Escargot (French Spiral Pastries with Cinnamon and Rasins)

1 1/2 cups whole milk, heavy cream, or a mix 

1/2 cup sugar

1/4 cup flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

4 large egg yolks

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Cinnamon & brown sugar to taste

1/4 - 1/2 a cup of raisins

Brioche pastry (because I am lazy)

1. Warm the Milk: Warm the milk in the saucepan until you start to see wisps of steam. It should not actually be boiling.

2. Make the Egg-Sugar Base: In a medium bowl, whisk together the sugar, flour, and salt. Add the egg yolks and whisk them into the dry ingredients. This will form a thick paste. It's fine if the paste looks crumbly or smooth; the important thing is that the ingredients are thoroughly combined.

3. Add the Milk to the Egg Mixture: Pour a little of the hot milk into the eggs and whisk to combine. Continue pouring the milk slowly into the eggs, whisking continuously. It's ok to switch back and forth between pouring milk and whisking if you can't manage both at the same time.

When all the milk has been added to the eggs, pour everything back into the saucepan. Set a strainer over a bowl and place this near the stove.

4. Heat the Pastry Cream: Set the pan back over medium heat. Whisk

constantly. At first, the pastry cream will look very thin and frothy, but it will start to thicken after a few minutes. When it has thickened to a pudding-like consistency, pause whisking every few seconds to see if the cream has come to a boil. If you see large bubbles popping on the surface, whisk for a few more seconds and then remove the pan from heat.

5. Prepare the Dough & Preheat the Oven: Preheat the oven based on the directions for the dough. Spread the dough out so it is a long rectangle. Sprinkle it with cinnamon, brown sugar and raisins and add the pastry cream.

6. Roll: Roll your dough up and then slice it. I sliced about two inches apart. Place your little escargots on a baking sheet and pop them in the oven until they are golden.

7. Enjoy! If you want to be very proper, you can glaze them as well! 

:)

Watermelon Mint Salad

This is far less a recipe than it is an amazing combination of tastes. 

The next time you have fresh watermelon, try adding some finely chopped mint leaves and freshly squeezed lemon juice. I like to leave it in the fridge for at least 30 minutes so the flavour of the mint really skinks in, but in all honesty, this is entirely optional - serving it as soon as you make it is also delicious.

Chocolate Milkshake

2 cups of chilled full milk

3 scoops of chocolate ice cream

3 teaspoons of chocolate sauce

1 teaspoon of sugar

1 teaspoon of cocoa powder

Whipped cream

Blend & top with whipped cream!

Chocolate Fondant Cake

1/2 a cup of dark chocolate

1/2 a cup of butter

1 cup of icing sugar

2 eggs

2 egg yolks

6 tablespoons of flour

1. Preheat the oven to 220 degrees Celsius (425 Fahrenheit) 
2. Melt the chocolate and butter and whisk together the mixture (don't burn it!)
3. Beat the eggs until they are frothy and add them along with sugar and mix well before adding the flour.
4. Grease your muffin cups or ramekins before filling them 3/4 of the way up with the fondant mix. 
5. Bake them for about 11 minutes and let them sit for a moment before gently flipping them and serving.  
6. Top them with fruit and or whipped cream!

Mini Doughnuts

400g white flour without yeast

150ml milk

20g fresh yeast

40g sugar

50 unsalted butter, softened

2 large eggs

1 teaspoon grated lemon peel

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

a pinch of salt

1. Dissolve the fresh yeast and sugar in warm milk.
2. Place the flour in a large bowl only around the edges so the middle is hollow.
3. Stir in the yeast, add slightly beaten eggs, softened butter (cut into cubes), lemon zest and vanilla extract to the centre of the bowl and slowly mix in the flour and knead 1-2 minutes.
4. Add a pinch of salt and knead the dough. You want to keep it a little wet but slightly firm. 
5. Cover with a clean cloth and let rise (in a warm place) for 2 hours or until almost double or triple the size.
6. Roll out the dough with the help of a roller on a slightly floured surface until the dough is about 1 cm thick before using a cookie cutter to make circles (about 6 cm diameter) and then a much smaller circle in the middle.
7. Place the doughnuts on a baking tray lined with greaseproof paper and cover with a cloth and let them grow in a warm place until double the volume.
8. If you want to bake the donuts in the oven, after doubling the volume, place the pan in the oven preheated to 170 º C.
9. If you want to fry them, heat some oil and fry them before letting them cool on paper towel.
10. And then, I sprinkled mine with icing sugar :)

Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal Cake

Nom :)

3/4 of a cup of butter

1 cup of brown sugar

3 eggs

1 & 1/2 cups of flour

2 teaspoons of baking powder

3 teaspoons of cinnamon

1 teaspoon of nutmeg

1 teaspoon of vanilla essence

1 teaspoon of baking soda

3 apples

2 tablespoons of oatmeal

2 tablespoons of apple sauce

1. Grease the baking tin and preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius.
2. Peel and grate the apples.
3. Mix the softened butter & sugar before slowly adding the beaten eggs, apple sauce, vanilla and apple sauce.
4. Combine the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking soda and oatmeal together and slowly add the dry mix to the wet mix. 
5. Pour the batter into your baking tin and top it with sliced apples and oatmeal.
6. Bake for about 40 minutes! 

Chocolate Fudge Cupcakes with Chocolate Fudge Icing

A heavenly recipe from Spinach Tiger

Ingredients

• 3⅓ cups all purpose flour
• ⅔ cups Hershey’s dark chocolate unsweetened cocoa powder
• ⅔ cups unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 tablespoon baking soda
• 1⅓ cup brown sugar
• 1⅓ cups sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 12 ounces butter (3 sticks)
• 3 cups buttermilk
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 5 eggs
• FROSTING INGREDIENTS
• ½ cup dark chocolate cocoa
• ½ cup regular unsweetened cocoa
• 5 cups confectioner’s sugar 5
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• ¾ cup heavy cream
• 8 ounces butter (2 sticks)
• 4 tablespoons cream cheese

Instructions

1. Sift together cocoa, flour, baking soda, salt into a bowl.
2. Put flour mixture all the rest of the ingredients in mixer and mix for 3 minutes.
3. Pour into cupcake pans or three cake pans.
4. Bake at 350. Cupcakes take between 15-20 minutes. Mini bundt cakes take 20-25 minutes. One large cake takes between 50-55 minutes. Layer cakes take anywhere from 35-50 minutes.
5. FROSTING INSTRUCTIONS
6. Mix together butter and cream cheese. Add salt and confectioner’s sugar and mix well. Pour in heavy cream which will begin to thin the frosting. Once the frosting is at the consistency you like, add in vanilla and mix until done. You can make the frosting a day ahead, cover with plastic and once ready to frost cakes, take out for 30 minutes.
7. NOTE: This makes ample frosting, but I always double this recipe because I like to use a lot of frosting.

Vanilla Cupcakes with Strawberry Buttercream

For the cake:

2/3 cup (130 grams) granulated white sugar

3 large eggs

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Zest of 1 large lemon(outer yellow skin)

1 1/2 cups (195 grams) all purpose flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup (60 ml) milk

For the Icing:

¾ of a cup of unsalted butter (room temperature)

1 cup of freeze dried strawberries

1 ½ tablespoons of heavy cream

2 cups of icing sugar

Fresh strawberries for garnish

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees celsius 
2. Combine the wet ingredients and dry ingredients in separate bowls before slowly combining them
3. Pour your batter into muffin cups 3/4 of the way up
4. Bake them for about 15-20 minutes or until cooked on the inside
5. Leave the muffins to cool and whisk together the icing after blending the strawberries
6. Garnish them with fresh strawberries and eat!

Oreo Milkshake

• 6 Oreo cookies
• 1 and 1/2 cups of milk
• 2 large scoops of vanilla ice cream
• 1 tablespoon of sugar
• 1 tablespoon of chocolate syrup

BLEND!

Light Raspberry Blueberry Tart

• This is a great recipe passed on by a wonderful family friend.
• Tart dough
• 1/3 of a cup of cottage cheese 
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup of brown sugar 
• Fresh raspberries 
• Fresh blueberries 

1. Lay down your dough and pierce holes on the bottom with a fork
2. Mix together the sugar, eggs and cottage cheese and pour it over the dough
3. Sprinkle the top with raspberries and blueberries
4. Bake depending on the instructions for your dough 

Carrot Cake/Cupcakes/Muffins

I found a carrot cake recipe on Ezra Pound Cake two years ago and I haven't stumbled upon a better one yet. While I've made a few changes to mine, it is almost exact to that one. I hope you enjoy it :)

For the cake you will need:

• 2 cups of flower
• 2 teaspoons of baking powder
• 2 teaspoons of baking soda
• 1 tablespoon of cinnamon
• 1/2 a teaspoon of freshly ground nutmeg
• 3/4 of a teaspoon of salt
• 3 cups of grated carrots
• 1 cup of chopped walnuts
• 1/2 a cup of ground almonds
• 1 cup of shredded coconut
• 2 cups of sugar
• 1 cup of canola or sunflower oil
• 4 eggs
• 1 & 1/2 teaspoons of vanilla essence

1. Preheat your oven to 180 degrees Celsius, grease your cake pan(s)
2. In a bowl, mix together all dry ingredients: flower, baking soda, baking powder, almonds, cinnamon, coconut, nutmeg and salt
3. In a separate bowl, mix together your oil, sugar, eggs and vanilla essence
4. Chop the walnuts and add them to the bowl with oil, eggs, etc
5. Peel and grate your carrots and add them to the second bowl.
6. Slowly add the flower to your bowl of wet ingredients, stir well
7. Pour the mix into the cake pan(s) and place in the oven
8. Bake for approximately 45 minutes (to make sure it's cooked, slide a knife into the middle and if it comes out gooey, you need to let it cook longer)

Let the cake(s) cool before icing

For the icing:

• 8 ounces of cream cheese
• 1 stick of butter (really healthy, I know)
• 3 cups of icing sugar
• 1 tablespoon of freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 1/2 a cup of shredded coconut

Strawberry Cheesecake Tart

• Approximately 15 large strawberries
• 20 ounces of cream cheese
• Just under a cup of sugar
• 1 tablespoon of vanilla essence 
• Pie dough

1. Grease a pie dish and bake the dough based on the instructions
2. Allow the crust to cool
3. Mix the vanilla, cream cheese and sugar together well and then pour it on to the crust
4. Leave the tart in the freezer until serving, then garnish them with the sliced strawberries, laying them on top of the filling starting from the outside

Sugar Cookies

(From Katrina's Kitchen) 

·        2 cups of butter, softened

·        2 cups of sugar

·        2 teaspoons of vanilla extract

·        1 teaspoon of almond extract

·        2 eggs

·        4 teaspoons baking powder

·        6 cups flour

Directions:

1.   Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2.   In the bowl of your mixer cream butter and sugar until smooth.

3.   Beat in extracts and eggs.

4.   In a separate bowl combine baking powder with flour and add a little at a time to the wet ingredients. The dough will be very stiff. If it becomes too stiff for your mixer turn out the dough onto a countertop surface. Wet your hands and finish off kneading the dough by hand.

5.   DO NOT CHILL THE DOUGH. Divide into workable batches, roll out onto a floured surface and cut. You want these cookies to be on the thicker side (the idea is to hold a lot of icing, right?!).

6.   Bake at 350 for 6-8 minutes. Let cool on the cookie sheet until firm enough to transfer to a cooling rack. 

For the icing: Mix together softened butter, icing sugar and water to taste and decorate away!