Category Archives: Sweets

Dec15

The Best White Chocolate & Cranberry Cookies

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The Best White Chocolate & Cranberry Cookies
The Best White Chocolate & Cranberry Cookies

Hello everyone!!

The Best White Chocolate & Cranberry Cookies by Ginger, Lemon & Spice

This year I took part in The Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap!

 

The Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap 2014

 

It’s a great opportunity to get to know other food bloggers in your own country (and in my case even Austria!) and to taste their awesome cookie creations!

Each participant has to send a dozen cookies of their choice to each of the three recipients that were chosen for him and the participant will get three packages filled each with different cookies from three other participants! You won’t know who will send you cookies, what type of cookies you’ll get or where they are from – it’s a fantastic surprise!

AND to make it even better we’re all doing it for a great cause: to support Cookies For Kid’s Cancer!

 

The Best White Chocolate & Cranberry Cookies by Ginger, Lemon & Spice

 

Well, I chose to make White Chocolate & Cranberry Cookies, a recipe that was slightly adapted from Del’s Cooking Twist. Del’s pictures looked sooo yummy, just like the perfect cookie and then she even calls them THE BEST – I just had to try them. So I made them – 4 times the recipe at once as I wasn’t sure how many cookies I would get and I needed enough to send them. Well let’s just say I made PLENTY. But – and I’m definitly not lying – they really were the best!!

So what you’re waiting for – grab some butter, sugar and a big bowl and start baking!!

The bloggers I send them to were:

Julia from Verily Me

Sönne from Spätzlegirl

and Laura from Laura kocht

 

The Best White Chocolate & Cranberry Cookies
 
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They are sooo good!! Stop reading and start baking!
Author:
Recipe type: Cookies
Ingredients
  • 170g (3/4 cup) unsalted butter, melted
  • 125g (2/3 cup) light brown sugar
  • 50g (1/4 cup) granulated sugar
  • 2 tsp vanilla extract (or 2P. vanilla sugar)
  • 1 egg
  • 1 egg yolk
  • 270g (2¼ cups) plain flour
  • 1⅕ tsp cornstarch
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • pinch of salt
  • 1 cup white chocolate chips or chopped
  • ½ cup cranberries
Instructions
  1. Whisk together butter and sugars until disolved. Add vanilla, egg and egg yolk. Stir until well combined.
  2. Then add flour, cornstarch, baking soda and salt and mix carefully to combine.
  3. At last mix in white chocolate and cranberries.
  4. Take a large sheet of cling film and place your dough in the middle and flatten it out a bit until you get a disk in the thickness of 2cm. Place in fridge at least for 2 hours, preferably overnight.
  5. When ready to bake: Preheat oven to 160°C (325° F) and line 2 baking sheets with baking paper.
  6. Form balls that are higher than wide and place them with enough space in between on the baking sheets. Bake for approx. 8-12 min, depending on the size of your balls and how chewy you want your cookies. If you want them very chewy they should look slightly underbaked in the middle when you take them out and they will sink in a bit.
  7. Enjoy!

The Best White Chocolate & Cranberry Cookies by Ginger, Lemon & Spice

 

And what type of cookies did I get?

There were Mocca Melting Moments from Kevin of Law of Baking

Orange and Cinnamon Stars from Kathy of Kathys Küchenkampf 

and Marshmallow and Chocolate Cookies from Katja of Hoetus Poetus

 

Have a great evening!

~ Kathrin

Aug31

Cherry Bakewells

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Cherry Bakewells
Cherry Bakewells

Hello everyone!!

How was your summer so far? At least in Germany it doesn’t feel like summer at all – it is quite cold and rainy at times. The few hot days we had are already weeks ago and I didn’t have any time then to go to an open air pool or do something else summery 😉

So please tell me you had a great summer and make me jealous!! 🙂

Cherry Bakewell Tarts by ginger, lemon and spice

 

What I have for you today is my recipe for homemade Cherry Bakewells.

Sharing this recipe with you feels like letting you in on a very big secret!!

I still can remember when I had my first Cherry Bakewell ever – it was during my Au Pair stay in Ireland. The family I stayed with had them at home one day, in their box, looking very pretty with the thick white icing and the shiny little glace cherry on top. I have never seen anything like those little tarts in German stores, I guess nobody really had enough patience to produce such little pastries in masses for a store to sell! 🙂

So I went ahead and tried one – rich and sweet softness, a buttery pastry outside with a moist filling with berry flavors and just a hint of almond! I fell in love right there and then!!

Cherry Bakewell Tarts by ginger, lemon and spice

 

And now, every time I go back to Ireland (which is quite often as you may have read here, here or here) I just HAVE to buy at least one box of Cherry Bakewells to eat right there or take home with me. They are the perfect little treat and spend sweet comfort and utter satisfaction. The only problem is, or at least was, that I couldn’t find them anywhere in Germany and the ones I took home from Ireland where gone all too quickly!

Cherry Bakewell Tarts by ginger, lemon and spice

 

I dreamed about making them at home for soo long and finally having them recreated I can say it was a lot easier than I thought!! Of course, it takes some time, and shaping the pastry cups needs some practice but by the end the result – holding my own homemade Cherry Bakewells in my hands and knowing that I can now have them any time I want –  was totally worth it!!

And as an added bonus: They freeze perfectly!! I just popped them in a reclosable freezer bag and whenever I felt the urge of a little comfort in sweetness I just took one or two out and let them come back to room temperature. This only took about 2 hours and they tasted just perfect!

Cherry Bakewell Tarts by ginger, lemon and spice

 

Cherry Bakewells
 
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Perfect little homemade Cherry Bakewells that taste even better than the store bought ones!
Author:
Recipe type: sweet pastry, little cakes
Cuisine: English/Irish
Serves: 12
Ingredients
Pastry:
  • 225g (3x ⅔ cups) flour
  • 150g (2/3 cup) butter, softened
  • 1 Tablespoon sugar
  • 1 egg yolk
  • cold water as needed
Filling:
  • 12 Teaspoons strawberry jam (I used homemade strawberry & elderflower jam)
  • 50g (1/4 cup) butter, softened
  • 50g (1/4 cup) sugar
  • 1 egg
  • 50g (3/8 cup) ground almonds
  • 50g (3/8 cup) flour
  • ¼ Teaspoon of baking powder
  • a few drops of almond flavour or essence (we have Bittermandel-Öl in Germany)
Icing:
  • 175g (1½ cups) icing sugar
  • 1-2 Tablespoons of water
  • 12 glace cherries
Instructions
Pastry:
  1. Rub butter into flour and sugar until it resembles fine breadcrumbs.
  2. Add the egg yolk and cold water one teaspoon at the time until dough comes together.
  3. Wrap in cling film and store in fridge for at least 30 min.
  4. Meanwhile prepare your muffin tin by greasing all molds with butter or margarine.
  5. Take dough out of the fridge and devide into 12 portions. Line the muffin molds with pastry dough by rolling every portion into a circle big enough to fill it or devide each portion into 2, shaping one into a snake that covers the sides of the muffin mold and one into a ball and press it down to form the bottom. Shape the dough with your fingers into pastry cups.
Filling:
  1. Preheat your oven to 180°C.
  2. Spoon 1 teaspoon of strawberry jam (or any other kind you like) into each pastry cup.
  3. Cream together butter and sugar until fluffy. Add the egg and mix until well incorporated.
  4. Put flour, baking powder, ground almonds and almond flavour into the bowl and stir well.
  5. Devide the mixture between the 12 pastry cups and make sure that the jam is completely covered.
  6. Bake your Cherry Bakewells for 20 minutes until golden.
  7. After taking them out of the oven press the filling mixture softly back down again with the back side of a spoon to form a little mold for the icing. Let the bakewells cool down before taking them out of the muffin tin.
Icing:
  1. Mix icing sugar with the water (don't put it all in at once, just add little by little until you have a thick white glace) and spoon on top of the bakewells. Top each tart with a glace cherry as long as the icing is still wet.
  2. Let the Cherry Bakewells completely cool down and enjoy!
Notes
They freeze very well - just take them out of the freezer and let them come back to room temperature!

Cherry Bakewell Tarts by ginger, lemon and spice

What are you waiting for? Get Baking!! 🙂

Love,

~ Kathrin

Mar15

Around The World: Ireland – Fruit Crumble

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Around The World: Ireland – Fruit Crumble
Around The World: Ireland – Fruit Crumble

 Hello everyone!

Today I have a dessert for you, a delicious fruit crumble with oats in the crumble mixture which makes it extra delicious and crispy!

Around The World, Week by Week: Ireland - FRUIT CRUMBLE by gingerlemonandspice

Fruit crumble is something my Irish guest mother made for us on a sunday dinner, served with big slices of ice cream shaped like a cake. It was sooo delicious!! I remember that day, it was sunny and the whole family was sitting around a big table. Great memories!

Around The World, Week by Week: Ireland - FRUIT CRUMBLE by gingerlemonandspice

I have already shared a lot of great pictures from my last trip to Ireland so I strongly recommend you pop over there and look at those pictures! I hope I can show you some more pictures of previous trips tomorrow, I’ll keep my fingers crossed.

But for now it’s FRUIT CRUMBLE TIME! 😀

Around The World, Week by Week: Ireland - FRUIT CRUMBLE by gingerlemonandspice

 

Don’t forget: If you have any questions about Ireland, or if you have made your own experiences with Irish food, the people, the culture or the country please leave a comment!! I would love to hear about it!

 

Fruit Crumble
 
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A simple dessert that everyone likes! Very easy to prepare, but takes some time to cook. Just put in the oven when you serve your main dish and you will have a hot, fresh end delicious fruit crumble as dessert!
Author:
Recipe type: Dessert
Cuisine: Irish
Serves: 3
Ingredients
  • 750g fresh fruit (I used pears, plums and strawberries)
  • 1 tbsp sugar
  • 50g flour
  • 50g oats
  • 30g sugar
  • 50g butter, softened
  • optional: ice cream and/or whipped cream to serve
Instructions
  1. Preheat your oven to 180° C.
  2. Wash and chop the fruit into big chunks. Strawberries and plums can stay bigger, pear needs to be a little smaller, because it takes longer to cook.
  3. Put the fruit into a casserole dish and mix with 1 tablespoon of sugar (or more, if your fruit is not sweet enough)
  4. Pepare the crumble mixture: Put flour, oats, butter and sugar into a bowl and mix with a fork or with your fingers until combined. Sprinkle on top of the fruit. I like the crumbles to be in bigger chunks, so I press them together with my fingers and then put them on top.
  5. Bake the fruit crumble for about 45 minutes. If the crumbles get too dark, cover with aluminium foil.
  6. Serve with generous dollops of ice cream and whipped cream and dig in!
Notes
Some freshly cut mint tastes great on this too! Or try to put a little cinnamon or vanilla into the crumble mix for a different taste.

 Around The World, Week by Week: Ireland - FRUIT CRUMBLE by gingerlemonandspice

 

Here are the other recipes I shared during this series:

Breakfast – Irish Scones with Raisins

Fast Food – Egg Salad Sandwich & Crisps

Drink – Jameson Whiskey with Ginger Ale

Soup – Seafood Chowder

Main Dish – Irish Stew with Guinness

Pastry – Barmbrack Sweet Bread

 

~ Kathrin

 

 

 

 

Mar10

Around The World, Week By Week: IRELAND & Irish Scones

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Around The World, Week By Week: IRELAND & Irish Scones
Around The World, Week By Week: IRELAND & Irish Scones

Hello everybody!

It has been some time, since I last posted and a lot of things have happend, but I hope you’re still out there somewhere and ready for a new week of AROUND THE WORLD, WEEK BY WEEK!!

Around The World, Week by Week: Ireland - Irish Breakfast Scones by gingerlemonandspice

As I told you already in this post and another one including a recipe for delicious Brown Soda Bread, IRELAND feels kind of like my second home. When the plane sinks through the clouds and I get a first look of the green fields surrounded by the dark stone walls covered with blackberry bushes I feel very calm and excited all at once.

Ireland from gingerlemonandspice.com

I have been to the green isle already so many times, I just lost count –  I guess it might be around 15 times or so, but thats definitly not the final number.

It is no surprise then, that I chose this country to be the second one featured in the Around the World series!

Ireland by gingerlemonandspice.com

The Republic of Ireland is an island located in the north west of Europe and surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean. Wikipedia tells me, that the population of the isle is about 6.4 million whilst 4.6 million people live in the Republic of Ireland and 1.8 million people in Northern Ireland, which belongs to the United Kingdom of Great Britain. Especially in the south the effects of the gulf stream can be seen in a very mild climate which allows even palm trees to grow in some places! The island is known for its very green appearance due to the big amount of rain that comes down, compared with other countries.

 

I think thats enough talk for right now, I have the whole week to talk about the country and don’t want to tell you all at once 😉

Around The World, Week by Week: Ireland - Irish Breakfast Scones by gingerlemonandspice

Since in Ireland there isn’t a special tradition of serving appetizers or other food before the main course (which should usually be the category of the first recipe in the series) I thought I might share with you some info about what the Irish eat for breakfast!

So here it comes 🙂

Actually there is a dish that is called a ‘Full Irish Breakfast’, but I am not able to shoot any pictures of my own of it because it is nearly impossible for me to get those ingredients in Germany! It contains baked irish small sausages, bacon, tomatoes, irish black pudding (a kind of blood sausage), mushrooms, fried eggs and baked beans! Of course buttered toast can’t be missed with this! If you want to have a look how its done look at Donal Skehan’s page and see how a real irish fella makes his ‘Full Irish’!

Of course this dish is more of a special breakfast on weekends as it takes some time to prepare and is a bit heavy on the calories for an everyday breakfast too.

Around The World, Week by Week: Ireland - Irish Breakfast Scones by gingerlemonandspice

On a usual school day people prefere to eat porridge (a warm pudding of oats and milk or water with sugar and maybe fruit) or some kind of scones with butter, cream and jam. And this is what I have for you!

Scroll down for my recipe for Irish Breakfast Scones with Raisins!

 

Irish Breakfast Scones with Raisins
 
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A perfect and quick to make scone recipe which pleases everyone! Yummy scones for breakfast, teatime or any time of the day with an incredible easy recipe!
Author:
Recipe type: Breakfast, Teatime
Cuisine: Irish
Serves: 12
Ingredients
  • 450 g flour
  • 1 sachet baking powder (1 Tbsp)
  • 50 g sugar
  • 50 g softened margarine
  • a pinch of salt
  • 300 ml milk
  • 100 g of raisins
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 220° C.
  2. Mix all the ingredients together, except the raisins, they should be added last. I just use a fork to work the dough. It should still be wet but dry enough to handle!
  3. Just use two tablespoons to form big balls and put them on a baking sheet covered with baking paper.
  4. Bake the scones for 12-15 minutes. They are ready if the top and bottom is golden - don't bake them too long! Enjoy 🙂
Notes
You can leave the raisins out if you don't like them or substitute with nuts or other dried fruits! Serve the scones with butter, whipped cream & jam! In the pictures I served them with lemon curd.

You can find my recipe for Creamy Lemon Curd here!

 

Around The World, Week by Week: Ireland - Irish Breakfast Scones by gingerlemonandspice

Here are the other recipes I shared during this series:

Fast Food – Egg Salad Sandwich & Crisps

Drink – Jameson Whiskey with Ginger Ale

Soup – Seafood Chowder

Main Dish – Irish Stew with Guinness

Dessert – Fruit Crumble

Pastry – Barmbrack Sweet Bread

 

 ~ Kathrin

 

Jul28

Around the World: Turkey – Kurabiye, Turkish Cookies

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Around the World: Turkey – Kurabiye, Turkish Cookies
Around the World: Turkey – Kurabiye, Turkish Cookies

Selam! Hi guys! 🙂

What I have for you today are some delicious Turkish cookies called Kurabiye! They are crunchy on the outside and a little softer on the inside which comes from adding the yoghurt to the dough! Also I liked the dough VERY much because it has such a funny texture which should remind you of how an earlobe feels! That was all I was thinking about when I formed them, I had soo much to laugh 😀 Sometimes I’m a little childish!!

Around The World, Week by Week: Turkey - Kurabiye, Turkish almond and citrus Cookies by gingerlemonandspice

Three days ago I told you about some drinking habbits of the Turkish people. And this is something that goes perfectly with it! Eat those Kurabiye (Almond and Citrus Cookies) with a nice cup or glass of tea and just enjoy 🙂

Something else that goes with tea or coffee is Turkish Delight! Have you ever heard of it? It has something of the consistency of gummybears but is cut in cubes or cylinders! It is a sweet delicacy to nibble on while you taste the bitterness of the coffee or tea! You can buy it in very many different flavors and filled with nuts or herb aromas or fruit juices… My absolute favorite ones were the Lokum (Turkish word for Turkish Delight) with pomegranate flavor and filled with pistacchios!! But the honey and walnut ones were sooo delicious too! 🙂 If you try them make sure to buy some good ones, because there are big differences in the quality. They have whole stores in Turkey devoted to sell just Turkish Delight which tells you how important this specialty is in Turkey!

You can see the Lokum on the right side, it was with honey, hazelnuts and coconut!

Around The World, Week by Week: Turkey - Kurabiye, Turkish almond and citrus Cookies by gingerlemonandspice

Cookies are very popular in Turkey too, throughout the year! You can find and buy them fresh in special bakeries, supermarkets or coffee shops. I tried a big mixed box of cookies from a coffee shop nearly at the end of my stay and I had some regrets about that 😉 They had many different flavors like chocolate, vanilla, pistacchio, with Kellog’s, with nuts or choc chips – it was amazing! And they were soo delicious too!!

On my next stay in Turkey I definitly will buy them again – I have not found the same quality here in the Turkish markets in Germany!

The recipe for one type of cookie you can find below – the yummy almond and citrus cookies 🙂

Hope you like them as much as I did!!

Around The World, Week by Week: Turkey - Kurabiye, Turkish almond and citrus Cookies by gingerlemonandspice

 

Don’t forget: If you have any questions about Turkey, or if you have made your own experiences with Turkish food, the people, the culture or the country please leave a comment!! I would love to hear about it!

 

Kurabiye
 
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Yummy turkish cookies with citrus and almond flavor!
Author:
Recipe type: Cookies
Cuisine: Turkish
Serves: a lot
Ingredients
  • 750g flour
  • 2 eggs (1 seperated)
  • 1 sachet baking powder (1 tablespoon)
  • 1 sachet vanilla sugar or 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • 300g sugar
  • 250g margarine (room temperature)
  • 250g süzme yoğurt (Yoghurt with 10 % fett, but you could use less too)
  • 50g shaved almonds
  • 2 tablespoons sunflower oil
  • 1 teaspoon fresh lemon zest
Instructions
  1. Beat the whole egg and the eggwhite with sugars and yoghurt until well incorporated. Add oil, zest and margarine and mix!
  2. Put in flour, almonds and baking powder and blend until a very soft dough forms. The Turkish say it should feel like ones earlobe! 😉
  3. Take small pieces of the dough and form them into balls, put them on baking paper covered sheets and coat them with a little of the egg yolk.
  4. Bake the Kurabiye for 40 minutes and let them cool. Eat immediate or store in an airtight container.
  5. Enjoy with a glass of çay (turkish black tea)!!

Afiyet olsun! Enjoy 🙂

 

Here are the other recipes I shared during this series:

An Introduction to the new series

Appetizer – Sigara Böreği

Main Dish – Köfte, Cacık & Pirinç Pilavı

Dessert – Künefe

Drink – Ayran

Salad – Kısır

Snack/Fast Food – Lahmacun

Guest Post – Acılı Ezme

 

~ Kathrin

Jul24

Around the World: Turkey – Künefe

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Around the World: Turkey – Künefe
Around the World: Turkey – Künefe

Merhaba!! 

– that means hello in Turkish! 🙂 

Around The World, Week by Week: Turkey - Künefe by gingerlemonandspice

Today I will talk a little bit about the religion in Turkey.

Most of the people there are Muslims. That means they believe in Allah which is God. The Islam stands on five pillars: Testimony, Prayer, Alms-Giving, Fasting and Pilgrimage. Those are considered obligatory for all believers. The holy book in the Islam is the Quran or Koran, which is said to be verbally revealed from God to the last prohet Mohammad through angel Gabriel. The Muslims are restricted in their diet and should not eat pork, blood and carrion or drink alcohol. All food should be halal.

Around The World, Week by Week: Turkey - Künefe by gingerlemonandspice

I am telling you all this because I want to talk about the month of fasting: Ramadan or as they say in Turkey: Ramazan. It is during the ninth month of the Islam and in this time it is obligatory for all adult Muslims to fast from dawn till sunset except those who are ill, travelling or pregnant. One should refrain from food, drinks (no water!), smoking, having sex and sometimes even swearing. Everyday after sunset there will be the big Iftar (fast-breaking meal) where families and friends come together to celebrate.

I have to say that during my stay in Izmir it was also the time or Ramazan, but most of the people I met weren’t so strict to do a whole month of complete fasting. Some of them did a few days but not all of them. Also the working life is still going on as normal – maybe a bit slower but everything is open. I didn’t expect that! But it could be that this was only because I was in a big cosmopolitan city and it is different in the rural areas! 🙂

 

Ramazan is acutally happening right now! It concludes in the three day long festivities of breaking the fast (Ramazan Bayramı – this year from 8th to 10th of august). Those days are called ‘Zuckerfest’ in German which means ‘sugar festival’ and that says it all about how it is celebrated. Lot’s and lot’s of food will be prepared and eaten together with family, friends and neighbours, especially sweet dishes can be found on the table!

Around The World, Week by Week: Turkey - Künefe by gingerlemonandspice

It is only logical that today I have a special dessert for you: It is the crispy and sweet angel hair in syrup with melted cheese called Künefe! It is my absolute favorite dessert in Turkish Cuisine and I hope you enjoy it too!

Don’t foget, if you have any questions about Turkey or have made your own experiences please tell me about it in the comments!!

I’d love to hear about it!!

 

Künefe
 
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A sweet and crispy, creamy and warm dessert that will surprise your taste buds!
Author:
Recipe type: Dessert
Cuisine: Turkish
Serves: 8
Ingredients
Syrup
  • 300g (1⅓ cup) sugar
  • 3 cups water
  • 1 teaspoon citrus zest (I used lemon)
  • 3 tablespoons fruit juice (orange or apple)
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract or 1 sachet vanilla sugar
Künefe
  • 300g tel kadayıf (angel hair noodles from the Turkish store)
  • 150g butter, melted
  • 300g mozzarella cheese
  • 300g kaymak (Turkish cream, mascarpone works too)
  • 100g pistacchios, finally chopped
Instructions
Syrup
  1. Cook water and sugar on the stove until the liquid is reduced to half. Stir once in a while. Take the pot from the stove and whisk in zest, juice and vanilla.
Künefe
  1. Preheat your oven to 180°C (360°F)
  2. Chop mozzarella in small cubes and mix with half of the kaymak or mascarpone. Set aside.
  3. Cut the angel hair noodles in 1-2 cm pieces and loosen them up with your fingers. Pour the butter over the noddles and mix very well! Take half of the noddles and press them into a casserole dish big enough or use several smaller ones to make them portion sized.
  4. Distribute the cheese mix evenly on top and add the rest of the noddles on top. Press them down gently.
  5. Put your dish or dishes into the oven and bake for 25 minutes. The top should be golden brown!
  6. Take them out of the oven and pour the syrup over the Künefe. Wait until the syrup is soaked up. Decorate with the rest of the kaymak or mascarpone and the pistacchios! Then serve whilst hot.
  7. Enjoy 🙂
Notes
I forgot to put on the kaymak and pistacchios as the decoration. You will just have to imagine it 😉

Adapted from Sofralar of the KochDichTürkisch-Blog

Afiyet olsun!! 

 

Here are the other recipes I shared during this series:

An Introduction to the new series

Appetizer – Sigara Böreği

Main Dish – Köfte, Cacık & Pirinç Pilavı

Drink – Ayran 

Salad – Kısır

Pastry – Kurabiye

Snack/Fast Food – Lahmacun

Guest Post – Acılı Ezme

 

Around The World, Week by Week: Turkey - Künefe by gingerlemonandspice

~ Kathrin

 

Apr29

Mini Pavlovas with Lemon Curd, Raspberries and Chocolate

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Mini Pavlovas with Lemon Curd, Raspberries and Chocolate
Mini Pavlovas with Lemon Curd, Raspberries and Chocolate

Hello everybody!!

My very first giveaway is over and very soon  this cute and roomy Apple Pouch will be sent to a new owner!

Who is it you ask?

I used random.org to draw the lucky winner: Congratulations to Ariane from arifra83!! 

Apple Pouch Giveaway by gingerlemonandspice

She said she would use this pursie to store all the small things a woman needs during a day  🙂

 

But all of you that weren’t so lucky – don’t be sad!! There will be another giveaway sometime for sure! And for now you can take a teensy bit of your time and make those tender and delicious Mini Pavlovas. They aren’t difficult to make but look  and taste so decadent and sophisticated! A very special treat for you or your loved ones. Or make them for your mother on mother’s day?

Donal Skehan's Mini Pavlovas with Raspberries, Chocolate and Lemon Curd by ginger, lemon & spice

 

Mini Pavlovas

adapted from Donal Skehan

Donal Skehan's Mini Pavlovas with Raspberries, Chocolate and Lemon Curd by ginger, lemon & spice

Donal Skehan's Mini Pavlovas with Raspberries, Chocolate and Lemon Curd by ginger, lemon & spice

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ingredients:

Meringue:

250g powdered sugar

4 egg whites (maybe left from making Creamy Lemon Curd?)

2 teaspoons corn flour

1 teaspoon white vine vinegar (I used white balsamico)

 

Filling:

500g cream, whipped (if you like with some cinnamon)

250g raspberries and/or optional lemon curd (I had bananas with the lemon curd version)

Chocolate shavings*

Donal Skehan's Mini Pavlovas with Raspberries, Chocolate and Lemon Curd by ginger, lemon & spice

 

Directions:

1. Preheat your oven to 150°C and put baking parchment on two or three baking trays. Then place the sugar and the egg whites in a bowl and mix until white and stiff. This takes at least 10 minutes! Lucky you if you have a stand mixer, if not take some patience and use your electric hand mixer 🙂 The mixture is ready if you can form peaks and they stay stiff! Fold in corn flour and vinegar gently with a rubber spatula.

2. Take about one tablespoon of the mixture, put it on a baking tray and flatten out a little. This is your first mini disc! Repeat until all the batter is used up. You should have about 14-16 discs. I made mine a little on the very flat site, I guess you could leave them a little thicker and use only 2 discs to make the staples later!

3. Bake them for 45 minutes and then open the door of the oven a little and let them cool down completely. Meanwhile prepar the filling!

4. Assamble the Mini Pavlovas by stacking a meringue disc, a tablespoon of cream and some raspberries and maybe some lemon curd and repeat. I made two different kinds – One with cinnamon cream and raspberries and one with plain cream, bananas and lemon curd. Sprinkle the chocolate shavings on top!

5. Enjoy immediately after snapping a picture or two 😉

Donal Skehan's Mini Pavlovas with Raspberries, Chocolate and Lemon Curd by ginger, lemon & spice

* How to make chocolate shavings:

Take one bar of dark chocolate and a very big knife. ‘Shave’ the chocolate from the bottom of the chocolate bar with the big knife. For some people it is easier to press the chocolate liying on a table with one short side to their belly and shave towards their body. It would be good to wear a clean apron if you try this 🙂

This is a video which shows kind of what I mean: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K6NjcsdvgwM

Have fun trying this yourself!

Donal Skehan's Mini Pavlovas with Raspberries, Chocolate and Lemon Curd by ginger, lemon & spice

~ Kathrin

Mar22

Peanut Butter Cups

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Peanut Butter Cups
Peanut Butter Cups

Hey there!

How are you? My ‘vacation’ time that I spent at my parents house is over and I am back in working mode. There will be more exams soon!! I am not looking forward to that – but at least those will be the last ones I have to write for my Masters Degree.

Peanut Butter Cups like Reese's

Let’s talk about more pleasant topics. Reese’s peanut butter cups! I have heard so much about them but never actually tried one of my own until January, when a friend of mine returned from a trip to New York. She took several packages with her because she liked them so much!! I have read a lot about them on all the american food blogs I read – you clearly can’t read those blogs without stumbling on them 😉 In Germany it is very difficult to get Reese’s at all. I could imagine that they are sold on the internet, but it never felt important enough for me to try. But still: sweet peanut butter and chocolate together sounded fantastic!!

So when I tried my first Peanut Butter cups I just thought: Luckily I don’t have a whole package, they are addictive!

Last week my friend celebrated her birthday and I wanted to give her something made by myself. I knew she already ate up all her peanut butter cups and I have read that it was not so difficult to make those on my own, so I just tried! I think they went really well!! All the taste testers said they liked them very much! I used dark chocolate which seems to be a little less sugary then the one used in the original one and also the chocolate was hard after the 1,5 hours the cups sat on the balcony to set. I guess you could whisk a little bit of cream into the chocolate to make it a little softer if you want the cups to be more like the originals, but I liked them the way they were!!

Here is the recipe:

 

Peanut Butter Cups like Reese’s

Peanut Butter Cups like Reese's

Peanut Butter Cups like Reese's

 

 

 

 

 

 

Peanut Butter Cups like Reese'sPeanut Butter Cups like Reese's

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ingredients:

100g peanut butter smooth

50g   butter, softened

30g  powdered sugar

1 tablespoon vanilla sugar

400g Kouvertüre Zartbitter (dark chocolate)

about 25 small paper cups (mini muffins cups)

Peanut Butter Cups like Reese's

Directions:

1. Melt chocolate in a double boiler with 25g butter.

2. Prepare your piping bag or like I used a frosting plastic bag. I just used a big glas and secoured the bag with with a rubber band.

3. Prepare filling: Whisk peanut butter and the other 25g of butter until well combined. Add the sugars. Mix very well.

4. Pour chocolate into plastic bag and twist the end of the bag so that no chocolate can come out. You can see this on the pictures!

5. Cut one tiny edge of the plastic bag and pipe a little bit of chocolate (just as much as you need to cover the bottom) into the paper cups.

6. Place some peanut butter mixture into the middle of the paper cup. Pour more chocolate on top.

7. Let it sit for at least 45 min. It sets quicker when you put the peanut butter cups somewhere cold like on the balcony in winter. I had some chocolate left which I just piped onto some aluminium foil and let it harden. Next time I need chocolate I just melt it again.

8. Enjoy!

Recipe adapted from Lidl Germany

Peanut Butter Cups like Reese's

~Kathrin