Category: nuts

Pistachio Chocolate Cake

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The People have spoken, and Pistachio Chocolate Cake it is! Enjoy!

Ingredients
Cake
200 g (7 oz) chocolate
200 g (7 oz) butter
200 g (7 oz) sugar
4 eggs
150 g (5,25 oz) plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp vanilla sugar

Ganache
200 g (7 oz) chocolate
0,5 dl (1/4 cup) heavy cream

Chopped pistachios (I use salted pistachios)

How to do it
Cake

  • Preheat the oven to 225 ºC/ 435 ºF, and butter and line a round cake tin (22 cm/ 9 in).
  • In a medium sized pot, melt the butter and the chocolate on medium heat.
  • Turn off the heat and stir in the sugar.
  • Add the eggs, on at a time.
  • In a separate bowl, mix together plain flour, baking powder and vanilla sugar.
  • Slowly add the dry ingredients to the mix and stir until you have a smooth batter.
  • Chop about a handful of pistachios and place it around the sides and the bottom of the cake tin (see picture).
  • Transfer the batter to the cake tin, and sprinkle another handful of chopped pistachios over the batter (see picture).

Bake the cake in the middle of the oven for 15-20 minutes.

  • Let the cake cool down in the cake tin. When the cake reach room temperature, let it cool completely down in the fridge.

Ganache

  • Pour the heavy cream into a pot on medium heat, and heat it up to about room temperature.
  • Melt the chocolate in the heavy cream, and stir until all the chocolate has melted and you have a smooth mix.
  • Take the pot off the stove, and let the mix cool down until it has thickened a bit, but  still has a fluid texture.
  • Pour the chocolate ganache over the cake, still in the cake tin. (I cover the sides of the cake tin with parchment paper before pouring the ganache over the cake. This makes it a little bit easier to take the finished cake out of the cake tin.)
  • Cover the cake with chopped pistachios (see pictures).

Put the cake back in the fridge, and let the ganache cool down before serving.

  • If you’re not serving the cake immediately, store it in the fridge. About 45-60 minutes before serving the cake, take it out of the fridge and keep it in room temperature until serving.

Enjoy!

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Holiday Leftovers – Apple and Pear Dessert

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January is here. With new year resolutions and leftovers from the Holidays. So, for my first recipe in 2019, I wanted to combine the two. A quite healthy dessert, but with lots of flavor. And you can even eat it for breakfast! Happy New Year, People!

Ingridients (about 4 portions)
Crisp
2,5 dl (1 cup) oatmeal
1-2 handfuls of almonds (chopped)
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp cardamom
1 tbsp honey
1 handful of raisins

Apple & Pear Sauce/Jam
3 apples (chopped)
3 pears (chopped)
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp cardamom

Greek yoghurt with vanilla

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How to do it
Crisp

  • Heat a large non-stick frying pan over medium heat.
  • Add oatmeal, chopped almonds, cinnamon and cardamom to the pan, and mix it together.
  • Add and stir in the honey, and keep stirring.
  • When the mix starts to golden, add the raisins, and stir until you have a golden crisp.
  • Let the crisp cool down.

Apple & Pear Sauce/Jam

  • Chop the apples and the pears, and put them in a saucepan.
  • Mix in cinnamon and cardamom.
  • Heat up the apples and pears, and let it simmer until you have the preferred texture (the longer you let it simmer, the smoother it gets).
  • Let the sauce/jam cool down.

Put it all together
In a dessert bowl, or a glass, add a tablespoon of yoghurt, then a tablespoon of apple and pear sauce and then a tablespoon of crisp. Repeat.

Enjoy!

Btw:
If you want to make a “party version” of this dessert, roast the crisp in some butter and add some sugar, and replace the yoghurt with whipped cream. You can also use leftover cookies or biscuits instead of making crisp.

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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

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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!

Failed Nut Crust – Nutty Pancakes

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Let’s face it. Sometimes the result doesn’t end up to be what we expected or intended. One time when I was going to make nut crust, my oven broke down just as I was about to put the nut crust in the oven. So I stood there, with a mix of egg whites, finely chopped almonds and sugar. But it´s not what you get, but how you take it, right? So I used the failed nut crust to make pancakes instead. And here’s my recipe for nutty pancakes without having to make the nut crust first.

Ingredients (about 6 small pancakes)
2 eggs
1 tbsp sugar
1 dl (almost 1/2 cup) plain flour
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp cardamom
2 dl (almost 1 cup) milk
50 gram (1,8 oz) finely chopped almonds
Butter for the frying pan

Decoration
Cottage cheese, chopped fruit, roasted almonds, fresh berries, ice cream, jam…

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How to do it

  1. Beat the eggs together with the sugar.
  2. In a different bowl, mix together flour, cinnamon and cardamom.
  3. Add the dry ingredients and the milk to the mix of egg and sugar, and stir until you have a smooth batter.
  4. Add the finely chopped almonds.
  5. Heat up a small frying pan with some butter, and transfer about one soup ladle of batter into the frying pan (the batter should cover the bottom of the frying pan, but not more than that).
  6. Turn the pancake when the top of the pancake is “dry”.
  7. The pancake is finished when the both sides has a nice golden brown surface.
  8. Repeat until you don’t have anymore batter.
  9. Enjoy the pancakes with whatever you like. This time I made mine with some cottage cheese, persimmon, pomegranate and roasted almonds.

Btw…
If you want an even healthier choice, skip the sugar and replace some of the flour with oatmeal.

Fall´n´fruits – Apple and Pear Cake

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It´s fall. The fruits have fallen off the trees and it´s time for a cake based on the fruits of the season. This apple and pear cake is super easy to make,  full of flavor and is perfect for rainy November days.

Ingredients
75 gram (2,6 oz) melted butter
0,5 dl (1/4 cup) sugar
2 eggs
2 dl (1 cup) plain flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp vanilla sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp cardamom
2-3 grated pears
2-3 grated apples

Decoration
Chopped almonds

How to do it

  1. Preheat the oven to 200ºC (390ºF), and butter and line a round cake tin, 22 cm (9 in).
  2. Melt the butter and let it cool down a bit.
  3. Grate or chop the pears and the apples, put the fruits in a bowl and mix them together with the cinnamon and cardamom.
  4. In a large bowl, beat together the eggs with the sugar. I use a stand mixer, but you may just as well use an electric hand mixer.
  5. Mix in the melted butter.
  6. In a separate bowl, mix together the plain flour, baking powder and vanilla sugar.
  7. Slowly add the mixed dry ingredients to the mixture. 
  8. Mix in the grated apples and the pears with a spatula.
  9. Transfer the batter into the cake tin and top it with chopped almonds.
  10. Bake in the middle of the oven until the top of the cake is golden brown, for about 35-40 minutes. 
  11. Let the cake cool down for a few minutes in the cake tin before taking it out of the tin and laying it on a grid.
  12. Enjoy the flavors of fall, maybe with a scoop of ice cream.

Btw…
How about doubling the recipe and make a two layered cake with some cream cheese frosting between the layers and on top of the cape? Check out First appearance – Pear cake for a recipe for frosting.

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