When I lived in Bulgaria, I was always looking forward to autumn. This time of the year inspires me with all its colours and gifts from nature.
Pumpkins were one of my favourites. My grandmother had butternut pumpkins in her garden, which I could never carry by myself when I was little, and they were so sweet, that once you have tasted a spoonful of them, you waned to eat more. Bulgarians have a very simple way to prepare a pumpkin dessert, which is made in no time and with only a few ingredients. To some of you this recipe might sound strange but I am sure that a lot will like it once they have tried it.
There are several kinds of pumpkin, but this recipe works best with a butternut or a hokkaido. If you have one lying around, go and try out this recipe.
Sweet Baked Pumpkin
1 small/medium butternut or hokkaido pumpkin
480 ml (2 cups) water
5 tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp cinammon powder
Preheat the oven to 220° C (425°F). Wash the pumpkin. Cut it into pieces of about 5 cm (2″) length. Remove the seeds. Place the pieces next to each other into a large pan.
Spread sugar and cinnamon on top.
Pour the water over the pumpkin.
Bake for a good 40 minutes. Let cool and place the pieces on a plate.
Eat with a spoon like a kiwi :). (This is why I can eat this dessert despite my illness ;).)
Do you have a clue why I’m posting this picture?
Wait. First guess, then go on reading.
It could be easier to explain. But it is complicated. My ears HURT. It began 2 weeks ago. And hasn’t stopped since. It has even become worse. I have seen four different doctors by now, and after hours and hours of waiting in ante rooms the doctors found a way to cure me. Finally. But it can possibly take WEEKS until I am completely healthy again. So I thought you’d better know this, before you get confused by the following posts.
The pain in my ears makes it hard to eat. Quite a bit. Can’t open my mouth properly. Can’t chew properly. Can’t concentrate on anything when it is worst. But I found a solution: Eating without chewing. This is why I posted those two pics – they are my food for the next few days, as well puddings, cremes, soups etc. are. See what I’m getting at? In the following posts, I will show you what I’m eating except baby purees and that a stupid ear infection cannot keep me from enjoying my food – especially my beloved sweets. First recipe tomorrow!
My boyfriend’s sister had a baby two weeks ago. This weekend, we went to the baby shower to see her adorable little daughter. As always, I wanted to prepare a special treat, so I started to think about what everyone would love to eat.
I’ve been craving oreo cookies the last days. I DREAMED that I was making cake pops two days ago. This was a sign, no doubt. So I went to the supermarket and bought those mini oreos. Cute. But not as cute as the baby, of course. ;)
Then I prepared my cake, combined it with frosting and hid the oreos inside the dough.
Then I covered the truffles in white chocolate. Mhhhhh.
Oreo Stuffed Cake Truffles
(makes about 40 truffles)
cake:
125 g (1 sticks) butter, room temperature
100g (½ cup) sugar
2 eggs
150 g (1 ¼ cups) all purpose flour
½ tsp baking powder
1 pinch salt
frosting:
100g (3,5 oz) cream cheese
30 g (1 oz) butter
40 g (3/8 cup) powdered sugar
½ tsp vanilla extract
40 mini oreo cookies
icing:
400 g (14 oz) white chocolate
3 normal sized oreos, crushed
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 – I always use my round 26 cm (10 inch) pan but a 22 cm x 12 cm (9´´ x 5´´) pan or a round 22 cm (9´´) pan works as well – and bake about 25 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. Make litte cake balls with cookies inside. Like that:
Place them in the freezer for about 20 minutes or in the fridge for at least 2 hours.
Melt the chocolate and cover the truffles with the help of two forks. Sprinkle crushed oreos on top.
Your guests will love this surprising moment when they find the oreo inside :).
