Challenging Arts & Crafts: Dessert

Showing posts with label Dessert. Show all posts

Apricot Bars

Wachau is the region in Lower Austria where quality "marillen"/apricots are cultivated.

They call these fruits locally "marillen" .... sounds like a girl´s name but they are actually "aprikosen" in german and apricots in english.

The harvest time is between June and July and only fully riped fruits are offered in the market. Due to its nice location and a blessed weather, Wachau is hilly and ideal for the farmers not only to grow apricots but also grapes for quality wines that made the region famous.

Wachau apricots

Just have a look at this amazing view, the weather in the Wachau is perfect for apricots and grapes.. and it´s also great to bike along the Danube River for those who love this kind of sport.

The Wachau, Lower Ausria

Today, I´m sharing my recipe for this apricot bars using Wachau apricots. I baked this sometime in July when the fruits were available in the market but only shared now as I have very important priorities that made me so busy the las months...

.... so, I hope you´ll get your baking tins and try this yummy dessert which is so simple and easy to make.

....... Let´s bake !!!

Apricot Bars

Ingredients

250 g Flour
150 Sugar
100 ml Oil
100 ml water
4 Eggs
1/2 pack baking powder
1 pack vanilla sugar ( Dr. Oetker)
Juice of 1/2 Lemon
Apricots

Preparations: (Preheat oven at 170°C)
1. Wash the apricots, remove the seeds and cut into halves...set aside

2. Use separate 2 containers to separate the eggs.

In the first container, beat the egg yolk, add the sugar, vanilla sugar and the lemon juice.
Beat until the mixture becomes smooth in consistency.
Using a spatula, fold in flour and the sifted baking powder to the egg yolk mixture adding
alternately water and oil.

In the 2nd container, beat the egg whites until peaks are building and become stiff folding all
carefully into the egg yolk mixture in the first container. Spread the batter in a lined rectangular
baking tin. Arrange the apricot on top of the batter.

3. Heat 2 tablespoons of peach or apricot jam either in the microwave for 1 minute or under low fire until jam is liquified. Use a pastry brush to carefully pat jam on top of the apricots.
Bake under 170°C (38°F) for about 40 minutes. The cake is done when a toothpick inserted in the cake comes out clean. Sprinkle sugar on the cake top.
Cut the cake into bars carefully and arrange on a platter.

Tip
To make sure that the cake doesn´t get too dark on top, cover the baking tin with aluminum foil during the second half of the baking time.

Enjoy baking !

Mercy´s Simple Cupcakes

We had gusty winds today and we couldn´t bike... so instead, I took the chance to do some baking after preparing today´s lunch..

I thought of baking my simple recipe for cupcake that has apple chunks & blueberries mixed in the batter...

I hope you´d try this recipe. The cupcakes are not only scrumptious looking but they´re very tasty and yummy.

Mercy´s Simple Cupcakes....

Ingredients:

100g Blueberries1 apple peeled, cored and cut into small chunks

250 g All purpose- Flour

125 g sugar ( or 8 tbsp stevia powder as sugar substitute)

3 tsp Baking powder1 tsp Baking soda1 egg

250 g Buttermilk

75 ml olive oil or any vegetable oil

for the Topping:

250 ml whipping cream1/2 pack gelatine in

powder form ( about 4-5 g)

4 tbsp sugar ( or 4 tbsp stevia powder instead of sugar)

fresh strawberries , washed and dried

Preparations:

Preheat the oven at 180 °C.

1. In a small bowl, beat the egg, add the buttermilk, add the oil, mix til well blended, set aside.

2. In another bowl, mix all the dry ingredients, add the buttermilk mixture and with a wooden spoon, mix all until everyting is moist and well blended.

Add the blueberries and the apple chunks to the batter and spoon this to the cupcake pan lined with cupcake paper. Fill each lot with 3/4 of the batter.

3. Place the cupcake pan on the lower rack of the oven and bake it for 15-20 minutes... After the baking time, remove from oven and let the cupcakes cool down...

4. Meanwhile, pour 1/2 of the gelatine pack in a cup with 1 tablespoon cold water , mix and leave for about 5 minutes til the powder is dissolved.

5. Set your mixer to the highest speed level and whip the cream adding the sugar by & by til it gets slightly stiff..

Heat the gelatine in the microwave for about 10 seconds, then add a bit of the whipped cream for the gelatine to blend in. Add this to the cream being whipped ...continue whipping til ready for topping.