Pistachio and Chocolate Cookies

If you like sweet cookies with a touch of salt you have to try this recipe, if you don't like the salty taste do not add it beacause they will taste anyway delicious. As I like the salty taste I rather to use whole pistachios and peal them, even this is quite tedious. The pistachios peals I found in the store are not salty and I think they are not fresh and crunchy enough, so little bit of patience and your cookies will taste much better.

INGREDIENTS makes about 18 cookies

100 g butter in room temperature

180 g light brown sugar
200 g all porpuse flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
75 g pistachios
130 g dark chocolate chips
sea salt for sprinkle (optional)

Peal the pistachios and put them in a bag, crush them lightly. Set aside.

Preheat the oven to 180º and prepare the baking tray. Sift the flour and set aside.

In the bowl of the electric mixer beat the butter and the suger until smooth and creamy. Add the egg and the vanilla extract. Add the flour gradually and the salt and beat until well combined.

And finally add the pistachios and the chocolate chips and beat until incorporated. 

Make balls using two spoons and put them onto the prepared baking sheets. Sprinkle with sea salt. Bake about 10-12 minuts, or until golden brown around the edges. Remove from the oven and allow to the cookies to cool on the paper for 3 minutes and cool them completely on a wire rack.

If you like you cookies a bit soft and chewy take them out of the oven as soon as they start to turn golden.

You can keep them up to 5 days in an hermetically sealed jar or box up to 5 days.

Recipe adapted of Joy the Baker.

I recommend you not to change the chocolate chips for chopped chocolate since the chocolate chips stay crunchy and this fits much better with the crunchy pistachios and the texture of the cookie.

If you haven't participate to my giveaway you can do it pressing here.

♥♥♥

Dulce de Leche Tart

Here you have a very easy no-bake tart, probably you will take longer crushing the cookies (if you do it by hand like me) than mixing all the ingredients for the filling. I advise you this is not suitable for non sweet lovers, of course you can imagine that with the dulce de leche it is a quite sweet desert. But who can resist to this lovely argentinan delight? Definitely the diet I promissed myself after new year I can't carry it out. I have to confess I have one kitchen cupboard full of tins, jars and packs and much more stuff I've been storing and sometimes I even don't know in which recipe I am going to use it but they are there, just in case, that's my sentence: just in case. So it would be a pitty if I would not use them.

INGREDIENTS makes a 23 cm tin
225 gr oreo cookies
75 gr unsalted butter
250 ml whipped cream
275 gr condensed milk
25 gr dulce de leche plus pluse more for the topping
4 gelatin sheets

Crush the cookies and mix it with the melted butter, cover the tart tin pressing with the back of the spoon. Refrigerate it for 20 minutes.

Put the gelatin in cold water for 5 minutes or follow the instructions of the manufacturer. Mix the condensed milk with the 25 gr of dulce de leche, and put a little part of this mixture to a pan just the enough to mix it with the gelatin, watch out do not overheat. Once the gelatin is completly disolved remove from heating and let it cool down completly before mix with the rest of the mixture.
In a separate bowl beat the cream with an electric whisk until it forms peaks. Add the cream to the  mixture and stir with and spatula gently until well combined.

Put a layer of dulce de leche on the bottom and cover with the mixture and level it with the spatula. Top with some drizzle of dulce de leche and make lines with a skewer to create a nice effect.
Refrigerate at least for 4 hours or overnight.

If you haven't participate to my giveaway you can do it pressing here.

♥♥♥

1 year of the blog and Giveaway!

Hello!! Today is a very special day for me: I am doing my the first giveaway in the blog! since the blog is already one year I think is a good reason to celebrate. I would like to thank you all your comments which makes me always happy, to all the amazing people I've knew, and of course all the fantastic things I'm learning and sharing with you and of you.

Step by step the blog is growing and it's time to celebrate, and what better than a recipe book?

What do you think about Sprinkle Bakes book? If you you read the post of my last summer trip you could remember I bought some books, so I brought 2 of them :D

In addition to the book I want to give away something which is very special for me, a painting made by me. Yes! I'm painting as well in my free time. Even this is not the style I use to do I think it would be also nice to add something made by me. This is actually the second paint I do with a cupcake, the first one was for Alma from Objetivo Cupcake, and I brought it to her on the first course I did in her atelier. So the winner will get the book and the painting :D

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How to enter:

1. Leave a comment letting me know that you're entering and I will appreciate if you say what you would like to see in the blog and which things can be improved.

2. Giveaway is open to everybody who lives in Spain or in the Netherlands, as well as people who the shipping can be done in one of these two countries.

3. I'm glad if you are new here and I invite you to follow my blog and follow me on facebook, twitter or pinterest. I will appreciate you are here beacause you like what I do ♥ 

Giveaway ends February 10th 2013 and the winner will be announced the following days on Facebook, Twitter and in the blog.

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I hope you like the giveaway, good luck :D

Marbled Loaf Cake -chocolate and turrón-

Hello! I hope you all enjoy the Christmas holidays and you had a great beginning of new year. My holidays were wonderful sharing with family and friends. I really was thinking to start the blog with something lighter after the big meals I had, but taking advantage of the turrón left from xmas I decided to do this loaf. But don't worry if you ate all of them, without it will be also great. It's perfect for breakfast or the afternoon tea, I love to eat it still warm but you can keep it up to 3 days.

INGREDIENTS makes a 22cm loaf tin

230 g white sugar

3 large eggs
120 ml mild olive oil or sunflower oil

250 g plain flour

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp bicarbonate of soda

a pinch of salt
120 ml whole milk

130 g dark chocolate broken into small pieces

120 g soft turrón

Preheat the oven to 180º and grease the loaf tin.

Cream the turrón with an electric food processor. Sift the flour, baking powder, salt and bicarbonate in a bowl, set aside.

Beat the oil and the sugar in a bowl with an electric mixer until light and fluffly. Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Add the sifted ingredients graduatlly alternating with milk and mix until just combined.

Pour the half of the mixture in an other bowl. Stir in the melted chocolate in the firs bowl and mix soflty with a hand mixer. Repeat this with the othe mixture and the turrón cream.

Pour the mixture into the loaf tin alternating the two mixtures and level it out with a spatula, Bake in the center of the oven for 50 minutes, until a skewer inserted into the center of the cake comes out with only few moist crumbs attached. Let cool ten minutes in the tin and then let cool completely on a wire rack.

If your loaf gets darker on top before the inside is done cooking, just cover it with aluminium foil.

I would recommend you to use loaf tin paper liners or just a baking paper on the bottom to unmold it better, but with the tin perfectly greased should not be any problem.

If you don't have turrón you can add any other cream or just anything.

I'm very happy because in few days this blog will celebrate one year ♥

Happy New Year

Happy New Year to everyone of you who read my blog, or who just come so say hello, or come just to have a look to the pictures and also the ones who never comment but they are there.

I'm happy my blog is almost one year, I love to share with you and the most important to learn from other blogs which I admire.

Happy 2013 and my best wiches for the new year!!!

Lots of love and thanks to be there ♥

Raquel

And for celebrate it here here you have the recipe of cupcakes of cava:

INGREDIENTS 12 Cava Cupcakes

110 g butter at room temperature

210 g white sugar

2 large eggs

200 g plain flour

1,5 teaspoon baking powder

60 ml whole milk

40 ml cava

Preheat the oveb to 160º and prepare the baking tin.

Sift the flour and the baking powder, and set aside. Beat the butter and the sugar in the mixing bowl and cream until light and fluffy. Add the eggs on at a time, beating well adter each addiion. Add the sifted dry ingredients altering with the milk. Add the cava and stir with a spatula.

Divide the mixture between the cupcakes cases. Bake for 20 minutes or until a skewer inserted comes out clean. Remove from the oven and let them in the tin for 5 minutes and cool them on a wire rack before decorate.

Cava Frosting
300 icing sugar
120 unsalted butter at room temperature
4 tablespoons cava

Sift the icing sugar and set aside. Crem the butter until smooth and add the sugar gradually. Add the cava and beat on high speed until frosting is light and fluffy.

Wishing you Peace

This is just a quick post to wish you all the best for these days. Hope you enjoy with your family, days full of love, laugther, big nice meals and lot of peace. I leave you with these cookies with M&M's and a touch of ginger.

M&M Ginger Cookies
260 g all purpose flour
1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
170 g unsalted butter at room temperature
130 g white sugar
140 g light brown sugar
1 large egg
1 egg yolk
1 1/2 teaspons pure vanilla extract
200 g M&M, Smarties or Lacasitos candies

Preheat the oven to 170º and line the baking tray with sheets.

Sift the flour, the baking soda, the ginger, cloves and the salt. Set aside. In the bowl of your mixer beat the butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Add the egg and egg yolk, beating until well combined. Beat in the vanilla extract.

Gradually add the flour mixture and beat just until incorporated. 

Make balls using an ice cream scoop or two spoons and place them on the baking sheet. Gently flatten each ball of dough and cover them with the M&M's. Bake them for 14 minutes or until they are light golden brown. Remove from the oven and leave them 5 minutes on the tray before transfer them on a wire rack to cool.

So for all of you who celebrate Christmas, and even those who do not, I wish you all the best and Merry Xmas!

Lots of love ♥

Winter Frost Cupcakes

Days are getting busier and busier planning all the Christmas holidays. There is lots of excitement around my home, it is time to share food with family and friends. I'm still planning menus for special dates but in the meanwhile I had time to prepare these cupcakes. Actually the intention was to be completly white with the silver cases, but since I used a special cake recipe they have grew quite a lot. You can see below on the instructions the method is some different and this gives a very soft and light texture to the cake. Cupcakes to welcome the winter time.

INGREDIENTS makes 12
175 g cake flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
113 g unsalted butter at room temperature
200 g white sugar, divided
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 large eggs ar room temperature
120 ml whole milk
1/8 teaspoon cream of tartar

Preheat the oven to 160º and prepare the cupcake tin.

Sift the flour, the baking powder and the salt, set aside. In the mixer bowl beat the butter until soft and add 150 grams of the sugar. Beat until fluffy and light. Add the egg yolks, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the vanilla extract. Add the flour mixture alternating with the milk in three aditions. 

Beat the eggs whites in a separate bowl until foamy. Add the cream of tartar and continue beating until soft peaks form. Add the remaining 50 grams of sugar gradually and continue to beat until stiff peaks form. Add the mixture into the batter with a rubber spatula gently. Do not over mix the batter. 

Fill the cupcakes cups and bake for 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Remove from the oven and leave them for 5 minutes before place them to a wire rack to cool completely.

Take note these cupcakes grow more in the oven, I would put little bit less than 2/3 of mixture in the cases.

Recipe adapted from Joy of Baking

Frosting:

300 g icing sugar

120 g unsalted butter at room temperature

2 tablespoons lemon juice

Sift the icing sugar and set aside. Cream the butter until smooth and add the sugar gradually. Add the lemon juice and beat on high speed until frosting is light and fluffy.

I topped these cupcakes with royal icing snowflakes which are so easy to make. Draw the snowflakes on a paper and place on a baking paper, follow the draw with the royal icing, leave them at least 24 hours for dry.

Enjoy your holidays ♥