Winnie pooh cake

This is my latest creation in children's cakes. I really enjoyed making this cake since it's really cute. This is a chocolate cake filled with chocolate ganache and covered with sugarpaste. Everyone liked it :)

Peanut butter cookies

This time I tried my hand at peanut butter cookies. I found these cookies at Baking blonde and surely she described them perfectly. These were delicious. I only made half the quantity. I tried to be a bit creative and so I flavoured these cookies with different ingredients. I copied the recipe from http://bakingblonde.wordpress.com/2008/06/15/the-best-peanut-butter-cookies-period/they and just made my adjustments in brackets. Fllow the link for more hints and tips on baking these cookies. I bet the original recipe is even more delicious since it uses peanut butter chips that here I couldn't find any. So here's the recipe:

The Original Peanut Butter

Cookie tweaked by bakingblonde

1 cup + 2 TBS peanut butter (I used crunchy)

1/2 cup butter, softened

1/4 cup white sugar

3/4 cup packed brown sugar

1 egg

2 TBS milk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour

3/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup Peanut Butter chips (didn’t use these)1

1/2 cup Chocolate Chips (used chopped chocolate)

3/4 cup Sugar (for rolling dough balls, may need more or less)

(some chopped peanuts for rolling)

Preheat oven to 350.

Line baking sheets with parchement paper.

In a large mixing bowl, cream together the peanut butter, butter.

Once combined beat in the white sugar, and brown sugar until well blended. Beat in the egg, milk, and vanilla.

In a large bowl wisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt.

Gently add to creamed mixture and mix until almost combined.

Fold in chocolate and peanut butter chips.

Chill dough for at least 15 minutes.Roll tablespoonfuls of dough into balls.

Genlty roll the dough balls into sugar and place dough balls on parchment lined baking sheets. Carefully press each ball with fork tines to create a criss-cross pattern.

Bake for 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven, or until edges are lightly browned.

Remove from oven and cool on baking sheets for 5-10 minutes until sturdy enough to be transfered to a wire rack to cool completely.
Makes about 30 cookies

Baby Coconut bites

Complimenting the Baptism cake featured in my last post I also made these cute little coconut bites. I decided to make them miniature size since they're quite sweet.

Good night, sleep tight

Shhh!!! He's sleeping :) This is my latest addition to my cake list. It's baby boy cake. If you haven't realised that :) I'm glad with the outcome. I think the baby and the teddy bear are so cute! This is my first cake for a baptism.

It's also the first time I use this icing nozzle. Glad I tried it since I really liked the ruffle look.

Banana Nutella muffins

I felt like baking something easy and delicious for breakfast. What could be better than muffins. These banana muffins are so moist and combined with a Nutella swirl they are out of the world delicious :) The recipe comes from Simply Anne's site. Here's the link to the recipe http://simplyannes.blogspot.com/2006/10/rekindling-old-love-affair.html

My cupcake menu

These are some of the cupcakes on my menu. I've been baking a lot lately. Here are some of the flavours :) (more to come)

Cherry Dream delight (on top)
Vanilla cupcake topped filled with cherry jam and topped with whipped cream, cherry drizzle and a cherry on top.

Peanutoffee cupcake
Vanilla cupcake filled with a layer toffee and peanuts and topped with chocolate ganache and more chopped peanuts
Chocotoffee delight
A moist chocolate cupcake topped with toffee and chocolate ganache and decorated with toffee drizzle

Chocococo cupcake
A soft chocolate cupcake filled with a coconut centre and topped with chocolate ganache and coconut flakes

Chocaccino cupcake
A moist chocolate cupcake soaked with coffee syrup topped with whipped cream, rich chocolate ganache and a sprinkle of ground coffee

Double chocolate cupcake
A moist chocolate cupcake topped with rich chocolate ganache

Dating nuts

Vanilla cupcake filled with a date and nut mixture topped with whipped cream and a date and nut truffle on top

Cupcakes ready to be delivered and devoured by recipient :)

Almond Cake/pie (Torta tal-lewz)

This cake is very popular in Malta especially in Easter and for special occasions. In fact I made this cake for Easter. This cake is also used for weddings cakes however it is not covered with this piped mixture its covered and decorated with fondant.
This cake is called 'Torta tal-Lewz' which translated in English means Almond pie. It is called like this cause although it looks like a cake it is a pie and then decorated like a cake. The main ingredients in this cake are almonds and eggs. This cake consists of pastry filled with an almond mixture made from ground almonds, sugar and eggs. It is then cooled and then covered with a piping mixture consisting of egg whites, sugar and ground almonds and left to dry for a couple of hours. It is then baked again for about 15 minutes until the cake is golden and the piping set. This cake is served in very thin slices since its very sweet. I love this cake :)

Toasted almond lemon bars

This is this month's Cookie carnival recipe. Holly of Phemomenon (http://phemomenon.blogspot.com/) is guest hosting the Carnival for April. Holly has chosen TOASTED ALMOND LEMON BARS. The only modification I made to the recipe is to use unblanched almonds and to quarter the recipe. I know I only made a small amount and perhaps that is why they came so thin. Here's the recipe:

Toasted Almond Lemon Bars
From The Sweet Melissa Baking Book by Melissa Murphy

For the Crust:

2 cups all-purpose flour

3/4 cup confectioners' sugar

1/2 cup sliced blanched almonds, lightly toasted (used unblanched almonds)

1/2 teaspoon salt

20 Tablespoons (2 1/2 sticks) cold, unsalted butter, cut into 1/4-inch pieces

For the Lemon Filling:

4 large eggs

1 3/4 cups sugar

1/2 teaspoon almond extract

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

3/4 cup fresh lemon juice (about 7 lemons)

1/4 cup confectioners' sugar for sprinkling

To Toast the Almonds:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Spread the almonds in a single layer on a cookie sheet. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, or until lightly golden and you can smell them. Remove to a wire rack to cool.

Before You Start:
Position a rack in the center of your oven. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Spray a 9 x 13 - inch pan with nonstick vegetable cooking spray. Make a parchment "sling" by cutting two pieces of parchment paper, measuring 16 1/2 inches long by 12 inches wide (you can also use aluminum foil). Place one piece across the length, and the other across the width of the pan, with the excess hanging over the edges. You will use this sling later to lift the finished bar from the pan. Spray the sling with the cooking spray.

To Make the Crust:
1. In the bowl of a food processor fitted with the metal blade, pulse the flour, sugar, almonds, and salt to combine. Add the cold butter in pieces and pulse until the dough comes together in a ball.
2. Turn the dough out into the prepared pan and press evenly into the bottom and 1 1/4 inches up the sides. (This crust, once it is baked, needs to act as a liner in which to pour the liquidy lemon filling. So be sure to do a good job of pressing the dough up the sides - no cracks!). Cover the dough with a piece of parchment paper or aluminum foil, and fill with pie weights ( you can use dried beans or uncooked rice as pie weights as well). Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until lightly golden. Carefully remove the pie weights and the liner and bake for an additional 10 to 15 minutes, or until the whole crust is golden. Remove to a wire rack to cool.

To Make the Filling:
In a medium bowl, whisk together the eggs and sugar until smooth. Add the almond extract and flour, and whisk until smooth. Add the lemon juice, and whisk to combine.

To Complete the Bars:
1. Pour the lemon filling into the prepared crust. Reduce the oven temperature to 325 degrees F. Bake for 30 minutes, or until the filling is firm and lightly golden. Remove to a wire rack to cool.
2. When cool use the parchment sling to lift the entire bar from the pan and onto a cutting board. Slice into twelve 3 x 3 1/2 - inch bars. Remove from the pan and, using a small sifter, dust with the confectioners' sugar.
The bars keep in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 days. For longer storage, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for up to 5 days, or freeze well wrapped in plastic wrap and then aluminum foil for up to 3 weeks. Do not unwrap before defrosting. Dust with confectioners' sugar before serving.

Hello Kitty Figolla

I couldn't not make something creative so whilst making my figolli marathon I decided to make a cute figolla for my niece and what could be cuter than Hello Kitty? She's only three and she really liked this figolla of Hello Kitty. I think it's cute too. :)

Figolli

Figolli are traditional almond pastries baked for Easter. These consist of pastry figures filled with a ground almond mixture and covered with royal and glace icing. The traditional shapes are men, women, fish, lamb and baskets however nowadays you can also find heart shape, butterflies, bunnies and cars. The human shapes usually have paper faces stuck on to the icing. They're quite big about 8". Decoration consists of glace icing and royal icing and finished off with a chocolate egg stuck in the middle.

These are some of my Figolli made this year. I ended making 53 of them. This is surely a new record for me. I got creative and decorated them in a variety of patterns and colours. I also covered one of them with chocolate. Delicious too although I prefer glace icing. They surely get gobbled easily :)