cogito ergo creo

Dumle Cookies

mymirrorportraits — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 14:40:21 +0100

All my Swedish readers will probably laugh at the translation of Dumlekakor, but there is no real word for them in English. If you are not Scandinavian, you probably have no idea of what I am talking about. Let me explain.

Dumle is a brand name of a toffee that you use to make these delicious cookies. If you don’t have Dumle you can use any chocolate covered toffee.

These babes were made by Jasmine.

These cookies are AMAZING. So good! Kids usually love these, but I can assure you that you will too.

You will need:

200g Butter
3dl Flour
1dl Sugar
1tsp Baking soda
Toffees
Thin chocolate discs (eg Noblesse)

Mix the flour, sugar and baking soda. Add the cold butter in small pieces or slices. Quickly work it together with your hands or in a food processor. Don’t over-do it, the cookies are supposed to be crispy rather than chewy.

Roll balls of about a tablespoon of dough each. Place them in aluminium cups and lightly press down half a toffee in each. If the cookies feel very soft you could refrigerate them for a while.

Bake the cookies in 200C for 10min. When they are hot out of the oven, place a chocolate disc on each so that it melts. Let them cool before enjoying!

NOTE! I kind of forgot these:

Which left mine rather… Flat.

Still delicious though!

Chocolate. And remember kids: Every time you bake with...

mymirrorportraits — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 00:35:00 +0100

Chocolate.

And remember kids: Every time you bake with chocolate, lick the bowl! Because you don’t want chocolate on your dish brush now, do you?

French Buttercream

mymirrorportraits — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 00:27:09 +0100

Francophile.

I love France. And most things that are French. But if I could choose only one French thing that I love, it would be French food. I wanted to say this amasing buttercream that I just made, but I am afraid to hurt the feelings of the many great cheeses and whines out there.

Still, this buttercream is magnificent!

Forget powdered sugar and loads of butter, you don’t need that for a good buttercream! Instead, this French version uses a simple sugar syrup which makes it even plus douce than an American one.

For the basic French Buttercream you need:

2 Egg yolks
0.9dl Sugar
2Tsp Water
115g Butter

Beat the egg yolks until brightly yellow.

Meanwhile, on medium-low heat, bring the sugar and water to a boil. Do not stir, simply let the sugar dissolve on its own. You may swirl it a bit if needed.

Then add the smoking hot syrup to your eggs in a thin steady stream while whisking.

It is important to whisk hard and have a fine stream, otherwise it will become lumpy.

Keep beating until the mixture is about room temperature. Then add your soft butter, one tablespoon at the time, making sure to beat until entirely incorporated each time.

I get equally astonished every time I make this because it is just when you add that last tablespoon of butter that it really takes the form of a buttercream. In an instant! Amasing.

Then, go ahead and add flavour!

My favourite is mixing in 100g melted (cool!) quality chocolate, of course with the mandatory pinch of salt.

This buttercream is simply delish. Fill a cake with it, spread it on some cupcakes or make some Bisquits!

Bon apétit!

Voluptuous Vanilla Cake

mymirrorportraits — Sat, 19 Nov 2011 16:03:22 +0100

I say, it is about time I posted some more delicious treats!

Let me share with you one of the most interesting cakes I ever made. It doesn’t seem much at first, being just a Vanilla Cake, but it will amaze you!

Unlike regular boring vanilla cakes, this cake is moist, tasty and won’t crumble. I made it for my fathers birthday with a French Raspberry Chocolate Buttercream for filling, and boy was it popular! The cake worked perfectly with the filling, without taking over or being dull.

What you will need for this baby is:

175g Butter
3dl Sugar
3 Eggs
3.5dl Flour
1Tsp Baking powder
0.5tsp Salt
1Tsp Vanilla
1.75dl Milk

Cream together the room temperatured butter and sugar until it is light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs, one at the time. Combine the dry ingredients and sift them in alternatively with the milk. (If you use liquid vanilla, mix it in with the milk) Separate the batter into two pans. Bake in 175°C for 15-20min until they have set. Let them cool on a rack.

I have lost one of my pans, so I just cooked half of the batter at the time. This worked fine. The batter didn’t mind waiting for it’s friend to cook.

I usually line my pans with bakery paper to save some dishes. This is also great if you also have only one pan, since it will come out easily and you can cook the other half while the first one is cooling.

What a cake! I must admit I had my doubts there, but it came out wonderful. And I’m not even the vanilla kind of girl. Which is why I just had to make a chocolate filling… But I am sure this cake would be splendid it you just sliced some strawberries for the filling and topped it with whipped cream.

Enjoy!

Sadly, I lost all the pics from making the cake, all I have is this serving suggestion.

Some pretty left over pictures

mymirrorportraits — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 23:00:00 +0100

My favourite apron

Macarons - the real deal

Zimbabwean dessert

Macademia chocolate chip

Timer

Iced latte

Process

Matching funnels

Some pretty left over pictures

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Mug Cake

mymirrorportraits — Fri, 07 Oct 2011 07:42:32 +0200

You all know that I love cookie dough. You also know that everything is better in a cup. And, if you have been wondering what I’ve been up to lately, check this mthrfckr out!

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Mug Cake
POSTED BY BROOKE MCLAY ON SEPTEMBER 20TH, 2011 AT 12:03 AM

With the weather cooling down, I was more than happy to break out the hot cocoa mugs last week. Autumn comfort food, here we come! And, what better comfort food that this quick and easy mug cake that tastes just like chocolate chip cookie dough, and can be microwaved in less than two minutes? After testing, trying, and tweaking, here is our family-favorite version of Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough mug cake. All you need is a mug, a microwave, and a scoopful of ice cream!

Naturally, I had to try it out!

I can admit that my first try was a complete fail. It looked more like a sponge with chocolate chips. But fighters don’t quit! I’ll try to make it again, perhaps no cook it as much, and again, and then update when the recipe is perfect!

Crisp Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

mymirrorportraits — Sun, 18 Sep 2011 14:36:00 +0200

Man, I did it! Really, there chocolate chip cookies are just what I have been looking for. Crisp, golden edges and a chewy centre. YUM

The recipe is fairly easy and makes many delicious cookies.

The ingredients you will need are:

225g Soft butter
1.75dl Sugar
1.75dl Brown sugar
1tsp Vanilla
2 Eggs
1tsp Baking soda
1tsp Salt*
5.3dl Flour
300g Chocolate chips

Cream together the butter, sugars and vanilla. Mix in the eggs. Add the flour, mixed with salt and baking soda, gradually. Remember, you don’t want to kneed the dough after having added the flour, so before it is completely mixed, add the chocolate chips. Put the dough by tablespoonfuls on a baking sheet, not too close, they will flatten and grow! Bake in 190C for 9-11 minutes, until they begin to turn beautifully golden around the edges. Let them cool on the pan, or on a rack. Serve with a big glass of cold milk.

When you add the dry ingredients you will probably think that it has to be wrong. Don’t. Just be patient, it will turn out just fine! In fact, I even started thinking that I had not added enough flour after a while! The amount of chocolate chips might also feel ridiculous but, chocolate. <3

*I use salted butter so I didn’t include all of the salt at first, but then after tasting the dough I decided that almost a full teaspoon was good.

You can vary this recipe easily, e.g. by adding chopped nuts, a dollop of peanut butter, white chocolate chips, orange zest or whatever you like. Please comment with more ideas!

Brownie in a Cup

mymirrorportraits — Tue, 09 Aug 2011 23:03:00 +0200

This recipe is dedicated to my brother, Sören, who has moved out and will not be able to eat as many of my sweet creations as before. Or take stunning photos of them!

If you don’t have time to make a whole tray of brownies, or if you just feel like eating one (I don’t see why but whatever), what you need is a microwaved brownie in a cup. It takes less than five minutes in total and contains basic ingredients found in most kitchens, however small they might be. Plus, you only need a cup and a spoon!

The first cake-in-a-cup recipe I tried was a bit tricky, because it contained egg. Baking with eggs is difficult because you can’t choose exactly what amount you want. Also, the cake had a tendency to come out dry. This new, updated version is so much better! No eggs, no dryness, no cry!

For one quick relief to the chocolate cravings you will need:

2Tsp Flour
1.5Tsp Sugar
1Tsp Cocoa
1tsp Vanilla sugar
1 Small pinch of Salt
1Tsp water
1Tsp Vegetable oil (not olive) OR 1Tsp Butter
Chocolate chips (optional)

Mix the dry ingredients in a normal sized cup. Add the water and oil, and stir quickly (without making a mess). Make sure to scrape the edges and bottom of the cup so that everything is well combined. Microwave for 45s at about 600W (medium) and let it cool for a minute or two. Do not be tempted to eat it directly! It will scold yout tongue and completely ruin the experience. If you use butter, microwave it for 10s. before stirring, so that the butter melts or softens. Then stir and microwave for the remaining time.

It should be possible to double the amount and the cooking time, but I have never tried it. Because the amounts are so small, and cups and microwaves differ from type to type, you might not get it right the first time. But, hey, it only takes 5min so you can make another one if you fail!

Good luck and enjoy!

"Update! You can now comment on my posts :)"

mymirrorportraits — Tue, 09 Aug 2011 22:44:06 +0200

“Update! You can now comment on my posts :)”

Sweet Dreams

mymirrorportraits — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 16:02:00 +0200

There are probably the best cookies I’ve ever made. No joke. When I took them for school for bake-sale in the teachers’ lounge several teachers stopped me in the corridors to ask me if I was responsible for the amazing cookies. Students even sneaked in there to buy some of their own.

No matter if you choose to make them with vanilla or chocolate flavour, these babes will be crisp to the bite and still melt beautifully in your mouth.

And you only need 6 or 7 ingredients!

150g Butter (soft)
2.5dl Sugar
1Tsp Vanilla
1dl Shortening
5dl Flour
1/2tsp Salt of hartshorn
2-4Tsp Cocoa (optional)

Please. Don’t substitute the Salt of hartshorn with salt. It is supposed to harden your cookies, so baking powder or baking soda would be a better substitution.

Cream together the soft butter with sugar and vanilla. Then add the oil.

In a bowl, combine the flour and salt of hartshorn. Optional: substitute 2-4 tablespoons of flour with the same amount of cocoa.

Mix the dry ingredients with the butter mix, preferably with a electrical mixer. Save some of the flour, you might not need all of it.

Use a spoon to roll balls the size of a big walnut, place on a baking sheet and cook for 20 minutes in 150°C. (Chocolate ones only need 18min.)

They will crack beautifully and taste like a cloud of awesomeness.

P.S. When baking something that is actually supposed to taste vanilla, make sure to use a good kind of vanilla. Any one that says bourbon is good. Vanilinsocker is the worst you could ever have. As you can see, vanilla comes in different colours. The whiter it is, the less actual vanilla it contains.

Sea Side Muffins

mymirrorportraits — Mon, 11 Jul 2011 12:25:00 +0200

In out country house we have a little, cute kitchen like this.

But the nearest store is far away. So, when I was going to make fika, I had to come up with something based on the ingredients available. The first thing I found was a ton of muffin cups, and I knew there were plenty of berries in the woods.

Muffin recipes generally look like this:

Mix soft butter with sugar
Beat in eggs
Sift in flour, flavour and something to make it rise
Add liquid
Bake in cups filled to 2/3 for 15 minutes in 175°C

So that was what I did.

I wanted to give them a rich flavour that would not compete with the berries. If there were any, I would have used brown sugar. Instead I used regular sugar and added some brown syrup. To add flavour I also added vanilla sugar. The liquid I used was sour cream, but I would have preferred milk (at least 3%).

I did not measure anything but I probably added:

125g Butter
2dl Sugar
2Tsp Brown syrup
2 Eggs
2tsp Vanilla sugar
4.5dl Flour
2tsp Baking soda
1dl Sour cream
Fresh berries

The batter was quite firm, which is good. But the muffins did not come out as fluffy as I had hoped.

However, they were great with some coffee by the sea!

Gillar din blogg! Blir det någon Kalvökaka?

Mon, 11 Jul 2011 10:50:26 +0200

Tack! Självklart kommer den, ska bara försöka minnas vad som var i.

Vilken fin blogg! Chocolate Chips måste testas!
/Annelie

Mon, 11 Jul 2011 10:49:51 +0200

Tack så mycket!

Home-made Oreos

mymirrorportraits — Mon, 04 Jul 2011 20:38:00 +0200

Twist. Lick. Dip in milk. Eat. Have another one!

Oreos are so good but also expensive! So, why buy them when you can make your own? Honestly, mine are better than the store bought ones. They are not hard to make, but the recipe makes quite a few, so make sure you are not in a hurry.

To make about 40 Oreos you will need:

3dl Flour
1,2dl Cocoa
1tsp Baking soda
1/4tsp Baking powder
Pinch of salt
2.36dl Sugar
150g Soft butter
1 Egg

Sift together all the dry ingredients and mix well. Then add the butter to make a crumble. (I guess you could use a mixer, don’t know why I didn’t) Mix in the egg to form a dough. Cool if necessary. Use a teaspoon measure to create equal sized dollops. Roll them into balls and press down to make the cookie-shape. These cookies will not plump out a lot, only increase in height, so you can place them quite close to each other. Cook for 7 minutes in 190°C. Let them cool on the pan so that they harden.

Then make the filling using:

50g Soft butter
1/2dl Vegetable oil (not olive)
2tsp Vanilla
4.75dl Powdered sugar

Mix butter, oil and vanilla until there are no lumps. Gradually sift in the sugar and mix until fluffy. Then pour it in a bag, snip the end of and put the filling of half the cookies. Put the other cookies as lids. Enjoy!

Some how I had much too much filling. Maybe because I ate so much of the dough. (it was the best cookie dough I ever had)

Good luck!

If there are any left - I don’t see how that could happen - store them in the fridge.

Lemon Cupcakes

mymirrorportraits — Wed, 22 Jun 2011 13:11:30 +0200

Summer calls for fresh things, and what is more fresh than lemon? Plus lemons are really good and cheap right now (Not that you need many for this recipe. Maybe I should make lemonade?)

For 15-20 muffins (depending on how much of the batter you eat) you will need:

150g Butter (Not melted!!)
2dl Sugar
1tsp Vanilla sugar
2 Eggs
1/2dl Milk
1tsp Lemon juice
3Tsp Lemon zest (from 2 lemons)
3dl Flour
3ml Baking soda

Mix the soft butter with sugar. Beat in the eggs one at the time at high speed. Then add the liquids. Mix the remaining ingredients to ensure an even taste and consistency before stirring them in. Eat some of the delicious batter while you fill your paper cups 2/3 to the top. Usually, I would poor a loose batter in a pitcher to fill the cups with, or use an ice-cream scoop for thicker doughs. However, this came out quite thick but not thick enough, so I used the ~~good~~ old spoon technique. Bake for 12-16min in 200°C. They will not darken much, just take them out when a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.

I glazed mine with 150g white chocolate and the left over lemon zest.

More Chocolate Chips!

mymirrorportraits — Sun, 19 Jun 2011 15:45:00 +0200

I had some left over macadamia nuts from my Passionate Tiramisu so I decided to make some white chocolate chip cookies. There are many recipes on the web and I tried to find one that would give me big and chewy cookies (like the ones you buy from Steve’s Coffee).

The ones I tries were not big and chewy, but still great!

I modified this recipe to fit with the amount of chocolate I had, giving me:

80g Butter
55g Dark brown sugar
55g white sugar
1 Egg
1 tsp Vanilla extract
100g Flour
2g Baking soda
2g Salt
95g Chopped macadamia nuts
150g White chocolate chips

Cream together the soft butter and sugars. Beat in the egg and vanilla. Sift together flour, baking soda and salt. Stir in the nuts and chocolate. Place round dollops of cookiedough, with a bit of space in between, on a baking sheet. Bake for 10-12 minutes in 190°C.

When I made mine I was a bit suspicious of the dough, so I test baked a few. They came out great!!! And then I burned the rest of them. Don’t ask me why.

Don’t forget them in the oven.

Chocolate and Sea Salt

mymirrorportraits — Sun, 19 Jun 2011 14:35:00 +0200

I remember the first time I had chocolate with sea salt. Yuck. It was a piece if white bread with olive oil on, a piece of basil and a lovely chocolate truffle sprinkled with sea salt. It was very strange, even today I would never have olive oil with chocolate. But the sea salt has started to charm me.

While working at the Chocolate Café in Linköping I tasted LOADS of truffles and, to my surprise, the sea salt truffle was one of my favourites. Nowadays, both Lindt, Anton Berg and even Marabou sell chocolate with sea salt, but they do not impress me.

The salt emphasises the chocolate in such a great way. Now I always add a pinch of salt when baking something richly chocolatey. I even decided to replace the nib sugar in these chokladkolasnittar with sea salt flakes.

100g Butter
1dl Sugar
2Tsp Golsen syrup
2Tsp Cocoa powder
2dl Flour
1/2tsp Baking powder
1tsp Vanilla sugar
Sea salt

Combine butter and sugar with a mixer. Stir together the remaining ingredients and then add them to the butter mixture. You want to mix the flour as little as possible when some kind of fluid is added to it, otherwise it will become elastic. Make two rolls and place on a baking sheet. Flatten them out and sprinkle with sea salt. Bake in 175°C for 15-18 minutes. Keep an eye on the cookies, even the slightest burn will make them bitter. Better slightly soft than slightly burnt. Let them cool a bit on the pan before cutting into diagonal sticks. They come out best if you then let them cool completely on the pan.

I served these to a very honest guest that I knew would tell me the truth if he liked them or not. You could tell by the look on his face that he had not tasted the sensation of chocolate and salt before, but boy did he like them!

Espresso Chocolate Chip Squares

mymirrorportraits — Sun, 19 Jun 2011 13:52:48 +0200

This tasty recipe requires no extraordinary skills, not much time and very little dishes!

The first time I made these I thought the dough was very soft, so I added more flour. Do not do this!!! Apparently many American cookie recipes have much looser doughs than Swedish shortbread doughs, and that is how it is supposed to be.

Unlike the cookies, the batter isn’t that tasty, which means more cookies!

225g Butter
1.6dl Icing sugar
1/2tsp Vanilla extract
1 Cold espresso
4.75dl Flour
150g Chocolate chips (semi-sweet)

Mix the soft butter and sugar using a mixer. (The mixer is great since it combines everything quickly. You want this because mixing flour too much will activate the gluten in it and make the cookies elastic like bread). Add the espresso and vanilla. If you do not have vanilla extract you can substitute half a Tsp of the sugar with vanilla sugar. Combine and add flour, mixing as little as possible. Lastly, stir in the chocolate chips.

Put the soft batter in a 5l plastic bag and push it out in the edges, pressing out the air. Proceed by rolling the dough to a square shape, lift the plastic occasionally to let the air out. When the dough is about 1.5cm thick, cool it in the fridge until it is stiff enough to be held like a tray (or just an hour or so). Then, remove the plastic with a scissor, cut 5x5cm squares and place on a baking sheet and bake until golden on the edges for 18-20 minutes in 160°C.

The plastic bag technique saves you tons of dishes! Really convenient.

Serve with a cup of nice hot coffee.

National Day of Sweden!

mymirrorportraits — Mon, 06 Jun 2011 12:35:00 +0200

Celebrated with a classic - gräddtårta!

Usually I would never use pre-made pound cake, custard powder, store-bought lemon curd or non-Swedish berries, but today that was what we had.

For this easy cake you need:

Poundcake
Strawberry jam
Vanilla custard
Whipping cream
Strawberries (or any berries of the season)
Lemon curd

The jam does not have to be thick - it’s even better if it gets drawn in in the pound cake.

Assembly is easy, but remember not to let the jam go al the way out on the edges or it will ruin the whipped cream. Also, do not whip the cream too hard, it will not look smooth and taste a bit buttery. When icing the cake with the cream, try not to over do it. The fewer strokes the better. Usually when icing a cake you can freeze the cake or make a non-crumb layer but the whip cream is so soft that it shouldn’t crumble the cake (don’t press too hard).

The classic is made with strawberries and does not contain lemon curd, but this version was very nice too!

Passionate Tiramisu

mymirrorportraits — Sun, 05 Jun 2011 16:58:42 +0200

Some friends were coming over so I was asked to be in charge for the dessert. It had to be something delicious, summery and easy to make for (and with) many guests. So I thought: a freshened up tiramisu!

I really enjoy the rich mascarpone dessert and was reluctant to omit the cocoa and coffee liqueur that makes it so tasty! These ingredients (not being summery enough) had to be replaces with something incredibly delicious, so I wouldn’t eat it thinking about the original.

Passion fruit Very summery.

Macadamia nuts My new favourite.

Pear and vanilla liqueur You can’t do it without liqueur.

Okey, now I’m feeling it coming alive, but it needed that last touch. How about ginger? I didn’t believe in it at first but was willing to give it a try. Together with the sweet, fruity liqueur it was AMAZING.

Sadly, I don’t remember exactly how I did it; a lot was going on in the kitchen at the time. But something like this:

1,5 dl Sugar
3 dl Water
1 small chunk of fresh ginger
2-3 Tsp fruity liqueur
500g Mascarpone
3 Egg yolks
20 Biscuits à la Cuillier
10 Passion fruits
3 dl Macadamia nuts (unsalted)
Instant coffee powder (ground)

Boil the sugar, water and sliced ginger on medium heat until the sugar is disolved and it thickens slightly (about 114°C). Let it cool entirely while mixing the mascarpone and egg yolks. Then add the liqueur to the ginger syrup (I used pear & vanilla). Assemble the dessert layered in portion-size cups and sprinkle some ground instant coffee powder on top. Enjoy!

If your macadamias are salted you should rinse them in cold water and then dry them in a pan in the oven (don’t let them burn!!).

P.S. It was so good I didn’t have time to capture a picture of it until everyone had eaten it! So I made another one. Took the picture. Ate it.

cogito ergo creo

Dumle Cookies

Chocolate. And remember kids: Every time you bake with...

French Buttercream

Voluptuous Vanilla Cake

Some pretty left over pictures

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Mug Cake

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Mug Cake

Crisp Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

Brownie in a Cup

"Update! You can now comment on my posts :)"

Sweet Dreams

Sea Side Muffins

Gillar din blogg! Blir det någon Kalvökaka?

Vilken fin blogg! Chocolate Chips måste testas! /Annelie

Home-made Oreos

Lemon Cupcakes

More Chocolate Chips!

Chocolate and Sea Salt

Espresso Chocolate Chip Squares

National Day of Sweden!

Passionate Tiramisu

Vilken fin blogg! Chocolate Chips måste testas!
/Annelie