Coconut Berry Smoothie

Once again I have a recipe that is so easy it shouldn't be allowed to be referred to as a recipe. I thought this would be a nice, last minute Valentine's day treat if you want to do something special but don't want to/forgot to buy chocolates or a card. It's a really yummy smoothie type treat that takes no time at all. And it's pink! 

You could of course substitute all the fruit for other fruit of your choice as this doesn't have to just be Valentine's day appropriate. Hope you enjoy this 'recipe'!

Ingredients:

3 pots of greek yoghurt 

handful of raspberries

handful of blueberries

handful of strawberries

muesli

coconut sprinkles 

3 tbs honey

Serves 2

Put the yoghurt, honey, a handful of raspberries and strawberries (you could add blueberries but the whole point is to make the yoghurt pink) and some grated coconut into a blender. That's it, that's literally all you have to do. 

You can drink it like that or you can do what I did which was layer some more berries and some muesli in a large glass, then pour in the smoothie mixture and top with more berries and grated coconut. I also (tried to) cut a strawberry to resemble a heart since this is meant to be a Valentine's day treat. 

Milkshake glasses - Delhaize

Paper straws - Ava

Cookies & Cream Cupcakes

These are basically Oreo cupcakes, except I used those fake knock off oreos. I've made these twice, once following the quantities and method used in this recipe however the batch made 22 cupcakes, not 12. So be aware of that if you ever follow that recipe. As per usual, I made a few changes but it still ended up making 22 cupcakes. So if you don't like things not being even and perfect, look away now!

I made up my own icing as well since I thought 350g of sugar was a bit excessive but that's personal taste. I added a bit of red food colouring too to make it pink and more Valentine's day appropriate but you don't have to do that because cake and chocolate shouldn't be celebrated just one day of the year. (What do you mean that's not what Valentine's day is about?) You could also add crushed oreos to the mixture for extra crunch and yumminess. I decorated them with red fondant hearts (I just rolled the fondant out and used heart shaped biscuit cutters), strawberries and crushed oreos. 

I bought these amazing cupcake boxes in a shop called Ava (which I have recently been obsessed with). It is basically a huge stationery/office supply shop that also sells baking stuff. Two of my favourite things combined! The boxes make the cupcakes look even cuter and slightly professional which is a plus when your decorating skills are as non-existent as mine.

Ingredients:

200g plain flour

280g caster sugar

40g cocoa powder

40g crushed oreos

3 tsp baking powder

pinch of salt

80g unsalted butter

240ml Milk

2 eggs

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

22 oreos

22 cupcake cases

Icing:

250g mascarpone cheese

150g icing sugar

red food colouring

Decoration:

strawberries, red fondant, more crushed oreos

Preheat the oven to 170°C and line your muffin tray then add an oreo to each case. I did 12 like this and then decided to experiment a little and added a few oreos on top of the batter and a few stuck inside the batter. They all baked properly and tastes amazing!

Add the flour, butter, sugar, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt in a large bowl and mix until you get a sandy consistency, then add the crushed oreos and mix again.

In a separate bowl, mix the milk, eggs, and vanilla extract together then add half into the flour mixture and mix together so that it all sticks together in a lump. Then add the rest of the milk mixture and mix until smooth.

Fill the paper cases about two-thirds and bake for 20-25 minutes. When you stick a knife in to see if they are done, bear in mind that there are oreos at the bottom and the cream tends to make it look like the cupcakes aren't fully baked when they actually are. 

For the icing, mix together the mascarpone and the sugar until smooth. Then slowly add red food colouring. It's better to do this bit by bit to make sure you get the right colour. 

Once the cupcakes have cooled you can decorate them. This particular icing probably isn't the best for piping as it's a bit runnier than your standard icing, so just use with a knife. I'm not the best at icing so this suits me just find. My technique is to splat it on and spread it a little until it looks artistically messy.

Then decorate them however you want and you're done!

Christmas Countdown | Part 10: Saffron Buns

My boyfriend had been raving about these saffron buns that he had tried at work recently so we decided to try and make them. They're a Swedish specialty called Lussebulle that are usually made on the 13th December which is St. Lucia day. They are similar to brioche but not as sweet, and are bright yellow because of the saffron. They were quite simple to make so I thought I would share how we did it. We used this recipe but tweaked it a bit and didn't add raisins because my boyfriend hates them. We made some into the original S shapes but also decided to make plaits and boxemännecher, which are little man shaped brioche buns and are really popular here in Luxembourg. 

Ingredients:

175ml milk 

1/2 teaspoon saffron 

1 teaspoon white granulated sugar

50 g white granulated sugar

1 sachet active dry yeast (ours were 7g each)

490 all purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

56g unsalted butter, softened

56g sour cream 

2 large eggs

Raisins (optional)

1 egg, beaten to brush over the buns

Heat the milk, saffron and teaspoon of sugar together in a small pan. Once the milk is steaming, remove from heat and stir until the sugar is dissolved. Then let the milk cool until it is no longer hot, but warm. Pour in the yeast and leave it for 5-10 minutes until it starts to foam.

In a separate bowl, mix the flour, sugar and salt together. Make a well in the middle of the mixture and add the milk mixture, eggs, butter and sour cream. Mix all of this together until it's all combined. Knead the dough and add extra flour if it is too sticky to handle. The dough should still be a bit sticky but good enough to handle.

Shape it into a ball, put it in a bowl and cover it with plastic wrap. Leave it in a warm place to prove for 1-2 hours. Once it is double the size, press it down and knead a few times. We then chopped it into equal sized balls, each weighing 100g. If you want to make the traditional buns, then roll the ball into a snake and form an S, with each end curled into a spiral. But really, you can make whatever you want. Place them onto a baking sheet lined with baking paper and cover with plastic wrap and put in a warm place to prove again for about 30 minutes to 1 hour. 

Once they are done, preheat the oven to 205°C and brush each bun with beaten egg. We then sprinkled some sugar on top but you can also add raisins if you want. Bake for 10 minutes until the buns are golden brown, then let them cool for a few minutes before eating. They are delicious especially when served with a nice hot chocolate so that you can dunk pieces in.

Christmas Countdown | Part 8: Nutella & Cinnamon Hot Chocolate

Ingredients:

2 mugs of milk

2 tbsp Nutella

2 tsp Nesquik

1/4 tsp cinnamon

Serves 2

Who doesn't love a hot chocolate on a cold winters night? This isn't a groundbreaking and new recipe, but I thought I would share it with you anyway. My boyfriend as given a massive mug shaped jar of Nutella as a Christmas present from a colleague at work and I just had to steal some and make Nutella hot chocolate. Look at it! It's the size of my head! She definitely knows him well as he loves the stuff. I had to add cinnamon because I add cinnamon to everything, especially around Christmas. On to the method!

I measured out enough milk to fill two mugs (just pour it into the mug), poured it into a pan and put it on medium-high heat. I added two tablespoons of Nutella and stirred it really well. Once it had completely melted, I added two teaspoons of Nesquik powder and mixed it all together. When it was hot enough, I poured in a 1/4 teaspoon of cinnamon and mixed it really well to avoid gritty bits. 

I poured it into the mugs (and spilt some) and then topped it with plenty of cream. It's Christmas, it's allowed! 

And that's it! You can alter the amounts to your liking and can definitely use a microwave, but it will probably take some stopping and stirring.