Vote!

I stocked up on cream cheese because it was on sale at the grocery store, which leads me to my next question: “which cheesecake should I bake?”

Lemon Cheesecake: I had this divine slice of cheesecake at Starbucks a few months ago, so I’m going to try to recreate that cheesecake. It has a whipped cream topping.

Eastern Mediterranean Cheesecake: I’m not sure what’s so ‘Eastern Mediterranean’ about this cheesecake, but it sounds delicious. It uses honey, orange-flower water, cinnamon and flaked almonds.

Apple Cheesecake with Butterscotch Sauce: a good ol’ apple recipe! Cheesecake with apple schnapps (an apple liqueur) and a home-made butterscotch sauce.

Nutella Pancakes

February 5th will be ‘World Nutella Day’, and to get you into the mood here are this week’s poll winner: Nutella Pancakes! I planned on using Nigella Lawson’s recipe but I made so many alterations, I can hardly attribute anything to her. Nigella’s recipe called for 8 store-bought crêpes, I made 14 Dutch pancakes or pannekoeken. They are very similar to crêpes, but they’re a lot thicker. I also omitted the Frangelico (a hazelnut liqueur) in Nigella’s recipe, because I did not want to spend $15 on liquor that I have no intention of using beyond this recipe. And I did not use any hazelnuts. See? This recipe is kind of my own! But not to worry, I wrote down both recipes for you. And now for the rating … well what do you think? Nutella + pancakes … was there anyway that this was not going to be good?! Exactly! 5 out of 5.

Dutch Pancakes - 'pannekoeken' recipe:

Ingredients:
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- ½ tablespoon vanilla extract
- 3 eggs
- 1 ½ cup milk

Instructions:
- Combine the flour, salt and sugar in a large bowl. Add ¾ cup of milk and mix with a whisk to combine. Add the remaining ingredients (¾ cup milk, 3 eggs, ½ tablespoon vanilla) and mix until smooth.
- Heat a skillet over medium heat, and coat with butter or oil. Scoop about ¼ cup of batter into the skillet, and tilt the pan to coat the bottom. Cook until the top begins to form air-bubbles and the bottom begins to brown. Carefully slide a spatula under the pancake and flip. Cook for a 20 seconds on the other side, just until browned. Remove to a plate, and repeat with remaining batter.

Nutella addition: I warmed ½ cup of Nutella in the microwave for 20 seconds, so that it would be easier to spread on the pancakes.


Nutella Pancakes recipe: Nigella Lawson - Nigella Express

Ingredients:
- 8 store-bought crepes
- 1 jar (400g) Nutella
- 75g soft butter
- 80ml Frangelico + 2 tablespoons
- 35g chopped hazelnuts
- 250 ml double cream

Instructions:
- Preheat the oven to 200C.
- Put each crepe in front of you and spread some Nutella over one half, then fold the unspread side over the spread side. Now add a dollup of Nutella over one quarter and fold again. Place on a buttered swiss-roll tin or similar. Proceed with the remaining crepes, overlapping them a little in the tin as you go.
- Put the butter in a small pan with the Frangelico, and heat gently to melt. Pour over the crepes in their tin and sprinkle most of the chopped hazelnuts on top. Bake for 10 minutes.
- Meanwhile, whisk the cream with the remaining 2 tablespoons Frangelico until you have an aerated soft floppiness, and put into a bowl, sprinling with the last of the crushed hazelnuts. This luscious cream is a must alongside the sweet, buttery, heavenly crepes.


Whisking away.

A stack of pannekoeken.

This dish was so good it should be outlawed! Seriously, Nutella on pancakes is Satan's way of luring me from my New Year's resolutions.



Of course I didn't eat all three ... what do you take me for?

I had so many pancakes left, I also made Crêpes Suzette! Stay tuned!

Vote!

Almost a year ago, when I started this blog, I made the most amazing Mille Feuille Crêpes Cake, and I’m planning to return to the taste of it by picking 3 crêpes recipes:

Crêpes Suzette: when I think of a classic French dessert, Crêpes Suzette springs to mind. I got an orange-liqueur for Christmas and I’ve been making all kinds of delicious cocktails with it, but now I want to use the orange-liqueur for something to eat. Click here to watch Nigella Lawson cook up some of these crêpes drenched with an orange-syrup.

Nutella Pancakes: I almost want to beg you: “Please don’t pick this one! Yes, I know it sounds amazing and I’ve been longing to make these, but please remember that I have to eat these devilishly delicious pancakes and live with the consequences. The consequences being of course that I will gain 10 pounds just by looking at them.” Recipe by Nigella Lawson.

Apple Crêpes: these crêpes seem innocent enough, but they are served with a caramel-ish sauce and scoops of ice cream. Recipe by Martha Stewart.

Totally Chocolate - Chocolate Chip Cookies

Starting with a chocolate recipe in the New Year I realize, does not make me popular. I know that some of you have New Year’s resolutions to lose a bit of weight. But what can I say? These Totally Chocolate - Chocolate Chip Cookies won me over! Because Nigella’s Christmas Chocolate Cookies were such a huge success, I wanted to try another chocolate cookie recipe. This recipe is adapted from Elinor Klivans’ book ‘Big Fat Cookies’ – and that they are! You only make 12 cookies out of this dough so they are HUGE. Very chocolate-y, very quickly gone! Rating 4+ out of 5.

Totally Chocolate - Chocolate Chip Cookies recipe: Nigella Lawson - Nigella Express

Ingrdients:
- 4 ounces (125g) semisweet chocolate
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- ¼ cup cocoa, sifted
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup unsalted butter
- ½ cup light brown sugar
- ¼ cup white sugar
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 egg, cold
- 2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

Instructions:
- Preheat the oven to 325°F.
- Break the 4oz chocolate into pieces and place into a heatproof bowl set over a pan of barely simmering water. Heat, stirring occasionally, until melted. Place the flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt into a large bowl and mix well.
- In another bowl, cream the butter and two sugars together until light and fluffy. Add the melted chocolate and stir well. Beat in the vanilla extract and crack in the egg, then mix in the dry ingredients. Finally stir in the chocolate chips.
- Scoop out 12 equal portions of the mixture - an ice cream scoop and a palette knife are the best tools for the job - and place onto a lined baking sheet about 2½ inches apart. Do not flatten them.
- Transfer to the oven and bake for 18 minutes, then test with a skewer - it should come out semi-clean and not wet with batter. If you pierce a chocolate chip, try again. Leave the cookies to cool on the baking sheet for 4-5 minutes, then transfer them to a cooling rack to harden as they cool.


I know that 2 cups of chocolate chips sounds preposterous, but it's the chocolate chips that make these cookies chewy.

They resemble Pierre Hermé's Korova Cookies, but these taste better!

C h o c o l a t e h e a v e n !
I'm starting the year with a BANG.

My Favorite Recipes of 2009!

It's been almost a year since I started this blog: one year of trying countless recipes and eating delicious desserts! Today is our last day of 2009 and I would like to reflect on all of those yummy recipes that were so memorable. So, I present to you my favorite 15 recipes from this year:


1. Autumn Meringue Cake: one of my first Pierre Hermé recipes. So decadent and rich! If it wasn't for the very long preparation time, I would have made this cake time and time again.


2. Schnecken: after making these German cinnamon buns, I never tried a store-bought cinnamon bun again. Those just aren't up to par compared to these delicious beauties!


3. Sour Cream Chocolate Cake: hands down the best chocolate cake I've ever had! I've made this recipe many, many times since.


4. Easter Cupcakes: a combination of the different Easter cupcakes-designs I've made. 20 yellow cupcakes with buttercream frosting.


5. Chocolate Graham Cracker Cupcakes with Marshmallow Frosting: no I haven't rebaked these since and I'll give you a good reason why: I made nine of these cupcakes and I ate eight of them!!!


6. New York Cheesecake: I can't even count how many times I have made this cheesecake. I've tried all sorts of variations, but the way it is shown here, with a cherry-topping, is still my favorite!


7. Snickerdoodle Cupcakes with Honey - Cinnamon Frosting: such a lovely cupcake this was. The honey - cinnamon frosting was magnificent too!


8. Lemon Tartlets: Pierre Hermé's ultra-flavorful lemon tartlets. The intensity of the lemon is beyond breathtaking!


9. Owl Oreo Cupcakes: funny owl cupcakes with a cheesecake filling and a mini-oreo in the middle. Decorating them was almost as much fun as eating them!


10. Rose Cupcakes: elegant cupcakes with a lovely finish. Rose cupcakes with rose frosting and a real rose petal on top!


11. Apple-Spice Layer Cake: the fabulous tastes of fall are emerged in this apple-spice layer cake. I can only say that it was gone very quickly!


12. Nightmare Before Christmas Cupcakes: in celebration of Halloween (though they might work for Christmas as well) I made these Jack Skellington cupcakes. Brown sugar pound cupcakes filled with Nutella. Need I say more?


13. Soft and Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies: we all want to find the perfect chocolate chip cookie, and I think these came close to perfection. I still dream about them.


14. Apple Crumb Pie: I nicknamed this pie 'the Best. Apple. Pie. Ever.' and I think the title says it all!


15. Christmas Chocolate Cookies: never in my life have I made something that I eat in the middle of the night, but you just can't help yourself around these chocolate cookies.

Happy New Year!

Elvis Presley's Pound Cake

Though I have made pound cakes many times, especially in my early times of baking, this cake requires the most unusual preparation. For starters you do not preheat the oven: the oven should be cold when you place your cake into it. The flour and salt should be sifted 3 (!) times. Which leads me to another unusual thing about this cake: you put no baking powder or baking soda into the batter. Oh, and the butter and sugar takes an enormous long time to beat: 5 to 8 minutes. Pretty odd, huh? Well the flavor of the cake more than made up for the weird instructions because the cake tasted A-M-A-Z-I-N-G! This cake goes into my family's 'cake hall of fame'. Rating: 5+ out of 5.

Elvis Presley's Favorite Whipping Cream Pound Cake recipe:

Ingredients:
- 2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter, softened
- 3 cups sifted cake flour (I used AP flour with cornstarch)
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- 3 cups sugar (I used 2 cups)
- 7 large eggs, at room temperature for 30 minutes
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
- 1 cup heavy cream

Instructions:
- Put oven rack in middle position, but do not preheat the oven. Generously butter cake pan and dust with flour, knocking out excess flour.
- Sift together sifted flour and salt into a bowl. Repeat sifting into another bowl (flour will have been sifted 3 times total).
- Beat together butter and sugar in a large bowl with an electric mixer at medium-high speed until pale and fluffy, about 5 minutes in a stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment or 6 to 8 minutes with a handheld mixer. Add eggs 1 at a time, beating well after each addition, then beat in vanilla. Reduce speed to low and add half of flour, then all of cream, then remaining flour, mixing well after each addition. (I added the flour in 3 additions, alternating with the cream) Scrape down side of bowl, then beat at medium-high speed 5 minutes. Batter will become creamier and satiny.
- Spoon batter into pan and rap pan against work surface once or twice to eliminate air bubbles. Place pan in cold oven and turn oven temperature to 350°F. Bake until golden and a wooden pick or skewer inserted in middle of cake comes out with a few crumbs adhering, 1 to 1 ¼ hours. (mine needed 1 ½ hours) Cool cake in pan on a rack 30 minutes. Run a thin knife around inner and outer edges of cake, then invert rack over pan and invert cake onto rack to cool completely.

White Chocolate Glaze recipe: my own

Instructions:
- 9 ounces best-quality white chocolate, chopped into small pieces
- ⅓ cup heavy cream

Ingredients:
- Put the chopped white chocolate into a small bowl and set aside. Bring the heavy cream to a boil, then pour over the white chocolate and leave to stand for 30 seconds. Stir the white chocolate and cream together - by now the white chocolate should have melted and you get a shiny, drizzly glaze. Use immediately.


Thank god the cake did not rise much! The Bundt cake tin was almost filled up till the edge.

Le chocolat blanc.

Beautifully melted, along with heavy cream: yum!

Et voila! Un délicieux gâteau.

I think Elvis would approve!

Banana Foster

Hi everyone! Hope you had a fantastic Christmas day! Yesterday I made dessert for my family so I want to share the recipe with you. I made Banana Foster with chocolate & vanilla ice cream and butterscotch sauce. It was truly amazing!!! So easy to make (within 5 minutes) and everyone was raving about it!

Banana Foster recipe: adapted from AllRecipes.com

Ingredients:
- ¼ cup butter
- ⅔ cup dark brown sugar
- 3 tablespoons dark rum
- 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 3 to 5 bananas, peeled and sliced lengthwise

Instructions:
- In a large, deep skillet over medium heat, melt butter. Stir in sugar, rum, vanilla and cinnamon. When mixture begins to bubble, place bananas in pan. Cook until bananas are hot, 1 to 2 minutes. Serve at once over ice cream.

Butterscotch Sauce recipe: Nigella Lawson - Express

Ingredients:
- 3 tablespoons light muscovado sugar or light brown sugar
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- ½ cup golden syrup
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
- ½ cup heavy cream
- Splash vanilla extract

Instructions:
- Melt the sugars, syrup and butter in a saucepan and boil for 5 minutes.
- Add the cream and vanilla, stirring together, and then take off the heat. It will be very runny, but still you can use it right away. However, if you put it in the refrigerator for 1 - 2 hours it will become thicker.



This is not my photo. I didn't get a chance to take photos. Just to give you an idea of how it looked like.

Merry Christmas! & Announcement New Blog

Merry Christmas!

Wishing you a very happy and cozy Christmas! I hope you get to open loads of wonderful gifts and be around the people you love!

I also want to show you my new blog French Mademoiselle. A blog where I write about my travels, things I love and show beautiful photos. I hope you pay a visit!

Warmest regards,

Daniëlle ♥

Click Here

Vote!

This week’s picks are all three previous contestants that didn’t make the cut. Hoping to give them another try, I present to you:

Christmas Morning Muffins: cinnamon, orange and dried cranberries are the main ingredients in these glorious muffins. Recipe by the domestic goddess – Nigella Lawson.

Linzer Cookies with Raspberry Jam: Recipe by the fabulous Pierre Hermé. I never had a Linzer Cookie before, but they always looked so yummy to me and now I have the cookie cutters to make them! Cinnamon-almond pastry filled with raspberry jam.

Elvis Presley’s Pound Cake with White Chocolate Glaze: I’ve read many, many great reviews about this classic cake. Elvis Presley's favourite whipping cream pound cake, that I plan to ice with white chocolate.

Joyeux Noël!

Gingerbread Muffins

Nothing tastes better than a warm muffin in the morning. Especially when you’re used to eating cold cereal (with extra cold milk!). I didn’t feel like doing my normal breakfast-routine, so I baked up some muffins. Muffins are really the only thing I can stand to bake early in the morning, everything else will have to wait till noon! Since the Chocolate – Gingerbread Cupcakes tasted so good, I opted for a gingerbread muffin. Also, this is really the time of year to make them, I can’t imagine baking these in … let’s say July! They were (of course) easy to make and easy to like. They tasted like real breakfast muffins: not too sweet and a hint of savory-ness. I’d give them 3 out of 5, my family 4 out of 5, so a little math would lead me to a 3.5 out of 5!

Gingerbread Muffins recipe: Nigella Lawson - Feast

Ingredients:
- 1 ⅔ cups all-purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 ½ teaspoons ground ginger
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon ground cloves
- 1 egg
- ⅓ cup packed dark brown sugar
- ⅓ cup packed light brown sugar
- ¾ cup whole milk
- ¼ teaspoon balsamic vinegar
- 6 tablespoons vegetable or corn oil
- 4 tablespoons dark corn syrup
- 4 tablespoons molasses

Instructions:
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Grease or line a 12-cup muffin pan with paper muffin cups.
- Combine the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and spices in a large bowl. Whisk the egg in another bowl, then add the brown sugars, making sure to break up any lumps. Add the milk and vinegar to the egg-brown sugar mixture then measure in the oil with a tablespoon. Use the same oily spoon to add the corn syrup and molasses so they don’t stick to it. Whisk the mixture to combine and add to the flour and spices.
- Stir until mixed but still fairly lumpy - the mixture may be more runny than you expect for muffins - but you need the dense stickiness of gingerbread, rather than a cakey crumb.
- Spoon or pour the mixture into the muffin cups and bake for about 20 minutes until the tops are dry; the muffins will still feel squidgy when you take them out of the tins to cool on a rack. Note that because the mixture is moist, these muffins will not have the hump-topped look of store-bought ones. But unlike other muffins, these will taste gloriously good a couple of days after baking.


I topped the batter with mini-gingerbread cookies.

Polka-dotted Christmas muffins!



Nom, nom, j'adore mon petit déjeuner!

When the muffins were till warm, half of the muffin sticked to the muffin-cups. Does anyone know why some muffins do this? Not enough vegetable oil? I'm puzzled.