Easter Bunny bun rolls

Okay so pinterest is my latest addiction and I was rummaging it for some Easter ideas when I found these bun rolls. I also found this fail, But honestly? I think some people just want to make things fail. Anyways I gave them a try.

I didn't find these to be hard to do. I used my favorite bread bun recipe and let the dough rise. Then I formed six balls and started cutting ears. To find the right angle though is tricky. My first try was too flat, but hey it's only dough, I just reformed the ball and started over.

Now looking at my cute buns I think they are more like cats but they're still cute and cheer the Easter mood.

Googling before I started also made me find this video on YouTube which I found very helpful. Molding the ears and eyes is a must-do. I used a chopstick for this part.
Also thinking about my buns I think next time I wouldn't cut the dough all the way through for the ears, as the further rising made them shrink and also lift a little, which I needed to repair with the chopstick.

I hope you all had a wonderful Easter weekend
Diana

window #21

oh these cookies will make your hearts melt! I should have posted them a lot earlier!

They look like nothing, plain, simple, even boring. But the taste - oh the taste, if you like vanilla, these will be your liking!

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Vanilla Thaler

250 g butter
1-2 vanilla beans
300 g sugar
375 g all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 large egg

in a pan melt and slowly brown the butter. This will take about 15 minutes, so don't rush. Now pour butter through a sifter and let cool a little.
Cut the vanilla lengthwise and scrape the seeds into the cooling butter. When the butter is firm again add sugar and whisk for 5 minutes until it's white and creamy.
Mix flour and baking powder and add to the butter-mix. Also add the egg and mix well until a dough starts to form.
Put dough on plastic wrap, form rolls of about 3cm / 1.25 inches n diameter and let cool in fridge for 2 hours. (over night is fine too).
cut rolls and place cookies on a baking sheet. Bake in pre-heated oven for 14 minutes at 180°C.
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[in the picture below I used my 1 teaspoon scoop to form single portions, which I then rolled between my palms into balls and pressed down a little with my thumb. The rest went into the fridge and later onto the baking sheet]
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let cool on rack and enjoy!!

season greetings, Diana

window #20

only 4 days to Christmas.
Have you already planned your meal? is your tree put up? Have you decked your halls with boughs of holly? ^__^ I need to admit I've only put up my tree, nothing else, this years holiday spirits are a long time coming for me. It might be the weather, it's super warm for December here in Berlin, so no signs of snow, or even real cold.

anyways the meal is planned though, I'm going to make my famous Mousse au Chocolat for Dinner. Of course we'll have some real food before that too. Although only chocolate mousse sounds enticing...

and today I'm going to share my recipe with you
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Mousse au Chocolat

what you'll need
3 eggs
1 tablespoon sugar
200g good chocolate (I like semi dark or a mix of whole milk and dark)
200g cream
2 teaspoons grand marnier

how to make
separate egg whites and yolks.
Mix the egg yolks with sugar and beat til creamy.
melt 100 g of the chocolate (either in the microwave, be careful not burn, or over a water bath, be careful not to spill and water inside)
mix melted and not too warm chocolate into yolk/sugar mix. Stir in quickly and thoroughly.
chop the rest of chocolate and set aside.
Beat the cream until it's stiff and fold in. Also beat the egg whites until it's stiff and fold in as well.
Mix in the grand marnier and fill into decorative glasses. Chill for at least two hours or until firm. I make my mousse at night and let it chill over night.
If you're making this for children change the alcohol for two teaspoons of coffee or just skip it ^__^

yummi hugs, Diana

window #15

last week we made syrup to make homemade Chai Tea and since a little change is always welcome,
today we will make Chocolate Syrup for hot chocolate milk or even spice up a coffee. And of course it's perfect for a dash of vanilla ice cream and cake.

what do you need?
1-1/2 cups sugar
¾ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 cup water
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1 vanilla bean

how to make?
simply add sugar, unsweetened cocoa powder and salt in a sauce pan, start mixing it and add the water. Whisk it and bring it to a boil on medium heat. Once it started boiling let it simmer on low heat for about 5 minutes. Take pan from the stove. Split the vanilla bean in half and scrape the seeds out, add the seeds to the syrup and stir it in. Let the syrup cool off a little bit before you pour it into a nice bottle.

That's all?
yes that was it, quick and easy and yummy too ^__^

Now search the house for some milk and marshmallows, warm the milk in the microwave and add a tablespoon of the syrup (or more if you like the full dose of chocolate sweetness), top it off with a few marshmallows and enjoy!
Diana

window #10

let's have some cookie-talk today, shall we?

like every year and I guess like everywhere around the globe I'm making cookies for Christmas too, my absol - wait for it - ute favorites are my Macadamia-Busserl, which I shared last year while making my advent calendar. This year they look like this:

I flattened them this year which doesn't make them better. They are prefect anyways ^__^

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I also made Pecan-Cookies this year

recipe:

150 g soft butter
2 tablespoons oh honey
50 g confectioners' sugar
1 tablespoon jamaican rum
270 g all purpose flour
a pinch of salt
80 g pecan nuts, finely chopped
another 100 g confectioners' sugar to decorate

mix soft butter with honey, confectioners' sugar and rum for about 3-4 minutes. Add flour, salt and chopped pecans. Mix and form a soft dough. Form small balls (1 tablespoon) and place on a baking sheet, slightly press the balls to flatten them.
Bake at 180°C for about 12 minutes, don't let them brown too much.
Meanwhile put rest of confectioners' sugar into a large bowl. When cookies are done, roll them in the confectioners' sugar while they're still hot. Put on a rack and let cool.

These cookies will get even better throughout the next days, so don't eat them all fresh from the oven - even if this is hard to resist, as they are a delight.

if you make them, I'd love to see them, maybe share a picture on instagram #mygurumi?

cookie-hugs, Diana

window #9

The weather is turning colder and colder and we had first signs of snow too. Now all I wanna do is cuddle with my man, watch a movie and drink some tea. I love chai teas and so I made a syrup to quickly have some mixture ready whenever I want some flavored tea.
btw. I was surprised to find out that "Chai" originally only refers to "tea" in general. In Germany we use "chai tea" to ask for flavored black tea, weird world..

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Masala Chai - Tea Syrup

what do you need?
1-1/2 cups of water
1-1/3 cups of sugar
4 star anise
4 cinnamon
4 TL cardamom
1 piece ginger (app 5x5cm/2x2inches)


how to make it?
add star anise, cinnamon and cardamom into a pan and slowly start to roast for about 5-10 minutes at medium heat. Don't add any kind of oils and take care not to burn the mixture. Set aside.
In another sauce pan mix water and sugar and start to boil. In the meantime peel and cut the ginger.
Now add ginger and roasted herbs to the boiling water/sugar mix and let it simmer for another 15-20 minutes.
Set aside and let it cool before you start pouring the syrup into decorative bottles.

want a Chai Tea right away?
Make a black tea (I prefer earl gray), add a 1-2 tablespoons of the syrup to the tea and you have a Masala Chai Tea.
Make it the latte version? just add milk ^__^

let's toast!

December 20th

I'm not my usual self today. It's amazing how men can totally change the way you feel within just a single second...

Anyways since I'm a little confused today and also need to do some housework done and my bags packed (I'm going to see my parents for a few days tomorrow) I am going to share some serious cookie love today:

Christmas Sugar Cookies from baking bites

Red Velvet Snowball Cookies from baking bites as well

Chocolate hazelnut biscotti from smittenkitchen

gingerbread houses for your coffee by Tortenwelt
(article is in german and links to notmartha.com)

Pumpkin Gingerbread Cookies from baking bites

please click the pictures for the original recipies!

♥cookies♥
Diana

December 18th

traditionally on Christmas Eve we eat something very simple.
I know a lot of families where they will eat potato salad and sausages on Christmas Eve but my mum always made lentil soup. I love this. It's one of my favorite soups in life, I can say this without a doubt.
And my mums soup is the only I eat because it's made without carrots, I do not like cooked carrots, I find them too soft and too sweet when cooked {shudder}

and today every single time I eat this soup it warms my heart, I guess it's my personal soul food.

mums lentil soup

500g lentils (preferably some that don't need to soak - I like pardina lentils)
7-8 potatoes
500g pork sausage
salt
vinegar essence and sugar to taste (about 4-6 tbsp)

fill lentils into a large pot, add water about the double amount as lentils. Cut sausage into pieces and add to the lentils. Also cut and add the potatoes. Boil without salt (!) until lentils are soft.
when the lentils are soft add 1/2 tsp salt and 3 tbsp vinegar and 3 tbsp sugar. This soup will be sweet/sour so son't be afraid of the sugar/vinegar. Cook for 20 more minutes and add sugar and vinegar to taste.
that's it - when I first made it I was surprised that this little ingredients would make the soup I love ... but isn't often less better?

hungry hugs,
Diana

December 16th

it's cookie sunday

these are freaking amazing!!

The first time I made these I was like 'what? no chopping??' but that's what really make them so great: every bite is different! almond cookie, chocolate cookie, cherry cookie, cereal cookie - whatever you like these have it!

comatose chocolate cookie

1 cup peeled almonds
400 g chopped dark chocolate
1 cup dried cherries
2 cups oat flakes
2 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp sodium bicarbonate (natron)
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 lb butter
1 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1 and 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

preheat oven to 180°C.
roast almond in a pan until just starting to get light brown.
mix chopped chocolate, cherries, oat flakes in a large bowl, add flour soda and natron, mix again.
add (cooled) almonds.
in a separate bowl cream butter with eggs and vanilla extract, then mix with ingredients in the large bowl. Form cookies (spoon) and place them not to closed to each other on a baking sheet.
Bake for 12-14 minutes or until light brown.

enjoy!
crumbly hugs, Diana

December 9th

it's cookie Sunday!

Ginger-Stars

200g all purpose flour
100g ground almonds
50g brown sugar
1 egg
150g butter/margarine
100g ginger that's been conserved in syrup
100g chocolater to decorate

mix flour, almonds, sugar, chopped ginger (without the syrup), melted butter and the egg in the food processor. Wrap in foil and put in the fridge for at least 2-3 hours to let it rest.
Roll out dough and cut out stars. Bake in the preheated oven for 13 minutes at 175°C or until lightly brown. Let cool on a rack and decorate with melted chocolate.

enjoy!

December 2nd

it's Cookie-Sunday time!

Christmas is THE time of year for baking and cookies and cakes and what not, and I'm no excuse to the rule ^__^

I will be showing you my favorite Christmas/winter cookies every Sunday until Christmas this year, enjoy!

my must-have-cookie-cause-it's-so-yummi-cookie is one I call Macadamia-Busserl

Busserl is a germanish word for kiss

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Macadamia-Busserl

makes about 35

125g macdamia-nuts
100g dark chocolate
1 egg
a pinch salt
175g all-purpose flour
75g sugar
vanilla aroma
125g butter/margarine

chop nuts and chocolate, beat the egg-white together with a pinch salt until it is stiff, cream egg-yolk with the butter. In a bowl add flour, sugar, nuts, chocolate and mix. Add the egg-yolk-butter mixture together with the vanilla aroma and mix. Now form little balls of about 2cm diameter and place on a baking sheet. Bake at 180°C for about 15-20 minutes or until the cookies start to take a golden-brown color. Cool on a rack and enjoy!

not your average asparagus

It's asparagus season and even though I normally don't find that as super exciting as the rest of my environment I made some today. I've always preferred the green asparagus to the white one because I find it's a little tastier and not as soft ... I have a strange way of how food feels in my mouth, for example I just don't eat cooked peas or corn just because I really, really don't like how that feels (actually I don't even remember HOW cooked peas taste that's how rarely I eat them, never)

Anyways today I made some asparagus with bacon and eggs, it's not the classic recipe with sauce hollandaise but nonetheless super good. I don't really want to give a recipe for this, as it is so easy: prepare some asparagus and cook it

some bacon

and some eggs.

Then arrange everything on a plate, drizzle some olive oil on top as well as some cider vinegar. Finally sprinkle with chives. Et voilà there you go, dinner!

Pepper Pesto

The weather feels desert like here and my appetite shrinks with every hour, not the worst thing in the world but it makes me want to eat the good stuff when I feel like eating something. A few weeks ago I found a recipe to a "Pepper Pesto" and I thought the weather is very mediterranean why not eat mediterranean? And a pepper pesto sounds pretty mediterranean to me.

Here is what the recipe calls for:
3 red bell peppers
2 garlic cloves
50 gr almonds (flaked)
olive oil (as much as you like, I used about 200 ml, which was about half the amount of the peeper paste)
pepper and salt to taste, as well as chili pepper flakes

first I cut the bell peppers in halves, then placed them on a baking rack and grilled them in the oven until they turned black. After taking them out of the oven I put a damp piece of kitchen paper on top and let them sit a while (this will make it easier to peel them). Then I peeled them, and I didn't wash them as that would take away the grilled aroma.

Put the halves into the food processor/mixer.
Then I lightly roasted the almonds (I didn't have flaked ones so I just crushed normal ones and took care when roasting them, as they burn easier when crushed so small).

Add the roasted almonds to the peppers.
With the next step I took some time, as I wanted the garlic to infuse the olive oil. I added about a table spoon of olive oil to a pan and added the sliced garlic. Then I turned on the stove to smallest heat (? do you say it that way, smallest heat) and let it start to simmer gently. This took a few minutes and smelled delightful.

I also added the garlic with its oil to the food processor and mixed everything well. I added the rest of the olive oil as I mixed, as well as some pepper, salt and the chili flakes.
After following the original recipe I tasted the pesto and found it a tad too boring. That's why I also added a teaspoon of white vinegar and a pinch of sugar. That gave it a nice turn.
I served it with spaghetti and a generous amount of freshly grated Parmiggiano Reggiano.

something that makes you happy

my favorite dish in spring time and one that I crave for when winter starts to fade is a salad my mom made for us every year. It's made from red radish, some capers and edam cheese. Topped with parsley, white vinegar and oil. Super simple, sooo good and something that reminds me of home.

what makes you happy?

dinner

Bloggy, I made a fantastic spaghetti sauce with cauliflower yesterday and the lemon juice really does the trick. The recipe can be found here and I will definitely make this again, I loooove cauliflower with breadcrumbs and I loooove pasta, now I can have both at the same time ^__^

cheesecake chocolate muffins

today I baked and I made tulip muffin paper:

Cheesecake Chocolate Muffins


200 g cream cheese
1 large egg yolk
5 tablespoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
a pinch of salt

200 ml milk
1 large egg
1 large egg white
3 teaspoon unsweetened cocoa powder
100 g chocolate (semisweet or bittersweet)
100 g sugar
30 g butter (salted)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
200 g all purpose flour
2 teaspoon baking powder

preheat oven

mix cream cheese, egg yolk, sugar, vanilla extract and salt in a bowl - put aside

mix milk, egg and egg white, cocoa powder and vanilla extract in a bowl
melt butter and chocolate in microwave, stir into milk-egg mixture - put aside

mix flour and baking powder, blend into milk-chocolate mix until no more flour is visible

divide dough into muffin form and add cream cheese mix

bake about 20-30 min at 175°C






Tulip muffin paper

I always had the problem to find muffin papers for my baking forms bigger than the standard and a few month ago I saw tulip cups on bakingbites.com
and today I finally tried to make my own, I first tried to fold them up all origami style but couldn't find a proper way how to so I just cutter squares of baking paper and cut into the paper on four sides, which worked perfectly well =^__^=