Fruit Tart

I made this fruit tart following a recipe of Le Cordon Bleu. Nice but I need to perfect the crust... I need to buy a tart pan to bake with.

Alphabet Cookies and More...

This weekend we went to the grocery store and we found letter cookie cutters!!! What a great idea for a fun and delicious project... Here are the cookies we made. We iced them and decorated them... They were sooo pretty and delicious too.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

The other day I made a cake for my daughter's birthday. I "copied" the idea from a booklet and intended it to be a cake in form of a fish but it did not turn out that great.... She was happy, she is only 3 after all and not very critical at all ... yet... Here is the final result.. I was disappointed. Maybe next time it will turn better!

Spooky Halloween Cupcakes

I can't believe Halloween is almost here! In preparation for this fun holiday, I've been looking for new and exciting recipes to try. A friend of mine made up a recipe for these really cute and tasty Halloween cupcakes. "Spooktacular Jack-O-Lantern Cupcakes" are fun to look at and more importantly, fun to eat! Oh, and they're really easy to make!

Ingredients:

• 1 Box Pillsbury Lower Sugar Yellow Cake Mix
  
• 1 Jug Betty Crocker Whipped Vanilla/White Frosting
  
• Yellow, Green & Red Food Coloring
  
• White Gel Icing
  
• 24 Miniature Reese's Peanut Butter Cups
  
• 24 Cupcake Wrappers
  
• Necessary Kitchenware
  (cupcake tins, utensils, etc.)
  

How To Make Them:

1.) Mix the cake mix as directed (you'll need eggs, water and oil) and add red and yellow food coloring until you get a nice pumpkin-colored orange.



• Note: Even though your cake mix is yellow, you'll still need to add some yellow food coloring!

2.) Line your cupcake pans with your wrappers and divide your cupcake mix into your 24 cupcake wrappers.

3.) Place 1 mini Reese's Peanut Butter Cup in the center of each uncooked cupcake and press down gently.


• Note: The Reese's don't need to be submerged, just make sure you put them in the middle

4.) Bake as directed on the box. When finished, allow to cool on the counter for about 15 minutes and then refrigerate for between 30 - 60 minutes.

5.) Open your frosting tub and remove 1/4 cup frosting, setting aside in a separate bowl. Add yellow and red food coloring to the rest of icing still in the tub. You should get a really nice orange color. Add some green food coloring to the 1/4 of frosting that you've set aside.

6.) Remove the cupcakes from the fridge and ice as normal with the orange icing.

7.) Place the cupcakes back in the fridge for between 5 and 7 minutes. After the icing has set, use a toothpick to draw the lines in the frosting to represent the ridges in the pumpkin.

8.) Use the toothpick to place a glob of green frosting at one end of the cupcake, representing the stem.

9.) Finally, use the white gel icing to create the eyes, nose and mouth. Place the cupcakes back in the fridge for 10 minutes to allow the icing to set.

10.) Serve these guys up on your favorite Halloween-themed Kitchenware or even some festive paper plates and enjoy!

Streuselkuchen

I made this German cake yesterday. It was a success! It looks beautiful and it is simple but delicious. It is made of a yeast base and a crunchy crumb top. Streusel means "crumbs" in German. In this case I made the crumbs with flour, butter and a bit of cinnamon, but different versions exist with other spices or dried fruit. It is perfect to be served with ice cream!

INGREDIENTS

For 10 people

600 g flour

175 g butter

3 eggs

2 dl milk

225 g sugar

8 g of vanilla yeast

ground cinnamon

salt

1) Melt 100 g of butter and mix it with 500 g of flour, 150 g sugar, the yeast, the eggs, the milk and a pinch of salt. Pour the mix in a 22 cm round pan and level the top with the back of a spoon.

2) Mix the remaining flour, butter and sugar with the cinnamon until obtaining a crumbly dough. Put in the fridge for 30 mins.

3) After 30 mins. take the crumbly dough out of the fridge and grate it on top of the cake.

4) Bake in a preheated oven (350F) for one hour. Let cool and enjoy!!!

Blueberry Cookie Tart

It is spring and the weather is beautiful in Dallas, Texas! And with that I've been craving a fruit tart or something similar. The other day I decided to make some simple short bread cookies with blueberry jam. With the left over dough I baked this nice "cookie tart" to satisfy my craving. I made one for me and one for my husband. It was a hit!

I got the dough recipe from Orchidea's fantastic blog Viaggi e Sapori - she used homemade fig jam... her cookies look delicious!!! Check them out!





INGREDIENTS

- 250 g flour
- 100 g butter
- 100 g sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1/2 lemon zest
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- blueberry jam

1) Mix the flour and butter.
2) Add the sugar, eggs, lemon zest, and baking powder. Make a dough
3) Put the dough in fridge for about 30 mins.
4) Roll out the dough and use a glass to make cirles
5) Put some blueberry jam on the middle top of the cirles (don't cover the edges)
6) Using a pasta (ravioli) cutter cut some long strips from the dough
7) Place the strips on top of the cirles to form the tart
8) With the pasta cutter work on the edges of the cirle to give it an even look
9) Bake in a pre-heated oven at 350 F for about 15 minutes or until they turn into a nice gold color

Tip: You can substitute the blueberry jam with any other jam you like! These are delicious!

LOOOONG BREAK!

I've been out of the kitchen for a while... the reason????
Well, I am pregnant and for the first few months I did not feel very well... the kitchen was the last place I wanted to be.
Now though, I feel much better! My energy is back, my appetite is back too - much bigger now :).
I will get back into it in the next few days!