wiseheart: (Default)
I've done the second half of the cleaning, which lasted all morning. Then I made two more lavender sachets and - instead of taking a nap like any sensible person - re-read an old Torchwood fanfic in the afternoon. There was some TV watching (half asleep), and I sent a very apologetic mail to my goddaughter, since I forgot about her birthday that was a week ago. *is ashamed*

I think I've deserved to do some comfort baking tomorrow. These cookies are on the baking plan. My Granny used to make them (with jam filling, not with chocolate), but I never found the actual recipe in any of her hand-written baking books. I'm very happy to have found this YouTube video and will give the cookies a try.

Being silly

Feb. 1st, 2025 08:21 pm
wiseheart: (Default)
I've been planning to mend one of our old, valuable stitched pillowcases (true Hungarian folk art) for months, as the blanket stitch edging has frayed out and is partially gone. Now, after several craft-less days, what did I do? Did I finally start working on the dear old thing? Nah; I started another toy elephant, this time repurposing some old bedlinens and an old nightgown. Those are very different from felt, being cotton, both of them, which is easier to sew through but fray out just as easily. Clearly, I'm not a sane person. But both ears and one panel of the elephant are done, and I've already started the second panel, so it ought to be finished in a couple of days. *fingers crossed*

Other than that, we had laundry day, I made Topfenknödel for lunch, and we watched two episodes of "Savage Hunters - The Restorers" and one episode of "The Repair Shop". That pretty much took care for the afternoon.

I've also started typing up the last chapter of EV II - The Dispossessed. That is a fairly short chapter, so it, too, should be done in a couple of days. Knowing my carefully laid plans and how they usually end, though, I'm being careful with my optimism.

And now that I've managed to wrestle both Pinterest and YouTube into obedience (I only had to restart my PC three times), I'm going to watch a few videos. Among others this recipe. It is very similar to one my Granny used to make, only with jam filling, and I no longer have her recipe (if I ever had; she usually made things by heart). So I'll give these cookies a try. Eventually.
wiseheart: (Default)
Blogging-wise Advent is a really easy time because a) I don't have to think of a subject line for 4 entire weeks and b) I can use the same icon for all those 4 weeks. What can I say? It's balm for my tired mind not to have to decide these two things every day. *g*

Today was another one of those "let's scandalize Grandma" Sundays, as I had a lot of work to do.

More baking stuff under the cut )

So, this was another busy Sunday. We didn't forget that it was the 1st of Advent, too. I took down the ragged old Advent wreath from the wardrobe, together with the Nativity scene (complete with illumination and a music box) that we had bought in Graz countless years ago, and even lit a candle. Oh, and hung the fairly bizarre Santa head that I made of an old CD on the entrance door, so I'd say we're suitably Christmassy all right. *g*
wiseheart: (Default)
For [livejournal.com profile] noadvertising - and everyone else who wants to give them a try. Sorry, it's in German; but some online translator might be able to help out those now speaking the language.

Zutaten: (für etwa 50 Stücke)
-125 gr Butter oder Margarine
-75 gr Puderzucker
-100 gr Marzipan-Rohmasse
-2 Eigelb
-abgeriebene Schale von 1 Zitrone
-200 gr Mehl

Zum Verzieren:
-1 Eigelb
-1 TL Kondensmilch
-2 EL Hagelzucker

Zubereitung:
1. Teig:
Fett, gesiebten Puderzucker, Zitronenschale, Marzipan und Eigelb gründlich verrühren. Gesiebtes Mehl unterarbeiten. Teig 1-2 Stunden kaltstellen.
2. Vom Teig kleine Kugeln abstechen and cca 20 cm lange, 1 cm dicke Rollen formen. Rollen zu Brezeln legen.
3. Zum Bestreichen :
Eigelb mit Kondensmilch verrühren. Brezeln damit bestreichen und mit Hagelzucker bestreuen.
4. Backen:
Backofen auf 175°C (gas: Stufe 2) vorheizen. Brezeln auf mit Backpapier ausgelegtem Blech cca 15 Minuten backen.

Gutes Gelingen! Die Brezeln sollten aussehen wie oben links auf diesem Foto.

Success!

Nov. 21st, 2024 09:28 pm
wiseheart: (Default)
First of all, the cookie recipe I've promised. [livejournal.com profile] noadvertising, this one is for you.

Toffeeküsschen )

In other news, I've actually finished "EMV II - The Disinherited", my second story in the "Enterprise - The Maiden Voyage" series. *is proud* The November session of [livejournal.com profile] picowrimo already counts as a great success.

Crafting-wise I haven't done much, since I was busy with cookie decorating and boxing, cooking (that was the easy part: pulled pork from Lidl I just had to warm up in the oven, and mashed potatoes), a food run and preparing for tomorrow's cleaning frenzy. Yeah, another fortnight is over, go figure! I did make one more cat-in-the-sack gift box, though, so there was some crafting as well.
wiseheart: (Default)
Sooo, my (ex-)colleagues - some of them still active in slave labour, others retired like me - are (hopefully) coming next Saturday for our usual term-opening party (an excellent chance for the still active ones to rant about how much worse things have gotten at school since last term), and I decided to try out some new recipes. I wanted to make amaretti morbidi and pasticcini morbidi al pistacchio, just because they both looked so good. The only problem is: these recipes use egg whites only. Now, since eggs are pricely (like everything else in these days), plus nothing is allowed to go to waste in our household, I needed two other recipes; ones that use egg yolks only. So I also baked

these: and these:

It was a bit of a risky undertaking, as the coconut crescents were the only ones I'd made before, but they all turned out quite well. I'll make a photo when I've baked the rest of the biscuits to present my (hopefully) impressive table. ;))

Naturally, this excessive baking didn't really leave time for anything else but the usual daily chores. But that's okay. These are biscuits that will keep in a cookie tin well till next Saturday, and that means I've got the greater part of my baking plan done. Yay!

Now I'm going to make some transcribing, so that the quasi-finished story can get to my beta withing this eternity.
wiseheart: (Default)
... and a few that I don't, but that's inevitable if you have to run a household. ;)

In any case, I started the day with baking a phenomenal coffee cake. It was a new recipe from the cookbook Backvergnügen wie noch nie - well, new in the sense that I've never made it before. The book itself is at least thirty years old. *g* I chose the recipe because I had some baking ingredients (including margarine and ground hazelnuts) to use up... and because it was really easy to make. The only actual work I had to do was to chop the milk chocolate, and that wasn't too tedious, either.

Recipe for those who are interested )

No picture because it turned out yummy but ugly again: it had several tears on the surface. Either I haven't smoothed it well enough before baking or I haven't stirred it enough, I don't know. But it is fantastic: light, moist and delicious. Mum approved it very much. Plus, it helped me to get rid of some of the Nescafé I got as a present but we never use it for, you know, actual coffee. We hate the aftertaste. But in the cake, it worked well.

I also did a nice bit of crafting today. The Heineken Santas are all finished, and so are two of the little seraphs. I've done the sequin work on all four of them and hope to finish them in a day or two. When they're done, there will be a picture, together with the newest baubles. I've got very little storage space of the iPad mini left, so I have to save it when I can.

The rest of the day was spent with household chores: taking down the washing, packing for tomorrow's cleaning frenzy and the likes. I'm trying to ignore those parts. *g*
wiseheart: (Default)
[livejournal.com profile] beauty_forashes, this is for you, as promised:

ZITRONEN - INGWER - KEKSE

Zutaten:
200 g Mehl
½ TL Backpulver
1 Prise Salz
1 Stück Ingwer, frischer
1 Zitrone, unbehandelt, Saft und abgeriebene Schale davon
90 g Zucker
120 g Butter
Puderzucker

Zubereitung:
Arbeitszeit ca. 30 Minuten/ Gesamtzeit ca. 30 Minuten

1. Ingwer reiben, die Menge sollte 1 TL ergeben. Zitronenschale abreiben und Zitrone auspressen.
2.Mehl mit Backpulver und Salz vermischen. Ingwer, Zitronenschale, Zucker und 1 EL Zitronensaft dazugeben und mit so viel Butter verkneten, dass ein homogener Teig entsteht, der nicht mehr krümelt (ca. 120 g Butter, eventuell mehr).
3. Kirschgroße Kugeln formen, mit der Hand flachdrücken und im vorgeheizten Backofen bei 180° Grad ca. 12 Minuten backen.
4. Aus Puderzucker und Zitronensaft einen Zuckerguss herstellen und die Kekse nach dem Auskühlen damit bestreichen.
wiseheart: (Default)
For [livejournal.com profile] unbound_ophelia, with love. :)

Saftiger Kirsch-Schmand-Kuchen

Zutaten:
150 g Zucker
2 TL Vanillezucker
1 Prise Salz
150 g Butter, weich
4 m.-große Eier
200 g Schmand, (Sauerrahm)
200 g Mehl
2 TL Backpulver
1 Glas Kirschen (250 g Abtropfgewicht)
30 g Mandeln, gehackt
Puderzucker, zum Bestäuben

Den Backofen auf 180 Grad Ober- und Unterhitze vorheizen. Den Boden der Springform mit Backpapier auslegen. Den Rand fetten und mit etwas Mehl bestäuben.

Die weiche Butter mit Zucker, Vanillezucker und Salz cremig rühren. Anschließend die Eier einzeln dazugeben und jeweils gut unterrühren. Den Schmand hinzugeben. Das Mehl mit dem Backpulver mischen und nur kurz unterrühren.

Den Teig in die vorbereitete Springform füllen und in der Form glatt streichen. Die gut abgetropften Kirschen auf dem Kuchen verteilen, gehackte Mandeln darüber streuen.

Im vorgeheizten Backofen auf der mittleren Schiene ca. 40 Minuten backen. Herausnehmen und ca. 15 Minuten in der Form auskühlen lassen. Anschließend den Formrand entfernen und den Kuchen vollständig auskühlen lassen.

Den Kirsch-Schmand-Kuchen vor dem Servieren mit etwas Puderzucker bestäuben.

Arbeitszeit:ca. 20 Min.
Backzeit: ca. 40 Min.
Ruhezeit: ca. 15 Min.
wiseheart: (Default)
[livejournal.com profile] mirasaui asked for the recipe. Here it is, my friend, have fun!

Ingredients:
200 g white chocolate
175 g Cashew nuts
200 g wheat flour
150 g soft butter or margarine
100 g sugar
1 pinch of salt
20 gr vanilla flavoured sugar or some vanilla extract
1 egg
1 teaspoon baking powder

How to make it:
1. Stir sugar, vanilla and butter until smooth and creamy.
2. Add the egg and the salt.
3. Mix the flour and the baking powder and stir in.
4. Chop cashew nuts and chocolate and add half of it to the dough.
5. Line the tin with baking paper.
6. Roll walnut-sized balls of the dough (putting your hands into water from time to time helps) and lightly flatten them.
7. Distribute the other half of the chopped nuts and chocolate on the cookies.
8. In the pre-heated oven (175 °C) they need roughly 10 minutes, until the edges are light brown.

Personal note: I found that half of the chopped nuts and chocolate is way too much for the cookies. Half the amount would reach completely.

And a reminder: this is what they should look like

wiseheart: (harper2)
This was the first day since my retirement that I actually didn't have to do anything for others in general or the school in particular. So I used the chance to do some things I've planned for a long time but never got around to do.

Firstly, I've finally cleaned the dratted hover that was waiting for its turn on the balcony for more than two weeks. Then I started sorting out the stuff I brought home from school and got rid of two big paper bags of... well, basically rubbish. And I went through some of my notes, trying to decide which unfinished story should I pick up next.

And finally, I found the time and the determination to scan in my Christmas cookie recipes from the Austrian journal Kochen & Küche - and the Hungarian version of it. The results - a total of 29 recipes - can be seen in the according section of my Pinterest board:

https://hu.pinterest.com/ekunster/kuchenrezepte/kleingeb%C3%A4ck/

I also sent invitations to people who might be interested in sharing recipes. So, [livejournal.com profile] meathiel and [livejournal.com profile] spikesgirl58, watch your inboxes. Anyone else who'd like to collaborate and is already on Pinterest, PM me and I'll invite you in.

Won't be online much longer, as SAT1 is about to show their Christmas special of the German version of The Great British Bake Off, which I very much intend to watch.
wiseheart: (Macika)
Because [livejournal.com profile] gevr asked for it and her wish is my command. ;)

Ingredients:

60 g butter
75 g sugar
1 teaspoon of butter-vanilla baking oil (or vanilla extract)
2 eggs
500 g Quark (oder 250 g Quark + 150 gr Creme fraiche)
25 g semolina or powdered digestive biscuits (I use the latter)
1/2 teaspoons of baking powder
1 package of vanilla pudding powder
250 g fruits of your choice

How to make it:

Cream butter, sugar and eggs. Add a teaspoon of vanilla extract)

Mix semolina, baking powder and pudding powder. Stir it under the egg-butter-sugar mass, together with the quark.

Add fruits of your choice.

Pour the mixture into a small, buttered baking tin (18 or 22 cm) and bake ca. 70-75 minutes at 170°C. And that is basically it. Baking time depends on your oven, of course. I usually wait until the cake is almost cool before removing the tin.

If you roll back a few entries, you can see that I've already made this with apples, peaches, apricots, frozen raspberries, blueberries, strawberries and whatnot. You can practically use anything, fresh, frozen or dried.

Making this cake needs very little effort and produces highly enjoyable results. It's only a bit more time-consuming if you use apples, as those have to be sliced very thinly.
wiseheart: (Uhura_tribble)
Walnut muffins with apples and cranberries



(By the way, the sign under the platter says: NO! - Any further questions? I love it!)

Ingredients:
150 grams of white flour
2 teaspoons of baking powder
150 grams of brown sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons of cinnamon powder
150 grams of ground walnuts
150 grams of butter or margarine
1/4 l yogurt (natural flavour)
1 large apple, grated
100 grams of cranberries, dried

How to make it:
- smear baking forms with butter or margarine;
- pre-heat oven to 180°C;
- mix flour, ground walnuts, baking powder and cinnamon;
- stir eggs with brown sugar and soft butter until smooth;
- add yogurt, grated apples, dried cranberries and the dry ingredients and stir thoroughly;
- fill the forms to 2/3rds;
- bake the muffins for 20, minutes;
- decorate them with icing sugar or walnut pieces while still warm.

Good appetite!
wiseheart: (Uhura_tribble)
At the request of [livejournal.com profile] red_day_dawning. Have fun, my friend!

Ingredients:

200 grams of flour
20 grams of margarine
150 grams of sugar
8 tablespoons of honey
1 egg
1 eggyolk
1 teaspoons of bicarbonate of soda
1 pinch of salt
gingerbread spices (cinnamon, cardamom, ingwer, piment, whatever you want, or a ready-made mix), as much or as little as you like

How to make it:
- mix the ingredients and knead them until your dough is smooth;
- let it chill in the fridge for an hour, preferably wrapped in tinfoil;
- roll out the dough, about 1/2 cm thick, cut out any shapes you like;
- bake it in the pre-heated oven until light brown.
Read more... )
wiseheart: (Uhura_tribble)
Aka raisin-cinnamon rolls. This is the cookie every sane person simply makes of ready-made puff pastry. Since I consider myself a sane person (sometimes), that was my original intent, too. Only that the local grocer's didn't have puff pastry. Well, not the cheap version I always use. And I wasn't willing to pay double price. So I made these instead:



THIS IS WHAT YOU WILL NEED:
Read more... )
wiseheart: (Uhura_tribble)
Well... if a somewhat lopsided strawberry cake counts as festive. Judge yourself:



The same again from above:


Cake biscuit recipe:

Ingredients for the cake:
6 eggs
120 gr white flour
200 gr white sugar

For the filling:
400 ml milk
1 packet strawberry creme powder
(yes, I know it's a blasphemy, but I suck at cremes)
3-4 tablespoons of blackberry jam
some milk and rum aroma
strawberries to decorate

butter and flour for the baking tin

How to make it:
- separate the egg whites from the yolks;
- beat the egg whites until really hard;
- mix in egg yolks and sugar;
- add flour, one tablespoon at a time;
- pour the dough into the baking form;
- bake it in a pre-heated oven (180-190°C) for roughly 20 minutes, depending on your oven;
- take it out of the tin immediately and let it cool down;
- in the meantime prepare ready-made cream according to the instructions on the box and cut the strawberries in pieces;
- cut the cake horizontally twice, sprinkle the pieces with rum-flavoured milk;
- spread the first piece with blackberry yam;
- set up second piece and spread half the creme over it, with half the strawberry pieces;
- set up third piece, spread the second half of the creme over it and all around the sides of the cake;
- decorate it with the second half of the strawberry pieces;
- place the cake in the fridge for at least two hours.
wiseheart: (Uhura_tribble)
Are delicious and surprisingly easy to make. This was the first time I tried them, and got them right at once. Go me!

Ingredients:
100 gr butter or margarine, room temperature
50 gr brown sugar
1 egg
150 gr white flour, with a pinch of baking powder
30 gr chopped almonds (without the peels)
50 gr dried cranberries
100 gr white chocolate cubes
(just take an ordinary 100-gr-bar and chop it)

How to make:
- pre-heat oven to 180°C
- line baking tin with baking paper
- stir soft butter with sugar until it's fluffy
- add egg and flour, one spoon at a time
- when dough is smooth, stir in the other ingredients
- with the help of a teaspoon, place small heaps of dough on the baking paper
- bake them for 15 minutes
- let them cool on a rack thoroughly

White Berry Bites 2

Sorry for the quality of the picture. I made it with my iPad, and I can never hold the dratted thing steady enough. :(
wiseheart: (Uhura_tribble)
I'm really late this year, like with everything else. The charity fair, which is next Thursday, had priority, plus I caught a cold during the concert and am sick like a dog again.

In any case, I decided not to celebrate the usual baking orgy this year. I'm just tired and not in the mood. So I made oatcakes with dates today, as well as peanut cookies with chocolate, and I'm planning to make about five or six other sorts, tops. Perhaps less. In exchange, I might make a festive Christmas cake this year.

As usual, the recipes are here on my journal. Klick on the cookie recipes tag and you'll find them all.

In other news, the Advent calendar is going on surprisingly well. I have half the stories covered and hope I'll be able to come up with the other half, too.
wiseheart: (Mycroft_stressed)
I've just spent over six hours baking cookies for the Christmas charity fair of our school. Roughly 400 pieces of them. I can barely feel my hands from all the cutting and rolling the dough. Cinnamon stars, chocolate hearts and coconut crescents were on the menu, in case anyone is interested. You can find the recipes by clicking on the similarly named tag.

The fair is in more than 3 weeks' time, actually. At least one of which weeks the kids and I will be spending by decorsting the cookies each afternoon, before packing them away in airtight tin boxes. When we're not making Christmss ornaments. Or Christmas cards.

Yes, I am mad, why are you asking? :(

Edit: The cookies are now all decorated and boxed, so that is one complicated task out of my hair. I can happily return to producing Christmas decoration for the fair. Oh, joy.
wiseheart: (Macika)
I've promised a photo and a recipe, haven't I? And since I'm back on my trusted old (and I mean really old) desktop PC, I thought we should celebrate the event properly.

So, here's the photo:

Schäfchenkekse 01

And here is the recipe. It's really very simple.

Ingredients:
150 gr white flour
100 gr butter or margarine
50 gr white sugar
1 eggyolk

grated lemon peel or vanilla extract, if you like it

For the decoration:
Almond halves
Chocolate drops
Coloured sugar pearls
White chocolate

How to make it:
Read more... )

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