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Tuesday, September 11, 2012

Vanilla Whoopies with Chocolate Spread


It's time for something new!! While browsing other foodblogs or online shops to buy new recipe books I got really curious what these Whoopie Pies (Whoopies) really are. Some look very sophisticated, others funny. At the beginning I thought they were just a variation of the famous Macaroons, but the dough is completely different.

























Originally, Whoopie Pies were made out of chocolate cake, gingerbread or pumpkin cake with a sweet and soft creamy filling or frosting. However this recipe makes me think more of a very soft cookie dough. Depending on what dough you take, you can also shape them with a decorating bag. For this time, I used cookie cutters. 


Depending on the size you can serve them with a coffee, or as I did, because my cookie cutters were just so big, make an entire dessert out of it. The vanilla dough allows you to take almost whatever filling or icing you want. The recipe suggests chocolate spread, but I also tried it with Speculoos spread and raspberry jam. Depending on how big they are, and for what purpose you want to serve them, you can vary between the different fillings.


For 25 whoopie pies you need:

Dough

500g flour
1 bag of baking powder
3 eggs 
150g sugar
125g soft butter
2 bags vanilla sugar
1tsp vanilla extract

Filling and Decoration

1 jar of chocolate spread
black melted chocolate
sugar hearts (or other sugar decoration)


Preheat the oven to 170C°

In a middle-sized bowl whisk together the flour and the baking powder. Add the eggs, the sugar and the butter. Mix the ingredients with your hands. Now add the vanilla sugar and the vanilla extract.

Roll out the dough on the work surface and cut the cookies out with a cookie cutter. Place the cookies on the baking sheet. Bake for 20 minutes until they get golden brown. Let them cool down before you start decorating. 

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Put the chocolate spread into a decorating bag. Put the spread on the inner side of a cookie. Take another cookie and decorate it with the melted chocolate and the sugar hearts. Now put the two halves together. 

Enjoy!!!!


Friday, September 7, 2012

Coconut Berry Cake


After a small summer break, I am back in my kitchen trying new recipes. This summer was all about eating. It was not the plan at the beginning, but it ended up like that. It started with our holidays in Croatia, where we were spoilt with delicious sea food and loads of ice cream. Heading to the south of France I was back to fine cuisine and last but not least, being back in Belgrade brought me back to a wide range of lovely desserts. But during all this time, I was not the one to prepare the food. I liked the fact that I was enjoying what others prepared or what we simply ordered in pastry shops. 


But only a few seconds after having arrived back home the question " What to prepare next" popped already up in my head. I love berries. So I was looking for something new, something I have never tried before. And then I found the Coconut Berry cake. I have to say this cake is an all-rounder. You could easily enjoy it for breakfast. It's not too sweet yet very fruity or in the afternoon with a nice cup of coffee. The perfect cake to bring along when you're invited for coffee I guess. 


The coconut might scare some of you off, but really it's only a fine coconut note and no intense coconut taste. It's just how it should be. As you might have noticed I am totally satisfied with the result. I will definitely bake it again, and maybe even change the fruits. I will let you know what the result is. I was thinking about peaches or nectarines. Maybe even Mango. It seems as if there were a lot of variations to try. 


























For 8 servings you need:

80g butter
 big eggs
20 cl coconut milk
250g flour
1 bag baking powder
120g sugar
150 berry mix



preheat the oven to 180°C

Melt the butter in a saucepan. In a middle-sized bowl whisk together the eggs and the coconut milk. Add the flour, the baking soda, the sugar and the melted butter and mix until you get an even dough. Finally add the berries and mix again. 

Put the dough into a cake pan and let it bake for 50 min. 

Let the cake cool down before you take it out of the pan.

Enjoy!


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