Sep
19
Pretty cookies
by Sofia - in Cooking Party planning
Leivoin muutama viikko siitten näitä keksejä ja lupasinkin jakaa kuvia, jos joku muukin saisi söpöistä kekseistä ideoita toetutettavaksi. Erityisesti tykästyin tuohon koiran designiin jonka näin Instagrammissa ja tuo super söpö pupukeksi on ollut minulla Pineterestissä muistissa jo varmasti muutaman vuoden ( olen kyllä tehnyt siitä verisoita jo aiemminkin). Mitään uutta auringon alla nämä eivät siis ole, mutta aina välillä kun törmään johonkin suloiseen keksi-malliin tekee mieli kokeilla ja ajatellin, että ehkä sinullekin voisi olla näistä iloa.
I made some cookies as props for my party planning workshop and they turned out pretty cute so I thought I might share incase you were looking for some new designs. I did not really invent the wheel with these ( the bunny design is from here and the dog from here ) but maybe you´ll find these inspiring or at least cute.
Sep
5
Bubble Gum got to also invite a friend of hers on a playdate last week ( before I hit the bed in the awful flu). The kids always need a snack to keep them happy and going after a day at nursery and with all the playing, scooting, dancing and twirling they end up doing. I wanted to include the girls in the making of so it would double as a “craft”. As the girls are 4 year olds, it did not make sense to do an overly difficult thing so I decided on brownies ( with the addition of fresh berries and other healthier options as snacks too). They got to decorate the brownies with some sugar fondant cutouts afterwards to make them extra fun. For the brownies I used the super simple and ridiculously good brownie cake recipe I have shared earlier on the blog in Finnish. Now you get it in english too. For the fun of it we added some white chocolate chips this time and left out the nuts ( so our playdate guest could bring some of her self made treats home where there are nut allergies). You can leave both out just as well. This recipe is very similar to many brownie recipes. They include more sugar than flour and are really not the healthiest snack ever. But a square of warm home made brownie with a glass of cold milk may sometimes just make the day that much better. And the good news is, if you are either one of those people who can´t stick to just one square or don´t like using refined sugar, dairy and white flour ( smart choise!) then there are plenty of recipes for healthy brownies online too. Like these sweet potato brownies. Just keep in mind that even though the healthy choices are definitely better for you they may sometimes be just as calorific as the real deal ( with plenty of nuts and dates etc.). So it´s best to stick to the everything in moderation mentality even with these ones. Serve with a class of home made almond mylk, add a pretty straw and no one will know they are not the “real thing”!
Brownies ( this is the cake sized recipe, for the brownies double it)
3 dl sugar
1 1/2 dl flour
2 tsp vanilla sugar or 1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp salt
4 tbls cocoa powder
150 g butter
2 eggs
optional 0,5-1 dl (white) chocolate chips ( or a 100g of crushed walnuts)
for decorating
Sugar Fondant ( in different colours if you like)
a little sprinkling of confectioners sugar or corn starch
1. Pre heat your oven to 200°c.
2. Mix the dry ingredients in a bowl.
3. Melt the butter ( in a saucepan or in the microwave oven). Mix it in the dry ingredients together with the eggs. If you are using vanilla extract instead of vanilla sugar add it at this point.
4. Fold in the chocolate chips and pour the batter to a buttered brownie pan.
5. Bake in the oven for about 20 minutes.
6. In the meanwhile roll your sugar fondant fairly thin using powdered sugar ( or corn starch) to help keep it from sticking. Keep it thick enough for little hands to be able to handle it though ( about 2-5 mm sounds about right).
7. Cut the sugar fondant with cookie cutters to any shapes you like. Just remember to use the smaller cookie cutters so the shapes fit on to the brownie squares.
8. When the brownies are ready let them cool off and cut in to squares. Add the shapes you made on top and you have cute decorated brownies. You can obviously just leave the sugar fondant part out and eat the brownies just as or use powdered sugar ( and maybe a free printable Boo baking stencil to make them cute).
Aug
10
Strawberry & Lime Cheesecake
by Sofia - in Cooking
Tein saaressa heinäkuun lopulla anopin syntymäpäiville todella hyvää lime-mansikka juustokakkua. Kakku ei vaadi lainkaan uunia, eikä niin hirmuisesti jauhopeukaloakaan joten tätä uskaltaa vähän vähemmänkin kokenut leipuri kokeilla. Leivoin myös rusina-kaurakeksejä joista tuli tosi hyviä. Juustokakun reseptin löydät täältä ja sopivasti sitkeiden keksien resepti on täällä.
This no bake cheesecake I made on the island for my mother in law´s birthday at the end of July was really good and fairly easy to prepare ( easy enough for all the “non bakers” too!). You can find the recipe for it here. I also made really good ( even if I seem to be bragging here they both were…) oatmeal and raisin cookies. The soft and chewy kind. Find the recipe here.
