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So, what is everyone doing for the pastry & baking side of Easter? I'm working on the following chocolates: fruit & nut eggs, hollow bunnies, Jelly Belly filled bunnies, coconut bunnies, dragons (filled with rice krispies & chocolate), peanut butter hedgehogs, and malted milk hens. Hoping to finish my dark chocolate production today and get started on all my milk chocolate items. My father-in-law will be baking the traditional family Easter bread a day or two before Easter. Its an enriched bread and he makes two versions -- one with raisins and one without (I prefer the one with raisins). And I was lucky enough to spot this couple in the sale moulds stock at last year's eGullet chocolate & confections workshop in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario. These love bunnies help so very much with Easter chocolate production! ;-)

I’m trying to find a recipe to make caramel suitable for varegating or swirling into Ice cream when the ice cream is loaded out of the ice cream maker to the ice cream storage container. When swirled at this stage it crams a nice caramel swirl when dipping. I have made several attempts, first attempt tasted great but got stringy and difficult to cut with a spoon. If you wanted to you could pull it out like a Spiders web. A typical caramel sauce will just disappear into the ice cream and seems to break down into the ice cream. Another attempt it got very sandy when cold and had to be hot to be dispensed into the ice cream, causing the base to melt away. Most useable commercial products seem to be heavy with corn syrup. I have tried that without success. Somehow I think that might be the key since the ingredient list for commercial caramel Variegate has it as the first ingredient and sweetened condensed milk the second item. Appreciate any recipes or formulas for a Variegating caramel creme ripple you might be able to offer or your suggestions. Thanks in advance!

A mistake was made with my Albert Uster order this week and I received it twice. Since it's shipped from CA, doesn't go bad, and I'll use it eventually, I'm not going to mess with trying to return the second delivery. But now I have a huge amount of inventory so I thought I'd see if anyone here was looking for Felchlin by the bag. Each bag is 2kg (4# 7oz) in the following varieties and prices: Maracaibo Creole 49%, $48 Sao Palme 60%, $30 Arriba 72%, $46 As for shipping, I can fit 2 bags in a medium flat rate box for $14 or 3 bags in a large box for $19 to go anywhere in the USA. If you'd like some, PM me with your selection, email, and shipping address. I'll invoice you via Square and you can pay securely online with a credit card. Thanks for reading!

@Smithy Your request gave me the imputes to finally word-process the recipe. My DW use Excel, which drives me to distraction. Mom's Apple Raisin Walnut Cranberry Pie 4 baking apples, peeled, cored, and sliced 1 cup golden raisins 1 cup walnuts 1 cup fresh cranberries 1/4 cup flour 1 cup sugar 2 tablespoons margarine or butter 2 pie crusts to fit a 9- or 10-inch pie pan Heat oven to 425F. In a large bowl, mix the first four ingredients. In a small bowl, mix the flour and sugar together. Sprinkle the flour/sugar mixture over the large bowl, mixing lightly with fingers. Place first pie crust into pie pan, pricking with a fork. Pour the fruit mixture into the pie shell. Dot with the margarine or butter, then cover with second pie crust, crimping edges together and making sure top crust is vented. Bake at 425F for 15 minutes, then turn down oven to 350F for about 45 minutes. *** I use Braeburn apples ***

I dont believe that any English translation of Carêmes works exist. An incomplete version was published in 1842 (I think) but even the that version seems lackluster for the few recipes it does cover. I think it's time the world looks to its past, but I don't speak great French and it's a huge task to undertake. I hopefully plan on publishing this work and anyone who helps me will get a very fair cut, and if we decide not to publish it, I'll put it out on the internet for free. I'm working in Google docs so we can collaborate. I'm first cataloging the index to cross reference the pre-existing incomplete English version to give us a reference of what yet needs to be done, and from there we will go down the list of recipies and Translate them one by one. Simple google translate goes only so far, as it is 1700s French culinary terms and phrases being used. I'd like to preserve as much of Carêmes beautiful and flowery language as possible. Who's with me?

Something I wonder about but have yet to attempt ... i usually make Swiss or Italian meringue buttercream with egg whites. Occasionally I make egg yolk buttercream if I have excess yolks. Is there any reason why one couldn’t make whole egg buttercream? Whole eggs whip up plenty fluffy for genoise, what if you added hot syrup and cool butter? 🤔

Hoping for some help. I accidentally melted an old mould that is very important to us and I've had no luck searching around for a replacement. If anyone knows where I could buy one - or even has one to spare they would be willing to sell - please send me a message. The mould (label attached below) was originally labelled as "Easy as ABC gelatin mould", although we just call it the alphabet mould. Yes there are lots of alphabet moulds around, including new silicone ones, but we need the specific designs on this one to replace the one I damaged. Depending on the cost, I would consider paying for postage internationally (to Australia). Thanks in advance!

If so, what was it like? Sounds similar to kouign-aman ... https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-north-east-orkney-shetland-44486529

we're all used to the Wednesday/Sunday food sections of newspapers far and wide, national and local. I see corrections in the local or regional columns when called for, but there's never a way to critique the ones published on a national scale because the content is behind a paywall. I get the WSJ, but don't want to pay additional (I should get access to it all on line for free-the newspaper is not cheap) for their online edition. Very frustrating to try a recipe and have major problems with it and not be able to point out some serious issues. Specifically, the WSJ published a recipe from Dee Retalli, a pastry chef in London who's recipe is in the cookbook 'Rustic' by Jorge Fernandez and Rich Wells. I have made this cake 3 times. First time was a total runover disaster, which I should have foreseen. This cakes calls for a 10" springform or if you don't have that, a 10" cast iron skillet. I went for the latter because that is what I had. Almond mixtures tend to really smoke when they run over, just so you know. Tried again later with a deeper than normal 9 " springform. Happened again. Think it has to do with the 2 teaspoons of baking powder and quick activation in a 350º oven. Invested in a 10" springform for '3rd times a charm' try. I was successful, but not because I followed the directions, rather I became a little obsessed with making this work. Checked my oven, followed with the recipe and eyed it warily. It came up to the brim...and stayed. 45 minutes later it was supposed to be done but while it was beautiful, it was a bowl of jello in the center. It was also browning at an alarming rate- the almond flour again? So I placed a sheet of tinfoil over it (beautiful top crust) and turned the oven down to 325º and carefully watched and tested for almost another hour. That's a big time difference. I found the recipe on cooked.com - credited to the above authors and cookbook albeit in Euro style measures and temps. All seems the same, so what are the odds that the recipe was misprinted twice from 2 different media? All I can think of is somewhere down the line (in the cookbook itself?) the cook time and temp were off. The time on both reads 45 min. The recipe took at least 1hr and 45 minutes. methinks someone left out the hour... The temp. thing is a little more obvious. Celcius to farenheight 350ºF does not equal 180ºC, more like 176ºC. Over almost 2 hours, I think that could make the difference between cooked and burnt? Sooo, I turned it down when I saw how fast it was browning to 325. The cake stays in form while you pour the honey over it, then orange water, then 2(!!!) cups of sliced toasted almonds. I put 1 cup and there is no way another cup would have stayed on that cake. I cup settled up to almost an inch on a 10" cake... Has anyone else tried this recipe or have the cookbook? It's a wonderful cake if you correct the time and temp., But I'd be really curious to see if anyone followed it exactly as written with success?

Cake construction question - I have a wedding cake order next month for about 175 people. I think it's going to be 14" round, 12" round, double-height 9" round, and a separated 6" layer with her great-grandma's cake topper. My question is about the double-height layer. Should I layer cake and filling as usual but just make it super tall, or will whomever has to cut the thing appreciate it if there's a goo-free zone of cake-cardboard-cake in the middle so they can separate it into 2 x 9" cakes or more easily cut it? I mean, I could make two regular layers with 5 layers of cake and 4 layers of filling, not frost the top of one and just stack the other on top, or I could make one giant cake with 10 layers of cake, 9 filling, and no cardboard in the middle. I almost never have to cut cakes so I don't know if it matters but I thought I'd ask. The filling will either be salty caramel or raspberry, and the icing will be meringue buttercream, not as sturdy to handle as a crusting icing or fondant. Or any other tips on giant wedding cakes? Thanks!

I’m using this recipe to try and make a perfect rice pudding. Ingredients: 1-2 Tbsp medium-grain white rice, such as arborio (often called risotto rice), calriso, or another california-grown rice--do not wash! 2/3 c additional long-grain or short-grain rice to make 2/3 cups rice total 4 c milk (skim, 1%, 2%, whole, or a combination) 1/3-1/2 c sugar, to taste 1 tsp pure vanilla extract Recipe: Place the rice and milk in the rice cooker bowl; stir to combine. Close the cover and set for the Porridge cycle. When the machine switches to the Keep Warm cycle, open the rice cooker, and add the sugar and vanilla, quickly stirring it into the rice milk mixture. Stir until combined. Close the cover and reset for a second Porridge cycle. Stir every 15 to 20 minutes until the desired consistency is reached. Warning: cooking the sugar for more than about 1/2-hour makes the pudding difficult to clean from the rice cooker bowl, so don't add sugar at the beginning of cooking (although the rice pudding comes out fine)! Rice mixture will thicken as it cools. If it comes out too thick, just add more milk. I initially tried it out using all arborio rice (because that’s all I head on hand), but as the recipe noted it came out too starchy. However it was really good, but not what I was looking for. The second time I used the suggested rice mixture. But looking at other recipes and Kozy Shack’s ingredient list, I decided to add a couple of egg yolks. At the end of the second porridge cycle (total cooking time 90 minutes) I added two coddled egg yolks (I almost pasteurized them with my sous vide, but that was a little overboard even for me). The texture was a little too thick, so I added a tablespoon or so of milk and then thought it was too thin so I kept with the porridge cycle. I checked about 15 minutes later and my thick porridge all of a sudden became a liquid soup. I kept cooking and after an hour it reduced to the thickness I wanted, but the rice broke almost completely down. What I want to know is what happened to make it go from a thick porridge to soup in a very short amount of time. Was it adding the egg yolks? There has got to be some science-y reason behind it.

I had a chance to try a couple of Valrhona's new "inspirations" flavors today, the passion fruit and the almond. The almond was good but I'd probably add salt. The passion fruit is intense and delicious, I bet you could cut it with a sweeter white chocolate and still get good flavor. They also have strawberry. These are cocoa-butter based so can be used for shell molding. https://inter.valrhona.com/en/inspiration-valrhona-innovation I could definitely see using these. Passion fruit is one of my favorite flavors, and I already indulge in the convenience of Perfect Puree so I don't think this would compromise my integrity Just wanted to share. Available soon, probably expensive

BANOFFE - MY DAUGHTER'S BIRTHDAY CAKE This year, mischievous nature tried to upset my daughter's birthday plans. Spending your birthday in bed with a thermometer isn't an excellent idea ¬– even for an adult. For a teenager it is a drama comparable to cancelled holidays. My daughter told me that you are thirteen only once. And she was right. Literally and figuratively. I wanted to sugar the pill for her on this day and cheer her up for a bit, so I prepared a caramel cake with bananas – banoffee in the form of a small birthday cake. My sweet magic and the dinner from her favourite restaurant worked, and in the end her birthday was quite nice. Ingredients (17cm cake tin): 150g of biscuits 75g of butter 200ml of 30% sweet cream 250g of mascarpone cheese 2 tablespoons of caster sugar 2 bananas 300g of fudge 1 teaspoon of dark cocoa Break the biscuits into very small pieces or blend them. Melt the butter and mix it up with the biscuits until you have dough like wet sand. Put it into a cake tin and form the base. It is worth rolling it flat with a glass. Leave it in the fridge for one hour. Spread the biscuit layer with fudge and arrange the sliced bananas on top. Whisk the chilled sweet cream with the caster sugar. Add the mascarpone cheese and mix it in. Put the mixture onto the bananas and make it even. Sprinkle with the dark cocoa and decorate as you like. Leave it in the fridge for a few hours (best for the whole night). Enjoy your meal!

ON THE CHRISTMAS TABLE - CHRISTMAS EVE CRANBERRY KISSEL One of my friends from Ukraine told me about her traditional Christmas dishes. Except for stuffed cabbage with potatoes (which I have made already) I was surprised about cranberry kissel. I searched the Internet and I saw that in many Polish homes Christmas Eve supper ends with cranberry kissel. In my home we always drink compote with dried fruit, but maybe this year we will try a new dish on our Christmas menu. I wonder why cranberries are on the Christmas table. I didn't find any particular information about it (except the fact it is tradition). I think that a few years ago cranberries were treated as a natural cure which aids digestion, and this could be quite useful after a hefty Christmas meal! At my Ukrainian friends' home Christmas kissel is runny like a drink, but you can prepare it like a dessert with a more dense texture. I made the drink version, but you should choose which is better for you. Ingredients: 500g of cranberries a piece of cinnamon and a couple of cloves 6-8 tablespoons of sugar 2-3 tablespoons of potato flour Wash the cranberries and put them with the cinnamon and cloves in a pan. Pour in 500ml of water and boil until the fruit is soft. Remove the cinnamon and cloves and blend the rest. Add the sugar and mix it until it has dissolved. Sieve the cranberry mousse to make a smooth texture. Mix the potato flour with a bit of cold water. Boil the cranberry mousse and add the mixed potato flour, stirring constantly so it is not lumpy. Boil for a while. Pour the kissel into some glasses. Enjoy your meal!

COURGETTE MUFFINS WITH LEMON Since I found the recipe for courgette muffins with lemon on the Polish blog gotujzcukiereczkiem I decided to prepare them. My children looked at the ingredients with surprise. Courgette and cakes don't go together well. The argument that they add caster sugar to the courgette pancakes didn't convince them. The muffins reminded my husband of the lemon cake his grandma used to prepare many years ago. I just liked them. They were short lived, because they disappeared in no time, slightly lemony, moist and not too sweet. They were perfect. If I didn't know they had courgette in them, I would never believe it. Try it, because it is worth it. Ingredients (for 12 muffins) muffins 200g of flour a pinch of salt half a teaspoon of baking soda half a teaspoon of baking powder 150g of sugar peel from one lemon a tablespoon of lemon juice 2 eggs 150ml of oil a teaspoon of vanilla essence a teaspoon of lemon essence 210g of grated courgette icing: 3 tablespoons of milk 10 tablespoons of caster sugar 1 teaspoon of lemon essence Heat the oven up to 170C. Put some paper muffin moulds into the "dimples" of a baking pan for muffins. Mix together the dry ingredients of the muffins: flour, salt, baking soda and baking powder. Mix together the sugar and lemon peel in a separate bowl. Add the eggs, oil, lemon juice and both essences. Mix them in. Add the dry ingredients and mix them in. Grate the unpeeled courgette, don't squeeze and don't pour away the liquid. Add the courgette to the dough and mix it in. Put the dough into some paper muffin moulds. Bake for 25-30 minutes. Now prepare the icing. Mix the milk with the caster sugar and lemon essence. Decorate the muffins with the lemon icing. Enjoy your meal!

MILLET GROATS CHOCOLATE CREME WITH CRANBERRY MOUSSE Today I would like to share with you the recipe for the best chocolate crème I have ever eaten. It is thick, smooth and very chocolaty in flavour and colour. Despite the chocolate, the dessert isn't too sweet. But if somebody thinks that it is, I recommend serving it with slightly sour fruit mousse. You can use cherries, currants or cranberries. You will make an unusually yummy arrangement and your dessert will look beautiful. My children were delighted with this dessert. I told them about the fact it had been made with millet groats after they had eaten it, and ... they didn't believe me. Next time I will prepare the millet groats crème with a double portion of ingredients. Ingredients (for 4 people)chocolate crème 100g of millet groats 200g of dark chocolate 1 tablespoon of dark cocoa 250ml of almond milkfruit mousse 250g of fresh cranberries juice and peel of one orange half a teaspoon of grated ginger 4 tablespoons of brown sugar Boil the millet groats in salty water and drain them. Melt the chocolate in a bain-marie. Blend the millet groats, chocolate, cocoa and milk very thoroughly until you have very smooth crème. Pour the milk in gradually to make the right consistency of your desert. Prepare the fruit mousse. Put the washed cranberries, ginger, juice orange peel and sugar into a pot. Boil until the fruits are soft. Blend. Put the chocolate crème into some small bowls. Put the fruit mousse on top. Decorate with peppermint leaves. Serve at once or chilled. Enjoy your meal!

SWIFT HOMEMADE NAPOLEON Sometimes we have days – may there be as few as possible – when nothing works out. I can even burn the water for tea. I have two ways of dealing with such days. The first is to sit in a corner and wait it out – maybe it will sort itself out. I can only do this when I'm alone. When I have a hungry family I have to look for another way. My second way is to use only well-known recipes and stick to them irregardless of how well I know them. Any experiments in this situation will end in failure. Last weekend was just difficult. My husband helped me prepare dinner, but the dessert was my problem alone. Following the rules, I used a recipe for napoleon that is so simple there is no way you could fail. I recommend it to anyone struggling with creative impotence or who likes glamourous results after not too much effort in the kitchen. Ingredients (for 9 napoleons) 1 pack of chilled French pastry 500ml of milk 6 tablespoons of sugar 1 packet of powdered blancmange 50g of butter 2 egg yolks 1 teaspoon of vanilla essence 1 tablespoons of potato flour 2 tablespoons of flour caster sugar Heat the oven up to 180C. Cover a baking tray with some baking paper. Cut the French pastry in half. Bake one half for 20 minutes. Remove it from the tray. Cut the second part into 9 squares. A cake prepared in this way is easier to divide into portions. Put them on the paper and bake for 20 minutes. Now prepare the crème. Boil 400ml of the milk with the sugar, vanilla essence and butter. Mix the rest of the milk with the powdered blancmange, flour and potato flour and egg yolks. When the milk has boiled, take it off the heat and add it to the mixture, stirring constantly. Put it on the heat and boil, stirring until the mixture is coagulated. Take the pot off the heat. Put the warm mixture on the whole part of the French pasty and then cover it with the sliced part of the pastry. Cover the dessert with aluminium foil and leave in the fridge for a few hours. Cut and sprinkle with the caster sugar before serving.

CRANBERRY-APPLE CAKE The worst thing about my cranberry-apple cake is the way it looks. It didn't look impressive, but it was so yummy it disappeared from the baking pan before it had completely cooled down. My children said that it was a colourful apple pie, and it really was something like that. Apples with cinnamon are the basis of apple pie – one of my favourite cakes. However, the sour cranberries make it more fresh and interesting. The crumble topping was, for my son, the most important part of the cake. I had to drive him away, because otherwise the cake would have been deprived of its crunchy top. Ingredients (18×26cm cake tin ):dough 200g of flour 150g of butter 3 eggs 1 packet of powdered vanilla blancmange 1 teaspoon of vanilla essence 200g of sugar 1 teaspoon of baking powder pinch of saltfruit 250g of fresh cranberries 1 apple 3 tablespoons of brown sugar 1 teaspoon of cinnamoncrumble topping 5 tablespoons of brown sugar 100g of butter 150g of flour First make the crumble topping. Put the cool butter, flour and sugar in a bowl. Knead them until you have small lumps. Leave it in the fridge. Heat the oven up to 180C. Cover a cake tin with some baking paper. Mix the flour with the baking powder and salt. Cream the butter with the sugar. Add egg after egg to the butter, stirring constantly. Add the flour, vanilla essence and powdered vanilla blancmange. Mix it together until you have a smooth dough. Put the dough into the cake tin. Wash the apple, remove the apple core and cube it. Mix the cranberries, apple, sugar and cinnamon in a bowl. Put the fruit on top of the dough. Cover the fruit with the crumble topping. Bake for 50 minutes. Enjoy your meal!

BICOLOUR DESERT WITH SEMOLINA Today when we think about breakfast with milk we can choose different kinds of flakes, granolas, muesli and milk which has sometimes never been anywhere near a cow. When I was a child, only semolina rolled oats and rice were on the menu. Semolina with milk – our hated everyday breakfast – means that I don't fancy using it in my kitchen. But, as they say, time is a great healer and semolina was on our table last weekend for dessert. The dessert had two colours: the first layer was vanilla, and the second was with cocoa. On the top I put some mousse with blueberries. The dessert was very grand and really very tasty. Ingredients (for 4 people)vanilla layer 50g of semolina 400ml of milk 3 tablespoons of brown sugar 1 teaspoon of vanilla essencecocoa layer 50g of semolina 400ml of milk 3 tablespoons of brown sugar 2 tablespoons of cocoafruit mousse 200g of blueberries 1 tablespoon of brown sugar pinch of cinnamon 1 tablespoon of lemon juice First prepare the vanilla layer of the dessert. Boil the milk with sugar and vanilla essence. When the milk has boiled, slowly add the semolina, stirring constantly so as not to make lumps. Keep boiling and stirring until the mixture is stiff. Put some small glasses into some small bowls and arrange them in such a way that they are resting at an angle. Put the mixture into the glasses and leave to congeal. Now make the cocoa layer. Boil the milk with sugar. Mix the semolina with the cocoa. When the milk has boiled, slowly add the semolina with cocoa, stirring constantly so as not to make lumps. Keep boiling and stirring until the mixture is stiff. Place the glasses upright and put the cocoa mixture into them. Leave to congeal. Wash the blueberries and blend them with the sugar, cinnamon and lemon juice. Put the fruit mousse on top of the dessert. Enjoy your meal!

Having experienced the "Edible Balloon" dessert at Alinea, I have been on a quest to try this at home. Only recently was I able to find purportedly a recipe: https://www.buzzfeed.com/raypajar1/these-edible-helium-balloons-are-dessert-from-the-future?utm_term=.ut6r3PnMk#.acGNVWmd6 the video of which is found below. I tried this and probably no surprise, it failed. The bubble collapsed / popped with only a little distension. I wasn't sure if the problem was that a "secret" ingredient (e.g. some kind of surfactant to stabilise the bubble or using a different kind of sugar) was missing. Or maybe I didn't allow the mix to come to correct temperature etc. Elsewhere I thought I had read that the original recipe was in effect some kind of taffy. Has anyone else had success, or do any candy makers /modernist chefs, have suggestions they are willing to share?

(Ontario, Canada) Bought a 1 Litre carton of whipping cream last week. Expiry date De 24. 35%. (I don't know if I am allowed to post the brand name or not. It has worked fine before. ) Made from Canadian cows in Quebec. More ingredients than I would wish for, but what can I do except switch brands? On the shoulder of the carton it says: "Shake well." Shake well? I don't think I've seen that on a carton of whipping cream before. Oh, it's not super pasteurized or whatever it is that some heavy cream in the States is and we all know it won't whip properly. So last night's Raspberry Shortcake was a bit of a disaster with this cream which didn't whip. I was embarrassed (and not pleased by all the helpful 'advice' I was given.) So this morning, knowing that I would use the cream in ice cream anyway, I poured 1 1/2 cups into a metal bowl and put the bowl and beaters into the freezer. Our house is at 67 degrees Fahrenheit...not hot at all. And the stuff would whip only as far as slightly together and not even soft peaks, same as last night. But then I realized as I poured it out, that the consistency wasn't correct anyway. Whipping cream pours very thickly to begin with and this didn't. No way. So what is my point besides ranting? Not sure. Do any brands of whipping cream tell the user to shake well? And other than returning it (we will), entering a formal complaint (we will), and buying another brand, at least for the time being (we will), I'm not sure what is going on. My normal equilibrium has returned....

ORANGE CREME BRULEE WITH MILLET GROATS One of our friends said recently that he doesn't cook for himself. He eats what his wife prepares: sometimes it is something healthy and other times something yummy. It was a joke, of course, because his wife cooks really well, but this sentence is now in our friendly canon of jokes. Inspired by our talk about groats, flakes and healthy food, I prepared a dessert which combines excellent taste and healthy ingredients. The original recipe comes from the Lidl cookery book. I would like to share with you my version of this dish. I recommend Crème brûlée with millet groats to everybody who counts calories. It is mild, not too sweet, wonderfully creamy inside and with an incredible crunchy crust on top. That's why we love crème brûlée, don't we? I prepared a cranberry-orange preserve to offset the sweetness of the dessert. The whole dessert looked beautiful and tasted perfect. Ingredients (for 4 people)crème brûlée 100g of dry millet groats 350ml of almond milk 1 teaspoon of vanilla essence 2-3 tablespoons of brown sugar (3 additional tablespoons for the sugar crust) juice and skin from one orange confiture: 150g of fresh cranberries juice and peel from one orange 4 tablespoons of brown sugar Put the millet groats in a sifter, clean them with cold water and then douse them with hot water. Put the groats, almond milk, sugar and vanilla essence into a saucepan with a heavy bottom. Boil it with the lid on without stirring for 15-18 minutes until the liquid has evaporated. Leave to cool down. Add the orange juice and peel, mix it in and blend until the mixture is perfectly smooth. Put the dessert into small bowls and leave in the fridge for one hour. Wash the cranberries. Add the orange juice and peel and the sugar and boil for 10-15 minutes. Try it and add some sugar if you think the dessert is too sour. Take out the bowls from the fridge. Sprinkle them with the sugar and burn it with a small kitchen burner to make a crunchy caramel crust. Decorate the dessert with a small teaspoon of the cranberry preserve. Serve the rest of the preserve separately in small dishes.

One of my friends is leaving for Spain next week, and I’m planning to surprise her with a party before she leaves. Since she’s a huge lover of sweets, I decided to buy her a cake. I don’t know where to start looking, but my brother suggested that I buy from this online provider of custom cakes. I checked their website, and I think they have cakes that my friend will love. I haven’t bought anything yet because I want to be 100% sure that their cakes are truly excellent. Do you have any idea how I should examine cakes through the Internet? What are the things that I must take into consideration? Thanks!

My Irish Coffee Today the children will have to forgive me, but adults also sometimes want a little pleasure. This is a recipe for people who don't have to drive a car or work, i.e. for lucky people or those who can rest at the weekend. Irish coffee is a drink made with strong coffee, Irish Whiskey, whipped cream and brown sugar. It is excellent on cold days. I recommend it after an autumn walk or when the lack of sun really gets you down. Basically, you can spike the coffee with any whiskey, but in my opinion Jameson Irish Whiskey is the best for this drink. If you don't like whiskey, instead you can prepare another kind of spiked coffee: French coffee with brandy, Spanish coffee with sherry, or Jamaican coffee with dark rum. Ingredients (for 2 drinks) 300ml of strong, hot coffee 40ml of Jameson Irish Whiskey 150ml of 30% sweet cream 4 teaspoons of coarse brown sugar 1 teaspoon of caster sugar 4 drops of vanilla essence Put two teaspoons of brown sugar into the bottom of two glasses. Brew some strong black coffee and pour it into the glasses. Warm the whiskey and add it to the coffee. Whisk the sweet cream with the caster sugar and vanilla essence. Put it gently on top so that it doesn't mix with the coffee. Enjoy your drink!

Pumpkin muffins with chocolate Today I would like to share with you the recipe for a dessert which was made with internet inspiration and the combination of two other recipes: carrot cake and pumpkin muffins with fruit stew. These muffins were an immediate hit at my Halloween party last year. I had to use baked and blended pumpkin for them. This time I used raw, grated pumpkin. I prepare carrot cake in exactly the same way. One of the ingredients in both desserts is cinnamon. It gives baked goods a slight taste of gingerbread. Thanks to the juicy vegetables, the muffins are moist and yummy even the next day. Ingredients (for 24 muffins) 210g of grated pumpkin 2 eggs 200g of flour 180ml of oil 180ml of milk 130g of brown sugar 1 teaspoon of baking powder 1 teaspoon of cinnamon 100g of chopped dark chocolate 150g of white chocolate Heat the oven up to 180C. Put some paper muffin moulds into the "dimples" of a baking pan for muffins. Mix together the dry ingredients of the muffins: flour, sugar, baking powder and cinnamon. Mix together the grated pumpkin, oil, milk and egg in a separate bowl. Add the egg mixture to the dry ingredients and mix them in. Put the dough into some paper muffin moulds. Bake for 25-30 minutes. Melt the white chocolate in a bain-marie. Decorate the muffins with the chocolate.