Royal Cookies

 

How do you like my royal cookies? Aren't they cute?
It's my first run so it's not perfect..but give me some time ;)
I studied blogs and books how to handle royal icing, piping tecniques and consitens and all I have to say- it's not really easy it takes a lot of practise. But hey i think they got kinda cute. How did I made these??? I'll tell you!
The cookies are a butter-sugar-dough. You make 2 different icng sugar one to flood the cookie and the other one to "decorate". But I always like to grade up my pastry ... this time I filled them with a vanilla cream. mhhh yummie!

Ok there's nothing to add.. besides the recipe :)
Here we go!

Ingredients:

•  400gr  flour (3 cups)
• 1/2 tsp  salt
• 1 tsp     baking soda
• 200 gr   sugar (1 cup)
• 200 gr   butter (1 cup)
• 2 eggs
• vanilla extract

Royal icing

•  2 egg whites
• 330gr Icing sugar (sifted) (3 cups)

Recipe

1. Mix your butter and sugar until it's light and fluffy (3mins)

2. Mix and sift your dry ingredients in an extra bowl.(Flour, salt, baking soda)
3. Now mix all together until it's incorporated.
4. cut your dough into half and wrap it into plastic wrap.

let the dough chill for 2h in the fridge.
5. Now roll out the dough and cut out a desired shape.
6. Bake the cookies for 7-10mins (i prefer 7 because they'll be soft inside)170°c (350°F)

7. Mix your royal icing and prepare 2 piping bags.

Happy piping!

Bavarian Food Tour part 2 Minikrapfen

Mini Krapfen are the best! I got inspired by researching for my Bavarian Food tour. It's a typical pastry in Bavaria although in Berlin, and near Stuttgart :) i think they're spreaded all over Germany- but their named different. In Stuttgart we say Berliner, in Munich we say Krapfen, in Berlin we say Pfannkuchen which means Pancake??? dunno why? Many ways to say omnomnom jelly donut!


Ingredients:  

• 250 gr  flour
• 50gr     sugar
• 1 pck    yeast
• 2           eggs
• 500gr    extra flour
• warm    milk (2tbsp)
• 1 l         oil

Recipe:

Add some warm milk to the yeast. Yeast is an active ingredient which starts to work if you put some milk/salt or sugar into.

Sift your flour into a bowl. Now fill eggs and melted butter into the flour mixture

 Stir until incorporated.

Add the sugar and the yeast milk mixture and mix by hand.

No use some extra flour to roll out the dough.

This dough should look like this left on the picture. Use a wet towel an cover your bowl and place it somewhere warm.

A nice trick! I place my smaller bowl into a bigger bowl which is filled with warm water and covered it with the wet towel. The dough should have doubled now! Once again... we use some extra flour to form it into a finial size.







Roll out until it got a thickness of 1-2 cm

use a circle form to cut out you donuts.

remove the rest and do it again or put it in the fridge. It could be stored in the fridge for 2-3 days. I won't keep it longer cause we're working with fresh ingredients like eggs!

Now fry your mini donuts. They should swim. I used 1 litre oil.
Fry until golden brown

Let them cool down and fill them with strawberry jelly and refine at the end with icing sugar!


Hope you'd enjoyed my tutorial.
Cheers Chris.

Happy Friday! We build our own furniture

Schöner Wohnen.de

Yay time has come to build our own furniture.
We moved like 8 months ago and i was looking like nuts for the perfect cupboard for our living room. The Internet became a good friend and gave me a lot of inspiration! :)

I decided to build a nice cupboard in a vintage style or better a beautiful white cottage style!
I planned for months and now the time has come! My boyfriends father who is an awesome cabinetmaker offered me to build our cupboard. For sure I'll support him by doing the small stuff. I can't believe it!! I'm so happy that time has come!
I'll promise to make some pics!

Schöner Wohnen.de

Omlette ? baked not fried.

Do you have breakfast every morning? For though i love breakfast but only on weekends.
I love to take time, to enjoy my full packed table of everything- out of my fridge :) I love omlette it's an egg with addtional ingredents I want!
This time I baked the omlette in the oven and it was awesome! I dind't use any butter. It's my lowfat egg version of breakfast.
Ok here we go

Ingredients:

• 4 eggs
• 2 mushrooms
• some slices of Salami/Chorizo
• mini tomatoes
• zucchini
• hot peppers
• 20 ml milk
• cheese

 Recipe

Use a bowl and mix your eggs with the milk. Refine the eggs with dried herbs, salt and pepper.

Now fill the mixture into a pan.
Place all sliced ingredients like tomatoes, peppers, salami and zucchini onto your egg mixture. It's like lining a pizza, at least top your grinded cheese on top.

Now bake your omlette for 15 min in the oven. (200°C)

et voila! Enjoy!

Trilogy of Sin

What kind of Cupcake is your addiction?

Do you love special ones likes a vanilla-cinnamon cupcake with caramelized apple pieces or just a rich chocolate Cupcake with a delicious chocolate Ganache??

When I tried my first Cupcake it was Chocolate but now I can't decide between chocolate, caramel or vanilla. I love all three them - that's why I call it "trilogy of sin"

I love the simple things in my life.

I rated my last Post on Facebook and I thought there are a lot who love chocolate - but i was wrong.

Most of the people loved the vanilla cupcake - I was really really surprised, even caramel was mentioned like ones or twice? poor poor caramel cupcake :( .

It's just interesting to know which flavor do you like.

I started thinking of keeping one main base recipe and refine it with a flavour.

Why I do that?

I tried a lot of different recipes ...

I got a ton of baking books in my sideboard and I always tried the chocolate and vanilla ones. I got really disappointed. I use the right ingredients even the amount was right - but at the end the cupcake were a mess.. to dry or not enough flour, to much sugar.... etc. Last time I had a cupcake which tasted like a cookie. I wasn't fluffy as i wished. So here's my best cupcake recipe ever. Do you have an alternative? Let me please know :)

Ingredients: Vanilla Cupcakes

• 100gr butter
  

• 150gr sugar

• 2 tbsp vanilla extract

• 2 eggs

• 175gr flour

•  1pck backing soda (8gr)

Frosting:

• 70gr butter

• 100gr icing sugar

Recipe: 

Preheat your oven to 200° and line 12 or 24(mini cups) 

Beat you butter in a bowl with a electric hand mixer  and add sugar until it gets fluffy.

Add the the eggs and the vanilla extract.

Now add sifted flour, baking powder and salt.

Fill your muffin cups evenly and bake for 17 min/or 7 min in the cupcakebaker.

Buttercream:

beat your butter until smooth, add the vanilla extract.

Now mix on low speed and add gradually the icing sugar.

We're done!

Hope you'll like it!

Cheers Chris

Donut

Last week my girls and I had a great girls night.
We really enjoyed life.

We had good food, relaxing music and some drinks.
Long time passed by that i drank Baileys, i really forgot how good it is, so i started thinking of how about a pastry with the taste of baileys? Creamy coffee liquor- mhhh!
Adorable!
I decided to bake some donuts!
My whole kitchen just smelled so good you won't believe. I refined the donuts with a girly colored glaze :) because baileys is mentioned by boys as a girly drink.

Ok here we go!

Ingredients:

• 150 gr flour
• 1 egg
• 1 pck Baking Powder
• 3-4 Tbsp Baileys 

• 1 tsp salt
• (I decided to ignore sugar because the liquor is just so sweet otherwise you'll get oversweeted) :)

Glaze:

• 200gr icing sugar
• 3Tblsp Water/lemon juice
• Food colour

1.Mix all ingredients: flour, baking powder and egg.The dough should seem kinda dry that's why we refine it with the baileys liquor :)

2. now bake your dough in the donut baker/ if you don't have a donut baker just fry them in a saucepan.( But don't forget the dough shouldn't be to liquid)

3. Mix in a bowl the icing sugar with water and color it with your favorite color. Refine the donuts with nuts or sugar drops.

Enjoy!
Cheers Chris

Bavarian Food Tour + video

I live now for 1 1/2 years in Munich and I started thinking of Bavarian desserts. 
I asked my boyfriend if he has a favorite Bavarian pastry especially as a kid -
He has a lot of those stories which i really love to listen to.

So here's his story about "Auszogne".
The bells fly to Rome- It's an cute old Bavarian tradition.
It's on Maundy Thursday (Easter). Kids walk with wooden rattles from House to house,
3 times a day (7am, noon, 6pm) to notify people what time it is- cause there aren't bells that are ringing :)
Kids get gifts as a thank you like sweets and some coins. 
My little Tobi was always happy when he got a "Auszogne".
He said it's so tasty when they're hot and the middle is just so crusty- just lovable!

Ok let me tell you something about "Auszogne" which means to extend or stretch the dough.
Bavarians call it the Bavarian donut ;) It's an typical yeast dough which needs to be fried and served with icing sugar - yummie!

When i prepared the dough I started thinking of giving that pastry (like always) a freestyle version XD.. like almonds, nuts or just chocolate -
but my boyfriend was very strict and said - we do "the traditional way".
So here we go friends!

Ingredients:
        
250gr        flour
50gr          sugar
2 Tblsp     curt
1 pck         yeast (dried)              
2                Egg
500gr   extra flour
warm milk (2-5 Tblsp)

Sift the flour round about 150 gr you'll need the rest to form.
Put 2 tblsp warm milk into your yeast. Yeast is an active ingredient which works if you put some milk, sugar or salt in it. Melt your butter and stir. Now we need 2 eggs, the yeast and some sugar.
It seems like that we got lumbs - don't worry. If the dough is to dry use some extra warm milk.
I refined the dough with 2 tblsp curt. Curt makes the dough fluffy and gives you a creamy taste.
Now use the rest of the dough and start to form.
Now we're done for the first step. Place your bowl to a warm place and wait for 30 min up to 1 h.

Now we need some extra flour to form it again. You'll see your dough should have doubled.
Let's finalize the form. We'll make walnut sized balls and form.
The middle should be very thin so if it gets fried there's a bulge. 
After forming we need to fry the Auszogne until golden brown.
Last step refine your donut with some icing sugar and serve it.

Sounds yummie- it is!
Have a nice day! Cheers Chris.