Hot-cross muffins

These delicious and tender muffins, perfumed with spices and moist from a sugar syrup, are a great way to avoid a chocolate OD during the Easter holiday: they're perfect for breakfast or brunch and are very quick to make, unlike their yeasted cousin.

Hot-cross muffins
from the always mouthwatering Delicious - Australia

Muffins:
135g dried cranberries
1 cup (150g) golden raisins
375g self-rising flour
½ teaspoon baking soda
pinch of salt
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg
2/3 cup (160mll) canola oil
1 cup (250ml) buttermilk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 eggs
1 cup (200g) granulated sugar

Syrup and icing:
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
½ cup (70g) icing sugar
1 teaspoon lemon juice

Preheat oven to 200°C. Line a 12-hole muffin tray with paper cases.
Soak the cranberries and raisins in just enough boiling water to cover for 10 minutes. Drain well, then pat dry with paper towel.
Sift the flour, baking soda, salt and spices into a large bowl. In a separate bowl, whisk together the oil, buttermilk, vanilla, eggs and sugar until combined. Add to the dry ingredients and stir to combine. Gently stir in the fruit. Divide the mixture among muffin cases, then bake for 20-25 minutes until lightly browned and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack for 5 minutes, then carefully remove from the pan and transfer to the rack.
Syrup: place the granulated sugar in a small saucepan with 2 tablespoons water and simmer over low heat, stirring, until sugar dissolves. Brush the glaze over the muffins.
Sift icing sugar into a bowl. Add lemon juice and just enough hot water to make a thick, pipable icing. Use a piping bag or drizzle from a spoon to draw a cross on each muffin. 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 - I halved the recipe above, used 1/3-cup capacity muffin pans and got 9 muffins

Toblerone brownies for Easter

One of the things I remember the most from going to the supermarket with my mom as a kid are Toblerone bars: they were not easy to find and were really expensive back in the early 80s, and for that reason they were a treat we never ate. Things have changed and now I find them everywhere for a couple of R$ only – maybe that is why nowadays I seldom remember they exist. :D However, I did buy a couple of bars last week and they were transformed into really delicious brownies: these are fudgy and moist – as every brownie should be – and the nougat pieces spread throughout the batter make them very special; in my humble opinion these brownies would make a much more interesting Easter gift then regular chocolate eggs.

Toblerone brownies
slightly adapted from the gorgeous and delicious Nigella Kitchen

¾ cup (68g) unsweetened cocoa powder, sifted
1 cup (140g) all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
pinch of salt
10 tablespoons (1 ¼ sticks/140g) unsalted butter
1 ¾ cups (306g) packed light brown sugar
4 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 Toblerone bars, 100g each, chopped – I used one Toblerone milk chocolate and one Toblerone dark chocolate

Preheat the oven to 190°C/375°F; lightly butter a 32.5x22.5cm (13x9in) baking pan, line with foil leaving an overhang in two opposite sites then butter the foil as well*. Whisk together the cocoa powder, flour, baking soda and pinch of salt in a bowl; set aside.
Melt the butter over a gentle heat in a medium-sized saucepan. Add the sugar, stirring with a wooden spoon (still over a low heat) to help it blend with the melted butter. Stir in the flour mixture - when mixed (this will be a very dry mixture, and not wholly blended at this stage), remove from the heat. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in the vanilla. Spread the batter in the prepared pan and top with the Toblerone pieces. Bake for about 20 minutes –it will look set, dark and dry on top, but when you feel the surface, you will sense it is still wibbly underneath and a cake tester will come out gungy. This is desirable.
Transfer the pan to a rack and cool completely before cutting.

The brownies can be made up to 3 days ahead and stored in airtight container (will keep for total of 5 days).

* I made the exact recipe above using a 20x30cm (8x12in) pan

Makes 20

Cardamom yogurt cake

Some plain yogurt in the fridge that had to be used within a few days and no idea what to do with it - that usually happens around here. I love yogurt based cakes because they turn out really moist and tender, but I'd baked a yogurt cinnamon cake a couples of week before that was too sweet and kind of rubbery - a complete disappointment. Therefore, I decided to go to a cookbook that hasn't failed me yet, and the result was a delicious cake, perfumed with cardamom. This is a very nice cake recipe and I am sure that several other flavors can be used instead of cardamom: cinnamon, nutmeg, lemon or orange zest... Delicious.

Cardamom yogurt cake
slightly adapted from the gorgeous Cake (I bought mine here)

Cake:
250g unsalted butter, softened
1 cup (200g) granulated sugar
finely grated zest and juice of 1 small orange
1 teaspoon freshly ground cardamom
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 large eggs
1 cup plain yogurt
2 ½ cups (350g) all purpose plain flour
1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt

Icing:
½ cup (70g) icing sugar, sifted
about 1 tablespoon plain yogurt

Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F. Generously butter a 10-cup capacity Bundt pan.
Using an electric mixer, cream the butter until soft. Add the sugar and beat until the mixture is light and fluffy.
Next, beat in the orange zest and juice, ground cardamom and vanilla. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well between each addition, then mix in the yogurt. Next sift in the flour, baking powder and salt, folding in just until combined.
Transfer the batter to the prepared pan and smooth the top. Bake the cake for 50–55 minutes or until golden and risen and a skewer inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.
Cool in the pan over a wire rack for 10 minutes, then carefully unmold onto rack. Cool completely.

Icing: beat together the icing sugar and yogurt, adding a tiny bit more yogurt if the mixture seems too stiff. Drizzle over cooled cake.

Serves 8-10

Colomba Pasquale

My husband is not into sweets – I guess that the Universe knows better, right? :) – but he likes certain baked goods, like panettone and Colomba Pasquale. However, the store-bought versions are so heavily scented with artificial essences that he no longer eats them – he says those baked goods are not what they used to be when he was younger anymore and that all those artificial ingredients disagree with his stomach. Therefore, he was very excited about my homemade Colomba, and after having a slice of the freshly baked bread he said that not only it tasted delicious – like “the real deal” – he felt absolutely fine after eating it.

The picky-eater hubby enjoying my Colomba Pasquale really made my weekend, and reading that the production on season 2 of “House of Cards” is expected to start this month was the icing on the cake. \0/

Colomba Pasquale
slightly adapted from the always delicious and beautiful Australian Gourmet Traveller

Starter:
¾ cup + ½ tablespoon (110g) all purpose flour
⅛ teaspoon dried yeast
90ml water, room temperature

Colomba:
1 ½ cups + 1 ½ tablespoons (225g) all purpose flour
¼ cup + 1 tablespoon (62g) granulated sugar
3 tablespoons (42g) unsalted butter, softened
2 large eggs, whole
1 large egg, yolk and white separated
2 teaspoons dried yeast
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
finely grated zest of 1 orange
½ cup (75g) golden raisins
1/3 cup (35g) dried cranberries
75g dried apricots, finely diced
60g finely chopped candied orange peel

Topping:
1/3 cup (66g) demerara sugar
1/3 cup (33g) almond meal
30g flaked almonds

For starter, stir ingredients in a bowl until smooth, cover with plastic wrap and stand at room temperature for 12 hours.
Transfer starter to an electric mixer fitted with a dough hook, add flour, granulated sugar, butter, the whole eggs, the yolk, yeast, vanilla and orange zest and mix on medium speed until dough is smooth and shiny and starts to leave sides of bowl (about 8 minutes). Add dried fruit and candied peel, mix to combine, then cover and stand until doubled in size (1-2 hours).
Knock down dough and divide into two pieces, one slightly larger than the other. Shape the larger piece into a 30cm-(12in) long cylinder, tapering slightly at one end, and place on a large baking sheet lined with foil. Form remaining piece into a 20cm-(8in) long cylinder and lay across the larger cylinder, about one-third of the way down from the tapered end. Cover with a tea towel and stand until slightly risen (35-40 minutes). In the meantime, preheat oven to 190°C/375°F.
Topping: combine demerara sugar, almond meal, almonds and egg white in a bowl, scatter over dough, bake for 15 minutes, reduce oven to 160°C/320°F and bake until golden and cooked through, 15-20 minutes (cover with foil if colomba gets too brown). Serve warm or at room temperature.

Serves 10

Date madeleines

Madeleines are a regular treat on this blog and I’ve already baked them in several different flavors – all of them delicious, by the way – but when I saw Annie Bell’s recipe for date madeleines I was very intrigued: the idea of adding puréed dates to the madeleine batter sounded really interesting. It would also be a nice way to use up the last dates I had left – believe it or not after lebkuchen and Martha's cookies I still had a handful of them around; certain ingredients in my house seem to take the Gremlin route no matter what I do. :D

The madeleines turned out really good: moist from the addition of ground almonds and with a very subtle caramel flavor.

Date madeleines
from the beautiful beyond words Annie Bell's Baking Bible (I bought mine here)

100g dates, pitted and chopped
1/3 cup (80ml) water
½ teaspoon baking soda
2 large eggs
2 tablespoons (24g) granulated sugar
finely grated zest of 1 lemon
2 tablespoons honey
50g self raising flour*
½ teaspoon baking powder
pinch of salt
½ cup (50g) almond meal
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
½ cup (113g/1 stick) unsalted butter, melted and cooled + a bit extra for buttering the pans
icing sugar for dusting

Place the dates and water in a small saucepan over medium heat. Bring to the boil, then simmer until dates are tender and mushy (I used a potato masher to get a paste out of the mixture). Add the baking soda, mix well, then remove from the heat.
Using an electric mixer, whisk the eggs and sugar together until they are almost white. Whisk in the lemon zest and honey. Sift the flour, baking powder and salt over the mixture and lightly fold in. Fold in the almond meal and vanilla. Fold in the melted butter and the date mixture.
Cover and chill in the fridge for 1 hour or overnight.
Preheat the oven to 190°C/375°F. Lightly brush two madeleines molds with the extra butter and refrigerate for 5 minutes. Fill each mould about 2/3 full and then bake in for 8-10 minutes or until golden brown.
Remove from the oven and turn them out on to a wire rack to cool.
Dust with icing sugar and serve.

* I replace the self raising flour with 50g all purpose flour + 1/3 teaspoon baking powder + pinch of salt

Makes 15-20 – I made the exact recipe above and got 52 madeleines total: 12 using 1-tablespoon capacity molds and 40 using ½-tablespoon capacity pans