Tag: nuts

07Feb

Gâteau au Chocolat

I think chocolate lovers like me are always in the search for the perfect chocolate cake. I know a lot of people try numerous recipes with often the same result: too sweet, too dry or not chocolatey enough. Sometimes you get all these disappointments in one cake! How many times has a chocolate cake enticed you because it looked so amazing, and then after the first bite you were filled with disappointment? I think my husband and I suffer even more compared to your average chocolate lover as we are both lactose intolerant so a lot of recipes are no good for us, and the substitution of cow’s milk with soy or almond milk loften leaves the cake dry as the substitutes do not have as much fat. So after a lot of trying and testing I am sharing with you a chocolate cake recipe that has become one of my true favourites. It is not your average children’s birthday cake, it’s a french recipe so by nature I feel it’s a little more refined. And it fits the saying “less is more”, and believe me reader I have this recipe ready on by Iphone’s copy and paste clipboard because
3 mins read
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21Dec

Last minute Christmas gift

  As much I feel Christmas is the most magical time of the year it can also be a very stressful time for some. Gifts to buy and wrap, final errands to run at work before the break, all the packing for those who are spending Christmas away and obviously, for all the hosts out there, the last minute food shopping, cleaning the house…Still thinking it’s the most wonderful time of the year? And you can plan it to the last curled ribbon but there is always someone that we unwilling forget to buy a present for. Or even that last minute guest to whom you just want to give a little gift. We have a solution! You can make this gift in 20 minutes and with the right packaging it can look really special too. These caramelised nuts are delicious and perfect for this time of the year. If you are a super-organised type of hostess and have done all your gift-buying and wrapping you can also serve it as nibbles. Careful, it is addictive. I used a spice mix called Lebkuchen which is traditional here in Germany but you can use the same spices as those for gingerbread
3 mins read
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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
598 Views
14May

Banana cake with nut streusel

There was no big planning behind this recipe, it was a spur of the moment thing: I had very, very ripe bananas at home and had to do something with them. When you grow up in Brazil you learn that you wait for a banana to be over ripe before you eat it. In Germany however people think that because the banana starts to form those little black spots it is no longer good to eat. So I have a lot of bananas laying around because my German husband won’t eat bananas with the little black spot. I don’t get it, but what are you going to do? I looked through my recipe books and found an interesting recipe to use them up. It is adapted from Lecker Magazine. Super easy, delicious and moist. Banana cake with nut streusel (serves 12 slices) For the streusel: 85g butter, melted 100g nuts, chopped 125g flour 60g brown sugar 1 tsp cinammon Pinch of salt For the cake: 125g butter 100g brown sugar 1tsp cinnamon zest of a lemon a pinch of salt vanilla pod or a tbsp vanilla extract 3 tbsp flour + 100g flour 3 eggs 3 very ripe bananas 100g
2 mins read
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