tastes just like the 90's.{ bolo de arroz: portuguese rice cake }

Bolos de Arroz, literally "rice cakes", are traditional Portuguese cupcakes, widely acknowledged as  a snack and not as a dessert. In Portugal, coffee is a formality after each and every single meal and it is drunk like a shot. The actual portuguese expression for drinking coffee is even - literally - 'taking coffee'. Yet the portuguese have a thing for coveting pastry trays while ordering their coffees, and when they lend more than two minutes to the act of washing them down, they might very well lower their voice a notch, gulp the guilt and order a Pastel de Nata or a Bolo de Arroz.

Usually served at breakfast and any time in the morning, while going out for an espresso after lunch, as an afternoon snack after school, but mostly appropriate for any occasion when hunger or a sweet tooth strike, these are nowadays probably one of the most simple, common and underrated cakes in the whole country.

I was curious to see if the batter would do well as a normal cake for slicing, so I decided to pour it into a loaf pan - and I have to say it worked just perfect. It is so simple to make it like this, that if you love Bolos de Arroz, or if you have never had one, you must try this recipe!

you smell like love. { dark chocolate sugar cookies with tender rose hearts }

These vibrant coloured cookies are super fun to make, it feels like playing with play-doh! They take some time, but they are tremendoulsy easy to make and I love how everything worked out so well, especially since I made up the recipe from scratch! They are perfect for Valentine's Day, or for any other occasion, and you can dye and flavour them according to your preferences or what you have on your pantry. And hey, I had chocolate and roses - what a cliché! Isn't it such a coincidence? If you're looking for something pretty, original and fun for this Valentine's, you've come to the right place!

bite sized frosted babies with golden sparkles. { gluten-free vegan devil's food mini cupcakes }

How could one guess these decadent looking tiny beauties would hide such a secret under their golden shimmer? They are healthy, packed with good stuff, vegan, gluten-free and not any less delicious than their regular counterpart! Wanna bake something you can eat without any bit of guilt yet still looks sexy and sinful as heck? This is it!

let me introduce you your new favourite everyday summer treat { watermelon-strawberry slush }

It's 35ºC outside and maybe even way over it inside your house, you're feeling close to fainting, sweating and panting whenever you have to move a finger... so what now? Just whip youself up this all-natural delicious slush. Luscious, with a vibrant red colour, it's pretty perfect. No need to add colourants.

A couple of days ago, so to speak, I decided I could wait no longer to go back to freezing fruit. I started doing it some years ago when I was at my parents' over the summer, mostly to produce creamy banana ice creams, slowly destroying their blender with rock-like pieces of banana, strawberries, blueberries, or whatever crossed my mind that day. However, since I moved to Germany, I haven't had the chance to use a REAL blender, for all I've got is a feeble cheap hand blender that I bought at the supermarket, which main function is actually spilling soup all around my kitchen. Not funny.

they'll melt in your mouth and they're oh-so-addictive { apricot, almond and white chocolate brown butter blondies }

Melt-in-your-mouth summer blondies, with the irresistible taste of brown butter, packed with gooey white chocolate chunks, thinly sliced almond and fruity fresh apricot pieces. They are so wasy and quick to make, plus they take little time in the oven, which makes them the perfect comfort treat for when it is hot outside, yet the heart still asks for some warm pick-me-up. One warning though: they are extremely addictive!

Munich is a terribly moody city when it comes to the weather. Maybe someone has forgotten to explain this city how seasons should work, or maybe it's them who have forgotten the city at some point over the ages. Fact is: once more, spring has come and gone, summer is supposed to be back, yet, looking outside, nothing quite seem to prove it. That's fine for me now, I've grown fonder of this crazy weather, even if I miss our west coast summer and sea a little bit too much. Nonetheless, sunny days and good weather usually mean more smiles, more energy, and an overall better mood. If the weather and emotions are connected, one can definitely acknowledge Munich as a bipolar city.

drops of jupiter handpies. { apple caramel handpies }

do you still remember my pie baking frenzy for this party i threw over last december? i think i baked around six or seven different kinds of savoury and sweet handpies! after having tried at least a bite of each different sort of them, these were definitely my favourite ones - and mostly the favourites of everyone else who was lucky enough to choose them first over the rest of the desserts before they were all gone in less than three minutes.

if you make these, make sure you have some friends around, because you may be tempted to eat them all on your own. in a matter of hours. you were warned...

wait no longer - they're here and they're a handful. { three takes on the perfect thin, chewy and crisp cookie }

i know you've been waiting for this.

not one, not two, but THREE flavours of COOKIES.

and today i'm not even going to say much.

i am just going to say that you should definitely grab this recipe,

run to the kitchen, turn on your favourite music

- for me it was Hozier all along -

grab all the things you need

and just get your hands dirty with loads of butter and flour.

it will take a while, but it is, indeed,

totally worth it.

oh those winter mornings... { orange infused scones }

... when the white sheer curtains filter the cold and dull wintry light, slowly allowing it to drench the entire room, only to dilute its already washed out whiteness: from the rough snow coloured walls, on which a few thoughtfully lined up postcards hang, down to the lazy messy bulk of soft white sheets and blankets, covered in faded pink and blue blossoms.

oh how easily my heart tunes with the slow pace of these cold mornings, and how suddenly my mind is in total synchrony with the world, as if the light had somehow managed to creep in and wipe away all thoughts; oh how naturally inspiration comes to me, my eyes trying to catch all these textures and wrinkles within the soothing white wash, while at the same time I know it is just time to lay back and simply purify my mind.

pão, pan, pain, pane, brot, bread. { pan de jamón }

ok, i've already told you about my love for baking bread.

the fulfillment it brings to my soul.

well... on the top of that, some kinds of bread bring me an even sweeter feeling,

they recall me of cherished places, memories and people.

one of them

(and i cannot but say that it is my number one, way ahead of the bavarian laugenstange)

is the traditional bread from my hometown: padas de vale de ílhavo.

there's then a bunch of others. like today's bread.

this one in particular recalls me of lazy weekends,

but also of parties and special holidays like christmas and new year's eve.

and it has a very funny story ;)

porquê o pão. { laugenstange }

there is something about making bread...

i don't know...

something about the sour smell of leavening yeast,

the patient waiting for the dough to rise,

the feeling you get when you see it all huge and puffy,

the hand kneading and shaping,

the smell of those buns in the oven,

the amazing sensation of eating homemade bread...

... it is so relaxing and rewarding ♥

día de los muertos. { pan de muerto - guest post }

i've always really liked the holiday on the first of november.

'dia de todos os santos', we call it.

gathering at my grandparents' for lunch with my cousins, homemade food and 'papas de abóbora', then it was half austere remembering of our gone beloved ones, heading to the cemetery (and, to me, a lot of philosophic thinking, which i (scarily!) have been practicing since a too young age)... and half excitement because november is just my favourite month of the year ;)

but today i'm not doing all the talking.

nope,

today i invited my friend Laura for a guest post!

the eternal trilogy mac. { neapolitan macarons }

guess what: i got a job!

(no... not cooking... as an architect...)

this comes out as a little menacing to the blog,

maybe i'll have less time to bake/cook/post...

but don't worry. i'm not going anywhere.

i'll keep bringing you goodies ♥

definitely.

my one and only french lover ♥ the macaron { lady grey macarons with salted caramel }

an adventure yet to be over

(uma aventura que está longe do fim)

cookies at an exhibition. { peppery sugar cookies with spicy caramel }

upgrade your sugar cookie.

try this recipe.

♥

and have a nice sunny sunday.

i love triangles. aren't they gorgeous with this abstract caramel glaze?

i've heard they taste like christmas :)

and beware:

let's say they tend to disappear quite quickly while no one is watching.

and no, it's not me eating them all...

fondant au chocolat. { chocolate fondant }

it's dark. raw. gooey and turning to fudgy. gorgeous.

it's like a chocolate mousse baked bar.

you may eat it straight out of the oven... like a lava cake.

and after that, it's an heavenly gorgeous chocolate fudge.

p.s.: dust with cocoa.

when it crumbles... { plum grape crumble }

Having a hard time deciding what to write here today.

(...)

Should we food bloggers always combine a recipe with a funny story about it, or about our lives?

(Hmm)

Well, there are many reasons why I choose to bake/cook what I choose to bake/cook... like:

a) I want to eat that specific thing... as in... right - NOW.

b) I saw this thing on (insert website/blog/magazine/book/...) and I can't get it out of my head.

c) I have some (insert edible things here) going stale that I need to get rid of.

d) There is a (insert social event here) coming up - you can find me thinking about new recipes weeks ahead, especially if I'm hosting.

e) I just really feel like cooking/baking, which is not easy to distinguish from: 

f) I am bored and cooking/baking is such a great hobbie! (usually followed by oh no, do I have to eat all this now?!)

g) I have a food blog which I can't neglect - and new ideas coming up.

h) Someone asked me to!

i) I am procrastinating and so I really need to cook/bake (insert wild cooking/baking project here).

j) Several or all of the above.

(I may have forgotten some reasons, but I thing I got the most important covered.)

So this crumble was definitely a j, a mix between a, c, e, f and i (although it is not that wild, but I was, indeed, procrastinating.) It really is nothing out of the ordinary, but this fruit combo is a winner and the oats top it perfectly. And it is sooo easy to do... Hope you enjoy it - and maybe use this recipe to fulfill the same purposes :)

french turned english ♥ { english breakfast french toast }

(So September is here...

or so they say,

... to me it feels like November!

freaking cold, a homogeneous and thick layer of clouds covering the whole sky, the whole day...

really?

I feel like I had no summer this year: August was work and rain all the way.)

Ok. On to the recipe.

oh-mon-dieu french toast { lighter yet delicious french toast }

(sunday morning... or is it?

oh my. it's midday and i'm still in bed.

no wonder why... blame those dark skies out there

and the pouring rain.

...feels like eight in the morning!)

overnight oats ♥ dessert { tiramisu overnight oats }

Is it breakfast? ...afternoon snack? ...is it dessert?

I don't care, it's awesome ♥

Start improving your breakfast today! And tomorrow is saturday... what better day to have dessert for breakfast?

(For dessert, maybe add some coffee licquor ;) )

munching muffins. { cocoa, hazelnut and cappuccino muffins with hazenut, coconut, white chocolate and granola crumble }

There's a bittersweet taste in being the last one standing. In Munich, I mean.

Most of the best friends I had over this last year are gone by now. I truly miss them all already and I hope we can meet someplace, someday, soon.

I've watched them all go. And on top of that, I was kind of the last one to be with most of them here, either left at the bus station, packing up the car trunk, staying over in my couch...

This doesn't make me that sad. It's great to know that I have (really good) friends all around the world.

All this to say that... I've been the final destination for all sorts of things. Food too. Things that I already had tons of, like pasta, things that I needed, like baking soda, and things that I had never tried, like rice milk - and I liked it a lot!

Fact is, I've been given way too much stuff, and I needed to get rid of some of it soon....

Like this hazelnut-flavoured cappuccino powder that was reaching its best-before date.

So I took a look at my pantry and found some white chocolate, a half-empty bag of hazelnuts, a lot of shredded coconut, some granola... and I was happy to find out that I still had two eggs, a tiny (but thankfully enough) amount of flour and a lot of cocoa. I quickly mixed everything in my mind and this is what I came up with.