24/09/2014

Banana bread

Helloooo :)

Don't you have days when you crave for something sweet but easy to bake, and perhaps healthy? I do. And recently I was wondering how to make banana bread and I found out - the result is delicious :)
So here it is the recipe I used:

ingredients: 

  • 2 cups flour 
  • 1 cup sugar 
  • vanilla sugar or vanilla essence
  • 100 gr butter
  • 3 eggs
  • 4 bananas 
  • baking powder 
  • baking paper

estimated time: baking 1 hour + 20 min preparation

Start by preheating the oven at 180 degrees. 
Then separate the egg yolks from the white parts and mix the white parts very very well, with just a pinch of salt. 



In another bowl, mix the yolks with sugar, vanilla sugar. the flour, butter and baking powder. The baking powder needs to be mixed with some lemon juice before. 
You can peel the bananas and blend them or just use a fork for this purpose. 


Then you can add the bananas in the bowl with flour and at the end add the white parts and mix gently. 
Now it's the moment to pour the entire mix in a tray which you covered with baking paper before. 



Put it in the oven at 180 degrees C and leave it there, without opening the door for one hour.
After one hour, you can check if it's ready - the wooden stick test - and if it'sok, still leave it in oven for 10-15 min to get colder.


You can serve it like this or next to vanilla ice- cream. It makes a perfect cake for coffee or tea.
Bon-appetit :) 






21/09/2014

Magic Prague

Hello dears :)

I want to share with you some of the photos from my latest trip to Prague - been there couple of times already, but every time is different and magic :) The architecture, Vltava river, Charles' bridge, the  Castle, the crowd, the food, the beer, the absinthe everything adds up to the amazing atmosphere of this great city.
So here are my recent impressions:


 architecture 



view from Visherad




National Theatre - classic and modern 




Charles' bridge from ship 


art is everywhere





Cafe Louvre, a very special place


always  wonderful sight  - the old town square Staroměstské náměstí

03/08/2014

Oatmeal cookies

Hellooooo :) I want to share with you my latest discovery in the kitchen  - I was craving something sweet and I also wanted something more "healthy" so I thought of oatmeal.
Here is what you need for about 15 cookies:

- 2 cups of oatmeal flakes
- 1 cup flour
- 3 eggs
- 100 gr butter
- 1 cup sugar - you can mix vanilla sugar with brown sugar
- baking powder - one tea spoon
- jam


The rest is easy - you mix the eggs with sugar and gradually add the oatmeal flakes and flour. In a small glass, you prepare the baking powder with some lemon juice and add it in the bowl. It is up to you if you want to add more flavor - cinnamon, almond essence. etc. I made mine with cinnamon :)


I guess the hardest part is to choose the right amount of mix for one cookie and arrange it in the tray. So on a tray with baking paper, I tried to make some uniform shapes and added a bit of jam on top, like this:


Then I put the tray in the preheated oven. They should be there for max. 20-25 min

And the final result looks like this and works great with coffee and tea  :)



P.S: Let me know if you tried the recipe.



21/06/2014

Cupcakes fun

Hello dears :) Long time, no post. Busy time, but... still here it is my little adventure with cupcakes. As I know I would have messed it up, I cheated a bit (maybe a bit more) and bought a package of already mix for cupcakes.
So what you need after you such "kit":

- 150 gr butter ;
- 350ml milk;
- one egg;
- new plastic bags ( they will help you when decorating)


Ok, so here we go:


You prepare the dough by adding the melted butter, 250ml milk, the egg and the mix for cupcakes in a big bowl and mixing well, till you have a nice texture. Then you put this mix in the cupcakes forms - about one table spoon and a half. So mine looked like this:


Then you bake them for about 25min at 180 degrees( the oven must be preheated at 150 degrees).
And when they are done they look like this:


While they are baking, you can prepare the frost - mine had a bubble gum flavour and was green :)
You need the rest of the milk which you add step by step and mix well.
You can keep it in the fridge for couple of minutes, it will be easier when you set it on cupcakes.
Soooo the final result was this:



Kiss, kisses, 


10/05/2014

Coconut and blackberry jam cake

Helloooo :) I want to share with you this recipe for a fast cake with ingredients you can easily find. I craved for something sweet and pull this together. So here we go:

Ingredients: 

  • 5 eggs 
  • 100 gr flour 
  • 100 gr coconut 
  • one jar of blackberry jam - 250-300gr 
  • 50 gr brown sugar 
  • baking powder
  • lemon juice 

Time : 20 min to prepare + 40 min in the oven 

You start by dividing the egg parts and in a bowl you mix the white parts with sugar till you get a texture that wont' leak out of the bowl. In another bowl you add the yolks, along with flour, coconut and baking powder, previously dissolved in the lemon juice. 



See? it's very easy. Ah, almost forgot to remind about the oven that needs to be pre-heated at 180 degrees C. 


Then you mix everything and lay it in the tray, on a baking paper. Depending on the oven you have, it might take 35-40 min to bake it. When it's done, it looks like this: 



Now it is the moment when you lay a pretty thick layer of blackberry jam on top of the cake and then you put it back in the oven for another 5-10 min. The result looks like this: 


You can cut into pieces when it gets colder, after 30 min or so. I took it to work the next day,  and I can tell you that my colleagues found it delicious :) So bon-appetit :) 




20/04/2014

Easter eggs - Romanian tradition

Happy Easter :) Wish you all a warm relaxing time with your families during these days :)
I want to share with you these tricks for painting eggs in a 100% natural way, without any chemicals.
So if you are fan of eggs and ready to try something new, then, this recipe is for you.
What you will need:
- eggs;
- 1 old and clean pair of stockings;
- thread;
- 3 pieces beetroot;
- onion peel;
- vinegar

To obtain a red color, you need to peel and cut the beetroot, then you boil it for about 45 min in a large pot. At this quantity of beetroot, you can add about 1,5 - 2 l of water, in any case, the more concentrate the liquid, the more intense the color:


In the next phase, you need  to cover the eggs in onion peel and then place them in the stocking, one by one. After each eggs, you can tie it with thread so it doesn't get released during the boiling process.
When you place them in the pot, the liquid should cover them completely:


They should boil for at least 10 min. When they are boiled, you can place them on napkins to absorb the water and to get colder. Then you can remove the onion peel. For a better look, you could use a bit of oil to give them a shining appearance :)
The result looks like this and I hope you like it:



Kiss, kisses, 



26/01/2014

Brownies with almonds

Hellooooo, dears! Long time, no post :P I have been extremely busy, but I decided to share with you this new recipe I have just tried. Since I am a biiiig fan of brownies, I wanted to make own version, hopefully, a healthier one. I really love it served next to a cup of tea or coffee. This time I had it with ice-cream but it' s really up to you how you will enjoy it :)
Soooo, the ingredients you need:

200 grams chocolate ( I prefer the dark one :))
200 grams butter
100 grams flour
3 spoons cacao
100 grams almonds
3 eggs
50 grams sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder


The first step is to set the oven at 180 degrees to allow it to get hot.
Then you need to melt the chocolate with butter, on a lower level of stove:


When you obtain a liquid mixture, you can take it away from fire. In a bowl, you add the melted chocolate, cacao, sugar, the eggs, the almonds, flour and the baking powder. You can stir it till it becomes a dense composition and then you can lay it in the tray, over the baking paper. To have the same level, I arrange it a bit with a spoon. Now it's good to go in the oven for 20-25 minutes. You don't want to overbake it because it won't have that wet texture, characteristic for brownies. 


For the glaze, I choose some candies filled with coconut and other type of dark chocolate, I followed the same procedure, I melted with a bit of butter:  



When the cake was done, I took it out from oven and waited a bit to get it colder. Then I laid the chocolate glaze on top, careful, with the blade of a knife. 
And voila the cake is done: 


 The eating part is up to you. I am a huge lover of chocolate so I had mine with chocolate ice-cream.
Bon appetit :)