Almond madeleines with limoncello glaze

It’s no secret I adore the Internet and to the list of great things that can be done with it I’ll add planning trips – flights, hotels, restaurant reservations, everything can be done with the computer, not to mention the travel blogs out there and their precious information about the places around the world – my dear friend Tania’s blog was a fantastic source when I was planning my trip to New York, a must-read for a foodie like me.
The hubby and I have plans to go to Paris again sometime in the future and when we do I know exactly where to go for posts not only about the City of Light but also about other destinations in Europe: my lovely and dearest friend Tina’s blog. Too bad it’s just for those who read Portuguese because she’s an amazing writer and her posts are a delight even if you’re not planning any trips.

Speaking of Paris and Europe I bring you today these madeleines: a very French treat with a delicious Italian touch provided by the limoncello.

Almond madeleines with limoncello glaze
adapted from Martha’s lemon madeleines

Madeleines:
50g all purpose flour
½ cup (50g) almond meal
2 large eggs
pinch of salt
80g granulated sugar
¼ teaspoon almond extract (optional)
¼ teaspoon vanilla extract
75g unsalted butter, melted

Glaze:
¾ cup (105g) confectioners’ sugar
½ tablespoon limoncello, or more to taste – I used homemade
about 1 teaspoon water, if necessary

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour and almond meal, removing any lumps. Set aside.
In a large bowl, whisk the eggs and the salt until frothy, then whisk in the sugar. Whisk in the extracts followed by the flour mixture. Fold in the butter. Cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours or up to overnight.
Preheat the oven to 190°C/375°F. Brush twenty-four 1-tablespoon capacity madeleines molds with melted butter and refrigerate for 5 minutes. Fill each mold ¾ of its capacity and bake for 8-10 minutes or until risen, golden and springy to touch. Remove from the oven and immediately unmold onto a wire rack. Cool completely.
Glaze: sift the confectioners’ sugar in a small bowl. Gradually add the limoncello, stirring until you have a drizzable consistency – add more limoncello or the water if necessary. Drizzle over the cooled madeleines and set aside until glaze hardens, about 15 minutes.

Makes 24

Caipirinha drizzle cake

It’s been a lot of fun following Nigella’s comments about her Brazilian trip: for what she’s written she really had a lovely time around here. Apparently one of Nigella's favorite Brazilian treats was the coxinha, described perfectly by her as a sort of chicken croquette – she’s made coxinhas in her kitchen and posted the recipe on her website – along with the caipirinha, the latter being something I can totally relate. :D

Since too many caipirinhas can cause some damage having them in cake form is a good idea – here, I’ve adapted Lily Vanily’s margarita drizzle cake and the result pleased everyone.

Caipirinha drizzle cake
adapted from the delicious Lily Vanilli's Sweet Tooth: Recipes and Tips from a Modern Artisan Bakery (I bought mine here)

Cake:
225g all purpose flour
½ tablespoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon table salt
60g unsalted butter, room temperature
¾ cup (150g) granulated sugar
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
finely grated zest of 2 limes
2 large eggs
150ml whole milk, room temperature

Syrup:
¼ cup (60ml) water
90g granulated sugar
¼ cup (60ml) cachaça
¼ cup (60ml) lime juice

Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F. Butter a 20cm (8in) round cake pan, line the bottom with baking paper and butter the paper as well.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt.
In the large bowl of an electric mixer, cream butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Beat in the vanilla followed by the lime zest briefly. Add the eggs, one at a time, and scrape the sides of the bowl. In low speed, beat in half of the dry ingredients, then the milk, then the remaining dry ingredients. Scrape the sides of the bowl then beat all together for 1 minute.
Transfer the batter to the prepared pan and smooth the top. Bake for 30-40 minutes or until golden and risen and a skewer inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean. Cool in the pan over a wire rack for 20 minutes, then carefully unmold, remove the paper and place it top side up onto the rack.
During those 20 minutes, make the syrup: heat water, sugar, half the cachaça and lime juice in a small saucepan over high heat, stirring constantly, for about 6 minutes, or until you get a thickened syrup that is starting to color. Remove from the heat, add the remaining cachaça, then boil for 1 minute. Remove from the heat and cool for 5 minutes.
Prick the cake all over with a toothpick than generously brush it all over with the syrup. Cool completely before serving.

Serves 8

Marmalade muffins + moments of stress in the kitchen

I was talking to my father about my mother the other day and I remembered something she used to do when my brother and I were little: every time she made a cake she would let us lick the bowl, which was something we both enjoyed very much (I might have told you that already but I’m not sure – 936 posts will do that do one’s mind). :) She was a fabulous baker and baked very often, not only because she loved it but also because she wanted my father and I to have something tasty in our lunch boxes.

Licking the bowl is a sport I still practice – in fact, I’ll gladly try most doughs and batters before actually baking them. What I did not expect was that this habit would actually save me a great amount of stress after a baking session: Sunday morning and I set out to make muffins. I chose Delia Smith’s marmalade muffins because I love anything marmalade and wanted to give that beautiful book a try. The batter was ready in no time and soon the muffins were in the oven. While they baked, I started making the bed and all of a sudden it hit me: I hadn’t added any sugar to the batter!!! O_O I ran back to the kitchen, grabbed the recipe and read it again – no, there was no sugar in it. It wasn’t my mistake. Then I remembered how good the batter tasted and felt instantly relieved: the marmalade alone would be enough to sweeten the muffins. Phew.

These muffins are not too sweet – obviously :) – and the marmalade topping make them even tastier. I’m a sucker for marmalade but I believe these could work with other preserves, too – apricot comes to mind, or maybe raspberry paired with lemon zest.

Marmalade muffins
slightly adapted from the master Delia Smith (mine was bought here)

225g chunky orange marmalade
1 cup + 1 tablespoon (150g) all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
pinch of salt
finely grated zest and juice of 1 large orange
whole milk, if necessary
1 heaping tablespoon almond meal
1 large egg
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
50g unsalted butter, melted and slightly cooled

To finish the muffins:
2 heaping tablespoons orange marmalade

Preheat the oven to 200°C/400°F. Line a 1/3-cup capacity muffin pan with 9 paper liners and fill the remaining cavities halfway up with water.
Place the marmalade in a small bowl and give it a good stir to loosen it up. In a large bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder and salt. Zest and juice the orange, then measure the juice – you’ll need ½ cup (120ml); if you don’t have enough juice, make it up with some milk.
In a small bowl, whisk together the zest and juice (and milk, if using), almond meal, egg, vanilla and melted butter. Pour these ingredients into the flour mixture and lightly whisk with a fork – do not overmix or your muffins will be tough. Fold in the marmalade. Divide the batter between the muffin liners and bake for 18-20 minutes or until risen and golden and a skewer inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in the pan over a wire rack for 5 minutes, then carefully unmold onto the rack and cool. You can serve these muffins warm or at room temperature – before serving, spread the extra marmalade on top of each muffin.

Makes 9

Stracciatella snickerdoodles

Last weekend, as I was baking these cookies and their wonderful smell took over my apartment, I thought that they deserved a fun name – I wasn’t a fan of the original (car-co-doodles), plus it would mean nothing to my Brazilian readers. The freckled dough in the bowl looked like the milk chocolate stracciatella ice cream I made a while ago and that was when I decided to call the cookies stracciatella snickerdoodles. “That name will surely make my readers curious about these cookies”, I thought, and that would maybe convince you to bake them. However, when I took a bite out of a cookie still warm from the oven I knew the convincing would be a lot easier: I would just have to tell you about the delicious, gooey melted chocolate bits dispersed in a cinnamon scented cookie. ;)

Stracciatella snickerdoodles
slightly adapted from the beautiful and delicious More from Macrina: New Favorites from Seattle's Popular Neighborhood Bakery

1 1/3 cups (175g) unbleached all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon cream of tartar
½ teaspoon baking soda
1/8 teaspoon table salt
85g (3oz) dark chocolate, chopped – I used chips and roughly chopped them before using
½ cup (113g/1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup (175g) packed light brown sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 large egg, room temperature
1/3 cup (67g) granulated sugar
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon

Whisk together the flour, cream of tartar, baking soda and salt in a medium bowl. Whisk in the chocolate pieces and set aside.
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment cream the butter and brown sugar until light and creamy. Scrape down the bowl as needed. Add the vanilla and then the egg, mixing on low speed until fully incorporated. Scrape the bowl and add the dry ingredients, mixing until they are just incorporated.
Transfer the dough to a bowl, cover and refrigerate for 2 hours.
Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 165°C/325°F. Line 2 large baking sheets with baking paper.
In a small bowl mix together the sugar and cinnamon.
Let the cookie dough warm at room temperature for 20 minutes. Roll 1 leveled tablespoon of dough into balls and roll them in the cinnamon-sugar. Place 5cm (2in) apart onto prepared sheets. Slightly flatten the cookies and then bake for about 15 minutes until light golden brown. Cool on the sheets for 10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Store baked cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 4 days.

Makes about 45 cookies

Lamington bars - lamingtons for the lazy

People often tell me that they admire me for cooking and baking so frequently, and I reply that preparing food really makes me happy. However, I do have some lazy moments, too, of course, and these bars are proof: I’ve always wanted to make lamingtons but kept postponing it because the thought of baking the cake, cutting it into squares, dipping them in chocolate and rolling in coconut made me tired already – not to mention the versions in which the cake squares are filled! :) It’s a lot of work, and I’m not always up for it. Therefore, Donna Hay’s bars are perfect: they are lamingtons made in half the time, or even less, and they taste great.

Lamington bars
from the über beautiful Donna Hay Magazine

Cake:
125g unsalted butter, softened
¾ cup (150g) granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 eggs
1¼ cups (175g) all-purpose flour
1¼ teaspoons baking powder
pinch of salt
½ cup (120ml) whole milk, room temperature
1 cup (100g) sweetened shredded coconut, for sprinkling over the bars

Chocolate icing:
¾ cup (105g) confectioners’ sugar, sifted
2 tablespoons cocoa powder, sifted
1/3 cup (80ml) boiling water
1 ½ tablespoons (21g) unsalted butter, melted

Preheat oven to 180°C/350°F. Lightly butter a 20x30cm (8x12in) baking pan, line it with foil and butter ht the foil as well.
Cake: beat the butter, sugar and vanilla in an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Gradually add the eggs and beat well, scraping the sides of the bowl occasionally. Sift the flour, baking powder and salt over the mixture and mix until well combined. Stir in the milk. Spoon into the prepared pan and bake for about 30 minutes or until cooked when tested with a skewer – the cake won’t color much. Cool completely in the pan over a wire rack.
Icing: place the icing sugar, cocoa, water and butter in a bowl and whisk to combine.
Cut the cake into squares and carefully pour over icing. Top with coconut.

Makes 20