Tag Archives: homemade

DIY Palm Sunday candle-letters

Posted on March 14, 2016 | Leave a comment

Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication. I am in love with this candle, a very simple design yet classy and attractive. A nice ribbon selection and the initial of your kid’s name, et voila a beautiful candle.

The selection of ribbons is very important when you’re decorating the candle. If you made a bad choice it will make it look cheap and poor, but if well chosen, you can only put ribbons without any motif. It’s really tricky!

Follow me step by step to make a similar candle:

palm sunday candle : initials|marmite et ponpon

Very easy and quick job! Don’t forget my golden rule; For a nice outcome you should put your heart in it. Everything looks perfect when done with love ❤

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Artichoke spinach quiche

Posted on March 10, 2016 | 2 comments

The weather is calling for hearty food. Dunno what is happening but yesterday it was raining in Doha! Although it’s not feeling cold, but the rain and the thunderbolt gives you the feeling of it! I thought of quiche, it serves the purpose without being too heavy and we could eat leftovers for dinner! I already mentioned how i love lunch leftovers (especially those of a delicious dish) that come to rescue the craving at dinner time.

To prepare the crust, click here to get redirected to one of my posts that explains step by step how to do a perfect pâte brisée.

For the filling you need:

250g spinach chopped (fresh cooked or thawed if frozen)
200g artichoke hearts coarsely chopped (fresh cooked or canned)
1 big onion finely diced
2 tbsp olive oil
1 cup heavy cream
2 eggs
1 cup Parmesan grated
1/2 tsp black pepper
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp lemon zest
Mozzarella cheese for garnish

Cook onion with olive oil until fragrant. Take off heat add spinach and artichoke. In a separate bowl mix cream, eggs, salt, pepper, lemon zest and Parmesan then add all to the spinach artichoke mix.

Pour the filling in the crust (already rolled out in a 9″pan), spread evenly and garnish the top with Mozzarella. Bake on 180°C for 30 minutes or until the filling is set.

Let it cool for 10 minutes before slicing it. Serve it warm! The Best about quiches, they can be prepared ahead of time and frozen. They are so versatile, you can fill them with almost everything. Plus they are served for breakfast, lunch or dinner. Who doesn’t like quiche anyway?!

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Posted in main dish

Tagged comfort food, easy recipe, hearty food, homemade, jaymmy, marmite et ponpon, quiche, recipe, spinach and artichoke

How to host a Raclette party at home

Posted on December 30, 2015 | 2 comments

Raclette is a type of cow milk cheese, consumed in Switzerland and France. It’s commonly used for melting in small pans known as coupelles that are placed under a specialized grill looking like an electric table-top grill. Then the slices of melted raclette are poured over veggies, pickles, charcuterie and meat. Served with wine to seal the deal!

Throwing a raclette party at home is the most fun thing. Tomorrow is new year, and with kids outing became a bit difficult; We are hosting at home a raclette concept party.

Not going so much traditional, we are not just melting raclette, we got gruyere, mozzarella, gouda and brie. You can use any cheese of your choice that melts. As for the side ingredients with the cheese, you can go as much creative as you want; go for anything that pairs well with your choice of cheese.

My favorite raclette ingredients that i am serving :

Veggies (fingerling potatoes, sliced courgettes, sliced aubergines, sliced mushrooms, asparagus spears, broccoli florets, sliced capsicum, onion rondelles and cherry tomatoes). You can precook them if you want to save time.
Fruits (melon, strawberry and grapes)
Pickles (cornichons, pearl onions, jalapenos and olives) you can add to this list anything pickled that you fancy
Meat (strips of beef, bresaola, salami)
Condiments (salt, pepper, basil, rosemary and oregano)
Nuts (walnut), the crunch of nuts is a tasty contrast to the creaminess of cheese.

You can simply pour the melted cheese over these ingredients or include baguette slices.

If you want to end your dinner with a dessert, melt chocolate and marshmallows to satisfy your sweet tooth. With fruits you can take it to the next level.

Hopefully this post was beneficial to you whether it’s your first time to have a raclette or you are already a connoisseur. Enjoy it, nothing says happiness more than cheese 🙂

With this post and being the 7th most viral blog for 2015 (in lebanon), i wrap up this year, wishing you a beautiful new one ahead full of blessings, joy, good health and new exciting events in your life.

If you wish to see me again among the top Lebanese bloggers in 2016, like my post and give it some shares to spread the joy. Don’t forget to like marmite et ponpon facebook page and follow on twitter. More interesting posts are yet to come. See you in 2016!!

2 Comments

Posted in appetizers & salads, DIY, special occasions

Tagged bread, cheese, DIY, fruits, homemade, jaymmy, marmite et ponpon, meat, nuts, pickles, raclette, veggies, wine

Superhero cake tutorial – Happy birthday Nady!

Posted on December 20, 2015 | Leave a comment

My little hero, a huge fan of superheroes (i guess like all boys of his age) turned three couple of days ago. He definitely fancy a superhero cake, but since he was hesitant which character to choose, i decided to surprise him and merge 4 in 1 cake; spiderman, captain america, batman, and hulk.

I am an amateur baker and self tutor, learning how to work with fondant and dress up a cake like professionals. I put all my heart to decorate this cake to be up to my son’s expectations. I would love one day when he looks back at his old pictures to be proud of this mom. So far i succeeded to do it over three years for his 3 consecutive birthdays. I wish him million cakes of happiness and good health!

This superhero cake looks complicated to do but if you follow me step by step you will find it’s not that hard.

First you need to cover the cake with 4 colors of fondant in equal parts; green for hulk, yellow for batman, white for captain america and red for spiderman.
To start with spiderman, you need to draw the web with chocolate or icing. Start by vertical lines then do the horizontal ones, each one like a semi circle.
For the eyes all you need to do is trace them on the fondant and cut out. Click here for a high resolution file for the eyes. It’s a vector one you can adjust the size according to your cake.
Captain america is super easy, to do his shield, start with a red circle, than a smaller one white, then a smaller one red and a final smaller one blue. Put on top a white star and decorate around the shield with blue small stars.
Batman is the easiest i guess. All you need is tracing the logo on black fondant and cut it out. Click here to download a high resolution file to use it as a stencil. It’s a vector file to be able to adjust to the convenient size of your cake.
Finally hulk, the part that needs the most work. First cut small irregular shapes to look like a wall when put together.
To do the hand, you need to make 4 green cylinders (fingers) and put them on a rectangular shape. Here you need to look at your real fist to try modeling the fondant the nearest possible to real one.
try when bending the cylinder shapes to do fingers, create the knots, nails and do small lines to look like flesh, these details will make it look real. If you don’t have the real tools for modeling you can use a knife.

Et voila the homemade superhero cake! Always add your personal touch, it adds more love and gives the occasion the warmth needed. happy birthday super Nady!

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Divine Christmas chocolate cookie

Posted on December 17, 2015 | 6 comments

Baking holiday desserts is the most enjoyable thing to do; if you’re not in the festivities mood yet, the smell filling the house when baking these chocolate sugar cookies will do the job!

These melt in your mouth cookies will be the hit for this year and a staple for the coming years. You can consider it as a homemade gift to family and friends.

This recipe makes a pretty large batch, about 4 1/2 dozens to enjoy (of course it could be plus or minus depending on the cutters size). The most important is to use a good quality of cocoa because it’s all about the chocolate taste.

The recipe calls for:

400g butter unsalted and softened
2 cups sugar
4 1/2 cup all purpose flour sifted
1 1/2 cup cocoa powder sifted
2 large eggs
1 tsp salt
2 tsp vanilla

Cream the butter and sugar together in the bowl of an electric mixer on low to medium speed. Add eggs slowly and mix. Make sure to scrape down the bowl with your spatula and mix again. Add vanilla extract and stir briefly.

Sift your dry ingredients together. (Flour, cocoa powder and salt) then add them to the mixture. Mix on low speed, when it clumps around the paddle attachment it’s ready. It’s also important at this stage not to over mix the dough. Place in the fridge for a minimum of 1 hour. Roll out the dough and cut out cookie shapes.

Preheat your oven to 180°C. Bake cookies for 8-12 minutes or until the center of the cookie no longer looks wet. Again the baking time will depend on the size of your cookie.

When baking cookies, I usually line the baking tray with parchment paper, it helps cookies to bake evenly and it’s easy to slide the cookies off of the baking sheet without breaking them. Let cookies cool to room temperature then serve.

This is my first batch, lets see how many more i will be doing before Christmas is here. Happy baking!

You can also check last year’s scrumptious Christmas shortbread cookies.

If you like this post give it some likes and shares to spread the joy. Don’t forget to like marmite et ponpon facebook page and follow on twitter. More interesting posts are yet to come.