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! :)

Meringue Cookies

Mmm! Very nice and elegant cookies! Equally sweet and sour. Though if You don't like the sour taste of lemon, the filling may be different, as a lot of fillings match here :) 

And - If You're running out of time, there is no need to bake a home-made meringues, as they're available in most supermarkets.

Those cookies - smaller or bigger - will wonderfully decorate the table. 

I think a pyramid of sweet meringues on a big white plate, on a wedding table would look just purely perfect .. don't You think? :)

Recipe for meringues, slightly changed, comes from that website.

Ingredients:

Meringue:

• 3 egg whites 
• 200g of sugar (finely ground)
• a pinch of salt

Lemon curd:

• 3 eggs 
• lemon zest and lemon juice from 3 lemons 
• 100g of powdered sugar 
• 100g of cool butter 

Additional ingredients:

• food colouring (powdered or gel)

Preparation:

Meringue:

1. Prepare a baking sheet, cover with baking paper.  Draw a lot of small circles all over the baking sheet, leaving some space between those circles (diameter: max 5 cm). Put aside. 
2. Take a mixer and its bowl, put egg whites and salt inside, start beating. After a while, start adding sugar, one tablespoon after another, mixing precisely all the time. The beating should take 10-15 minutes, not less. The meringue after the beating should be stiff and shiny and sugar should dissolve completely. 
3. Here is a good time to add food colouring, as much as you wish, and mixing precisely. Note that the colour will fade a little bit due to the baking process, so add a little bit more of it, not to be dissapointed with the final colour of the cookies.
4. Using a syringe, distribute the meringue on the baking sheet, on previously drawn circles. 
5. Put in the oven and bake for 60-90 minutes (or a little bit longer) in 120C. After that time, meringue cookies should be crunchy. 
6. After baking, keep in a room temperature, till the filling is ready.

Lemon curd:

Lemon curd requires a 'bath' so it is necessary to have a suitable pot and a bowl, that can be put one on another.

1. Chop the butter into smaller pieces. 
2. Take a pot, put some water inside, start boiling it. 
3. Take a bowl that matches the pot, put eggs inside, beat. 
4. Add lemon juice, lemon zest, powdered sugar and stir till everything links and there are no lumps. 
5. Now put the bowl on the top of your pot (make sure the bowl stands out from the pot so that you don't get burn) and slowly keep heating up the mixture (don't boil it). 
6. Keep adding the butter, one piece after another, stiring after adding. 
7. When all the butter is melted in the mixture, turn off the heat and put the bowl with lemon curd somewhere aside, to let it cool down. 
8. Then put your lemon curd in the fridge so that it stiffens more. 

Finishing:

1. Take a meringue, distribute some filling on its bottom and link with another small meringue cookie.
2. Bon Appetit! :)

Warming Up Lemons

Are you a person who freezes when the temperature falls below 10C? And a real horror starts when it falls below -10C? Are you slowly getting more and more hopeless trying to warm yourself up? Well - here is a perfect idea for an evening warm up, when you don't need to bother about driving anywhere (cause we all remember, no driving after alcohol :) ). These lemons are just a perfect match with a hot tea, during a cold, winter evening :) Easy, cheap, really works :) If you are not an adult or you would like to give it to your children - prepare it without Rum.

Why didn't my grandparents tell me about it earlier? Or - why didn't I think of it earlier? Well... better late than never ;)

Before preparing:

• Make sure your lemons are scalded precisely.
• Lemon's skin may give a little bitter taste, so the skin can be peeled to avoid it.

Ingredients:

• 0,5kg of lemons (4-5 lemons, choose those with thin skin, beautifully yellow, with no darker spots)
• 100-150g of honey
• 20-40ml of Golden Rum (or more, depending on a personal taste)
• 1-2 teaspoons of sugar (optionally)

Preparation:

1. Prepare a clean jar.
2. Wash lemons and scald them with hot, boiling water.
3. Cut both edges of every lemon, throw them away.
4. Cut lemons into slices, put inside the jar.
5. Take a glass, put honey inside, add Rum(optionally) and stir precisely.
6. If desired - add sugar and stir till it melts.
7. Pour the mixture to the jar with lemons.
8. Close the jar and leave it in peace for 2-3 days.
9. It is good to shake the jar from time to time (for example once a day).
10. Bon Appetit!! :)

Italian Torta Margherita

Very easy and tasty cake. Last minute idea, when you have a craving for a cake ;)The only thing I needed to buy to prepare it was a greek yoghurt ;) So the cost of preparing it is automatically low too :) Recipe comes from all over the Internet, containing some Italian websites (for example: ricette.giallozafferano.it , emikodavies.com) :)

Ingredients:

• 300 g of greek yoghurt
• 300 g of sugar
• 3 eggs
• 150 g of oil
• 600 g of flour
• 2 teaspoons of baking powder
• 16 g of vanilla sugar
• 200-500 g of fruit - plums, apples, nectarine, pear (preffered harder ones, not very juicy)
• some butter
• powdered sugar or icing sugar

Optional ingredients:

• 2-3 teaspoons zest of a lemon (optional)
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

Preparation:

1. Wash, peel and chop the fruit into wedges.
2. Start heating the oven to 200C.
3. Take a big bowl.
4. Put yoghurt and sugar inside, add eggs and stir. Add oil and stir again.
5. Add flour, baking powder and optional ingredients (if desired). Stir everything.
6. Add fruit and stir again.
7. Take a springform cake tin (though I used fluted cake ring) grease it thoroughly.
8. Put the dough in a tin and bake for 30-40 minutes in 200C.*
9. Check, by using a toothpick if the cake is ready (put the toothpick as deep as possible, to get sure).
10. Take it out from the oven, cool down, then overturn the cake and by tapping, take it out from the form.
11. Sprinkle with powdered sugar or icing sugar.
12. Bon Appetit! :)

* The top of the cake may start getting burnt very fast because the oven is already preheated. To prevent your cake, when you notice it starts burning, put a piece of foil on the entire top of the cake. 

Carrot Salad

Refreshing :) Perfect for a hot day :) Extremely easy. It might be sour or sweet, depending on a personal taste. 

Recipe is my own idea.

Ingredients:

• 3 big carrots
• 2-3 lemon wedges
• 1 grapefruit
• 2 tablespoons of lemon juice
• 2-5 teaspoons of sugar

Preparation:

1. Wash, peel and grate the carrots. Put them in a big bowl.
2. Wash lemon, cut into wedges, add to the bowl.
3. Wash the grapefruit, peel and cut into wedges. Add to the bowl.
4. Add lemon juice and - step by step - sugar, stir, try. Add as much sugar necessary for you.
5. Bon Appetit :)

Cod Pilaf

Pilaf, (also known as pulaw, pulao, polow, plov and pilav) came across while looking for an unusual way of preparing a meal. A very weird-looking recipe from http://www.kwestiasmaku.com/dania_dla_dwojga/pilaf_z_jajkiem_dorszem/przepis.htm has gained the name 'The fushion of flavours' because, indeed, it undoubtedly is. 

Definitely worth trying!

Ingredients (4 portions):

• 200 g (2 bags) of rice
• 2-3 tablespoons of raisins (= sultanas)
• 4 tablespoons of chopped parsley
• 4 tablespoons of almond flakes (might be slightly browned on the frying pan)
• spices: 1/2-1 teaspoon of cinnamon, 5-7 cardamom seeds (powder might be used instead, but then not more than 2 teaspoons), 2 teaspoons of Sichuan Pepper (I used basic, classic, black one instead), 3 teaspoons of yellow curcuma, 2 bay leaves
• 1/2 of the lemon or lime
• 300-500 g of cod fillets
• 2 tablespoons of oil
• 2 boiled eggs, chopped
• salt and pepper

Preparation:

1. Take a pot, pour water inside, salt it. Boil. When the water reaches 100C, add rice. Boil it for 10-15 minutes, till the rice gets soft.
2. Take a quite big casserole, cut the rice bag and put the rice inside.
3. Turn on the oven and start preheating it to 150C.
4. Take the cod, wash it, cut it into smaller pieces, sprinkle with pepper and salt.
5. Mix the rice with raisins, parsley, almonds, cinnamon, cardamom, pepper, 2 teaspoons of curcuma. Stir. Add bay leaves and lime/lemon wedges.
6. Put the cod in the casserole, sprinkle with the last teaspoon of curcuma and with oil.
7. Cover the casserole with foil and put in the preheated oven for 30 minutes.
8. If the fish is not ready after spending 30 minutes in hot oven, take the foil off and bake for additional 3-5 minutes.
9. Add the eggs, cut into wedges.
10. Bon Appetit! :)

Semifreddo cake a'la Tiramisu

A few days ago, I was asked to prepare a Tiramisu... of course I will do it! my pleasure! But... it's summer.. it's so hot outside... and Tiramisu has a lot of cream which tends to melt... I found a brilliant, refreshing and delicious solution... ;) 

Recipe comes from: http://www.kwestiasmaku.com/desery/semifreddo/torcik_semifreddo/przepis.html but there are a lot of my private changes, as this recipe skips some more or less obvious activities. 

Ingredients:

• 3 eggs 
• 1/2 glass of sugar 
• 250g of mascarpone 
• 4-5 drops of vanilla extract 
• 1 teaspoon of lemon peel 
• 1-2 packagings of ladyfingers 
• 50-70 ml of chocolate/amaretto liqueur or a couple of drops of almond extract 
• cocoa and instant coffee (for sprinkling every tier) 

Optional ingredients - for a strawberry sauce: (I skipped that part and added caramel sauce): 

• 500 g of strawberries (either frozen or fresh) 
• some sugar for the taste* 
• 1 teaspoon of corn flour melted in 2 tablespoons of water 
• 1 teaspoon of lemon juice 

*start from 2 tablespoons, taste, add more.

Preparation:

Strawberry sauce:

1. Defrost strawberries if frozen. Put in a pot, add sugar, boil for 7 minutes. Sieve. 
2. Add flour, boil, add lemon juice, boil. 

Semifreddo:

1. Take a loaf pan, put baking paper inside, so that some of it sticks out of the loaf pan. Put it in the freezer. 
2. Peel the lemon, squeeze, to get the juice, put aside. 
3. Separate egg yolks from whites, put in two different (quite big) bowls. 
4. Mix yolks with sugar on the highest rotation power of the mixer, till it gets smooth. 
5. Keep mixing - add mascarpone, vanilla extract and lemon peel. 
6. Beat the whites (around 7 minutes) 
7. Add whites to yolks. Stir gently. 
8. Take the loaf pan out of the freezer. 
9. Put the first tier of ladyfingers inside. Add some liqueur/almond extract*. Put some cream, sprinkle with cocoa and instant coffee. 
10. Repeat all the steps from 9 - ladyfingers, liqueur/extract, cream, cocoa+coffee. 
11. Put the foil on the top and put the cake into the freezer for at least 8 hours. 
12. Max 30 minutes before giving the cake to your guests, take as many portions as you need and put them in the fridge. The rest of the cake remains in the freezer. 
13. Add some sauce if you wish - caramel, chocolate, strawberry, raspberry, etc. 
14. Bon Appetit!

Something wet... (Golden) Mojito

This is what Mojito literally means - 'something wet'. It seems to be a perfect drink - chilling and refreshing, it might be prepared as a traditional drink as well as a soft drink. I do recommend both versions.

Slightly changed, recipe comes from BBC Food.

This one, if prepared with an alcohol, is called 'Golden Mojito' as it is prepared with golden rum. Basic Mojito is prepared with white rum, though Mojito, on its own, has plenty of flavour variations.

Ingredients for one glass:

• 3-4 fresh mint sprigs* 
• 3 lime wedges (3/4 of a lime)
• 2½ teaspoon of sugar
• ice cubes
• soda water(=fizzy drink, tonic, sparkling water)

For decoration:

• fresh mint sprig, thin lime wedge, etc.

Optional ingredients:

• 25 ml of golden rum

*yes, sprigs, not only leaves. I've read that these enhance the drink's flavour as they contain some vital oils. But if you wish you can only use leaves from those sprigs.

Preparation:

1. Clean the mint springs. Dry them on paper towels.
2. Cut the lime into 4 wedges. 
3. Take a highball glass. Put 1 lime wedge, add 2 mint sprigs and sugar. 
4. Using for example a clean rolling pin (or a teaspoon), slightly muddle them (be careful not to break the glass) to release the flavour of the mint and lime. 
5. Put another lime wedge, another 2 mint sprigs and muddle again. Add the last lime wedge and muddle it as well.
6. Add ice cubes - almost as many as a glass can take.
7. Slowly pour the rum and soda. Using for example a clean latte spoon, stir.
8. Decorate the edges of the glass with mint or lime wedge, add a straw.
9. Bon Appetit! :)

Strawberry-lemon muffins

Fresh, soft, mouth-watering muffins with seasonal fruit - strawberries :) lemon + strawberries = a perfect match :) I do recommend. Even children should be smitten with them :)

Ingredients:

• 1,5 glass of flour
• 1,5 teaspoon of baking powder
• 115 g of butter
• 3/4 glass of sugar
• 2 big eggs
• lemon peel made from 2 lemons
• 1 tablespoon of lemon juice
• 1/2 glass of buttermilk or kephir or 12-18% sour cream
• 1-1,5 glass of strawberries
• ready made icing sugar (you can use self-made from this recipe)

Preparation:

1. All the ingredients should be in a room temperature. 
2. Sieve the flour and the baking powder into a bowl. Put aside. 
3. Put the butter and sugar in a food processor's bowl and using a mixer, mix it till it gets bright and smooth. 
4. Add one egg, mix till it links. Add another egg, mix again till smooth. Add lemon peels and lemon juice, mix. 
5. Taking turns, add a little flour and a little sour cream to the dough, stir after adding every ingredient till it links with the dough, using a tablespoon. Continute, till both ingredients finish. 
6. Take you muffin forms, put paper muffin cups inside (if your muffin form is made of silicone, you don't have to put paper muffin cups). 
7. Put the dough to every muffin cup to its 3/4 height (or less, not more) 
8. Put in every muffin 3-5 pieces of strawberry. Don't worry if they stick out of the muffin dough.
9. Bake in 180C for 20-25 minutes. Using a toothpick, check whether your cupcakes are ready or not. Read how to do it HERE.
10. Cool them. 
11. You can decorate your muffins with icing sugar, either ready-made or you can prepare your own. 
12. If ready made - follow the instructions on the packing (boil the packing), cut a small hole in the packing, and making round moves slowly pour the icing on every muffin. 
13. Home-made icing sugar here. 
14. Bon appetit!

A method for a night's hunger nightmare

There are days (especially during the summer) when you can eat absolutely nothing during the entire day, but when the evening starts you could devour a horse. And simultaneously you want to stay fit and not put on weight. How to combat that urgent need? 

Here is your answer...

this particular smoothie is my own idea

Ingredients:

• 1 apple
• 150-200g of strawberries
• 2 teaspoons of lemon juice

Optional ingredients:

• ice

Preparation:

1. Wash, peel and chop the apple. Put aside.
2. Wash the strawberries, throw away the green tops/hats.
3. Put the strawberries in a food processor. Blend till smooth. 
4. Now you can add 2-3 ice cubes if you want to. Blend till smooth.
5. Add a few pieces of chopped apple. Blend till smooth. Repeat the actions till all the chopped pieces of apples are blended.
6. Add lemon juice.
7. Bon appetit :)

This particular smoothie, if not blended for too long is really thick and what comes after that - very filling. You will probably need a spoon to eat it ;)

Lemon Cupcakes

Recipe from this website, as always, a little bit changed ;)

Ingredients:

• 1,5 glass of flour
• 1,5 teaspoon of baking powder
• 115 g of butter
• 3/4 glass of sugar
• 2 big eggs
• lemon peel made from 2 lemons
• 1 tablespoon of lemon juice
• 1/2 glass of buttermilk or kephir or 12-18% sour cream
• ready made icing sugar (you can use self-made from this recipe)

Preparation:

1. All the ingredients should be in a room temperature. 
2. Sieve the flour and the baking powder into a bowl. Put aside. 
3. Put the butter and sugar in a food processor's bowl and using a mixer, mix it till it gets bright and smooth. 
4. Add one egg, mix till it links. Add another egg, mix again till smooth. Add lemon peels and lemon juice, mix. 
5. Taking turns, add a little flour and a little sour cream to the dough, stir after adding every ingredient till it links with the dough, using a tablespoon. Continute, till both ingredients finish. 
6. Take you muffin forms, put paper muffin cups inside (if your muffin form is made of silicone, you don't have to put paper muffin cups). 
7. Put the dough to every muffin cup to its 3/4 height (or less, not more) 
8. Bake in 180C for 20-25 minutes. Using a toothpick, check whether your cupcakes are ready or not. Read how to do it HERE.
9. Cool them. 
10. You can decorate your muffins with icing sugar, either ready-made or you can prepare your own. 
11. If ready made - follow the instructions on the packing (boil the packing), cut a small hole in the packing, and making round moves slowly pour the icing on every muffin. 
12. Home-made icing sugar here. 
13. Bon appetit!

Icing sugar

Ahh, that's a very useful tool, to make your cakes or cupcakes  not only taste good but also look wonderful :)It is a very easy way to decorate cakes, cupcakes, cookies, etc. in every pattern imagined.

Ingredients:

• 1 glass of powdered sugar
• 4-5 tablespoons of water

Optional ingredients:

• flavoured extract - vanilla, almond, lemon, etc.
• food colouring

Preparation:

1. Put all the ingredients together and stir to get a desired consistency of the icing (needs to be thick). 
2. Put into a piping bag and distribute over cake, cupcake, etc. in any pattern desired.
3. Bon appetit ;)