Mavis and Hotel Transylvania

Today's cake is for Natascha, who loves Mavis and Hotel Transylvania. I had to google the film, as I had never heard of it before. I think I might have to buy it, sounds interesting. Anyway, here is the cake, had real fun making it.
Happy birthday Natascha, hard to believe, that the little girl I met years ago shortly after we arrived in Shanghai, is turning 10 already

Mango/Banana Smoothie for a healthy breakfast

Mango/Banana Smoothie for a healthy breakfast

1 mango

2 bananas

2 tablespoons plain joghurt, I make my own

2 teaspoons bourbon vanilla sugar

1 cup freshly pressed orange juice

1 ½ cups milk

Cut open mango and scoop out all the flesh. Peel bananas and put into blender together with all other ingredients. Turn on blender and let run for around 1 minute, till mixture is nice and frothy.

Pour into glasses and serve

And did you guys notice the etched leaves on the glass? Here it is again

Well these glasses were etched by lil ole me

 

Blueberry muffins with a cinnamon streusel topping

Last night, I suddenly felt like making something else for breakfast this morning. Having had bought so many blueberries at the wetmarket on sunday, I thought, why not make some fresh blueberry muffins for breakfast. To cut down on the time I would need this morning, I went into the kitchen and weighed everything out. I premade the streusel and mixed all dry ingredients together. All I had to do this morning, was melt the butter, pour the cold milk in and add the egg. Mixing the dough went quickly, as everything was ready and waiting. I switched on the oven, as soon as I came down and BEFORE making my coffee, so that by the time I had filled the muffin liners, the oven was ready.

Seeing my daughter's face, when she came down for breakfast made the half hour worth while, that I had to get up earlier

Blueberry muffins with a cinnamon streusel  topping

Ingredients:  

160 gr all-purpose flour

140 gr sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons baking powder

60 gr butter, melted and cooled

1 egg

90 ml milk

120 gr fresh blueberries

Topping:

120 gr sugar

50 gr all-purpose flour

60 gr butter, cubed

1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

Directions:

Preheat oven to 160 degrees C. Line muffin tin with liners. (Done last night)

Combine all dry ingredients. 

Then mix egg with cooled butter and milk and stir well to break up the egg. Pour into the dry ingredients and incorporate. Fold in the blueberries. Fill liners ¾ way up.

To Make Crumb Topping: 

Mix together  sugar,  flour,  butter, and  cinnamon. Get your hands in there and mix well, rub the flour and sugar into the butter, until you have fine streusels, you don’t want them too large, as the muffin tops do not have that much space. Sprinkle the Streusel onto the filled liner and gently press them, so that they adhere to the dough.

Bake for about 25 minutes in the preheated oven, or until done.

I made 13 muffins with this recipe

Pecanbrownies with a twist

Pecanbrownies with a twist

 

 Served with chocolate sauce, strawberries and blueberries, photo thanks to my beautiful daughter

My nifty brownie pan

 see how rich and dark my home made vanilla extract is?

 

Into my pan, which has been brushed with pan release

 

But now for the recipe

 

Ingredients:

 



200 gr dark chocolate

120 gr butter

50 mls red wine

2 large eggs

100 gr brown sugar

60 gr white granulated sugar

2 teaspoons home made vanilla sugar

2 teaspoon natural vanilla extract (I make my own)

80 gr flour

30 gr cocoa powder

200 gr chopped pecans

 

The how to:

 

Melt the chocolate in the butter (microwave) and make sure it’s melted completely, stir smooth and let it cool down.

Mix flour and cocoa powder and set aside

In a clean bowl, whip the eggs with the sugars until thick and creamy, add vanilla extract. When nice and thick, mix in the cooled chocolate/ butter mixture and then the red wine.

Sieve the flour mixture on top and beat in. Add in the pecans at the end and fold in

 

Pour into brownie pan and bake at 160 degrees Celsius for around 15 to 20 minutes. The cake is done, when moist crumbs stick to your toothpick, but the top looks dry, I think 15 minutes is enough

Wolfsbarsch auf einem Bett von Zitronenreis

Ich hatte gestern ueberhaupt keine Ahnung, was ich kochen sollte. Auch hatte ich gar keine Lust gestern durch den Smog von Shanghai zu laufen und mir etwas vom Markt zu holen, der Smog is momentan echt schlimm.

Also Kuehlschrank auf, die Gefriertruhe auch und reingeguckt. Naja, vielleicht war es ja ganz gut so, weil da ist ja noch recht viel drin. Als erstes fiel mein Blick auf eine Schuessel gekochtem Reis.Hmmh, der muss weg und einfach wegschmeissen? Nee, nee, das geht mal ueberhaupt nicht. In der Gefriertruhe waren auch noch genug Fischfilets, da wir ja vor 2 Wochen eine Grosspackung Fischfilets geholt hatten. Also erstmals 2 Filets rausgeholt, und zuerst einmal Internetsurfen. Da war aber nichts, was mich so richtig gereizt hatte. Also musste ich meine grauen Zellen anstrengen.
Da fiel mir die Paeckchen ein, die ich damals mit Couscous gemacht hatte, so in etwa koennte es doch werden, die kamen ja auch spergut bei meinen Lieben an.

Also, rein in die Kueche und ausprobieren
 

Im Ofen gebackene Wolfsbarschfilet auf einem Bett von Zitronen/Rosmarin Reis

Oven baked Seabass fillet on a bed of lemony/rosemary Rice

2 grosse Fischfilet, 2 large filets of fish

Saft von 2 Zitronen, juice of two lemons

2 Zweige Rosmarin, gehackt, 2 twigs rosemary, finely chopped

Halbe grosse Zwiebel, half of a large onion

4 Knoblauchzehen, 4 cloves of garlic

3 Tassen gekochter Reis, 3 cups cooked rice

2 ½ Essl. Butter, 2 ½ tablespoons butter

4 Essl. gehackte Fruehlingszwiebeln. 4 Tablespoons minced spring onion

Zwiebel mit Knoblauch fein hacken

Finely chop onion with the garlic

Butter zerlassen und Zwiebelgemisch dazugeben

Melt butter in a large frying pan and add onions

Wenn die Zwiebel glasig ist, Rosmarin dazugeben, kurz mitbraten.

When the onions are softened, add the rosemary and fry a bit longer

 Den Reis mit in die Pfanne geben, gut vermengen.

Add rice into frying pan and heat through

 Mit Zitronensaft und Salz abschmecken.

Add lemon juice and salt to taste

Zum Schluss 4 Essloeffel gehackte Fruehlingszwiebel mit reingeben und erhitzen

At the end add the spring onions and heat through again

Fish

4 grosse Stuecke Backpapier zurechtschneiden

Cut three pieces of baking paper

Auf jedem Stueck papier in die Mitte den Reis loeffeln

Arrange the rice down the middle of each

Die Fischfilets jeweils halbieren und mit etwas Zitronensaft traeuffeln und mit Dijon Senf beschmieren

Cut each filet in half and drizzle some lemon juice onto each piece and smear with Dijon mustard

Auch mit Salz und Pfeffer wuerzen

Den Fisch auf den Reis legen und die Paeckchen gut verschliessen

Salt and pepper the filets and lay a piece of fish on each bed of rice

In eine Auflaufform geben und im vorgeheiztem Ofen ca 25 minuten backen

Wrap and place into baking dish

Put into a preheated oven and bake for about 20 minutes

Mercedes Silberpfeil aus dem Jahr 1937

Ein echtes Schaetzchen, irgendwie haben die alten Autos alle mehr Charakter fuer mich, als ihre neueren Modelle.

Letzte Woche wurde ich gebeten, doch bitte dieses Auto als Torte zu modellieren.

1.5 kg Butter, 24 Eier, l liter Schokoganache und keine Ahnung wieviele Stunden spaeter, wurde dieses "Baby" geboren. Ein Frankfurter Kranz in Autoform.

Chilli Foam Soup

yes and I do mean Foam, because after you whip the *.. out of it with the hand held blender, the cream soup turns into a frothy light soup. This is the translation of my previous entry.

Ingredients:

1 large onion
4 small garlic cloves
1 leek
1-2 Chillis fresh or dried
2tblsp good olive oil
½ litre chicken broth
300 ml dry white wine (save the cork for your vase Jane)
300 ml whipping cream


Puree the onion with the garlic or chop very finely, chop up the leek. Slit chilli lengthwise and remove most of the seeds. I usually use 2 Chillis, but these were extremely hot. .

TIP:Either oil your hands before slitting chillies or wear gloves.

Heat up the oil in a suaceoan and fry the onions, til sightly glassy, add leeks and fry till wilted. Add in wine and broth and bring to boil. Simmer until reduced by half.
Put everything into a fine sieve press out all the juices, return to pot and fill up to 400 mal. Bring to boil, add cream, bring to a simmer. Check taste with salt and pepper. Shortly before serving, whip it up with either a whist or a hand held blender.

Wespennester

Ich habe keine Ahnung, wieso diese Kekse Wespennester heissen, ist mir auch ehrlich gesagt egal, weil sie so gut schmecken. Als meine Tochter fuer ihre Tiramisu zu Weihnachten 5 Eigelb brauchte, musste ich mir ueberlegen, was ich so kurzfristig mit dem ganzen Eiweiss machen soll.

meine Loesung

Wespennester

 

Zutaten:

• 250 g gestiftelte Mandeln
• 5 Eiweiß (L)
• 185 g weißer Zucker
• 5 TL Vanillezucker
• 200 g fein geriebene dunkle Schokolade (wichtig dabei, gute Schokolade nehmen, ich nehme die von Callebaut (Belgische Schoko, aber Lindt waer auch gut)

 

 

Den Ofen auf 200°C vorheizen. Die Mandeln gleichmäßig darauf verteilen, mit zwei Teelöffel Zucker bestreuen und im Ofen leicht goldbraun werden lassen, zwischendurch wenden. Aus dem Ofen nehmen und abkühlen lassen. Ich mache das bei 130 Grad Umluft, sehr oft wenden fuer ca 15 Minuten, da trocknen sie erst ein wenig aus, dann Temperatur hoch auf 160, bis sie goldbraun sind, auch da oft wenden, damit sie nicht verbrennen.

 

 

Das Eiweiß steif schlagen, dann restlichen Zucker und Vanillezucker zugeben. Die Masse sollte cremig-steif sein und einen schönen Glanz haben. Nun ganz vorsichtig  die fein geriebene Schokolade und die Mandeln unterheben, die Luft soll im Baiser bleiben und nicht rausgeruehrt werden. Tipp; Wenn die Schokolade gut gekühlt ist, kann man sie notfalls auch im elektrischen Zerhacker fein zerhacken, fuer Suesses habe ich einen extra Zerhacker

 

 

Ein Backblech mit Backpapier (ich benutze Dauerbackfolie) auslegen und mit Hilfe von zwei Teelöffeln gut walnussgroße Häufchen der Masse darauf setzen. Bei 160°C etwa 18 bis 20 Minuten backen, die Wespennester sollten gerade anfangen leicht Farbe zu bekommen, allerdings innen noch nicht ganz durchgetrocknet sein – so schmecken sie am besten! Aus dem Ofen nehmen und auskühlen lassen, dann in einem luftdichten Behälter aufbewahren. Die fertigen Wespennester wiegen kaum mehr wie eine Wolke und zergehen auf der Zunge,  richtig verfuehrerisch

 

Ich weiss, etwas spaet fuer Weihnachten, aber das Schoene an Weihnachten ist........

 

Es kommt jedes Jahr einmal wieder

 

Gangsters in Shanghai

Last night we surprised an old family friend with a walking tour through Shanghai. This was not the average tour, but somewhat similar to a trip into the past,.the past of Shanghai and it's gangsters.

Most of the tour took place in the french concession, where you can still find many old houses. Here are a couple of snapshots

Our tour guide, Chloe

We were taught to pick pockets with the help of chopsticks, apparently this was how they did that back then

 

With all the Christmas lighting in town, some of the places were beautifully lit in the dark

 

I for one will be checking out the other tour the company offers, hmmh, the ghost tour sounds intreresting, perhaps before Halloween.....

Picture tutorial: Quickly iced green Christmas trees

 

 

Since my family is still sleeping, I decided to quickly upload the Christmas tree cookie tutorial. This is what the cookie will look like

I used the same recipe as in the Linzer cookies, just added some Americolour leaf green to the dough. Add enough though, that the dough is really bright green, as you will lose some colour in the baking process

Get out your tree cutter, I used the smallest one from my Tree cutter set, rolling pin and silpat mat, roll out the dough and start cutting out your trees

When moving the trees to the baking tree, lift them off the mat, by slipping your hand inder the mat to avoid distortion

Chill the dough for at least 15 minutes, while your oven is heating up to 140 degrees Celsius. Bake cookies for around 10-14 minutes, when the edges start to brown, the cookies are ready. Take out of the oven and let them cool down.

 In the meantime, make a small batch of royal icing and colour them green, yellow and red. I fitted my piping bags with Wilton tips # 2,aced them into tall water glasses (makes them easier to fill with icing) and used the Wilton rubber bands to tie the open end shut.

Now start with the green icing and just pipe swags across the tree with the green icing.

Repeat with all trees, as the green icing needs to slightly crust over, before adding the next colours.

Using the yellow icing, pipe small dots along the swags, these are the lights.

Next step is to pipe the red dots, make them a bit larger (use more pressure) than the lights, these are the red Christmas ornaments.

The finished tree, icing is still wet, it will not be as shiny when it dries completely. Leave to dry overnight, before packaging in tins.