My friend Maja's Cookies

Maja is a very good friend, one of those people you know almost all the life.
She is a part of lot of my memories..happy and sad ones, a person with whom we can spend hours together without speaking a word. We though the same way, we loved a same things.

Now we live more then 3000km away, and we speak from time to time, exchange mails, see each other when I go back home, but even if we try hard, we are not there for each other, we don't exchange our daily experiences and I must admit by the time we got apart....

Some time ago she sent me a recipe for these beautiful cookies and I though they were great.I wanted to share recipe with you..but what I would like most is to share them with my friend Maja while having a long conversation about all that we could remember, important and unimportant things.

Orange and White Chocolate Cookies

80g butter
1 orange
70g sugar
300g flour
1ts baking powder
100g white chocolate
1 egg

Preheat the oven to 180C.

Put the butter, sugar, juice and zest of orange and chocolate in a bowl and melt it in a bain-marie.
In the other bowl mix flour and baking powder.
When chocolate mix is ready, gently add an egg and fold in dry ingredients.
If mix is still sticky add a bit more flour.

Make small balls with your hands, place on the baking sheet and gently press them. Bake for 10-12min (they have to stay white, don't let them change the colour).
If you like , sprinkle some icing sugar over the cookies and they are ready!!


 

P.S. These cookies make a great Christmas present. Tie them with twine and place in box, put your imagination working {*smile}

Welcome to the circus

There is something special about our partnership with De Alma e Coração.
Besides the happiness and good mood that is always present , Rita always come to me with a challenge. And believe me, I do love challenges.

Latest challenge was a dessert table for a special wedding.. a different one, a 'circus wedding' .
I knew this included a lot of planing and work but I was so crazily happy about it.
Here you can see some of the photos with cookies I made for kids and if you are curious (and I am sure you are), you can see more HERE.
Enjoy!!!

{Party:  De Alma e Coração}
{Photos: Rodrigo Cardoso - De Alma e Coração}

Parmesan and Seeds Crackers

Here is my suggestion for the Christmas dinner starter. We will have them on Saturday with some cheese or hummus.

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Aqui fica a minha sugestão para a entrada da ceia de Natal. Vamos comê-las no sábado, com um pouco de queijo ou hummus.

Parmesan and Seed Cracker
(from Isidora Popovic: Book of Baking)

220 g plain flour
80 g Parmesan cheese, finely grated
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vegetable bouillon powder (or an extra 1/2 teaspoon salt )
a very small pinch of ground cayenne pepper
80 g unsalted butter, chilled and cubed
50 ml water
To coat the crackers
3 tablespoons sesame seeds
3 tablespoons poppy seeds
1 egg, beaten
1–2 baking trays, lined with greaseproof paper

Method

Put the flour, cheese, salt, bouillon powder, pepper and butter in a food processor and pulse until the mixture resembles crumbs. Add the water and pulse until the mixture comes together into a dough.
Transfer the dough to a lightly floured surface. Roll into a log about 4 cm in diameter, wrap in clingfilm and refrigerate for 10 minutes.
Remove the dough from the fridge and unwrap it. To coat the crackers, sprinkle the sesame seeds and poppy seeds over a clean tray. Brush the log with the egg and roll in the mixed seeds until evenly coated. Wrap the log in clingfilm again and refrigerate for another 30 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 150C .
Remove the dough from the fridge and unwrap it. Cut into discs about 4 mm thick. Arrange the discs on the prepared baking tray(s), spacing them slightly apart as they may spread when they are baking.
Bake in the preheated oven for about 25 minutes, or until pale gold. Remove from the oven and leave to cool. Store in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks.

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220 g de farinha de trigo
80 g de queijo parmesão, ralado
1 colher de chá de sal
1 colher de chá de caldo de legumes em pó (ou mais 1/2 colher de chá de sal)
uma pitada muito pequena de pimenta de Caiena
80 g de manteiga sem sal, fria e cortada em cubos
50 ml de água

Para revestir os crackers
3 colheres de sopa de sementes de sésamo
3 colheres de sopa de sementes de papoila
1 ovo batido
1–2 tabuleiros, forrados com papel vegetal

Método

Coloque a farinha, o queijo, sal, caldo de carne em pó, pimenta e manteiga num picador de alimentos e misture até se assemelhar a migalhas. Adicione a água e misture até ficar uma massa.
Transfira a massa para uma superfície levemente enfarinhada. Enrole num rolo de cerca de 4cm de diâmetro, embrulhe em filme aderente e guarde no frigorífico durante 10 minutos.
Retire a massa do frigorífico e retire-a do filme aderente. Para revestir os biscoitos, polvilhe as sementes de sésamo e sementes de papoila numa bandeja limpa. Pincele o rolo com o ovo e role nas sementes misturadas até ficar uniformemente revestido. Embrulhe novamente em pelicula aderente e leve ao frigorífico por mais 30 minutos.
Pré-aqueça o forno a 150ºC.
Retire a massa da frigorífico e desembrulhe. Corte em discos de cerca de 4 mm de espessura. Disponha os discos no(s) tabuleiro(s) preparado(s), deixando-os um pouco separados pois podem alargar durante a cozedura.
Coza no forno pré-aquecido durante 25 minutos, ou até ficarem com um tom dourado pálido. Retire do forno e deixe arrefecer. Podem ser armazenados num recipiente hermético até duas semanas.

Ginger Cookies

We started baking and we baked a lot. We baked for us, for friends, for family, for teachers, for neighbours, for babysitters... We all felt a huge satisfaction in making our own Christmas presents and I love to see how proud my kids are when they say that they did it by themselves.

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Começamos a cozer e cozemos muito. Cozemos para nós, para amigos, para a família, para professores, para vizinhos, para babysitters... Todos sentimos uma enorme satisfação em fazer os nossos próprios presentes de Natal e adoro ver como os meus filhos ficam orgulhosos quando dizem que fizeram isso por si mesmos.

Recipe here

My Chocolate Chip Cookies

I must say it was not easy. I spent months trying to match all the pieces of the puzzle and to get finally something that I like and am happy about. Searching for recycled bags, designing the label, printing them and packing everything, but... everything is finished. I look at the result and I am in love with it!!!

I was so happy when Ana told me she would design labels for me, a lot of mails back and forth and we both loved the result.

Here is my first pack of chocolate chip cookies and, if you come to LisboaBIO, you can try them and buy, if you like (tomorrow I will be there with more products).

After that, you will be able to find it in Organic Supermarkets in Lisbon.

Hope you like!!!

Devo dizer que não foi fácil. Passei meses a tentar juntar todas as peças do puzzle e conseguir, finalmente, algo que gosto e com o qual estou satisfeita. Procurei por sacos reciclados, a criação da etiqueta, a impressão e embalar tudo, mas... está acabado. Eu olho para o resultado e estou apaixonada!

Fiquei tão feliz quando a Ana me disse que iria fazer-me as etiquetas... bastantes mails para trás e para a frente e ambas adoramos o resultado.

Aqui está o meu primeiro pacote de biscoitos de chocolate e, se vierem à LisboaBIO, podem experimentá-los, e comprar, se gostarem (amanhã vou lá estar com mais produtos).

Depois disso, podem encontrá-los em supermercados orgânicos em Lisboa.

Espero que gostem!

Long Weekend and Mean Mr. Virus

On Friday my family was visited by mean Mr. Virus. His first victim was Hana and then me. Monday I spent the whole day in bed, completely devastated.

In these 4 days we also couldn't eat much... some soup, cookies, tea and some bread. Luckily I made a big pot of Potimarron and Celery Root Soup (the soup that Aran made for us in France and I loved) on Friday, when I was still OK, and we had enough for some days. Kids ate some Chocolate Chip Cookies I had made for them before and we drank a lot of Pukka tea.

Only yesterday we felt better and decided to go for a walk in town and have a light meal out. We all appreciated so much. Lunch at Royale Cafe, walk in Chiado where we had to stop to listen Kumpania Algazarra, the band who use to play on the streets and we like a lot. Today we went back to the routine, I still feel a bit exhausted but I am glad to feel better.

I hope you had better holidays {*smile}.

Na sexta-feira a minha família foi visitada por Sr. Vírus. A primeira vítima foi a Hana e depois fui eu. Segunda-feira passei o dia todo na cama, completamente de rastos.

Nestes quatro dias também não conseguimos comer muito ... um pouco de sopa, bolachas, chá e pão. Felizmente tinha feito uma grande panela de Sopa de Raiz de Aipo e Potimarron (a soup que a Aran nos fez em França e eu adorei) na sexta-feira, quando ainda estava bem, e tínhamos o suficiente para alguns dias. As crianças comeram alguns biscoitos de chocolate que eu tinha feito para eles antes e bebemos muito chá Pukka.

Só ontem me senti melhor e decidimos ir dar uma volta pela cidade e comer uma refeição leve fora. Todos nós gostamos muito. Almoço no Royale Cafe, andar pelo Chiado, onde tivemos de parar para ouvir a Kumpania Algazarra, a banda que costuma tocar nas ruas e nós gostamos muito. Hoje voltamos à rotina, ainda me sinto um pouco exausta, mas estou contente de me sentir melhor.

Espero que tenham tido um feriado melhor {*smile}.

Cookies and Fair

I feel as a busy bee this week.Running around ,with thousand of things on my mind.We are going to participate on Feira Rural again on Saturday,I am having a lot of orders this week and 2 kids with me , trying to do different programs with during a day.

For fair on Saturday I decided to make a lot of cookies and since we are 'cookie family' we cant look at the all these cookies in the house and not to eat them.So our snack this week will probably just be cookies.All of family members have there favourite cookie and favourite drink to combine.M.likes chocolate biscotti and espresso,Hana likes rosemary shortbread cookie with chocolate milk and I like cappuccino and chocolate and nut biscotti..Andre arrived today and there are some chocolate chip cookies waiting for him...

What is your favourite cookie and do you like it with tea ,coffee or something else?


P.S.I hope you will come to visit our stand of Saturday and try some of these

Chocolate Cookies

Spring is here and our visits to park are back. I love going out with kids, sit in the park and read while they play (if you have suggestion for some good book let me know {*smile} ).

I always bring some ’after school’ snack with us and the first thing they ask me when I go to pick them at school is: ’What did you bring to eat, mum?’

This week we had chocolate biscuits with strawberry jam filling in the park menu.

M. was yesterday complaining because he didn’t try any of it...


A Primavera chegou e as nossas idas ao parque estão de volta. Eu adoro sair com as crianças, sentar-me no parque e ler enquanto eles brincam (se tiver alguma sugestão de um bom livro, agradeço {*smile}).

Eu trago sempre alguns snacks ‘para depois da escola' connosco e a primeira coisa que me perguntam quando eu vou buscá-los à escola é: "O que é que trouxeste para comer, mãmã?"

Esta semana tivemos no menu parque biscoitos de chocolate com recheio de geleia de morango.

O M. ontem reclamou porque não sobrou nada para ele experimentar...

My way...

Amar, Beijar, Abraçar, Sorrir... e não apenas hoje mas sim TODOS os dias!!!

Lavander Cookies and one of these days...

There are days that I feel like somebody take me from the real world and put me into the twilight zone, just to test how much I am able to stand.
How is it possible that so many absolutely ridiculous things happen to someone in 24h???
Well... what I try to do in days like this? Try as much as I can not to stress, observe things with higher level of calmness and wait until everything pass... and, if possible, take some tea with good homemade cookies :-).


Há dias em que sinto que parece que alguém me tira do mundo real e me põe na twilight zone, apenas para testar o quanto eu sou capaz de aguentar.
Como é que é possível acontecerem tantas coisas absolutamente ridículas a alguém em 24h???
Bem... o que tento fazer num dia destes? Tento o melhor que consigo não entrar em stress, observar as situações num estado superior de calma e esperar até que tudo passe... e, se possivel, tomar um chá com umas bolachas caseiras óptimas :-).

Chocolate and Corn Flakes Slices

It is so cold outside that I can’t go with the kids to the park (which is near). So, on Monday, we were at home and decided to make some kind of cookies/slices.

Chocolate and corn flakes… and some cream on top… really crunchy and at the same time creamy.

But in the end it turns out as a really bad idea… kids got really angry with each other, big discussion about who is going to eat the rests from bowl, mixer and spoons… crazy!!!

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Está tanto frio na rua que não posso ir com as crianças ao parque (que é perto). Portanto, na Segunda-feira, estavamos em casa e decidi fazer um tipo de bolachas/fatias.

Chocolate e corn flakes… e algum creme por cima… muito crocante e ao mesmo tempo cremoso.

Mas no final acabou por ser uma péssima ideia… as crianças zangaram-se a sério, houve uma grande discussão sobre quem iria comer o resto da taça, misturadora e colheres… uma loucura!!!

My mother's Hazelnut cookies

‘..When I walk into my kitchen today, I am not alone. Whether we know it or not, none of us is. We bring fathers and mothers and kitchen tables, and every meal we have ever eaten. Food is never just food. It ‘s also a way of getting something else: who we are, who we have been, and who we want to be….’

These few lines are in my head since I read them a few days ago. I got immediately in love with ‘A homemade life’ from Molly Wizenberg. Every moment I have in the last days is used to hide in some corner, where nobody can notice me (to be invisible for the rest of my family) and read…

These are my mother’s hazelnut cookies and I have a lot of stories in which they were the main character, but, for now, I will just leave you with the recipe and hope you like them...

Hazelnut cookies
200g butter
110g sugar
1 egg
110g hazelnut flour
300g flour
Mix butter with sugar for few minute, add egg and continue mixing, add hazelnut and flour and mix with hand. Make cookies (U shape) and place them in a preheated oven for 10 minutes (or until they get some color). When ready, take them out of the oven and dust hot with powder sugar.

Estas linhas estão na minha cabeça desde que as li há alguns dias. Apaixonei-me imediatamente por ‘A homemade life’ de Molly Wizenberg. Cada momento que tive nestes últimos dias usei para me esconder num canto, onde ninguém desse por mim (ficar invisível para o resto da minha família) e li…

Estas são as bolachas de avelã da minha mãe e tenho muitas histórias onde elas eram as principais personagens mas, por agora, vou deixar-vos com a receita e espero que gostem...

Bolachas de avelã
200g manteiga
110g açucar
1 ovo
110g farinha de avelã
300g farinha
Misturar a manteiga com o açúcar por alguns minutos, adicionar o ovo e continuar a misturar, adicionar a avelã e a farinha e misturar à mão. Fazer as bolachas (em forma de U) e pô-las no forno pré-aquecido durante 10 minutos (ou até ganharem alguma cor). Quando estiverem prontas tirá-las do forno e polvilhá-las com açúcar em pó quando ainda quentes.

Have a great Christmas !!!

Depois de muitos dias a cozinhar, embrulhar, decorar… posso finalmente anunciar que tenho tudo FEITO.
Entreguei presentes a clientes, amigos, professores, vizinhos, colegas… e sinto-me mesmo feliz.
Foi um trabalho de equipa… as crianças ajudaram a cortar as bolachas, desenhar as etiquetas, o M. ajudou a embrulhar… portanto, mesmo sendo bastante trabalho, posso dizer que nos divertimos a fazê-lo todos juntos.
Agora estou de ‘folga’ para passar uns momentos agradáveis com a minha família…

Tenha um fantástico Natal com muitos presentes deliciosos!!!


After a lot of days of baking, packing, decorating… I officially can announce I have everything DONE.
Delivered presents to clients, friends, teachers, neighbors, colleagues… and I feel really happy.
It was a team job… kids helped with cutting cookies, drawing tags, M. helped with packing… so, even being a lot of work, I can say we had a fun doing it all together.
Now I am off to spend nice time with my family…

Have a great Christmas with a lot of sweet presents!!!

Weekend ....

From time to time M. gives me a weekend off, like this one. Basically it means he takes kids somewhere for the weekend and I stay alone to do whatever I want to… and I am really grateful for it. I think sometimes it's important to separate from the people we love, even if it is for a really short time, just to realize how much we actually miss them. Does that make sense for you?

In the morning I went for a walk in downtown, did some Christmas shopping and later one girls’ dinner and cinema. Right now I am just resting, drinking tea and eating these cookies I made yesterday. I was planning for a long time to try this great recipe full of flavors… almond, orange, rum and chocolate… mmmm… but only succeeded last night. Perfect!!!

De tempos a tempos o M. dá-me um fim-de-semana de folga, como neste. Basicamente significa que leva as crianças para algum lado duratne o fim-de-semana e eu fico sozinha para fazer o que bem entender… e fico muito grata por isso. Acho que de vez em quando é importante separarmo-nos das pessoas que amamos, mesmo que seja por muito pouco tempo, apenas para percebermos o quanto nós realmente sentimos a falta deles. Isto faz sentido para si?

De manhã fui dar uma volta pela baixa, fiz algumas compras de Natal e mais tarde será um jantar de meninas e cinema. Agora estou só a descansar, a beber chá e a comer estas bolachas que fiz ontem. Estava a planear há algum tempo experimentar esta magnífica receita cheia de sabores… amêndoa, laranja, rum e chocolate… mmmm… mas só consegui ontem à noite. Perfeita!!!

Linzer Cookies

No Sábado à tarde tive como convidados amigos dos meus filhos, pois estava a chover, e eu pensei que seria giro ter companhia e diversão em casa. Preparei algumas bolachas para fazer com todos eles… mas, para ser sincera, fui eu que as terminei. Eles ficaram tão excitados que tive que correr atrás deles o tempo todo… para que as coisas fiquem claras, um deles conseguiu derrubar um armário de roupa… posso assegurar-vos que eles se divertiram! E eu… bem… acabei por mais tarde me fechar na cozinha para terminar as bolachas e recuperar a sanidade .
E sim… as bolachas foram inspiração da tarte Linzer que comi no Kaffeehaus .

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Saturday afternoon I had friends of my kids at our place, since it was raining I thought it would be nice to have company and have some fun at home. I prepared some cookies to make with them…but to be honest I finished them by myself. Kids got so excited that I just run all the time after them…to make a picture more clear, one of them succeeded to put a closet down..I can tell you, they had fun for sure and me…well…I closed myself into the kitchen later to finish cookies and to get my sanity back.
And yes…cookies were inspired from Linzer tart I ate at Kaffeehaus .

Vanilla Cookies with Fruit

Nice weather is here, and meal on the terrace also.
One thing I love to do is having breakfast on the terrace. It is a must on weekends. Nice ,long breakfasts, enjoying sun ,breeze and fresh morning air..perfect.

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O bom tempo chegou, e as refeições no terraço também. Uma coisa que eu adoro é tomar o pequeno-almoço no terraço. É quase obrigatório nos fins-de-semana. Pequenos-almoços óptimos e longos, a aproveitar o Sol, a brisa matinal fresquinha... perfeito.

Birthday offer

Vanilla biscuits got a new look for another special occasion.
A birthday boy will offer these big ‘candies’ to his friends in kinder garden :-)

Os biscoitos de baunilha receberam um novo look para outra ocasião especial.
Um menino aniversariante irá oferecer estes ‘rebuçados’ grandes aos seus amigos do jardim de infância :-)

Vanilla Cookies and a Boy Baptizing

Here is one more special order for a baptizing of one baby boy. Small biscuits packages to offer to invitees.

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Aqui está mais uma encomenda especial para um baptizado de um menino. Pequenos conjuntos de biscoitos para oferecer aos convidados.

Rosemary Shortbread Cookies

I already mentioned few times we are big fans of homemade cookies. But…I don’t know if I mentioned that a biggest fan is my daughter Hana. She always asks me to make cookies for her to bring to school for snack, and she is really proud, showing everybody she has special cookies her mom made for her. So…she is on school holidays, out of Portugal but I continue making cookies…she will have plenty of them when she come back home :-)

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Já referi algumas vezes que somos grandes fãs de bolachas caseiras. Mas… não sei se já disse que a maior fã é a minha filha Hana. Ela pede-me sempre para lhe fazer bolachas para levar para os lanches na escola, fica muito orgulhosa, e mostra a todos que tem bolachas especiais que a mãe lhe fez. Então… ela está agora de férias escolares, fora de Portugal, mas eu continuei a fazer bolachas… vai ter bastantes quando regressar a casa :-)

Vanilla Cookies

Last week I spent some time going through my mother’s recipe book. I found some more great recipes and between them I notice recipe of these vanilla biscuits my grandmother was famous for.


Reading a recipe I almost felt vanilla scent of her house, her house was never without them.

As I use to be a big fan of them, I have feeling my kids will get there also.
Today, as soon as we enter house they asked me to eat ‘mini biscuits’ :-)