QUICK IDEAS / DESSERTS/ KIDS MENU
Homemade tiramisu
This is not a classic recipe for tiramisu, but it`s just as tasty as the original. Instead of eggs and sugar I used sour cream and Nutella chocolate for this delicious interpretation of homemade tiramisu. The result is pure perfection. And it`s extremely easy and quick to make.
With the listed products I managed to prepare a homemade tiramisu with a decent size, rich of flavors (and calories) and simply irresistible. Try it yourself … if you are not on a diet.
Homemade tiramisu
What you`ll need:
200 g biscotti Savoiardi
250 g mascarpone
100 g sour cream
100 g Nutella chocolate
1-2 tablespoons powdered sugar
200 ml instant coffee
50 ml Baileys
Decoration
200 ml heavy cream
2 tablespoons powdered sugar
cocoa for sprinkling
fresh fruit
How to cook it:
Prepare a cake tray.
In a bowl, mix the mascarpone, sour cream, Nutella chocolate and powdered sugar. Stir well to obtain a thick and homogenous cream.
Put the cold coffee into a deep dish and mix with the Baileys.
Start arranging your homemade tiramisu. First put some of the cream on the cake tray. Dip the biscotti in the coffee with Baileys, arrange a row of them on the tray and spread generously with cream on top. Repeat with a new row of biscotti and finish with the remaining cream. Sprinkle with cocoa.
Whisk the heavy cream with powdered sugar. Use a pastry syringe and your fantasy to decorate. Lastly, put fresh fruits on top of the tiramisu, I used strawberries.
Your home tiramisu is ready! Store it in the fridge for a few hours, serve and enjoy!
Valentine’s Day chocolate cake
A lovely chocolate taste – that’s how we can describe this Valentine’s Day chocolate cake. It`s the perfect dessert for Valentine’s Day and any other occasion, especially if you are a fan of chocolate. The preparation is quick and easy, and its taste is indescribably good and above all – very chocolate. Double the amount of products if you want to cook it for more people – with the ones from the recipe below you`ll get a fairly decent sized-dessert but it`s so yummy that you`ll wish to have made a bigger cake. You will not regret it – we are sure that this irresistible Valentine’s Day chocolate cake will become your new favorite.
Valentine’s Day chocolate cake
What you`ll need:
For the crust
100 g flour
100 g brown sugar
80 g butter
1 egg
50 g dark chocolate (I used 77%)
1 tablespoon cocoa powder
1 tsp. baking powder
a pack of vanilla powder
For the glaze:
150 g whipping cream
2 tablespoons brown sugar
20 g butter
50 g dark chocolate
For sprinkling
cocoa powder
How to cook it:
Preheat the oven to 160°. Prepare a cake tin with baking paper (I used a 16 cm one).
Melt the chocolate pieces and butter either on the stove or in the microwave oven. Mix well.
In a bowl, whisk the egg with the sugar. Add the chocolate mixture and stir. In a another bowl mix the flour with baking powder and vanilla and gradually add to the chocolate mixture. Finally put the cocoa and stir.
Pour the mixture into the cake tin and bake for about 40 minutes. Remove from oven and leave to cool.
Meanwhile, prepare the glaze. Put the cream, sugar and butter in a small saucepan on medium heat. Stir periodically so the products are combined well. When bubbles start to appear on the surface, remove from the stove and add the chocolate pieces. Stir until a smooth chocolate mixture is obtained. Allow to cool for 15-20 minutes.
Pour the glaze over the chocolate crust. Store in the fridge for a couple of hours. Sprinkle with cocoa powder before serving and enjoy!
Need more chocolate? Check the recipe for Italian chocolate cake.
Homemade butter biscuits
We all have favorite recipes from childhood. In my personal ranking, the homemade butter biscuits take one of the top spots, along with my all time favorite fudge and the lovely petit fours. Crispy and delightfully sweet, I never manage to get enough of the homemade butter biscuits and I’m often responsible for the disappearance of at least half a tray. Today I`m sharing with you a classic recipe for this really easy, but very tasty dessert. I hope you like it too!
Homemade butter biscuits
What you`ll need:
2 cups flour, sifted
1 cup powdered sugar, sifted
125 g butter
1 egg
2 tablespoons milk
1 tsp. backing powder
1 pack vanilla powder
pinch of salt
chocolate chips
How to cook it:
Gently warm the butter and whisk it with a wooden spoon. Gradually add the sugar, egg, milk, vanilla and flour. Mix the dough. Store it in the fridge for 30 minutes.
Remove the dough and start shaping balls with the size of a walnut and then flattening them over your palms. Arrange the biscuits on a tray covered with baking paper.
Bake in a preheated to 180 ° oven until ready – for about 10 minutes. Keep in mind that they should remain almost white. Enjoy the butter biscuits with a nice coffee or hot tea.
If you like this recipe, check also the one for the heart-shaped butter biscuits or the toddler butter biscuits suitable for the youngest family members.
Italian chocolate cake
[:en]Lately I’ve been publishing mostly child-friendly desserts, as you’ve probably noticed. The main reason is that I’m trying to cook cakes that my little daughter will also be able to eat. My great passion, however, are the chocolate desserts with a lot of chocolate. Like this exquisite Italian chocolate cake, which my sister prepares quite often. She has really perfected the recipe – the cake is delicious, juicy and especially chocolaty. And the best part is that it doesn`t take much time or requires any special skills. Try it too – you will not regret it, especially if you are a big chocolate fan like me.
Italian chocolate cake
What you`ll need:
For the batter
1 egg
50 grams unsalted butter
50 grams shaved chocolate (preferably cooking chocolate, dark)
1 cup milk
125 grams yogurt
vanilla powder
one cup sugar (i used white)
1 tablespoon cocoa
1 teaspoon soda bicarbonate
110 grams flour
a teaspoon or less of cooking rum
For the topping
100 grams dark chocolate (sometimes i put more, about 20-30 grams more)
30 grams butter
You don’t have to but sometimes I add a splash of milk
apricot jam
How to cook it:
The batter
Mix the butter, sugar and egg until it becomes fluffy, then add the shaved chocolate and mix again. In another bowl mix the yogurt and milk and then add it to the chocolate mixture. The flour, vanilla, cocoa and soda you mix in a different bowl and add them little by little to the rest of the batter.
Preheat your oven to 180°, I used a circle tin but you can use a rectangle or square one too, the cake doesn’t really rise a lot so it’s up to you what tin you use. Line with baking paper.
When you put the batter in the tin make sure you lift it up and drop it so if there are any bubbles they rise to the top. It takes about 45-50 minutes to bake (sometimes more, sometimes up to an hour, you have to be vigilant and use a toothpick).
The topping
After the cake has cooled down on a wire rack, spread some apricot jam on it and let it sit a bit. The chocolate you need either a double boiler or the microwave.
For microwave 30 second bursts for 2-3 minutes and while its out you mix it well.
If you’re using double boiler put a pan of water on the stove and a smaller pan in it with the chocolate which is either chopped finely or big blocks, doesn’t matter, and the butter and a splash of milk (you can skip the milk if you want). I usually put the 100 grams now, mix well, (make sure no water gets in the chocolate) after its all mixed add another 20 grams of chocolate if you want and mix that in well and spread over the cake with a spatula. Serve with some ice cream.
Grape jam
Have you ever tried grape jam? It’s surprisingly delicious and perfect for pancakes. So if you want to make homemade grape jam try this quick and easy recipe…
Grape jam
What you’ll need
1 kg grapes – a mixture of white and black or only black
500 grams sugar
toasted walnuts
rum
How to cook it
Prepare the grapes – wash and remove the stems. Put the grapes in a deep baking tray and add the sugar. Bake in a preheated to 200°C oven and stir from time to time. When the syrup gets thick the jam is ready. Pour in dry jars and put some toasted walnuts on top. Wait a little and then add 1 tablespoon rum in each jar. Seal the jars while they are still hot and put them with the lids down. And that’s all – the grape jam is ready! Enjoy it with French toasts, pancakes and whatever else you wish.
TIP
Prepare the jars by sterilizing them in boiling water for 10 minutes. Leave them in the hot water until you need them.
Crescent rolls
There are different ways to make crescent rolls. All of them are delicious. So we might as well give you options.
You can use Turkish delight, jam, marmalade, or make them salty with cottage cheese. You can sprinkle them with powdered sugar or you can coat them with scrambled eggs and make them shiny. It entirely depends on your mood.
So here’s how to make them.
Crescent rolls
You’ll need:
150 grams margarine or a not full cup of sunflower oil
250 grams yogurt (Bulgarian yogurt is best for this) which you mix with half a teaspoon of baking soda
2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 egg
a bit more than 500 grams flour
jam/marmalade/Turkish delight (~250 grams)/cottage cheese (~250 grams)
How to cook it:
Mix the margarine/oil with the sugar, egg, salt and yogurt. Grab a deep-dish tin and pour the flour in it. Make a sort of well in the flour and pour in the oily mix and with a wooden spoon or your hands start mixing it well. When it has a nice sheen put it in the fridge for about an hour.
After an hour take it out and cut it into about 6-8 balls and take 1 and put the others back in the fridge. Usually this much dough is enough for 2 baking tins.
Grab a rolling pin, sprinkle some flour on your working space and flatten the ball into a nice symmetrical circle. Cut the circle into 8 little triangles, put whatever you’ve chosen to use on the widest part of the triangle and roll it inwards.
After you’ve done this several times, if you want to give them a nice shine, scramble 1 full egg and 1 egg without yolk together and coat the rolls before putting them in the tin. If you wish to powder them with sugar skip this step.
Bake for about 25 minutes in a preheated oven at 180°.
If you haven’t applied the egg coating, you can sprinkle powdered sugar.
Fudge
This chewy chocolate dessert is a must-have for all chocolate addicts. So here is our recipe for a perfect fudge…
Fudge
What you’ll need:
2-3 eggs
125 grams butter
1 cup of sugar
1 cup of flour
3 teaspoons of cocoa
1 cup of grounded or small-cut walnuts
around 100 grams of chocolate chips
How to cook it:
Preheat the oven to 180°. Prepare a medium sized baking dish. I used a rectangle one.
Mix the butter and sugar. When it’s mixed well, start adding the eggs, flour, cocoa and walnuts/chocolate chips. Mix well.
Take the baking dish and smear it with oil and sprinkle some flour. Make sure it’s evenly distributed. Start pouring in the mixture and put in the oven for about 20 minutes.
It’s ready when there’s no mixture sticking to the pick. Enjoy!
Butter biscuits
It’s far from Valentine’s day, but these cute butter biscuits are perfect for any occasion.
Butter biscuits
What you’ll need:
500 grams flour
250 grams butter
~200 grams jam (I used apricot and blueberry jam for this)
1 egg
2 teaspoons baking powder
120 grams sugar
1 pack of vanilla sugar
lemon zest from 1 lemon
a pinch of salt
heart-shaped cutting forms
heart-shaped seal
Preheat the oven to 190°. Prepare a baking tin with baking paper.
Sift the flour and baking powder on your working space. Make a small well in the middle of the flour mix and pour the sugar, vanilla sugar, lemon zest, salt and egg in it and mix those ingredients with about half of the flour. Put the butter (in cut pieces) on top and cover with the rest of the flour.
Make sure you have cool hands for this. Mix everything up into smooth dough, then wrap in foil and leave it in the fridge for about 20 minutes.
After 20 minutes, sift some flour on your working area, take the dough out and roll out it with a rolling pin. Try to keep a thickness of about 5 millimeters. Take your heart-shaped forms and start cutting out those hearts.
Once you’ve used up all the dough, take your jam and with the help of a heart-shaped seal, or your fingers if you don’t have one, press in the dough and pour jam in the middle of the holes you made. Bake in the oven for about 10 minutes.
And that’s it! Enjoy these biscuits with a cup of tea or coffee.
Cupcake frosting
Remember our muffin recipe a while back? Well we’re back with a nice recipe for cupcake frosting to go with them or any topless cupcakes you have lying around.
Cupcake frosting
What you’ll need:
250 grams powder sugar
200 grams cream cheese
125 grams butter
cocoa (optional)
sprinkles of your choosing
Just mix the sugar, cream cheese and butter (and cocoa if you’d like a more chocolate-y flavor) for a few minutes and put away in fridge for an hour or two. When it’s hardened, take a piping bag with a wide tip and put the frosting inside. Decorate as you wish. You can sprinkle some cocoa and candy sprinkles on top. And voila~!
Chocolate muffins
We’re back with another yummy recipe. This time we decided to prepare chocolate muffins, because who doesn’t like chocolate?
Chocolate muffins
What you’ll need:
1 cup of flour (filled to the top)
1/2 cup of sugar
1/2 cup cooking oil or margarine
1/2 cup of yogurt (unsweetened)
1 egg
2 baking powder
3 tablespoon cocoa
1/2 teaspoon salt
30 grams chocolate (or more if you’d like)
How to cook it:
Preheat your oven to 180° degrees. In a bowl, mix the dry ingredients: flour, sugar, salt, baking powder and cocoa. In a different bowl mix the egg, yogurt and margarine/oil. Combine the dry ingredients with the oily concoction, add the chocolate chips and whisk. (Don’t use a mixer, use a whisk for this) Bake for about 20~25 minutes. We hope you enjoy these delightful muffins ♥
Petit fours
If you’re looking for a simple and easy to make dessert recipe, you’ve come to the right place. Petit fours are delectable to look at and eat. There are many ways to decorate them, but I’ll tell you the easiest way.
Petit fours
What you`ll need:
125 grams butter
125 grams powder sugar
125 grams flour (I used white flour, though any will do)
3 eggs
For the garnish
whipping cream
a fruit of your choosing (strawberries are best)
How to cook it:
You’ll want to preheat the oven to 180° Celsius. Take a medium sized rectangle baking tin (our measurements are 30 cm length, 20 cm wide, 4 cm deep) and either oil it or butter it up, and then dust some flour on it.
In a bowl, mix the powdered sugar and slightly softened butter into a creamy texture. Next, whilst still mixing, start putting in the eggs one by one, shortly followed by the flour in small increments. Keep mixing until it’s homogenous.
Pour the mixture in your tin and put it in the oven for 20 to 30 minutes. Use a toothpick to determine if it’s cooked. If there are no bits of mixture on the pick, it’s ready. Take out and cool it.
Meanwhile you can buy whipped cream in a can or make some yourself with whipping cream powder and milk, or cooking cream and powder sugar.
Cut the pastry in little cubes and decorate each one with the cream you made, followed by a strawberry on top.
And voila! You’ve got your gorgeous petit fours.
Gingerbread cookies
`Tis the season for hot drinks and flavoured desserts so the homemade gingerbread cookies are a thing. A perfect time to suprise your family and friends with these delicious treats. Be sure to prepare them in advance – the gingerbread cookies get better with time. And here is our favourite recipes…
Gingerbread cookies
What you`ll need:
500 grams flour
250 grams honey
130 grams sugar (white or brown)
1 egg
2 tablespoons rum
100 grams butter
baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
pinch of salt
mix of spices – ginger, nutmeg, cardamom, cinnamon, cloves
For the icing
1 egg white
200-300 g powdered sugar
1tsp. lemon juice
How to cook it:
Mix the honey and the sugar in a fireproof pot and heat slightly. Then pour the mixture in a bowl and add the egg, rum and butter. Beat with a mixer until foaming. In another bowl sift the flour with the baking powder, baking soda, salt and spices. Add them with stirring to the honey mixture. Put the dough in the fridge for at least 2 hours.
Take the dough out of the fridge in portions. Place it on a floured work surface and roll out until about 1 cm thick. Use cookie cutters to cut out shapes. Place them on a baking tray lined with baking paper and bake for about 8-10 minutes in a preheated 180 C / Gas 4 oven. Remove from oven and transfer to a wire rack to cool.
Meanwhile, prepare the icing. Whisk the egg white and lemon juice. Spoon by spoon add the powdered sugar until the mixture gains the consistency of a thick and smooth cream. Use a pastry syringe and your fantasy to decorate.
And now the drinks…
Glühwein
Or Mulled wine – traditional Christmas beverage in German-speaking countries. Preferably you should use red wine that’s on the sweet side like Cabernet Sauvignon or Merlot.
What you`ll need:
1 litre red wine
2 tablespoons honey
1 orange
1 lemon
mix of spices – ginger, nutmeg, cardamom, cinnamon, cloves
How to cook it:
Mix the honey, peeled fruits and spices in a saucepan. Pour the wine into the mixture and heat over low to medium heat. Make sure it doesn’t come to a boil and stir occasionally, so the honey dissolves. When the wine is steaming it`s ready to serve. Pour into mugs and serve warm. Cheers!