Blackberry Muffins

Looking at my blog, I can't believe the last post was added more than three months ago! Plus there was an Easter offer in the menu a while ago :D All I can say, is that both April and May were the two most difficult  and exhausting months. I was preparing for my university entrance tests in April and for my school leaving exam in May. Fortunately, I passed them both and now I can say that high school is behind me. Finally! :) It was neither easy nor too difficult. Somewhere in the middle I think. Anyway, it's time to start baking again!

Jidáše s medem (Judases with Honey)

I haven't even had time to "recover" (read lose those unwanted pounds) from Christmas holidays and now Easter is here. It seem to come so soon to me :D If you don't know what to bake for this festival, you may try several of my traditional and less traditional recipes :) Every year (I serious - EVERY year) I bake Hot Cross Buns - traditional English Easter buns - and perníčky and jidáše. I can't imagine any Easter without them. Of course, I can't forget to mention the most traditional cake - Easter Lamb Cake. In my country there we often bake an Easter wreath - this yeasted one not so traditional but absolutely delicious! And now let's bake jidáše...

The Daring Bakers' Challenge: Poppy Seed Cherry Muffins with Eggnog

The Daring Bakers’ February 2012 host was – Lis! Lisa stepped in last minute and challenged us to create a quick bread we could call our own. She supplied us with a base recipe and shared some recipes she loves from various websites and encouraged us to build upon them and create new flavor profiles.

This time I'm as late as I've never been before though I think it's always better later than never, right? Here's my excuse :D I try to learn for my school leaving exam every day  but sometimes it's so freaking hard to concentrate! I mean there's a voice in my mind and it keeps telling me that it's time to turn on my PC, load my fav search engine, browse my fav foodblogs and, of course, visit thedaringkitchen.com :D So let's say it's my inner voice's guilt and definitely not mine :D Anyway, I don't regret at all because otherwiseI wouldn't have had the chance to bake these unusual muffins.

Baked Chocolate

It's freezing cold out here  but it's not snowing and the sun is shining which is pretty confusing. I might a bit of a pessimist but who would want to laugh? Every single day I have to leave my warm house and walk to school. I could take a bus if I was able to leave the house before 7:45am (the school starts at 8:00am). Usually I start my "jurney" at 7:50am - very late - so I run (yes, I really "enjoy" this :D) and get to school at 8:02am. However, in a weather like this I pray my legs won't freeze and still I can't feel them for an hour after my arrival in school. Fortunately, Valentine's Day is here to warm us up :D If, of course, I believed in it...

The Daring Bakers' Challenge: Traditional Scones

Audax Artifex was our January 2012 Daring Bakers’ host. Aud worked tirelessly to master light and fluffy scones (a/k/a biscuits) to help us create delicious and perfect batches in our own kitchens!

All I can say is WOW! Audax has made 16 batches and browsed through more then 200 recipes!! How crazy is that? Don't get me wrong, I armire him so much! He's provided us with so many useful pieces of advice and explained everything! Literally, I swear. He made scones sound so great I had to make them the moment I read the challenge for January which was on the first of January :) I've never baked any challange recipe this soon!!

Hraběnčiny řezy (Countess' Cake)

At first I'd like to remind you the giveaway is still open to everyone so don't hesitate and give it a chance :) Now let's move to Christmas. This time it was really RICH when it comes to Christmas cookies and food in general. Anyway, I keep telling myself there's enough time till summer, so why shall I give up delicious treat in January? This cake is extremely popular with my family - even when I bake it at 10pm, there hardly is a half of it left the next morning and it "magically"disappears within the next few hours. Even Jack Malon wouldn't be able to find it!

The Daring Bakers' Challenge: Wheat Rye Bread with Cumin

Our Daring Bakers Host for December 2011 was Jessica of My Recipe Project and she showed us how fun it is to create Sour Dough bread in our own kitchens! She provided us with Sour Dough recipes from Bread Matters by AndrewWhitley as well as delicious recipes to use our Sour Dough bread in from Tonia George’s Things on Toast and Canteen’s Great British Food!

At first I have to say that the Czech Republic is a country of bread :D It's the basic type of any kind of pastry and you can find it anywhere at any time! Every family eats bread, no exceptions, I swear! I think Czech people can't imagine living without a fresh loaf of bread sitting on their countertop each morning, ready to be sliced and eaten with good creamy butter and tasty ham or cheese. And that's exactly how we feel about bread in my family.

Vanilkové rohlíčky (Vanilla Crescents)

Last time we visited Britain and that's why now I think it's time for "homecoming" :D Christmas is all about traditions and even though I love trying new exotic recipes I usually stick to the old good stuff during this holiday. I can't imagine not celebrating Christmas on 24th December. I love looking forward for the evening, decorating Christmas tree, one minute fasting (= you don't eat for a minute, then you do, then you fast for another minute :D) and useless waiting for the golden pig that never comes. Well, and at the end of the evening when you can see only pieces of wrapping paper everywhere, that's the time for Christmas cookies. In the Czech Republic there it is extremely traditional to bake many kinds of the cookies and one of the most popular ones are vanilla crescents. Mine have been in our family for more than 20 years - quite old, don't you think?

Mince Pies

The magic number for today is 24. Asking why? No, don't worry, this IS a foodblog, no oracle or something :D The number reffers to the days left to Christmas. I think you all have to be bored by my constant talking about it but I simply love Christmas time. And I want to share my Christmas mood with you :) Here you have my first official Christmas cookie recipe (at least in this year and only when you don't count blondies as a Christmas cookie alternative) but these are not cookies in fact...

Coconut and Lemon Quark Cheese Mini Bundt Cakes

I've just returned home and I can say I feel as if I met Father Frost :D It's truly is SO cold outside here. Two or three days ago I'd go out wearing sneakers, no gloves or scarves but that's gone for the next two or three months. Anyway, I bought some cool Christmas decorations (the edible ones included even though these won't last for more than a week as I love eating them :D). I'm officially in....the right Christmas mood. However, before I start adding recipes for Christmas cookies simply I can't leave you without these irresistible bundt cakes.

White Chocolate Blondies

Well, here we are :D Two days ago I woke up in the morning and realized that only two months were left to Christmas. Two weeks ago I would say that it was too soon to think of Christmas. Right now I'm scared that I won't have enough time to buy the gifts and what's even worse - I have no idea what to buy :D Yesterday I went window-shopping and to be honest the Christmas atmosphere cought me. I cannot concentrate on my school stuff and I think about different kinds of Christmas cookies which I am going to bake and how many kinds it should be and so on. In my sidebar there is a survey connected to Christmas cookies and I'd love if you could participate, so don't be afraid to answer, it's 100% anonymous :) And when we are talking about cookies and sweets, it reminds me that I've decided to bring this Christmas atmosphere into my home, too, by making something small and sweet.

Pear and Nutty Cinnamon Crumb Cake

According to the way it looks like outside, I can say the fall is here. Genuine colorful cold fall. In my hall there are large boxes filled with walnuts (I always need tons of them for Christmas), deep red apples and also pears. Gone are the days when I would most likely go out only wearing a T-shirt and shorts. Right now I'd be an ice cube in such clothes. It's time to take out all those scarves, coats, sweaters and warm trousers. I don't know how about you but it always takes me a lot of time to get used to them :D The reason is that I feel kind of tied in that warm heavy clothes. Anyway, my tastebuds change a bit, too. I no longer search for no bake dessert stored in the fridge (okay, I'm kidding, I'd eat anything at any time :D) and I start to look for typical Czech baked pies, crumb cakes, strudels, puddings, bundt cakes. and baked apples. And as I have mentioned above, I have kilos of pears and nuts so it'd be a pity not to use them...

The Daring Bakers' Challenge: Croissants au Beurre (Butter Croissants)

The Daring Bakers go retro this month! Thanks to one of our very talented non-blogging members, Sarah, the Daring Bakers were challenged to make Croissants using a recipe from the Queen of French Cooking, none other than Julia Child!

I haven't even realised it. The end of September has come so fast, hasn't it?  I love and hate September at the same time because well, I have to go to school (that's why I hate it) and my birthday is in September (that's why I love it). Another reason why I should love September is because of my blog turns one year old :D In fact, the first post was posted in August last year, but my second blog (the Czech version) started in October and I've decided to "celebrate" it in September because it's in between. Anyway, this month's challenge is a great way how to celebrate mine and my blogs' b-days. Who wouldn't love fresh croissants?

Red Currant Citrus Olive Oil Cake

I know that everybody knows, but I simply have to repeat it. School's back. It starts on the first of September here in the Czech Republic and this year it was on Thursday. Okay, I know how imporant it is to educate ourselves but to be completely honest, I hate going to school. We have nine hours every day except for Monday and Friday and I really "love" when the teachers test us from Math, Physics and Biology in the same day. However, I guess I'm gonna hate especially this year the most because I'm in the fourth grade which means...leaving exams (aka maturita in Czech). So, I'm extremely happy for every single day free of learning. Unfortunately, the only free day I have is Friday afternoon and that sucks. Anyway, here I have a fast recipe if you crave something sweet and don't have much time like me these days :)

The Daring Bakers' Challenge: Milk Chocolate Pralines with Spiced White Choc Mousse and Honey Roasted Macadamias

The August 2011 Daring Bakers’ Challenge was hosted by Lisa of Parsley, Sage, Desserts and Line Drive and Mandy of What the Fruitcake?!. These two sugar mavens challenged us to make sinfully delicious candies! This was a special challenge for the Daring Bakers because the good folks at http://www.chocoley.com offered an amazing prize for the winner of the most creative and delicious candy!

Here we are again :) The end of the month means revealing the big secret coming out from the DB kitchen. This time it REALLY freaked me out because on of our main tasks was tempering chocolate. As I read through the page more and more recipes, directions, tips, notes and links popped out. I was pretty confused and it took a while for me to recuperate :D Well, and my head started creating and mixing up new ideas of creams, fillings and other stuff. Now you're about to find out what my head finally created.

Black Currant Marzipan Swirls

Each summer I try to visit my granny. She lives quite far away from the town I live in and since I (still) don't have a driving license I have to travel by train which is pretty exhausting (our trains are AWFUL!) and expansive. So I'm always happy when my parents have a few days off and we can travel by car together. Also, when we the opportunity to go by car we always bring back some fresh fruit, veggies, eggs and other stuff because my granny has a large garden where she plants apples, cucumbers, apricots, cherries, strawberries and so much more! This time we were given a huge bowl of sweet and tangy black currant. I was pretty surprised that I was able to eat a small bowl all by myself without adding any sugar or something - I mean usually currant is pretty sour, but this time I guess I was lucky :) Anyway, I didn't want to waste the fresh juicy black treasure so I had to figure out a way to use them.

Cherry Rosemary Yogurt Mini Loaves

Last week I shared with you one of my strawberry recipes and it was a high time to show up with one since strawberries are gone for this year (unless you live outside Europe - I'm so jeleaus!) and another fruit is starting leaving us. Oh yes, you're right. Sweet juicy cherries. I can't express how much I love them. LOVE them. I think they're my most favourite fruit. The taste is so sweet, full of juiciness, no sourness, fresh, deep red colour, shiny....simply outstanding. If you love cherries as much as I do these loaves are just perfect for your taste buds AND you definitely won't gain weight by eating them, because they're almost fat free, high in proteins and don't contain any added sugar! Isn't this a piece of pure slim-and-thin-in-summer bliss?

Strawberry Vanilla Strudel

I'd love to say that I'm enjoying beautiful sunny warm and bright summer day right now, but the truth is it's quite the opposite. The sky ain't blue, birds aren't singing and it's raining. Pretty awful summer day, don't you think? Usually I like to dig into something light, refreshing and prefarably cold. However, when I see that "wonderful" weather outside I just feel like eating something a bit heavier, warm but still juicy and at least a little bit summery :) If that's how you feel, then you may try out this not-so-traditional strudel and I bet it'll make you smile no matter what the weather looks like.

The Daring Bakers' Challenge: Walnut, Pistachio and Hazelnut Baklava

Erica of Erica’s Edibles was our host for the Daring Baker’s June challenge. Erica challenged us to be truly DARING by making homemade phyllo dough and then to use that homemade dough to make Baklava.

Sooo, if I've ever said that Croquembouche was exhausting and time consuming and hard to make...I'm sorry for lying to you. I was just kidding. THIS is on the other hand. God! I guess I've never made anything so time consuming and exhausting. No way. The French entremet is like nothing compared to this challenge! Hours of rolling, hours of layering, baking and I think I'm gonna have nightmares about rolling dough. Would I make it again? Absolutely! Am I mad? Oh, yeah, a big one, but believe you me, once you make it, you'd want to repeat it again and again. It's worth it plus you get nice toned arms. Asking how? Let's explore!

Crème Fraîche Lemon Tart

It's been a long time since my last post, I know. The school year's finishing next week and this week was a killer! I had to learn, learn and for change - learn. I hate that! God, I went to bed after midnight every single day because I had to learn so much in order to get the best makrs possible. However, the effort paid off and hopefully there should be only excellent marks on my school report! Phew :) I'm so sleepy, tired and exhausted and happy at the same time. That's it. School's gone for 2 months and now I can focus on the stuff I really do love and that's baking of course. So let's have a look what's baking in my kitchen today :)