Category Archives: Dessert

Strike 2

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The best hazelnut chocolate spread strikes again. Yes, I am talking about Nutella. At last years Salon du Chocolat (an absolute must for chocolate lovers! Three whole days dedicated to the most innovative chocolate creations…. no wonder we felt slightly nauseous by the end of it), one chocolatier created a chocolate-hazelnut paste, which actually came out of a tube like face cream. It was deceptively advertised as tasting better than Nutella. Those are daringly big words carrying huge expectations! Honestly, why did they think they could create something superior to Nutella……? The paste was tasty, but definitely miles from the all time favorite.

Needless to say, it shouldn’t be a surprise to you that Nutella is the one item never missing from my kitchen. With an upcoming dinner invitation and a newly bought jar of chocolate goodness, I decided to attempt making a bring along gift instead of buying one. The result: tiny yet devilishly satisfying post-dinner delights:

Nutella Truffles

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Taken from the most epic recipe book created

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Batch 17.5

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Do you remember the episode of Friends in Season 7 where Monica bakes a ridiculous amount of chocolate chip cookies in an attempt to decipher Phoebe’s grandma’s lost recipe? Batch 17 was almost perfect, but the last cookie disappears before Monica could use it to work from……. after all those cookies and all that effort I would have gone mental! (Ok, actually before she decides to use cookie 17 for further creations, she finds out “grandma’s” recipe for the cookies they are all raving about was the exact one on each packet of Nestle Toll House Semi-Sweet Chocolate Morsels. She flipped out Monica style. But that’s irrelevant.)

Over the past months I have been through a similar, not quite as crazy, process with oat and raisin cookies: my “healthy”, satisfying comfort cookies. My already elevated cholesterol levels would certainly not have been happy had my cookie-craze been related to peanut butter and chocolate chips. Granted, oat and raisin cookies aren’t the healthiest out there, but doesn’t the name alone imply that there is some healthy aspect to them…? Health and all aside, occasional cravings have to be satisfied. Finally I managed to create near perfection, batch 17.5:

Ultimate Oat and Raisin Cookies

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A Festive Dessert for the Greatest Season of the Year

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Admittedly a tad delayed, but still timely, here is a list of a few favorite things which help make Christmas the best season of the year.

1. A great excuse to hold a party or two. With lots and lots of booze.
2. Christmas lights all over cities
3. An excuse to put a giant tree in your living room and decorate it (the smell is just amazing!! Fake trees are not the way to go).
4. Mulled wine. Nom.
5. Turkey and stuffing and trimmings and pudding and brandy butter.
6. MORE FOOD (and almost all of it seems to contain alcohol in some way or another).
7. Cookies
8. Gingerbread houses.
9. The spirit in the air: everyone is happy….. ok most people are happy.
10. Yet another reason to get presents (and of course buy some…not the season to be selfish)!
11. Christmas markets
12. Carol singing (definitely the only time of year I actually make it to church)
13. GLITTER
14. Lots and lots of family time…. probably not appreciated by everyone out there, in some cases 2 days a year are plenty.
15. SNOW
16. Mistletoe
17. Tasteless Christmas jumpers….. Primark seems to have been successful in this department

Why can’t it be Christmas all year round? We would possibly all be spoilt and overweight alcoholics by now if that were the case, but introducing a half Christmas in June doesn’t seem like such a bad idea:-).

Lebkuchen Mousse ala Robert Speth

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Quarkcake with Red Currants

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There is a river running right through the middle of my city which essentially turns into a public swimming pool as soon as summer hits the town. If you cross the bridge around 6pm, there will be little heads bobbing about in the water as far as you can see, with the famous “schwimm-fisch” (waterproof swimming bags shaped like fish) in tow, enjoying their after-work cool down. To complete the Rhine experience, one must then lay out and tan, have a beer and a legendary burger sold at one of the little bars set up along the river. Pure bliss. And now for today’s recipe: this is a simple delicious summer dessert which I  had once roughly 2 years ago at a friend’s place. I managed to sneak the recipe out of the kitchen, but since then I have always missed the red currant season … until now! I got sooo excited when I went shopping and saw red currants and this is what happened.

Quarkcake with Red Currants

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Chocolate Mousse

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A day without chocolate is ……  non-existent in my life. So maybe you’ve realised I’ve been posting a lot about chocolate. Reason is: a crazy friend decided to sacrifice this essence of life for lent. 46 days without chocolate! INSANE! Hence I am still helping her catch up on what she missed out 🙂

And now for a short medical digression: my mom always makes this chocolate mousse for parties as it is always a hit. Last I remember she made it for a new years dinner. There were lots of pregnant guests who immediately asked: “are there raw eggs in this mousse?” OF COURSE THERE ARE, WHAT IS MOUSSE WITHOUT EGG WHITE?? NOT MOUSSE!!! (I once saw a post of a chocolate mousse, which was made without egg whites. It really, really, really ruined my day). Sadly, the preggers were left without dessert (I didn’t mind: more for me!). During pregnancy raw eggs, raw meat and unpasteurized milk shouldn’t be consumed, as the chance of catching an infection with nasty bugs called toxoplasmosis and listeria are quite high. These two can, when caught in early pregnancy, be lethal for your baby.

So we learn: stuff your face with mousse, tartar and rare filet de boeuf as much as you can before hitting the bedroom with reproduction in mind.

Incredible Chocolate Mousse

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Eton Mess

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20 Things you do in your 20s:

  1. learn to apply liquid eyeliner
  2. plan a diet and gracefully break it at your next meal
  3. master the art of napping
  4. get your first (and possibly last) Brazilian wax
  5. avoid any sort of real responsibility
  6. grow your hair long enough so that it covers your boobies and practice being a mermaid in front of your mirror
  7. watch every single TV show in existence
  8. dabble in periodic self-hatred
  9. start going to aerobics classes
  10. become friends with people you would have never even spoken to in the past
  11. join a book club… for the brunches
  12. realize all adults are just making shit up as they go along
  13. start a blog
  14. count how many guys you made out with in just one night, and think its okay because you’re in your 20s (insider tip: dressing up as a slutty nurse helps increase the count)
  15. finally embrace your inner-nerd
  16. fail to accomplish menial tasks for days because no one can tell you what to do, dammit
  17. realize that dirty talk is okay – maybe more than okay
  18. start thinking cosmetic surgery is not that outrageous
  19. become a nihilist
  20. dance BECAUSE everyone is watching

BONUS

21. write lists about things you do in your 20s

Eton Twenties Mess

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Macarons: How Not to Master the Art of French Cooking

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Macarons are a gorgeous chocolate delight that proved an absolute nightmare to bake. They require dexterity, time, patience and some more patience. The book I got the recipe from (Ladurée) features pictures of the most sophisticated macarons this planet has ever seen, enough to make you feel bad about how sad yours look in comparison. I found ours had more personality than the uptight pretentious macarons from Ladurée (see pictures below as we attempt to pimp up our macarons with not-so-subtle photography tricks). And out of 30, only one was pure perfection. Unfortunately, tragedy struck when a family member shamelessly ate it before a decent picture was taken, nearly starting WW3. Despite all misfortunes, I kind of enjoyed making these little devils… and more importantly, superficialities aside, found them wholly delicious!

Ladurée’s Macarons Chocolat

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Orgasme au chocolat-piquant

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Alors! Apres vous faisons c’est orgasme au chocolat, nous etais sure que vous voulais couchez avec nous c’est soir. SACRE BLUE! Nous parlais un petit pois de français e nous somme très orgueilleux.

If you don’t speak French, all of that was absolute hilarity in impeccable grammar.

After careful research into the mystical world of fondants, Two developed this piece de resistence. It is, frankly, sexual.

Chocolate-Chilli-ORGASM aka Fondant

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