French Fridays with Dorie - Crab and Grapefruit Salad

This was my first go at a recipe chosen by the FFwD group.

Well, I joined the group a little late. But while preparing the Crab and Grapefruit Salad today, I was glad that I did. Not only was it a lot of fun preparing a dish on the same day as many others of you did/do but the final result was a very nice and fresh tasting salad.

Even my kids enjoyed it quite a bit...after an all around taste test, there was no salad left. I liked the combination of shellfish with grapefruit, very refreshing and a nice colorful presentation.

Would certainely be a nice addition to my Easter brunch next week.

I must add that the salad had quite an "international flair". Although the shopping list was rather short, I did find myself scurrying around town to get shellfish from the North Sea, grapefruit from Israel, a cucumber and red pepper from Spain, scallions from Germany and mâche (lambs lettuce) from Belgium. The lettuce served as the final touch on top of the salad. And I bought the baguette that I served alongside the salad at my favorite French bakery.

The whole experience was a lot of fun and I am very much looking forward to next Friday.

To see what the other Doristas are up to, please click here.

It's a Janosch Theme Birthday Party!

Another Birthday, another cake! 

Well, it's time to bake another birthday cake. For this birthday, I decided to go with the "Janosch" theme again. Janosch (his real name is Horst Eckert) was born in 1931 and is one of the best-known living children"s book authors and artists. 

He has created numerous characters for his illustrated books, such as the "Little Tiger" ("der kleine Tiger"), the "Little Bear" ("der kleine Bär"), the "Frog" ("Günter Kastenfrosch"), and the famous "Tiger Duck" ("Tigerente"), to name but a few. His books include "The Trip to Panama" ("Oh, wie schön ist Panama"), "A Letter for Tiger" ("Post für den Tiger"), "Little Tiger, get well soon" ("Ich mach dich gesund, sagte der Bär") and "The Bremen Town Musicians" ("Die Bremer Stadtmusikanten").

Janosch has published too many books to list them all (some of them can be found in English on www.amazon.com and in German on www.amazon.de).

You can even find some Janosch Apps in your "iTunes App Store". One of the Apps, for example, allows the user to practise his or her English or German alphabet while enjoying all the cute Janosch illustrations.

Especially the design of the "Tiger Duck", a black and yellow striped, wooden pull-along duck, is reproduced on countless items such as clothing, shoes, china and cutlery.

Then there are CDs, DVDs, and many many other things that make my childrens' hearts leap for joy (www.janosch.de).

I bought a baking pan in the shape of the "Tiger Duck" (www.birkmann.de).

Then I decided to bake a chocolate and vanilla marble cake. Actually, since the baking pan is rather small, I always  bake a few  "Tiger Ducks" to feed the crowd.

And then there was a bit of store-bought Janosch chocolate decoration.

Janosch is always a big hit with kids great and small...

Baked Mini Apple Spice Doughnuts

Well, since I first posted the two recipes for baked mini doughnuts, I was looking for an excuse to bake some more. The Mini Doughnut Pan is just too wonderful to resist. There are so many delicious doughnut recipes out there. 

Choices, choices.


I finally decided to give a recipe for Apple Spice Doughnuts a try.
The recipe includes fresh homemade apple sauce, apple cider and some warm spices like allspice and cinnamon.





The final touch is a glaze composed of confectioner's sugar, more allspice and cider and then the glazed doughnuts get a coating of cinnamon sugar. The doughnuts are best eaten while still a bit warm!

LEGO Cupcakes

The kids'  newest find at the Lego Store in Cologne was this cute "Lego Minifigure Ice Cube Tray" (available at Lego.com or at amazon.com). 

I used it as a chocolate mold and made some white chocolate Lego figures. 

While the figures cooled, I baked some dark chocolate muffins using some colorful muffin liners, (just use your favorite chocolate muffin recipe), added some white chocolate chunks to the dough, and glazed the muffins with a dark chocolate glaze, then, for the final touch, decorated the muffins with the black and the white chocolate Lego figures. 

They were a big hit.

Soft and Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

Who doesn't like Chocolate Chip Cookies - especially the soft and chewy kind - so following is my favorite recipe for Chocolate Chip Cookies. It is an easy and delicious recipe. The Cookies are always gone before the end of the day, everybody in our house loves these Cookies. So, here is the recipe.

Soft and Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies
(as adapted from Martha Stewart, Holiday Cookies 2005, Special Issue)

2 1/4 cups (280 g) AP flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 cup (2 sticks/226 g) unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 cup (100 g) granulated sugar, I used superfine
1 cup (200 g) light-brown sugar, packed
1 tsp salt (I used fine sea salt)
2 tsp vanilla extract (I used pure vanilla sugar)
2 eggs, large (use free range or organic whenever possible)
2 cups (12 ounces/240 g) semisweet and/or milk chocolate chips (I did not use chocolate chips but rather cut 2 1/2 bars of Lindt Excellence 70 % into medium-sized chunks)

Preparation: preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit (175 degrees Celsius)
1. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper (I always use unbleached parchment paper).
2. Whisk together flour and baking soda.
3. In the bowl of your mixer combine butter with both sugars and beat on medium speed until light and fluffy.
4. With the mixer on low, add salt, vanilla and eggs. Beat until well mixed.
5. Add flour, mix until just combined.
6. Add chocolate chips.
7. Drop nine heaping tablespoons of dough on each baking sheet. Use an ice cream scoop to get even-sized cookies and leave sufficient space between each cookie because the dough will spread during baking.
8. Bake 8 to 10 minutes, not longer, as the name, implies, you want the Cookies to be still soft in the center.
9. Remove from oven, and let cool on baking sheets for a few minutes then transfer the Cookies still on the parchment paper onto a wire rack. Let them cool completely on the racks.

Enjoy with a tall glass of cold milk, a nice tea, or cappuccino...

Baked Mini Doughnuts

The idea of baking Mini Doughnuts was very appealing to me. Not only do they look very cute but they seem to make great snacks.


So off I went looking for a special baking pan, not an easy task around here. Finally, I found one made by  "Norpro" (www.norpro.com) called "Nonstick Petite Donut Pan" available also at www.amazon.com.



The pan comes with two recipes. For today I chose the Chocolate Cake Doughnuts recipe.

Recipe for Chocolate Cake Doughnuts

(as adapted from Norpro)

1 1/2 cups AP flour, sifted

1/3 cup unsweetened Dutch cocoa powder

1 tsp baking powder

1/8 tsp salt ( I used fine sea salt)

1 tbsp instant espresso powder

2 large eggs (use organic or free range whenever possible)

2/3 cup sugar (I used superfine)

1 tsp vanilla (I used real vanilla sugar)

1/2 cup milk, room temperature

2 tbsp unsalted butter, melted and cooled

Decoration: chocolate icing and sprinkles

Preparation: preheat oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit (165 degrees Celsius)

1. Spray pan with cooking oil.

2. In a medium bowl whisk together flour, cocoa, baking powder, salt and espresso powder.

3. In another bowl whisk eggs, sugar, and vanilla until thick and yellow.

4. In a small bowl stir together milk and butter.

5. Alternately combine egg mixture and milk mixture with flour mixture and mix until smooth with no lumps.

6. Fill the dough into a resealable bag and snip off a corner.

7. Squeeze a bit of the dough into each mould until 2/3 full. 

8. Bake for about 6 to 8 minutes, cool slightly and remove from pan onto a cooling rack.

9. Let cool completely on the rack.

10. Ice and decorate as desired (I used white chocolate icing and white and dark chocolate sprinkles).

The recipe yields about three dozen Mini Doughnuts.

Recipe for Vanilla Cake Doughnuts

(as adapted from Norpro)

1 1/2 cups AP flour, sifted

1/2 cup plus 1/3 cup sugar (I used superfine)

2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt ( I used fine sea salt)

1/4 tsp freshly ground nutmeg or mace

1 large egg (use organic or free range whenever possible)

1/2 cup milk, room temperature

1/4 cup plus 3 tbsp unsalted butter, melted and cooled

1 tsp vanilla (I used real vanilla sugar)

1/2 tsp freshly ground cinnamon (I always use cinnamon from Ceylon)

Preparation: preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit (175 degrees Celsius)

1. Spray pan with cooking oil.

2. In a medium bowl whisk together flour, 1/2 cup sugar, baking powder, salt and nutmeg.

3. In another bowl whisk egg, milk, 1/4 cup melted butter and vanilla.

4. Combine flour mixture and egg mixture just until combined.

5. Fill the dough into a resealable bag and snip off a corner.

6. Squeeze a bit of the dough into each mould until 2/3 full. 

7. Bake for about 6 to 8 minutes, cool slightly and remove from pan onto a cooling rack.

8. Mix together 1/3 cup sugar with 1/2 tsp cinnamon.

9. Brush doughnut tops with 3 tbsp melted butter and sprinkle with the cinnamon sugar.

The recipe yields about three dozen Mini Cake Doughnuts.