Cinnamon Loaf Cake

Easy Cinnamon Loaf Cake is the perfect treat to go with your afternoon cup of coffee or tea! It’s a moist, soft and wonderful tasting loaf cake!

Cinnamon Loaf Cake

Ingredients:

• 1/2 butter, soft
• 2 eggs, at room temperature
• 3/4 cup creamed honey
• pinch of salt
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 cup unsweetened cashew or coconut milk, at room temperature
• 2 cups white spelt flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 2 tbsp cinnamon
• 1/3 cup coconut sugar

-Preheat oven to 350 F. Line a 30 cm loaf pan with parchment paper.

-Whisk together the butter, eggs, honey, salt and vanilla. Whisk in the milk. Combine the flour and baking powder, stir into the wet ingredients until well combined.

-Combine the coconut sugar and cinnamon.

-Pour half of the batter into the loaf pan, sprinkle the coconut sugar-cinnamon mix on top. Add the remaining batter. With a knife, cut through the batter to swirl a few times.

-Bake in preheated oven for 45 minutes or until tester inserted into centre of cake comes out clean.

Enjoy!

Ursula

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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 

 

 

 

 

 

Carrot Cake Cookies

Hello everyone, I wish you all a Happy Easter and a wonderful weekend!

These carrot cake cookies are super yummy, with a touch of maple syrup, cinnamon and cloves.

 

Carrot Cake Cookies 

Yields: 25 large cookies

Ingredients:

• 2 cups butter melted
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup maple syrup
• 3/4 cup ground almonds
• 2 1/2 cups spelt flour
• 4 tsp baking soda
• 2 cups grated carrots
• 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp cloves
• 1/2 tsp salt

-Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Preheat oven to 350F.

-Whisk together the butter and maple syrup, add eggs one at a time, add spices and salt.

-Mix in the carrots, then add the flour, baking soda and ground almonds. Stir until well combined.

-Drop by spoonfuls onto the baking sheets, leaving some space between cookies. The cookies will spread a bit.

-Sprinkle with some coconut sugar if desired.

-Bake in preheated oven for about 15 minutes or until golden brown.

(These pretty Easter eggs were made by my late grandmother who was a very talented crafter!)

 

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 Turmeric Latte

Hello everyone! I am sure you all heard of Matcha or Turmeric Lattes before. I’ve been making these, especially the Turmeric Latte more frequently this winter, mostly because I really enjoy them but also because of all the health benefits they provide. Preventing getting sick is a big part and I think I was pretty lucky so far! Except an earache and the occasional sniffles I was fine. My kids and husband have been having colds for the last few weeks and it finely got me as well!

Turmeric, Cinnamon and Ginger have antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. Anti-microbial, immunity-boosting, cancer preventing. These are just some of the benefits of these beautiful spices.

Pepper contains piperine and is believed to enhance the absorption of Turmeric. And because Turmeric is fat-soluble I added some coconut oil to the latte.

Unfortunately I wasn’t able to capture the beautiful yellow color!

 

Spiced Turmeric Latte

Serves 2

Ingredients:

• 2 cups coconut, almond, cashew or any other milk
• 1 tsp coconut oil
• 2 tbsp honey
• 1 1/2 tsp ground turmeric
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• pinch ground or finely grated fresh ginger
• pinch black pepper

-Add milk, coconut oil and honey to a small pot and bring to a quick boil.

-Reduce heat to low and while whisking add all the spices. Whisk until frothy.

-Serve immediately.

Tip: I used honey to soothe my sore throat, it is optional of course. If making it vegan use maple syrup or coconut sugar instead. Sweeten to your taste.

 

 

I hope you enjoy it as much as I do!

Ursula

 

Follow me on Instagram: littleswisslittlecanadian

 

 

 

 

 

 

Gingerbread Oatmeal Cookie Sandwiches

Happy Friday! This week went by so quick! It is also soon December and I am really looking forward to my mom and my step-father visiting for Christmas! I’m really curious to see what the weather will be during that time, hopefully not to much snow;) For now it’s been raining a lot and we even had some snow.

With the holiday season just around the corner I am starting to think of baking cookies, there are so many yummy cookies and I would like to try them all, unfortunately it is usually just to much for the 4 of us, lol.

I ring in the weekend with my Gingerbread Latte and made some Gingerbread Oatmeal Cookie Sandwiches. I just spiced up my go-to oatmeal cookie recipe, added some molasses and gingerbread spice, so delicious! Buttercream filling is optional, they are very tasty without, but there is just something about cookie sandwiches! Love the smell of all these spices!!

 

Gingerbread Oatmeal Cookie Sandwiches

Yields: 16 large, 8 cookie sandwiches

Ingredients:

• 1 cup coconut sugar
• or 2/3 cup brown sugar, 2/3 cup sugar
• 1 tbsp molasses
• 1/2 cup coconut oil, melted, or butter soft
• 2 large eggs
• 1/2 tsp sea salt
• 2 tsp gingerbread spice mix (cinnamon, ginger, star anise, anise, clove, coriander)
• 1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 3 cups oats

-Preheat oven to 375F/180C. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

-In a medium bowl mix together coconut oil, eggs, molasses and coconut sugar. Add the salt and spices. Stir in flour, baking soda and oats until well combined

-Drop by tbsp as big as you desire, leaving some space between cookies. Sprinkle with some coconut sugar, optional.

-Bake 9-11 minutes, until slightly browned at the bottom, do not overbake.

-Let cool completely

-Optional: Using your favorite buttercream, sandwich two cookies together. (add a little cinnamon to the buttercream)

 

 

 

Have a wonderful weekend everyone!

Enjoy!

Ursula

 

Follow me on Instagram: littleswisslittlecanadian

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pumpkin Spice Babka

This is just a simple sweet yeastbread filled with pumpkin and spices and glazed generously with spiced maple syrup. I just love the smell and taste of this. I usually make babkas (Nussstriezel) filled with ground hazelnuts or almonds, I was surprised how good it was with a pumpkin filling.

Nothing complicated for the filling, just pumpkin puree sweetened with coconut sugar, spiced it up with cinnamon and pumpkin spice mix. For the dough I used my sweet yeastbread recipe that you can find here: Almond Croissants just changed the flour ingredients to 200 g unbleached all-purpose flour and 100 g spelt flour and spiced it up a bit by adding 1 tsp vanilla extract and 1 tsp cinnamon:)

 

 

Pumpkin Spice Babka

Dough:

• Almond Croissants
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 tsp cinnamon

 

Pumpkin Spice filling:

• 200 g pumpkin puree, (not pumpkin pie filling)
• 3 tbsp coconut sugar
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp pumpkin pie spice mix

Spiced Maple Syrup Glaze

• 3 tbsp maple syrup
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice mix

-Prepare dough in advance, it needs at least 1 hour to rise. In the meanwhile prepare your pumpkin filling by mixing together pumpkin puree, coconut sugar and spices.

-Whisk together maple syrup, cinnamon and pumpkin pie spice mix, set aside.

-Line a loaf pan or a baking sheet with parchment paper

-When doubled in size, roll out dough into a rectangular shape. Then spread pumpkin filling evenly all over. Start rolling dough up from the longest side, like you would for a cinnamon bun and gently pinch ends together. Cut log lengthwise in half so filling is exposed, pinch one end. Twist both pieces, pinch the other end to secure.

-Place in prepared loaf pan or baking sheet. Cover and let rise for another 30 minutes.

-Bake in preheated 350F/180C oven for 40 minutes.

-About 25 minute into baking brush some of the syrup onto babka. Bake until golden brown. Remove from stove and brush with remaining syrup. Let cool before cutting.

 

–Make sure your spice mixes are not old, it looses its flavor over time.–

 

Wishing everyone a happy weekend and to all my Canadian friends a happy Thanksgiving!

Enjoy!

Ursula

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chocolate Squares (Studentenschnitten)

Wishing everyone a happy and healthy New Year!!

It can be very tricky to translate a German word/sentence, because if you do translate word by word it often does not make any sense. This cake is called Studentenschnitten, which means student slice. This does not sound so great, therefore I will call it simply, Chocolate Squares. You can buy it ready made in Switzerland, and that is what my Mother and everyone else I know used to do-we never made it ourselves…

This recipe is a great way to use up any leftover Christmas cookies and chocolate. I used a simple recipe from a Swiss chef, Annemarie Wildeisen. The base crust, which is similar to a pie crust, is from my Tiptopf cookbook. (She is using a store bought dough)

 

Chocolate Squares

 

Base crust (Pie crust):

• 150g flour
• 1/4tsp salt
• 90g butter, cold
• 2tbsp sugar
• 1 egg

-Mix together flour and salt. Add butter and with a fork or pastry blender mix until it resembles fine crumbs.

-Add whisked egg and mix dough only until it holds together. Wrap in plastic foil and chill for 30 minutes.

 

Filling:

• 300g cookies, finely ground
• 6 eggs
• 175g sugar
• 100g bittersweet chocolate or milk chocolate
• 175g butter
• 100g flour
• 150g hazelnuts or almonds, ground

 

Chocolate Icing:

• 150g dark chocolate
• 40g butter
• 3tbsp icing sugar

 

-Whisk together eggs and sugar. In a double boiler melt together chocolate and butter, add to egg mix.

-Combine flour, nuts and cookie crumbs. Add slowly to wet ingredients.

-Roll out base crust to fit into a 30cm square or round pan.

-Cover with the filling. Bake in a 350F/180C oven for 40-50 minutes.

-In a double boiler melt dark chocolate, add butter. Sift the icing sugar and mix well. Spread onto the cooled cake.

-Cut into squares.

(You could spread some Strawberry jelly onto the cake first, and then add the chocolate icing)

Can be kept in refrigerator for 3-4 days

 

 

Love, Peace and Happiness!!

 

Enjoy!

 

 

 

Christmas Baking

Here are some of the Christmas Cookies I have been making this year. Most of them are old European (Swiss/German) recipes that my Grandmothers and my Mother used to make.

 

Nusshaufchen, Zimtsterne, Maple Cookies, Spitzbuben and Domino Stones (you can find the recipe here Sweet Domino Stones). I also made a fruit cake-with raisins soaked in Kirsch Schnapps overnight-amazing:)

 

 

I also made some Truffles (made with dark Chocolate and Coconut milk, no added sugar)-these were delicious!!

 

My favorite: Spitzbuben with homemade red currant jelly-so delicate:) My mother gave my those cute cookie cutters years ago when my kids were still little.

 

Most of the cookies are already gone! I had to actually hide some of the Spitzbuben because I was not able to eat (chew) cookies after my surgery. So they are waiting for me in a special hiding place;)

I decided to make some more cookies. I found two great recipes that are slightly healthier-without white refined sugar-great!

If you like Walnuts, Almonds, Hazelnuts, Dates and Honey-you will LOVE these cookies!!

Found the recipe in a German magazine.

 

Date-Nut Cookies

For the dough:

• 200g whole wheat flour
• 100g white flour
• 50g hazelnuts, ground
• 1 egg
• 100g honey
• 160g butter, cold

For the filling:

• 200g dates, finely chopped
• 50g almonds, finely chopped
• 50g honey
• 1tsp cinnamon
• dash cloves
• dash cardamom

-Combine flour and nuts, add egg, honey and butter. Mix together (like a pie dough) until it holds nicely together. Wrap in plastic foil and refrigerate for 1 hour.

-Mix together dates, spices and honey.

-Roll half of the dough out to fit into a square or rectangle baking dish (30cm length). Spread filling evenly onto dough. Roll out remaining dough and cover filling. Gently press down a bit.

-Bake in preheated 350F/180C oven for 20 minutes.

-Let cool. Cut into triangles. Decorate with almonds, icing or chocolate.

-Yields: about 20

 

 

Following recipe adapted from a Martha Stewart magazine. I used coconut sugar.

 

Honey-Walnut-Coins

• 2 1/2c white flour
• 3/4tsp sea salt
• 3/4cup finely chopped (toasted) walnuts, plus 48 walnut halves for decorating
• 1cup unsalted butter, softened
• 1/4cup coconut sugar
•  1/3cup honey, (orange blossom or regular)
• 1/4cup honey for brushing

-Combine flour, salt and walnuts. Beat butter until fluffy, add sugar, beat until pale and fluffy. Beat in honey. Add flour mixture and beat just until combined. Halve dough.

-On parchment paper, shape each portion into a round log about 1 1/2 inches in diameter and 6 1/2 inches long. Wrap tightly in plastic foil and chill 1 1/2 hours.

-Preheat oven to 325F. Let dough stand at room temperature 10 minutes. With a sharp knife, cut dough into 1/4-inch-thick slices, rotating log as you go to keep it from flattening. Place round on parchment paper-lined baking sheets. Spacing 1 inch apart. Press a walnut half into each round.

-Bake, rotating sheets halfway through, until edges are pale golden, about 18 minutes. Transfer sheets to wire racks; brush cookies with honey. Let cool completely.

-Can be stored in a airtight container for up to 2 weeks.

 

Merry Christmas!

Gingerbread Latte

A Latte sounds a little fancier then a Coffee Creamer, but that is what I am using this recipe for. I do not buy flavored Creamers at the store, simply because they are full of sugar and artificial flavorings-does not taste so yummy after all if you think of it.

Since my family I have been a little sensitive to milk products I switched to nut milks. There are some good products out there, but you really have to read the ingredients. I have been making my own nut milks before as well, but I found a good brand and I find it is cheaper and easier like that.

For my coffee I like something a little creamier so I have been looking for the perfect coconut milk. That was pretty annoying…I was looking for canned versions but most brands contain stuff that I just do not want in my milk. After searching in different stores I found one brand that contain only two ingredients: 60% coconut extract and water and they also have a Tetra Pak with 85% coconut extract and water. I really like that:)

The Latte/Creamer is infused with spices and molasses to taste and smell like Gingerbread. If you’re using it as a creamer the recipe is perfect with just the coconut milk, but if you would like to use it as a Latte, usually a Latte contains coffee, but here it serves as a fancy word for a milk drink;) I would suggest mixing it with almond milk, to lighten it up a bit.

 

Gingerbread Latte/Creamer

• 2cups            coconut milk (full fat)
• 4tbsp            molasses
• 1                     cinnamon stick
• 5                    cloves
• 3                    star anise
• piece            ginger, peeled

 

-In a medium saucepan combine milk and molasses, bring to a boil, mix well. Reduce heat, add spices and simmer for 10 minutes. Remove from heat and let steep for at least 30 minutes. Remove spices.

-Store in fridge for 1 week.

-Use cold or warm as a coffee creamer or warm it up and mix with some almond milk or milk of your choice for a latte. Also great for kids:)

 

Love the smell of these spices!

 

 

Enjoy!