Petite Indulgence / Cooking and other Adventures

Gluten Free "Amaretti" / Almond Cookies Crispy on the outside and soft in the Center!

2011-11-18T10:56:00.000-08:00

Thanksgiving is almost here and Christmas is not far behind, so it's time to bake cookies. Loads and loads of cookies. This year I'll be making many varieties and most of them will be GLUTEN FREE. Oh and we're making Amaretti to start, let me tell you, these babies are super delicious, easy to make and yippeeh they are gluten free too.

Amaretti are a staple in Italy, they have a distinctive Almond aroma and are nice and crispy on the outside but have a wonderful soft and chewy center. Wonderful with some hot chocolate or a hot cup of java.

Here is what you need:

400 g ground almonds
300 g superfine sugar
3 tbsp sweet rice flour (I use Koda Farms Mochiko Sweet Rice Flour)
2 tbsp cocoa powder
1 tsp cinnamon
3 large eggs
2 tsp almond flavor
1 sprinkle of salt

powdered sugar to roll your cookies in

Pre-heat your oven to 325F / 150 C

Once you've weighed out all your ingredients, start by separating your eggs and whip the egg-whites with the salt until very stiff.

Combine all the dry in ingredients in a large bowl, mix the almond flavor and the egg yolks well and ten add to the dry ingredients. Then add the egg whites, combine everything well and form a big ball of dough.

Pour some powdered sugar into a shallow dish and prepare your cookie sheets (I like to line them with wax paper). With moist hands start forming walnut size balls and roll lightly in the powdered sugar, then set them on your baking sheets.

Once you used all your dough and placed the little balls on your bakin sheets, take a glass or a spatula and press down the cookies slightly. Then bake in the pre-heated oven for about 25 minutes. The cookies should be nice and crispy on the outside and chewy and soft on the inside.

These cookies are great fresh but keep beautifully for up to a week in a tin or other storage container.
Oh and if you don't have to eat gluten free, you can use regular flour, no need to buy rice flour just to make cookies one time.

ENJOY! And let me know what you think!

Tip: if you want a little surprise inside, put little morsels of chocolate on the inside of the balls and bake as normal.

Semi-Homemade Coconut-Lemon Cupcakes

2011-09-21T10:24:00.000-07:00

Now and then we all want something sweet and cupcakes are the perfect size to satisfy that craving for cake. Last night I didn't feel like weighing out all the ingredients so I just thought I'll do something semi-homemade.

After all nobody will notice if you don't tell and you save a ton of time, by using a box and just switching out some of recommended ingredients and adding to it.

Here is what you need for these Semi-Homemade Coconut-Lemon Cupcakes:

1 pkg. Pillsbury Super Moist Yellow Cake Mix
3 Eggs
1 Cup finely shredded Coconut, dry
1.5 cups Coconut Milk
1 tsp. Coconut Flavor
1 Lemon, just the zest
1/3 cup of oil

For the Lemon Glaze:

1 cup C & H powdered sugar
1 Lemon, juice from the lemon you just zested

To decorate:
Icing (going with the semi-homemade I used store bought)
Coconut flakes
C&H powdered sugar

Prepare the cupcake batter just as described on the package, but instead of the water, use the coconut milk and then add in the coconut flakes, lemon zest. Divide the batter evenly in 2 twelve count cupcake pans and bake as instructed on the package or until a wooden skewer comes out clean.

While the cupcakes are baking prepare a lemon glaze with the powdered sugar and the lemon juice. The consistency should be like a thick syrup. Once the cupcakes are baked, remove them from the oven, prick them allover with a toothpick or a skewer and immediately brush with the lemon glaze, so the tops are coated and the glaze will be absorbed into the cupcakes.

Let the cupcakes cool, top with icing and coconut flakes. I found it easiest to dip the iced cupcakes into a small bowl with the coconut flakes, that way you don't get the flakes all over your kitchen.

If you want, sprinkle with a little powdered sugar and with a kitchen torch, toast the coconut slightly. Make sure you set the flame to low otherwise you are going to burn the coconut. I got my torch at

Now arrange on a nice plate, make yourself some coffee and dig in! Bon Apetit!

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2011-09-09T12:06:00.001-07:00

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Home made fruit infused Vodka

2011-09-07T10:08:00.000-07:00

I had a lot of raspberries, some watermelon and cherries sitting in my fridge and couldn't decide what to do with them so I thought I'd make some fruit-infused vodka. Of course you can buy them in the store, but trust me those don't taste nearly as good as what you can make at home.

Sure you need a little patience, but it is so totally worth it!

What you need is a bottle of decent vodka, some sugar, fruit like raspberries, watermelon, cherries, blackberries etc., maybe some mint leaves and a few empty jars.

For the Raspberry/Mint Flavor:

Rinse the raspberries and a few mint leaves, put them in a jar, add 2 tbsp of sugar and then top off with vodka until all the berries are covered, close the lid and shake lightly so all the sugar dissolves. Store in the fridge for about 4 to 5 weeks and it's ready to use.

For the Cherry Flavor, wash your cherries, cut in half and discard the pit, then add them to the jar with the sugar (you can leave that out if you don't want it) and proceed the same as with the raspberry flavor)

So all in all I made 3 flavors:

Raspberry Mint
Cherry
Watermelon

And for Labor Day I made myself a refreshing drink!

Add a few ice cubes to a glass, a shot and a half (or so) of the raspberry vodka (that all depends on how strong you like your drink) add a few of the drunken berries, a spritz of lime, and top of with tonic water!

Delicious and very refreshing! Also the vodka tastes GREAT just as a shot as well!

Try it, it's easy and adds some personality to your vodka. On top of that you'll get to brag on how you made an Artisan Product!

Streuselcake with Plums

2011-09-01T09:51:00.000-07:00

This time of year we have so many different fruit and I wanted to make something that I hadn't made in a very long time. Something that reminded me of home, of my grandmother and sunny afternoons out on the patio with a cup of coffee and cake.

I had some fresh plums at home and wanted to use them, so I decided to make a "Streuselkuchen" a Streusel Cake with fresh plums, as I think Streusel alone is a bit boring, when you add some fruit to it, like plums, apricots, apples etc. the tart/sweet flavor of the fruit and the light sweetness of the cake make it so much better.

So here is what you need for the dough/batter for a 9 inch spring form pan:

250 g Flour
1/2 tsp salt
2 tbsp sugar (I prefer C&H superfine)
50 g butter, unsalted cut in small pieces

1 envelope of Red Star Yeast
200 ml milk, lukewarm
dissolve the yeast in the milk

1 egg, slightly beaten

In a bowl combine the flour, salt and sugar, then while mixing (I used the paddle attachment on my KitchenAid Artisan) add the little butter pieces, slowly add in the milk/yeast mixture and then the egg. Mix the dough well until all the butter pieces are well incorporated and the dough is nice and smooth.

Spread the dough in the prepared spring form pan and let it rise until it is double in size.

While the dough is resting you can prepare your "Streusel" and your fruit topping.

For the "Streusel":

40 g flour
60 g sugar
60 g ground almonds
50 g melted butter, unsalted

Mix the flour, sugar and almonds in a small bowl, pour in the melted butter and stir until little lumps form, set aside.

Fruit:
4 medium size plums, cut in eights

Once your dough has risen to about double the size, arrange your fruit on top of it in a nice pattern, top with "Streusel" and bake on the middle rack of the preheated 425F/220C oven for about 30 to 35 minutes.

Cool down and serve! But it also tastes fabulous right out of the oven! And it will look like this!

Enjoy!

Kung Pao inspired Beef Stir-Fry

2011-08-18T12:16:00.000-07:00

The other day I went to the Stater Bros. and walked by the meat counter on my way to the vegetables. It was pretty early in the morning and I was already thinking of what I could make for dinner. I wanted to switch it up, getting tired of chicken and turkey. So while I was walking by the little red "On Sale" sign caught my eye and it was for "Flap Meat".

It looked lean and reminded me of the pre-marinated "Carne Asada" I used to buy at Trader Joe's and apparently that's what it's used for A LOT. At least that's what the butcher told me, he informed me that it's actually a really tender and great cut of meat and great for many different preparations. Like roulade, carne asada, fajitas etc. etc. So, I got some and thought all day about what I could make.

Why not use some Asian flavors like Kung Pao Style, I love that kind of spicy, the red pepper flakes, the peanuts, the little sweetness from Sesame Oil. YUM! So that was my inspiration!

Here's what you need for 2 people:

2 - 3 pieces of flap meat, cut in strips
1/2 large onion, chopped
2-3 cloves of garlic, minced
2 tsp vegetable oil and 1 tsp sesame oil, for frying
1 bunch of spring onion (scallions), cut in rings
red pepper flakes
salt & pepper
2 tsp peanut butter
1 tbsp soy sauce (low sodium works also)
crushed peanuts

Put a big wok or a big frying pan and heat the oil (mix the two above), once the oil is hot, throw in the onion and sautee until the onion is translucent, then add the garlic. Make sure you don't burn the garlic cause it's going to get bitter and ruin everything. Once the garlic is sauteed just a little, add the flap meat (if you have a large pan you can add all at once, otherwise I recommend you do it in portions).

In a wok, work with portions and move the cooked pieces up the sides of the wook to keep warm, then add more meat. Add the pepper flakes, season with salt and pepper, then add the peanut butter and the soy sauce. Stir the meat in the pan so that the peanut butter and soy sauce gets on everything.

Just before serving add the scallion and crushed peanuts. Serve over rice and maybe add some steamed edamame on the side.

Bon Apetit!

Joy Bauer's Food Cures / New York Times Best Seller

2011-08-17T10:51:00.000-07:00

Nutrition and Cooking is obviously something that's very important to me (hence this blog). I try a lot of different things and I try to cook and bake things that are reasonably healthy. Some of my friends have certain food restrictions like Celiac Disease and so I informed myself about that too. I had posted some recipes on this blog and it got noticed.

So I had the great opportunity to review Joy Bauer's Food Cures: Eat Right to Get Healthier, Look Younger, and Add Years to Your Life

. It took me a bit longer to go through the book than what I had expected, but that's due to the fact that she gives so much wonderful information. What is great about the book is that Joy's suggestions are easy to follow, the book is written in language everyone can easily understand and it's not riddled with scientific expressions we have to look up in a dictionary.

I had a few little ailments particularly uneven skin tone, breakouts, weak nails and hair breaking off. SO I started with the chapter about healthy skin and hair. And then I began incorporating items from Joy's food list into my diet, not that I didn't eat them before, but just not enough of them. Because I was just plain lazy. Joy's Grocery List makes it very easy to choose the items you need and you'll see there are so many suggestions that you are bound to find a few things you like. In every category there is so much to choose from.

Don't like tuna or sardines, the you can choose wild salmon and crab, or herring or tilapia. Hate carrots and cellery? Eat Avocado, mushrooms and collard greens, there is something for everyone.

So I stocked my fridge with baby carrots, persian cucumbers (I like them because they are small and I can just easily take them with me and cut them up at work), edamame came in easy prepackaged portions and greek yogurt is my new favorite snack. For our dinner options we increased out fish servings to about twice a week, evenly split between salmon and tilapia. There are so many different way you can spice your tilapia, because the fish itself is very mild and it will take on whatever seasoning you like. You can steam it, bake it, grill it and fry it in a pan with little to almost no oil and it tastes great.

The book contains many many recipes for breakfast, lunch and dinner and a ton of snack suggestions as well. Thus I eat more variations of nuts now, Brazil Nuts are my new favorite. I've tried some of them and they are so easy to follow, even a Non-Cook can prepare them with ease. Also try Joy's other book "Slim and Scrumptious" for more recipes.

One of our favorites is Joy's Beef Stir-Fry. It is so easy to make and you can very easily make many different variations of it, like adding in mushrooms, substituting edamame for the sugar snap peas, or cauliflower for the broccoli.

My snacks now contain a lot of veggies, I make fresh juice from carrots, apples, tomatoes etc and I drink a lot of water and unsweetened caffeine free herbal tea.

The results are great, my skin tone has evened out, the dark patches are gone and I hardly ever have a breakout. My nails don't peel and split anymore and they grow and are healthy. And you want to know the best thing about it, it wasn't half as hard as you think it is! And as a positive side effect my joint problems are diminishing too due to the fact that a lot of foods help with many common ailments that affect us.

I highly recommend this book to anyone that wants to feel better, live better and combat common issues with better nutrition. You can help yourself by eating healthy and delicious at the same time. A health diet doesn't have to be plain and boring. Joy Bauer's Food Cures will show you that you can eat healthy and delicious at the same time.

Check out Joy's Website at www.joybauer.com for many more suggestions, great articles, a free diet profile and so much more. You can also follow Joy on twitter @joy-bauer or follow her on facebook.

Have a healthy and happy Summer!

The Little Aussie Bakery & Cafe / Sampler Review

2011-08-05T09:57:00.000-07:00

My girlfriend Ulani lives in San Antonio, TX with her fabulous husband Walt and even though they don't have to be gluten free, just like I don't have to either, they like to explore gluten free options so we all know places to visit when our friend Brenda comes to town. She's got to be gluten-free and having options that are great for her as well are just wonderful.

Ulani recently posted a link on her FB Page to "The Little Aussie Bakery & Cafe" (click on their logo or the link to go to their site) and they were offering a sampler package for shipping. All you have to cover is the shipping cost and at only $10.20 that's really nothing. I just had to order it, cause so far I really haven't had a great gf pizza crust and on top of that, there were cookies in that sampler too.

I ordered my sampler on Tuesday and yesterday, Thursday the package was waiting for me when I came home. Wow! That's what I call customer service! Inside the package were a pizza crust, some rolls, chocolate chip cookies, oatmeal cookies and hungerbuster bars (I ate one of those for breakfast, yum!).

The pizza crust didn't make it very long....
I love pizza and haven't had any in a while so I heated up my oven according to the instructions, put my toppings on and off in the oven it went. 12 minutes later, just like the package said I had a GREAT little personal pizza.

The crust was delicious, not too thick, nice an crunchy on the bottom and a little chewy, it didn't get soggy or broke apart or got dry or anything. I tasted really fantastic.

YUM! Anyone wants to try for themselves, order your sampler package and try!

Right now, I am chomping away on a Anzac/Oatmeal Cookie and that is great too. Very crunchy, just the right amount of sweetness and a hint of coconut, awesome with a cup of coffee or some tea. I'll encourage anyone to order their sample and I'll be back for some more too.....

Garlic Sauteed Tomatoes and Edamame over Barley

2011-07-27T10:45:00.000-07:00

Getting back into my training program and also wanting to not eat meat poultry or fish everyday, I thought I'd make a vegetarian dinner yesterday. I didn't have time to go to the grocery store so I'd wondered what I could make with things I already had in my fridge and freezer.

My husband wanted broiled Tilapia, so I made something I thought he could have as a side dish and I could have it as my main meal.

I found some fresh tomatoes, frozen shelled edamame and uncooked barley, and obviously there is lots of garlic and also onion.

To make the sautee you need the following:

2 firm, ripe tomatoes cut in cubes
1/4 large onion finely chopped
3 cloves garlic finely chopped or pressed
1 1/2 cups frozen or fresh edamame
tsp sesame oil (just for flavor)
salt & pepper
tbsp soysauce

Start out with chopping your onions and your garlic and set aside, then cut you tomatoes into small cubes. You can take out the seeds if you like, but I didn't do that, as the Roma tomatoes I used didn't have a lot of seeds.

Once you are done with all the prep work, heat a tablespoon of vegetable oil in a large pan or a wok, sautee the onions and the garlic until the onion becomes translucent. Add the edamame and the sesame oil and let sautee for about 5 minutes, add the tomatoes and cook a bit longer until they are soft but not mushy, season with salt, pepper and a splash of soysauce.

Serve on a bed of cooked barley, brown or white rice, or even over pasta if you like!

Bon Appetit!

A day at the San Diego Safari Park / Stacked Rhinos

2011-07-25T13:42:00.000-07:00

Two weeks ago the opportunity arose to drive South to San Diego County and visit the San Diego Safari Park, which is the sister institution to San Diego Zoo. The 405 towards the North was closed so Horseback Riding was a no go for the weekend and a Zoo visit had been on the agenda for a while. We get a Membership every year, which by the way is a great deal as it lets you visit the park and the Zoo as often as you want. So driving down to San Diego County to spend time with dear friends and seeing some wildlife at the same time was a no-brainer.

I made it to the Safari Park in no time and met up with my group of friends right as they were heading to the Elephant exhibit. It's beautiful to see these giants being so gentle with there babies. We saw that the herd had had 3 new babies this spring and compared to their mothers they were just tiny. Everything was great in Elephant Kingdom, with the exception of Dad, he was very unhappy that he had been separated, but he's a treat to the little ones and he has to be kept away.

On we went down the hill to check on some acrobats and then it was up the hill to get something to eat and look at a few other things....

Always amusing are the Meerkatz. The play with their boxes, play hide and seek or sit casually in the sun and amuse themselves. I am sure they think of us as their personal entertainment. We watched them for a while and moved on to feed the Parakeets. Well I didn't because for some odd reason, I just can't handle flying critters that close to me at all. Not even Butterflies! I love to see them and they are beautiful, but the thought of them landing on my head, my arms or shoulders just freaks me out.... I guess we all have our cross to carry. Arriving at the wooden bridge we made our way over to the Gorilla enclosure and passed some pretty domestic ducks on our way. They were were curious and didn't even care a camera coming within inches of them.

I think I woke her up.

And this little one wants something to eat.

We didn't see much of the Gorillas as they were all taking naps. The only one really visible was the Silverback and he was napping as well, so unfortunately I did not get a good shot of him. Slowly we made our way down to the tram Safari and there was almost no waiting, on a Saturday.... WOW!

The tram takes you along the large enclosures, and we had the opportunity to see the baby Giraffes, some Somali Wild Ass with their babies, Water Buffalo, Zebra's and Gazelles. Our Tram driver gave us a lot of information about the different species and the breeding programs the Zoological Society is involved it.

We saw a lonesome Rhino in an enclosure and she explained to us that this is their oldest bull and that he had had a lot of babies with the females they have at the Zoo already, so they brought in a newcomer and had to separate him from the herd. Hoping the new bull would mate with the ladies to keep genetics fresh...... Little did we know what we would see at the end of our ride.

We were almost to the end of our ride, passed by the King of the Jungle and then suddenly the herd of Rhinos comes into view......

Looking over to the herd we noticed that the new male was already impressing the ladies. I guess we don't have to worry about the genetics of the Rhinos in the Safari Park anymore, as he was already mating with one of the females.

Getting off the Tram we asked our two youngest visitors of the day which animal they liked the most to which one answered.... "The ASS", the other little girl took a bit more time with her answer until she finally said:

"The STACKED Rhinos"!

Oatmeal Cake with Apples n Honey

2011-05-31T14:05:00.000-07:00

Hello my fellow bakers, I know it's been a while, but we're busy at work and then we are looking for a home to buy, so baking has taken a little bit of a back seat lately. But I figured something out that is super easy to make and tastes delicious.

This cake is super easy to make and doesn't even require you to take out a mixer. All you need is a measuring cup, a bowl and the most basic of ingredients...

1 cup rolled oats or instant oats (I used BetterOats, Instant Oatmeal in Cinnamon Spice)
1 cup flour
1/2 cup sugar (or sugar substitute)
1 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder
1 egg
1 cup milk (I use fat free)
butter (or pam for spraying the pan)

Then you add in what you like, depending on taste:

I added:

1 medium size apple diced
2 tablespoons of Honeyville Apple Cinnamon Whipped Honey (dissolved in the milk).

I tasted Honeyville Honey the first time almost a year ago, while on vacation in Durango, CO. We drove by the store and I just stopped by to check it out, even though I usually don't like honey. Honeyville totally changed that! I bought multiple jars of their "Whipped" honey and I was hooked. I didn't have luggage to check on my flight out to California and stuffed the jars in my carry on, forgetting I couldn't take them in the cabin. But I wouldn't be parted with this little jars of liquid gold so I checked my bag and kept my honey. THANK GOD! Unfortunately you won't be able to find this delicious treats in your grocery store, but you can order Honeyville Honeys on their website at www.HoneyvilleColorado.com or by clicking directly on the logo.

OK, after the little detour and my story about how one taste of Honeyville deliciousness changed my opinion about honey, lets get to making the batter:

Mix the oatmeal, flour, sugar, baking powder and if you use unflavored oats add in two tablespoons of cinnamon. Once you mixed that well add in the egg and the milk, stir well so everything is well combined. Add the diced or grated apples and bake in a pre-heated 375F oven for about 40 minutes or until a wooden skewer/toothpick comes out clean.

Cool and enjoy! The cake tastes even better if you wrap it in foil and let it sit in the fridge for 2 days as the aroma gets better!

And the result is this:

Variations: Leave out the apple, add in apricots, cocoa powder chocolate chips, sliced almonds, any kind of nuts. The options are endless!

Grilled Chicken Breats marinated in a Coconut Milk/Jamaican Jerk Marinade

2011-04-20T11:19:00.000-07:00

YUMMY is all I can say. I adapted this recipe from it's original and it turned out just fabulous. As we all striving to get in shape for the summer season we're eating a lot lighter for dinner and this is a great variation on your regular, "Bla" Chicken Breast.

Oh and did I tell you it's easy to make. Lately Chicken Breast have been on sale in bulk packages and we eat a lot of it. But it does get boring when it all tastes similar. So I thought this would work well next to a salad instead of in cubes in a salad.

You will need:

2 -3 Chicken Breasts
1/2 cup Coconut Milk
1 tbsp Soy Sauce
Jamaican Jerk Seasoning
Red Pepper Flakes
2 tbsp vegetable oil
Pepper
Salt
Allspice

Put the coconut milk, soy sauce, a generous amount of jerk seasoning, allspice (a few dashes), ground black pepper, red pepper flakes and a little salt in a blender (I like the BULLET) and combine well.

Clean your chicken beast, put them in a clean ziploc bag and pour in the marinade in the bag. Make sure all the chicken is nicely coated and refrigerate for a couple of hours, or better overnight.

When you're ready to use them, fire up your grill or preheat a grill pan and cook the chicken breast until fully cooked (about 7 minutes each side) and serve with a nice side salad.

I sprinkled some almonds on my plate and garnished the salad with some roasted sunflower seeds and sprinkles of parmesan. Use your favorite low fat salad dressing..... And there you have it!

Bon Appetite!

I used:

Thai Kitchen Coconut Milk

The Magic Bullet

Jamie Oliver Knives

Mini Lime/Sour Cream Pound Cake with glazed Limes

2011-04-19T12:44:00.000-07:00

This is my first try at this little cake and it looks nice doesn't it.... However it came out a little dry. So I'm going to have to perfect the recipe before I publish it..... maybe throw in some coconut too.....

Lime and Coconut should work well together or what do you think? Let me know!

Semi-Homemade Chocolate-Hazelnut Cake

2011-04-06T10:51:00.000-07:00

Chocolate-Hazelnut Cake

Look at this beauty! Super easy to make and nobody will ever know that it's not made from scratch. I wanted to make a quick cake to take to the office and didn't have time to make something from scratch, so I searched through my cupboard and dug out a box of Betty Crocker Devil's Food Cake mix. I used the regular version, but the gluten free one works just as well.

I then proceeded with the instructions on the box, switching out the water for milk, an adding a cup of roasted and ground hazelnuts, as well as about a cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips.

Pour your batter in a prepared baking dish, sprinkle with slivered almonds and bake as instructed or until a wooden pick comes out clean. Cool and serve.

Best with a cup of coffee or a glass of milk! Enjoy!

Tip: If you don't have hazelnuts use almond meal, it tastes just as nice.

All the Pretty Horses

2011-04-04T13:36:00.000-07:00

Chloe our Haflinger, she's a bit bouncy but still a fun ride. Somtimes we give her a little ponytail in the front, cause she has such a nice mane. And just because she's a bit smaller doesn't mean she doesn't have spunk. If anyone tries to get at her hay, she'll make it know that it;s hers

Isadora "Izzy" is the newest addition to the stable a beautiful Percheron mare. I rode her last Saturday and it was quite nice being on such a big horse. he's still a bit stubborn and getting used to her new home, but she'll be just fine.

And then there is Zeppelin, everyone knows he's my favorite. He gets spoiled with cookies, apples, new blankets and other stuff. He's a very smart cookie!

UPDATE: I told you Zeppelin was a smart horse and now to prove it he managed a little trick. Low and behold he took off his bridle! There I was tying him up to help one of our guests with her horse Captain, I turn around and BAM! Horse on the loose...... My baby stuck his head under the fence, hooked the bridle and pulled it over his ears. After that he had a little fun, stretching his legs, jumping a bit and playing cat and mouse! I let him enjoy his freedom for a few minutes, then called him and he came right over. Good Boy came back to Mama!

Chocolate Covered Marshmallow Clouds

2011-03-25T14:55:00.000-07:00

YUMMY!

I have to work on getting the chocolate glaze to get right, but otherwise delish!

Happy St. Patrick's Day

2011-03-17T14:03:00.000-07:00

To celebrate St. Patrick's Day I made some cute little green Cheesecakes.....

What do you think? Cute? Yes! Yummy? Yes! Green? Definitly!

Grandma's "Black" Cake ~ Added Fiber Version

2011-03-09T12:43:00.000-08:00

My childhood memory is filled with times when I helped my Grandma bake this cake. I LOVED IT! It is to this day my absolute favorite Chocolate Cake! If I could I would eat it everyday! It has cocoa, it has coffee, it has chocolate chips, how could you not like it!

Grandma's "Black" Cake

So to make it a bit more healthy I replaced some of the flour with wheat germ. You CANNOT taste the difference. It's still chocolaty, tasty deliciousness!

Here is what you need:

2 eggs separated

100 g butter, soft in pieces

200 g flour

50 g wheat germ

2 tsp baking powder

300 g powdered sugar

5 tbsp cocoa (dark)

2 tbsp ground coffee

125 ml Latte (half strong coffee, half milk)

2 tbsp Rum (if you like)

Start by separating the eggs, reserve the yolks and whip the egg whites until firm and stiff peaks form. Set aside.

Combine the flour, the baking powder and the wheat germ in a bowl and set aside. In a separate bowl start beating the butter with the egg yolk and the sugar until creamy and soft, then alternating add the latte and the flour mixture in small batches while continuing to mix. Do this until all the flour and latte is used up. Once that is done add the rum, the cocoa powder and the ground coffee, keep stirring until everything is combined well.

Once you have done this you can add in some chocolate chips or slivered almonds for added texture. Then using a spatula fold in the whipped egg whites.

Fill in a prepared loaf pan and bake in a preheated 180 C/ 350F oven for about 45 minutes or until a wooden skewer comes out clean.

Let Cool and ENJOY!!!

Sweet Bread with Almond Filling

2011-02-23T14:02:00.000-08:00

Recipe coming soon...... but be sure this will taste great with a nice hot cup of coffee from

And here comes the recipe:

You will need the following for the dough:

300 g flour sifted
1/2 tsp salt
3 tbsp sugar

60 g butter, soft in small cubes

1 packet of dried yeast (I prefer Red Star)
100 ml milk, lukewarm

1 egg, beaten (keep a little aside to brush the bread before baking)

Sift the flour into a large bowl, add the salt and the sugar and combine well, add the soft butter. Dissolve the yeast in a little bit of milk and let proof for a few minutes. Add the mixture, the rest of the milk and the egg to the flour and stir the ingredients from the middle. Once it all starts coming together and knead the dough until it is very smooth and elastic.

Cover, set it at a warm spot and let rise until it is doubled in volume. Then roll it out into a rectangle to approximate 3 mm thickness.

Filling:

150 g almonds, ground
3 tbsp sugar
1 apple, grated
1/2 lemon, zest and juice
4 - 6 tbsp heavy cream or milk (half and half works too)

**Apricot Preserve

Combine the almond meal and the sugar in a bowl, add the finely grated apple, the lemon zest and lemon juice and combine well. Add the cream and stir until everything is well combined.

Spread the almond mixture evenly over the rolled out dough, leaving only a small edge. Then roll the dough from both sides toward the middle and place in a prepared 13 to 15 inch cake form. Brush with the reserved egg and sprinkle with some slivered almonds.

Let rise again, then bake in a pre-heated 425 F/ 220 C oven for about 35-40 minutes.

ENJOY!

** if you like the tart/sweet flavor of apricot preserve, spread the apricot preserve on the rolled out dough before you spread the filling.

Also if you like you can glaze the baked, still hot bread with a sugar glaze. You'll need 100 g powdered sugar, 1/2 tbsp lemon juice and 1 tbsp water. Mix and brush the baked bread with it.

Things I used to prepare this are:

Jamie Oliver Fine Grater

Zyliss Does It All Spatula

Almond/Nutella Macarons - Gluten Free

2011-02-14T15:17:00.000-08:00

Finally.... I took the time and made Macarons.... and I think they turned out great and they are easy to make. Just look at these gorgeous and tasty little things!

Finished Almond Nutella Macarons!

You don't need a lot of fancy tools and crazy ingredients... A mixer, parchment paper, a spatula and a pastry bag with different size tips is all you need. Oh and of course the ingredients and a bit of time.

Almond Nutella Macarons

Here is what you need:

2 egg whites

100 g sugar (superfine)

100 g almond flour

2 sprinkles salt

Nutella for filling

Prepare two baking sheets, by covering them with parchment paper. You can either use a shot glass or any other small round object to mark small circles on the paper or you can just pipe the mixture as you go, keeping them as close to the same size as possible.

Unbaked Macarons

Start by placing you egg white in a mixing bowl and beat them with the salt until they are super stiff and peaks form (you should be able to turn the bowl upside down and nothing will drop out), then beat in half of the sugar, beat until the egg white is very shiny.

Once you have done that, take your spatula and slowly fold in the remaining sugar and the almond flour (to get rid of any clumps in the almond flour, sift it), add in the almond flour a little at a time so you don't get any lumps in it. Fill in a pastry bag and pipe on the prepared baking sheets.

Then let the macarons dry for about 15 minutes, while they dry, preheat your oven to 325F. Once your oven has reached the correct temperature, bake the macarons for about 12 minutes, after the first 5 minutes open the oven door to let out steam.

Macaron Assembly

Take your macarons out of the oven and let them cool, while they cool down, fit your pastry bag with a small tip, or you can just use a plastic zip-loc bag and cut off a tiny bit of the tip, fill it with Nutella and then pipe some Nutella on one macaron, taking another one and twisting it on to make a little sandwich.

Repeat until you've filled them all...... then serve on a nice platter or package and give them to your favorite people. I'm sure they'll love them! Who can resist something that's made with LOVE!

I shall try and make Gluten Free Cinnamon Rolls....

2011-01-31T10:08:00.001-08:00

These are just regular Cinnamon Rolls, but I think tonight's the night to try and make them Gluten-Free!

Gluten Free Lime'n'Blackberry Cake / Recipe

2011-01-27T10:28:00.000-08:00

Like I promised, I made my Lime'n'Blackberry Cake again to make sure the recipe works. And boy did it work, the second time around the cake came out just as nice as the first time and I even left out the Xanthan Gum. I read up on the "Gums" and apparently they make a lot of people feel sick.

So no gums in cakes for me!

Here is what you need for this deliciously moist cake:

2 Limes or 1 big Lemon, finely grated zest and juice
200 g soft unsalted Butter (or unsalted margarine)
200 g fine Sugar
4 large Eggs
200 g Flour Mixture (50 g Oat, 50 g Quinoa, 100 g Rice)
1 Tsp Baking Powder
1 container Blackberries (any berries really)
3 Tbsp powdered Sugar
Lemon/Lime juice

In a mixing bowl cream the soft butter until you see it forming little peaks, mix in the sugar, add the lime/lemon zest and juice and then mix in the eggs one by one.

Combine the baking powder with the flour mixture and using a rubber spatula fold it into the butter/egg mixture. Do NOT use a mixer for this, your cake will come out rubbery.

Then place half of the batter into a buttered loaf pan, take the blackberries and add about half of them to the batter. Cover with the remaining batter and then add the rest of the blackberries pushing them into the batter a little.

Place in a pre-heated 350 F oven and bake for 75 minutes or until wooden pick comes out clean. Cover the cake with Foil after about 60 minutes so it doesn't get too dark.

Let cake cool slightly. In the meantime, make a glaze with some powdered sugar and lemon/lime juice (it should have a thick syrupy consistency). Poke little holes in the cake and brush with the glaze while still warm. This way, the cake will absorb some of the syrup and that will add to the nice lemony aroma.

Cool completely and ENJOY!

Tip: you can make this cake with any berries you like, or any other small fruit like cherries!

Gluten Free Lime'n'blackberry Cake

Gluten Free ChocolateChilliCake.... tastes great!

2011-01-22T16:46:00.000-08:00

I made this Chocolate Chilli Cake today.... it needs more Chilli and I will leave out the Xanthan Gum, I think it doesn't need it!

Just a Pink Rose

2011-01-19T13:36:00.000-08:00

Gluten Free Lime'n'Blackberry Cake

2011-01-19T13:24:00.000-08:00

I made this Gluten Free Lime'n'Blackberry cake the other day and tested it out in the office. Everyone loved it and said they couldn't even tell it was Gluten Free.

I've got to bake it one more time, to be sure it wasn't a shot in the dark. It's nice and moist, made with fresh limes from my friends tree and a mixture of oat, quinoa and white rice flours.

Lime'n'Blackberry Cake

Recipe coming soon!

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