3/26/13

Chewy Chocolate Meringues



Hi there!



I made cookies.

I do that quite a lot, actually. But somehow I never make meringues. I think I thought I didn't like them.

How on earth could I think that?!



I am soo happy that I decided to make these. They are absolutely delicious! The outside is crunchy and the inside is a bit gooey and it's just amazing...
You definitely have to try these!



I also love hot chocolate. Who doesn't? Well, probably quite a lot of people, but whatever...

Everyday on my way to school, I pass by the cutest little shop, so after cycling past it for 2 years, I finally decided to actually go into the shop. And there I bought this totally cute hot chocolate mug. :)

It's big (which is always a plus) pretty and it has a hole for the spoon in the ... I don't know how you call it in english, really. But you can see what I mean on the picture.


 Just look at that perfectness! I took these cookies with me to school and everybody loved them.




Chewy Chocolate Meringues
adapted from Bakerella
1 cup (8 fl oz / 250 ml) large egg whites – about 7
2 cups (1 lb / 500 g) sugar
5 tbsp (1 oz / 30 g) natural cocoa powder
 7-8 oz  bittersweet or milk chocolate, or a mix of both, finely chopped

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  • Line baking sheets with parchment paper.
  • In a clean, dry heatproof bowl, whisk together egg whites and sugar. Set over, but not touching, simmering water in a saucepan.
  • Whisk constantly until the sugar is completely dissolved and remove from heat. (I tested to make sure I didn’t feel any sugar granules.)
  • Beat the eggs on high using your mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Beat until stiff and glossy.
  • Sift cocoa over the meringue. Sprinkle chopped chocolate on top.
  • Then, fold together gently with a spatula until combined.
  • Use a scoop to drop even amounts of batter onto prepared baking sheets about two inches apart.
  • Bake for about 8-9 minutes. Rotate the pans and bake for another 8-9 minutes until the cookies are fluffy and full of cracks.
  • Transfer the cookies, leaving them on the parchment paper, to wire racks to coo





3/18/13

Blueberry Lemon Scones




So, I made these scones 2 weeks ago, and I wanted to post them right away, but I forgot, and decided to post the croissants first.



The day I made these, it was beautiful weather. The sun was shining, the birds were singing and I could smell spring. It got me so excited to finally have that feeling, that I instantly decided to make these scones. The day before, I had bought a t-shirt with the words 'It's 8:00 am and I've already eaten a blueberry muffin.' So I knew that I had to make scones with blueberries instead of the normal ones.
We didn't have any blueberries on hand, so at 8:30 I cycled to the supermarket to get some. I felt the fresh air blowing in my hair and the sun warming up my face. I felt so happy at that moment. Funny, how just a change of weather can totally change your mood. 

I made these scones and at them, some with clotted cream and lemon curd, some with clotted cream and raspberry jam and some with a lemon glaze that came with the recipe for the scones. I didn't really like the glaze, but the other two were delicious. I liked the ones with the lemon curd and clotted cream the most. 
 
 
 
And a couple of days later.....
 
 
It started snowing.
 
And freezing.
 
And it was soooo cold.
 
 
I was like, you got to be kidding me?! But no, mother nature thought; 'Now that she's all happy with the spring coming and the sun and the nice, warm weather, I'll let it snow and freeze and be cold'
 
Yeah. Thank you.
 
And it's still cold now, 2 weeks later. I just hope spring will come soon.
In the mean time, doesn't matter if you have nice weather or not, you got to make these. they're absolutely delicious!
 

 
 
Lemon Blueberry Scones
from Pastry Affair
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
2 lemons, zested
Pinch of salt
8 tablespoons (1 stick) butter, cold and cubed
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
1 large egg
1 cup blueberries (fresh or frozen)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, lemon zest, and salt. Using a pastry blender, cut in the butter until mixture resembles a coarse sand (alternatively, if using a stand mixer, mix in butter with paddle attachment until butter is pea-sized or smaller).
In a small bowl, whisk together the heavy whipping cream and egg until well blended. Pour cream into scone mixture and mix until it comes together as a dough. Stir in the blueberries (over-mixing the blueberries will burst the berries and dye the batter purple—try to avoid this). Note: scone batter may be very thick and make it difficult to incorporate blueberries by hand. You may add the blueberries into the flour mixture before adding the cream; more blueberries may burst and dye the batter purple, but the taste will be just the same.
On a lightly floured surface, place dough and form into a circle, flattening the top until dough is roughly an inch thick. Cut dough into 8 pie-shaped pieces and transfer to a baking sheet. Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until scones are lightly browned. Allow to cool to room temperature before glazing.
 
 
 
 

3/11/13

Cinnamon Raisin Danish Swirls

Yeah, I don't stop!





Here are some pictures (wow! Surprise!) of cinnamon croissant things that are delicious...


I'd love a big breakfast like this!

And ofcourse the link to Top with Cinnamon, where you can find the instructions.


Chocolate Croissants

Hello again!



Here are the chocolate croissants, and a link to Top with Cinnamon where you can find the recipe plus .gif's to help you understand it better.


 




Croissants

 


Hi there! In this post I'll give you the recipe of the croissants I just talked about. :)




And some more pictures.




Because croissants just look pretty.



I highly suggest you to go to Top with Cinnamon for the recipe, because she has very helpfull .gif's.
So click here to go there.



Croissants

 


I wanted to do something like; 'Which one is better?' with croissants in this post. So I made 2 different croissant recipes, one from Top With Cinnamon and one from Patisserie!. I had already made the croissants from Patisserie! once, and they were very nice. Now I wanted to find out if the recipe from Top with Cinnamon was better.

I don't really know were it went wrong, but I think it already went wrong at the first step. I needed to mix the dough, but I think I overmixed it. The whole time I was making the dough, I felt like something went wrong. And it did. It was the recipe from Patisserie!.

I started with (over-)mixing the ingredients (except for the cold butter for turning the dough)

Then I went and made 2 turns, as the recipe said.



Wrapped it up and refrigerated it for an hour



Rolled it out and cut it in half

 
 
Then I cut it in (ugly) triangles


And rolled them into croissant shapes (yeah, I've got really cool hands)




Then I put them on a baking sheet.
And let them rise for more than 2 hours.




And they didn't look any different.
They stayed liked this.
They didn't rise at all.

That was quite a big bummer.
I baked them anyway. I thought maybe a miracle would happen and would let them rise in the oven, or something. ?
Well, it didn't. They came out looking the same way they looked before they went into the oven, only browned. The taste itself was quite good, but the texture was totally wrong. I'll try them again soon, and will make sure not to overmix the dough then.


Now, let's talk about the ones that did turn out good. Top with cinnamon has a really good step by step tutorial for this. The croissants from her recipe did turn out good, as I just said. Why am I repeating myself? I really do that a lot, also to my family and friends. Then I'm about to begin to tell a whole story and they're like; 'Uhm, you already told us that twice.' O.
But well, let's continue talking about croissants. Mine didn't look as good as the croissants on her pictures (from top with cinnamon), but they were a lot better then the other ones. I think it had something to do with the fact that the recipe called for active dry yeast and I used instant yeast, since I couldn't find active dry yeast. I didn't/don't know how to convert those, so I just used the same amount. If you know how to convert it, please tell me!




This recipe called for 4 turns of the dough, and a 10-12 hour rest of the dough, so they really took a lot longer than the other ones. But they also were much better. They weren't perfect yet, but I'll definitely try these again and try to make 'em perfect.

I divided the dough in 4, and made croissants from 2 parts, cinnamon-raisin swirly things that I loved the most, and chocolate croissants from the last part.


These did rise and got airy and much more croissant-like.



The chocolate croissants also tasted good, especially warmed up a bit in the oven :)




I really loved the cinnamon things. I don't love raisins, but they were really nice in this swirlsythingies.



And I always say yes to cinnamon sugar.

 
 
Well, I'm gonna end this post now, and I'll make another post with the recipes and some more pictures I took of the finished croissants. Bye!
 
 

 

3/4/13

Lemon Yoghurt Bundt Cakes



Last night, I was really craving cake.
So I made some.
I had just bought 6 mini bundt cake forms, so I went looking for bundt cakes. I was looking at Call me Cupcake, and then saw this recipe. And I made it. The recipe was written in English and Swedish, but the directions to make the cake were not translated in English, so I translated them with Google.




They were very nice. They were crumbly, but not too crumbly and soft and cakey. The cake (and the batter :D ) was really good.
The glaze I will make different next time. The glaze consists of powdered sugar and lemon juice + zest. Next time, I'll substitute 1/4 - 1/2 of the lemon juice with water, to make it a bit less overwhelming.
But overall, these cakes were very nice and fresh. I really wanted something fresh, since I have had so much chocolate and winter-y flavors lately that I wanted something more spring-y, like lemons.




Lemon yoghurt mini bundt cakes
from Call me Cupcake
•2 eggs
•100 grams butter, softened
•2,5 dl granulated sugar
•1 tsp vanilla
•4 dl all purpose flour
•1/4 tsp baking soda
•2 dl yoghurt (about 8-10% fat, greek or turkish works fine)
•2 lemons, zest and juice

Preheat oven to 175 degrees. Mix together the flour and baking soda in a bowl. Beat room-temperature butter, sugar and lemon peel fluffy and white in another bowl. Add the eggs and whisk until smooth. Beat in the flour mixture a little at a time. Then add the lemon juice and matyoghurt and whisk until smooth. Grease and FLOUR a form for 6 mini cakes. Fill the molds to about 2/3 and bake for 15-20 minutes. Feel with a toothpick to make sure they are ready. Allow the mold to cool for 10 minutes before turning out the cakes.
Lemon glaze
Recipe from Martha Stewart

•3 tbsp lemon juice (or 2 tbsp lemon juice and 1 tbsp water)
•1/4 tsp lemon zest
•1 1/2 cup powdered sugar (155 grams)

Whisk all ingredients until smooth and combined. Use immediately.





3/2/13

Homemade Geneva Cookies



 
Here in the Netherlands, we don't really have Geneva cookies, or I'm just blind and never see 'em.
The point is, I have never eaten one. Like in my whole life. Or I forgot.
Let's just assume that I've never eaten one, okay?
Okay.
 
 
 
 
I really loved these cookies! I made 60 cookies, and now, 2 days later, I only have 12 cookies left.
Yeah, I'm not kidding. And my dog didn't ate them, for once! She is incredibly naughty and the minute she has the chance, she takes whatever she can take. Sometimes she even jumps up and grabs the sandwich in your hand. But that's part of why she fits so good in my family, we're all obsessed with food.
In my house are 6 people, including me, and we are real cookie lovers. Especially when the cookies are not that big, so naturally you can eat a dozen of them and not feel really guilty. Since they're small, it's okay, right?
 
 
 
'- To save time:
- You seriously don’t need to make these oval shaped – it saves a lot of hassle if you just make the cookies round: just roll the dough into 1″ balls, place on the lined cookie sheet and flatten into 1/4″ thick circles; they’ll be just as good, and much quicker to make.'

This is in the notes from Top with cinnamon. It's not that you can misunderstand it, it's quite clear. You really don't have to make these oval shaped. Really, you don't. And ofcourse, I was like; 'O, I'll just make them oval shaped, that looks nicer and then they're more like the original cookies and it's just cute. I mean, how much more work can it be?'
I was so wrong. They did look cute oval shaped, but it took a lot of time! I'd seriously recommend you to just make these round. Or, I just come to think of, you can roll the dough and then cut out ovals or rounds. Why didn't I try that? That would be a lot easier.
 
 
 


 
 
Izy from Top with cinnamon also has a super easy tutorial for tempering chocolate. I've once tried to temper chocolate, but it didn't really work out... Everything just got messy and coated with chocolate, except for the cookies I wanted to coat in chocolate. So I was really happy when I tried her method. You just keep on processing the chocolate in a food processor until it's nice and melted. It worked out really good! If you look well at the picture above, you'll see that the chocolate is shiny.

 
 
 
 
I made 4 different flavours. The 3 flavours that were in the recipe, and caramel.  I have a big box with little caramel bits that taste really nice and caramel-y. I liked the ones with candy cane and white chocolate the most. Chocolate drizzled with more chocolate is always a winner for me.
 






DIY Geneva Cookies – Pecan / Candy Cane / Coconut
Serving Size: makes about 50 cookies
 
14 tbsp (7 oz) unsalted butter (see notes)
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 tbsp vanilla extract
1 tbsp vinegar (anything but balsamic!) or lemon juice
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
2 cups all purpose flour
8 to 10 oz semisweet / bittersweet chocolate, melted (and tempered if you can be bothered - see notes)
For the toppings ~ 1/2 to 2/3 cup of one of the following:
1/3 cup toasted chopped pecans, toasted dessicated coconut, crushed candy cane
 

 
Preheat your oven to 300 degrees F (150 degrees C).
Cream the butter, sugar, vanilla and vinegar/lemon juice together in a large bowl. Add in the next 4 ingredients and stir until just combined.
Divide the dough into 1" balls, roll the dough balls into 2 1/4" long sausage shapes, place onto a lined cookie sheet.

Flatten the sausages of dough into oval shapes (see notes) – about 1/4 inch thick, spaced 1/2″ apart on the cookie sheet.
Bake for 17-20 minutes until they are a light golden brown. Allow to cool on a wire rack.
Once cooled, spread about 1/2 tsp of melted (tempered if you can be bothered) chocolate onto the bottom of each cookie (you can use a pastry brush, pallette knife or butter knife), and sprinkle with your desired toppings. Let the chocolate set at room temperature. Store in an airtight container.


Notes from Top With Cinnamon:

-I’ve subbed half the butter for 3.5 0z of coconut oil (i.e. used 3.5 oz of butter + 3.5 oz of coconut oil) and it works just as well!
- If you want an easy way to temper the chocolate, I’ve got an easy, step-by-step image guide here
- To save time:
- You seriously don’t need to make these oval shaped – it saves a lot of hassle if you just make the cookies round: just roll the dough into 1″ balls, place on the lined cookie sheet and flatten into 1/4″ thick circles; they’ll be just as good, and much quicker to make.
- instead of coating the bottom of the cookies w/ the chocolate, just dip one half of the cookie into the chocolate, then dip it into the toppings
- You can use any other toppings you want – don’t limit yourself to those three, go crazy! – chopped peanuts, hazelnuts, spread on some nutella, crushed pretzels, crushed potato chips, flaky sea salt, chopped toffee, chopped candy bars (rolo or snickers would be just…I can’t even…), dried fruit, freeze dried fruit, mini marshmallows… whatever!
- I also drizzled the peppermint Geneva Cookies with a but of melted white chocolate for some pizazz :O ahaha