Orange cupcakes

Just like the author of this recipe, I made my orange cupcakes on a VERY snowy day...to brighten it up a little. The recipe may seem a bit plain - nothing extraordinary in a dozen of cupcakes - but they occured to be absolutely wonderful. The texture is so soft and the smell so captivating... made me immediately think of summer :) Try them yourself!

(Recipy slightly changed).

Serves: makes 12. Preparation: 21 min. Baking: 18 min.

Equipment:

- 2 bowls,

- zest grater,

- electric/hand mixer,

- muffin tin,

- muffin cases (or a bit of butter to grease the tin)

Ingredients:

* cupcakes:

- 113g (1/2 cup) soft unsalted butter,

- 130g (2/3 cup) granulated sugar,

- 3 eggs,

- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract,

- 2-3 tbsp orange juice,

- zest of 1 orange,

- 195g (1 1/2 cup) flour,

- 1/2 tsp baking powder,

- 1/4 tsp salt,

- 60 ml (1/4 cup) buttermilk (or simply milk)

* icing (taken from here)

- 250g cream cheese,

- 5 tbsp powdered sugar,

- food colouring (optional)

Method:

Preheat your oven to 180ºC/350ºF. 

In a bowl, mix together the sugar and orange zest for about 2 min., until moist and fragnant.

Add te butter and mix until light and fluffy.

Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.

Stir in the vanilla extract and orange juice.

In the other bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt.

With the mixer on low speed, add alternately the flour mixture and buttermilk to the butter mixture, beginning and ending with the flour. Beat only until incorporated.

Fill in the muffin cases.

Bake for about 18 min, until a toothpick inserted into the cupcake comes out clean.

In the meantime, prepare the icing:

In a bowl, mix together the cream cheese and powdered sugar. Add just a tiny bit of food colouring, if you want. 

That's it ;)

Allow the cupcakes to cool completely.

Decorate them with the icing, using either an icing bag or simply a knife ;) (to spread the icing on the cupcakes, of course).

Now all you have to do is sit comfortably in your sofa, close your eyes, think of beautiful summer days and enjoy your wonderful orange cupcakes.

Doughnuts

We're having Fat Thursday soon and I just couldn't decide what to make for this year's 'feast', until I found these fabulously looking doughnuts on dorotus76's blog. I thanked her (in my mind ;)) for resolving my dilemma and started to make a shopping list ;) These are my first traditional american doughnuts and certainly not the last. I adore their softness and delightfully colourful icing. Don't you?

Serves: makes 20. Preparation: ca. 1 h (incl. deep-frying). Time needed for the dough to rise: 1,5 h + 30 min.

Utensils:

- small bowl (for the yeast),

- 2-3 bowls,

- electric mixer,

- piece of cloth,

- cup (7 cm in diameter),

- thimble (or a really small round cutter),

- tray,

- wide pot or pan,

- paper towel.

Ingredients:

* dough

- 2,5 cup flour,

- 14g yeast,

- 1 egg,

- 3/4 cup warm milk,

- 3 tbsp warm water,

- 1/4 cup caster sugar,

- 1/4 tsp salt,

- 2 tbsp butter,

- 1 tbsp rum or vanilla extract

- 1 l safflower or peanut oil

* icing

- 1 cup powdered sugar,

- 2-3 tbsp boiling water,

- food colouring

Method:

Melt the butter and let it cool to room temperature.

Rub the yeast, with your fingertips, into a small bowl, add one tbsp of flour, one tbsp of sugar, and a little of warm milk - just so it covers the mixture. Stir thoroughly and let it rise for about 15 min.

In a bowl, combine the flour, yeast mixture, cooled butter, and the rest of the dough ingredients. Beat the dough with a mixer for a few minutes, until smooth. It'll be a bit sticky, but that's OK. Form the dough into a ball, put it into a flour-sprinkled bowl, cover with a piece of cloth, and set it in a warm place for 1,5 h to rise (it should double).

Then put the dough onto a floured surface and gently roll out to 1 cm (1/2 inch) thickness. Cut cirles with a cup, and smaller ones in the centre with a thimble. Place them on a floured tray and leave for 30 min. to rise.

In the meantime, prepare the icing: thoroughly mix the powdered sugar with water and just a tiny bit of food colouring. If the mixture seems too thick, add a bit more water, if too thin - more sugar.

Pour the oil into the pot and heat it until it reaches 180ºC/355ºF. (Now, how on earth can I do it without a cooking thermometer? Good question. It's a bit complicated. I myself heated the oil for 15 min. over low heat, then dropped a piece of dough into it, fryed for about 1,5 min on each side and then tasted it. It was golden brown on the outside, a bit crunchy and wonderfully soft on the inside. Thus I decided that the oil is ready ;) Be careful, though, because the oil will change its temperature throughout the frying. If you're not in a hurry, drop a piece of dough into the oil from time to time, to check if it's OK.)

Carefully drop in the doughnuts, 3-4 at a time, and fry them for about 1,5-2 min on each side. Then remove them and pleace them on a piece of paper towel. Drop in the next portion, and in the meantime, ice and sprinkle the still warm doughnuts. Repeat after each portion.

Well, they sure consume time, but consuming them is really rewarding ;)

Valentine's cherry pie

I'm not really into the Valentine's Day - me and my husband celebrate it on a daily basis ;) - but since 14th February is inevitably approaching, I decided to try a recipe that I had found a looong time ago in KUCHNIA magazine. Valentine's cherry pie... I can still remember the first time I saw it. It enchanted me so much that I simply had to buy a heart-shaped tin :) Wonderful sweetcrust pastry and exquisite cherry mixture   - perfect for your very special someone. Perfect on any occasion.

Since the recipe is presumably for a bigger tin than mine, I ended up having some extra dough which I eventually used for some simple-but-special heart-shaped biscuits :) I baked them for 15 min. in 180ºC/350ºF.

Makes about 10 servings. Preparation: 37 min. (+ 30 min. refrigeration). Baking: 50 min.

Utensils:
- bowl,
- baking tin,
- rolling pin,
- cling film.

Ingredients:
* dough
- 2,5 cup flour,
- 1/2 cup powdered sugar,
- 250g butter,
- 2-3 tbsp vanilla sugar,
- 5-6 tbsp ice water,
- pinch of salt.

* cherry filling
- 450g cherries (either fresh or tinned),
- 1/2 cup brown sugar,
- 3 tbsp potato starch,
- 2 tbsp vanilla sugar,
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon.

Method:

Put the flour, sugar, cold butter, and salt 1) either into a bowl - and, using your fingertips, rub the ingredients together 2) or into a food processor and pulse it until the mixture resembles crumbs. Gradually pour in the water until the crumbs come together as a dough. Form the pastry into a ball, cover it with cling film, and put it in the fridge for 30 min.

Grease the tin with a bit of butter. Roll out half of the pastry and line the tin with it, making sure that about 2,5-3cm of it overhangs the tin. (Since my heart-shaped beauty turned out to be too high on the sides, the pastry didn't overhang ;)  and I just secured the excess of the pastry).

Preheat your oven to 200ºC/390ºF.

Gently mix the cherries with the rest of the filling ingredients and place the mixture onto the layer of pastry.

Roll out the rest of the dough and cut stripes, as many as you need to form a checked pattern (or make a lettice crust if you want). Fold the overhanging excess of the pastry onto the stripes and press it with a fork.

Bake for 20 min. at 200ºC/390ºF, then lower the temperature to 160ºC/320ºF and keep baking for another 30min.

Let it cool and sprinkle it with powdered sugar.

Bon apetit! ;)

Oreo Mousse

Pure awesomeness.

Overwhelming sweetness captured in a heavenly deliciuos mousse. Oreo biscuits, caramel, and nuts make it undeniably, unquestionably...unputdownable.

Recipe by Tomek Woźniak.

Servings: makes 3-4 (depending on the size of the dishes). Preparation: 15min. Refrigeration: 1 h.

Utensils:
- 1 bowl,
- mixer,
- spoon,
- 3-4 dishes/cups/glasses.

Ingredients:
- 200g Oreo biscuits (+ 3-4 for decoration),
- 1 Snickers bar,
- 100ml double cream,
- 100ml Greek yoghurt.

Method:

Crush the biscuits into crumbs (e.g. using a rolling pin :>). 

Chop the Snickers bar into tiny pieces.

Whip the cream until it forms stiff peaks, stir in the yoghurt, then add the biscuits and Snickers, and stir.

Pour into individual dishes and decorate with chopped biscuits.

Refrigerate for 1 h.

Do enjoy.

Jam biscuits

My first jam biscuits ever! :) Sooo sweet and crunchy...Look out: even plain ones, without jam, disappear in no time ;) Recipe found in November's KUCHNIA magazine.

Serves: makes 20 (double) biscuits. Preparation: 33 min. + 2,5h. Baking: 12-14 min.

Utensils:
- 1 bowl,
- mixer,
- cling film,
- biscuit cutter (any shape),
- thimble (or a really small round cutter),
- baking paper,
- 2 baking trays.

Ingredients:
- 230g butter (room temp.),
- 3/4 cup powdered sugar,
- 2 cups flour,
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract,
- 1/2 tsp salt,
- apricot jam (or any other, really).

Method:

In a bowl, mix the butter, sugar and vanilla extract until light and fluffy. Add the flour and salt, and mix. Gently form the dough into a ball, wrap it in cling film, and place it in the fridge for 2 h.

On a lightly floured surface roll the dough out to about 4 mm thick and cut out biscuits with the cutter. Using a thimble, cut 1 or 2 holes in half of them. Place all of them on a baking tray (I had to use two).

Since I used an asymmetrical, snail-shaped biscuit cutter ;) I arranged them alternately (left/right-side-up) on the tray, to stick them later by their rough sides.

Place the trays in the fridge for 30 min.

Heat the oven to 165ºC/330ºF.

Bake the biscuits for 12-14 in., until they are lightly golden brown.

Let them cool.

Spread the whole biscuits with a thin layer of jam an then cover them with the holed ones.

And there you go :)

Or...you don't.

Cranberry muffins

This is a classic. A recipe from which I started my own baking adventures. Cranberry muffins which always turn out well. Recommended for beginners, those who think they're useless in the kitchen (get ready for a surprise), and regular muffin lovers ;) You can replace cranberries with anything you like: nuts, chocolate chips, chopped fruit, M&M's - sky is the limit! Recipe found ages ago on this forum.

Serves: makes 16. Preparation: 16 min. Baking: 15-17 min.

Utensils:
- 2 bowls,
- spoon ;) ,
- muffin tin,
- muffin cases.

Ingredients:
* dry:
- 2,5 cup flour,
- 3/4 cup sugar,
- 1 tsp baking powder,
- 1 tsp baking soda,
- pinch salt,
- 1 cup (100g) dried cranberries,

* wet:
- 100g butter,
- 1 cup buttermilk (room temp.),
- 2 eggs (room temp.),
- 1 tsp vanilla extract.

Method:
Melt the butter and let it cool to room temperature.
Preheat your oven to 180ºC/350ºF.
Line the muffin tin with paper cases.
In a bowl, combine the dry ingredients.
In another bowl whisk together the wet ingredients.
Pour them into the dry ones and stir together only until incorporated.

Spoon the mixture into the tin.
Bake 15-17 min., until a toothpick inserted into a muffin comes out clean.
Let them cool (or not ;)) and devour.

Om nom nom nom.

;)

Rainbow cake!

When I first saw this cake on mojewypieki.blox.pl I just couldn't stop thinking about it. It was love at first sight :D I mean, just look at it! Isn't it awesome??? The recipe is probably already legendary - Whisk Kid herself baked her Rainbow Cake on The Martha Steward Show - but I'd like to share it with you anyway, since it's my first cake that I ever (EVER) baked! :) With one or two changes added by dorotus76, it goes like this:

Utensils:
- 2 or 3 medium/large bowls,
- kitchen mixer,
- kitchen scale,
- 6 small bowls for the batter,
- 6 cake pans (21cm/8in in diameter) [if you use smaller ones, you'll end up having a bit of a skyscraper cake. Trust me.]
- offset spatula.

Ingredients (for 6 layers):
- 226g butter,
- 220g sugar,
- 5 egg whites,
- 2 tsp vanilla extract,
- 375g flour,
- 4 tsp baking powder,
- 1/2 tsp salt,
- 355ml milk,
- gel food colouring (at least 3 colours: red, yellow and blue).

Cream frosting:
- 900ml double/heavy cream,
- 250g mascarpone (or cream cheese),
- couple of tbsps of powdered/icing sugar (I used 7 :D),
- vanilla or lemon extract.

All ingredients should be at room temperature.
In a bowl, whisk toghether the flour, baking powder, and salt.
In a separate bowl beat (with a mixer) the butter until light and fluffy.Gradually add the sugar, and then the egg whites, one at a time, beating well after each addition. With the mixer on low speed, alternately add the flour mixture and milk in a couple of additions, each time beating only until incorporated.

Weigh the batter and divide it evenly between 6 bowls.
(Time for some art ;)) Add the food colourings and mix them well with the batter. (Obviously, orange = red + yellow, green = yellow + blue, purple = blue + tiny amount of red).
A very small amount of the colouring should do the trick: I just dipped the 'thinner' end of a teaspoon :) Don't you worry that the colours seem to be a bit pale - they'll be brighter once baked.
Pour into the pans and bake about 15-20 min. in 190C/375F (until a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean).

(Time for the frosting ;)) Whip the cream until it holds stiff peaks. Then add the sugar, and vanilla extract and beat untill smooth. At the end, mix in the mascarpone.
Stack the layers of the cake in the rainbow order (beginning with the purple one, of course) and fill and frost. Don't forget about the sides of the cake.
Refrigerate the cake for about 3 hours before serving.
Voila :D

/)^3^(\