A cookie a day keeps the doctor away

Hi, I'm Marleen! I live in a small town in the Netherlands and I really love to bake and this is where I share my recipes! I hope you'll like whatever it is that I make! Love!

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New Year, new chances right???!!

So New year new chances right??!! Okay so maybe the year is already almost halfway over, but still it has to count for something right? 

So last year ended quite a bit with a let-down blogwise, but there were so many things going on that blogging about the things I made kind of got put on a back burner. I didn't stop baking, but finding the time to sit down and write every step down was a bit of a struggle...but I'm back again, and ready to share recipes very soon with you again (and other things on my mind concerning baking!). 

So don't give up on me just yet!! 

Anyway here are a few things I've been busy with since last year....

As you can see, I baked a lot of things (in reality I baked more things, but not everything made it into picture!). My favourite was the M&M's and KitKat Chocolate Cake for my brother's birthday! But the Red Velvet Cupcakes for my own birthday were a great decision too!!

So my personal life has been a bit hectic too! My knee (torn meniscus) took a while to heal too (it's only been two weeks now and I love that I don't have to go to physical therapy anymore). And of course Sherlock season 3 sucked me in to, I think I've watched each episode at least six times already, I really liked every single episode and no matter what anyone says or thinks I really like Mary and the dynamic Sherlock and Mary have too. The dog kept my on my toes too, for such a small creature she sure knows how to keep one person busy, every time I try to clean something she comes looking and stands in the way, her curiosity is cute but it also slows you down. And then about two weeks ago I burned my arm badly! On some super hot, just-off-boiling, tea! It hurt like hell, there was this massive second degree burn and I didn't touch a single oven for at least a week. It is a whole lot better now, but tea should be treated with the proper amount of respect, which I now do!

So yeah, lots of things and soon a new recipe will follow! I promise (it may not be this week just yet, but soon!!). 

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Snickerdoodles

Snickerdoodles!

Seriously the name was enough to make me fall in love with this cookie (before I even tasted it), but after I decided to make a batch I was completely sold. A funny name and a mouthful of deliciousness, a winning combo! 

Anyway you all probably have had Snickerdoodles your whole life, but for those of us who haven't heard of Snickerdoodles before, these cookies are so good! Cinnamon and sugar and just the right size and just...(I don't even know how to describe the perfectness that is this cookie) make them!

Seriously: MAKE THEM!!! Or not...but you really should though!

Ingredients

60g unsalted butter, room temperature

160g soft white sugar

1/4 TSP vanilla extract

1 egg

240g flour

3/4 TSP cream of tartar

1/2 TSP baking soda

1/2 TSP salt

1/4 TSP ground cinnamon

for the coating:

1 1/2 TBS soft white sugar

1 TBS ground cinnamon

Directions:

In a bowl sift together the flour, cream of tartar, baking soda, salt and ground cinnamon and set aside. In another bowl beat the butter, sugar and vanilla until light and fluffy. Add the egg and beat well. 

Add the dry ingredients in three batches to the wet ingredients, beating well between each batch. Keep mixing until a soft dough starts to form. 

Put the dough in a bowl, cover in foil and leave to rest in the fridge for at least 40 minutes.

While the dough is resting preheat your oven to 170 Celsius Degrees or 340 F Degrees. In a small bowl mix together the sugar and cinnamon for the coating in a small bowl. 

Make walnut-sized balls of the dough, roll each ball of dough through the coating mixture before placing them on a baking sheet. Make sure you keep enough space between the balls, because they spread a bit while baking. Bake the cookies for around 10-13 minutes or until they have a light golden colour. Leave to rest on the baking sheets for a few minutes before placing them on a cooling rack to cool completely. 

The cookies will keep for a few days stored in an airtight container (if they even last that long!). 

Enjoy!

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White Chocolate & Cranberry Cookies

So Christmas is coming dangerously close now, and I've been absent a lot...and it wasn't by choice, sadly. You see I damaged/tore my meniscus and standing for long periods or walking or really just everything hurt a lot...which stopped me from baking loads of christmas cookies and cakes and other things. But the pain is a lot less now and I just can't stay away from my kitchen for a very long time. So to start this sort of newfound health here's a recipe that has become a favourite in my home since I started making them last year. 

Before baking these cookies I debated with myself over the fact if I wanted to make them this year, because these were my father's favourite. He would always sneak two for himself when no one was looking and then deny it if someone asked him who ate all the cookies. In the end I decided it was a perfect way to honor his memory this Christmas season, and it made me remember the great and fun things about my dad.

But now about these cookies, they're easy and so delicious, there's a hint of cinnamon in it that's just right. And the cranberry combined with the white chocolate is just great!

Ingredients

135g unsalted butter, room temperature

80g fine caster sugar

80g soft brown sugar

1 egg

1/2 TSP vanilla extract

190g flour

1/2 TSP salt

1/4 TSP ground cinnamon

1/2 TSP baking soda

100g dried cranberries

60g white chocolate chips

Directions

Preheat your oven to 170 Celsius Degrees or 340F Degrees.

In a bowl sift together the flour, salt, cinnamon and baking soda, set aside. 

In another bowl cream together the butter and both of the sugars until light and fluffy. Add the egg and vanilla and mix together. Add the dry mixture to the wet ingredients in two batches, mixing well between each batch. Keep mixing until a dough forms. 

Add the cranberries and chocolate chips and use a spoon to distribute them through the dough evenly. Make balls of the dough, around the size of two tablespoons, and put them on a baking sheet. Make sure you leave enough room between the balls, because the cookies spread while baking. 

Bake the cookies for around 15-20 minutes or until they are lightly golden brown in colour in the preheated oven. Leave to cool on the baking sheet for a few minutes before removing them to a cooling rack. 

The cookies will keep for a few days stored in an airtight container. 

Enjoy!

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Salted Caramel Fudge

I've always been afraid of boiling sugar to make caramel or fudge. I don't know why, I've always just had this weird image in my head that I would first burn all of the sugar and that then my whole house would burn down. Weird but yeah...so that was always stopping me from doing it. But recently, after watching loads of baking shows and seeing a lot of sugar being boiled without whole houses burning down, I thought if they can do it then so can I! So I looked for a recipe and got down to it! And you know the most amazing thing happened, I didn't burn the sugar and I didn't burn down my whole house! So I conquered that weird irrational fear! Ha! Oh and the fudge I made was pretty good too! 

BTW this is a very good giftable food gift! (my computer sys giftable isn't a word, but I want it to be a word, so from now on it is a word!). 

Ingredients

600g fine caster sugar

250ml double cream

50g unsalted butter

1/2 TSP salt

coarse salt to sprinkle

Sugar thermometer (very important prop you need!) 

Directions

Put 200g of the sugar into a pan and melt on medium heat, until golden in colour. Stir in the remaining sugar, followed by the cream, butter and salt. Bring to a boil and keep stirring until it reaches 118 Celsius Degrees or 245F Degrees. 

Take the pan of the heat and mix with an electric handmixer until the mixture becomes thick (this does take a few minutes at the least!). Pour the now thick mixture into a 20x20cm baking tin and leave to cool and set (do not put it into the fridge!) for 2 to 3 hours. 

Once firm sprinkle over some coarse salt and cut into pieces!

Enjoy!

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All of Time and Space! in a jar

Tomorrow it's finally November 23, 2013! Which means the Day of the Doctor has finally come! And in honor of the 50th anniversary of Doctor Who I made a perfect dessert for it! "All of Time and Space" in a jar!

I only really got into Doctor Who this summer (which meant that I had loads of episodes to catch up!) and I only just finished all of them a few weeks ago. So I haven't really been missing Doctor Who that much! 

Anyway this dessert is super easy to make, and it looks oh so pretty!! All you really need is blue Jell-O, cake decorations, jelly beans, gobstoppers or anything else you fancy putting in!

Ingredients

blue Jell-O 

non-pareils

cake decorations

jelly beans

gobstoppers

anything else you fancy

Directions

Make the Jell-O according to the package directions, Pour into jars (that is very important of you want your "All of Time and Space" in a jar, but a glass works too!). 

After half of the setting time, it's time to stir in the decorations! Start with the smallest ones! The non-pareils and other small decorations (I had tiny gold one things that looked like tiny moon rocks!). Then stir in the slightly bigger ones, star decorations or something. End with the jelly beans and the gobstoppers, these are best dropped from different heights so that some stay more at the top and the others are more on the bottom!

Put the Jell-O back into the fridge and leave to set completely! Once the Jell-O has set....ENJOY!!! 

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Dutch Apple Pie

So let's talk Apple Pie. Every country has sort of got his own variation of an Apple Pie, the Netherlands too and since I've grown up there and still live there it's the one I know best. And it is a good one! So I decided to share my recipe of a Dutch Apple Pie. 

It's delicious, loaded with apples, enough cinnamon and a couple of raisins and this one has a few ingredients thrown in that make this one completely mine. The only downside to making this Apple Pie is that it does take some time to make, but it is totally worth it!

Oh and one very important tip! Use a springform tin (24cm) for this Apple Pie, it won't come whole out of any other cake tin! 

Ingredients

400g self-raising flour

1 egg, split

250g soft white sugar

zest of one lemon

250 unsalted butter, cold and in cubes

6 apples

50g raisins

2 TSP ground cinnamon

150g marzipan

pinch of salt

Directions

Start with making the dough. In a bowl put together the self-raising flour, the egg white, 200g of the sugar and a pinch of salt. Add the lemon zest and add the cubed butter. Use a knife to cut the butter through until small crumbs start to form (I used dough hooks and they worked great too!). Use your hands to form a dough, flatten the ball of dough and wrap in kitchen foil. Let the dough rest in the fridge for at least one hour. 

Preheat your oven to 175 Celsius Degrees or 345 F Degrees. Dust your workplace with flour and the dough too, roll out 2/3 of the dough into a big slice of 1cm thick. Use your springform tin to cut out the bottom of the pie and then make the sides with the remaining dough. Make sure your springform tin is properly greased before putting in the dough. 

Peel and slice the apples into small pieces and put together into a bowl. Add the remaining sugar, the cinnamon and the raisins and mix gently together using a spoon. 

Mix in another bowl the marzipan and half of the egg yolk together. Spread this mixture evenly over the bottom of the pie. Then evenly spread out the apple mixture on top of this. 

Roll out the remaining dough and make long slices of 2cm thick (use a pizza cutter for this, it works like a charm!). And put these on top of the apple mixture in a lace pattern (see picture). Gently brush the remaining egg yolk over the top of the dough, before putting the pie in the middle of your preheated oven. Bake for around 1 hour, or until the dough is a nice light brown/brown colour. 

Let the apple pie cool completely in the tin, before removing from the tin. The pie will keep for a few days stored in an airtight container. 

Best enjoyed with a lot of whipped cream! But also great on it's own!

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Orange Chocolate Brownies

So a couple of days ago I went for a coffee at a well-known-place! (Yeah you probably guessed right: Starbucks!). Anyway they had their winter flavours already and one of them was Orange Mocha, which I needed to try and let me tell you it was a good choice! (and maybe the whipped cream in the morning wasn't such a good idea...) Anyway the flavour was amazing and when I got home I couldn't get it out of my mind and I needed to recreate that flavour into a baked goodie! And these brownies with their orange were perfect! 

The brownies were good, moist and full of chocolate and the orange zest I put inside just perfected them (if brownies can even be perfected, because a plain brownie is pretty good too!!!). These brownies are great for the coming Christmas season! So make them and enjoy them! 

Ingredients

113g unsalted butter

85g dark chocolate (at least 70% cacao)

110g soft brown sugar

100g fine caster sugar

1/2 TSP vanilla extract

2 large eggs

70g flour

pinch of salt

zest of two oranges

75g semi-sweet chocolate chips

Directions

Preheat your oven to 175 Celsius Degrees or 350 F Degrees. Grease a brownie pan of 20x20cm. 

Melt the dark chocolate with the butter over a double boiler setting (or in a microwave if you're able to that, not me...that's always a big NO for me...it burns...-_-). Once the chocolate has melted remove from the heat and stir in the sugars and the vanilla. Add the eggs and stir properly. Add the flour and salt and stir again, make sure everything is incorporated but don't overmix it, it's best to use a large spoon or spatula, you don't need a fancy mixer for this recipe! Add the chocolate chips and the orange zest and stir again. 

Pour the batter into your brownie pan and bake in your preheated oven for around 20 minutes. Leave the brownies to cool completely in the pan, before removing them and slicing them in quarters. You'll get around 20 brownies out of this mix. 

The brownies will keep for a few days stored in an airtight container. 

Enjoy!

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Apple and Caramel Oatmeal Cookies

Oatmeal Cookies are one of my favourite cookies, apart from chocolate chip cookies, oreo cookies, cranberry cookies, snicker doodles, and really almost every cookie is a favourite of mine. Anyway these oatmeal cookies are combined with the perfect fall-flavour-combination of Apple and Caramel. A completely overdone combination, but still oh so good! 

These cookies are delicious too, there's just enough apple flavour (from real apples) and the pieces of caramel make for an extra flavor burst and the oatmeal finishes it off perfectly! The one weird thing in these cookies is that you have to grate your apples, which is something I had never done before or even thought of doing, but it works great! So go make these super good fall cookies, which btw are delicious combined with some hot tea or your favourite cup of coffee!

Ingredients

135g unsalted butter, room temperature

80g caster sugar

80g soft brown sugar

1 large egg

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

190g flour

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp baking soda

2 green apples (Granny Smith)

60g rolled oats

100g caramel bits

Directions

Preheat your oven to 170 Celsius Degrees or 325 F Degrees. 

Cream together the butter and both of the sugars until light and fluffy. Add the egg and the vanilla and beat well. 

In another bowl sift together the flour, salt, cinnamon and baking soda and add this dry-mixture to the wet ingredients in two batches, mixing well between each batch. Add the caramel bits and mix, making sure they are evenly distributed through the dough. 

Peel and finely grate the apples. Squeeze the juice out of the grated apples and discard the juice, add the grated apples to the dough and add the rolled oats. Mix the apples and the oats through the batter with a spoon or spatula until evenly distributed. 

Make balls of the dough, around the size of two tablespoons and place on the baking sheet. Make sure you leave enough space (7-8cm) between each cookie, because these do spread while baking. 

Bake the cookies for around 15-20 minutes, or until they are slightly golden brown in colour. Leave to cool for 10 minutes on the baking sheet before letting them cool completely on a rack. 

These cookies will keep for around three days stored in an airtight container or jar. 

Enjoy!

p.s. my sisters kids loved these, they kept asking for more even though I gave them the last ones!

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Raspberry Crumble Shortbread Bars

Every once in a while, when it's cold outside and I really need to go outside I crave the summer. Don't get me wrong, next to winter fall is my favourite season. But on those days when the wind is cold and the rain is a constant present I want summer back, warm sun, summer fruits including strawberries and raspberries. Anyway since there are no good raspberries right now I had to make these bars with store bought raspberry jam, but if it is summer where you live and you know how to make your own jam (I might learn to do that next year!) go for it. 

Anyway these bars are good and full of raspberry combined with the crumbly texture of shortbread and a sprinkle of flaked almonds make these bars a perfect combination that will get you through the days where you just want summer back. 

Ingredients

220g unsalted butter, room temperature

30g powdered sugar, plus some extra for dusting

80g fine caster sugar

30g cornflour, fine

300g flour

325g good raspberry jam

50g flaked almonds

Directions

Preheat the oven to 160 Celsius Degrees or 325 F Degrees. 

Start with making the shortbread dough. Put the butter in a bowl and beat until soft and creamy. Sift in the powdered sugar and beat in. Beat in the caster sugar, scrape down the sides of the bowl and beat for a couple of minutes until the mixture is light and fluffy. Sift the cornflour in the bowl and beat in. Sift the flour in and mix with a spoon or spatula to make a crumble mixture. 

Set aside a quarter of the mixture for the topping. Then tip the rest of the mixture into a 20x25cm greased tin and spread out evenly. Press down to make an even layer and prick well with a fork. Bake for 20 minutes in the warm oven. Remove from the oven after 20 minutes and leave to cool for 10 minutes. 

Carefully spread the jam over the shortbread base. Mix the reserved shortbread crumbs with the flaked almonds and sprinkle evenly over the jam layer. 

Return the tin to the oven and bake for 20-25 minutes, or until the topping is lightly golden. Remove from the oven and leave to cool for a few minutes. Cut the the shortbread into 20 squares with a sharp knife and dust with some powdered sugar. Leave to firm up for 10 minutes before removing the shortbread bars from the tin. Eat warm or leave to cool completely. 

These shortbread bars can be stored for around 3 days in an airtight container. 

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Maple Syrup and Pecan Bundt Cake

I don't really know why, but when I think of Maple Syrup I also immediately think of Fall. Which is kind of weird, because Maple Syrup can be put on your pancakes every season of the year! Anyway, so since my brain is just a tiny bit weird (at least that is what you still think at the moment!), I decided this was a perfectly good cake to make this season. And since I still had a never used bunt cake pan at home in my cupboard I wanted to try it out! And it turned out pretty great, if I say so myself!

Some people fear making Bundt Cakes, because they don't always come out of the tin right, but the trick is to grease the tin really well! Or use non-stick baking spray (I did and it worked great!). The rest of the cake is pretty easy and straightforward! 

Ingredients

For the pecan-filling:

75g flour

30g unsalted butter, room temperature and in cubes

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

150g pecan nuts

125ml maple syrup

For the Cake:

300g flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

125 unsalted butter, room temperature

150g fine caster sugar

2 eggs

250ml sour cream

Directions

Preheat your oven to 180 Celsius Degrees or 355F Degrees. Grease your Bundt pan well! 

Start with making the filling. In a bowl mix the butter and flour together until crumbs form, add the cinnamon pecan nuts and maple syrup en mix gently until a sticky mixture forms. Set aside. 

In a different bowl sift together the flour, baking powder and baking soda. Cream in another bowl the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Add 1 tablespoon of the flour-mixture and mix, add one of the eggs and mix, add another tablespoon of the flour-mixture and mix and add the second egg and mix. After this add the rest of the flour-mixture and mix until just incorporated. Add the sour cream and mix until the sour cream is just incorporated, don't overmix. 

Pour a little over half of the batter into your Bundt pan and make a trench in the batter. Gently put the pecan filling into the trench and then gently pour the rest of the batter in the pan. 

Bake the cake for about 40 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean (check after 30 minutes). Leave to cool for 15 minutes in the pan before removing it from the tin and letting it cool completely. To finish it off, dust with powdered sugar just before serving. 

The cake will keep for a few days stored in an airtight container. 

Enjoy!

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Movember Chocolate Cookies

The 1st of November, Movember is upon us! Moustache time! And there is no better way to start a month filled with moustaches and facial hair than with cookies. Moustache Cookies to be precise! 

These cookies are fun-shaped and chocolately good! The recipe only calls for easy to get ingredients, of which most if not all of them, are already in your cupboards. The only tricky thing is getting the right cookie cutters, because if you haven't got moustache cookie cutters you won't have Movember Cookies! (You can still make them, they're just normal chocolate cookies then). And there'll be plenty of cookies to share (or if you're very hungry for cookies, plenty enough to eat on your own!). 

Ingredients

340g flour

60g cacao powder

1 tsp instant coffee

pinch of salt

200g fine caster sugar

230g unsalted butter, room temperature

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla extract

Directions

Cream the butter and sugar with a mixer until light and fluffy. Add the egg and the vanilla and mix until just incorporated. 

Sift in another bowl the flour, cacao powder, instant coffee and the salt together. Add this dry mixture in three batches to the butter mixture, making sure you mix well between each batch. Wrap the dough in cling film and leave to rest in the fridge for 20 minutes. 

Preheat your oven to 180 Celsius Degrees or 355F Degrees. Roll out your dough on a lightly floured surface. The dough should be around 0.5-1cm thick. Cut out your cookies and place on baking sheets. Bake the cookies in your preheated oven for about 8-10 minutes, this depends on the thickness of your cookies and how well-baked you want them. 

Leave the cookies to cool on the baking sheets for a few minutes before removing them and letting them cool completely on a cooling rack. The cookies are best kept in an airtight container for a few days. 

Enjoy (preferable with a cup of coffee, tea or hot chocolate!)!!

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Mummy Oreo Pops

Halloween, a big part of you all are just waiting for it these days. You've got your costumes ready, if you've got kids you'll probably have theirs too, candy has been bought in huge amounts and you can't wait for the 31st. Sadly this is a holiday not really celebrated in the Netherlands, but since I secretly really want to celebrate it I couldn't pass this one up and I just had to make something, even if it was just one easy thing! And I did. And this is absolutely one of the easiest things to make. It involved no baking and all you really need is patience while you wait for the chocolate to set!

Ingredients

300g white chocolate

12 Oreo's

24 candy eyes (preferable small)

12 lollipop sticks

Directions

Take 12 Oreo's out of the package and split them carefully (any breaking ones can be eaten!). 

Melt 50g of your white chocolate, I did it in a double boiler setting, but if you're very good at melting chocolate in a microwave (something I cannot do at all!) you can totally do that. 

One your chocolate has melted, dip an end of a lollipop stick into the chocolate and put it on the Oreo that still has the cream on it, carefully press the other side on it and leave to dry. Repeat with each Oreo and stick. 

Let the chocolate harden for at least half an hour. Melt more of your chocolate, you can reuse the leftover chocolate from before too. Once your chocolate has melted dip each Oreo carefully into the chocolate, or use a spoon to spoon the chocolate over each Oreo (this worked best for me!), make sure every side is covered completely. Lay down each chocolate covered Oreo on some baking paper and press two eyes gently on the chocolate, let the chocolate harden for at least an hour (this depends on the temperature of your room). 

Once the chocolate is hard, melt the remaining chocolate and using a small spoon gently throw over the melted chocolate over the Oreo pops, so small bands of chocolate form and the Oreo's start to get a mummy disguise. Leave to harden and after that wrap or eat and enjoy!

Happy Halloween (in advance)!

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Fall Leaf Cookies

So fall, I love it, not just because after fall winter comes (which is my absolute favorite season!), I also love fall because of all the pretty colours and the storms and the wind and the rain (at least over here in the Netherlands it rains a lot!). As soon as fall hits all I want to do is pull on my warm jumpers, snuggle under a blanket on the sofa with a nice cup of hot tea in my hands and a good book or a super awesome tv-show/movie!

Anyway these cookies are perfect for fall! They're cinnamon flavoured and  shaped like falling leaves! And the dough is easy to make, it's just the colouring that takes some time. 

Ingredients

335g flour

110g soft brown sugar

2 tsp ground cinnamon

185g unsalted butter, cold and cut into cubes

3 egg yolks

1 tsp vanilla extract

red, yellow and orange food coloring

Directions

Preheat your oven to 180 Celsius Degrees or 355F Degrees. 

Mix the flour, sugar, cinnamon and butter together in a bowl, and using a mixer, mix until small crumbs start to form. 

Add the egg yolks and vanilla and mix until a dough starts to form. Use your hands to knead the dough together until it becomes together and soft. 

Divide the dough into three equal parts, and add a different food colouring to each ball, until the dough is the desired colour. Pinch small balls of dough from each ball and dump them randomly on your workbench, make sure the colours overlap a bit. Press together and roll out the dough, 0.5-1cm thick.  Press out the cookies, using any shape you want, a leaf is a good one though for these cookies!

Spread the cookies on a baking sheet and bake for 10-15 minutes in your preheated oven, or until they get a slight golden colour. Let the cookies cool on your baking sheet for a few minutes before removing them and letting them cool completely on a cooling rack. 

These cookies will keep for a few days stored in an airtight container. 

*after adding the colours, don't knead the different colours of dough together too much because the dough will turn brownish (which come to think of it is a fall colour too!).

Enjoy! These cookies are best eaten together with a nice cup of warm tea and a blanket over you while you're doing nothing on the sofa!