Lemon and wild berries muffins

Whenever I am in the mood for something sweet and baked, but have no powers or the mood for preparing and baking a cake, I go for cupcakes.I know that sounds silly because the same batch can do either a whole cake or cupcakes.But the idea of deviding it into cups looks more simple to me,I might be talking out of despair (Eight months pregnant, do I have the power or the mood to do anything? don't know.)
I had the recipe for these cupcakes from a collegue of mine at work.Instead of the whipped cream with white chocolate that tops those beautiful creatures,I strongly advice you to use a cream cheese frosting.It engages very well with the lemony taste and the wild berries.(I made the whipped cream frosting because I was too lazy to make the cream cheese icing)

Happy Baking!


Lemon and wild berries cupcakes

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup yogurt (plain)
3/4 cup sugar
2 eggs
1/4 cup lemon juice
A zest of two lemons
1/2 cup oil (not olive oil)
1 cup frozen wild berries

Method

Preheat oven into 170°.Put paper cups in a cupcake pan.
In a mixing bowl , put together flour,baking soda,baking powder and salt.
In another mixing bowl, whisk together eggs,sugar,yogurt,lemon juice ,lemon zest and oil until you have a smooth mixture.Add flour mixter and mix,just until combined.Add frozen wild berries and mix gently.
Devide mixture in the paper cups and bake for 15-25 min or until golden in color and a skewer inserted in them comes out clean.
Take out from oven and let cool completely.

Whipped cream frosting

Ingredients

250ml heavy cream
150 gr white chocolate
15 gr butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

In a small sauce pan bring to a boil half of the heavy cream then put the white chocolate in and let melt on a low fire.Add butter and let melt.Put aside and let cool.In the meanwhile,whip the rest of the heavy cream with an electric mixer until stiff in consistency.Pour in the white chocolate mixture and the vanilla extract ,then continue to beat with the electric mixer just until combined.
Frost the cupcakes with the white chocolate whipped cream.

Knafe

I made up my mind! This time I will do it!" After all ,how hard it can be? If everybody else tried it , then I can surely do it as well."
Those thoughts have been running in my mind for quite a while,I have been thinking about trying to make the famous Arab dessert Knafe or Kunafe as some call it.This Arab sweet is a syrian dessert but it is eaten all over the Arab world.I was always terrified to try making Arab desserts, because somehow they seemed very hard to make.So after looking at other food blogs and watching many videos on how to prepare this delicious dessert, I decided it was time.I couldn't find filo dough so I used the vermicelli noodles instead, the result at the end came out the same.Instead of the sweet Arab cheese, I used mozzarella cheese and Primo sale cheese ( an Italian cheese with no salt that I use for making desserts.)
We ate the whole thing,and I felt so proud to finally make this yummy syrian dessert.

Knafe

Ingredients

1 package Vermicelli noodles
250 gr Mozzarella cheese (hard mozarella)
250 gr Primo sale cheese or any sweet cheese (not cream cheese)
250 gr butter
100 gr ground pistacchios (for garnish)
1 cup water (for syrup)
2 cups sugar (for syrup)

Method
Put the Vermicelli noodles in a hot boiling water and cover for two minutes for softening them.
Take out noodles from water and put in a colander.Let cool for five minutes.
Soften butter and put it on vermicelli noodles and mix. Start to separate noodles from each other to avoid sticking.While doing it , cut the noodles using your fingers in order to form small pieces.
Butter a 22cm pan very well and take half of the vermicelli mixture and place it on the bottom of the pan, press it well with your fingers in order to form a stable base.
Cut the mozzarella cheese and the primo sale cheese into small pieces and cover the base of the pan with it. Put another layer of vermicelli noodles on top of the cheese mixture.
Bake in a preheated oven (170°)for 20-25 minutes or until the vermicelli on top are gloden brown.

In the meanwhile,start preparing syrup, by adding two cups of sugar to one cup water in a small sauce pan. Stir very well until sugar is disolved. Syrup is ready when not too thick and not too liquid. Take off the fire and pour it while still hot on the knafe.Sprinkle pistacchios on top of the knafe for garnish.