My need for sweet.

... and I do have a sweet tooth! I use any excuse I get to bake sweets for a crowd, or a dinner, or whenever I am invited as a guest somewhere. It's an excuse to show off at the same time as it is for me to eat these sweets, since I would never make them for just A and I.

First I made a chocolate cookie recipe modified from allrecipes.com

Chocolate Chocolate Cookies with peanuts

• 1 cup unsalted butter
• 1 cup white sugar
• 3/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 1/4 cups unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 2 cups peanuts (or chocolate chips, any other nuts you like, etc.)
  

1. Preheat oven to 175 degrees C. Line cookies sheets with parchment paper.
2. In a large bowl, cream together the butter, brown sugar and white sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well with each addition. Combine the cocoa, flour, and baking soda, gradually stir into the creamed mixture. Finally, fold in peanuts or other ingredients. Drop by rounded spoonfuls onto the cookie sheets.
3. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven, until puffy but still soft. Allow cookies to cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.

Apple pie a la francais

Pie crust

• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/4 teaspoons salt
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 6 tablespoons ice water
• 1 tablespoon white sugar
• 1 cup shortening

1. In a large bowl, combine flour, salt, baking powder and sugar.
2. Place 1/2 cup of flour mixture in a small bowl, and stir in water until smooth.
3. Cut shortening into remaining flour mixture until it looks like coarse meal. Blend in the flour-water mixture.
4. Wrap dough and chill in refrigerator.

Vanilla pudding layer

• 2 cups milk
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 3 tablespoons cornstarch
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 tablespoon butter

In medium saucepan over medium heat, heat milk until bubbles form at edges. In a bowl, combine sugar, cornstarch and salt. Pour into hot milk, a little at a time, stirring to dissolve. Continue to cook and stir until mixture thickens enough to coat the back of a metal spoon. Do not boil. Remove from heat, stir in vanilla and butter. Pour into pie crust and allow to chill.

Apple Layer

• 4-5 medium red apples, peeled and sliced into wedges
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 2 tbs cinnamon
• 1 tbs butter

Heat sugar, butter and cinnamon in a medium saucepan until hot. Add apple slices and stir on medium low heat until sugar is caramelized and apples are soft. Allow apple slices to cool and arrange in a layered fashion over the cooled vanilla pudding layer.

Basic Cake

Adapting a recipe again from allrecipes.com, I made a basic cake like the ones from a box (only better, of course).

2 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups white sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup cocoa powder

2 eggs
1 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Sift all dry ingredients together, mix milk and oil and eggs, one at a time until smooth. Pour into greased cake tin and bake 175C for 35 minutes.

Butter frosting

1/3 cup butter (softened)
4 1/2 cups sifted confectioners' sugar
1/4 cup milk
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Mix butter and sugar together. I did this by hand so it took a considerably long time to make it smooth. Add milk and extract at the end until the desired consistency.

This is in commemoration of our friend's birthday, which was a month ago, but anyway, it was fun to decorate.

easy Mexican

Ok... so it's a stretch to call this 'Mexican,' but nowadays, everyone that uses salsa and beans together in a dish calls it Mexican. I do it too.

About.com sponsors a 30 minute Mexican meals e-course in which you get an email once a week featuring a new recipe, but I think I'll wait until I am in Mexico and take some real courses in person. Hopefully that's not so far away.

This time I just had a craving for salsa and beans (unfortunately a little hard to find black beans in Finland).

Stacked Mexican Tortilla Casserole

package flour tortillas (8)
1 can tomatoes
1 can brown or white beans in tomato sauce
1 can kidney beans in chili sauce
1 cup textured soy crumble (or 1lb ground beef)
1 cup water
beef flavored bullion cube
1 onion
bell pepper (any color)
corn (from two corn stalks or half a small can)
3 cloves garlic, crushed
2 tbs paprika
2 tbs chilli powder
1 tbs cumin
1 tsp cayenne pepper (or to taste)
oil (corn or vegetable)

cup shredded cheese
1/2 cup sour cream (or creme fraiche)
1 cup shredded lettuce
freshly chopped tomatoes

Preheat oven to 175C

In first pan, heat oil 2 cloves of crushed garlic, and half of the spices. Add the onion and paprika and allow the onion to cook through until yellow and transparent. Add half can of tomatoes, water, beef bullion to the onion and pepper and allow to reach a boil. Add the soy and stir until well combined. Cover and turn heat low and allow for the flavors to combine well.

In the second pan, heat oil. Add 1 clove of garlic and the rest of the spices and cook for a few minutes on medium heat. Add both cans of beans, the other half of the tomatoes and allow to simmer. Drain the corn and add to the bean mixture. Lower the heat and allow to simmer for a few moments.

Now, spoon a thin layer of the soy mixture, followed by the first tortilla. Layer the mixture between tortillas in any order that suits you, throwing in some cheese whenever you feel like, also topping with the cheese.

Bake for 30 minutes covered with foil and another 20 without.
Serve with shredded lettuce, tomatoes and sour cream. Easy and satisfying!