Praline Custard Pots

Natillas is the spanish term to name this delicious dessert very popular in Spain. It is a curstad dish made with milk, egg yolks, sugar and, with a touch of vanilla or lemon. The most common is with vanilla but it is also popular to add other tastes such as chocolate or cinnamon. My mum and my granny used to prepare them quite often when we were children. It is really easy and quick to make. I used their recipe but I added hazelnut praliné and it taste absolutly delicious.

INGREDIENTS 6 serves
600 ml whole milk
3 egg yolks
80 g sugar
9 g vanilla sugar
20 g cornstarch
100 g praline

Whisk the egg yolks and the sugars in a bowl until smooth. Put the milk and the constrach in a saucepan and whisk until the constrach is completly disolved. Add the sugar and egg yolks mixture and cook over low heat whisking constantly for 2 minutes. Add the praline and continue whisking until it starts to thiken, remove from heat and pour the mixture in the moldes, let them cool completly and refrigerate at least 3 hours before serving.

You can top with caramelized hazelnuts.

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

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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.

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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.

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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 ♥