Banana raspberry muffins, Cate Blanchett and switching sides

The Oscar nominees were announced yesterday and several of my favorites are part of the list: Leonardo DiCaprio, Christian Bale, Martin Scorsese, Judi Dench, Alfonso Cuarón, Amy Adams... I don’t trust the award but it is a joy to see talented people being recognized for their work.

After watching Gravity a couple of months ago – and being pretty much blown away by it – I wanted, with all my heart, to see Sandra Bullock walk up the Kodak Theater stairs (without tripping, of course) to receive the Best Actress in a Leading Role award: she’s amazing as Ryan Stone, a performance that to be honest I wasn’t expecting from her – I adore Sandra, but had no idea she could stretch her acting like that. It was a nice surprise and I wanted her to be recognized by it. However, I watched Blue Jasmine yesterday and Cate Blanchett accomplished what I would call sheer perfection on that film – up to this moment I cannot stop thinking about her as Jasmine, the way she builds the character and express her emotions, with no vanity whatsoever, completely available for what the script and the director wanted from her. I’ve been a fan of Cate’s for years and thought I’d seen the best of her acting in Elizabeth, but apparently I was wrong – Blue Jasmine is the peak of a career packed with amazingly crafted and portrayed characters.

I am sorry, Sandra, but I am switching sides. ;)

And since I am being very fickle today, I’ll no longer say that my favorite add in to a banana muffin are blueberries – yes, they’re great paired with banana, but the slightly sour flavor of raspberries are even better mixed in the tender, delicious muffins.

Banana raspberry muffins
slightly adapted from the wonderful Olive magazine

250g all-purpose flour
2 ½ teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
50g light brown sugar
50g granulated sugar
pinch of salt
2 large very ripe bananas, mashed with a fork
2 large eggs
½ cup buttermilk*
75g unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 heaping cup frozen raspberries, unthawed

Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F. Line a 12-cup muffin pan with paper liners.
In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, sugars and salt. In another bowl, mix the bananas, eggs, buttermilk, butter and vanilla. Pour them over the dry ingredients and mix lightly with a fork – the batter will look lumpy and it’s OK, don’t overmix or your muffins will be tough.
Divide the batter equally among the paper cases and top with the raspberries, pressing them gently into the batter. Bake for about 20 minutes or until risen and golden and a skewer inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean.
Cool in the pan over a wire rack for 5 minutes, then carefully unmold, transfer to the rack and serve warm or at room temperature.

* homemade buttermilk: to make 1 cup buttermilk place 1 tablespoon lemon juice in a 240ml-capacity measuring cup and complete with whole milk (room temperature). Wait 10 minutes for it to thicken slightly, then use the whole mixture in your recipe

Makes 12

Berry-berry streusel bars and another fan of "The Hunger Games"

My sister, a.k.a. my movie buddy, did not watch The Hunger Games when it was released last year, so I asked her to do it last week so we could watch Catching Fire together. She did and loved it, and then loved the sequel, too, and when I arrived home there was a text message from her on my phone: “can I borrow the books?” :) I can totally relate since last year, after watching the first movie, I got hooked on the books, too and couldn’t put them aside.

As the movie production went ahead, it was a delight to hear that Philip Seymour Hoffman and Jena Malone were attached to the project, and while I wasn’t very sure about Sam Claflin playing Finnick Odair back then all I can say now is <3 <3 <3. :D

I’ll admit I was wrong about these bars, too: I’d ignored them forever because I’d made several different jam bars already. But with no fruits at home other than frozen berries and bananas, no chocolate either – the horror, the horror – and a bag of oats begging to be used I gave in and baked the bars, only to learn how delicious they were and how silly I’d been till then.


Berry-berry streusel bars
slightly adapted from the huge The Bon Appetit Cookbook: Fast Easy Fresh

Crust:
180g rolled oats
1 ½ cups (210g) all purpose flour
1 cup (175g) firmly packed brown sugar
½ teaspoon baking soda
pinch of salt
1 cup (2 sticks/226g) chilled unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

Filling:
125g frozen blueberries, out of the freezer for 30 minutes
125g frozen raspberries, out of the freezer for 30 minutes
2/3 cup raspberry jam (I used half raspberry, half cherry)
5 teaspoons all purpose flour
finely grated zest of 2 large limes

Crust: preheat oven to 190°C/375°F. Butter a 20x30cm (12x8in) baking pan, line it with foil leaving an overhand on two opposite sides, and butter the foil as well.
Combine first 5 ingredients in medium bowl. Add butter; rub with fingertips until mixture resembles coarse meal. Press half of crumb mixture onto bottom of prepared pan. Bake crust until light brown, about 15 minutes. Cool slightly.

Filling: mix blueberries, raspberries, jam, flour and lime zest in bowl. Spread filling over crust. Sprinkle remaining crumb mixture over. Bake until topping is golden, about 35 minutes. Cool in pan. Cut into squares and serve.

Makes 24

Blueberry and coconut cake, female directors, a beautiful movie and a versatile actor

I believe that the movie industry would be a better place if more women stepped behind the camera: there aren’t many female directors out there, which is a shame. Jane Campion wowed the world twenty years ago with one of my all time favorite movies, and I’m forever in her debt for introducing me to Mark Ruffalo *sigh*. :) Nora Ephron added romance to our lives, Vera Farmiga discussed religion, Kathryn Bigelow makes movies many men would like to make, and Lynne Ramsay gave us one of the best movies of 2011 (with certainly the best acting of that year, the glorious Tilda).

A couple of days ago I watched the beautiful After the Wedding and then I could see how fantastic Susanne Bier is (In a Better World is one of the best movies I have seen in the last ten years, maybe fifteen). Never dull or boring, After the Wedding is a delight to watch – it is well written and well played by a very good cast, and what a breath of fresh air it is to watch actors with crooked teeth, facial hair, lines around their eyes – more “human” than most of people from Hollywood. If that still hasn’t convinced you to watch After the Wedding, Mads Mikkelsen *sigh* plays the lead and delivers another great performance, something completely different from Le Chiffre, Hannibal Lecter, Draco or Ivan (the guy is a chameleon, isn’t he?). Oh, and ladies: there are a couple of scenes in which he is shirtless. Just saying. ;)

Now that I have spent all my convincing cards on the movie I don’t have much left to say to convince you to make this cake; I’ll give you this: it is super tender, it is delicious, and coconut and blueberry are great together – I hope that is enough. :D

Blueberry and coconut cake
slightly adapted from one of my favorite cookbooks (I bought mine here)

200g all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
pinch of salt
1 cup (2 sticks/226g) unsalted butter, softened
1 cup (200g) granulated sugar
4 large eggs
finely grated zest of 1 lemon
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
¼ cup (25g) sweetened flaked coconut
150g blueberries, fresh or frozen (unthawed), dusted with 1 heaping teaspoon all purpose flour
icing sugar, for dusting

Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F. Lightly butter a 20x7cm (8x2.8in) cake pan, line the bottom with a circle of baking paper and butter the paper as well.
In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
With an electric mixer, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition and scraping the sides of the bowl. Beat in the lemon zest and vanilla. On low speed, beat in the dry ingredients and coconut and mix just until incorporated. Fold in the blueberries.
Transfer the batter to the prepared pan and smooth the top. Bake for about 45 minutes or until risen and golden and a skewer inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool completely in the pan over a wire rack. Carefully unmold, remove the paper, then turn the cake onto a serving plate. Sift with icing sugar to serve.

Serves 8-10

Blackberry and almond upside down cake + a memory from long ago

The first upside down cake I ever saw was a pineapple one made by Ofelia on TV – I believe it’s fair to say that she was the Brazilian equivalent to Julia Child and I loved her cooking show when I was younger (11-12 years old, to be more precise). Back then, her show was aired weekday mornings, while I was at school, but my brother would tape it every day for me – you might think he did that out of sheer kindness but in fact he did it because he knew that I would cook and bake all those delicious recipes as soon as I got home. :D

Many years later, when I started blogging, I saw Martha’s gorgeous cranberry upside down cake and fell in love with it, but unfortunately fresh cranberries do not exist here in Brazil. That image got stuck in my head, though, and after that I ended up making upside down cakes with other flavors, but I have to say: this blackberry version, a recipe from DH magazine, is the prettiest and tastiest of them all.

Blackberry and almond upside down cake
slightly adapted from the always amazing Donna Hay Magazine

450g frozen blackberries
1 ¼ cups (250g) granulated sugar, divided use
125g unsalted butter
finely grated zest of 1 lemon
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
200g all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
slightly heaping ¼ teaspoon baking soda
pinch of salt
½ cup (50g) almond meal
2/3 cup (160ml) buttermilk*

Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F. Butter a 20x7cm round cake pan (do not use one with a removable bottom or the juices will escape), line the bottom with a circle of baking paper and butter the paper as well.
Place the blackberries on paper towels and let them thaw slightly while you make the cake batter.
In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream butter, 180g of the sugar and lemon zest until light and fluffy, scraping the sides of the bowl occasionally. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in the vanilla. Add the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, almond meal and buttermilk and beat on low speed just until incorporated. Set aside for a moment.
Cover the bottom of the baking paper with the blackberries and sprinkle with the remaining sugar (70g). Spoon the batter over the berries, then bake for about 50 minutes or until golden and risen and a skewer inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in the pan over a wire rack for about 2 hours or until just warm. Carefully invert the cake onto a serving plate, remove the pan, then the paper.
Serve it on its own or with whipped cream.

* homemade buttermilk: to make 1 cup buttermilk place 1 tablespoon lemon juice in a 240ml-capacity measuring cup and complete with whole milk (room temperature). Wait 10 minutes for it to thicken slightly, then use the whole mixture in your recipe

Serves 8-10

Lemon and blueberry cornmeal cake

Even though I’ve been very focused on my inventory project (two years now, wow) I still love to go around the supermarket aisles to see if there’s anything new I haven’t tried yet – my husband says that if we went grocery shopping at the same time with the same list on our hands he’d be finished in half the time (and he’s right). :D

Weeks ago I discovered a new brand of corn products, a Brazilian one, and those products are made of non-transgenic corn. I found that such a wonderful thing that I couldn’t resist and brought home a bag of corn flour, which was used to make Clarice’s beautiful cake. Since the cake turned out so good, I was inspired to bake again with that corn flour, this time using a recipe that originally called for polenta. The cake turned out delicious and really tender, with the blueberries popping like small bubbles of jam at every bite – I found the cake so good on its own I skipped the icing entirely.

Lemon and blueberry cornmeal cake
slightly adapted from here

225g unsalted butter, very soft
225g granulated sugar
4 large eggs
finely grated zest of 2 large lemons
4 tablespoons lemon juice
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
100g corn flour (not corn starch)
150g all purpose flour
1½ teaspoons baking powder
pinch of salt
200g blueberries, fresh or frozen (unthawed)
icing sugar, for dusting

Preheat oven to 180°C/350°F. Lightly butter a 20x30cm (8x12in) baking pan and line it with baking paper, buttering the paper as well*.
Using an electric mixer, cream butter and sugar light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Scrape the sides of the bowl after each addition. Beat in the lemon zest and vanilla. Fold in the corn flour, all purpose flour, baking powder, salt and lemon juice to make a smooth batter. Carefully fold in half the blueberries. Spoon mixture into the prepared tin and level the surface. Scatter over remaining blueberries.
Bake for about 40minutes or until golden and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Cool completely in the pan over a wire rack. Dust with icing sugar and cut into squares to serve.

* I used a pan with a removable bottom, so I just buttered and floured it – I did not use baking paper to line it

Serves 20

Apple, raspberry and pecan muffin cake + "The Great Australian Bake Off"

After the disappointment with American version of “The Great British Bake Off” I wasn’t sure I would watch “The Great Australian Bake Off”, but when I read that Dan Lepard would be one of the judges I immediately changed my mind: I’m a huge fan of his amazing recipes, each and every one of them I have tried so far turned out delicious. The other judge is Kerry Vincent and the woman is merciless: her sour comments and lack of tact drive the contestants to tears – she’s a crankier version of Paul Hollywood, while Dan is absolutely adorable, much like Mary Berry (I like him even more after watching the episodes).

I had never heard of Kerry Vincent before and kept thinking that Delia Smith could be an excellent judge for the show, but I guess that being Australian is a requirement (I had no idea Lepard was an Aussie). :)
The show is not as good as its British cousin, but it’s way better than the American version – I highly recommend it for those of you baking fanatics (like me). :)

Speaking of Delia, this wonderful cake is an adaptation of a recipe that comes from her latest cookbook, which is packed with superb baked goods and beautiful photos.

Apple, raspberry and pecan muffin cake
slightly adapted from Delia's Cakes (I bought mine here)

275g all purpose flour
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 level tablespoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon table salt
170ml whole milk, room temperature
75g granulated sugar
2 large eggs
110g unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 small Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored and in 1cm dice
100g raspberries, frozen and unthawed
1 heaping tablespoon demerara sugar
75g pecans, roughly chopped
icing sugar, for dusting

Preheat the oven to 190°/375°F. Butter a 20cm (8in) round cake pan with a removable bottom, line the bottom with a circle of baking paper and butter the paper as well.
In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, cinnamon, baking powder and salt. In a large bowl, whisk together the milk, sugar, eggs, butter and vanilla. Sift the dry ingredients over the egg mixture and fold in with a fork – do not overmix; fold in the apples, then transfer the batter to the prepared pan. Sprinkle the batter with the raspberries, then the demerara sugar and finally the pecans.
Bake the cake for about 1 hour, checking after 50 minutes – a skewer inserted in the center should come out clean. Cool in the pan over a wire rack for 30 minutes, then carefully remove the cake from the pan using the removable bottom. When completely cooled, invert the cake onto a place, peel off the paper, then invert it again onto a serving plate. Dust with icing sugar before serving.

Serves 8-10

Vanilla cookie buttons with strawberry icing and being tricked by my memory

I don’t know about you, but sometimes my mind plays tricks on me and I just can’t trust my memory. I was listening to “Never” the other day when my husband asked whose song that was. I told him it was Heart’s and said “remember that band from the 80s formed exclusively by girls?”, but he had no recollection of it. Then I decided to show him the music video, and there was a man playing the drums and another playing the guitar. “I could have sworn there were only girls on this band”, I said, and the hubby stared laughing. :D

Having too many cookbooks can wreck someone’s memory as well – thank heavens for EYB. I set up to make Nancy Baggett’s beautiful cookies – I was thrilled with the idea of a pink icing made without artificial food coloring – but really could not wait 6 hours for the cookie dough to chill (who has that kind of time these days? Not me). Ok, I’d slather the icing onto someone else’s vanilla cookies. As usual, I reached for Martha, but rolling cookie dough was definitely out of the question. I knew I’d seen drop sugar cookies somewhere, but my memory had already been tricked by people with big hair, I could not trust it. :) EYB helped my find John Barricelli’s super easy recipe, which I modified slightly for I did not want the cookies to spread – it turned out perfect.

Vanilla cookie buttons with strawberry icing
adapted from two great sources: The SoNo Baking Company Cookbook and The All-American Dessert Book

Cookies:
2 cups (280g) all purpose flour
1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
pinch of salt
½ cup (113g/1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
¾ cup + 2 tablespoons (175g) granulated sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 large egg

Icing:
½ cup strawberries
2 cups (280g) icing sugar
1 tablespoon (14g) unsalted butter, very soft but not melted
generous ½ tablespoon corn syrup

Make the cookies: preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F. Line two large baking sheets with baking paper.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt. Using an electric mixer with the paddle attachment, cream butter, sugar and vanilla together until light and creamy. Beat in the egg. At low speed, beat in the dry ingredients just until incorporated. Make balls using 1 ½ teaspoons of dough and place 2.5cm (1in) apart onto prepared sheets. Bake for 10 minutes or until golden on the bottom. Cool on the sheets for 2-3 minutes, then slide the paper with the cookies onto a wire rack to cool completely.

Icing: Sift the icing sugar in a medium bowl. In a food processor, process the strawberries with 2 tablespoons of the icing sugar until puréed. Press the mixture through a fine sieve to extract as much of the strawberry pulp and juice as possible. Add 2 tablespoons of the strawberry pulp to the icing sugar, with the butter and corn syrup and mix to combine. Gradually add more strawberry pulp, mixing until desired consistency.
Dip the top of the cookies into the icing and place them onto a wire rack for the icing to set, about 2 hours – there might be some icing left.

Makes about 70

Patchwork strawberry & apple pie

As if being a cookbook junkie wasn’t enough, I’m hooked on food magazines as well – Donna Hay, Gourmet Traveller and Delicious Australia are my favorites, but there are others I adore, too, and use very often. BBC Good Food always comes with delicious recipes from people like Mary Berry and James Martin, and the photos are beautiful (I highly recommend a visit to the magazine’s website).

Months ago, a strawberry and gooseberry pie was published, and the patchwork topping looked gorgeous – it reminded me of the strawberry and rose hazelnut tart I made years ago. Because gooseberries are impossible to find here in Brazil I replaced them with something equally tart and flavorsome, a Granny Smith apple – the result was truly great.

Patchwork strawberry & apple pie
adapted from the delicious Good Food mag

Pastry:
1 large egg, at room temperature, separated
225g unsalted butter, soft but not greasy
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
¼ cup (50g) granulated sugar
¼ teaspoon table salt
350g all purpose flour

Filling:
400g ripe strawberries, halved, or quartered if large
75g granulated sugar
1 large Granny Smith apple, peeled, cored and finely diced
pinch of ground cinnamon
3 tablespoons semolina or ground almonds

Pastry: put the egg yolk, butter, vanilla, sugar and salt in a food processor, and pulse until creamy and soft. Add the flour and pulse until the mixture comes together in clumps – don’t overwork it. Tip onto a lightly floured surface and squish the dough together. Split into 2 pieces, one slightly larger than the other, then shape into rectangles. Wrap in cling film and chill for 2 hours.

Meanwhile, make the filling: put the strawberries and sugar in a wide pan and cook for 5 minutes or until syrupy. Drain in a colander over a bowl and leave to cool completely (reserve the syrup to be served with the pie later on).

Lightly butter a 35x10cm (14x4in) tart pan with a removable bottom and line it with the larger piece of pastry. Prick the base several times with a fork, then freeze for 40 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 200°C/400°F and place a baking sheet in the oven. Line the pastry with foil and fill with baking beans. Bake on top of the baking sheet for 15 minutes. Remove the foil and beans, and bake for a further 10 minutes or until the bottom of the pastry is golden and feels sandy. Roll the second pastry disc to roughly the size of the tart and cut into 4cm squares. Refrigerate for 5 minutes.
Scatter the semolina or almonds over the pastry base (this will help to prevent a soggy bottom). Add the apple and cinnamon to the drained berries, mix to combine, then place on top of the semolina/ground almonds. Space the pastry squares over the tart, brush with the egg white. Wrap only the edge of the pie with a collar of foil to protect it from overcooking (I didn’t do that), then bake for 30 minutes or until golden and crisp. Serve warm with thick cream and the fruity pink syrup in a jug for pouring.

Serves 6-8

Pistachio doughnuts with rose water glaze

I adore fried food, but living in an apartment I rarely feel like frying things – I try to avoid having the whole house smelling like the dinner we’d just had. Up until a couple of months ago fries had been the exception because both the hubby and I love them, but after trying Annabel’s recipe for oven fries the problem was solved – Joao told me they were even tastier than the original fried version.

I did, however, had another exception days ago when I made Gourmet Traveller’s pistachio doughnuts – I’d been meaning to make them forever. The doughnuts turned out really good and being cake doughnuts (no yeast involved) it didn’t take me too long to make them from start to finish. The problem was the rose water glaze: disappointing and too sweet, it tasted of nothing but icing sugar even after I squeezed half a lemon in it. The raspberry syrup, prior to the addition of the icing sugar, was really delicious, so I suggest you make it up to that point and dunk your doughnuts in it. Another suggestion: after photographing and eating the first doughnuts, I fried the remaining batter like small churros (instead of piping it into rings) and liked them even more: they were easier to move around in the frying pan and turned out crispier on the outside.

Pistachio doughnuts with rose water glaze
slightly adapted from the always gorgeous Australian Gourmet Traveller

Doughnuts:
75g pistachio kernels
2 ¼ cups (315g) all purpose flour
½ cup (100g) granulated sugar
3 teaspoons baking powder
finely grated zest of 1 orange
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
pinch of salt
1 cup (240ml) whole milk
¼ cup (56g) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1 egg, lightly beaten
vegetable oil, for deep frying

Rose water glaze:
½ cup (100g) granulated sugar
10 raspberries, fresh or frozen (unthawed)
1 ½ cups (210g) icing sugar, sifted
3 teaspoons rose water, or to taste

Process pistachios in a food processor until finely ground, transfer to a large bowl, add flour, sugar, baking powder, orange zest, vanilla extract and salt. Stir to combine, make a well in the centre, then add milk, butter and egg. Mix until smooth, transfer to a piping bag fitted with a 2cm-fluted nozzle, refrigerate to rest for 1 hour.
For rosewater glaze, combine sugar and 50ml water in a small saucepan, stir over medium-high heat until sugar dissolves, add raspberries, crush them with the back of a wooden spoon, then simmer until syrupy (2-3 minutes). Strain into a heatproof bowl (discard pulp), add icing sugar, whisk until smooth, then whisk in rose water and set aside (thin with a little water to drizzling consistency if necessary.)
Preheat oil in a deep-fryer or deep-sided saucepan to 180°C/350°F. Pipe 8cm-diameter rings onto squares of lightly oiled baking paper. Slide rings, in batches, into oil and cook, turning occasionally, until puffed, golden and cooked through (3-4 minutes; be careful as hot oil may spit). Drain on absorbent paper, then, while still warm, drizzle with rose water glaze and place on a cooling rack until glaze sets. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Makes 18-20

Apple and blueberry crumble cake + a movie that could be about my own life

My dear friend Valentina introduced me to Nigel Slater years ago and I instantly became a fan: his simple way of cooking produces absolutely delicious food and he does it in a way that anyone watching him feel they can do it, too – to me, it’s like watching Nigella around the kitchen: it’s never intimidating. They have similar names and similar styles, and they both call themselves cooks, not chefs.

Months ago I watched “Toast”, which is based upon Nigel Slater’s memoirs, and I believe I’d never cried and laughed so hard before while watching a movie. The cast is divine: Helena Bonham Carter is every bit talented as she is crazy, and the once little and adorable Freddie Highmore has become a fine young actor. There were moments in the movie that I felt like I was watching a movie about my own life, so many similarities... It was pretty intense, yet I felt light after watching it – empty Kleenex boxes aside. :)

Every time someone finds out I have a food blog they ask me if I have watched “Julie & Julia” (I have) - that seems to be the ultimate foodie movie out there (maybe it’s the Meryl Streep effect). However, I can relate a lot more to “Toast” since, like Nigel, I grew up without a mother, with a father that couldn’t care less and an evil stepmother – the difference is that his mother could barely boil an egg while my mother was an excellent cook. :)

This moist and delicious cake is an adaptation of a recipe from Nigel Slater’s book on fruit, the gorgeous “Tender II”: it is one of the very best cookbooks I own.

Apple and blueberry crumble cake
slightly adapted from the marvelous “Tender II” (I bought mine here)

Crumble:
50g unsalted butter, cold and diced
50g all purpose flour
60g granulated sugar
2 heaping tablespoons rolled oats
1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Cake:
1 large Granny Smith apple, peeled and cored
juice of ½ lemon
150g unsalted butter, softened
75g granulated sugar
75g light brown sugar
3 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
85g all purpose flour
1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
pinch of salt
100g almond meal
120g blueberries, fresh or frozen (unthawed)


Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F. Lightly butter a 22.5x12.5cm (9x5in) loaf pan, line it with baking paper leaving an overhang on the two opposite long sides and butter the paper as well.
Make the crumble: in a small bowl, rub together the butter and flour with your fingertips until the mixture resembles coarse breadcrumbs. Stir in the sugar, oats and cinnamon. Refrigerate until needed.

Cake: thinly slice the apple and place in a medium bowl. Drizzle with the lemon juice to stop the apple slices from turning brown. In the large bowl of an electric mixer, cream together the butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, scraping the sides of the bowl after each addition. Beat in the vanilla. Sift the flour, baking powder and salt over the mixture and fold in. Fold in the almond meal. Pour into the prepared pan and smooth the surface. Arrange the apple slices and the blueberries on top of the batter, and push some of the fruit down onto the batter. Sprinkle with the crumble and bake for about 1 hour or until golden and a skewer inserted in the center of the cake comes out slightly moist. Cool completely in the pan over a wire rack. Carefully remove the cake from the pan using the baking paper as aid.

Serves 6-8

Dark chocolate and raspberry brownie tarts

I love brownies and make them quite often, so when I saw these little beauties on one of my Donna Hay magazines I had to make them: raspberries are naturally tart and taste wonderful with chocolate, not to mention that the brownies looked adorable shaped as tartlets. The recipe is really easy to prepare and if you're having people over I am sure these tartlets would impress your guests; I also think they would be a nice idea for dessert on Valentine's Day (here in Brazil it is celebrated next week on the 12th). ;)

Dark chocolate and raspberry brownie tarts
from the always gorgeous and super delicious Donna Hay Magazine

200g dark chocolate (70% cocoa solids), chopped – I used one with 53% cocoa solids
¼ cup (56g) unsalted butter, room temperature
½ cup (88g) brown sugar, packed
¼ cup (60ml) heavy cream
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 eggs
¼ cup (35g) all purpose flour
pinch of salt
¾ cup raspberries – I used frozen, unthawed

Preheat oven to 160°C/320°F. Lightly butter four 10cm-round springform cake pans, line the bottom with baking paper and butter the paper as well.
Place chocolate, butter, sugar and cream in a medium saucepan over low heat. Stir until melted and smooth. Add the vanilla, then cool for 5 minutes.
Place the eggs , flour and salt in a bowl and whisk until well combined. Whisk in the chocolate mixture until combined. Pour into the prepared pans and top with the raspberries. Bake for 35-40 minutes or until cooked when tested with a skewer.

Makes 4 – I made the exact recipe above, used 10cm tartlet pans and got 5 tarts (since the pans are nonstick, I just brushed them lightly with butter and did not use baking paper)

Banana and blueberry muffins

Every time I have a surplus of ripe bananas at home and I can't find a way of using them immediately I place them in the freezer - they last long there and can be used in most baking recipes after being thawed. However, when there is only one frozen banana to be used things get a bit more complicated, since most recipes call for 2-3 bananas, or even more (that was when I had to drop the idea of making Rose's banana cake with white chocolate frosting). These muffins were the solution I needed: the recipe called for only 1 large banana (exactly what I had at hand) and the blueberries make them even more interesting, delicious and nutritious.

Banana and blueberry muffins
slightly adapted from here

225g all purpose flour
1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
pinch of salt
½ cup (100g) granulated sugar
1 large ripe banana, peeled and mashed
1/3 cup (80ml) canola oil
2/3 cup (160ml) whole milk
1 egg
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup blueberries, fresh or frozen (unthawed), tossed with 1 teaspoon all purpose flour

Preheat oven to 400°F/200°C. Line a 12-cup muffin pan – 1/3-cup capacity cavities – with paper cases.
Sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt into a large mixing bowl. Add sugar and mix well. In a small bowl, whisk together with a fork the banana, oil, milk, egg and vanilla. Pour into the dry ingredients and stir with a fork until just combined. Don't over-mix. Fold in the blueberries.
Fill each paper liner ¾ full and bake for about 20 minutes or until golden and cooked through (test with a toothpick).

Makes 12

Spiced blueberry rolls + some comedy after the drama

After watching several drama shows in a row a girl needs something to make her laugh, right? I have found the perfect way to do that by watching “Parks and Recreation”: I haven’t finished the first season yet but I’m completely hooked! Amy Poehler is absolutely hilarious – I start laughing just by looking at her – and the other actors are great, too, my favorites being Nick Offerman and Aziz Ansari. There are days when there’s nothing better than sitting down with something freshly baked – liked these delicious blueberry rolls – to watch “Parks and Recreation”; one just has to be careful not to choke – eating and laughing at the same time can be really dangerous, and I speak from experience. :D

Spiced blueberry rolls
slightly adapted from one of the most beautiful and delicious cookbooks I own

Dough:
225ml whole milk
75g unsalted butter
300g all purpose flour
125g whole wheat flour
70g granulated sugar
finely grated zest of 1 lemon
pinch of salt
2 ½ teaspoons dried yeast
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Filling:
75g unsalted butter, softened
75g granulated sugar + about 2 teaspoons extra, for sprinkling over the rolls
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
200g fresh or frozen (unthawed) blueberries

Dough: in a small saucepan, heat milk and butter together until milk almost boils and butter melts almost completely. Cool to lukewarm.
In the large bowl of an electric mixer, combine the flours, sugar, zest, salt and yeast. Make a well in the center, add the egg, vanilla and the milk mixture and, using the dough hook, mix in medium-low speed until a smooth dough forms, about 5 minutes. Transfer to a lightly buttered large bowl, cover with plastic wrap and prove for about 1 hour.
Filling: with an electric mixer, cream butter, sugar and cinnamon together until smooth. Set aside.
Lightly butter a 20x30cm (12x8in) baking pan. Roll out the dough on a lightly floured surface until you get a 30x50cm (12x20in) rectangle. Spread the filling evenly over the dough then sprinkle with the blueberries. Roll it like a cylinder, beginning with the longer side. Cut into 8 slices then arrange them about 2.5cm (1in) apart onto the prepared pan. Cover with a clean kitchen towel and leave to prove for about 1 ½ hours (if you’re using frozen berries prove your rolls for 2 hours); in the meantime, preheat the oven to 190°C/375°F.
Sprinkle the rolls with the extra granulated sugar and bake for about 20 minutes or until risen and golden brown.

Makes 8

Blueberry crumb muffins

I was reading the trivias on IMDb – which is something I love doing – when I got to the trivia for “A Simple Plan” – which is a movie I deeply adore – and read the following: “Between 1994 and 1996, Ben Stiller was set to direct this film with Nicolas Cage to star”; a couple of minutes of shock later I thought of what a wonderful idea it was to replace both gentlemen, and what a dreadful movie “A Simple Plan” would have been on the hands of those two.

And speaking of wonderful ideas, adding a streusel topping to blueberry muffins is definitely one of them. :)

Blueberry crumb muffins
slightly adapted from the absolutely gorgeous and delicious Sarabeth's Bakery: From My Hands to Yours

Streusel topping:
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
½ cup (50g) almond meal
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
1 tablespoon light brown sugar, packed
pinch of ground cinnamon
pinch of salt
2 ½ tablespoons (35g) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
¼ teaspoon vanilla extract

Muffins:
1/3 cup (80ml) canola oil
¼ cup (60ml) whole milk
finely grated zest + juice of ½ large lemon
1 large egg, room temperature
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup + 2 tablespoons (160g) all purpose flour
½ cup (88g) light brown sugar, packed
½ tablespoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
¾ cup (100g) blueberries, fresh or frozen – I used fresh
1 tablespoon all purpose flour, extra, for dusting the berries

Position a rack in the center of the oven; preheat to 200°C/400°. Generously butter 8 cavities of a 12-hole muffin pan – 1/3 cup (80ml) capacity each.
Make the streusel: combine all the ingredients in a small bowl, mixing with a fork until crumbs form. Refrigerate while you make the batter.
In a small bowl, whisk together the oil, milk, lemon zest and juice, egg and vanilla.
In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, brown sugar, baking powder, and salt. Make a well in the center and add the liquids. Stir with a just until combined; do not overmix. Lightly dust the berries with the extra flour, then fold them into the batter. Divide the batter among the prepared muffins pans and generously sprinkle with the streusel, lightly packing it with your hands so the crumbs adhere to the batter. Fill the empty cavities halfway up with water.
Bake for 10 minutes; decrease oven temperature to 190°C/375°F and continue baking until the tops of the muffins are golden brown and a cake tester comes out clean, about 15 minutes more.
Cool in pan on wire rack for 10 minutes; carefully remove muffins from pan to wire rack and cool completely.

Makes 8

Apple, berry, almond and chocolate crumble

Since almonds, berries and apple worked so beautifully in tart form, I could not wait to try this crumble: all those flavors combined without the need of making pastry – not that I don’t like making pastry, I actually enjoying it very much, but when the need for something sweet is urgent there’s no time for chilling pastry. :D

I was also very intrigued by the addition of chocolate to the crumble topping but have to say I don’t think it was a nice idea here: if you want to see it for yourself go ahead and try it, but when I make this crumble again it will be sans chocolate – and with more almonds to boot.

Apple, berry, almond and chocolate crumble
from the always glorious Delicious - Australia

1kg Granny Smith apples (about 5)
1 tablespoon lemon juice
200g frozen mixed berries
100g brown sugar
½ teaspoon ground ginger
200g marzipan, chopped – I used homemade
custard or ice cream to serve

Almond crumble:
200g unsalted butter, cold and chopped
250g all purpose flour
50g brown sugar
pinch of salt
1/3 cup almonds, chopped
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
75g dark chocolate, chips or chunks

Preheat the oven to 200°C/400°F. For the crumble, place the butter and flour in a large bowl and rub together with your fingertips to form coarse crumbs. Using a fork, gently stir in the sugar, salt, almonds, cinnamon and chocolate. Set aside.
Peel and roughly chop the apples, then place in an 8-cup capacity ovenproof dish. Toss with lemon juice, then carefully stir in berries, sugar and ginger. Dot with marzipan then top with the crumble.
Place the dish on a baking tray and bake for 45 minutes until the topping is golden and the fruit is tender. Stand for five minutes, then spoon into bowls and serve with custard or ice cream.

Serves 6-8

Coconut and raspberry cakes

I love baking with coconut - it's an ingredient I always have in my pantry. I had other plans for the coconut used in these adorable little cakes, but when I saw them on the magazine I could not resist. The cakes tasted great and were super tender, and it was also an opportunity to use the mini Bundt pans I hadn't used in ages; while unmolding the cakes I remembered why: it is always so difficult to remove them from the pans! Luckily the raspberry glaze covered some of the damaged parts, and it was so delicious I want to make it again to serve with vanilla ice cream or panna cotta.

Coconut and raspberry cakes
from Dish

Cakes:
280g unsalted butter, room temperature
280g granulated sugar
5 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
200g all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
1 cup (100g) unsweetened flaked coconut
½ cup (120ml) whole milk, room temperature
finely grated zest of 1 lemon
about 2 ½ cups frozen raspberries

Raspberry glaze:
200g frozen raspberries
200g raspberry jam
½ cup (120ml) water
2 teaspoons icing sugar

Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F. Generously brush eight 200ml capacity mini Bundt pans with melted butter.
In the large bowl of an electric mixer, beat the butter and sugar together until light and creamy. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, followed by the vanilla. Scrape the sides of the bowl. Sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt over the mixture, add the coconut and fold the ingredients in along with the milk and lemon zest.
Fill the cake pans halfway full. Top with 5 raspberries, then spoon over the remaining batter. Top with 4 raspberries. Bake the cakes for about 30 minutes or until risen and golden and a skewer inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool over a wire rack for 15 minutes then carefully unmold onto the rack. Cool completely.
Make the glaze: put the raspberries, jam and water in a small saucepan over medium heat and stir to combine. Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for 10-15 minutes, stirring often, until the mixture is thick and reduced. Remove from the heat and tip into a fine sieve over a medium bowl, using the back of the spoon to press the mixture until only the seeds remain in the sieve. Discard the solids. Add the icing sugar to the glaze, mix to combine, let cool then refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.
Spoon the glaze over the cakes and serve.

Makes 8 – I halved the cake recipe above, used 1-cup capacity mini Bundt pans and got 4 cakes; ¼ of the glaze recipe was enough to glaze all the 4 cakes

Marzipan and berry muffins with amazingly good homemade marzipan

Certain things to me are revelations, and Paul Hollywood’s fabulous homemade marzipan was one: when I was little every time my German grandmother came to visit she would bring small boxes of marzipan – she loved the stuff. Soon I began loving marzipan, too, and that was pretty much the only good thing about grandma’s visits (let’s just say she wasn’t a pleasant person to be around).

Grandma Frida stopped visiting after my mom died, and then a few years later she was gone, too, and that was the end of my marzipan-flavored days. As a grown-up I began searching for that delicious marzipan, the one I ate as a kid, and to my disappointment the versions I found tasted nothing like it – they were poorly made artificial versions of the almond paste and tasted of anything but almonds.
Last week, though, flipping through my newest purchase, I found a recipe for marzipan that seemed easy; since I had all the ingredients at home I gave it a go immediately, and the result was a thick, luscious marzipan, with an amazing texture and equally fantastic flavor, so good I had to hide it in my fridge otherwise I could have easily eaten a pound of it in one seating.

The combination of raspberries, strawberries and marzipan involved by a very tender and almond-y batter is what makes these muffins the best I’ve ever made; I would love to tell you how addictively flavorsome the warm marzipan bits tasted inside the muffins, but I’ll stop before I drool over my keyboard. :)

Marzipan and berry muffins
slightly adapted from the gorgeous Delicious - Australia

¾ cup + 1 tablespoon (185g) unsalted butter, softened
¾ cup + 2 ½ tablespoons (180g) granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
¾ cup (105g) all purpose flour, sifted
1 ½ cups (150g) almond meal
pinch of salt
100g marzipan, chopped into small cubes – I used homemade, recipe follows
100g fresh strawberries, chopped into small cubes
100g frozen raspberries, unthawed
icing sugar, to serve

Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F. Line a 12-hole muffin pan (each cavity holds 1/3 cup batter) with paper cases, or generously butter the pan cavities.
Beat butter and sugar in an electric mixer until thick and pale. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in the vanilla. Fold in the flour, almond meal and salt, then fold in the marzipan. Divide the batter among muffin holes.
Scatter the berries over the top (I pushed them a little into the batter) , then bake muffins for 25-30 minutes or until golden and a skewer inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then very gently unmold them. Transfer to a wire rack.
Dust the muffins with icing sugar and before serving – these muffins taste even more amazing while still warm.

Makes 12

Homemade marzipan
from the beautiful and fantastic How to Bake

1 large egg
¼ teaspoon vanilla extract
90g superfine sugar*
1 cup (140g) icing sugar, sifted
220g almond meal
finely grated zest of 1 orange

In a small bowl, lightly beat the egg and vanilla with a fork.
In a large bowl, mix together the superfine sugar, the icing sugar and the almond meal. Add the zest and the egg mixture and combine first with a wooden spoon, then with your hands. Knead the marzipan until smooth. Form into a ball, wrap well in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 3 hours or overnight.
Marzipan can be kept well wrapped in the refrigerator for up to 1 month.

*I always use granulated sugar in my recipes, but I did not want a grainy texture in the marzipan, therefore I blitzed the sugar in the food processor before using it

Makes 500g

Red currant financiers + The Smiths

As you know I wasn’t familiar with most of the cast of the wonderful “Animal Kingdom”, so as soon as the movie ended I went to IMDb for some information and that was how I found out that one of James Frecheville’s next projects is a movie about the demise of my #1 band – I found the synopsis really interesting and the title chosen for the movie absolutely perfect (it is one of my most favorite songs, too).

After the London Olympics Closing Ceremony ended, I was talking to a couple of friends about how I thought The Smiths should have been mentioned during the show being one of the most important British bands in History, and we wondered if that had been a decision made by the people in charge of the ceremony because of the band’s political criticism or if Morrissey hadn’t allowed the songs to be used – both scenarios make a lot of sense, I think. :)

***

I find red currants one of the most beautiful things Nature has to offer when it comes to fruit: they look like gems. The first time I saw fresh red currants was years ago at the Borough Market – I had never seen them here in Brazil before. What a lovely surprise it was to find some at a grocery store a couple of weeks ago – I ignored the price and brought home a small box of the precious berries, turning some of them into these delicate financiers.

Red currant financiers
adapted from the wonderful Simply Bill

2/3 cup (67g) almond meal
¾ cup (105g) icing sugar, plus extra for dusting
1/3 cup (47g) all purpose flour
pinch of salt
4 egg whites (112g)
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
1/3 cup (75g) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
about 70g fresh red currants

Butter and flour eighteen 2-tablespoon capacity financier molds.
In a medium bowl, sift together the almond meal, icing sugar, flour and salt. Stir in the egg whites and vanilla until just combined. Stir in the melted butter. Refrigerate the batter for 30 minutes – in the meantime, preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F.
Divide the batter evenly among the pans. Arrange the red currants on top of each financier.
Bake for 12-15 minutes or until risen and golden - the friands should spring back when touched. Remove from the oven and leave in the pans over a wire rack for 5 minutes, then carefully unmold onto the rack to cool.
Dust with icing sugar before serving.

Makes 18

Blueberry almond tart + Michael Shannon

I will always remember the 2012 Academy Awards as the year in which the people who should have won the statues weren’t even nominated: as happened to Tilda and Lynne Ramsay, Michael Shannon had, to me, the most striking performance as an actor last year but was forgotten by the Academy. I’ll also keep in mind that the people responsible for the nominations chose Jessica Chastain as a contestant for Best Actress in a Supporting Role – which is perfect – but signed her in with the wrong movie; I wonder if the person reading the instructions got confused, Jack Palance style. :D

I find subtlety to be an essential quality for an actor, and Michael Shannon has tons of it – I feel that his Curtis would have become a walking cliché in the hands of a less talented actor. Shannon had impressed me before in rather short but powerful performances, and after watching the absolutely amazing “Take Shelter” I have become officially a fan: I am pretty sure he’ll nail the part of General Zod, making the always great Terence Stamp proud, and there are two other movies on their way that sound really interesting, one of them reuniting Shannon and Jeff Nichols – I’ll be watching those, you bet. And if you, like me, find that Shannon’s bony, squared face gives him a sort of intimidating look, you should know that he can be oh, so adorable and funny. :)

***
This tart, though not as simple as making a cake, is worth every second of preparation: the almond filling is luscious and moreish, while the berries, after baked, taste like little bubbles of jam exploding in one’s mouth. Oh, so good.

Blueberry almond tart
slightly adapted from the very, very delicious and beautiful Good Things to Eat (mine was bought here)

Pastry:
1 cup (140g) all purpose flour
¼ cup (35g) icing sugar, sifted if lumpy
pinch of salt
1/3 cup + ½ tablespoon (83g) cold unsalted butter, in cubes
1 egg
1 teaspoon ice water
¼ teaspoon vanilla extract

Filling:
½ cup (113g/1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
½ cup + 1 tablespoon (112g) granulated sugar
1 large egg
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
1 ¼ cups (125g) almond meal
½ tablespoon all purpose flour
pinch of salt
125g blueberries
icing sugar, for dusting

Pastry: place the flour, icing sugar and salt in the bowl of a food processor and blitz to combine. Add the butter and pulse a few times until mixture resembled coarse breadcrumbs. Break the egg into a small bowl, add the water and vanilla and lightly whisk with a fork. With the motor running, gradually add the egg mixture and process just until a dough starts to form (you won’t probably use the whole egg mixture). Transfer to a lightly floured surface, form into a disk and wrap in plastic. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour (can be frozen for a month with a double layer of foil on top of the plastic wrap).

Lightly butter a 30x10cm (12x4in) tart pan with a removable bottom. Roll the pastry into a 35x15cm (14x6in) rectangle. Line the pan with the pastry, removing the excess pastry. Prick the pastry all over with a fork and freeze for 30 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 190°C/375°F and place a large baking sheet in it. Line the base and sides of the pastry case with a piece of baking paper and fill with dried beans/baking weights. Bake for about 10 minutes or until the sides have set. Carefully remove the beans and the paper, reduce the oven to 180°C/350°F, then bake the pastry until dry in the bottom and is starting to turn pale golden brown. Remove from the oven and leave it on. Cool the pastry for 10 minutes.
Make the filling: in the large bowl of an electric mixer, beat butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Beat in the egg, and then scrape the sides of the bowl. Beat in the vanilla extract, almond meal, all purpose flour and salt.
Sprinkle a third of the blueberries on the bottom of the pastry shell. Cover with the almond filling, then sprinkle the rest of the berries on top. Bake until the filling is set and golden brown, about 40 minutes.
Dust with icing sugar to serve and serve warm or at room temperature.

Serves 6-8