a dream team with heart and soul...tea and cookies

the trilogy of hot drinks part 3: tea and cookies...a traditional british hot drink combination

the perfect occasion to show off my handsewn tea bags...with a cookie attached to the tea bag, they are not only cute, but also very handy.

...again the almond and marzipan cookies are gluten-free and made with a few ingredients only and you will find the recipe right at the end of this post.

this is what you need for the teabags

- tea or coffee filter

- heart-shaled cookie cutter

- pencil

- scissors

- thread

- tea

- small spoon

this is what you have to do

- get one of the tea filters, your cookie cutter and stencil ready

- use your cookie cutter as a stencil and draw a heart onto a folded filter

- you might get two hearts out of one tea filter

- cut the filter in two halves

- get your thread and your scissors ready

- cut the thread in the desired lengths

- insert the folded thread in the middle of two tea filter layers

- the best position seems to be the centre of the heart

- sew along the edges of the heart

- leave an opening for inserting the tea

- cut along the seam...you need to be a bit careful close to the thread

- so far so good

- pretty already

- get your tea and a little spoon ready

- fill the tea into the teabag

- it might get a little messy

- close the open seem

- and here they are...the heart-shaped teabags

- attach one cookie to each teabag, by pulling the thread through the hole of the cookie heart

- and that's it

the idea for the handsewn teabag is from:

http://www.merrimentdesign.com/handsewn-teabags-tied-to-yummy-cookies.php

and this is what you actually need to bake the cookies

- 200g grounded almonds

- 200g marzipan

- 100g icing sugar

- 100g sugar

- 1 egg white

- dash of lemon juice

- 1 straw

this is what you have to do

- kneat all ingredients into a ball

- let rest in the fridge for 1 hour

- roll out the dough 

- cut out hearts

- use your straw to cut out a hole in each heart

- bake for seven to ten minutes at 160 degrees celcius

- let cool down

the original german recipe can be found here:


http://bom-glutenfrei.blogspot.de/2014/04/osterplatzchen.html

 
i hope you enjoyed this post...thank you very much for visiting me...best regards...silke

a dream team with heart and soul...hot chocolate and marshmallows

the hot drinks trilogy part 2 is dedicated to an american traditional combination...or at least what i, as a german girl, think is a traditional amercian hot drink combination...to hot chocolate and marshmallow

...this is a very very sweet treat...but it is so yummy,...so i decided to finally make my first homemade marshmallows...i chose the pure, slightly vanillish, white version, but there are so many other choices...any colour, any flavour...up to you.

if you do call a thermomix your own, i have a very simple recipe for homemade hot chocolate powder right here and an easy recipe for the marshmallows right here.

but even without one,  making marshmallows does not have to be complicated.

this is what you need

- 250g icing sugar

- 20g gelatine powder

- 25g vanilla powder

- 150ml water

- 2 tablespoon starch

- oil to grease

- small baking pan

- cookie cutter

this is what you have to do

- mix 2 tablespoon of the icing sugar and the starch in a small bowl

- grease your small baking pan 

- dust your baking pan with 1/3 of the sugar and starch mixture

- mix the vanilla powder with the rest of the icing sugar in a seperate bowl

- dissolve the gelatine in the water, using a small pan

- bring the mixture to a boil, while stiring thoroughly

- add to the vanilla and icing sugar and blend until the mixture reached a fluffy texture

- pour the mixture into your greased small baking pan 

- let dry at least for 1 hour

- sprinkle some of the sugar and starch mixture onto the marshmallow 

- dip your cookie cutter into the rest of the sugar and starch mix to cut out small marshmallows

- apply some more of the sugar and starch mix onto the edges of the marshmallows

- enjoy

- if you have some marshmallows left, you can stow them in an airtight container

thank you very much for stopping by and best regards...silke

a dream team with heart and soul...coffee and cake

trilogy of hot drinks...this is what i like to call my recent project...a hot drink combined with a sweet treat...a dream team with heat and soul...isn't it...???

there are so many of them anf three oft them here with me.

part 1: der german traditional combination...coffee and cake.

...as i am not into coffee, i will go straight to cake part...not that traditional, but since gluten is giving me a hard time, flour had to be substiuted with a more unconventional ingredient...with black beans.

i always wanted to do some baking with black beans and finally did so...there are a lot of baking recipes out there...but as i do neither have the time and nor the sense for soaking beans overnight and later on cooking them for hours...i was looking for one, which uses grounded black beans.

and i am so glad to have found this

with my thermomix i could easily ground my dried black beans and i gues this could be made with other kitchen tools, too.

...as i fully trusted the taste of the many food bloggers baking with black beans, i had no doubt, the little cakes would taste like beans instead of chocolate...and then...i was sooo disappointed, that the dough smelled like beans and unfortunately tasted like beans, too.

anyhow...i decided to still bake my little muffins...and what can i say...thank god i did...ready baked they smell and taste delicious and are so worth to try.

...you do need to bake them long enough and let them completely dry before removing from the mould...otherwise you end up with a gooey, fudgy crumble...delicious but...crumbly.

this is what you need

- 12 dried dates

- 1/12 cups water

- 2/3 cup chocolate

- 1/4 cup cacao powder

- 1/4 cup coconut oil

- 1/2 cup agave syrup  

- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

- 1 cup grounded black beans

- 1 cup grounded quinoa

- 1 teaspoon baking soda

- 1/2 teaspoon salt

this is what you have to do

- preheat oven to 175 degreed celcius

- grease muffin moulds or brownie pan or line with parchment paper

- simmer dates and water in a small saucepan until soft

- melt chocolate in a double boiler

- blend dates and water

- add chocolate, coconut oil, agave syrup, and vanilla and blend until smooth

- mix the dry ingredients and to the mixture

- add cacao

- pour the dough into the baking pan or moulds

- bake for 35 to 40 minutes or longer, if you don't want the centre to be too gooey or fudgy

- let completely dry, before removing from the moulds or cutting into squares

- enjoy


i wish you a lot of fun baking this unusual little cakes...within the next days, i will continue my trilogy of hot drinks..it is going to british and american...

thank you very much for visiting my blog...best regards and until soon...silke

paint roller holder notepad

okay...i have to admit...this isn't a very crafty craft project...it is just the holder for a paint roller, which holds a paper roll instead...but i think the outcome counts...and i really like the outcome of this notepad holder...simple but kind of cool.

this is what you need

- paint roller holder

- paper roll

- matching wooden bead

- scissors

- pen

this is what you have to do

- pull the paint roller holder through the paper roll

- place the wooden beads at the edge of the roller

- this avoids the paper roll from falling down

- hang the notepad holder on the wall

- here it is

- for your convenience you can attach the pen and the scissors to your notepad holder

- it could look like that

and that's about it...a very simple but really cool hardware store project. ..i hope you enjoyed t...thank you very much for stopping by...silke