Tuesday, November 27, 2012

Sweet November {in pics}

Hi, guys!!
I've been so lazy lately.. having a lot of free time is really unusual for me. When I worked 48 hours a week, I always dreamed about having more time to dedicate to my blog. And now..I had so much of it that I couldn't believe it. I thought I would put 3 posts online per day, and I've been just lazy, chilling with my babe and really enjoying this magic days. Sorry for that, I know I'm not responsable enough just yet, but that's also because I hmm.... I wanna be honest, I don't feel like I 100 % connect with my blog. Don't get me wrong! I just need to find my right direction, that will represent me how I am. I'm on it! Promiss :) 

Here are some pics to prove that I'm still alive... and happy! :)  
Oh, yes it was a very sweet November...
                                 LEFT: My official photo-face since I was little
             RIGHT: just kidding... :)

  walking & fooling around (suuuch unsharp photos)

  
  B in the GREEN MOOD :P

    ...and today the cherry on the cake was hubby's birthday. We celebrated through all the weekend and played a lot cause.. "Ohhh, how great that my gift is a toy, and not some sweaaater"- my best half.

            aaaand the birthday cake:


chocolate-haselnuts cake with cherrys and vanilla cream 
=> some self invention... but a succesfull Y.U.M. experiment 







Sunday, November 11, 2012

ECLAIRS.... My post for "Maria sucht..."



Celebrating her Blogbirthday, Maria called everyone who loves to cook or bake to reinterpret one of her recipes. I spent many hours trying to decide which recipe I wanna bake. The finalists were a brownies-cheesecake and THE dessert I am crawing for since I was a kiddo...ÉCLAIRS. 
Yep! I found my winner!! BUT, I must say a was a lil' bit scared of all the threats here around that I would fail. SO what? If I fail...I get to eat them anyway, just more ugly, ha ha. 
I also never took part of  such a contest, so I found my occupation for this dark & rainy Sunday! 


ÉCLAIRS
               (for 6-8 pieces)
80 ml milk
80 ml water
70 g Butter
1 pinch of salt
10 g sugar
100 g flour
2 eggs

200 ml cream
30 g powdered sugar
 half of a vanilla bean

chocolate glaze

1. Put the milk and water into a pot, add the butter, salt and sugar and stir over high heat until the butter has melted. Bring it to boil for 2-3 seconds. Remove the pan from the heat and add the flour all at once into the hot liquid. First carefully fold the flour, then stir vigorously for so long, until the dough is firm. 
2. Put the pot on the stove again. Stir strongly for 30-60 seconds until the dough dissolves from the pot edge and no longer sticks to the spoon. Put the dough into a mixing bowl and let it  cool slightly. Beat the eggs and gradually stir into the batter until it shines strongly.
3. Fill the finished dough into a piping bag with a large opening and spray Éclaires  on a baking sheet. Let at least 3 cm between the dough rollers, so that the air can circulate well during baking.
4. Bake the eclairs like this and you won't fail:
   - for 20 min at 200° C
   - for the next 10 min at 180° C
   - for the last 10 minutes open a small gap (with a wooden  
     spoon stuck in the door) so that air can escape.
5. Let them cool down then fill them with your favourite cream (mine is vanilla pudding) and glaze the eclairs with chocolate.



Later Edit: 170 pictures later I was exhausted, with a kitchen looking lot worse than a battlefield and happy... and   we ate them celebrating hubby's sis' 20th birthday!!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY, HEIDY!!!:*



DE:
Zufällig bin ich auf Marias Blog "Ich bin dann mal kurz in der Küche" gelandet, genau als sie ihre Bloggeburtstagswoche feierte und diesen Contest startete. Sie rief zum Nachkochen oder Nachbacken eines ihrer Rezepte und weil ich auch noch nie bei so 'nem Gewinnspiel teilgenommen hatte, warum nicht?
Das Durchstöbern ihres schönen Blogs hat schon paar Tage gedauert, am Ende waren in meinem Top zwei Rezepte: Himbeer-Brownies-Cheesecake und Éclairs. 
Beide sind Dessert-Favoriten, jedoch ist es eine große Seltenheit gute  Éclairs zu finden. Außerdem war ich ein wenig abgeschreckt wegen ihrer Schwierigkeitsgrades also sah ich es auch als eine Herausforderung. 
Und die Preise sind auch ganz nett, vor allem jetzt, mit der Weihnachtsbäckerei die sich ankündigt... 
Noch mehr Gründe? 
Die sündige Lust diese feine gefüllte Himmels-Teig-Wölkchen endlich zu genießen...seit meiner Kindheit so begehrt...


Das Rezept findet ihr in Marias Küche. Alles ist da so genau erklärt dass ich nichts mehr hinzufügen würde. 


Vielleicht nur ein paar meiner persönlichen Tipps.
  • das Mehl 2x sieben
  • beim Backen die ersten 20 Minuten bei 200° C backen, die nächsten 10 Minuten bei 180° C und für die letzten 10 Minuten die Tür ein wenig öffnen. 
Das war auch alles was ich anders gemacht habe. 
Ach, und die Creme aus  Sahnepudding und Sahne gemischt,einfach weil sie in meinen Kinderträumen mit reichlichem Pudding gefüllt waren. 




Later edit: 170 Fotos später war ich müde, mit einer Küche schlimmer aussehend als ein Schlachtfeld und glücklich...


Thursday, November 8, 2012

{Recipe} Carrot Cake

I only saw some pictures of a delicious looking carrot cake and ran to my kitchen to try remake the MAGIC. Very happy for having everything I needed, I just tried to do my best with this unknown cake for me. 

...Although it seems like it's origin place is Sweden, Carrot cake is mostly known as the favourite British winter cake...
I must say, I enjoyed every single step of it. Mixing, creating a low fat creamy cheese frosting, caramelizing the walnuts.. I had so much fun doing it, and my satisfaction was fulfilled when I tasted it!!! It's a really moist, finely scented, delicate cake who will impress all your guests. 


Hubby was all sceptic "no way I taste a cake made of...carrots!!?" but in the end it convinced him too! Yeey, definitely a...

Favourite Recipe:
                          
            ...ingredients for a 28 ø baking pan  

140 ml / 1/2 cup............. vegetable oil (I used walnuts oil)
2 ........................... eggs
200 g /  1 cup............... brown sugar (I used honey)
300 g / 2 1/2 cup............ finely grated carrots
100 g / 1 cup................ chopped walnuts / haselnuts
180 g / 1 1/2 cups........... flour
1/2 tsp...................... baking powder
1 tsp........................ cinnamon
some salt 

Frosting:


250 g / 1 cup................ cream cheese

2 tbsp ...................... butter
50 ml / 1/4 cup.............. cream
1 tsp ....................... vanilla extract
powdered sugar or honey as much as you want (as sweet as you like it :)

Deco:
whole nuts
sugar/honey to caramelize

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees C (350 degrees F). Toast the nuts until lightly browned, then let cool and chop. Peel and finely grate the carrots. 

2. Mix the moist ingredients: oil, eggs, sugar/honey. Then add the grated carrots and nuts. When homogenized add the flour, baking powder, salt and cinnamon. (If you like, you can also grate some nutmeg.)

3. Put the batter to the baking pan and bake for about 40 minutes or 'till the toothpick comes out clean. 

4. For the icing beat together the ingredients in a small bowl until smooth and put it into the fridge.

5. When the cake is ready, let it cool down, cut the cake into 2 slices, spread generously with frosting and decorate with caramelized walnuts. 


  Voila!!!







 This is THE recipe for THE cake for THE cold, winter evenings, next to a hot  
 chocolate or coffee... Enjoy it!

Sunday, November 4, 2012

Weeks Favourites

Favourite QUOTE



Favourite LOOK



Favourite DIY GIFT IDEA


Favourite TREAT:
Self-baked apples filled with plum jam, walnuts and a bit of honey. Yum..


Favourite SOOOO FUNNY 


Have a great week!!!
xo