Pecan Cake / Nusstorte

We’ve been having winter like weather here in Ontario, with lots of snow and cold temperatures.  It’s snowing as I’m writing this blog post and there is a snow squall warning in effect.

I made this Pecan Cake for my son’s 17th Birthday. The original recipe uses Hazelnuts but my son really likes Pecan nuts, so I used these instead. It was delicious with a simple whipped cream filling and a few maple caramelized pecans to finish it up.

Pecan Cake / Nusstorte

• 220 g coconut sugar
• 6 egg yolks
• 2 tbsp rum
• 6 egg whites
• 1 pinch salt
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 2 tbsp honey
• 300 g ground pecans
• 1 tbsp spelt flour

-Grease and flour two 9-inch baking forms.

-Whisk together the coconut sugar, egg yolks and the rum.

-In a separate bowl, whisk the egg whites with the salt and baking powder until stiff peaks form. Add the honey and whisk until combined.

-Mix together the flour and pecan nuts then gently with the egg whites, a little at a time, stir/fold under the egg yolk mix until well combined.

-Fill into prepared baking forms and bake in preheated  350 F oven for 20 minutes then change temperatures to 300 F and finish bake for another 40 minutes or until tester inserted into centre of cakes come out clean.

-Let cool completely.

For the filling: 300 ml 35% cream, 2 tbsp honey

-Whisk the cream until stiff peaks form, add the honey and whisk until combined.

-Fill and decorate as desired, I also used some maple caramelized pecan halves to decorate which was really delicious. You can easily make it yourself. Combine maple syrup and pecan halves in a small saucepan and let simmer until caramelized.

Have a wonderful week!

Enjoy!

Ursula 

 

Make sure you follow me over on Instagram!😊

littleswisslittlecanadian

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pumpkin Spice Muffins

Happy 1st November!

Time sure has gone by fast since I posted my last recipe here. I hope you’ll forgive my lack of responding and also reading and commenting on blog posts.

We’ve been having a beautiful fall. I just love the colorful leaves and pumpkins and everything pumpkin spice!

Pumpkin Spice Muffins

Yields: 12

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup butter, melted
• 1 cup milk
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup pumpkin puree
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 3/4 cup coconut sugar
• 2 cup spelt flour
• 1/2 cup oats
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp pumpkin spice
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• pinch salt
• Optional, add raisins, choc chips…
• Extra topping:
• 4 tbsp butter, melted
• 3 tbsp maple syrup
• 1/2 tbsp pumpkin spice
• 2 tbsp spelt flour
• 2 tbsp ground walnuts

-Preheat oven to 375F

-Mix together butter, milk, eggs, pumpkin puree, vanilla and coconut sugar. Add the flour, baking soda, baking powder, pumpkin spice, cinnamon and salt. Stir until well combined.

-Fill into 12 muffin tins.

-Mix together the butter, maple syrup, pumpkin spice, flour and ground walnuts.

-Spread the mixture evenly onto the muffins. Bake in preheated oven for 10 minutes, then lower temperature to 350F and finish bake the muffins for about 20 minutes or until tester inserted into centre of muffins comes out clean.

 

Enjoy!

Ursula 

 

 

 

 

 

Pumpkin Cookies

Happy Halloween!

I hope you are all having a fun and not too scary Halloween! Thinking back of those times when my kids were still little and impatiently waiting for this day to come. Such cute memories of my daughter mostly dressing up as a little princess, my son trying out different characters from cowboy to Star Wars Darth Vader 🙂

I’ve made these delicious, melt-in-your-mouth pumpkin cookies, all dressed up for Halloween, these are the perfect fall or holiday cookie, with a lovely pumpkin and spice flavor. Can be enjoyed with or without icing. I used maple butter as an icing.

 

 

Pumpkin Cookies

• 1/2 cup butter, soft
• 1 egg
• 1 1/2 cups maple syrup
• 1 cup pumpkin puree
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 1/2 cups white spelt flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp cloves
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg

-Preheat oven to 350F/180C. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

-Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and salt, set aside.

-Cream together the butter, egg and maple syrup. Add pumpkin puree and vanilla, beat until creamy. Mix in dry ingredients. Drop on cookie sheet by tablespoonfuls, flatten slightly.

-Bake for 15-20 minutes in the preheated oven or until lightly browned. Let cool completely. Drizzle with maple butter or icing.

Tip: -Use 3 teaspoons of pumpkin spice. – Substitute spelt flour with whole wheat flour or all-purpose flour.

 

Enjoy!

Ursula

 

You can find me on Instagram: littleswisslittlecanadian

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Spiced Sweet Potato Muffins

I’ve posted a picture of these muffins on Instagram back in October. The original recipe uses pumpkins, which I did use for the first batch and we just loved these muffins. The sweet potato came into use because I had no pumpkin on hand so I thought I just give it a try and it was surprisingly very yummy. I added some oat crumble and some maple caramel drizzle like I made for the Caramel Apple Sticky Buns, used only coconut sugar and maple syrup, otherwise followed Linda’s Spiced Pumpkin Loaf recipe from her blog sweetenufblog . Sweet potato as well as pumpkins are very healthy and I just love them. So feel free to use either, both are delicious!! Just made another batch this week to pack for my kids for school:)

 

 

Here are some other yummy pumpkin recipes:

Pumpkin-Oat-Squares

Pumpkin-Chocolate-Muffins

Pumpkin Spice Babka

 

Spiced Sweet Potato Muffins

Yields 12

Ingredients:

• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 tsp baking soda
• 2 tsp ground ginger
• 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 3/4 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1/2 cup packed light brown sugar, I used coconut sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1/2 cup maple syrup
• 1 1/3 cups sweet potato puree or pumpkin puree
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts
• Glaze: Combine 1/3 cup icing sugar with 2 tbsp maple syrup
• Oat crumble: 1/2 cup oats, 1/2 tsp cinnamon, 1 tbsp maple syrup, 1 tbsp coconut sugar
• Optional: toffee bits, butterscotch chips, pecans

-In a medium bowl combine the flour, baking soda, ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt. Set aside

-In the bowl of a stand mixer using a paddle attachment, beat the butter for 1 minute. Add the brown sugar and beat until very light in colour and fluffy. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each, and scraping down sides and bottom of mixing bowl. Beat in the maple syrup. The mixture will look curdled at this point! As you add the flour mixture it will come together.

-Remove the bowl from the mixer and using a wooden spoon stir in half on the flour mixture until combined. Add in the pumkin and stir until combined then add in the remaining flour mixture and stir until no streaks of flour remain. Fold in the nuts.

-In a small bowl mix together the oats, cinnamon, maple syrup and coconut sugar.

-Fill into prepared muffin tins, smooth out the top with an offset spatula or knife, then sprinkle some of the oat mix on top.

-Bake in 325F preheated oven for about 30-40 minutes until top springs back lightly when touched. Or a tester inserted into centre comes out clean.

-Let cool completely then drizzle with the maple glaze.

-Tip: Double the oat crumble recipe if you like to have a thick crumble top.

 

Thanks again for the recipe Linda!

I hope you’ll give it a try!

Enjoy!

Ursula

 

 

 

 

 

 

Plum Rose Tarts with an Almond Shortbread Crust

Happy weekend everyone!

Fall has finally arrived! It’s been crazy hot lately, which made it kind of harder to think of fall baking:) I’ve found some beautiful local plums and like every year turned them into some kind of dessert(s). Our annual favorite happens to be a Zwetschgen-Streusel Cake (Plum-Crumble-Cake). I took the recipe from my Peach-Crumble-Cake/ Pfirsich-Streuselkuchen just used plums instead of peaches, so delicious!

Instead of using apples to make roses I thought I give it a try with plums. It was a little tricky because the plums were very soft, you definitely need some patience;), in the end I was happy, it worked out beautifully!

Baked in a yummy almond shortbread crust

 

Plum Tarts with an Almond Shortbread Crust

Yields: 4 small tarts

Almond Shortbread Crust

• 1/2 cup butter, melted
• 1 cup all-purpose unbleached flour
• 1/2 cup almonds, finely ground
• 1 tsp almond extract
• 1/4 cup honey
• pinch of salt
• 1 lg egg yolk

-In a small bowl, with a whisk, mix together butter, honey almond extract and egg yolk. Add flour, almonds and salt. Mix until well combined. Wrap dough with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 1/2 hour.

-Start with cutting about 5 plums into very thin slices, once you assemble the roses you see if you might need more.

-Preheat oven to 375F. Grease 4 small tart forms.

-Take dough out of refrigerator and let it sit for a few minutes, otherwise it is very hard to roll out. Then roll out and cut to fit into each form, prick crust with a fork and place again in refrigerator for a few minutes.

-Assemble roses by starting on the outside working toward the center.

-I used a simple milk, egg, honey and cinnamon filling from my Peach Tart , I only used a little bit in each tart.

-Bake in preheated 375F oven for 10 minutes then reduce heat to 350F, for another 10-15 minutes, bake until golden brown and liquid is set. Cover with tin foil if crust is golden brown but liquid is not set. Let cool before taking out of forms.

 

In memory of my late father-in-law who passed away one year ago.

 

Ursula

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pumpkin-Oat-Squares

I have always been interested in other countries-their people, traditions and of course food. Every Country has its unique specialities. I grew up in Switzerland where there are lots of specialities that are specific to certain regions. Also the influence of neighboring countries making it very interesting. And that given the small size of Switzerland.

Used to Swiss and mostly European foods it was very adventurous coming to Canada and trying out new things that I have never seen before! Also I should say, just the size of my new home country was an adventure alone!

Take a simple Muffin, or a Cupcake-I actually never had or seen one as a child! It is funny to see that now there are Cupcake Shops in Switzerland!

As it is getting closer to December I will be thinking of Christmas Cookies. But I am not ready for that. I felt more like Pumpkin than Gingerbread.

Usually Oat-Squares are filled with Fruit fillings but I had some Pumpkin puree left so I changed things up a bit.

Oat Mix

• 1cup         unbleached white flour
• 1 1/2cup  oats
• 1/2cup     coconut oil, melted
• 1/2cup     pure cane sugar
• 1/4cup     honey

Pumpkin filling

• 2cups     pumpkin puree
• 1/2cup    maple syrup
• 1/4cup    coconut milk
• 1tsp         cinnamon
• 1/2tsp     nutmeg

Mix together flour, oats, melted coconut oil, cane sugar and honey. Put half into the bottom of a greased square pan, pat it down firmly.

In a small saucepan, warm up pumpkin puree, maple syrup and coconut milk. Remove from heat and add cinnamon and nutmeg.

Pour filling over crust and cover with the remaining oat mixture.

Bake at 350F/180C for about 40 minutes or golden brown.

 

 

Enjoy!