Mini Mascarpone Baskets with Red Currant

Oh, how I love the time when they offer a better price for the expensive mascarpone in the shop and I buy a ton of it and then don't know what to do with it. 

So, this is a result of having too much mascarpone and some thawed-out red currant berries at hand. It's bitter (the baskets), it's sour (the currants) and it's sweet (the mascarpone frosting) - three basic tastes in one dessert, that's kinda cool, right?

You'll need (15 little cups):

• a handful of red currants
• 250g mascarpone
• any desired sweetener for the mascarpone frosting -I'll leave the amount up to you (don't deny it, tasting the stuff is sometimes more satisfying than the result)

• 5 table spoons coconut oil melted (plus some for greasing the cups)
• 5 table spoons cocoa powder
• 4 table spoons sugar
• whole grain rye flour (keep adding till the batter no longer sticks - about 12 spoons)

1) Incorporate the coconut oil, cocoa powder, sugar, and flour well and let it cool down in the fridge for a couple of minutes. 

2) When the dough is cool, grease your cups or baskets or muffin pan or whatever to create the cups in and then press the batter in them. Press it to the sides and try to have it evenly thick. Make sure you leave enough space for the berries.

3) Bake for about 12 minutes at 180°C.

4) Use a hand-mixer for beating the mascarpone with sugar. Since I defrosted my currants, I had red water from them at hand and I added a couple of table spoons to the mascarpone to leave lightly pink tint behind.

5) Once the baskets are cooled down and out of their forms, fill them with currants and top them with mascarpone.

J. R. Ward: The Shadows

Well, isn't The Black Dagger Brotherhood what caused my bookish sexual awakening back then? Oh, yeah. I discovered Dark Lover and my eyeballs almost popped out of my skull when I was reading some scenes. I wasn't prepared as a teenager for that but now I know what I'm going into and Ward always delivers. 

There have been so many books in the series and they always had the same pattern - one chapter about star-crossed lovers, one chapter about the fight with evil. But there has ever been a happy ending, no worries.

In this book, Ward broke the predictable structure (well, it was a few books before but I'm reviewing this one, so what?!) and even though it is centered on one couple, you get to see some other  well-known couples as well. Plus, I used to be quite skeptic about those unlikely couples having the time of their lives in the previous books and finally Wards gets back to them and shows that they must face some problems. Which makes it more believable. 

There are many books which combine action and romance out there, but I can assure you that BDB is the best. They are detailed and the universe is nicely described. There are many twists and unpredictable things but on the other hand, we read it for the happy endings, so the predictable is there as well.

GENRE: dangerous romance

FANGS OUT: the series is the best in the genre
FANGS RETRACTING: all forgiven, the author grows with each book, so they get better and better
TOTAL SCORE:

Now, something about how I obtained the book. There was a virtual signing at the author's web and I felt like I had to get my signed copy. I'd never had a signed book before and was always envious of people in the countries where the authors live that the fans just can go to some signing event and have it. So, even though it cost me and arm and a leg (the shipping being more expensive than the book!) I ordered it and waited... and waited... and waited some more because of the frickin' customs - I had to pay even more because the book exceeded the tax free limit by a couple of cents. That made me angry but when the book arrived so nicely packed, I was happy. When I opened the book, I was expecting a customized thingy because that's what the order said - a customized signed copy. Annnnnd it wasn't. It was just a Ward's signature... my mom joked she could make me one, too since it looked so easy to copy and she would even include my name on it. 

So, sometimes life sucks. It's better to expect nothing (I counted on the post office to lose my copy somewhere over the ocean) and then be happy for the little things (yay, my first signed book!).

Yoghurt and Sea Buckthorn Muffins

It's bitter, sour or tart and sweet at the same time. It's moist and has a hard core of dark chocolate. What is it? Well, one of my experiments I'm proud of. 

Really, these muffins are so unique and tasty I'm wondering why I haven't thought of putting sea buckthorn in them before. It's one of those fruits no one cares about because its taste is too weird but once you get used to it you'll find out that it's actually perfect.

The topping is the regular one I used for my caramel cupcakes (plus some cocoa powder), so check them to make it if you want but honestly, I like it as a muffin more than as a cupcake. 

You'll need (12 muffins):

• 100ml sea buckthorn juice (no added sugar, just pure juice made of blended berries - are buckthorns berries? - in it)
• 100g sugar
• 140g flour (1/2 plain, 1/2 whole grain rye)
• 1 egg
• 200g Greek yoghurt
• 50g cocoa powder
• 2 tea spoon baking powder
• 15 pieces of chocolate

1) Mix everything except the chocolate together till smooth.

2) Pour the batter into your muffin cups in two rounds - after the first round put a couple of chocolate chips or one chocolate piece in the cup and then cover it with the rest of the batter so that the chocolate is hidden and your cups are 3/4 full.

3) Bake for about 20 minutes at 180°C.

Tofu and Yoghurt Cake

So, I had a lot of Greek yoghurt at hand, one tofu which was almost expired and nothing sweet to snack on. Since I only eat tofu in my savory meals, it was a very daring step to incorporate it into a cake but I had heard of people doing that and wanted to try it. The result was too good to be true...

Ingredients (for a 23x23cm pan):

• 130g cocoa crackers
• 2 table spoons coconut oil
• 1/2 cup shredded coconut

•  1 cube of natural tofu (that's about 250g flavorless tofu)
• 300g Greek yoghurt
• 2 table spoons corn starch
• 1 egg
• 3 table spoons cocoa powder
• 100g melted chocolate
• 100g sugar (or more or less, depends on your taste - find out what you like by tasting it when it's all together; you can substitute sugar by adding a different kind of sweetener)

1) Prepare the crust first - combine cracker crumbs, coconut and melted coconut oil. Press it to the bottom of your pan and bake for about 10 minutes at 180°c.

2) Take a hand mixer or put everything into a blender- you need to make it as smooth as possible - you are getting rid of the tofu pieces. When it's all blended well, you should pour it (it's gonna be extra liquidy) onto your baked crust which has cooled a little and send it back to the oven for about 40 minutes.

Baguettes

I know, let's make some baguettes! I tire easily when looking at bread-shaped things so I decided to take the easy recipe and see if I could make baguette-shaped food from it. It turned out I could. Yay! 

Ingredients:

• 40g yeast (from the cube)
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 300ml warm water
• 500g flour
• 1,5 teaspoon salt
•  water for brushing

1)  Put the yeast and sugar in a small bowl and pour the water over it. Stir every once in a while till all combines.

2) Have the flour and salt in a larger bowl and when the yeast is ready, pour it on top. Do not mix. Cover it with tea towel and let it rest in warm environment. 

3) Wait till the yeast rises (about 30 minutes), then combine. What you are going to do next is that you fold the dough every 30 minutes. At least four times.

4) After the endless folding, cut the dough into 4 parts and shape each into a baguette. Cut lines on the top and put it onto a baking tray. Before you put it in the oven, brush the baguettes with water. 

5) Bake for about 25 minutes at 200°C. After taking them out of the oven, brush them with water one last time. You should know they are ready when the are gold/brown and when you tap them, they sound like they are made of concrete :-) but worry not, they will soften as they cool down. 

Note: plain flour baguettes will rise a lot in the oven (the thick ones in the picture), whole grain ones tend to be in the shape you put them in (the long darker ones in the picture).