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12Nov

Briochettes with toasted coconut

This attempt to make a nice brioche was inspired by my early days in England, when me and my family were still wide-eyed about all the new things around us. Back on those days my mum used to go to Aldi, a famous low-budget supermarket in Europe where you can find anything from baked beans to venison. She religiously brought home every week brioche rolls that had crème patisserie  swirled in them and were topped with icing sugar. It was heaven. Back in those days I had very little to look forward to, I hated school I had left all my mates back in Brazil and was struggling to express myself in a foreign language so I have very little cheerful memories from those first months in England.That brioche is one of my earliest happy memories. Now brace yourselves because this is a messy recipe. Clear your kitchen surfaces of clutter, have your flour ready and your butter cubbed (maybe get a minder for your kids and husband) because halfway through it you will have a ”oh my goodness!” moment but it is perfectly normal, know it will be alright. I have made this recipe six times and have adapted it slightly
4 mins read
906 Views
06Nov

Mini apple and cinnamon cakes

Cinnamonn is a flavour I look forward to when Autumn arrives. Boy, do I love to sprinkle it everywhere: biscuits, cakes, puddings. So when October comes I start looking for recipes where I can sprinkle some cinnamon. Generously. Over here I am trying to catch up with a lot of things, since the baby’s arrival I have little time to be in the kitchen and that makes me a little sad. We would cook e-v-e-r-y day pre-baby but now the priorities have changed. I am still getting into the new routine (or lack of) and also trying to get used to making much simpler recipes that can be done in a short amount of time. The thing with babies is that they are unpredictable. When you think you’re putting them down for their usual 2hr nap and they only sleep for 20 minutes you kinda need a plan b. So I tried my luck with these cakes which are very simple and delicious. And if you don’t have a baby but have unexpected guests these are a good choice. Mini apple and cinnamon cakes (makes 12 mini cakes) 4 cooking apples 3 tbs lemon juice 150g cream cheese 1 egg 6
2 mins read
626 Views
24Oct

DIY – Spice jars

I believe all us foodies have a shared love for spices. Five years ago when I was still at university I went on a cook book buying spree and I remember finding a seller on Ebay who also lived in Frankfurt and wanted to get rid of all her Jamie Oliver books. We arranged to meet up at the university and she sold me each of her books for 7€. I went back home with a spring on my step, what a deal! As I started going through my new reading material I realised a list was forming, a list of spices that was essential in a true foodie’s kitchen…and I had none of them! So the following day I spent around 50€ on all the spices I had on my list. This will be an expensive hobby, I thought to myself…. And that was only the start. Back on those days I used to leave all the spice bags organised in a plastic container. Then I moved on to glass jars, which I arranged on one of my shelves, but they were overexposed to the Sun on that shelf which made them loose their colour and smell and made
3 mins read
589 Views
14Oct

Blackberry mille-feuille

My other half and I love going for long walks comes rain or shine. Mid summer I spotted loads of bramble heaped with blackberries. That in essence was not surprising to me, bramble bushes are 10 a penny around here, you even find them by the roundabout near my parents’ house, but I have always found that the “city” berries did not taste as good as the ones you buy in the supermarket, which is what I often resort to, reluctanlty paying £2 per 150g. But as our walks go deep in the New Forest and with all the sun that we had this year they were here early. So after a walk armed with an empty sandwich tub I started to pick them and in 5 minutes I had about 100g.  I was never going back to the supermarket. How can they charge so much for something that is widely found for free in the British Isles? We got greedy, we soon realized that the really juicy ones were right at the back of the bushes. And that was when I realized why they charge so much for them: thorns. And not just one type of thorn. Big ones and then little needle pin thin ones barely
4 mins read
992 Views
07Oct

Cranberry, nut and chocolate cookies

  These are thank you cookies or as you say in German, danke cookies. Rather than doing the shop-bought stuff I like to give people all sorts of homemade gifts, especially edible ones such as cookies, sweets and savoury biscuits. I do this because it is the kind of present I would like to receive too, something people have put time and effort behind, from the buying the ingredients to making the wrapping look nice, it’s a process I love.  Before I took maternity leave I thought a lot about bringing a treat to the people I work with. I work in social services with a lot of adolescents, especially girls, so what do girls love most? Sweet things. So I decided on this recipe, it is only the second time I make it, the first was a couple of years ago when I bought my sister-in-law a nice glass jar. But it looked so empty so I made a batch of these to go with it. At the time I had the recipe on a little handwritten note but unfortunately I have misplaced it. So on this recipe I used both white and dark chocolate, Brazil nuts and cranberries.
3 mins read
600 Views
28Sep

Amaretto sour

I am not a big drinker, have never been, in Brazil growing up in family gathering everyone just seemed to drink beer. It was too hot for wine. Also soon after I became of legal age I moved to England so my experience of alcoholic drinks really started here. And to say the English enjoy alcohol is an understatement. In college the boys mainly stick to Ales, Lagers and Bitters while girls dilute the alcohol in shandies and spritzers and your good old alcopops. University was a bit more hardcore, people would buy cheap vodka and cheap wine and make all kinds of concoctions with cranberry juice and coke and get whole pitchers of Vodka Red Bull. Jack Daniels was an absolute treat at a house party.  Found a bit tough to fit in as I don’t particularly like the taste of alcohol, I find beer and wine unbearable and don’t even get me started on people drinking stuff neat. I was once flirting with a boy at a party and he thought of himself as a whisky connoisseur, when I showed disdain for the neat drink he started mixing it with apple juice and all sorts to show me how
3 mins read
584 Views