This breakfast with the cutest little flags, coasters and plates is all diy created by the Morning by Foley blog where you can also find the templates for the project. { via eatdrinkchic }
Absolutely adorable idea for a birthday breakfast, or for making the weekend breakfast moment extra special.
These apples are sticky and messy, and oh so sweet. I feel joy the way that kids do when I roll red apples in the caramel, and can't wait for them to set in the fridge. I added a little twist to the caramel apples this time by dipping some in melted white chocolate and crushed hard toffee.
It was hard to stop dipping so I kept going. To complete the fun plate of homemade sweets, I dipped mini pretzels in dark chocolate. What a set up for a late autumn party or the upcoming Thanksgiving get-togethers. For kids and adults.
Ingredients (makes 10-12)
- 10-12 medium apples
{ caramel }
- 1 cup (2.4 dl) cream
- 3/4 cup (1.8 dl) sugar
- 1/2 cup (1.2 dl) brown sugar
- 4 tablespoons butter
{ extras, if desired }
- white chocolate
- hard toffee candy
- mini pretzels
- dark chocolate
In a sauce pan, heat up cream, sugar and brown sugar. Let bubble for around 4 minutes on medium heat. The sauce will thicken. Add butter and mix until smooth. Let cool for a minute until the caramel cools down a bit and gets even thicker.
Roll washed apples in the caramel. Place the apples on a tray lined with parchment paper. Refrigerate for half an hour or so until the caramel has set. You can place sticks in the apples to make it easier to eat them. If you would like to add a layer of white chocolate and crunchy toffee on the apples, melt the chocolate in a double boiler until runny. Dip the apples in the white chocolate, and roll them in finely chopped hard toffee. Let the apples sit in the fridge until the chocolate has hardened.
To make chocolate mini pretzels, melt dark chocolate in a double boiler as well. Dip the pretzels half way in the melted chocolate. Place them next to each other on a large tray lined with parchment paper, and let solidify in the fridge. The bad things is that all the dipping is done now. But the good news is, you get to dig in. Happy days!
If you like savory flavors, this weekend night dish can't go wrong. This is something I make when I want something fairly light and small but still full of flavor. And maybe to be accompanied by a good glass of white wine. Have a great weekend!
Ingredients (serves 2)
- 20 small brussel sprouts
- 1 red onion
- 8 slices parma ham
- handful of cashews
{ sauce }
- 2 tablespoons honey dijon mustard
- 2 tablespoons apple vinegar
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 1/2-1 garlic clove
- black pepper
Bake thinly sliced parma ham in 350 F (180 C) for 5 minutes. Flip the slices and bake for a few more minutes until crispy. Let cool and chop in strips. To prepare the sauce, combine mustard, vinegar, oil and finely grated garlic. Season with pepper, it will not need extra salt.
Boil brussel sprouts in salted water for 5-8 minutes until tender. Avoid over cooking to keep them firm enough for cutting. Cut in halves and quarters depending on the size. The smallest ones can be left whole. Slice the onion.
Place hot brussels sprouts, onion and parma ham onto plates. Sprinkle chopped cashews on top, and drizzle with the dijon sauce.
It's the first day of snow here. I went shopping downtown by foot. It's hard to get used to the cold weather! I got an idea to try a retro recipe. The beginning of winter makes me think about baked dishes that cook slowly in the oven. This baked cabbage roll recipe is from my childhood. In all its simplicity, it brings back memories, tastes great and satisfies the need to have a warm and hearty dinner after a chilly first winter day.
Ingredients (serves 6)
- 1 large cabbage
{ filling }
- 1 cup (2.4 dl) risotto rice
- 2 1/2 cup vegetable stock
- 2 onions
- 1 1/3 pound (600 g) ground beef
- 1/2 cup (1.2 dl) creme fraiche
- 4 tablespoons bread crumbs
- salt & pepper
- 2 teaspoons paprika
+ butter and syrup for top
Cut the tough core of the cabbage out. In a large pot, bring water to boil, and add coarse salt. Lift the cabbage into the pot. Boil until the cabbage is soft. Test with a fork. Let cool.
Cook the rice in vegetable stock until tender. You can use any rice type that turns sticky such as risotto rice (Arborio) or porridge rice. Cook ground beef on medium heat just until cooked. Avoid browning the meat. In a large bowl, mix the cooked rice, meat and chopped onions. Add in creme fraiche and bread crumbs. Season well.
Separate cabbage leaves carefully from the head. When all the large and medium leaves are saved, chop the remaining middle leaves. Mix the chopped cabbage in with the filling. If the mixture seems dry, add some vegetable stock.
Spoon around 2 tablespoon of filling on each leaf and roll. Place the rolls seam down in a greased oven dish. Pack them closely next to each other, and drizzle with syrup. Spoon a few dollops of butter on top, and bake at 400 F (200 c) for an hour. Serve with your favorite side.
I hope you had a fun weekend. We had a great Halloween with good food and company. I thought you might feel like me today, cooking something very quick and simple for supper. So, I wanted to share this recipe with you. This spinach feta bake doesn't require many ingredients, and is a perfect minimum effort weekday dinner.
Ingredients (serves 4)
- 16 ounces (450 g) frozen chopped spinach
- 1 onion
- 2 garlic cloves
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 7 ounces (200 g) feta cheese
- 4 tablespoons pine nuts
- 3 eggs
- salt & pepper
- 5 phyllo dough sheets
- 1 tablespoon melted butter for brushing
Defrost the frozen spinach. You can also use fresh if it's available, just cook it for a few minutes on low heat until it wilts. Drain the spinach well. If you are using frozen phyllo dough, allow it time to thaw as well. (For any leftover phyllo dough, consider this dessert recipe.)
Fry the chopped onion in butter until soft for 5 minutes. Add finely grated garlic and cook for a minute more. Transfer into a bowl, and add the spinach. Crumble feta cheese and mix in. Stir the eggs into the mixture. Toast pine nuts on a hot pan for a minute. Be careful, they burn easily. Add the pine nuts in, and season to taste with salt & pepper.
Spoon the mixture into an oven dish. Scrunch the phyllo sheets on top, and brush with melted butter. Bake at 350 F (180 C) for 25 minutes or until the top is crisp and golden. Serve with salad.
{ recipe adapted from delicious magazine }
Halloween night needs a dessert that fits the atmosphere. Rich chocolate pudding and tangy cranberry compote work perfectly together in this devilishly good dessert. With the colors of deep brown and blood red, it's an impressive finale for a Halloween dinner, or if you simply want to treat yourself with something extra special.
Ingredients (serves 4)
{ pudding }
- 2/3 cup (1.5 dl) sugar
- 1/3 cup (0.8 dl) cocoa powder
- 1/4 cup (0.6 dl) corn starch
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 2 1/2 cups (6 dl) milk
- 4 egg yolks
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 4 ounces (110 g) chocolate
{ compote }
- 5 ounces (140 g) cranberries
- 2/5 cup (1 dl) sugar
- splash of water
In a sauce pan, mix together sugar, cocoa powder, corn starch and salt still off the heat. Pour the milk slowly in whisking constantly until completely mixed. Add in the egg yolks and whisk. Heat up the mixture on medium heat whisking the whole time. The pudding will thicken.
After the first large bubble appears after around 8 minutes of heating, turn down the heat and keep mixing for 1 minute more. Pour through a sieve into a bowl. Add butter, vanilla and chocolate. Mix until smooth. Cover the bowl and chill for a few hours. You can also make the pudding the day before you want to serve it.
To prepare the compote, bring a splash of water, cranberries (I used frozen) and sugar to boil. Let them simmer for 5 minutes until the berries have burst. Spoon the compote into 4 glasses and let cool. Before spooning the pudding on top of the compote layer, stir it strongly for a smooth texture. Bloody good.
Whoopie pies are the big food trend now; you can find so many online recipes for these cookies, pies or cakes, which ever you wish to call them. New York Times featured an article about this food phenomenon, and whoopie pies are even said to be the new cupcakes.
So, of course I had to test this trend and make my own version. And what better time for it than Halloween. My whoopie pies are dark and bittersweet with sticky and thick peanut butter filling. There is nothing guilt-free about these devilishly delicious food fashion pieces.
Ingredients (makes 12-14)
- 2 cups (4.8 dl) flour
- 1/2 cup (1.2 dl) cocoa powder
- 1 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup (2.4 dl) milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup (1.2 dl) butter
- 1/2 cup (1.2 dl) sugar
- 1/2 cup (1.2 dl) brown sugar
- 1 egg
{ filling }
- 3/4 cup (1.8 dl) peanut butter
- 1/2 cup (1.2 dl) cream cheese
- 3 tablespoons butter
- 1/2 cup (1.2 dl) confectioner's sugar
Mix flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt in a medium bowl. Measure a cup of milk in a separate dish, and mix in the vanilla extract. Using an electric mixer, beat softened butter with both sugars until fluffy, for 3-4 minutes. Add in the egg and beat until the mixture is even. Turn down the speed of the mixer to the lowest setting. Take turns adding the flour mixture and milk in. Mix just until the batter is smooth.
Spoon around 2 tablespoons of batter onto a baking sheet. It took me three loads to get the whole batter baked. Make sure to leave about a finger length space between the dollops of batter since they grow quite a bit in the oven. Bake at 350 F (180 C) for 12 minutes until the whoopie pies have puffed up, and spring back when gently pushed. Let cool completely. You can make the little cakes the day before you want to serve them, just store them in air tight containers.
Fill the whoopie pies just before serving. To make the filling, beat room temperature peanut butter, cream cheese and butter together using an electric mixer. Add in the sugar and beat until completely mixed. Spread about a tablespoon of filling on the flat side of half of the cakes. Top them with the remaining cakes. Whoopie pies are best when served with a big glass of milk.
The sad phenomenon continues - magazines are folding one after one. Now it's Gourmet Magazine's turn. Their November issue will be the last one after 68 years of food and wine reporting. I'll definitely miss their smart writing and incredible photography.
As a sweet goodbye, I picked three of my favorite fall dessert recipes by Gourmet. Their website will close, but the recipes will remain available on their sister site epicurious.com. { therefore, the following links will expire eventually - after that, please search the recipes by name on epicurious }
Yay, it's the Halloween week! Even Halloween is not as big of a celebration here in Finland as it is for many of you, I like to do all those fun Halloweeny things with my sweetie like baking, cooking and crafting. This is one of the bonuses of having a two culture home! (Me - one of those blond & blue eyed Scandinavians, and my sweetie being American.) We get to have the fun of both traditions. This week, foods have scary names, the pumpkins glow and we have an excuse to eat candy!
Do you know those desserts that make you go "oh my, this is amazing" when you taste them the very first time? That happened to me today when me and my sweetie tested this new recipe. I like oven apples even just on their own and with these added things - well, it just can't go wrong. Homemade cinnamon caramel sauce, toasted macadamia nuts, crunchy phyllo dough and soft, soft apples. It really is as good as it sounds. (Please notice, I choice to say '6 servings' instead of 'serves 6'. Many of us will not have the strength to stop after one.)
Ingredients (6 servings)
- 6 apples
- 4 large sheets of phyllo dough
{ sauce }
- 3/4 cup (1.8 dl) brown sugar
- 1 cup (2.4 dl) heavy cream
- 4 tablespoons butter
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/2 cup (1.2 dl) macadamia nuts
Start to prepare the sauce by measuring the sugar and cream into a medium pot. If you are in North America, the lighter brown sugar works great with this recipe. For us in Finland, fariinisokeri is a good choice. If your store carries muscovado sugar, that's the perfect option. Simmer on medium low heat for 5 minutes until the mixture has thickened. Mix in the butter, cinnamon and coarsely chopped macadamia nuts. You can substitute macadamia nuts with any other nuts of your choice.
Rinse the apples well, and core them. Form a cup around the apples using piece of the phyllo dough sheets, and place them tightly next to each other in a deep oven dish. I lined mine with parchment paper to prevent sticking. Tuck any extra phyllo sheet pieces in between the apples. Pour the caramel sauce on top filling the centers of the apples with sauce as well.
Bake at 440 F (225 c) for 25 minutes covered loosely with aluminum foil. Take the foil off and let bake until the surface and the dough edges brown nicely, for about 5 minutes. Serve warm on their own or accompanied by vanilla ice cream. { adapted from an original recipe by suvi ruster }
