A Sweet Surprise!

One of the nicest Christmas greetings ever arrived today- a box filled with handmade sweet treats from my lovely friend, Andrea! She really blew me away with her thoughtfulness and generosity. I feel moved (and hungry!) after opening her beautiful package and reading the note:

"This package contains lots of flour, butter, sugar, love and nuts
-Chocolates with amaranth (Mexico)
-Cranberry and white chocolate cookies
- Almond crescents (Vienna)
-Orange cookies (my sister's recipe)
-Gingerbread man with Xmas tree and 2 Xmas hedgehog
-Pecan nut balls with coconut
-Butter cookies
-Snowballs (with blue ribbon) * you must eat them in one bite!

Everything is hand baked!
Enjoy!"

Andrea, you should've seen my face...... :D
THANKS SO MUCH!!

I Bet They'll Like These Oatmeal Muffins!

Every time I sit down with a bowl of oatmeal in the morning, I can't help but wonder how on Earth people can manage to hate something so delicious. There's so much to love about oatmeal- it's warm, comforting, versatile (I have about a billion and one variations), filling and let's not forget, healthy. Oats are known to lower your cholesterol, therefore reducing the risk of cardiovascular disease. Oats also reduce the risk of cancer and even improve mood. I've tried getting Kirstie to become a fan of oatmeal, but unfortunately, she has trouble getting through even the tiniest of bowls. Hans is worse. The poor man has a hard time sitting across the table from me when I'm eating my 'slop'.
Clever as I am, I came up with a delicious muffin recipe to trick those two into eating at least a little oatmeal, and while I was at it, I saw nothing against adding a bit of flaxseed as well, which like oats, also has many health benefits. To make things even sweeter without having to add a lot of sugar, I decided to use some sugar- free, thin- cut marmalade which had been lurking about in the fridge. This addition also meant that I could use less oil. But you know, who am I kidding! I made these muffins because I knew they'd be darn good!

Here's the recipe:
Oatmeal Muffins They'll Love!
Ingredients:
*200g whole wheat flour
*50g white flour
*2 tsps baking powder
*1/2 tsp baking soda
*150g oatmeal
*60g flaxseed
*1 egg
*50ml sunflower oil
*150g thin- cut marmalade
*200ml buttermilk
*80g unrefined cane sugar

Preheat oven to 200C. Line muffin tin with liners. Sift flours, baking powder and soda into a bowl. Add the oatmeal and flaxseed and stir to combine. In a jug, whisk the egg, oil, marmalade, buttermilk and sugar. Add this to the dry ingredients and fold in gently until combined. Spoon into muffin pan and bake for 20 minutes or until tester comes out clean.

Nigella's Fudge, a Little Tweaked

I've never made fudge before but after watching Nigella make it earlier this week, I knew it wouldn't be long before I had a batch or two in my house. She made it seem so easy. Just throw some chopped chocolate, a can of condensed milk, a bit of butter, some nuts and a pinch of salt in pan, stir a little and that's it! Nigella suggested the fudge would make lovely Christmas presents but after having my first taste this morning (yes, you read correctly...this morning), I have no choice but to keep all 64 chocolaty little squares safely in my house- in case I have unexpected visitors, of course.

I've never been a big fan of pistachios so I opted for some roughly chopped almonds instead and also decided to toss in a bag of dried cranberries which was left over from the chutney I made last weekend (Nigella's Christmas Chutney, to be precise, which by the way, I can't recommend enough). The results were truly awesome. Thick, rich chunks of fudge speckled with bits of almonds and tangy, bright red, and very Christmassy cranberries. I strongly suggest you go make this- now.

Here's the recipe:

Chocolate Pistachio Fudge (or Chocolate Almond and Cranberry Fudge)
*350g dark chocolate
*1 can (397g) condensed milk
*30g butter
*pinch salt
*150g pistachios (I used 150g almonds and 125g dried cranberries)

"Put the chopped chocolate, condensed milk, butter and salt in a heavy- based pan on a low heat, and stir to melt.
Put the nuts into a freezer bag and bash them with a rolling pin, until broken up into big and little pieces. (I did this very democratically with my mezzaluna)
Add the nuts (and the berries) to the melted chocolate and condensed milk and stir well to mix.
Pour and spatch this mixture into a foil tray 23cm square, smoothing the top. (I used a baking tray of the same size and lined it with baking paper)
Let the fudge cool, and refrigerate until set. (I did this overnight). You can then cut it into small pieces approx. 3 X 2.25cm. Cutting 8 X 8 lines in the tin to give 64 pieces best achieves this.
Once cut, it can be kept in the freezer- no need to thaw just eat straight away.
Makes 64 pieces of rich fudge."

Sinterklaas!

The Feast of Saint Nicholas: Jan Steen, 1663-65, oil on canvas, 80 x 70.5 cm, Het Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam

I woke up this morning as excited as a child and full of expectation- Sinterklaas is coming tonight! I heard that his bag was going to be pretty filled this year so to thank him, and his Piets of course, I decided to start baking right after breakfast. By now, the spicy aroma of fresh baked speculaas and pepernoten has spread throughout the whole house. Lovely! It has made me think of one of my favorite paintings, "The Feast of Saint Nicholas" by Jan Steen. What I love most about this painting is the way Steen brings the party to life by showing us children who have gotten presents in their shoe as well as those who didn't. It shows us a basket full of traditional Sinterklaas treats like speculaas and pepernoten and we see singing taking place next to the chimney. There's more to the painting though, and that's where it gets interesting.

Look at the child in the center and how she's holding a doll. Is that a doll though? No, it's probably a statue of Saint Lucia, the young martyr and bearer of light (notice her crown of light and the red martyr's cross the child is holding). But what does Saint Lucia have to do with Sinterklaas? Well, for one, Saint Lucia was said to bring food to the poor. Notice the basket filled with baked treats on the left hand corner and also the pepernoten scattered all over the floor.

Behind the girl is a boy, possibly Jan Steen himself, and he doesn't seem very happy because unlike the girl, he only got a branch in his shoe (notice the older girl behind him who smirks as she holds up his shoe). There's a Sinterklaas song which goes "wie zoet is krijgt lekkers, wie stout is de roe", or "if you're good, you get sweets, if you aren't, you get a branch". Obviously this boy was not that nice, yet grandma gives a sly smile in the background as she calls him- maybe he'll get something after all. But there might be more to this boy. In the 17th century, The Netherlands was a Protestant country, not because the majority of the people were Protestant (actually, only ten percent were Protestant!), but because it was the official religion. Catholics were not allowed to practice their religion publicly (they had to build secret churches) and therefore Catholic holidays such as The Feast of Saint Nicholas, were not allowed by law. The boy who only got a branch is wearing the simple black outfit of a Protestant, yet the girl who happily clutches her "doll" is wearing a Catholic dress and carrying Catholic attributes such as the statue of Saint Lucia and a cross. Did Jan Steen imply that Catholics were "good" and therefore got rewarded while Protestants got punished? Could be.

There's loads of symbolism in this painting, too much to get into, but what I love most is the way the traditions of Sinterklaas are so vividly painted. Traditions that have pretty much remained the same. My favorite detail is the group of children on the right hand side who are singing up towards the chimney- exactly what my family and I did yesterday!


Off to eat some speculaas as by now the smell is driving me crazy and forcing me to put an end to all the arty talk!

Soul- Warming Soup

Lately, I have gotten into the habit of welcoming Kirstie home for lunch with a bowl of freshly- made soup. It's usually a very simple lentil or bean soup made with some stock, a bit of veggies and a few spices. Nothing more than that. Sometimes though, I get the urge to be a little more creative, like today, when I suddenly remembered a bottle of tomato juice that had been lurking about in my pantry for some time, and I also decided to use the three boniatos I purchased over the weekend. What I want most at the this time of year are thick, comforting soups, the type that fill your tummy and warm your soul- and that is exactly what this creamy, velvety smooth soup did. I topped each bowl with a little crème fraîche and some chopped parsley. My blissfully happy moment of the day was sitting at the table with my gorgeous girl while eating that bowl of soup.

Here's the recipe:

Soul- Warming Soup
*3 ribs of celery
*2 big carrots
*1 onion
*3 cloves of garlic
*2 tbsps olive oil
*500g red lentils
*750ml tomato juice
*850ml vegetable or herb- flavored broth
*1 tsp mace
*2 tsps ground cumin
*1 tsp ground coriander
*1 tsp chili powder
*2 tsps brown sugar
*3 large boniato sweet potatoes, about 600g, cubed

Finely chop the celery, carrots, onion and garlic. I did this is the food processor. Heat the oil in a large pan and saute the veggies on a gentle fire for about 5 minutes. Add the lentils and stir well. Add the tomato juice, the stock and the spices and cook on a medium fire for about 15 minutes. Add the chopped boniatos and continue to cook for a further 45 minutes. Puree the soup and serve with crème fraîche and some chopped parsley.

Makes about 10 servings