Bringing Back the Blog

Just last summer I moved back to London from Cairo, things are going smoothly for my 3 boys and I (including semi-grown up husband) except that we miss bastirma! Ok I miss bastirma, for people who don't know bastirma..google it and eat it.

I would get on a plane right now just to eat fried eggs with bastirma and Egyptian baladi bread. But instead I'm reviving this blog which I started years ago when I was going through a mad baking phase in Cairo - I stopped baking when I realised I was eating ALL the cupcakes.

I could've started a new blog, but the name of this one is just so appropriate, because in Egypt when I was a child I found the scent of Jasmine in the evening so completely enchanting. And now that I'm away, yes I miss Egypt, and I'm seeing her through jasmine-tinted lenses. 

PTSD Chocolate Chip Cookies

I haven't posted for ages, not because I've stopped baking (although the amount of baking has decreased dramatically) but because I've basically been very down with all the 'events' that have been happening in Egypt over the last few months. But these cookies managed to pick me up, even if only momentarily - especially after the third one.

I got the recipe from allrecipes.com

They are big and awesome:

INGREDIENTS: 

2 cups all-purpose flour 

1/2 teaspoon baking soda 

1/2 teaspoon salt 

3/4 cup unsalted butter, melted 

1 cup packed brown sugar 

1/2 cup white sugar 

1 tablespoon vanilla extract 

1 egg 

1 egg yolk 

2 cups semisweet chocolate chips 

DIRECTIONS: 

1. Preheat the oven to 165 degrees C. Grease cookie sheets or line 

with grease proof paper. 

2. Sift together the flour, baking soda and salt.

3. In a medium bowl, cream together the melted butter, brown sugar and white sugar 

until well blended. Beat in the vanilla, egg, and egg yolk until light and creamy. Mix in 

the sifted ingredients until just blended. Stir in the chocolate chips by hand using a 

wooden spoon. Drop cookie dough 1/4 cup at a time onto the prepared cookie sheets. 

Cookies should be about 3 inches apart. 

4. Bake for 15 to 17 minutes in the preheated oven, or until the edges are lightly toasted. 

Cool on baking sheets for a few minutes before transferring to wire racks to cool 

completely. 

Happy baby number 1

Happy baby number 2

Oriental Flair - Ramadan Cupcakes

In the spirit of Ramadan, I will make this a short post - this is not my recipe, I borrowed it from somewhere on the net, and now that I am posting it I can't for the life of me find it again and give credit where it's due (so if this is your recipe I am sorry)...but enough of that, here's the recipe and it's gooooood :)

Tea Rose Cupcakes

Batter:
90 g butter
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup self raising flour (or plain flour plus 1 1/2 tsp baking powder + 1 1/4 tsp salt)
2 tbs milk
2 eggs
6-8 tsp jam of your choice (I used mixed berry, go for rose jam if you want to be extra authentic)

Icing:
125 g softened butter
1 1/2 cups icing sugar
1 1/2 tbs rose water (I added more to taste)
Few drops of red food colour (results in pink icing)

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 160 degrees and line tin with cupcake cases.
2. Beat butter, flour, sugar, vanilla and milk in a food processor until it resembles bread crumbs. 
3. Add the eggs and beat until pale on a medium to high speed.
4. Put a spoonful of the mixture in each of the cases ensuring the bases are covered.
5. Add ½ a teaspoon of jam to each.
6. Top the cupcakes with the remainder of the mixture.
7. Bake for 20 minutes or until golden and cooked.
8. To make the butter cream beat the butter until pale. 
9. Add the icing sugar and rose water.
10. Decorate with butter cream and top with decorations.

Ramadan Love x

100 Cupcakes

Choco-Banana with Nutella Buttercream - AKA my breakfast.

Yesterday was the big day and after spending about four days in the kitchen  and telling the boys to find sustenance elsewhere, I managed to make just over 100 cupcakes. Chocolate with chocolate frosting, chocolate-banana with Nutella frosting and Apple, pear & cinnamon muffins (In a bid to offer a healthy option which surprisingly didn't go down too well - although saying that I haven't got any left).

Taste Testing Lubna - Note ecstatic look on face :)

Most people just wanted to indulge in a classic chocolate or vanilla cupcake with lashings of frosting and sprinkly bits on top - which is just how it should be!

My friend managed to make 350, extremely tasty, very pretty cupcakes in a wide range of flavours - which is pretty damn good for one lady in her own kitchen!

I had a brilliant time making, baking and selling the cupcakes and meeting new people and would definitely do it again.

Super Excited!

I am. A friend and I were at a very nice event over the weekend chatting about cupcakes (as you do) when she mentioned she will be selling hers for the first time ever at a charity event - she'll be making 500 cupcakes all by herself! I asked if she needed any help and she said yes! So in a couple of weeks I will be taking on a cupcake challenge of mammoth proportions - and that's what is getting me jumping-up-and-down excited.

If there's one thing I like more than baking it's researching what I'm going to bake, thinking about what I am going to bake and then of course eating what I have already baked...that's what I am doing now except for the eating part. Right now I am deciding which cupcakes I'll be making and how in hell will I make around 250 cupcakes with one muffin pan :)

The challenge begins...