Cronutz

Usually there are two kinds of people in the world: the heart attack kind – a meat-lover, eating tons of butgers, fries, pizza and doener, and the diabetes kind – a sweet-lover, feeding him- or herself chocolate, pastry and candy.
BUT
In our world of progress, you can be both. Increase the risk of a heart attack AND diabetes at the same time, have a CRONUT.
Cronuts are a hit in the USA. Something so simple yet new is kind of booming on blogs, reports and in magazines. The hype made me curious and I was very interested in trying the new sensation.

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I did some research on the topic and it turned out that a “cronut” is basically just fried croissant dough which you can buy in a can at your local department store.

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So I just bought two cans and tried to make them. They turned out quite cute and the taste was… well, you know the taste of a croissant. After the frying, I put some vanilla sugar glaze on top which gave them a little sweeter flavour.
Actually, I was not that impressed as I had expected a burst of flavour. But I am not in New York and have only tried my amateur version.

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On my trip to Frankfurt a. M., I accidently found a bakery offering cronuts. I had one together with a pumpkin spice latte from Starbucks and, well, the taste was pretty close to my own ones. At home, I had left out the filling. And the rolling in sugar. Too much diabetes. But it tasted fine. So if you are still interested in the taste of cronuts – make a bunch at home! I will give you the instructions. You decide whether you like them or not.

Cronuts:

2 cans of croissant dough
sugar icing
fat (for frying), I used sunflower oil

Release the dough from the can and roll it out. squeeze the triangular perforation with your fingers so the wholes disappear. Divide the rectangular layers. Put on one layer a thin waterfilm by using a brush. Place another on top and go on like this until you finish one can. Roll the dought thinner with a rolling pin. Brush half of the surface with water, then fold and roll again, until the layers stick together. Now cut out circles with holes using cookie cutters of different size or a donut cutter. I used a small cookie cutter with a diameter of 5 cm (2´´) and a cupcake cutter.

Heat oil in a deep dish. You know it is hot enough, if there are little air bubbles coming up when you put in a wooden skewer.

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Gently put in the cut out cronuts and fry. You might have to turn them around if you don’t have a deep fryer. They need to be amber brown outsie.

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Place them on paper towels to cool. I had my bf brushing a little milk with butter on top. Decorate your sweeties with icing and sprinkles.

Pumpkin Strudel

Everyone is crazy about pumpkin-flavoured stuff right now and I decided I would not make it that much worse, if I joined the movement. This strudel is my grandmother’s work, we made it in Bulgaria.

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Bulgarian pumpkin strudel is originally called ‘Tikvenik’, because ‘tikva’ means ‘pumpkin’. To keep at least a bit of the tradition when I prepare it here in Germany, I use bulgarian phyllo dough, which I take with me when I visit my granny.

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I do not have exact measurements for this recipe but I hope you can get along with the pictures showing the process step by step. Let’s just start.

You’ll need:

about 100 g (3 1/2 oz.) ground walnuts or pecans
white sugar (have about 150 g/5 oz. prepared)
1 small butternut, grated
125 g (4 oz.) butter, melted
400 g (14 oz.) phyllo dough
cinammon, powdered

Prepare your ingredients, place nuts, butter and sugar in bowls so you have them on hand.
Divide the grated pumpkin into 6 portions, about this size. Preheat the oven to 175°C (350°C) and line a rectangular pan with a sheet of baking paper.

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Roll out two pieces of dough. Butter one of them with a silicon brush, place the other on top and butter it as well, using very little fat.

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Spread one portion of pumpkin across the buttered sheet.

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Now spread nuts, sugar and cinammon on top. I use about 2 tbsp sugar, 1/2 tsp cinammon and 2 tbsp nuts, and the result is really not very sweet, but that’s how I like it. Use more sugar if you like.

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Now roll the phyllo sheet carefully and place it in the pan. Repeat with the rest of the sheets.

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If you have some butter left, you can pour it on top. Now bake for about 20 minutes or until the cake is slightly browned. Dust with powdered sugar and enjoy warm or cold.

Oreo Cake Bites and one more adult

I had something to celebrate last week. And because turning 18 can be very sweet, I needed to celebrate it with cake. I love oreos, I love cake pops, I love chocolate, everybody is freaking out about sprinkles.

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Conclusion: Combine ’em. I made a cake pop batter with the cake and cream cheese, mixed it with cream cheese buttercream and sandwiched it between the two halves of an oreo cookie.

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No critics.
A post about other treats around this fabulous birthday may follow this week. Remain interested :)

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Oreo Cake Bites

(makes about 16)

cake:
125 g (1 stick) butter, room temperature
100g (1/2 cup) sugar
2 eggs
150 g (1 1/4 cups) all purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 pinch salt

frosting:
100g (7 oz) cream cheese
30 g (2 oz) butter
40 g (¾ cup) powdered sugar
½ tsp. Vanilla extract

2 tbsp small chocolate chips

16 oreo cookies
100 g chocolate
sprinkles

Whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt in a medium-sized bowl. Set aside. Preheat oven to 180° C (350° F).
Cream the butter and sugar in a large bowl, until the mixture becomes light and fluffy. Add one egg at a time and stir until fully incorporated. Now add the dry ingredients and stir until the dough is smooth.

Transfer the mixture into an oiled pan and bake about 20 minutes until a toothpicker comes out clean.

Let the cake cool completely, then remove the hard edges. Now crumble the cake into a large bowl. This you can do easily with the help of a grater.

Prepare the frosting. For this, place the butter into a microwave-safe bowl and microwave for 25 seconds. Add the cream cheese, powdered sugar and vanilla extract and stir until the frosting is smooth.

Combine the crumbles and the frosting and stir until you get a dough-like mixture by using your hands. Add the chocolate chips and mix until evenly spread.
Divide the oreo halves with a knife. Place about 1 tbsp of the cake batter on one half, top with the other and press them gently together. You can form the mass with your wingers so the egde is even.

Place in the freezer for about 15 minutes or in the fridge for 2 hours.

Melt the chocolate and roll the edge of the oreo sandwich in the coating, then dip in a bowl of sprinkles. Let the chocolate harden and enjoy people’s exited faces when they have the first bite.