David Rocco's Tiramisu

For last week New Year's eve....we made David Rocco's Tiramisu. It's very simple...let me copy paste it for you....

Ingredients:

5 eggs
5 tablespoons sugar
1 pound fresh mascarpone cream cheese
2 cups espresso
1/3 cup sweet Italian vermouth (we made it with kahlua)
40 Italian Savoiardi lady finger cookies
Bittersweet chocolate, for shaving

Directions:

Separate the yolks from the whites into two different mixing bowls. In the bowl with the yolks, add the sugar, and beat the yolk mixture with an electric mixer, until it reaches a creamy consistency. Add the mascarpone cream cheese and mix until thoroughly combined.

In the other mixing bowl, beat the egg whites until they turn into fluffy white peaks. Carefully fold the egg whites into the creamy yolk mixture.

In another bowl, mix together the espresso and vermouth. Dip the cookies in the coffee mixture for a few seconds, making sure they are wet outside but still somewhat dry in the middle. On the bottom of a 2 quart cake pan or casserole, arrange the dipped cookies in one tightly packed layer. Pour half of the mascarpone cream mixture on top of the cookies, and spread evenly. Add a second layer of soaked lady fingers, then evenly spread the remaining cream on top.

Coat the cake pan in plastic wrap, and leave the tiramisu to rest in the refrigerator for 3 to 4 hours. Sprinkle the tiramisu with chocolate shavings, just before serving.

Enjoy :))

Homemade Peanut Butter Cups

Easy peasy! Got the recipe from this site. I'll copy paste it for you...

What you need:

• 16 oz semisweet chocolate, chopped
• 1/2 cup creamy natural peanut butter
• 2 tbsp butter, softened
• 1.75 oz confectioner's sugar (1/4 cup+2 tbsp), sifted

 How to make:

• Line a standard 12 cup muffin tin with paper cupcake liners.
• Melt half the chocolate either in a double boiler (the safer method) or in the microwave (the more dangerous, but easier/lazier method). I opt for the latter. If you don't know how to melt chocolate this way, read my Explanation of Chocolate Behavior article.

• Distribute the melted chocolate into the 12 muffin tins (I use a cookie scoop to portion the chocolate), only barely filling the bottom of each cup. If the chocolate does not lie flat, drop the pan repeatedly on the counter, and it will flatten and smooth itself out. Place the pan in the freezer for 15 minutes.

• In the meantime, whip the peanut butter, butter, and confectioner's sugar together with a hand mixer until mixed and light. Taste it and make sure the sweetness is to your liking. Place small tablespoons of peanut butter into each cup, then drop the pan repeatedly on the counter again, so the peanut butter layer is flattened out. Place in the freezer for 15 minutes.

• Melt the last 1/2lb of chocolate, and portion small spoonfuls of chocolate into the cups, one cup at a time, immediately dropping the pan repeatedly on the counter to flatten each cup. In my experience of making these, the chill from the peanut butter (because it was just in the freezer) will harden up that top layer of chocolate very quickly, so you must flatten out the tops immediately after you pour the chocolate into each cup. Place the peanut butter cups in the freezer for 15 minutes to set the top layer of chocolate.
• You can either refrigerate them for a peanut butter cup with more bite, or leave them at room temperature for a softer, creamier bite. Just peel the wrapper off, and enjoy!

Makes 12-18 peanut butter cups (depends on how thick you make the layers)

I made this for my Papa's birthday cake and my mom made the chocolate cake with peanut butter too, since he loves Peanut butter :))

I'm a fan of Reese's chocolate, that's why I tried this recipe. It's not exactly the same as Reese's, but pretty close though....so hey, since we don't have Reese's here in Jakarta, might as well make some :)) 


 

Nutella Popsicle

Got a new super simple recipe for a popsicle from a website. I bet your kids would love it too. Just mix together 2 cups of whipped cream ( whipped the cream until it's fluffy), 6tbsp of nutella and 1 cup of milk. Pour into popsicle moulds and freeze for a few hours. You can add peanut butter and chocolate chips too...we did it yesterday and it's nyuummmyy!

The popsicles in the picture looks like it's already melted, because I forgot to take the picture immediately hahaha. So, go have a try :))

Cinnamon toast french toast

Got this recipe from Smitten Kitchen's blog. I'll copy paste it for you :)

All you need:

1/2 cup (100 grams) granulated sugar
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
16 slices (from a 1-pound or 450 gram loaf) white sandwich bread
1 stick (4 ounces or 113 grams) unsalted butter, softened
3 cups (710 ml) whole milk
6 large eggs
1/4 teaspoon table salt
2 teaspoons (10 ml) vanilla extract

How to make:

- Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Whisk the cinnamon and sugar together in a small dish. Line two large baking sheets with foil. Place the bread slices on the baking sheets in one layer. Spread each slice of bread with 1 teaspoon of butter, then sprinkle each slice with one teaspoon of the cinnamon-sugar mixture.

- Toast the trays of bread in the oven until the bread is golden, and until the cinnamon-sugar makes a caramelized crunch on top, for about 7 to10 minutes. Reduce the oven temperature to 375 degrees and let the toast cool slightly.

- Generously butter a 9×13-inch baking dish. (You might have a little butter leftover but I wanted to build in some leeway in case, understandably, you weren’t buttering your bread with precise teaspoon measurements!) Cut two slices of the cinnamon toast in half horizontally. Arrange the cinnamon toast down in two rows along the width of the pan. Begin with the bottom half of one slice of toast, then fan 7 more slices in a row, finishing with the top half of the slice. This ensures that those served the end pieces of the baked.

- French toast are not stiffed with thin slices! Repeat with another 7 full slices and 1 halved slice of cinnamon toast in the second row. Whisk the milk, eggs, salt and vanilla in a medium bowl and pour evenly over cinnamon toast in baking dish. Let sit for 15 minutes (or overnight, if you’re preparing this ahead of time) so that the custard absorbs a bit.

- Before baking, if you’ve got any extra cinnamon-sugar (you’ll likely have a tablespoon or two), sprinkle it over the French toast. Bake for 30 minutes, until puffed and golden and until no liquid seeps out of the toasts when they are nudged about in the pan. Cut into squares and serve plain, or with a dollop of plain yogurt and fresh berries, or maple syrup.

Enjoy! :)

Nutella fudge brownies

I found this recipe from some newspaper, I forgot. It's super easy and it's with Nutella :D And you can make it with your kids too. All you need....

1/2 cups of Nutella

1 egg

5 tbsp of flour

All you have to do....put your oven to 180-200C....and then blend the nutella and egg in a bowl, mix it well. Then put flour, whisk it. After that, I put them into a small mini cupcake pan. Put it into the oven, wait for 12 - 15 minutes. 

 And it's done!....I got 12 minis nutellat fudge cupcake. Eat it while it's still warm, you can eat it with Nutella spread on top or with vanilla ice cream....or just plain. Easy peasy right? enjoy :)

Beet Cake

I love beetroots especially their color, just love colorfull food from their own natural color. I was at Desa YUM Cipanas for 4 days and 3 nights. And got some veggies from their organic farm, with lots of beetroots. For sure, I love to make salad (you can see some recipe here) with beets and I made some chips too (you can also see the recipe here). This time, me and my mom wanna try something different..."Beet Cake" :)

All you need: 

4 eggs
2 cups sugar (we used brown sugar)
1 cup vegetable oil
2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
2 teaspoons vanilla
3 cups shredded fresh beets
1 cup chopped walnuts

Directions:

Heat oven to 180c °, grease and flour 13x9 baking pan. Beat eggs, sugar and oil until light and fluffy. Sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda and cinnamon. Add to egg mixture and mix well. Add vanilla, beets and walnuts. Beat for 1 minute on medium speed. Pour into pan, bake for 45 minutes, or until a pick comes out clean. I sprinkled some icing sugar on top too. You can make your own frosting or eat with whipped cream.

I think basicly it's like carrot cake but you changed it with bee. Very moist in the inside, and somehow...it's lighter than carrot cake :)

Read more at: http://www.food.com/recipe/dont-knock-it-until-you-try-it-beet-cake-63346

Peanut Butter brownies

Got this recipe from "Recipe" Magazine. And this one is a keeper! Love it :)

All you need:

180g unsalted butter, chopped

200g milk cooking chocolate, chopped

1 cup firmly packed brown sugar

3 eggs, lightly whisked

1 1/4 cups plain flour

2 tbsp cocoa powder

2/3 cup smooth peanut butter (you can use smooth or crunchy)

2/3 cup milk chocolate bits (choco chips)

How to make:

1. Preheat oven to 180C. Grease and line a 26x16cm slice pan with baking paper, extending paper at long sides of handles.

2. Combine butter and chocolate in a saucepan over low heat. Cook and stir for 5 minutes or until melted and smooth. Remove from heat. Stir in sugar, then egg, mix well. Sift flour and cocoa powder over chocolate mixture. Stir until combined.

3. Pour half the mixture into prepared pan, level surface. Drop half teaspoon of half the peanut butter evenly over chocolate mixture in pan. Carefully pour over remaining batter, lever surface. Drop teaspoons of remaining peanut butter evenly over top.

Bake for 3 minutes or until peanut butter melts. Remove from oven. Using a small knife, swirl peanut butter into brownie batter. Sprinkle on top with chocolates bits. Return to oven. Bake for 45 minutes more or  until cooked when a skewer inserted at centre comes out with crumbs attached. Cool in pan. Cut into pieces, serve.

Again....eat it with vanilla ice cream....nyuuummmyyy :)

Chocolate Raspberry Croissant Pudding

Got this recipe from "Recipes" magazine. We're in the mood for cooking this weekend :)

All you need:

4 butter croissants

20gr butter

100gr dark chocolate pieces

4 eggs

2tsp vanilla essence

1/4 cup caster sugar

300ml thickened cream

1/2 cup milk

3/4 raspberries

icing sugar to dust

How to make:

1. Preheat ove to 180C. Grease a 20cm, 4cm deep square ovenproof dish. Cut croissan horizontally in half. Spread bases with butter, top 16 pieces of the chocolate (4 pieces each). Replace croissant tops, cut each croissant sandwich in half crosswise. Transfer to prepared dish in a single layer.

2. Lightly whisk eggs in a jug. Add essence, caster sugar, cream and milk, whisk until combined. Pour mixture over croissants. Stand for 10 minutes, turning and pressing to submerge croissants in egg mixture.

3. Sprinkle top with frozen raspberries. Break remaining chocolate pieces in half. Sprinkle on top. Bake for 35 minutes, cover with foil. Bake for 10 minutes more or until set at centre. Stand in dish for 5 minutes. Dust with icing sugar.

You can eat this with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream too :)

Flourless Peanut Butter-Chocolate Chip Cookies

I was in the mood for peanut butter. Got this recipe from myrecipes.com.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup creamy peanut butter 
• 3/4 cup sugar 
• 1 large egg 
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips 

How to make it:

1. Preheat oven to 180-200°c. Stir together peanut butter and next 4 ingredients in a medium bowl until well blended. Stir in chocolate morsels.

2. Drop dough by rounded tablespoonfuls 2 inches apart onto parchment paper-lined baking sheets.

3. Bake for 12 to 14 minutes or until puffed and lightly browned. Cool on baking sheets on a wire rack 5 minutes. Transfer to wire rack, and let cool 15 minutes.

You can make it together with your kids too, it's easy! And yes, eat it with vanilla ice cream....hahaha...never fails me :)

Nutella Cupcakes with Nutella Cream Cheese Frosting

Got this recipe from this site. It supposed to be a cupcake with triple cream cheese frosting, but when I made the nutella cream cheese frosting first...it's already toooo sweet, so I just stick with one frosting. Some of my cousins said that it's not too sweet. It's all up to you, for me...I love to make cupcakes or cakes...but not too sweet. Next time I'll change the measurement and make triple cream cheese frosting :p As you can see from this site it looks pretty.

As for the cupcake itself, it taste good, fluffy and light! I'll copy paste it for you...


For the Cupcakes:

2/3 cup Nutella
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups cake flour
1 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp salt
3 large eggs
1 1/2 cups sugar
3/4 cup butter, softened
2 1/2 cups buttermilk (for butermilk you can change it with milk and lemon, 1 cup of buter milk is 1 cup of milk with 1 tbsp lemon).


Vanilla Cream Cheese Frosting
8 ounces cream cheese, softened to room temperature
5 tablespoons butter, softened to room temperature
1 pound powdered sugar (about 3 3/4 cups), sifted
2 teaspoons clear vanilla extract*

Nutella Cream Cheese Frosting
6 ounces cream cheese, softened to room temperature
2 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup Nutella
1 pound confectioners’ sugar (about 3 3/4 cups), sifted
1 teaspoons vanilla extract
black and brown food coloring, optional

Almond Butter/Peanut Butter Cream Cheese Frosting
6 ounces cream cheese, softened to room temperature
2 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup Almond Butter or Peanut Butter
1 pound confectioners’ sugar (about 3 3/4 cups), sifted
1 teaspoons vanilla extract
*clear vanilla extract is used to maintain a purer white color. If this doesn't matter to you, then you may use regular vanilla extract.

 

 

Directions:

For the Cupcakes
Line 3 dozen muffin cups with cupcake liners or grease using non-stick spray. Set aside. Preheat oven to 350F.

Sift together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Set aside.

In a large bowl, beat the eggs and sugar for 5 minutes, until it is pale and thick. Add in the butter. Mix until combined. Add in the nutella. Now, add in the buttermilk. Beat until well incorporated.

Add the flour mixture in 3 increments and beat until smooth. Divide batter into the cupcake tins. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Do not over-bake. Remove from oven and let cool completely before frosting.

Vanilla Cream Cheese Frosting
Cream the butter and cream cheese in the large mixing bowl of a stand mixture. Add the vanilla. Slowly incorporate the powdered sugar as you continue to cream. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Beat on high speed until fluffy and smooth, adding milk or additional sugar (if needed) to reach desired consistency.

Nutella Cream Cheese Frosting
Cream the butter and cream cheese in the large mixing bowl of a stand mixture. Add the nutella and vanilla and continue to cream. Slowly incorporate the powdered sugar as you continue to cream. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Beat on high speed until fluffy and smooth, adding milk or additional sugar (if needed) to reach desired consistency. For a darker brown add 1 drop brown and 1 drop black food coloring.

Almond Butter or Peanut Butter Cream Cheese Frosting
Cream the butter and cream cheese in the large mixing bowl of a stand mixture. Add the almond butter or peanut butter and vanilla and continue to cream. Slowly incorporate the powdered sugar as you continue to cream. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Beat on high speed until fluffy and smooth, adding milk or additional sugar (if needed) to reach desired consistency.


I didn't use all the frosting though. I left some of the cupcakes plain. So I can eat with nutella spread too...it's nyummy! And of course...with vanilla ice cream or peanut butter hehehe :D

Go try it!

Cappuccino Slices

Got this recipe from Jamie Oliver's magazine.

We changed the sugar to brown sugar...

Eat it warm with vanilla ice cream :)

Light fluffy low fat Chocolate Cake

Got this recipe from my friend Echa :) It only took 15 minutes to make and 10 minutes to bake!

The ingredients are: 

100g milk chocolate (Colatta)

4 tbsp flour

4 egg whites

How to make:

Preheat the oven to 200-220 degrees celcius. Put your chocolate in a bowl then put the bowl in a pan with boiling water. Heat the chocolate until it's melted. Mix the flour spoon by spoon and don't forget to sift your flour so you don't have lumps. You will have a thick chocolate dough

Put the egg whites with a pinch of salt, in the mixer and mix until hard.

Slowly incorporate the egg whites into the chocolate dough. Slowly...you want the mixture to be fluffy. Put your mixture in a pie plate, about 15 cm in diameter (smaller than the usual pie plate)

Bake for about 8 to 12 minutes. Check with a toothpick, when it comes clean, your cake is ready :) 

It's nyummy and light, the kids would love it too :)