My Christmas and Easter Lamb

So the story of this lamb mold started last Easter when Kenton and I ate pizza for Resurrection Sunday and it was the most depressing thing ever. 

-"We need traditions!", I told him.  

So I went back into Pinterest and looked into my Easter pins and found this awesome lamb cake so my friend Cristina, brought it all the way from me from the USA.

25 bucks is a great investment for this mold! and I thought: why not use it for Christmas? At the end of the day we celebrate the birth of the Lamb of God, so I made it of chocolate. 

And here is the winner recipe that rocked my world. A heavy, very chocolaty cake. I followed the recipe that cake with the mold, but then added a ton of dutch cocoa. YUUUUUUM you all. This recipe is a keeper, even my mom agreed.

 

INGREDIENTS

-1/2 cup of butter, 115 grams 

-2 eggs

-3/4 cup of buttermilk

-1 tsp baking soda

-1+1/2 tsp of baking powder

-2 cups of flour, 240 grams.

-100 grams of chocolate 70%.

-4 tablespoons of Dutch cocoa.

-1 cup of white sugar, 200 grams.

STEPS:

1. Mix butter and sugar and vanilla and eggs until light and fluffy with mixer.

2. Now add to the mix, the dry ingredients: flour, baking powder, baking soda.

3. Then add the 100 grams of chocolate melted (in the microwave will do), the buttermilk and then the cocoa powder

4. Butter the mold well, with a lot of butter and then sprinkle with a lot of flour. This is key for your lamb to work well. 

5. Bake in 180 degrees for about 40 minutes.

6. Let it cool off for a long time! and then sprinkle it with powder sugar. Wow. Gorgeous lamb.

The mold is from Nordic Ware Spring by the way. And the blueberry recipe lamb is from my blueberries muffins.

  

Broccoli Summer Salad

 Okay so that broccoli could taste so good has been a big surprise today when I made this salad. But yes it can! this salad was so good. I made it ONLY because I wanted to make something crazy healthy cause I have been eating sooooooooo bad lately, so much crap. Anyway, wow, it was so good. Sweet, sour, with a kick, crunchy....marvelous salad and not hard, the only hard part would be toasting the almonds in the grill for 5 minutes.

INGREDIENTS:
-2 heads of broccoli.
-100 grams of toasted almonds.
-125 grams of cranberries.
-1 small red onion.

For the dressing:

-1/2 cup of buttermilk,

-1/3 cup of mayonnaise.

-2 tablespoon of cider vinager.

-1 tablespoon of sugar.

-3 tablespoon of shallots.

-1 pinch of salt.

-some pepper.

STEPS:

1. Slice up the broccoli in small bits, really watch the video of Deb because it is a great explanation. Add the chopped broccoli to a bowl.

2. Now chop the onion in small bits and add half to the bowl.

3. Toast the almonds for 5 minutes in the grill, they are so good if you do this, really.

4. Now chop up the cranberries, so much better if you chop them.

5. Now add all the ingredients for the dressing and add the rest of that red onion and the finely chopped shallot and stir well.

So so good. I had no idea you could get so much pleasure out of eating broccoli you all.

Rustic Easy Chocolate Cake

I think everyone should be able to make an easy chocolate cake. And I needed one,  so this one of Deb Perelman seemed pretty easy and not like some of those 3 hours chocolate cakes out there....like come on, 3 hours????  Deb just always makes cooking seem like a walk in the park.

So this cake was good although not "ball knocked out of the park", nope. But decently good. So I though I would write it here just in case I would make it again.

INGREDIENTS:

For the cake:

-85 grams of butter (room temperature)
-145 grams/ 3/4 cup  of light brown sugar.
-2 tablespoon/25 grams of white sugar.
-1 large egg and a yolk.
-3/4 cup/175 ml  of buttermilk.
-1 tsp/5 ml of vanilla extract.
-1/2 cup/41grams of cocoa powder.

-1 cup/125 grams of flour

-1/4 tsp of baking soda.

-1/2 tsp  baking powder.

-1/2 tsp of salt.

For the frosting:

-55 grams of dark chocolate, melted and cooled.

-1&1/2 cup of powdered sugar.

-1/2 cup/115 grams of butter softened.

-pinch of salt.

-1 tablespoon of whole milk.

-1/2 tsp of vanilla.

STEPS:

1. Before you start this recipe make the buttermilk and remember to take out the butter of the fridge.

2. Beat with a hand mixer the butter and sugar until it is combined well. 

3. Now add the egg, and the egg yolk, and beat at high.

4. Now add the buttermilk and beat.

5. Now add the baking powder, baking soda, and sea salt and beat.

6. Now add the flour and cocoa powder and beat.

7. Now bake at 175 degrees for 30 minutes. The dish can be 20x20.

Now for the frosting.

1. Melt the chocolate and let it cool off or it will ruin the texture of the frosting.

2. Now mix the softened butter with the powdered sugar and beat with the hand mixer.

3. Now add the chocolate, vanilla, salt and beat high.

4. Now add the milk and beat high.

Spread the frosting onto the cake! it is a generous amount of frosting, maybe too much. 

Verdict: not bad at all. Sprinkle it for a happy look and enjoy. I mean: who does not like a piece of chocolate cake even if it isn't the best??? 

Southern Oven Fried Chicken

 

One of my cooking goals this year was to make oven fried chicken. I mean a woman is not a full woman if she does not know how to cook this dish in my view. 

Soooooo, I have achieved full womanhood status this week! and this recipe was soooo good from the first bite we took. I think it is going to be a classic in our lives. It does take some work, but I think once you master it you can really make it much faster.

INGREDIENTS:

-1 whole chicken cut up in pieces.

For the marinate:
-1 cup of buttermilk.
-1 tablespoon of cajun spices.

-some salt and pepper.

-3 garlic cloves crushed.

For the crispy coating:

-2 cup of japanese/tempura crumbs.

-1 cup of cornstarch.

-2 tsp baking powder. 

-1 tsp of salt.

-1 tablespoon of paprika.

-1 tablespoon of garlic powder.

-1 tablespoon of onion powder.

-1 teaspoon of cayenne pepper.

-1 teaspoon of dried herbs.

-1 teaspoon of white pepper.

STEPS:

1. Dry your chicken with paper towells and now add the cajun spices, salt and pepper and garlic cloves. Coat it well with your hands. 

2. Now put all the chicken in ziploc and add the buttermilk and let it all coat in the fridge overnight or for a few hours. 

3. Now prepare the mix. Add everything in a bowl and mix together well. 

4. Coat the chicken well and place in oven at 200 degrees for 1 hour.

Delicious! so so good. This recipe  is a keeper. Pictures of final product  coming up soon. 

Bakery-like Chocolate Muffins

 These chocolate muffins are sheer dessert. They are the type of thing you have when you need a huge dose of chocolate. And they seriously are like the muffins you buy at Starbucks. Also they are not hard too make! The only thing you need to make beforehand is the buttermilk. 

This recipe was very good, but I cut the sugar amount because american recipes are most of the time a bit over the top with the amount of sugar and left it in 1 cup, but the original one calls for 1 and a quarter cup. This recipe makes 12 standard muffins pretty loaded.

INGREDIENTS:
-2 cups of flour.

-3/4 cup of unsweeetened cocoa.
-2 and 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder.

-1/2 teaspoon of baking soda.

-1/2 teaspoon of salt.

-1 cup of white granulated sugar.

-2 large eggs.

-1 and 1/4 cup of buttermilk.

-1/4 cup of melted butter.

-1/4 cup of vegetable oil.

-2 teaspoon of ground coffee.

-1 teaspoon of vanilla extract.

-3/4 cup of chocolate chips.

STEPS:

1. Mix all the dry ingredients in one bowl and all the liquid ones in another one. Heat up your oven to 220.

2. Mix them together with a spoon slowly (you can sieve it) and then at the end of it all fold in the chocolate chips. 

3. Distribute in the 12 muffins holders and place in oven at 220 for 7 minutes so that they rise quick. Then turn down to 175 for another 15 mins approx. Check your oven! Exact times are impossible to give.

So good, you all, these with a cup of coffee is what you need with a book. Great recipe.

How to make Ranch Sauce

This ranch sauce is so so good. I mean there are zillions of recipes out there, but I wanted one with dried herbs. I mean, who has 4 different types of fresh herbs? So I found this one, and it did not have sour cream or something really fattening and it has worked like wonderfully. I could not find dried chives so I bough them fresh and it was wonderful...but next time I will try to find them dried. Be careful with the salt, do not put more than the quantity there.

INGREDIENTS:
-1/2 cup of mayonnaise.
-1/2 cup of buttermilk.
-1 tablespoon of fresh chives.
-1/2 teaspoon of dried dill.
-1/2 teaspoon of dried parsley.
-1/2 teaspoon of garlic powder.
-1/2 teaspoon on onion powder.
-1/4 teaspoon of salt.
-1/8 teaspoon of pepper.

STEPS:

1. Mix the mayonnaise with the spices.
2. Stir in the buttermilk and mix it all really well. 

 

How to Make Butter

 I had no idea butter was so easy to do. I mean who wants to make butter right when you can buy it in the supermarket...but it is so useful to know things like this I find. Just so plain gratifying.  Found it in Bigger Bolder Baking.

All you need to make butter is:

INGREDIENTS:

-200 ml of 36% fat cream 
(nata para montar in Spanish or double cream in UK). 
-a blender.
-some clean cloth.
-salt? if you want.

STEPS:

1. There are basically no steps. Simply put the cream in bowl and mix with the blender for about 6-7 minutes until it becomes butter! It will go through the stages of nice creamy cream for cakes, and then it gets yellowy and then the water separates and you butter left.

2. Now place in a cloth with a spoon and drain as hard as you can. The water is actually buttermilk, so you can save it for cakes, pancakes, etc. 

3. Now scoop it out. Season it with salt and that's it.

            

          

Wow, we need to go back to the basics in this life.

                       

How to make Buttermilk (buttermilk substitute really)

What is buttermilk? it it the milk that is left when one makes butter. So yeah, that white liquid that comes out once you beat the cream and it separates, into water aka buttermilk! and the butter. See my recipe of butter to see it with your own eyes in a bowl.

 

But today's brands make it by adding acidity to the milk. So it is not buttermilk per se,but the closest apparently. Super easy and quick. These experiments are worth doing because, who has time to learn this stuff when you actually need it?? I followed for this recipe this fun blogger.  She was the clearest. Also if you are in a crazy rush you can even put everything in the microwave in 45 seconds! But here is the traditional method.

INGREDIENTS:  
-1 cup of milk. 
-2 tablespoons of lemon juice or white vinegar. 

STEPS:

1. In the cup of milk, place the lemon juice and stir. 
2. Now let it sit for 30 minutes. It will start to curdle. 
3. Give it all a good stir after 30 minutes and you got it. Your pancakes are ready to rock.

Fluffy Pancakes

My friend Corinna made some incredible pancakes this winter when we visited her in Vienna. 
How I thought: I am wasting my life! 

So I made pancakes.
And here is the winner recipe that you can find here too...and no buttermilk. This makes about 8.

INGREDIENTS

• 1 cup of flour.
• 1 tablespoon of sugar.
• 2 teaspoon of baking powder.
• 1/2 teaspoon of salt.
• 1 egg
• 3/4 cups of milk.
• 1/4 cup of butter melted.
• Blueberries or bananas (yum)

STEPS

1. Combine the dry ingredients: sugar, flour and baking powder and salt in one bowl.
2. In another bow separetaly combine the wet ingredients: milk, egg, and melted butter. Whisk together.
3. Now combine everything in one of the bowls.
4. Now grease the pan and when you put the mix add the blueberries.
5. The first one always turns out quite bad, but the next one is good.

That's it. And if you want 12 pancakes, double the amounts. :) 

And this is a photo of Kenton and I in George Washington' house in Virgnia, Mount Vernon where we got the american flag