candy cane sugar cookies

hey guys, happy 4th advent.
i already posted a few recipes today and this is the last one for today - i promise haha!

THE CANDY CANE SUGAR COOKIES (recipe serves about 3 batches)

i'm all christmas ready with these now. :)
and it's pretty simple to make these although they look pretty impressive!

all you need is  

•  my favorite sugar cookie recipe
•  red food coloring
•  cocoa

1
just make the cookie batter following this simple recipe for my grandma's favorite sugar cookies.
then divide it in 3 parts (they can be equal or 1-1-2) and color one part (1) red with the red food coloring. mix in some cocoa in the second part (1). leave the third part (2) as it is and refridgerate for at least one hour.

2
take the three batters, a cutting board and some baking sheets (with parchment paper).
preheat you convection oven to 350°F (180°C).
now always take a piece of white batter and a piece of one of the colored batters, roll into 2 different balls with your hands and then roll into two snake-shaped thin and not too long stripes.
not twist both of them and shape into candy canes.

repeat until no batter is left, alternating cocoa-white-batter-canes and red-white-batter canes. 
you can be creative, too, and make some cocoa-red-batter-canes, or whatever comes to your mind! use blue, green, pink, whatever if you don't like red - be creative and get inspired! :)

3
bake for about 10 minutes (if you like them crunchy and not too chewy bake for about 12 min) and let cool.

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND ENJOY YOUR CANDY CANE SUGAR COOKIES!

xoxo, Vanessa

reindeer and snowman marshmallow chocolate pops {christmas treat}

hey guys!
so a few weeks ago i found a picture like the one above of some chocolate dipped marshmallow treats designed to be reindeer and snowmen - wow, i mean how neat is that?! 
i instantly started to try this out, since there's no recipe... i just got creative and i hope to give you some last minute christmas inspiration because these won't take long to make but will have a huge effect as a treat for the neighbors kids, the nieces and nephews, the cousins and whoever else deserves a little inexpensive christmas treat!

reindeer and snowman marshmallow chocolate pops  {christmas treat}

what you will need

• melted white, milk and dark chocolate
• marshmallows
• long toothpicks or some other stick
• smarties
• little pretzels

1 - for the reindeer

put a marshmallow on a stick and dip in your melted brown (not too hot) chocolate. let dry in a glass (without touching anything!)

meanwhile dip some pretzels in milk (or if you prefer dark) chocolate and let dry hanging an a stick (i put it up between two glasses).

dip two smarties (for the eyes) in white chocolate and let dry, too.

now stick everything together with some chocolate and use a red smartie as a nose. 

paint some eyes with dark chocolate and let dry. TADAAA! that's it!

2 - for the snowman

put three marshmallows on a stick and dip in melted white chocolate. let dry.

then add some brown smarties for the eyes, an orange one for the nose and colored ones for the buttons. add some chocolate dots for the mouth. if you want, carefully add some thin pretzel sticks for arms (that's really difficult and messy so i just left the snowman without arms). TADAAA - a little snowman treat made in no time!

ENJOY AND MERRY CHRISTMAS!

xoxo, Vanessa

sarah's banana bread muffins

hey guys, what's up? 
I'm sorry that it's been a while but as I told you this is an occasional food blog and the past few weeks I've really been busy working and preparing for christmas... although I still tried out some fabulous recipes I had basically no time to post. now that the pictures of all my projects are piling up on my iPhone and my computer I decided to take some time to post all the stuff so that you guys will have some (really) late christmas inspiration (for those who are probably still searching for little gifts or christmas treats)...
so here's what I've tried out 2 weeks ago: Sarah's Banana Bread Muffins from allrecipes.com.
I had tried them before a few moths ago when I wasn't blogging yet and everybody loved them because they're different but really good! they're sweet but have a decent taste of banana to them which makes them really good. yum!
so have fun with trying this all-year-long-recipe and enjoy! :)

sarah's banana bread muffins (serves 10-12 pieces)

- all credits to allrecipes.com -

• 1 cup white sugar (if you like it less sweet try half a cup)
• 1 egg
• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil 
• 3 ripe bananas, diced or mashed
• optional: oats, nuts, chocolate chips, ...

1
Preheat you convenction oven to 350°F (175°-180°C).
Place muffin cups in muffin tin or grease tin with a little butter.


2
Mix sugar, oil, and egg until creamy and light yellow. Add bananas and optinally add oats, nuts or chocolate chips. I used a cup of old fashioned oats in this case. 
Then add flour, baking soda, and salt. Stir until completely smooth. 


3
Spoon the batter into the muffin tin.
Bake for 30 to 40 minutes until toothpick poked in center of muffins comes out clean.
Let cool and enjoy! :)




 

xoxo, Vanessa

zucchini-carrot rice {skinny taste recipe}

hey guys, time for another recipe. :)
so today my mom and me had a "please-no-meat"-day (which happens from time to time) so we decided to cook something healthy and low-cal. we're not on a diet or something but i'm still collecting skinny recipes because they're not just low-cal but most of the time they're not as hard to digest as other "heavier" meals.
since there's basically no fat and no sugar in this recipe, it's skinny and healthy but at the same time really tasty and filling. i just love it and it's easy to make! hope you guys like it, too! :)

zucchini-carrot rice {skinny taste recipe} (equals ca. 6 servings)

• 2 zucchinis, rinsed thoroughly 
• 4-6 carrots (as you wish)
• 1/2 l (~2 1/8 cups) vegetable broth
• 2 cups of your favorite rice 
• salt, pepper
• some cooking oil (i used a light one)

1

start cooking the rice first, following the usual instructions on the package.

slice the zucchinis and carrots in thin slices (about 1/2cm thick; 1/4 inch).

heat some cooking oil in a pan and fill in all the slices. start roasting slightly on medium-low heat. season with salt and pepper (and don't be shy! use a little more because the zucchinis taste a lot better when seasoned well).

2

meanwhile, start heating the vegetable broth until it's nearly boiling.

when your zucchini and carrot slices start being chewy and light brown, add the hot broth.

stir everything and bring to boil. then let sit in medium-high heat for about 5-10 min. try one or two carrot and zucchini slices before removing from heat. when they are soft and start gleaming a little they're done. if necessary, season again.

3

if you don't want to have a soup-y kind of meal just pour the broth off and enjoy the rice with the vegetables. they will be soft and soakened with broth anyway so it'll not be too dry. if you wan to have some of the liquid as a sauce, pour it off into a bowl (or just leave it in the pan if you're lazy like i am haha) and add a scoop to your zucchini-carrot rice. et voila! enjoy your skinny meal! :)

xoxo, vanessa <3

my favorite sugar cookie {recipe}

heeey guys. :)
lately i've been searching a lot for new christmas recipes and stuff i can make for the holidays or put in my mums advent calendar... i think i found quite a few good recipes that are mostly pretty easy and look good and you know... creative. i kind of like to give something special put easy peasy made to my friends and family... 
of course you will find everything i try (and that actually works out and tastes good haha) here on my blog! :)
today i'm sharing an all time favorite with you: my favorite sugar cookie recipe! (grams recipe again, just to tell you - she's the best) 
everybody's making sugar cookies right now 'cause it's kind of the thing to start off with... you know, nobody wants to start all the baked apples, candy cane pies and ginger bread houses yet but sugar cookies is just fine to start push your christmas mood just a little but not too much to be exaggerating... i mean we still are in november... but fine. sugar cookies is an all time like... i mean i could eat them all year long haha!
however, now is the perfect time and here it is:

my favorite sugar cookie {recipe} (yields about 3 baking sheets of cookies)

• 260g (2 1/3 cups) wheat flour (all purpose will work fine, too)
• 155g (1 3/8 cup) granulated white sugar
• 125g (1/2 cup + 1 more stick (or 2, if needed) butter or margarine (unsalted)
• 1-2 tsp vanilla sugar
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 egg
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• a pinch of salt

1

stir butter in a bowl until smooth. add sugar, salt, vanilla sugar, vanilla extract and the egg. mix well using an electric beater.

2

in another bowl, mix flour and baking powder. now slowly add to the batter from step 1, stirring well.

the batter might be still a little sticky, then add a little more flour and let sit in the fridge for 1 hour.

3

preheat your convection oven to 190°C.

spread out some flour, roll out the batter as thin as you wish your cookies to be. using cookie cutters, make differently shaped cookies and place on a cookie sheet. repeat until you have no batter left (make sure to use enough flour so it won't be too sticky) and you will have about 3 sheets of cookies.

4

bake for ~10 minutes. don't let them get too brown! they will be hard, dry and taste burned. when they look fresh and yellow, maybe a little brown at the edges, they're best!

allow them to cool down.

5 (optional)

if you like, you can melt some chocolate to decorate the cookies with. i always use vanilla and milk chocolate. you can melt it in the oven, it won't burn as quickly as it will in the microwave. then - using a brush - decorate the cookies and add some sprinkles, smarties or brittle (that's reeeeally yummy!)

aaaand TADAAAA: not too much christmas-y christmas sugar cookies that won't taste too sweet but really good (even without the decoration). 

enjoy!

xoxo, vanessa. :)

german onion cake

hey guys! :) how have you been?
so today i'm very excited to share my second recipe with you.
THE GERMAN ONION CAKE

i just made it for lunch today and i had to make two this time because my family simply adores this recipe and even my grandparents, my uncle and my cousin came over for a piece!

it kind of is an old-fashioned meal that poor farmers used to cook back then because you basically just need onions, eggs and some dairy products which they usually had on their farms for their own needs anyway...
in these days you will find it in fancy restaurants around summer/fall because people like to drink a special white wine with it that you can only find in stores around the grape gathering time...
but i like to eat it at any time of the year and i'm sure it tastes really good with any kind of white wine... ;)

so i got this recipe from my cooking grams (i've got a teddy bear grams and a cooking grams hahaha... but they both like to cook or bake all those old-fashioned, very rich but havenly good grandma meals!)...
she probably got it from her mom or a friend of hers, however it is one of our traditional home recipes...
and since my grams kind of gave her golden cooking spoon into my hands now, i feel like i have to keep all these traditions up and carry them on for our descendents... ;)

so, here it is, first published just for you:

the german onion cake (recipe for 8 servings)

• 400-450g or 6 sheets phyllo pastry (if you use a springform pan like i did; you can also use a regular baking sheet, then you might need some more and your cake will be larger but flatter)
• 4-5 peeled onions, chopped or cut in little rings
• 200g (~2 2/3 cups) grated cheese (i used gouda)
• 2 tbsp parsley
• 250g (~1 cup) heavy cream
• 6 eggs
• butter
• pepper and salt
• caraway (optional)

1
preheat your convection oven to 190°C (375°F). set phyllo pastry aside and let defrost while cooking.

2
heat some butter in a pan. add the onion rings (or dice) and braise lightly.

in a bowl, mix heavy cream, eggs and chopped parsley. 

beat until smooth (you might want to use an electric beater). 

add a few pinches of salt and pepper (since the eggs kind of take the salty taste from your mixture you might need to add a little bit more than just a pinch of each).
now add the grated cheese and whisk well.

3
add the heavy-cream-egg-cheese-mix to the onions in your pan and heat slightly while stirring. if you think there is not enough liquid, add some milk or some more heavy cream and whisk.

4
take a springform pan (or a baking sheet) and grease with butter. add the slighly defrosted phyllo pastry sheets to cover the bottom of your pan (don't worry if it doesn't fit exactly, some overlapping pastry is okay). mine looked like this:

5
now pour in your slightly heated cream-cheese-onion-mixture. bake at 190°C (375°F) for about 45-55 min. test with a toothpick, if it's light brown and not sticky anymore remove from heat, let cool for a few minutes, take a glass of your favorite white wine and enjoy your german onion cake! 

hope you guys like it! don't forget to ask all the questions you might have and comment and click the little 'pin it' button. ;)

xoxo, vanessa.

peanut butter lemon marble cake with lemon frosting

yaaay - my first recipe guys!!! :)

i'm sooo excited to share this with you today! 
this afternoon i decided to bake a cake so i stalked pinterest and my moms old recipes and finally decided to make my delicious peanut butter lemon marble cake! 
i've made this cake once before a few weeks ago and my friends and family loved it! it sounds weird to have lemon and peanut butter together but it tastes havenly! it has this sweet and fresh taste of lemons to it and then there's the crunchy salty peanuts and the cocoa... oooh all this just makes it taste fresh, sweet, salty and absolutely awesome at the same time haha! 
i think my mom found this recipe a pretty long time ago in some of her weekly magazines (i admit that i always read them, too... hahaha! the recipes are really good sometimes) and she asked me to try it because it really sounded weird but interesting. so times passed by and we kind of forgot about the recipe... 
a few weeks ago then i decided to bake a cake so i had a look in my moms recipe books and folders and... TADAAAA - i found the peanut butter lemon marble cake recipe! hahaha...
i finally made it and it probably took me like half an hour and literally nobody could even resist the batter!! we were eating like half of the batter before even baking it hahaha! 
well, i gotta admit that this recipe is pretty rich on calories (ca. 390 per serving) BUT it's worth it! 
so here it is - MY VERY FIRST RECIPE! :))

peanutbutter lemon marble cake with lemon frosting (recipe for ~16 servings)

for the cake batter:

• 250g (1 1/8 cup) unsalted butter
• 250g (1 1/8 cup) granulated sugar
• a pinch of salt
• 4 eggs (size m)
• 375g (3 3/8 cups) all-purpose flour
• ~5 tsp baking powder (one package, ~15g)
• 125-150ml (1/2 cup) skim or low-fat milk
• the zest of 1 bio lemon (don't throw the lemon away, you'll need it for the frosting!)
• 2-3 tbsp of sweetened cocoa (you can take unsweetened cocoa, too, but i like it sweet)
• 3 tbsp peanut butter (i took the creamy one since the next step is adding peanuts)
• 50g  (1/3 cup) peanuts (unsalted, if you don't like the sweet'n'salty-mix a lot)
• flour and shortening for your baking dish

for the frosting:

• 250g (2 1/4 cups) confectioners' sugar
• 4-6 tbsp lemon juice 
• yellow food coloring, if you want to add some more lemon-y color to your cake frosting

1

preheat your convection oven to 175°C (350°F).

mix butter, sugar and salt in a bowl, stir until you have a smooth and creamy paste (i used an electric hand mixer).

Stir in eggs one by one until well blended. Then add flour and baking powder alternating with the milk (don't add all of it at once because it might be too much... i needed 150ml.) and stir well.

2

set half of the batter aside in another bowl. take the other half and add the lemon zest. stir well.

take the second half and add peanut butter and cocoa. blend well. you might want to add some more cocoa (for darker color and for sweeter taste).

3

grease a baking dish and sprinkle with flour so the cake won't stick to it. i used a bundt cake dish (26cm=10'-11') but you can use any cooking dish you like. i prefer having a round cake instead of a loaf so i used the bundt cake dish. 

4
now fill the baking dish with the peanut butter cocoa batter and lemon batter, alternating so you get the marble effect. i used a tbsp to fill it in to get a more intensive marbel-y effect. after filling it in i used a fork (you can also use a toothpick) to prick and with that marble it even more, but do as you wish.

that's what it looked like after pricking and before baking it...

5
bake the cake for 50-60 minutes. mine was good after 50 minutes (i tested it with a toothpick and it wasn't sticky anymore) so i removed it from the oven. if you leave it in for too long it might dry out so you better remove it a little earlier. then allow it to cool down (i removed it from the baking dish afterwards because it is pretty soft and fragile right after baking. i couldn't resist to eat a piece already (it's really good when it's a little warm and soft inside) but actually you have to let it sit for at least a few hours until you can add the frosting.
btw mine is all cracked, i know, but if you compare to the picture on step 4 you see that the cake rises a lot so make sure you use a baking dish that has at least twice the size of your unbaked batter in it. and never mind if it cracks - it's just the bottom side of your cake...

...and that's what it looked like after baking. twice the size!

6
for the frosting mix confectioners' sugar and lemon juice until it is smooth but not too runny. add food coloring (optional) and pour on your cake. if you want to cover it completely you might need a bit more frosting and a brush. let dry completely and enjoy your peanut butter lemon marble cake with lemon frosting!

_____________________________________________


weeeell, since i'm new to all this i don't really know how the whole food blogging thing actually works but i wanna tell you that i don't own any of this since i found the recipe from an old german magazine somewhere among my moms old recipes... i just want to share my experience with you and on this blog i will usually try out recipes i found on some blog or on pinterest. if there's any credit to somebody, i will certainly give it but in this case i guess it's okay to say this is from some kind of (old) german magazine.
so, my friends... happy baking, commenting and pinning! :) hope you liked my first post! i'm always happy about some feedback! ;)
xoxo, vanessa.

p.s.: sorry if there's any mistakes in my language! i'm not english native and my mother language is german so pardon my mistakes...

w e l c o m e ♥ to my food passion

hey guys! :)

welcome to my new food blog on blogspot.com - www.my-food-passion.blogspot.com

i'm vanessa, i'm originally from germany but lately built up a life in beautiful quebec, canada. 

it's been a while now since i started visiting food blogging pages, following different food bloggers on blogspot, instagram and pinterest on a regular basis.

now, i finally decided to create my own food blog since i'm trying out more and more of the recipes i'm seeing on the internet, in my mom's or grams old cookbooks or whereever else... 

i now want to start sharing some of the good stuff to give you some inspiration and probably some new ideas just like i got mine mostly from food blogs, too. 

i'm excited to share some of my newest canadian, american but also german cravings and all time favorites now!!

so if there's anything you'd like to know, don't be shy to contact me! i'd be glad to answer all your questions and help you out with whatever problem you might have. 

happy reading, gushing, cooking and pinning my friends! 

xoxo, vanessa. :)