Culinary Delights

Moving day for this blog....

2011-02-23T21:04:00.002+01:00

Time for me to move this blog to a new address....

All the posts have been moved to my new blog, so what are you waiting for?

Come visit me over at The Baking Bluefinger!

CEiMB - Mocha Cake with Mocha Cream

2011-02-17T22:13:00.000+01:00

Banana Nutella Maple Syrup Bread for World Nutella Day (one day late)

2011-02-05T23:59:00.001+01:00

Only pics for now, extended blogpost will follow on Monday!

Twitter Avatar February - James Beard Refrigerator Spice Cookies

2011-02-05T23:55:00.003+01:00

Last year a couple of my blog friends were having fun on Twitter with their avatars: they would pick a bread and everyone would post that bread as their avatar for that month. This year the theme is chefs and I decided to join in on the fun. Nancy came up with the great idea of each of us picking a different chef for each month. Everyone chooses one recipe by that chef, takes a photo of the dish and uses that photo as our avatar for that month.

February's avatar chef is James Beard, chosen by Nancy. The recipe I chose is Refrigerator Spice Cookies, its in 'American Cookery' (1972) by James Beard, but it can also be found here.

These cookies reminded me a lot of Speculaas, I divided the dough into three and baked 2 portions. The third portion can be found in my freezer, waiting for a surprise visitor ;) I taste-tested one cookie, it reminded me a lot of Speculaas. Most cookies found their way to work where they were devoured by my colleagues, the rest are at my parents house waiting to be eaten by my dad.

Next month's chef is Emeril Lagasse, chosen by Margaret

Refrigerator Spice Cookies

(American Cookery by James Beard)

Yield: 5 dozen cookies

Ingredients

2 sticks unsalted butter

1 1/4 cups sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 eggs

2 cups sifted AP flour

1 tbsp cocoa

2 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp nutmeg

1/2 tsp cloves

1/2 tsp salt

Preheat the oven to 375^o F.

Cream the butter, then cream in the sugar until fluffy. Beat in the vanilla and the eggs. In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, cocoa, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and salt. Combine with the butter mixture until well blended.

Divide the dough into 3 or 4 parts and form rolls that are approximately 1 1/2 inches in diameter. Roll them up in wax paper or aluminum foil and store in the refrigerator or freezer until firm, about an hour.

With a sharp knife, slice into 1/4-inch rounds. Place on cookie sheets and cook until lightly browned at the edges, 10 to 12 minutes. Remove from pan and cool on a wire rack.

Taking a little break

2011-01-20T23:15:00.002+01:00

Due to exams for school my schedule is quite busy, so I'm taking a little break from blogging.

I hope to be back - up and running - in February!

Christmas Cookies: Toblerone Shortbread Cookies

2011-01-02T14:30:00.000+01:00

I met Andrea of Family & Food & Other Things on Twitter thanks to Di's Virtual Cookie Exchange. We were tweeting about the cookies we were baking when she mentioned that she baked Toblerone Shortbread Cookies. Of course I was completely enamored with the thought of using one of my favorite chocolate bars in a cookie. Andrea was kind enough to send me the link to the recipe and I happily baked up some cookies. These were a huge hit and will most definitely be on my cookie platter next year too!

Toblerone Shortbread Cookies

Makes 28 cookies

adapted from salt and serenity

1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature

½ cup + 2 tablespoons icing sugar

¼ cup cornstarch or rice flour

1 ½ cups all-purpose flour

½ teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

10 ounces of toblerone chocolate bar, chopped into ¼ inch chunks

Preheat oven to 350 º F.

Beat butter until light and fluffy. Sift in icing sugar and beat again until fluffy, scraping down sides of bowl often. Sift in cornstarch or rice flour and blend in. Sift in all-purpose flour and salt

and mix just until dough comes together. Dough will be soft. Mix in vanilla

extract. Gently mix in toblerone chunks.

Using a small ice cream scoop (about 1 ½ inches across) scoop cookies

onto parchment lined cookie sheet, leaving 2 inches between cookies. You

should be able to fit 12 cookies on a 12 x 18 inch cookie sheet.

Bake on the middle rack for 9 minutes. Rotate sheet and bake another 9

minutes, until bottom of cookies are lightly browned. Remove from cookie

sheet to cool on a rack.

Christmas Cookies: Cinnamon Sugar Biscotti

2011-01-01T23:55:00.000+01:00

This year I wanted to include some Biscotti to my cookie platters for Christmas and I was on the lookout for a simple, tasty biscotti. I ended up using this recipe that I found over at The Busty Baker.

Cinnamon Sugar Biscotti

adapted from La Dolci Vita

Makes 30 cookies

2 cups all purpose flour

1 ½ teaspoons ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon baking powder

¼ teaspoon salt

1 cup granulated sugar

6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature

1 large egg

1 egg yolk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Topping:

¼ cup granulated sugar

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 large egg, beaten (for brushing)

Preheat oven to 325F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats; set aside. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, cinnamon, baking powder, and salt; set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream butter and sugar on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 4 minutes. Add whole egg, followed by egg yolk, beating until combined, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. Add vanilla extract. Add flour mixture, beating until ingredients come together to form a slightly stiff dough (holds together when pressed between your fingers and isn’t too sticky).

Divide dough between the two baking sheets. Shape each half of dough into a log that measures 9-inches long and 1 ½ inches wide. Press dough down to flatten slightly.

In a small bowl mix together cinnamon and sugar for topping. Brush each dough log with the beaten egg and sprinkle generously with cinnamon sugar. Bake for 40 to 45 minutes, rotating halfway through, until biscotti is golden and firm to the touch.

Remove from oven, but keep oven on. Let baking sheets cool on wire racks until biscotti is cool enough to handle. With a serrated knife, cut logs into ½-inch wide diagonal slices. Place biscotti cut side down on baking sheets and sprinkle with more cinnamon sugar. Place back in oven and bake again until pale golden, about 10 to 15 minutes.

Christmas Cookies: Candy Cane Kiss Cookies

2010-12-21T21:20:00.000+01:00

My friend Jenny from New York was so kind to send me some Hershey Kisses as they are not available here in The Netherlands. Amongst the bags she sent me was a bag of Candy Cane Kisses, which made me search the Internet for a cookie recipe to use them in. Over at RecipeGirl I found this recipe. My mom and dad test-tasted these and absolutely loved them. After baking the cookies the kitchen smelled minty-fresh!

Candy Cane Kiss Cookies
(adapted from RecipeGirl)

Yield: About 2 1/2 dozen

1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1¼ cups butter, at room temperature
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 large egg
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
1/2 cup finely chopped Candy Cane flavored Hershey’s Kisses
granulated sugar
additional, unwrapped Candy Cane Kisses- about 30

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Make room in either refrigerator or freezer for your cookie sheet.

In large mixer bowl, combine powdered sugar, butter, extracts and egg. Beat at medium speed, scraping bowl often until creamy (2-3 minutes).

In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and salt. Add to wet mixture and beat, scraping bowl often until well blended (1-2 minutes). The mixture will be a bit crumbly.

Stir in chopped Kisses. Shape dough into ¾-inch to 1-inch balls; roll in granulated sugar. Place 1-inch apart on cookie sheet. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until set.

As soon as they come out of the oven, press a Candy Cane Kiss in the center of each cookie. They’ll crack a little around the edges, so just use your fingers to kind of hold the cookie together while you set the kiss inside.

Put cookie sheet (with cookies) immediately into the freezer (preferred) or refrigerator so that the Kisses will set quickly. As soon as you press them into the cookie, they will begin to soften… so if you can get them into the freezer then they will keep their Kiss shape.

Store in a covered container- at room temperature for up to a week.

In the freezer they should be okay for a couple of weeks.

Tips:
You can add an addition teaspoon of peppermint extract: the cookie gets plenty of peppermint flavor from the addition of the chopped kisses, but if you’d like it really minty then go ahead and add the peppermint extract.

RecipeGirl says she spotted these Kisses at Target and CVS Pharmacy.

Still looking for Christmas gifts???

2010-12-20T18:54:00.003+01:00

Christmas is coming up and this means several things: delicious food, time spent with family & friends and of course shopping for Christmas gifts. We all know shopping for gifts can be a nightmare: running from store to store, only to find out they don't have what you're looking for.

I have found the perfect solution: shop online!!! Check out CSN: they have over 200 sites with more that sell almost anything: counter height stools, cookware, toys, clothing and many other things! I am sure you'll be able to find the perfect gift for everyone special in your life!

Christmas Cookies: Lime Meltaways

2010-12-14T23:55:00.001+01:00

Here's another cookie that will go into this years cookie gift-bags for coworkers. This is a partial success... I liked these, but thought the lime-flavor was a bit understated: a bit more lime-flavor would have been nice. My dad really liked these, unfortunately my mom did not.... She absolutely hated them!! She took one bite of the cookie I offered her (she's my preferred taste-tester as she always tells me exactly what she thinks of everything I make) and almost spit it out, she then gave me back the other half of the cookie and told me she hated the flavor and didn't care for the texture of the cookie. I was somewhat stumped since this was the first time my mom really didn't like the end result of something I made.... :S

Lime Meltaways

Recipe by Martha Stewart

3 dozen cookies

3/4 cups (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature

1 cup confectioners’ sugar
Grated zest of 2 limes
2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lime juice
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
1 3/4 cups, plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1/4 teaspoon coarse salt

Directions

1. In the bowl of an electric mixer with the whisk attachment (I used my regular paddle attachment), cream butter and 1/3 cup sugar until fluffy. Add lime zest, juice, and vanilla; beat until fluffy.

2. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, cornstarch, and salt. Add to butter mixture, and beat on low speed until combined.

3. Divide dough in half. Place each half on a separate 8 by 12 inch piece of parchment paper, roll dough into 1 1/4-inch diameter logs. Chill at least one hour.

4. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Place remaining 2/3 cup sugar in a resealable plastic bag. (I placed in bowl) Remove parchment from logs; slice dough into 1/8-inch thick rounds. (I sliced them more like a 1/4 inch) Place rounds on baking sheets, spaced 1 inch apart.

5. Bake cookies until barely golden, about 15 minutes. Transfer cookies to a wire rack to cool slightly 8 to 10 minutes. While still warm, place cookies in the sugar-filled bag; toss to coat. (I put powdered sugar in a bowl and added baked cookies to coat) Bake or freeze remaining dough. Store baked cookies in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks.

Virtual Cookie Exchange: White Chocolate & Macadamia Nut Cookies

2010-12-13T00:00:00.001+01:00

A while ago Di of Di's Kitchen Notebook and I had a conversation on Twitter where she shared her idea of hosting a Virtual Cookie Exchange. Ofcourse I was immediately smitten with the idea: I love baking cookies and seeing all the other cookies would probably give me even more ideas and inspiration for my Christmas Cookie Goodie Bags that I'm giving out at work this year!

Within no time at all Di had a list of names of other Tweeps whom we thought would love to join and the Virtual Cookie Exchange was born! One of Nancy's very talented daughters designed the wonderful badge pictured above for all of us to use in our posts. Di will post a roundup of all the cookies later this week, so be sure to keep an eye on her blog!!

I had a lot of trouble deciding the one cookie I wanted to share with you, there are so many good ones!!! Finally I chose this one because it was voted as the most popular cookie of last years 12 Days of Christmas Cookies, both by my family and coworkers. Since then I've made it several times: the White Chocolate and Macadamia Nut Cookie!! These cookies are also a bit versatile: if you like a chewy cookie bake them for 12 minutes, but if you prefer a more crunchy cookie bake them for 15 minutes!

White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies

(adapted from My Tasty Treasures)

2 cups flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup butter, melted

1 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup white sugar

1 egg

1 egg yolk

1 tablespoon vanilla

1 1/2 cups chopped macadamia nuts

2 cups white chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit.

Combine flour, baking soda and salt in a small bowl and set aside.

Beat together the melted butter, brown sugar, white sugar, egg, egg yolk and vanilla in a bowl with an electrical mixer until creamy.

Gradually add the flour mixture to the sugar mixture until just mixed.

Stir in the macadamia nuts and white chocolate chips by hand.

Drop by the spoonful onto a greased or lined baking sheet.

Bake for 12 - 15 minutes or until edges look golden brown (I baked mine for 12 minutes).

Cool on the cookie sheet for at least 4-5 minutes so the cookies can set.

Remove to rack to cool completely.

Enjoy!!!

CEiMB - Tortellini-Spinach Soup - One Sentence Post

2010-12-02T16:34:00.004+01:00

This week it was Bri's turn to pick the recipe for Craving Ellie in My Belly and she did a great job:

this soups tastes deliciously spicy (I used chili flakes instead of red pepper flakes) and is perfect for the wintery weather we've been having here as it's been snowing and we've been having temperatures around -8 degrees Celsius during the day. I may have overfilled the soup just a bit as I had a bit more veggies at hand than the recipe indicated.

The recipe can be found here at Bri's blog Yoshimi Vs. Motherhood, don't forget to check out what my fellow Ellie-istas think of the Tortellini-Spinach Soup!

Madonna - Crazy For You [Official Video]

2010-12-02T00:06:00.000+01:00

A childhood favorite... Looked it up after Glee's Madonna show.

Looking at Briefcases

2010-11-17T23:23:00.004+01:00

Since I started school again in September, I've found that I'm in desperate need for a new briefcase, I discovered this cute brown/pink one and I absolutely love this pink leather laptop briefcase that I found at CSN Stores. Now if only I could find something similar here!

CEiMB - Mushroom, Onion and NO Basil Pizza

2010-11-08T21:30:00.000+01:00

Last weeks Craving Ellie in My Belly is brought to you by Joanne of Apple Crumbles: she picked Muschroom, Onion and Basil Pizza that can be found here on Joanne's blog or on page 176 of The Food You Crave.

I must apologize for posting this pizza so late: I actually made it before my parents went on their trip to The States, about two weeks ago but didn't get around to posting it due to a vicious attack by the flu and some study sessions for upcoming exams, but here it is! I used storebought dough and used the leftover from my pick (recipe for sauce posted here). I forgot to add the basil and added a bit more cheese that needed using up. We loved this and will be making it again!

Go check out what my fellow Ellie-istas thought of the pizza here!

CEiMB - Spaghetti Frittata with Salad Presto - My pick!!!

2010-10-28T00:01:00.001+02:00

This weeks it's my turn to pick the recipe for Craving Ellie in My Belly and I chose Spaghetti Frittata with Salad Presto. It seemed like the perfect recipe to use up leftover pasta and marinara sauce, for the marinara sauce I used the recipe from The Food You Crave (page 153, see below).

Now, let me start by saying that I got to learn to read recipes better before picking them: in this recipe the eggs are partially cooked in a pan and then put under a broiler. I don't have a broiler or an oven-safe pan!!!!!! So I decided to bake the frittata in my oven: : I prepared the veggies and spaghetti as written in the recipe, I then put the veggies and spaghetti in a 9x13" ovendish, added the beaten eggs and topped it with grated Parmesan. I then baked it for 45 minutes in a preheated oven at 350 degrees.

I really liked this when I ate it hot for dinner, paired with the Salad Presto and some store-bought Garlic Bread. But I also loved it the next day at work, when I had a cold piece for lunch served with some Mustard Soup. My mom really liked it too! Go here to check out what my fellow Ellie-istas thought of the Spaghetti Frittata with Salad Presto!!

Spaghetti Frittata

So Easy - Ellie Krieger, page 100

5 large eggs

5 large egg whites

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 small onion, sliced thinly into half moons (I used a red onion)

5 cups baby spinach leaves

1/4 cup sun-dried tomatoes (not oil-packed), reconstituted in boiling water for 10 minutes, chopped

1 large clove garlic, minced

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

2 cups cooked whole-wheat spaghetti (4 ounces dry spaghetti) tossed with 1/2 cup marinara sauce (I included the recipe I used below)

1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1 recipe Salad Presto (recipe follows)

In a medium bowl, separate 5 of the egg whites, discarding the yolks. Add the remaining 5 whole eggs to the bowl with the whites and whisk to combine. Set aside.

Heat the oil in large oven-proof, nonstick skillet over a medium-high heat. Add the onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until the onionis softened, 3 to 5 minutes. Add the spinach, sun-dried tomatoes,garlic, salt and pepper and cook until the spinach is wilted, about 1 minute. Add the pasta to the pan and stir to combine. Pour the eggs evenly over the pasta and vegetables. Lower the heat to medium-low and cook for 6 to 8 minutes, until eggs are set on the edges but not in the middle. (Or prepare the veggies and spaghetti as written in the recipe, then put the veggies and spaghetti in a 9x13" ovendish, add the beaten eggs and top it with grated Parmesan. Bake for 45 minutes in a preheated oven at 350 degrees)

Preheat the broiler. Sprinkle the top of the frittata with cheese and place under the broiler. Cooke until the top is set and golden brown, 2 to 3 minutes. Be careful not to overcook or the eggs will become tough. Cut into 6 wedges and serve.

Salad Presto

So Easy - Ellie Krieger, page 101

1 5-ounce bag mixed greens (5 cups lightly packed)

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

1 tablespoon red wine vinegar

pinch of dried basil

salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

Put the greens in a medium salad bowl. In a separate bowl, whisk together the oil and vinegar. Drizzle the dressing over the greens and sprinkle dried basil on top. Season with salt and pepper. Serve.

Easy Tomato Sauce
The Food You Crave - Ellie Krieger, page 153

1 tablespoons olive oil
1 medium onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 (28-ounce) cans whole tomatoes, drained, tomatoes chopped
3 tablespoons tomato paste
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 bay leaf
Salt and pepper

In a large pot, heat the oil over medium heat. Add the onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until soft, about 5 minutes. Add thegarlic and cook for 2 minutes longer. Add the remaining ingredients and cook, uncovered, stirring occasionally, until thickened, about 30 minutes. Season with salt and pepper, to taste.

Joyeux Anniversaire / Happy Birthday Dorie!!! - Curried Chicken with Pepper and Peas en Papilotte

2010-10-24T08:00:00.001+02:00

Today is the birthday of Dorie Greenspan, the author of Baking: From My Home To Yours and Around My French Table (plus lots of other great cookbooks). Baking: From My Home To Yours inspired Laurie of slush to set up the amazing group Tuesdays with Dorie (TWD), followed byFrench Fridays with Dorie (FFwD)

Holly of Phe.MOM.enon (one of the members of both groups) and Laurie came up with the idea of celebrating Dorie's birthday by creating our version of the 'perfect menu' from Dorie's new bookAround My French Table by choosing a few people who have been with TWD for a long time and joined FFwD.

There are 9 sections in Around My French Table and every blogger chose a section to pick a recipe from. The sections are:

1. Nibbles & hor d'oeuvres

2. Soups

3. Salads, starters, and small plates

4. Chicken and duck

5. Beef, veal, pork, and lamb

6. Fish and shellfish

7. Vegetables and grains

8. Desserts

I was very much tempted to pick something from Desserts, but instead I chose the section Chicken and duck and picked Curried Chicken with Pepper and Peas en Papilotte on page 221 of Around My French Table. This dish was perfect for me as it requires very little preparation and it's extremely easy to put together: you slice up some chicken thighs, a red onion and a pepper, add some peas and curry, salt and pepper to the mix. Cut some parchment into 4 pieces and divide the chicken mix over the 4 pieces. Fold them closed and bake in the oven untill the chicken tests done. Serve with rice.

I'm not going to post the entire recipe, I want to urge you to go ahead and buy Around My French Table: you won't regret it as it's filled with lovely French recipes that are easy to make at home! I loved the flavour, although I might add just a little bit more curry or use a spicier variety next time. Unfortunately I can't show you how it turns out as I accidentally erased all the pictures from my camera before uploading them to my computer :S

Gefeliciteerd met je verjaardag Dorie! (translation: Happy Birthday Dorie!)

Thank you so much for all the wonderful recipes and cookbooks you have written, they are truly amazing!

Thank you Holly and Lauri for organizing this virtual birthday dinner! Are you curious about the other recipes that were made or do you want to know what other bloggers participated in this virtual birthday dinner? Go check out the roundup over at Phe.MOM.enon!!!

CEiMB - Chicken Pot Pies - One Sentence Post

2010-10-21T22:45:00.003+02:00

I love being a part of online cooking/baking groups because they make me try new recipes all the time: this week was the first time I made Chicken Pot Pies, these were made for Craving Ellie in My Belly and they were picked as this weeks recipe by Shandy of Pastry Heaven.

Half the recipe was made and I shared one with a friend I hadn't seen in a while due to both our current hectic schedules; I must apologize for the lack of pictures, before I knew it we were eating dessert and I realized that I forgot to take photos: however my fellow Ellie-istas posted plenty pictures, so go check out their posts!

(So technically this is now a three sentence post, but I just wanted to share with you that I just received my first grade for school: a 7!!! :D)

TWD: Fold-Over Pear Torte - One Sentence Post

2010-10-11T23:01:00.000+02:00

Cakelaw of Laws of the Kitchen selected Fold-Over Pear Torte on pages 348 and 349 for this weeks Tuesdays With Dorie, this one was a huge hit all around: at work, with my dad and with my friend!

Gorgeous barstools

2010-10-10T22:15:00.004+02:00

I have mentioned CSN Stores on here before, this weekend I was browsing through their website and found their lovely bar furniture; let me tell you: if I were to redecorate my kitchen I would probably fit a gorgeous bar into it for me to have breakfast at or for my guests to sit at while I cook them dinner, I especially like this cute modern set!

FFwD - Gerard’s Mustard Tart - One Sentence Post

2010-10-08T23:09:00.003+02:00

This is my first recipe for this new and exciting group: French Fridays with Dorie and it was Gerards Mustard Tart which I absolutely loved, as will probably everyone that likes mustard although I must say trying to cheat with storebought tart dough wasn't the best idea I had today since I mistakenly bought sweet tart dough and I also accidentally left the tart in the oven a tad too long; the recipe can be found in Dorie's new book Around My French Table, don't forget to check out what everyone else thought of this tart here....

CEiMB - Tomato-Tortilla Soup - One Sentence Post

2010-10-07T16:27:00.002+02:00

Thanks to Mary of Popsicles and Sandy Feed for picking Tomato-Tortilla Soup for Craving Elly in My Belly (page 76 of The Food You Crave): this one was very tasty and super easy to make, definitely a recipe I'll make more often!

2010-10-05T11:59:00.001+02:00

For this weeks episode of Tuesdays with Dorie Lynne of Honey Muffin chose Double Apple Bundt Cake on pages 184 and 185, I turned these into mini-cakes and will post a picture as soon as I can relocate them on my laptop: I have no idea where I saved them :S.

What I can do is tell you that these were amazing!! I took them into work with me and served them dusted with some powdered suger: tasty!!

One day late - TWD: Tarte Fine

2010-09-29T16:27:00.004+02:00

This weeks recipe for Tuesdays with Dorie was picked by Leslie of Lethally Delicious. It was extremely easy and quick to make. I made the 'Playing Around'-version and also added some cinnamon to the apples: it was delicious!!!

Four weeks ago I started going back to college/university: I'll be studying to get my Bachelor in Communication and am so glad that I made the decision to go back to school. However, this does mean that I will barely have spare time left as I work full-time, attend classes two nights a week and have to study.

I do want to keep baking and cooking things, but know that I won't be able to write lengthy posts. Therefor as long as I have classes my posts will be pics and 'One Sentence Posts'. When I do have time (e.g. during school holidays) I will try to write longer posts.

Dorie's Dimply Plum Cake with Rosemary

2010-09-08T23:04:00.002+02:00

Lady Antebellum - Need You Now (HD)

2010-08-29T22:18:00.001+02:00

One of my favorite songs at this moment!!!

My first attempt at Ontbijtkoek: Failure!!!

2010-08-29T22:14:00.001+02:00

Yes, there is a huge dent in my Ontbijtkoek and No, there's not supposed to be a dent in Ontbijtkoek. The worst part??? It wasn't even completely cooked.

Attempt #2 will follow soon, using a different recipe!!

CEiMB - Mixed Berry Cobbler

2010-08-26T21:41:00.000+02:00

Just pics for now, will try to find some time tomorrow to write a little something-something about this gorgeous dessert!

MSC: Triple Citrus Cupcakes - My Pick!!!

2010-08-14T23:50:00.002+02:00

This month it was my turn to pick the recipe for Martha Stewart's Cupcakes Club. Since it's August I tried to pick a cupcake that represents summery flavours, so I chose Triple Citrus Cupcakes that are found on page 64 of Martha Stewart's Cupcakes.

Because most of my coworkers were on vacation I decided to make 1/3 of the recipe, half of the batter I used to make miniature cupcakes and that made 24 miniature cupcakes that baked for 10 minutes.

The other half of the batter I used to make normal-sized cupcakes and ended up with 6 cupcakes, that were perfect after baking for 20 minutes.

Both the coworkers and my parents loved these. In my opinion the cupcakes definitely needed the glaze, they tasted quite plain without it. But with that glaze they tasted phenomenal! Check out MSC to find out what the other bakers thought of my pick!

Triple-Citrus Cupcakes

from Martha Stewart's Cupcakes, page 64; makes 36

3,5 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons coarse salt

1 pound (4 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature

2 cups sugar

3 tablespoons finely grated lemon zest (from 3 lemons)

3 tablespoons finely grated orange zest (from 2 oranges)

3 tablespoons finely grated lime zest (from about 3 limes)

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

9 large eggs, room temperature

Citrus Glaze (made with lime juice and zest; page 315, recipe below)

Preheat oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit. Line standard muffin tins with paper liners. Whisk together flour and salt.

With an electric mixer on medium-high speed, cream butter and sugar until pale and fluffy, scraping down sides of bowl every few minutes. Add citrus zest. Reduce speed to medium, and add vanilla. Add eggs, three at a time, beating until incorporated, scraping down sides of bowl as needed. Reduce speed to low. Add flour mixture in four batches, beating until completely incorporated after each.

Divide batter evenly among lined cups, filling each three-quarters full; tap pans on countertop once to distribute batter. Bake, rotating tins halfway through, until a cake tester inserted in centers comes out clean, about 20 minutes. Transfer tins to wire racks to cool 10 minutes; turn out cupcakes onto racks and let cool completely. Cupcakes can be stored up to 2 days at room temperature, or frozen up to 2 months, in airtight containers.

To finish, dip tops of cupcakes in glaze, then turn over quickly and garnish with zest. Cupcakes are best eaten the day they are glazed; keep at room temperature until ready to serve.

Citrus Glaze

from Martha Stewart's Cupcakes, page 315; makes about 1 cup

1,5 cups confectioners' sugar, sifted, plus more if needed

1/4 teaspoon finely grated citrus zest

3 tablespoons fresh citrus juice, plus more if needed

Whisk together all ingredients until smooth. If necessary, add more sugar to thicken or more juice to thin the glaze. Use immediately.

An explanation for my absence and the $70 CSN Gift Card Winner

2010-08-11T11:36:00.005+02:00

Yes, I do realize that this is the second post in a row I've started with an apology but bear with me! Sorry for not posting on a regular basis lately. I've had a lot on my mind the last few weeks and somehow the baking and cooking groups feel like a chore, so I decided to take some time off and post whenever I feel like posting.

Things that have been on my mind the last weeks were my trip to Paris, the operation my mother is facing for her neck hernia and going back to college to get a bachelor degree.

I feel now is the time to go back to college, however part of my problem is that I do have a mortgage to pay, so I must study part-time. The study that I find most interesting (International Business & Languages) is only taught part-time in Rotterdam, which is about 2 hours away from here. I'm afraid I won't be able to handle the travel twice a week 4 years long since I would have to attend classes two nights per week and study, do homework and go to work 36 hours per week... The sucky part is that this study is actually taught here in Zwolle too, but only the full-time version....

Other studies that I find interesting are Communication, HRM or Law. I would love to do something with languages, only option in college is Teacher English, German or French. Another great option was European Studies, since this is quite similar to International Business & Languages, but for a part-time student this is only possible as an online study, which I don't think is very suitable for me personally: I feel need the structure and commitment of having to attend classes.

So now that you know what I've been contemplating lately, let's get on to announcing the winner of that $70 CSN gift card!! Again I used the Random Integer Generator to pick a winner from the 20 comments on this post.

Random Integer Generator
Here are your random integers, generated without replacement:

Timestamp: 2010-08-11 09:32:38 UTC

This means the winning comment was made by:
Hanaâ:

En ik volg inmiddels je blog (wat ik sowieso wou doen) :o) Ik Tweet van het weekend wel over je giveaway en dan kom ik wel terug op nog een comment te plaatsen hier.

23 JULI 2010 19:29

Congrats Hanaâ!!!

Update on the college plans

Today I found out that there will be no part-time study International Business and Languages in Rotterdam... So I guess that option is definitely out. Going to an information evening at my local college on August 25th....

No TWD this week

2010-08-10T10:45:00.003+02:00

Sorry Katrina!!! All though I love chocolate I just couldn't push myself to make Chocolate Ganache Ice Cream for this weeks TWD. I am flawed you see... I don't like chocolate ice cream! I can't explain why, but I just don't like it... Go to Katrina's blog Baking and Boys for the recipe and check out what my fellow TWD-ers thought of the Chocolate Ganache Ice Cream here.

CEiMB - Mango Lassi

2010-07-29T22:55:00.000+02:00

Just a short post today. Short and sweet, just like today's recipe for Craving Ellie in My Belly: Mango Lassi, picked by Leslie of Lethally Delicious.

I bought the largest mango I ever saw at the market last Saturday, but waited to long to use it and ended up with about 1/2 mango. I used vanilla-flavored yogurt and probably added a bit too much honey as the lassi was extremely sweet... But since I am known to have major sweet tooth this was absolutely no problem: the perfect drink for a hot day!

Visit Leslie´s blog for the recipe and check out what my fellow Ellie-istas though of the Mango Lassi here.

TWD: No Chewy, Chunky Blondies - instead: Lots of Ways Banana (Cup) Cakes

2010-07-26T23:00:00.001+02:00

Frustration sums up my experience with the Chewy, Chunky Blondies that Nicole of Cookies on Friday picked for this weeks Tuesdays with Dorie..... I tried Nicole, I really did: I baked the blondies twice, unfortunately both times I ended up with undercooked blondies when they did test done!! Frustrated by wasting two batches of great ingredients (my add-ins were pecan, chocolate and coconut) and the tropical heat in my kitchen I finally gave up. Please check out what my fellow TWD-ers thought of the Chewy, Chunky Blondies here, the recipe is posted at Nicole's blog!

Last week Kimberly of Only Creative Opportunities picked the Lots of Ways Banana Cake. It's called that way because you can basically put whatever you feel like into this cake and it will still turn out amazing.

I actually baked these on time but totally forgot to blog about them because I was too busy planning my upcoming trip to Paris with my mom. I only had 2 bananas, so I made half the recipes and turned the cake into cupcakes. I used coconut milk instead of sour cream and my add-ins were shredded coconut and mini-chocolate chips. The cupcakes went into the oven for 20 minutes on 350 degrees Fahrenheit, half the recipe yielded 18 cupcakes. I simply dusted the tops of the cupcakes with confectioners sugar and added a little bit of cocoa for contrast.

Two cupcakes were devoured by my parents, two I ate myself, six I gave away to my parents neighbours and four of them found their way to Amsterdam where my dad and brother finished them of. Everyone really liked them and noticed how crumbly, yet moist these were. Both the banana and the coconut flavour were quite subtle. I will be baking these again, in fact: there are six ripe bananas waiting for me in the kitchen right now!!! Go here to check out what my fellow TWD-ers thought of the Banana Cake, the recipe can be found at Kimberly's blog.

P.S. Check out my $70 CSN gift card giveaway: deadline is Thursday July 29th, midnight CET!

A little bit of France in Zwolle

2010-07-26T22:12:00.004+02:00

There's a new kid in town: De Stadsbakker!! The building he's situated is amazing: modern on the bottom and traditional on top.

The owner actually moved to France and worked in a boulangerie there to get the hang of making typical French bread, croissants and tartlets.

Everything looks soooo good, in fact I've bought several tartlets to try out and will blog about them later!

P.S. Don't forget to enter my $70 CSN gift card giveaway, deadline is Thursday July 29th, midnight CET!

How to win a $70 CSN gift card.... Giveaway!!!

2010-07-23T05:00:00.007+02:00

Although I truely love living in The Netherlands, because visiting wonderful places such as Paris and London is so easy, sometimes I wish I lived in the USA. Especially when Ashley of CSN Stores contacts me with the request to review an item from their stores or to host a giveaway. Oh, how I would love to review one or more items of their wonderful Le Crueset cookware.....

They come in lots of lovely colors and I'm totally smitten with the color Caribbean and in particular with this Le Creuset mortar and pestle.

Another great item to try out would be this ice cream maker by Cuisinart: just imagine how much fun I could have while churning me some home-made frozen yoghurt, sorbet or regular ice cream now that summer is upon us!!

But alas: CSN Stores only ship to USA and Canada...... So again I opted for giving away one $70 gift card to be spent at one of the CSN stores.

Would you like to win the $70 gift card? Here's what you have to do:
Visit one of the many CSN Stores and leave a comment on this post telling me what you would use the gift card on.

For extra entries:
For one extra entry: tweet about this giveaway and leave a link in a comment on this post.
For another extra entry: mention this giveaway on Facebook and leave a link in a comment on this post.
Followers get an extra entry, mention that you're a follower in a comment on this post.

Please note that each entry has to be submitted in a separate comment!
Also make sure that I have some way of reaching you in case you win, by leaving behind your emailaddress or your blogaddress in each comment!

Giveaway details:
Contest is only open to US and Canada residents
This contest ends on Thursday July 29th at midnight CET
Winner will be chosen at random via Random.com generator and announced here on Friday July 30th.

My Tapas Birthday Party: 4-Minute Spicy Garlic Shrimp

2010-07-15T22:55:00.000+02:00

Another easy to make recipe that all my guests enjoyed at my Tapas Birthday Party, this one is by Rachael Ray and was found on Foodnetwork. I can't tell you much about the flavor because I haven't tried these. You see, I have this thing against shrimp: I can't stand their texture!

4-Minute Spicy Garlic Shrimp

Ingredients

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, 2 turns of the pan
4 cloves garlic, crushed away from skin
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
24 jumbo shrimp, peeled and deveined, tails in tact, ask for easy peels at your fish counter
2 teaspoons grill or steak seasoning blend (recommended: Montreal Seasoning by McCormick) or coarse salt and pepper
1 lemon, zested and juiced
2 tablespoons chopped parsley leaves, a handful

Directions

Heat a large skillet over medium high heat. Add extra-virgin olive oil, 2 turns of the pan, garlic, red pepper flakes and shrimp. Season with grill seasoning or salt and pepper and cook shrimp 3 minutes or until just pink. Toss with lemon zest, juice and chopped parsley. Remove shrimp to a serving platter leaving the garlic cloves in the pan.

My Tapas Birthday Party: Marinated Mushrooms

2010-07-14T22:55:00.000+02:00

This recipe for Marinated Mushroom from Real Simple is real simple, just like the name of the website suggests. They are pretty straightforward and easy to prepare, you can make this when you have a little time to spare and then pop them into the fridge until you're ready to serve them: feel free to make them a day ahead! That's exactly what I did and they were amazing!!

The day after my Tapas Birthday Party I had some Marinated Mushrooms leftover, just like some Pollo al Ajillo and Salsa de Tomate from the Aldbondigas (both recipes will be posted later), so I warmed up all three of them in a pan and served them over some pasta: lovely garlicy pasta dish!!

Marinated Mushrooms

Ingredients

1/4 cup olive oil
4 garlic cloves. smashed
1 1/2 pounds halved button mushrooms
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
Kosher salt

Directions

Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Cook garlic, stirring, until fragrant, 2 to 3 minutes. Add mushrooms and cook, stirring occasionally, until beginning to soften, 2 to 4 minutes.
Remove from heat and stir in lemon juice, parsley, and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Let marinate at least 30 minutes.

TWD: Brrrr-ownies

2010-07-13T22:16:00.001+02:00

Karen of Welcome to our Crazy Blessed Life selected Brrrr-ownies for this weeks challenge for Tuesdays with Dorie was just that: a challenge! And it was a challenge on three parts. The first part was knowing that I wasn't going to like these: I'm not a fan of the mint/chocolate combination. However several colleagues are, therefor I decided to go ahead and make these anyway. The second problem was figuring out what York Peppermint Patties were, after I figured that out I knew we didn't have them here/ So I picked the next best thing: After Eight!

The second challenge that arose was actually making the brownies, everything that could have gone wrong did: I was out of eggs! So I popped over to the supermarket and arrived just in time: 1 minute before closing time!! Upon arriving home I discovered that I was also out of unsweetened chocolate, since the shop had already closed I simply decided to sub it with more bittersweet chocolate. When it was time to add the After Eight to the batter I managed to drop the bowl into the batter too!

Ofcourse I had to taste the brownies: they would have been perfect, if it hadn't been for that strong mint flavor.... However my mint/chocolate-loving coworkers absolutely adored these!!!

If you do like mint and chocolate together, be sure to take a look at the recipe over at Karen's! Also take a check out the posts of the other TWD-ers!

P.S. In a couple of weeks I'm gonna visit Paris, so if you have any suggestions of shops, chocolatiers, restaurants or other hot spots I should visit: please leave them in a comment below!

My Tapas Birthday Party: Gazpacho Shots

2010-07-12T21:57:00.000+02:00

While browsing the Internet for a Gazpacho recipe fot my Tapas Birthday Party I came across this site where they had the great idea to serve gazpacho in shotglasses made out of carved cucumber. These look so cool and are handy too as you can simply eat the 'glasses' when you finish your gazpacho!

Both the gazpacho and the glasses can be prepared in advance and chilled before serving. This is a great refreshment during summer. I made some minor adjustments: instead of 300 ml bottled water I used 200 ml tap-water and 100 ml vodka. I also added a few splashes of Tabasco to up the spiciness of the Gazpacho.

Gazpacho Shots
makes 1 liter

4 Vine tomatoes
1 Small cucumber peeled
4 Large cucumbers
1 Garlic clove
1 Small onion
1 Small red bell pepper
3 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 Tablespoons white wine vinegar
salt and pepper to taste
300ml bottled water

To make the gazpacho

Roughly chop the tomatoes, pepper, onion, garlic and 1 small cucumber.
In a blender or food processor, blend the ingredients together to form a thick paste.
Pour in the olive oil, wine vinegar and season to your desired taste with salt and pepper.
Blend for a second time, adding water little by little until you achieve the desired consistency.
Reserve in a glass pitcher or pourer.

To make the shots

Take the four large cucumbers and slice off each end, cut the cucumber into 6cm long segments.
Using a peeler peel away strips of the cucumber skin creating a vertical stripe pattern.
Use a small paring knife carefully cut around the seeds in the centre of the cucumber then, gently scoop out the seeds with a spoon.
Fill each cucumber piece with gazpacho and refrigerate for 20 minutes.

My Tapas Birthday Party: Tortilla Espanola - No TWD

2010-07-05T23:39:00.004+02:00

Nope, that's not a Tarte Noire you're seeing in these pictures.... No TWD today: I'm truly sorry, but somehow Torte Noire didn't do it for me this weekend.... Might give it a try next week though! For the Torte Noire go check out Tuesdays with Dorie or Dharmagirl over at bliss: towards a delicious life.

Instead of the Tarte Noire, let me introduce you to the Tortilla Espanola! A wonderful easy to make tapas as it is actually baked in the oven, so after prepping and popping it into the oven you can actually make another tapas without having to keep an eye on the pan to make sure the tortilla doesn't burn!!

These tasted wonderful fresh out of the oven and can also be frozen, although they do can get a bit soggy.... But these were still a hit at my Tapas Party, even if they were a tiny bit soggy! I made a tiny adaptation by adding some paprika powder to the recipe and using a yellow pepper instead of a green one, other than that I made it as written on Pennies on a Platter.

Oven-Baked Tortilla Española

Serves: 16 as part of a tapas meal, or 6 as a lunch or bunch main course

4 large red-skinned potatoes or Yukon gold potatoes, diced
4 Tbsp olive oil
2 garlic cloves, minced
4 scallions, white and green parts finely chopped
1 medium green bell pepper, seeded and finely diced
1 medium red bell pepper, seeded and finely diced
5 large eggs
1/2 cup sour cream
1 cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano or Spanish Rocal cheese
3 Tbsp snipped fresh chives (or about 1 tsp dried chives if you can’t find the fresh)
1/8 tsp paprika powder
Kosher salt and fresh black pepper, to taste

Preheat oven to 375˚F. Place diced potatoes in a sauce pan and cover with cold water. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low and cook for 5-7 minutes, until the potatoes are tender. Drain and set aside to slightly cool.

Spray a casserole dish (approximately 7×10 inch) with cooking spray; set aside.

Place the 4 Tbsp olive oil, garlic, scallions and bell peppers in a skillet and cook over medium heat, stirring, for 5-6 minutes, or until the onions are softened but not browned. Let cool a bit, then stir in the cooked potato. In a large bowl, beat the eggs, sour cream, cheese and chives together. Stir in the vegetable-potato mixture, and season to taste with salt and pepper.

Pour the mixture into the baking dish and smooth the top. Bake for 40 minutes, or until golden brown, puffed, and set in the center. Remove from the oven and let cool and set. Run a spatula around the edge, then invert onto a cutting board, browned-side up. If the surface looks a little runny, place it under the broiler to dry out. (I didn’t need to do this.)
Let cool completely. Neaten the edges, if necessary, then cut into one-inch squares. Serve on a platter with wooden toothpicks.

My Tapas Birthday Party: Simple Sangria

2010-07-04T23:01:00.001+02:00

Today is the day I turn 31 years old! To celebrate this joyous occasion I invited some friends and family over last Saturday evening for a Tapas Birthday Party. Considering the lovely (hot!!) weather we enjoyed last week I was hoping on having the party outside. Unfortunately at the same time the first guests arrived, the rain also started! We still had a great evening inside though, with the tv on so the guys could follow the quarter final of World Cup Soccer between Paraguay and Spain.

After browsing the Internet I finally decided on these drinks/bites:

Simple Sangria

Tortilla Espanola

Marinated Mushrooms

Gazpacho Shots

4-Minute Spicy Garlic Shrimp

Pollo al Ajillo

Albondigas en Salsa de Tomate

I will be sharing the recipes and pictures with you over the next couple of days, starting with the Simple Sangria I found over at Real Simple. I followed the recipe almost as written and really enjoyed it! As the name indicates it's very simple to make, but it's still quite tasty!

Simple Sangria

Serves 8

1 bottle medium-bodied red wine (such as Rioja)

3 cups apple juice

2 thinly sliced oranges
(I used one orange and one lemon and quartered the slices)

Ice

In a large pitcher combine red wine, apple juice and oranges.

Serve over ice.

$70 CSN Gift Card Winner

2010-07-02T21:32:00.000+02:00

And the winner of the $70 CSN Gift Card was also determined by using the Random Integer Generator:

Random Integer Generator

Here are your random numbers:

Timestamp: 2010-06-28 22:15:30 UTC

Comment number 6 was made by TeaLady: And You know I follow!!

Congratulations Tealady!! I do know that you follow!!! I will contact you via your blog!

Guess this Food Giveaway Winner!!!

2010-07-02T21:22:00.000+02:00

A while ago I asked you all to Guess the Food above to win a surprise food parcel. Lots of you gave the right answere: it's Truffles!

To determine the winner of this giveaway I used the Random Integer Generator:

Random Integer Generator

Here are your random numbers:

Timestamp: 2010-06-28 22:10:58 UTC

The 4th comment was made by AppleC: It's a black truffle. Spain is one of the main producers of these little delicacies. Lucky you!

Congratulations!!

TWD: Rum-Drenched Vanilla Cakes

2010-06-28T23:53:00.005+02:00

This weeks recipe for Tuesdays with Dorie was super easy and very tasty: two thumbs up!! The Rum-Drenched Vanilla Cakes were picked by Wendy of Pink Stripes.

I took the cake to work and forgot to take pictures when I set them up, so by the time I finally remembered that I still had to photograph the cake there was only half a slice left!!

The only problem I had with this cake: there wasn't enough of it!!! I should have never halved the recipe!!

The recipe can found over at Pink Stripes. Go visit the LYL to see what my fellow TWD-ers thought of the Rum-Drenched Vanilla Cakes.

CEiMB - Chicken Paella with Sausage and Olives

2010-06-24T21:32:00.005+02:00

Yes, I'm back!! Back at cooking with Craving Ellie in My Belly, where we cook up healthy and delicious Ellie Krieger recipes every week and then share our experiences. Recipes get chosen from web-based recipes at Foodnetwork.com or Ellie's books 'The Food You Crave: Luscious Recipes for a Healthy Life' and 'So Easy: Luscious, Healthy Recipes for Every Meal of the Week'.

This weeks recipe was picked by one of my favorite bloggers: Margaret from Tea and Scones. And boy, did she pick the perfect recipe!! About two weeks ago I was visiting Spain to attend a friends wedding and now Margaret brings Spain to my home by picking Chicken Paella with Sausage and Olives!

Shopping for this recipe was quite easy: no need to go to specialty stores because I could simply buy all the ingredients I needed at the supermarket and market. Prepping was pretty straightforward to: cut, chop, slice everything into pieces. Then I was supposed to use a Dutch oven-type pan and couldn't find it. This was quite necessary, since the Paella was finished in the oven... Instead I cooked it on the stove.... Ofcourse as soon the Paella was cooked and I finished my plate I noticed my Dutch oven. Guess where it was..... Right next to the stove!!!! Duh!!!

On Twitter Margaret mentioned that she thought the paella was a bit bland and after tasting a bite of my finished product I agreed with her, so I added 1/8 tsp cayenne pepper, 1/8 tsp paprika powder and a bit more salt and pepper. Now it was almost perfect: a little spicy, but not to much!! Next time I might add a bit more garlic though....

For the recipe, visit Margaret at Tea and Scones. Wanna know what my fellow Ellie-istas thought of the Paella? Go here!! And if you want to join in on the fun, you're absolutely welcome!! Go visit our site to check out the rules and join us!

P.S. Don't forget to enter one or both of my giveaways:

- to win a surprise foodie package go here to Guess this Food, deadline is Friday 25th, midnight CET.

- to win a $70 CSN gift card go here, deadline is Saturday 26th, midnight CET.

TWD: Dressy Chocolate Loaf Cake

2010-06-22T01:26:00.008+02:00

This week Dorie taught us how to dress up a simple chocolate loaf cake to turn it into something quite fancy. And we owe it all to Amy of Amy Ruth Bakes as she picked the Dressy Chocolate Loaf Cake for this weeks recipe for Tuesdays with Dorie.

This cake was so easy to make. I started by baking the cake and then because I was in a rush I tried to take it out of the tin too early: big mistake!! I accidentally dropped half of it on the floor and unfortunately had to throw it out...

After I finally got over this tragic loss, I continued on to make the cherry syrup by combining the cherry marmalade with some water and cooking it. The cake was then cut into three pieces and each piece got smothered with the cherry syrup before it was topped with another layer of cake.

To frost the cake Dorie had us make a gorgeous chocolate sour cream frosting and I added my own touch by drizzling some miniature chocolate chips on top that I had leftover from last years trip to Canada.

The cake travelled with me to a BBQ with lots of hungry secretaries where it ended up being served up as dessert. They all enjoyed their piece. The cake was quite moist, partly due to the cherry syrup, and very dense: a small piece went a long way! I loved this cake, it reminded me of a Schwarzwalder Kirschtorte I ate years ago in Germany. I will definitely be making this again, in fact I'm thinking of serving it at my birthday party!

Go here to check out the problems and questions that were discussed over at Tuesdays with Dorie. The recipe can be found over at Amy Ruth Bakes and be sure to check out the LYL to see if my fellow TWD-ers loved this cake as much as I did!

P.S. Don't forget to enter one or both of my giveaways:

- to win a surprise foodie package go here to Guess this Food, deadline is Friday 25th, midnight CET.

- to win a $70 CSN gift card go here, deadline is Saturday 26th, midnight CET.

Giveaway: CSN $70 gift card

2010-06-17T23:00:00.002+02:00

A while ago, back in March I hosted a giveaway for CSN Stores. This week I was once again contacted by Ashley of CSN Stores with the request to host another giveaway. Of course I'm more than happy to oblige!!! CSN has a lot of different shops filled with lovely items and I wish they would ship items to Europe, so I that I could shop with them. I'd love to buy some one of their platform beds as I love their designs and how the provide storage space underneath the bed!

This time around the people from CSN graciously offer one $70 gift card to be spent at one of their sites.

Want to win the $70 gift card? Here's what you have to do:

Visit http://www.cookware.com/ and leave a comment on this post telling me what you use the gift card on.

For extra entries:

For one extra entry: tweet about this giveaway and leave a link in a comment on this post.

For another extra entry: mention this giveaway on Facebook and leave a link in a comment on this post.

Followers get an extra entry, mention that you're a follower in a comment on this post.

Each entry has to be submitted in a separate comment!

Giveaway details:

Contest is only open to US and Canada residents

This contest ends on Saturday June 26th at midnight CET

Winner will be chosen at random via Random.com generator and announced here on Sunday June 27th

P.S. Don't forget to enter my 'Guess this Food'-Giveaway, deadline is Friday June 25th

Giveaway: Guess this Food!!!

2010-06-16T21:43:00.005+02:00

Yes, it's time for another giveaway!! Last weekend I was in Spain and picked up some lovely goodies, one of which is pictured above and below. But what is it???

Guess what food you think is in the picture and leave me your answer in a comment. I'll pick a winner from the correct answers. Deadline is Friday June 25th, I'll post the winner on Saturday June 26th. Good luck!!!

MSC: (Naked) Strawberry Cupcakes

2010-06-15T21:22:00.004+02:00

On May 29th I read an article online at www.nu.nl in which the author wrote about how healthy strawberries are: apparentlty they protect against nutritional diseases such as obesity, diabetes, heart and vascular disease.

How fortunate that Sherry of Sherry Starts Cooking had selected the Strawberry Cupcakes for this month’s Martha Stewart Cupcake Club! This is the first time I visited Sherry's blog and in the first sentence of this post I found out we have something in common: she got her wisdom teeth pulled out yesterday, one of mine was pulled today: no fun!!!!

These cupcakes were a breeze to make, I halved the recipe and ended up with 24 cupcakes instead of 16. I guess the Dutch eat smaller cupcakes than the Americans. I made the recipe on Tuesday and wanted to bring them into work on Thursday. So when the cupcakes had cooled down completely I popped them into the freezer. I pulled them out early Thursday morning so that they could thaw while I made the Strawberry Meringue Frosting to go on top.

Unfortunately the strawberries I had saved to go into the frosting had gone bad and were of no use to me whatsoever. What to do?? It was to early to go to the supermarket to buy some whipped cream for topping instead, as it wasn’t open yet. I decided my coworkers would have to eat naked cupcakes! And they liked them a lot, they didn’t even feel there was something missing!! Check out the recipe over at Sherry Starts Cooking and visit MSC!!

P.S. Stay tuned for a couple of giveaways this week!! One will be posted tomorrow, the other on Friday.

TWD: White Chocolate Brownies

2010-05-31T23:01:00.006+02:00

Welcome to a very special edition of Tuesdays with Dorie! You might wonder why this one is so special, well it's because I finally got to pick the recipe! Yay!! But picking one recipe wasn't as easy as I thought it would be, there were still so many good recipes left! With the help from my mom I finally narrowed it down to the White Chocolate Brownies on pages 110 and 111 of Baking from My Home to Yours, which I'm sure pleased CB a lot as she'd been trying to bribe all the members of TWD to vote on the White Chocolate Brownies when we all got to pick the second anniversary recipe for Tuesdays with Dorie last January.

Reading through the P&Q for the brownies I found out that I had picked a recipe that was a bit controversial: lots of talk about good raspberries being difficult to find and very expensive, meringue-haters and problems with undercooked brownies. So you can imagine I really wanted these brownies to work. Unfortunately my first batch came out a disaster: the brownies were still gooey and undercooked after an extra 40 minutes in the oven and the meringue was overcooked and too chewwy.

I decided to give the brownies another try and used blueberries instead since I was out of raspberries. Lack of orange forced me to leave the orange zest out and by now I was also out of almonds so I subbed them with more flour.

In the P&Q Jacque of Daisy Lane Cake suggested to bake the brownies first and then add the meringue, so that's exactly what I did. I lined a cupcake pan with liners and filled 24 liners half full, these were baked for 20 minutes and cooled to room temperature. I then topped them with the meringue and baked them for another 10 minutes: Perfect!

These brownies were delicious, but I must admit that their texture was more cake-like! A tad sweet, but I didn't mind about that: I have major sweet tooth! Don't forget to check out what my fellow TWD-ers thought of the White Chocolate Brownies!

White Chocolate Brownies

makes 32 brownies

White Chocolate, orange zest and lots of fresh raspberries make these brownies delicious; topping them with meringue makes them glamorous. The cake layer is slender, delightfully dense and both sweet and tart; the meringue is soft and golden. You can call them brownies, but serve them with a swirl of raspberry coulis and they'll be worthy of a black-tie gala.

For the brownies:

2/3 cup all-purpose flour

½ cup finely ground almonds

½ teaspoon salt

1 stick (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter, cut into 8 pieces

4 ounces premium-quality white chocolate, coarsely chopped

1 cup sugar

2 teaspoons grated orange zest

4 large eggs

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1 cup fresh raspberries

For the meringue:

3 large egg whites, at room temperature

Pinch of salt

½ cup sugar

Confectioners' sugar, for dusting

Getting ready

Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.

Butter a 9-x-13-inch pan, line the bottom with parchment or wax paper, butter the paper and dust the bottom and sides of the pan with flour; tap out the excess. Put the pan on a baking sheet.

To make the brownies

Whisk together the flour, ground almonds and salt.

Set a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of only-just-simmering water. Put the butter in the bowl, top with the chopped chocolate and stir frequently until the ingredients are just melted—you don't want them to get so hot that the butter or the white chocolate separates. (White chocolate is finicky, so don't leave the kitchen while it's over the heat—too much heat and it will fall apart or scorch.) Remove the bowl from the pan of water.

Working in the bowl of a stand mixer or in another large bowl, rub the sugar and orange zest together with your fingers until the sugar is moist and aromatic. Add the eggs and, with the paddle or whisk attachment, or with a hand mixer, beat on medium-high speed for about 3 minutes, or until pale and foamy. Beat in the vanilla. Reduce the mixer speed to low and blend in the melted butter and chocolate. Still working on low, mix in the dry ingredients, stirring only until they disappear into the batter. Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and sprinkle the raspberries evenly over the batter. Set aside while you make the meringue.

To make the meringue

In the cleaned mixer bowl with the (clean) whisk attachment, or in another large bowl with cleaned beaters, beat the egg whites with the salt on medium speed until they are foamy and just turn opaque. Increase the mixer speed to medium-high and add the sugar in a slow, steady stream. Whip the whites until they form firm but still glossy peaks.

Gently spread the meringue over the brownie batter.

Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, or until the meringue is browned and crackly and the brownies pull away from the sides of the pan. Transfer the pan to a rack and allow to cool to room temperature in the pan.

Cover a cooling rack with a piece of parchment or wax paper, or a silicone baking mat, dust the paper or mat with confectioners' sugar and very gently, so you don't squish the meringue, turn the brownies out onto the rack. Peel away the parchment paper lining and carefully invert the brownies onto a cutting board. Cut into 32 bars, each roughly 2¼ x 11½ inches.

Serving

Dust the squares with additional confectioners' sugar if you think they need it and serve as is or with Raspberry Coulis

Storing

Kept in the pan and covered lightly with plastic wrap, the brownies can be kept at room temperature overnight. The meringue makes these fragile (and unfreezable). If you omit the meringue, you can wrap the brownies airtight and keep them at room temperature for up to 3 days and frozen for up to 2 months.

Second Foodie Exchange Parcel: Illinois, U.S.A.

2010-05-26T23:05:00.001+02:00

So last week, before I went to Germany with my mom, I received my second Foodie Exchange parcel.

This time the parcel was from someone I actually 'know': Margaret of Tea and Scones. I've met Margaret through TWD.

Margaret sent me some lovely goodies from Illinois that I can't wait to try: Long Grain & Wild Rice, Cibarra Chocolate, Tabasco, Filé and a cookbook: The Basics of Creole Cooking. I can't wait to make some Gumbo!!!

If you're interested in participating in a food exchange, check out Foodie Exchange

An impression of my road trip to Pfronten-Steinach (Germany)

2010-05-25T21:58:00.011+02:00

Last weekend was spent with my mom and our two dogs. I asked a friend to take care of Senna, the cat, and my mom put enough food in the fridge to last all weekend for my dad. Okay, I was exaggerating just a little bit: my dad took care of himself the entire weekend.

We got in the car at 6 am and drove for about 9 hours, including several stops on the way to take out the dogs, have some drinks and eat. We were on the road heading for Pfronten-Steinach, which is situated in Allgau, southern Germany. We stayed at a friends hotel and had a lovely view of the Breitenberg from the balcony of our room. The room was perfect: enough room for the two of us and the dogs.

Saturday morning was spent shopping in Fuessen where we managed to snap up some bargains and enjoyed all the magnificently decorated houses.

Of course we had to enjoy some Apfelstrudel with Vanilla-Rum Sauce on a terrace in the sun.

Some time was spent in a shop where they sold typical German outfit, like the Dirnd'l and Lederhosen shown above.

We then took the Breitenbergbahn up the mountain, Scott (left) and Joey (right) where a bit scared in the gondola going up but they were perfectly fine during the ride down. They had a blast up on that mountain and really enjoyed running around.

We took lots of walks and ate loads of regional dishes, such as the Allgäuer Käse Spätzle pictured above. My friend Claudia gifted me a Spätzle Maker, so I can make my own Spätzle at home, I can´t wait to give it a try!! Feel free to suggest recipes!

Asparagus Tomato Goat Cheese Puff Pastry Tart

2010-05-18T22:16:00.002+02:00

This Saturday I picked up some more green asparagus at the market, I love asparagus season: just can't get enough of them!! The other day I didn't feel like spending a lot of time in the kitchen, but I also didn't feel like ordering fast food. So I had a look at my fridge/freezer and decided to play with what I had on hand.

The oven was preheated to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. I thawed some puff pastry sheets and rolled them out, I then scored a line about 1/2 inch from the edges of the puff pastry to get a nice rim after baking. Two tablespoons of pesto were spread onto the center of the puff pastry and then topped with halved cherry tomatoes (9 whole, 12 half tomatoes). This was baked for 10 minutes.

Meanwhile I washed 400 grams of asparagus and used pencil-thin ones, if they were thicker I halved them length-wise. I layered these on top of the puff pastry and sprinkled some salt and pepper over them. I topped the asparagus with slices of soft goat cheese and popped the tart back into the oven for another 10 to 15 minutes until the edges of the puff pastry is golden.

Doesn't it look delicious???

Here's a close-up for you!! Yum!! Serve this tart with a nice salad and it'll serve two.

Enjoy!!

Rhubarb Upside-Down Buttermilk Cakelets

2010-05-17T18:45:00.005+02:00

I've done it again.... I've joined another group: Have the Cake. Every month one of the members picks a recipe for a cake, cookie, cracker, pie, bar, biscuit or brownie. Everyone can make it as is or put their own spin on it. You have the whole month to complete it and when you are done, you post your baking experience on your blog and on Have the Cake's blog! Each participant gets to pick a recipe for an assigned month and it should be something they've never made before. This month it was Gerri's turn to pick a recipe, she choose Buttermilk Cake for our May Challenge.

Last Saturday I went to the market and bought 2 kilos of rhubarb, with the intention to use part of it for this challenge. I happened upon this wonderful Rhubarb Upside-Down Cake and decided to adapt it by subbing the milk with buttermilk, however I forgot to buy buttermilk. So I used the advice Gerrie gave us and made my own buttermilk by adding one tablespoon of lemon juice to one cup of milk and let it sit for 10 minutes until it clabbers. I used my non-stick 6 hole-baking pan for buns, fairy cakes, muffins & yorkshire puddings. Doesn't that cake look nice and fluffy?
Rhubarb Upside-Down Cakelets
makes 12 3-inch cakelets
recipe adapted from Taste of Home
Ingredients
2/3 cup packed brown sugar
3 tablespoons butter, melted
2-1/4 cups diced fresh or frozen rhubarb
4-1/2 teaspoons sugar
Batter:
6 tablespoons butter, softened
3/4 cup sugar
2 eggs, separated
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup buttermilk
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
Whipped cream, optional
Directions
Butter the baking pan and line the bottom of each individual hole with parchment, butter the parchment. In a small bowl, combine brown sugar and butter. Spread into the baking pan. Layer with rhubarb; sprinkle with sugar. Set aside.
In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in egg yolks and vanilla. Combine the flour, baking powder and salt; add to creamed mixture alternately with buttermilk, beating well after each addition.
In a small bowl, beat egg whites and cream of tartar on medium speed until stiff peaks form. Gradually fold into creamed mixture, about 1/2 cup at a time. Gently spoon over rhubarb (pan will be full, about 1/4 in. from the top of pan).
Bake at 325° for 25 minutes or until cake springs back when lightly touched. Cool for 10 minutes before inverting onto a serving plate. Serve warm with whipped cream if desired.

Asparagus with Roasted Garlic Sauce

2010-05-15T00:50:00.004+02:00

There's and abundance of Asparagus around here at the moment, which is fine with me: I love asparagus!! So I started looking for new recipes for me to try out. To my big surprise most recipes out there are for green asparagus, whereas most Dutch people eat white aspargus. I love both varieties. Last weekend I picked up a kilo of green Asparagus at the market.

Today I made the most delicious and simple dish: Asparagus with Roasted Garlic Sauce. I found the recipe here and followed Susan's directions (both for this dish as on how to roast the garlic) exactly, except for using pecans instead of walnuts. Let me tell you: this was amazing!! There's no cream in this sauce, but it tastes sooo creamy! I loved that I could taste all the ingredients: the garlic, pecans and lemon juice, Delicious!! I'm definitely making this again!!

Asparagus with Roasted Garlic Sauce

1/2 head roasted garlic
1/4 cup walnuts (pecans work too)
juice of half a lemon
1 tbsp. water
salt to taste
1 pound asparagus

Lightly toast the walnuts. The easiest way to do this is to put them in the oven with the garlic during the last 5 minutes that it’s roasting. When they’re hot but not burning, remove them from the oven and grind them in a food processor (or mash them to a paste in a mortar and pestle). Add half a head of roasted garlic, the lemon juice, and the water and continue to puree. Add salt to taste.

Prepare the asparagus by snapping off the tough ends (just hold a spear at the bottom and in the middle, and it should snap off in the right spot). Steam them lightly for 3 minutes or until they are bright green and just starting to become tender. Place them in a serving dish, and toss them with the roasted garlic sauce. Serve, trying not to fight over the last spear on the plate!

TWD: Mini Quick Classic Berry Tarts

2010-05-10T23:01:00.005+02:00

When I turned 30 last year I had an afternoon tea party at home, the next day I took the leftover cupcakes and brownies with me to work. A couple of my coworkers were so enamored with my baked goodies that they asked me if I would consider baking some things for them to share with coworkers for both of their birthdays. Of course I told them that I would be more than happy to oblige.

Summer came and went, as did Sinterklaas, Christmas, Easter and several other special days and I had totally forgotten about my promise until my coworker approached me last week and asked me if I still wanted to bake for them. I had to check my schedule first to see if I had enough time and then said yes. My coworkers really wanted something chocolaty and two other fruity options. For chocolate I made brownies, I also made Dorie's Yoghurt Lemon Cake.

For the final fruity treat I decided to adapt this weeks challenge for Tuesdays with Dorie. Christine of Cooking with Christine picked Dorie's Quick Classic Berry Tart, which I loved!! This tart actually combines two delicious recipes: the sweet tart dough and pastry cream. I doubled the tart dough recipe and baked the tarts in my mini cupcakes/muffins pans covered with foil for 15 minutes and an additional 10 minutes without the foil, I ended up with 38 tart shells. The tarts I served at my coworkers birthday at work were topped with raspberries and blueberries. For the ones at home I used up my leftover blueberries and strawberries: huge hit!! Everyone loved them even if I did forget to add the drizzle of jelly on top of them!

The recipe can be found at Christine's blog. For tips and tricks I suggest you read the P&Q. Go check out how my fellow TWD-ers tarts turned out here and leave them comments is you like what you see/read!

First Foodie Exchange Package: Italy!!

2010-05-04T22:31:00.000+02:00

Last Saturday I found a note in my mailbox: the postman had come by with a package for me and would be back the next workday, which would be Monday. I was bummed since I had to work on Monday... Monday arrived and I stayed home from work due to a massive migraine attack. After taking my medicine at 7.30 am I went back to bed to pass out (that's how my migraine medication affects me), only to be woken up at 11.00 am by my ringing doorbell. So I opened up my front door, looking my worst possible wearing a hot pink bathrobe, only to find out that this particular day we had the cutest substitute delivery-man one could think of.... Crap, just my luck!

I put the package in the living room and went back to bed. Offcourse when I finally woke up several hours later, with only the slightest bit of headache remaining (OMG, I love my migraine medication: now I'm only losing 1 day of work instead of 2 or 3!!). The first thing that came to mind was my package.... Like me, my cat was super interested in it! It was my Foodie Exchange package from Rossella. Rossella is the same age as me and lives in Milan, Italy.

Rossella sent me so much goodies!! There was a hand-made bag and dish-cloth, some orrchiette (pasta), risotto with saffron and porcini, saffron, pesto, olive oil, Italian flat bread, double concentrated tomato paste, nutella and Italian cookies!! I can't wait to try them all!!!

Foodie Exchange is a group for foodies from around the planet who wish to exchange their local food specialties as a care package with other foodies. The items in the care package should be limited to about $10.00 in cost, shipping is extra. Each month you can sign up on the monthly exchange thread in the forum where members match themselves up with partners. When you received the package you can share the story by adding you blog post to the Blog Posts section. Foodie Exchange currently has 112 members. Are you interested in exchanging packages? Go check out Foodie Exchange, it's a fun way to meet foodies and try different foods from all over the world!!

TWD: Chockablock Cookies

2010-04-27T17:45:00.005+02:00

Chockablock Cookies: Cookies filled with loads of goodies, such as nuts, dried fruits and coconut. These cookies were picked by Mary of Popsicles and Sandy Feet for this weeks Tuesday with Dorie.

For nuts I used pecans and my dried fruit of choice was fat golden raisins. These tasted really good, but I think I would have loved them more without the oats! Go here to check out the recipe and here to see what my fellow TWD-ers thought of these cookies.

Taste & Create: Mrs. B's Lemon Meringue Pie

2010-04-26T22:16:00.001+02:00

Just a short post today. This is the second recipe I made for April's Taste & Create. I was paired with Jen of The Misadventures of Mrs. B and apparently she loves lemony desserts as much as I do. As soon as I found this lovely Lemon Meringue Pie I knew I had to make it. I have always been intimidated by meringue and was super-excited by the thought of finally tackling it!

In fact I was so excited that I made one huge mistake.... I cut the pie when the custard wasn't quite set yet.... Oops!! So the first piece looked like crap, it tasted wonderful though! For the crust I used Dorie Greenspan's recipe for Sweet Tart Dough (page 444 of Baking From My Home To Yours) or here. I used the juice of 5 lemons for this and that amount was ideal: the perfect flavor combination with the tartness of the crust and the sweetness of the meringue.

After some time in the fridge the custard set as it was supposed to and looked gorgeous. The recipe can be found here over at The Misadventures of Mrs. B, go check it out! I know I will be frequenting Jen's blog from now on to see what other scrumptious dishes she comes up with!

Make your own Red Pesto

2010-04-25T23:00:00.000+02:00

I used to buy red pesto at the supermarket until I found out that it's actually super easy to make your own red pesto. And it tastes way better than store-bought pesto too!!! When you make a batch, make sure to store it in the fridge! It will keep for about 1 1/2 week. The red pesto is great on bread or in other recipes, such as pasta dishes.

Red Pesto

a small bunch of basil leaves

40 gram Parmesan cheese

30 gram pine nuts

1 or 2 garlic cloves

150 grams sundried tomatoes

a dash of extra virgine olive oil

a splash of balsamic vinegar

Put all the ingredients into a food processor or blender and blend until everything is pureed.

If you have more time available, you can also use a mortar and pestle and some good old-fashioned elbow grease :)

Add some more olive oil if the pesto seems to dry for your taste.

Taste & Create: Mrs. B's Super Easy, Super Cheesy Stovetop Macaroni

2010-04-25T22:16:00.007+02:00

It´s that time of the month again: time to post about Taste & Create. Like I mentioned before, Taste & Create is a cultural exchange program for bloggers: you sign up monthly and are paired with another blogger. You look around at their blog, find that one recipe (or more if you like) that you want to recreate and post the about it. You also submit a picture and a very short review to the T&C website.

This month I was paired with The Misadventures of Mrs. B. I had so much fun reading her blog, she and I share a love for cheese and citrus. So I had to pick two recipes: this one I'll post today, the other (Lemon Meringue Pie) will follow this week. The first recipe I picked was super easy to make and involved cheese :) It was nice, but somewhat bland. I wonder if the Cheddar that is available here might have less flavor than the American ones..... It was still yummy thought!

The recipe can be found here at The Misadventures of Mrs. B.

No TWD - instead a package from Minnesota

2010-04-19T23:12:00.000+02:00

Barely survived the weekend... Followed by a manic monday, what will the rest of this week bring me?

All the stress started last Thursday when most of the European airspace was closed and all flights cancelled due to volcanic ash-clouds from the erupted volcano Eyjafjallajökull on Iceland.

My manager was in Oslo and got stuck there... All the trains were full, cars were rented, hotels booked full, same for the restaurants. Luckily our business travel agency was smart enough to have booked some rooms for my manager and his colleagues. Eventually we managed to get them all back to The Netherlands by borrowing cars from Norwegian colleagues.

Friday I visited a friend in Meppel, we went shopping and had some hot cocoa after the shops had closed. When we returned to the parking garage at 21h50, we were unpleasantely surprised: the garage had closed at 21h30 and there was no way to get my car out!! We also managed to miss the last bus and ended up walking to my friends home, which took us about 30 minutes. She then drove me home in their car.

Saturday I got up early (7h30) to catch the bus to the train station, I managed to miss the bus by 2 minutes... When I finally arrived at the train station I bought my ticket and missed my train. Eventually I arrived in Meppel around 10h00, walked to my car and drove back home.

When I returned home I was pleasantly surprised when my neighbor told me she had accepted a parcel for me. I knew Cora from Minnesota had sent me something, but wasn't expecting it yet as the airspace above most part of Europe was still closed.

I love how almost all the sides of the parcel had stamps on them, I've never seen so many different stamps in one place :). Everything arrived in perfect condition: two packages of wild rice, a bag of mini peanut butter cups and two packages of normal-sized peanut butter cups. I shared one of the normal-sized packages of Reese's Peanut Butter Cups with my mom and she really liked them. I can't wait to cook with the rice and bake with the mini peanut butter cups!

Svenska Tosca Kaka

2010-04-14T23:01:00.002+02:00

While researching the background of this weeks Tuesdays with Dorie I came across this recipe for a Svenska Tosca Kaka that seemed very similar to the Swedish Visiting Cake: first eggs and sugar were mixed, next dry ingredients are folded in and then the melted and cooled butter is folded in. The cake gets topped with almonds before going into the oven.

But this cake looked so different that I was intrigued by it, so I decided to bake it today. Again: easy to make, but way more dishes are dirtied than with Dorie's Swedish Visiting Cake. This cake has 1 1/5 teaspoons of baking powder in it, so it rises quite a bit.

Unlike the specimens I encountered during my Google-search my cake decided to dome quite a bit. Taste wise the cakes are completely different: the topping of the Svenska Tosca Kaka is both crunchy and chewy while the base is more like a spongecake, it was a tad dry to my taste so next time I would bake the cake 5 minutes less after topping it, so only 10 minutes instead of 15.

The Svenska Tosca Kaka reminded me of German Bienenstich sans filling.

Another note: make sure that the cake tin is high enough. When I topped my cake and popped it back into the oven, the top of the mixture was exactly level with the tin. The topping will bubble during the 10 minutes in the oven and thus overflow and dirty your oven by burning cause a disgusting burn smell that made me fear my cake was ruined when in fact it was perfectly safe!

P.S. Today I have reason to celebrate: finally one of my pictures got accepted by Tastespotting!!

See it here!! Yay! Btw: Happy Secretary Day!!

Svenska Tosca Kaka

adapted from nami-nami, serves 8 - 10

Sponge Cake

3 large eggs

200 gram sugar

400 gram all-purpose flour

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

100 ml milk

125 gram butter, melted and cooled

Tosca Topping

75 gram butter

100 gram almond slices

150 gram sugar

4 tbsp whipping cream/double cream

1 tbsp all-purpose flour

Sponge Cake:

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees Celsius. Butter and line a 25cm springform tin.

Whisk eggs and sugar together until thick, pale and creamy. Mix dry ingredients, then fold gently with milk and melted butter into the egg mixture.

Pour the batter into the prepared tin and bake in the oven for 20 minutes.

Tosca Topping

Mix the butter, almond slices, sugar, cream and flour in a small saucepan and bring to the boil.

When cake is half-baked after 20 minutes, remove it from the oven and set the oven to 225 degrees Celsius.

Spoon the tosca topping onto the half-baked cake and put back in the oven.

Bake for another 10-15 minutes, until the topping is cooked and has a lovely golden color.

TWD: Swedish Visiting Cake + Foodie Exchange

2010-04-12T23:01:00.003+02:00

This week the lovely Nancy of The Dogs Eat the Crumbs got to pick the recipe for Tuesdays with Dorie and she did a good job! She decided on the Swedish Visiting Cake that can be found on page 197 of Baking from My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan or here at Nancy's blog.

A Google search for Swedish Cake soon came up with Toscakaka, also spelled as Tosca Kaka, which basically is a lemon sponge topped with crunchy almonds. Sound familiar? It looks familiar too, except that the layer of crunchy almonds is thicker than Dorie's. Could this have been Dorie's inspiration for the Swedish Visiting Cake? I might give this recipe or this one a try one of these days as it looks really tempting!

Anyways, I baked this on Easter Monday, which is national holiday here in The Netherlands, expecting no visitors and thought this would be another great cake to bring into work with me on Tuesday. It was very easy to put together, I was done in no time and I made it exactly as written: no changes this week! I was quite surprised when the doorbell rang shortly after I put the cake into the oven: it was my mom who had decided to take her dog out on a walk and visit me because the weather was so nice.

As soon as she walked into the door, she asked me what that lovely smell was. I told her to be patient as she could have a taste of the Swedish Visiting Cake when it was done. She loved it and took two pieces home with her (for my dad and herself of course!). So I only had 3/4 of a cake left for about 20 coworkers and not enough stock in my pantry to bake another one. My colleagues were a bit disappointed that they only got slivers of cake, because they loved it, as did I!! Thanks for a wonderful choice Nancy!

On another note, I have registered at Foodie Exchange for my 101 in 1001 challenge. So I've started my second goal on the list, #2: Take part in 5 Foodie Exchange. Basically what Foodie Exchange is is a group for foodies from around the planet who wish to exchange their local food specialties as a care package with other foodies. The items in the care package should be limited to about $10.00 in cost, shipping is extra. Each month you can sign up on the monthly exchange thread in the forum where members match themselves up with partners. When you received the package you can share the story by adding you blog post to the Blog Posts section.

I have started several goals, such as signing up for a two-day assertivity training (#90) that will take place in August and starting a new skin care routine (#18), which I will tell you about late this week. I already completed one goal: #80 Register as an organ donor

Culinary Delights

Moving day for this blog....

CEiMB - Mocha Cake with Mocha Cream

Banana Nutella Maple Syrup Bread for World Nutella Day (one day late)

Twitter Avatar February - James Beard Refrigerator Spice Cookies

Taking a little break

Christmas Cookies: Toblerone Shortbread Cookies

Christmas Cookies: Cinnamon Sugar Biscotti

Christmas Cookies: Candy Cane Kiss Cookies

Still looking for Christmas gifts???

Christmas Cookies: Lime Meltaways

Virtual Cookie Exchange: White Chocolate & Macadamia Nut Cookies

CEiMB - Tortellini-Spinach Soup - One Sentence Post

Madonna - Crazy For You [Official Video]

Looking at Briefcases

CEiMB - Mushroom, Onion and NO Basil Pizza

CEiMB - Spaghetti Frittata with Salad Presto - My pick!!!

Joyeux Anniversaire / Happy Birthday Dorie!!! - Curried Chicken with Pepper and Peas en Papilotte

CEiMB - Chicken Pot Pies - One Sentence Post

TWD: Fold-Over Pear Torte - One Sentence Post

Gorgeous barstools

FFwD - Gerard’s Mustard Tart - One Sentence Post

CEiMB - Tomato-Tortilla Soup - One Sentence Post

One day late - TWD: Tarte Fine

Dorie's Dimply Plum Cake with Rosemary

Lady Antebellum - Need You Now (HD)

My first attempt at Ontbijtkoek: Failure!!!

CEiMB - Mixed Berry Cobbler

MSC: Triple Citrus Cupcakes - My Pick!!!

An explanation for my absence and the $70 CSN Gift Card Winner

Random Integer GeneratorHere are your random integers, generated without replacement:

No TWD this week

CEiMB - Mango Lassi

TWD: No Chewy, Chunky Blondies - instead: Lots of Ways Banana (Cup) Cakes

A little bit of France in Zwolle

How to win a $70 CSN gift card.... Giveaway!!!

My Tapas Birthday Party: 4-Minute Spicy Garlic Shrimp

4-Minute Spicy Garlic Shrimp

Ingredients

Directions

My Tapas Birthday Party: Marinated Mushrooms

Ingredients

Directions

TWD: Brrrr-ownies

My Tapas Birthday Party: Gazpacho Shots

My Tapas Birthday Party: Tortilla Espanola - No TWD

Oven-Baked Tortilla Española

My Tapas Birthday Party: Simple Sangria

$70 CSN Gift Card Winner

Random Integer Generator

Guess this Food Giveaway Winner!!!

To determine the winner of this giveaway I used the Random Integer Generator:Random Integer GeneratorHere are your random numbers:4 Timestamp: 2010-06-28 22:10:58 UTC

To determine the winner of this giveaway I used the Random Integer Generator:

Random Integer Generator

Here are your random numbers:

TWD: Rum-Drenched Vanilla Cakes

CEiMB - Chicken Paella with Sausage and Olives

TWD: Dressy Chocolate Loaf Cake

Giveaway: CSN $70 gift card

Giveaway: Guess this Food!!!

MSC: (Naked) Strawberry Cupcakes

TWD: White Chocolate Brownies

Second Foodie Exchange Parcel: Illinois, U.S.A.

An impression of my road trip to Pfronten-Steinach (Germany)

Asparagus Tomato Goat Cheese Puff Pastry Tart

Rhubarb Upside-Down Buttermilk Cakelets

Asparagus with Roasted Garlic Sauce

TWD: Mini Quick Classic Berry Tarts

First Foodie Exchange Package: Italy!!

TWD: Chockablock Cookies

Taste & Create: Mrs. B's Lemon Meringue Pie

Make your own Red Pesto

Taste & Create: Mrs. B's Super Easy, Super Cheesy Stovetop Macaroni

No TWD - instead a package from Minnesota

Svenska Tosca Kaka

TWD: Swedish Visiting Cake + Foodie Exchange

Random Integer Generator
Here are your random integers, generated without replacement:

To determine the winner of this giveaway I used the Random Integer Generator:
Random Integer Generator
Here are your random numbers:
4
Timestamp: 2010-06-28 22:10:58 UTC