Shove It In Your Face

Passion and the Lack Thereof

2013-03-06T09:25:00.000+01:00

You know, sometimes you just have to admit that you don't have it in you. I really loved working on this blog and being out in the food community, but so much has changed. I still have all the passion for food, just not for putting in the drive and energy it takes to share it. I have made so many wonderful things over the course of time since my last post, and I have blogged absolutely none of them.

I haven't been the happiest of people and I have gone through a lot of changes lately. My goal is to pick this back up and dust it off after my life settles down and I gain a little peace. I would like to share more dinner and 'normal' food recipes, as well as my own interests. I still love cakes, don't worry bout that. So since my hiatus has turned into a stratospheratus, I can only say that I will return to this eventually. For now, I will hang out like sad cat.

Midnight Strawberry Cupcakes

2012-05-18T10:07:00.001+02:00

A lot of people like to read, take a bath, maybe watch some tv when they want to relax. I like to bake.

It's therapy for me to focus on a recipe and get things the way I want them. Sometimes though, I'm just not that picky. Last night was one of those nights.

I had some strawberries left over that were on their last leg and I didn't want to waste them, so what better to do with them then make them into cupcakes? A simple blitz with the submersion blender and these babies were ready to go. I melted down some red and green candy melts and very unfussily piped some strawberries that came out looking like mutant radioactive carrots. It's all good.

Stick those on with a drizzle of white chocolate and you got yourself some goods.

You can find the recipe for the cupcakes, which are from Sprinkles bakery, here.

The only modifications I made was upping the vanilla to 1 Tablespoon and adding a drop of pink food coloring. I highly recommend adding it, as the cupcakes may turn out a bit gray otherwise. Enjoy!

Øystein hungry! Øystein destroy!

Happy Mother's Day - Pineapple Mandarin Cream Cheese Pound Cakes with Strawberry Vanilla Bean Vodka Sauce

2012-05-13T19:32:00.000+02:00

I whipped up a little something for myself for Mother's Day, but everyone else ate them of course. These little guys take twenty minutes start to finish and are the perfect little dessert to make for your own Momma.
You can substitute whatever flavor cream cheese you like, or just use plain.

I hope all the Mommas out there have a lovely day!

Pineapple Mandarin Cream Cheese Pound Cake
recipe adapted from Dessert For Two

6 Tablespoons/85 grams Butter, room temp
2 oz/60 grams Pineapple Mandarin Cream Cheese, soft
1 Cup/200 grams Sugar
2 Eggs, room temp
1 Vanilla Pod, seeded
OR
2 teaspoons Vanilla Extract
1 Cup/125 grams Flour
1/4 teaspoon Baking Powder

Preheat oven to 350F/175C, grease 3, 6 tart pans or use something else such as a mini muffin pan, mini loaf pans, or full size muffin pan.

Cream together butter, cream cheese and sugar. Add eggs and vanilla seeds/extract and whip very well.
Combine flour and baking powder and combine with wet ingredients, mixing just until combined.

Spoon into greased tart/mini muffin tins and bake for 15 minutes. If using full sized muffin or mini loaf pans, bake 20-30 minutes, just keep an eye on them.

While they are baking, prepare the sauce.

Strawberry Vodka Sauce

15 Strawberries, roughly chopped
1 Tablespoon Sugar
2 Tablespoons Brown Sugar
1 Tablespoon Butter
Seeds of 1 Vanilla Pod
1/4 Cup plus a splash of Vodka

Melt the butter and add the strawberries, vanilla seeds and sugar.
Cook over low heat for about three minutes, just to get the juices out.
Add vodka and bring to a boil.
Cook 3-5 minutes and serve.

Caramelized Balsamic Onion and Carrot Tart with Roasted Tomato, Bacon and Goat Cheese

2012-05-10T23:16:00.000+02:00

I'll let the pictures do the talking for this one.

This was nothing short of beautiful. I very much loved it. It may be my best 'what can I make out of random shit in my kitchen' yet.

The tart recipe comes from the ever lovely Chocolate and Zucchini. The only change I made was adding a teaspoon of herbs de provence.

Caramelized Balsamic Onion and Carrot Tart with Bacon, Roasted Tomatoes and Goat Cheese

Preheat oven to 400F/200C.

In a bowl or food processor, combine 250g of flour, I used 100 grams of whole wheat and 150 grams of white. Add in salt and herbs de provence and whiz it to combine. While mixing, stream in 1/4 cup of olive oil, followed by 1/2 cup of water. Mix just until it comes together then press into a lightly greased tart pan. Prick the tart shell will a fork and let it rest in the fridge while you do everything else.

To roast the tomatoes, simple drizzle with olive oil, salt and pepper. Stick them in the preheated oven for 15 minutes. Set aside.

Using a mandolin or your awesome knife skills, slice the one large onion into very thin strips and julienne a large carrot. Feel free to use two of each, I didn't have two so I didn't. Two is much better than one in this case. Set aside.

Fry up about four strips of bacon, cut into small pieces, until they are starting to get crispy. Add in your onions and carrots and cook a minute or two until they start to soften. Add about half a tablespoon of brown or demerara sugar and a healthy glug of balsamic vinegar. Turn the heat to medium low, cover, and let them party for twenty minutes, stirring occasionally.

After twenty minutes, season them with salt and pepper and take off the heat.

Remove the tart shell from the fridge and fill it up with the onion mixture. Cut up a bunch of soft goat cheese and put it on top. Bake in the center of the oven for 25 minutes. Sprinkle with a bit more herbs de provence and enjoy!

Soft and Cakey Chocolate Chip Cookies

2012-05-10T22:18:00.003+02:00

Otherwise known as OMNOMNOMNOMNOM.

Fluffy little pillows of chocolatey deliciousness. These are easy to make and I got almost three dozen cookies out of the batch. Good deal! You can replace the shortening in the recipe with butter, just make sure its at a good temperature and you really whip it up good. Enjoy!

Now what starts with the letter C? Cookie starts with C! Let's think of other things that starts with C...Uh... ahh who cares about the other things! C is for cookie that's good enough for me ooh cookie cookie cookie starts with C!

Toasted Oat and Honey Scones

2012-05-08T12:23:00.000+02:00

Sometimes I get a massive case of Susie Homemaker. It's not often, but it does hit. It's a serious illness not to be taken lightly. Side effects include waking up early to prepare breakfast, cleaning, and putting away laundry.

My name is Susie today. I dropped the Homemaker, cause there is no way in hell I am cleaning and I am most certainly not putting away laundry. I did make breakfast though!

Today's breakfast was a plate of lovey toasted oat and honey scones with wild strawberry jam, sour cream and sliced bananas. You really can't go wrong, unless you're me that is. I ate one and coma'd almost instantly. Oh well, I took one for the team. There is only a teaspoon of sugar in these folks, so it's a testament to old saying that carbs'll kill ya.

These are moist, yet crumbly. Naturally sweet from the honey and oats. Loads of flavor.

They have a beautiful crumb that just soaked up the jam and a lovely golden top that's just begging to get cracked open.

If you prepare the ingredients the night before, these are on the table in 20 minutes flat. That gives you enough time to get the little chitlins off to school, make lunches, make coffee, make the table and go pee if you remember. Can't beat it. Did I mention these are lactose free as well? You can also make them gluten free by using oat flour or completely vegan by using a banana or flax in place of the egg and soy cream in place of the sour cream. You can also make these full fat and super good using buttermilk and heavy cream in place of the oat milk and sour cream. Enjoy and happy breakfasting.

Toasted Oat and Honey Scones

recipe adapted from Apt. 2B Baking Co.

1 1/2 Cups Oats (not quick oats)
1/4 Cup Lactose Free Sour Cream
1/4 C Oat Milk
1/4 Cup Acacia Honey
1 egg
1 3/4 Cups/210g Flour
2 teaspoons Baking Powder
1/4 teaspoon Baking Soda
1/4 teaspoon Salt

1 teaspoon Sugar
8 Tablespoons/140g Butter, cold

Toast your oats in a pan on medium high heat, stirring regularly, for about five minutes until fragrant and nutty. Cool slightly before combining with other ingredients.

Preheat oven to 450F/230c

Combine the oats, flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and sugar in a bowl. In a separate bowl, whisk together oat milk, honey, sour cream and egg. Cut the butter into cubes and work into the flour mixture with a pastry cutter or whatever method you prefer until the butter is well distributed and the mixture is mealy. Add the wet ingredients to the dry, and combine just until it comes together.

Turn the dough out on to a floured surface. Pat into a flat circle and cut out rounds or slice into whatever shape you like. Brush with a little oat milk mixed with honey and sprinkle with oats. Bake for 12-14 minutes until golden brown on top.

Bellamy's 9th Birthday!

2012-05-08T11:18:00.000+02:00

A little late on this post, but hey, what's a week? I'm a busy lady, I have a busy schedule that involves watching Dr. Phil re runs and crocheting. I can't just make time for frivolous things like blogging. Anywho! Here is an ode to my crazy adorable, crazy silly, crazy brained child who in some way unbeknownst to me has just turned nine years old. I coulda sworn she was born yesterday...

Bellamy's little impromptu cake. I had about three hours to knock something out off the top of my head. Chocolate cake in a donut pan, whipped cream frosting, black decorators icing, candy melts and a grass tip, go! Wham bam thank you ma'am and we got a garden cake. Go momma!

You've seen the cute. Prepare yourself.

Disclaimer: I assume no responsibility for the weirdness that you are about to encounter. My child is in no way, shape or form like her mother. In any way. At all. >.>

I'm gonna show these to her boyfriends when she is 16. She's going to hate me.

Oh sweet baby jesus, the chins. Brings a tear to my eye. I just don't even know.

Happy Birthday Bellamy! Stay silly, it's much more fun.

New Site!

2012-04-23T12:31:00.002+02:00

Hey guys! See that little link up there? Crochet and Craftings? Click on that and you will go to my new page that features all of my little diddlings with yarn and other fun stuff. It's not much to look at yet, but trust me mores a'comin. If you want to add things of your own to share, or make something I've posted please let me know! You can shoot me a line with that other link up there called Contact. It contacts me. Ooooh.

Happy Crafting!

And don't forget you can always submit food posts as well! I love spreading the word and getting food out there, so if you have some recipes you're proud of and want somewhere to put it, let me know!

Brother and Sister Cakes

2012-04-17T01:16:00.001+02:00

Buggy insisted that her and her baby brother get a pink and blue cake. Her cake had to be as pink as humanly possible. His cake must be blue. Well what Buggy wants Jenna gives her. Pink and blue it is!

White Chocolate Pink Velvet with Cherry Cheesecake Filling and Pink Whipped Cream Frosting

Dark Chocolate Fudge Cake with Cookie Dough Filling and Blue Whipped Cream Frosting

Happy Birthday!

White Chocolate Pink Velvet Cake

recipe adapted from Restless Chipotle

8 oz. White Chocolate, chopped
1/4 Cup Heavy Cream
2 1/4 Cups Flour
2 1/4 teaspoons Baking Powder
1/4 teaspoon Salt
150 grams Butter, room temperature
1 1/3 cups Sugar
4 large Eggs
2 teaspoons Vanilla

1/2 Cup Milk

1/2 Cup Heavy Cream
Rose or pink gel food coloring as desired for correct color

Preheat the oven to 375F/190C
Grease and flour 2 or 3 8 inch round baking pans.
Bring 1/4 cup cream to a simmer and add chocolate.

Remove from heat and stir until melted. Set aside.
Sift dry ingredients together.

Mix together heavy cream and milk.
Beat butter until fluffy. Add sugar slowly, beating well .
Add eggs, one at a time
Add extracts and coloring and beat until well blended .
Add the flour mixture in thirds, alternating with milk/cream.
Stir in the melted chocolate.
Divide between pans and bake for 30 minutes until a cake tester comes out clean.
Cool in pans for 10 minutes and then turn out of the pans to finish cooling.

Cheesecake Filling

500 g Cream Cheese

2/3 Cup Sugar
4 eggs
1 teaspoon Vanilla

1 tablespoon Lemon Juice

1/4 Cup Cherry Compote

Line an 8 inch pan with parchment and grease well. Preheat oven to 350F/175C.

Beat cream cheese until smooth, add in sugar, vanilla and lemon juice.

Beat in eggs one at a time.

Pour batter into pan and drizzle with the compote.

Bake 20 - 30 minutes, cool completely.

Once cooled, whip until fluffy and keep in the fridge.

Whipped Cream Frosting

recipe adapted from All Recipes

8 oz/225g Cream Cheese

1/2 cup Sugar
2 teaspoons Vanilla
3 cups Heavy Cream, separated

Blue and Pink Food Coloring

Whisk the cream cheese, sugar, vanilla extract until smooth.

As it's whisking, stream in 2 cups of the heavy cream.

Add coloring and continue to whip until it holds stiff peaks.

Whip remaining cup of cream with some food coloring seperately until stiff, fold into frosting.

Recipe makes ONE batch. Make one for each cake.

Dark Chocolate Fudge Cake

recipe adapted from Foodess

2 Sugar
2 Cups Flour
1/2 Cup Cocoa Powder

6 oz Chocolate, melted and cooled

1 1/2 tsp Baking Powder
1 teaspoon Cream of Tartar
1 teaspoon Salt
2 large Eggs
1 cup buttermilk (or substitute by putting 1 tbsp white vinegar in a cup then filling the rest up with milk; let stand 5 minutes until thickened)
1/2 cup Butter, melted
1 tablespoon Vanilla

1 cup Hot Coffee

Preheat oven to 350F/175C

Grease, line and flour two 8 inch baking pans
Mix together sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, cream of tartar, and salt.

Add eggs, buttermilk, melted butter, melted chocolate and vanilla and beat for 2 minutes on medium speed. Stir in hot coffee.

Pour batter evenly between the two pans and bake on middle rack of oven for 30 to 35 minutes or until it tests clean. Allow to cool 5 minutes in pans then turn out and cool completely.

Cookie Dough Filling

recipe adapted from Always With Butter

1/4 Cup Butter, soft

6 Tablespoons Brown Sugar

2 teaspoons Water

1 teaspoon Vanilla

1/2 Cup Flour

1/4 teaspoon Salt

5 oz Dark Chocolate, chopped finely

Cream butter and sugar, add water and vanilla and mix well.

Stir in flour and salt, then add the chocolate and mix.

Store in the fridge, covered, until you need it.

I'm a Terrible Blogger...

2012-03-26T10:29:00.001+02:00

But my cakes are pretty!

This cake was made for Aleksander, my good friend Mariana's hubster. We threw him a little surprise party with some close friends and it turned out to be a great success. His face was great, I think that is the first time I experienced an honest surprise at one of those.

Everyone did a little something to contribute to the party, it was a bit of a pot luck. I, of course, immediately grabbed the cake making part. It wasn't easy though, I am finding that cakes are difficult to make when the question 'How do you want the cake?' is answered with, 'Chocolate'. Damn, that narrows it down.

But, after some prodding and interrogating, I came to find that he likes cookie dough and marble cake. I can work with that! The final product was this happy looking little cake.

Two marble cake layers filled with cookie dough swiss meringue buttercream and coated with vanilla swiss meringue. I poured over a layer of chocolate ganache, then coated the bottom in crushed cookies. A little frosting border, some swirls, cookies and cookie dough balls pulled it all together. It's a real shame I didn't get a picture of a slice, but I guess if you want to see that you will just be forced to make this cake yourself. Poooor you.

Glad you liked your cake Alek!

1-2-3-4 Marble Cake

1 Cup Butter
1 Cup Milk
1 teaspoon Salt
2 Cups Sugar
2 teaspoons Vanilla Extract
2 Tablespoons Cocoa Powder
3 Cups Flour**
4 Eggs
4 teaspoons Baking Powder

***The original recipe calls for Self Rising Flour. If you have that available to you and want to use it, you MUST omit the salt and baking powder!!****

If using plain flour, combine with salt and baking powder and set aside.

Cream butter until fluffy, then add sugar and beat until pale and creamy.

Add eggs one at a time, beating well in between each egg. Add Vanilla.

Alternate adding flour and milk, starting and ending with flour. Flour, milk, flour, milk, flour.

Remove 2 cups of batter and add the cocoa powder to that.

Add the batter to two greased and floured 8 inch pans. Alternate between the chocolate and vanilla batters in a checkerboard pattering, layering colors one over the over. You want three cups of batter in each pan. Run a knife through it in a swirly pattern, in one direction and then the other.

Bake at 350F/175C for 25-35 minutes. Remove from the pan immediately and cool completely.

Cookie Dough
from Always With Butter

1/4 Cup/56g Butter
6 Tablespoons Brown Sugar
2 teaspoons Water
1/2 teaspoon Vanilla
1/2 Cup Flour
1/4 teaspoon Salt
1/3 Cup Chocolate Chips

Cream the butter and sugar, then add the water and vanilla. Beat in the flour and salt, then add the chocolate chips. Chill in the fridge until you're ready to use it.

Chocolate Ganache

9 oz Chocolate
1 Cup Heavy Cream

*This recipe makes much more than you need, so feel free to halve it*

Bring cream just to a boil, then pour over chopped chocolate and stir until smooth. Let it cool before you pour it over the cake.

My favorite go-to recipe for Swiss Meringue, as well as detailed instructions, can be found here.

Assembly

Take your cookie dough and reserve 1/4 or so. Mix the rest with about a cup of swiss meringue until smooth and well blended. Fill cake, then crumb coat and chill for 15 minutes. Frost the cake, but try to reserve a cup or so for piping.

Chill cake for a bit, then cover with ganache. To get the drizzle effect on the sides, pour the ganace in the center of the cake and then twist and turn the cake to get the ganache to run over the sides.

Once that sets a bit, crush up some chocolate chip cookies and press them into the bottom of the cake, brushing off all excess. Pipe a line of frosting around the cookies to contain them if you like.

Once the ganache has partially set, pipe on swirls and top with remaining cookie dough rolled into little balls. Finish it off with cookies, cut in half.

Enjoy!

Gender Oriented Toys..Good or Bad? I Say...So-So.

2012-03-04T11:27:00.000+01:00

No food here folks, if that's what you're looking for then scroll on down.

Recently on Facebook there was a discussion about gender oriented toys, stemming from this article.

It specifically talks about Lego for Girls, which happens to be a product that Bellamy and I got to have fun with and evaluate through Buzzador. Buzzador is a company that sends you products, toys, food etc to get market opinions. You don't pay for anything and keep whatever you get, you are just required to submit opinion reports and pictures if possible, as well as spread the word. Not a bad deal for free stuff I would say! If anyone is interested in joining up with them, go for it! Just remember to tell them Creuxx sent you ;)

Now, on to the topic of discussion. Lego for Girls.

There have been 'girly' Lego for some time, but those are mainly marketed for the 2-5 age group. I personally think it is both great and somewhat sad that they have come out with this product. On one hand, it is great to see a Lego set that my daughter is interested in and appeals to her. I mean seriously, 99.9 percent of Lego is Harry Potter, Robots, Star Wars, Animals etc. All well and good and of course girls can play with them, but are they at all interesting to girls? No, not really.

There is an argument from some parents saying 'Well why should girls have special Lego, that just says to boys that 'These are yours, and those are for the girls''. Um, no it doesn't. It says 'Here, you have 4 million choices, plus one more in case you want a pink house for Harry Potter!'.

There is one argument in the article that I completely agree with. The figures are NOT Lego! They are practically Barbie dolls. They have breasts! They are dressed like teenage girls, not girls in the 6-12 yr age bracket it is marketed to. I hate that the mascots are designed like real girls and not little brick girls. I hate that they have perfect hair and makeup. I hate that because it is girls, they have to look that way. There is not one single Lego product that is marketed towards boys that has anything remotely close to a human boy on it. They are all little brick people, they all have brick hair. I find it sickening that Lego has fed in to the fad that girls HAVE to look pretty, they have to be thin and perfect. Lego girls should be bricks too! So shame on you Lego for falling into a trend trap.

Now, having said my piece about that, I will move on to the toy itself. What Bellamy received is this:

It is very cute, and it comes with tons of things to put together. Unfortunately, 85% is accessory pieces i.e: flowers, animals, bugs, etc. The actual amount of Lego is lacking quite a bit. Because of this, Bellamy got bored very quickly as there wasn't so much 'building' as 'decorating'.

But, we pressed on and got it done. We buildorated that thing.

She did the majority of the building herself.

The directions were clear and simple to understand with picture examples. Like an Ikea manual.

She probably could have been done here, once she had the doll together that was much more interesting than anything else. I really have a problem with her tits and stylish hair cut.

Getting there!

Had to encourage her to finish at this point, she was getting tired of the million little pieces.

Annndd......

We're done! Finally.

Final verdict:

Pros: Cute, girl friendly, something to do together that interests them.

Cons: Overly sexualized characters, too many accessories and not enough actual Lego, not 'Lego'.

It's a playset with the Lego name on it. If you put this next to the Harry Potter or Star Wars set it's a very, very big shame. This is very much a marketing ploy and a sad one at that. They can do much better than this.

While it was fun to put together with Bellamy and we did enjoy it, she has not really paid much attention to it since, and I believe the age range should be adjusted. I can't imagine a 12 year old playing with this, nor can I imagine a 6 year old sitting still long enough to put it together.

Nice try Lego, but you kind of missed the mark on this one.

Been A Long Time...Shouldn't Have Left You..

2012-01-22T17:07:00.000+01:00

Without some good shit to stuff down your pie hole. Not the real lyrics, but close enough in my book. I've been slacking like hell lately, I know! I've cooked tons of food and made loads of different things but you know how life goes sometimes. And ya see, that's the thing. I got a life.

I know! A real life? Seriously! It's true peeps. I got friends and physical therapy and hospital appointments and doctor appointments and bowling and crocheting to do now. I miss blogging though and I miss sharing all my food, so today is your lucky day. It just so happens that one of my new time suckers has requested I share a recipe for something I made this morning. I apologize for the shitty picture in advance, it was spur of the moment and not at all planned...pretty much like everything else I do.

So here ya go Marinne...Marianne...Mariana. Just for you.

Orange and Dark Chocolate One Hour Cinnamon Rolls

with an orange sugar glaze

3 Cups/375g Flour

3 Tablespoons Sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons Baking Powder

1/2 teaspoon Baking Soda

1 teaspoon Salt

1 1/4 Cup Skim Milk

8 Tablespoons/1/2 Cup/113g Butter, melted

For the filling:

1 Tablespoon Butter, Melted

1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract

2 Tablespoons Brown Sugar

2 teaspoons Orange Zest

1 Tablespoon Cinnamon

Dark Chocolate, chopped

For the glaze:

1/2 Cup Powdered Sugar, sifted

Generous squeeze of fresh orange juice

Splash of Milk

1/4 teaspoon Vanilla Extract

Preheat oven to 435F/220C. Grease pan you will be using and set aside

Combine the dry ingredients for the dough, then add in the wet and mix until combined. If the dough is too wet, add flour as needed to get a tacky, manageable dough. Flatten or roll out into a large 1/2 inch thick rectangle.

For the filling, combine the vanilla and melted butter. Spread completely over the dough. Mix together the sugar, cinnamon and orange zest and spread completely over the dough as well. Spread the dark chocolate pieces evenly over the dough. Roll up into a large tube and cut as big or small pieces as you like. Line in the greased pan an inch or so apart.

Bake 15 - 20 minutes until light golden brown.

For the glaze, mix together all ingredients and pour half over the rolls fresh out of the oven. Use the rest before serving.

Gingerbread Muffins...Minus Any Actual Ginger..

2011-12-11T22:22:00.000+01:00

Man I've been slacking haven't I? After all this knee business, the terrible weather, the great weather and my general laziness I've been pretty much down and out. Actually, I've made some pretty awesome things lately. Chocolate fudge, some awesome chocolate chip cookies, an absolutely delicious cranberry orange pecan bread..but yea. I'm a shitty blogger, but I'm back and I'm coming up swinging with these awesome gingerbread man inspired muffins just in time for Christmas.

I had every intention of making actual gingerbread and just baking it in muffin cups, but then I realized that I didn't have any ginger...nor did I have anything close to what was needed as far as butter. But what I did have was tons of other spices and an entire bag of butter wrappers in the back of the fridge. So what do you do when you don't have anything but butter wrappers and need half a cup? You throw on those aprons ladies. It's Macgyver time.

You can bet your sweet ass I scraped down every single one of those butter wrappers. I loaded it up into a big old butter ball and weighed it. 113 grams is roughly half a cup and that would do for any muffin recipe. I got 105. Close enough. Next I had to decide what I was gonna do without any ginger, so I found some recipes, and what do you know? Ginger, ginger everywhere. I decided the best bet was to do what I usually do when I can't find what I want. Take a base flour amount and throw the rest out the window. I grabbed every random holiday sounding spice I could find in my cabinet and sniffed them. If it smelled like Christmas it went in these muffins. I used a fairly large amount of allspice since it contains the base spices needed for this anyway, then topped it off with some other things to boost it up even more.

The result in a beautifully scented, sweet, Christmas-y muffin that tastes so remarkably close to gingerbread that no one, not even you, will know that it is missing the one thing that actually makes it so. They are light and fluffy straight out of the oven, but the next day they moisten into a scrumption sugary cake like consistency. Perfect with a cup of coffee and way more satisfying than any cookie could be. The best part? You can still make them into a cute little gingerbread man head then bite his face off.

Gingerbread Muffins

2 3/4 Cup/12 oz. Flour

2 1/2 teaspoons Baking Soda

1 Tablespoon Allspice

1/8 teaspoon Black Pepper

1/8 teaspoon Cardamom

1/2 teaspoon Cinnamon

1/8 teaspoon Cloves

1/2 teaspoon Salt

1/2 teaspoon Mace

1/2 Cup/113g Butter, softened

1/2-3/4 Cup Dark Brown Sugar, packed

2 large Eggs, room temperature

3/4 Cup Molasses/Dark Syrup

3/4 cup Sour Cream/Yogurt

Preheat the oven to 350F/175C. Line two muffin tins.

Combine flour, baking soda, spices and salt. Set aside.

Cream the butter and sugar together* for at least three minutes. It should be very light and fluffy.

*(Whether you use 1/2 or 3/4 cup of sugar is up to you but please make sure you use DARK brown sugar! It has more molasses which adds to the flavor of the muffins)*

Add the eggs one at a time, beating well in between each one.

*If you don't want to wait for room temp eggs, just put them in a bowl of really hot water for a few minutes and you're good to go*

Add half of flour mix and beat just to combine. Add sour cream or yogurt and beat well. Gently fold in the rest of flour mix just until combined.

Fill cups 1/2 to 3/4 full and top with coarse sugar. Bake 12 to 18 minutes, depending on your oven. If they don't look done at 12 minutes, check them at 15 to see if they test clean give or take a crumb or two. Cool in the pan for a few minutes then move to a rack to cool.

Makes 2 dozen muffins.

Apple Persimmon Butter Cake

2011-11-23T11:45:00.000+01:00

The other day I was given the opportunity by the wonderful Jorell to come help him out with a Thanksgiving dinner being held for the Red Cross Youth Center. Well ya know I had to do it, I mean I can't let people go eating a can of corn and calling it Thanksgiving. I also refused to show up empty handed because that's just how I roll. The only problem...what the hell should I bring?

I scoured my cabinets, wracked my brain and trolled around the interwebs desperately searching for something that would feed a crowd, be somewhat seasonal and simple to throw together. After finding a nice basic recipe and consulting my fruit bowl this pretty little cake was brought upon us.

Covered in apples, cinnamon, almonds and spicy persimmons this cake is a winner for me. It is dense but moist, slightly sweet and the flavor from the fruit was able to shine through. It was exactly what I was going for and I am glad it turned out as it did. It was a good ending to our little Thanksgiving that turned out better than I could have expected.

A big thank you again goes out to Jorell and all the wonderful girls that helped in the kitchen to give everyone a wonderful Thanksgiving! It was fantastic for Bellamy and I to be a part of it and make some great new friends. I'm looking forward to the next one!

Apple Persimmon Butter Cake

recipe adapted from Gourmet

*The recipe stated here is doubled and for an 11 inch springform*

2 Cups/250g Flour
4 teaspoons Baking Powder
1/2 teaspoon Salt
1 teaspoon Cinnamon, divided
1 Cup/226g Butter, softened
1 1/2 Cup Sugar
4 Eggs
2 teaspoons Vanilla Extract
2 handfuls Sliced Almonds
1 Persimmon, quartered and sliced
1 Apple, quartered and sliced

1/2 teaspoon Cinnamon and 1 Tablespoon Sugar, combined

Preheat oven to 350F/175C. Lightly butter an 11in/28cm Springform pan.

Combine the flour, baking powder, salt and cinnamon. Set aside.

Cream together butter and sugar until pale yellow and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, beating well between each egg. Mix in extracts, then add the flour mixture and fold to combine.

Spread the batter in the pan, pushing the batter slightly higher around the sides. This will ensure the cake bakes evenly given it's so large.

Mix together the sliced apples and persimmons, almonds and cinnamon sugar mixture.

Scatter all over the top of the batter and bake for 40 - 50 minutes until it tests clean.

Cool in the pan or serve warm.

Hazelnut Almond Brittle

2011-11-02T14:01:00.000+01:00

Brittle..who doesn't love it? It's nuts covered in sugar and left to dry into a crunchy block of toffee goodness. You know what else it is? Super easy! All you need is a bowl, a microwave and 10 minutes.

You can make this with any nut or combination. You can add dried fruit or even toffee nuts if you want to get real crazy. I think dried mango and cashew brittle sounds awesome. Or maybe even dried strawberry and macadamia nuts. You can get very creative with this. I used hazelnuts and almonds because that's what I had and it is fantastic. You could skip the nuts all together and make a brittle full of seeds.

This is a great make a head recipe as it stays good for weeks, if not longer, and is relatively cheap and definitely simple. Older kids can make this themselves and pack it in pretty cellophane bags for great homemade gifts to teachers or friends. Little kids can still help too, they would be great for doing all the smashing!

Hazelnut Almond Brittle

1 Cup Sugar

1/2 Cup Light Corn Syrup

1 teaspoon Butter

1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract

1 teaspoon Baking Soda

1 Cup Nuts, chopped

You can add anything you want, as long as it's something that won't melt

*Be very careful when handling the bowl from the microwave, the sugar/bowl will be hot!*

Prepare a baking sheet by covering it with aluminum foil and lightly greasing it with non stick spray.

Combine sugar and corn syrup in a large microwave safe bowl until well blended. Heat on high for FOUR minutes. Remove from the microwave and stir in nuts and/or other additions. Mix well. Return to microwave for FOUR minutes.

Remove from the microwave and stir in butter and vanilla. Return to microwave for two minutes.

Stir in baking soda until it is nice and foamy, then immediately pour onto prepared baking sheet and quickly spread out with a greased spatula. Try to get it thin, but make sure there are no holes.

Let cool and set for 30 - 45 minutes, depending on thickness. Smash it apart into desired size pieces and store in an airtight container.

Mini Banana Bread Donuts

2011-10-18T13:07:00.002+02:00

I just can't help myself you guys. I think I need an intervention. That or a good swift kick to the head. You see I'm totally gimped out after my knee surgery and can't do much more than hobble back and forth to the bathroom, but my logic is that the kitchen is actually closer than the bathroom so that makes it okay.

My doctor told me to sit on my ass for three weeks...three weeks! Is he nuts? He must be, cause that isn't happening. So what's a girl addicted to cooking supposed to do? Well, she straps on that cyborg leg brace, wraps that ankle up, chows down two horse sized pain killers and gets that shit done son. She keeps it easy, no more than ten minutes to throw together. And the result? Banana bread donuts. Damn straight.

These are technically not donuts, but they have a hole in the middle so I say they are donuts and your argument is invalid regardless because I'm always right even when I'm not. They are made from banana bread batter, absolutely nothing fancy besides some dark chocolate thrown in a couple batches. They take about 6 minutes per dozen and about 30 seconds to get the next batch in. This is a fantastic recipe for kids to make on their own, it's simple and fun to do. You could get creative with it by making frostings or glazes.

These are full of fruit, flax seed and other goodness like sugar. Perfect for kids! They would be really cute as finger food at baby showers too. You could even use them as cupcake toppers on banana cupcakes that would be adorable. Give them a try and let me know what you think.

Mini Banana Bread Donuts
recipe adapted from Cake On The Brain

1 1/4 Cup Flour
3/4 teaspoon Baking Soda
1/4 teaspoon Salt
85g (3/4 Cup) Butter, room temperature
3/4 Cup Brown Sugar
1 Egg
2 Bananas, mashed
1 teaspoon Vanilla
2 teaspoons Ground Flax Seeds
1/4 teaspoon Cinnamon
Dark Chocolate, optional

Preheat oven to 425F/218C. Grease a mini muffin tin with non stick spray.

Whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, flax seed and cinnamon. Set aside.
Cream together butter and brown sugar until thick and lightened in color. Add banana, egg and vanilla. Beat until thick. Add flour mix and beat just to combine. Put into a piping bag or ziploc bag and trim the corner. This will make filling the donut tray much easier.

Fill each donut tray half way full. Any more than that and they will puff over the hole and it will just be a muffin. Bake 6 - 7 minutes and remove from the tray immediately.

OM NOM NOM NOM NOM

Check It Check It Out

2011-10-17T11:43:00.001+02:00

Hey guys! I recently did a guest post for my fellow ex pat blogger Selina. Go over and check out my post and her great blog over on Den Norske Listen.

You can see my post right here.

If you guys wanna make me something to drown my sorrows then please do. I will be the happiest couch ridden gimp you've ever known.

Daring Bakers September - Croissants!

2011-09-27T20:29:00.001+02:00

The Daring Bakers go retro this month! Thanks to one of our very talented non-blogging members, Sarah, the Daring Bakers were challenged to make Croissants using a recipe from the Queen of French Cooking, none other than Julia Child!

Finally, I can compete! I've been following Daring Bakers for months now, and not until this month has a challenge been feasible for me. But croissants? Yeah buddy. I made mine three different ways. Some are plain, others filled with chopped almond and dark chocolate, and the rest...brunost!! (That's brown, caramelized cheese for the non - scandinavians). Those are the absolute best in my opinion, it goes so well and tastes divine.

At first glance, croissants seem rather daunting. These are very time consuming, but keep in mind that the amount of time you are actually doing any work is minimal. There are many, many steps involved in making these flaky little beauties, but none of them are difficult. The hardest part about them is the waiting. Can you wait? If so, you can make croissants. I did, and we all know that I am the most impatient person in the whole entire world. I do not like to be kept waiting, not one little bit. I made an exception for these though, simply because I could get them back when I shoved them in my face. Take that croissants.

If you want to join in with the Daring crew, head over to The Daring Kitchen and sign up! There is cooking, baking, and alternative cooking and baking. It's all about fun and you don't even have to be a blogger to participate.

Recipe Source:

Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Volume Two. Julia Child and Simone Beck

Preparation time:

In total, 12 hours

Making dough: 10 mins
First Rise: 3 hours
Kneading and Folding: 5 mins
Second Rise: 1.5 hours (or overnight in the fridge)
Rolling in the Butter (turns one and two): 15 mins
First Rest: 2 hours
Turns Three and Four: 10 mins
Second Rest: 2 hours (or overnight in the fridge)
Forming Croissants: 30 mins
Final Rise: 1 hour (or longer in the fridge)
Baking: 15 mins

Equipment Required:
• Measuring cups
• Measuring spoons
• Mixing bowls of numerous sizes
• Rubber spatula
• Plastic bag
• Pastry scraper
• Counter space or board for rolling and kneading
• Rolling pin
• Plastic wrap
• Baking tray

Servings: 12 croissants

Ingredients:

¼ oz/7g Fresh Yeast OR 1¼ teaspoon/4g Dry Yeast

3 tablespoons Lukewarm Water
1 teaspoon Sugar
1 3/4 cups/225g of Flour

2 teaspoons Sugar
1½ teaspoon Salt
½ cup Milk

2 Tablespoons Vegetable Oil
½ cup/115g Unsalted Butter, Chilled
1 Egg, for egg wash

Here are the steps to making croissants...all 57 of them. Don't be afraid! It's a whole lot of reading and not at all a lot of work.

1. Mix the yeast, water, and first teaspoon of sugar in a small bowl. Leave aside for the yeast and sugar to dissolve and the yeast to foam up a little.

2. Measure out the other ingredients.

3. Heat the milk until lukewarm and dissolve in the salt and remaining sugar.

4. Place the flour in a large bowl.

5. Add the oil, yeast mixture, and milk mixture to the flour.

6. Mix all the ingredients together using the rubber spatula, just until all the flour is incorporated.

7. Turn the dough out onto a floured surface, and let it rest a minute while you wash out the bowl.

8. Knead the dough eight to ten times only.

9. Place the dough back in the bowl, and place the bowl in the plastic bag.

10. Leave the bowl in a warm place for three hours, or until the dough has tripled in size.

11. After the dough has tripled in size, remove it gently from the bowl, pulling it away from the sides of the bowl with your fingertips.

12. Place the dough on a lightly floured board or counter top, and use your hands to press it out into a rectangle about 8 by 12 inches (20cm by 30cm).

13. Fold the dough rectangle in three, like a letter (fold the bottom third up, then the top third down).

14. Place the dough back in the bowl, and the bowl back in the plastic bag.

15. Leave the dough to rise for another 1.5 hours, or until it has doubled in size. This second rise can be done overnight in the fridge.

16. Place the double-risen dough onto a plate and cover tightly with plastic wrap. Place the plate in the fridge.

17. It’s time to incorporate the butter.

18. Place the block of chilled butter on a chopping board in between sheets of plastic wrap.

19. Using the rolling pin, beat the butter down a little.

20. Roll out into a smooth, thin square, don't worry about size. Set it in the fridge.

21. Remove the dough from the fridge and place it on a lightly floured board or counter. Let it rest for a minute or two.

22. Spread the dough using your hands into a rectangle about 14 by 8 inches (35 cm by 20 cm).

23. Remove the butter from the plastic wrap, and place it on the top half of the dough rectangle.

24. Spread the butter all across the top two-thirds of the dough rectangle, but keep it ¼ inch (6 mm) across from the edges.

25. Fold the bottom third of the dough up, and the top third of the dough down.

26. Turn the dough package 90 degrees, so that the top flap is facing to the right (like a book).

27. Roll out the dough package (gently, so you don’t push the butter out of the dough) until it is again about 14 by 8 inches (35 cm by 20 cm).

28. Again, fold the bottom third up and the top third down.

29. Wrap the dough package in plastic wrap, and place it in the fridge for 2 hours.

30. After two hours have passed, take the dough out of the fridge and place it again on the lightly floured board or counter.

31. Tap the dough with the rolling pin, to deflate it a little

32. Let the dough rest for 8 to 10 minutes

33. Roll the dough package out till it is 14 by 8 inches (35 cm by 20 cm).

34. Fold in three, as before

35. Turn 90 degrees, and roll out again to 14 by 8 inches (35 cm by 20 cm).

36. Fold in three for the last time, wrap in plastic, and return the dough package to the fridge for

two more hours (or overnight, with something heavy on top to stop it from rising)

37. It's time to cut the dough and shape the croissants

38. First, lightly butter your baking sheet or parchment paper so that it is ready.

39. Take the dough out of the fridge and let it rest for ten minutes on the lightly floured board or counter.

40. Roll the dough out into a 20 by 5 inch rectangle (51 cm by 12½ cm).

41. Cut the dough into two rectangles, each 10 by 5 inches (25½ cm by 12½ cm).

42. Place one of the rectangles in the fridge, to keep the butter cold.

43. Roll the second rectangle out until it is 15 by 5 inches (38 cm by 12½ cm).

44. Cut the rectangle into three squares, each 5 by 5 inches (12½ cm by 12½ cm).

45. Place two of the squares in the fridge.

46. The remaining square may have shrunk up a little bit in the meantime. Roll it out again till it is nearly square

47. Cut the square diagonally into two triangles.

48. Stretch the triangle out a little, so it is not a right-angle triangle, but more of an isosceles.

49. Starting at the wide end, roll the triangle up towards the point, and curve into a crescent shape.

50. Place the unbaked croissant on the baking sheet

51. Repeat the process with the remaining squares of dough, creating 12 croissants in total.

52. Leave the tray of croissants, covered lightly with plastic wrap, to rise for 1 hour.

53. Preheat the oven to 475°F/240°C.

54. Mix the egg with a teaspoon of water

55. Spread the egg wash across the tops of the croissants.

56. Put the croissants in the oven for 12 to 15 minutes, until the tops are browned nicely.

57. Take the croissants out of the oven and place them on a rack to cool for 10 minutes before serving.

And there you have it! A dozen beautiful, flaky croissants. Easy, right?

Simple Dark Chocolate Dipped Shortbread

2011-09-26T17:36:00.001+02:00

I love butter cookies, they are what your thighs getting fatter tastes like. Dipped in chocolate? Add another ass cheek. That doesn't matter though, nothing wrong with having a little meat on your bones right? And what a delicious way to get it.

These are super simple cookies, there are only 5 ingredients in the recipe, 90% of it being butter. They would be excellent for people with celiac disease. Just replace the flour with a gluten free variety or mix. You could easily make them vegan as well. You can flavor these cookies in any way you can come up with. Some simple ideas would be switching almond or citrus extract for the vanilla, adding 50g of cocoa powder or adding nuts or sea salt to the chocolate after you dip them. Skies the limit.

So go ahead and make these little things. Use any shape you want, or cut them into squares with a pizza cutter. Poke holes or don't, make sure they are perfect or don't. I like my imperfect little cookies, full of fingerprint marks and scratches. Adds to their charm I'd say.

Shortbread Cookies

recipe from Joy of Baking

2 Cups/260g Flour

1/4 teaspoon Salt

1 Cup/226g Butter, room temp

1/2 Cup/60g Powdered Sugar

1 teaspoon Vanilla

6 oz/180g Chocolate, chopped and separated

Beat the butter until smooth and creamy, add powdered sugar and beat until fluffy. Add vanilla extract and beat until combined. Mix the flour and salt, then slowly add to the butter mixture, folding together until flour is just incorporated. Dump out on the counter and form into a disc. Wrap in plastic and set in the fridge for 1 hour, or freezer for 20 minutes or until thoroughly chilled.

Preheat oven to 350F/175C. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Once chilled, unwrap and roll out onto a lightly floured surface. If the dough is sticking bad, re-wrap it and chill for a while longer. Roll out to 1/4 inch thickness and then cut into desired shapes. Transfer to the baking sheet and bake 8 - 12 minutes, depending on thickness. If thicknesses vary, some will just be crunchier and some softer. Nothing wrong with that. Transfer cookies to a rack to cool completely.

While cookies are cooling, melt 90g/3oz of the chopped chocolate over a double boiler. Once fully melted, remove the bowl and gradually stir in the remaining chocolate. This is to temper the chocolate. Once all the chocolate has been melted in, begin dipping your cookies however you like. Scrape off the excess chocolate along the edge of the bowl and place onto a parchment lined baking sheet. Set the dipped cookies in the fridge or freezer for 5 - 10 minutes to set. Store in an airtight container.

Banana Bundt Cake With Cinnamon Yogurt Glaze

2011-09-21T18:46:00.000+02:00

Banana bread...it's one of those things that no one bakes on purpose. The only reason I ever make banana bread is to prevent the bananas from growing limbs and attacking me in my sleep. I do love it though, so I take pleasure in mashing my zombie nanners and eating their delicious flesh before they eat mine.

By the way, a great way to obliterate the zombie banana army is with a potato ricer.

Reincarnated into slabs of soft, fluffy deliciousness. Drizzled with sweet, yogurty war paint.

Face what you shall become devil fruit!

Banana Bundt Cake

1 1/3 Cup Flour
3/4 Cup Sugar
2 1/4 teaspoons Baking Powder
1 1/2 teaspoon Cinnamon
2/3 Cup Butter, softened
2 1/2 Very Ripe Bananas, mashed
2 Large or 3 Medium Eggs
2 teaspoons Vanilla

Preheat oven to 325F/160C. Grease and line/flour whichever pan you're going to use.

Combine all the dry ingredients and set aside. Mash the bananas (use a potato ricer! It's very satisfying!) and mix in the softened butter. Mix in the eggs and vanilla. Add the dry ingredients to the wet and fold together to combine. Pour into prepared pan.

Bake 50 minutes to 1 hour, or until tester comes out clean.

Cool in pan ten minutes before turning out onto a rack.

Cinnamon Yogurt Glaze

1/2 Cup Greek or Plain Yogurt
1/4 Cup Powdered Sugar, sifted
1/4 teaspoon Cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon Vanilla

Mix all until smooth. Chill 30 minutes before using. This is also great for dipping apples!

Bear With Me Here Peeps

2011-09-19T22:54:00.000+02:00

Big things are coming my way, I'm gonna be down and out for quite a while. I'll be having some major surgery on my leg in a few weeks so I won't be posting much if at all for a while. I'll try my best to get a few things up in the meantime, and I do have a thing or two planned so watch out for it.

Since I don't want my site falling by the wayside, I'll be more than happy to accept some help from fellow bloggers! If anyone wants to do a guest post or two please let me know! I'd love to get to know some of you guys and it should would keep me happy while I'm hurting. Shoot me a message on my contact page and I'll get back right back to you.

This isn't limited to food bloggers, everyone is welcome!

Triple Chocolate 'Cake Mix' Cookies

2011-09-15T19:41:00.001+02:00

I had the most terrible morning today. I woke up in horrendous pain, my stomach feeling like it was trying to claw it's way out of my body. After suffering for quite a while, getting sick and sweating like I was locked in a sauna for an hour it passed and I was left completely drained. I laid around like a zombie for a few hours, drifting in and out of sleep and feeling half dead. I ate a slice of toast and had a cuppa, brushed myself off and did some baking therapy.

I've always been curious about these 'cake mix' cookies. They are pretty self explanatory, cake textured cookies made from a boxed cake mix. But I have a problem ya see. I'm a big ol' snob and I do not used boxed mixes of any kind. What's a girl to do then? Pretty simple, I just made my own. Cake mix is just the dry ingredients of a cake batter right? Yes. But it's also full of chemicals and preservatives and god knows what else.

For these chocolatey goodnesses all I did was throw together some flour, sugar, baking soda, salt and cocoa powder. Very basic amounts, nothing special. I added in some oil and a couple eggs to moisten it up, threw in chopped dark chocolate and Toblerone and there ya go peeps.

Soft, cakey, gooey, awesome little slices of heaven. They are super delicious and everyone loved them, even one lady who apparently didn't care for chocolate one bit. That sounds like a winner to me.

Triple Chocolate Cake Mix Cookies

1 1/2 Cups Flour

3/4 Cup Sugar

1 teaspoon Baking Soda

1/2 teaspoon Salt

1/3 Cup Cocoa Powder

1/3 Cup Oil

2 Eggs

Dark Chocolate, chopped

100g Toblerone bar, chopped

Whisk together the dry ingredients, then stir in the oil and eggs until well moistened. Stir in however much dark chocolate and Toblerone you want, reserving some to place on top of the cookies if you want to.

Preheat oven to 350F/175C. Line a baking tray with parchment.

Roll the dough into 1 Tablespoon size balls. Place 12 balls on a sheet, then press a few reserved pieces of chocolate into them, pressing gently.

Bake 12 - 15 minutes until cookies are set. Cool on the baking sheet for a minute or two, then transfer to a cooking rack.

Makes 24 cookies

The Great Failed Pesto Competition

2011-09-13T22:27:00.001+02:00

I was so excited for the food festival, but I should have toned myself down a bit. Sometimes I forget where I am and the minimal scale used here. When you think of festival, it's a huge production with all kinds of interesting new things, right? Well, this was just the normal farmers market with a few more stands and more free stuff.

A view down the market

Blueberries in vanilla sauce, jams and saft

Beautiful apples from Hardanger

Pancakes and all the fixins

Lovely leeks

My favorite cheese guy and his awesome feta

Caramelized plums with cream and a cookie

MEAT

Deep fried herring om nom nom

Don't get me wrong, it had some great food. Unfortunately it seemed like the new stands that were there were just the same thing one after another. Fish, fish, fish, meat, meat, meat. I got to eat smalahove and head cheese, fried whole herring, and some pine needle chutney, all new things for me. Overall it was pretty uninspiring, but it was a welcome change of pace around here and hey, I got quite a few free meals.

But yes, on to the important bit. Included in this festival was a pesto making competition hosted by two representatives from Genoa, Italy where the world competition is held.

The winner of this competition got a trip to Genoa to compete and represent Norway. Not too shabby! To win entry into the competition people had to enter their own pesto recipe to a local food chapter and they picked the ten best.

I was chosen among those ten, and I came to find out I was pretty memorable after having talked to a couple people. Seems they liked my recipe, go me. Anyway, it started out by one of the guys giving a demonstration on how to make it the Genoan (don't know if thats a word, is now) way, and giving some tips and tricks. All pretty straight forward, it's not rocket science. I figured I would do what I do and hope for the best. There is only so much that can happen while making pesto. That is, only so much can happen unless you have a big bald Italian whispering suggestions in your ear as soon as they say go. I was quite annoyed by this honestly.

'Don't use too much garlic, but make sure you start with that first' he was saying. 'Watch how much salt you use, just a tiny tiny bit is enough'. And I asked him 'Do I have to do it your way, or can I make my own?' and he says 'Do what you want, but start with garlic'. At this point I was completely thrown off and just said fuck it and went about it as I would making my own recipe. Everything was going fine and dandy, but then the what ifs set in.

I started tasting after the first addition of basil, which was not at all as fresh as it should have been. The pesto at this stage was so bland. All it consisted of was salt, pine nuts and basil and it was just nothing. Not nearly enough salt for me. I added a bit more and kept crushing. I added garlic and crushed it into oblivion. Bland. I added cheeses and a bit of oil. Bland. I added salt. Better. Adjusted oils and cheese. Alright. SALT. Much better. I did not like it though. The cheese was too strong and smelled like feet. The basil was not fresh and wasn't crushing right. I really hated the whispered suggestions.

It must have been me though, cause obviously people made pesto good enough to win. Maybe I just don't enjoy traditional green pesto. Maybe Italians need to stop whispering in my ear. I did really well though, and they talked about mine a bit. I didn't win, but I did the best I could. I'm happy enough just having been selected, and I really can't wait until another competition pops up cause I'm all over it and sticking to what I know and ignoring the rest. Live and learn.

Picture time!

Looking like a dork all ready to go! They made me cover my curls with that god awful hat the bastards.


This was the moment! Look at my face I'm like wtf dude. I was saying 'I can just do it my way, right?'

I don't like this basil....they heard me :P

Picking my leaves...the good ones anyway..


They were hawk eyeing me..

This is my 'this tastes like crap' face. I was not happy. The lady next to me wasn't either, she was practically chanting 'I added too much cheese, oh god there is too much cheese'. Calm down woman, you're gonna place second.

Almost done..this little girl came to help her Grandma..she was so cute :)

Tasting my pesto...he's washing his mouth out 'good lord this tastes like shit'

Awaiting the results, ignorant to my fate

Getting my participation diploma. Look at my face I'm such a bitch. I don't hide what I'm thinking well do I?

Applauding the winner...again the face. I'm SO bad at hiding it. What a bitch :P

All done and looking like a sore loser. Never denied that one!

That's better.

It was good times, even if I did suck. Hopefully I'll get another chance some day and remember to ignore those sneaky eye-talians.

A Great Success!

2011-09-06T17:13:00.012+02:00

I've gotten tired of the constant rummaging for recipes, always picking them apart, mixing two or three together, replacing this with that. I've been studying the art of writing your own recipes and using ratio. I came to the conclusion that ratio involves math and math is hard. So, I just did what I do best and winged it. I started with base amounts and then went by sight and taste, only keeping in mind as far as ratios go that this and that has to be equal or within 20% of this and that. My goal was a Stroop Waffle inspired cupcake. My first result was this:

A lovely, perfect little cake. Dense but airy, sweet but subtle. Very cinnamonny. Topped with a neutral Italian meringue butter cream and drizzled with cinnamon caramel. A slice of stroop waffle finished it off.

I'm quite proud of myself honestly. I was always too afraid to construct something blind, but this has given me the confidence to make anything without a recipe. Who knows what's next?

I score these cupcakes an 8 out of 10. They need a tiny tweak here and there, but that's just because I'm a perfectionist. Here is the recipe as is, if someone would make them and give me feedback I'll love you for it!

All ingredients in the recipe are measured by weight. I did not do anything by cups nor do I plan to. Sorry Mericans.

*Editors note* Fine! I was forced into it, can't have my readers looking like drug dealers measuring out ingredients, that would be a shame. Recipe is now in cups and grams and as exact as possible.

Stroop Waffle Cupcake
recipe 100000% by me!

METRIC
175g Flour

75g Sugar*

113g Butter*

2 Eggs, 1 Egg Yolk

1 teaspoon Baking Powder

3/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 Cup Milk

2 teaspoons Vanilla

1/4 Cup Melted Caramel or Dulce De Leche

2 1/2 teaspoons Cinnamon

AMERICAN

1 1/3 Cup + 1 Tablespoon Flour

1/3 Cup + 2 Tablespoons Sugar*

1/2 Cup Butter*
2 Eggs, 1 Egg Yolk

1 teaspoon Baking Powder

3/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 Cup Milk

2 teaspoons Vanilla

1/4 Cup Melted Caramel or Dulce De Leche

2 1/2 teaspoons Cinnamon

*Optional Adjustment - Increase sugar to 100g / 1/2 Cup
*Optional Adjustment - Cut butter to 56 grams / 1/4 Cup, add 1/4 Cup Vegetable Oil

Sift together flour, baking powder, salt and cinnamon in a small bowl and set aside.

Beat eggs and sugar until pale and airy. Beat in caramel and oil* if using.
Alternate adding flour mixture and milk, starting and ending with flour, beating very well after each addition.

Scrape bowl and give a final mix. Batter should be smooth, silky and airy.

Scoop into a lined muffin tray and bake 15 - 17 minutes at 180C/355F.

Cool completely before frosting.

Italian Meringue Buttercream
The recipe I used as well as a fantastic tutorial is right on over at Cakejournal.com

Caramel Sauce
1/4 Cup Melted Caramel/Dulce De Leche
Pinch of Cinnamon

Mix together until smooth and fluid, then cool to room temperature and drizzle over cupcakes. Garnish with a slice of Stroop Waffle if desired.

True Life: I'm A Food Blogger

2011-09-02T18:20:00.004+02:00

It's true y'all! Never thought I would be, never really planned to be, but it happened.

I'm Jenna, I hail from good old Amish Country Pennsylvania but I'm currently living in Bergen, Norway. I love to look at, smell, taste, drool over, make, destroy, cry over and eat food. I live for it. So I welcome you guys to check me out and have a look see. Here are a few of my favorite recipes from my blog.

Super Yummy Healthy Huge Bran Muffins

Pizzonkey Bread

My Birthday Cake

Red Velvet Cheesecake Cake

Awesome Biscotti

Rainbow!

Best Cookies Ever

Thanks for checking me out!