Baking Thursday!

So I've been slow on my blogging this last couple of weeks. 

The cinnamon break apart muffins (read first post here) I was working on are now more or less perfect though I'm still working on the technique before I will post a full recipe for you all. 

The last ones I made were so good. I could eat them all day long. 

 My favourite part of them though?

That will have to be the bottom of them. They are so good and moist and because they are baked in the muffin tray all the butter runs down to the bottom and makes them amazing. 

~*~*~

Well, this evening I decided I wanted to do some baking. My grandmother's boyfriend made me a great baking board that I just had to try out so I was thinking of making some focaccia. I've been thinking of baking some for about a week now but never got as far as to do it so I still can't remember where I have my recipe for it. 

Never mind! I have a book about bread baking! So I grabbed the book (well actually my mother did) and got to work. For the first time I have the perfect surface to work on so I decided to bake it right on the board. For the first time! I was so excited. 

I only got one picture this time because I was so excited about it all and I had such a good time that I completely forgot to take pictures. 

To cut a long story short or maybe it's better to say I made a short story longer, it didn't work out. 

The recipe in the book was a complete bust. It turned out like a big, white bun. 

It tasted nice, but it wasn't focaccia. 

In the end it just means I'll have to find my recipe so that I can make some real focaccia. All on my new board of course, because it's amazing. Next time I'll have some great pictures to show off my baking board.

Have a great weekend all of you! 

~ Love, 

Clare

Cat shelter update - Liz

I have some great news about Liz.

On the 23rd of April she got a new home.

I wish her the best of luck for the future.

Cinnamon Muffins, Oh no!

I was going to make some great cinnamon muffins yesterday and the first try went terribly wrong. 

The dough went all lumpy, didn't rise properly and I ended up just having to chuck it out. It was sad.

The problem after that is that I hardly had any more yeast so my second try was tiny and I only got to make four muffins. They were big, but still only four of them. I think I'll make them slightly smaller nest time and I'll have to work on the recipe as I'm very unsure about the one I used. 

I think I'll ask my grandmother for her recipe for cinnamon rolls. They are lovely so surely they will make the best cinnamon muffins as well. 

Just as I put them in the oven, the butter started melting right away and they made the whole kitchen smell wonderful. I couldn't wait to see them come out again. 

 

As they came out I could feel the excitement rising and they looked amazing. 

They tasted amazing and the smell, it was like a dream. 

So me and my mother decided to tuck in and enjoy them while they were warm. 

I was half way through mine and I was gutted to see the middle wasn't cooked. 

It was a baking nightmare day and I had been looking forwards to them for a week. 

But I'm not giving up!

I'll make them slightly smaller to make sure they cook properly and then I'll get the recipe perfected. I'll steal grandma's. 

Once I've got it all sorted I'll share it with you all so you can try and taste them yourself.

~ Love Clare <3

Liz sends her love

• Name: Liz
• Age: Almost 2!
• A little about me: Hello there! I'm Liz and I'm super pretty. I came to the cat shelter last year with my son and daughter. They have both gotten great homes now and I'm very happy for them. It also means that I get the attention that they used to get. I have amazing fur that I love to look after and small, pretty ears. I love cuddles and rolling around. You can usually find me occupying the basket on the table. When I lie there I maximize my chances of getting cuddled. 

 

Hello From Christer

• Name: Christer
• Age: I'm 3!
• A little about me: Well, what can I say? I have beautiful mackerel coloured fur and I'm one of the softest little creatures you will ever meet. I'm like silk! I was adopted once but sadly it didn't work out, so now I'm looking for the special place where I will spend the rest of my life. I love cuddling and getting attention and if you need some company then I'll give you my full attention. You rub my back and I'll rub yours.

Lovely Lemon Cupcakes

My posting had been a late this week so today I will bring you this lovely recipe for some lemon cupcakes. Had a great day yesterday with food and drink and the cat and me decided that we had to do some baking.
So here it is!

You will need: 

• 100 grams butter
• 160 grams sugar
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• Zest of three lemons
• 2 eggs
• 1 1/2 dl milk
• 200 grams flour
• 2 tbsp sour cream

This will make about 12 cupcakes and the preparation time is around 20 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 160 °C and prepare the tray with some sweet cupcake liners.

 

~ 1st step: Put the sugar, butter and vanilla extract to a bowl and beat it until it's light and creamy. 

Then start adding the zest, a bit at a time.

~2nd step: Add the eggs one at a time and beat them in well. Once you've done this you stir in half the flour and half the sour cream. Stir it in well before adding the rest, including the milk.

You should now have a nice smooth mixture that you can start dividing between the liners.

Miss was very interested in this step and my mother gave her some mixture. It made her go crazy and she tried to tell me she needed more. When she realised I wasn't going to give her any she started sulking and didn't want to keep me company any more. 

Oh, and ignore the messy cupcake to the right. 

Now put them in the oven for 20 minutes and while they are getting nice and comfy you can start on the icing. 

For the icing you'll need:

• 120 grams butter
• Zest of one lemon
• 2 tbsp lemon juice
• 200 grams icing sugar
• Yellow food colouring (optional)

 ~ 1st step: Beat the butter so that it's creamy and soft then start adding the icing sugar a little at a time. 

~ 2nd step: Add the zest and mix it in. Once you've done this you can add the lemon juice. This is when you will have to start tasting. Do you want a mild lemon flavour or do you want it more zingy?

I added probably about twice as much lemon juice that I've written here, but 2 tablespoons is a very good starting point. 

By this time the cupcakes should be ready and you can take them out of the oven. Of course if you're unsure about them being ready yet or not grab a BBQ skewer and stick it through the middle of one of your cupcakes. If it comes out clean then they are ready. 

You'll have to excuse my icing skills. I've never done much icing so it's a bit slap dash. I got this great piping bag set and ever since I've been wanting to do more things with icing. It's my practice so it means I have to make a lot of cakes. 

It's bad I know, but don't let it fool you, they taste amazing. 

Hope you all enjoy them as much as Miss and me do and if you have any questions then feel free to send me a message or comment here on this page. If any of you use the recipe I would love to see a picture or two. 

Have a wonderful Easter!

Week 14

So. . . What will this week bring? Did I ask that last week as well? Oh well, never mind.
I hope you are all well and I'm looking forwards to get on with some Easter crafts. So tomorrow I will be working in some Easter decorations with grandma , Thursday I will be telling you a little about Christer from the cat shelter and on Friday? Well I wasn't going to do any baking until next week but my mum has been thinking about lemon cupcakes for a while now and she asked me to make a recipe for some. So I got to work and finished it a couple of days ago. She told me she had heard something about 2 eggs and 3 lemons so I worked around that to make the recipe. I wonder how they will turn out.

Hello From Claude

• Name: Claude
• Age: About 3-4 years old
• A little about me: I'm very playful and I love the younger kittens at the cat shelter. I can get in trouble sometimes because I don't always remember my own size but I never mean any harm. Sadly I'm not very good at looking after my own fur and I don't like it when they try to brush me so sometimes they have to shave me. It makes me look a bit silly but I can carry off the look with my vastly superior handsomeness and cuteness. 

Muffins with Dates and Walnuts

The weather has been wonderful all day today and it made me in the perfect 

mood to bake what I had planned. 

Some lovely muffins with dates and walnuts. They are sweet and perfect. 

So, to make these little lovelies you will need:

• 250 grams chopped dates
• 2 1/2 dl water 
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 2 tbsp butter
• 220 grams flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• A small handful walnuts
• 225 grams sugar
• 1 whisked egg  
  

Preparation time is about 15 minutes and it will make about 16 muffins.

Preheat the oven at 165 °C.

You will have to start with the dates and get them ready. I usually buy about 300 grams of dates 

because you have to remember that there are stones in them and you'll have to take them out. 

~ 1st step: The sticky step in other words. Pit all the dates and make sure you have 250 grams ready. Then chop them all roughly and place them in a pan with the water. 

Bring the pan to a boil and then take it off the heat. Add the baking soda and butter and stir it well. Let that sit for the time being and move on to the second part.

~ 2nd step: Grab the walnuts and start chopping! Chop them as small or big as you want them. I usually have them medium chopped. 

Sift the flour and baking powder into a large mixing bowl. 

Add the walnuts, sugar and the egg and lightly start to mix it together.Once you've done this you can add the datemix and stir it together to an even mixture. 

If it smells sweet and feels sticky you're doing it right. 

Now I hope you left some of the chopped walnuts!

They are super to sprinkle on the top of the muffins before you put them in the oven. 

Fill your muffin liners about two thirds and sprinkle some walnuts on top. 

 

Put the tray in the oven for about 20 minutes. Check on them once in a while to make sure they are nice and comfy. Now, because of the dates they will be soft and fluffy and you will keep going back to them thinking that they aren't getting baked all the way through, but don't worry, the last few minutes they pull themselves together and will be perfect. 

Just to make sure though you can grab a barbecue skewer and stick it through the middle of one of them. If it comes out cleanly with no mixture on it then they are ready to come out. 

 

And tuck in!

Hope you all enjoy!

If you have any questions then feel free to leave a comment and if any of you decide to try it out then I would love to hear your opinion and maybe see a picture or two. Good luck!

So what will this week bring?

Well, I'll be baking tomorrow and I'm really looking forwards to it. I was walking around town looking for dates to use and I couldn't find it anywhere. That's the main problem with living in a small town next to the Swedish border south in Norway. Whenever something is slightly out of season there is a possibility that you wont see it for another year or so.

But! In the end I found some. So tomorrow I'll be baking some Date and Walnut muffins. They really are some of the best muffins I've ever tasted and they last for days without going stale. 

On Wednesday I'm going to the cat shelter to take care of the fluffy creatures and on Thursday I will be doing a little Cat Profile of Claude. (top right corner)

And also introducing Miss!

Miss is my own little girl. She became ten years this February and now that the sun has come out she's loving it outside. I spent ages with her yesterday out in the sun rolling around and playing. Such a fluffy little ball. 

Welcome to my brand new blog!

I'll be updating with news from the cat shelter, crafts, photography, baking and maybe a tutorial or two.

To start it off I thought I should just introduce you to some of the small creatures I know who have huge hearts. Markus, Zoki, Lobo and Simen. 

Markus (top left corner) is with us at the cat shelter because his owner is having a hard time. So, he's not up for adoption (yet) but with us he's finally getting the care and love that he needs. He's a "paws on" type of cat and will give you good headbutt if he thinks you're not cuddling him enough.

Zoki (top right corner) came to us only a few months ago and is doing loads better. She's not shy at all and all she really wants is a lap to curl up on. I hope she gets a good home sometime soon where she can love and be loved. 

Lobo (bottom left corner) has been with us for over two years now and has improved drastically since he arrived. He had been living on the street all his life (he's about 5-6 years old) and two winters ago it got so cold that the people in his neighbourhood couldn't watch any longer as he struggled to get by. He's the Rambo of all cats. But even though he's tough and strong he's also one of the loveliest cats there is and loves to have company and loads of cuddles. 

Simen (bottom right corner) is one of the newest cats at the shelter and is starting to find his place in his new, and hopefully temporary, home. This guy wont let you sit for long before he wants your love and attention and you can just forget about reading the papers or a book because if there is something you're reading he's going to want to sit on it. He can get a bit testy with the other cats sometimes, but he's starting to fit right in with the others who just want to play.

I hope to be able to share with you the lives of some of my friends at the shelter and I hope you will fall in love with them as much as I have.