Sugar Pretzels

We all know the feeling when you suddenly crave for something sweet and there's nothing around to grab. The solution is simple. Always have a simple no-fuss recipe which can be made from scratch. Guess what? I have one for you. A super easy recipe of buttery, crispy, sugary, sweet and melt-in-your-mouth pretzels. These are perfect for a tea-time snack or breakfast. The only difficulty you may experience is shaping these goodies. But after two or three attempts you'll find yourself expert in this. So don't waste your time, go ahead and make yourself a batch of these. Enjoy!

Sugar Pretzels

125g butter, softened
100g white sugar
1 egg
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
200g all-purpose flour (or more)
1/2 tsp baking powder
sugar, for sprinkling the tops

1) Preheat oven to 180C. Prepare two baking trays with parchment paper

2) Cream butter with sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs, mixing well until incorporated. Beat in vanilla extract.

3)  Mix flour with baking powder and add it to the butter mixture. Stir until smooth using your hands, if needed. If the mixture is too sticky, you may add more flour. Place the dough in the fridge for 30 minutes.

4) Divide the batter into small balls and roll each of them into a log. Shape into pretzels (as shown in the pictures) and sprinkle with sugar. Bake for 8-10 minutes or until lightly golden around the edges. Cool completely.

Recipe by collecting memories

Vanilla Cake with Chocolate Fudge Layer (low-fat)

One thing is clear. I've become obsessed with baking without butter or oil. Trying substitutes like banana, greek yogurt, avocado makes baking interesting and unexpected. You never know how the recipe will turn out. And when it turns out great, I am happy.

When I took it out of the oven the appearance did not impress me too much. Even though I was very curious to look what's inside I was patient enough to place it into the fridge and wait for the next morning. 

And then came the happy morning. I sliced it and saw a beautiful, moist white cake with a dark mousse-like bottom. Magic! After I had examined its appearance, tasting time came. The cake was so unbelievably moist you could never say there's no fat! And moreover, it was chewy like a brownie! Especially around the edges. The chocolate layer was the most fantastic. It was so creamy! 

So the next day there was no cake left. I felt very proud, haha. I wanted to give it "Magic Cake" name but we all know that the cake with this name already exists. So I gave it a ridiculously long and weird name. At least it says almost everything about this cake. The name should actually be "Fat-free chewy greek yogurt moist vanilla cake squares with fudgy chocolate mousse bottom". Hmm that would sound quite weird though...

Fat-Free Vanilla Cake with Chocolate Fudge Layer

Vanilla layer:
125g flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/3 tsp salt
90g sugar
2 egg whites
100g greek yogurt
150ml milk
1 tsp vanilla extract

Chocolate fudge layer:
2 egg yolks
80g sugar
1 tsp instant coffee granules
25g unsweetened cocoa powder
25g flour
pinch salt
150g greek yogurt 
50ml milk

Prepare a 20x20cm square silicone baking dish. I highly reccommend using a silicone dish because the cake might stick to the bottom and it might be difficult to take it out of the dish.

Preheat oven to 180 deg Celsius.


Make the Vanilla Cake:
1) In a small bowl, mix together flour, baking powder, sugar and salt. Set aside.
2) In another bowl, stir together greek yogurt, milk and vanilla extract.
3) Add the dry ingredients to the greek yogurt mixture and stir until well combined.
4) Beat egg whites until stiff and gradually add them into the batter. Stir just until combined. Spread into the baking pan.

Make the chocolate layer:
1) Beat yolks with sugar until light. Add greek yogurt, milk and mix until incorporated.
2) In another bowl, mix together instant coffee granules, cocoa powder, flour and salt. Add this to the yolk mixture. Mix everything well.
3) Gradually pour the chocolate mixture onto the vanilla batter, making swirls with a fork.
4) Bake for about 35-40 minutes. Transfer on a wire rack and cool completely. 

Recipe by collecting memories

Chocolate Cupcakes

Making cupcakes is a terrifically entertaining process. Before I start making them, I gather all the ingredients, measure them and place in separate bowls. I put cupcake liners into cases and preheat the oven. But when I finish making them, there's an absolute mess in the kitchen. Always. I can't keep it tidy till the end!

However, the best part of making cupcakes is frosting. I mean piping the frosting. (I think this time it came out better than before!) 

Even though I usually like to try to make things lighter and healthier, for example, reducing butter/sugar or substituting it with something else, sometimes you just cannot resist making something as sinful as these chocolate cupcakes. I followed a simple recipe from Joy of bBaking. I've made these many times before and they always come out the same - moist, rich and super yummy. (Except when my neighbour asked me to bake her these cupcakes and I forgot the baking powder....) For the frosting I used a simple cocoa buttercream. It doesn't contain chocolate but it's still very delicious. The only thing you have to do is to beat it as long as you can! 


Chocolate Cupcakes:

50 g/1/2 cup Dutch-processed cocoa powder

240 ml/1 cup boiling hot water

175 g/1 1/3 cups all purpose flour

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

113 grams/1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature

200 grams/1 cup sugar

2 large eggs

2 tsp pure vanilla extract

1) Preheat oven to 190C. Line 16 muffin cups with paper liners.

2) In a small bowl stir until smooth the boiling hot water and the cocoa powder. Let cool to room temperature. 

3) In another bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt.

4) Then in the bowl of your electric mixer, or with a hand mixer, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating until smooth. Beat in the vanilla extract. Add the flour mixture and beat only until incorporated. Then add the cooled cocoa mixture and stir until smooth.

5) Fill each muffin cup two-thirds full with batter and bake for about 16-20 minutes or until risen, springy to the touch, and a toothpick inserted into a cupcake comes out clean. Remove from oven and place on a wire rack to cool. Once the cupcakes have completely cooled, frost with icing.
 


Frosting:

250g powdered sugar

113g butter, softened

1 tsp vanilla extract

2-4 tbsp milk

2 1/2 tbsp dark unsweetened cocoa powder

1) Combine powdered sugar with butter and beat with your electric mixer until light and fluffy. Add vanilla extract and beat until incorporated. Add milk and cocoa powder. Depending on the consistency you wish to achieve, feel free to increase/decrease the amount of milk.

2) Frost the cupcakes and serve!

Cupcake recipe from Joy of Baking
 

Mushroom Patties in Pita

Mushroom Patties

400g mushrooms, finely chopped
1 small green bell pepper, finely chopped
1 small onion, finely chopped
3 cloves garlic, chopped
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 tsp curcuma
1 tsp dried basil
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp smoked paprika
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp chopped fresh parsley
50g flour
3 tbsp breadcrumbs
Olive oil, for frying

Pita bread
Lettuce
Tomatoes
Cucumber
Tomato sauce

1) Heat olive oil in a large saucepan. Add onion and bell pepper and saute until softened, stirring occasionally. Add garlic and mushrooms. Cover, reduce the heat and let simmer until the mushrooms begin to release liquid. Add curcuma, dried basil, dried oregano, smoked paprika, salt and parsley. Uncover, increase the heat to medium-high and leave to simmer until the all the liquid is absorbed. Stir occasionally.

2) Remove from heat and let cool 10 minutes. Add eggs, flour and breadcrumbs.

3) Heat olive oil in a skillet. Add a tablespoon of mixture and flatten a little. Fry until golden brown on both sides. 

4) Cut pita in half. Stuff with lettuce, sliced tomato and cucumber. Put one or two patties (depending on size)  inside and top with pasta sauce. 

Cinnamon Coffee Cake Muffins

Perfect, large, moist, buttery cinnamony muffins. Really, these coffee cake muffins are much better than a coffee cake. They taste almost the same but isn't it lovely to have a coffee cake in a small muffin shape? These also have a yummy cinnamon swirl inside and the tops sprinkled with sugar are slightly crunchy. This recipe is a keeper, I'm sure I'm going to make them lots of times in the future. And they also keep very well. At least two days. You see, I can't tell how long they keep moist because they didn't last three days. I believe you won't have this problem either. They will disappear quite soon.

Cinnamon Coffee Cake Muffins

120g softened butter
200g sugar
2 large eggs
240g sour cream
265g flour  
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tbsp butter (for greasing muffin cups)
2 tsp cinnamon (for the topping)
100g sugar (for the topping) 

1) Preheat the oven to 180C. Grease the muffin tin with butter.

2) In a large bowl, beat together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, sour cream and beat to combine. Add the flour, baking powder and vanilla extract. Beat on low speed until well blended.

3) Divide the batter among the muffin cups only filling them halfway. In a separate small bowl, mix the cinnamon and sugar for the topping. Sprinkle the batter with about half of the cinnamon-sugar mixture. Place the remaining batter on top of the sugar-cinnamon mixture. Sprinkle with the remaining cinnamon-sugar mixture. 

4) Bake for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the muffin comes out with a few moist crumbs. Don't overbake. Let cool 15 minutes and serve.

Recipe by collecting memories