PiZzA-FlAvOuReD sAvOrY mUfFiNs

240 g flour; 16 g (1 package) baking powder; 30 g (2 Tbsp) grated Parmesan cheese; 170 ml olive oil; 125 ml milk; 2 eggs; 60 ml tomato puree; 250 g Mozzarella cheese; salt and pepper.

Mix the liquid ingredients. Mix the dry ingredients. Combine the two mixtures, add the mozzarella cut into chunks, not whisking too much, enough to obtain a lumpy batter. Divide the batter into a 12-holed muffin tin and bake in preheated oven to 180°C (350°F) for about 20 minutes.

Cappuccino Cheesecake! .....drink it or eat it?.....

COOKIE BASE: 200 g cookies; 100 g butter

CREAM CHEESE FILLING: 450 g ricotta cheese; 450 g full-fat cream cheese; 6 large eggs; 200 g sugar; 2 Tbsp dried coffee granules; vanilla extract.

In a food processor reduce the cookies into crumbs and mix with the melted butter using a fork. Cover the bottom of a 20 cm (8 inches) springform pan and put it in the fridge. Meanwhile prepare the filling by mixing the two kinds of cheese with sugar and eggs using an electric whisk. Put a quarter of the mixture in a bowl and add the vanilla exctract. Set aside. In the remaining mixture mix the coffee granules. Pour the coffee-flavoured batter over the cookie base and bake in preheated oven to 180°C (350°F) for about 30 minutes. Low the temperature to 150-160°C. Now cover the coffee layer with the white vanilla-flavoured mixture and bake for further 20 minutes.

Let the cheesecake rest in the fridge overnight. Just before serving dust with a little cocoa powder.

ORANGE, MINT AND CHOCOLATE CHIPS POUND CAKES

Using dried mint, the flavour will be much more strong and pronounced.

180 g butter
180 g sugar
3 large eggs (180 g)
180 g flour
juice of 1 orange
100 g chocolate chips
1 Tbsp dried mint

Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F). Beat the butter with the sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at time, beating well after each addiction. Now mix in orange juice, chocolate chips and dried mint. Finally add the flour and mix well. Put the batter into 4 individual, 10 cm little cake tins and bake for 30 minutes.

GET A LITTLE TIME TO REST





I'm at my old home in the forest at the moment (10.39 pm), vet from a crazy baking day. Just because I come back at my country home very occasionally, I had to restock my dad and brother's pantry (read: the freezer) with lots of sweets, ready to gobble up at whenever they like to. I had to say that I surpassed myself this time...I made plenty of stuff in a little time (a couple of hours in all): a pumpkin, ginger and honey loaf (still the same dad's pumkins that I told you about in the last post), cinnamon, walnut and white chocolate jumbo muffins, orange, mint and chocolate chips pound cakes, a cappuccino cheesecake...anything else...oh yes, don't forget the savory muffins...pizza-flavoured, with tomato puree, oregano and mozzarella cheese.

PUMPKIN, GINGER AND HONEY LOAF

The inspiration comes from a recipe of an indian girl's blog and I immediately loved it because is different from the other pumpkin loaves. The traditional ones contain pumpkin puree and a mix of wintry spices; this one adds pieces of oven-roasted pumpkin and only the sharp, fresh taste of ginger (which goes very well with the warm taste of the honey, that also gives the right sweetness to this loaf). The result is aesthetically very interesting with all those orange chunks in a light brown background.

230 g butter
230 g eggs
200 g sugar
30 g brown sugar
230 g flour
150 g pumpkin
4 Tbsp honey
2 tsp ginger (fresh or gruond)
2 Tbsp sunflower seeds

Cut the pumpkin into little cubes and bake in preheated oven to 200°C until cooked (20-30 min. or so), but still firm (as an alternative pan-fry it with a little piece of butter). Reduce the oven to 180°C (350°F).
Beat the butter, softened, with the sugars until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs, one at time, beating well after each addiction. Add flour and ginger. Coat the pumpkin with honey and add to the mixture. Put the batter into a 20x10 cm (8x4 inch), cover the surface with sunflower seeds and bake for about an hour or until cooked when tested with a skewer.

CInnaMON, WalnUTS AND White CHOcoLATE jUMBO MuFFinS

The walnuts have been hand-picked by my mom during a walk with my beloved dog...

240 g (1 3/4 cups) flour
120 g (1/2 cup) sugar
1 Tbsp cinnamon
2 eggs
100 g (4 onces) butter, melted
250 ml (1 cup) milk
100 g (3 onces) walnut
100 g (3 onces) white chocolate, into chunks
10 g (2 tsps) baking powder

Mix together butter, eggs and milk. Mix all the dry ingredients: sift the flour with the baking powder, add sugar and cinnamon. Mix the dry and the liquid mixtures, not whisking too much and leaving the butter a little lumpy. At last add the walnuts and white chocolate pieces. Put the batter in a 6-holed jumbo muffin tin and bake in preheated oven to 180°C (350°F) for about 30 min.

I HATE SUNDAY! (How try to spend the loooongest day of the week)



HAIL TO ALL OF YOU! Last Sunday (like almost every Sunday) I had nothing to do, so I ran straight away into the kitchen and settle on to cook, bake, kneat everything I could effort, just enough to quickly reach the end of the day (incredibly hard to me on Sunday!). I had a wonderful, 100% organic pumpkin that my good old daddy grown in the garden of his own. Because of its huge size, it needed to be used in all the ways possible...perfect, let's start thinking about it.
The first recipe that came up to my mind it was a delicious pumpkin cake (dessets always comes first!), which I already tried once, but a long time ago and I couldn't remember how the taste was like. One.
The second candidate was a main dish, but I have been fighting between a risotto or a fresh pasta...hard, very hard. Fresh pasta won: I wanted to do something colorfull so the brilliance of the orange pumpkin wouldn't be wasted. I made an asparagus and sweet pumpkin fresh pasta with garlic flavoured cream sauce .
At last I opted for a side dish: roasted winter vegetables, sweet and ordinary potatoes, pumpkin, onions,carrots and beetroots, all seasoned with lot of pepper, coarse salt and turmeric.
Not happy enough (and not still at the end of the tragic day) I've gone for espresso and walnuts cupcakes with coffe-flavoured filling and glaze. I'm particulary glad to share this amazing recipe 'cause it has a special worth for me: it's the first time ever that a glaze hasn't came out as a mess! I've always had glazes which were too liquid, too clear and awful! I almost lost my faith...I don't know what went well this time but all things result as perfect...and this doesn't happen so often. : ) . They looked like made by some talented chef's hand, beautiful as only in books can be. I can easly say that the cupcakes experience was the best part of the day, because those little sweets are so funny to make! I love glazing them...it's so...relaxing.
So guys, when you're at home, nothing interesting on television, completely porposeless, you know what to do...





PUMPKIN CAKE

250 g (1 cup) butter, softened
220 g (1 cup) sugar
2 Tbsp grated orange zest
3 eggs
2 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 cup pumpkin puree



Beat the butter, sugar and orange zest. Add the egg yolks, one at time, beating well after each addiction. Gradually beat in flour, baking powder and pumpkin puree. Beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form and finally fold them into the batter using a rubber spatula. Put the mixture in a 24 cm (9 inch) springform baking tin and bake in preheated oven to 180°C (350°F) for about 50-60 minutes.


*You can cover the surface of this moist cake with a layer of sweetened creem cheese.


FRESH PASTA WITH PUMPKIN AND ASPARAGUS

The taste of garlic, to me (a great garlic-fan), goes very well with the other ingredients, but it's quite strong...so if you don't like garlic ignore this recipe...

fresh pasta :
200 g flour
2 eggs
pinch of salt

Mound flour in center of a large work surface, and make a well in the middle. Crack
eggs into the well. Using a fork, beat eggs; slowly incorporate flour, beginning with inner rim of well. When flour is incorporated, gather dough together to form a rounded mass. Begin kneading dough with the palms of your hands. Once dough comes together, scrape
up any dried bits of dough; discard. Lightly flour work surface; knead dough until smooth and elastic, about 10 minutes. Wrap dough in plastic wrap; rest for 30 minutes at room temperature before using. Divide dough into 4 pieces; keep 3 pieces covered with a slightly damp kitchen towel. Flatten dough to a shape somewhat narrower than pasta machine opening. Lightly dust dough with flour. Feed through machine's widest setting. As pasta emerges, gently support it with your palm and guide it onto the work surface. Fold dough in thirds; roll out again. Repeat process until dough emerges in one solid piece, 3 to 5 more times. Pass pasta through the next finer setting, repeating the folding and rolling process 2 or 3 times. Dust pasta lightly with flour to prevent sticking, if necessary. Roll dough progressively through the thinner settings, without folding, 2 times per setting, until you have reached the sixth setting or your desired thickness. If pasta sheet becomes too long to work with easily, cut it into 2 pieces. To make fettuccine, cut each pasta sheet with a sharp knife into 10-inch lengths. To cut by hand, brush sheets lightly with flour, roll up sheet, and, using a sharp knife, cut into 1/4-inch-wide strips; unroll. Or, using the widest-cut attachment of the pasta machine, pass pasta sheets through machine to cut into 1/2-inch wide strips. Use fettuccine immediately, or dry on a floured work surface.

For the cream sauce:
200 ml (3/4 cup) cream
2 Tbsp Parmesan cheese
2 cloves of garlic, grated or finely chopped
pepper
100 g asparagus
100 g pumpkin

Cut the asparagus obliquely into chunks and pan-fry them with a little butter. Season with salt and pepper. Put aside. Cut the pumpkin into little cubes and pan-fry with a little butter. Season with salt and pepper.
Heat cream, garlic and Parmesan cheese on low heat. Cook the fresh pasta for about 2 min, drain and put it in the pan with the sauce. Add asparagus and pumpkin and coat well. Serve it straight away.




ROASTED WINTER VEGETABLES


Serves 8
1 small butternut squash (1 1/2 pounds), pared, halved, seeded, and cut into 1/2-inch wedges
1 pound carrots, cut into 2-inch lengths
1 pound sweet potatoes, quarted
1 pound potatoes, quarted
1 pound onions, peeled, quarted
1 pound raw beetroots
2 tablespoons turmeric
3 tablespoons olive oil
Coarse salt and ground pepper

Combine the vegetables and turmeric on a rimmed baking sheet. Drizzle with oil and season with salt and pepper; toss to combine. Cover with foil and bake for 1 hour. Place the vegetables on the second rack in the oven. Roast 1 1/2 hours, uncover, and roast 30 minutes longer, tossing occasionally until vegetables are tender and golden brown .



ESPRESSO AND WALNUTS CUPCAKES

Espresso cupcakes:
225 g (8 oz) butter, softened
225 g (8 oz) sugar
225 g (8 oz) self-raising flour
4 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
100 g chopped walnuts

Cream cheese filling:
300 g full fat cream cheese
4-5 Tbsp powdered sugar
2 tsp dried coffee granules

Coffee glaze:
200 g powdered sugar
2 tsp strong coffee; walnut halves

Combine all the cupcakes ingredients, except the walnuts, in a medium bowl and beat with an electric whisk until smooth and pale, about 2 or 3 minutes. Stir in the walnuts. Spoon the batter into a muffin tin and bake 20 minutes.
For the filling combine all the ingredients and set aside.
Cut the cupcakes horizontally to get two little discs. Fill each half (the bottom) with 1 tsp of cream cheese filling and cover with the second disc (the hat).
Now make the glaze by combining all the ingredients, slowly and patiently to obtain a slightly hard mixture (don't worry it's ok, don't add too much liquid). Poure the glaze over the cupcakes and garnish with a walnut half.

MOVING TO FLORENCE...
Here we come...I'll start telling you all the story. First of all I've always hated the place where I used to live, an extremly uncomfortable little village in tuscan countryside (it sounds terrible, isn't it?)...forget all about wonderful landscapes, peace, good food and wine and face the reality as it is: small places aren't good for young people, even more if your name is Bea. : )
Call me mad but I love the town, with all my body and soul. My cells ask for NOISE and demand for crowd, traffic, millions lights and the speed that avoid you to think about anything. The city...the bigger the better, I would go farther if I only could. Anyway, I was sure that I wouldn't spend another day far from the city life, so I began to look for my future new home in all those nice magazines full of houses and apartements to rent...so nice. There were so many options that I'd just have to chose, and I suddenly noticed an apartement, very close to the centre, nearby the station...perfect!!! I tought: "I found it! It's done!"...it really was...When I went to see it, I was ecstatic. The place, so near the centre, in the beating heart of the city, just a few steps from the river Arno, with all its wonderful reflections. To be honest the house was a little dirty an messy, but thanks to my oh-so-usefull daddy it's now almost perfect. I really enjoied playing the disegner and I've chosen the furniture of my little shelter all on my own going for the black-and-white theme. It came out a little bit rock 'n' roll, with a dark touch and a pinch of mistery, but cosy...very eclectic, like me. On the wall, between two big windows which enlight the whole room, there is a huge black mirror, with two boas on (black and deep purple). On the paviment, in front of mirrow, a white hairy rug that looks and feels like a baby bear. There are a sofa and an armchair covered with white sheets, simply drop over them, that makes all seem very bohemian-like; two pourple pillows (a souvenir from my recent trip to London, bought in Camden Town...oh, God, I ADORE that place!) and a white (sad) teddy bear, similar to the rug. Two beds (one for me and one for my mom...I LOVE YOU MOM!!!!) with black sheets and blankets. A ruby red lamp, just for not being repetitive and monotonous. I'm very satisfied, all is armony, all is functional.
The kitchen it's small but not so bad...far from my standards, but we're becoming friends...There is a small electric oven, quite good, I have to admit (my favourite lavender shortbread came out as usual), a small fridge that I'm forcing myself to get used to (I'm pretty good!).
The bathroom is almost neutral but, here and there, come up black and fucsia towels, just to add some colour.
Here it is, my little, pretty new home which means a new life, in a new place and in a completely different contest...SEE YOU SOON!!!!!!

My little home...

HIIIIIII!!!! People, sorry for the big silence, but I've been moving to Florence! The new home took and is still taking me a lot of effort, so SORRY SORRY SORRY (repeat 1000 times!). I still haven't got internet in my new, pretty pretty flat in the center of one of the most beautiful cities in the world (jealous, aren't you?)...it's not up to me...but I promise to come back soon, ready to tell you all the things (edible and not) that I've done. Say bye to an happy girl!