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.