Candy Apples

Halloween is tonight...
and no one has come knocking on my door. Where I live no one does, and all I really have to offer are Halloween cupcakes. Although I now do have a few candy apples now. I have been searching for a candy apple recipe for ever now. And I still haven't found one yet, so I decided to give up and just make it up. Sugar melts doesn't it, making caramel right? Well, it really is that simple, all I did is was add a little butter to a pot and added brown sugar, and a little water, then slowly wait until it melts ans bubbles. And voila! Coat the apples with it and you have candy apples. So, here's the 'recipe'
Candy Apples:

• 3 medium apples of your choice
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 3 Popsicle sticks

Method:
Stick one Popsicle stick in the center of each apple
1. In a heavy bottom pan, melt together the butter,sugar and water. Then cook until it turns a deep brown color (because you are using brown sugar)
2. Take it off the heat, wait 1 minute then roll the apples in the caramel.

Magnolia's Vanilla Cupcakes

Halloween

is tomorrow, and Halloween includes tons of candy. And trick-or-treating, but that is not so common here, let alone some candy corn to decorate my cupcakes with. Halloween isn't only about the candy, it's about the orange and black, the spiders and the witches, so I made orange cupcakes, with spiderwebs. Not very original, I know, but they look great, the contrasting colors, and the flavors go great together. When you use good quality chocolate, you can smell the intensity about 30 cm from the cupcakes, even if it's just a little chocolate spiderweb. This recipe comes from the Magnolia Bakery Cookbook , which means I can have Magnolia cupcakes whenever I want without having to travel all the way to the U.S. Doesn't mean that they taste or look like the ones at the bakery, I accidently made mine a lot bigger but they still tasted great. Topped off with a dark chocolate spiderweb, they look fabulously like Halloween.

From the Magnolia Bakery Cookbook

The 'Vanilla Vanilla' Cupcake:

• 1&1/2 cups self-rising flour
• 1&1/4 cups all purpose flour
• 1 cup butter,softened
• 2 cups sugar
• 4 eggs
• 1 cup milk
• 1&1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Method:

Pre-heat your oven to 350F/180C

1. In a small bowl, sift together the flours.

2. In a large bowl cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.

3. Add the eggs, one at a time until incorporated, don't forgot to scrape down the bowl every once in a while.

4. Add the dry ingredients alternating with the milk in three additions. Then add the vanilla.

5. Spoon the mixture into two cupcake tins lined with paper liners ( I used monster pumpkin ones)

6. Bake for 20-25, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

7. Cool for 15 minutes, then top with vanilla frosting. (Recipe below)

Vanilla Frosting:

• 1 cup butter
• 6 cups confectioners sugar
• 4 tablespoons milk
• 2 teaspoons vanilla

Method:

1. Cream together the butter and 4 cups of the confectioners sugar.

2. Then add the rest of the sugar,milk and vanilla.

3. If you want to tint your frosting add it now and mix thoroughly.

 

Mousse au Chocolat

French Friday

Mousse au Chocolat is really fancy but it's not complicated to make at all. In fact it is really easy to make and really fast to make, I made it in 15 minutes flat. Not only does everyone like this, it is the most delicous thing I have had in the past year made of chocolate. It's light and fluffy but seems to melt in your mouth when you eat it. This isn't as light and fluffy a mousse as you may be used to, it's rich and chocolaty and dense in flavor. This recipe is from a recipe book my aunt got while she was taking a pastry course, and it's very simple and very quick to make. This can be used as a filling between two cakes, because really it isn't Mousse au Chocolat, since it's so dense.

Mousse au Chocolate (not really but...)

• 100g egg whites
• 20g caster sugar
• 125g dark (70%) chocolate
• 75g butter
• 2 egg yolks

Method:

1. With an electric mixer, beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form. Right before they are done, slowly add the caster sugar.

2. In a Double boiler, melt the chocolate until melted. 

3. Take the chocolate off the heat, then add the butter, whisking until melted, then add the egg yolks,whisking until combined. 

4. Add 1/4 of the egg whites to the chocolate mixture and whisk to combine. 

5. Then add the chocolate mixture to the egg whites and fold in with a spatula until it is combined. Don't overmix and be careful with the egg whites. 

6. Fill into serving glasses and enjoy. 

You can keep these in the fridge for up to two days, but they taste much better if you take them out of the refrigerator an hour before serving. These can be topped off with whipped cream,strawberries or a spring of mint. (or all three)

Waffle Wednesday

Waffle Sandwiches
I had never thought of doing this, but know that I've seen it, I'm wondering why I hadn't. It seemed too true to be true, the endless possibilities of waffle flavors and sandwich fillings all combined. It's not like the bread, because you can easily and quickly make it and it can have different ingredients inside the waffle. I used my recipe for sour  cream bacon waffles, and filled it with grilled chicken,cheese,tomatoes,lettuce, and my favorite (homemade) salad dressing. It was delicious, and it was really filling too, so I only used 1 waffle and used half for each side, although it would much easier just to make smaller waffles. This isn't really a post that comes with a recipe, just suggestions on waffle and filling combinations.

Sour Cream Bacon Waffles-Chicken,lettuce,tomato,cheese
Cornmeal Waffles- Eggs, cheddar, serrano ham
Wholemeal Waffles- Cream cheese and smoked salmon
Apple Waffles-celery, nuts of your choice,creme fraiche (or sour cream)
Plain Waffles- Add oregano to the batter,dried garlic,dried onion, and tarragon. Then top with balsamico,mozzarella, and tomatoes topping with fresh oregano if you wish.

This are not the world's most original, they already exist in sandwich and panakes varieties, and you can really put whatever you want and mess with all the different flavors you can come up with. You should make your waffles slightly crispier than usual(cook for longer) so it can hold all your fillings and toppings.

Make it Yourself

Chocolate Pudding,
is probably a childhood favorite for many. Not for me, my parents never made it and we didn't get to buy it at the store. Only when I went to my Grandmother's would I get to eat some, it was out of the packet, but it was definetly better than nothing, and it tasted really chocolately. I found a recipe the other day, and making pudding is sooooooooo easy. Or so I thought. I made it and it all looked like it was going well, cooked the milk and cocoa and flour, waiting until it was thick, added the egg and put it in the fridge to set. Only it didn't actually end up setting, it's still liquid now, after 24 hours! So I decided to make fudge Popsicles which are in the freezer now. So although I didn't set out to make fudge pops I have some now, I still don't know why I couldn't make chocolate pudding the normal way.I just ate one that was semi-frozen and it was like fudge ice-cream, next time I'll try to make some in my ice-cream machine. ( My old one broke ages ago, I just got one today, so there's lots of Ice-cream posts to come) It was AMAZING, in case you were wondering.

From Simply Recipes
Chocolate Pudding (or popsicles)

• 55g (1/4) cup sugar
• 32g(1/4) cup cocoa powder
• 2 tablsepoons cornstarch
• 1/2 liter (2 cups) milk
• 1 large egg, room temperature
• 110g (4 ounces) semi-sweet chocolate

Method:

1. In a pot combine sugar,cocoa and cornstarch and cook over medium heat for 3-5 minutes, until thick. 

2. Take the pot off the heat and add the egg whisking to combine, then the chocolate chips.

3. Pour the mixture into glasses or custard cups.(or popsicle moulds)

 4. Chill for 8 hours, until firm and if it never firms up freeze it

Shortbread

Some Shortbread
You are looking at a post on Scratch. I haven't disappeared into some remote hole in the ground, I was just on holiday, and i stopped posting... Not that I forgot or I was just too lazy to post anything ( although I was on holiday) it's just when you stay over at some'one else's house, you can't always go cooking things up, especially when you're out of the house the entire time! We did make some things though, although I didn't get around to posting about them, such as Mousse au Chocolat and Granola. Back to this post though: I love Shortbread, I love the way it's crumbly, I love the taste, I love having it with tea and I love how it's so simple to make. This is just a simple recipe I decided to go with after seeing a similar one.

Shortbread:

• 250g unsalted butter,softed
• 100g white sugar
• 50g brown sugar
• 300g all purpose flour
• 90g rice flour
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• pinch of salt

Method:

Pre-heat your oven to 160C/

1. Cream together the butter and sugars.

2. Then add the flours,cinnamon and salt and mix until combined. The mixture is sandy and crumbly-don't worry!

3. Divide the mixture in two and form into two rounds, score any way you like ( I did wedges) then prick the dough with a fork. 

4. Bake for 20 minutes until golden brown.

Make yourself some tea and enjoy it with this delicously crumbly shortbread.

Waffle Thursday

Today is Thursday
but since I didn´t get around to blogging yesterday(I was on a plane then drving up to the mountains) I thought that a post was better than no post. So, when I got up super late this morning, and my wonder aunt asked me what I usually had for breakfast, which is waffles, I didn´t expect her to have a waffle iron. Turns out she does, along with a few other weird appliances, but she does have you standard rectangle belgian waffle iron. I use to have a heart shaped one when I was a kid, and it frustrated me so much that I ended up not making waffles anymore, it didn´t flip and my waffles were only ever cooked on one side. Luckly today, that wasn´t the case because this waffles turned out beautifully in a non-flip waffle iron. These are just plain waffles, so it´s a good recipe to start with if you´re trying to come up with new waffle recipes.


Plain ol´ Waffles
Ingredients:

• 350g(2&1\2 cups) all-purpose flour
• 2 tablespoons white sugar
• 2 & 1/2 tablespoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 4 eggs
• 500ml (2 cups) milk
• 80ml (1/3 cup) oil (such as sunflower)

Method:

Pre-heat your waffle iron.

1.In a bowl, combine the flour,baking powder and salt.

2. In a second bowl whisk together the eggs and sugar until slightly foamy, then add the milk.

3. Combine the wet and dry ingredients until smooth, but don´t overmix.

4. Cook in your waffle iron for 2-3 minutes until golden brown.

These waffles are great with anything, but I had my the classic way with Maple Syrup.

Make it Yourself

Granola Bars
You may  be thinking: Why in the world would you make your own granola bars? (Maybe your not) This is not one of those things I make from scratch (although I make almost everything from scratch) so that I know what I put in it, changed it to fit my taste, although granola bars are a perfect example for this, I for instance don't like raisins. The simple reason that I make Granola bars is because I love them. You may now be thinking, well why don't you just go to the store and buy some then? THEY DON'T EXIST! I think that anyone, in desperate need for granola bars, would be happy to make them. Don't get me wrong though, they sell plenty of cereal bars and things of the sort, but you can' actually buy any real granola bars. My first unbuyable need was granola. Which may sound weird because here in Switzerland they have Muesli which is really similar and really good, it just isn't the same thing. So I make granola all the time and it's amazing, and I tried to make granola bars today, and got carried away when I was adding oats,thinking it would be fine but it turned out so dry that  it crackled into small pieces. I've decided to post the original adaption of the recipe, not what I did, 1) because it didn't work,2) because I don't even know how much more I added.

Adapted from Smitten Kitchen:

• 1 2/3 cups old fashioned rolled oats 
• 1/2  cup granulated sugar 
• 1/3 cup oat flour 
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 cup shredded coconut
• 1 cup chopped almonds
• 1(or 1/2) cup chocolate chips
• 1/3 cup peanut butter 
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 6 tablespoons melted butter
• 1/4 cup maple syrup
• 2 tablespoons honey

This recipe is super-simple: Dump all the ingredients in and bowl and combine (and don't think it's too sticky like I did) and bake at 350F/ 180C (8"x8"x2" baking pan for thick bars) for 30-40 minutes.

Although my didn't make Granola bars I just use it as granola now, because it crumbled up, but it still tastes delicious.

Pancakes

I am a pumpkin Junkie,
whenever I get my hands on a pumpkin I devour the entire thing. Pure, with butter, in bread, muffins,cheesecake, cupcakes, cakes, waffles pancakes,soup,as a main dish, as a side dish, with anything and everything. That is why I decided to make pumpkin pancakes, because I hadn't tried any and saw the website on foodwishes, and it seemed so delicious (although chef john makes everything look delicious) and so I went on to make some. And it looked like they were perfectly fine until, suddenly, out of no where they just turned entirely flat. Like floppy discs(you know what the older computers had) if I put a fork in a piece it wouldn't just be there normally, it would just flop down sadly. They still tasted ok, although I was no liking how they looked. Here's the link for the real recipe, and I followed it! So i don't know what I did wrong. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ECLwu2hCG84


Ingredients:

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon white sugar
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon table salt
• 1 cup pumpkin puree
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1 egg
• 1 1/2 cups milk
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• 2 teaspoon grated lemon zest

Method:

1. In a large bowl mix together the flour,sugars, baking powder and soda,cinnamon,ginger,nutmeg and salt in a bowl.

2. In a second bowl combine the pumpkin,milk,oil,lemon juice and zest, and egg whisking until smooth.

3. Add the pumpkin mixture to your dry ingredients and stir until just combined.

4. Cook the batter in the pan, making you pancakes any size you want. (I would tell you how but my method doesn't seem to work.

I don't know what I did wrong, I looked for bubbles to appear on the surface and everything. 

French Friday

Raspberry Apple Galette

I love making galette, probably because I am a crust person when it comes to pie, so when you make galette you have  pie crust on top which  makes it so much tastier. It's like having a double crust pie with less filling, which means you have more crust! Since there are soooo many apples (and some pie crust from the apple pie) I decided to make galette, but because I had already made apple pie, I wanted it to be different, and I thought, why not raspberries, because you don't see raspberry pie that often, so a combo of both would be awesome(and I have frozen raspberries from my garden in the freezer.)

Pie Crust

• 6 ounces (170g) all-purpose flour
• 1 stick (100g) unsalted butter
• 1/2 tablespoon Apple cider vinegar
• Sprinkle (1/4 tsp) of salt
• 3or more tablespoons ice cold water

Method:

1. Cube the butter and stick it in the freezer for about 1/2 hour.

2. In your food processor place flour,salt and butter and whizz until the mixture looks like crumbs.

3. While your food processor is running add 3 tablespoons of the water and the apple cider vinegar and turn your food processor off when there are walnut-sized clumps of dough. (don't wait until a whole clump of dough forms.

4. Wrap the dough up and refrigerate for 1/2 hour or until you need it.

Filling:

• 2-3 apples of your choice
• 1/2 cup, a handful or how many ever you like raspberries
• 50g (1/4cup) almonds
• 40g (1/8cup)honey
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Method:

Pre-heat your oven to 180C/350F

1. Roll out your pie crust until it is the thickness you want it, around 3 millimeters works perfect.

2. Cover you crust in almonds, then prick the pie crust with a fork.

3. Thinly slice the apples (peeled or unpeeled) and arrange flat on the pie crust leaving about 10 cm of edge empty.(or however much of a fold you want at the end)

4. Top with the raspberries and drizzle on the honey and sprinkle some cinnamon.

5. Now for the galette part of this: Fold over a section of the pie crust, making the crease line up with where the filling stops, turn the galette and repeat. You can have as many or has little folds as you like

6. Bake for 20-25 minutes until the pie crust is golden brown.

Waffle Wednesday

(Healthy) Apple Waffles
I love waffles, and I have probably made that clear since a dedicate an entire day just to waffles. Although I am not a big fan of cooked apples(or cooked tomatoes) the same way i don't like apple pie because it has lots of cooked apples. This is why I love this waffles recipe, it has cooked apples but not in a weird, mushy,gooey way. And they're healthy too, although they taste way to healthy if there cold, or had been frozen in advance. But you can always but lots of butter and maple syrup and their bound to taste delicious then, although that eliminates the healthy part of them too. I don't even remember where I got this recipe from, years ago while I was watching the news I think, either way I recommend adding a little sugar, or butter this is really the 'bare' recipe. These are super easy to make too!

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup cornmeal
• 1/2 cup buckwheat
• 1 cup brown rice flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda 
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• Pinch of salt
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 4 eggs
• 1 cup yogurt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla 
• 3 tablespoons of milk
• 2 large apples (fuji,granny smith or whatever grows in your backyard)

Method:

Pre-heat you waffle iron.

1. Combine all the dry ingredients, the cornmeal,buckwheat,brown rice flour,baking soda&powder and salt in a bowl and mix for just to combine( this should be less than 1/2 a minute)

2. Add the eggs, yogurt,vanilla, and milk and mix until thoroughly incorporated.(it will be a thick dough)

3. Using the wide teeth on a cheese grater, grate the apples and add to the waffle batter, stir to combine.

4. Cook in you waffle maker for 3-4 minutes.

You probably won't be needing to eat more than one of these-they are super dense, next time I might try making these with beaten egg whites to lighten it up.(and maybe add some butter to the batter.) They don't taste too good cold, especially if you make them super-healthy,without maple syrup or butter.

Make it Yourself

Nutella,
can be made at home. Does not, should not be store bought. Like a million other things, that you can make yourself. Monday posts are soley for this one reason: to show people how to make things they always buy, although they can make it themselves. Some people think that it would be very time consuming to make it themselves, which is sometimes the case, but Nutella isn't. It takes me under five minute to make nutella, as long  as it would take me to find a jar of it in the store.
Recipe from PopSugar Living

Ingredients:

• 2 cups (220g) roasted hazelnuts
• 1/2 cup (40g) unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 cup (230g) powdered sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla 
• Sprinkle of salt
• 3 or more tablespoons of hazelnut oil

Method:
1. In your food processor, blend the hazelnuts until they become smooth and creamy about 5 minutes.(this is hazelnut butter at this point.)
2. Add the cocoa,powdered sugar,vanilla salt and two tablespoons of the hazelnut oil, and process for 2 more minutes.
3. Add the third tablespoon of hazel nut oil, and if neccassary as much as you need for your desired consitency.

As you may have guessed from the picture, I love dipping my apples in my homemade nutella, which works out great because my nutella was really runny. I wasn't patient enough to wait and thought my nutella wasn't smooth enough, so I added more oil, then some more, you get the picture. It's easy but you need to have a patience span of 5 minutes. If you don't have roasted hazelnuts already you can roast them in a 400F/200C oven for ten minutes, and let them cool slightly before you toss them in your food processor.

Everyone's Favorite

Who doesn't like Apple Pie?

I don't. But since the entire rest of the world seems to be obsessed with it I find myself making it more often than not: for fall barbecues,get togethers, brunches and afternoon tea. Simply because everyone likes eating it. I don't know what it is that makes people love it, or why I am not part of that group of people. I don't really use a specific recipe for the filling or the pie, all I have added to my original pie crust recipe is apple cider vinegar, which i tried out after watching Chef John from foodwishes.com do so, and it makes it a lot flakier.

Pie Crust:

• 12 ounces (340g) all-purpose flour
• 2 sticks (200g) unsalted butter
• 1 tablespoon Apple cider vinegar
• Sprinkle (1/2 tsp) of salt
• 7 or more tablespoons ice cold water

Method:

1. Cube the butter and stick it in the freezer for about 1/2 hour.

2. In your food processor place flour,salt and butter and whizz until the mixture looks like crumbs.

3. While your food processor is running add 7 tablespoons of the water and the apple cider vinegar and turn your food processor off when there are walnut-sized clumps of dough. (don't wait until a whole clump of dough forms.

4. Wrap the dough up and refrigerate for 1/2 hour or until you need it.

Apple Filling:

• 6-7 Tart apples (such as Granny Smith)
• 3 tablespoons cornstarch
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
• 1/4 cup (50g) honey
• Almonds, chopped 
• 1 egg beaten 

Method: 

Pre-heat your oven

1. Peel and cube the Apples and place in a large bowl.

2. To the apples add the cornstarch,lemon juice, cinnamon, nutmeg and honey and combine them, using your hands.

3. Roll out  half of your pie crust and place in your pie pan, sprinkling over chopped almonds if you like.

4. Add the apple-honey mixture and spread evenly in the crust.

5. Roll out the other half of your pie dough and place it over your apples.

6. Using a knife cut off any excess pie dough, anything that is more than an inch.

7. Fold both layers( the bottom and top) of your pie dough, and tuck them over.

8. Brush the beaten egg over the pie and cut 4-8 slits in the top of the pie.

9. Bake for 1 hour until brown on top, brushing with egg every ten minutes.

Although I have tried this apple pie I can't really say if it is good or not because I haven't really eaten any others. The only reason why I put almonds in this pie is because they were sitting on the table while I was making the pie, so they are completely optional, as is the egg wash, although I think it gives it a rustic look. Make sure to let the pie cool ten minutes before serving, and don't worry, it will still be hot and fresh. I make this in the fall, because there is an abundance of apples, that's why I decided to post all about apples this week.(hint:I like eating Apples with Nutella)