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! 

:)

Oreo Cupcakes

For the Chocolate Cupcakes:

Dry ingredients

• 1 1/3 of a cup of cocoa powder
• 2 ½ cups of flour
• 2 1/4 cups of white sugar
• 2 teaspoons of baking soda
• 2 teaspoons of baking powder
• 1 ¼ of a teaspoon of salt

Wet ingredients

• 2 eggs
• 2/3 of a  cup of  warm water
• 1 ½ teaspoons of vanilla extract
• 1 ¼ cups  of milk
• 2/3 of a cup of coffee
• 2/3 of a cup of vegetable oil

1. Preheat your oven to 180 degrees Celsius
2. Grease your muffin tins
3. In two separate bowls, mix your dry ingredients in one and the wet ingredients in another
4. Slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet and mix them with a hand mixer (or do it old school and get your wooden spoon out)
5. Pour the batter in your muffin cups (about half to 3/4 of the way full.. mine rosse like crazy)
6. Bake for about 15 minutes (stab them with a knife and make sure it comes out smooth just to be sure) and them cool before icing

For the Oreo Icing

Please note I suck at measuring things and I always encourage you to taste as you go. I made wayyyy too much icing but, this is APPROXIMATELY how much of what I used:

• 100 grams of Philadelphia cream cheese
• 2-3 tablespoons of softened butter
• 3/4- 1 cup of ground oreos (plus full oreos left aside for garnish)
• 3 tablespoons of icing sugar 

Once you have iced your cupcakes, garnish them with an oreo cut in half! Ohm nom. 

Peach-Mango Iced Tea with Raspberries and Mint

1 litre of cold water

1 cup of boiling water

1 cup of fresh mango slices

1/2 a cup of raspberries

Fresh mint leaves

1/4 of a cup of sugar

5 peach tea bags

2 black tea bags

3 mint tea bags

1. Place all the tea bags in the litre of cold water and let the tea soak in
2. Dissolve the sugar in the boiling water and stir it until it is a syrup before pouring it into the litre of tea
3. Finely chop mint and toss it into the tea along with mango and raspberries
4. This tastes best when you leave it for about an hour to really taste all of the flavours 

Pink Lemonade

1 cup of sugar

3/4 of a cup of maraschino cherry juice

4 1/2 cups of ice cold water

1/2 a cup of boiling water

1 1/2 cups of squeezed lemon juice

1. Dissolve the sugar in the boiling water to make syrup.
2. Combine all the other ingredients and add in your syrup. 
3. Serve with ice and lemon slices!

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!

Strawberry Kiwi Smoothie with Orange Zest

• 1 cup of frozen strawberries
• 2 kiwis (peeled)
• 1 tablespoon of orange zest
• 1 tablespoon of grenadine
• 3 tablespoons of plain yogurt
• half a cup of orange juice 

Combine in a blender and serve :)

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!

Strawberry Lemonade Garnished with Basil

• 1/4 of a cup of sliced strawberries
• 2 tablespoons of sugar
• 1/4 of a cup of hot water
• 3 tablespoons of lemon juice
• 3/4 of a cup of cold water
• Ice
• A stem of basil (Haedar might prefer mint ;] )

1. Leaving a few strawberry slices aside for garnish, mash the others with the sugar
2. Stir them in the hot water until the sugar is dissolved 
3. Stir the lemon juice in cold water and then drop in your ice, lemon slices and strawberry slices for garnish before pouring in your berry-sugar syrup. Garnish with a basil stem!

Chocolate Loaf Drizzled with Jam

• 1 cup of butter softened
• 1 and 2/3 of a cup of dark brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
• 100 grams of baking chocolate melted
• 1 and 1/3 cups of flour
• 1 teaspoon of baking soda
• 1/2 a teaspoon of salt
• 1 cup of boiling water
• 3 tablespoons of marmelade 
• 1 tablespoon of water

1. Preheat the oven to 160 degrees celsius 
2. Combine the eggs, butter, sugar, melted chocolate and vanilla
3. In a separate bowl combine the flour, baking soda & salt and slowly add the two mixtures with the boiling water
4. Pour the batter into greased baking pans and bake for about 30 minutes
5. In a bowl with the tablespoon of hot water, mix in the marmelade and drizzle it over the cake

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!

Banana Cinnamon Crepes with Maple Syrup

• ·       1 ½ cups of milk 
• ·       1 cup of flour
• ·         2 eggs
• ·        1 tablespoon of oil
• ·       2 tablespoons of sugar
• ·       maple syrup
• ·       cinnamon
• ·       a banana

1.     mix together the milk, eggs, oil and sugar

2.     slowly add the flour while stirring

3.     heat the pan and add some butter, pouring in a small amount of batter and let it spread in the pan

4.     when the crepe is dry on the top flip it

top with maple syrup, banana and cinnamon!