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! :)

Raspberry Charlotte Cake

This perfect cake has only perfect advantages :) perfectly literally! :) It is perfect for a gift, it looks gorgeous, tastes wonderfully, it is extremely easy to make and doesn't require using an oven :)

The recipe, slightly changed, comes from this website.

Notes:

• Prepare this cake at least an evening earlier as it needs to stiffen in the fridge for a good few hours.
• Please note that You need to use 16cm springform cake pan, unless the cake will be destroyed.
• Make sure your springform pan is perfectly clean and do not use baking paper, as it will stick to the raspberry foam, get moist and after all, you'd end up with another cake layer, made of baking paper.

Ingredients:

• 200 g of Savoiardi/ladyfingers (around the cake)
• red, forest fruit (top)

Raspberry mousse (bottom):

• 350g of raspberries (fresh or frozen - if so, defrost)
• lemon juice from 1/2 of lemon
• 1/3 glass of sugar
• 2,5 teaspoon of powdered gelatin
• 200ml of 36% cream, cool

Raspberry cream:

• 250g of mascarpone cheese, cool 
• 150ml of 36% cream, cool
• 3 tablespoons of powdered sugar
• 1,5 teaspoon of powdered gelatin + 30ml of hot milk
• 150g of raspberries (fresh or frozen - if so, defrost)

Preparation:

Raspberry mousse:

• Take a pot, put raspberries, lemon juice and sugar inside. Bring to boil, stiring from time to time.
• Sieve, to get a mousse without small seeds. 
• Dissolve gelatin in a small amount (a tiny little bit, just to cover the gelatin) of boiling water, stir so that it melts completely. 
• Bring the mousse to boil again and add previously prepared gelatin. Stir precisely. Set aside, it needs to cool down completely.

When cooled down:

1. Prepare a clean springform cake pan and keep it handy.
2. Beat 36% cream for around 5-7 minutes with a mixer (till the whipped cream is stiff). Stop mixing and slowly, spoon after spoon, add cooled down mousse. Stir gently, till it all links.
3. Pour the mousse to the springform. Cover for with foil and put in the fridge to let it stiffen for few hours.

When ready, prepare raspberry cream::

1. Take a small bowl/pot, put 30ml of milk inside, heat till hot. Add 1,5 teaspoon of powdered gelatin and stir till it melts completely. Set aside so that it cools down.
2. Take another bowl suitable for mixing and put mascarpone, 36% cream and powdered sugar inside. Beat till stiff. Add raspberries and cooled down gelatin(melted in milk). Mix till everything links.
3. Put on the top of the cake, distribute equally all over. 
4. Cool down in the fridge for another few hours.

Finishing:

1. When stiff, take out from the fridge. Using a knife, cut the cake around, very close to the sides of the springform, to make taking it out from the springform easier. 
2. Take ladyfingers, stick them around the cake (the mousse is sticky, ladyfingers will stick easily).
3. Take a ribbon, decorate the cake with it, tying it around the cake.
4. Decorate the top of the cake with (preferably) forest fruit.
5. Store in the fridge.
6. Bon Appetit! :)

Raspberry Buns

Absolutely stunning! Best buns I've ever eaten! Soft, moist, sweet raspberries plus mascarpone cheese make a wonderful couple if it comes to the taste and the overall effect is outrageous :) Perfect for breakfast, lunch, either at home or at work/school. A definite must-bake :) A big thanks to Deliciouslyyum for the recipe!

If You need a converter, feel free to use this one.

Ingredients:

Dough:

• 1 cup of milk
• 4 tablespoons of butter, cut into small pieces
• 3 1/4 – 3 1/2 cups of flour, divided
• 1 package of instant yeast (about 2 1/4 teaspoons)
• 1/4 cup of white sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon of salt
• 1 egg

Filling:

• 8 oz. of mascarpone cheese, at room temperature
• 5 tablespoons of granulated sugar, divided
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
• 12 oz. of raspberries (if frozen, need to be defrost and dried on a paper towel)
• 1 tablespoon of cornstarch
• zest of 1 lemon

Icing:

• 1 and 1/2 cups of confectioners’ sugar
• 2 tablespoons of melted butter
• 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla
• 1-2 tablespoons of milk

Preparation:

Dough:

1. Take a baking tray, grease and put baking paper all over it. Set aside.
2. Take a bowl (suitable to put in a microwave or on the stove), put milk and butter inside and heat till the butter is almost melted and the milk is warm. Stir till the butter is completely melted. Set aside. 
3. Take a big bowl (you can do it using a stand mixer if it is suitable to knead the dough), put 2 cups of flour, yeast, sugar, and salt inside. Stir, so that it mixes.
4. Add the egg and milk to the dry mix and continue stirring until thoroughly combined. Start kneading for at least few minutes (till the douhg starts pulling away from the sides) and add remaining flour. 
5. Knead the dough for another 5 minutes. 
6. Cover the bowl with dough with a dry, clean cloth and put in a warm place (do not leave it near an open window, even if it is hot outside). Leave it for at least 10 minutes or until it doubles its size.
7. During that time, prepare the filling.

Filling&Dough:

1. Take a bowl, put mascarpone cheese, 3 tablespoons of sugar and vanilla extract inside. Set aside.
2. Take another bowl, put frozen raspberries, remaining 2 tablespoons of sugar and cornstarch inside, mix. Set aside as well.

1. When the dough is ready, sprinkle kitchen's surface with flour and roll it out until you get a 12 x 14 inches rectangle. 
2. Distribute mascarpone cheese mixture evenly over the dough. Put raspberry mixture on top and sprinkle with lemon zest. 
3. Now, time to roll the dough up - starting with one of the longer's side, roll the dough into a log. Close the sides very precisely so that the filling doesn't come out. 
4. Cut into slices (around 2-3 cm thick) and put them on previously prepared baking tray, leaving some space between them (the buns will rise again). Cover again with a clean kitchen cloth. Set aside in a warm place for at least 30 minutes (or till it doubles its size again). 
5. During that time, start preheating the oven to 180C. 
6. Bake the buns for around 20 minutes (or until the tops are golden brown).
7. Now, it is a good time, to prepare the icing.

Icing:

1. Mix confectioners’ sugar, butter, vanilla and milk. 
2. When the buns are ready, take them out from the oven, let them cool down for a while and distribute the icing all over their tops.
3. Keep closed for max 3 days or store closed in the freezer for maximum 3 weeks.
4. Bon Appetit! ;)

Fruit Jellies

Very tasty, fruity, healthy, natural jellies, possible to be prepared from many different fruit, especially, if you have no idea, what to do with them or when they are...way too ripe ;) 
Lack of artificial substances is undoubtedly their biggest advantage.
They might be sprinkled with sugar (though I prefer sugar-free jellies :) ). It is a quick, light and delicious form of confectionery. My little naphew's face and hands are all in strawberry jelly now, so I guess they're tasty, hi hi ;)
Recipe comes from this website.

Ingredients:

• 30 g of gelatin
• 1 glass of water
• 1-2 glasses of sugar (it depends how sweet you want your fruit puree to be)
• 1 teaspoon of lemon juice
• 500-600 g of fruit (either frozen or fresh - preferably: strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, currants, cherries)*

* I mixed blueberries with strawberries, which is why they are so dark.

Optional ingredients:

• sugar or powdered sugar - to sprinkle the jellies

Preparation:

1. Take a bigger, clean pot and put the fruit inside. Boil for 15 minutes. Grate through the sieve, to seperate puree and kernels. 
2. Take only 3/4 glass of the mousse** to prepare jellies. Put the glass with mousse aside.
3. Take another pot, put gelatin inside and pour the water. Wait for 4 minutes. Heat, till all the gelatin melts (stir). Add 1-2 glasses of sugar, boil and  stir till the sugar melts. Add lemon juice. 
4. Boil for around 10 minutes on a very low heat. Turn off the heat and leave the mixture for 5 minutes. Take away the foam if any appears.
5. Mix with fruit mousse.
6. Take a flat form, cover with cling film or foil. Pour the mixture inside. Put it in the fridge for around 12 hours, or till the jelly stiffens.
7. After that time, take it out of the form and cut it in any shape you like - you can use only a knife to make small squares or cookie cutters to make shapes.
8. Sprinkle with sugar/powdered sugar - preferably only those you want to eat now.
9. Jellies can remain (in a closed box) in the fridge for max. 2 weeks. 
10. Bon appetit! :)

** Here are some ideas on how can you use the rest of the mousse:

• Custard Pancakes
• Home-made chocolates
• Ice-cream
• Panna Cotta
• Semifreddo Cake a'la Tiramisu
• Smoothie
• Sweet Omelette
• Yoghurt Pancakes

Raspberry Lassi

This is sort of an idea for Mango Lassi leftovers or for something new, when you're bored with basic version. :) Worth trying, the taste is more intense thanks to raspberries. Recipe - my own idea, using what I have in my fridge :)

Ingredients (for 2 glasses):

• 1 mango
• 200-300 g of raspberries
• 1/2-1 greek yoghurt or natural yoghurt (around 150-300 ml)
• 1 tablespoon of Golden Syrup or honey
• 1 glass of cold/room temperature water (add only 1/2 glass of cold water if using ice cubes)

Optional ingredients:

• 1-2 teaspoons of sugar
• 1-2 pinch(es) of ground cardamom (definitely worth trying)
• 2-5 ice cubes
• mint leaves

Preparation:

1. Wash all the fruit and put on paper towels to dry.
2. If preparing it in a cold version - put the fruit in the freezer.
3. Take a blender and its cube cutter.
4. Wash and peel mango. Chop.
5. Put inside the cube cutter and mix till smooth.
6. Add raspberries, mix till smooth.
7. Add yoghurt, mix.
8. Add Golden Syrup/honey, sugar, water, ice cubes, cardamom. Mix again till smooth or even longer, to make a foam.
9. Decorate for instance with mint leaves.
10. Bon Appetit! :)

'Everyberry' crumble cake with custard foam

Why everyberry? Because it is possible to add many different fruit - strawberries, raspberries, blueberries... or event currants :) It is possible to make it from one kind of fruits or to mix some of them. It is absolutely a wonderful cake. During this year's summer holidays I made it a couple of times! I do recommend preparing it with double foam (I will write below how to bake it, because it differs from the basic version).
A must-do!

Recipe from: http://www.mojewypieki.com/przepis/kruche-ciasto-z-malinami-i-lekka-budyniowa-pianka

Ingredients for the dough:

• 2,5 glasses of flour
• 250 g of cold butter or margarine 
• 2 teaspoons of baking powder
• 3 tablespoons of powdered sugar
• 5 egg yolks (do not throw away the whites, they are necessary to make the foam! Put them aside.)

Ingredients for the foam:*

• 5 egg whites
• 1 glass of sugar
• 1 packaging of vanilla sugar (16g)
• 2 packagings (40 g each) of powdered vanilla/cream custard (budyń, budyń again!) 
• 1/2 glass of oil

* I do recommend making double foam - if so, just double every ingredient - 10 egg whites (but the bottom of the cake, the dough, takes only 5 yolks, it doesn't change!) 2 glasses of sugar, etc. Then, we bake the bottom as the basic recipe says, but the second baking will take around 30-40 minutes in 170-180C.

Additional ingredients - the top:

• 500-600 g of fruit (for example 200 g of raspberries, 200 g of blueberries, 200 g of currants)
• powdered sugar, to sprinkle the top

Preparation:

1. Take a big bowl. Put the flour, baking powder, powdered sugar and egg yolks inside. Chop the butter and add it to that bowl as well. Knead it quickly. Divide the dough into 2 spheres - one 60% of the dough and another 40%. Twist every piece around a cling film and put inside the freezer for an hour or 2. (It is possible to prepare the dough one day earlier).
2. Take a rectangular pan. Grease it and put baking paper all over the pan. 
3. Take the bigger sphere from the freezer and grate it on the entire bottom of the pan(the smaller one remains in the freezer). Bake it in 190C for around 20minutes (till it gets a light-gold colour). Cool down.
4. While the cake is cooling down, wash all the fruit and put them on paper towels, to let them dry.
5. When the bottom of the cake is cooled down, start preparing the foam.
6. Take a big bowl, put egg whites inside. Beat till stiff (around 7-9 minutes). One tablespoon after another, add sugar and vanilla sugar, still mixing. Without stopping the mixer, add powdered custard and slowly, the oil.
7. Put the foam on a cooled down bottom of the cake. 
8. Put all the fruit on the foam.
9. Take the second sphere and grate it on the top of the cake.
10. Bake in 190C for 30-40 minutes.
11. Cool down, sprinkle with powdered sugar.
12. Bon, bon Appetit! :)

Muffin cake with seasonal fruit and meringue

There is one, particular muffin recipe that I do love. The dough is soft, fluffy, it melts in your mouth. And I thought about a cake made of that recipe, with seasonal fruit... and some my private topping ideas...and it appeared to be delicious :) worth trying :) 

The recipe for the dough comes from: http://www.kwestiasmaku.com/zielony_srodek/maliny/babeczki_z_malinami/przepis.html

Ingredients:

• 300 g of butter
• 2 glasses of sugar
• 1 glass + 2 tablespoons of potato flour
• 4 teaspoons of vanilla extract
• 6 small eggs or 4 big ones
• a pinch of salt
• 1 tablespoon of water
• 3/4 glass of flour
• 1 teaspoon of baking powder
• fruit - blueberries, strawberries, raspberries, etc

Top:

• 2 packagings of budyn (or 2x ingredients from this recipe)
• 2 teaspoons of lemon juice
• 1-2 packaging(s) of ready-made meringue (of course you can use your own, home made if you wish)

Preparation:

Base, the dough:

1. Take a bigger pot. Cutting butter into smaller pieces, put it inside. Melt on a low heat (2-4 minutes or shorter if it starts burning). 
2. Take it out of the stove. Add sugar, potato flour, vanilla extract, a pinch of salt and 1 tablespoon of water. Stir quickly to make it link. Cool down.
3. Add eggs - one after another, stiring after every egg. Add flour, baking powder, stir.
4. Take a rectangular pan, put the dough inside, distribute all over the form.
5. Add fruit - all over the cake.
6. Put in the oven for around 30-45 minutes on 150-170C, till it gets golden colour. (I set 160C).*! Check, using a toothpick, if the cake is ready.
7. When done, cool down.

Top:

1. Prepare 2 ' budyń ' as the packagings (or recipe - double it) says. When ready, add 2 teaspoons of lemon juice, stir. Pour it on the cake, distribute all over the cake.
2. Sprinkle with meringue (try to choose meringue that has no additional flavour)
3. Sprinkle with fruit.
4. Keep in the fridge.
5. Bon Appetit ! :)

*Keep looking - every oven works differently (mind that some ovens tend to burn some parts - for example things that are at the back of the oven) don't let it get gold too fast, because the inside will be raw.

Raspberry Frappe

What an extremely hot day, here, in Poland! The real summer is not with us yet, buuut to my great astonishment, we could experience a Sahara conditions today! So how to cool yourself down during such muggy day? A raspberry frappe is the answer - cooling down & waking up miracle. Surprisingly, raspberries matches here. :) But unfortunately strawberries don't (I tried).
The recipe comes from: http://www.mkcafe.pl/przepisy-kawowe/przepisy/malinowe-frappe

Ingredients (for 2 cups):

• 60-80 g of raspberries
• 1 teaspoon of sugar
• 1 square of dark chocolate (optional)
• 2-4 ice cubes
• espresso/coffee*
• 100 ml of 30-36% cream or steamed milk
• chocolate chips (optional)

* no measure of ml here, because it depends on the height of your glass (it is good to take Irish coffee glass) and on your own taste.

Preparation:

1. Prepare ice cubes if you don't have any.
2. Prepare your coffee. Leave it till it cools down
3. Put raspberries, sugar and chocolate in food processor. Mix till smooth.
4. Put the puree on the bottom of your glass. Add ice.
5. Tilt the glass and carefully, pour the coffee slowly on the side of the glass (it is advisable to prepare a coffee in a jug - it is easier to put its spout on the edge of the coffee glass and pour the coffee slowly into the glass) It needs to be done carefully not to mess up the fruit puree bottom.
6. Put whipped cream or steamed milk on the top. Add chocolate chips on the top if you want to.
7. Bon appetit :)

Home-made chocolates

A definite gourmet sensation. Easy to prepare, can remain in the fridge for a quite long time.

Can be prepared out of every kind of chocolate, but definitely those made of milk chocolate are the best.

The filling may vary as well. 

I used a lot of silicone forms to prepare them, even ice silicone forms. Surprisingly they seem to be the best - cause they are big enough and vary in shapes :)

The original recipe comes from this website, but I have changed the filling from raspberries to strawberries.

Ingredients: (for 25-30 chocolates - it depends on forms)

• 150-200 g of raspberries/strawberries
• 1 tablespoon of sugar
• 200 g of white chocolate
• 50 ml of 36% cream
• 200 g of milk chocolate (good quality preferred)
• 
  

Optional ingredients:

• 1 tablespoon of vodka

Preparation:

1. Take a pot and put inside strawberries/raspberries with sugar. Boil for 2 minutes, then rub it through the sieve, throw away the kernels.
2. Now it is the right moment for optional ingredients. Add vodka and boil till the excess of water evaporates.
3. Break white chocolate to smaller parts and add it to raspberry/strawberry puree. Then add also cream. Stir everything till the chocolate melts and everything is smooth. Cool the puree. It should get thicker after cooling.
4. Prepare your silicone form (here, it needs to be silicone form, because other way, you wouldn't be able to take your chocolates out of the form).
5. Melt your chocolate - put it in a pot with double bottom and put it on the lowest heat. This is very important - because your chocolate instead of melting may burn and there may be some lumps*. A good idea is to heat the pot and turn off the heat. The chocolate will melt (because of the warmed up pot) and no lumps should appear.
6. Take a pastry brush, put it in the melted chocolate and apply it to every hole in your silicone form. Do it precisely - spread the chocolate over the entire hole - both bottom and sides. Wait till it dries and put another tier of chocolate.** Wait till it dries.(you can put them in the fridge for 15-30 minutes)
7. Put something around one teaspoon of the fruit puree into every hole. Do not fill the entire hole till the edge - leave some free space for the last closing tier of chocolate.
8. Using a pastry brush/a teaspoon put the last tier of chocolate on every small chocolate. Once you put both the puree and the last tier of chocolate - put your chocolates in the fridge for at least an hour.
9. Carefully take them out of the silicone form (bundle out of the form). These chocolates may remain really for a long time in a room temperature. But keep them in the fridge if there is no need (no guests ;) ) for keeping them on the table.
10. Bon appetit ! :)

* If there are lumps but the chocolate is not burnt - add one tablespoon of milk (or more if you see after stiring that one is not enough), warm it up and stir.
** the bottom and sides of your chocolates need to have double tier of chocolate not to break while taking them out of the silicone form. This is why it needs to be done precisely and twice.

Classical Panna Cotta

Ohh how much I love preparing those little desserts! Perfect with coffee, vanilla-flavoured jelly-like dessert, easy to prepare and without using the oven :) 

Panna Cotta might be prepared in dozen of different flavours(many different extracts might be used instead of vanilla - like almond, coconut, rum, citrus ones...) and in many different shapes(it is up to You what kind of receptacle or form You'll pour it into :) )

Original recipe from this website.

Ingredients: (for 4-7 portions)

• 3 teaspoons of powdered gelatin
• 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract
• 250 ml of 30-36% cream
• 250 ml of milk (2-3,2% of fat, not less)
• 80 g of sugar

optional ingredients:

• 1 tablespoon of rum 
• 1 tablespoon of white wine

Decoration:

Fresh fruit(for instance: strawberries, raspberries, wild strawberries, cherries), fruit mousse, caramel, chocolate, nuts

Preparation:

1. Put the gelatin in a tumbler and suffuse it with 2 tablespoons of water. Leave it for 5 minutes.
2. Take a pot and put the cream, milk, sugar and vanilla extract inside. Stir till the sugar is melted.
3. Add optional ingredients if you want to.
4. Boil and take it out quickly from your cooker. Add the gelatin and stir quickly for more or less 1 minute till the gelatin melts completely.
5. Pour the mixture into cups.
6. Cool it. Cover with (for example) aluminium foil and put in the fridge for at least 4 hours (entire night advisable)

• How to take Panna Cotta out of the cup?

To take it out easily you can put the cup for a few seconds in hot water. Then, keep the cup upside down and shake more or less gently till it comes unstuck from the cup's side. Be careful it may fall down!

Another way is just to put the knife inside the cup's edge and cut it inside near to the edges of the cup.

Malakoff Cake

Deriving from Austria, this cake isn't as hard as it seems to be. Mostly, because it doesn't require turning on the oven even for a single second ;)

Personally, I wouldn't call it a gourmet sensation, but it is, indeed, very tasty and its appearance is impressive on the table.

The recipe comes from this website.

Ingredients:

• 25 dag/250g of ladyfingers 

Filling: 

• 1/2 jar of black currant/raspberry jelly 
• 1,5 glass of milk 
• 1 vanilla pudding 
• 4 tablespoons of sugar 
• 25 dag/250g of butter 
• 3 tablespoons of powdered sugar 
• 10 dag/100g almond flakes (the original recipe requires roasting them, but I skipped that part) 

Punch:

• 1/2 glass of white wine 
• 50 ml of rum 
• 2 teaspoons of sugar 

Decoration:

• whipped cream 
• whatever you want - you can use ready-made chocolate decorations, chocolate biscuits, (candied) cherries, blueberries, etc

Preparation:

1. Prepare the pudding (boil it with milk and sugar, as the  recipe on the packing says), cool it. 
2. Take a food processor, put the butter and powdered sugar inside and mix. Without stopping add one tablespoon of pudding, then another, till you mix all the pudding with butter and powdered sugar. 
3. Mix all the ingredients of the punch (use any container you want, even a glass)
4. Prepare a springform pan, cover the bottom with ladyfingers (preferably only one tier). Impregnate these ladyfingers with your punch. (1-2 teaspoons of punch per 1 ladyfinger is much enough, you'll see in what way your ladyfingers will react on 1 teaspoon of the punch - be careful not to make a mush)
5. Take the currant/raspberry jelly and using a spoon, put some spoons of the jelly on a different parts of the ladyfingers, then link so that it covers the entire surface of the cake.
6. Take the cream, prepared in the food processor, put a thick filling of it on the jelly. Don't worry if your jelly mixes a little with the cream. It is very hard to avoid it. If the entire surface is covered with cream, sprinkle it with some almond flakes. 
7. Repeat points 4-6(ladyfingers, jelly,cream, flakes) till all the ladyfingers are gone. (save some cream for the side of the cake)There should be 2-3 tiers. The last tier are almond flakes. 
8. Put your cake in the fridge.
9. When the cake (especially the cream) gets harder (after some time, 1-3 hours) take off the side and use the rest of the cream on the cake's side. Then sprinkle cake's side with almond flakes. 
10. Decorate the top of your cake with anything you want - biscuits, chocolate decorations, whipped cream, etc
11. Keep the cake in the fridge.
12. Bon appetit :)