Extra, extra! Read all about it! :)

My blog now has a new home which I totally love!!! It’s so much brighter and its design suits me better. From now on I’ll only be posting on Culinarty.

What does my blog say about this? It’s so enthousiastic because it can now show you bigger photos of undistorted quality whithout the use of a third party like Flickr.

I can now install many useful plugins that I wasn’t able to use here. Some of them are already installed and others are yet to come. I really needed this type of flexibility!

I’ve transferred all the posts and comments there so you’ll be able to browse through older posts. The import took away the links attached to readers’ names and I suspect that’s due to some Blogger settings over which I have no control, so sorry about that.

Today I’ve published my first post on Culinarty. Yay, I’m like a kid all enthousiastic over my new toy :)) ! Hope to see you there!

Lume, lume, mare anunt mare! :)

Blogul meu are casa noua!!! Mi-a tot soptit el ca ar vrea o schimbare asa ca i-am oferit-o pentru ca o merita cu varf si indesat. De acum inainte ma gasiti pe Culinarty.

Care e parerea blogului meu? E foarte fericit pentru acum isi poate expune poze mari in voie fara a pierde foarte mult din calitatea lor initiala.

E multumit pentru ca are de ales intre foarte multe plugin-uri utile unele dintre ele fiind deja instalate. Altele tin de surprizele pregatite pentru voi toti cei care ma vitizati, iar surprizele se dezvaluie pe parcurs, nu-i asa ;)

De acum inainte voi posta doar acolo. Va astept cu mare drag sa-mi treceti pragul in noua casa, una cu un design mult mai frumos fata de cel vechi. Sper sa va placa :)

Chocolate - Apricot Cupcakes Filled With Crème Patissière

This recipe is my contribution to Nutriferia’s CHOCOLATE DESSERTS Roundup. Don’t forget to participate until 9 May! Even if I’m more of a savoury gal I sometimes crave something sweet and that usually implies chocolate :).


Cupcake ingredients (for 12 cupcakes)

• 5 Tbsp brown sugar (you might want to reduce the quantity if the chocolate and the jam you’ll be using are really sweet)
• 150 g/ 5.3 oz flour
• 100 g/ 3.5 oz milk chocolate
• 2 eggs
• 3 Tbsp apricot jam
• 1 Tbsp mashed compote apricot
• 100 g/ 3.5 oz unsalted butter
• 2 Tbsp fresh squeezed orange juice
• 1 tsp baking powder

Crème patissière ingredients

• 3 medium egg yolks
• 2/3 of a vanilla bean
• 1 ½ heaping Tbsp of flour
• 1 ½ cup of milk
• 2 ½ Tbsp caster sugar

Decorate with

• Grated milk chocolate ( I was out of dark chocolate but I’m pretty convinced it woud’ve worked better)
• 12 (compote or fresh) apricot slices (you can also use peaches, that’s what I did)

Directions

It’s always a good idea to make the crème pastissière first because this way it will have enough time to cool before filling the cupcakes.

In a medium bowl mix well sugar and egg yolks using a wooden spoon. Add ½ Tbsp of flour and mix well, then another ½ Tbsp of flour, mix again to make sure the flour is evenly distributed and continue until you’ve tossed in all the flour.

Cut the 2/3 vanilla bean in half and scrape the seeds. Pour the milk in a heavy-bottomed pan, toss in the vanilla seeds and bring to a boil over medium heat. When you see the milk foaming and rushing upward quickly remove the pan from the heat. Gradually whisk the hot milk in the egg-sugar mix. Pour the mix in the same heavy-bottomed pan and stir over low heat. It’s important to speed up the stir when it starts bubbling. When the stirring becomes more difficult and the crème patissière is a little bit thicker than a pudding you need to remove it from the heat and set aside to cool.

Preheat oven to 180 C/ 360 F.

Now on to the cupcakes. Line muffin cups with bottom-pierced paper liners. Coarsely chop chocolate and butter and melt in a bain-marie. Remove when melted and allow to cool for a few minutes.

In the meantime beat eggs and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer. Toss in jam, apricot purée, orange juice and melted chocolate and stir gently.

Mix together flour and baking powder, add to the bowl and stir again.

Fill each cup 2/3 full and bake them for about 20-25 minutes or until the cupcakes pass the toothpick test.

Set aside for a few minutes allowing to cool. Using a teaspoon remove a cone from each cupcake. Fill the hollow with crème patissière.

Decorate with grated chocolate and apricot (or peach) slices.

Indulge!

For those of you celebrating Easter on Sunday, I hope you spend these precious moments with those dear to you. Happy Easter!

Briose cu ciocolata si gem de caise, umplute cu crème patissière

Aceasta reteta este contributia mea la roundup-ul organizat de Nutriferia ce are ca tema DESERTURILE CU CIOCOLATA.


Ingrediente pentru briose (12 bucati)

• 5 linguri zahar brun (s-ar putea sa fie nevoie sa reduci cantitatea in functie de cat de dulce e ciocolata si gemul folosit)
• 150 g faina
• 100 g ciocolata cu lapte
• 2 oua
• 3 linguri gem de caise
• 1 lingura piure de caise din compot
• 100 g unt
• 2 linguri zeama de portocale
• 1 lingurita praf de copt

Ingrediente pentru crème patissière

• 3 galbenusuri medii
• 2/3 pastaie de vanilie
• 1 ½ linguri cu varf de faina
• 1 ½ cana cu lapte
• 2 ½ linguri zahar alb fin

Pentru decor

• Putina ciocolata razuita
• 12 felii de caise proaspete sau din compot (eu am epuizat caisele asa ca am folosit piersici)

Preparare

Intai vom face crème patissière ca sa aiba timp suficient sa se raceasca inainte de a umple briosele cu ea.

Intr-un bol mediu si cu ajutorul unei linguri de lemn se amesteca zaharul cu galbenusurile. Se adauga ½ lingura de faina si se amesteca din nou pentru a se incorpora complet si uniform inainte de a adauga urmatoarea ½ lingura de faina. Continua asa pana ce ai incorporat toata faina.

Taie pastaia de vanilie pe lungime si scoate toate bobitele acelea aromate. Pune laptele intr-un vas, adauga bobitele de vanilie si lasa-l la foc mediu pana incepe sa fiarba. In momentul in care se ridica spre suprafata si deci incepe sa fiarba ia repede vasul de pe foc. Toarna gradual laptele in vasul cu galbenusuri amestecand tot timpul cu telul. Apoi pune tot amestecul la foc mic si asteapta sa dea un clocot tot amestecand din cand in cand. Cand incepe se fiarba incepe si sa se intareasca deci e important sa amesteci cat mai des in acele momente evitand sa se prinda de fundul vasului. Cand devine greu de amestecat si e consistenta cel putin ca o budinca, se ia de pe foc. Se lasa sa se raceasca intr-un coltisor mai racoros.

Preincalzeste cuptorul la 180 C.

Pana se va raci crema, briosele vor fi si ele gata. Inainte de a face mixtura de briose e bine sa-ti pregatesti tava. Pune in fiecare adancitura o forma de hartie pentru briose pe care ai gaurit-o cu o scobitoare (inlesnind evacuarea aerului cald).

Acum mixtura. Untul si ciocolata se taie in bucati si se topesc la bain-marie. Cand amestecul s-a topit complet se ia de pe aburi si se pune deoparte pana cand din fierbinte se transforma in caldut.

Intre timp sa bat ouale impreuna cu zaharul la mixer. Apoi se amesteca usor gemul si piureul de caise in "spuma" batuta cu ajutorul unei linguri de lemn. Se adauga zeama de portocale si ciocolata cu untul topit si se amesteca din nou.

Faina se amesteca cu praful de copt, se adauga in bolul cu spuma si se amesteca din nou.

Umple fiecare forma cu amestecul obtinut fara a le umple chiar de tot (se lasa putin spatiu gol).

Se dau la cuptorul prealabil incalzit pentru 20-25 minute.

Testeaza-le cu ajutorul unei scobitori: daca scobitoarea scoasa din briosa are firmituri lipite de ea ar trebui sa le mai lasi in cuptor, daca insa e perfect curata, briosele sunt gata. Daca presezi putin bolta unei briose in jos si ea isi revine (e elastica si sare inapoi) inseamna ca sunt perfecte. Daca nu le simti elastice e posibil sa fi stat prea mult timp la cuptor.

Lasa-le cateva minute sa se raceasca apoi si ajutorul unei lingurite decupeaza un con in interiorul fiecarei briose. Gropita obtinuta se umple apoi cu crème patissière.

Se poate decora cu felii de caise (sau piersici) si ciocolata razuita.

Savureaza!

Daca te numeri printre cei care sarbatoresc Pastele duminica iti doresc sa te bucuri de aceasta sarbatoare alaturi de cei dragi tie. Paste fericit!