Rosemary Chicken

Wonderful, delicate and moist chicken, representing a new flavour I haven't tried before. I strongly recommend preparing such dinner. We all fell in love with sweet potatoes! They are so soft, sweet and filling! And they make a perfect couple with rosemary.
What's more, rosemary gives the entire dish a unique taste and wonderful smell all around the house from the oven :)

Changed into easier version, recipe comes from this website.

Ingredients:

• 2 chicken breasts
• 500g od sweet potatoes
• salt, pepper
• 4 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 tablespoon of honey
• 2 twigs of rosemary
• 4 tablespoons of balsamic vinegar

Preparation:

1. Wash chicken breasts cut out the fat and bones. Cut every breast into 2 thinner slices.
2. Take a bowl, put them inside and season with salt and pepper. Add 2 tablespoons of oil, leaves from 1 rosemary twig, 4 tablespoons of balsamic oil and mix thoroughtly. Set aside for at least 15 minutes.
3. Start preheating the oven to 220C.
4. Wash and peel sweet potatoes, cut into halves.
5. Take a casserole, put sweet potatoes inside, season with salt and pepper, add olive oil and rosemary leaves from another twig. 
6. Add chicken (with its marinade). Pour 1 tablespoon of honey on the chicken and add some more rosemary or seasoning if needed/desired. 
7. Bake for around 20-30 minutes, till potatoes are soft and chicken cooked well.
8. Serve for instance with green salad mix.
9. Bon appetit! :)

Coffolate Shortcake

A very tasty shortcake, perfect for an Easter table. I have never tried such shortcakes, as my family was used to such Easter shortcakes (which are, indeed very tasty too), but this year I decided to try something new and I am not dissapointed. Try, try, it is worth it ! :)

Recipe, slightly changed, comes from this website.

Ingredients (for a 20x30cm baking pan):

Bottom:

• 170g of flour
• 80g of potato starch
• 3 tablespoons of cocoa powder
• 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon
• 50g of sugar
• 150g of cold margarine
• 1 egg

Top:

• 200g of cherries
• 25g of milk chocolate

Frosting:

• 125ml of 36% cream
• 1 teaspoon of instant coffee
• 1/2 teaspoon of cardamom
• 30g of margarine
• 200g of white chocolate

Preparation:

Bottom:

1. Take a bowl, sieve flour and potato starch inside. Add sugar and margarine (cut into cubes). Knead or mix well. Add egg and knead again till well combined.
2. Make a bowl, cover with cling film and put in the fridge for an hour.
3. During that time, prepare the kitchen surface, to roll out the dough.
4. Start preheating the oven to 160C.
5. Take the cake out and roll out. 
6. Put in the baking pan, on the entire bottom + 1cm sides.
7. Using a fork, make holes on the entire bottom.
8. Put in previously preheated oven and bake for 35 minutes till gold.
9. Cool down.

Frosting:

1. Take a pan, put cream inside, add coffee and cardamom and heat, till it all dissolves. Stop heating, add butter and chocolate, stir till it all melts (if it is hard - heat it up a little bit).
2. Pour it on previously cooled down shortcake bottom and put in a cold place for an hour so that it stiffens.
3. Put pieces of cherries in any pattern desired, decorate.
4. Melt remaining milk chocolate and distribute all over the shortcake.
5. Store in room temperature.
6. Bon Appetit! :)

Sour-Sweet Shortcake

There are sometimes recipe on the Internet, which - when you see them - you know - they are going to be just awesome :) And this is a perfect example of such situation. This is a perfect combination of sour orange jam and sweet white chocolate with some more ingredients that will make you forget about calories ;) 

I do recommend! 

The recipe, slightly changed, comes from my favourite website.

Ingredients (for a 20x30cm baking pan):

Bottom:

• 170g of flour
• 80g of potato starch
• 50g of sugar
• 150g of cold margarine
• 1 egg

Top:

• A jar of orange jam
• a handful of dried apricots
• 100g of almond flakes
• optionally - 4 tablespoons of orange liqueur

Chocolate frosting:

• 150g of white chocolate
• 5 tablespoons of 36% cream

Preparation:

Bottom:

1. Take a bowl, sieve flour and potato starch inside. Add sugar and margarine (cut into cubes). Knead or mix well. Add egg and knead again till well combined.
2. Make a bowl, cover with cling film and put in the fridge for an hour.
3. During that time, prepare the kitchen surface, to roll out the dough.
4. Start preheating the oven to 160C.
5. Take the cake out and roll out. 
6. Put in the baking pan, on the entire bottom + 1cm sides.
7. Using a fork, make holes on the entire bottom.
8. Put in previously preheated oven and bake for 35 minutes till gold.
9. Cool down.

Top:

1. Distribute the orange jam (mixed with 2 tablepoons of liqueur if used) all over the bottom (probably not entire jar, but half or so).
2. Put apricots, in any pattern desired (I did the chequered pattern).

Prepare the frosting:

1. In a pan, melt 100g of chocolate with 5 tablespoons of 36% cream (and 2 tablespoons of liqueur if used). When done, add the remaining chocolate and stir till it melts. Put aside to let it cool down a little.
2. Distribute the frosting on a cake (any pattern desired, again) and sprinkle with almond flakes.
3. Bon Appetit!

Easter Yoghurt Muffins

Basic, classic, elegant. This is one of the most useful recipe, for all occassions. So today, as an Easter Muffins I want to present them - yoghurt muffins with a nice, delicate lemon taste and a raspberry surprise inside. 

I realize that the biggest surprise are the wrrapings, and some of You probably crave for them ;) They come from the website of one of the most known producent in Poland and you can find them and many others here. Have fun and Happy Easter! :)

The base, slightly changed, comes from this website. 

Ingredients (for 24 smaller muffins) all of them need to be room temperatured.

• 250g of natural yoghurt (but not a "0% fat" one)
• 150g of margarine
• 4 eggs
• lemon zest from 2 lemons
• 300g of flour
• 1 teaspoon of baking soda
• a pinch of salt
• 250g of sugar

Filling:

• Raspberry jam

Preparation:

1. Take a pan, melt butter inside. Let it cool down.
2. Start preheating the oven to 170C.
3. Prepare muffin cases and keep handy. 
4. Prepare a big bowl.
5. Put yoghurt inside and mix it with cool melted butter. Add eggs and lemon zest. Beat.
6. Now add sieved flour, soda, salt and sugar. Stir only till all the ingredients mix.
7. Fill the muffin cases with dough till their 3/4 height.
8. Put in the oven and bake for around 25-30 minutes, till you reach a dry toothpick.
9. Take them out and using a syringe with very thin 'needle' like ending and inject the jam inside.
10. Remove the excess of the jam that starts coming out from the muffin.
11. Let the muffins cool down.
12. Prepare the icing, for example from this recipe and decorate the muffins.
13. When done, you can dress up your muffins using this wrapping. Remember to cut it out precisely and laminate, before using :)
14. Bon Appetit! :)

Citrus Snowballs

Here is another sweet recipe for cold, winter evenings at home. These snowballs are surprisingly tasty, sweet, orange, crunchy cookies which will be a good match for hot tea/cocoa, blanket aaand book or dreams ;)
Also, if you're running out of time, they're very easy and quick to make which gives them another big +. 
Sprinkled with powdered sugar or glucose, look like a snowball on a table :) And children will love them! Just make sure they're not using them as snowballs ;)

There original recipe is here, though I've made quite a lot of changes, such as replacing butter with margarine which I tend to do very often recently.

Ingredients:

• 250g of margarine
• 100g of powdered sugar (+ more to sprinkle the cookies)
• 1 teaspoon of orange extract
• 100g of chopped walnuts
• 100g of candied orange skin
• 375g of flour

Preparation:

1. Prepare a baking tray and put baking paper all over it.
2. Start preheating the oven to 180C.
3. Take a mixer and its bowl. Put margarine and powdered sugar inside and beat till bright and fluffy (around 10 minutes).
4. Add orange extract, walnuts, candied orange skin and mix till well combined.
5. Add flour and mix (or knead) again till well combined.
6. Start making balls (around 2 teaspoons of dough for 1 ball) and place on previously prepared baking tray (they might be placed close to each other as they won't grow).
7. If the oven is ready, bake for 10-15 minutes till golden brown.
8. Cool down on a wire rack.
9. Sprinkle with powdered sugar.
10. Bon Appetit!

Reindeer Cookies

If you ask me what kind of sweets do children choose most often during Christmas (among many on the table) the answer is: reindeer cookies from this recipe :) I baked them for my kindergarten party and they disappeared with a blink of an eye! Why? Well I guess because of a reindeer ;) plus - children enjoy 'plain' or 'clean' sweets with no additional ingredients. And here they are - basic vanilla dough plus decoration - chocolate + M&M's. They're really wonderful, what's more - it is possible to prepare the dough a couple of days earlier and store in the fridge/freezer! :)

I do recommend! :)

Ingredients:

• 180g of margarine, cold
• 200g of sugar
• 350g of flour
• 1 big egg
• 1 egg yolk
• 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract
• a pinch of salt

Decoration:

• 2 small packs of M&M's
• around 50g of chocolate (preferably dark) for eyes and horns
• around 30g of margarine (or more if neccessary, to melt with the chocolate - to make it smooth)
• icing sugar - to glue reindeers' noses (the easiest one - 1/3 glass of powdered sugar and 1-2 teaspoons of water)

Preparation:

1. Place all the ingredients in a bowl and knead or mix till the dough is soft.
2. Put in the fridge for 40 minutes.
3. During that time prepare a surface, sprinkled with flour as well as baking tray with baking paper on it.
4. Start preheating the oven to 180C.
5. Take half of the dough and roll it out (3-5 mm thick), cut out the circles (preferably with a tumbler ;) ).
6. Put circles on a baking tray, leaving little space between them (they won't grow much).
7. Bake in previously preheated oven for around 10 minutes, till gold.
8. Cool down.

Decorate:

1. Make icing, put a little on a cookie, glue the nose.
2. Put chocolate with butter (just a little, not all) in a heatproof small pot, heat till it melts and you get a smooth mixture.
3. Using a toothpick, make eyes and horns.
4. Bon Appetit! ;)

Chocolate Cake

I do enjoy baking birthday cakes for my friends. I always ask them for their favourite flavours and prepare a perfect cake. And Martha's frosting - oh my, that was the most wonderful chocolate mixture I've ever eaten! Unfortunately, as it was a gift, there is no picture from the inside.

Recipe for a sponge cake comes from my favourite Polish website and the best chocolate frosting comes from my favourite cook, Martha Stewart.

Ingredients:

Cocoa Sponge Cake:

• 7 eggs
• 1 glass of sugar
• 2/3 glass of baking cocoa
• 2/3 glass of flour

Filling:

• 350g of cherry jam
• 500-700g of cherries without kernels
• optionally - 4-5 tablespoons of cherry liqueur, for example from that recipe

Whipped cream:

• 1/4 glass of water
• 2 teaspoons of gelatin
• 750ml of 36% cream
• 1/4 glass of sugar

Top:

• 1 pack of candied cherries
• 1 pack of chocolate decorations
• chocolate frosting

Chocolate frosting:

• 226g of bittersweet chocolate
• 226g of milk chocolate
• 355ml of 36% cream
• 2 tablespoons corn syrup
• 340g of butter, soft but cool, cut into small pieces

Preparation:

Sponge cake:

1. Prepare a springform (diameter 24cm) and cover the bottom with baking paper.
2. Take a bowl, sieve cocoa and flour inside.
3. Separate egg yolks from egg whites.
4. Start preheating the oven to 170C.
5. Take a mixer and its bowl, put egg whites inside and beat for 2 minutes on a low rotation, Gradually higher the speed of the mixer and start adding sugar. Beat the egg whites for a few minutes till stiff and shiny. Still, while beating, start adding egg yolks, sepatarely, adding another when the previous one is precisely mixed with egg whites.
6. Turn the mixer off.
7. Sieve cocoa/flour mix slowly to the eggs mixture and using a spatula, slowly, gently stir till all the ingredients mix.
8. Pour the dough into previously prepared sprinform, put in the oven and bake for 35-40 minutes, to the point of a dry toothpick.
9. After that time, take the sponge cake out from the oven and energetically throw on a kitchen surface ( :) ). Cool down,

Filling:

1. Mix all the ingredients of the filling (also alcohol, if desired). Divide into 2 equal bowls.
2. Using a knife, cut the sides of the sponge cake, open springform, put the sponge cake upside down to take out the baking paper. 
3. Using thread or a big knife, cut the sponge cake lengthwise, into 2 (or if possible 3) equal layers.

Prepare whipped cream:

1. Put 36% cream in the freezer.
2. Boil 1/4 glass of water. Put gelatin inside, stir till gelatin melts. Cool down.
3. Take a mixer and its bowl, put 36% cream inside, start beating. Add sugar and beat till stiff. Mix in the gelatin liquid.
4. Divide into 2 equal bowls.

Layers:

1. Take a cake plate, put first piece of sponge cake on it. Distribute filling from the first bowl with cherries. Cover with one bowl of whipped cream. 
2. Put another layer of cake and repeat steps with filling.
3. Cover with the last piece of sponge cake.
4. If there is any excess of the filling, sticking out on the cake's sides, take it out.

Chocolate frosting:

1. Take a mixer's bowl, chop both the bittersweet and milk chocolates and put inside it. Set aside.
2. Take a pot, put 36% cream and corn syrup inside, bring to boil. Take off the heat and pour the mixture over a bowl with chocolates. Let it stand for 2-3 minutes, so that the chocolate melts. Stir till smooth. Cool down.
3. When cooled down (room temperatured), start beating with a stand mixer and gradually add butter until smooth and silky.
4. Using an offset spatula, distribute the frosting all over the cake, leaving some for decoration.
5. Decorate the cake with a spatula, syringe, etc.
6. Serve immediately, or keep covered with a cake dome in the fridge. Let sit at room temperature for about 20 minutes before serving.