sweet potato pie

Baking a sweet potato pie was one of my goals for November and I'm happy to report that I baked one last week. Here's a bit of a background story: Until a year or two ago, sweet potatoes were hard to find in Germany. But last year supermarkets all over my city started selling sweet potatoes directly imported from the US. I couldn't be happier because I love them - oven baked sweet potatoes with a hint of butter, sweet potato bread/soup/pie/... sigh. They seem to be fool-proof and almost impossible to prepare in a non-tasty way.

I used this awesome recipe by Joy the baker. I went easy on the sugar but apart from that I followed her instructions blindly. The result is great - the buttermilk crust is perfect and the filling is moist and yummy. It took a while to make but only because there is some waiting time in between the steps (waiting for the dough to cool in the fridge, cooking the sweet potatoes, etc.) and you can use the time to knit or, in my case, study.
So if you've been intimidated by the thought of baking a sweet potato pie from scratch just give it a try! The result is amazing and well worth the effort. Also, it is unlike anything you can buy in Germany (and probably the rest of Europe?) so it's a fun way to impress your tea time guests ;)

very berry muffins

It's the weekend and what better time is there to make muffins? I promise these fruity muffins will only take about 10 minutes to prepare, so baking these won't occupy you the whole afternoon ;)

Here's my recipe of berry muffins that I like to use whenever I have buttermilk leftover from another baking adventure. These muffins are super fluffy and berry and much lighter than chocolate chip muffins.

Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup (150 gr) white sugar 
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup (125 ml) sunflower oil
• 1 cup (250 ml)  buttermilk
• 3 cups (375 gr) flour
• 3 tsp baking soda
• 1 pound frozen berries

Preheat oven to 350°F (175°C).

Using a stand mixer, mix together sugar and eggs. Add the remaining liquid ingredients one after another and keep mixing. In a separate bowl, mix flour and baking soda and add the mixture to the stand mixer bowl. Mix until you get a smooth mixture. Fold in the berries. Fill the mixture into muffin cups. I ended up with 20 muffins.

Bake for about 25 minutes or until done. You can test whether they're done with a toothpick. Take them out of the muffin pan to cool. 

chocolate almond slivers

I needed a gift for my grandma the other day. She's one of the people who always claims she has everything and doesn't need anything (new). Of course I couldn't show up without a little something to her birthday party so I made these super quick and easy chocolate covered roasted almond slivers.

The key to making tasty chocolate almond slivers is good chocolate. I made a batch with milk chocolate and a batch with dark chocolate. Here's how I like to make these:

Ingredients:
100gr chocolate
100gr almond slivers
patience

Directions:
1) Roast the almond slivers in the oven at 200°C (390°F) until they're brownish, tossing the almonds occasionally so they roast evenly and don't burn. It took about 10 minutes in my oven. 2) Wait for the almonds to cool. 3) Melt the chocolate. Add the almond slivers to the melted chocolate and stir. 4) Using a teaspoon, make little piles of chocolate covered goodness on a baking sheet. 5) Wait for them to dry. I made these in the evening and got to taste them first thing in the morning. Tasting these is a great way to start your day.


ps: Thank you so much for all your nice comments on my last post. I have the best readers and I'm really grateful for your support!

pre-easter breakfast

We don't have any specific plans for Easter yet, because my dad is having a hip replacement surgery the day after tomorrow. Which basically means we don't know yet whether he'll still be in hospital in Hamburg or in rehab somewhere in Northern Germany. So our Easter plans are basically nonexistent at this stage and wherever we end up being for the Easter weekend, there probably won't be an oven to make fresh buns.

So we decided to make a pre-Easter breakfast with cute bunnies, eggs and of course a braided yeast bun (it's one of the traditional German Easter foods). I made the yeast dough yesterday evening and put it in the fridge overnight. This morning I formed some bunnies and the bun and let it rise a second time while the oven preheated. I love yeast dough for obvious reasons - it smells and tastes delicious, it's super easy to make if you stick to the rules and you can prepare it the day before.

Braiding the bun is probably the most relaxing task baking has to offer. The fresh smell, the soft feel of the dough, ... I could do nothing but braid dough all day and be the happiest person on earth :)

I still have to work on my bunny faces. I only had huge raisins so the their eyes turned out way too big. Also the almond whiskers break super easily and several bunnies ended up one-eyes :( (not to mention that some look rather like bears or cats than bunnies...).

Well, I'll practice again next year :)

What do you usually bake/cook/eat for Easter? 

raspberry smoothie

I love smoothies for breakfast. Here's one of my favorite combinations: banana and raspberry!

For two servings you'll need:
- one banana
- one cup of frozen raspberries (you can also use fresh raspberries and add some ice cubes)
- one cup of yoghurt or kefir, depending on what you have in your fridge
- two cups of milk (vanilla almond milk and soy milk also work great!)
- half a cup of oats (if you want a long-lasting breakfast)

Blend all your ingredients in a blender and enjoy!

Favorite Baking Tools

I love baking. And I have a weakness for cute kitchen tools. You probably spotted some of the things I'm about to share in my kitchen tour post last year but I had some people ask for reviews so here we go:
my must-have baking tools

These reusable muffin cups are rad! I've had them for about half a year and I've used them at least 20 times since. They are really convenient because you don't have to worry about greasing your muffin pan or buying expensive paper liners. Nothing sticks to them and once you're done you can simply put them in the dishwasher - no hassle at all. The ones I bought are from a French company (sorry, I don't know the name) are really great because they are pretty thick so they keep their shape (my parents once had some really thin ones that didn't work well.)

Eeeeek, here are my favorites: my beloved kitchenaids. I bought the stand mixer(color: raspberry ice) last summer from my first paycheck. Probably the best investment of that year! I bought it in a bundle with the slicer/grater attachment (the one for the US market is slightly different but I'm sure it works just as well!) as well as the glass bowl. I love the additional bowl because I often need two separate bowls for one recipe and it has a lid! So whenever I make a dough that needs some alone time in the fridge I use the glass bowl.

The only additional thing I bought for the stand mixer is the flex beater. It's probably the best invention after the stand mixer itself. No more stopping to scrape the bowl and it feels like mixing ingredients is much faster and more thorough than before. Oh and the best thing? It's dishwasher safe! :)

I got the blender pretty spontaneously in Denmark. I was in a huge houseware store and there it was, the perfect green blender. My parents have the older model so I knew about how versatile and awesome it is. So the green one was a sample and it was on super sale. They had like 10 different colors and the only one on sale was the one I wanted. Perfect, right?

I didn't mind it being a sample at all because obviously it wasn't used and it looked perfect - no scratches, no flaws, not even fingerprints! So I dragged it to the checkout (that thing is heavy - I'm glad we didn't fly to Denmark otherwise I couldn't have bought it) and the cashier went to get the original packaging. Ten minutes later and she comes back - without the packaging. Apparently the store lost it. Or at least it wasn't where it was supposed to be. So I almost lost my nerves because the warranty leaflet and everything is in the packaging. And how on earth was I supposed to drag the thing back to the car that was parked about 5 miles away?!

The cashier apologized and told me to hold on a minute. Two minutes later she comes back - with another green blender in its original packaging, still sealed. And she offered it at the same price as the sample. I think I smiled for the next 10 hours straight. Dragging it back to the car was a pretty intense workout but so worth it!
I use the blender all the time. To make powdered sugar, to chop nuts, to make soups and pesto, to make smoothies and milkshakes... the possibilities are endless!

I've had about three different thrifted scales before I finally was willing to pay for a digital scale. It was really frustrating having an inaccurate scale or one that has a bowl on top, thus I couldn't put the kitchen aid bowl on it and always had to fill the ingredients I wanted to measure into three different bowls.
Not to mention that weighting yarn is useless if there's a +/- 30g accuracy.
I'm super happy with this one - you can change between oz and g which is really useful if you have a mix of American and European cookbooks like I do :)

Last but not least, measuring cups. I got the blue ones at winners (the Canadian version of Ross / TJ Maxx / ...) and the ceramic ones are from Anthropologie. I compared my teaspoons to the teaspoon measuring cup and my regular teaspoons only hold like 1/2 the amount the measuring cup does. So yeah, I always thought tsp/tbsp measuring cups were useless and I only bought them because they were only $2 and hand painted and so cute. Turns out it was a pretty food investment :)

So what are some of your kitchen must-haves? Anyone else who gets super excited about colorful kitchen tools and appliances?

ps: this is not a sponsored post and I'm not trying to advertise for any companies. I'm just sharing my experiences and opinions on products I like.

a birthday cake or two

My parents had the wise idea to get over with all our family's birthday within three months of the year. My sister is first, then two days later my mom. In April it's my birthday and four days later my brother's.   And then it's my dad's birthday in mid May. So we usually only get to celebrate three birthday parties, because my sis and my mom and my brother and I usually throw one together.
The best part? All the cake!

My grandma always bakes a cake of our choice for each birthday and I've adapted the same habit. So this is the cake I made for my mom this year:

A chocolate hazelnut cake that's kind of a family recipe. Someone's cousin's wife (?) gave it to my grandma who gave it to my mom and me. It takes longer to make than an average cake because you have to grate most of the ingredients (I'm so, so thankful for the KitchenAid shredder attachment!) but investing some time in this cake really pays off. I don't wanna know much many calories there are in one slice but it's so worth it.

I'm not very good at decorating cakes - especially compared to awesome and talented bakers like Esther. Apparently the chocolate cooled down too quickly because there were air bubbles all over the cake. Oh and covering a whole cake in melted chocolate will end up in a huge mess, no matter how careful you are ;)

My sister asked for a cherry cheesecake. I didn't get to take any better pictures because it was gone so fast...

Baking Days // blood orange muffins

I have a confession to make: I'm a stress-eater. Whenever I feel overwhelmed I check the kitchen for anything edible. My favorite kind of stress-relievers? Homemade food. Since baking is kind of my thing I usually make a quick cake or oatmeal cookies. Just half an hour in the kitchen works wonders. So yesterday I made couple of quick blood orange muffins.

Fun fact: it was the first time buying/touching/eating a blood orange. Crazy, right? I've had blood orange juice once or twice but I don't remember it to be special; but these oranges? Oh my, I think I'm addicted! Each and every one looks different on the inside. And they're awesome for food photography purposes. I always love trying new fruits and vegetables :)

The recipe I used (from here) is very easy and quick; you just need two mixing bowls and a couple of ingredients - no fancy kitchen appliances!

These colors... yumm!

Simply mix all the dry ingredients together; in a separate bowl, mix the liquids together and combine everything. Mix with a spoon...

... pour the batter into muffin cups...

... and enjoy :)

So what kind of stress relievers work for you?

Baking Days // Rocher-chocolate muffins

It's the beginning of January and most people still try to keep up with their resolutions on eating helathier etc. Well, I have to admit that I have no such resolutions, thus I don't feel bad for making delicious Rocher-chocolate muffins and sharing them with my friends in class (while several people watch us enviously...). On Tuesdays, I only have classes until 3pm and we have our weekly stitch n' bitch so it's the perfect baking day.

This week, I was convinced I'd make a blueberry cake until I saw that Ferrero Rocher were on sale.  Buttermilk was sold out so I had to kind of improvise on these but they turned out really good anyway, so I'm sharing my recipe with you:

Ingredients for 16 muffins:

• 3 cups all purpose flour
• 3 eggs
• 1 cup yoghurt
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup oil (I used sunflower oil)
• 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 3 tsp baking powder
• if necessary, some milk
• 16 Ferrero Rocher

Preheat oven to 300°F (150°C).
Add all the ingredients (except the Rocher) and mix until you have a creamy batter. Depending on the type of flour and the amount of cocoa powder I use, I sometimes add a little milk to get a creamy batter.

Pour the batter into the muffin pan (I like to use silicon liners because they don't need extra grease and they're reusable). I usually do this by filling each cup with ~2 tbsp in each cup. Don't fill the cups to the top because we still have to add the Rocher!
Next, put one Rocher into each cup and gently push it inside the batter until only the top half is visible.

Bake for 20 minutes(I use a convection oven. you might have to adjust the baking time if you're using a conventional oven) or until your muffins pass the toothpick test. Enjoy!

Baking Days

Here are some sneak peaks of some of the Christmas cookies I've baked with friends and family. Sheepish cookies, gingerbread, nice company, six cookie jars full of delicious things and a curious cat to keep us company. What else could you ask for?!

in my kitchen

I love fall. I love spending cozy evenings at home with friends, sipping tea and knitting. But what I love even more about fall is that it seems legitimate to bake like every week. Several times. I love kneading soft, deliciously smelling dough, the excitement of seeing yeast bread rise, trying new recipes and above all sharing delicious homemade cakes and bread with friends and family.

It took me about 10 years to figure out how to separate the eggs without getting bits of the yolk into the white: an egg separator! I gave in and bought one of those fancy egg separators that has two 'chambers' for the egg white and yolks. It's amazing how much easier a little piece of plastic makes a baker's life :)

I hate complaining on this blog and 'spreading negative energies' but have I mentioned that having a kitchen facing north can be quite frustrating? I love baking. And eating. And photography. So naturally I also love food photography. But taking pictures in a dark kitchen with very harsh lights can be quite a challenge. When we chose the tiles for the kitchen floor I insisted on very light ones hoping that they would 'reflect' some of the natural light that comes in through the window. Whenever I take pictures in the kitchen, I roll the little kitchen cart away from the window and but the stuff I'm about to photograph on the floor right in front of the window. Next, I take a chair to stand on and take pictures from above. I'm sure the neighbors are wondering what kind of 'gymnastics' I do right in front of our kitchen window ;) But it works really well!

Having a bright kitchen with lots of natural light made it to the top of my 'dream home' list (right behind a fireplace)! Are you also stuck with a dark kitchen and a cat that loves occupying your kitchen chairs and leaving a trail of fur behind?

Craving...

Craving for an afternoon in bed, drinking tea and reading a good book. Throw in some knitting, a cuddly cat on my lap and some quality time with friends and I'd be thankful forever.
However, I spend my days studying and trying to cram 450 pages of microeconomics into my head. Not working well...



Yesterday evening we had a spiced wine party at Molly's and made German gingerbread. We had a great time making and decorating it.

I really missed baking. Not having a kitchen isn't my favorite part of living in a dorm. And making about two kilograms of dough by hand made me realize how essential a KitchenAid is. This beauty is on the very top of my 'buy-and-be-happy-for-the-rest-of-my-life' list. 

Apple Festival

Today I went to the annual Apple Festival at the UBC Botanical Gardens. We had so much fun seeing all the different variations of apples grown in BC, taking pictures at the 'pumpkin patch', eating delicious apple pie, drinking apple cider and wandering around, looking at stalls.



I found this beautiful and soft hand spun and dyed yarn and couldn't resist - it's 100% Alpaca and it's soooo gorgeous! The lady who sold the yarn also sold the cutest hand knitted muffin hats I've ever seen <3

I'm thinking about using the yarn to either knit a hat or a cowl or fingerless mittens? Decisions, decisions... for now it's sitting on my desk and I feel the urge to pick it up and cuddle it every five minutes. Alpaca yarn is addictive...

Asian Cuisine

As part of my 30 recipes before 21 challenge I wanted to learn how to make sushi! I love Asian food - especially tofu! So I asked a Korean friend if she could show me the secrets of the Asian cuisine :D My friend Charlotte joined in as well. The food was sooo delicious! Yumm.

Hyunji showed us how to roll sushi. Not as easy as it looks.

This was rather a sort of dessert. So we didn't put many ingredients in. But it was really tasty!

Hyunji also taught tried to teach us how to eat with chop sticks. We had a lot of fun but I wouldn't call myself a cho-pstick-master yet ;)

Afterwards we went outside to enjoy the sun. And of course I had to snap a couple of pictures...