White Chocolate, Orange & Cranberry Cake

Although the month of stuffing your face with chocolate and mince pies is over that doesn't mean I won't share delicious baking recipes on the blog. I made this cake for Christmas at my mums and it's the best one I ever made. It took me quite a while baking all the sponges and layering the final cake with a perfect, neat coat of icing, but I was so happy when I saw the way it turned out.

It's supposed to be a snazzy Christmas cake, but I think it could be a summer cake too. You can mix up the cranberries in the recipe for raspberries to make it even more summery. Everyone at our Christmas dinner loved the cake and I was so proud when I put the last pieces of decoration on top. I got this recipe from BBC Good Food, with a bit of my own adjustments. Hope you will love it as much as I do!

What do you need?
The cake
300g salted butter, chopped + extra for the tins
200g white chocolate, broken into small pieces
500g plain flour
4 tsp baking powder
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
500g white caster sugar
300ml natural yogurt
4 tsp vanilla extract
1 large orange, zested and juiced
6 large eggs
4 tbsp milk

The compote
200g cranberries
150g white caster sugar

The icing
200g white chocolate, broken into small pieces
500g salted butter, softened
650g icing sugar
280g cream cheese

The decoration
Meringue kisses (check out this recipe here)
Christmas chocolate
Cake decoration (the gold ones are from Dr. Oetker)

Oven: 180C/160C fan/gas 4

How long will this take me: With all the baking, waiting and decorating I would say 4/5 hours. Unless you are a Bake Off queen, then you will do this in no-time!

Line your two 20cm cake tins with baking parchments and grease the sides with butter. Melt 150g butter with 100g of white chocolate au bain-marie and stir until completely melted.

Whilst that is melting, measure 250g flour, 2 tsp baking powder, ½ tsp bicarb soda and 250g sugar in a large bowl. Make a well in the middle and add 150g yogurt, 2 tsp vanilla extract, half the orange zest and juice, 3 eggs and 2 tbsp milk. Mix everything together with a whisk and stir in the melted butter and chocolate.

When your mixture is smooth, divide it between the two cake tins and bake them in the oven, on the middle shelf, for 20-25 minutes. Push a skewer into the cakes to check if they are done -it should come out clean-. Our oven is really tiny so I baked them one at a time, which is probably why it took me so damn long to make.

Let the cakes cool in their tins for 5 minutes and then transfer them to a cooling rack. Clean the tins and repeat the steps for the cake batter to make two more sponges. I actually made the cakes two days before Christmas and wrapped them in a good layer of cling foil and it worked perfectly fine.

To make the compote, simmer the cranberries and sugar in a small pan for 4-5 minutes until jammy. Turn of the heat and let it cool down. I also made the compote beforehand and it honestly saved me so much time.

To make the icing, melt the white chocolate, in the microwave or au bain-marie, and set aside to cool a little. Mash the soft butter and icing sugar together and beat smooth and fluffy with a mixer. Add the white chocolate and cream cheese and keep on mixing until smooth. This recipe actually makes A LOT of icing.

To assemble the cake, place one sponge on a cake board and place the other sponges on top with a little icing and the cranberry compote in between each sponge. Use the sponge with the neatest edge, flipped upside down, on top to give the cake a good shape. (never knew this, such a good tip).

Pile about half the remaining icing on top of the cake and use a palette knife to spread it thinly over the top and down the sides of the cake. This will be the crumb coat, it catches any crumbs, making sure the final layer looks clean and professional -which is what you want-. Put the cake in the fridge for about 10-20 minutes to chill. Then add the final layer of icing.

You can decorate the cake however you like. I decide to mimic the photo from the recipe a bit and it turned out pretty good if I say so myself.  It's hands down the prettiest cake I have ever made and I loved making the last layer of icing so perfect and pretty. Can't wait to make more layer cakes soon!

What is your favourite baking recipe?

Follow me on Bloglovin | Follow me on Twitter | Follow me on Instagram | Subscribe on YouTube

The Best Hot Chocolate Recipe

A few months ago a friend and I went out for some cake and hot chocolate -as you do on a hot summer day- at Café Blond in Amsterdam. Blond Amsterdam is a cute Dutch brand for all your homeware needs; mugs, plates, napkins, tea pots: they have it all! Now because it's so popular they created a Blond themed café around the brand including cakes, sandwiches and coffees all served on Blond tableware.

Now I'm not a huge fan of the café. I mean, it's nice and all but a bit overpriced, but if they do one thing right it's hot chocolate. We both went for ''Blond's heaven in a hot tub'', which was indeed heaven in warm cosy mug. Imagine creamy hot chocolate with plenty of whipped cream, marshmallows and extra chocolate on top. It was €5 but totally worth it now that I think back to that day.

Since December has the perfect hot chocolate weather I wanted to recreate the recipe. It makes one cup of amazing hot chocolate that will give you all the Christmas feels. Ooh and don't forget to drink it with a large slice of cake by your side. It's mandatory.

What do you need?
30 gr chocolate -or more if you are a real chocoholic-
1 cup of milk
Whipped cream
Mini marshmallows
Sprinkles
More Chocolate 
A cute cup to serve it in

Measure the milk in your cute cup of choice. Pour the milk in a pan and slowly heat it up over medium heat. Add the chocolate and let it completely melt. Pour the chocolate milk in the cup. Add plenty of whipped cream and sprinkle mini marshmallows, colourful sprinkles and more little pieces of chocolate on top. Tada! Your own heaven in a snazzy cup is here. On a more casual day I also love a simple sprinkle of cinnamon. Nothing beats a good old classic.

What is your favourite kind of hot chocolate?

Follow me on Bloglovin | Follow me on Twitter | Follow me on Instagram | Subscribe on YouTube

Vegan ''Nutella'' Cookie Dough Bars

I love cookie dough. When I make cookies I always secretly eat a bit of the dough and there is this cookie dough bar in Rotterdam that makes all my cookie dreams come true. Now cookie dough isn't the healthiest food. The fact that you are eating butter and sugar mixed with flour and eggs can never be good for you, until this recipe! I'm not saying this is healthier than normal cookie dough -it's still a treat after all-, but without the butter, eggs and flour it's definitely a lot safer to eat. 

Nothing beats old fashioned cookie dough, but this comes very close. Because of the hazelnut butter and dark chocolate it tastes pretty much like a Nutella bar. A healthier ''Nutella'' bar that is. I wrapped all the bars up and put them in the freezer. That way whenever I feel a bit cheeky I can just grab a bar and satisfy all my cookie dough and Nutella cravings!

What do you need?
2 cups almond flour
3 tbsp. coconut flour
1/2 cup coconut sugar
1 cup nut butter (I used almond & hazelnut)
4 tbsp. melted coconut oil
A splash of vanilla essence
100 gr dark chocolate + 1 tbsp. of coconut oil

Mix the almond flower, coconut flour and coconut sugar with a spatula in a medium bowl. Add the nut butter, melted coconut oil and vanilla essence and mix until you get a dough. Add a bit more nut butter or coconut oil if your dough is still a bit crumbly. 
Press the dough in any little container you have. Do line that container with baking parchment since this will make it easier to get it out. Melt the dark chocolate and the coconut oil in the microwave and spread it out on top of the cookie dough. 
Let it cool down in the freezer for an hour, cut it into slices and there you have it: your own vegan ''Nutella'' cookie dough bars. So easy to make and so yummy to eat!

What is your favourite cookie dough topping?

Follow me on Bloglovin | Follow me on Twitter | Follow me on Instagram | Subscribe on YouTube

The Rainbow Cake

On the 12th of April I turned the magical age of 23. The saddest part is that the Taylor Swift song '22' doesn't apply to me anymore, but that doesn't make me stop singing and dancing to it when I’m having a solo pyjama party. The best part is that I'm a step closer to adulthood. At least that's what I hope.

One of the things I really wanted to do this year was making the most amazing birthday cake and I'm very happy to share the end result with you. If you follow me on Instagram you'll probably have seen this colourful creation before but I made a rainbow cake! Yes you read that right, six layers of fluffy cake with the best cream cheese frosting you will ever taste. 
I followed the rainbow cake recipe from the book Tanya Bakes and switched some things around ingredient wise, since she went for seven layers of cake and butter frosting. Another thing that I changed: the time. It's lovely that cookbooks say how much time you will be spending whilst making it, but it's the biggest lie I've ever seen. I always spend way more time and this was definitely the longest I have ever been in a kitchen because I spend about 9 hours (!) baking this cake. It was totally worth it though, best cake I've ever eaten!

What do you need for a six layer rainbow cake?

For the sponges:
580g softened butter
580g caster sugar
580g self-raising flower
11 eggs
3 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 teaspoons baking powder
6 food colourings (purple, blue, green, yellow, orange and red)

For the frosting:
500g good quality cream cheese
300g softened butter
4 teaspoons vanilla extract
300g icing sugar

Oven: 180C/350F/GM4

First, preheat your oven and grease and line your cake tins with baking paper. I used two cake tins at the time, since I didn't want to buy six and my oven is not big enough anyways. It will take a bit longer this way though.

Take a large bowl and cream together your butter and sugar until it's light and fluffy. Add the eggs and vanilla extract and mix it all together. Then last but not least, add the baking powder and self-raising flour to get a smooth batter.

Split the mixture between 6 bowls and add a different food colour to each bowl. Keep adding some drops until you are happy with the colour of the mixture. Scoop the colourful batter out of the bowls and into your cake tins. So either scoop the mixture in six cake tins or do it two at a time.
Bake them in the oven for about 20 minutes. When they are fully cooked and fluffy you get them out and let them cool down on a wire rack. I cut off the top bit of the cakes to make them even and perfect for layering.

For the icing: cream the butter in a bowl until it's pale and fluffy. Add the cream cheese and vanilla extract and mix it together. Slowly add the icing sugar and mix again until you have a thick, smooth mixture. Use half the icing for the layers and the other half for the outside of the cake.

Layer the cakes with some icing in between and then ice the outside of the cake. Make sure that it looks as neat and smooth as possible. -mine doesn't look as pretty as Tanya's version but I'm already happy that it turned out okay.- Add some sprinkles or cake crumbs on top and your cake is done!

I am going to be honest here and say that this is the best cake I've ever eaten. The best cake prize always belonged to the red velvet cake from De Drie Graefjes bakery in Amsterdam, but they hopped down to second place. This cake is just so fluffy and moist –I know everyone hates this word but I don’t mind that much- and the frosting makes it even better. Cream cheese frosting is so much better than butter frosting in my opinion! 
I do advise to have a lot of people over when you make this cake because it's a BIG cake. We actually weighted the cake and it's 4,5kg (!). Also not the most healthy option but hey it's my bday so if there is a day where you can eat lots of crappy food it's now!

Want something easier? Try these salted Nutella cookies or other baking recipies I posted!

Follow me on Bloglovin | Follow me on Twitter | Follow me on Instagram | Subscribe on YouTube

Pørridge by Anni Kravi

The home section in Anthropology is the dreamiest place. When I visit London, I always go to their big flagship store on Regent Street and most of the time I leave with a pretty floral cup, bath salt or in this case: a book. 

When I was browsing the shop my eye fell on this book: Pørridge by Anni Kravi (£12.99). I loved the whole look of the book and I instantly was in the mood for an açai bowl when I saw the cover. I own a lot of cook books and whenever I go to a bookstore I always go to the cooking section. There is just something about looking at all the delicious recipes and thinking about recreating them. That's why I love Tanya Bakes and Powerfood by Rens Kroes so much; they get me excited to cook.

Now you might think this entire book is about porridge and it kind of is -I'm not mad about that, this girl loves porridge!- , but there are also a lot of other interesting recipes to either use as a porridge topping or eat on its own. Such as, cinnamon cashew milk, matcha banana ice cream, carrot bacon, kale pesto and gingerbread bliss balls. 

Everything in the book is healthy, plant-based and 100% tasty looking. The photography is really good and makes me all excited about creating one of those yummy porridge bowls. I always associate porridge with mornings. I guess being a sweet tooth makes eating porridge a hell of a lot easier by adding some agave syrup and lots of fruit, but savoury porridge exists too -sorry for the surprise, but I'm a total newbie to this-. Before buying this book I probably never thought about the idea of making oats with kale and carrot bacon or oats with kale, tofu and sweet potato. And now that I think about it, it sounds pretty tasty to me. 

I will definitely let you know how my savoury porridge journey goes and probably will upload some recipe posts pretty soon #hungrygirl.

What is your favourite porridge recipe?

Follow me on Bloglovin | Follow me on Twitter | Follow me on Instagram | Subscribe on YouTube

Vegan Salted Caramel Blondies

Facebook is good for many things: staying in touch with friends, being up-to-date about basically everything and food, especially food. I follow so many food pages on Facebook that I lost count and every time a recipe video pops up in my timeline I have to give it a watch. If I really like it I'll give it a like or save it for whenever I have time to make this delicious recipe. 
The problem is that I never recreate the food in the videos. Not because they are not easy, because believe me they are all so easy to make, but I just don't do it. That was until a few weeks ago when I made these vegan salted caramel blondies that I spotted on The Tasty K. That page is probably my fave, together with Tasty, Buzzfeed Food and Sweeten.

These blondies are vegan, healthy and so easy to make. Will something with no butter and sugar actually taste good? My answer is yes! The dates give it the right amount of sweetness and make it into this lovely chocolaty baked good. I will not say goodbye to my Nutella cookies, but this is a good alternative if you want something healthy and yummy! I did change a few of the ingredients and probably the amounts too because I just don't get the cups system. Where are the grams at?

What do you need?
Dough:
325 gr self-raising flower
125 ml almond milk (more if dough is too crumbly)
2 flax eggs (1 tbsp flax meal + 3 tbsp water = 1 flax egg)
3 tbsp melted mixed nut butter
2 tbsp maple syrup
Dash of vanilla essence 
1 tsp baking powder
Dash of sea salt
50 gr dark chocolate chips

Caramel:
150 gr Medjool dates
120 ml almond milk

Oven: 180°C/ 355°F

First, make the flax eggs and set them aside for at least 10 minutes. Place the self-raising flower, almond milk, nut butter, maple syrup, vanilla essence, baking powder, sea salt and chocolate chips in a large mixing bowl. Add the flax eggs when they are ready and mix it together with a spatula and your hands. I found the dough a bit too dry so I added more almond milk to get nice non-sticky dough. Cut the dough into two equal parts with a knife and line a brownie tin with parchment paper.
Make the vegan salted caramel by adding the Medjool dates, almond milk and sea salt into a blender and mix it until everything is smooth and creamy.

Take a piece of dough and spread it out evenly in the baking tin. Take the dough layer out and repeat it with the second piece of dough. Only this time you leave the dough in the tin. Add the salted caramel on top and spread it out evenly. Then add the other dough layer. Don't push it down because then all the caramel will squeeze right out. -Yes this happened to me-.
Place the tin in the oven for about 25 minutes and then take it out. Let it cool down and take a piece when it's still warm. Nothing beats a bite out of something that just came out of the oven. Don't burn yourself though!

Easy peasy lemon squeezy. So easy to make and delicious too. Want to see this recipe in a video? Click here to see The Tasty K video that made me fall in love with this recipe.

What is your favourite Facebook food page?

Follow me on Bloglovin | Follow me on Twitter | Follow me on Instagram | Subscribe on YouTube

Gingerbread Cookies

Merry Christmas everyone! I hope you all have a lovely day with your family and friends. To celebrate this day I am sharing the recipe for these gingerbread cookies. I made them yesterday and they are very tasty and so easy to make.

What do you need?

300 gr self-raising flower

150 gr molasses

125 gr butter

75 gr dark brown soft sugar

3 ts ground ginger

2 ts ground cinnamon

Pinch of salt

Oven: 190C

First, mix the sugar and butter until it becomes creamy and fluffy. Add the molasses, ground ginger, ground cinnamon and salt to the butter and sugar and mix it well. Then add the self-raising flower slowly to the mixture and use your hand to create dough. It can take a while before a dough is formed. You can always add a bit of molasses or milk to make the dough less crumbly. Put the dough in some plastic foil and let it rest in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.

Sprinkle some self-raising flower on the countertop and roll out the dough with a rolling pin until it's 3-4 mm thick. Use some festive cookie cutters and press them in the dough. Place the cookies on a baking tray lined with baking paper and put them in the oven for about 10 minutes. After you've taken them out of the oven place them on a wire rack to cool down. They are perfect to eat, but decorating them is even more fun. I used some writing icing from Dr Oetker, but you can always make your own.

These cookies are the perfect Christmas treat and they are so much fun to make. Decorating them is definitely the most exciting part so get your colourful icing out and let's decorate!

What is your favourite Christmas treat?

Follow me on Bloglovin | Follow me on Twitter | Follow me on Instagram | Subscribe on YouTube

Christmas White Chocolate Pretzel Bark

What's December without a festive chocolate bark? I have seen these chocolaty barks all over the internet and decided to make one myself. The salt of the pretzels and the sweetness of the white chocolate go so good together. It makes my mouth water if I think about it.

What do you need?
300 gr white chocolate
Pretzels
Christmas sprinkles
Candy canes, broken into pieces

Now it's very easy to make. Melt the white chocolate au bain-marie. Spread all that chocolate goodness on a baking tray lined with greaseproof paper and sprinkle the pretzels, Christmas sprinkles and candy canes on the chocolate base. Place it in the fridge for at least 30 minutes to set and break into large pieces when it's all ready to serve. So simple, but so good!

What is your favourite Christmas chocolate recipe?

Follow me on Bloglovin | Follow me on Twitter | Follow me on Instagram | Subscribe on YouTube

White Chocolate Gingerbread Truffles

Christmas is the best time of the year to go crazy in the kitchen. I love baking and since the oven at my dad’s house is broken I had to find a festive no bake recipe to make. In the end I stumbled upon these gingerbread truffles and I have to say they taste AMAZING!

What do you need?
250gr gingerbread cookies
120gr cream cheese
250gr white chocolate
Christmas sprinkles

First, put the gingerbread cookies in a food processor and mix until they are turned into a fine cookie crumble. Add the cream cheese to the cookie crumbles and mix it into a dough. Take a bit of dough in the palm of your hand, roll the dough into a small ball and place it on a tray with grease-proof paper. When you have all the cookie dough balls on the tray you put it in the fridge to set for at least ten minutes.

Melt the white chocolate au bain-marie and get your cookie dough balls out of the fridge. Dip them in the melted white chocolate one at a time and make sure that they are fully covered. Place them back on the baking tray and sprinkle them with Christmas sprinkles. When you are all finished it's best to put them in the fridge for at least 15 minutes to make sure they are completely set and ready to eat. I know it's hard, but you can spoon the leftover white chocolate out of the bowl. Those 15 minutes will be over in no-time!

Then it's finally time to take a bite of that gingerbread truffle and oh my god it will change your life. The combination of all the spices with the white chocolate is the best thing ever. I'll definitely make these again!

What is your favourite no bake Christmas treat?

Follow me on Bloglovin | Follow me on Twitter | Follow me on Instagram | Subscribe on YouTube

The Best American Pancake Recipe

The way I see it, breakfast foods are the best because you get all the good stuff: French toast, porridge, scrambled eggs and…. pancakes! Here we usually eat a crêpe style pancake, but I love a fluffy stack that is drenched in maple syrup.

Tanya Burr's baking book has some lovely recipes -check my other recipe posts of her book here- and when I saw the Jamie Oliver inspired recipe is knew that I had to recreate it myself. These pancakes are so fluffy and delicious. I am even dreaming of them right now!

What do you need?
3 large eggs
115g plain flower
1 teaspoon of baking powder
140ml milk
Pinch of salt
A bit of butter

To serve:
Maple syrup
Berries
Butter

First, separate the eggs between two bowls. Add the flour, baking powder and milk to the bowl with the yolks and mix until you get a smooth, thick batter.

Add salt to the bowl with the egg whites and mix until you get soft, white peaks. It can take a while especially if you do it by hand, but it will really make the pancakes extra fluffy.

Fold the fluffy whites gently into the batter and mix it all well. Then heat a frying pan with a bit of butter and pour some batter into the frying pan. I used a small deep-bowled spoon to do this. Just make sure that the size of the pancakes are the same. Wait until air bubbles rise to the surface and flip it over. When your pancakes are golden brown and firm they are perfect. Repeat these steps until you have used up all the batter.

Serve the pancakes with maple syrup, berries and a tiny bit of butter. Ooh and I always keep the syrup on the side in case I want more, because who doesn't?

What is your favourite pancake topping?

Follow me on Bloglovin | Follow me on Twitter | Follow me on Instagram | Subscribe on YouTube

Milk & White Chocolate Cookies from Tanya Bakes

When I bought the book Tanya Bakes I knew that I would make lots of baked goods, so here I am with a new baking post! This time I am not making salted Nutella cookies or salted caramel brownies, but some delicious milk & white chocolate cookies. They really are wonderful and so easy to make. Also perfect for an ice cream sandwich!

What do you need?
200g white chocolate
200g milk chocolate
200g softened unsalted butter
300g caster sugar
1 large egg
325g self-raising flour

Preheat your oven to 180C/350F/GM4 and line two baking trays with greaseproof paper.

Cut the white and milk chocolate into small pieces and set it aside whilst you make the dough. Cream together the butter and sugar in a large mixing bowl. Add the egg and mix again until you get a smooth mixture. Slowly add the flower and when you finally have a dough -it can take a while if you use your hands- add the chocolate chunks and mix those in as well. 

Although the recipe said 10 cookies I was able to make 12. I just grabbed a big chunk of dough, made it into a ball and pressed it down on the baking tray. Of course I could've made the cookies even bigger, but I quite liked how they turned out. Also make sure there is enough space between the cookies, since you don't want one giant cookie!

Bake them in the oven for about 12 minutes. They will be soft and gooey when you take them out, but when they set and cool down you will get a perfect crispy and chewy cookie. I couldn't keep myself from not taking a bite when they got out of the oven -that homemade cookie smell is the best!- so I had a nibble while they were still warm and ooh my gosh: they are sooo good. They are the perfect fall treat with a nice cup of hot chocolate or chai tea. Can’t wait to try more recipes from the book! Maybe next time I will make a pumpkin spice treat? :)

Have you tried anything from Tanya Bakes?

Follow me on Bloglovin | Follow me on Twitter | Follow me on Instagram | Subscribe on YouTube

Tanya's Salted Caramel Brownies

After making the Salted Nutella Cookies from the book Tanya Bakes I had to try out another recipe as soon as possible and my eye immediately fell on these Salted Caramel Brownies. I love salted caramel and I love brownies, so this sounds like heaven to me!

What do you need?
200g butter
300g dark chocolate
300g golden caster sugar
4 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
160g plain flower
60g cocoa powder
1 tin caramel (or melt caramel fudge)
1 teaspoon sea salt flakes

Preheat your oven to 180C/350F and line a baking tin with grease proof paper.
Melt the butter and dark chocolate in a bowl Au Bain Marie. Take the bowl of the heat and add the sugar into the buttery chocolate mixture. Add the eggs and vanilla extract and mix well until it becomes bubbly.
Now it's time to add the dry ingredients. Slowly fold in the plain flower and cocoa powder and make sure that you keep the air in the mixture.
Add half of the mixture into the baking tin and add the caramel on top. We don't have caramel in a tin here, so I just melted some fudge and put that on top of the first brownie layer. Add the sea salt flakes and scoop the rest of the brownie batter on top of the caramel.
Bake the brownie for 20-25 minutes. It doesn't matter if it's a bit wobbly - that's the point!-. Let it cool down completely and cut into squares.

In the end, I found that the brownie should have stayed in the oven a bit longer, but my dad said he really liked it this way, so maybe it's just personal preference. I did really like it though! The brownie has a really rich chocolatey flavour and the salted caramel adds a nice little twist to this sugary treat. Ooh and it was so easy to make as well!

Have you already tried something from Tanya Bakes?

Follow me on Bloglovin | Follow me on Twitter | Follow me on Instagram | Subscribe on YouTube

Salted Nutella Cookies

Last week, I wanted to treat myself so I placed a huge DVD and book order. The book that I ordered was Tanya Bakes, a cookbook by vlogger Tanya Burr. I was contemplating about getting it and after seeing the gorgeous photography all over social media I had to get it. Baking things is one of my favourite things to do, so I knew that this book would always come in handy.

When I looked in the book there were so many recipes that I wanted to try - hello rainbow cake!- but there was one baked good that immediately made my heart skip a beat: Salted Nutella Cookies. I love Nutella and I love a touch of salt. Salted caramel is the best discovery ever, so I knew that these cookies were going to be awesome sauce and I was right!

What do you need?
200gr unsalted, softened butter
300gr caster sugar
1 large egg
325gr self-raising flower
1 teaspoon of sea salt
4 big tablespoons of Nutella

First, preheat your oven to 180C/350F and line two baking trays with grease proof paper.
Mix together the butter and sugar until it becomes creamy and fluffy. Then add the egg and mix again. Gradually add the flower until you get a lovely dough. Now it's time to add the good stuff: Nutella! The recipe said 200gr, but I took 4 big scoops; the jar was half empty by now, so I figured that would be enough. I mixed it slowly with the dough until I got a gorgeous marble effect. 
Divide the dough into large dough balls, I had about 12, and press them down on the baking trays. They will become huge, so make sure there is enough space between them. 
Sprinkle on some sea salt and put them in the oven for about 12 minutes. Let them cool down for 20 minutes and then it's time to dig in!

They are honestly one of the best cookies I have ever tasted and they definitely taste and look like they belong in a hipster bakery. The cookies are also so easy to make and would be perfect for any occasion. I also baked some salted caramel brownies -my salted caramel obsession had gone a bit too far maybe- and they have been amazing too. That recipe will be up soon, so keep your eyes peeled!

Have you bought Tanya Bakes yet?

Follow me on Bloglovin | Follow me on Twitter | Follow me on Instagram | Subscribe on YouTube

Raspberry Cheesecake Muffins

 

One of the things you have to know about me: I love cake. Baking a cake is one of my favourite hobbies and eating it makes me even happier. I practically live at this hotspot in Amsterdam where they serve the best red velvet cake and at home I don't mind to spend hours in the kitchen creating the best baked goods. 

One of my last creations are these raspberry cheesecake muffins and I have to say they are the best thing ever. They are super moist, airy and delicious. The cream cheese on top makes it even better, because who doesn't love cheesecake and a muffin combined?

What do you need? (for about 16 muffins)
100g cream cheese
250g light brown caster sugar
200g plain flour
A pinch of salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 eggs
75ml sunflower oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
50 ml milk
150 g raspberries (I used frozen ones)

Preheat your oven to 190C. Put the flour, salt and baking powder in a large mixing bowl. Also add 225g of the caster sugar and mix it all together. Then add the eggs, sunflower oil, vanilla extract and milk. Mix it all together until you get a smooth mixture and use a bit more milk if needed. Add most of the frozen raspberries and slowly stir them into the mixture. I saved the pretty raspberries for the top of the muffin. Grab another bowl and mix the cream cheese and 25g caster sugar together.

Take a cupcake/muffin tray and place some muffin cases in the tray. I made mine with baking paper! I cut squares out of the paper and then did a small, vertical cut on each side (4 in total). It might look weird but when you place them in the tray it looks really good. They won't stay in place at first but once you scoop the dough in there it will be easier.

Fill the muffin cases with the dough. I used a teaspoon for this since it's easier. Now it's time for the cream cheese mixture! Place half a teaspoon of the mixture on top of the dough and swirl it around. Take the leftover raspberries and press them down in the middle of the muffin and they are ready to go in the oven. The muffins will be ready in 25 minutes or until they are golden brown and risen. Take them out of the oven and let them cool down for a bit. By now, your kitchen will smell aaaamazing and you can finally take a bite out of a super moist and yummy muffin! Click here to see more of my baking posts!

What is your favourite thing to bake?

Follow me on Bloglovin | Follow me on Twitter | Follow me on Instagram | Subscribe on YouTube