Peanut Butter Fudge Brownie Trifle

I have never made a trifle before. It's not a common dessert in this part of Europe. However, when I saw the picture of it on a blog I'm reading, I knew I'm making this right away. It's really easy to make; you basically just throw everything you like in a glass bowl and cool before serving. 

As the first layer I used my favorite brownies. Then I made a peanut butter layer, followed by chopped Snickers and topped with chocolate pudding and heavy cream on top. I made two layers of every ingredient.

It's the Olympics and the TV is on for hours in our house, so the trifle is just a perfect dessert to make since it doesn't require turning on the oven and making the house even hotter.

The recipe is a bit changed from here.

CAC (Chocolate-Apricot-Coconut) Muffins

Baking muffins is my all-time favorite thing to do. When I first started baking (in the good old high school years) muffins were for dessert every other day. I just love the cute little muffin top and the soft inside. These little fellas are topped with my homemade apricot jam and shredded coconut. Because they just make a great couple. I absolutely love pairing coconut and apricot. However, you can use any other jam and they will still taste delicious.

100g chocolate, melted

300g all-purpose flour

2 tea spoons bicarbonate of soda

½ tea spoon baking powder

A pinch of salt

2 eggs

150g butter, soften

80g sugar

250ml milk

3 table spoons apricot jam

2 table spoons shredded coconut

First combine the flour, salt, soda and baking powder. In a separate bowl mix the sugar and eggs, add the butter and milk. Now pour the mixture to the dry one and mix well. Finally add the melted chocolate. Pour into a greased muffin tin and bake for 25 minutes on 180°C. When baked set aside for a minute or two and brush the muffin tops with apricot jam and sprinkle with some shredded coconut.

Homemade Chocolate Milk - Chocolate Syrup

Milk is not my drink of choice when it comes to beverages. I just don't like the taste of milk and I substitute it with yogurt;  I eat yogurt with my cereal, with fresh fruit, with…..almost everything is good with yogurt! However, after my run I crave chocolate milk. Crazy right? My sister likes this homemade chocolate milk like a kid. She is the biggest chocolate milk drinker I know. So I came up with this recipe for chocolate syrup.

2 cups sugar

1 cup water

½ cup cocoa powder

A pinch of salt

½ tea spoon vanilla

Mix the cocoa with water and pour into a saucepan. Cook over medium heat and add the sugar. Boil for four minutes and add the vanilla and salt. Let cool and pour into a clean glass bottle. Store in the fridge. For chocolate milk blend two or three (if you like a richer flavor) tea spoons of syrup with milk. 

Spaghetti With Fried Zucchini

I love everything Italian. Especially pasta. And this one is my all time favorite. Zucchini grows like crazy these days on our garden and I can't think of anything better than pair it with pasta.

2 zucchini, cut into thin slices

A generous amount of olive oil (let's say about 10 table spoons)

Spaghetti of choice (I use wholegrain Barilla)

First you do the base-in a saucepan heat the oil and fry the zucchini till they're golden and soft. Meanwhile cook the spaghetti al dente. Drain the spaghetti and add to the saucepan with the zucchini. Toss around a few times so the pasta absorbs the oil.  Serve with parsley (optional).

This recipe is taken from Frank's blog Memorie di Angelina.

Chocolate Walnut Brownies

I am a huge brownie fan. The warm and soft, straight from the oven brownie is the best thing that can happen to you on a rainy afternoon.

We've had some gloomy afternoons this past three days here in Slovenia. And I seriously hate rain and cold. It's summer and those rainy days with no sun just don't fit in! It was pretty boring yesterday and I had no book left to read (Yes, that happens sometimes) so I decided to turn on the oven and bake some brownies.

1cup butter, melted

1cup brown sugar

4 eggs

2/3 cup cocoa powder

1cup flour

A pinch of salt

4 table spoons milk

2 table spoons finely grind walnuts

Put the melted butter in a bowl and add the eggs and sugar. Beat till the sugar is dissolved. Add cocoa powder, dlour, salt, milk and walnuts. Mix it all up and pour into a greased pan. Bake for 30 minutes on 180°C.

Puffy Pillows

That's probably the easiest cookie recipe I have ever made. They're perfect when you have a full house and little time to make something sweet to fulfil your guests' cravings. Anyone can make these sweet delights, no baking skills required! Just 10 minutes prep time and another 15 for baking.

You need:

1 package puff pastry sheets

Jam (I used my homemade apricot jam, try Nutella or any jam of your choice)

Roll out the puff pastry and cut it in little squares. If you want the pillows really small, cut smaller squares, but make sure they're not super tiny or you'll have serious problems folding them.

Put one tea spoon jam in the middle of each square and brush some water on the edges. Now fold them so you get a pillow. 

Make a little hole using a knife on the pillow's highest point; this prevents the jam from coming out during baking. 

Place the pillows on a baking sheet and bake for 15 minutes on 200°C. Leave to cool for a few minutes and sprinkle with powdered sugar if desired.

Chocolate Donuts

These are my famous chocolate donuts. They're super soft and chewy and chocolate lovers just can't resist to eat them. Another great thing about these donuts is the fact that they're baked, not fried! This makes them so soft and non-oily. I have to say I really like traditional, fried donuts, but it's hard to buy good ones here in Slovenia because many people don't know this delicious treat.

I bought a donut pan back in february after weeks (!) of consideration whether I need one. Of course I didn't need one, I just wanted one. So I finally bought it and became obsessed with baking donuts of any kind, every single day. Another fun fact is that my grandpa, who is not a dessert person at all, ate a dozen of them on my grandma's birthday party. So I know what to get him on his birthday. And Christmas.

130g all purpose flour

2 table spoons cocoa powder

1 tea spoon baking powder

¼ tea spoon bicarbonate of soda

75g sugar

a pinch of nutmeg

a pinch of salt

2 table spoons butter

¼ cup buttermilk or regular milk with lemon juice

¼ cup  yogurt

¼ tea spoon vanilla

One egg

Sift the flour, cocoa and bicarbonate of soda. Add the sugar, salt and nutmeg. Combine and add the butter. Now mix it all up with your fingers. You have to create crumbs or bigger chunks of the mixture. In another bowl beat yogurt, milk, vanilla and egg. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ones and mix it all up with a spatula. Don't overmix the batter! It's perfectly fine to have a mess, not a liquid sauce.

Fill in the greased donut pan and bake for about 6-8 minutes on 180°C. Leave to cool for 5 minutes and glaze the donuts with melted chocolate or sprinkle some powdered sugar on top.

Vanilla Surprise Muffins

These muffins are simply gorgeous; soft on the outside and gooey on the inside. The heart of these muffins is a surprise kick that melts in your mouth and makes you crave for more.

Ingredients (Makes 12 Muffins):

150g butter

170g sugar

3 eggs

150g all-purpose flour

2 tea spoons baking powder

1 tea spoon vanilla sugar

For the filling:

½ packet of instant vanilla pudding

250ml milk

1 table spoon sugar

Preheat the oven to 200°C. For the filling prepare the instant pudding as required on the back of the box. For the dough mix the butter and sugar till you get a foamy mixture. Add the eggs and flour combined with baking powder and vanilla sugar. Pour the mixture into the muffin baking tray. Place a tea spoon of filling on the top of each muffin. Bake for 15 minutes.

It's a Cake!

Hello Blog world! Today is a special day. The Cake Baby was born! It came to the blog world to deliver a special message: cooking and baking is fun and easy. Every delicious recipe on this blog is tested by test-eaters and marked as “blog appropriate”. So let’s start cooking!