Jam cookies with puff pastry

Ingredients:
450 gr frosted puff pastry
75 gr jam

Defrost the puff pastry. Use some flour, so it doesn't get sticky and roll the pastry into squares. Spread a little bit of jam on the top and roll them into a sausage. Cut the slices and put them on a baking sheet. Bake for 20 minutes at 200°C.

French toast

I can't believe I didn't know what french toast is, until I went to India. Our kitchen ladies used to prepare a different kind of egg every morning for breakfast and when they did french toast my room-mate was particulary happy! I found out later that I like it as well and that the recipe is quite easy! 

 

This recipe serves 2 people

Ingredients:
4 slices of bread
2 eggs
120 ml milk
pinch of salt
butter
honey or naple syrup






Mix the eggs in a jar, add the milk and salt. Put the bread slice in the mixture and let it retain it. Heat a non stick pan with a little bit of butter and place all the bread slices on it. When it's cooked on one side, flip it over and then serve still hot with some honey or naple syrup. 

Cookies in a jar - gift ideas

COUNTRY OATMEAL COOKIE

Put the ingredients in the jar in layers:
60 gr white sugar
60 gr brown sugar
35 gr oats
80 gr flour
3 gr baking powder
1 g salt
70 gr chocolate chips

Attach the instructions for baking:
Preheat oven to 175°C.
In a medium bowl cream together 85 gr softened butter, with 1 egg and 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla.
Add the entire content of the jar, and mix by hand until combined. Drop dough by heaping spoonfuls onto a cookie sheet.
Bake for 12-15 minutes.

Tiramisu cupcakes

A wonderful small cupcake to put in a large paper cup, Katerina's recipe that I've slightly changed. :)

 

Ingredients:

Dough: 

3 eggs

100 gr sugar

50 gr wheat starch

50 gr flour

1 tblspn vanilla pudding powder

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

Decoration:

2 cups espresso coffees

500 gr mascarpone cheese

90 gr powdered sugar

200 ml whipped cream

bitter cocoa powder

Whip the whites of the egg and slowly add sugar. Slowly add one at the time wheat starch, flour, vanilla pudding powder, baking pouder and the yolks. Place the mixture in the muffin cups, but leave them half empty and bake in a preheated oven at 180°C for about 20 minutes. This recipe should make around 20 muffins. 

Make the coffee and when the muffins are cold, perforate them with a fork and put 2 teaspoons of coffee on each muffin. 

For the decoration whip the cream and slowly add sugar. At the end add mascarpone cheese and gently mix together until smooth. Now you can either use a knife or a sac a poche to put the cream on the top of the muffins. Before you put them in the fridge cover them with some bitter cocoa. The muffins should rest in the fridge for at least 15 hours to get the best taste. 

I hope you'll like it, me and my friend certainly did! :)

Muffins with chocolate and puffed rice

Ingredients:

190 gr butter

150 gr sugar

1 pinch of salt

vanilla sugar (1 envelope)

100 gr dark chocolate

200 ml milk

3 eggs

13 gr baking powder

320 gr flour (type 400)

80 gr bitter cocoa powder

30 gr puffed rice

Put the butter in the food mixer and mix for a few minutes, then add sugar and continue to mix until it's smooth. (Leave the butter at the room temperature before using it.) Add the eggs and mix well. Slowly add the lukewarm mil and afterwards the flour with the baking powder, salt and vanilla sugar. At the end add the cocoa powder and when you have a smooth paste, add the chocolate in small pieces and the rice mixing very gently. 

Bake the muffins at 180°C for approximately 25 minutes. I made 18 muffins. :)

Strawberry mousse

Here we are, strawberry season again! If you enjoy this fruit, you'll enjoy this recipe even more! 

Ingredients:

500 gr strawberries 

a few strawberries for decoration

250 ml cream

5 spoons of sugar

8 gelatin leaves

Clean the strawberries and mix them with the sugar until it's smooth.
Whip the cream. Put the gelatin leaves in cold water and soak them for 10 minutes.
Squeeze them and melt them in a small pan on very low flame.
Add the gelatin to the strawberries and mix one more time.
Gently mix  with the whipped cream and put into glasses or moulds.
Put in the fridge for 4 hours or in the freezer for 1 hour.
Serve with some fresh strawberries.

Brownie in a mug

 I remember a sheet in our lounge when I was living in Sangam World Centre in Pune (India). There was  a description how to make a brownie in a cup. I actually forgot it until a few days ago, when I saw a picture on Pinterest, describing the exactly same thing. Since now we've got a microwave in our apartment (which I recon it's not that healthy), I just had to try it.

At your left the picture of the mug before the microwave and down here after the microwave. I might have it overcooked a bit, but it was still delicious. (No, I didn't count the calories, who does it??)

Ingredients:
1/4 cup flour
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1 pinch salt
2 tbsp olive oil
3 tbsp water

I used a little less sugar and needed more water to make it smooth. At the end I put some dark chocolate on the top. It melted and was delicious!
Mix all the ingredients until smooth (see picture above). Put in the microwave for 1 minute 40 seconds. Our microwave is a little weaker, so I needed 2 minutes and 30 seconds.

Enjoy your brownie mug!

How to wrap your cookies

No recipes today, just an idea about how to wrap your cookies as a gift. Buy some cheap plastic glasses (I got some martini glasses), put a nice napkin in and fill it with your delicious homemade biscuits. 

Christmas trees

Ingredients:

flour 300 gr
butter 200 gr
sugar 50 gr
vanilla sugar 2 spoons
1 egg yolk
1/2 envelop baking powder

jam




Make a smooth dough mixing first the butter (soften it first) and both types of sugar. Edd the egg yolk and slowly add the flour. Roll the dough 5 mm thin and cut them with the cookie cutter. Half of them cut in the middle with a smaller cutter of the same shape.
Bake them in a preheated oven on 180°C for 10-15 minutes.
Let them cool and then spread the jam you prefer on the cookies and put the cookie with the hole on the top.
If you want, you can add some sugar ice on the top, but they work without it as well.
Make them as a gift or offer them to your guests.

Coconut kisses

Ingredients:
3 egg whites
200 gr sugar
1 vanilla sugar
30 gr cocoa powder
150 gr dry coconut









Mix the egg whites until they are thick. Slowly add sugar and vanilla sugar. At the end gently mix and add cocoa powder and coconut. Put the dough with a teaspoon on the baking tray and bake in a preheated oven (140-160° C) for about 25 minutes. Cool the biscuits.

Walnut cake

Yesterday we had a wonderful barbecue and I wanted to bake something good for my friends. I decided for this cake that I found in the book Vse o peki. 

Ingredients: 

Cake: 

4 eggs

2 spoons of orange juice

200 gr of sugar

1 envelop of vanilla sugar

150 gr of flour

1/2 spoon of baking powder

Filling:

125 gr of very soft butter

125 gr of powdered sugar

1 envelop of vanilla sugar

200 gr of chopped walnuts

Cover: 

3-4 spoons of apricot jam

Cover 2: 

2 spoons of orange juice

120 gr of powdered sugar

1 envelop of vanilla sugar

Decoration:

whole walnuts 

a few pieces of dark chocolate

a spoon of milk

Mix the eggs and the orange juice with the whisk for a minute on the highest speed. Slowly add sugar and vanilla sugar and continue mixing for a few minutes. Add the flour and baking powder, but keep the whisk on lowest speed. Put the dough in a model for cakes with the baking paper. Bake in a preheated oven on 180°C for 30 minutes.

When the cake is cold cut it in half or in 3 parts. My cake wasn't very tall, so I cut it in only 2 parts. (If you have only 2 parts, you can make less filling to put in.) For the filling mix the butter until creamy. Add sugar and vanilla sugar. Mix well and at the end add walnuts. Cover the lower part of the cake with the filling (or the 2 parts if you cut it in 3). Put the top on it and press gently. Spread the apricot jam on the top and on the side. 

Mix sugar, vanilla sugar and orange juice and do a smooth paste to put on the top. Decorate with some walnuts. In a pan melt the chocolate with some milk and decorate with it the top of the cake. Leave the cake in the fridge for an hour. 

Chocolate & apple cake

For my cousin's birthday I decided to make her a cake and after searching through lots of recipes, I decided for this one with chocolate and apples.

Ingredients:
500 gr of apples
200 gr of butter
225 gr of sugar
50 gr of cocoa powder (without sugar)
5 eggs
350 gr of flour
1 envelop of baking powder
1 glass of milk

Melt the butter just a little bit, to get it creamy. Add sugar and mix. Add one egg at time and continue to mix. Add cocoa powder and mix. Slowly add flour and baking powder. Add some milk from time to time. Make it smooth and put it in a model for cakes. Cover with slices of apple and bake in a preheated oven on 180°C for 1 hour and 15 minutes. Leave it to cool down. You can serve with some whipped cream. :) Hope you like it!

Chocolate cupcake

I've never been in the States, but I definitely like cupcakes, so I just had to try to make them. I found a lovely recipe for the cake here.

Ingredients (for 12 cupcakes):

butter (120 gr)
cocoa (2 tablespoons)
chocolate (80 gr)
flour (120 gr)
baking powder (1 teaspoon)
egg (2)
sugar (120 gr)
chocolate cream for cakes powder
milk
colourful sugar bits

Mix butter with sugar, add the eggs and mix in a smooth paste. In the meantime melt the chocolate, when it is cool add to the mixture. At the end add flour, baking powder and cocoa powder. Mix in a smooth paste. Put it in 12 cupcake papers and bake for 20 minutes in a preheated oven on 170° Celsius. When they're cool, do the cream with a chocolate cream powder for cakes and milk. Put it on the top and add some colourful sugar bits. Does it look good?