Tag Archives: cinnamon

Chocolate Muffins with Pink Peppercorns and Cinnamon

The idea of combining chocolate with pink peppercorns, cinnamon, and nutmeg came to me when I read the newspaper the other day, and found an interview with Senyor Marc Escudellers, a chocolate shop keeper from Barcelona. He stated that these are some of his favorite cocoa flavorings, and I absolutely agree - I’ve already baked [...]

Orange Ginger Spice Drink

I’ve been having a spring flu lately, and this drink is what is starting to make me feel better. Heikki says that if I believe it cures me, it will, and I am a firm believer in ginger tea - I drink it when I feel down or have a back ache or feel that [...]

Carrot Cake with Lemon Icing

This carrot cake is based on a trusted recipe from a friend’s cousin, a recipe that was veganized 10 years ago, and has been served to many party guests over these years. To make it more suitable for a weekday tv-night with friends, I cut the oil by more than a half, substituting a part [...]

Mint Brownies and Spicy Hot Brownies

I had never tasted a brownie in my life before baking these, so I’m not completely qualified to assess how brownie-like they were. Well, I did adapt the recipe from an American blog Don’t Eat Off the Sidewalk and I’m sure that Katie knows what a brownie is. These were like moist and delicate pieces [...]

Runeberg’s Cakes

Today is the day of the Finnish national poet, Johan Ludvig Runeberg, and a great number of these little cakes are enjoyed all over the country. They were baked by Johan Ludvig’s wife Fredrika in the 19th century, and there’s a story that the poet enjoyed them with his morning Punsch. He probably wasn’t the [...]

Apple Pie Muffins

I occasionally get serious apple cravings, but because of my allergies, I can’t have raw apples. That’s when I have to start baking, and these muffins definitely satisfied my apple tooth: they are both filled and topped with yummy apple cubes. Walnuts, cinnamon, and a hint of ginger added a wintery spiciness to these soft [...]

Feel-Good Muffins

This is another muffin recipe I engineered after the holidays, when I wanted to bake something that would be good for the tummy and still have a lot of flavor. The delicious, subtly sweet spiciness of these muffins makes them a desirable snack any time of the day.

Maple syrup is a little bit of a [...]

Christmas Date Cake

This cake was our dessert on Christmas eve, along with a refreshing citrus fuit salad. The fragrance that came from the oven during baking was intoxicating, and the cake itself didn’t let us down; it was sweet and moist and delicious, with just enough spice and a decadent accent of cognac from the [...]

Hot Soy Milk with Chai Spices

I made this drink to myself one morning, with the intention of adding black tea and turn it into chai, but it was so good on its own that I just eliminated the tea part. I am not a breakfast person, and this subtly spiced and lightly sweet drink wakes me up when I don’t [...]

Plum Walnut Cake

This is a nice warming cake I baked on Saturday, when it started snowing for the first time this winter.

The batter is sort of bread-like, I have never baked anything with both yeast and baking powder before. The inspiration came from the Pflaumenkuchen recipe at Vegalicious. My plums weren’t completely ripe, so I decided to [...]