Homemade Nutella

Dear God, grant me the wisdom to avoid eating the entire jar in one sitting. :D

 

I mean...what can I say? I`m sorry if the pictures show you something that resembles poop, but the taste is just the same. 

This is not just a Nutella substitute. It is Nutella! 

 

There is NO ONE in this entire world who tasted Nutella and didn`t get addicted to it. The smooth, chocolaty hazelnut spread is impossible to resist. 

You`ll forget about your strict healthy eating plan and just eat spoonfulls. There is no natural force that can stop me enjoying every little bit of it.

 

I wish I could have taken pictures of the jar while it was still full...I simply forgot about everything and everyone once I tasted it. And tasted again and again...

 

Enough talking! Let me introduce you my Nutella recipe. If you are too lazy, go buy the original one, it`ll still be amazing.

My entire family is addicted to it. Yes, even my dad who prefers white chocolate over black one. You know what they said? That this is even better than the store bought one! 

Ingredients:

200 g hazelnuts, skin on or off(untoasted&unsalted)

5 to 7 Tablespoons honey or icing sugar (sweeten it to your own taste)

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

3 to 2 teaspoons vegetable,flavourless oil(such as canola)

1 Tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder

Directions   

Preheat oven to 180 Celsius/375 degrees F. Line a baking sheet/tray with parchment paper and put the hazelnuts on it . Toast them for aprox. 12 minutes or until the skins peel of easly when rubbed between your fingers.

Peel skins off and put them in a blender or a food processor. Blend on high until it resembles coarse crumbs. 

Add in oil (you might need more or less, start off with 1 Tbsp and blend after each addition until you get a smooth, shiny paste. 

  Like in the pictures above.

Toss in cocoa powder, vanilla extract, honey and blend on high for 5 minutes. Check it for the right consistency. If you think it`s not smooth or silky enough, blend more. Take a spatula and run it around the blades to make sure there are no pieces of whole hazelnuts. 

Store the Nutella in a jar..who am I kidding? Eat it! 

  

 

Homemade Peanut Butter

If you are American, I can feel your excitement...yes, homemade, natural Peanut Butter. Quick, grab a slice of bread and the jelly jar, because this stuff is amazing!

 

Please don`t feel discouraged if your homemade butter looks grainy and not smooth like the store-bought one, after all you aren`t using anything but 3 ingredients and a blender or a food processor. 

You can adjust it to your own taste. If you have more of a sweet tooth, than by all means add more sweetener. Or, don`t add it at all, it will still be delicious.

 

I`m sorry for the shark-like bite in the photo above, but I just couldn`t help tasting it. Or shall I say: gobbling it all up?

Now, Peanut Butter has a bad reputation: it`s fattening. Well, if you are talking about the store-bought stuff, then yes, it is not only fattening but also bad for your health. 

But (there is always a "but") homemade PB offers you all the protein you need, it prevents type 2 Diabetes and helps with your brain functioning(because of the natural fat the peanuts contain) .

 

I would like to compare a PB which can be found in your local supermarket with a natural one.

Bought PB Ingredients: Roasted peanuts, corn syrup solids, sugar, soy protein, salt, hydrogenated vegetable oils(cottonseed, soybean and rapeseed), mono and diglycerides, minerals(MgO,ZnO,CuSo), vitamins (niacinamide, pyridoxine hydrochloride, folic acid).

Homemade PB:Roasted peanuts, honey, salt, vegetable oil. Plus all the minerals and vitamins without corn syrup(which everybody should avoid).

So, go turn on your blender and start making this hassle-free recipe. Hardest part of all is cleaning after you`re done.

Ingredients

400 g roasted peanuts (salted or unsalted)

2 to 4 Tablespoons vegetable oil (peanut oil would be great)

3 Tbsp honey (this step is totally optional if you don`t want your PB to be a little bit sweet)

Directions:

Put the peanuts in a blender or food processor and let the machine do it`s work until you have peanut crumbs. From time to time, run your spatula around just in case some peanuts got stuck. 

Add the oil and honey. Lid on and blend until smooth, adding more or less honey/oil. It is better to start with 1 Tbsp and add more if necessary.

Your final product will look like a shiny paste.

Store it in glass jars and keep it in the fridge for up to 5 weeks or on the shelf for maximum 3-4.

*NOTE: The consistency of your PB depends on how much oil you add. If you end up with a runny butter than it is because you`ve added too much oil. If you find your PB is not that smooth, add 1 teaspoon and blend on high until you`ve reached the desired consistency.

          

 

 

  

 

Homemade Vanilla Pudding

Smooth, velvety and always better than the pudding powder, here is my favourite recipe for Vanilla Pudding.

 

I promise, if you make this recipe you`ll never want to buy those artificial flavoured box mixes. Even my dad, who is so fussy about puddings because it`s his favourite dessert, requires I make it after a meal. 

 

Just...I have no words.

It is indeed as delicious as it looks. Besides that, I`ll tell you something which will surprise you: it is extremely easy to put together. 

Yes, mark my words, for today is the day when you will stop making those bought things. Homemade Vanilla Pudding tastes ten-no, one thousand times better. 

Plus, I bet you already have the ingredients on hand. 

 

So rush into the kitchen and treat yourself to this silky heaven:

Ingredients:

400 ml milk

2 egg yolks

6 tablespoons granulater sugar

4 tablespoons flour or 2 tablespoons cornstarch

1 teaspoond or 5 grams of butter

1 and 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract or the seeds of 1 vanilla pod

Directions:

Pour the milk into a saucepan and heat it up on the stove on medium heat.

Meanwhile, put the egg yolks in a bowl, along with the sugar. Beat with the mixer or whisk by hand until pale, thick and creamy, about 2-3 minutes.Add in the flour and whisk until everything is well blended.

Take the milk and pour 3 tablespoons while constantly whisking or else you`ll end up cooking the egg. Nobody wants scrambled eggs in a pudding. Yuck! Then pour the rest of the milk in a thin stream.

After you`ve done this, pour your mixture back into the saucepan and back onto the stove, on medium heat.

It is important to use a whisk and not a spoon to prevent getting lumps. Stir slowly until thickened. Immediately turn the heat off and mix in the vanilla extract and butter.

Serve it with whatever your heart desires.

           

 

 

 

Buttercookies or Vanillekritzken

I just can`t describe what an amazing  vanilla flavour these cookies have. Sandwitched together with jam or your favorite spread (such as Nutella) they are a must for any holiday treat.

 

I felt like they needed something extra, to make them even more fancy. So I decorated mine with royal icing. Each cookie has a different design, but I think these are the prettiest. :D

It took me almost the entire day just to decorate them, so I suggest you bake them a day ahead.

 

Of course, there`s no need for you to decorate them, but in my opinion...well, it`s Christmas and why not make something special?

Also, one more thing you should know: buttercookies are the best after they have "aged" a bit. That means you have to leave them at roon temperature for at least one day. They are at their best only after 3 days.

I know, waiting for a delicious treat can be sometimes painful, especially if it smells so good (like these do), but it`s worth it. They will be soft, flavourfull and perfect to be eaten.

   

 Please note that these cookies have a lot of butter in them, which helps taste and flavour, so I wouldn`t recommend using margarine. Eventually, shortening would work as well as butter, but again, butter is the most important ingredient. Make sure you use a good quality one. It`s better if you spend a couple more money on high quality ingredients.

 

Here is the recipe with full instructions:

Ingredients:

250 grams butter (that`s about 2 sticks and 1/4) room temperature!

250 grams brown sugar (white granulated sugar works as well)

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

grated lemon peel from 1/4 lemon

2 eggs+1 egg yolk

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

450 grams all purpose flour

For decorating (this step is optional)you`ll need royal icing different colours and sprinkles.

Directions:   

1. Line 3 cookie trays (or known as "cookie sheets") with parchment paper. Set aside.  

2. Beat the room temperature butter for 1 minute. Add the sugar and beat until pale and fluffy, about 5 minutes.

 Then break the eggs, separately, and beat each one in, making sure everything is very well incorporated. Add the egg yolk too.

In comes the vanilla extract and garted lemon peel.

3. Switch to a spatula and incorporate the flour and the baking soda in the mixture mentioned above. You should get a dough that forms into a ball. Take it out of the bowl, wrap the dough ball in plastic wrap and refrigerate it for 1 hour.

4. After such time, take the dough out. Meanwhile,  preheat your oven at 375 degrees F/ 180 Celsius. Add a bit of flour to your work surface, to make sure that nothing sticks, and flour your rolling pin as well.

5. Roll the dough ball into a rectangle or circle (the shape doesn`t matter) that should be 1/4  cm thick.   

6.Now choose your favourite cookie cutters, dunk them in a bit of flour before cutting into the dough. 

7. Arrange the cookies on your prepared baking sheets and bake in the preheated oven for 8-10 minutes or until you see the edges start to brown. Take the tray out, put it on a wire rack. Let it stand for 3 minutes. After such time, take the cookies and set them on a big platter to cool completely.

That`s it! Get to decorating :D

Happy Holidays ;)

 

   

 

  

 

Fun&Easy Cookie Decoration Ideas

You know, Christmas is coming and everybody (even those who normally don`t bake very often) makes cookies. Served plain or with a touch of icing, but what if your cookies had something special?

 

I must apologize for the "bleeding" of the icing, but, hey, it was my first attempt in decorating cookies and I did pretty well. For a beginner, of course.

I came up with this small ideas thanks to someone I know. She posted on Facebook a picture showing some festive decorated cookies and I asked if she made them. Her answer was that she didn`t do it, but she`d like to. 

So I figuired out that a tutorial on my blog might help some of you to impress guests with these. Aren`t they just cute?

 

Now, I used several methods of decorating the cookies, but first of all, I present to you my recipe for royal icing.

Ingredients 

1 egg white

150 grams powdered sugar

food coloring(mainly red, blue, green and yellor but I used only red and blue)

Directions 

Beat the egg white until frothy, or until you trace a small line with your fingertip and it holds. Like in the picture below:

With the mixer on low speed, gradually add the powdered sugar. The icing, when lifted, should fall in ribbons. Like this:

Now It`s time to dye your icing in the desired colors. Keep in mind that for each color you use, you will need and extra piping bag.

Time for decorating!
1.Method:(Snowflake)
Take some icing and put it on the cookie. Take a toothpick and even it out.

 See? You need a bit of patience.
Now that you have this done, take the piping bag which has the white icing and pipe strips on the blue icing. Gently tap the cookie to help the icing set. 
To give your  snowflake that magic cristal effect, dunk it in granulated white sugar.

Aaaand here you have it:

 

2.Method:(Hearts)

Put some icing on the cookie and spread it evenly with a toothpick. After that, take the piping bag (which has the white royal icing in it) and pipe small dots. Take the toothpick and place it just above the white dot, tracing a line trough it.

     Finished! Here you go:D

 

3.Method:(Marble)

This is the easiest methods of all. 

After you finished decorating and you still have some icing left but don`t want to waste anything, simply put a tablespoon of the other icings, swirling it aroung in the air. Just like in the picture below:

                                     

Take a cookie and dunk it in this mixture (without having stirred anything) and let the excess drip off. This is what you should have:

 

Note: Let the icing set for at lest 3 hours before handing your decorated cookie.

 

I`m sorry for the low quality of my photos but, again, the light wouldn`t cooperate! :D I hope this tutorial helped. I`d love to know how they turned out for you.

Lots of love and may you have the greatest holidays! 

 

 

   

  

  
 

  

   

 

Carrot Muffins

When I first told people what these muffins were made of, I could clearly see on their faces that expression "Carrots in muffins? No thanks.", but many of them seem not to know that carrots, when cooked, are a burst of flavor and add natural sweetness. That means you can have a delicious and healthy muffin at the same time.

Bless the lazy Sundays! My main activity in that day is doing anything but studying. Reading a good book, going horseback riding or watching TV are the best ways for me to relax.

I mean, everybody needs it. Besides these things, Sunday is the day when I usually crave something sweet that has to be homemade. And nothing beats a nice batch of muffins.

There is one thing I demand when having a muffin: moistness. I hate biting out of a dry one. So this is why I added sour cream to the batter. 

You might not have heard (if you are not a fan of baking) that sour cream, buttermilk,oil and applesauce help the cakes or sweetbreads become more moist and tender. So this is why I used both sour cream and oil in this recipe. 

You know, I mentioned that these muffins are healthy as well, so the amount of oil and sour cream is just 1/2 cup each. 

Here you go, the recipe with full instructions:

Ingredients

2 cups all purpose flour

a pinch of salt

3/4 (three quarters) Tablespoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 cup of raisins (I used golden but any type works)

1/2 cup roughly chopped walnuts

3 Tablespoons shredded coconut

3 large carrots, grated

2 eggs

1 cup sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 vegetable (canola,sunflower or walnut) oil

1/2 cup sour cream

1 teaspoon lemon zest (grated lemon peel)

Directions:

1. Bring 1/2 of water to a boil and soak the raisins, set aside while you are preparing the rest. 

2. Preheat your oven to 375 degrees F/180 Celsius and line a 12-cup muffin pan with muffin paper liners or spray it with non-stick cooking spray. Set aside.

3.In a large bowl, stir together the flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, walnuts, raisins (after you took them out of the water), grated carrots and shredded coconut. These are your dry ingredients.

4. In another bowl, whisk the eggs and the sugar until pale in color. Add the lemon zest, vanilla extract, oil and sour cream. Beat well. These are your dry ingredients

5.Now make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and pour the wet ingredients. With the help of a spatula, combine everything together but do not over-mix(or else you will have a tough, dense muffin)! Just until you see no flour traces in the batter.

6.Divide the batter into the muffin cups, filling it about 3/4. Bake in the preheated oven for 20-25 minutes (depending of your oven) or until a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean, with no wet batter on it but a few moist crumbs.

7. After you checked if the muffins are ready, take the tray out of the oven and transfer it on a wire rack and let the muffins rest in the pan for 5 minutes. Now take them out and enjoy! :)

Beetroot Velvet Cupcakes

What can I say? That these are a real succes? That the cream cheese frosting is "the cherry on top"? I guess you have to make it yourself to see. :)

After ruining batches of cupcakes, I finally came up with this recipe that uses beetroot in the batter. Yes, heard me right: beetroot. This vegetable and its dark red colour adds moisture to the cupcake base and doesn`t affect the taste, because you have to use only the juice, which I`ll talk about in one minute.

 

See? It is just so pretty that eating one feels like a crime. I them to stay like this forever so I can keep them as a decoration in the kitchen. :) 

Now, back to the beetroot. So what you are actually doing is peel it and cut it in thin pieces (so the colour comes out too) and boil it in half a cup of water for 10 to 15 minutes or until the water is like blood. You discard the pieces and transfer the red water they`ve been boiling in, in a shallow bowl. Keep that bowl in the fridge until it is lukewarm or completely cool. This is your beetroot juice and you are ready to use it.

 

Another thing which adds moisture to the cupcakes is buttermilk. All the velvet cupcakes recipes out there require buttermilk because is also enhances colour. 

So what if you ran out of buttermilk and everything you have on hand is plain milk? You make your own!

Maybe you think I`m mad, but homemade buttermilk works just the same. 

Here`s how you do it:  

1 cup whole milk 

2 and 1/2 Tablespoons white vinegar

Add the vinegar to the milk and let it rest for 5 to 15 minutes. 

Just watch the magic happen: the milk will thicken and will have the same consistency as the store bought one. If you studied chemistry, you know that vinegar is acetic acid combined with water(usually between 3% and 18%). Also, the vinegar contains citric acid which curdles the milk, so don`t worry if your milk looks like that. 

Now...my favourite part: the cream cheese frosting! That smooth, glossy texture is just food porn. I mean, don`t you feel like licking the screen?

 

I`m warning you: these cupcakes are very high in calories because of the high fat content in the cream cheese (70% fat) and the butter (82% fat). So if you are on a diet, you might want to leave this page. :D There are no people who could resist the temptation of gobbling these up.

Ok, I`m done with introductions, so I`ll let you stare at them for a little while.

 

Ingredients:

Cupcake base

1 and 1/2 cup all purpose flour

2 and 1/2 Tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 cup buttermilk

1/2 cup betroot juice 

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 cup oil

1 cup sugar

Cream cheese frosting:

50 grams butter at room temperature

110 grams cream cheese 

320 grams powder sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:

1. Preheat your oven at 375 degrees F/180 Celsius. Line a 12 cup muffin pan with muffin paper or spray it with non-stick cooking spray. Set aside.

2. In a large bowl, toss together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda. These are your dry ingredients.

3. In another bowl, beat the eggs and the sugar until pale in colour. Add the vanilla extract, oil, buttermilk and mix. Gently pour the cold beetroot juice and stir once more. These are your wet ingredients.

4. Fold the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients just until combined. Do NOT overmix or you will have a dense, tough cupcake. Please note this batter is quite runny, but it is all right to be like that.

5. With a spoon or an ice cream scoop, divide your batter into the muffin cups. Each one should be 3/4 full.

6. Bake the cupcakes in the preheated oven for 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean or with tiny crumbs on it. Let them rest in the pan for 5 minutes. After such time, take them out and let them cool completely before frosting them. 

For the Cream Cheese frosting: 

 Beat the butter and cream cheese until smooth. Add the vanilla extract and half of the amount of sugar and beat more with your mixer. Incorporate the rest of the sugar. 

Now have fun decorating!