Bola de Berlin

Today is my blog's anniversary! In the summer of 2007 I started discovering the online crafty community and fell in love with reading blogs...so much that I created my (sometimes neglected) own. There has been a lot of changes in my life in these 7 years, naturally, and I love to see that documented on the blog. A few weeks ago, a dear friend of mine asked me why had I never written a post about the name of the blog...so I have decided to celebrate this special blog-anniversary day with a little piece on that and a recipe.

I must start saying that I love cakes and all sweet things. That's the main reason why I'm not in speaking terms with my weighting scales, but I think that life wouldn't be as fun without cake so I keep eating them! Anyway...my love affair with the Portuguese cakes called "Bolas de Berlim" started when I was child on holidays in Montegordo (a beach in my beloved home country of Portugal). The sea water was warm and I loved nothing else but swimming and playing in it…except when I heard a man walking down the beach, all dressed in white, singing “ooooooohhhhh bolinhas berliiiiiiiiim”! That was it; I was out of the water as quickly as I could and straight to my parents’ parasol asking “please, please, please” for one “Bola de Berlim”. The man carried a wicker basket and inside were these lovely golden cakes in the shape of a ball ("bola" in Portuguese)…he’d stop whenever people approached him wanting to buy these delicious cakes and you would see him surrounded by kids and grown ups alike in no time.

Nothing tastes like it to this day…maybe it’s the taste of sweet memories that make it extra special for me. I named my blog after my favourite cakes because I wanted it to be as sweet as them. I know...but it's true :)

Bolas de Berlim – Recipe (found in an old family recipe book)

Ingredients:

* For the dough:

   – 0.5kg flour

   – 25g baker’s yeast

   – 75g sugar

   – 1 dl lukewarm water (to dissolve the yeast)

   – 1 egg

   – 3 egg yolks

   – flour (for sprinkling)

* For the Portuguese Pastry Cook Custard (filling):

   – 0.5l of milk

   – 1 lemon peel

   – 60g of flour

   – 150g of sugar

   – 6 egg yolks

First, dissolve the baker’s yeast in lukewarm water. then mix it with the flour, egg, egg yolks and sugar. Knead the mixture well, until it acquires the consistency of a bread dough, then sprinkle it with flour, place it in a container and cover with a cloth.

Leave it to ferment for about an hour in a warm place. Then knead it lightly and cut off 50-gram-pieces of dough. Shape these into small balls. Arrange the balls of dough on a narrow, spread out cloth sprinkled with flour, and leave them to ferment until they double in size. Pick them up carefully one at the time and fry them in moderately hot cooking oil. then drain and sprinkle them or coat them in a mixture of sugar and cinnamon in the proportion of five parts of sugar to one part of cinnamon. Open them up in the middle with scissors and add the filling.

For the Portuguese Pastry Cook Custard: mix the sugar with the flour, add the egg yolks and then add the milk little by little, stirring continuously. Heat this up with bubbles, stirring continuously especially near the side of the pan. remove from the heat and pour into a cold container.

Cake lover

Eu tenho andado a usar o meu novo "brinquedo", a kitchen aid, com regularidade. Eu ADORO-O! Não tem sido difícil...afotunadamente, temos tido muito que celebrar no mês que passou, uhhhuuuu :)

So I've been trying to use my new "toy" regularly, my favourite kitchen gadget, the kitchen aid mixer. I LOVE it!! It has not been a difficult task...luckily, we had a lot to celebrate in the past month, yaaaay :)

Para a festa de anos do James, fiz bolos baseados nos seus doces favoritos: queques de nutella (com gomas dinossauros) e queques de bolachas e creme (com bolachas oreos) deste livro e bolo de chocolate e laranja com creme de manteiga - os pequeninos ficaram doidos pelos queques de nutella e dinossauros! Para a festa de anos da Isabel, fiz queques simples de chocolate e baunilha com creme de marshmallows...delicioso. Mas o meu bolo favorito foi o de veludo vermelho que fiz para o nosso aniversário de casamento...tão leve e fofinho, baseado no deste livro.

For James' birthday party I made cakes based on his favourite treats: nutella (with dinosaur jellys) cupcakes and cookies and cream cupcakes (with oreo cookies) from this book and chocolate-orange cake with buttercream icing - the kids went crazy for the nutella dinosaur cupcakes! For Isabel's birthday party I made simple chocolate and vanilla cupcakes with marshmallow icing...yummy. But my favourite cake was the red velvet one I made for our anniversary from this book...so light and moist, based on the one from this book.

Ter uma kitchen aid so levou o meu amor por bolos para outro nível...é muito mais fácil e bonito de fazê-los! Eu adoro bolos (sempre adorei) e não sou a única cá em casa :)

Having the kitchen aid mixer just brought my love for cakes to another level...It's so much easier and such a pleasure to make them! I love cakes (always did) and am not the only one in the house :)

Um ano :: One year

One. Marshmallow icing. Big smiles. Sweet daddy. Cakes. Happiness. Big brother. Presents. Almost walking by her self. Proud mama. Family. Sunshine/rain. Beautiful dress. Friends. Sweet words. Love. Isabel

Inverno em Maio :: Winter in May

 

Já estamos a meio de Maio...na Irlanda...o que significa que ainda é Inverno, de acordo com qualquer pessoa oriunda do sul da Europa! Oh...enquanto espero que o sol e o calor (o que aqui ronda aí uns 22ºc!!) venham cá fazer uma visita, vou-me entretendo a beber chá e a comer umas bolachas degranola deste livro fantástico. Melhores dias virão, com certeza...

We're already in the middle of May...in Ireland...which means that it's still Winter, if you ask anyone that is from the south of Europe! Oh...while I wait for the sun and hot weather (temperatures of around 22ºc!!) come here for a little visit, I get to drink tea and eating some Muesli biscuits from this fabulous book. Better days will come, I'm sure...

Baking with Love

Ontem encontrei algum tempo para fazer uns bolinhos...uma colega tinha-me pedido para fazer algo português para um evento a nível do trabalho e decidi fazer os Queques da Concha! São muito simples, rápidos e saborosos. Consegui fazer 33, 3 dos quais em miniatura em caixinhas de dinossauros a pedido de um menino muito especial...escusado será dizer que só 22 chegaram ao evento (mais do que suficiente, não se preocupem). Eu adoro fazer bolos (e muitas outras coisas) para os meus queridos e qualquer coisa serve de desculpa para fazê-lo!

I found some time to bake something yesterday...I was asked by a colleague to make something Portuguese for an event at work so I decided to make "Concha's Queques (Portuguese Muffins)"! They were simple, quick and very tasty. I manage to make 33, 3 of which were miniature ones in little dinosaur cases for a very special little boy...it wasn't a surprise that only 22 of them made the event (still plenty, don't worry). I love baking (and making many other things) for my loved ones and I'll take any excuse to do it!

Dia de São Patrício :: St. Patrick's Day 2013

O Dia de São Patrício é um dia para celebrar tudo o que é Irlandês...em nossa casa celebrámos com o pão de soda (o meu pão Irlandês favorito que eu fiz pela primeira vez), os nossos rebentos (são só 50% irlandeses mas também contam) e com a participação no desfile local com muita chuva e frio! Não foi nada mau...

St. Patrick's Day is a day to celebrate everything Irish...in our house we celebrated it with soda bread (my favourite Irish bread that I baked for the first time), our babies (only 50% Irish though ;)) and with the participation in the local parade with lots of rain and cold! Not bad at all...

Monday baking

Eu e o meu menino querido divertimo-nos muito ontem a fazer coisinhas doces deste livro. Foi a primeira vez que fizemos bolinhos juntos e o avental dele não demorou muito tempo a ser tirado...mas ele continuou a sorrir enquanto "ajudava a Mamã" :) É tão fofinho...

My sweet little boy and I had a lot of fun yesterday baking sweet little treats from this book. It was our first time doing so and his apron didn't stay for long...but he kept smiling while "helping Mama" :) He's so sweet...

Energia :: Energy

Energia...preciso dela para acabar os trabalhos da universidade, para brincar o dia todo com o James, para fazer tudo o que há a fazer aqui em casa...para começar bem o dia. Que bem que sabiam agora umas fériazinhas...

Energy...I need it to finish my college essays, to play all day with James, to do the "million" things I have to do around the house...to start the day in a good way. Some holidays now would be just great...

A fatia de pão de coco que podem ver no meu prato do pequeno almoço desta manhã dá-me bastante energia, mas já a penúltima (fiz o pão ontem à noite)!!! Isto mostra a sua popularidade entre (todos) os membros da nossa família ;) É uma receita do meu australiano preferido, o Bill (Granger) e tirei-a de um programa de televisão...aqui fica. Experimentem fazê-la (é muito fácil e rápida) e boa semana!

The slice of coconut bread that you can see on my breakfast plate gives me a lot of energy but it was already the second last one (I baked the bread last night)!!! It shows how popular it is amongst (all) the members of our family ;) It's a recipe from my favourite Australian, Bill (Granger) and I saw it on tv...and here it is. Try to bake it (it's really easy & quick) and have a great week!

Pão de Côco do Bill/Bill's Coconut Bread

Ingredientes "secos"/dry ingredients

Peneire 2 chávenas e meia de farinha e 2 colheres de chá de pó royal/Sift 2 ½ cups of plain flour & 2 teaspoons of baking powder

1 chávena de açúcar fino/1 cup of caster sugar

1 colher de chá de canela/1 teaspoon of cinammon

150g de côco ralado/150g Shreded (or dessicated) coconut

Misture todos os ingredientes "secos" /Mix all the dry ingredients together.

Ingredientes líquidos/Wet ingredients

300 ml de leite/300 ml milk

2 ovos/2 eggs

Misture os dois juntos/Mix them together

Adicione uma dose considerável de essência de baunilha/Add a good dash of vanilla

Misture tudo junto com uma colher de pau. Adicione 75g de manteiga derretida. Ponha tudo numa forma ligeiramente untada. Vai ao forno a 180 graus durante mais ou menos uma hora.

Mix everything together with a wooden spoon. Add 75g of melted butter. Put everything in a lightly greased tin. It will take about 1 hour to bake at 180 degrees.

Sweet Saturday

Ummm...queques :)

Ummm...cupcakes :)

Sim, eu devo ser a última pessoa a "cair na tentação" dos queques, mas estou totalmente rendida! Já algum tempo que andava a pensar fazer queques com cobertura que aqui se chamam cupcakes e, durante a minha pesquisa, já tinha provado muitos ;) mas não foi até folhear as páginas do livro "Cupcakes from the Primrose Bakery" (já um dos meus favoritos) que finalmente me rendi. Aqui está a minha primeira tentativa: queques de baunilha com cobertura de Lima e Coco...uau! Sabem ainda melhor depois de umas semanas um pouco duras...o nosso bebé doente pela primeira vez (já está totalmente recuperado) e o meu regresso ao trabalho ;)

Ok, maybe I'm the last person that "fell" for cupcakes but I'm totally surrendered! I wanted to make some for a while and, during my "research", had tasted lots ;) but it wasn't until I looked through the book Cupcakes from the Primrose Bakery (one of my favourites now) that I finally surrendered. Here is my first attempt: vanilla cupcakes with Lime & Coconut Buttercream...Wow! They taste even better after a couple of rough weeks...our baby being sick for the first time (totally recovered now) and my return to work ;)

Sweet Easter

Para além dos ovos de chocolate e das amêndoas sempre presentes na nossa Páscoa, este ano decidi adicionar os doces "macaroons"...deliciosos em três sabores - laranja, limão e menta :)
A receita que eu usei está na edição de Abril da revista Delicious.

Besides the chocolate eggs and sweet almonds that are always present in our Easter, this year I've decided to add the sweet macaroons...delicious in three flavours - orange, lemon & mint :) The recipe I've used is in the April issue of Delicious magazine.

Sunday afternoon

Sexta-feira foi o aniversário do Thomas...e como já é tradição, eu fiz-lhe o seu tão adorado "Bolo de Gila". Hoje ainda havia um bocadinho para acompanhar o meu chá Earl Grey... experimentem, é delicioso e muito fácil de fazer:

Ingredientes:
6 ovos
350g doce de gila
350g açúcar
250g amêndoa pelada e moída
2 colheres de sopa de farinha
canela a gosto
raspa de 1 limão

Preparação:

Misture tudo. O doce de gila é o último ingrediente a misturar. Ponha o preparado numa forma redonda, com papel de ir ao forno. Leve ao forno aquecido a 200ºC por mais ou menos 1 hora. Umm...

Friday was Thomas birthday...and, as it is a tradition by now, I made him his favourite cake "Gila Cake". There was still a bit left today that I had with my Earl Grey tea...try it, it's delicious and very easy to make:

Ingredients:
6 eggs
350g gila jam (a special pumpkin jam that can be found in Portugal)
350g sugar
250g ground almonds
2 Tsp flour
cinnamon
1 lemon zest

Preparation:

Mix everything. The gila jam is the last ingredient to add. Pour into a round shaped baking tin, with greaseproof paper. Put it in a 200ºC heated oven and cook it for about 1 hour. Enjoy!