easter to go

...easter to go...cool...!!!

place some easter grass and some chocolate eggs in a see-through package.

...here it comes quite handy to keep some packaging instead of throwing them in the bin after unwrapping...i don't even remember what was inside...but i thought to myself that one fine day, there will be second life of the packaging...and here we go...easter to go.

if you've been here before, you might have noticed that i am little bit into chocolate and that i love to add other sweet yummy stuff to my chocolate...doing this a lot and for any occasion, my collection of silicone moulds is growing and growing.

the basic recipes for flavoured chocolate can be found here:

http://silkerudat.blogspot.de/2014/01/cookies-n-cream-white-chocolate-bars.html

http://silkerudat.blogspot.de/2014/08/nutty-white-chocolate-and-red-fruits.html


and these are my creations for this easter:

milk chocolate, coconut cream, dried cherries and coconut flakes

white chocolate, licorice sprinkles, aniseed powder and chopped soft toffees

milk chocolate, cashew cream, chopped cashew and muesli

white chocolate, pistachio cream, chopped pistachios and quinoa




i hope i could inspire you little bit...thank you very for stopping by...silke

baked for santa...gluten-free

santa claus was coming to town...in germany like in most other european countries santa claus, who is called sankt nikolaus, is coming in the night from the 5th to the 6th of december to bring small sweats and treats for the kids.

...i used to love baking for christmas and i love the nikolaus tradition, so i thought i should try to make some santa sweets...and i had to make them gluten-free...!!!

fortunately, i was able to bake a few sweets on time, unfortunately i was neither able to properly decorate the mini santas, nor to write this post on time.

...anyhow...this is what i got.

a chocolate-hazelnut-cake, chocolate muffins, marzipan-almond-cookies, puffed-rice chocolate, crunchy almond-white chocolate.

i hope you do like some of the recipes and maybe they encourage you to bake some sweet gluten-free treats yourself, if you can‘t take gluten.

santa chocolate hazelnuts cake

this is what you need

- 400g grounded hazelnuts

- 200g sugar

- 6 eggs

- vanilla extract

- 1 teaspoon baking powder

- 200g chocolate

this is what you have to do

 

- preheat oven to 175 degrees celcius

- mix hazelnuts, eggs, vanilla extract and sugar until the sugar is completely dissovled

- mix hazelnuts and baking powder and add to the sugar mixture

- melt chocolate in a double boiler

- add to the dough

- pour the mixture into a greased santa mould

- bake for one hour 

- cover the cake with foil after 20 minutes to avoid getting too dark

- let cool down completely 

- decorate with frosting or butter cream, if you do have the time

http://www.chefkoch.de/rezepte/378991124219163/Schoko-Nuss-Kuchen-ohne-Mehl.html

santa chocolate muffins

 

this is what you need

- 100ml milk

- 100g sugar

- 100g corn flour

- 100g chocolate

- 50g butter

- 1 egg

- 1 tablespoon cacao

- 2 teaspoons gluten-free baking powder

this is what you have to do

 

- pre-heat oven to 180 degrees celsius

- pour milk and half of the sugar into a small pot and bring to boil.

- add chocolate and dissolve

- beat butter, egg and the other half of the sugar

- add corn flour, cacao and baking powder and mix well

- let the chocolate mixture cool down a little bit and add to the dough

- mix well

- pour the dough into greased small santa moulds

- bake for 20 to 25 minutes

- let cool down completely

- decorate, if you do have time to do so

http://www.glutenfreie-ernaehrung.com/rezept/schokoladen-choco-chips-muffins/

marzipan-almond-cut out-cookies

 

this is what you need

 

- 200g marzipan

- 100g sugar

- 100g icing sugar

- 1 egg white

- 200g grounded almonds

- dash of lemon juice

this is what you have to do

 

- kneat all ingredients to a ball, using your hands

- add some more almonds or icing sugar, in case the dough is too sticky

- let the dough rest in the fridge for one hour

- roll out the dough

- cut out santa cookies

- bake for 7 to 10 minutes at 160 degrees celsius

- let cool down completely 

- decorate the cookies, if you get the chance

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

puffed rice-chocolate

 

this what you need

 

- 200g chocolate

- handful puffed rice

- ginger bread spices
 

this is what you have to do

 

- melt chocolate in a double boiler

- add christmassy spices

- pour chocolate into small silicone santa moulds

- let cool down a little bit

- add puffed rice

- press the puffed rice firmly onto the still warm chocolate

- let cool down and harden in the fridge for a few hours

almond crunch white chocolate santas

 

this is what you need

 

- 200g white chocolate

- dash of vanilla powder

- dash of cinnamon powder

- handful of gluten-free almond muesli

this is what you have to do

 

- melt white chocolate in a double boiler

- add vanilla and cinnamon

- pour mixture into the santa moulds

- let cool down a little bit

- add almond muesli

- press the muesli pieces firmly into the still warm chocolate

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

sweet halloween treats

...a big thanks to everyone who created one of those beautiful sweet halloween snacks and kindly shared it with the rest of the world.

once you started searching the world wide web for halloween snacks you will find a lot amazing stuff and i am so glad for being off for a few days, so i could jump into the halloween adventure.

...i am very grateful for the great inspiration and hope i could credit the original posts...there the treats look sooo  professional, but still encouraging to trying to make them yourself.

it is absolutely worth paying those blogs a visit, so i decided to skip the part of publishing my own recipes and redirect to the respective pages instead.

...i hope you enjoy browsing through my small selection of fun halloween treats...best regards...silke 

skeleton mud cake

https://www.facebook.com/taartvanfiona

spider chocolate muffins

http://www.forkandbeans.com/2014/09/27/black-widow-spider-cupcakes/

cookie dentures

http://www.the-girl-who-ate-everything.com/2011/10/draculas-dentures-for-halloween.html

jello worms

http://www.inkatrinaskitchen.com/2011/10/creepy-peepers-halloween-jell-o.html

spooky chocolate push pops

http://www.cutefoodforkids.com/2012/09/halloween-snack-idea-monster-in-my-cup.html

chocolate skulls

http://silkerudat.blogspot.de/2014/01/cookies-n-cream-white-chocolate-bars.html

peanut butter - chocolate macarons

bad luck...really bad luck...after i made this peanut butter macarons a few times before, quite successfully...i thought they are absolutely worth a blog post...and what can i say...now for the first time they do not look like macarons...such a bad luck.

...anyhow...they are delicious.

while looking for a simple recipe for macarons, i came across all those hints and tricks how to make the perfect ones...what can i say...i was just about to just skip the macarons-project...it just seemed to be too much hussle.

...still...i was looking for a sweet treat with peanut butter and chocolate...so i just gave it go...and just apart from these ones they did look like real macarons...with feet and without cracked shells.

sooo...here comes the recipe for some really delicious peanut butter macarons...perfect for peanut butter lovers.

this is what you need

chocolate macaron shells

- 1 1/2 cups plus 1 tablespoon ground almonds

- 2 1/2 tablespoons cacao powder

- 3 cups confectioner's sugar

- 5 large egg whites

peanut butter ganache

- 3/4 cup creamy peanut butter

- 2 1/2 cups confectioner’s sugar

- 1/2 cup unsalted butter

- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla

- 1/4 teaspoon salt

- 4 ounces bittersweet chocolate flakes

this is what you have to do

- preheat oven to 350 degrees

- mix almonds, cacao and 2 cups of confectioner's sugar and set aside.

- beat egg whites to firm peaks

- slowly add remaining 1/2 cup confectioner's sugar

- whip to stiff peaks

- add 1/3 of the almond mixture to the egg whites and gently fold them in

- repeat with another 1/3 of the almond mixture and fold in

- add the last 1/3 of almond mixture and fold in

- fill some of the mixture into a pastry bag 

- pipe the batter out onto baking sheet covered with parchment paper in small circles

- bake for 18 minutes

- let cool completely on the rack, before removing the cookies from the parchment paper

- mix the peanut butter, sugar, butter, vanilla, salt in a mixer

- fold in chocoate flakes

- place the peanut butter mixture in a pastry bag and pipe onto half of the macarons.

- cover the peanut butter with the remaining macarons.

- enjoy

and here you can find the original recipe

http://zoebakes.com/2009/06/03/the-parisian-peanut-butter-cup/

sweet birthday wishes for the sweetest thing

the sweetest thing on earth is celebrating her twentieth birthday today.

...happy birthday to my gorgeous niece jana...

for this special occasion, it had to be a special birthday treat...very special and very sweet.

...she loves white chocolate...she loves oreos...and she loves stylish and fancy accessories.

so the cake candelabra just seemed to be perfect....and why not sticking it into marshmallow oreo fudges...???

...i thought this is pretty much cool and luckily she loved it.

this is what you need

-  1 cup granulated sugar

- 1/2 cup heavy cream

- 1/2 cup unsalted butter

- dash of salt

- 7 ounces marshmallow fluff

- 2 1/2 cups white chocolate, chopped

- 20 oreos, crushed

this is what you have to do

- place marshmallow fluff and white chocolate into the bowl of your stand mixer and set aside

- melt sugar, butter, heavy cream and salt in a sauce pan

- bring to boil a at medium heat and stir thoroughly

- continue stiring and boiling for five minutes

- pour mixture into the mixing bowl over the marshmallow and white chocolate mixture

- beat for one to two minutes until the chocolate has melted and the mixture is smooth

- fold in crushed oreos

- pour mixture in a 9 inch square greased pan

- place in the fridge for at least four hours

- cut in squares

- enjoy

and here you can find the original recipe

http://www.foodfanatic.com/2013/04/cookies-and-cream-fudge-a-year-round-treat/

cookies 'n cream white chocolate bars

...creating your own fancy chocolate bar is really simple, unless you consider to start from the very beginning and actually want to make chocolate from cacao beans...that seems to be pretty much complicated.

there are easier ways to go there...with really yummy results...and the variations are just amazing.

...white chocolate and oreos..again...???

yes..i can't help myself...i love the combination...the taste...the look...sorry...!!!

this is what you need

- 300g white couverture

- 6 oreo cookies

- pinch of vanilla extract

- 1 tsp butter

- silicone molds

- spatula

this is what you have to do

- crush oreos in small pieces

- melt chocolate bark at low heat over a double boiler

- stir well

- add butter after chocolate is completed melted

- stir well

- add crushed cookies and vanilla

- stir well

- remove the mixture from the stove

- pour into molds

- smooth down the surface with the spatula

- let cool over night

- carefully remove the chocolate from the mould

if you don't have chocolate bar molds, you can use pralines molds or you can spread the mixture onto a parchment paper lined baking pan.

there are so many delicious chocolate variations waiting for you to be explored...i hope you enjoy chocolate enhancing as much as i do...

very best regards...silke

traditional christmas cookie goes cake ball

lebkuchen...spekulatius...pfeffernüsse...all of them traditional christmas cookies, which are very popular here in germany...very traditional...very delicious.

...before i give it try to make them myelf the next few days...i bought some to get in the mood and get the taste...and of course i could not just eat them like they are...i had to modify them...considering the fact that i have to ship my christmas cookies every year...i skipped the idea to make some cupcakes and went to back to my beloved cake balls.

the making is the same as my oreo cake pops and my amarettini cake pops...i just would suggest to use cream cheese instead of butter cream, if you don't like it too sweet.

...i hope you enjoy the selection of christmas cake balls ...

- spekulatius white chocolate cake balls

- lebkuchen milk chocolate cake balls

- pfeffernuss semi-sweet chocolate cake balls

brownie muffins...sometimes you can have it all

as promised...here they are...my brownie muffins...the reason for my cupcake wrappers and my twine bowl

...when i stayed at my parent's house during my vacation, we were invited to a nice get-together and i decided to bring a homemade sweet little something...but of course i did not bring any of my fancy little baking gadgets and had to improvise.

a more traditional dessert would be the solution...a chocolaty one of course...i could not decide whether i should go for brownies or muffins and therefore opted for a combination of the both...brownie muffins.

...these beautiful dark brown delights deserved a special presentation and thats why i came up with the elegant lacy cupcake wrappers and the shabby spray-painted twine bowl with a crochet flower.

the simple recipe does not require any extra ordinary ingredients...as always...but is really tasty and easy to make...i hope you enjoy as much as i did...

this is what you need

- 260g flour

- 60g chopped walnuts

- 40g chocolate flakes

- 60g sugar

- 2 tablespoon cacao powder

- 2 teaspoon baking powder

- 1/2 teaspoon natron

- 125ml chocolate milk

- 180ml buttermilk

- 80ml oil

this is what you have to do

- mix flour, cacao powder, walnuts, choclate flakes, baking powder and natron in a bowl

- mix oil, the egg, sugar, chocolate milk and buttermilk in another bowl

 - slowly add the flour mixture and stir until all ingredients are moisty

- pour the dough into a greased muffin tin 

- bake muffins 20 to 25 minutes at 180 degrees

- enjoy

the original recipe in german will be found here

http://muffinrezept.net/brownie-muffins/