Haloween Fingers

Ok, Halloween has passed, but here it is a funny idea for your next year's Halloween aperitif.
I tried it for the first time a week ago at a great Halloween party of some dear friends of ours (thank you btw!!!) and everyone was excited with it!
So easy, so scary, so tasty... can you do better? ;)
With terror from me to you... BoooOOOOO

Xmas Swiss roll (buche de Noel) with mascarpone

Merry Xmas with a swiss roll!

 

[Originally published on Dec 24, 2016]
Not a classic one, with mascarpone cheese that is my favorite.
Actually, tiramisu is the most popular recipe in this blog thanks to this cheese, so why not to try one?
I would like to thank Raphael who inspired me with his traditional swiss roll that was a smash!
Thanks also to my daughter that made the final touch with her decoration *kiss*

Time is not money but rest in this festive period, so I will cut short and give you the details :)
 

All the best to you and your dear ones! May this period is restful and calm...

February 2 the day of crepes in France!

In France, February 2 (yesterday) is the day of crepes.
They call this day "Chandeleur" (Candlemas in english) and it is linked to religion (commemorate the purification of Virgin Mary and the presentation of baby Jesus)
but practically, people are making and consuming lots of crepes. 
You won't believe the amount of Nutella, and rest of ingerdients that are consumed those days.
As this is the weekend the closest to the Chandeleur, here's a recipe reminder to succeed your crepes and here is one for pancakes if you are too lazy for crepes :)

Happy Chandeleur!!!

Feta cheese balls

Remember the recipe of feta cheese pies (tyropitakia)?
It's one of our favorite salty starters and if you have never tried it before this is the moment to do it!

I am giving you an alternative that is pretty simple, much simpler than the original recipe.

Gravity cake

Happy birthday! 

My son just turned 10 and here's the best birthday cake that I decided to make that makes the buzz on the web and makes heads turn on it's sight... The GRAVITY cake!!!
My kids loved it, hubby thinks I'm a genius, friends were amazed and there were even people that took photos of it :))))
Special thanks to both of my children that helped me doing it, and my apologies to my daughter that I underestimated her capabilities as she has proved that often she is much better than me ! Kiss to hubby for the support, as always, to my crazy ideas.
So, let's get back to the cake. Procedure goes like this...

Halloween shortbread biscuits ("sablés" in french :)

 Halloween is approaching and I just found some really spooky biscuit stamps that I knew that would drive crazy my kids, especially my son, who is fond of Frankestein :)

I found it as a good excuse to test a recipe on shortbread biscuits that in french they call them "sablés". 

I cannot describe enough the excitement at home when they discovered the stamps! 

I can only tell you that we ended baking late at night, on top of a really busy day.... 
I was not in my best of mood, knowing that they will be tired for school the next day, but my... they had so much fun that eventually I thought, what the hell! I could make an exception :)))) 
Here it goes... and hope that you will have as fun as we had making them!

Brownies

Here's a classic recipe that was missing from my blog, so here it is the recipe for ...
... BROWNIES! or at least something similar to it :)
In France, that I live, they call it "pave au chocolat", btw.
Anyway, it is delicious and kids love it, so get ready for baking and let's start!

Zucchini muffins

Remember the delicious zucchini balls that I have presented a long time ago?
Discover today my personal touch to turn them to muffin-like starters in a xmas dinner that I have organized recently. They looked gorgeous and they tasted even better! Just try them...
Procedure

• Use the same recipe for the filling and simply pastry dough (cut in disks) and assemble them in a muffins tray. 
• Sprinkle on top with some yellow cheese. 
• Bake for about 30min at 180 degrees of Celsius and fan.

Aperitif (or cocktail hour) flower!

Living in France, I became keen with the idea of an "aperitif" that is a cocktail hour in between meals that might include a simple drink or a small buffet with some finger food.
Have a glimpse of the latest trend that I did in a hurry with whatever I had in my fridge and that was still delicious despite all odds :)
I had only 1 pastry dough so I made half the flower but it's enough to get the idea still...

Recipe reminder (muffins)

I am currently reading an interesting book about consuming sugar. So, I was resisting in making a sweet treat, but I admit that I am addicted and I cannot avoid it :)
Have a look in my chocolate-banana muffins to see why I could not resist...
Try NOT to do them! :P

Chocolate chip cookies

What to do in a rainy day? Make chocolate chip cookies and boost your moral and the one of your dear ones to the maximum :)
Classic recipe, that similar you can find all around the web, but I like to keep good recipes once found, so here it is the one that I prefer...

The muffins of the day!

These are the muffins of the day according to my recipe Vanilla muffins that is so easy to make and tasty too.
The inspiration of the day was to add some sliced almonds on top and decorated with a lollipop as they are going to be sold in my kids' school to finance a field trip....
If you read this post on time, come and buy one before it is too late :)

Fresh cranberries crunchy muffins

My program is very heavy this period, so I am not cooking and baking so much and when I do, I do not have time to describe it here... But I have discovered by chance (looking for something completely different) a blog recently that I liked and that I think that has the same philosophy with my blog. I am talking for the blog "Les recettes de Virginie".
So, I could not resist and woke up very very early this morning to make one of it's recipes to surprise my family for breakfast. I will share with you the result only in photos as I am telling you, no time for more :)

Cake pops!

I was resisting in falling into cake pops mania until ... one day I opened my door and dear John and his girlfriend came holding a bunch of cake pops in their hands ! And you can imagine the rest :)
Kids were crazy, and they kept asking me when I will do them again. So, we went and bought a silicone mold and sticks and here we are making them again and again. I continue to think that it's too much hassle but what the hell :) Let's share this mania with you, dear readers...

Ingredients (check also my cupcake recipes)
113gr of butter
113gr of sugar
113gr of self-raising flour
3 eggs
some cocoa powder (optionally, if you want a chocolate flavor)
Topping: 100gr of chocolate, some colorful decoration

Feta & dried tomatoes cake

I promised to give you the recipe of the mozzarella cake with feta and I always keep my promises :)
So, find today another version of this salty cake with a greek touch this time ...
Just replace the mozzarella with feta cheese and fresh tomatoes with dried tomatoes and add more flour so that in total will be about 250gr. Try it! 
See some photos from the preparation below...

Vivian's pudding

At Tyrnavos, a small greek town close to my hometown, they make a moist walnut cake that is covered with a thick cream and it is delicious. My mother discovered it when I was a small kid and adopted it as the main desert on special occasions. As we are close to Easter, I decided to propose you this "pudding" as we call it.
Rich in walnuts and syrup, perfumed with cinnamon and clove, looks gorgeous, I am sure it will become also your favorite desert :) Actually, by writing this, hubby enters at home and says... "what's smelling so great?" You see what I mean?

Happy Birthday!

It's been exactly one year since I have started to blog here, one year of "Vivian is cooking"!

Happy birthday dear blog,
you can pass from crawling to walking little by little like babies now :) That explains the publicity part that was added.

Happy birthday with a mug cake (recipe will follow soon...). Come on in and share!

Triple chocolate mousse cake!

Happy Valentine's day! I profit from the day to try a cake that I like a lot and I always buy it or order it in a good pastry shop, the "Triple chocolate mousse cake". What best to try for the lovers day than a cake full of all kinds of chocolate?
I have searched a lot to find a good recipe and for once, since long time, I tried a recipe that I found online and seemed to me quite reliable (http://douceursexquises.canalblog.com/archives/2007/03/05/4180019-p50-0.html). 
Normally, I do not try a recipe unless I have tasted it myself, but this time, I decided to give it a try as it seemed too close to my moto: simple ... but delicious :) Find here, my version of this recipe that I really liked and turned out to be a revelation!

Chocolate muffins

Remember my chocolate-banana muffins? Special tribute today, as I made 30 muffins without banana for the buffet of the birthday party of one of my kids and I decorated them in a simple but cute way that I am sure that anyone can reproduce...
Just d e l i c i o u s!

Chocolate-banana muffins

Who does not like chocolate? If you add banana also, and put both in a muffin, then you will have the perfect combination to make your day :) Find here, how to make fast and simple this version of muffins. Do not forget to leave me your comments at the end! For the allergic ones, I have the alternative vanilla muffins :) or just simple chocolate muffins!