Coffee Walnut Cupcakes

Since the birth of Passion meets Creativity, I have only lived 6 months in Luxembourg. And from these six months I travelled 2. So let's say for 4 months I have been back for good. My family but especially also my friends are following very closely what happens on the blog and on the Passion meets Creativity's Facebook Page. 

However it occurred, that not many of them had the chance to taste the things I prepare. Well this is mostly due to the fact that I prepare things on Sundays and until the next gathering my family or those which I meet on the first week-days as well as my colleagues from work ate all of it.

This is why I decided I would organize a little Passion meets Creativity Feast. This is basically a win win situation. I mean, I can prepare 3 kinds of cakes, cupcakes, tarts etc... and it will be eaten for sure afterwards and my friends can taste as much as they want. The first feast was a great success I'd say, so this calls for another round. 

The winner of this event was the Oreo Cupcake. Those following me on Facebook know what I am talking about. For the others just have a look at this picture.  The Oreo Cupcake was the winner. And the Coffee Walnut Cupcake definitely deserves the second place. What I really like about the Coffee Walnut Cupcake is the fact that it is crunchy and soft at a time. I chose to crush the walnuts not into too little pieces so it keeps a certain crunchiness. 

The coffee buttercream is not heavy at all and still has a well-defined taste. I have a new icing bag, so this was also the first time I was decorating with it and I have to admit I am quite proud. I was always wondering how they get this well-defined decoration on a cupcake and now I find out. There's still space for improvement but for a first I am already happy.

For 12 Cupcakes you need:

4 tbsp espresso

125g butter

125g brown sugar

2 eggs

150g flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

50g crushed walnuts

For the icing

4 tsp espresso

100g butter

150g icing sugar

walnuts for decoration

Preheat the oven to 180°

Prepare a cup of espresso. In a large bowl whisk together the butter, the eggs, the sugar, the baking soda and the flour until you get an even dough. Now add the chopped walnuts and mix again. Finally add the espresso and mix for at least one minute. 

Pour the dough into the cupcake molds and bake for 20 minutes

Meanwhile you can prepare the icing. Whisk together the butter and the icing sugar. When obtained  a silky cream add the espresso. Mix again. 

******

Let the cupcakes cool down before you start decorating the cupcakes. With your icing bag put the cream on top and decorate with a walnut.

Enjoy!!!!

Passion Fruit Cupcakes

Passion fruit Cupcakes for PassionMeetsCreativity Fans.

I know, I promised April would be a savoury month. Don't worry there are three lovely dishes coming ahead but I thought as spring keeps spoiling us so much I should post a cupcake that is on the par with the weather. 

Don't they look like little sunshines? For me they totally do. The recipe differs a little bit from the previous recipes because with every bite you have the feeling that summer comes closer. I love passion fruit this is the reason why I had to shoot the pictures quite quickly. Otherwise there wouldn't have been any leftovers for the blog.

I brought some of the cupcakes to work and the feedback was very good. There is a lot of food sharing going on in the office but this was, at least so far, the lightest dessert anyone brought. People felt less guitly I guess, especially after the Oreo cupcakes. So if you are looking for a lighter dessert or teatime treat you should not miss the passion fruit cupcakes. 

I decided to change the original recipe a little bit, which was only a vanilla cupcake with the passion fruit topping. I found that there has to be a little more passion in these little cupcakes. That's why I decided to put another passion fruit into the dough. Of course this changes the consistency of the cake, but the taste is really perfect.

For 12 cupcakes you need: 

 150g butter
150g sugar
150g flour
3 eggs
1/2 ts baking powder
1 ts vanilla extract
5 passionfruits
150ml liquid cream
150g icing sugar

Preheat the oven to 180°

In a large bowl whisk together the butter, sugar, eggs, flour, baking powder and vanilla extract with the hand mixer or around 1 minute. When obtained an even dough add the pulp of one passion fruit. Mix again. The dough will slightly change its texture, but this is normal.

Put the cupcake cases into your cupcake mold and pour the dough up to 2/3 into the cupcake forms and bake for 25 minutes.

******

While the cupcakes are cooling down you can prepare the cream. Cut 2 more passion fruits in two and put their pulp in a bowl. Mix the pulp with the liquid cream and 1 Tbsp of icing sugar. 

Take the cupcakes out of the cases and cut them in two. Spread the  cream on the bottom half and  top with the other half.

*******

Last but not least, take the pulp of the two remaining passionfruits and add the icing sugar. Mix until you get an even mixture. Coat the cupcakes with the icing.

Enjoy!!!!

  

Hazelnut Parsley topped Salmon

I fixed myself the goal for April to prepare more savory dishes again. When I started being more active in the kitchen I most often prepared savory dishes. This recipe is one of my very first recipes I discovered at university. As you can see, I didn't let myself only with pasta and fast food during my studies. With a friend we discovered the recipe and prepared it several times. Every once in a while, when I had friends for dinner I served them the crusted salmon and the feedback was always very good.

Coming back home, my family had the chance as well to taste the perfect combination of hazelnut and parsley. If before someone had told me about the recipe I would have been surprised yet curious, but now I am simply convinced that it is heaven-sent! On this sunny Sunday afternoon I surprised my parents with cooking this and my dad suggested that I should now prepare something for them every Sunday. Well... why not, if the night before didn't last too long!

Because of the nice feedback on my Facebook page I am really curious to hear about your results! I hope loads of you try the recipe because it would be a pity to miss it. I didn't invent the recipe so this is no glorification of my imagination but it just has become one of my favorite dishes ever! And as always with my favorite food I would love everyone to taste it. Apart of some cupcake recipes this is the one which was most asked to hand over as quickly as possible by my guests. 

For 4 servings you need:

4 salmon filets

4 slices of Brioche

100g self-crushed hazelnuts

parsley

salt

pepper

160g butter

Preheat the oven to 180°

Chop a bunch of parsley and crush the hazelnuts. In a large bowl whisk together the butter, parsley and hazelnuts until you get an even mixture. Cut the brioche into little cubes and add to the butter mix. Mix again until you get a sticky paste. Spread the butter mix on the the salmon filets and put for 30 minutes into the oven. 

Enjoy!!!

Oreo Cupcakes

According to the newest statistics Oreos still remain the world’s favourite cookies! This is definitely not a surprise, especially because the use of the dark chocolate and milky cream cookie varies a lot. They appear in cheesecakes, cupcakes, milkshakes and the more adventurous even put them into chocolate chip cookies.  

This Sunday I decided to go for the cupcake version of the world’s beloved cookie. At the beginning I couldn’t really imagine what the outcome would be like. How do the Oreo-crumps stand out of the strong vanilla flavour of the cupcake dough itself? And wouldn’t the frosting be too sweet for this little cupcake? The answer is clearly: NO! I have eaten a lot of cupcakes so far and I dare to say that the Oreo cupcakes are one of my favourites.

There is not much more to say except that they’re perfect. Soft yet crunchy is the cupcake and the frosting is creamy yet not too heavy. From my family to my friends to the office colleagues, this is by far the best feedback I got regarding my beloved cupcakes! So if you’re a fan yourself, do not hesitate to recreate these little delights.

And now hurry to the recipe, your friends and family are secretly waiting for them already!

For 16 Cupcakes you need:

225g butter
225g sugar
225g flour
1 ts baking powder
4 eggs
1ts vanilla extract
10 crushed Oreos

Preheat the oven to 175°

In a large bowl whisk together the softened butter, sugar, flour, baking powder, vanilla extract and the eggs. Beat them fast until you get an even dough. Now carefully incorporate the Oreo crumbs.

Put the cupcake cases into your cupcake mold and pour the dough up to 2/3 into the cupcake forms and bake for 20 minutes. 

 ******

For the icing:

375g icing sugar
225g butter
1 pinch of salt
10 Oreos cut into little pieces

Whisk the icing sugar, the butter and the pinch of salt together for about two minutes until you get a silky mix. Carefully add the Oreo pieces. Take a knife and decorate the cupcakes.


Enjoy!!!!!

  
 

Grandma's Kiermeskuch - Luxembourgish Raisin Bread

For those following my Facebook page you heard about grandma ordering a Kiermeskuch. She loves going to pastry shops and have all sorts of cakes. My grandpa started baking when he got retired and made a lot of yummy carnival or Christmas cookies, nicely decorated birthday cakes or just some traditional Luxembourgish cakes. Now I took over the baking activities in the family. I'd say that for the whole cookie story I've been a good provider so far but in regards of traditional cakes and dishes, I have to admit that my list is quite empty.

Even though you can still buy this raisin bread in all the local bakeries, the tradition around it is about to disappear. In former times, all the small villages had their little fairs during the years. It weren't the big ones with roller coasters but rather small attractions. The local wind section played a Kiermes song called Hemmelsmarsch. Kids were following them and on Sunday, the actual fair day, families gathered and had the traditional Fair dishes like: Kirmes soup, Kiermes ham and this recipe the Kiermeskuch (Kiermescake)

Due to the urbanisation of the bigger towns these kinds of events are about to slowly disappear. Dad's doing his best to prepare us regularly the Kiermes soup, which I am not necessarily a fan of, but I'm sure after tasting the cake he will ask for more. Grandpa would be happy to see that within the family the takeover was a great success!

For one Kiermeskuch you need:

400g flour

1tsp dry yeast

80g sugar

125ml warm milk

1 pinch of salt

60g butter

2 eggs

100g raisins

*******

Preheat the oven to 250°

Put the flour into a large bowl. In a smaller bowl whisk the yeast the sugar and the warm milk and add the mix to the flour. Beat the eggs then add them, the butter and a pinch of salt and start kneading. Kneading is a necessary step to ensure the bread dough rises properly afterward. Finally add the raisins.

Cover the dough with a towel and let it prove for at least 30 minutes.

Now put the dough into a loaf pan and bake first for 10 minutes. Decrease the temperature to 200° and bake another 40 minutes.

******

Usually we put butter on it or jam. In autumn and winter most often plum jam. 

Enjoy!!!!!

Honey Porridge with Fresh Berries

It's a first! The first time in my entire life that I eat porridge and the first time that I prepared it myself. And yet it has become my favourite Sunday breakfast dish! It's really easy to prepare but with the nice honey and the fresh berries you can pimp the oats a bit. Depending on whether you add the honey immediately to the milk or if you add it later on you'll receive a different type of sweet. I opted the latter version. 

The honey I used comes straight from Bosnia. Honey is probably my favourite food item to bring back from the Balkans. Once you tried it, you will hardly accept any other taste ever again. My favourite still comes from Serbia. A friend's mom knows a honey producer and provides the family with it on a regular basis. I admit, I am jealous. 

No that I have become a big fan of porridge I'll check what options I have to pimp it a little more. I was thinking about nuts. Cashew- or probably hazelnuts and maybe also banana. In any case it's a healthy breakfast and everyone can add what suits him best.

For 4 small bowls you need:

140g oat flakes

350ml hot water

200ml warm milk

fresh berries

honey

Put the oat flakes and the hot water into a saucepan and boil for around 10 minutes. Add the warm milk and cook for 5 more minutes on a middle heat.
Pour the oat-milk mix into small bowls.
Now pour some honey over it and add the fresh berries.
Cut them in two if they're too big and mix with a spoon.

Enjoy!!!!

Red Velvet Cupcakes

I have the feeling that at the moment everyone is talking about red velvet cupcakes. And especially for Valentine's Day all the food blogs were full of red velvet cupcakes, brownies, cake pops and so on. So I got curious, and wondered what is so special about that red sweet dessert. 

I started checking out recipes, and in the first place I thought, well except from the food coloring there is nothing special about these cupcakes. And then two weeks ago, again, a friend was talking about red velvet cupcakes. This is when I thought: OK you have to try them.

But which recipe would now be the perfect recipe? Most of the recipes I found were quite similar, except for the frosting. Either there was too much sugar, or too much butter, or too much food coloring. I have to say, usually I don't like artificial colors when it comes to food. Especially these flashy blue or green ones. But I decided to give it a try.

I just purchased a book called "Cantine California" which has a lot of American recipes in it. I don't know if you already know the concept. It's a truck in Paris, moving from one square to another, selling American tradition with French quality of food. As far as I understood is the Author and Manager of the concept an American who grew up in France and tried to combine French quality with American tradition. So far I can say I am convinced of the recipe, and I will try a lot more from that book.

For 12 cupcakes you need:

60g butter

150g sugar

125g flour

1 big egg

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1pinch of salt

1tsp baking powder

10g cocoa powder

1tbs red food coloring

12cl buttermilk

1/2 tsp white vinegar

1/2 tsp baking soda

For the icing:

330g cream cheese

100g icing sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 180°

In a large bowl soften the butter with a hand mixer. Then add the sugar and mix again until you get a light mixture. Now you can add the egg and the vanilla extract and mix again. In another bowl whisk together the flour, the salt, the baking powder and the cocoa powder. Add to the butter mixture. In a small bowl mix the buttermilk and the food coloring and pour onto the dough. Aside, you should now mix the baking soda and the vinegar and then add them to the dough. Take the hand mixer again and mix until you get an even dough. 

Put cupcake cases into your cupcake mold and pour the dough up to 2/3 into the cupcake forms and bake for 25 minutes.

Let them cool down 10 minutes in the mold before putting them on a baking rack.

For the icing mix the vanilla extract, the cream cheese and the icing sugar until you get an even mixture. Fill the latter into an icing bag and start decorating the cupcakes. Usually I put a little decoration on the cupcakes but this time I chose not to do because I tried to form a rose-like icing

Enjoy!!!!!

Onion Veal en Papillote with Mediterranean Spices

This is one of my favorite cooking memories of university. Cooking is like a relaxing therapy for me. So during my exam periods I always prepared the best dishes. For those who actively follow my blog already know by now that I usually did the food shopping on the market. On these rainy days I start daydreaming about the gorgeous markets and its food. 

Even if the recipe is a result of a lazy evening during the exam period, it is a very healthy and light one. There is not a lot of grease in it and the sauce comes from the onions' and meat's liquid. The interesting part about papillotes is that you can play with spices as much as you want. And you can use any meat you want. Chicken is another very interesting type of meat for your papillotes. You can travel from North to South, from East to West and use as many ingredients as you want.

For 2 persons you need:

400g meat

2 onions

2 garlic cloves

salt

pepper

rosemary

thym

herbes de provence

4 tbs olive oil 

a pinch of cayenne pepper

*******

Preheat the oven to 200°

Peel the onions and cut them into little cubes. Place one onion on the kitchen foil. Then cut the veal meat into small dices and place it on the onion. Add salt and pepper as well as the garlic cloves. Now you can place the second onion on the garlic and meat mix. 

The seasoning is up to you. Put as much of each spice as you want but be careful with the cayenne pepper. 

Wrap the kitchen foil together in such a way that it is completely closed. Put into the oven and let it cook for 40 to 45 minutes.

Enjoy!!!!

Caramel Walnut Brownies

Today while preparing the arrival of my my Parisian friend I was thinking about the lovely birthday gifts I got from family and friends and I was smiling, because every year there is one dominating theme in the gifts I get. I was happy to see how well my beloveds know me so well. It's not that difficult to figure that my favorite colors are violet and pink, that I love chocolate and baking and cooking. So no wonder everything turns around these colors and themes.

 

These observations made me think of my birthday in 2005 when 3 of my friends baked brownies for me. I had almost 50 to 60 pieces at home, which I shared with family and friends. Three totally different and yet so yummy recipes. This was the moment when I found that this would be a perfect moment to bake brownies. BROWNIES I thought, and this is how the decision for my next blog post was taken. I went to the supermarket and bought some butter, chocolate and caramel. Arriving at home I saw that there were some walnuts left and decided to add them to give them a nutty flavor.

This is basically how I decide what to post next. In general I do not preview much in advance what to bake or cook next. There are some recipes queuing for months now. But every time some other dish or cake pops up in my head in very unexpected moments. Don't ask me why, it always happens like this.

Special Thanks also to my friend Manon L. who did a great job as a lightning assistant. During winter it's not always easy to deal with the grey sky. Very often the pictures become too dark. So thanks for holding the linen paper.

For a normal brownie mold you need:

90g flour

150g sugar

3 eggs

120g butter

180g dark chocolate

60g soft caramels

70g walnuts

******

Preheat the oven to 180°

In a large bowl beat the eggs and add the sugar immediately after. Melt the chocolate and butter in a bain-marie. While these ingredients are slowly melting add the flour to the beaten eggs until you get an even dough. Once the chocolate is liquid pour it into the dough. Cut the soft caramels into small cubes and chop the nuts. Now add them as well and mix again.

Bake for 25 minutes.

Enjoy!!!!!!

White Chocolate Raspberry Cupcakes

There would be no perfect birthday without cupcakes. Already my cupcake friend Anne sent me a lovely cupcake postcard with even lovelier birthday wishes. So thank you first of all. I have to mention her when I talk about cupcake happiness, because she was the one who opened the world of cupcakes to me. Yes, cupcakes are not only a good-looking dessert; no they also have emotional value. And on this special day, my birthday, which I am supposed to enjoy, and I definitely do, cupcakes have to be part of it.

I guess you got it. I love cupcakes. And for former birthdays, my friends offered me recipe books of all kinds, indicating the best looking and the tastiest cupcake recipes. The one I chose is a combination I really like: white chocolate and raspberries. I allowed myself to change the recipe a little bit. Normally I am not that courageious when it comes to baking. With cooking no problem, but with baking I am always a bit hesitating to change things. But so far, I cannot complain about the outcome.

Anne, if by chance you read this during your holidays, please do know that I would have given a lot to share these with you!!!! But for all the others, I am totally willing to share with you. The only thing you have to know is, that you have to be fast enough otherwise there won't be any left. I can tell from experience, that they disappear quite quickly. 

For 18 cupcakes you need:

225g butter

225g sugar

225g flour

1 ts baking powder

4 eggs

18 raspberries

100g white chocolate chips

For the icing you need:

200g cream cheese

175g icing sugar

1 ts vanilla extract

3 tbs butter

18 raspberries

Preheat the oven to 175°

In a large bowl whisk together the eggs, the sugar and the butter. Then add the flour and the baking powder. Now you can add the white chocolate chips.

Place the paper muffin cups into the mold and add 1tbs of dough. Then add one raspberry onto the dough and fill the muffin cup 3/4 full with dough again. Bake the cupcakes for 20 minutes.

********

Whisk the cream cheese and the icing sugar together. Add the butter and the vanilla extract until you get a creamy paste. Put the icing cream for 10 minutes into the fridge. Then decorate the cupcakes. To put another fruit element on top, decorate each cupcake with a raspberry.

Enjoy!!!