Category: holidays

Midnight Munchies – Chocolate Truffles

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2018 is soon to be history, and 2019 is waiting impatiently to make its entrance. But before we do the countdown for the next year, say our “I love you”s and make promises to ourselves that we may or may not keep, here are some chocolate truffles – easy to make, and perfect on the side of tonight’s champagne.

Happy New Year, People!

Ingredients (makes about 25 truffles)
200 g (7 oz) chocolate
1 dl (0,4 cup) heavy cream

Decoration/topping
Chopped pistachios, chopped and roasted almonds, coconut, dried raspberries…

Chocolate and heavy cream
Pistachios, almonds, coconut, dried raspberries

How to do it

  • Melt the chocolate with the heavy cream.
  • Let the mix cool down in a refrigerator.
  • When the chocolate has cooled completely down and has a creamy texture, with a couple of spoons, make small “balls” out of the chocolate, and roll them in/ cover them with the topping you’d like. I’ve used chopped pistachios, chopped and roasted almonds, coconut and dried raspberries.
  • Store the truffles in a cold place until you serve them.

Best wishes for the new year!

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Last Minute Christmas Cookies

Posted in chocolate, christmas, cinnamon, cookies, holidays, licorice, nuts, spiceTagged , , , , Leave a comment

I don´t know why, but somehow Christmas comes as a surprise every year. This year was no exception, so I needed to make some super fast, super easy Christmas cookies. With 3 main ingredients that can easily be mixed with additional/optional ingredients, these cookies are perfect for some last minute baking.

Ingredients
200 g (7 oz) softened butter
100 g (3,5 oz) powdered sugar
400 g (14 oz) plain flour

Additional/optional ingredients
Cinnamon, cardamom, ground ginger, allspice, chopped chocolate, chopped almonds or other nuts, powdered licorice, cocoa, pearl sugar…

How to do it

  • Mix together softened butter and powdered sugar. I use a stand mixer, but you can also use your hands.
  • Slowly add the plain flour, and mix until you have a smooth dough.
  • Divide the dough into separate pieces, and add any preferred optional ingredients. (I first divided the dough into 2 pieces, then mixed in the spices in one of them. Then I divided the 2 doughs into more pieces, and mixed in chopped chocolate, chopped almonds and powdered licorice to the different pieces.)
  • Roll out the different pieces until they are about 3-4 cm (1,5 inches) diameter, then place them on a cutting board and cover them with plastic foil.

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  • Place the rolls in a cool place for 30-45 minutes.
  • Preheat the oven to 250 ºC/ 480 ºF, and line a baking sheet.
  • Cut the rolls into cookie sized pieces (about 1 cm thick), and place them on the baking sheet.
  • Bake in the middle of the oven until the cookies start to get a golden surface, about 5 minutes.
  • Let the cookies cool down on a cooling rack.

Merry Christmas!

Cooling Minty Moments – Mint Chocolate Cupcakes

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Winter is here, and it´s cold outside. These cupcakes and their mint chocolate buttercream are perfect for the winter season, and maybe even as a fresh treat during the upcoming Holidays.

Ingredients
175 g (6,2 oz) softened butter
150 g (5,5 oz) sugar
3 eggs
250 g (8,8 oz) plain flour
2 tbsp cocoa
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp vanilla sugar
2,5 dl (1 1/4 cup) milk

Mint Chocolate Buttercream
200 g (7 oz) After Eight Mint Chocolate Thins (melted)
0,5 dl (1/4 cup) milk
100 g (3,5 oz) softened butter
250 g (8,8 oz) powdered sugar
1 tbsp cocoa

Decoration
Silver pearl sprinkles, candied mint.

How to do it

    1. Preheat the oven to 200ºC / 390ºF.
    2. Beat together the butter with the sugar in a large bowl. I use a stand mixer, but you may just as well use an electric hand mixer.
    3. Add the eggs, one by one.
    4. In a separate bowl, mix together the flour, cocoa, baking powder and vanilla sugar.
    5. Slowly add the mixed dry ingredients to the mixture.
    6. Add the milk to the mixture until you have a smooth batter.
    7. With a couple of spoons, transfer the batter to cupcake liners in a cupcake form.
    8. Bake the cupcakes in the middle of the oven until a skewer put in the centre of the cupcakes comes out clean. Regular cupcakes take about 15-17 minutes, small cupcakes about 10-12 minutes.
    9. Take the cupcakes out of the oven and the cupcake form, and let them cool down on a cooling rack.

Mint Chocolate Buttercream

    1. Slowly melt the After Eight chocolates with the milk and some of the butter.
    2. Beat the rest of the butter with the powdered sugar and cocoa in a bowl. Use a stand mixer or an electric hand mixer.
    3. Slowly add the melted chocolate mix, and mix until you have smooth mixture.
    4. Let the buttercream cool down.
    5. When the cupcakes and the buttercream have cooled down (about room temperature), cover the cupcakes with the buttercream using a cake piping tool, a knife or a spatula.

Decorate the cupcakes with silver pearl sprinkles, candied mint…

Enjoy!

Grateful Greenes – Apple Pie with Caramel

Posted in apple, caramel, fruit, holidays, pieTagged , , , , 1 Comment

Thanksgiving is over, but who says you can’t be grateful on an ordinary Monday. Show gratitude by sharing a pie with your family and friends, give a smile to a stranger and send a thought out to those who are less fortunate than yourself. Also, take some time out of your busy day to reflect on what’s already in your life to be grateful for. I would like to start this Monday by saying thank you for reading my blog!

Ingredients
Crust
200 gram (7 oz) plain flour
150 gram (5,3 oz) softened butter
1 tbsp sugar
1-2 tbsp water

Filling
3 eggs
100 gram (3,5 oz) sugar
4-5 tbsp plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
2 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp cardamon
1 dl (1/2 cup)heavy cream
5-6 apples (graded and sliced)

Homemade Caramel Sauce
200 gram (7 oz) sugar
2 dl (1 cup) heavy cream
200 gram (7 oz) butter
2-3 tbsp water
A pinch of salt

How to do it
Crust

  1. In a large bowl, mix (crumble) flour and softened butter.
  2. Add water, one tablespoon at the time, until you have smooth, but firm, dough.
  3. Let the dough cool for about 30 minutes.
  4. Preheat the oven to 200 ºC/ 390 ºF.
  5. Roll out the dough and place it in a pie dish or a round cake tin (22 cm/9 in).
  6. Make some holes in the crust using a fork.
  7. Bake the crust in the middle of the oven for about 10 minutes. Take it out of the oven, and add the pie filling.

Filling

  1. In a large bowl, beat together eggs and sugar until you have a smooth batter. I use a stand mixer, but you may just as well use an electric hand mixer.
  2. In a different bowl, mix the plain flour, baking powder, cinnamon and cardamom.
  3. Add the dry ingredients to the batter.
  4. Grate 3-4 apples, and add them to the mix.
  5. Transfer the filling into the partly baked crust.
  6. Slice 2 apples, and place them on top of the filling.
  7. Bake the pie in the middle of the oven for about 40-45 minutes, or until a skewer put in the centre of the pie comes out clean.
  8. Let the pie cool down a bit before serving.

Caramel Sauce

  1. In a saucepan, heat sugar and heavy cream on medium heat until boiling point, and while constantly stirring with a wooden spoon.
  2. Stir in the butter, piece by piece.
  3. Continue to stir until the mix thickens and get a golden brown color. (This may take some time, 5-10 minutes.)
  4. Add the water, one tablespoon at the time, and a pinch of salt.
  5. Pour some of the caramel on top of the pie, and the rest in a serving bowl on the side of the pie.

Bon Appetit, and Thank You!

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Salty Tricks or Sweet Treats – Chocolate Cake with Rasperries and Licorice

Posted in berries, cake, chocolate, halloween, holidays, licorice, raspberryTagged , , , , , Leave a comment

A few days to Halloween, and do you want to know one of my (baking) tricks? I very often try to find something slightly bitter to “break” the sweetness of the cakes. Whether it´s adding a few drops of lemon juice to buttercream frosting, or using raspberries with a chocolate cake, I find that adding some bitterness makes the cake taste “fuller”. And to this cake I’ve even added some salty licorice, so prepare to put your taste buds to the test. Salty Tricks or Sweet Treats? Yes, please!

Ingredients
225 gram (7,9 oz) melted butter
3 eggs
3 dl (1 1/4 cup) sugar
6 dl (2 1/4 cup) plain flour
4 tbsp cocoa
3 tsp baking powder
3 tsp vanilla sugar
2, 25 dl (1 cup) milk (and maybe add a little red color to get you in that Halloween mood)

Raspberry cream
2 dl (1 cup) heavy cream
1 tbsp sugar
1 tsp vanilla sugar
200 gram (7 oz) raspberries
2 tsp licorice powder

Chocolate buttercream
150 gram (5,3 oz) melted chocolate
100 gram (3,5 oz) softened butter
200 gram (7 oz) powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla sugar
3 tbsp milk/heavy cream

Decoration
Licorice, sprinkles.

How to do it

  • Preheat the oven to 200ºC /390ºF.
  • Butter and line 1-3 round cake tins (22 cm/ 9 in) (and/or use parchment paper).
  • Melt the butter and let it cool down a bit.
  • In a large bowl, beat the eggs together with sugar for a few minutes until you have a thick and fluffy mixture. I use a stand mixer with a whisk, but you may just as well use an electric hand mixer.
  • Add the melted butter to the mixture.
  • In a separate bowl, mix together the flour, cocoa, baking powder and vanilla sugar.
  • Slowly add the dry ingredients and the milk to the mixture, and mix until you have a smooth batter.
  • Transfer 1/3 of the batter to (each) cake tin.
  • Bake each cake/layer in the middle of the oven for 15 minutes, or until a skewer put in the centre of the cake comes out clean.
  • Let each cake/layer cool.
  • For the raspberry cream: if you use frozen raspberries, heat them to boiling point, and let them boil for a few minutes (this to make sure that the berries don’t contain any bacteria). Let the berries cool to (at least) room temperature.
  • In a large bowl, whisk together heavy cream, sugar and vanilla sugar to whipped cream. Use a stand mixer or an electric hand mixer. The whipped cream should “well done” rather than fluid (because you´re going to add raspberries, which will bring quite a bit of fluid to the mix).
  • Add the cooled raspberries and blend them in with a spatula.
  • Mix in the powdered licorice with a spatula, and keep the cream in a cool place while making the chocolate buttercream.
  • For the chocolate buttercream: beat the butter and add some of the powdered sugar. Use a stand mixer or an electric hand mixer.
  • Mix in the melted chocolate, and then slowly add the rest of the powdered sugar and the vanilla sugar. Then add the milk/heavy cream while mixing until you have a smooth buttercream (it should be quite soft – the buttercream will become stiff when the melted chocolate has cooled down).
  • When the cake layers are cool, put one layer on a tray. Make a circle of buttercream around the edges of the layer (this will keep the raspberry cream in place), then cover the layer with half of the raspberry cream (see picture).

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  • Place the second layer over the first one, and cover it with buttercream and raspberry cream just like on the first layer.
  • Place the third layer on top, and cover the entire cake (top and sides) with chocolate buttercream.
  • Decorate the cake with licorice and sprinkles, or maybe with some fresh raspberries.

Happy Halloween!

Swiss Cupcats – Toblerone Chocolate Cupcakes

Posted in chocolate, cupcake, halloween, holidaysTagged , , , , 1 Comment

Halloween is coming up, but that also means that it´s soon time for a good colleague of mine to move to Switzerland. So in honour of my colleague, I will treat you with my Toblerone Cupcakes, dressed up as cupcats for Halloween. This recipe will give you 50-60 small cupcakes.

Ingredients
135 gram (4,8 oz) melted Toblerone (original or dark)
150 gram (5,3 oz) softened butter
100 gram (3,5 oz) sugar
3 eggs
250 gram (8,8 oz) plain flour
1 tbsp cocoa
2 tsp vanilla sugar
2 tsp baking powder
0,75 dl (1/3 cup) milk

Toblerone buttercream frosting
70 gram (2,5 oz) softened butter
90 gram (3,2 oz) melted Toblerone (original or dark)
2 tsp vanilla sugar
100 gram (3,5 oz) powdered sugar
1-2 tbsp milk

Decoration
Small Toblerone, sprinkles, raspberries, chopped roasted almonds.

How to do it

  1. Preheat the oven to 200ºC / 390ºF.
  2. Melt the Toblerone chocolate.
  3. Beat together the butter with the sugar in a large bowl. I use a stand mixer, but you may just as well use an electric hand mixer.
  4. Add the melted Toblerone.
  5. Add the eggs, one by one.
  6. In a separate bowl, mix together the flour, cocoa, baking powder and vanilla sugar.
  7. Slowly add the mixed dry ingredients to the mixture.
  8. Add the milk to the mixture until you have a smooth batter.
  9. With a couple of spoons, transfer the batter to small cupcake liners in cupcake form.
  10. Bake the cupcakes in the middle of the oven for 8-10 minutes, or until a skewer put in the centre of the cupcake comes out clean.
  11. Take the cupcakes out of the oven and the cupcake form, and let them cool down on a grid.
  12. For the buttercream frosting, beat the butter and then add the melted Toblerone.
  13. Use a stand mixer with a whisk or an electric hand mixer. Slowly add the vanilla sugar and the powdered sugar. Then add the milk, and mix until smooth.
  14. When the cupcakes have cooled down, cover them with the buttercream using a cake piping tool, a knife or a spatula.
  15. I have decorated the cupcakes with pieces of small Toblerone (original, dark and white) and orange/gold pearl sprinkles, but why not try with raspberries (fresh or dry) or chopped and roasted almonds.

Happy Halloween and Au Revoir to my colleague!

PS: I´m not sponsored, I just love Toblerone…

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