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.

Bajadera Reindeers

Bajadera is always a fantastic, last second idea which always works and always tastes delicious :)

I do recommend them, especially when you have no time and your oven is tired ;) it doesn't require baking ;) I do apologize for the bad quality of the picture, so let me say that the taste and children's smiles will make it up to You :)
Another wonderful use of bajadera, a little bit easier than reindeers, but also Christmas-themed You can find here.

Quite changed recipe comes from this website.

Ingredients:

Base:

• 400g of dried pound cake (preferably lemon or vanilla flavoured)
• 120g of mascarpone cheese
• 80g of nutella
• 350g of milk chocolate
• favourite mincemeat (including for example nuts, almonds; or baking cocoa)

Reindeers:

body parts:

• nose: 1 pack of red small round sprinkles, 
• horns: 1 pack of pretzels, cut into halves, 
• eyes: frosting deco pens
• some small plastic sticks
• ribbons for decoration

Optional ingredients:

• 10-25ml of Rum
• dried fruit - but in very small pieces

Preparation:

1. If your pound cake isn't dried enough, it is a good idea to crumble it into very small pieces and put it in the preheated oven(over 180C) for a couple of minutes.
2. Take a mixer and it's bowl. Put mascarpone cheese and nutella inside. Mix till smooth.
3. Put dried pound cake to the bowl and mix everything till smooth. 
4. Here is the time to add and mix optional ingredients if desired.
5. Cover with foil and cool down in the freezer for 45 minutes.
6. During that time, prepare a rectangular bakewell pan or loaf tin or - something that you can put in your freezer. Put some baking paper on its bottom (if You have a sponge suitable for making cake pops - use it here).
7. Take the dough out from the freezer and start making small balls, put each of them in previously prepared pan/tin.
8. Put back in the freezer for another 15 minutes.
9. During that time, take a pot, put chocolate (in small pieces) inside and melt on a very low heat.
10. Dip 1/3-1/2 of every stick in the melted chocolate and put in the middle of every ball.
11. Put it back in the freezer for another 20-30 minutes.
12. Prepare a sponge (to dig reindeers in it) and elements of decoration around you.
13. Take one ball from the freezer, dip in the chocolate, so that it covers the entire ball, take out, wait till the excess of chocolate falls down.
14. As the ball is very cold, the chocolate will stiffen on it very fast, so as soon as you take it out from the pot, decorate it, starting with horns and dig it in the sponge.
15. Repeat with all the balls.
16. At the end, decorate with ribbons.
17. Store them in the fridge.
18. Bon Appetit! ;)

Walnut Circles

These are very nice, crunchy cookies, which might be prepared in any shape desired, if only You have a cookie cutter :) Margarine gives all of the bakery that characteristic, outrageous taste that makes you want another cookie :) I think they're wonderful for kids, especially when cut in a nice, (now) Christmas-theme shape :) Of course it is possible to decorate it with icing sugar, making Snowmen, Santas, Reindeers and other wonders (yes, yes, pinterest appears to be very helpful here ;) ), if only You have enough time and stomachs enjoying very sweet cookies.

Slightly changed recipe comes from this website.

Ingredients:

• 150g margarine
• 75g of powdered sugar
• 230g of flour
• 1 egg yolk
• a pinch of salt
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla or orange extract
• 75g of walnuts, chopped
• 75g of candied orange skin

Preparation:

1. Take a big bowl, put margarine, powdered sugar, flour, egg yolk, salt and extract inside and knead.
2. Add walnuts and orage skin.
3. Prepare a baking pan, cover with bakig paper.
4. Start preheating the oven to 200C.

Here - two methods:

1. For circles - divide the dough into 2-3 pieces and make cylinders (the diameter of the cylinder is the diameter of the cookie), put in the freezer till it completely freezes. 
2. When ready, cut into slices, around 0,5-1 cm thick. The dough won't grow, so the cookie will look absolutely the same.
3. For cookie cutter shapes: put in the freezer till it is really hard but not completely frozen.
4. Take the rolling pin and roll out the dough to 0,5-1cm thick (use a little flour if neccesary). 
5. Cut the shapes.
6. Put the cookies on a baking pan, bake for 10 minutes in 200C.
7. Cool down, decorate with icing sugar if desired.
8. Bon appetit! :)

Banana Cupcakes

Another recipe for banana lovers :) They look cute and taste very good :) They're light and moist, not heavy and 'munchy'. Long time ago I made banana muffins and they were terrrrible... but it was ages ago and it was a bad recipe. This one is Martha's recipe. It speaks on its own so, as always, expect delectable cupcakes :)

The only thing I changed is the measurement and the frosting (I used my favourite swiss one, from for example Reindeers or Christmas Trees)

Ingredients:

Dough:

• 170g of flour
• 150g of brown sugar 
• 1 teaspoon of baking powder 
• 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda 
• 1/4 teaspoon of salt 
• 113g of butter, melted 
• 3 big bananas, mashed bananas
• 2 large eggs 
• 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract

Swiss meringue buttercream:

• 4 egg whites
• 1 glass of white sugar
• a pinch of salt
• 300g of butter, in a room temperature, chopped into small cubes
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1-2 teaspoons of yellow food colouring

Decoration:

• 1 banana, cut into slices
• maple syrup
• cinnamon
• sprinkles

Preparation:

1. Prepare muffin tins and paper cases. Start preheating the oven to 175C.
2. Take a big bowl, sieve flour, put sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt inside. Mix.
3. Make a well in the middle of it. Add butter, bananas, eggs and vanilla inside and mix till all the ingredients mix.
4. Distribute the dough evenly into previously prepared muffin cases.
5. Bake for 20-30 minutes, till the toothpic inserted in a muffin comes out clean.
6. Take muffins out from the oven, let them cool down completely.
7. During that time, prepare a buttercream.

Swiss meringue buttercream:

1. Take a heatproof bowl, put egg whites and sugar inside. Prepare a 'bath'.* Keep stiring and heating the mixture over a steam of a boiling water till the sugar completely melts.
2. Cool the mixture down. 
3. Put the egg white mixture in the mixer's bowl and beat for around 10 minutes to get a white, shiny, stiff meringue.
4. Start adding the butter, one piece after another, mixing after adding every piece. While adding it may look like it is curdled, but don't panic, it's perfectly fine :) (it shall take around 5 more minutes).
5. When the mixture is stiff and all the butter is mixed, add vanilla extract and food colouring, mix.

Finishing:

1. Take a pastry bag with a star-like tin nozzle, put the buttercream inside and start distributing on the muffin.
2. Start from the middle of the muffin and making circles go it its edge.
3. Decorate with pieces of banana, cinnamon, maple syrup or any other sprinkles.
4. Bon Appetit! ;)

*A bath is simply heating the ingredients over a steam (but not boiling them in a water), just keeping them over a pot with boiling water, in a heatproof bowl.

Banana Tart

A very tasty, non-baking recipe for banana lovers :) I did enjoy it a lot :) It is quick, easy and very sweet :) Looks delicious and You can write something or make a nice heart, star, etc- shape on the top :)

The recipe comes from this website, though I made some changes, I skipped lemon juice as it gives a strange taste.

Ingredients:

Bottom:

• 350g of chocolate/cocoa cookies/biscuits
• optionally - (if the cookies are cocoa flavoured) - 2 tablespoons of of baking cocoa
• 100g of butter(melted)

Home-made custard:

• 60g of potato starch
• 60g of sugar
• 5 egg yolks
• 500ml of milk

Filling&Top:

• 3-4 bananas, cut into slices
• 400g of cold 36% cream
• 1 tablespoon of sugar
• 1,5 tablespoon of gelatin + 1/4 glass of water
• optionally: sauces - caramel, chocolate; baking cocoa - to sprinkle the top, shredded chocolate

Preparation:

Bottom:

1. Prepare a baking pan for a tart, (around 24 cm diameter) - preferably silicone one, as it is much easier to take out the cake from it (unless You own a tart springform).
2. Crush the cookies in a food processor or blender's cube cutter or any other method - crush them very precisely (sand-like). Add melted butter, mix precisely. Check with your hand if the bottom is sticky enough, if not, add a little bit more butter.
3. If necessary - add baking cocoa.
4. Distribute crushed cookies evenly all over the tart pan (bottom + sides) and press a little.
5. Put in the fridge.

Custard:

1. Take a pot, put potato starch, sugar and egg yolks inside and mix. Gradually add milk, mixing all the time. Start heating on a low heat till all the ingredients mix/dissolve precisely and you get a smooth mixture. 
2. Keep heating (bring to boil) and stiring till it thickens (be careful not to burn it, it tends to stick to the bottom of the pot and burn). If there are any lumps - mix with a mixer or blender. Set aside.

Filling&Top:

1. Put the 36%cream in the freezer.
2. Wash and peel bananas, cut into slices.
3. Take the bottom from the fridge and pour the custard evenly all over the bottom. 
4. Distribute bananas evenly on the custard (one or two layers if necessary). Put it back in the fridge.
5. Take a pot, put gelatin and water inside, mix. Heat and stir till it melts and set aside. 
6. Take a mixer and its bowl, start beating the cream with sugar (around 10 minutes). After that time add gelatin and mix precisely.
7. Take the cake from the fridge, distribute whipped cream evenly on the entire top.
8. Decorate in a desired way.
9. Bon Appetit :)

Winter Snowballs

Winter is coming, snow is slowly falling down from the sky and what's more important Christmas is coming as well, so here is another sweet recipe for cold winter evenings at home. These are surprisingly tasty, sweet, cinnamon crunchy cookies which will be a good match for hot tea, cocoa and blanket ;) Another huge advantage - if you're running out of time, these are very easy cookies and quick to make. Sprinkled with powdered sugar or glucose, look like a snowball on a table :)

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 vanilla extract
• 1,5 teaspoon of cinnamon
• 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 vanilla extract, walnuts, cinnamon, 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!

Reindeers (Cupcakes)

Those Reindeers are literally galloping to your plate ;) Christmas-like cinnamon taste, delicate dough with sweet buttercream, sweet cherry and salty ears :) Not only they look wonderful but they will also take your palate and stomach straight to heaven ;)
Original recipe - idea comes from this website, though I made some changes, the main change is the top - not whipped cream but Martha's -a-little-bit-changed buttercream.

What's more, children will definitely love them as much as those Christmas Trees! The buttercream I used is more resistant to warm temperatures (one of my reindeers remained in a room temperature for the entire evening plus night and the next day it looked same cute).

I do honestly recommend all of these wonders for the upcoming Christmas :) I promise You will not be disappointed ;)

Ingredients (all of them need to be in room temperature):

• 3 glasses of flour
• 1 tablespoon of baking powder
• a pinch of salt
• 1 tablespoon of cinammon
• 230g of butter
• 1,5 glass of sugar
• 4 big eggs
• 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract
• 1 and 1/4 glass of milk

Swiss meringue buttercream:

• 4 egg whites
• 1 glass of white sugar
• a pinch of salt
• 300g of butter, in a room temperature, chopped into small cubes
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Body parts :)

• candied cherries (optionally cut into halves) - nose
• pretzels, cut into halves - horns
• any hard, small, edible white (chocolate) balls or small edible eyes, if available - for eyes

Preparation:

Dough:

1. Prepare paper muffin cases and muffin tins.
2. Take a quite big bowl, sieve flour, baking powder, salt and cinnamon inside, set aside.
3. Take a mixer and its bowl, whisk butter and sugar till it becomes bright and fluffy.
4. Gradually add eggs, mixing after adding each of them.
5. Add vanilla extract and mix again.
6. At the end, take turns at adding the 'dry', sieved ingredients from the bowl and milk. Repeat till both ingredients are mixed inside. 
7. Distribute the dough evently into every paper muffin case (to its 3/4 height).
8. Bake in 180C for around 20 minutes, till they get gold (check with a toothpick).
9. Cool down.

Swiss meringue buttercream:

1. Take a heatproof bowl, put egg whites and sugar inside. Prepare a 'bath'.* Keep stiring and heating the mixture over a steam of a boiling water till the sugar completely melts.
2. Cool the mixture down. 
3. Put the egg white mixture in the mixer's bowl and beat for around 10 minutes to get a white, shiny, stiff meringue.
4. Start adding the butter, one piece after another, mixing after adding every piece. While adding it may look like it is curdled, but don't panic, it's perfectly fine :) (it shall take around 5 more minutes).
5. When the mixture is stiff and all the butter is mixed, add vanilla extract, mix.

Finishing:

1. Take a pastry bag with a star-like tin nozzle, put the buttercream inside and start distributing on the muffin.
2. Start from the middle of the muffin and making circles go it its edge.
3. Decorate with...body parts of your reindeer :)
4. Bon Appetit! ;)

*A bath is simply heating the ingredients over a steam (but not boiling them in a water), just keeping them over a pot with boiling water, in a heatproof bowl.

Sweet Meringue Plum Cake

I always wait so impatiently for plum season. I do love preparing plum cakes, they're always so delicious (even though I'm not really a plum-fan ;) )! I know I've waited too long to share this cake with You, but I hope that - at least for some of You - it is not too late :) Besides, it is possible to use frozen plums ;)

This is another wonderful and elegant cake from KwestiaSmaku, which I share with You today and also I do recommend to try this one, right after the very best plum cake, which You can find here.

Ingredients:

• 250g of flour
• 50g of sugar
• pinch of salt
• 1 teaspoon of baking powder
• 200g of margarine
• 4 egg yolks
• 1kg of plums (without kernels, cut into halves) fresh or frozen (need to be defrost)

Budyń/Custard (it is possible to double the amount of custard in this cake):

• 1 packaging of vanilla custard (40g)
• 500ml of milk
• 2 tablespoons of sugar

Meringue:

• 4 egg whites 
• 200g of sugar
• 3 teaspoons of potato starch 

Optionally - one of these:

• A handful of hazelnuts, to sprinkle the top (I skipped it)
• almond flakes (to sprinkle the fruit) 
• shredded coconut (to sprinkle the fruit or to mix with meringue)

Preparation:

Dough:

1. Start preheating the oven to 170C.
2. Prepare a rectangular baking pan (around 26x36 cm), grease it and put baking paper all over it.
3. Take a big bowl, put flour, sugar, salt and baking powder inside. Mix. Add cold butter and knead till you get crumbles.
4. Add egg yolks and knead again.
5. Distribute evenly all over the bottom of previously prepared baking pan and bake in preheated oven for around 20 minutes, till it becomes gold.
6. Take it out from the oven.

Custard + plums:

1. Prepare the custard as the instructions on a packaging says (using 500ml of milk + 2 tablespoons of sugar). 
2. When the custard is ready, pour it all over the previously baked bottom.
3. Add plums, cover the entire cake bottom with them (there is no need to wait till the custard cools down). Make 2 layers of plums, one on another.
4. Optionally - sprinkle with almond flakes or shredded coconut if desired. Set aside.

Meringue + finishing the cake:

1. Take a mixer and its bowl, put egg whites inside, beat, adding sugar gradually, till it stiffens (around 10-15 minutes). At the end, sieve potato starch inside and mix till smooth.
2. Here - if You haven't and You do fancy to do it - you can mix in some shredded coconut.
3. Distribute the meringue all over the top of the plums.
4. Bake for 20 minutes, setting the temperature as previously, on 170C.
5. After 20 minutes, decrease the temperature to 60C, turn on the hot air cooking, (optionally sprinkle the top with hazelnuts) and bake for another 20 minutes.
6. Take out from the oven.
7. Bon Appetit! :)

Stylish 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 :) It looks elegant on a party table and prepared in a more sophisticated way - it will impress Your guests :)

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.

I have found all these wonders on Pinterest (click on the link and all the wonders will appear ;) ) and I thought - oh my God, it is so easy and looks so classy and stylish! How is it possible that I haven't thought about it earlier?! :)

So here I'm sharing with You that big secret of preparing those wonderful panna cottas :)

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, 
• small meringues, 
• etc. :)

Preparation:

It depends what shape would you like to have. 

1. If You want jelly on the bottom - it goes first, stiffens completely, then You pour cooled down (! not to melt the jelly) panna cotta mixture and put back in the fridge.
2. If the jelly is supposed to be the last layer, panna cotta must be completely ready, after a few hours in the fridge and the jelly You pour on it must be cool too, not to melt panna cotta.
3. If You fancy a slantwise one - first of all, pour the jelly and put the tumbler/etc for instance inside the muffin pan (so that it remains stable, in a-slant position), put in the fridge to let it stiffen completely and after that pour cooled down panna cotta mixture.
4. There are plenty other variations of preparing panna cottas, You'll find it - mostly with instructions - here :)

General instructions, to make panna cotta:

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?

If You use such nice transparent tumblers, there is no need to take the panna cottas out of them, unless you want to.

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.

Rafaello vol.2

I had some packs of crackers left and I needed a cake, extremely quickly with short preparation time. So I decided to upgrade the basic recipe and here it comes! It is definitely better than the previous one :)

Ingredients: (for a small rectangular pan, otherwise there's not enough cream, but You can double the ingredients and make double cream, then You'll also need more crackers)

• 1 litre of 3,2% milk
• 2 vanilla powdered custards, 40g each (or double the recipe for this budyń, recipe here ;) )
• 2 tablespoons of potato starch
• 3/4 glass of sugar
• 2-3 vanilla sugars (16g each)
• 1-3 tablespoon of Amaretto Syrup
• 1 egg yolk
• 250g of margarine
• 100g of shredded coconut 
• 2-3(3-5 if bigger pan) packs of crackers (rectangular shape)
• 330 ml of 36% cream  (or artificial, powdered one)
• 1/3 glass of powdered sugar

Optional ingredients:

• almond flakes, for sprinkling the top

Preparation of budyn/custard:

For those of You, who has powdered custard, follow the steps below, if You can't buy powdered budyn/custard then follow all the steps in that recipe, just remember to double all the ingredients.

1. Take a glass, fill 3/4 of it with milk. Add powdered custard and potato starch. Stir till smooth (no clumps please!)
2. Take a pot, put all the remaining milk in there, add sugar, start boiling. Stir from time to time to help the sugar dissolve. Bring to boil and add the mixture from the glass. Lower the heat, stir energetically till it turns thick. Cool down.

Now, when the custard is ready: 

1. Using a stand mixer, mix butter with egg yolk, adding cooled down custard, one tablespoon after another.
2. Add Amaretto syrup, gradually, mixing and tasting after every tablespoon to check how strong the Amaretto taste is for You.
3. Add shredded coconut, mix till it links.
4. Take a rectangular pan - preferably a rectangular springform pan (no baking paper inside is necessary, in both cases).
5. Put one layer of crackers and start adding some part of the cream, to cover the entire crackers layer.
6. Put another layer of crackers and cream - repeat till all the ingredients are used, the last layer are crackers.

Now prepare the whipped cream:

1. Before preparing the whipped cream make sure your cream is really, really cool (I always put it in the freezer before beating, for around 10-15 minutes). 
2. Take a mixer and its bowl, put cream inside, start mixing. After a while add powdered sugar and something to stiffen it (powdered whipped cream/smietan-fix). 
3. Beat for around 10 minutes (depending on the power of a mixer it might take more or less time, keep paying attention not to make butter).
4. Distribute whipped cream all over the top.
5. Cover the cake with foil, put in the frigde for at least 3 hours.
6. Bon Appetit! ;)

Carrot Cake #1

When the owner of MojeWypieki says this is the best carrot cake you've ever eaten, then... it really is the best carrot cake you'll ever eat, if you decide to prepare it. What a taste, my Godness! I can't believe how quickly did this cake disappear! I'm lucky I managed to snap some pictures for You!

This is a must-bake. It looks wonderful, it is possible to decorate it in many different ways, it can also be served as a birthday cake. 

What's more, the wonderful taste - thanks to all the spices - gives it a little bit an aroma of Christmas... :)

Here is the source, I changed it just a little bit :)

Before baking:

• This cake is for a small springform (diameter -> 20 cm), if You wish to make it much bigger, it is neccessary to double all the ingredients.

Ingredients:

For the dough:

• 2/3 glass of flour
• 1/2 glass of sugar
• 1 teaspoon of baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon of cinammon
• 1/4 teaspoon of ground cloves
• 1/4 teaspoon of nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon of salt
• 1/3 glass of oil 
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1 glass of walnuts, chopped
• 1/2 glass of chopped pineapple (fresh or tinned one)
• 1 full glass of ground carrots

For the filling&top:

• 250g of philadelphia cheese
• 6 tablespoons of butter (room temperatured)
• 1,5 glass of powdered sugar, sieved
• 1/2-1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

Decoration ideas:

• Any pattern desired made of cinnamon powder or cocoa
• Walnuts
• Edible carrots
• Chocolate flowers
• ... :)

Preparation:

1. All the ingredients needs to be room temperatured.
2. Take a springform, grease it and put baking paper all over. Set aside.
3. Take one big bowl, sieve into it all the 'dry ingredients' inside (flour, sugar, salt, baking powder, baking soda, spices)
4. In another bowl, beat eggs and oil.
5. Mix both bowls, add carrot, walnuts, pineaples and stir precisely with a spoon.
6. Pour the dough into the springform and bake in 175C for 30-40 minutes (to the point when the toothpick comes out dry).
7. Set aside, in the springform, to let it cool down.
8. Meanwhile, prepare the filling&top.
9. Take a mixer and its bowl, put all the ingredients inside and mix till bright. (It is advisable firstly to add 1/2 teaspoon of the extract and check if it isn't already too strong).
10. When the cake cooled down completely, open the springform and cut the cake lengthways into two pieces.
11. Put half of the filling on the first piece of cake, cover with the other one, distribute the remaining filling on the top and decorate.
12. Keep in the fridge (though the filling is strong and will remain as beautiful as it is in a room temperature for a quite long time).
13. Bon Appetit ! :)