lemon-cake cheese-cups

(A post started a long, long time ago; here's the finished and updated version! Nice to see you after all this time, btw. ;) )

These are the kind of pastry that really won't ever win the Miss Pretty Cupcake competition, rather they're the cupcake-next-door that you try because you're waiting for the cupcake of your dreams to appear. And then one day you realized you're seriously committed to this one cupcake and can't really see why you ever wanted to try anything else, ever. Yeah, they're sneaky that way.

In fact, when I took my first try-out batch to a meeting we had a fight over who's allowed the last one. If I remember right, the girl with the crappiest day won, since the pick-me-up-properties of this cupcake are pretty marvelous.

Now that I'm over gushing the awesomeness-that-is-this-cupcake-recipe, we can finally move on to the actual recipe part (and possibly pictures too, right?)!

I originally find the recipe from Pinterest, followed to a blog and from there to another and yeah. We all know how these things go. The recipe I ended up using is pretty close to this lemon tassies recipe by the always lovely, always industrious Martha Stewart (well, it's on her website anyway). I like the way it's simple enough even for me to understand. :D

Anyway, here's what I did. (The recipe makes about 20.)

Crust:
75g butter or margarine
2,5 dl flour
0,5 dl sugar
1 egg
a pinch of vanilla (or vanilla sugar)
a pinch of salt
a bit (about 1/4 of a lemon) grated lemon zest

-> Mix everything into a batter and cover muffin pan hole-thingies with crust (see picture) to make cups. Bake at 175°C for about 10 min.

Filling:
200g cream cheese (natural/original flavor)
3/4 - 1 dl sugar
1 egg
the rest of the grated lemon zest
1 tbsp lemon juice
a pinch of vanilla

-> Mix all together and fill the cups with the cheese-mix. Bake 15-20 minutes until the color is lovely golden. Let them cool and gobble up!

Btw, I wouldn't recommend putting your stick of butter to wait on top of your gas oven (it really gets hot!). I don't think there's any reason to ask me how I know.

These are lovely for a spring afternoon with a friend and a pot of tea. And Easter is coming too! Maybe I should try these for my Easter treat instead (or rather, in addition to) my never-ending diet of chocolate in all forms...


Löysin Pinterestin kautta ihanan sitruuna-juustokakkusien ohjeen, nämä veivät paitsi minut myös kaikki muut mennessään! Todellakin sopivat oikeastaan jokaiseen makuun (ehkei sitrus-allergisille kuitenkaan...). Joka tapauksessa ohje oli suhteellisen helppo, ja lopputulos vähintäänkin odotusten mukainen. Ulkonäöllisesti ei ehkä kaikkein kaunein ja näyttävin leivos, mutta maku kyllä korvaa senkin edestä. Näitä kannattaa maistella vaikkapa hedelmäisen teen kanssa, tietenkin hyvän ystävän kanssa, ja haaveilla auringosta ja kesästä... Kyllä se sieltä jossain vaiheessa taas ilmestyy! 

Ou, mon chou!

If you only knew me from this blog, you'd probably think that I do nothing else except visit my friends and cook huge dinners. And it's actually quite true, it's really one of my favorite activities there is. I mean, good food, good company, what more one could ask?

Last weekend a friend of mine invited me over for dinner. She wanted to try some recipes and in the end we ended up messing around her kitchen for about three hours making cabbage rolls. Oh yes, it was all because one cabbage! (And my friend's tiny kitchen.)

I was never very fond of cabbage, but somehow it has piqued my interest. It started with some traditional casserole, my interest increased when I found a delicious salad based on cabbage leaves, but I have to say, the cabbage rolls are the best of the cabbage food bunch. You definitely should try them, even though they're pretty time-consuming. They're SO good and cheap and really easy to do. Trust me!

Here Miss P is filling the rolls with our soy-based filling. 

Miss M is anxiously waiting for her dinner.

Unfortunately for her, the rolls needed to bake for another hour after filling.

But here they are, all ready to be eaten!

Misses P and M enjoying their homemade cabbage rolls by the candlelight. 

Thank you girls for the lovely evening!

Viikonloppuna ystävä kutsui kylään ja tehtiin kalikääryleitä. Hermothan siinä meni ja aikaa ja sormet paloi, mutta hauskaa oli. (Ohjeen löysimme Kotivinkistä 15/11, mutta kysykää mummoilta/äideiltä!) Kuten ehkä blogista huomaa, ruoan laittaminen ja syömään kokoontuminen ystävien kera on kovin korkealla prioriteettilistallani. Hyvä ruoka, parempi mieli, sanon myös ma! 

Family Matters

Like in many other families, Sundays are almost always dedicated to family, at least in my family. We don't have a tradition of Sunday Dinners all together or anything, it just seems to be the day when we tend to gather together to share a cup of coffee, take a nap on any of the multiple sofas in my parents' house, to make trips to the city. This Sunday was no exception, I got my brother to pick me up and we drove to my parents' for early dinner, which surprisingly enough my father made this time. Basically it was just steaks and salad, but it was all good anyway. And I made a blueberry-apple-pie out of the last blueberries and apples of this season. Delicious!

My brother and I. He's wearing the "Army Pickles"as he's doing his military service at the moment. Aww, my little brother is all so grown-up and handsome! 

My father made a salad. Basically its just tomatoes and mozzarella with some spices, but it was excellent anyway. Especially since my father doesn't usually cook, at all. 

The blueberry-apple-pie before going to the oven...

And then served on a Paradise plate with whipped vanilla cream. Yummy!

Here's the recipe for the pie, it's really very simple.

Isoäidin omenapiirakka / Grand-mother's Apple Pie :

2 munaa / eggs
1 dl sokeria / sugar
100 g margariinia / margarine
2 dl jauhoja / flour
1 tl/tsp leivinjauhetta / baking powder
omenoita, marjoja tms / apple slices, berries etc.


Vatkaa munat ja sokeri vaahdoksi, lisää rasva. Sekoita kuivat aineet ja lisää taikinaan varovasti sekoittaen. Kaada voideltuun vuokaan ja lisää päälle omenat viipaloituina, marjoja tms. oman maun mukaan. Lisää päälle sokeria tarvittaessa. Paista 200°C n. 30 min. 


Froth eggs and sugar, then add melted butter/margarine. Mix and add the flour and baking powder. 
Grease a pan and scrape the batter into it. Sprinkle the berries (or fruit slices) on top of the batter and add some sugar if necessary. Bake at 200°C for about 30 minutes.


Sunnuntait on perheen päiviä, ainakin meidän perheessä. Tänäänkin, kuten useana muunakin sunnuntaina, mentiin pikkuveljen kanssa (joka on varusmiehenä Santahaminassa tällä hetkellä) vanhemmille syömään ja hengailemaan. Iskä teki ruokaa ja minä omena-mustikka-piirakkaa. Hyvää tuli, vaikka aluksi vähän epäilyttikin! Ohje ohessa, nauttikaa. 

When life gives you lemons...

... make lemonade! 


And so I did. On one August early evening, I spent an amazing hour or two with a good friend of mine, making blueberry jam, baking blueberry cakes, squeezing fresh lemons and just hanging out and having fun. I really really love my friends.

I had never thought that making lemonade would be so easy and the result would be so good! Here's the recipe I used:

• Ingredients
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 cup fresh lemon juice (from about 6 lemons)
• 
  
• Directions
• In a small saucepan, combine the sugar and ½ cup water. Bring to a boil, 
• stirring occasionally, until the sugar is dissolved; let cool. 
• In a pitcher, combine the syrup with the lemon juice and 2½ to 3 cups water. Serve over ice.

Enjoy! I may add some other recipes some time in near future, I've been baking a lot lately. 

Elokuussa vietin illan ystävän luona, hilloten mustikoita, leipoen kakkuja ja puristaen sitruunoita mehuksi. Kaiken puuhailun ohessa oli ihana vaan viettää aikaa tärkeän ihmisen kanssa ja nauttia hetkestä. Ystävät on tärkeitä ja rakkaita.