Maple-Caramel Cheesecake

Hello sweet ladys and gentlemen,

as I did not post any recipe last sunday, I thaught that I would surprise you all with a very special and amazing recipe today! Although I love cheesecake, I realized that I haven't made one in a very long time and I haven't posted a recipe on this blog. What I'm sharing today, is not an ordinary Cheesecake recipe. It is so much more. It is a jummy cookie crust with a layer of the perfect, creamy Cheesecake filling, topped of with a thin layer of decadent melting maple infused caramel and a sprinkle of chopped almonds.
How.Amazing. Is. This. I'm not gonna lie. This cake is by far the best thing I have made in my entire life. Seriously, it tourned out so so good. This cake is to die for.

It is also perfect for fall as the crust tastes like cinnamon, a little bit of nutmeg and hazelnuts. And the caramel topping is made with heavy cream and a lot of delicious maple sirup. I think maple sirup is one of the best ingredients for baking. It has such a warm, fudgy caramel flavour. It is like liquid rose gold that comes out of threes. I had to be careful to not eat all of the caramel before putting it on top of the cake. The maple sirup adds a whole other dimension to the taste of the whole cake, it rounds it up so perfectly. Like a piece from heaven. When the rich and creamy flavours of the cream cheese and the caramel combine in your mouth, time stops.
If you want to enjoy this goodness of a cake as well, just take yourself some time and a little bit of love to make it at home. It's that simple.

Ingredients for the crust:

250g Graham Crackers (blended in a food processor)

2 Tbs grated Hazelnuts

2tsp cinnamon

1tsp nutmeg

1 pinch of salt

100g butter

Ingredients for the filling:

750g Cream cheese

180g Sugar

4  Eggs

1 Tsp vanilla extract

4 Tbs flour

3 Tbs sour cream

Ingredients for the topping: 

150ml Heavy Cream

100ml Milk

4 Tbs dark maple sirup

            180g brown sugar

                                                                                                                                   (chopped almons)

Preparation:

Preheat your oven to 160 °C. Then start by mixing the blended crackers, melted butter and the spices together with your hands and fill it in a round baking tin, press it down with your flat hand and put it in the fridge. Then, mix the eggs and the sugar with a hand mixer until it becomes a light and fluffy consistency. Now, add the cream cheese, sour cream and vanilla extract and mix until it is all combined. At last, add the flour and mix it in until it is all incorporated. Fill it in your prepared baking tin and bake for about 50 minutes.
While the cake is in the oven, start making the caramel topping. Put all the ingredients together into a small sauce pan and cook it until it becomes a lightly thick and creamy consistency. Remember to stir throughout the whole process so the caramel won't burn at the bottom. As soon as you have achieved the perfect consitency, set it side and let it cool completely. (Stir occasionally)
After the cake has cooled completely, you are ready to pour the caramel sauce on top. For decorating purposes, sprinkle some chopped almonds on top.

So here's your "best cake ever". Enjoy!

Healthy Brownies

Hello my sweet ladys and gentlemen,

as sitting in the office all day long is not the best for your health and body, I decided to at least change one thing in my life so that I can stay healthy throughout the week. So I decided to eat a lot more plant based food, not too much carbs and gluten and also no processed sugar. Even though I am doing this just for a few weeks now, I already feel a lot better. When talking about eating healthier, most people feel like they won't be able to eat any kind of sweet treat like chocolate or a piece of cake. But it does not matter if you eat a piece of cake or chocolate when you are craving something sweet. It's all about the ingredients. When you eat "normal" cake and sweets, the baddest thing about them is the processed white sugar and the big amount of white flour and lots of unhealthy fat.

But you can change that. You can change the recipe this far that it has no processed sugar in it, no unhealthy fats and no flour. Sounds impossible to bake a cake without butter, sugar and flour right? First, I thought that too but soon I discovered how easy it is to actually bake very delicious, healthy cakes. Today, I am going to share a healthy and gluten free brownie recipe with you.
You won't believe it, but these brownies contain avocado! They are so so rich and chocolatey and really moist as well. And the good thing is that these'y don't even taste like there is avocado in them. They taste just as good as regular brownies...I think that they taste even better!
For these brownies I use avocado and a little bit of raw coconut oil as a substitute for butter, coconut sugar as a much healthier substitute for normal, refined sugar and I am using raw cacao instead of sweetened industrial cocoa powder and last but not least, greated nuts instead of flour. Avocado and coconut oil are two of the most healthy fats you can ever find, and also avocados are high in protein, vitamin B, C and E and contains lots of dietary fiber.
The coconut sugar is not "healthy" but it is so much better than normal sugar because it is unrefined and with that, it does not spike your blood sugar levels as regular sugar would do. The grated nuts contain healthy fats and antioxidants and they can even prevent heart deseases and cancer. Flour instead, would work like sugar for your body and slow down your metabolism.
But we should not forget that these "healthy" brownies are still a treat but they are still a lot better for you then any other piece of cake
Making them is yet so simple: You just stir everything together and pop the whole thing in the oven for about 30 minutes and your done! Here are your healthy and even more delicious brownies. Guilt free :)

Ingredients:

3 tbs coconut oil

1 ripe avocado

200g grated whole almonds

100g grated hazelnuts

3 eggs

180g coconut sugar

3 tbs raw cacao powder

100g 70% dark chocolate (dairy free and fair trade)

1 tsp baking powder

a pinch of salt

 Preparation:

First of all, preheat your oven to 180 °C. Then, put the coconut oil and the chocolate in a sauce pan and melt it over medium heat. Now, you can gradually add the sugar, the greated nuts, salt and baking powder and give it all a good stir. In a food processor, mix the eggs and avocado together until it becomes a smooth texture. Pour the egg and avocado mixture in your sauce pan and add the cocoa powder. Then, again give it all a good stir with a spoon until it is a smooth batter.
Pour it all in a small or medium sized cake pan and bake it in the oven for about 30 minutes. After that, let them cool completely and cut them into equal, square shaped pieces.
I like to eat mine with fresh berries (especially raspberries) or with greek yoghurt and banana or walnuts on top. You can use all your phantasy to create the brownie of your choice.


See you on sunday to an other jummy recipe! xoxo

Blueberry filled Brioche

Hello my sweet ladys and gentlemen,

this time I've made something special. As you know, sundys are not only for relaxing but also for exploring. Every sunday we go out for a nice long walk and we spend a lot of time outside. After such a long walk, there's nothing better then coming home to a loveley smelling house with a warm brioche in the oven.
To me, brioche is a autumn/winter musthave.

This time, I developed a recipe of a fluffy sweet brioche filled with heavey cream cheese and lots of juicy blueberries inside. I was a bit nervous about the way it would turn out so it was also  bit ike exploring.. but I'm telling you it turned out even better then I expected.
I sprinkled brown sugar and some sliced almonds on top which created the perfect bit of crunchyness on top and the dough... oh my goodness the dough came out so moist and fluffy and the filling was just perfectly sweet and fruity. After taking the first bite, you simply can't stop eating more. This brioche, is like sliced heaven with blueberries inside.  And it tastes even better when you have some creamy hot chocolate or a nice cup of black tea with it. Yum!
You need to take yourself some time to make this as the dough needs 4 hours to rise and I know it sounds a lot but believe me, it makes a huge difference and it is so worth it.

 Ingredients:

- Dough-
42 g fresh yeast
500g all purpose flour
1      egg
150g sugar
50g   butter
1 tbs cream cheese
50 ml milk


-Filling-
4 tbs full fat chream cheese
2 tbs sour cream
4 tbs sugar
150g blueberries (fresh or frozen)






Preparation:

Grab a large bowl and mix the four and sugar together. Then, in a small bowl, mix togehter warm milk and the fresh yeast and pour it over the flour and sugar mixture. Then, one by one add melted butter, one egg and the cream cheese and mix it all together until it becomes a silky soft dough. Now, take a clean large bowl, gease it with some vegetble oil and then put your dough in it. Cover it with a kitchen towel and put it in a warm place and let it rise for 3-4 hour (the longer, the better).
After that, flour the top of your kitchen counter and put the dough on it. Flatten it out a bit (ca. 1cm). Then, mix the cream cheese, sour cream and sugar together and put it in the middle of the dough from the top to the bottom and add all the blueberries on top of it. Now, fold the top and the bottom sides in first, continuing with the left and right sides and folding them from side to side and pressing the last ends together so it creates a closed kind of "bag" and nothing will come out while baking. Put it on a lined baking tray and brush it with milk, sprinkle some brown sugar and a hand full of sliced almonds on top.
Now, you are ready to put it in the preheated oven at 180 °C and bake for about 25 minutes until the top is really crusty and brown. Them, get it out and let it cool completely. And here you are, a proud baker of the worlds best blueberry filled brioche bread. Enjoy your treat!

!And be prepared for next weeks Blogpost: I will be posting a special recipe for healthy brownies! Xoxo

French Caramel and Cinnamon Croissants

Hello sweet ladys and gentlemen,

on my way to work this week I discovered something new. I baught it at a local bakery while I was in a rush and when I took the first bite, I fell in love. The top was covered with a thin layer of caramelized sugar and cinnamon and the puff pastry was gloriousy sweet and buttery soft. It was exactly how I love it. It was not just a normal croissant, it was the PERFECT croissant. Filled with cinnamon, crispy cramelized sugar on top and a hint of vanilla. I mean just look at them..they look so perfect that you can't even resist taking another one. It is the perfect company for your morning cup of coffee or tea.

 Last weekend I decided to make them myself and it was incredibly easy and they tasted exactly as the ones from the bakery.
So here's the recipe for these super easy and decadent sweet croissants. Try them and you'll love them as much as I do. Promised!


















Ingredients:


2 puff pastry sheets (ready to bake from the store)
100g unsalted butter
150g sugar
1 tbs cinnamon
2 tbs vanilla sugar

- Cinnamon -

Cinnamon can heal every sickness..

especially when you crave a little childhood memory

  Preparation:

Place one pastry sheet on your kitchen couter and spread half of the butter on top (make sure the butter is really soft but not melted). Then, in a small bowl mix your sugar, cinnamon and vanilla sugar. Sprinkle half of your sugar mixture evenly on top. Then, take the second pastry sheet and place it exactly on top of the first one. Now, press the edges together so that it is closed. Then, spread the rest of the butter on top of the second sheet and also sprinkle the rest of the sugar mixture on top.
After that, you are ready to toll it strating from the long side. Make sure you roll it as thight as possible so that there are no gabs inside.
Then, use a sharp knife to cut it in 6 equal pieces. Place them on a baking tray and leave space between them as they will get a lot bigger then they are at this point.
Now, take a wooden spoon and press the stick down in the middle (see picture). With this technique you will achieve the perfect croissant shape. Press the ends a bit together at the top and then brush them with a little bit of melted butter and sprinkle a little bit sugar on top.
Now, you are ready to pop them in the oven and bake them for about 20-25 minutes until the sugar on the top is perfectly carmelized and they are  little bit brown.
Then, place them on a cooling rack and let them cool completely. And now you are ready to enjoy these babes..

 

 

Swedish Almond tarte

Hello my sweet ladys and gentlemen,


it's sunday! Sunday is the best day of the week right? Sunday is the day of staying in bed until lunchtime, it is the day of sunday roasts and cake in the afternoon. And it makes me especially happy when it is autumn and sunday at the same thíme. Its slightly  and rainy outside, the house is all warm and friendly inside, decorated with scented candles, wild rose hip and the smell of warm cake and hot tea... How can anyone just not love it? The rush of the week is gone, it is all calm and quiet outside, only the sound of the rain knocking on the door and the wind between coulured trees and crunchy leaves. A cat lying by your side on the sofa, purring while she leeps. On sundays the whole world is a better place.

 This sunday, there was a pumpkin fair in my town. Every year I am really looking forward to this event. Everybody meets there to have hot soups and jummy roast for lunch and some homemade cake afterwards. There's some old fashioned music playing in the background and some older ladys are selling hand crafted goods like scarfs, mugs, honey and flowers. And of course you can buy lots of different colourful pumpkins. It's a very happy place and I absolutey love the atmosphere there.
On friday I made a really nice cake for the weekend. I was inpired by the "Swedish visiting cake" that I found on my favourite blog called "Pastry affair". It is a really quick and simple cake but it also tastes amazing. It is quite dense, a bit chewy and relly rich and buttery. I put a lot of butter and almonds in it and at the end I sprinkled sliced amonds and cinnamon on top. I also braught some cake to my neighbor and she said that it was delicate. You simply throw 5 ingredients together, mix it all up and bake it for about 20 minutes This cake is ready in only 30 minutes. It's perfect for the weekends as it suits every sunday coffee table and it gets better every day so you can also make it a few days in advance and enjoy it one or two days later.

 Ingredients:

2 eggs

                    200g unsalted butter (softened)

       170g sugar

   200g all purpose flour

        100g grated almonds

          2 pinchs of seasalt

 Toppig:

2 tbs milk

50g sliced almonds

2 tbs sugar

some cinnamon

Preparation:

First of all, preheat the oven to 180 °C. In a large mixing bowl, mix all the ingredients together until they become a smooth, thick batter. Fill the batter in a buttered baking tin and brush the top with milk. Then, sprinkle the sliced almonds, sugar and cinnamon on top. Now, the cake is ready to be baked for about 20 minutes.

-Cake-

 "Let's just say you might regret that second piece of cake,

  Oh  my God! Regret cake? Whatever was about to happen must be truly evil."

(Rachel Hawkins)

I hope you enjoy this cake as much as I did. It tastes best when it is a little bit warm and you can also add some melted bitter chocolate or clotted cream to it, although I like mine plain as it is with a nice cup of black tea or coffee.

See you next sunday Xx

Walnut-Cinnamon rolls

Hello my sweet ladys and gentlemen,

autumn is coming! It is not here yet but I can already feel it. It is getting cold outside, it is windy and a bit foggy. This is my favourite time of the year. I mean the whole word is better when it's fall right? It's the time of cozy sewaters, hot cups of tea, hot chocolate or Starbuck's pumpkin spiced latte. It's the time of colored trees, beautiful strolls through the woods and the smell of cinnamon, apples and walnuts. Yesterday it rained all day log and the leaves were already a bit colored.     

 

I planted some wonderful autumn plants like heather and chrysanthemum in my little balcony garden and the doorstep is decorated with little yellow pumpkins. For the weekend I treated myself to some tea, scented candles and a countryside magazine to get in the vibe of autumn. And I did some baking. And what would be autumn without cinnmon rolls?




 So I made some cinnmon rolls topped with butter, walnuts and a drizzle of frosting. You can also top them off with almonds, raisins, chocolate chips or anything you like. When you bake these cinnamon rolls, the whole house smells like a quiant bakery. Literally, it is so so good. These fluffy deliciousnesses will take you a bit of time to make but the outcome is defeniteley worth it. And as always it is not really difficould to make them.

 

  -Autumn-

The morns are meeker then they were,

The nuts are getting brown,

The berry's cheek is plumper,

The rose is out of town.

The maple wears a gayer scraf,

The field a scarlet gown.

Lest I should be old-fashioned,

i'll put a trinket on.

(Emily Dickinson)

 

     -A bed in the leaves-

I'll just lie there so nice and warm
  And look up in the sky
  And watch more leaves float down for me
  to rake up bye and bye

  

(Marian Kennedy)

  
 

 -Autumn Woods-

 I like the woods
 In autumn
When dry leaves hide the ground,
When the trees are bare
And the wind sweeps by
With a lonesome rushing sound

(James S. Tippett) 

 

Ingredients for the dough: 

               500g    all purpose flour
 1          egg

100g    sugar

100ml   milk

42g       freh yeast

50g       butter

 

               



 For the filling:

                 100g butter

                 150g sugar

              2-3 tsp cinnamon

              1/2 tsp  nutmeg

              as much walnuts as you like

 





Preparation:

Grab yourself a large mixing bowl and whisk your butter, milk and sugar together. Then, in a small bowl mix a little bit of  warm water with one teaspoon of sugar and crumble your fresh yeast in it and let that sit for two minutes. Now, stir it a litte bit and then pour it in your butter-milk mixture. After that, add all your flour and give it all agood stir until it is a smooth batter. If the dough is too stick, sprinkle some more flour on top and work it in with your hands. Then, take another large bowl, grese it with some vegetable oil and put your dough in it. Cover it with a kitchen towel and put it somewhere warm. I either place it near the heater or under my bedcover. Leave it there for a good two hours to rise.
After your dogh is really doubled in volume, you can roll it out until it is about 1 cm thick. Spread the softened butter evenly on top and then sprinkle the sugar-cinnamon-nutmeg mixture on top.
Now comes the only difficoud part: roll it as evenly and as thight as you can and stick the ends together with a little bit of water. Then, cut away the ends and then cut the roll in half and then cut it in half again and again until you get about 12 equal pieces. Grease a large baking pan with butter, sprinkle crushed walnuts over it and then place your cinnamon rolls on top of them and leave a little space inbetween. (If you want, you can also sprinkle more walnuts on top) Set them aside and let them rise for another good two hours so they double in volume again. And be patient, because the more time you give them to rise, the fluffyer they get.  When the two hours are over you are ready to brush the top with some melted butter and then bake them in the preheated oven by 170 °C for about 3o minutes until they are golden brown on top.

Now, I love to sit on the balkony wrapped in a cozy blanket and eat a warm cinnamon roll while reading a book or watching the birds in the trees. So grab your favourite book or a magazine, sit whereever you desire most and enjoy one of these fluffy cinnmon rolls. And after that you could go outside for a nice autumn walk and breathe in that cold, fresh air and as you are strolling around you can collekt some coloured leaves and chestnuts and use them as a decoration for your house or garden... Defeniteley enjoy autumn and the beautifuly environment it gives you.

Banana Oat bites with Cinnamon

Hello my sweet ladys and gentlemen,

having a full time job isn't always easy. The last weeks I had hardly any time to bake or post something. I have to admit...I really missed blogging! So here I am back. Since it is very difficould to find spare time to think about new recipes or even try them, I have been looking for something easy and quick.

So it happened, that two weeks ago I stumbled over a recipe for Banana Oat Bites. These little things are amazing. You only need four ingredients and you simply just mix them together and that's it. I made them several times already and I love to take them with me as a healthy snack at the office. It is fantastic how easy and delicious they are. With a sprinkle of cinnamon they are perfect for any autumn coffee table and they are an excellent alternative for any kind of sweet and unhealthy treat. You can also use them as a quick breakfast on the go while you are in the car or on the train to uni or work. I like mine very simple with a bit of my favourite ingredient cinnamon but you can also add walnuts, cocoa powder or raisins. Take yourself 10 minutes time to make these little energy bombs and pop them in the oven. You'll see, that these won't cost you any efford to make. They are so simple and they taste so good. Perfect, for everyone who's in a rush and doesn't have much time to bake. And if you are lucky anough to not being in  rush, treat yourself, sit on the couch with a nice blanket and your favourite cup of tea, read a good book and enjoy these guilt free little trats.




Ingredients:

4 mashed or pureed ripe bananas                 
3 tbs apple sauce
250g oatmeal
1 tsp cinnamon


Preparation:

First of all, preheat your oven to 160 °C. Now, mash or puree your bananas. Make sure that they are very ripe. Then, grab yourself a lage mixing bowl and mix all the ingredinets together. Put parchment paper on a large baking tray and place little balls of the mixture on it and flatten them out a bit. Now, just pop them in the oven for about 20-30 minutes until they are golden brown, take them out, let them cool and you're done! I told you it was easy. ;)