Homemade chocolate pudding

Chokladpudding är egentligen en sån grej som jag aldrig skulle få för mig att göra själv. Det finns ju i pulverform (ja, jag vet.. jag skäms), en som jag dessutom tycker är helt ok men ändå aldrig köper.
Däremot så har jag nästan alltid ingredienser till hemgjord chokladpudding hemma.

Jag tror jag kommer bli chokladpuddingberoende, eller kanske puddingberoende generellt. Fast pudding låter ganska avtändande tycker jag.
Jäklar vad fel man kan ha ibland. Det här är nog det godaste jag gjort på länge, och jag skojar inte!
Den är så len och så krämig att jag blir lite tokig bara av att tänka på den.
Gör den!


Chokladpudding
4 portioner

1 1/2 msk maizena majsstärkelse
3/4 dl socker
2 msk kakao
1/2 tsk vaniljpulver
En nypa salt

2 dl mjölk (3% fett)
1 dl vispgrädde
2 stora äggulor
50 gram mörk choklad (70%), hackad

Dekoration
Vispad grädde
Färska bär
Ev. riven choklad

1. Blanda majsstärkelse, kakao, socker, salt och vaniljpulver i en kastrull. Vispa lätt med en handvisp för att lösa upp eventuella klumpar.
2. Häll i grädden och rör till en jämn smet. Tillsätt äggulor och mjölk och sätt kastrullen på medelhög värme på spisen. Se till att röra ordentligt i bottnen på kastrullen då det lätt samlas kakao runt kanterna. Vispa hela tiden tills krämen börjar tjockna.
3. När krämen är tjock, ta bort kastrullen från plattan och vispa i den hackade chokladen. Rör tills den har smält.
4. Häll upp i 4 st portionsglas. Låt svalna och ställ sedan in i kylen övertäckta med plastfolie.
5. Servera med vispad grädde, bär och riven choklad.



English:
Chocolate pudding is one of those things that I would probably never consider making by myself. I mean there is the boxed kind that you mix with milk, which I think tastes just fine (but I never buy it!)
For some reason I made my own chocolate pudding though, and now I can say that I am very happy I did.
I think I'm addicted to pudding. Pudding is by the way a pretty offputting word in my opinion. Just saying!

This is probably the yummiest dessert I've had in ages. It's incredibly smooth and creamy.



Chocolate pudding
4 servings

1 1/2 tbsp cornstarch
3/4 dl sugar
2 tbsp cocoa powder
1/2 tsp vanilla powder
Pinch of salt

2 dl milk (3% fat)
1 dl heavy cream
2 large egg yolks
50 g dark chocolate (70%), chopped

Decoration
Whipped cream
Berries
Chocolate shavings

1. In a medium saucepan combine cornstarch, sugar, cocoa powder, vanilla powder and salt whisking to get rid of lumps. Add cream and whisk until dry ingredients are dissolved. Next, whisk in the egg yolks and cream.
2. Place the pan over medium heat, whisking constantly until the mixture thickens.
3.As soon as the mixture thickens, remove the pan from the heat and add the chocolate and whisk until it is melted and smooth.
4. Pour or spoon pudding into individual serving dishes. Let the pudding cool, then cover the tops with plastic wrap. Refrigerate before serving.
5. Garnish with fresh whipped cream, berries and chocolate shavings.

who me?

Hey guys! Guess what?! I just found out I was nominated for Apartment Therapy's Homies award(best family blog category).....whoo hoo! (thanks to the person who nominated me:) So you can go HERE to vote for me. I promise to put recycle bins on every corner, fight for world peace, and chocolate cake for everyone!

Yes, I had a Giant Sparkly Cupcake Party....

Everyone at least once in their life should host something as fabulous as a Giant Sparkly Cupcake Party. ♥ I did last week, and it was wonderful.

(This is me and my giant sparkly cupcake, photo courtesy of my talented friend Angela from Angel Cakes). 

I made a cupcake vow to my hometown of Waupaca, and to all my cupcake friends......When I reached 1000 "likes" on the Amanda Cupcake Facebook page, I would return the love by baking and swirling a giant sparkly cupcake like magic.  

♥

I invited everyone in town and from afar to eat my giant cupcake magic with me.

And if you dare...you could wear a tutu with me while eating a cupcake at the same time.  I mean..I spill frosting and edible glitter on my tutu often!  I wonder what my designer Mir Tutu thinks of that?

 

The journey to becoming a giant sparkly cupcake isn't always predictable. (This is what my colorful cake batter looked like in the pan before baking). 

..This is the unpredictable proof, at 350 degrees.  My colorful cake batter turned into a very beautiful kaleidoscope while baking. (Hint: Curiosity is a good thing! I would have never discovered such a beautiful sight if I wasn't curious enough to peek inside the oven 10 minutes after my giant cupcake started baking!)

♥

I am glad I didn't eat my giant sparkly cupcake alone.

So many of my friends showed up, 

and they are all wonderful characters:

A Tu - Tu Designer.

A Chef.

Two Cupcake Superstars.

Some Young Aspiring Superstars.

My Artist Boyfriend. (the one who made this amazing drawing of me).

An Adorable Birthday Girl and Her Daddy.

My Friend from the Waupaca Middle School Dance Team (remember Chocolate Peanut Butter Love?)

My blonde bombshell of a friend. (there's always a blonde bombshell).

My past high school teacher who gives the best cupcake hugs.

 My Make-Up Artist Friend Kate Unger who gave make-overs all night.

Nicki Minaj as the soundtrack.

Eeek! Look at the adorable mini cupcake cake pops Angel Cakes made just for me!  They look just like my giant cupcake, except in mini giant cupcake size! 

 

♥ Angel Cakes. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. I am still squealing with joy.  Just look at the box! You put so much ♥ into this wonderful gift.

Or what about this Ranch Bacon Cupcake that tasted just like a dream Subway sandwich,  masterminded by my Master Chef friend Lonnie and her talented tutu designer sister Miranda?

Lonnie and Miranda call them Dainty Dinners. ♥

Who says cupcakes can't be savory instead of sweet?

.....and of course..one giant sparkly cupcake.

 ♥

I tried to top the giant cupcake with a whole crazy mixture of everything I've piled high on cupcakes in the last year:

Love.

Sparkles.

Gems.(edible ones like glitterized peanut butter cups).

Disco Cherries.

Life.

Color.

Sparkling Oreo Cookies. 

I even made the cupcake liner out of chocolate candy melts. 

And the cutting of the cake.. was just a sweet & beautiful disaster. 

It was so ginormously spectactular, we cut the cupcake with a cleaver.

It's a rare, but alluring surprise when something is just as pretty on the inside as it is on the outside!

An even bigger sparkly giant cupcake party:

Will happen when I reach 1999 likes on Facebook.

That means more cupcake love for the world to share.

♥

Mark your calendar. 

summer dreams

all images from summer, 2011
dear summer, 
 I had a dream about you. I was floating on a lake. sleeping, almost.the heat of sunshine on my face, cool water on my back. You were there.all around. in the water. sky. clouds.reaching down. to me. and then I fell through the water. crashed back down into my bed, where the nights are long.and cold. You were not near.still far away. I know.
But ever

Cherry pavlova!

Jag älskar pavlova. Så enkelt att göra och så lätt att variera.

Som matfotograf (eller bakverksfotograf snarare) är en av mina värsta mardrömmar att tappa bakverket som ska fotograferas alternativt att fotobakgrunden välter över det. Det sista är precis vad som hände med den här tårtan (efter ungefär 15 tagna bilder). Jag hade blivit förtvivlad om jag hade lagt ner massa jobb på att göra den snygg. Som tur var hade jag inte gjort det. Jag bara suckade och tänkte att "Det var det. Jag lägger den i frysen och äter den senare". Och precis det gjorde jag. Och jäklar vad god den var. Platt, men god!

Det här är egentligen ett basrecept som du kan fylla med precis vad du vill. Körsbär i rom är bara ett förslag, som jag förvisso tycker är väldigt gott. Marängen kan göras flera dagar i förväg, men jag rekommenderar att fylla den strax före servering (eller ett par timmar före), annars förlorar den sin krispighet.



English:
I love pavlovas. So simple yet so versatile.

As a food photographer, one of your worst fears is working hard on something and then either dropping it or you know.. the (heavy) backdrop falls straight onto the cake/cupcakes/whatever you're making. The latter is exactly what happened to this cake (after about 15 photos). I would have been devastated had I put more effort into it. Luckily I hadn't. I just sighed and shrugged my shoulders thinking, "I'll put it in the freezer and eat it when I get home". So I did, and boy was it delicious. Flat, but delicious.

This is a basic pavlova recipe. You can use anything you like really, it doesn't have to be cherries in rum! You can make the meringue a several days ahead, but I recommend filling it just before serving (or a couple of hours before) or it will lose its crispness.



Pavlova

4 large egg whites
225 g caster sugar
2 tsp cornstarch
1 tsp white vinegar

Filling:
4 dl heavy whipping cream
2 tbsp sugar
Cherries in rum
Chocolate


Preheat oven to 175 c (350 F). To make the meringue, whip egg whites to soft peaks, then add the sugar a little at a time until stiff peaks form. Fold down the cornstarch and the vinegar until well blended. Use a plate to trace a circle on a baking paper, then fill the circle with meringue. Make a small well in the middle for the filling. Turn heat down to 100C and bake for about 1 1/2 hours. When done, leave in the oven to cool completely.
When ready to serve, whip the cream and sugar until soft peaks form. Fill the meringue with cream, spoon cherries over and sprinkle chocolate shavings on top.



Or click second image for recipe!

meat and meatless

Mmmeeeeaaaaattt.
I have to say it like that, and then I always picture meat-loving Ron Swanson for some reason.

Just one tiny word can become such a hot topic!
Lovers, haters, and all the inbetweeners.
I have posted my thoughts on meat before, but like to revisit the topic every now and then.

Before I headed off to college, I had no problem with meat, and ate it any time it was placed in front

How To: De-Seed a Pomegranates

I'm sorry... what?  Excuse me?  Did you just say it's the middle of February?  

Please, stop.  Just stop. 

I didn't make it through my list of soups to make... oh great, it's already 70 degrees outside. 

I went to San Francisco and haven't even told you about it yet. (one word for now... Tartine)

I didn't get a chance to get crafty for v day this year.   

At least I'm trying to be proactive... I'm trying to wipe the cobwebs off this place. 

Sure, it's only been a couple of weeks but there has been a lot I want to share.  Time will come back one day... I can feel it. 

For now, I must talk about pomegranates and I must do it quickly.  These exotic puppies are already at the end of their season.  They are getting noticeably smaller and a bit sad on the grocery aisles... not nearly as plump and cheap as they were during the height of the season in December and January, but alas, it is still not too late.  

Grab a pom and let's get the seeds out of that sucker.  

Throw them in Greek yogurt, toss them in a salad or eat spoonfuls all on their own.  They are great.... and apparently super healthy... bonus points. 

What you need...

a pomegranate

a sharp knife

plastic cutting board (or anything you don't mind staining red)

a medium sized bowl, filled halfway with water
Warning:  Pomegranate juice will stain everything! Wood... clothes... white dish towels.  Unless you want everything a tinge of pink, make sure you are careful with this guy.  I like to use a plastic cutting board on top of my wooden board and I wouldn't be wearing my favorite white shirt... those seeds can spit. 

Lay your pomegranate on a plastic surface (or something you do not care about staining).
Slice off the top. 

Oh, now we are talkin... what a piece of art.

Using a sharp knife, cut along the white stuff... also known as the membrane.

Gently break apart the segments of the pomegranate.

Place each segment over the bowl of water. Submerge the segment and loosen the seeds.

The seeds will sink to the bottom and the white stuff will float to the top.

  Skim the white parts off, drain the water...

and there you have it... a bowl full of gems.
I had quite the plump pomegranate so I did not go after every seed.  If you want to get every last one, continue to submerge each piece in your bowl of water a loosen the seeds.

how to play outside: snow play

It's been mentioned before.....I like to be outside. With sunshine and blue skies over the weekend, we couldn't even think of being cooped up in the house.........so we headed out.Miles and mountains of sparkly snow. Meadows to roam through and forests to hide in.Finding animal tracks, and following them over, around, under and back again.As we all ran down a hill, arms flailing and snow flying, 

whole wheat banana muffins with homemade coconut butter

Coconut Butter. 
I had never heard of such a thing until I stumbled upon this easy how-to.And that, my friends, is why I sometimes really love the internet.
I always think about housewives back in "the day" and wonder what they did without new recipes at their finger tips every day.

I love trying new things, I love coconut, and who DOESN'T love anything with "butter" in the title, so I just had

Flaming Strawberry Cupcakes

Part of being a hopeless romantic means that I love celebrating life, and dreaming of things others might think impossible.

If I could make everyday some kind of a special holiday, I would.

♥

Yesterday, it was Valentines Day.  I am nowhere near Anti-Valentine's Day.  I enjoy that there is a day we can loudly proclaim we are celebrating loving each other.

The cupcakes I baked on my own little Valentine's Day Eve celebration were intense. An affair to remember, really.

FLAMING STRAWBERRY CUPCAKES.

I took a risk playing with fire, but if you don't take risks, you might never experience something truly amazing. ♥

The Lovers:

Chocolate Chocolate Cupcakes. Oh my.

And You.

The Matchmakers:

Strawberries, Carved out in the center.

Bacardi 151, poured into the strawberry centers.

Have they ever warned you about that "bad boy" you just couldn't resist? Sigh.

I didn't heed any warnings.

I poured  a small amount of Bacardi 151 into the strawberries, and used a match to light the Bacardi on the inside of the strawberry. 

I love love love how the little blue flames look like bubbles from this angle. The beautiful blue flame burned for about a minute.  All I was left with was a delicious chocolate cupcake, and a memory of what once was.

♥

So I ate the cupcake.

And I knew this magical experience was worth the risk.

nerd love

newly engaged us. san francisco, april 2002Look at us. Love in bloom. Twitterpation! The world (or at least the Golden Gate Bridge) at our finger tips. We were married three months later, and quickly settled into newly wedded bliss. Eating every meal together. Grocery shopping together. Signing up for classes at school......together, and skipping merrily across campus hand in hand, cartoon birds

Ongoing "Duckssess"

Duck no 12

Darling Issy came up from Melbourne recently.  She was utterly intrigued with "Mother" Mitchell's success in hatching 13 little duckies. All  healthy, all under the loving care and welfare now of a real "mother duck" at Philomena and Romano's place.  It's been duck action for the last three weeks and as much as they were cute and fluffy and entertaining, I'm glad to see the back of them.

All fun and cuddles till it pooped on Issy's neck.

Now we've had the duck experiment which that was extremely successful, and big round of applause for Mitch. He did extremely well.  The question now is, how will he go with the chicks.  He has two fertile eggs in the incubator.  Oooh, look what I can see peeking out from inside the incubator.

It's a big wide world out there - how do I get out of here!

Yep. Mitch. You did it again. What a terrific effort. There is one thing that sets this little chicky aside from the newborn ducks.  One hell of a cheeping noise.  My goodness - this little chick nearly drove me nuts.  Cheep, cheep, cheep.  All afternoon long.  Couldn't wait for Mitch to take this little fellow down to Philomena's.  He was a particularly noisy fellow; we've had chicks before and I couldn't believe how loudly he chirped.

He cheeped so loudly that he attracted our chickens to come and take a look.  See!  I wasn't kidding.  Cute, but oh what a pain in the ears!  Not even a day old and this little blighter is as lively as can be. Great. Terrific. Ongoing success. Happy for you Mitch. Can he go now?  Please..........