Daring Bakers makes the tradicional Bûche de Noël

OH MY GOD!!!
Christmas makes everyone goes crazy around here, me for exemple made this mounth challenge a week a go and almost didin't post! Why you may ask me, well lets just say that i have a lovelly brother that was kind enough to take this mounth challenge pics in his camera, but, and there's always a but, he just forgot to transfer to the computer, and i just didn't know how to take the memory card off his camera, its so diferent from mine!!! But whit a litle help from my boyfriend i maneged to post!! So.. you can understand why i'm posting on the 23th at 23:50 here in Brazil.

But, besides the posting/pictures problems the bûche was very easy to make. This mounth the hosstess were Lis, from La Mia Cucina, and Ivonne, from Cream Puffs, the challenge was the tradicional Bûche de Noël or Yule Log, and you can find the recipe here.

Well, this mounth for me was very difficult, i started in a new job, that made me disconect from the world, i no longer work in front a computer as i did before now i work in a kitchen, no no... not cooking, doing a nutricionist job, making sure that the food that was for the client gets there clean and free for company... and was the end of the year in college so... a lot of tests that made my go really crazy. I almost tought about not participating on the challenge, but last weekend i managed to find some hours to do it.

Tough would be very dificult and hard working but after a few hours i had it all done. Everyting was very easy and the instuctions was very clear. Lis and Ivonne gave as a lot of possibilite of changes, like flavouring the genoise cake and for the filling and two options of mushroons and also two dates for posting...



I can say that i loved the bûche but i, and my intere family too, thougt that the buttercream was to buttery... but still very tasty, and the genoise cake just amazing...

Here's what i did:
- a chocolate genoise;
- coffee buttercream for filling and forsting;
- added some chooped white chocolate in the filling and
- marzipan mushroons.

I wish you all a Mery Cristmas and a very happy new year and see you all next mounth, whit more recepis i hope!!

Carrot Cake for Peabody Housewarming Party

So... I'm not a very comenting person you know... so Peabody probably don't know me, but.. when I so in her blog (that i visit often) that she was giving a party to celebrate her new home i just had to "go". It was so simple... just to make a dish and take it to the party...
I got thinking on what to do... So... i decided for something that was conforting, after all that's all someone can ask in a new home, i've been eating this cake for my intere life, my mom has always baked it and i always loved.... Carrot Cake, just that, simple, delicius and reconforting... all that can be asked to fell in a new house.... to be warm and cozzy... so that we can call it a home....
It's not something fanncy but comes from the heart, with all the best wishes for your new home...
That your home be filled with love and warm, i'm sure that your new kitchen will give us only great things...
Ohhh... made two variations... one with the basic chocolate frosting and a mini, a cupcake with cream cheese frosting... i honestly prefer the chocolate one, not because is chocolate but because it reminds me of when a was young... ok... i'm not an old person i know - i'm only 19 - but when i was relly young...



Mom's Carrot Cake

4 large carrots
4 large eggs
2 cups sugar
2 cups flour
1 coffe cup canola oil
1 table spoon baking powder
pinch salt

Preheat the oven in 350 F.
Chop the carrots in small pieces. In a blender beet the carrots, the eggs and the canola oil until its creamy.
In a bolw sift the flour sugar and baking powder and add the carrots, eggs and oil. Mix carrfully until there is no lumps.
Bake in a greased and floured cake pan for about 30 mim or until golden on top and dry in the midle.

Chocolate frosting
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1 tablespoon coccoa powder
1 teaspoon sugar
1 tablespoon milk (used non fat)

Put it all in a pan and mix until it boils, turn off imediatlly and use whit the cake still hot.

Daring Bakers Challenge - Tender Potato Bread

It's this time of the mounth again!!
I know its only my second time as a Daring Baker but... the amazingness of baking with hundreds of bakers, since people like me, that just cooks for pleasure the of cooking or the pros that we have, feels me of joy and happines, or perhaps it's just the Christmas calling.
This mounth challeng was very interesting... i've baked breads before, even potato breads, but never used whole wheat flour before... The making of the bread was very easy, liked a lot, did a huge mess in the kitchen, but when the smell came after a few minutes of baking it made it all worten.


Tanna, from My Kitchen In Half Cups, gave us free will to play with the formats of the bread, within her sugestios where rolls and foccacia, and that was what i did (the foccacia was hundred, thousands times better then the rolls...)... for the foccacia i used olives, olive oil and basil and the rolls i used melted butter on top of it. Again i'm not posting the recipe, for that i surely advice you to visit Tanna's blog. And for better breads visit my fellow bakers, you can see their names and blogroll here.


Ohh.. and couldn't let to say HAPPY BIRTHDAY to all Daring Bakers and a special CONGRATULATIONS to Lis and Ivonne, and thank then for the amazing ideia of creating this group.
PS: Posting on midnigth 26th!!!! - this mounth was possible!!!!

Waiter, there's something in my... strawberry tart

This mounth i decided that i would participate in a blog event so, as i have verry little time to make things latly because of the tests coming (end of school year here is december) it had to be something that would be easy but at the same time pleassing... so when i saw the theme of this mounth Waiter there's something in my... i just knew it was it!!! Topless tart!! I have been wanting to try this for white a while and this was perfect...


The recipe was something mad up, because, well, lets just say the i wanted a varity of berrys and all i could find was strawberrys.. so i had to be pleased with that.... no time to go somewhere to look for something else... (i just really hat not having time to cook/bake thank god vacations are almost here!!)


So... the recipe is simple a crust made with wafers, the crust i got from a friend that has no ideia from where she got it but it just sounded delicius... chocolat wafers, nuts and cinnamon.. well it just had to be good... and it really was good... and for the filling a white chocolate ganache made with strawberry juice... in the end i tought the looks wasen't that great.. but it tasted very good...

Strawberry tarts

For the crust:
1 cup grounded wafers
1/2 cup finely grounded nuts
50g unsalted butter,melted
1 tablespoon sugar
1/2 tablespoon cinammon

Mix all the ingredients very well and in small muffins pan lined whit parchment paper fill in and bake for 15min in 180°C. Unmold and reserve.

For the filling:
45g strawberry juice
30g white chocolate
1/2 tablespoon sugar
30g heavy cream

Melt the chocolate and heat the heavy cream, mix then together and add the juice and the sugar. Fill in the crust and let it refrigerat for at leats 4 hours.

Bostini Cream Pie for my first DB challenge

Finally the 29th came!! I just couln'd wait to post my first Daring Bakers challenge!!
But... how i'm forgetfull... i almost lost the challend (in Brazil is 27 to midnight)


The challenged was hosted by Mary at Alpineberry, and her choice was a Bostini Cream Pie, a variation of Boston Cream Pie.

When i started making the recipe i planed on taking step by step pictures, but... as i'm not a lucky girl the camera was without battery, i maneged to take some pics on my brothes machine, but lets just say i don't really know where the camera is and i also don't know where he is, soooo i'll post the ones i maneged to take after charging the battery.

To assemble it i put a very tiny slice of the cake under, put the custard, another slice of cake and finished with perfect chocolate. I liked the cake and the chocolate glaze but the custard wasn't really great.

cake+custard waiting to be unmolded

cake+custard+cake again














The Bostini!!


Thanks Mary for a great challenge, my pictures aren't the best so i sinceirly recomend you visit the other lovey bakeres to see the diferencs. And the recipe can be found at Mary's blog.

Matchá cookies

What a bad start for my blog right? Posted only a few times and disapired...
Haven't really had the time to do good things to post. But there's something i've made and would love to share with you is this....
For a school project i'm developing a recipe tha goes green tea and dark chocolate. Here in Brazil we're not really used to have dark chocolate, and its kind hard to find also, bute recently Nestle put to sale a 70% cocooa chocolate and of course i just had to buy it... To try it i decide to use in the recipe to college, my group and i wanted to create something using the called Functional Food, meaning products that produces some good for your helth.. and chocolate is one of those and so is green tea... two products that are not know to have this bennefit.
Ended up that well, lets just say that i forgot green tea losts its proriets when cooked above 65°C... so.. it didin't work for my project my it tasted really well... so... posting here.




Matchá Cookies

Ingredients:

110g margarine
130 cup flour
80g choped almond
80g sugar
30g green tea-matchá
1 whole egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
150g bittersweet chocolate choped (70%cocooa)

Perheat oven 160°C.
Combine margarine, flour and almond, add suggar, matchá, egg and vanilla. And to finishi add the chocolate.
Bake until it gets strong green. Let it cool. and eat!

Banana Muffins

Last friday, here in Brazil, was a holiday, and so i went to de countryside and... a lot of bananas came back whit me, and.. for my misfortune, all of theme wore ripe. So what to do with all of that??
I started looking for recepies, but nothing seemed to please me, i wanted something tasty and easy... when I suddenly found Banana Chocolate Chips Muffins. It was just perfect because bananas i had and i also had chocolate chips!!
And just to please a litle my mom i mad chocolate ganache, because i had chocolate and heavy cream that was alredy doom to the trash can.
The recipe is from Epicurus but i'll post it here whit some notes on the ingredients.

Banana Chocolate Chips Muffins

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
2/3 cup sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup mashed ripe bananas
1 large egg
115g (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted
1/4 cup milk - i used nonfat milk (didn't have the whole one)
3/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Preparation
Preheat oven to 350°F. Line twelve 1/3-cup muffin cups with foil muffin liners. Mix flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in large bowl. Mix mashed bananas, egg, melted butter and milk in medium bowl. Stir banana mixture into dry ingredients just until blended (do not overmix). Stir in chocolate chips.

Divide batter among prepared muffin cups, filling each about 3/4 full. Bake muffins until tops are pale golden and tester inserted into center comes out with some melted chocolate attached but no crumbs, about 32 minutes. Transfer muffins to rack; cool.

Makes 12.

Pink Macaroons

The firt thing i want to post i'ts something that i love but can't really get it right...
Macaroons, i have always been in love with them, but here in Brazil i'ts not verry easy to find them.
I've tried to make them so many times that i've alredy lost count.... This time was the one that it tasted better... but didin't look very preety... I'll keep on trying, so for now i'll post this one...

I'm no going to post the recipe because I used this one here. Only for the whit chocolate ganache that I omited the fraise tagada candy used 150g heavy cream, 300g white chocolate choped and some pink coloring.

PS.: The pic is terible i promise to get better pictures from now on.. this one wasonly take to send to friends!

Just a start

How to start my blog?! First I have to say that i'm not a native english speaker so... i'll do my best not to writ to many wrong things!
I'm from Brasil and I just LOVE cooking!!! I don't really have lots of time to cook 'cause besides working I study to... I'm a nutricionist to be!! Very soon I hope.... (only missing 2 and a half years hihihi), so my blog will be about food my somethins i'll post for you things that I find interesting abou nutricion....
Ohh.... forgot to say why I decide to blog.... I'm always searching for new recepies and diferent things for me to try and suddenly i discovered de unioverse of foof blogs and just feel in love by it and wanted so much to be part of it, to be a Daring Baker, to post brownies for browniebabe of the month and etc... so... here I am...
HOPE YOU ALL ENJOY IT!!