October Recipes: Pumpkin Coffee Cake

One thing I love about October is having pumpkins all around... And they're not only useful for lanterns –although this is probably their coolest use!

Last weekend, I decided to bake a pumpkin coffee cake to celebrate the beauty of October! I must tell you that he almost fainted when he heard I wanted to bake a coffee cake, since he doesn't like coffee at all... But coffee cakes don't have coffee. I mean, they could, but they don't have to. I might be lying to you here, but I think what makes a coffee cake a coffee cake is the delicious crumb-topping on top of the actual cake. And that goes perfectly with a cup of coffee. Or tea. Or anything, really!

I honestly recommend you this recipe. It is absolutely delicious, and super easy to prepare! And it's a great meal for these October days, trust me!

What you'll need

For the cake:

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1 cup pure pumpkin puree*
• 1/2 cup dark brown sugar
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1/4 cup pure maple syrup
• 1/4 milk (I actually used soymilk)

For the crumble-topping:

• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup cold unsalted butter (you can use dairy-free butter, if you prefer)
• 1/2 cup dark brown sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

You'll also need at least three bowls for the cake, a baking pan (of about 25 cm x 25 cm).

What you should do

Generously spread some butter on the baking pan, and sprinkle some flour on top of it. Set aside, and preheat the oven to 350ºF (180ºC).

To make the crumb topping, you should mix the flour, sugar, salt and cinnamon in a small bowl. Then add the cold butter, and start breaking it into pieces with a fork. Continue mixing until it looks like bread crumbles.

To make the cake, mix on a large bowl the "dry" ingredients: flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves. Then, in a separate bowl, mix the sugar with the "wet" ingredients: pumpkin, oil, maple syrup and milk. Make sure you combine them well. Now pour the wet ingredients into the dry ones, and mix. Try not to overmix them, since the batter might become too thick and hard to handle.

Pour the cake mixture on the baking pan, and spread to make an even surface. Then pour the crumble topping on top, and press it lightly with your fingers, to "stick" it to the cake. Now bake for 30-35 minutes, until you can insert a toothpick and it comes out clean (with only a couple wet crumbles, maybe).

And now you're ready to enjoy! You can eat it just-baked, or wait until it cools down... You can have it with some coffee, some tea or, if you really love pumpkin, maybe even with some pumpkin-spice latte. You choose!

Happy eating,

Photography: Laura Beltran-Rubio

Breakfast Recipes: The Parfait

Although I lovelunch––basically because of dessert––, the most important meal in my day is definitely breakfast. Believe it or not, when you have a good breakfast you are better prepared to embrace all the challenges in your day, you have more energies, and you'll be happier –who doesn't get grumpy when he's hungry, eh?

However, I understand it is sometimes quite difficult for us to have a good breakfast in the middle of our rush in the mornings... But that is definitely not an excuse for skipping this very important meal! And that's why I decided to share with you one of my favourite breakfast recipes for busy days at college or work: the parfait!

Apart from being healthy, it is also delicious and super easy to make!

Let's start with the ingredients

This super short list includes greek yogurt (any flavour, you choose!), strawberries and some granola.

How to prepare it

You'll need a container where to prepare your parfait. Once you've got it, you must pour your yogurt in it. Try to make the top surface of the yogurt as smooth as possible.

You must then cut the strawberries in small pieces that can fit inside your mouth, and pour them on top of the greek yogurt.

Once you're done with the strawberries, add the granola on top of them.

And now you're ready to go! I usually prepare it on a Tupperware, since I carry it and eat it on my way to school. But you can prepare it in a normal cup if you're going to eat it soon enough.

As you've seen, it is super easy to make and, better than that, it's really quick! So there are no excuses to skip breakfast anymore!

If you're wondering what if I get tired of it? let me tell you that's not going to happen, since there are lots of variations you can make... For instance, if you change the flavour of the yogurt, that can give a complete twist to your parfait. You can also replace the strawberries for any other fruit; in fact, you can also mix different fruits. You can add some honey to make it sweeter, or maybe even some chocolate chips... Use your imagination and be creative! And please share some of your creations with me. I would love to try them out!

Love,

Photography: Laura Beltran-Rubio

DIY mugs

There's one thing I've probably never talked about on the blog before, and it's my love for mugs. I can't get enough of them! I'm constantly looking around for more and more mugs with beautiful designs to collect. As you might have already guessed, my favourite mugs are horse-themed. But my obsession doesn't limit to those. A couple of weeks ago, for instance, I bought a beautiful one with two antique cars on it (although it was meant for Diego to use it, rather than myself)...

But I found out about a month ago how to do DIY personalised mugs. Isn't it amazing? It was a shame, though, that we didn't have time to do them before, since I was dying to share the how-to's on this project on a blog post for so long! We finally had the time to do them last night (read we: Diego, my sister and I), and we spent some time just having fun, drinking tea and doing our personalised mugs!

You'll Need...

Believe it or not, there are only two ingredients to this recipe: mugs and permanent markers. That's it! Oh, and you'll need an oven, since that's the secret for the ink of the permanent markers to stay.

What You Should Do

Once you've decided what you want your personalised mug to look like, use a pencil to draw it!

Then use the permanent markers to make your beautiful design

Put your mug in the oven (preheated at 350ºF), and leave it there for 30 minutes. Once you bring out your mug, don't use it or wash it until it has completely cooled down, otherwise you'll ruin your design.

These personalised mugs will stay with you, unless you put them on the washing machine. You need to hand wash them in order to make sure the ink won't run away.

Love,

White Chocolate & Cranberry Cookies

I've always been quite like the Cookie Monster! I really, really enjoy eating cookies, especially when there's chocolate on them! White chocolate & cranberry has been one of my favourites ever since I worked at a summer camp back in 2011, but the last time I had them was long ago... On Friday, I had some free time to bake some delicious cookies! They made me so happy! And, to be honest, they were absolutely yummy!!! So now I'm sharing my recipe with you :)

Ingredients

3/4 cup unsalted butter

1 cup dark brown sugar

1 large egg

2 cups flour

2 tsp vanilla extract

2 tsp cornstarch

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

3/4 cup dried cranberries

3/4 cup white chocolate chips

Preparation

1. In a large bowl, soften the butter and then mix in the sugar until you obtain a creamy and consistent mixture, with a bright color.
2. Add the egg and vanilla extract, to make the mixture humid. Then mix in the flour, cornstarch, baking soda and salt.
3. Stir in the white chocolate chips and cranberries.
4. Leave the dough covered and let it chill for one hour.
5. Preheat the oven to 350 F.
6. Drop balls (the size of a tablespoon) on a cookie sheet and bake for 10 minutes, until they are slightly golden.
7. Let them cool down for around 10-15 minutes and then remove from the cookie sheet.

Some Tips

When I went to buy the ingredients at the grocery store, I couldn't find any white chocolate chips. What I decided to do instead, was to buy plain white chocolate and cut it into pieces, that I added to my dough. Another thing that can be hard to find is a cookie sheet. You can use aluminium foil instead of it if you find hard to find it!

Chilling is essential. The recommended time is one hour, but you could leave the dough chill for up to three days. This will give consistency to the cookies when you bake them.

The baking time is short, although it could change depending on how high away from the ocean you are. I would recommend letting the cookies bake until they are slightly golden. This should take around 10 minutes but, sometimes, it can take a few more (or less) minutes than that.

Love,

Photography: Laura Beltran-Rubio