawberry chocolate centre. I hope that you guys enjoy these! Perfect with a cup of tea! Ingredients:             Chocolate cupcake:       100 g of dark chocolate    1 cup (250ml) of water    125 g of softened butter    1 1/2 cups of brown sugar    3 eggs    1 1/2 cups of self-raising flour    1/2 cup of plain flour    1/4 cup of cocoa powder     Strawberry chocolate ganache:     3-5 teaspoons of strawberry essence to taste (note, fresh strawberries can be used)    100 mL of double cream     100 g of dark chocolate     Butter Icing:     2  50 g of cubed butter, softened     450 g (3 cups) of sifted icing sugar    60 ml (1/4 cup) milk     Method:            Chocolate cupcake:       Preheat oven to 160°C. Line 2 12-cup cupcake tins with cupcake liners. Mix the dark chocolate and water in a small saucepan or pot, over a low heat. (Medium-low heat is okay if you're in a rush.) Stir until the chocolate melts, and the chocolate and water has blended together. Remove from heat and set aside to cool. Using an electric mixer, beat the butter and brown sugar until pale. Add the eggs one at a time and beat after each addition until the mixture has just combined. Add the flours and cocoa powder and stir until just combined. Add the melted chocolate mixture and stir. Continue stirring until everything is uniformly mixed. Spoon evenly among the lined muffin pans. Bake in oven for 20 minutes (or until a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean)    Remove cupcakes from the oven and transfer to a wire rack to cool. Using a knife or otherwise, remove a small portion of cupcake from the centre. (This step can be done while the cupcakes are still warm)    Strawberry chocolate ganache:     Heat the cream in a small pot, over a low or medium-low heat. Add in strawberry essence, stirring the mixture. If using fresh strawberries, refer to instructions on  Mandy Mortimer's blog . When bubbles appear in the pot, take pot off the heat. Place chocolate in a heat resistant bowl and pour cream over the chocolate. Stir the mixture until all of the chocolate has melted and has combined with the cream to create a smooth mixture. Leave ganache to cool and firm, or place in fridge. Occasionally stir the mixture. When the mixture is firm (but soft), fill the hole in the cupcakes. Butter Icing:      Place softened butter in a mixing bowl and beat until the butter is light and fluffy with an electric mixer. Gradually add icing sugar (sifted! or the icing will be a little lumpy...) and beat until the mixture is fluffy. Gradually add milk and beat until smooth and well combined. Ice the cupcakes. I kept it simple and just used a knife and spread it over the cupcake, however you can be as creative as you like! If there is ganache overflowing from the hole in the cupcake, start with the icing over the hole and cover up the ganache before spreading it outwards, or the ganache will mix with the icing and create chocolate streaks. Millynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9098388638091947452.post-6644714319568125232014-05-04T22:48:00.000+10:002014-05-07T21:44:10.106+10:00Brown Sugar Pancakes  Last night I stayed over at my gorgeous friend E's place (thank you for always being happy to take me in                 Reading at E's house. Had to take a sneaky selfie ;)      My friend and I decided to make pancakes... as you'll see we were running a bit short on ingredients, however I think we did well with what we had! To start off with, we realised that we didn't have any caster sugar - so instead we decided to make them with brown sugar instead! I think these pancakes come out much denser than normal pancakes, and E's sister described them as being 'rustic'. The brown sugar taste was a bit subtle - which may be due to the fact that half of the sugar we used was dark brown sugar, and the other half was light (that was all we had!) which has a milder/lighter flavour. Our batter was also a little on the thick side - we probably could have used a little more milk (although we were just short of that too so it couldn't be helped!) Nonetheless, the pancakes still spread pretty well and cooked fine. Brown sugar pancakes with peanut butter and banana. Peanut butter and banana has been my latest obsession, so I had some pancakes served with these - delicious! They also taste great with other pancake toppings - maple syrup, lemon and sugar, icecream or whatever you fancy. Ingredients:        1/2 cup of dark brown sugar       45 grams of butter, softened       2 1/4 cups all purpose flour       2 teaspoons baking powder       1/2 teaspoon of salt       2 large eggs       2 cups of milk       1 teaspoon vanilla extract         Method:          Melt butter with brown sugar, and stir mixture. Leave this to cool. Whisk together flour, baking power and salt. Add eggs, milk and vanilla extract, along with cooled brown sugar mixture. Stir to ensure that the brown sugar mixture is evenly distributed, but be careful not to overmix the batter! Don't worry if there are small lumps in the batter. Heat a skillet or griddle over medium-high heat. It is at the right temperature if drops of water sizzle when sprinkled onto the pan. Lightly grease the pan with butter or oil. Using a ladle, drop pancake batter on the pan. You can use the round end of the ladle to smooth the pancake out into a circle. Cook until small bubbles start form in the top half of the batter. You can check if the bottom is browned by lifting the edge of a pancake with a spatula. Flip and cook for on the other side for one or two minutes. Serve with your choice of toppings. Millynoreply@blogger.com2
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FBI rukavice su dvomjesečna igra namijenjena vlasnicima food blogova sa područja bivše Jugoslavije. Igru je osmislila i pokrenula food blogerica Mamajac. Ideja igre ja da blogeri glasanjem sami odaberu blog koji žele istražiti, zatim odaberu recept ili više njih koje žele isprobati sa bloga koji je pobijedio u glasanju a zatim u postu objave osvrt na isprobano. U tijeku je igra za studeni i prosinac , a pod istragom je blog Vrtaljica. Tužan je ovaj krug igrice jer Snježana više nažalost nije s nama. Ja na žalost nisam nikada imala čast osobno upoznati Snježanu ali preko njenih divnih recepata sam imala osjećaj da se znamo već dugi niz godina. Gledajući sada što sam odabrala za pripremiti nekako je ispalo da svi kolači sadrže čokoladu. I apsolutno su svi do zadnjeg savršeno uspjeli. Znam ja da je Snježana negdje od gore pazila da sve bude u savršenom redu. Nedostaješ nam Snježo i usput kad si gore pozdravi mi i tatu. Okrenuti kolač sa karamelom Ja uvijek padnem na kombinaciju karamela i čokolade, pa ako ste i vi taj tip ovo je definitivno kolač za vas. RECEPT: Recept za ispis Za biskvit: 200 g tostiranih i nasjeckanih miješanih orašastih plodova (ja sam koristila orahe, bademe i lješnjake) 210 g maslaca 185 g šećera 5 jaja 305 g brašna 1/2 žličice sode bikarbone prstohvat soli 60 g kakaa 170 g čokolade, rastopljene 300 ml mlijeka Za karamel: 70 g maslaca 95 g šećera 5 žlica vrhnja za šlag Dublji lim obložite papirom za pečenje. Zagrijte pećnicu na 180 C. Za karamel otopite šećer sa maslacem i vrhnjem za šlag uz stalno miješanje da se karamel otopi. Kada smjesa dobije lijepu zlatno smeđu boju maknuti ga sa vatre i rasporediti po dnu pripremljenog lima za pečenje. Po karamelu rasporediti priremljene orašaste plodove pa odložiti sa strane dok ne pripremite biskvit. U prikladnu posudu prosijati brašno, kakao, sol i sodu bikarbonu. Čokoladu otopiti na pari. Mikserom pjenasto izraditi maslac sa šećerom. Kada smjesa postane kremasta umiješati jedno po jedno jaje. Pjenjačom umiješati prosijanu smjesu sa brašnom, otopljenu čokoladu i mlijeko. Dobro izmiješati da dobijete jednoličnu smjesu. Dobivenu smjesu rasporediti preko pripremljenog karamela, zagladiti površinu pa peći u prethodno zagrijanoj pećnici 50-ak minuta. Pečeni kolač ostaviti da se ohladi u kalupu pa ga istresti na tanjur. Narezati po želji prije posluživanja. Fina torta Krasna, sočna, pomalo retro torta. Malo sam smanjila količinu šećera u odnosu na originalni recept i još sam sokom od naranče navlažila biskvite. RECEPT: Recept za ispis Za biskvit: 8 jaja 150 g šećera 1 vanilin šećer 200 g tostiranih, mljevenih lješnjaka 4 žlice oštrog brašna 2 žlice kakaa 100 g mljevene čokolade Za natopiti biskvit: iscijeđeni sok dvije naranče Za nadjev: 150 ml svježe iscijeđenog soka od naranče 100 g šećera 200 g čokolade sa visokim udjelom kakaa 100 g tostiranih mljevenih lješnjaka 250 g maslaca Za ukras: mljeveni lješnjaci Zagrijati pećnicu na 200 C. Namastiti i pobrašniti okrugli kalup za tortu. Odvojiti žumanjke od bjelanjaka. Bjelanjke mikserom istući u čvrsti snijeg pa ih odložiti sa strane. Žumanjke i šećer miksati dok smjesa ne posvijetli i udvostruči joj se volumen. U prikladnoj posudi pomiješajte mljevene lješnjake, mljevenu čokoladu, kakao i brašno. U pjenastu smjesu žumanjka naizmjence umiješajte smjesu lješnjaka i čokolade i snijeg od bjelanjaka. Dobro izmiješajte pa dobivenu smjesu istresite u pripremljeni kalup za pečenje. Zagladite površinu pa pecite u prethodno zagrijanoj pećnici 20 minuta. Snizite temperaturu na 180 C pa nastavite peći biskvit još 25 minuta. Ohladite. Za kremu u prikladnu posudu stavite 150 ml soka od naranče i šećer. Kuhajte na jakoj vatri dok ne provrije, pa smanjite i kuhajte još nekih 5-10 minuta dok se umak malo ne reducira i zgusne. Nasjeckajte čokoladu na manje komadiće pa je umiješajte u vrući umak. Dodajte i lješnjake. Miješajte dok se čokolada ne otopi i ne dobijete jednoličnu smjesu. Ohladite. Omekšali maslac mikserom izradite dok ne postane pjenasti. Umiješajte ohlađenu kremu. Dobro izradite. Ohlađeni biskvit prerežite dva puta, tako da dobijete tri lista. Na tanjur za posluživanje stavite donji list biskvita, navlažite ga sokom od naranče pa ga premažite trećinom kreme. Stavite drugi list biskvita, navlažite ga sokom od naranče i premažite trećinom kreme. Na vrh stavite treći list biskvita, navlažite ga sokom od naranče pa kremom omažite stranice i vrh torte. Ukrasite tortu mljevenim lješnjacima. Ohladite prije posluživanja. Sočna čoko torta Oko ove torte su podijeljena mišljenja, nekima se dopala a drugima baš i nije. Meni je bila vrlo zanimljiva zbog nadjevanja toplom kremom i bila sam sigurna da će kreme biti po svuda u hladnjaku. Tako da sam čisto da se osiguram tortu slagala tako da sam sve stavila u dublji lim za svaki slučaj ako nešto iscuri da ne moram čistiti cijeli hladnjak. Ali ni kap nije iscurila. RECEPT: Recept za ispis Za biskvit: količina namirnica je za jedan biskvit a potrebno je ispeći dva 2 jaja 10 žlica šećera 12 žlica oštrog brašna 13 žlica mlijeka 1 žlica kakaa 1 prašak za pecivo Za kremu: 1 l mlijeka 5 žlica šećera 200 g čokolade 300 g mljevenih oraha 250 g maslaca Zagrijte pećnicu na 200 C. Namastite i pobrašnite okrugli kalup za tortu. Mikserom pjenasto izradite jaja sa šećerom dok smjesa ne posvijetli i ne udvostruči joj se volumen. Smanjite brzinu miksera pa umiješajte žlicu po žlicu mlijeka. Prosijte brašno sa kakaom i praškom za pecivo pa smjesu umiješajte u smjesu jaja. Smjesu istresite u pripremljeni kalup za tortu, zagladite površinu pa pecite u prethodno zagrijanoj pećnici 20-ak minuta. Napravite test čačkalicom. Ponovite postupak još jednom i ispecite još jedan biskvit. Ohladite. Za kremu u prikladnom loncu pomiješajte mlijeko i šećer. Dodajte i čokoladu i orahe pa kuhajte na umjerenoj vatri dok se i čokolada i šećer ne otope. Maslac narežite na manje komadiće pa ga umiješajte u kremu. Biskvite vodoravno prerežite tako da dobijete dva lista. Stavite list biskvita na tanjur za posluživanje a oko njega stavite obruč od kalupa za tortu. Prelite sa četvrtinom kreme pa poklopite drugim listom biskvita. Ponovno prelite četvrtinom kreme. Ponavljajte dok ne potrošite i biskvit i kremu. Složenu tortu stavite u hladnjak, najbolje preko noći da se ohladi i stisne. Ujutro odstranite obruč a tortu ukrasite po želji. Kolač torta od lješnjaka i čokolade Odličan za doručak. Samo budite pažljiviji u čitanju recepta a ne kao ja pa da izostavite mlijeko. Kolač je svjedno bio odličan samo malo kompaktniji. Lijepo sam Vam rekla da je Snježa pazila da nam sve uspije. RECEPT: Recept za ispis 350 g čokolade sa visokim udjelom kakaa 125 g maslaca 100 ml mlijeka 1 staklenka kompota od trešanja bez koštica 100 g tostiranih i krupno nasjeckanih lješnjaka 1 žlica ruma 150 g brašna 1 prašak za pecivo 4 jaja 150 g šećera Ocijedite trešnje iz kompota od soka. Zagrijte pećnicu na 170 C. Namastite i pobrašnite dva duguljasti kalupa za kruh. Čokoladu izlomite na kockice pa joj dodajte mlijeko i maslac narezan na manje komadiće. Sve stavite kuhati na pari pa kuhajte uz povremeno miješanje dok se sve ne otopi i dobijete jednoličnu smjesu. Kada se sve poveže u jednoličnu smjesu maknite sa vatre pa umiješajte lješnjake, rum i trešnje. Stavite sa strane da se malo ohladi. Prosijte brašno sa praškom za pecivo. Mikserom pjenasto izradite jaja sa šećerom. Prosijanu smjesu brašna lagano umiješajte u smjesu jaja.. Umiješajte i smjesu sa čokoladom i mlijeko. Dobivenu smjesu podijelite između pripremljenih kalupa. Zagladite površinu pa pecite u prethodno zagrijanoj pećnici 50 minuta. Ostavite kolač da se ohladi u kalupu 5 minuta pa ga onda izvadite iz kalupa i ohladite do kraja prije posluživanja. Ovomjesečni izazov Daring bakersa bila je pripremiti Gateaux Pithiviers a ovomjesečna domaćica bila je Kat. RECEPT: Recept za ispis Za lisnato tijesto: 190 g brašna 185 g maslaca dobar prstohvat soli 80 ml ledeno hladne vode Za nadjev: 100 g oguljenih i mljevenih badema 60 g šećera 55 g maslaca 1 jaje 1/4 žličice arome vanilije 1/4 žličice arome badema naribana korica jednog limuna 2 žličice ruma Za premaz: 1 jaje Za tijesto pomiješajte 20 g brašna sa 150 g maslaca ali budite brzi da se maslac ne bi previše ugrijao. Pripremljeni maslac oblikujte u pravokutnik veličine 10 x 20 cm i omotajte ga rastezljivom folijom. Dok mijesite tijesto stavite pripremljeni maslac u hladnjak. U prikladnu posudu prosijte preostalo brašno i maslac. Pomiješajte pa ulite ledeno hladnu vodu i umijesite tijesto. Tijesto razvaljate pa u sredinu stavite pripremljeni maslac i preklopite krajeva( tako da izgleda poput omotnice9. Tijesto omotajte rastezljivom folijom pa ga stavite u hladnjak na 30 minuta. Nakon što je prošlo 30 minuta izvadite tijesto iz hladnjaka. Lagano pobrašnite radnu površinu. Tijesto razvaljajte u pravokutnik 25 x 20 cm debljine otprilike 0,5 cm.. Lijevu trećinu tijesta savinite prema sredini, tako da pokrijte središnji dio . Sada još i desnu trećinu savinite preko svega. Tako preklopljeno tijesto prekrijte rastezljivom folijom i stavite u hladnjak na daljnih 30 minuta. Nakon 30 minuta izvadite tijesto iz hladnjaka pa ga ponovno razvaljajte u pravokutnik 25 x 20 cm. Ponovno ga preklopite na prethodno opisan način i vratite u hladnjak na daljnih 30 minuta.Ponovite još jednom i vratite tijesto u hladnjak na još 30 minuta. Za nadjev pomiješajte mljevene bademe. šećer, maslac, jaje,aromu vanilije i badema, koricu limuna i rum. Oblikujte smjesu u disk, zamotajte rastezljivom folijom pa stavite u hladnjak na 30 minuta. Zagrijte pećnicu na 220 C. Lim obložite papirom za pečenje. Razvaljajte lisnato tijesto pa izrežite dva kruga. Na pripremljeni lim stavite jedan krug tijesta pa na njega stavite pripremljeni i ohlađeni nadjev. Prekrite drugim krugom lisnatog pa stisnite rubove kako nadjev ne bi iscurio van. Lagano umutite jaje pa premažite cijeli kolač. Ostacima lisnatog tijesta ukrasite kolač pa i njih premažite umućenim jajetom. Pecite u prethodno zagrijanoj pećnici 10 minuta. Smanjite temperaturu pećnice na 175 C pa pecite još 25-30 minuta. Ohladite prije posluživanja. Ajme, koliko nas je! je prva igra nastala na food blog prostoru bivše Jugoslavije. Igra je započela u kolovozu 2008 na inicijativu food blogerice Snježane. Nakon drugog kruga igre u kojoj je sudjelovalo čak 12 sudionika, reakcijom osnivačice igra je dobila ime. Tema u prosincu su suhe smokve a ovomjesečna domaćica je Lara. Nisam baš neka ljubiteljica kolača od suhih smokvi, nekako su mi najdraže u izvornom obliku uz neku finu rakijicu. Nisam nikada mislila da bi to mogla biti dobra kombinacija ali jedan stari ribar na Visu me nagovorio da probam i od onda mi je to super kombinacija. Kako vam ne bi prezentirala recept za ovu kombinaciju odlučila sam napraviti kruh sa suhim smokvama jer to je još jedna stvar gdje mi smokve super pašu. Ovaj kruh je vrlo izdašan, više kao neki kolač i odlično stoji u frižideru. Ja ga narežem na šnite i stavim u plastičnu kutiju, a ujutro ga samo ubacim u toster i malo prepečem. Premazan sa malo maslaca i uz toplu bijelu kavu, savršen doručak za odličan početak dana. Recept sam pronašla ovdje. RECEPT: Recept za ispis 315 g integralnog brašna 210 g brašna 7 g svježeg kvasca 2 žličice soli 375 g mlake vode 105 g sitno nasjeckanih smokvi 105 g usitnjenih oraha U prikladno posudu prosijte obje vrste brašna. U brašno natrljajte kvasac i dodajte sol. Napravite udubinu u sredini pa ulite vodu. Mješajte kuhačom dok se tijesto ne poveže. Zatim tijesto istresite na radnu površinu i mijesite ga dok ne postane glatko i elastično, otprilike 10-ak minuta. Zatim dodajte i nasjeckane smokve i orahe pa mijesite još minutu da se jednolično rasporede po tijestu. Oblikujte tijesto u kuglu, stavite ga u posudu i prekrite krpom. Stavite na toplo mjesto da se diže 1 sat. Lim obložite papirom za pečenje. Nakon prvog dizanja premijesite tijesto pa ga oblikujte u željeni oblik. Stavite ga na pripremljeni lim pa ga ponovno vratite na toplo mjesto da se diže jedan sat. Zagrijte pećnicu na 220 C. Na najgornju policu pećnice staviti prazan lim koji je potrebno zagrijavati zajedno sa pećnicom. Dignuti kruh staviti u zagrijanu pećnicu a u prazan lim uliti 2 dcl vode i brzo zatvoriti vrata pećnice. Nakon pet minuta pečenja smanjiti temperaturu pećnice na 200 C pa nastaviti peći kruh još 35 minuta. Sjećate se maunchmallow keksića? Ja sam ih obožavala, poskrivečki sam ih jela u krevetu pa sam onda ujutro znala pronaći ostatke one srebrno crvene folije u koju su bili omotani posvuda. Da budem iskrena ovi kupovni nisu ni sjena ovim domaćima, za početak keks je puno bolji jer je stvarno hrskav a ne onako nekako gumenast kao u kupovnima. Ja sam radila nešto manje nego što su kupovni tako da mi ih je od dolje navedenih sastojaka ispao pozamašan broj, otprilike 150 komada. Recept je odličan za potrošiti bjelanjke koji se ovih blagdanskih dana ionako nekako magično slažu u hladnjak, barem u moj da. U kremi od bjelanjak koristila sam cvjetni med koji mi se pokazao malo prejaki tako da ću sljedeći puta definitivno upotrijebiti bagrem ili možda livadu koji su okusom nešto blaži. Kao razliku od originalnog recept ja sam tijesto umijesila večer prije i keksiće sam valjala sljedećeg jutra. Isto tako sam mliječnu čokoladu u glazuri zamijenila onom sa visokim udjelom kakaaa, čisto kao protuteži kremi od bjelanjka koja je poprilično slatka. Original recepta možete pronaći kod Jasenke. RECEPT: Recept za ispis Za keksiće: 1 žlica kakaa 450 g brašna 100 g šećera 1/2 žličice soli na vrh noža sode bikarbone 3/4 žličice praška za pecivo na vrh noža cimeta 220 g maslaca 3 jaja Za munchmallow: 120 ml vode 4 žlice meda 320 g šećera 2 žlice želatine u prahu 4 žlice hladne vode 4 bjelanjka 1 žlica arome vanilije Za glazuru: 300 g čokolade sa visokim udjelom kakaa 9 žlica ulja Za keksiće pjenasto izmiksajte maslac sa šećerom i soli. Prosijte brašno sa kakaom, cimetom, praškom za pecivo i sodom bikarbonom. U pjenastu smjesu maslaca i šećera umiješajte jedno po jedno jaje pa miksajte dok se sve dobro ne izradi. Rukom umiješajte smjesu prosijanih sastojaka pa drvenom kuhačom izmiješajte dok ne dobijete glatko tijesto. Umotajte ga rastezljivom folijom pa ga stavite u hladnjak preko noći. Zagrijte pećnicu na 190 C. Obložite limove papirom za pečenje. Lagano pobrašnite radnu površinu pa na njoj razvaljajte tijesto što je tanje moguće. Malim okruglim kalupom izrezujte keksiće pa ih slažite na pripremljene limove. Pecite ih prethodno zagrijanoj pećnici 10-ak minuta. Ohladite. Za munchmallow pomiješajte vodu, med i šećer i stavite na najjaču vatru dok ne provrije. Kada smjesa provrije smanjite vatru pa kuhajte još 5 minuta dok se na površini ne počnu stvarati mjehurići. Maknite sa vatre dodajte želatinu pa izmiješajte. Bjelanjke istucite u čvrsti snijeg, pa uz neprekidno miksanje ulite smjesu u tankom mlazu. Na kraju umiješajte i aromu vanilije. Smjesom napunite slastičarsku vrećicu pa na sredinu svakog keksića istisnite malo smijese. Nadjevene keksiće ostavite na sobnoj temperaturi da se osuše barem dva sata. Za glazuru na pari otopite čokoladu pa primiješajte ulje. Umačite jedan po jedan keksić u glazuru, ocijedite višak pa ostavite da se glazura stisne prije konzumiranja. Jako volim karamelu, mislim da mi je to zaista jedna od najdražih slastica. Za puno stvari kažem da su mi fine i odličine kombinacije ali kada dođe do toga da između svih tih pohvaljenih sastojaka moram odlučiti za jednu stvarnu slasticu, uvijek ali uvijek ej to nešto što sadrži karamelu. Znate onaj osjećaj u slastičarnici ste i pred vama vitrina puna svakojakih čudesa, pa ti sad odaberi jednu. E u tom slučaju ja biram nešto sa karamelom i to mi je pokazatelj da je to nešto što stvarno ali stvarno obožavam. Istina uvijek nagovorim onog nekog tko je sa mnom da si uzme neki kolač koji mi se istio sviđa ali o tome neki drugi puta... Recept posuđen od Nevene. RECEPT: Recept za ispis Za keksiće: 110 g rastopljenog maslaca 350 g šećera 2 jaja 3/4 žličice praška za pecivo 1/4 žličice soli 55 g kakaa 260 g brašna 100 g čokolade narezane na male kockice Za karamel: 40 ml vode 150 g šećera 15 g maslaca 150 ml vrhnja za šlag Za posip: krupna morska sol Mikserom pijenasto izmiksajte jaja sa šećerom i rastopljenim maslacem. Dobro izmiješajte. Dodajte kakao, prašak za pecivo i sol pa sve izmiješajte da se dobro poveže. Dodajte brašno pa umijesite dok ne dobijete jednolično tijesto. Na kraju umiješajte i komadiće čokolade. Za karamel u prikladnoj posudi pomiješajte vodu, šećer i maslac pa sve zagrijavajte na vatri srednje jačine. Kuhajte dok smijesa ne provrije i dobije lijepu zlatno žutu boju. Umiješajte vrhnje za šlag. Pomiješajte drvenom kuhačom pa kuhajte daljnih 10-ak minuta dik smjesa ne postane gušća. Zagrijte pećnicu na 180 C. Od tijesta napravite loptice. U sredini svake loptice palcem napravite udubinu. Malom žličicom u svaku udubinu stavite još mlaku karamela, koliko stane da ne curi van. Uzmite još malo tijesta pa napravite tanki krug kojim ćete pokriti udubljenje napunjeno karamelom. Pritisnite sa svih strana da se slijepi sa kuglicom. Blago spljoštite svaku kuglicu pa je posipajte sa malo krupne soli. Pecite 8-10 minuta. Ovo je prvi puta da sam koristila mast za izradu keksića. Znam da je puno blogerica koristi, pogotovo baš za izradu vanilica ali ja nekako nikako da dođem do toga. Ne da sam bila skeptična prema receptima sa masti nego jednostavno nikako da stignem i osobno je isprobati u receptima. Dakle malo je reći da sam oduševljena, keksići su divni prhki, čak i toliko prhki da morate bili oprezni kada ih valjate u šećer u prahu kako ih ne bi oštetili. Uopće mi nije jasno što mi je tako dugo trebalo da ih isprobam. Original recepta posudila sam a od koga drugog nego od Gage. RECEPT: Recept za ispis 300 g svinjske masti 150 g šećera 2 žumanjka 1 jaje 500 g brašna marmelada po želji za spajanje vanilica (ja sam koristila marmeladu od marelica) šećer u prahu za valjanje Zagrijati pećnicu na 200 C. Mikserom pjenasto izraditi svinjsku mast sa šećerom. Dodati žumanjke, cijelo jaje i 100 g brašna, promiješati, a zatim umiješati i ostatak brašna. Mijesiti dok ne dobijete glatko tijesto. Na pobrašnjenoj radnoj površini dobiveno tijesto razvaljati tijesto pa izrezivati krugove. Slagati na limove obložene papirom za pečenje. Peći keksiće u prethodno zagrijanoj pećnici 10-12 minuta. Pečene keksiće ohladiti pa ih spajati dva po dva pekmezom po želji. Zalijepljene keksiće uvaljati još u šećer u prahu. Čuvati u metalnoj kutiji. Jako volim hajdeno brašno. Istina ne dijele svi ukućani moje oduševljene njime pa su na ove keksiće samo frknuli nosom. Nema veza, više je meni ostalo. Original recepta možete pronaći na Monikinom blogu Bake noir. Baš mi fali što Monika više ne objavljuje tako često postove, jako volim njen blog što zbog divnih fotki, što zbog odličnih recepata. Bude kad joj cure malo porastu, nadam se... Ja sam polovicu dobivenih keksića zalijepila namazom od badema i čokolade za koji recept možete pronaći u nastavku a drugu polovicu domaćim pekmezom od maline, za kojeg ako ga niste napravili ove godine ipak ćete morati pričekati iduću. Ako volite da su vam keksići slađi svakako vam preporučam ove punjene sa pekmezom jer ovaj čokoladni namaz nije presladak. RECEPT: Recept za ispis Za keksiće: 150 g brašna 60 g hajdenog brašna 30 g integralnog brašna 1/2 žličice praška za pecivo 60 g šećera 1/4 žličice soli 125 g maslaca 1 jaje Namaz od badema i čokolade: 200 g badema 150 g tamne čokolade 100 ml slatkog vrhnja Za nadjev: pekmez od maline namaz od badema i čokolade Za keksiće umijesite tijesto od svih sastojaka. Gotovo tijesto umotajte rastezljivom folijom pa stavite u hladnjak na 1 sat. Zagrijte pećnicu na 180 C. Obložite 2 lima papirom za pečenje. Na pobrašnjenoj radnoj površini razvaljate ohlađeno tijesto u željene oblike. Pecite u prethodno zagrijanoj pećnici 8-10 minuta. Ohlađene keksiće premazujte nadjevom po želji pa ih ljepite dva po dva. Za namaz od badema i čokolade: tostirate bademe u pećnici zagrijanoj na 160 C. Ohladite ih pa ih multipraktikom sameljite u pastu. Otopite čokoladu pa je umiješajte u pastu od badema. Ponovno upalite multipraktik pa u tanjom mlazu ulijevajte slatko vrhnje tako da dobijete mazivu pastu. Ne sjećam se točno kada ali prije nekog vremena sam objavila recept za koji je u opisu stajalo da sam ga radila silom prilika da potrošim nutellu koja mi se povlači po kuhinjskom ormariću od Božića kada obavezno moram raditi Ferrero Rocher kuglice. Sjećam se čuđenja u komenta5rima, kako, zašto je uopće moguće da ne pojedem nutellu. Sve dok nisam probala ove keksiće. Mislim da bi oni mogli postati razlog kupovanja nutelle, tako su mi dobri. RECEPT: Recept za ispis 150 g brašna 60 g kakaa 30 g zobenih mekinja, lagano usitnjenih 1 žličica sode bikarbone 1/4 žličice pecilnog praška 170 g maslaca 2 žlice Nutelle 200 g šećera 1 jaje krupna sol za posip Zagrijte pećnicu na 180 C. Dva lima za pečenje obložite sa papirom za pečenje. Pomiješajte brašno, kakao, zobene mekinje, sodu bikarbonu i prašak za pecivo. Odložite sa strane. Mikserom pjenasto izmiksajte maslac, Nutellu i šećer dok ne dobijete glatku i jednoličnu smjesu. Umiješajte i jaje pa sve dobro izradite. Polako umiješajte smjesu suhih sastojaka. Izmiješajte tako da dobijete jednolično tijesto. Od tijesta oblikujte kuglice, pa ih slažite na pripremljeni lim ostavljajući između malo mjesta. Pritisnite svaki keksić dnom čaše kako bi ga malo spljoštili. Na svaki keksić stavite par zrnaca krupne morske soli pa ih pecite u prethodno zagrijanoj pećnici 10-12 minuta.