Blueberry Muffins

What is best than take some time to bake sweets on a saturday. Staying home, mixing and baking. I had some leftovers of frozen blueberries. I have tried some once on the morning of Christmas Day with pancakes. Were delicious. And these muffins are also very yummii. Soft and fluffy. I have mixed 150 g flour, 50 g golden caster sugar, 1 teaspoon baking powder with a pinch of salt in a mixing bowl. Then mix in 1 beaten egg and 50 ml vegetable oil, and 100 ml milk. Then add the blueberries. Pour the batter into the muffin tins and bake the muffins in a pre-heated 200 C oven for 25 minutes. Cool and enjoy with a cup of hot coffee.

 

Tags: Blueberries, Blueberry Muffin

Wishing A Happy New Year!

I wish a Happy New Year to all of you. May 2012 brings peaceful mind, happiness, good health. A better year than 2011. And hope you celebrated your evening with good laughters, good company and of course yummi food.

I could’nt not think of a better dessert to celebrate the begining of a New Year than a Tiramisu, with the hope of a new year that would be as sweet and beautiful as the tiramisu. My best dessert, ever.     

Happy New 2012!!!

Tags: Holidays, New Year's Eve, Tiramisu

Merry Christmas & Cherries Bûche de Noël

Merry Christmas to you all. Hope this holiday brings Joy, Peace & Serenity to you all.

Wish you enjoyed your evening, celedrated it with your beloved ones. Enjoyed the food, the gathering, the laughters, the talks and the gifts.

 I also enjoyed preparing all the food, baking, and dressing. I enjoyed preparing the bûche de noël , with cherries filling. As well as the guests enjoyed tasting it. I also did the almond filling bûche.

Tags: Buche de Noel, Cherries, Christmas, Holidays

Truffles & Happy Holidays

I love that time of year. Christmas time is the best time celebrated, of the year. With all the preparations, the food and sweets bakings, the gifts shopping. It’s a magical time. Spend time with all the family, parents, sister, husband, aunts, cousins, uncle…. it is my favourite gathering. The meaning of Christmas is all around. At homes, in the streets, in schools, in the stores… in the spirits…. Hope these holidays bring  joy and peace to our hearts.

For me, Christmas couldn’t pass by without some bakings. Last week I did some gingerbread cookies. And Last night I prepared some chocolate truffles with Tia Maria, and this morning coated them with cocoa powder. And of course, the favourite dessert at christmas is the bûche de Noêl. I’m making two different yule logs tomorrow. Of course, I’ll be posting about it.

For the truffles, I chopped 100 g dark chocolate (70%), and poured over 100 ml boiled cream, let it set for 30 seconds, added 1/2 teaspoon Tia Maria ( of course, you can add the liqueur you want) and stired until all the chocolate is melted. Let cool completely before refrigerating. The next day, I spooned some of the batter between my palms and made small balls then rolled them on a parchement paper sprinkled with cocoa powder. Until all the truffles are well coated with cocoa. Put in a container and refrigerate till serving. Enjoy.

Tags: Chocolate Truffles, Christmas, Christmas baking, Gingerbread cookies

Orange Cake

Yesterday I was home, so I took the opportunity to use the oranges we got from our tree in the backyard at the village… I’ve been wondering how to enjoy these oranges other than as a drink. I just came up with the recipe, I didn’t open any book or the internet. And it turned out to be a very delicious cake, moist, tender and citrusy. The cake has a strong orange flavour. I enjoyed it with a cup of coffee.

Tags: Orange cake, Orange juice

Pumpkin Soup & Sweets for the Eid el Berbara

What a sweet weekend it was.

 A heart-warming rich, tasty soup is what I crave for in a cold wintery night, with a piece of bread. Last year I have prepared the butternut squash conserves but never tried the pumpkin soup. So this time I chose a nice pumpkin and head to the kitchen. Cooking it was very easy and simple. I found the recipe on one of my favourite food website, bbcgoodfood.com.

And sunday was a holiday, the feast of Saint Barbara, Eid el berbara, celebrated mostly by children who wear costumes and masks and go knocking on doors to collect candies and sweets.

The best part is the sweets we prepare. Very delicious food. I have prepared Maacroun, the anis-flavoured semolina fried dough soaked in sugar syrup and Qatayef, the pancakes filled with kashta or walnut-almond-sugar mixture. We also boil whole barley topped with nuts and sugar.

Happy Saint Barbara’s day.

Tags: Eid el Berbara, Maacroun, Pumpkin, Pumpkin soup, Qatayef, Saint Barbara's Day, Whole barley

Apple Pie

I have always wanted to bake desserts with apples and specially an apple tart. But I kept postponing it since dealing with doughs is quite challenging and I don’t usually cook with it, even though I love eating doughs alot, and breads. But this time, I said I’m gonna do it. Of course, after some “sticky-fingers” moments, I succeeded to form a nice dough.

I enjoyed alot preparing this apple pie. And I’m gonna try other recipes with apples and cinnamon. I love cinnamon alot. I add it to a cup of tea, sprinkle it on top of pancakes with honey.

I enjoyed baking and eating this apple pie, it is delicious, has simple ingredients, and distinct flavors.

Tags: Apple pie, Apples, Cinnamon, Simple dough

Celery & Blue Cheese Soup

A warm hearty soup is what we need and desire in a cold rainy night. The other night , I went through a book I have about soups, and I chose a creamy rich one. Never tried celery in soups. That was the time to try it. So I went to the market and got the ingredients I need to make this celery and blue cheese soup and afterwards, headed to the kitchen.

The recipe calls for Stilton cheese but I couldn’t find it so I got another kind of blue cheese. I like this spotted blue cheese, I find it exquisite, original. I added some croutons to the soup, yummiii.

Tags: Blue cheese, Celery, Soup, Stilton

Banana, Hazelnut, Cocoa Muffins

A great treat to munch on the weekends. I found this recipe while reading one of my favourite food blogs. The picture was so delicious that I made up my mind to try it. And the result was so good. With a cup of coffee. Everyone loved those muffins. Chocolate and bananas are best friends.

Tags: Banana, cocoa, Hazelnut, Muffins

Poached Figs with Scented Geranium

Last weekend, we visited my aunt, she has a nice house situated on a hill, facing mountains; as well a dozen of cats, of different colors and different ages… very cute but not domestic. So my aunt gave me a bucket full of fresh figs. The fig season reached its end at my village.

Tasting the poached figs that my aunt has prepared, made me want to try her recipe. The figs were juicy, sweet, aromatic, extremely delicious.

Choosing firm figs will conserve their firmness after poaching. I used a couple of scented geranium and few cloves. They gave the figs an amazing, delicious fragrance. These figs can be preserved for the winter time, and are a good dessert to be served after lunch, for your guests.

Tags: Cloves, Figs, Poached figs, Scented Geranium