Homemade Animal Shape bread

I woke up this morning wanting to bake. I just made these animal shape bread. I wanted to share what I've made. A big lobster, turtles, hippopotamus, and my kids favorite Totoro. The past week I've been baking a lot. I've baked cookies, strawberry lemon cupcakes, homemade pizzas, artisan bread, etc. My husband birthday was yesterday and I made him cupcakes. I made his favorite pork chops and apple sauce with the help from my son. My kids love to help me in the kitchen. I have a very small kitchen and it can get a bit crowded because my kids love to be in the kitchen with me. Watching and helping me out. They are always curious what mommy will be making next.

Hippo shape bread.

Lobster shape bread.

Totoro shape bread. One of my little mini me with her finger and butter knife.

I sliced the top of the bread and inside is creamy spinach cauliflower broccoli soup.

 Turtle shape bread.

 Turtles attacking the big lobster

  

 Served my animal bread with homemade creamy broccoli, cauliflower, spinach soup.

Other things I've baked during the week. Strawberry lemon cupcakes, chocolate chip cookies, pizza.

Homemade Artisan bread

Homemade Italian BMT with homemade Italian dressing and Cheesy, pepper, onion, pork sandwiches and I made my own baked potato chips. 

Simple Caramel Coffee Cake

Today is Valentine's day and I'm not as into it as the rest of my family but I made this simple caramel coffee cake for my love ones. They loved it very much. 

Crumb Topping

1 cup all purpose flour

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1 tablespoon cappuccino spice mix

1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Cake batter

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 cup butter, softened

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

2 large eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1/2 cup sour cream

1 cup brewed coffee

Caramel sauce

Provence krokan

Instructions: 

Adjust oven rack to center position and preheat oven to 200 C. Grease a 9-by-13-inch pan and set aside.

Make the Crumb Topping:

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, brown sugar, salt, cappuccino spice mix and cinnamon. Stir in the vanilla to the mixture. Add in the butter into the center of the flour mixture. With a fork or finger, gradually mix and pull the flour mixture in to the butter. Continue to combine until all the butter is absorbed and you have a moistened crumb mixture.

If the crumb mixture forms a solid dough, simply use your fingers or a fork to break up the solid crumb mixture into big crumbs. Set aside while you make the cake batter.

Make the Batter:

In another bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt and baking powder. Set aside.

In a large bowl, cream the butter, brown sugar, sugar together with an electric mixer on high speed until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating after each addition. Beat in the vanilla, sour cream, and coffee, scraping down the sides of the bowl with a spatula if needed. Add flour mixture to the sour cream mixture and beat on low until just combined, do not over mix.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan and spread evenly. Sprinkle the crumb mixture over the batter with your fingers, covering the batter evenly and completely. Bake for 35 minutes. Cake is done when a wooden pick inserted near the center comes out clean, and the sides of the cake are light golden brown and slightly pulling away from the edge of the pan. Remove from the oven and let the cake cool in its pan set on a wire rack. Slice into pieces, place on a plate, drizzle with caramel sauce and topped with Provence Krokan.

Caramel Butter cream frosting

Croquant Caramel Butter Cream Chocolate Cupcakes

My late Friday night I finished my 900 pieces 4D New York City puzzle. It took me about 5 days to finish. I got this as a birthday present. This is one of my favorite present. My husband and I were married in New York City at the Norwegian Seaman's Church. It brought us great memories looking at this cool puzzle. We told stories to our children about our experiences. What a great city :)



For dinner I made healthy fish dish. My kids love fish and they loved my coconut crusted baked salmon.

Not so healthy but a weekend treat. I made caramel butter cream chocolate cupcakes topped with croquant. This is an after dinner dessert. My kids had such a hard time just staring at the cake container. Trying to convince me why they should have one before dinner. They picked up all their toys, cleaning up their mess, putting things away. With their big brown eyes I didn't give in.

Caramel butter cream frosting

1 1/2 stick of butter, cold cut into cubes

about 4 oz of  cold cream cheese

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

3 cups powder sugar

about 1/4 cup or less caramel sauce

I made my own cool whip and mixed 1 cup to the buttercream. Great taste.

Using an electric whisk, in a bowl add in the butter, whisk until smooth. 

Add the cream cheese and vanilla extract, whisk again until smooth.

Add the powder sugar 1/2 cup at a time, mixing on low until well combined

Add about 1/4 cup less or more of caramel to the frosting mixture depends how sweet you want it.

I frost the cupcakes with the butter cream frosting and drizzled more caramel and sprinkled croquant.

Homemade Naan bread

I rarely go out to eat because eating out in Oslo, is very expensive. I haven't had Indian food for a while and I love Indian food. I have all the ingredients at home for making homemade bread, why not make it myself. Yesterday for dinner I made my own spicy tikka masala and naan bread. This was my first time making naan bread. I love the texture and the taste of it and it went well with my tikka masala.


Ingredients

1 package dry yeast
2 teaspoons sugar, divided
1/4 cup warm water (100 degrees F)
3 1/2 cups bread flour, plus more for rolling
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
3 tablespoon plain yogurt
2 tablespoons butter, melted
1/2 cup milk

butter
fresh cilantro for topping


Making the naans

In a bowl dissolve yeast, 1 teaspoon sugar and water. Let it sit for 10 minutes until the mixture begins to froth.

In a large bowl, sift the flour, salt, remaining sugar, baking powder, and baking soda. Set aside.

Add warm milk, yogurt, and butter to the yeast. Stir to combine.

Pour the yogurt mixture into the dry ingredients. Mix the ingredients together with a fork. When dough is about to come together, use your hand to mix until the dough becomes soft and slightly sticky. Cover dough with plastic wrap and let it sit for 2 hours.

Separate dough into 8 pieces. Using a rolling pin, roll each dough into an oval shape. 8 inches long, 4 inches wide, and 1/4 inch thick. Repeat with the rest of the dough.

Warm about 1 tablespoon of butter in a large cast iron skillet over high heat. Brush both side of the naan with butter and sprinkle garlic powder or any spices you like. Place the naan in the skillet and cook for 1 minute. After a min. flip the naan. Cover the skillet with the lid and cook for another minute, brush with a little more butter if desired, sprinkle with a little salt. Remove the naan from the skillet. Place the naan in tea towel lined dish. Repeat cooking the rest of the naans and serve. Sprinkle with fresh herb.

Here is my homemade spicy chicken tikka masala. I added some Khmer spices into it.