My hungry stomach moans: crrrrrrrr...umble! With pears & chocolate

Did you know that:

• There are over 3000 varieties of pears grown around the world.
• Pears are native to Asia and Europe. The first pear tree was planted in North America in 1620.
• Pears are a member of the rose family.
• In the Odyssey, Homer called the pear a "gift from the Gods."
• The Chinese considered the pear, which they call "li," to be a symbol of immortality. The destruction of a pear tree symbolized tragic or untimely death.
• In Chinese, fen li means both "to share a pear" and "to separate." Therefore, it is considered bad luck in China to share a pear because it may lead to separation of friends or lovers.
• Before tobacco was introduced in Europe, pear leaves were smoked.
• The Bartlett is the most popular variety of pear in the United States. In Europe, the Bartlett is known as the Williams. It got its American name when a Bostonian named Enoch Bartlett bought a pear orchard and, not knowing the pears already had a name, began distributing them as Bartlett pears.
• You can use them as an alternative to apples to bake a delicious crumble!

Ingredients:

for the crumble topping

225 gr. plain or wholewheat flour

75 gr. butter at room temperature

75g - 110g brown sugar

for the filling

900g of pears

chocolate chips

What to do:

Pre-heat the oven to 180°C. Peel, chop, and place the pears into a casserole dish and spinkle over the chocolate chips then prepare the crumble topping. Put the flour into a large mixing bowl and add the butter. Rub the flour and butter together until it looks crumbly and the butter has been evenly dispersed through the flour. Add the sugar and mix together to ensure that everything is combined. Sprinkle the crumble topping evenly over the top of the pears using a fork to even out the distribution but don't press it down. Cook in the oven for 20 - 30 minutes until lightly golden brown. Let it cool for a while then sprinkle some powdered sugar and enjoy with a glass of chocolate milk.

♥ Martina ♥

The BTG: big tasty giant

The BTG is a giant chocolate cupcake with chocolate icing... I wonder what Roald Dahl would say?!?

It's a great idea you can go for when you want to be quick and don't have time to make cupcakes, but still want to bake something much more original than a cake. 

The result is guaranteed awsome!

Ingredients:

200 gr. flour

40 gr. cocoa powder

175 gr. sugar

50 gr. butter

1 cup milk

1 egg

1 tablespoon baking powder

a pinch of salt

chocolate chips

Procedure:

Preheat the oven at 170 degrees C.

Put the flour, cocoa, sugar, baking powder, salt, and butter in your mixer and beat until you get a sandy consistency and everything is combined.

Separately whisk the egg with the milk and then slowly pour it in the flour mixture. Continue mixing to avoid lumps until the batter is smooth. Add the chocolate chips.

Spoon the batter in a cake mould (diameter about 15-20cm): you can either use a silicon mould for oversized cupcakes or simply a normal springform cake pan. Bake in the oven for about 40 minutes or until the cake bounces back when touched; a toothpick inserted in the center should come out clean.

Let it cool completely before opening the mould, in the meantime you can do the icing.

Icing:

Beat with a freestanding electric mixer 500 gr. of confectioner's sugar, 100 gr. of butter, 60 gr. of cocoa powder, and 2 tablespoons of milk. Continue beating until the frosting is light and fluffy. The longer you beat, the fluffier it will become. Leave your frosting in the fridge for a couple of hours and then spread it on your giant cupcake. Decorate as you like!

Enjoy ♥

Martina

 

P.S.: this one was made for a 21st birthday. A friend ordered it :)

Rapunzel

Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your hair, so that I may climb the golden stair.

 Today I'm sharing with you one of my favourite recipes: the Austrian sweet bread braid or "Riesenstriezel". It's very easy and quick to do and it always tastes delicious!

Ingredients:

500 gr. flour (wheat, rye or spelt = Weizen, Roggen oder Dinkel)

300 ml. warm water or milk

30 gr. yeast

50 gr. butter

100 gr. sugar

1/2 teaspoon of salt

chocolate chips

1 egg

Procedure:

In a bowl melt the yeast with the warm water and mix to it the sugar.

In your mixer put the flour, salt, butter, and using the hook start mixing. Then add the water-yeast-sugar mixture and keep on mixing all the ingrediendts. If it looks too liquid add more flour, on the other hand if it looks too dry add water. 

Once you have a soft and elastic dough put it in a floury bowl and cover it with a dishcloth. Let it rise for at least one hour. When the dough has doubled its size add the chocolate chips.

Take an oven dish with baking paper and start forming your braid: divide the dough in three parts and form three rolls you will braid and join at both ends. Brush it with the egg.

Put the braid in the oven at 180° C for about 20 minutes, it will be ready as soon as you see a nice golden crust.

Serving & eating suggestion:

Let the braid cool down before serving. Decorate your braid with some chocolate chips (eg. hearts). Eat it spread with some Nutella cream and drink a hot chocolate :-P

Enjoy ♥

Martina