Raspberry Lemon Petit Fours

I cut the whole Raspberry-Lemon-Sheet into squares. And now I'm calling them Petit fours.
It's the best size. Four bites and you're through.

The raspberry dough has a beautiful color and just the right tartness. But what I liked best, is the shortcrust pastry. It's unexpectedly airy and wonderfully crispy.

I'm planig to take the recipe apart and to use the separate parts for some cakes I have in mind.

I doubled the original recipe. Mainly because the only rectangular backing sheet I have is roughly twice as big as the one stated. Of course I could have used a normal baking pan, but then I would have to many clippings.
I just put about half of the Petit fours in the freezer. For the next time, when there is a goodies-emergency. And those come again and again.

I also made a lemon-poppy curd. But it didn't really go with the Petit fours. So I excluded that recipe.
I did't like the taste the butter gave the curd. On the plus side, now I have the perfect means to moisten a cake. I just leave out the butter. And the poppyseed, cause it ruins the beautiful bright yellow color. But that's for another time.

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Raspberry Lemon Petit fours

Shortcrust Pastry

250 g butter, soft
1/2 cup sugar
2 cups flour
2 tsp vanilla aroma
16 g vanilla sugar
1/4 tsp salt

1. Line the baking sheet with baking parchment.
2. Pre-heat the oven to 180°C/360°F.
3. Put the butter and the sugar in a bowl and mix it with a hand mixer until it's light and creamy.
4. Add vanilla aroma, the vanilla sugar and the salt and sift in the flour. Use a dough hook to mix everything together. Be careful not to over mix.
5. Put the dough into the prepared baking sheet and press it out evenly.
6. Bake it for 20-25 minutes. It should have a golden brown color.
7. Take the sheet out and let it cool down for a while.

Raspberry Dough

5 cups raspberrys, frozen
2 cups sugar
1 1/3 cups lemon juice,freshly squeezed
6 tbsp lemon zest
6 egg whites
2 eggs
1 1/3 cups flour
1/4 tsp salt

1. Let the raspberrys thaw.
2. Pre-heat the oven to 180°C/360°F.
3. Grate the lemon and gather the zest. Squeeze out the lemon juice and put it aside for later.
4. Press the raspberry through a fine sieve. Try to get out as much raspberry mash as you can.
5. Add the sugar, the lemon juice, the zest, the egg whites, the eggs, the flour and the salt to the mash. Mix it with a whisk.
6. Pour the mixture over the shortcrust pastry.
7. Bake it for 30-35 minutes.
8. Let the raspberry-lemon-sheet cool down to room temperature. Take the raspberry sheet out of the baking pan.
9. Store it for at least 3-4 hours in the fridge before you serve it.
10. Cut the sheet into small squares.

I used a 35 x 26 cm big baking sheet.

Bon appétit!!

Stuffed Peppers

I love this recipe. I've got it from my mom.
It's rather simple, only the chopping takes some time. But it is worth it.

It's not actually a soup, but the way I make it, you can count it as one. If I could I would have poured in some more water, but my biggest sauce pan is just not high enough.
I actually forgot to put in the dill here. Damn!

If you only have small sauce pans, you can just distribute the stuffed peppers between two smaller sauce pans. On the other hand, if you want more peppers, you can just double the amount of the ingredients and cook them in two big sauce pans.

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Stuffed Peppers

Filling

5-6 red bell peppers
500 g ground meat, pork
3 tbsp parboiled rice
2 onions
1/2 cup milk
2 tbsp crème fraîche
salt
pepper

1. Wash and dry the bell peppers.
2. Cut off the top of the peppers and clean out the insides. Use the cut off tops in the broth.
3. Cook the rice for about half the time then stated on the instructions.
4. Cut the onions into fine cubes or use a food processor.
5. Combine the ground meat,the onions, the rice, the milk and the crème fraîche in a bowl and mix it with a fork.
6. Season it with salt and pepper. Make sure everything is mixed well.
7. Stuff the peppers with the meat. Fill them to the top. If there is some meat mixture over, not enough for a whole pepper, than you can make a small dome on the already stuffed peppers. Make sure to press it in firmly.

Broth 

1 red bell pepper
3 onions
3-4 carrots
1 cup sieved tomatoes
2 tbsp oil

1. Finely cube the cut of bell pepper tops. Do the same with a whole, cleaned out pepper.
2. Skin the carrots. Grate them afterwards.
3. Quarter the onions and cut them into fine slices.
4. Heat the oil in a frying pan.
5. Add the peppers, the onions and the carrots to it. Fry the vegetables until they are soft and the onions are translucent.
6. Add the sieved tomatoes and mix everything together. Fry it for a few more minutes, until the sieved tomatoes become thicker.
7. Take the frying pan of the stove and put it aside.

To Assemble

boiling salt water
2 tbsp dill, fresh or frozen

1. Arrange the stuffed peppers with the opening upwards in a big sauce pan. The sauce pan should be high but not to wide. The peppers should be packed close together, so they don't fall over.
2. Bring the salt water in a separate sauce pan to a boil. Better boil a few liters more than not enough.
3. Carefully pour the boiling water in the sauce pan with the peppers. At least fill in enough water that the peppers are covered. For the end result it's better if you fill in some more.
4. Let the peppers simmer for 20 minutes.
5. Add the fried vegatables to the bell peppers. Carefully stir it in a little bit.
6. Let it simmer for 10-15 minutes.
7. Add the chopped dill right before you take the sauce pan of the stove.

Bon appétit!!

Risotto verde with cherry tomatoes

This recipe is perfect for a supper in the summer. The parmesan makes it a little heavy. That's why I reduced the amount of the original recipe. It should be better now.
I really like that the preparations for this risotto are quite simple. The most work you have is the cutting of the scallions, broccoli and sugar snaps.

As I started to eat I got the idea to leave the tomatoes on the branch. It would have looked great on the photo. Of cause that's just for the aesthetics.

Apropos aesthetics, it's quite annoying that I always have to make the picture before I can actually eat what I made. It's alright if it's something you eat cold or lukewarm. Like cupcakes, cake, salads and so on. But a supper that should be eaten hot or at least warm? Just annoying.
I am doing this out of my own free will, so I really shouldn't complain. Especially because I like to have these picture of my dishes.
So it's not all bad.

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Risotto verde with cherry tomatoes

Rice

130 g peas, frozen
a bunch of scallions
2 garlic cloves
ca. 250 g broccoli
120 g sugar snaps
250 g risotto rice
100 ml white wine, dry
1,2 l vegetable broth
80 g parmesan
2 tbsp butter
olive oil
salt
pepper
nutmeg

1. Let the peas thaw.
2. Wash the scallions. Cube the white part. Cut the green part into 5 mm thick slanting rings.
3. Skin the garlic cloves and mince them.
4. Wash the broccoli and cut it into small florets.
5. Wash the sugar snaps and cut them into 2-3 cm big slanting pieces.
6. Heat the oil in a big sauce pan. Braise the garlic and the white scallions lightly in it.
7. Add the rice and braise it briefly.
8. Deglaze it with the white wine. Simmer it until it's thicker. Season it with salt and pepper.
9. Gradually add the hot vegetable broth. Stir frequently.
10. From the first time the broth was added it should be let to simmer for about 25 minutes.
11. 10 minutes before the cooking time ends add the broccoli, peas and sugar snaps. Stir everything together.
12. Grate the parmesan.
13. In the last minute add the green scallions, the parmesan and the butter. Stir everything together and take the pan of the stove.
14. Season the rice with salt, pepper and a little nutmeg. 

Tomatoes

500 g cherry tomatoes
olive oil
salt
pepper

1. Wash the tomatoes.
2. Heat the olive oil in a frying pan.
3. Roast the tomatoes for a few minutes in the pan.
4. Season with salt and pepper.

Serve the tomatoes with the rice.

Bon appétit!!

Cream Topped Chocolate Cupcakes

I made this for my moms birthday. So she could take them with her to work for her colleagues.

When my father collected me from the train station we made a little stopover in a supermarket. And look at that, they had a cute muffin pan with a depression at the bottom. I bought it. And used it.

It's great. Especially if you plan to put frosting on top.

Does someone know if this kind of muffin pan has a specific name? I tried to find them online. No luck.

I think the cupcakes look good but of course you can use just a normal muffin pan. For those who actually use this kind, don't be stingy with the butter and cocao and let them really cool down. Otherwise the bottom will break off when you turn them over. That happend to my first batch.

I think they are like Weberli in cupcake form. They don't taste exactly like them but close enough. After they were done, I thought that it would be a good idea to coat them with chocolate before topping them with the cream. That way they would be even more like Weberli. And they would look even better.

Maybe next time.

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Cream Topped Chocolate Cupcakes

Cupcakes

220g butter, soft
3/4 cup  cocoa powder
2 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2 cups sugar
3 eggs
1 cup sour cream
butter
cocoa powder

1. Sift the cocoa, the flour, the baking powder, the baking soda and salt together.
2. Put butter and sugar into a bowl and blend it with a hand mixer until the mass is pale.
3. Put the eggs in individually and blend well in between.
4. Add half of the flour mixture to the mass and blend. Mix the sour cream in. Afterwards add the rest of the flour mixture and blend everything. Try not to overmix.
5. Pre-heat the oven to 180°C/360°F.
6. Butter the muffin pan and dust it liberally with cocao.
7. If you use the same kind of pan like me, fill it to 1/3 with the batter. If you use a normal muffin pan, than fill it to 2/3 with the batter.
8. Bake the muffins for 25-30 minutes.
9. Put the pan for 10 minutes on a cooling rack. Take the muffins out an let them cool down.

Cream

ca. 210 g Marshmallow fluff
110 g butter

1. Mix the Marshmallow fluff with the butter, till it's smooth.
2. Store the cream for 15-30 minutes in the fridge.

To Assemble 

1. Let the muffins cool down until they have room temperature.
2. Put the cream in a piping bag. If you want you can use a nozzle in the bag to achieve a different look.
3. Pipe the cream on the Cupcakes.

Bon appétit!!

"Navette" Style Cookies

These cookies are really delicious. And what makes them so delicious? They are soft in the middle and crunchy on the sides. 

The original "Navette" Cookies are without the jam. But I love cookies with jam and that way they stay soft for some time. 

Without the jam they get too hard, at last for me.

I didn't use normal jam for them. Last summer I made a mistake when I weighed the strawberries and mangos for a homemade jam. In the end there was too much jam sugar in it and it came out too firm. But it's great for these cookies. 

I actually tried a batch with normal jam and it melted of too much. They still taste good of cause but they don't look as good as with these "wrong" jam.

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"Navette" Style Cookies

500-530 g flour
90 g butter, soft
200 g sugar
2 eggs
4 tbsp "White Chocolate" sirup
ca. 1 cup jam

1. Put the sugar and the butter into a bowl and blend it with a hand mixer.
2. Put the eggs in induvidually and mix well in between.
3. Put the sirup in and blend that too.
4. Put the flour in slowly. Blend it with your hands. When the dough no longer sticks to your hands and is a smooth solid mass it is enough flour.
5. Prepare a baking sheet with baking parchment.
6. Flour your work surface lightly. Roll the dough on the surface and cut the roll into ca. 1 cm thick pieces.
7. Pre-heat the oven to 200°C/390°F.
8. Pinch two sides of the pieces to form the "Navette" shape. Put a cut in the middle and push the sides of the hole to make it a little bigger.
9. Place the boats on the baking sheet. Fill the holes of each cookie with about 1/2 tsp jam.
10. Bake the cookies for about 17-20 minutes.

The dough is enough for two baking sheets.

Bon appétit!!

Cherry Muffins with Kernel Brittle

The cupcakes were for my moms colleagues. They have the custom that the "birthday child" brings something sweet to work. And well we didn't have any cake left so I made some cupcakes and muffis.

I made these muffins in the same muffin pan that I used for the Cream Topped Chocolate Cupcakes.
These recipe is just perfect for the pan. They look like little crowns.
Of cause if you use a normal muffin pan, like in the original recipe, than you can put in more cherries.

These are one of my favorite muffins. The cherrys make them so moist and delicious.

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Cherry Muffins with Kernel Brittle

Muffins

300-400 g sour cherries, frozen

100 g sugar

125 g butter, soft

12 tsp brown sugar

16 g vanilla sugar

1 pinch salt

3 eggs

100 g flour

50 g cornstarch

1 tsp baking powder

butter 

1. Let the cherries thaw.

2. Butter the muffin pan.

3. Sprinkle a tsp of brown sugar on the bottom of each hollow. 

4. Sift the flour, the cornstarch and the baking powder together.

5. Put the butter, the sugar, the vanilla sugar and the salt in a bowl and blend it with a hand mixer.

6. Add the eggs individually and mix well in between.

7. Add the flour mixture to the batter and blend it.

8. Pre-heat the oven to 175°C/350°F.

9. Dab the cherries dry with a paper towel.

10. Fill the bottom of the muffin pan with one layer of cherries.

11. Fill the pan to 1/2 with the batter.

12. Bake the muffins for 20 minutes. Make the toothpick test, and let them a little longer in the oven if necessary.

13. Put the muffin pan on a cooling rack for about 10 minutes. With a knife carefully cut around the edge of the muffins to loosen them. Take the muffins out.

14. The cherries will be the top of the muffins. If the bottom is uneven cut a little bit off, so it can stand straight.

Kernel Brittle

125 g sugar

75 g Kernelmix (sunflower seeds, pumkin seeds, pine nuts, soy seeds)

30 cm kitchen foil 

oil 

1. Cut off the kitchen foil. Put it on the counter and coat it with some oil.

2. Put the sugar in a sauce pan and caramelize it until it's a light brown color. Pay attention so it will not burn.

3. Add the Kernelmix and stir it rapidly.

4. Swiftly spread the mixture on the kitchen foil. Try to distribute the brittle as thin and as even as possible. You have to work quickly cause the caramelized sugar cools rather fast.

5. Let the brittle cool down entirely. Break it into roughly 1 cm big pieces.

6. Decorate the muffins with the Kernel Brittle.

Bon appétit!!

Sarahs Birthday Cake

Like the title says this is the cake I made for the birthday of my friend Sarah.
Really she did me a favor letting me make the cake. I wanted to try fondant for some time and this was the perfect opportunity for that.

I'm rather satisfied with the outcome of my first trial. It's by far not perfect but I coverd all the flaws quite well with the flowers and butterflys.
Working with fondant was messy. At the end there was powder sugar all over the floor.
I'm not going to write down the recipe for the fondant. Becaus I didn't change it and I sure as hell didn't make it better. And considering that there is a how-to video on the side I consulted it's really better this way.

The cake has four layers. It alternates between vanilla sponge and chocolate cake layers.
As a result it was rather big, more than enough for 12 to 14 people. And it was really heavy, a few kilos at least. I had to transport it from Wiesbaden to Mainz on the bus. I'm glad the way I had to travel by foot was short. It sure wouldn't have been fun otherwise.

Everybody liked the cake. It was a little to sweet if you eaten it with the fondant. But all things considered I think it was a success.

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Sarahs Birthday Cake

Raspberry Curd

40 g butter
300 g raspberris, frozen
4 egg yolks
1/2 cup sugar
1 pinch salt
lemon juice, freshly squeezed

1. Let the berries thaw.
2. Beat the egg yolks lightly.
3. Put the butter in a sauce pan and let it melt by average heat.
4. Add the raspberries, the egg yolk, the sugar and salt to the butter and bring everything to a boil. Mash the berries while you cook them.
5. Boil the berries for about 10 minutes, to thicken the mixture. Stir constantly.
6. Take the sauce pan of the stove. Afterwards sift the curd through a fine sieve.
7. Let the curd cool to room temperature.
8. Squeeze out one or two lemons. Add the juice to the curd, depending on how sour you want it.
9. Cover the curd with plastic wrap and put it in the fridge for at least 3 hours. In the fridge the curd can be stored for a few days.

Chocolate Frosting

500 g bittersweet chocolate
200 g milk chocolate
480 g whipping cream
200 g butter, soft

1. Chop the chocolate and put it in a big bowl.
2. In a sauce pan bring the whipping cream to a light boil.
3. Pour the whipping cream over the chocolate. Make sure that all the chocolate is covered. Leave it for 5 minutes and stir it afterwards. The entire chocolate should be melted.
4. Let the ganache cool down to room temperature.
5. Beat the butter until it's light and fluffy.
6. Add the butter to the ganache and mix it well.

Chocolate Batter

1 cup warm water
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1 1/2 cups flour
1 cup sugar
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 tsp wine vinegar or vinegar essence, diluted
1 tsp vanilla aroma

1. Grease the baking pan with butter or use cooking spray.
2. Pre-heat the oven to 190°C/375°F.
3. Sift the flour, the sugar, the baking soda and salt together.
4. Mix the water to the cocoa.
5. Add the cocoa, the oil and the vanilla to the flour and blend everything together.
6. Add the vinegar and mix it well.
7. Pour the batter into the baking pan.
8. Bake the cake for 30-35 minutes.
9. Put the pan on a cooling rack and leave it for 20 minutes. Release the cake from the pan and let it cool on a cooling rack.

Sponge Batter 

220 g flour
30 g cornstarch
1 cup milk
6 egg whites
395 g sugar
4 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
170 g butter, cut into small cubes
2 tsp vanilla aroma

1. Grease the baking pan with butter or use cooking spray.
2. Pre-heat the oven to 180°C/360°F.
3. Sift the flour, the cornstarch, the sugar, the baking powder and salt together.
4. Combine the milk, the egg whites and vanilla and beat it lightly.
5. Add the butter to the flour mixture and beat it with the hand mixer until it reaches a sandy consistency.
6. Add 1/3 of the milk mixture and mix it for about 1 minute.
7. Repeat the process twice with the remaining milk.
8. Pour half of the batter into the baking pan.
9. Bake it for 20-25 minutes.
10. Put the pan on a cooling rack and leave it for 10 minutes. Release the cake from the pan and let it cool on a cooling rack.
11. Repeat the process with the remaining batter.

To Assemble

1. Cut the chocolate cake base into two parts.
2. Put one chocolate cake base on a plate. Spread some of the chocolate cream on top. With a spoon pour some curd onto the cream.
3. Place one sponge cake base on top. Spread some of the chocolate cream on top. With a spoon pour some curd onto the cream.
4. Place the seconde chocolate cake base on top. Spread some of the chocolate cream on top. With a spoon pour some curd onto the cream.
5. Place the last cake base on top. With a spoon pour some curd onto the sponge cake.
6. Cover the whole cake with the chocolate cream. Coat it evenly.
7. Cover and decorate the cake with fondant.
8. Store the cake in the fridge. Serve it at room temperature.

Bon appétit!!

The Love to Cupcakes & Tea

So a little introduction. My Name is Julia. I live in Germany, Wiesbaden to be exact. And what's most importen for this blogg, I love to cook and bake.

I admit that I am a little messy and chaotic during the cooking. And not everything turns out like it should or how I planed it. None the less the end product is rather good. At least most of the time.
One reason for it is that I make most of the recipes only one or two times. There are just so many things I want to try out but hardly enough time for it.

Regardless of the name, I will not only post cupcake recipes. There will be all kinds of desserts, salads, dishes with meat or fish, or really just anything that strikes my fancy.
More often then not I alter the recipes to my taste. I will try to post the link to the original source if it's something I found on the net.

The idea for the name of my Blogg came from my water kattle. It's really cute. Looks like a teapot. On the side is a picture of cupcakes and "We love Cupcakes and Tea" is written over it.
I thought it was kinda perfect for me. I love cupcakes, really who doesn't, and I especially looooove tea.
I created the Header extra to fit the name. My favorite part of it is the cherry. I gotta say that worked out rather well.

And lastly I would like to excuse my spelling. Like I said at the beginning I am German and english is not my first language. I don't think I'm that terrible or even that bad at it. But I'm not really good either.
I use the online translator rather often. I hope it will get better over time.
If you see something that needs corrections just tell me. That can only help me in the end.

Well I hope you will like the recipes and especially what I make of them.

Bon appétit!!