Just Desserts with the House Elf Liaison

House Elf Liaison, back from the kitchens...

When life gets busy, frazzled and harried, what to turn to but our crafting chocolate!!!! Or if not chocolate, dessert (but why not just shave, drizzle, or drench it with chocolate?)

Tell me about your favorite sweet treats, the one you make the best, the one you pick over the all the others, or the one that changed your world! Recipes, tips, and general comments are all welcome!
The House Elves want to know: What's the best dessert you've ever eaten?

Sunday Special, May 16, 2010

It’s been a busy week. Homework is in full swing, OWLs are starting to see some progress, the first big Quidditch challenge is behind us. I heard the House Elves talking about carrots and Curiouskate and my ears perked up. They happily chattered on until I had finally secured her recipe which looks so yummy and delicious! I did a little Arithmancy (which is hopefully accurate) to help out our students in the USA, my notes are in the parenthesis. So, for the Sunday Special here is

Super-Quick Carrot cake

* 4 eggs
* 250g (about 1 1/4 cups) sugar
* 200ml (1 cup) oil
* 200ml (1 cup) carrot juice or milk
* 200g (3/4 cup) ground hazelnuts
* 125g (1/2 cup) finely grated carrots
* 300g (2 1/4 cups) flour
* 1 T baking powder

Beat eggs & sugar until creamy. Add moist ingredients and stir thoroughly. Add dry ingredients and mix quickly until everything is smooth and even.
Pour into a 30x40cm form and bake at 180°C (350°F) for about half an hour.

Add frosting and decor as you like to, but the cake is yummy on itself :)

Enjoy!

Sunday Special, May 9, 2010

The House Elves wanted to wish every ‘Puff mom a Happy Mother’s Day! They had a little meet and greet with StitchingMagic and they came up with this fabulous looking Apple Cake - yum! StitchingMagic’s special touches are noted in parenthesis, the original was from cooks.com.

The House Elves are thrilled to get feedback and recipes so PM YarnVista to get in touch with them!

So, for the Sunday Special the House Elves have chosen…

Silver P.’s Apple Cake

* 1 1/2 c. vegetable oil (1 1/2 cups unsalted butter, melted and cooled)
* 2 c. all-purpose flour
* 1/4 tsp. ground cloves (leave out all 3 spices and put in 2 tsp. gr.)
* 1 1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon ( cardamom )
* 1/4 tsp. ground mace
* 1 1/4 c. walnuts, chopped (I prefer pecans or blanched almonds)
* 3 tbsp. Calvados (or the flavored brandy to match, or Poires Guillaume for pears, kirsch for cherries)
* 2 c. sugar
* 3 eggs
* 3/4 tsp. salt
* 1 tsp. baking soda
* 1 c. whole wheat flour, sifted
* 3 1/4 c. coarse chunks of peeled and cored apples (or pears, or peaches, or cherries)

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. In a large bowl, beat vegetable oil (or butter) and sugar until thick and opaque. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Sift together all-purpose flour, cloves, cinnamon, mace, (or cardamom) baking soda, and salt, then stir in whole wheat flour. Add to oil mixture and blend. Stir in nuts, fruit, and brandy or liqueur. Stir to distribute pieces evenly. Pour into a greased 10 inch round cake pan (This is not big enough. I use a large spring form pan placed on a baking tray.) Bake 1 hour and 15 minutes or until a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean. Let cake rest for 10 minutes, then unmold and pour glaze over warm cake or cut cake and pour glaze over slices.

Apple Cider Glaze for Silver P.’s Apple Cake

Melt 1/4 cup unsalted butter. Stir in 2 tablespoons brown sugar and 6 tablespoons granulated sugar. Add 3 tablespoons Calvados, or brandy, or liqueur, 1/4 cup sweet cider, or juice of your choice, 2 tablespoons fresh orange juice, and 2 tablespoons heavy cream. Stir, bring to a boil, reduce heat slightly, and cook 4 minutes. Remove from heat and cool slightly. Pour while still warm over warm cake.

Enjoy!

House Elves Welcome back the Hufflepuffs!

The House Elves wanted to welcome all the Hufflepuffs to the shiny, new common room! This term the House Elves are sharing tasty recipes with us. There is still time to vote in the House Elf Poll if you haven’t yet.

Also, if you have a favorite recipe - of any kind! - please PM Yarnvista! The House Elves really want to be able to share beloved recipes - they don’t have to be fancy or even be totally homemade. The House Elves will credit you with the recipe and I bet they can convince the ratties to give you extra love and kisses, if you like :)

So, for the start of term the House Elves decided to share

Peanut Butter Cup Cookies
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 egg, beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons milk
40 miniature chocolate covered peanut butter cups, unwrapped (tip: put the uwrapped cups in the fridge or freezer as you are prepping the rest of the cookies)

Directions
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
Sift together the flour, salt and baking soda; set aside.
Cream together the butter, sugar, peanut butter and brown sugar until fluffy. Beat in the egg, vanilla and milk. Add the flour mixture; mix well.
Shape into 40 balls and place each into an ungreased mini muffin pan.
Bake at 375 degrees for about 8 minutes. Remove from oven and immediately press a mini peanut butter cup into each ball. Cool and carefully remove from pan.

Enjoy!

House Elf Liasion Recipes

*tap tap tap* Is this thing on? *feedback skreeeeeeetch!*

*cringes* sorry....

As an enterprising Not Quite Hufflepuff, for my own amusement, I decided to collect the recipes that the House Elf Liaison brought to us straight from the kitchens, in a word document. Since I'm already
obsessively collecting
copying and pasting them, I've been asked by the powers that be to assist the Liaison by posting recipes here to the blog :-D And so, we have our first recipes!

First, a throwback from our own Bijou3owl: Five Minute Mug Brownie!

• 4 Tbs Flour
• 2 Tbs Sugar
• 2 Tbs Cocoa Powder
• 2 Tbs Veggie Oil
• 2 Tbs Water
• Dash of Salt

Combine dry ingredients in a mug. Add wet and mix well. Microwave aprox. 1 min. The middle should still be a bit liquidy, though you can microwave a little more (15s-30s, depending on your microwave) if you like. She likes to add chocolate chips after it’s done, and a splash of vanilla with the wet ingredients.

The house elves have developed Five Minute Strawberry Ice Cream to go with it!

• 10 ounce package frozen sliced strawberries (or frozen fruit of your choice)
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2/3 cup heavy cream (half and half, lowfat milk, or even soymilk work too, it just isn’t as creamy)

Combine the frozen fruit and sugar in a food processor or blender. Process until the fruit is roughly chopped. With the processor running, slowly pour in the heavy cream until fully mixed. Yum! If liquid nitrogen is in short supply, a quick stash in the freezer will help the ice cream to firm up.

Enjoy!