HAPPY NEW YEAR

This post is specially created for all of you my friends that share with me the passion of baking and creating. 

 I enjoy so much having this blog and thinking what to do and the best way to show it,but most of all I´m happy to share with you the little things that make me happy.

I also want to thank each one of you who have taken some time to write a comment, I´m grateful.

I wish you all a Happy New Year,

 may you be all blessed

Magali

Orange Truffles

I´m a big fan of truffles, have always been, I love this kind specially because they´re rich and creamy, with a delicate orange flavor.

INGREDIENTS

1/ 4 cup butter, chopped

1/3  cup whipping cream

7 oz, semisweet chocolate, chopped

2 Tbsp.Grand Marnier

semisweet cocoa powder.

HOW TO

In a small saucepan, combine butter and cream. 

 Cook on low heat until butter melts

 and cream bubbles around the edge.

Remove from heat, add chocolate.

Cover and let stand until chocolate melts.

Stir until smooth.

Add grand Marnier. Chill until firm.

Form into balls. roll in cocoa.

They´re ready to be carefully packed.

Enjoy!!!!

Moon Sables

I made this cookies for my daugther´s school work of ¨the moon phases¨ at the end she and her friends offered them to the parents and they just dissapeared

Ingredients

1-1/4 cups all purpose flour

 pinch of salt

 1/4 cup of sugar
1/2finely ground almonds
peel of 1 lemon
1/3cup butter,softened
2egg yolks

Glace
powder sugar with a few drops of lemon juice, and 1 drop of blue food coloring  

How to

Grease several baking sheets with butter or lined paper

Stir flour, salt and sugar in medium size bowl

mix in almonds and lemon peel

Cut in butter until mixture resembles fine bread crumbs.

Add egg yolks and mix to form a soft dough.

Roll out dough on a floured surface, using a moon cookie cutter cut out the figures.

Place slightly apart

Refrigerate unbaked for 30 minutes

Preheat oven to 350F

Bake Moon Sables for 15 to 20 min or until light brown.

Remove, when cool, decorate with a pipe and the colored sugar icing.

Enjoy!

Choco-Banana Cake

Sometimes I have leftover bananas and I make the traditional banana cake, but I thought adding a little chocolate will be interesting, this is a very easy cake and you can enjoy it anytime

Ingredients

CAKE

2 cups flour

1 tsp. baking powder

3/4 cup sugar

1 cup oatmeal (grounded)

4Tbs. melted butter

3/4 cup milk

1 Tbsp vanilla 

2 eggs lightly beaten
1/2 cup chocolate chips
1 cup mashed bananas

DECORATION

3/4 cup chocolate ganache if desired for decoration

HOW TO

Preheat oven to 350F.

grease and line parchment , you can use a rectangle mold or any you like.

In a large mixing bowl , sift together the flour, baking powder, sugar and grounded oatmeal.

In a small mixing bowl combine the butter, milk, eggs , banana and finally the chocolate chips.

Combine both mixtures, do not overmix.

Pour batter into mold

Bake until lightly golden, and a wooden toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean, about 30 min.

DECORATION

Pour some chocolate ganache over it, I grounded a chocolate cookie bar and just made a little decorations over it, . hope you like it, simple and delicious.

Easy and yummy Chocolate Dessert

This is a very easy dessert, first you have to do a chocolate mousse, and then use what you have on hand meringues and lady fingers in this case, you may also use another kind of cookies if you like, make layers refrigerate and enjoy

CHOCOLATE MOUSSE
2 cups whipping cream

3/4 cup powder sugar

1 8-oz cream cheese

1/2 cup cocoa

FOR DECORATION

3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa

10 medium meringues

20 lady fingers

CHOCOLATE MOUSSE

With electric mixer blend cream cheese and half of the sugar, when it is perfectly integrated add cocoa.

In another bowl mix the whipping cream with the second half of the sugar. till soft peaks form.

Blend the cheese mixture with the whipping cream, then the mousse is ready

LAYERS

Put a layer of the mousse in a transparent mold then add crushed meringes and sift some cocoa on top, add another layer of mousse and a layer of crushed lady fingers and sift more cocoa on top, to end another layer of mousse finishing again wiht sifted cocoa.

DECORATION

Cut ladyfingers by the middle and decorate the bowl

refrigerate for at least one hour

enjoy!

Chocolate Twix Tart

This recipe comes from an Egyptian friend, one day talking about it he shared with me his secret and I just made a few little changes that suited me better, I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as I do

CRUST

1 cup all purpose flour
3 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup chilled unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
2 large egg yolks
1 tbsp cocoa powder
 
DULCE DE LECHE FILLING

1 can of dulce de leche (380gr)

CHOCOLATE GANACHE

1 cup heavy whipping cream
5 ounces high-quality bittersweet chocolate, chopped

FOR CRUST

Position rack in center of oven; preheat to 375°F. Butter 9-inch tart pan with removable bottom. Blend flour, sugar, and salt in processor. Add 1/2 cup butter; process until mixture resembles coarse meal. Add egg yolks; process until moist clumps form. Add cocoa powder; blend in using on/off turns. Press dough onto bottom and up sides of prepared pan. Bake until crust is golden brown, about 20 minutes. Cool in pan on rack.

FOR GANACHE
Bring cream to simmer in small saucepan. Remove from heat; add chocolate. Whisk until smooth. Let stand until slightly cooled but still pourable, about 10 minutes.

TART ASSEMBLE

Spread Dulce de Leche evenly over the tart surface and then pour the ganache on top.

 Refrigerate tart uncovered until chocolate is firm, about 2 hours. do ahead Can be made 2 days ahead. Cover and refrigerate.

Upside Down Pineapple Cake with Caramel Sauce

Upside Down Pinapple Cake, what to say, its a traditional cake, easy to do and maybe found in all our Mom´s Recipe Book, but wait, not everything has been said about this fruitful delight.  This recipe also comes from a great course I attended, so check it out and enjoy!

Ingredients

 CAKE

1 cup butter
1/3 cup sugar

3 eggs
7 grs. vanilla
1 can condensed milk
1 cup flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 can pinneapples in syrup
3/4 cup pinneapple syrup(from the can)
canned cherries
walnuts

CARAMEL

1/3 cup caster sugar
1/4 cup butter

SAUCE

1 cup of sugar
1/2 cup of butter
1/2 cup half and half

1 1/2 tbsp. vanilla
2 Tbsp.rum

HOW TO

grease and line round mold.

CARAMEL

Prepare caramel by putting butter and sugar in a saucepan on medium heat, until the sugar has melted.

CAKE 
With a mixer cream butter, and sugar until light and fluffy, add vanilla and eggs one by one. Add sifted flour, baking powder and mix well.

Blend both mixtures adding the condensed milk, the pinneapple syrup.

Place the caramel on the base of the mold, then the pinneapples an the cherries in the center,

Pour the batter and bake for 50 min.medium oven.

 SAUCE
In small saucepan melt butter with the brown sugar over medium heat, bring to a boil whisk constantly , remove from heat and whisk the vanilla, rum and the milk.

Serve warm or cool with the cake, as desired

Baileys and Ladyfingers Cheesecake

My cheesecake cravings have no end, so I imagine the ladyfingers would give a nice texture to this baileys cheesecake, and I was right, it came out delicious and nice looking too :).

 BASE

20 ladyfingers

CHEESECAKE

2 (8 oz) packages cream cheese

1/2 cup of sugar

1 tsp. vanilla

4 Tbsp. Baileys (original irish cream)

2 eggs separated

HOW TO

Grease a round pan

Line wax paper to the base

Arrange the lady fingers in the base, (it must be all covered,break them if you still have spaces)

Soften cream cheese mixing at medium speed of an electric mixer , add   sugar and vanilla

Add Baileys and egg yolks

Beat egg whites until soft peaks form, fold into cream cheese mixture.

Pour over lady fingers.

Bake at 300 degrees for 55 minutes

let it stand and refrigerate for at least 4 hours, and enjoy, if you want to give it a more elegant look, try doing some decorations with piped chocolate ganache

Special Turtle Cheesecake

This is one of my favorite cheesecakes, it combines my favorite ingredients, a crowd pleaser without any doubt, hope you like it

CRUST

150 gr. Oreo cookies
30 gr. pecans
25 gr. Melted butter

CREAM CHEESE CHOCOLATE AND PECAN FILLING
768 grs. cream cheese
100 grs. sugar
35grs. cornstarch
3 eggs

1 egg yolk
15 grs. vanilla extract
20 grs cocoa

40 grs.caster sugar
60 ml Amaretto liquor

50 grs. Toffee

TOFFEE

150 grs. sugar
135 grs .
Preheat oven to 300F.

 

CRUST

Combine cookie crumbs with melted butter and pecans press firmly in the base of a 24 cm. pan.

FILLING

In a large bowl beat the cream cheese and sugar until light and fluffy, then the cornstarch.

Add egg yolk and eggs one by one, then the vanilla, beat until smooth.

Take out 2/3 of this mix and put it in another bowl, and add the cocoa, caster sugar, amaretto and pecans.

TOFFEE

In a saucepan heat sugar until light brown color and add the whipping cream, (it has to be hot) mix perfectly ( this has to be with quick movements) until perfectly blended

ENSEMBLE

Pour over the crust a part of the plain cheesecake mix, then the chocolate mix and the toffee, the 3 layers in an irregular form.

Then do the layers again.

Bake for 55 to 60 min.

After it has cooled down use a knife to carefully loosen the cheesecake to better unmolding.

Take it out of the oven even if you think it´s not done, it will stand and finish it´s cooking outside, if you really feel it´s undercooked leave it in the switched off oven for 25 min, or overnight.

Let it stand in the fridge at least 6 hours and ready!!!!

ENJOY!

Special Dulce de Leche Cheese Cake

I absolutely love Dulce De Leche, and cheese cakes, so this is an incredible cake where both meet a keeper of course :)

CRUST
120 grs. vanilla cookies crushed
40 grs. Melted butterCHEESE FILLING
 595 grs. cream cheese
150 grs. sugar
10 gs. vanilla
60 grs. Melted butter
45 grs. cornstarch
150 grs. heavy cream
4 big eggs

DULCE DE LECHE FILLING

335 grs. cheese filling
130 grs. Dulce de leche

CRUST
Preheat oven 300F
butter loose 22 cm bottomed baking pan
Mix the crushed cookies with the butter, press firmly in the bottom of the mold.

 

CHEESE FILLING

In a large bowl cream cheese and sugar until light and fluffy, add cornstarch alternating with butter and cream, at the end add eggs, do not overbeat.

DULCE DE LECHE FILLING

Take 335grs, of the cheese filling and combine it with the dulce de leche.

Pour cheese mix over crust, then dulce de leche mix and do it again, one layer of cheese mix and some more of dulce de leche mix, with at tooth pick mix a little the two mixes.

Bake at 130 ºc. for 1hr30 min .

Let it cool and stand .

Refrigerate

Apple Turtle Cake

I got this recipe in a course I took, with a great chef and friend, I like it because I just love all ingredients, great combination of textures and flavors, also easy and beautiful decoration, I hope you like it

 CAKE

420 grs flour

5 grs cinnamon
2 grs. baking soda
2 grs. salt
1 1/2 cups of oil
200 grs sugar
200 grs caster sugar
3 large eggs
2 Tbsp. vanilla
3 cups shredded apples
120 grs.chopped walnuts

CHEESE FROSTING

2 (8oz) cream cheese

120 grs.sifted powder sugar 

1 tsp. vanilla

120 grs. butter

 CAKE

Mix eggs, sugar, then little by little the oil, then the flour, cinnamon, baking soda, then all the powders, and finaly the apples and the walnuts pour into a baking pan. Bake for 45 min aprox 325 F.degrees.

 FROSTING

Cream butter and sugar in mixer.

add cream cheese, and vanilla..

Take out the cake from the oven, cool down add the cream cheese frosting.

With a pipe make decorations of dulce de leche and for decoration you will need annise flowers 

Cream Cheese Fantasy Mousse

I have great comments each time I make this mousse, because its fresh, with a light texture, also it looks beautiful! you can decorate it many ways as you can see, I hope you like it.

INGREDIENTS

FOR THE COOKIE BASE 150 grs. of grounded cookies

76 grs. butter 54 grs. sugar 2 grs. cinnamon

FOR THE MOUSSE

25 grs. unflavored gelatine

125 grs. water shopping list

237 grs. sugar (divided in 3) 2 egg yolks 1 egg white300 grs. cream cheese 1 tbsp. vanilla 175 grs. whipping cream

DECORATION

150 grs. raspbery sauce

Boil the raspberries with some sugar, and then you pour it in the blender and add 200 grs. of neutral or transparent glacé. you can buy it in specialized stores, they put this kind of glacé on top of fruit tarts, to mantain the freshness and gliter. shopping list

150 grs. mango sauce pass the mangoes and the sugar through the blender and add also the transparent glacé

FOR THE COOKIE BASE

mix all the ingredients, form a paste and place it in the base of a greased round mold.

FOR THE MOUSSE

beat the cream cheese, separately beat the egg yolks with the sugar.

In a bowl hydratate the unflavored gelatin with the water, you can do this in the stove or untill it has a uniform texture.

Then add the egg yolks to the sugar and cook for 3 minutes.

Separately beat the egg whites till soft peaks form, add it to the mixture of the egg yolks and sugar, add 1/3 of sugar and the whipping cream and in this point add all the sugar to the wipping cream.

When this mixture is is ready add the soft cream cheese and tha vanilla, and at last the egg whites . incorporate everything only to mix .

Pour into the mold, and let it freeze

When it's been chilled unmold it and put it in a plate

FOR THE DECORATION

for the decoration alternate the fruit pures of your preference with the transparent glace.

Tangerine Cheesecake

If you know me, you sure know I love cheesecakes, I love the texture, flavors, and thousand combinations, this is a really fruity, beautiful  and rich cheesecake which I hope you´ll like

INGREDIENTS

Crust 

1 cup cookie crumbs
3 Tbsp. melted butter
1/4 cinnamon if you like

Filling 700 grs. cream cheese (about 3 8oz pkgs)
2/3 cups sugar
1/4 cup sour cream
5 Tbsp. cornstarch
3 eggs
1 egg yolk
1/2 tangerine puree(sold on gourmet stores)
1 tsp. vanilla
pinch of salt
1 small can of drained tangerine sections (leave 5 or 6 for decoration)
2 or 3 drops of orange food coloring

Preheat oven to 350F degrees.

 

HOW TO

Mix together the crumbs, melted butter and cinnamon

Press into the bottom of a 9 inch springform pan.

Place it in the freezer for 15 minutes.

In a large mixer bowl beat the cream cheese until fluffy, beat in the sugar ,salt and vanilla.

Beat in cornstarch, tangerine puree and eggs.

Add tangerine sections and pour into prepared crust.

Place the tangerine sections on top for garnish

Bake cheesecake aprox. 1 hour and 20 minutes.

Take out and let it cool.

It's better if you can do it the day before

Extra garnish with mint leaves and some fresh raspberries.

Breakfast Bran Squares

I wanted something with yummy with bran for breakfast or coffee break, so I made this little squares, you can always make a cake as well, just choose your favorite mold, and you can also use the powder sugar as decoration.

INGREDIENTS

2 Tbsp corn syrup

1/2 cup bran (bran flakes or all bran)
1 cup milk
1/2 cup oil

2 eggs
1 cup flour
1 Tbsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda

 1/2 cup sour cream

1 Tbsp vanilla
1 cup sugar

DECORATION

powder sugar or cocoa

HOW TO

Grease and flour a square pan.

mix flour, with baking powder and baking soda.

Put milk to boil and at that moment add the bran and let it rest until cooled.

mix sugar, corn syrup, eggs and vanilla, then add the oil.

Mix perfectly.

Add bran with the milk

Add the flour mix and at the same time add little by little the cream.

Pour into the buttered pan.

Bake for 45 min. at 325F.

Cool.

Cut into squares.

Sift some powder sugar , or cocoa if you like.

enjoy

Easter Chocolate Cake

I did this chocolate cake today and thought it would be nice if I decorated it for Easter, in a simple way, just adding some m&m´s and sugar decorations.

I divided the dough into 2 pans a round one and a flower one

FOR THE CAKE

200 grs. butter

200 grs. sugar

150 grs. flour

200 grs. semi-sweet chocolate (or milk chocolate) melted

65 grs. milk

6 egg whites 6 egg yolks

FOR THE GANACHE

250 grs. semi-sweet chocolate
150 grs. milk

20 grs. butter

Preheat oven 350 degrees.

1.cream the butter untill it has a lighter color , then add the sugar, egg yolks,beat for one minute, then the chocolate, give this 2 minutes and add milk

2.In another bowl whisk the egg whites untill stiff, then add it to the cake batter with soft revolving movements.

3. Grease a pan, this is a medium cake, so any medium to big cake pan will do.

4. Put the cake batter in the oven and bake for 35 to 45 min. or untill it's done.

FOR THE GANACHE

1.Heat the milk, and add the melted chocolate beat for 2 minutes and add the butter.

Cover the cake .

DECORATIONS

I just did a simple but fun Easter decoration

Palmiers with Chocolate

I had made some pastry palmiers the day before, so was figuring out how to make them irresistible, I also had some good chocolate and sprinkles, so I knew they would do a great addition, its a simple way to change things that we might find boring into mouth watering ones, and of course in a very simple and fun way, even children can help us.

INGREDIENTS

40 puff pastry Palmiers

250 grs. semi-sweet chocolate
250 grs white chocolate

100 grs milk chocolate sprinkles

HOW-TO

Place all the palmiers in a plate or center piece

melt both chocolates separately

place milk chocolate in a pastry bag and pour all over the palmiers.

then do the same with white chocolate

Finally add the chocolate chips all over them

Let Palmiers stand for 40 min. or untill set

enjoy

 drizzle white chocolate

                                     add semi-sweet chocolate

                                      then chocolate sprinkles

Chocolate Drop Cookies

Easy recipe, makes delicious soft chocolate cookies, you can serve them with ice cream or maybe vanilla custard

INGREDIENTS

2/3 cup butter, softened
1 cup sugar

1 egg
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 cup HERSHEY'S cocoa
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup buttermilk
Additional sugar for garnishing

HOW TO

Heat oven to 350°F.

Lightly grease cookie sheet or line with parchment paper

Beat butter and sugar in large bowl until well blended. Add egg and vanilla beat until fluffy.

Stir together flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt; add alternately with buttermilk to butter mixture.

Using 1/4 cup ice cream scoop or 1/4  measuring cup, drop dough about 2 inches apart onto prepared cookie sheet.

Bake 13 to 15 minutes or until cookie springs back when touched lightly in center. While cookies are on cookie sheet, sprinkle lightly with additional sugar.

 

 

Cool slightly; remove from cookie sheet to wire rack.

Cool completely.

About 1 dozen cookies