March 22, 2012

Berries Cupcakes


By the end of Spring/ beginning of Summer mouthwatering berries of all kinds used to abound in the low bushes near my house and me and my childhood friends used to make an expedition into the woods every weekend either to eat them fresh out of hand or to pick them for our mums to bake them in a cake for Saturday afternoon snacks. Sometimes we'd eat them still hot, for they had been under the full sun and that often gave us stomachache.
This week to celebrate the shy arrival of Spring I decided to bake dark chocolate cupcakes with a hint of berries and although the jam jar didn´t give me the same thrill as when I used to pick the berries by myself, it surely tasted as good as when I was young!








Ingredients:
  • 2 tea cups flour
  • 2 tea cups sugar
  • 1 soup spoon yeast
  • 7 eggs room temperature
  • 1/2 tea cup sunflower oil
  • 1 tea cup of chocolate in powder
  • 1 tea cup of milk
  • 1 tea cup of boiling water
Pre-heat the oven 190ºC/ 4 gas

In a bowl beat up the eggs, the sugar and the sunflower oil for about 3 minutes with the mixer and pour over the flour with the yeast. Blend well with a big spoon, add the milk and at last pour the boiling water cup over all. Use the  mixer again for about 3 minutes. Put the dough in a cake mould lightly greased with butter. Put it in the oven for about 25 minutes.

Filling:
  • red berries jam with natural berries bits
Cover:

[Italian Meringe - former recipe on the blog]






















Too Good Not To Post It Right Away


March 21, 2012

Where The Wild Flowers Bloom

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

During my childhood years I and my friends were privileged kids, because we had the chance of being able to play in big rural areas and of enjoying what nature had to offer us generously and for free. Near our houses there was an area/ a place full of tall green grass, beautiful trees and widely varied wild flowers which we used to call "The Hill" - it was there that our adventures began and took place. One of our favourite  hobbies in the never-ending sunny Springtime afternoons - also known as Easter school break -  was to go uphill, pick a bunch of wild flowers and make garlands that served both the purpose of our made up stories of princesses and enchanted fairies as well as our then completely unimaginable sense of fashion trend. Today I feel most sad when looking up to the top of our old street and noticing that "The Hill", my hill, is not there any longer. Now I catch a glimpse of the project of a new neighbourhood of concrete and I miss the time when we owned the place where the wild flowers bloomed!


----------------------------------------------------------------------------------


---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------



------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


----------------------------------------------------------------------------------



---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------




---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------



-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------



-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------



-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------



----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------