Sunday - Breakfast - Knuffel Cookies

There is one brand of cookies and bread in Italy that always shows the "ideal" family in its ads.
It's so well-known that people often say "They are like the Mulino Bianco family" describing a perfect family.
This brand produces cookies called "Abbracci" (Hugs), chocolate and vanilla cookies that Roberto and I made yesterday evening (the dough) and this morning (baked).
I called them "Knuffels" because it means sweet hugs in Dutch.


This time I had only the problem that I hadn't enough flour (how can that happen in my house, I've always flour everywhere!). So I had to let the dough rest overnights because otherwise it would have been too fluffy to use it.

We ate our Knuffels with a mandarin and a cup of milk. And this time they were even good-looking.


Cacao - Vanilla Cookies - Knuffels
Vanilla dough
250 g flour (8,8 oz)
100 g sugar (3,5 oz)
50 g softened unsalted butter (1,7 oz)
45 g margarine, softened (1,56 oz)
1 teaspoon honey
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
a sprinkle of salt
3 Tablespoons of cream

Cacao dough
260 g flour (9,1 oz)
120 g sugar (4,2 oz)
40 g margarine, softened (1,4 oz)
60 g softened unsalted butter (2,1 oz)
30 g cacao powder (unsweetened) (1 oz)
40 ml milk (1 cup)
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
a sprinkle of salt

Vanilla dough
Mix butter, margarine and sugar until a fluffy cream is formed.
Add all the other ingredients, the last will be the flour and the baking powder.

Cacao dough
Same process, different ingredients.
Mix butter, margarine and sugar until a fluffy cream is formed.
Add all the other ingredients, the last will be the flour and the baking powder.

Place parchment paper on a baking pan and pre-heat the oven at 180 °C (350 F)
Take a piece of vanilla dough and make small rolls in the form of half a doughnut (or a half-moon) and place on the sheet parchment paper.
Make ather half-moons with the cacao dough and join them to the vanilla ones (please watch the pictures, I'm not good at explaining it).
Place in the oven for 10-15 minutes until the vanilla dough gets golden.
Allow to cool on a rack for 10 minutes.



Here you have a nice Sunday breakfast without disasters this time =)

Have a nice day, mine certainly was.

Juliette

Sunday - Breakfast

Why Sunday breakfast?

Well, there only one day a week (or maybe two) when I really eat a proper breakfast, sitting down, enjoying the morning, getting ready for the day.. and that’s Sunday.

Every week I will try to take a picture of what has been devoured this time and maybe share some recipes.

I have a list of the sweetest things I want to bake and I know that if I don’t “have to” write a post about it, I should always find an excuse not to try them out.

And if I dream of opening a bakery, I have to bake on!

So, let’s start with..

Oat cinnamon cookies (they looked great, didn't they? Until..)

I love oats and I love cookies which are not too sugary and I adore cinnamon, so what better than these cookies. There were a semi-fail because the oven I have here is, I don't know why, I son't know how, hotter that the one I have home, at the same temperature. I rally don't understand those things. But. They "browned" a bit more on the edges and sticked together (I had to cut them). Shall we call it fail insted of semi-fail?
But they were yummy and I gave Roberto a huge box with the ones we left. So he has cookies for this week ^^.
I found the recipe here and used less sugar and no lemon zest because I didn't have. So here's my version:
Ingredients.
250 gr oats (8,8 oz)
50 gr almonds (chopped)
100 gr sugar (3,5 oz)
100 gr butter (3,5 oz), softened
2 eggs
2 teaspoons cinnamon
8 gr baking powder



In a large bowl combine oats, almonds, sugar and softened butter.
Add the two eggs and the cinnamon and at last add baking powder.
Knead the dough with your hands until the ingredients will be well blended.
Make a lot of small dough balls (around 15 gr each, 0,5 oz) and place them on a baking tray covered with baking parchment at a huuuuge distance one from the other because I did it and they melted anyway until meeting eachother in a big mess.
Place in the oven for 20 minutes at 180 °C (360 F).

(insert saaad face here ) =(

That was not the best beginning for a new section in this blog, but I hope you'll enjoy my disadventures.
Have a great sunday!

Juliette

The great comeback, for now.

"Hi, I am a


and I mark the comeback of the princess of baking."

I haven't blogged for more than two months. It's been two busy, confusing, stupid months. Actually the whole year hasn't been my luckiest one, I can say it is being the worst one actually (one of my friend would say "until now!", ahah).

I stopped baking and cooking, crafting and taking nice pics. Then I made a trip around Europe with Roberto, and opened my eyes to the world. I just have to go on with my hobbies, even if I am not feeling great, or not 100% happy, because those things keep me alive.
Even if someone says "You will not become a baker" that does not mean that I cannot have a passion for baking. And if I want to become I baker, I will succeed. Full stop.

At the moment I don't really know what I want (translate, travel, bake, take pictures, have a family, be happy..that are all big dreams of mine), but while I am figuring out, I can just go on with some of my passions, right?

Therefore today I woke up and decided it would have been the day to make my comeback in the Baking World.
Why? Because my daddy is ill and he's complaining a lot. My mum hates this. They both need something sugary in their day.
My dad loves cookies. My mum loves sugar.
I had a "To bake" list, and the weather is being rainy.
All those ingredients combined means only one thing: "Gingerbread Cookies"!

I am so happy to have baked something, and I think my father was too. Fall brings us cozy clothing, warm cups of tea, oranges and mandarins, and..Gingerbread Cookies! Right?

Ok
I'll stop for now otherwise I won't have anything to write next time I will pop onto my blog.

Have a nice day!

HappyFroggy

Smarties Cookies.

It has been so sunny here in Italy, lately. Summer is finally here!
And summer to me means: Colours!
Having to bake something for my mother's friends I thought it would be nice if I made something easy, quick and colorful.
So, I chose this easy recipe from Sophistimom, and changed it a little to make Smarties Cookies.
I think my mother's friends of Joga will appreciate it after a one-day long Joga lesson.



Smarties Cookies.

375 g all-purpose flour
180 g unsalted butter, room temperature
350 g sugar
2 eggs
10 g vanilla extract
3 small packages of Smarties (I think they were 50 g each)
a pinch of salt

Preheat the oven at 190 °C.
Beat he butter until fluffy.
Add the sugar slowly, until well blended.
Add eggs and vanilla extract.
Slowly add the flour and the salt.
With a tablespoon place little amounts of dough on the parchment paper, place them at some distance because they will expand in the oven.
Then press the dough a little with a glass (I used a coaster, I recommend to put some flour on it, in order not to make it stick ), and press some smarties on it.
Place the cookies in the oven for about 12 minutes.
Let them cool before moving them from the parchment paper.

Voilà!
Going back to the books, and to the sun!
Bye!
HappyFroggy

Bread and rainbows

I know I haven't been writing for a while. I had lots of exams, and now I have a littlebit of time. Actually, I'm waiting for my nephew to be born, I am so excited and think a lot about it because tuesday I will go to Berlin, and if he'll be born then I won't see him for one entire week =(. But alas, I cannot oblige him, obviously =).


Today my mother called my father to buy some bread (we live in a small town and the nearest place where you can buy bread is like 10km away from here). He was already near home so I decided to make it. I am so happy when I have the chance to bake =)


Meanwhile it was, and it still is, raining and raining. It stopped for about 10 minutes, and guess what we saw? A spectacular rainbow, from the beginning to the end, right in front of our house. I took some photos. It was fantastic!


(oh yes, I intensified the colours a bit too much, but I hate when pictures don't let you feel as if you were in that place when they have been taken, because it was so beautiful..)

Oh, and yesterday I made cookies for Roberto. We are together from August, 5 2007 : that is.. 2 and a half years! Whoa! So I decided to make some cookie lollies (idea from here) and some miniminicookies. I had no icing sugar so I decorated it with chocolate..mmh!!

(they still were drying)


If you want to know recipe or something, just ask =)

HappyFroggy

Hoor de wind waait door de bomen..

Hallo!!
The title means "hear the wind blowing through the trees" and it's the beginning of my favourite Sinterklaas song.
Yesterday we celebrated Sinterklaas, and it was sooooo much fun! When you celebrate sinterklaas you have to write rhyming poems with every gift. And with some gifts you have to invent something, like, for example, a treasure hunt.
The day before yesterday Roberto and I made cookies with nutella, confectioner's sugar and chocolate:


Yesterday I made cupcakes:


Then, I prepared the "surprises" and wrapped up the gifts.


Miele, in the meantime, was making noise and eating up all the coloured feathers.


Finally, "Sinterklaas" arrived and he brought a lot of gifts!


We enjoyed our evening together and our "surprises"..


(the cactus was because sometimes I go mad for no reason, but, after all, it's normal, isn't it? XD. the cupcake was, obviously, because I looove cupcakes!! and I received a lot of decorations for them.)


It was really a fantastic evening! And I have to thank my parents, who are always very creative and have so much funny ideas!
A superhappy Froggy..

A few photos..

Hallo!
I haven't had time in these days. That's because tomorrow I have the English Literature Exam.



But these month I did a lot of funny things..
My roommate and I made fantastic Pizza :

We ate it with her cousin and our friend Andrea.

We had just two bottles of wine, and a slice pizza, but we had sooo much fun!!

Then, I went to the cycle track that we have close to the sea, with Roberto and my parent, it was funny 'cause Roberto and I went with the tandem, and I had so much problems with riding it.

And when I was alone at home, here in Turin, I made cookies!!

And saturday Roberto and I went to the Ikea.. I bought a lot of colorful fabrics ^^

I'm looking forward to see my parents again, and also Miele, I miss them..
I'm going back to my books..


Bye =)
Happy Froggy