Milk Chocolate Cookies

It's Saturday. Have a cookie.

Cut cookies like these are so quick and easy to make - you can easily make a lot of them, and the freeze well. Use a really good quality milk chocolate for these, one that you like to eat, as it'll definitely be dominant in the finished cookies.

Milk Chocolate Cookies
makes about 40

170 g butter, at room temperature
45 g white sugar
45 g raw sugar (or brown sugar)
3 tbsp golden syrup
300 g all-purpose flour
1,5 tsp baking powder
1 tsp vanilla sugar (or 1/2 tsp vanilla extract)
150 g milk chocolate, chopped

Whisk the butter with both sugars until pale and fluffy. Add the golden syrup, and then all remaining ingredients. Mix into a supple dough.

Shape logs (in my case, three), that are about 2-3 cm thick. Place on a baking sheet, and bake at 175°C for about 20 minutes. They will start to look cracked on top - this is normal.

Leave to cool for a few minutes, and then cut into 2 cm thick cookies, diagonally. Leave to cool completely on the sheet

Recipe in Swedish:
Mjölkchokladsnittar

Flourless Almond Brownies

If you make the macarons I posted about yesterday, you'll find yourself with some leftover almond praline. Not a huge problem, obviously, but I did - and these brownies are what I made with it. You can totally leave it out if you don't happen to have it, but it adds an extra touch of caramel which I found very welcome. (Just use more ground almonds.)

These are great on their own, but absolutely divine with a dollop of whipped cream. And as a bonus, they're gluten free!

Flourless Almond Brownies

225 g butter
225 g dark chocolate
200 g sugar
1/2 tbsp vanilla extract
3 eggs
150 g ground almonds
50 g almond praline



Melt butter and chocolate, and add sugar and vanilla. Let it cool slightly, then add the egg, almonds and almond praline. Stir until smooth.

Pour in a buttered cake tin and bake at 175°C for 25-30 minutes. Remove from the oven, and cool before taking them out of the pan.

Recipe in Swedish:
Mandelbrownies

Mystery Mocha

Not your best option if you're looking for pretty, but OH so tasty. I found this over at The Pioneerwoman Cooks, one of my always-favorite food blogs. We made this for a simple afternoon coffee-and-cake session, and it was very nice.

It will look really weird during the cooking. Don't worry. That's as it should be.

Mystery Mocha

175 g sugar
150 g all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
30 g dark chocolate
25 g unsalted butter
125 ml milk
1 tsp vanilla extract

topping:
100 g brown sugar
100 g sugar
4 msk cocoa powder
250 ml cold, strong coffee



Mix sugar, flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl. Melt the butter and chocolate, and add to the dry ingredients. Add milk and vanilla, and stir. Pour into a greased oven-proof dish, about 20*25 cm.

Mix the topping - brown sugar, sugar and cocoa powder. Sprinkle on top of the cake batter. Pour over the coffee. (This is when it will look really weird.)

Bake at 175°C for 35-40 minutes. Remove from the oven, let it cool slightly, but serve it while it's still a bit warm. It's great with some whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.



Recipe in Swedish:
Mystisk Mocka-kaka

Annamaria's chocolate cake

Happy Easter everyone! I'm happy to be back home, after an awesome vacation. My parents have a house in Spain, near Torrevieja, and that's where we went. (My parents joined us, too, for most of the time - it was great to get to spend some time with them.) It's lovely down there - very still and peaceful, and of course warm and sunny. Foodwise... a bit good, a bit not so good. (For example, the whole debate about organic food and additives must have not made it to Spain.) Anyway - we cooked a lot, since Titus was with us and that meant it wouldn't be so easy to eat dinner at restaurants all the time. I made an awesome paella, and dad made mussles in a creamy wine sauce with cilantro. More on the food when I've downloaded the photos from my camera!

We came home to find that winter has finally gone away, and spring is here. That means, among other things, that I have to get rid of my backlog of wintery posts really, really fast, in order to get to all the nice, spring-y food! Will make that my mission in the next few weeks.

Today, a chocolate cake originally from a Swedish food blog that's sadly not updated anymore. This cake was the runner-up to "best chocolate cake in Sweden" a few years ago, and I can well believe that!

However, believe me, this is rich. And I don't use that term lightly. Despite that, serve it with some whipped cream - it goes so well with the creamy chocolate truffle, and the crispy peanut butter cake layer.

Annamaria's chocolate cake

Bottom:
6-700 ml (about 2 1/2 cups) cornflakes
140 g golden syrup (try to find this, don't substitute corn syrup. If you must, substitute honey or agave syrup, but you might have to change the quantity.)
250 g peanut butter

Truffle:
175 g milk chocolate
275 g dark chocolate
100 ml full-fat cream
100 ml milk
50 ml pistachios, unsalted

To decorate:
Some extra pistachios

Start with the bottom. Use a springform pan with a loose bottom, and place a baking sheet in it. Crush the cornflakes slightly. Melt syrup and peanut butter in a saucepan, and add the cornflakes. Stir. Press an even layer into the pan and place in the fridge.

When the bottom is completely cool, make the filling. Coarsely chop both chocolates, and melt in the microwave. Heat the milk and cream and pour over the chocolate. Stir until completely mixed and smooth. (Use a stick blender if you'd like - I used a simple spoon and that was fine.)

Chop the pistachios and add to the truffle.

Pour the chocolate mixture over the bottom and sprinkle with the extra pistachios. Place in the fridge for at least five hours or overnight. Keep in the fridge until right before serving.

Recipe in Swedish:
Annamarias kladdkaka

Mint Chocolate Crisp

I'm still pretty upset about yesterday - and no, no sign of the computer, even though maybe, possibly an inkling of an idea about who the thief is - but chocolate makes me happy so let's go for a chocolate recipe.

I actually made these for christmas, but don't let that limit you. They were absolutely delicious, and I strongly suggest that you try them. You could use a cookie cutter to make this a bit prettier but frankly I found it too labour intensive.

This is good. Try not to eat it all at once, ok? (Except if someone steals your computer, in which case: feel free.)

Mint Chocolate Crisp

150 ml sugar
150 ml water
1 + 1/2 tsp mint extract, divided
120 g dark chocolate
120 g milk chocolate
50 ml shredded coconut (unsweetened)

Mix sugar and water in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil and keep cooking until it's lightly caramel-colored - about 7-9 minutes. Remove from heat and add 1 tsp mint extract. Pour onto an oiled baking sheet, or a silpat sheet. Make it as thin as possible, and let it set up completely. It'll take at least 15 minutes, maybe longer.

Then, break the mint candy into pieces, and crush in your food procesor until it resembles wet sand.

Chop both types of chocolate, and melt in a microwave or a double boiler. Add the remaining half teaspoon mint extract, the coconut and the pulverized candy.

Spread this on a sheet of silpat or teflon, and leave to cool. Break apart, and keep in a cool place.

Recipe in Swedish:
Mintchokladkrisp