Coconut cupcakes with lemon butter cream frosting

I really needed to bake and the weather has finally cooled down a little! yay!

The cake recipe was dense but yummy. The frosting recipe was very good. And then I just sprinkles some coconut ontop.

Twenty 2

Soooooo Life goal accomplished. My first cake with fondant. Successful considering it was the first and the plan changed on how to decorate due to some misunderstanding of what I had about 20 minutes before I decorated it. Then we went to Le Nonne to eat some delicious Italian food. Bread with bruschetta and mozzarella, Spinach and Ricotta ravioli in a butter sage sauce and a bottle of Gabbiano Pinot grigio. Mi piace moltissimo.

Fruit pizza

My Grandma gave me this recipe when I hated fruit and from the time I made it on, I have liked fruit. I have misplaced the recipe over the years, but I remember most of it. I made it for the 4th of July this year and it turned out nicely.









Recipe for Fruit Pizza:

One premade sugar cookie dough (tube)
1 8oz cream cheese
1 tub coolwhip
Fruit (whatever you want) I usually use peach, blueberry, kiwi, and strawberry

Glaze (Don't remember exactly but I shall try)
orange juice (a couple tablespoons)
cornstarch (enough to make a runny glaze)

Directions:
1. Roll or press cookie dough out into a pie pan.
2. Bake at temperature on wrapper of cookie dough until lightly golden.
3. Let cookie dough completely cool. Whip together cream cheese and cool whip. Spread on cooled cookie. Add fruit.
4. Mix orange juice and cornstarch to make a glaze. With a pastry brush, brush ontop of fruit. (makes it shiny and yummy looking).
5. Take to party and get lots of compliments for this easy but yummy dessert!

Nu jag bara hoppas jag hadde min favorit person Hulk Carlsson har så han kunde äta med mig.

Back Home

After being in Sweden for almost a year and working on an organic farm in Ireland for a month I am home. Or at least my parent's new home. So I have had a little time to do some baking. And ice cream making! Life goal, check. I used this recipe. http://www.nesting-project.com/2010/06/butter-pecan-ice-cream.html It was delicious but I would reccommend about a half cup less pecans. I was literally chewing the ice cream, which isn't for me.

Kanelbullar (Swedish Cinnamon Rolls)

My roommate here in Sweden, Daniel or as I call him, Hulk, makes the most incredible Kanelbullar, which is already my favorite Swedish food. So I asked him to teach me how to make them and he did.






Here is the Recipe: (complements of Hulk Carlsson)
For the dough:

150 grams of butter (melted)
2 cups of milk
50 grams of fresh yeast (crumbled)
.5 cup of sugar
.5 tsp. or salt
2 tsp Cardamon
850 frams of flour (about 6 cups)

The middle:

400g Almond paste/ Marzipan
.5 cup Butter
.5 cup sugar
4 tbsp cinnamon

On top:
1 egg (beaten)
Pearl Sugar or Chopped almond (pearl sugar can be found at Ikea)

Directions:

1. Melt butter in a sauce pan and then add milk. In a large bowl, crumble yeast. When the butter and milk are warm to the touch add to the bowl with the yeast. Add the sugar, salt, and cardamom.

2. Add the flour, save some for kneading the dough. Knead the dough for 10 minutes or until it feels smooth and is not super sticky.

3. Let it rise for 30 minutes under a kitchen towel.

4. Mix all of the ingredients together of the "inside," in a bowl.

5. Knead dough again until smooth.

6. Roll dough into 4 rectangles about a fourth to a half an inch thick. Spread the inside mixings all over the tops.

7. Roll it up like sushi and then cut 10 half inch to inch slices. Let rest for 40 minutes under a kitchen towel.

8. Paint the top of the rolls with the beaten egg and then sprinkle pearl sugar or almonds ontop. Put in oven at 480 degrees F for 5-8 minutes, when just golden brown.

9. The Swedes like to enjoy these with a glass of milk. And as Hulk says "these Kanelbullar are perfect for buying friends." ENJOY!

Life in Sweden

I have enjoyed my time in Sweden. It is a gorgeous country. It is a country completely emerged in nature with lakes all over and forests around every corner. The winter was long and difficult for me, since I grew up in sunny California but Sweden in the fall and spring have been beautiful.



Who could not love a country with moose?! This is the home of Pippi Longstocking, Ikea, Swedish meatballs, and Kanelbullar (super delicious cinnamon rolls). The houses here are adorable. I have made great friends and had the opportunity to travel to lots of great places such as Berlin, Prague, and Budapest. Amongst other amazing trips, I took a cruise to Estonia from Stockholm. I have seen amazing things this year and all around had the time of my life.

Shrimp Scampi and Butter Cake with Penuche Frosting

School is finished for the year. I now have 20 free days in Sweden which clearly means BAKE TIME! A goal in life was to make a cake with penuche frosting because my mom makes them and they are TO DIE FOR. I had also been craving shrimp so I tried out a shrimp scampi recipe I got from Foodnetwork.com It was a Barefoot Contessa Recipe. It was great, however I did not measure the lemon, I guessed and the lemon ended up being a little overpowering. The butter cake was a recipe I found on allrecipes.com as well as the penuche frosting. The penuche was soooo good! The butter cake was good, but I think next time I will try a different recipe (or if I am back in the US, just use handy betty crocker yellow cake mix)