We have loooong holidays in the kindergarten and at school, so we spend a lot of time together *sigh* The girl hates walking, so we are mostly at home. And not to get crazy I decided to bake every day. So here are some of the good recipes we tried.
Carrot fruit cake
I bake this cake very often. Originally it was a recipe of carrot cake with cream cheese and the first variant (with ground almond and without dried fruit) looked like this:
Then I used walnut flour (not ground nut) instead of almonds, reduced sugar and oil and added dried fruit. And I got a fantastic fruit cake! It's moist and has a rich flavor.
π₯150 ml oil
π₯150 gr sugar
Beat well with a mixer. Then add
π₯2 eggs
And continue beating. Mix in
π₯250 gr finely grated carrot
π₯1/2 cup (or more) of chopped dried fruit
In a separate bowl mix (all sifted):
π₯70 gr nut flour (I prefer walnut)
π₯1 cup of flour
π₯1 tsp of baking powder
π₯2/3 tsp of baking soda (it'll soften the carrots)
π₯3/4 tsp of cinnamon or mix of spice (cinnamon, cloves, ginger etc.)
Mix everything together with a spatula. Pour the batch into a baking form and bake at 160° C (320° F) for ~30 min (depends on the thickness of your cakes).
Leave it in a rack to cool. Cover with icing and decorate to taste.
Gingerbread cookies
We bake cookies every days. In most cases the kids eat them immediately :-) It's convenient to make dough, store it in the fridge and bake small batches every day.
Mix in a pot:
πͺ100 gr honey
πͺ50 gr sugar
πͺ90 gr butter
And heat until it's all melted. Leave to cool. Then mix in
πͺ2 eggs
And beat the mixture well. Mix in sifted mixture of
πͺ375 gr flour
πͺ15 gr cocoa (I used carob)
πͺ1 tsp of gingerbread spice mix
πͺ3/4 tsp of baking soda
Knead the dough until smooth. Wrap and leave it in fridge for 5+ hrs (you can leave it for days - it'll become even better).
I roll the dough 6 mm (1/4 inch) thick, cut the cookies and bake for 7-8 mins at 180° C (350° F). Take care to take them out when still soft. They'll harden as they cool.
Honey cookies
In fact, it's a recipe of honey layered cake my mom bakes all my life. I don't bake layered cakes but I do like the taste, so I decided to try it as a cookie dough.
Put in a heatproof bowl:
π―3 tbsp of honey
π―150 gr sugar
π―5 tbsp of milk
π―100 gr butter
π―1 tsp of baking soda
π―2 eggs
Mix well with a whisk and put the bowl over a pot with boiling water (the water mustn't touch the bowl). Heat the mixture, constantly mixing it, until it starts to thicken (10-15 min). Leave to cool, then add gradually
π―2 1/2 cups of sifted flour
The dough must be still a bit sticky. Wrap it and leave in a fridge for 2+ hours.
Bake the cookies about 7 mins at 180° C (350° F).
Wholewheat Snickerdoodles
These cookies are quick and easy to make - no cutting, you put the dough with a spoon.
Mix the dough in a bowl:
π²1 3/4 cup of wholewheat flower
π²1 1/2 tsp of baking powder (sift them)
π²1 cup of sugar
π²60 gr butter (or 45 gr oil - I tried both variants)
You'll get a sticky dough. Then take a spoon of the dough, form a ball and roll it in sugar mix:
π²2 tbsp of sugar
π²1/2 tsp of cinnamon
Bake them at 190 C° (375° F) and take care to leave lots of space between the balls on the baking sheet.
Sugar cookies
Simple sugar cookies but they are tasty and very good for cutting cookies. Sorry, it's the only photo I have.
Beat well
π₯¨1 cup of butter
π₯¨1 cup of sugar
Until it's white and fluffy. Add
π₯¨1 egg
And beat again. Then add sifted
π₯¨2 tsp of baking powder
π₯¨3 cups of flour
And knead the dough. No need to chill it, you can bake immediately.
I'll add the recipes as we try more cookies :-)
