Mulled Wine

I hope everyone had a great Christmas and got the presents you wished for. I certainly did. Now the Christmas celebration is over, you might want to make some plans for New Year's Eve. Just a few more days and 2012 will be over. Can you believe it?! But before the year ends, you have to drink a few glasses glass of mulled wine. Cheers!

750 ml red wine

250 ml water

6 table spoons sugar

1 tea spoon cinnamon

1 tea spoon cloves

1 tea spoon star aniseed

1 tea spoon vanilla

1 tea spoon lemon zest

Put everything in a big saucepan and warm through gently until hot. But not boily! Fill into your favorite cup or glass and enjoy.

Thumbprint Cookies

The Christmas cookie baking spree continues! I just get into baking cookies every now and then, but this time of the year makes it even more fun. I love these Thumbprint cookies because they look awesome and taste amazing. Actually I bake them just around Christmas and not year round because they look so perfect for Christmas.

I will be spending this evening with family, drinking mulled wine and eating delicious food while opening presents.

I wish you all a Merry Christmas eve! Eat lots and lots of great food and be joyful!

280 grams butter

400 grams flour

140 grams sugar

4 egg yolks

Lemon zest

250 grams walnuts, grated

Jam of choice

Put the flour and sugar in a big bowl. Add the butter and slice it into small pieces with a knife. You should get a messy combination of flour and butter. Add the yolks, lemon zest and walnuts. Knead the dough with your hands until you get a smooth texture. Put in the fridge for half an hour.

Now take a small amount of dough, let's say the size of a walnut, and roll into a ball. Set the balls on parchment paper and make a hole in the middle of each ball. I used the handle of a wooden spoon to do so. Bake them at 190°C for 20 minutes. When baked, fill the holes with one teaspoon jam of your choice (I used peach jam, but any kind of jam will work).

Coconut Bars

The past week was a tough one for me. I was exhausted and the changing weather was sucking my energy like a vamp. When things couldn't get worse I had a sore throat. And one of the many things I absolutely hate is having a sore throat. So nasty! I got to the store and saw these - of course I had to buy them.

5 pounds of sweet Clementines just for me

I am the person that eats at least one apple a day and lots of veggies, but still catch a cold sometimes. But when I do, it is either my birthday or holidays. Yes, I'm lucky like that. Anyways, I was thinking about fun recipes to make on Christmas parties.

Here's a fun recipe to try with your friends or family on Christmas eve. We used to make these bars when I was a kid and it is an interesting thing to do. These bars taste amazing and make a great addition to the Christmas dinner party.

3 eggs

8 table spoons sugar

12 table spoons flour

½ tea spoon vanilla

2 table spoons baking powder

½ cup milk

½ cup butter, melted

200 grams chocolate (I used semi-sweet)

1 tea spoon butter

20 table spoons milk

200 grams shredded coconut

First combine the eggs, sugar and vanilla. Mix well. Gradually add the flour with baking powder, milk and butter. Pour into a greased baking tin and bake for 25 minutes on 180°C. When baked let cool for a few minutes, then slice into squares (It doesn't matter how big or small you cut them.) and set aside.

Melt the chocolate with the butter and milk. Stirr occasionally. Set aside.

Put the shredded coconut in a medium sized bowl and set aside.

Here's where the fun begins; take one square and put it in the chocolate. Make sure you cover it all in chocolate and then throw it in the coconut. The coconut has to be all around the little square. Enjoy!

Cinnamon Wreath Bread

December is here! This means the Christmas baking has started. I love December because it officially opens the baking season in our house. The number one spice I think of when talking about Christmas is cinnamon. I just love the scent of it, it makes me feel like home and reminds me of the warm feeling I get around Christmas. So I baked this Cinnamon Wreath Bread I saw on Pinterest.

I tried to do the cinnamon challenge with my sis as well, but the house was clean and we didn't want to spill cinnamon all over. But I will try to convince someone to do it on Christmas eve.

When I first saw the picture of this wreath I was like oh my, it looks great. But then I was like wait a minute, can I do that?? And I did! I have to say this is a wonderful recipe. The dough is super responsive, easy to roll out, and the rest is easy peasy as well. You just have to follow the instructions precisely and the thing works. You get a great looking wreath, which tastes amazing.

Before baking

For the dough:

2 cups flour

A pinch of salt

½ cups warm milk

17 grams active dry yeast

1/8 cup butter, melted

1 egg yolk

1 table spoon sugar

For the filling:

¼ cup butter, melted

4 table spoons sugar

3 table spoons cinnamon

Combine the warm milk, yeast and sugar and set aside for five minutes or until it starts to make bubbles. In a separate bigger sized bowl combine flour, egg yolk, salt and the yeast. Knead the dough with your hands or use a mixer and shape it into a ball. Set aside for one hour. Now roll out the dough, not too thin and not too thick and brush it with the melted butter and sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon. Roll up the dough and use a sharp knife to cut it in half, length-wise. Twist the two halves together, keeping the open layers exposed. Give a round shape, then transfer to a baking tray and bake for 30 minutes on 200°C. 

Oreo Brownies

I bought a package of Oreo cookies the other day and totally forgot about them. Until recently, when I came across Lorraine Pascale's Baking Made Easy cookbook. I love Lorraine; she's so sweet and makes gorgeous food. Her recipes are all really easy and yet decadent. So I saw her Oreo Brownies recipe and had to make them. These brownies are so squidgy and fluffy in the middle, but the Oreos make a great crunch. One of the best brownies I have ever eaten! I used chocolate filled Oreos, but you can use the original ones or any kind you like.

165g butter

200g dark chocolate, finely chopped

3 eggs

2 egg yolks

2 tea spoons vanilla extract

165g brown sugar

 2 table spoons flour

 1 table spoon cocoa powder

 A pinch of salt

 154g pack Oreos, broken into quarters

Melt the butter over medium heat and set aside. Stir in the chocolate and sit for a few minutes. Then stir together so you get a nice, melted gooey mixture. Whisk the eggs and yolks in a large bowl until light and fluffy. Add the sugar, but be gentle so you don't knock out the air bubbles, pour it to around the side of the egg mixture. Keep mixing until you get a stiff mixture. Now add the melted chocolate and mix gently. Next, add the flour, cocoa powder and salt. Mix it up and add a third of the Oreos, mix up until combined. Pour into a greased baking tin, lined up with parchment paper. Scatter the remaining Oreos on top and bake for 25 minutes on 190°C.

When you remove the brownies out of the oven, the middle should be still a bit gooey. Leave it in the tin to cool down. Pull the brownies out of the tin and cut into squares.

Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies

Chocolate Chip Cookies are pure art. A perfect chocolate chip cookie is so hard to find. I haven't found the one yet, but this recipe is the closest to perfect :) These cookies are double chocolate, inside and outside just the perfect cookie you'll want to eat.

It's from this blog.

2 1/4 cups flour1 tsp baking soda1 cup [2 sticks] margarine1/4 cup sugar3/4 cup brown sugar 6 oz. chocolate chips4 oz. instant chocolate pudding1 tsp vanilla2 eggs

Mix flour and baking soda and set aside. In a separate bowl mix the softened margarine, sugar, brown sugar, pudding mix, vanilla and beat until smooth. Add eggs and beat until smooth. Gradually add flour mixture and beat until smooth. Stir in the chocolate chips and drop by spoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheet. Bake for 8-10 minutes on 190°C.

Lemon Pretzels

In case you were wondering If I am baking anything else than cookies lately - no I don't. Here's another cookie recipe. :)

My mum surprised me with these beauties on Monday when I came home. These pretzels are so delicious I had to share the recipe with you! They're like lemonade in cookie form. Totally addictive and so easy to make.

200 grams flour

100 grams butter

70 grams sugar

1/2 lemon - squish the juice out of it and grate the peel

2 egg yolks

1 tea spoon vanilla

Mix all of the ingredients together with a wooden spoon. When it starts getting thick, continue with your hands and knead the dough. Form into a ball and put in the fridge for 30 minutes. Form the dough into a long, sausage looking shape. Now cut the dough to walnut sized pieces. Form this little pieces of dough into pretzels by rolling the dough into a small sausage looking shape and turning the edges to the middle of it, pressing slightly with your fingers. Just use your imagination, you can also do other shapes if you wish. Bake at 180°C until they're golden brown. Sprinkle the pretzels with powdered sugar while they're still warm.