December Daring Bakers Challenge : Whoopie pies

The December Daring Bakers' Challenge had us all cheering - the lovely and talented Bourbonnatrix of Bourbonnatrix Bakes was our hostess and challenged us to make fun, delicious and creative whoopie pies! Delicious little cake-like cookies sandwiching luscious filling in any flavors we chose... What else is there to say but "Whoopie!"

Merry Christmas and truffles

Merry Christmas everybody!! 
Yesterday evening we celebrated Christmas here with great company, lots of great food and lots of great presents! It was soo nice :) I made some sweets this year too : truffles and whoopie pies. These here are the truffles

Gingerbread cake with lingonberry jam

Tomorrow we celebrate Christmas here, so what is more Christmassy than gingerbread? I like the gingerbread cookies but I love soft gingerbread in the form of cake and I think it is perfect for Christmas morning. Lingonberries give something extra to it. Lingonberries are very common here and lingonberry jam is everywhere, I haven’t seen it in any other countries that the Scandinavian ones, but to me it is pretty much like cranberry. This cake is like a classic sponge cake but with buttermilk, jam and spices.  So, here is the recipe:

Vanilla and peppermint Marshmallows

There are only 3 more days left until Christmas! In Sweden Christmas is celebrated in the evening of Christmas eve so it is only two days for me here! So, I decided to make marshmallows, one of my favorite candy. Well, the homemade one is even better, so soft and so fluffy and you know exactly what the ingredients are. It is easy if you have a Kitchen aid or something like that but people like me with a hand mixer, need to be extra patient because it takes a pretty long time to beat it. But I think the result is worth the effort.  Here is the recipe.

Anders Birthday Trilogy #3: Chocolate-Cherry Cupcakes

The last treat I made for Anders Birthday was these cupcakes. They are chocolate cupcakes with cherries in rum, Vanilla Swiss Meringue buttercream and a glace cherry on top. They had a very nice taste, some moist from the cherries and the frosting was delicious. I love everything that has to do with meringue and it also holds its shape very well. 

Anders Birthday Trilogy: #2 Nutella-Chocolate balls

 

The second treat I made for Anders birthday was these amazing chocolate balls filled with nutella, hazelnuts and chocolate wafers. It is again very easy and also delicious. Who doesn’t love Nutella? The finished chocolate ball reminds a lot Ferrero-rocher chocolates. Very nice and it could also be very nice as a Christmas treat. I found the recipe on this site, it is made by this girl who has a very nice blog and is always making very nice things.

Anders Birthday Trilogy: #1 No-Bake Strawberry Cheesecake

On Sunday it was Anders birthday, so, we had a party on Saturday to celebrate among friends and family. I made strawberry cheesecake, cupcakes and nutella-chocolate balls. This cheesecake is my boyfriend’s favorite and it is also very easy to make. I have made it a few times and experimented with the ingredients, until I managed to achieve the proportions we prefer. So, here is the recipe:

Lussekatter ( Santa Lucia saffron buns)

On Friday in Sweden it was Santa Lucia’s day. Children get dressed as Lucia and everybody’s baking and eating lussekatter, saffron buns. They are very nice and fluffy with a nice saffron aroma and taste, very enjoyable with a glass of milk and reminding you that it is soon Christmas. 

Caramel Cookies (kolakakor)

Christmas is almost here and I am in a holiday baking fever. So, today let’s start with something very quick and easy to make but also delicious. It is a Swedish recipe or I think so, because I have only eaten them here in Sweden. I like the buttery taste of these cookies with the hint of caramel from the golden syrup and their texture. They are perfect with a nice hot cup of coffee and you only need about 15 minutes to make them, baking time included.

Banana Oat Bars

Sometimes, I feel the need to make something "healthier" or at least more nutritious and also, I love oat bars. They are perfect for breakfast or as a snack. These oat bars are soft and not too sweet, they are just as much as they need to be. The recipe is coming from my favorite Greek pastry chef and maybe the most famous one in Greece: Stelios Parliaros. He makes all kinds of things from easy to very difficult. I love making his recipes because they always have a perfect balance of everything and some flavor combinations I wouldn’t think about.

This recipe is a really easy one. The original was with mashed strawberries, but my ripe bananas needed to be used instead. They made a great couple with the chocolate chips and I bet they would be also great dipped in chocolate.

Almond paste, orange and chocolate buns & cinnamon buns (kanelbullar)

Here in Sweden, bullar (sweet buns) are the most usual company for coffee. It is a sweet yeast bread with usually, an intense cardamom aroma. There are a lot of different kinds of bullar. The classic one is kanelbulla, the cinnamon bun that you can find everywhere. Of course the homemade version is always the tastiest. This time,except the classic cinnamon buns I made a successful experiment with almond paste, orange and chocolate filling that it has now become one of my favorites. For the dough I used a recipe that I found behind a flour package.