15 years later and still baking

Berry Valentines Day Muffins

Happy Valentines Day!

Love Love Love and Berry muffins is what it's all about!

Ingredients

150g frozen or fresh berries
100g caster sugar
100g butter
300g flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
140ml milk


Icing

100g cream cheese
50g butter at room temperature
75g powdered sugar
few drops a vanilla extract
1 tablespoon of strawberry jam
Grated dark chocolate to sprinkle on top for decoration




Mix the butter and sugar until it is a fluffy and nearly creamy texture. Add one beaten egg at a time and mix well.
Then add the milk, vanilla extract then add the flour and the baking powder and mix until is it a think sort of sticky batter.
Add the berries and then spoon the batter into the muffin cases.
Place in the muffins in the 160C preheated oven and bake for 30 minutes.

For the icing mix the butter and cream cheese then add the powdered sugar and the vanilla extract.
Then to give it the pink colour add the strawberry jam.

Once the muffins have cooled down, dip them head down into the icing.
Then sprinkle the chocolate on the top.

If you want the heart shape on top - take some cardboard and cut out a heart. Cover the heart in kitchen foil. One side of the heart should be flat, and on the other side you can form a handle with the foil (this will make it easier to lift off the muffin).

Mocha Squares or Mocka Rutor in Swedish

This is a yummy chocolate sponge cake with a chocolate coffee and coconut icing.

Ingredients

For the batter

150g butter
2 eggs
2 dl sugar
3 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons vanilla sugar
2 tablespoons cocoa powder
1 1/2 dl milk
4 1/2 dl flour

For the icing

50g butter
3 tablespoons espresso
1 tablespoon cocoa powder
2 tablespooms vanilla sugar
3 dl powder sugar
1-2 dl coconut flakes


First of all melt the butter in the microwave and let it cool down.
Whilst it is cooling down whisk the eggs and sugar together until it's creamy.
Add baking powder, vanilla sugar and cocoa powder.
Whip altogether then add the butter, milk and flour.
Slowly whisk until it is an even mixture.

Butter the baking pan - a usual rectangle oven tray (Don't worry the cake will not rise that much).
Once you have buttered the pan, you can use bread crumbs and sprinkle onto the butter, this will
help remove the cake from the pan once baked.

Place in the 225C preheated oven and bake for 10-15 minutes.

Whilst it is baking you can make the icing.
Melt the butter in the pan, then add espresso, cocoa powder, vanilla sugar and powder sugar.

Once the cake has cooled down, decorate it with the icing and sprinkle the coconut flakes on the
top.

Cut into squares and you are finished!

Happy Baking :)

Kolakakor - Chewy Toffee Cookies

These delicious cookies only took 20 minutes from scratch to bake!


Ingredients

100g butter
1dl sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 tablespoon vanilla sugar or 3 drops of vanilla extract
2 tablespoon on invert sugar or syrup
2 1/2dl flour

Soften the butter in the microwave.
In a bowl mix all of the dry ingredients. Then add the butter and syrup and mix to a dough.
Split the dough into four pieces, and roll them into 2cm thick logs on a greased baking tray.
Flatten the rolled dough logs with a fork at an angle, so that they have a stripy pattern.

Bake in a 175C preheated oven for 12 minutes.

Let them cool slightly, and then cut them diagonally against the stripes to form cookie into strips as seen in the pictures.

Perfect to make when you are in a hurry or get unexpected visitors!
Even if you freeze them, the chewiness will remain!!

Fish Cakes

Quick and simple!

250g tuna
2 cups of mashed potato
1 onion finely diced
30g grated carrot
30g peas
Small handful of chopped parsley
Salt
Pepper
1 egg
1 tablespoon of water
1 cup of breadcrumbs
Spray oil for the pan

Flake the tuna into the bowl and mix in the mashed potato, onion, carrot, peas, parsley, salt and pepper.

Form this mixture into little cakes.

In a bowl whisk together an egg and a tablespoon of water.

Dip the fish cake into the egg mixture and then roll in the bread crumbs.

Spray the pan and cook the fish cakes until golden.

Remove and drain onto paper towels - Serve with salad! :)

Chokladbiskvier

Another amazing little Scandinavian creation!

This is a Swedish cookie with an almond, macaroon-style base, topped with chocolate buttercream and glazed with dark chocolate.

Ingredients

Macaroon bottoms

450g marzipan (If you are making this from scratch you will need 225g peeled almonds and 225g sugar)
3 egg whites
1.5dl sugar

Filling

400g unsalted butter
5 egg whites
5dl icing sugar
teaspoon of cocoa powder

Icing

300g dark chocolate

If you are making the marzipan from scratch take the almonds and the sugar (this always has to be of equal weight) and mix together in a a mixing machine for a few minutes until it forms a "dough like crumble" (add a tablespoon of water if the almonds are dry), you will then be able to form this into a ball. (It should look like the image on the right).


In another bowl, take the egg whites and beat them until they are foamy, then add the sugar and whisk until smooth.
Add the almond mixture and again mix until smooth.

Lay baking paper on a baking tray and spoon out the mixture. The diameter should be roughly 6-7cm.
Place these into the 175C preheated oven and bake for 15-20 minutes.

For the filling, whisk the butter until fluffy, then put to one side.

Over a bowl of warm water beat the eggs and powder sugar, this will then become the meringue batter.
When the mixture has cooled a little, add the butter and whisk.
Then add a teaspoon of cocoa powder.

Take the cooled down biscuits and spread the filling on the bottom side. (Just like into a cone).
Then place into the freezer for a few minutes.

Whilst they are cooling down in the freezer melt the chocolate either in a bowl above boiling water or in the microwave.
Dip the biscuits filling first into the chocolate, then place again in fridge for them to cool down before serving.

Yum, enjoy!

Cinnamon Swirl Buns

Everyone will love them!

But make sure you have time on your hands, because anything which contains yeast takes a good couple of hours to make. 

These took me roughly 4 hours to make, but they were worth the wait!

Ingredients

Dough

240ml milk

45g butter

400g flour (divided)

64g sugar

1 large egg

2 1/4 teaspoons of yeast or 7g fresh yeast

1 teaspoon salt

Filling 

96g golden brown sugar

2 tablespoons cinnamon (if you are weighing this is 28g)

57g butter at room temperature

pinch of salt

Icing

125g cream cheese

130g powdered sugar 

57g butter at room temperature

1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract

Put the milk and butter into a heat safe bowl and place in the microwave until the butter has just melted (30 seconds).

Add 128g of flour, sugar, egg, yeast and salt. Mix well for about 3 minutes, occasionally scraping down the dough from the sides of the bowl. 

Add 320g of flour and mix well until the dough is sticky.

If the dough is too sticky keep on adding flour by the tablespoon, until the dough begins to form a ball and does not stick to the sides of the bowl anymore.

Take the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead for 8 minutes, keep on adding flour if the dough is still too sticky to handle. The texture should be smooth and elastic so you can form it into a ball.

Lightly butter a large bowl and place the dough inside, cover with a kitchen towel and leave to rise in a warm area until it has doubled its size for 2 hours.

Next step is making the filling.

Mix the brown sugar and cinnamon into a medium bowl.

Punch down the dough, and transfer to the floured work surface. 

Roll out the dough with a rolling pin to a 38x28cm rectangle. Spread the butter over the dough leaving a 1cm edge.

Sprinkle the cinnamon sugar evenly over the butter.

Starting at the long side roll the dough into a log.

With the seam side down, cut the dough into approximately 18 slices, each slice should be 1 1/2cm wide.

Lighty butter your baking pans and place the sliced rolls inside.

In the original recipe it said almost to leave no space between the rolls, this is so that the dough would spread into each other and the end result would give you a square cinnamon roll shape. This is probably the safer option, as it leaves no chance for the edges to burn and get hard.

I decided to leave a bigger space between my rolls, because I wanted them to look like buns.

And it worked for me.

When the rolls are in the baking pans cover them with plastic foil and a kitchen towel and leave them to rise for 45 minutes.

Until they have almost doubled in volume.

Place the rack in the 190C preheated oven, and bake the rolls until they are golden. About 20 minutes.

Remove from oven and invert immediately onto cool rack.

Let them cool for 10 minutes.

For the icing - mix cream cheese, powdered sugar, butter and vanilla extract in a medium bowl. 

Mix well until it is lump free and looks silky.

Spread icing onto buns!

Best is to eat them whilst they are fresh and soft, after a day or so they may get a little chewy (but still are good of course) :)

Best cinnamon swirls around!

Inspired from http://smittenkitchen.com/2009/04/cinnamon-swirl-buns-so-much-news/

Creamy Chocolate Truffles

Truffles for a special occasion!

If you have never made Truffles before, you wouldn't believe how easy they are to make.

Ingredients

275g dark chocolate with a minimum of 60% cocoa (broken into pieces)

250ml double cream

50g unsalted butter (room temperature)

50g cocoa powder

Place the chocolate into a large bowl.

Bring the cream to the boil on the stove, then pour it over the chocolate until it melts.

Let cool for 2 minutes until adding the butter in two stages.

Once the butter has been stirred into the mixture it should look glassy and smooth.

Put the truffle mixture into the fridge for at at least 4 hours, so it can become solid.

Even better if you could leave it in the fridge over night.

Once you remove the mixture from the fridge let it stand for about 15 minutes.

Put the cocoa powder into a bowl. Ensure your hands are dry and cover the palms of your hands in the powder. This will make it easier to form the mixture into little balls.

Finish it off by rolling the ball in the powder mixture, then by tossing it in your hands to remove the access powder.

Repeat until the mixture is finished.

So easy!! - Enjoy with some strawberries! :)

Pizza Swirl

The perfect little lunch bite

Ingredients

Dough

12.5g fresh yeast
5 or 6dl flour
200ml luke warm water
50ml oil
salt
pepper

Sauce

200ml tin chopped tomatoes
1 red onion
1 yellow onion
1 garlic clove
2 tablespoons oil
2 tablespoons sugar or 4 tablespoons ketchup
oregano
basil

Toppings of your choice

Grated cheese
Ham
Grilled chicken
Tuna
or left over bolognese

Dissolve the yeast in the luke warm water, and rest for 5 minutes.
Add the flour, salt, pepper and oil, then mix well until it forms a dough.
Knead the dough for 10 minutes, then leave to rise 25 minutes.

Gently fry the finely chopped onions and garlic until lightly brown.
Mix in the rest of the sauce ingredients, and simmer for 10 minutes.
Then let cool while waiting for the dough to finish rising.

On a floured surface knead out the dough into a large rectangle.
Coat with a layer of the sauce and add the pre cooked toppings i.e chicken, ham or tuna.
(I used tuna and chicken, make sure chicken is cooked through before adding)

Roll up the dough and cut into inch thick slices, placing them on
a baking paper on an oven tray.

Bake in the oven for 10 minutes, then remove from oven and
sprinkle some oregano and cheese on the top of each bun, before
baking for a further 5 minutes.

Enjoy hot and fresh, and the remaining buns make perfect packed lunches
or afternoon snacks.

Chocolate eclairs

The are delicious!! And not that difficult to make :)

There are 3 steps in making these yummy eclairs.

Ingredients

Choux pastry

125ml water

50g butter

60g plain flour

2 eggs beaten

The cream filling

300ml double cream

3 drops vanilla extract

2 teaspoons of caster sugar

Chocolate icing

50 grams dark chocolate

1 teaspoon butter

2 tablespoons water

85g icing sugar

Start by making the choux pastry, pour water and the butter into a saucepan.

Place this over a medium heat, as soon as the butter melts let it boil a little and throw in all of the flour and take it off the heat.

Stir until the mixture is is a dough and it does no longer stick to the sides of the pan, it will look like a small ball. (Do not over beat it).

Preheat the oven to 200C.

Once the mixture is warm to touch beat in the eggs a table spoon at a time, after each addition mix well.

The more you mix this the lighter the pastry will be. I used an electric mixer, which will make the beating easier for you.

Once the eggs have been beaten into the mixture, it should have a silky glossy consistency.

Now you will need a piping bag, scoop the paste into it and use a 1cm nozzle. Lightly oil and flour a baking tray, the length of the eclair should be 5cm long and a gap of 3 cm between each one.

Before you put them in the oven sprinkle them with a few drops of water. (This helps them rise well in the oven).

Bake them for 20 minutes and then turn the heat down to 180 and bake for another 10 minutes. 

They will look golden brown and will be well risen. (Try not to open the oven whilst baking otherwise they will sink).

Whilst the pastry is cooling down make the whipped cream.

In a deep bowl pour in the cream, caster sugar and the 3 drops of vanilla extract and whip the cream.

(Now you can put the cream into another piping bag to decorate the eclairs, or you can spread it on with a spoon)

I used a spoon to spread on the cream.

After that place the eclairs into the fridge to firm up.

To make the icing place the chocolate, water and butter into a heat safe bowl. 

Place the bowl over a pot with simmering water inside it.

When the chocolate has melted start adding the icing sugar, a tablespoon at a time.

Keep on stirring to avoid lumps.

Take the eclairs out of the fridge and smooth the icing on the top with a palette knife.

Leave the eclairs for the icing to set.

And Voila...Enjoy the little french cakes :)

Naan Bread

Yummy Naan bread to go with your curry!

Ingredients

Yeast - 15g fresh or 7g dried
300-350ml warm water
500g plain white flour
15g salt
one nice big tablespoon of yoghurt
2 tsp vegetable oil


In a little bowl put the yeast into 100ml of the warm water.
Stir until dissolved and leave for 10-15 minutes until it's foamy.

In a large bowl put in flour and stir in the salt.
Make a well in the centre, then pour in the the yeast liquid, oil and yoghurt and another 200ml of the water.
Mix until it forms a dough (add little water in necessary).
The texture of the dough should be soft and slightly sticky.

Sprinkle some flour onto a surface and knead the dough for about 5-10 minutes until smooth.
Then put it in a lightly oiled bowl, cover with a kitchen towel and leave for 1 hour until it has doubled in size.

Put the dough back onto the surface and give it another quick kneading to let out the rest of the gas.
Then cut the dough into 4 equal size pieces and roll each one out, so that it is about 5mm thick.
Leave them to rest for 5 minutes.
Whilst they are resting put a pan over medium-high heat.
Put the dough into the hot pan and cook for 5 minutes until the bottom is slightly crusty and is golden with brown patches.
repeat this to the otherside.

The next step was not originally in the recipe, but i made a little mixture of olive oil with garlic salt and drizzled this over the naan. And then sprinkled a few sesame seeds. (If you have fresh coriander add that too).
Just for a little extra flavour.

Serve whilst warm :)

New York Bagels

Funny enough inspiration for these bagels came when I looked at the Philadelphia cream cheese in my fridge.

This recipe will make 16 Bagels.

Ingredients

1 potato peeled and quartered
250ml water
50g yeast
2 large eggs
1 egg white
9.5 dl of flour
60ml olive oil
1,5 tbsp sugar
0,5 tbsp salt

First you will need to boil the potato for 15 minutes and then pour 250 ml of the potato water into a small bowl, let it cool until it is luke warm and discard the potato.
Disolve the yeast in the lukewarm potato water andlet rest for ca 5 minutes.
In another bowl mix together the flour, salt and half a tablespoon of the sugar.
Pour the yeast mixture into the flour mix and add 2 eggs and the olive oil, then mix this to a solid dough.

Knead the dough for about 10 minutes until the texture becomes smooth and soft, then form into a ball and place in a lightly greased bowl (roll the ball around to greas the ball on all sides).
Cover with a towel and leave in a warm place tp rise for one hour. The size should double.
Removed the dough from the bowl and knead through again, then divide it into 16 pieces.
Each piece is rolled into a rope shape ca 20-25cm long, tapered towards the end and then form a circle connetcing the tapered ends. This could be a bit tricky but twisting the ends together and pinching it to form a bond worked for me.
Cover the 16 bagels with a towel and let them rise for 20 minutes. pre heat the oven to 200-220C and bring the water to the boil in a large pot.
Add the remaining tablespoon of sugar to the water. Lightly grease some baking paper and dust with cornmeal. Boil the bagels in the water (as many as you can fit in the pot).
They will float at the top, so turn them over after a minute and then let them boil again for a further minute and a half.

Remove the bagels from the pot and place them on the slightly greased baking paper already prepared.
Whisk together one egg white with one teaspoon of water and brush the top of the bagels (This will give them a shiny effect).
Sprinkle with sesame seeds (or any other seeds you prefer).
Bake in the center of the oven for about 15 minutes until golden brown.

Enjoy them with some cream cheese!
Mmmh yum!

Scandinavian Oatmeal Rolls

This is based on a Danish recipe with inspiration from a Norwegian classic oatmeal bread.

The following ingredients will make 12 rolls.
Preheat the oven to 180C with fan or 200C if you do not have a fan in your oven.

Ingredients

250g oatmeal
300g wholewheat flour
200g all purpose flour
50g yeast
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon of invertsugar melted in a little water
3dl water
2dl milk
0,5dl sunflower oil

Disolve the yeast in lukewarm water, add salt, sugar, milk and oil.

Mix in the oatmeal and stir until blended.

Add 400g of the flour and mix well, then keep on slowly adding the rest of the flower until the dough does not stick to the bowl. Make sure the dough doesn't get too dry.

Cover up the bowl with a kitchen cloth and leave to rise for 30 minutes at room temperature until it has doubled in size.

Take the dough and form 12 balls and flatten - place these on a baking tray and cover with a kitchen cloth again and let them rise for another 30 minutes.

When you place the bread in the oven add a tray of water and place the water on the bottom self of the oven.
The water will make steam which helps the bread from getting too hard on the top.
Bake the bread for 15 mintues.

Sophie's famous carrot cake

This is a cake that i have baked so many times, and it never disappoints :)

Ingredients

4 large eggs
60ml vegetable oil
180ml melted butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
280g all purpose flour
200g white sugar
200g brown sugar
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 tablespoon cinnamon
pinch of nutmeg
1 teaspoon salt
375g grated carrots
60g walnuts

Frosting ingredients

250g of cream cheese
100g of butter (soft at room temperature)
180g of powdered sugar
and 3 drops of vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 180C, butter up the cake pan.

You will need two bowls.
In the first bowl mix the flour, sugar, spices, baking soda and salt.
Then in the second bowl beat the eggs until it looks frothy. Add the oil, melted butter and vanilla extract and mix well.

Take the dry ingredients from the first bowl and add it to the eggs and again mix well.
Add the carrots and the crushed walnuts to the mixture.

Evenly spread the mixture into the cake pan and bake for 60 minutes.
Insert a toothpick into the cake to test whether it is ready or not (this should not be wet).
(Also gently touch the surface of the cake it will spring back).
Make sure the cake is cooled before frosting.

Now for the frosting, take the cream cheese and the butter and beat together until smooth.
Add the powder sugar and mix this until the frosting gets a silky shiny texture - Then add the vanilla extract.

Finally once the icing is on the cake, sprinkle it with some crushed walnuts.

Yum!