Recipe of the week

Hello!

After two weeks of running around discovering new places, I am finally back home to my old routine. When I say finally I only mean unfortunately, because I would spend my life running around the world if someone would leave me the chance to do it. I still have to process all that I’ve learnt before I share it here, so for now, I want to talk about the yummiest cake on the planet, I name the Chocolate Chips Cookie Dough Cheesecake.

I made it for my brother’s 20st birthday a few weeks ago. His last birthday at home, our last celebration with him before his big departure, I wanted it huge, I wanted it heavy, I wanted it to be everything he likes all at once. I made him 10 years ago a white chocolate cheesecake, cake that he still talks about 10 years later. Unfortunately, I never put down the recipe I used, I remember it was back when Philadelphia cheese and Oreo cookies could not be found in France so I used different ingredients that I cannot remember… My brother also loves cookie dough batter, always stealing some when I’m trying to prepare a batch, so I thought, why not combine the two? I checked google for a recipe, and of course google found one for me (from Mel’s kitchen cafe).

I wanted my cheesecake to be perfectly flat, so I could draw 20 on it with cocoa powder. I read in some cheesecake recipes that you need to wrap the pan into foil paper, put it in another pan with water (sort of a bain marie I guess) and cook it that way. I have also seen videos on You Tube where they just put the pan in the oven and it turns out beautiful. Having seen it with my own eyes and being totally lazy I decided to try it that way, and of course I ended up with a giant T crack in the middle. So I made a chocolate ganache (very basic, I melted dark chocolate with cream) and poured it on top. Some white chocolate stracciatela and here we go!

One big fat heavy delicious cake on the table!

I have another birthday coming, my dad’s 60st in two weeks, he is hosting a party with lots of people which means I have the perfect opportunity to make a HUUUUUUGE cake! Any suggestions? He likes white chocolate, whisky and condensed milk…

Cheers!

M.

The unfortunate t crack…

Recipe of the week

Hello!

I have spent every minute of free time this week in the kitchen, but it was well worth it. If I could one day make it my day job, I don’t think I could get any happier!

But for now, baking is just a hobby which makes me and my family happy (and fat). I want to share today a very easy recipe, another one from my Exquis Petits Gâteaux postcard cookbook. They are called ‘diamants au cacao’, it means cocoa diamonds, they basically are dried cocoa flavored biscuits.

The best part? It will take you about 8 minutes to wipe it up, and you won’t even need any kitchen appliances! I just used my little fingers and voila! However, they do require that you leave them to rest before you bake them, but that’s the only down side. We had some family over for dinner and Mom had asked me to prepare something to go with ice cream so that was the perfect biscuit!

Recipe:

• 125G sugar
• 125G butter
• 250G plain flour
• 1 egg
• 1 pinch of salt
• 1 tablespoon cocoa powder (it tends to have some lumps, so try and strain it before)
• 1 pinch of vanilla powder
• 1 pinch of cinnamon

Preheat your oven at 180°C.

Mix together the sugar, the flour, the salt, the cocoa powder, the vanilla and cinnamon and finally the egg. Then, add the butter, softened and mix it all in with your fingers till you get a big ball. Roll the dough in the shape of a sausage (sorry, not sure how to translate that, but you see what I mean right?) and put it in the fridge for one hour.

Cut it into slices, and roll each slice into powdered sugar and cook for about 15 minutes.

It’s very hard to tell when they are ready given the dark color they already have, but beware not to overbake them as they will get very hard.

Enjoy!

M.

 

Recipe of the week

Happy 14th of July!

Here in France, we are celebrating our National Day, remembering the 14th of July 1789 when the French Revolution took place. Very unusual national day this year, as it is bright sunshine, a true summer day! But thank you to our dear president and his messed up tie to remind us that some things will never change…

There isn’t a proper dish for this day I have to admit, I am unsure the tradition of the 14th actually includes a meal… For me, the 14th was always Dad and my two brothers, on vacation in Quiberon, freezing our ass in the pouring rain, waiting fearly wondering if this year, they’d be able to throw the fireworks, in such disgusting conditions…

I had prepared some chocolate crinkle cookies to accompany our coffees. I stumbled accross the recipe on The Novice Chef Blog, gave it  try a few days ago and my brother was so exited about them I decided to prepare another batch for today’s lunch with the family. They are easy to make, good looking and tasty cookies. I cut down the sugar by half but apart from that, I used the exact recipe from the blog. I got 22 pieces, about one tablespoon of dough each if you want to have an idea.

Have a look at this blog, there are quite a few gems in there!

Cheers!

M.

Recipe of the week

Hello!

So very exited to have a proper kitchen I’ve been baking all week. However, it seems everyone around me is on a “diet”, and that includes my 90 years old grandma! I think we French people have a very wrong relationship with our body weight…

Anyway, I think oatmeal cookies enter into the category of ‘healthy baking’ no? At least I thought so, but they still contain butter and sugar, the only good thing about them is probably the oat… But they are DELICIOUS! I got the recipe from Smitten Kitchen cooking blog (link here), I cut the ingredients in half (and still got about 15 cookies) and replaced the raisins by chocolate (hem… probably nothing healthy left in these ones…).

And if everyone was on a diet, they were gone within two days!

Cheers everyone, I hope you had a great week end!

Cheers,

M.

 

Recipe of the week

Heya!

That sweet time of the week again… I am very exited to the idea of finally be reunited with a proper kitchen, with actual kitchen appliances and a good oven. No because I love to bake, but creaming butter with my own hands is a wee bit tiring for my lazy fingers!

I have been craving cinnamon lately and obviously, Snickerdoodle cookies had to come on the menu eventually.

I found the recipe on Joy of baking’s blog, there is a video to go with it (link to recipe here), I divided the proportions in 2 because it seemed simply huge, and I still ended up with about 20 cookies. I put the batter in the fridge for about 2 hours, and they spread an awful lot during the cooking, so be sure to leave a good space in between them.

My roomie told me, and he is a sweet tooth, that these were the best cookies he’s had in his life. Meaning, they have a huge taste of sugar, so be prepared!

Cheers!

M.

 

Recipe of the week

Hello!

I discovered Thumbprint cookies a little while ago, and the idea had been in my head ever since. I thought it would taste great if I would use a shortbread type of cookie, with raspberry jam in the middle.

As I was randomly browsing trough Joy of Baking cooking blog, as I often do, there it was, my dream in action! Have you ever been on that blog? I personally love it, everything she makes turn out gorgeous and most of the time it is very simple and perfectly explained. The amount of kitchen appliances she finds in her kitchen amazes me! I love the fact that she makes videos as doing the recipes, that way she can tell us all the little tricks she uses along the way. She owns a huge dog, whom you can see crossing the kitchen or naturally opening the door to get out in pretty much every single video, and he is so oblivious of all that goes around I want to hug him! Sometimes, he stands next to the counter, licking his lips as she is preparing some delicacy…

I had my own recipe of shortbread, but I decided to try hers to see if it tasted different (link to the recipe here). Shortbread are one of my favorite cookies, which I discovered on my first trip in Scotland, and they are so easy to make. They looked absolutly perfect before I put them into the oven, and then, disaster, they completly dislocated!! I do not think it has anything to do with the recipe, I do not have an electrical mixer to  beat the butter and I must have failed something there. I only changed the nuts for coconut flakes as it was the only thing I had on hand and it was delicious. I used half of what she said on the recipe, and I must have had about 14 cookies.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cookie time!

Hi!

I am exhausted from just making cookies today… This shopping thing, it’s hard. I ran all around town this morning to find some cranberries. I came accross an amazing recipe of cranberry and white chocolate cookies last week and have been dreaming of it ever since.

Unfortunately, it seems they do not know of cranberries here. So I found another great recipe and had to run to 2 different shops to find what I needed.

I found the recipe for the condensed milk cookies on Raspberri Cupcakes (you will find the recipe with the link), my all time favorite baking blog. Everything she does look like perfection and the photos are sooo good you just want to bite into it!

These cookies are the easiest cookies to prepare, only three elements to combine, but they are just soooo sweetly delicious. I made it with coconut as it was the only topping that I could find.

Try them for yourself, take my word for it!

xx

M.