Tag Archives: recipe

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.

6 Comments

Posted in dessert, special occasions

Tagged chocolate, christmas cookies, food blog, food blogger, homemade, jaymmy, marmite et ponpon, recipe, sugar cookies

The best homemade mushroom soup

Posted on December 15, 2015 | 2 comments

I heart soups, especially the homemade ones, where you can indulge in a flavorful one without feeling any guilt. This soup is so rich in flavors and low in calories. It is super easy to make plus it takes less than 30 minutes to be ready.

500g mushroom sliced
1 medium onion finely diced
50g butter
2 tbsp flour
4 1/2 cup vegetable broth (less fat, less salt)
salt and pepper to taste

Melt the butter in a casserole and cook the onions until fragrant and tender, about 2-3 minutes. Add the mushroom and cook about 5 minutes. Sprinkle the flour over while still cooking for another 2 minutes. Pour the broth and mix. When u see the first bubble forming, reduce the heat to low and simmer for 20 minutes.

Puree in a blender and serve. You can keep aside some mushroom slices if you like chunks in your soup.

If you wish to have a creamier version of this soup, you can add one cup of heavy cream 2 minutes before turning off the heat. You can still enjoy a low calorie soup if you choose low fat cream. Personally i prefer it without cream, i like to enjoy the exclusive taste of mushroom.

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.

2 Comments

Posted in appetizers & salads

Tagged food, food blogger, homemade, jaymmy, lebanon, low calorie, low fat, marmite et ponpon, mushroom soup, qatar, recipe, soup

Christmas delights: dark chocolate whiskey truffles

Posted on December 8, 2015 | Leave a comment

Christmas comes once a year with lots of yummy treats, it’s the season of 10452 calories. Who cares?! Forget about counting calories and indulge in these heavenly treasures, i promise you they are addictive!

Treat yourself with these exquisite dark chocolate truffles with a hint of whiskey. cv, fTreat yourself this Christmas with these exquisite dark chocolate truffles with a hint of whiskey. hggYou will need:

500g dark chocolate (cut in small pieces)
1/3 cup heavy cream
2 tbsp butter
1/3 cup whiskey
dash of salt
unsweetened cocoa powder for rolling

Combine chocolate, cream and butter in a microwave safe bowl. Heat in 20 seconds intervals, stirring between each.When the chocolate is completely melted and the mixture is smooth and glossy stir in the whiskey and salt and combine. Refrigerate for at least 3 hours before shaping the truffle into your desired size of balls. Roll them on a bed of cocoa powder and store them in a sealed container in the refrigerator.

Better served chilled. Store them in the refrigerator up to one week, but i bet it won’t last for one day. You can also roll them on chocolate sprinkles or take it to the next level by rolling them on red or green vermicelli to have Christmas colors.

It could be a nice gift for christmas, wrap them in a nice box and share this pleasure with your loved ones. Homemade gifts are the best!

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A perfectly spiced carrot cake

Posted on November 10, 2015 | Leave a comment

carrot cake

It’s been long i want to make a carrot cake. At last i found the right time with the best recipe to welcome my parents who are coming to visit me.

The secret behind a successful carrot cake is a the well balanced taste of spices in the batter and the perfect sweet taste of the cream cheese. I believe this recipe really nailed it.

I mentioned in the previous post that mom and dad are coming to visit us in Doha. Last time they were here, i welcomed them with the spectacular chocolate cake with red fruits, and it was a hit. This time should not be less at least. A moist fresh carrot cake with cream cheese frosting to say Ahla w sahla!

carrot cake If you like this cute welcome bunting, click here to download a printable file. You can make it yourself using two wooden sticks (or straws) and a green thread (or whatever color you want) to attach on it the letters. I believe simplicity is the best. Welcome mom and dad, Nady and Joud are so delighted to have teta and jeddo with us!

carrot cake To make this fab cake you need:

1 1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup brown sugar
6 eggs
1 tbsp vanilla extract
3 1/4 cup flour
1 tbsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 tbsp salt
1 tbsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
500g finely grated fresh carrots

Preheat oven to 180°C. Grease and flower two 9″ round baking pan.

In a bowl mix oil, granulated sugar and brown sugar until combined then add the eggs one at a time, then the vanilla and mix well.

In a separate bowl mix together the dry ingredients; flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg then add them to the liquid mixture and mix until all well combined and smooth. Finally fold in the grated carrots.

Pour the batter equally in the prepared baking dishes and bake for 25-30 minutes or until a wooden skewer comes out clean.

When they cool off, layer them with the cream cheese and frost outside the cake as you desire, i made it look like a big carrot adding orange and green food coloring to the cream cheese.

carrot cake

To prepare the cream cheese you need:

600g cream cheese
200g butter
1 tbsp vanilla extract
1 tsp salt
3 1/2 cups powdered sugar

In an electric mixer cream together cream cheese and butter until no lumps remaining. Add the vanilla and salt and combine. Lower the speed and add the powdered sugar, one cup at a time and after the last cup increase the speed to medium high and beat until combined.

Some people likes it with walnuts or raisins. You can add some between the layers if you fancy.

This cake stays up to 4 days covered in the fridge. I suggest to serve immediately and enjoy it with your favorite people. I can’t wait!

carrot cake 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.

Make your own all natural energy drink

Posted on October 28, 2015 | 3 comments

These days i feel like a train hit me! I am physically worn out. I am sure lots of moms (or even dads) have been there and felt exactly the same after those long sleepless nights and busy days without a help. To cut it short, i am dog-tired!

Luckily and finally mom is coming next week. Yeyyyy! can’t wait. But till then all i can do is drinking from this energy drink to survive. A homemade, all natural drink to boost your performance.

1cup orange juice (2-3 oranges)
1/2 cup mandarin juice (2 mandarins)
3 tbsp lemon juice (1 lemon)
dash of salt
1 tbsp honey

You can add 1/2 cup of water to these ingredients if you don’t want a really tangy taste. This super easy energy drink is the best when you need a quick jolt of balanced revitalization, and being full of vitamin C, it works as a prevention from cold and flu as well.

Citrus fruits, especially oranges, are a good source of electrolytes. For the people who doesn’t know what are the electrolytes, they regulate our nerves and muscles function, our hydration, the pH of our blood, rebuilding damaged tissue, and determining blood pressure. They are basically calcium, sodium, potassium, magnesium chloride, hydrogen phosphate (a mineral) and hydrogen carbonate (a salt). So having this tangy drink is a smart option to replenish depleted electrolytes.

Honey, as they call it liquid gold, is a natural sweetener that directly enters the bloodstream and deliver a quick boost of energy and memory.

Salt (sodium chloride) is needed to maintain the proper stomach pH. It’s also known that salt lowers adrenaline spikes to improve the sleep quality.

This fire booster drink is a healthier substitute to coffee, if you wish to lower your daily caffeine intake.

Citrus fruits are in season now, don’t hesitate to try this homemade all natural energy drink and keep up your verve all day long.

Offer this drink to your kids after school (not later than 4 o’clock, they will be full of energy and find difficulty to sleep and you will hate me), it will recharge their energy and protect them from catching cold. Skip the dash of salt, kids might not appreciate the taste, and don’t worry, the lemon will do the job, it is a super alkaline which helps your body maintain a healthy pH level.

Now catch me if you can 🙂

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