Summer in the City smoothie

Today I went by the market and got some fresh fruit on my way home. We’ve had a really hot week here in Germany, with temperatures of 38° C (that’s 100° F). Today it started out a little cooler but with the sun out it soon heated up and I was craving a nice, light lunch. Something cool and refreshing and fruity. Cue the Summer in the City smoothie!

Summer in the City smoothie
(serves two)

• 2 ripe bananas
• 2 ripe peaches or nectarines
• 1 cup frozen wild berries (if you have fresh berries add a few ice cubes)
• 1 cup grape or orange juice

Peel the banana, break into pieces and throw it into your blender. Peel the peaches (the skin should come off easily if they’re ripe), cut up and throw in there as well. Add berries (and ice cubes, if you used fresh ones) and fill up with grape juice. Blend on high until everything is smooth. If it’s still too thick, add a little more juice. Enjoy!

It’s so delicious, I drank a whole big glass before I could restrain myself enough to snap a picture! Good thing I made enough for two servings. ;) I still have enough to make a second batch, but I’ll definitely pick up some more fruit to make this. The forecast says it’ll stay this hot for the rest of the week, so I’ll have lots of opportunities to enjoy my Summer in the City smoothie.

Tasty treats with a kick

I am guest-blogging today over at Sew Can Do. Come on over and check it out!

Don’t they look tasty? These chocolates are easy to make yourself and the perfect gift for friends and family. Just keep them away from children – they have an extra special kick. ;) If you want to find out how I made the Marble Chocolates and Irish Treats, I suggest you head on over to Sew Can Do’s CraftShare.

Recipe: Candy Heart Cookies

Valentine’s Day may be over, but these cookies are sweet enough for any occasion. Oh, hey, Mother’s Day is next week. How about showing your love with a batch of these adorable cookies?

I got a set of letter cookie stamps for Easter that I was itching to try out. Along came Jelena’s dessert potluck party last weekend. Everybody had to bring something sweet. It was the perfect opportunity, so I decided to whip up these cookies. After spending all day in the kitchen making these, I actually arrived at the party with no desire whatsoever for sweets. Given that I have a giant sweet tooth, it was pretty ironic but probably saved me a few pounds on my hips!

If you have some time on your hand, a letter stamping set and a heart-shaped cookie cutter, you’re basically ready to go! I used a sweetcrust recipe that came with my cookie stamps, but any recipe for cookies that don’t lose their shape while baking will do.

Candy Heart Cookies recipe

Ingredients:

• 500g all purpose flour
• 200g sugar
• 250g butter



• 2 medium sized eggs
• 1 pckg baking powder
• 1 pckg vanilla sugar
• food coloring of your choice

Cut the butter into small pieces, then beat together with the vanilla, sugar and egg in a large bowl. Sift in the flour and baking powder, mixing on low. Knead with your hands until you get a smooth dough. Now let’s add some color!

Divide your dough into equal pieces. I wanted to do four different colors, so I quartered my dough. Color each piece with your chosen food coloring. I used both liquid and powdered stuff, because it’s what I had. They both worked well, so choose whatever you have on hand.

 
Start with a little and then gradually add more. Keep in mind when coloring dough that the baked result will be lighter, so make your color darker than you want your cookies to be later. Make sure all the color is spread evenly through the dough.

It will be messy, so make sure to protect yourself and your work area. Wash your hands thoroughly before handling a different color, you don’t want to spoil your result. Since the dough has a lot of fat in it, you don’t need to flour your hands before handling it.

When you’re done, cover your dough balls in saran wrap and place in fridge for at least an hour.

After the dough is thoroughly chilled, take it out one ball at a time. Lightly flower your work surface and rolling pin and roll out the dough. I found that I got better results rolling it out not too thin. It’s easier to stamp that way, too. Get your heart-shaped cookie cutter and start cutting lovely cookies.

Ignore what the picture shows you. Place the cut hearts onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and then stamp your hearts. It’s easier than transferring the cookies after they have been stamped.

Rolling the dough out once gave me enough for 20 hearts, exactly one baking sheet. Since I was running a bit short on time I scrapped the leftover pieces of dough together and put them back in the fridge to finish the next day. Place the cookie sheet in the oven at 200°C (392° F) for about 10 minutes. My first batch burned slightly, so watch them closely.

Here they are, fresh from the oven. As you can see, the color got a lot lighter after being baked. They’re just the right shade of light green. I actually liked the color of the red cookies the best.

As you can see, sometimes the cookie stamps wouldn’t come out clearly, ripping holes in the messages. I was able to save the I heart U by simply leaving the heart as a negative space, but the other ones were unpresentable. I gave my boy the permission to eat those, so I don’t think he minded. Now delve in and bake yourself some sweet candy heart cookies. :)