Vanilla Muffins

Never getting tired of vanilla. I love it in my yoghurt, in my tea, in my morning café au lait (my favourite Nespresso capsule), with berries and in ice cream...

In baking I haven't done many recipes without vanilla sugar on it. Choose the real vanilla products instead of vanillin (not the same thing, try to taste the difference).

VANILLA MUFFINS

Muffins:

2 eggs

130 g (1,5dl) brown sugar

160 g (2,5 dl) white flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

2 teaspoons vanilla sugar

50 ml vanilla soya milk

50 g melted butter

Topping:

200 g cream cheese

1 teaspoon of yellow colouring extract 

250 g icing sugar

2 teaspoons vanilla sugar

+ rainbow sprinkles

Prepare a muffin tin putting on paper liners.

In a bowl whisk eggs and sugar to a white foam. Mix together all the dry ingredients (flour, baking powder and vanilla sugar). Start adding them together in the egg-sugar mixing carefully, then add vanilla soya milk and melted butter.

With a kitchen spoon fill the muffin forms and bake in the oven 200 C for about 15 minutes until the top of the muffins becomes golden. Remove from the oven and let cool.

Mix together cream cheese, colouring extract, icing sugar and vanilla sugar. 

With a help of a spoon, place the topping on the muffins and decorate with sprinkles. 

Place in the fridge and serve cooled with good tea of coffee. 

Lingonberry Smoothie

Finally I'm on my long waited holiday in Lapland! I missed being back home and specially my parents.. 
They had reserved a great amount of berries for me and I'm eating them all the time. Here I made a healthy smoothie of lingonberries picked from the forest of our lake house :) You could also add some protein powder if you wish but I preferred to use quark which is already naturally full of it.

LINGONBERRY SMOOTHIE

200 g lingonberries
200 g quark
100 ml milk (I like soya vanilla)
2 teaspoons vanilla sugar
2 tablespoons of honey

Put the still half frozen lingonberries in the mixer and add other ingredients. Mix well until the texture is smooth and pour it into glasses. 
Enjoy with oatmeal biscuits :)

Cheese Cake with Buckthorn Jam

Buckthorns are super healthy and full of vitamins, just what I need this period :)

It's quite rare here in Italy so I wanted to make my friends taste it in a dessert. 

If you can't get this jam in particular you can use any other you wish instead.

CHEESE CAKE WITH BUCKTHORN JAM

Base:

400 g cereal biscuits

100 g butter 

Filling:

400 g cream cheese

3 eggs

170 g (2dl) brown sugar

3 teaspoons vanilla sugar

6 gelatines

2 tablespoons limoncello

Topping:

200 g buck thorn jam (or which you prefer)

silver decoration balls

Cover the base of a spring cake tin with baking paper.

Crush biscuits and mix them together with soft butter. 

Press the mix on the bottom of the cake tin.

Prepare the filling. Put the gelatines into a cup covering them with cold water. Mix in one bowl egg whites with both sugars until the texture it's very thick. In another bowl mix philadelphia and egg yolks and add them in the first bowl. Heat limoncello and add in the softened gelatines, mix carefully and add with all the other ingredients.

Pour the mix on top of the base in a cake tin and place it in the fridge at least for 6 hours. Spread the jam on top of the cake and sprinkle on some decoration balls.

Before removing the collar, run a sharp thin knife around the cake and place it on a serving plate. Enjoy :)

Green Tea Muffins

The spring is coming and I wanted to make something fresh :)

GREEN TEA MUFFINS

2 eggs

125 g (1,5 dl) brown sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla sugar

2 teaspoons baking powder

120 g (2 dl) white flour

2 tablespoons of sugared green tea powder

1 dl milk

50 g butter

Frosting:

200 g cream cheese

150 g icing sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla sugar

+ sugared green tea powder

Preheat oven 180 C. Put on paper liners of a muffin tin (10-12 pieces)

In a bowl whisk eggs and sugar until the foam gets fluffy and light. 

In another bowl mix together baking powder with flour, vanilla sugar and green tea powder. Start adding them in the first bowl together with milk and melted butter. 

Mix carefully.

With a kitchen spoon fill the muffin liners and bake for 12-15 minutes. Remove them from the oven and let them cool.

For frosting mix all the ingredients well together, cover the muffins with it and decorate with green tea powder.

 

 

Torta ai Ribes Rossi

It has been a while since my last post.. I've been busy with my work but now I will start baking again :)

The first thing I made was this easy red currant cake. I wanted to make it a cute heart shape. Unfortunately the middle part cracked and it looks a bit dramatic.. But it tastes good!

I also advice you to use as much biological ingredients as possible.

TORTA AI RIBES ROSSI

2 medium eggs (bio)

100 g (1,25 dl) brown sugar (fair-trade bio)

2 teaspoons vanilla sugar

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

130 g (2 dl) white flour (bio)

200 g natural yoghurt (bio)

200 g red currants (now frozen but originally from my home)

+ icing sugar on top

Preheat the oven to 180 C.

Prepare a cake tin and spread some butter all over it. If you use a silicon tin you can leave it without the breadcrumbs, otherwise I recommend to add them. 

In a big bowl whisk the eggs with sugar until the texture becomes light and fluffy. In another smaller bowl mix together all the dry ingredients (vanilla sugar, baking powder and soda and flour) Add them in the big bowl together with yoghurt and red currants. Mix carefully and pour in the cake tin. Bake in the oven for 20-25 min. 

Remove from the oven and let cool for a while. Turn the cake upside down on a serving plate and decorate with icing sugar. Serve with some vanilla ice-cream or whipped cream as a dessert or simply like this for breakfast.

 

 

 

Apple Crumble

This is much easier than apple pie but so good and quick to prepare :)

With the spicy seasonings it really starts to feel like autumn already..

APPLE CRUMBLE

4 apples of your choice

300 g digestive biscuits

50 g butter

2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon clove

1/4 teaspoon ginger

1/2 teaspoon cardamom

+ really good vanilla yoghurt/ vanilla flavoured whipped cream for serving

Preheat the oven to 175 C. Prepare an oven tin spreading some butter on it.

Wash and cut the apples into cubes, put them into a bowl. Melt the butter, add the seasonings on it and mix them together with apples. Crush the biscuits and add them too. Pour the mix in the oven tin and bake in the oven for about 20 minutes. Remove and let cool for a while. 

Divide in the serving bowls and add a lot of vanilla yoghurt / cream and enjoy with good tea.

Quiche au Chèvre & aux Tomates Cerises

This is one of my favourite quiches, just a simple combination of fresh goat cheese, cherry tomatoes and herbs. I got the idea once in Paris <3

QUICHE AU CHÈVRE & AUX TOMATES CERISES

Base:

150 g butter

200 g (3 dl) white flour

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon sugar

Filling:

3 eggs

200 ml milk or cream

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons herb of provence mix
2 teaspoons of pesto

200 g cherry tomatoes

200 g fresh chèvre 

Preheat oven to 200 C.

Prepare a spring cake tin covering it with baking paper. 

For the base mix together the room temperature butter with flour, sugar and salt. With a help of a rolling pin make a thin round base and press the dough on the cake tin. 
Add the cherry tomatoes cut in half. Mix together eggs, milk/cream, salt, herbs and pesto and pour on the tomatoes. Add little chunks of goat cheese on top all over the pie.

Place in the oven and bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes until the crust gets golden brown.

Remove from the oven and serve with salad in a good company.