Holidays and Cake Championships

... Summer holidays has finally started! My spring has been the most busy one in years ... When I arrived home from work, I had to plug completely off - No computers nor writing, but small walks, quiet moments crocheting and just relaxing.

On the first Saturday of holidays,  a friend of ours hosted a Cake Bake Championship! You could just come and be part of the fun, tasting the cakes and voting for a winner - or you could  participate with baking a cake to the occasion.

I participated with baking a Pavlova - this cake is one of my favorite summer cakes. A Pavlova is easy to make, and it has a light and cloudy consistence. The mild taste of Pavlova highlights the flavor of fresh berries. I filled the Pavlova this time with raspberries, blueberries, blackberries and cherries. 

We had such a cozy afternoon - tasting each others cakes and chatting with old and new acquaintances. 

I voted for Mette's Allotment cake - The almondy crusting and the taste of black currants, rhubarb and strawberries was scrumptious! 

As the votes were being count, the winner was announced: It was the Key Lime Pie - which taste was characterized with delicate symphony of sweet caramel, sour lime and soft cream ... Delicious and a nice consistence with crums,  to types of cream and kiwi fruits. Mette's Allotment cake got the 2nd place, and - my Pavlova the third place!

Our sweet and creative creative friend, who hosted the bake Cake Championships (such a great idea, isn't it!), had prepared prizes for the winners! She handed an apron to the winner - which she had sown her self, with a fine plicated "Cake Bake Championship" logo! A price for the second best cake was cake molds, that were made of paper - like for muffins. And I received baking powder - Yes, so I can start experimenting with new recipes to championships next summer :-)

It has been good to slow down - No busy schedules, just being with the family, getting books from the library, have time to take photowalks, see friends, and bike rides (my husband has gotten a bike ... so we're exploring some green biking routes this summer!)

Last Thursday there was a Music festival at Vig - an hour drive to south from here. A day outdoors at sunshine with a friend of mine - sitting on the grass and listening music, grasping a coffee every now and then - and joining to another concert. We saw three concerts from the start- Beth Hart from the US, Kim Larsen - a grand old man in Danish pop music, and Carpark North - a Danish group playing electronic music. Besides, we listened to a whole bunch of other groups, while sitting and chatting :)

... I hope you're enjoying the summer. 
The unsteady weather here in Scandinavia keeps the excitement up in not knowing, weather to wear sandals  or wellies?! 

Nina

Chocolate Muffins [Gluten free & Sugar free]

I found the recipe for these delicious gluten-free and sugar-free chocolate muffins from Den Glutenfri Kogebog -cookbook, which I bought for myself in December. Dates sweetens these muffins naturally so sugar is not needed at all. The taste is pleasantly soft - cocoa powder and 50 g of dark chocolate bring about the rich taste of chocolate.

Ingredients (8 to 10 muffins):

250 g of dried dates
2 eggs
1 dl (0,4 US cups) of water
1/4 dl  (0,1 US cups) of olive - or coconut oil
50 g (1,8 oz) of peanut butter
1/2 dl  (0,2 US cups) of almond milk
1 teaspoon cinnamon
30 g (1 oz) of cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
50 g (1,8 oz) of rice flour
50 g (1,8 oz) of chopped dark chocolate
decorate with walnuts (they replaced them with almonds)

Recipe

Cut the dried dates into smaller pieces with scissors, thereafter soak them in hot water (1 dl / 0,4 cups) for about 15 min.
Mix the soaked dates and the water in a mini chopper, then add the eggs and olive oil, and mix them together.
Pour the dough into a bowl - add rest of the ingredients and mix them together with a whisk or a mixer.
Pour the batter (I was using table spoons) to a muffin plate, and decorate each muffin with a walnut or an almond.
Bake for about 15-20 minutes in 175  C (350 F) degrees  in oven (165 C / 330 F degrees in an convection oven).


I  served the chocolate muffins with  raspberries and tea - and yes, they tasted delicious!

Click her for a printable recipe

... Wishing you scrumptious moment with baking,

Nina

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Fridays Finds & A Novel Recommendation

I've been reading outside under a sunshade this week - a gripping novel by Linda Olsson, Let Me Sing You Gentle Songs.  

To prolong my time with this unique novel, I am reading only a few chapters a day. Linda Olsson gives you a peek into the lives of to women, Astrid and Veronika, who through their friendship dare process some of the difficulties, they have faced. 

I am intrigued by the descriptions of places, moments, thoughts, personalities ... tasting the words, and enjoying the way things are written. I look so much forward of returning to the worlds of Astrid and Veronika later this afternoon!

The season of blueberries has started in Finland - my mom had picked a great bunch of them yesterday. Here in Denmark we don't have wild blueberries, but my husband bought some of them the other day ... I cherish the blue shade and the look of them almost as much as eating them!

We had a traditional Danish lunch in a lovely restaurant in the middle of the pretty Hareskov forest.
"Smørrebrød" goes back to the 19th century, where the lunch was the heaviest meal of the day. One used to use any remaining food - potatoes, meat, fish, vegetables - as a topping on the bread. 

We had lunch plates (the photo above) with 

• White herring with onions and capers
• Eggs and shrimps with herbmayonnaise, lemon and dill
• Chicken salad with curry, mushrooms and bacon
• A special beef-sausage fried with malt and spices and red onion

Afterwards we took a walk in the forest - we saw a tiny frog in the swampy area pictured above, and a deer running just across the path before us.

I have been baking rolls for breakfast this week. I tried a new recipe yesterday - by my favourite food blogging friend Dawn from Words of Deliciousness. She surely knows how to inspire with her recipes - I always find new ideas from her, here's some of my favourite dishes I've learned from her:

• Bavarian Apple Torte ... The best apple pie ever!
• Buttermilk-Blueberry Scones with Lemon Glaze - fresh and sweet taste of summer.
• Chicken Parmesan Bundles - Yummy, both for the kids and adults!
• Pillow-Soft Dinner Rolls - Tastes good for breakfast as well (picture above).

Dawn has a 3 year blog anniversary this month - pay a visit to her tasty and inspiring blog Words of Deliciousness.

_  _  _

The next two weeks, when I am away from the blog, you will find inspiring guest posts in my blog, written by special and unique blogging friends. I have also pre-posted For Your Sunday-posts and something else ... 

Wishing you a wonderful weekend,

Nina

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Oat rye granola with almonds, cranberries and pumpkin seed

Oat rye granola with almonds, cranberries and pumpkin seeds is easy to make, and it tastes scrumptious! The recipe is by a popular cookbook author 
Christian Bitz, who has a MSc in human nutrition. 

This portion size fills a glass jar of 05, liter / 15 oz.

You will need the following ingredients: 
0,5 cups (1 dl) of almonds
0,5 cups (1 dl) of hazelnuts
0,25 cups (½ dl) of pumpkin seeds
3,5 oz (100 g) of oatmeal
3,5 oz (100 g)  rye flakes
0,5 cups (1 dl) of honey
2 tbsp. brown sugar
0,5 cups (1 dl) of dried cranberries (or dried blueberries / raisins)
1 tbsp. of chia-seeds (I replaced the chia-seeds with flaxseeds)

• Chop the almonds, hazelnuts and pumpkinseeds rougly with a knife.
• Cover a baking tray with bakingpaper, and roast the chopped almonds, hazelnuts and pumpkinseeds together with oats and rye in a preheated oven for about 10 minutes at 470 fahrenheit degrees (245 Celcius). 
• Mix honey, brown sugar, cranberries and flaxseed together, and pour the mix on the top of the the roasted ingredients.
• Bake the granola for 5 minutes at 430 Fahrenheit degrees (225 Celcius).
• When the granola has cooled down, loosen it carefully from the baking sheet (I experienced that the granola was a bit difficult to loosen - it might be a good idea to grease the bakingsheet just a bit - using coconut oil would give a slight taste of coconut).

Oat-rye granola is a tasty topping to yogurt. I eat sometimes a handful of it as a snack with a cup of tea. Besides the good taste, this granola is healthy: The almonds, hazelnuts and pumpkin seeds contain many good fatty acids. 

Next time I will tripple the portionsize - I just realized that you can easily fit 3 baking trays in an convection oven!

This is the only granola recipe I have tried so far - if you have a favorite,
I would like to exchange recipes :)

Nina

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Blackberry Cheesecake with Almond Coconut Crust

  

I've been having this craving for a tasty and "light" blackberry cheesecake with an almond flavour.
This resulted in an experiment with a cheese cake recipe: I replaced the all purpose flour with almond and coconut flour,  and half of the cream cheese with low fat greek yogurt.
The result is both delicious and a bit "lighter" than the original recipe. This altered blackberry cheesecake of mine contains more vegetable fat from almonds and coconut, and less  saturated fat from dairy produts.

You need the following ingredients (for 2 small pies):

Pie crust:
1 oz (30 g) almond meal (you can turn a handful of almonds to almond flour with a coffee grinder)
1 oz (30 g) fine coconut flakes
4 teaspoons soft butter / margarine
2 teaspoons stevia / sugar
1-2 tablespoons thick yogurt (I used Greek yogurt with 2% fat)

Filling:
2,5 oz (75 g) cream cheese (I used a natural cream cheese with 12 % fat)
2,5 oz (75 g) thick yogurt
1,5 teaspoon vanilla
2,5 teaspoons stevia / sugar (sweeten after you own taste)
1 egg
grated lime zest from a half lime

3,5 oz (100 g) blackberries

Instructions:
1. Grind a handful of almonds with a coffee grinder to almond flour.
2. Mix the pie crust ingredients together. Press the crust gently against the bottom and the sides of the well greased pie pans.
3. Filling: Mix the ingredients together, check the sweetness, adapting it to your personal taste.
4. Pour the filling over the pie crust.
5. Pour the blackberries over the filling.
6. Bake for about 20-25 minutes at 180C / 350F degrees.




 

Let the cheesecake cool down before serving  it.

 

The almond coconut crust, together with the blackberries, gives the cake

a delicious and rich taste,

so you can serve it as it is.

 

If you wish to spice it a bit up,

try serving it with blackberry coulis and a coupe of vanilla ice cream.

 

PS. The blackberry cheesecake tastes very good the day after as well!

 

View the printable recipe

 

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Almond Whoopie Pie

For these Almond Whoopie Pies you need basically almonds, unsalted butter and an egg - together with a bit of sweetened and baking powder. I filled the whoopies with whipped cream and a spoonful of my favourite jam, which is starberry-apple jam at the moment.

I eat a handful of almonds every day, either at the breakfast or as a snack later on ... Almonds do contain all sorts of healthy nutrienst, such as amino acids and fatty acids, and they also give you a feeling of being satiated.

So when I came accross this recipe I immediately wanted to try it: The whoopies turned out nice and crunchy, and the almond taste goes well with the soft cream and jam -  Yum!
(The filling according to the original recipe consists of cream cheese, whipped cream and lime - but I was drawn to keep it simple and used the lactose-free cream alone since it suits best for my digestion).

Almond Whoopie Pies (6 pies)

Ingredients:

Pie bottoms:
1,3 cup (3 dl) almonds flour (chop the almonds in a coffee grinder/ food processor to almond flour)
2 oz (60 g) soft unsalted butter
1 teaspoon stevia (or 2 teaspoons sugar, honey, acacia syrup or other sweetener)
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 egg

Filling:
½ cup (1 dl) whipped cream
0,5 teaspoon vanilla powder
0.5 teaspoon stevia (or sugar / other sweetener)
6 teaspoons strawberry-apple jam (or some other jam you like)

Decorate with:
Powdered sugar

Instructions:
Mix all ingredients together and form  12 small, round pies onto the baking tray. Bake at 390 degrees F. (200 degrees C.) for about 10 minutes.

Whip the cream and sweeten it with stevia / sugar and vanilla powder. Add one spoonful of jam to the center of the pie bottom, pipe a circle of whipped cream around the jam, and set another pie bottom on the top. Sprinkle with powdered sugar.

Next time I'm going to fill these whoopie with chocolate mousse

- it would go well with the almond taste, wouldn't it?!

View the printable recipe

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 Pi Day Pie Party
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Recipe Sharing Monday - Jam Hands
Marvelous Mondays - This Gal Cooks
Inspire Me Monday - Create with Joy
Clever Chicks Blog Hop

Baked blueberry banana oatmeal

I learned to eat baked oat meal in Brussels, Belgium, where I spent 3 years in a Bible Collage. Tim, an american cook with a great sense of humor, prepared the most delicious meals for us, and shared his baked oat meal recipe with me.

 

This baked oatmeal with banana and blueberries gives you a lovely start in the morning! It's easy to prepare - you basically mix the ingredients together, top the meal with blueberries, and bake in the oven for 15-20 minutes.

 

I found the recipe from Dawn's lovely food-blog Words of Deliciousness, where you can find a printable recipe. I've added a half teaspoon stevia, and one teaspoon of coconut oil, to the original recipe.

 

I've used frozen blueberries, and I will try the recipe next time with frozen blackberries.



 

... What's best - the thought of having baked blueberry banana oatmeal for breakfast

makes it easier to  get up in the morning!

 

 





Spinach Quiche with Goat Cheese and Almonds

This Christmas I fell in love with goat cheese - I've recently used goat cheese in a variety of dishes. I found the recipe for this delicious goat cheese quiche recipe from an inspiring book I received from my mom. This spinach quiche has a mild, round and delicious flavor - both my husband and our friends absolutely adore it!

I replaced some of the ingredients in the original recipe as follows: I replaced the hazelnuts with almonds, the nettles with spinach, the butter with margarine, half of the buckwheat flour with rice flour, and the creme fraiche with thick yogurt. The buckwheat flour has a bit strog flavor in my opinion, therefore I reduced the amount.

The quiche is gluten-free. If you wish, you can use all purpose flour, normal full cream and milk.

You will need the following ingredients:

4,2 cups (1 liter) fresh spinach
0,4 cups (100 ml) almonds
0,3 pounds (125 g) molten butter or margarine
0,6 cups (150 ml) buckwheat flour
0,6 cups (150 ml) of rice flour
2 tbsp thick yoghurt
3 eggs
0,8 cups (200 ml) of soy milk
0,4 cups (100 ml) soy cream
pinch of salt
0,4 pounds (200 g) crumbled goat cheese

Instructions:

- Rinse the spinach leaves and chop them a bit. If you use frozen spinach, let it drain a moment in a sieve.
- Stir the melted butter, buckwheat flour, rice flour and the thick yogurt ina bowl to a dough. Press the pastry into the bottom a pie dish, and prick small holes to the pastry using a fork. Bake for about 10 min. at 390 F / 200 C degrees. Then lower the temperature to 350 F/ 175 C degrees.
- Beat the eggs, soy cream and soy milk together, add a pinch of salt.
- Cover the pre-baked bottom with spinach, sprinkle thereafter the crumbled goat cheese on the top. Pour the milk-egg mix over the quiche. Add the almonds on the top, and bake it at 350 F/ 175 C degrees for about 30 minutes.

I decorated the baked quiche with a few fresh sage leaves. This quiche tastes delicious both warm and cold. You do not necessarily need to serve a salat to go with it  - The spinach, goat cheese and almonds give a rich and round flavor ... Bon appetit!
 

 

 A warm welcome to new followers

Millie, Sarah, Keke, Jenn,

Ilda, Kristin and Daisy!

 

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White Chocolate - Cranberry Cookies

I fell for these white chocolate-cranberry cookies when tasting them for the very first time! A colleague of mine had been baking at home and served them in a late afternoon meeting this week.
The piquancy of cranberries and the sweetness of the white chocolate makes a lovely combo! 
As you might guess, everyone was asking her for the recipe - which she so kindly gave us already the next day, so we could bake during the weekend.

These cookies are very easy to make - it took about 15 minutes to make the dough and form the cookies - and another 15 minutes to bake them .
We enjoyed these Cranberry - white chocolate delights with tea and cold milk . . .  Next time I need to bake a double portion - there's only o few cookies left in the jar!

Cranberry and white chocolate cookies (about 12-14 pieces)

Ingredients:

180 g (6,3 oz)  butter or margarine
160 g sugar  (5,6 oz)  - or 80 g sugar + 80 g of a white cane, I used just plain white sugar
1 egg
0.5 teaspoons. vanilla extract (or half a vanilla bean -> cut through the bean, scrape the vanilla paste, mix the paste with about 2 tablespoons of sugar, and add to the dough)
190 g (6,7 oz) of wheat flour
0.5 teaspoons. baking powder
0.5 teaspoons. cinnamon
100 g (3,5 oz) of dried cranberries
60 g (2 oz)  white chocolate, chopped

Instructions:

- Preheat the oven to 170 C. degrees C / 340 F. degrees. Cover 2 baking trays with baking paper.
- Mix the butter, sugar and vanilla in a bowl with electric mixer. Add the egg.
- Mix the flour, cinnamon and baking powder together in a separate bowl and add the mix, little by little,  into the sugar - butter mixture. Add cranberries and white chocolate.
- Roll the dough into walnut-sized dumplings. Leave about 8 cm between the dough dumplings.
- Bake the cookies until golden brown (about 15 - 20 min. in a regular oven -  about 10-12 minutes in a a convection oven, with a bit lower temperature).
- Let the cookies to cool for about 10 minutes, thereafter set them on a rack.

... Wishing you cheerful moments while baking! 

These cookies are suitable to bake with small children as well, 

since the dough is easy to form to small dumplings -  

the form doesn't matter, since they melt a bit in the oven.

PS: If you make a double portion, you can use the other portion as a hostess gift.

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Banana Chocolate Bread with Orange Glace Icing

I really like "semi-sweet" cakes that have a rich but not too sweet taste. This banana-chocolate orange bread is just my kind of cake! It tastes of banana and orange, and has a mild dark chocolate flavor. The consistency is something in between cake and bread.

 I have altered Heidi Swansons original recipe: I've replaced the lemon with orange, the all-purpose flour with spelt flour, and I made the glace icing with fresh orange juice and powdered sugar.

You can freeze the banana chocolate bread, as well as the carrot pineapple muffins. If you slice the cake in before freezing, it is easy to take a couple of slices with you - I took a few slices in our lunchpacks last weekend for a little treat after swimming - Tasty!

Ingredients
1 cup (125 g) spelt flour
1 cup (140 g) whole wheat flour
3/4 cup (125 g) dark muscovado or dark brown sugar
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup (115 g) coarsely chopped dark chocolate
1/3 cip (80 ml) extra-virgin olive oil
2 large eggs
1½ cups (340 g) smashed, ripe bananas
1/4 cup (60 ml) plain, whole milk yogurt
1 teaspoon freshly grated organic orange zest
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

The Glace Icing:
1 tablespoon grated organic orange zest
2 tablespoons squeezed orange juice
about 1 cup powdered sugar

Instructions:

1.  Mix together the flours, sugar, baking powder and salt in a large bowl. Add the chocolate pieces and mix well.
2.  In another bowl, mix the olive oil, eggs,  banana, yogurt, grated orange, and vanilla.
3.  Pour the banana mixture into the flour and mixtureand fold carefully with a spoon.
4. Pour the batter into a greased baking dish and bake about 50 minutes, or until golden brown, in 350 F degrees (180 C degrees).
5. Leave the cake to cool for about ten minutes before you undo it.

While the cake is cooling, you can prepare the glace icing. Mix the powdered sugar and the grated orange zest together, add the squeezed orange juice and stir. Spread the frosting on the cake with a spoon. You may want to put the glace icing into a frosting extruder or into a small kitchen plastic bag and cut a small hole in the corner - in this way you can decorate the cake making stripes, polka dotts etc.

Wishing you a happy and tasty weekend!

Crispbread with rye, spelt and seeds

The crispbread is made of rye and spelt flour, sesame, flax, sunflower and pumpkin seeds. The seeds give the crispbread a bit of a nutty taste, making it a delicious and healthy snack.

This crispbread was served at a lunch buffet at my work - I fell in love with the taste of rye and seeds immediately. The friendly and skilled chefs in the kitchen shared the crispbread recipe with me. 

Making the crisp bread is very easy - it takes only about 25 minutes to make and bake the crispbread. All of the seeds contain healthy fatty acids, and sesame seeds especially are a good source of calcium.

Crispbread with rye, spelt and seeds (makes about 20)

Ingredients:

0,5 cup (1 dl) oatmeal
0,5 cup (1 dl) sesame seeds
0,5 cup (1 dl) flax seeds
0,5 cup (1 dl) sunflower seeds
0,5 cup (1 dl)pumpkin seeds
1 cup  (1,5 dl) spelt flour (or plain wheat flour)
1 cup (2 dl) rye flour
1 cup (2 dl) water
0,5 cup (125 ml) oil
1 tsp baking powder
2 tsp salt

Instructions:

1. Mix all ingredients together and divide the dough into two parts.
2. Line the baking tray with a baking sheet. Flatten the dough out into a thin layer using your fingers to start with - set first a baking sheet on the top of the dough (see the pictures above). Thereafter use a rolling pin.
3. Cut the dough with a knife or a pizza cutter to small squares.
4. Preheat the oven to 180 C / 350 F degrees. Bake the crispbread for 12-15 minutes or until golden brown.

The bread remains crispy if you keep it in an airtight container.

- Bon appetit!